NOVEL FROG Chapter 7: Fan the Flames
Chapter 7: Fan the Flames
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What on earth was Scarlette doing here? Wasn’t she supposed to be in District 1? But here she was, wearing our school uniform no less.
Upon the announcement of her Rank, the whole class had straightened up. Even Kazen looked up.
“Scarlette will be joining us from now on. Okay Scarlette, you may take a seat right over… uhh... it seems we’ve run out of tables. Can one of you accompany her to the storage room for another table?” Ms Reina ordered. Kazen had taken the last table, so there wasn’t any available tables left.
Seizing the opportunity, I raised my hand. Usually, I would just keep silent and let the teacher choose someone else, but I wanted to speak privately with Scarlette. The moment I offered my help, Scarlette noticed me. A flash of disbelief flickered across her face. She immediately turned away, attempting to mask the shock on her face.
“Cadel?” Kaede wore a concerned expression. She looked greatly confused.
“Chill man it’s only the second day of school!” Jonah grinned, patting my back. “I’ll be your wingman if you insist.”
“It’s not like that guys, I can explain later,” I uttered as I got up from my seat.
As soon as we both left the classroom, Scarlette rushed up to me.
“What are you doing here?!” she hissed.
“I’ve been here all along. What are YOU doing here?” I shot back.
Scarlette grimaced. “Uh, long story short, I got expelled.” She quickened her pace.
“Huh? Why? What for?” I demanded.
“It’s your fault, you dumbass! Remember I flew over to your District and you bullied me? Yeah, well, as I was flying back I noticed a security camera pointing in my direction. If someone saw me talk to you, and worse still, see me get humiliated by someone from District 4, I would’ve gotten into big trouble! So I panicked and burned down the camera,” she admitted.
I stared at her, dumbfounded. “Okay first off, I did not bully you. You were asking for it – I acted in self-defence. Second of all, why did you destroy the camera?! You know that’s illegal!”
“Shut up! I had no choice! I was in trouble either way. It just so happened that there was an esper from the school faculty who could replay past scenes in his mind. When they noticed the camera was destroyed, they brought him to the scene of the crime, and that was it for me… ”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A constellation of bad events had just occurred. It was almost impressive, but fate was fickle in that way. We retrieved the spare equipment from the storage room and headed back.
“I’m surprised they would expel you over that. I thought they would’ve just given you a stern warning or something,” I commented.
“That’s because “I” was the warning,” she lamented. “District 1 does not play around. I was the perfect example for them to use as a precedent.”
“Why didn’t you go to District 2 or 3 then?”
She let out a shaky laugh. “They uh, didn’t accept me. Only District 4 allowed me to enrol, in spite of what I did. I guess you guys really are lacking 5-Star talent.”
I conceded that fact. “Regardless, I’m happy you’re with us now. I’ve been wanting to spar against you.”
She perked up. “You’re on!”
At the very least, I was glad Scarlette wasn’t feeling too down. I had expected her to be feeling more moody or disheartened, but she seemed to be coping as best as she could, considering the circumstances.
Back in class, Scarlette tried looking for a spot to station her desk. Unfortunately, the classroom was almost full. The only empty space was a small area behind the last row.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Scarlette gestured to the area right behind my desk.
“Yeah sure,” I sighed, placing the desk I had offered to help her carry behind my own. Scarlette slot in her chair accordingly.
I disliked someone sitting behind me – the reason why I even picked the last row in the first place – but there was no helping it here.
“Hey! Nice to meet you! The name’s Jonah!” Jonah offered, attempting to shake Scarlette’s hand.
She awkwardly returned the handshake. “Uh yeah, hi.” I guess Scarlette wasn’t expecting someone to be so approachable.
I glanced at Kaede, who was fidgeting in her seat. Eventually she introduced herself as well. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kaede.” She gave a polite wave.
“Nice to meet you too,” Scarlette responded with a smile, though it looked a bit forced in my opinion.
Ms Reina finally got into the curriculum. Despite being Combat students, we weren’t spared the usual subjects like Maths and Science. While I was adept at academics, I didn’t find them particularly interesting, so I just prayed for lunchtime to arrive as soon as possible.
Finally, the bell chimed. We stood up, preparing to head to the cafeteria.
“Wanna join us?” I asked Scarlette.
“I’m not really looking forward to the food in District 4, but if you insist,” Scarlette shrugged. I rolled my eyes.
Shortly after, we collected our meals and found a table. It was fried rice for our meal today.
Scarlette picked at her food suspiciously. “I miss the food in District 1,” she muttered.
“So Scarlette, what’s your Ability?” Jonah probed.
Scarlette held up her index finger, a tiny flame dancing on her fingertip. “Fire.” She quickly put it out.
Jonah’s jaw dropped. I saw Kaede tense up.
“What do you think? Am I cool or what?” she bragged. Jonah nodded furiously.
“You’re a 5-Star right? Why aren’t you in District 1?” he demanded, a big, oblivious smile on his face.
Scarlette blushed. “Well that’s a-a…”
Jonah wasn’t done talking. “You and Cadel seemed like you knew each other. Did y’all meet somewhere before?” he continued firing.
“Wait!!” Scarlette gasped, holding up her hand. “Umm… I mean….” She stuttered.
I didn’t want Scarlette to get upset, so I butted in. “It’s a bit of a personal thing, you see,” I informed Jonah.
