Chapter 38: Friendship is Bitter
The moment Luciel left the room, the oppression everyone felt started to reduce and was starting to dissipate.
Sabrina, who had to stay frozen on the table, was suddenly able to move again, but she only used it to go back to her chair and to continue eating, as if nothing had happened.
But the same couldn't be said about Acerola, who fell onto her knee as she was finally able to breathe freely. "Kha kha couph…aaaah…" Despite being able to deduce what was happening and thus breathe despite her brain sending absolutely no signal to do so, she still suffered from the experience as it felt like the air inside her lungs felt completely lost.
But despite this experience, she was able to deduce more precisely what happened. '…he doesn't control other instinct…he just steals the sense of touch of our nervous system, which makes all of the actions that are usually regulated automatically by our brain null. And this aura…that just him augmenting the sensitivity of our amygdala…did the ghosts lie to me?' She briefly considered this possibility before shaking her head. 'No, the most obvious answer is that the Traitor lied to them…or maybe he was just wrong?'
But she didn't have more time to consider all the possibilities when a ghost suddenly warned her of someone jumping toward her, but the signal was too late, which made her unable to dodge the assault of a certain blond girl.
"Why did you do that you idiot!" Acerola was immediately slammed against the ground, and Cynthia made sure that she wouldn't be able to get up by sitting on her while grabbing her collar.
The whole room gasped when they saw a sudden new fight right after the previous disaster.
But despite the situation, Acerola only looked annoyed, as she looked at Allister for help, but she was soon even more disappointed when she saw only anger when he looked at her. Which was enough for her to understand that he wouldn't translate for her this time.
Of course she could easily escape from Cynthia, but she just didn't feel like passing through her disgusting soul of living.
'I guess I have no other choice but to listen to their ugly voice.' After a sigh, she put back her soul to the mortal world, finally letting her understand what Cynthia was even saying.
'Tch, it's too warm here.'
"Luciel is now in pain because of you, so how can you dare to act as if you were the one who got the worst out of it! I would tell you the be ashamed of yourself, but I don't think you even know what it means!"
Cynthia's scream was only met with Acerola's deadpan expression. "I made myself able to listen to you just to hear your word, and you make sure to use the worst possible sentence of your life? At this point, you should just die to make sure it doesn't become your second worst."
Her answer was only met with the ground as, as Cynthia made sure to slam her head to the ground once more. "Well what does it say about you? Mistress of the dead isn't even able to notice that someone would prefer your death than giving away his friend! The only death thing you are able to control is your common sense it seems!"
The other student looked at each other as if they wanted to stop the conflict, but a wave of had of a certain green-haired archon made everyone's motivation to stop it disappear.
Acerola was about to comment about the pain in her head, but Cynthia's insult hurt her even more than the impact on the ground. "How was I supposed to know that he wouldn't care that I was an Archon and just decide to attack me! No one is supposed to attack me for such a little matter, and you dare to insult my common sense! At least I'm not a danger to others like him…or you for the matter!"
Cynthia was even more angry, but right before she could rebuke, Iono placed her hand on her shoulder with worry.
"What is it?!" Cynthia snapped back with anger, but Iono didn't back down in fear.
"We're doing really bad media right now…we should take that out elsewhere." Iono recommended while vaguely pointing toward the other student, which prompted Cynthia to look around the room, just to see that everyone was looking at their dispute.
She didn't have perfect hearing, but she could still easily guess that everyone was talking about how uncomfortable the situation was. Her expression only looked colder, as she released Acerola from her grip and stood up and started to walk away.
"Eh…wait, where are you going?" Iono asked in confusion as Cynthia started to walk toward the same exit Luciel used.
"I'm going to find Luciel and bring him back." Cynthia responded confidently, but Iono immediately panicked as she ran toward her to grab her arm, but she wasn't strong enough, so she was dragged along against her will.
