Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 35: Cheap Shot

Ezreal swallowed hard as his index finger connected with the silver button in front of the big gate.

Professor Graves had put both him and Sylas in detention for the entirety of the afternoon. Thankfully no cleaning up toilets this time. It was something way worse for him. He had to fill an entire hundred-page notebook with the phrase: I will never again be involved in a physical altercation with my classmates. What a waste of time..

He had spent his whole day sitting next to Sylas without exchanging a single word. They just glared at eachother whenever they took a small break. His hand still hurt from holding the pencil through all these hours. And he had missed the Battle Club class too.

I would straight up expell this fucking guy but whatever.. Maybe I should report this to the Ministry of Education or something..

His inner monologue was cut short by the sound of a male voice that had come straight out of a speaker. It was probably that same butler he had encountered the last time he had come to Lux's house. What was his name?

"Who is it"? Sebastian! That's right..

"It's uhh.. Ezreal. Ezreal Lightfeather", his statement sounded more like a question.

He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. He wasn't sure if Lux would want to see him.. After all, he had lied to her. He had never told her his real name. How would she feel now that everyone knew that she was going out with a purse snatcher? She probably wouldn't even want to be seen next to him. She was a high-class citizen. And he.. He wasn't.

"Mr Lightfeather. How can I help you?", asked Sebastian. His voice sounded robotic coming straight from a machine.

"Is Luxanna here? I'd like to speak with her", he explained. "If I may", he added hastily hoping that fancy words would get him what he wanted.

"Lady Luxanna is here but I'm afraid that she's unavailable at the moment", the voice said soulessly.

Ezreal scratched the back of his head as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Ughh.. When will she be available?", asked Ezreal with a hint of audaciousness in his tone. "Can I come by later"?

"I'm afraid not".

Ezreal blinked. The butler continued to speak.

"I've been instructed not to let you in this threshold".

"By whom?", Ezreal knitted his eyebrows.

What the fuck? He expected he'd get some backlash out of his past being revealed but not like this. Lux knew who he was after all. His last name was just a minor detail. Right?

"Young master's orders. I'm terribly sorry but you have to leave".

"Wait!", shouted Ezreal at the speaker but the butler was already gone.

He started to ring the button again and again furiously. No one was answering. He let out a grunt in frustration.

"Alright.. Have it your way "young master"", he mocked as he remembered that the front door wasn't the only entrance. We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Garen Crownguard had just put on his silky robe and he was about to immerse himself into the world of the Star Guardians. Yeah I know. It's a guilty pleasure don't judge me.

He was sitting on a big leather armchair in front of the fireplace. He picked up the newest issue and carefully unwrapped it. He examined the cover illustration.

A girl with ridiculously long purple hair was pictured at the top of the page. One of her eyes was blue while this other one was gleaming pink. In her hands there were strings connected to two other character at the bottom of the illustration. She was holding them with a malicious smile plastered upon her face as she controlled them like puppets. It was a boy along with a girl with pink hair. They both had a single wing on their backs. The girl was throwing feather daggers at the other character. But her expression made it quite obvious that this wasn't her choice. But the boy was simply taking the hits. Without even trying to defend himself.

"Man.. They're gonna kill me with these", he giggled as he flipped the book open.

"I see you're a man of culture as well", a smugg voice startled him making him drop the book on his slippers.

Garen gasped as he sprung up. His warrior stance looked pretty weak. His fists were up yet his whole outfit didn't make him look menacing. At all.

He saw Ezreal lying on the couch opposite his chair while he played with the fabric belt of his coat. His shoes were staining the very expensive sofa.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!", Garen yelled. "This is breaking and entering! I'm going to call the police"!

Ezreal didn't bat an eye at his idle threat as he kept on fumbling with his belt.

"Hey get your feet of that couch! It's probably more expensive than anything you've ever stolen Lymere", Garen said that last bit as if it was a curse.

The blond boy rolled his eyes as his feet landed on the floor with a thump.

"Relax.. You can send the bill to my uncle's museum", he replied indifferently.

Garen ignored his answer.

"Get the hell out of my house. I'm not joking I'm calling the police", he turned on his heels to leave only to be met by Ezreal's glorious form as it appeared right in front of him.

"That would be pretty pointless", he said seriously as he placed a hand on Garen's shoulder. "Impossible comebacks are sort of my specialty", he quipped.

Garen sat back at his chair defeated as Ezreal arcane shifted back to the sofa.

"What do you want Ezreal?", he huffed.

"Me? Not much! By the way has Lux mentioned me at all today"?

Garen clenched both of his fists but he decided he wouldn't resort to violence. At least not yet.

"I'd hit you but I see that Dregbourne has already done you in", he said pointing to the first-year's nose.

He could see Ezreal's cocky smile fade slowly. His lips were perched in a disgusted expression.

"Oh that? It's nothing.. You should see the other guy", Ezreal replied regaining his cool.

"I'm sick of your shit Lightfeather-Lymere, whatever the hell your name is. Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass. I just want you out of my sister's life".

"That's not your decision to make. It's hers and hers only".

Garen couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"What's so funny?", the boy asked.

"You really are a fool. This is high society. This isn't Piltover. Luxanna is betrothed to be married to a proper suitor. A proper. Not the likes of you"!

Ezreal gulped as he fixed his posture.

"Wait.. What?", he asked as he tried to get a grip of the new information.

"You heard me the first time. You're just a past-time. The sooner you realize the better it is. Deal with it and get out of my face", he said as he picked up his book off the floor.

He opened it at a random page and pretended to read. When his eyes landed on the sofa again, Ezreal was nowhere to be found.