Chapter 54: Group of Lazy
"…the outfit is nice…" Someone wearing a pretty plain dress of pink and white, even if these clothes were barely distinguishable as her whole body seemed to be covered entirely in her brown hair, said in faint approbation as she looked toward Clair.
Her appearance was enough for me to identify her as Caitlin, someone who barely ranked to the fifth level because she forgot to reopen her eyes when she closed them, and decided to just sleep in the middle of the battle. So it is evidence that she was also a member of our class.
Beside her stood a girl who was wearing a more monochrome dress that ended up in a skirt. Her eyes were neatly tied up as she stood behind Caitlin. "You heard the mistress, she wants your outfit, so give it to her."
This person was much less distinguishable than Caitlin, but that's also what made her stand out from the rest of the students. Her name was Marley, and there wasn't really anything noteworthy about her performance. She also ended up on level five, but the only reason she stopped was due to her lack of power rather than a mistake of her own. Well…some people may indeed consider her weakness as being a mistake, but I'm not among these people. All that is important is that she's among the other classroom, the one where the teacher actually believe that their student may have any worth.
"…no…that's not what I mean."
"You heard the mistress, she doesn't want your outfit, she only likes to look at it, so only wear that for the rest of your day."
"Is everyone here sincerely liking this humiliating costume? Is it a collaborative effort to prank me? Or is it just a new form of…gmh!" Cynthia suddenly placed her hand in front of Clair's mouth to make her shut down.
"Sssh! There are kids around."
"Gmh!" Noticing that she wanted to say something, Cynthia removed her hand just to be met with the spite of Clair.
"We're all kids here! She must be able to learn what it is one day!" Clair pointed toward a little girl wearing a cute blue dress…and eating one of my poképuff innocently.
I also recognised her…well to be honest, it was Iono who somewhat knew all of them, so I simply remembered all the information she shared with the audience, some were even surprised by how much she knew about them…well, there was one person she didn't make any comment on…myself, but I still ignore if it was because she didn't feel the need to say anything at this point, or that she genuinely didn't know anything about me.
Well in either case, this little girl was called Poppy, and she was apparently the youngest pokemon wielder that managed to get qualified, and not even as the weakest of the bunch. She did manage to reach the sixth tier with relative ease…the problem is that she also reacted in a way worthy of her age when she lost…crying.
But seeing her now enjoying MY poképuff, I think she's rather happy.
"…I…I think it is still rather important that…that she discover this type of stuff…in a more professional setting…who knows the kind of damage that can happen in her private life if she learn it in such a vulgar manner." Shauntal tried to point out, but she got shut down by Clair's glare.
"Who even are you!?"
However, her intimidation was halted by a swift strike to the head from nurse Joy. "Someone who seems to have a better head on her shoulders than you currently do!"
The Blackroot clan member pouted at the aggression while rubbing her head. Of course she wasn't in pain from the hit, Nurse Joy would never hit her that hard. She just found the situation annoying.
"Luciel…who are these people?" I got distracted from the current scene to look behind me where Allister was currently peeking over my shoulder.
I wanted to answer his question, but even I was currently trying to piece the event together to understand what was even happening.
We were just heading back to our dorm when I was already trying to find an excuse to say to Nurse Joy, yet when we entered, there were four news people I had never met before waiting in our seats.
But soon, my gaze drew toward the only unexpected person here that I knew, Sabrina.
Are these Sabrina's friends?
No, we're Sabrina's friends, how could she dare have any other friends than mine? It's probably only her roommate.
…but we never met her during our investigation, so how is it possible that she knew to be there?
As if she noticed my gaze, Sabrina turned her head to look at me before ignoring me.
However, from the way Allister's body jolted, I could deduce that she sent him a message.
Understanding that I now awaited the translation, Allister started to tell me what she had just informed him. "So…apparently, she read the minds of those we try to propose to join us…and she decided to help us and gathered all of her roommates here."
Oh, I didn't know Sabrina was the best! I need to thank her.
"Thank you Sabrina for gathering everyone here." The conversation immediately died down as every gaze went toward me instead…and even more strangely, the newcomer looked at me in shock.
"I ignored that you could talk? I imagined that the only thing that could come out of your mouth were screams of the dammed." A girl wearing a pink kimono said in stupor.
