Archons of the Elite

Vol.3: Significant scenery

Hoshinomiya POV

I stepped quietly around the deck, the darkness from outside paired with the silence to make my every step seem way too loud.

I snuck up to the boy's rooms and quietly opened the door, scanning quietly until I spotted the messy brown hair, a set of golden eyes already studying me.

Gesturing him to follow I tried to act naturally in front of the cameras, it's not like I was worried about them, thankfully the crew of the Sperenza would only share footage to the school during the second exam to avoid foul play, and as such my mention to them that I'd be talking to one of the students had seemed normal for a teacher, the risk however was that a student would see me and a young boy sneaking out, and since a teacher wasn't supposed to give help or advice to a student they weren't in the same class as, it could spread some incredibly dangerous rumours.

After a moment of walking, the silence from his steps making me even more conscious of my own, we stopped, Xiao's voice sounding curious as opposed to annoyed as he spoke, despite his words seeming far more insulting than the tone may suggest.

-Even I can barely hear him, it makes you seem even more deafening in comparison-

The slow steps I had made had felt almost more audible than walking normally.

Like trying to open crisps quietly...

I finally snapped out of my thoughts to see the boy watching me inquisitively, his gaze locked onto my own, whether he meant to make me nervous or not was irrelevant since it had managed to do so anyway.

"Why?" I asked, my façade dropping a little as I questioned him, not even needing to specify what I meant.

"If you'd got caught they would have found me anyway, and I had no intention of Venti knowing I was eavesdropping on him." The monotonous voice making his statement seem so reasonable, my thoughts slowing enough to respond.

"I suppose that makes sense... But how did you know it would be Ei not Venti who came after you?"

He paused for a moment, before responding as if I'd been oblivious.

"For starters she'd already made her point, and secondly the others were the least likely to chase someone, Venti likely wouldn't care as long as they left, and Zhongli would be more invested in the information, likely realising that any lost information would be worthless since no one would believe whoever it was, only Ei would care about who had managed to sneak up without her knowing, since the sound I made to cover yours came from behind the door, a spot anyone would see if they came after whoever hid, as opposed to yours which could be put down to you'd already been there."

The explanation left me a little speechless. It wasn't actually that hard to work out, and this could just be in hindsight, but this not only required someone to assess the personality of the three, but to consider the location of both of us, how they'd react, and do all this while making a sound seem like an accident right as he saw me about to make my own.

I looked towards him with a small glint of curiosity.

"Honestly, would you beat those three, both intellectually and physically?" My question perhaps being considered risky but right now I let my curiosity get the better of me.

"Who knows." He said simply before pausing, taking a moment before deciding to continue.

"I think there's a good chance that intellectually and through physical ability I beat Venti, perhaps I also barely beat Ei, though I couldn't comment when it comes to Zhongli. However with a weapon I'd likely lose to both. But if you want me to help you find out more about them I may have to decline, and I'd appreciate you let it go." He said coldly, well, it wasn't even cold, the words were just empty... The phrase sending a chill down my spine, I mean usually I'd just brush it off as a student acting cool but...