Gary was making it crystal clear who these words were directed at by looking straight at Sty during the last part of his sentence, making the rank 4 student experience an odd feeling of Déjà vu.

‘Why am I getting this annoying bubbling feeling when looking at this guy… for some reason, seeing his annoying green hair is reminding me of something. Am I just annoyed, because my Mom forced me to eat broccoli in the past? No, that’s not it. But his Green hair is making alarm bells ring in my head.’ Sty was left puzzled.

Since Sty had only seen Gary for a brief second before, there wasn’t a solid image in his head.

Usually, he would take any small threat seriously, teaching the other person a serious lesson, but the moment his eyes wandered to the number on the green haired teenager’s badge, he just chuckled. The scene reminded him of a baby trying to threaten an adult, and he just found it amusing.

“Numba, this person is being an eyesore. Make sure that he leaves.” The rop ranker ordered, waving his hand nonchalantly towards Gary as if he was a fly pestering him.

The top rankers sitting next to him at the table laughed at this comment, looking forward to what would happen next. They all knew that the teachers would stop a fight from taking place in here, but they wouldn’t act straight away.

Numba moved towards where Gary was and there was a smile that appeared on the other’s faces seeing this.

“Please leave, Gary… I understand that you mean well, but if you really want to help me, then you should leave this table right now.” Numba urged in a soft, defeated voice.

It was a complete contrast to when the Werewolf had first met him. Where was the confident teenager who would never take crap from anyone? The Goat Altered had been a person that had resonated with Gary, because his gut instinct had told him that the two of them were alike.

Right now, this was also true, but the current Numba resembled the Werewolf during his time in the Underdogs when he had been merely a Transporter. Just like he had feared Damion, the Goat Altered seemed afraid of Sty, a situation where both of them had felt helpless.

Gary remembered the feeling well, often wishing there could have been someone that could help him at the time. In a way, Kirk had done that, pulled him out of the situation before he drowned, Gary wanted to be the helping hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The rank 4 student questioned in annoyance. “Do I really have to spell it out to you? When I tell you to ‘get rid’ of him, I don’t mean to ask him nicely! Go beat him up! Come on, even someone of your calibre must be able to do something. Or do you really not care about the deal?”

Gary slammed his hand on the table, making some plates jump up for a second before falling back down. He had shut Sty’s mouth right there before he said anything else and his eyes started to glow faintly red. Immediately, the others stood up, ready to jump on Gary at any second if he were to try something. These actions also caught the eyes of the teacher guards, who started to pay a little more attention.

At the head of the table, where the top 3 sat, they felt the vibration across the table and both Wu and Snow stood up.

“What the hell? That guy made one of my carrots drop on the floor!” Snow complained. “I’m going to kick his arse.”

Just as they were about to move, though, they felt someone push on both of their shoulders, forcing them back down in their seats.

“Calm down, you two, things are about to get interesting,” Apollo ordered, not moving his eyes away from the low ranking student who had disturbed their meal time.

Apollo himself even sat down, grabbing a large turkey leg, and continued digging into his food as if he was watching a movie.

‘Hahaha, I can tell from just looking into that guy’s eyes. He’s a predator, one that has tasted blood!’ Apollo kept it to himself, rather than warning the others. It wasn’t his business anyway. He only regretted the fact that Gary came so late, as he would have loved to spar with him. Unfortunately, it would look bad if he broke the agreement he himself had instated.

However, his gut was telling him that the two of them would meet again in the future.

Sty didn’t move, there was a certain chill going through his body. His hair was sticking up on his arms and all over. The eyes of everyone inside the canteen were focused on the current scene. If he said nothing, did nothing then the others might start to think of him as someone weak.

Realising the same problem, Numba grabned Gary by the wrist, though it wasn’t particularly strong. The Werewolf took his hand off the table, and looked at the Altered who pleaded with his eyes to make him go.

“Fine, I’ll leave like you asked, just know that I hate seeing you like this. Just remember, I owe you one, no matter what it is.”

After those events, Gary didn’t go back to sit with the others. Instead, he decided to just leave the canteen as he needed to calm down, yet the other students were surprised by one thing. The fact that such a low ranking member was allowed to go up and threaten someone on the top ranking table without any immediate consequences.

Of course, many assumed that Gary had just lived to see another day, as they were sure he would become a huge target of whoever he had just decided to cross soon enough. With him gone, and the top rankers continuing their meal as if nothing had happened, the others were doing the same.

What nobody noticed was that one of the teachers had been speaking softly into a microphone during the entire commotion.

—-

“This is the first time in a while that I’ve seen you pay so much attention to a new student, Wood.” Hai commented as he took a sip of his coffee. “I understand that it is rare for the scouts to miss someone, but it’s not like this is the first time. Don’t you think you’re wasting your time on him?”

“Perhaps, but perhaps not. You’ve seen it yourself, he is in an entirely different league than the rest.” Wood answered as he drank his tea. “He has yet to actually fight anyone, but his actions have already caused ripples to the place.”

“From the reports we’ve received, he’s only been observing the others. Sounds to me like he’s simply looking for the best opponent to beat, nothing uncommon about that.” Hai shrugged.

“Please, we both know that he can easily become one of the high rankers. If that was his goal, he could have achieved it on the first day. I, for one, am looking forward to what happens when he finally decides to act.

“There are already interesting things happening in the AFA and I predict that he will make it even more interesting, just like that feisty girl who came here before.”

*****

Support this story on P.A.T.R.E.O.N jksmanga