[ The Administrator ]

Part II Chapter 23 - Reunion

***Lynett***

After walking for about ten minutes, we had finally arrived. The academy was at least as big as a small city, and with the students going from one class to another, it was easy to miss someone. However, Lukas seemed to know perfectly Aoban's schedule as he knew exactly where to find him at this moment.

By the time we arrived, classes were already over. The corridors were now full of students and I could feel curious gazes directed on us.

"Wait here," Lukas said. "I'm going to check, and then I'll ask him to come out."

"Check what?" I asked, furrowing my forehead.

"If everything is fine. Sometimes, there can be some troubles."

"Troubles? What kind of troubles?"

Lukas didn't get to answer my question as we were interrupted by a loud clattering noise. The door we were facing suddenly opened and slammed violently against the wall, as a figure appeared. It was a young boy, barely older than me.

Seeing how he so brutally opened the door, he was desperate to get out of the room. However, he had not expected Lukas to be on his way. He avoided him just in time, but he hadn't seen that I was right behind him as he bumped into me instead. Instinctively, I tried to reduce the impact of the fall by landing on my hands, but I soon regretted my decision. The unknown boy fell on me, crushing my fragile bones with all his weight. For a spilt of a second, I could have sworn that I heard my elbows cracking.

Being pampered my whole life didn't do me any good. I have zero tolerance to pain. On the impact, I forgot to open my mouth and a cry of pain got stuck in my throat. It is during moments like these that I suddenly remember that being almost completely immune to magic is useless when I get hurt from stupid accidents like this. However, the pain didn't last long as my elbows healed almost immediately.

"This kind of troubles," Lukas said with a sardonic smile.

I looked up at the boy who bumped into me. It was a demi-human. Two horns sprouted out of his forehead and instead of having human ears, he had long flurry ears, similar to the ones of a rabbit, but slightly shorter.

Hmm... Is that a goat? A goat-boy? Well, that's a first.

As he tried to get up, the demi-human boy sent me a deadly glare, clearly blaming me for what happened. Obviously, I wasn't the one in the wrong but he didn't seem willing to apologize, even though he was the one who didn't watch where he was going.

His nose was bleeding. I think it was already like this since he didn't bump into me hard enough to break his nose, but even if he did... I'm not at fault, right? I mean, he dislocated my elbows. I'm much more to be pitied than him. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone had the time to notice this.

"Don't let him go! Catch him!"

As he heard a loud voice coming out from the room he just exited –or should I say escaped?- the demi-human boy started to panic, forgetting about me. He quickly got up on his feet and tried to run away. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't fast enough as two older boys caught him before he had a chance to do so.

"Got you! Where did you think you were going?" One of them asked as a mischievous smirk appeared on his face.

The two boys each firmly grabbed the demi-human boy's arms, making sure he wouldn't escape.

This situation... Two older students surrounding a junior and keeping him against his will... No matter how I see it, it's bullying, isn't it? Thinking about it, it does make sense. In such a huge school where nobles, commoners, humans and demi-humans come into regular contact with each others, I guess bullying was to be expected. No wonder this poor boy was so desperate to run away. But where are the teachers?