This girl was named Valerie, and what made her extremely remarkable was that she wore a kimono like I once did, with her completely black eyes with some light white among them. To make it simple, it was as if she had the eye of a Vivillon. There was nothing else worth mentioning otherwise, as it looked like people were too weirded out by her to make any attempt at communicating with her.
It's small moments like these that made me glad no one will be able to look at my eye ever again…as at least now they can only hate me for what I am…and this hurts less.
Well, another thing noteworthy about her was that her clothes were made in a similar fashion to mine, and by this I mean even more than simply also being a kimono, but her clothes also had traces of patchwork made by herself or someone she knew. They didn't look of high quality, but they had more personality than most clothes I saw in the shop. For example, she drew some flowers on her dress, and she also clearly made sure to choose the appropriate colour for her patchwork.
"No, I do not like to scream, it hurts my throat and ears. And if I need to scream for someone else to listen to me, then it means he didn't want to listen in the first place.
Valerie nodded her head while never breaking eye contact with me, which would probably be terrifying if I weren't aware that I was doing way worse when I spoke to others. "I see, how saddening, I was hoping that you were some kind of extreme evil that a group of legendary heroes would have to be formed to defeat you and send you back to the distortion you belong."
Eh? What is she talking about? What even are heroes? You know what they are Pandora?
Pandora simply shook his body to show he had absolutely no idea what she was even talking about, so I simply put the information in the back of my mind and considered searching for the answer later.
Shauntal looked toward her before asking a question."…well, if that was the case, wouldn't that mean that we would have been among his evil subordinates?"
Valerie raised her hand in front of her mouth before gasping. "Oh my, how truly discomforting." But she regained her passive smile as she watched Sabrina. "However, I remind you that this gathering did not have the purpose of forcing us to join a group, I would really hope that no one used their influence to force me into such a terrible issue. Otherwise, I fear that I will have to escape, right?"
"Eh? Joining a group?" Caitlin widened her eyes and she looked around in confusion and fear. "But I don't want to, I don't want to listen the order of other loud people.
"Do not worry, madam, if such an egregious matter were to happen, I would be ready to lay down my life to let you escape." Marley said with a bow, while still reaching out for her only pokeball.
"We…we barely know each other…"
"This matters not to my devotion, madam!"
"No…like you just yelled that you would become my maid once I entered our dorm…I mean…my butler failed the test, so I don't mind having a servant helping me…but even he didn't do that much…"
"Then that's just mean he was a pitiful butler!"
Caitlin frowned, but was interrupted by Acerola before she could voice any complaint. "Well Luciel, what do you think? Cause if you really want to establish your new group, then it should be right now. I don't think anyone here would lower their guard like they are doing right now otherwise…Well, I don't think anyone here could resist anyway…you could also decide to be boring and just follow your promise, with me being your vice leader…if you don't mind, Sabrina."
The newcomers all looked at Acerola in slight fright, as they remembered there was little they could do if I really wanted to dominate them, but I was only confused as to why they even considered that to be my plan.
But happily, it was Cynthia who took charge of explaining. "Listen, you little troublemaker, you already caused enough trouble for Luciel, so for him to still invite you to our little movie party probably asked a lot of…" Cynthia paused for a moment to look at me, before he expression grew awkward. "… Alright, it probably asked nothing out of him as he probably forgot about all of it…but you could still just stop being such a troublesome girl!"
Acerola blinked in annoyance toward her before looking toward Allister.
Allister pushed a sigh as he realized he was being used as an intermediary once again, but he still resumed briefly what Cynthia said. "She said you were annoying, and you should stop being annoying to Luciel and his friend."
"…why do you not stutter when talking to me still confuses me…but whatever, just answer her that she should be the one to know her place, she was probably only accepted by the pity of Luciel. Otherwise, there's no way he would even consider a blank like her. So she should only lower her head instead of thinking for him."
Cynthia backed away in shock, before frowning heavily at her. She didn't even seem to consider using words this time and simply readied her pokeball to fight her right here and now.
But the opportunity flew away the moment Nurse Joy put her hand in front of her.
Cynthia looked at her with an aggravated expression, but decided to only stare her down.
"Eh…miss Acerola…this student was the one who got the highest score during today's tests just beside Lance."
"Eh? This fool?!" She looked back at Cynthia in shock before getting annoyed once more. "Well, that's troublesome…Now I look like a jerk for calling her a pity hire…"
"You…you already sounded like a jerk before…"
"Really?"
