Secrets of Light Academy

Chapter 2: The Corner

SOLIS

I said I could look into people's hearts, didn't I? It's true. I see numbers, percents. 

Everyone starts off with 0%. A completely clean slate. No mistakes, no sins, no nothing. And then we go about our lives. When we hurt ourselves or others enough, our number slowly goes up. They can even go up if we witness terrible things, or go through emotional struggles. It's not necessarily always a person's fault that their number is high, but that doesn't make a difference. A high number is a high number.

And 50% is the tipping point. 

If you pass 50%, there is no hope for you.

Your soul will slowly become more and more twisted.

After that, you cannot be saved. Ever.

I was taught that lesson by the headmaster herself. That's why... I will definitely make sure my friends never get there. I've made it my goal to stop anyone I can from passing that point. I try my best to stay positive and supportive. I try my best, but I don't know what more I can do than that.

"We're all done now. So Yoru, now you tell us about yourself." I nudged her. 

"Don't touch me. I don't have anything to tell." She hissed and pulled away.

"Aww, what a party pooper. Everyone else went already, hurry up and introduce yourself. If Aoi can do it, literally anyone can." Hiroko giggled. Aoi complained, but no one really paid attention to him. Hiroto joined in.

"Oh, look at the time! It's NOT next period. In fact, we still have twenty-five minutes left. And that means, you won't be leaving. Any. Time. Soon." He grinned. 

"We're curious, so hurry and up tell us 'kay~?" The both of them said together, in a super passive-aggressive tone. Yoru seemed to take that the wrong way.

"What? You two runts are trying to threaten me? I could crush you both with my little toe." She held her chin up high.

"With your little toe? Really? Well I just can't wait to be working with you... Yo-ru." Hiroto lifted his sneaker and stamped down on Yoru's foot. She was wearing strong boots, so it didn't hurt her toes but it did seem to tick her off. She tried to raise her boot to return the favour, but struggled with it. It wouldn't lift off the ground.

"And by the way, that's a magic adhesive you've got your foot stuck in. I considered just making your boots heavier, but that could work in your favour because you're insanely strong, right? Since all your magic is combat based, you shouldn't be able to undo this basic spell." Hiroto smirked. Sounds like he thought this through. Yoru pulled hard on her boot, but it didn't help.

"Uh, okay let's stop this. Come on Yoru, tell us about yourself, we're all comrades now." I smiled as warmly as I could. 

And then Yoru decided to pull her feet out of her shoes to stomp on his foot. This pretty much just turned into an all-out war. Hiroto agitated her and dodged her attacks, while Hiroko stomped on her from behind. They knocked over desks and sent things flying across the room, some other students stopped what they were doing to watch. Eventually, Yoru got so angry she just ended up almost kicking him in the face.

"WHAT IS IT YOU THREE ARE DOING?" The teacher raised her voice. "This is supposed to be time for you to bond with your teammates, not pick stupid fights with them. Go stand in the corner." She scolded them. "And the rest of the group, you should be stopping things like this! You are teammates, group members, allies and friends. You are just as much at fault, all seven of you, go stand in the corner!" She grumbled. 

Obviously, there wasn't enough room for seven people in one tiny corner.

"Move, pipsqueak."

"How about we all line up on the wall near the corner, okay? That way everyone gets a spot..." I try to organize things. Usagi helps, and soon enough we're all lined up nice and neat.

There is silence. 

"Um, who wants to play broken telephone?" I whisper.

"NO." Pretty much everyone responds. 

"W-what's broken... telephone?" Nebbia asked.

"Well broken telephone is a game where one person comes up with a secret message, and whispers it on to the next person. And then--"

"NO. NO BROKEN TELEPHONE." Pretty much everyone whispers, louder this time. 

"Oh, okay." I stop, and Nebbia looks disappointed. 

Silence. 

"Only ten minutes left." Usagi points at the clock.

More silence.

KNOCK KNOCK

We hear something, it's coming from the window. It's hard to see, but a person is knocking on the upper window pane. The teacher doesn't notice, but we do.

"It's 18%." I reach for the window, but I'm not tall enough. Yoru reaches up and opens the window for me. Behind it sits a boy with scruffy black hair and sharp green eyes. 

"S'up?" He waved.

"GO AWAY." Yoru slammed the window down hard.

18% isn't actually his original name, but he claims he doesn't have one so I guess it is. Remember my ability to see into people's hearts through numbers? I call him 18% simply because his number is 18%. He isn't a witch, so he shouldn't be able to get here at all, but he has his ways. All I really know about him is that he used to live under the same roof as Nebbia and Yoru, but it wasn't long before he ran away like she did. I have a feeling there's some kind of reason for that I should investigate, but no one will tell me anything.

"Who was that?" The twins chimed.

"Mind your own business." Yoru snarled at them.

"That's bo-ring. You seem to know him, Solis. What's his deal?" They asked me.

"I don't really know anything much. Honest. He lives somewhere in my neighborhood and he's a bit of a pickpocket. Nebbia and Yoru are the only ones who know him."

"A pickpocket, huh? But Nebbia, how do you know him?" Aoi spoke for once.

"W-well, um, he's... he used to be... my brother--"

"WE'RE NOT SIBLINGS, SQUARE." She glared at him. He hid behind me. 

They had the same foster mother for a while, Nebbia insists that makes them siblings while Yoru insists it does not.

"Hee hee, who even uses the word square anymore?" Usagi giggled.

"BE QUIET AND STAND STILL YOU SEVEN! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD!" The teacher yelled from across the room. That shut us up.