Adele had always hated her name, and she hated it even more right now. Why is it always her! Who goes first in PE test? Adele. Who goes first on an oral pop quiz? Adele. And this time, she didn't even participate in their hate discussion, but now the first one to punish is going to be her?!
Looking at the reluctant looking girl dragging her feet to her, Emilia felt her lips twitch. "Put your ID card on the table, and meet me at—"
The girl couldn't help but stomp her feet, her eyes red. "I didn't do anything!"
Emilia tilted stared at the slightly buck-toothed girl curiously. "Excuse me?"
Although Adele lost most of her courage, she still managed to speak most of what was on her mind. "I-I didn't badmouth you, and I didn't want to fight! I was just defending myself, so why am I... being punished?"
Emilia tilted her head with a smile. "Who says you're being punished?"
The girl blinked in surprise. "Eh?"
Not to mention Adele, even the rest of the students who had been eagerly listening in were stunned. Clearly, none of them believed what Emilia said. 'If we're not going to be punished, why the hell is she collecting our student IDs?'
Emilia seemed to have guessed what they were thinking, and shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm keeping your IDs and telling you to meet me later so I can properly understand the matter before handing out any punishments. In any case, for those of you who weren't involved, don't worry about being punished."
Adele gulped, full of hope despite her slight disbelief. "S-So I can go?"
Emilia had wanted to just deny it, but seeing how meek the girl seemed, decided to take a more gentle approach. "I'll confirm first whether you really weren't involved, but until then you'll be treated the same as everyone else. Don't worry, just hand over your ID card and follow my instructions, nothing will happen."
Adele still felt a little reluctant, thinking that it was impossible to investigate this matter anyway, so she was sure to get blamed. But there was little she could do other than pleading to the teachers or principal later, which was probably equally hopeless.
Surprisingly, the time slot she was allotted was also on the same day, which had only been given to Penny earlier. 'Hey, my always comes first buff is a bit too strong, right?!'
After Adele, the rest of the students also handed in their ID cards one by one. But Emilia knew that though they looked obedient right now, they were sure to complain about her to the principal later in hopes of escaping punishment.
"I'm sure there's no need to tell you what kind of disciplinary action will be taken against you if your intentional besmirching of a fellow student's reputation, as well as attempts to misinformation that could have serious consequences, was all brought in front of the principal."
The students stared at each other in silence. Compared to the 'riot', these matters had looked quite insignificant, but if Emilia decided to dig into them, the school was sure to back her up in punishing them one-sidedly.
Emilia smiled coldly as she stood up and collected all the IDs into her bag, along with her notebook. "To preserve the learning environment, I advise you to focus on your studies first, and let me handle this matter over the next week. If you're still dissatisfied with the results, you can go and complain to whoever you like."
Most of their expressions were complex as they watched her leave, not sure if she was trying her best to be impartial in their favor, trying to keep the matter hidden as long as possible, or just being vengeful and dole out all the punishment personally.
But Emilia didn't care about that right now, and left the room with almost two kilograms of ID cards stuffed in her bag.
She gave a weird look to the bunch of students still waiting outside the class, but decided not to say anything, since they were free to do as they pleased, as long as they didn't create another commotion.
By the time the teachers arrived, it was as if nothing had happened at all. As for some bruising that could be noticed with a careful look… if they had cared about such things, could school bullying ever happen?
==========
Emilia sighed tiredly as she stared at Mr. Jefferson giving another one of his incredibly sarcastic lectures. She didn't even listen to what he was saying, having already learned to filter out the non-lesson parts just by looking at his expression.
Basically, if he's not frowning, it's not a part of the syllabus.
There were so many things she had been planning to do in these next few days, there wasn't even enough time for them, and yet now she had to deal with all this hassle on top of that.
But she couldn't help but be a little flattered when she thought about it.
Someone fought to defend her reputation. No, not just someone, but many people!
And they didn't expect any credit. In fact, they wanted it to remain a secret from her!
If Penny and her fellow cultists knew how happy and shy Emilia felt about their actions, they might just go beat the class B students all over again. Thankfully, no one but Cynthia would know.
"I'm sure your ever-loyal and empty-headed knight here would do the same, if not more, so what exactly are you so shocked about?"
"It's different for her."
"How is it different?"
"It's like… Dixie is the pet I raised myself. She's expected to wag her tail and lick my palm…"
Cynthia nodded frantically at the description. "How accurate!"
Emilia rolled her eyes. "Let me finish. Anyway, on the other hand, Penny and those students are like little stray puppies who suddenly come up to me. Their loyalty and adoration of me are unexpected and a pleasant surprise, so I can't help but be a little flattered."
Cynthia hummed in thought as she nodded, more or less understanding her thought process.
At this moment, Mr. Jefferson suddenly frowned, and Emilia knew that he was actually going to start teaching now, so she focused back on the lecture.
==========
Meanwhile, Amos had directly skipped today's school once more, though he had sent his 'subordinates' to do their 'job'. He had far more important things to do.
If there was one positive thing that came out of the whole thug situation with Don and Braxy, it was that he finally came to know both his dream girl's name and her address.
Under normal circumstances, he fully intended to wait until the first exam's scores to properly move to class A and introduce himself to her openly and with confidence.
But with all these disturbances, Amos wasn't so sure about his results anymore. And Crystal, the naïve, adorable creature that she was, seemed to be getting closer to that abominable witch the more time he left her alone.
So today Amos had made up his mind to introduce himself to her, having already arrived in front of her restaurant despite knowing she won't be back for a few more hours. Such was his dedication.
"Crystal, my love, I won't let you suffer in her hands anymore, don't worry…"