"You can't do that! You just saw that he isn't in the right state of mind right now! He might very well hurt you, if not kill you by accident! You wouldn't want him to suffer through that would you!?"
If her physical restraint didn't work, her words certainly did. "Are you saying that you consider Luciel as a threat Iono?" Cynthia's words were now much more colder than before, which immediately made Iono back away in fear. And if it wasn't because she experienced Luciel's aura previously, she would have probably called it her scariest experience.
But as it wasn't, she was able to formulate an answer. "Of course I don't! I just consider that right now I might very well be a worse threat to his mental state than he is to me!" Cynthia's eye didn't change expression, so Iono changed her tactic. "And what will you even tell him then?"
This time, Iono managed to make Cynthia change expression, but she wasn't finished as she started to speak in a higher tone voice. "Oh don't worry Luciel, I might be unable to stand before you without trembling, and all the school now think you are unstable, but everything will be fine because I think it is!"
"And because you think leaving him alone is better?! Who can say what he is going through right now!"
"He's an archon, if there's anything that can harm him here, then we will be powerless to stop it either!"
"She didn't mean that." Mina interrupted their dispute as she lazily rose from he seat. "Luciel isn't going to be fine, as his most powerful enemy is against him."
Iono's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, he's already a personal enemy?! And his getting attacked by it…who is it!"
"Himself, he's hurting himself."
Iono blinked rapidly before winching. "Well…what are we supposed to do about that? Beat him up so he doesn't have to do it himself?" Iono said in a sarcastic tone.
"I think…that we…" Allister tried to speak, but he was instantly silenced by Mina.
But Iono didn't think she would do so, and even less that she would take her earlier proposition seriously. "What? No? Why would we do that?"
"Eh! No, that's not what I…hurgh…I just wanted to ask what we should do if we meet him? I can try to sing a song, but he isn't the type of person who likes loud noise." Iono explained, but she was only met with a look of confusion from both parties, but she soon understood why, and couldn't help but get mad at it. "I'm a pokestream, of course I know how to read what people like or don't! And with the way he was trying to make himself small when people were screaming before Lance fought our dean, it was pretty obvious to me that he doesn't like big sound or excitement. In fact, that's why I think it's better if we leave him alone so we could instead create a foolproof plan to make him happy again! Rushing to him would just make him madder and then I would lose my only way to reach my fan."
A silence suddenly appeared among the group, which Allister tried to use to make his point known. "I…think it we should…" But of course he didn't speak loud enough to be heard, nor did was Cynthia in the right state of mind to listen either.
"Your fans! That's what you care about right now?!" Cynthia lashed out at Iono in surprise. "Luciel is probably terrified right now, and you only care about what you can no longer take from him!?"
Iono looked at the ground in shame, but still weakly nodded. "…I know this might make me sound like a jerk…but I barely know him for less than a day…and he isn't exactly the most outspoken, so I didn't really have the time to really consider him as a close friend…of course with time that could change…but it didn't happen yet…But of course I'm sure that you know him for longer than me with how you're reacting, so of course I can understand your willingness to help him! But…I don't share it…just…just business." She finished with hesitation, but Cynthia's face turned to ashes as if she had just realized something horrifying.
"I…I only meant him three days ago…why…why am I caring for him so much?"
"Ah…heu…oh…" Iono was dumbfounded by her answer and tried to catch back her words, but in the end she could only mutter a sincere smile. "…listen, I can understand that not everyone has the same standard…but maybe raise your a little?"
"I…"
But Cynthia didn't have the chance to finish her sentence, as someone interrupted all of them. "Enough, it doesn't matter when you met him, all you need to know is that someone who cares about us is suffering alone, this should be the only reason you need!"
This was the third time someone looked at someone else in shock, but this time it was the biggest reaction as the one who said that was Allister.