*Clap*
Everyone's head turned toward the origin of the sound, which ended up being nurse Joy clapping her hands. "Alright, everyone, I'm sorry to interrupt your gentle discourse. The last thing I want is to appear to be a fun breaker to all of you. However, as an adult, I think it is my responsibility to make some order here."
"Wait…you're an adult?" Poppy suddenly said as she finally looked away from MY poképuff.
"Hmm? Oh, yes I know that I may look as young as the rest of you, however, I am in fact the head doctor of the Zenith Academy, so if any harm comes to you or your pokemon, I will be the one responsible to heal you, so don't hesitate to call for my help."
Poppy looked at her with wonder in her eyes for some reason, but Joy coughed into her fist to force the other to focus on the topic again. "However, what I need you to know is that I was the one who asked Luciel to invite you here, and I'm glad that those who are here were willing to accept his request despite his reputation. As the one who took care of him, I can guarantee you that he is simply extremely dissociated from our common sense, but he is still extremely kind and would love to help any of you."
Eh? Why is she saying such an embarrassing thing so suddenly? Look! Everyone is looking at me with surprise now! It's embarrassing, now they actually think I'm kind…or that she's a liar or a fool…
…I don't want her to be considered like that…so I suppose I should act like a docile and manipulable person if I don't want her to be ridiculized in front of everybody.
"Yes, I'm very kind, I wouldn't hurt you even if you deserve it." I announced to everyone, who now looked at me with an awkward expression.
"Yeah, that's what she means when she says he had no experience with our common sense." Cynthia pointed toward me, and I also noticed that she was the only one who didn't look at me with an awkward expression.
Before I could wonder why, Joy continued her speech. "Of course, that wasn't my only intention; I also wanted to create an opportunity for some of the students to have some good memories from their stay at the academy. Because from what I came to understand, these first days were extremely rough on you, weren't they?"
Some of the student had a wry smile as saying it was rough would be an understatement, and it wasn't even the course that posed them difficulty, but their other colleague who didn't seem to be here to actually learn….Lance.
Most of them just thought of lowering their head and not actually bother with him, but they were still stressed from the experience, and also that he might come after them soon enough, and force them under his authority.
Joy noticed the reaction of those around her and had a sad smile as she noticed that the situation was as bad as she thought. However, before she could continue, Caitlin raised her hand. "Say, if you seem to be an important worker here…do you know what the direction plan is to deal with Lance?"
"I…I'm not actually invited to these conversations…but I do know that none actually happened yet, as Geeta seem interested to found the answer to the problem herself…but considering that not only Lance is an Archon, but also the leader of the entire dragon clan, we would have to assume that there's really little she can do…but not that she won't be able to break our expectations, it's won't be her first time after all.
However, if you don't want to remain passive while Lance tries to make everyone else follow his vision, then there are a lot of different things you can do that require little effort, for example, simply being vocal about your dissatisfaction with him should be enough to motivate others to also revolt against his expectations. Does that answer your question?"
Mina frowned. "And in case he gets angry and bullies us in return, what are we supposed to do? Please don't answer that we need to stay passive and get an adult to resolve the situation. Because…come on, adults are even lazier than we are, they won't do anything as long as they aren't given any reason to care about it."
Nurse Joy immediately closed her mouth before she could answer the exact answer Mina just warned her about.
I took this opportunity to answer on my own. "Don't worry, if he does bully you, just call me, and I will let him bully me in return."
"That's…that's not really a more favourable result, Luciel…" Mina caressed her brow in exasperation.
"Oh…then don't do anything that would make him bully you then, otherwise I will have to make a choice…and you just said you didn't like what my answer will be each time."
The arrivals all looked at me in surprise before, some tried to hide their mouth to chuckle, while nurse Joy looked at me with her mouth wide open, before closing it and massaging her brow.
Only Mina looked actually touched by my comment, as she returned it with a soft smile.
"Well, I suppose that not searching for any trouble may be the best option you have available…just let the adult take care of it then." Nurse Joy said as she completely gave up on motivating us to do anything against Lance's growing reign.
"But let not disgrace any further, so the reason why I gathered all of you here was that everyone could at least make some happy memories here, and hopefully some friends too. As Luciel and the rest of his doormates chose to listen to a movie tonight, and I proposed to them to invite everyone they could, so I hope you will appreciate this experience. Now, if you would excuse me, I think none of you would truly feel comfortable if an adult stayed here, so I will now take my leave. But remember, enjoy yourself as much as you want." Joy bowed in front of everyone and took a last look toward Clair to make sure she was still fine, then left our room with a wave of her hand.
