Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 13: Where Loyalties Lie

A week had never felt so long to Ezreal before. The old bastard did them good. He knew they probably deserved the punishment but he also knew that he wanted those answers. He was determined to find out what happened to Principal Yuumi and who's targeting the Academy and take action. He was too stubborn for anyone to persuade him otherwise. Even as he was polishing Proffesor Graves' boots in the dim light of his office, he was sure. He had made up his mind.

Besides, he didn't have it as bad as Kayn today. The poor guy was forced to wash Graves' clothes. And underwear. When he returned to the office his mind seemed absent. A blank stare in his eyes.

"Dude..? You.. okay?", asked a concerned Ezreal.

"Hmm", his blank stare remained.

"Was it that bad?", asked Ezreal imagining the dirty underwear in his friend's hands.

"We must never speak of this. Ever".

Ezreal thought he had done a pretty good job cleaning up the Professor's office. He had the perfect chance to search his office for clues regarding Yuumi's situation but it had amount to nothing. The only thing he could find was old newspapers, cigars and stashes for booze.

"Hey the smoke's finally gone", noticed Kayn somewhat impressed. "Didn't expect you had it in you young man. My boy's all grown up", he continued sarcastically, wiping an invisible tear from his eye.

"Shut up", replied the blond. "We've become experts after all this don't you think"?

It was true. The entire week, Professor Graves had made them clean the entire school after class. He even had them clean the bathrooms with a toothbrush. Compared to the girls' bathroom, guys really are disgusting. That was Ezreal's conclusion. At the end of the day, they were so tired that they would fall asleep at once. Even Kayn had stopped mumbling to himself at night.

But that wasn't the worst part of Professor Graves' detention tactics. The worst part had come on the very first day.

He had searched everywhere for Lux to tell her that they wouldn't be able to make it at the group meaning but he had no luck. He and Kayn had even tried to tell Katarina but she was nowhere to be found. So.. there was only one option left.

"Hey.. Sylas", said the blond boy.

"Oh! My man! How are you, you two?", Sylas had even stood up from where he sat to greet them. Don't be so fake, you pretentious douchebag. If I didn't want Lux to think I'd ditch her I wouldn't even be talking to you right now.

"Great!", Kayn said after he noticed that Ezreal was lost in his thoughts for way too long. He even nudged him.

"Yeah!", replied Ezreal as if he had just woken up from his slumber.

Sylas patted Ezreal on the head. "Isn't he cute guys?", he said to the boys that were sitting with him. "I just wanna pet him! He's adorable".

Ezreal was feeling his blood pumping but he forced a smile and calmly moved Sylas' hand away from him.

"I just wanted to let you know that me and Kayn aren't gonna make it today at the group meeting".

"Why?", Sylas inquired.

"We have an assignement from Professor Graves", replied Kayn.

"Graves?", Sylas laughed out loud. "Don't tell me he's gonna make you smoke cigars and get drunk. Cause that's the only thing he's probably capable of". Now his friends were laughing along, creating a choir of imbeciles to Ezreal's ears.

"Anyway.. Tell the girls we're sorry when you see them".

"Ofcourse! Don't you worry about it", he said pinching Ezreal cheeks as if he was a baby.

They turned to leave but Ezreal turned back. "Sylas. Take care of the girls. Things might get dangerous outside the Academy".

"I got them", he smiled. "Especially Little Light". Ezreal clenched his fist so hard that his nails made his palm bleed.

"I'll protect her as if she was my lover". The blond boy took a step forward only for Kayn to discreetly restrain him. Sylas friends hadn't even noticed. They were just laughing like the morons they were.

"Leave it", he said so only Ezreal could hear him. At least he's finally shown his true colours. It wasn't my imagination.

"Boop!", she said touching Ezreal's nose. Her lower body was still in her portal.

"Zoe?! What are you doing here?", replied a the boy surprised.

"I was just bored..", she said as she lied down in Professor Graves' couch. "Have you guys been hiding here this whole week? Why did you leave me alone?", she said and pretended to start crying.

"Zoe. You need to leave. You're not supposed to be here", Ezreal had started to lose his patience.

"Hey Kayn! Can I be in your team for the group project?", she popped out of a portal next to Kayn's face. Her legs were still lying on the couch. Creepy. Did she even hear what I said?

"Don't you have a team?", asked Kayn shooing her away with his hand.

"I do! I mean.. I did but they kinda.. sorta.. kicked me out.. so.. pretty please?", she gave Kayn her sweetest smile.

"It's not up to me", Kayn raised his shoulders.

"Ezreal then! Can I be in your team?", she popped out of a portal next to Ezreal now.

"Me and Kayn are in the same team", he said putting Graves' boots on the floor.

"That's even better! When do I start?", she asked plopping on the couch once again.

"This isn't our decision. You'll have to talk to Lux about this".

Zoe froze. "Lux? Crownguard"?

"Yeah, she's the one in charge".

"Oh. It's just that.. I thought her name was Luxanna".

"It is. I just like to call her that", admitted a bashful Ezreal. Zoe stood up and sat next to Ezreal.

"Is she your girlfriend"?, she asked. The boy had never seen such a serious look on her face before. He felt his cheeks getting hot.

"She's-", he started to reply but his voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "She's not my girlfriend. We're just friends".

He saw a Kayn trying to muffle his laughter out the corner of his eye. But in his heart, he wished that what he said was a lie.

Zoe's smile was wide as she returned to her normal self. She curled up in a ball on the couch.

"Hey Ezreal.. Am I your friend too?", she asked hesitantly. Her question was unexpected.

"I guess so", was the only answer he could think of. I mean I like hanging out with Zoe. Most of the time. I guess I actually told the truth.

"Are you guys going to the winter festival"?, she asked out of the blue.

"The what?", said Kayn.

"Hello? The winter festival? Candy, balloons and most importantly the winter ball"?

The boys gave eachother confused looks and Zoe rolled her eyes.

"What would you do without me?", she carried on annoyed. "They were even selling tickets for it"?

The boys still looked confused.

"They made an announcement about it!", she said angrily.

"I remember that, yeah. I had completely forgotten about this. They were saying something about how you should bring a date or something?", said Ezreal.

Zoe gave him a devilish smile. "Isn't it a good chance to ask the girl you like out"?

Should I ask Lux out? It's not that bad of an idea, is it?

"Oy Zoe, don't you have other things to do? We're kinda busy here", said Kayn with a broom in his claw.

"Tsk. Fine", she stuck her tongue out towards Kayn. "Bye Ezreal!", was all she said before she vanished into one of her portals.