“Oh. That’s alright, do feel free to share whenever!” Jonah beamed.
Scarlette heaved a sigh of relief, signalling a thank you to me with her eyes.
“You owe me one,” I signalled back. She glanced away, feigning ignorance.
The rest of our meal mainly consisted of Jonah probing Scarlette about her power, and her eating up all his praises. I was just glad it wasn’t awkward at least.
Lunchtime quickly flashed past. Before we knew it, we were back in class, with Ms Reina handing out the latest instructions.
“Okay listen up, this is important. As you all know, we will be having a training camp in a few weeks time. For that, you guys are gonna have to get into groups. Form a group of 4 or 5 members as soon as possible and let me know,” she instructed. “I’ll let you know the details of the camp the closer we get to it, but just focus on forming a team for now. Use the time before the camp to get to know each other and understand your Abilities better. I'll give you 20 minutes to find a group.”
The sudden instructions caused the class to start whispering among themselves. I quickly mulled over the possibilities. We currently had 4 members: me, Kaede, Jonah and Scarlette. We already had a team. Even so, one extra person could prove to be useful.
“Are we good with the four of us?” Kaede asked.
“Hold on,” I said. I skimmed over my classmates, recalling their Abilities. I considered Kazen, but I was afraid his personality and Rank may clash with Scarlette’s. There was a high chance they would disrupt the team’s harmony with their huge personalities, so I decided against him. I rejected Daxston for the same reason.
I finally decided on one. I walked over to the front of the classroom and stopped beside a shy-looking girl.
“Mira, would you like to join our group?” I asked.
Mira Coven. I vaguely remembered her as being the second to go during the self-introduction yesterday, right after Spencer. She had declared herself as a 2-Star healer, before Daxston stole the scene.
Mira fixed her massive glasses. “I- I guess, if you don’t mind. Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes, our team could use a healer,” I stated matter-of-factly.
“Er, okay, sure,” she stammered. I brought her over to the back of the classroom, where the rest of my team were watching. I briefly explained my reasons for choosing her.
“Nice dude! We have a healer now!” Jonah exclaimed.
“Good call.” Kaede gave me a thumbs-up.
“Hey, who made you the leader?” Scarlette snorted.
“Healers are important in any team, am I wrong?” I reasoned.
“That’s…” Scarlette pouted. “Nah, you’re right. But why are you the leader?”
“I never said I was.”
“Good. I’ll be the leader then. Any objections?” Scarlette declared.
Kaede looked like she was about to say something, but caught herself.
I shook my head. Frankly, I was glad I didn’t have to be the leader. Too much attention and responsibilities.
“If Cadel’s fine with it, I’m fine too!” Jonah agreed.
Kaede and Mira gave the go-ahead as well.
“That settles it then! I’ll be the team leader,” Scarlette proclaimed. “Mira, how strong is your healing?”
Mira clasped her hands together. “Umm, don’t expect too much from me… I’m only 2-Stars after all, but I can heal anything less than broken bones, I guess.”
That was more than enough for me. With Scarlette and I, our team had more than enough firepower for pretty much anything the camp could throw at us. I had just decided to have a healer join us as a sort of insurance. I highly doubted that any of us would suffer serious injuries. The school would be looking after us anyway, since it was a school-controlled camp. Still, it was better to be safe.
Our team continued discussing our Abilities. Scarlette had frowned during Kaede’s and Jonah’s turn, but she didn’t comment on it. Meanwhile, I was busier observing the rest of the class, noting which individuals were pairing up with each other.
One powerful pair stood out. I guess it was a given, since they were the two candidates I had previously considered. Daxston was standing beside Kazen. Kazen wasn’t here when Daxston threw a fit yesterday, so he probably didn’t know what Daxston was capable of. The latter was still a 4-Star though, which seemed to satisfy Kazen. However, it seemed like they had trouble looking for teammates.
As groups formed all around us, I noticed Spencer unable to find one as well. His Ability to change the colours of objects did not seem very appealing to the other groups, so he was consistently getting rejected.
“Come on guys, I’ll be useful!” he pleaded. I had a feeling his aloof, happy-go-lucky personality rubbed some people the wrong way as well.
Eventually, time was up. The majority of the class had already formed groups, except for a certain few. Ms Reina stood in front of the class, signalling our attention.
“Show of hands how many of you have yet to find a group… okay it’s just the four of you left. Let’s see… Daxston, Kazen, Spencer and… Raven. We’ll have you guys form the last group, alright?”
I looked over at a lone girl, sitting by herself. She had startlingly long, black hair, bangs covering her small face. If memory served me right, that should be Raven. She certainly reminded me of the bird of similar namesake. She had introduced herself as a 1-Star esper, with the ability to perform magic tricks, pulling a whole walking stick out of her pocket for her Ability demonstration.
Snapping back to the present, I expected her to protest the decision or at least look a little upset. I was surprised to see that wasn’t the case.
Administration Notes
School: Waning Crescent Institute
Name: Mira Coven
Gender: Female
Year: First-year
Rank: 2-Star
Division: Combat
Ability: Standard healing abilities, nothing remarkable. Practiced on a patient at Glovendale General Hospital for her practical assessment. Effective at healing lighter wounds but unable to heal severe injuries such as broken bones or fractures.