It seems not even he noticed his sudden intensity, as he suddenly froze up, before his face was covered in red as he tried to hide his face behind his face with his Mimikyu plush. "Or…or…or…if…you want…sorry…for…sc…scre…scream…ming…"
"No, you are right…Luciel should still prefer to see us than leaving him alone…after all, if he hated loud sound that much…then it must simply mean he loved the company enough to not leave." Cynthia added, but she was clearly not as confident as before, as another thought seemed to take more impact inside her mind.
Mina also seemed to understand her emotions, so she decided to support her position. "When Luciel left, the colour that shined the most around him wasn't white…but blue…which represents sadness…so I think the act of leaving us made us more sad than we think."
With three people supporting this decision, she was still hesitating, so she just wanted to see what was the opinion of the other friend of Luciel was, just to see Sabrina jumping out of her chair just to walk away as if it didn't matter to her.
Iono was prepared to scream something to her. 'Wait! Come back!' But Sabrina cut it short as she answered right before anything could be asked.
'The situation with Luciel seems to already be in the way of being resolved, so there should be no danger, nor should it have anything to do with me. He has no reason to care about me after all, I only spoke two words to him, nothing worth of sympathy.'
'…so there's no danger? Then everything should be fine…so why don't you want to join us?'
Despite not sending words yet, Sabrina still looked at Iono weirdly. 'And why would you care either? You were the first one against the idea. No matter how deep I search, I can't find the answer, so please enlighten me lightbulb.'
Iono was offended by the last part, mainly because it was true. 'I'm a very contradictory person alright! A lot of thoughts pass through my brain without ever stopping! So now I want to help Luciel as much as I contradicted myself from before!'
'You could have just said it was from your esper power…or you could have thought nothing, I already knew this answer.'
Iono's face grew red as she made an effort to cover her body. 'Hey! Don't just go around looking into our memory! That private stuff! I will have my mod block you if you continue!'
But her only answer was an expressionless face from Sabrina, which slowly made her anger dissipate, Iono's expression grew melancholic as she caressed her arm. 'And…it is also my responsibility to draw a smile to everybody…no matter how hard it can be…or else it would be a betrayal to my fans.'
Sabrina slowly judged Iono's memory before letting go of the matter. '…I also said that he shouldn't care about me, what more do I have to say?' Despite sending this message, Sabrina still stopped walking to listen more clearly to her thoughts.
'Well from what I've seen, you were the one who stopped him from doing more damage, isn't it? You even took his spell in return for doing that. So the one Luciel should feel more shame should be you…no?'
'…I fail to see why he would care enough about me to feel shame…and I only stopped him because I noticed that the damage he would cause could also be problematic to me…'
'…well you can't read his mind either…so how could you know?'
'…' Iono still felt the weird sensation inside her brain that signified Sabrina was connecting to her thoughts, but there wasn't any message sent.
"And if Luciel does appear to be problematic again…then we would need your help to stop him…don't you think?" Iono finally talked directly to her, which made Sabrina hesitate. "And someone as strong as another archon would be needed…so what about a true archon?"
'I suppose your argument makes sense…' After staying in the same spot for a long time, she finally turned around and walked back toward her table to put her plate on it. 'And there is no danger …and it is already too late to leave before it happens.'
'Wait, what happened?' Iono thought immediately, but it was answered right after.
"I see that you are distracted by a lower cause, so could you please gather your energy back to what really matters?" A gentle voice reasoned among the group, yet none of them were put at ease by it. "Oh please don't be agitated, it pains my heart to see you in such fright, but sadly others suffer from the same, so I will have to sacrifice your well-being sadly."
The reason for their fright was evident, as Natural, the king of Unova, but also the Nature Archon was right in front of them.
Which was why they were surprised that someone else was able to respond to him naturally. "…Natu…I mean…master…I don't think you should say it like that…" Yellow said to Natural with the most polite tone she was able to muster.
Natural looked back at her with confusion while leaning his head to the side. "Really? I was pretty sure that this would be the most appropriate statement at the moment."
