"Hanasta, you've gone mad! Let me go!" Georgiy replied in shock, gripping the wrist of the teenager in front of him in return.
But it didn't budge at all. Hanasta's grip was so strong that he couldn't do anything.
Had the boy in front of him always been this strong? Then why had he remained passive all this time, letting everyone bully him?
"Tell me who spread that story!" Hanasta ordered again. This time, his grip tightened. He looked as if he wasn't going to give Georgiy any chance to escape.
The teenager swallowed hard. This was probably the first time he had seen his roommate of the past six years looking so emotional. "I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Stay calm, Hanasta, he told himself. His breathing steadied. He loosened his grip and let Georgiy go.
The boy looked irritated by the treatment he had received. Throwing out a warning, he said, "I'm going to report this to the school board. Unlike you, they will definitely take my side."
"DON'T!" Hanasta reflexively shouted upon hearing that. "I… I can't be expelled."
Far more important than that, he couldn't let a stain tarnish his perfect academic record.
Rumors, scandals, bad news—any of those could be a red mark in the evaluation for the top student selection in high school.
Just three more years. Everything would be meaningless if he failed that evaluation.
"I really don't understand why you insist on staying in this school despite everything you've been through. If you were gone, things would be much better for all of us. You never should have struggled so hard to escape your status as a slum dweller," Georgiy sneered.
"So, what was your intention in telling me about this?" Hanasta asked, his thoughts now clearer. "Wouldn't it have been better if you all had either kept me completely in the dark or just gone straight to the Tidsears? What do you want from me?"
Georgiy smirked. "At first, I planned to go easy on you since you're powerless in this conversation, Hanasta. But after what you just did, I've changed my mind."
"Stop talking, Georgiy!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," the boy clicked his tongue, looking down at him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he thought in satisfaction, watching the so-called perfect student in front of him start to crack. If he kept pushing, maybe Hanasta would finally break and get kicked out of Special Proctor Gildas. Back to his filthy slum.
He then answered, "You'll have to find out on your own. What you need to understand now is that nothing is the same anymore. The rumors have spread far and wide, and you can't even imagine what the Tidsears are planning behind your back. Shouldn't you take the initiative first?"
"… "
Hanasta's silence made Georgiy feel even more superior. He continued, "You must have noticed the change in how the other students treat you lately, haven't you?"
Glukh.
"Worse things will happen if you don't act first."
Hanasta took a deep breath and decided to respond. "I won't do anything you people want."
Wait, what? Why was this happening? Was the pressure he applied not threatening enough?
Damn, if this failed, his deal with that person could fall apart. A deal that allowed him to take credit from the elite class.
Hanasta continued, "Such a petty threat won't bring me down, Georgiy. Tell that to whoever sent you to waste my time this morning," he said with a blank expression, turning away as he thought, I need to find out who spread the rumors straight from the school's computer! I don't have time for this nonsense any longer.
"Wait a moment," Georgiy called out.
Tap. "…"
The boy approached his back. "Don't you think it would be wiser to leave the school of your own will rather than let them dig deeper into who you really are? The peace between the slum area and the elite district could be shattered. It could spark a major conflict that Sylvaine Macarena doesn't need. It could even provoke the Allerick Gildas to act more brutally in our land."
If the rumor was false, the person who started it would twist it into the truth. That was entirely possible, considering how they had managed to influence so many people already.
If the rumor was true, the person who started it would make things even worse.
And me? I'm caught between truth and lies. Maybe, after holding back for so long, it's time for me to take more drastic action.
"Haahh…"
"Are you really ready to be the cause of so much destruction in this world, Hanasta?" Georgiy finally asked.
Tap, tep. The teenager with Old World Blue eyes turned around and smiled calmly at his provocative roommate. Then, he answered, "That's exactly what I intended from the very beginning, Georgiy."
Suddenly, his entire body froze. His throat felt constricted by an invisible force. Everything changed when he met the sharp gaze of the boy in front of him. This is insane!
Hanasta simply stared back. His eyes were cold and empty, like the sky before a storm.
He didn't need to explain anything.