The moment she left, the whole room was plunged into silence, as no one was truly sure what they should do now.
Even I was unsure of myself, as, despite knowing we were supposed to watch a movie, I had no knowledge of how it was even supposed to work, let alone start.
"So…Mina…what's the movie we're supposed to watch?"
"No, before that, are you seriously not using this opportunity to create your own group." Caitlin said in doubt.
"…why is everyone thinking that?" I couldn't help but ask at this point, as I never made any movement to make other people join any kind of group, nor did I have any ideology to propagate.
"Well…first of all, you're the strongest student here…in fact, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can realize Lance beside Geeta."
"I was only able to obtain the first level of today's fighting test, so I would say that I'm among the worst students here. Also, Volo and the Palmer guy do seem to be able to beat Lance…well, that's dependent on if his Dragonite is his only pokemon." I immediately contradicted her argument before she could continue, I wouldn't want her to have a false idea about me.
"…technically, he has more pokemon, but he doesn't carry them with him as he deems them unworthy of being around his belt." Clair was precise while twirling her hair. "Well, of course, usually only one Dragonite is more than enough to beat more than 99,9% of the population in any type of battle…it just happens that this 0,1% is here."
"Please don't try to avoid the topic…also you seem to misunderstand something, I'm not against you creating a group, actually, I would prefer to join it if you do."
"You would?"
But everyone seemed so against joining a group during the dinner, and everyone in the room avoided it as if they were presented with a plushie of me.
Yet now she wants to join my group, but why? No, from how everyone is listening to the conversation, I believe everyone is on the same opinion.
"Wait, why are you all considering that? First, I know Luciel is strong, but that shouldn't be the only thing you expect from someone who leads you. He needs to have a goal, and the ability to make everyone around him push themselves to achieve that goal…Luciel…does not have that type of motivation." Cynthia intervened as she gave everyone a weird look.
…yes…she's right, I do not inspire others to follow through my selfishness, they still have the option to be good after all, there's no need to drag them into my path.
"Cynthia, you made him sad." Mina said coldly.
"Yes, I never expected such a colourless being to be able to feel sadness." Valerie said as she inspected me with newfound interest.
"Why are you blue, mister?" Poppy said as she stood up on the sofa to look at me with worry.
Cynthia was taken aback by the situation as she looked at these esper with confusion. "Wait, what? But…urgh, sorry Luciel, I didn't mean to make you sad…just that I wanted to make clear to the other that you aren't fit to lead."
"Oh, but that's what would be the most beneficial for us, we don't want to be led." Caitlin waved her hand in dismissal which caused Cynthia to be surprised.
"Yeah, all we really need is your protection and your influence." Acerola added with a sugar.
I looked at them silently, and saw that most agreed with this sentiment.
…oh, I understand, it's like Allister, they want to remain weak, they don't want to get strong. Yet their surroundings force them to grow stronger, or else they will be swallowed by the adversity.
…actually, is this why Geeta is not doing anything? We're all under the impression that she has her hand tied up because she doesn't want to go against the clan behind Lance…yet she showed she was able to defeat him, their leader, easily at that. How hard would it be to force him into compliance? And even if she somewhat couldn't, what stops her from completely destroying Lance's reputation, isolating him from everyone else, and making others slowly hate him and everything he represents?
It worked out for him, so why couldn't she come up with such a scheme?
Well, probably for the same reason why this academy was even built in the first place, to allow the promising student to grow even stronger. And if the school offered all the resources to grow in strength, then Geeta was now creating an environment inside the school that would raise the willingness of the students to get stronger. And Lance simply offered himself as the perfect figurehead.
She simply defeated him in public to also motivate him into getting stronger, but her silence after this on this matter tells us that she's simply waiting for the result.
Or I might be wrong, I don't know Geeta nearly enough to make such a boastful accusation. Maybe she's truly restricted by the can of Lance, or maybe she had much bigger concerns that forced her attention elsewhere.
However, whether I was right or wrong didn't matter, as the situation stayed the same. Our academy suddenly became a place where everyone now had to become stronger to not get subjugated by the other stronger students.
And in my room were the students who did not desire to become stronger, and wanted to rely on my strength and reputation to keep the other students away so they could do everything else that they wanted.
