“Sebastian told me his class is 3-A.” Jesse entered the school’s main building, feeling very nostalgic.
The classes had obviously ended as students left with their friends through the school gates. Yet, since they didn’t see Zach anywhere, Jesse volunteered to go fetch him because apparently Zach often stayed behind to clean up the classroom.
As he knew the school building’s inner layout better than his own pockets, he knew exactly which direction he needed to walk to reach class 3-A.
As soon as he entered the third floor, he turned to the class on the rightmost side of the hallway and entered it through the open door.
To his surprise, the classroom was empty except for a student cleaning the chalkboard with a wet sponge.
“Excuse me.” Jesse knocked on the wide-open door, attracting the students attention.
“Y-yeah?” The student acted timidly. He was clearly an introvert and seemed surprised to see someone else in the classroom.
Jesse looked silently at the student, imagining his face replacing the young man’s. It felt all too familiar.
He then shook his head and asked. “Do you know where Zach Rothsmith might be? I am his brother.”
“Uhm, I think I saw him go to the rooftop with Westlund.” The student replied before sighing. “I think Zach is being bullied by them.”
“Huh?” Jesse frowned. “What makes you think that?”
“I have seen him cry alone during lunch breaks, and sometimes he is applying medicine to his bruises.” The student lowered his head. “Westlund is an infamous bully. He has sometimes bullied me too, but as long as I keep quiet, he doesn’t notice me.”
Jesse’s eyes shook as past memories flashed by. The bullying he received left him with lifelong scars. They didn’t fade but only grew stronger as time went by.
“Give me that.” He pointed at the wooden pointing stick on the teacher’s desk.
“Uh, here?” The student took the wooden pointing stick and handed it over to the black-haired young man. “What do you want to do with that?”
“If those pieces of shit are bullying my brother,” Jesse put the pointing stick’s end below his shoe and stomped on it. The end broke, becoming very sharp and deadly. “Then I will bully them in return.”
“T-there is Westlund’s whole friend group.” The student’s voice trembled. “M-maybe you should get a teacher instead?”
“Teachers are fucking useless.” Jesse said and thanked the student before leaving the classroom. “While I was bullied and wanted to get help from them, they acted like everything was fine and that I should get along with my classmates.
“Fuck that!”
The students walked by, wondering who the stranger was and why he was carrying a broken pointing stick that belonged to a teacher.
Jesse walked up the flight of stairs and soon reached a green door with old paint buckets strewn about beside it. He reached out and turned the rusty doorknob. While he did that, he heard groans of pain and laughter.
“Whew.” Westlund wiped his sweat while looking at Zach, who was curled up in a ball while trying to protect himself. Dry tears streaked down his face. “Ugh, I am thirsty. Maybe that hot babe on Elm Street is working today. Should we get a few beers?”
His friends agreed, as today was rather warm and it was good to enjoy some cold beers.
“Hmm, my dad arrived.” Allison then stood up and said to Holly. “Should we meet up in Martial Online?” 𝒩𝚘𝓋𝗅𝒩xt.𝐂𝑂
“Fine…” Holly replied and stood up.
At that moment, the door swung open loudly. Everyone thought that a teacher had arrived, and they quickly turned silent and slightly panicky.
However, to their surprise, a cold-eyed young man, carrying a broken pointing stick, stepped through the open door.
“Huh?” Westlund muttered, confused by the unexpected visitor. “Who the hell are you?”
Zach opened his tear-ridden eyes and saw a familiar silhouette, whose face was morphed with anger. “Jes..se”
“B-brother?” Holly muttered in shock.
“Huh?” Marty and Allison frowned, and when they heard Holly, their faces showed signs of surprise. They had seen pictures of her brother before, but they never expected him to be ripped from head to toe.
Neither did Holly.
While the face was the same as before, the body underwent an incredible change that would leave every medical expert speechless.
“Hey, I asked, who the fuck are you!” Westlund angrily roared.
Swoosh—the broken pointing stick speared through the air and stabbed into Westlund’s shoulder.
Spurt—dark blood spewed out of the wound, staining Westlund’s shirt.
“A-ah, ah…” Westlund had a hard time breathing as sharp, agonizing pain coursed through his body.
“Westlund!” His friends screamed.
Jesse looked coldly at the frightened eyes of Westlund and coldly whispered. “High Pain.”
Kachaa—as if all of his veins were on fire, Westlund gasped for air and loudly screamed with a volume so high that even students leaving the school yard heard it.
The parents, who were picking up their children, looked towards the school rooftop in shock. They couldn’t understand how anyone could scream that loudly. They felt pain themselves when they heard that scream.
“Huh?” Sebastian rolled down the window and looked towards the school in concern. “Are the young masters alright?”
On the rooftop, Westlund’s eyes rolled backward, and he fell beside Zach, unconscious.
Jesse pulled the wooden pointing stick from Westlund’s shoulder and pointed it at the rest of the frightened young men. “Well, bring it on.”
They glanced at each other before screaming and running off the rooftop. They jumped down the stairs, hoping to get away as soon as possible.
“Huh, cowards.” Jesse scoffed, but then heard a voice behind him.
“B-brother?”
He turned around, and to his surprise, he saw Holly and her two friends. His eyes looked conflicted before he turned away and offered his hand to Zach.
“Brother, let’s go.”
Zach looked at the hand and felt like crying. This was an odd feeling for him. This made him remember who Jesse was now—his big brother.
Zach reached out and took Jesse’s hand, feeling a surge of warmth and gratitude.
Jesse pulled him up and helped him walk off the rooftop. But before they could leave, Holly appeared in front of him.
“Brother, why the hell are you here?”
While she talked, Marty picked up a baseball bat from the nearby shack that was hidden. He held it tightly, his eyes reflecting the passed out figure of Westlund.
“Marty, what the hell are you doing?” Allison walked over to him and tugged on his sleeve.
“It doesn’t matter if he is Holly’s brother or not; he hurt my friend.” Marty said. “Also, Holly hates him anyway. So what is the matter?”
“You might kill him!” Allison said.
“I will just crush his leg. He doesn’t need it anyway!” Marty said and then he shoved Allison to the side while approaching the black-haired young man.
“None of your concern, Holly.” Jesse said. “Get out of my way.”
“Huh, I will tell my parents what you did here. Do you think you can just come here and assault someone?!” Holly screamed.
‘She doesn’t know, huh.’ Jesse suddenly laughed. “They are not my parents anymore, and you are not my sister.”
“Huh?” Holly was stunned and just thought he was angry at them for throwing him out. She scoffed and planned to remind him that, on paper, they were still family, and thus, they had control over him.
“They gave away the custody.” Jesse said and saw Holly’s eyes slowly widen in shock. “Thus, they are not my family anymore. I have another family now.
“I am Jesse Rothsmith.”
“T-that is… impossible…” Holly backed off in shock and then saw a red-haired figure running past her while wielding a metal baseball bat. “Marty, don’t!”
“B-brother!” Zach shouted, but then Jesse shoved him to safety and placed the pointing stick in the way of the metal baseball bat.
Crack—however, the baseball bat effortlessly broke through it.
Jesse watched as the metal baseball bat slowly approached his face.