Tsugi No Level

Chapter 26: Proper Introductions

Demo and Ten walk into the principal's office. It's a beautifully decorated room with golden ornaments and several pictures of old men, who have titles beneath them starting with "Principal" so those must have been his predecessors. There is a gigantic desk at the end of the room in front of the window. The desk has several tall stacks of papers on it. Making it impossible to see who is sitting behind it but the sound of writing can be heard coming from the desk. Pulmo sighs as she is frustrated that their presence has still gone without a proper reaction.

"Guests."

Her voice has the intended effect and the sound of writing stops. From behind the desk, a left hand comes up and rests on a stack of papers. It's a beautiful lady's hand, with manicured fingers and red nail polish. Then the right hand comes up and rests on another stack of papers. This hand however is a big rough hand covered in scars. Both Ten and Demo are slightly confused and think that there must be two people behind the desk. But then a face comes up.

The headmaster Braverte shows himself. He has a big smile on his face as he looks at Ten and Demo. The right side of his face looks very young with shining skin but it seems to be from someone else because there is a clear difference on the rest of his face. What seems to be his real face is that of an old man. The young side of his face has a deep black eye while the old side has a light hazelnut color.

"Trilly must have sent you two here. Welcome welcome."

Demo and Ten are both a bit too stunned to properly react so their response is a bit slow.

"Thank you."

Demo replies a bit more direct.

"Yeah, he said you could help us."

That was the moment that Braverte took a good look at Demo. Demo was wearing a shirt but his muscles could be clearly seen through his clothing. Braverte pushes all the papers off his desk and jumps over it. This is when his full body could be seen. He was wearing a suit, but it was clear that the right side of his body had female breasts while the left side was that of a muscular male. His pants had one leg that was filled with muscles and one that seemed to be filled with something slender. It was as if his body was a combination of several people. Both Ten and Demo were now officially too stunned to react to anything. Braverte however gets really close to Demo and touches his left arm bicep.

"This is amazing. So soft, so supple yet so strong."

He looks at Demo with an extremely serious face.

"When you die, can I have this?"

Demo startled at the weird question jerks his arm back to release it from Braverte's grip.

"NO!"

Braverte looks a bit disappointed and slightly baffled at the overreaction to such a normal question.

"Why not? You're dead. It's not like you're gonna use it. I promise I'll take good care of it."

Demo is now freaked out and profusely shakes his head.

"No."

Braverte is now very disappointed as he lowers his head. He looks at Ten, and scans his body up and down. There is a moment of silence ... after which Braverte turns his back on Demo and Ten.

"So, how can I help you two?"

Ten feels insulted and almost screamed out "HEY!!!" but managed to control himself just in time. But can't really hide the agitation on his face. Demo now kind of side-eyes Braverte, he isn't sure someone this weird can be trusted.

"I want to get stronger."

Braverte looks at Demo with a discerning gaze. As if he just heard him say something very dangerous.

"Hmmmmm..."

He looks back at his desk and realizes that he threw all the papers on the ground in the heat of the moment. He turns to Pulmo with a pleading face that can almost be considered cute as he says her name in the sweetest of tones.

"Pulmo?"

"NO."

Braverte is once again disappointed as his head slumps down. He kneels down and starts picking up the papers. As he is picking them up, he gives her an order.

"Please bring these two to my place. Give em a room. I'll be there after work."

"Understood."

Ten is happy that they have been given a place to stay.

"Thank you very much."

Demo is still looking at Braverte trying to figure out if he is strong or not. Pulmo starts walking towards the door.

"Follow me."

Ten grabs Demo and pulls him out of the room. They leave the room and the door shuts close behind them. Back in the hallway Demo looks at the door as if he just experienced something extremely weird. But he isn't given any time to really process it as Pulmo has already started walking without waiting for them.

Back in the headmasters office. Braverte is collecting the papers while thinking to himself about Demo and Ten. Why would Li-On send them to him? He knows the situation he is in. Could these two be of possible help? And something was very unique about the structure and density of Demo's muscles. It was as if they were condensed over and over and embedded with something, not of this world. Two outsiders whose strength is yet to be defined might just be the perfect solution to his problems.

Ten and Demo followed Pulmo to a building situated next to the school. It is a small but beautiful building. Pulmo opens the gate, and the three walk into the home. They walk into a beautiful open space that is filled with pictures and paintings as well. But before they can appreciate them Pulmo points in the direction of two doors at the far side of the space.

"Rooms."

She then points to the other side.

"Bathroom, kitchen."

She turns around and faces the two.

"Questions?"

Ten shakes his head. He feels that she wants to leave and is thankful she still did all this for them even though Demo attacked her for no reason. Demo on the other hand doesn't care about any of that. He walks right up to Pulmo until he is right in front of her face and looks her dead in the eye.

"Teach me how to Cover-Up!"

Chapter 26 Fin