Yellow looked at him with a deadpan expression before caughing into her fist to gather back the attention. "What Natural was trying to say is that everyone here is currently worried by what just happened, as it is already the second time they received an attack from the gloom Archon…so if you could just give us an explanation about what happened…it would be greatly appreciated…" She said in an even more gentle tone, which was finally able to put the group at ease, but her message was also loud enough for everyone to focus their attention toward them again.
As for Natural, he looked at his other maids with a gaze that was practically asking them if this was truly the most appropriate statement, and was left surprised when he saw them nod.
"Oh, then the brightest, most awesome lightbulb is ready to give you the answer that will clear away all of your doubts like the light in the dark!" Iono suddenly drew all the attention again, saving the rest of the group from the gaze of judgment from the rest of the room. "You see, all of us were all fine and dandy, and eating the delicious meal that was sent to us, when suddenly, this weird girl tried to assault Luciel and steal his pokemon. So of course, Luciel was mad at her for doing that, so he attacked her back…but of course as it was an archon, he couldn't hold back, which ended up affecting the rest of the class by accident. Which of course, by realizing that he ended up hurting others, he tries to distance himself and immediately cease it! But knowing him, he probably feels guilty right now, so we just planned to go meet him to reassure him." Iono immediately turned around while grabbing Sabrina and Cynthia on the way to leave the fastest she could, as she had a terrible feeling about the king in front of her, one that told her that she couldn't afford to discuss with him even longer.
But to her relief, Natural didn't pursue and simply nodded along. "Well this is perfectly understandable then. I would also be directed toward anger if such a travesty were to happen to my pokemon." But just as he was turning around, someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Now, now Natural, it's not already fixed, the other student has a lot more worry than this." Aaron said with a coerced smile, as he clearly didn't expect for Natural to suddenly forget their plan. "You did say that this would also happen if you were the one in this situation, but your anger wouldn't have attacked the innocent bystander, right?"
Natural didn't even listen to his words, and was instead fixing intensely the hand on his shoulder.
But this was for this exact reason why Aaron made sure to touch, as his instinct told him that letting him answer this question would only cause more problems to their plan. "Oh there's no need to murmur it my friend, you can say it out loud that you wouldn't, there's no need to try to cover the incapacity of someone else to control their own power." Aaron said while removing his hand from the king's shoulder, as he started to look toward Acerola, who was still lying on the ground in misery from having to hear what she considered as disgusting voices.
"But I do suppose that we can do better than putting the blame on the victim, instead, we should punish the aggressor."
Acerola immediately turned her head in horror when she heard what Aaron just said, and tried to run away, but she was grabbed by Korina, the War Archon, before she could fully stand up.
"No, let me go! I don't want to be enslaved by you alive people!" Arcerola tried to become intangible to pass through Korina's arm, but she made sure to cover her arm with her own energy to deny her this opportunity.
Aaron looked satisfied with the outcome as he looked toward Iono. "Now, what do you say we take care of punishing her, while you go try to calm down the Gloom Archon."
Acerola stopped debating as she realised that she was completely stuck, and could only look tearfully at Iono as her last chance to escape, but she wasn't about to cause a fight with 3 archon, probably four if Lance was watching, just to save another one who bring her absolutly nothing…or that would be if she was thinking logically. "Now I know that she causes everyone a lot of trouble…but shouldn't it be the teacher who takes care of her?"
But as if he were expecting such an argument, Aaron immediately denied it. "It would make sense, but sadly, they don't have the power to restrict her, nor can they affect her in any way that would rely bother her, but we do have this power, so to protect the other student from her whim, we will make sure she doesn't want to make any badf move ever again." Aaron tried to sound as convincing as he could, as he was already ready to move away to 'correct' her behaviour. But Korrina spoke to them before he could announce his departure.