"Aren't you all a little selfish? You want Luciel to take care of you just because you don't feel like actually growing a spine?" Cynthia said in an almost growling tone, as even those who made this request grew fearful of her.
But before she could get even angrier at them, I spoke to them again. "So you want to rely…on me? Are you sure there's no better candidate? Acerola would probably be better, she's also an archon after all…or even Cynthia, she's smarter than me…actually, even Allister would be better than me, he's the kindest person I know."
Allister's eyes widened as he hid behind me. "Wait, Luciel…please don't say that… they're all looking at me now…"
…well they were more looking toward me than him, but if he doesn't like it then I shouldn't draw more attention toward him.
Cynthia also had something to say about my own commentary. "Also, no way in hell that I'm leading this bunch of failures."
"Rude." Clair responded with a frown, but didn't try to contradict her; in fact, no one even attempted to. Some even nodded to her statement as if it were obvious.
…yeah, they truly are from my class.
"Well, to come back to what you said, that's exactly why we want to join whatever group you do, cause from what I'm seeing, as long as we don't do anything to make you angry, then you will leave us alone to our own devices. I mean, you clearly don't even care about what I did to you, and you don't seem to have any big objective like the other archon. So you would have no reason to worry about yourself."
"So my lack of ability to lead you is exactly why you want to join me…then what are you gaining out of it?"
"Mostly protection, but also an excuse to stop being harassed by other student to join their group." Acerola answered.
"Yes…those students really are bothersome…" Caitlin added while diverting her gaze as she remembered the numerous students asking to join them.
"…so, you want me to protect you?" I asked in excitement, as if that was all that there was, then it would be easy!
However, Cynthia intervened and finally stood up to stand beside me. "Alright, that's enough from all of you. We didn't gather you here to allow you to slack off on your study or whatever, but to watch a movie together. So stop trying to pressurize him and…"
"Cynthia…it's fine." Cynthia looked at me with a gaping mouth as I interrupted her. "I…I don't want you to waste your saliva trying to defend me…and even less to hurt other people."
Cynthia was at first conflicted, then pushed a sigh of resignation. "…don't put yourself in a mess, alright? That's all I ask."
I nodded to her as she walked back to her seat with slight exhaustion and leaned on the sofa as if the conversation didn't matter to her anymore.
But the reaction of those around interpreted it as if I was actually able to control her.
"…so he can order her around, even Lance failed to do so…he's definitely better." Acerola murmured between her breath as she only grew more interested in joining Luciel. She was sure that once under him, no one would dare to disturb her.
As for her pride as an archon? Well, it was worthless in the first place; she couldn't even count everyone who was willing to die for this pride, and she certainly didn't want to add to this immense number.
"…so…I don't mind taking all of you in my group…but I have a small…selfish, request to make to all of you…" I said in shame, but I truly couldn't waste such an opportunity…and if they refuse…well then there's nothing I could do.
The group also pushed a groan of dissatisfaction, before nodding that they were ready to listen before leaving my room if they found it too much to ask.
"I just want, all of you to become my…no…you just need to act like my…neither…just act as if my presence didn't repulse you…to the minimum you're willing to show." I fidgeted with my finger as I was even scared to face their reaction, which I was pretty sure was only disgust and hate for me.
However, Mina's voice was suddenly interrupted. "Don't look at him like an idiot; he just means he wants to become friends with all of you."
I looked back at them, and finally saw that instead of the disgust I was expecting, it was only confusion that spread into their gaze, until Mina's comment turned it into one of understanding.
They…they aren't angry?
*Slam*
I barely had the time to consider their action as the door behind us opened with great force.
"Coming down like lightning! Flashing your eye with joy, and shocking you with her force! It is in the flesh, and the zone suddenly becomes filled with electricity! So make sound for her, to overpower the thunder!" Iono suddenly entered the room with sunglasses before removing them and throwing them behind her.
She wore a yellow coat with a design of electricity around it, and under it was a simple pink dress that barely covered her knees.
Iono smiled widely the moment she entered the room, before turning in a frown as she saw everyone else looking at her in surprise.
Iono's face grew red as she walked toward me and talked to me in a low tone. "… didn't I hear it wrong when you asked me to invite other people to our date…"
"Date? I just wanted to invite you to watch a movie with us, my new friend and I…do you still want to join us despite it not being…a date…whatever it is."
Iono blinked repeatedly before looking at the other student, and smirking. "So you invited me to put on a show, you should have started with that Luciel, putting on a show is my specialty!"