"Say…when you go meet Luciel…could you say that I'm sorry for punching him…it just…I thought he wouldn't stop and cause even more harm to the Ancestral Archon…and I swear I didn't intend for my punch to blow his chest…he was just way more fragile than I expected…" She said honestly, and in clear shame of the event.
Korina's statement made Cynthia raise an eyebrow before scoffing. "Don't praise yourself that much, Luciel doesn't even remember this event…nor the pain…nor your name."
"Oh…well…I suppose I do deserve it…" She said clearly disappointed about this news, but she didn't try to extend the conversation.
Aaron nodded when he saw this, as he was prepared to move again. "Well, if we're finished on that side, we can…" But his face fell when he saw that Natural was just about to speak again.
"I was meant to ask, but how is he alive?" Just as Aaron was about to stop him, as the longer this dragged on, the more chance there was that Geeta would come here to stop them, he stopped this intent as even he was curious about this answer. All of his instincts clearly told him that he was dead, and even the specialist on deciding if someone was alive or not told the same. Yet they suddenly saw him completely fine as if nothing had happened the very next day.
Iono looked at Cynthia for an answer, but even she shook her head, as despite having some clue from Nurse Joy, she didn't receive the full explanation. "Well…we don't know."
'It is a secret that should only be answered by Luciel's own free will.' Sabrina said inside the mind of everyone as she watched intensely, Acerola who was pleading to her directly.
"Hmm? Why would he keep it a secret?" Natural asked, completely clueless about what the reason could possibly be.
Exasperated by his reaction, Yellow had no other option but to murmur inside his ear. "There's no need for any deep reason why something must be a secret, and most of the time it's because they don't want to break the trust of someone else, or their own personal shame."
"Anyways, we're not here to take secrets from others, we're here to make sure that people who were praised as gods since a young age don't act like one in front of those weaker than them." Aaron made a motion toward Korrina to take away Acerola, who couldn't trash around anymore, only looking at the ground as if she were waiting to be buried beneath it.
Seeing the situation was resolved, the rest of the student started to resume their previous activity, but this time with less enthusiasm, as they were once more exposed to the difference in power between them and Archon.
Natural, spend a little more time observing them before also turning around.
"…well this is bad…" Iono could only mutter in dismay.
"And it doesn't matter, we took enough time, we should go see Luciel instead." Cynthia pressed as she looked back at the table. "Are you also coming?"
Allister and Mina didn't hesitate to jump from their seat, but both Clair and Bea stayed there.
Cynthia's eyes lowered as she noticed this. "Why are you staying there?"
"Because if I join you, it would be interpreted as me choosing your side, which is not the one I'm taking." Clair answered clearly.
Cynthia frowned, but she fully understood what she meant, as right now, this banquet looked more like an event where groups were formed, so any choice made here would establish your future friend and enemy for the rest of their school years…and Clair wasn't about to join the one of Luciel. "…very well, you make as you wish…thanks for the day at least…it was fun…"
Clair's eye widened slightly, but she made sure to hide it. "You're welcome…"
Cynthia then diverted her attention toward Bea instead. "And why are you not?"
"Oh… It's just because Korinna told me that they would prepare something for everyone here and she told me to stay." Bea said confidently. "But if I leave now, I will miss it, so I can't."
Allister was shocked by this statement as he looked back at Bea in horror. "You…you won't… accompany…me?"
A trace of guilt immediately appeared on Bea's face, but she decorated it with a clearly fake expression of wisdom. "Of course, you need to learn not to rely on others anymore, so just consider this as another part of your training…right, that's right, it's just your training!"
"…I…I see…" Allister lowered his face, which stopped Bea from seeing the expression he was making, but she was sure it was probably only one of shyness as he always showed her.
Of course if she was asked to, Mina could have easily said that he was currently covered by red, but she wasn't, so she didn't say anything.
"Let go." For the second time today, Allister spoke without stuttering.
It was at this moment that Bea understood there was something wrong, but she was too late to stop him, as he left the room without looking back.