"Eh... No, thanks..." Saramin blurted out with an annoyed expression once Kurt came up to her to ask if she wanted to join their study session.

The lunch break was over and all the kids from Kurt's classroom were heading out towards the gym in order to end the day with a self-defense lesson. On their way there, the trio ended up meeting with Sara and made her the proposition while walking down the hallways.

"Really? Come on! It will be fun!" the lad insisted, "You will get to mentor me and tell me what to do! Don't you love bossing people around?"

Sara raised an eyebrow, "What exactly is your impression of me??"

"I think the real question is, how much my impression of you would improve if you help me out?"

She glared at him for a moment and proceeded to flick his forehead, "Nice try, apple head... But I see nothing in it for me... Unless you guys say you will join my group in return!"

"Your group?"

"Yeah! My group! Remember? The whole reason why I tried to pick a fight with Gaby was because I thought you would join me if I helped you out against her!"

"I'm flattered, I think?" Kurt replied while noticing Gaby walking right behind them and slightly glaring at Saramin for trying to use her, "But I don't really do well with groups... I kinda prefer meeting people individually... Crowds tend to scare me..."

Saramin sighed and rolled her eye, "Says the guy that insulted the whole class just so they would target him instead of his girlfriend..."

"Sh- She wasn't my girlfriend at the time..." he mumbled while blushing.

Sara looked behind her and noticed that Gaby's face had turned red as well and something began to awaken inside of her.

"Oh... This is fun!" she whispered to herself while thinking what other reactions she could get out of these two, "Still, I'm not gonna go around doing charity out of the kindness of my heart. If you want my help, give me something in return, otherwise, ask someone else."

"But you helped Gaby with her books!"

"Because I owed her one. But I don't owe you jack. So, if we're done here, I gotta get ready for our lesson" she commented while walking away from them.

Kurt stood there with his arms crossed while Gaby and Trevor tried to comfort him.

"Well... You tried" the large black-haired lad commented.

"She's right though" Gaby added, "Nobody just helps out someone without getting something in return!"

"Yes, they do! It's called being nice!" Kurt argued, "That's how friends are made!"

"Guess Sara doesn't want to be our friend then..." Trevor murmured, "Seems like she's looking for a different kind of relationship."

"I guess..."

Kurt was placed in a bad mood from Saramin's response, but he suddenly cheered up after spotting Leon in the crowd looking a little lost while walking with his back slightly curved.

"Oh! Hey! Leon!" the red-haired kid shouted.

Kurt saw his new friend alone so he assumed he could use some company right now, causing him to begin to rush towards him with an excited smile.

He parted ways with Gaby and Trevor who just moved towards one of the benches since neither of them was feeling like fighting again after yesterday's event.

Kurt shared the sentiment and was going to join the two, but he wanted to try building up his friendship with Leon one more time before doing so.

"Oh... H- Hey, Kurt!"

"Hi, Leon! Where were you? I didn't saw you anywhere in the cafeteria!"

"Oh... I- I usually eat by myself on the roof... It's quiet and it helps me hide..." the thing boy replied.

"Hide? Hide from what?"

"Well..."

Suddenly a large hand appeared right behind the small kid and lifted him up like a grocery bag as his feet started to wave back and forth.

"What the-" Kurt gasped upon seeing Leon getting lifted up by a rather large young man.

"Leon! There you are! I've been looking for my little buddy all over the place!"

"Oh... Oh... H- Hi, Hugh" Leon mumbled while trying to not fall down.

Hugh was taller than any kid Kurt had ever seen before. He was probably about as tall as his own father, if not more. His physique was also well built, filled with greatly defined muscles.

If Kurt were to compare him to something, it would be to either a model or a movie star. He seemed big and strong, but he also made it look natural, as if he had been born this way.

But what really grabbed his attention was his hair, which had the same red color as Kurt himself.

"Leon, you break my heart. How could you go on without your best friend? Don't you think you were being too- Huh?"

Hugh had his speech suddenly interrupted once he realized Kurt looking up to him and trying to measure his height.

"Holy f*ck, you're tall..." he commented, trying to understand how did he not notice someone like him in his class.

Hugh just stared at Kurt for a few seconds and then brought Leon closer to his face, "Leon, who the heck is this?"

The blue-haired kid just kept shivering while trying to answer the question, "Oh... This- This is Kurt. Kurt this is Hugh."

"Uuhh... Hi..." Kurt waved at him.

Hugh gazed at the boy and began to change his blank expression to one of curiosity, "Kurt? You mean the guy that's challenging all the top students?"

"I'm not really challenging the top students, I just ended up picking fights with students that happen to be on top..." he corrected.

"I see..." Hugh suddenly began to smile and placed Leon on the ground very carefully, "Well, why didn't you say so? I was looking forward to meeting you!"

""You were?"" both Kurt and Leon asked in unison.

"Yeah! You been attracting some attention lately! I missed the first two days of school due to some personal business that I needed to take care of, but I heard a lot!"

"I see. Well... Nice to meet you!"

"Same here! But since we are here already..." Hugh lifted his thumb and pointed at the arena, "Wanna be my sparring partner today?"

Leon suddenly gasped upon hearing that but Kurt just remained composed and crossed his arms while closing his eyes and considering the idea.

"I don't know... I was kinda planning on skipping today's lesson. I have some study to catch up on and was going to use this time for it."

Hugh made a confused expression as if he never expected someone to pick studying over fighting when offered the choice, "Oh, come on man!! It will be fun!! I didn't get to see how you fight yet! I'm really curious!"

Kurt still wasn't feeling like doing it. He really was getting tired of fighting all the time, and Hugh looked like he would not be an easy opponent, so if possible, he hoped to avoid it, "It's nothing that special, I'm honestly a really boring guy... I just evade things and punch really hard."

"Please!! Just one fight! One little fight! I will even go easy on you!"

Kurt glanced at his friends. Trevor was trying his best to get Dorothy to let him touch her, but the owl kept clinging on to Gaby instead, who didn't look all that happy with the bird stepping on her hair as if it was a nest.

The boy wanted to hurry and join with them, but he assumed this big fella would not let him go that easily.

"Ugh... Fine... Guess we might as well... But let's do it quickly. "

"NICE!!" Hugh shouted while fist-bumping the air and revealing a wide smirk.

"Kurt! You sure??" Leon asked while grabbing his clothes.

"Don't worry... If anything happens I can just jump out of the arena."

"Oh... O- Okay..."

Kurt began to follow after the incredibly large student while wondering if this was going to be anything like his fights with Gaby or Sara.

"So, Hugh... What rank are you?"

Hugh turned around and grinned at him, "You're going down the list arent you? Then, can't you guess?"

Kurt then instantly flinched, "You... You wouldn't happen to be the number three, would you?"

The lad did not say anything and just continued to smirk at him.

"Of course..." Kurt sighed.

The boy wasn't really planning on going after the top students. He honestly couldn't care less what number he would be in the rankings, all he wanted was to get along with the other kids.

If this image started to stick with him, he worried that others might begin to fear and keep their distance from him.

"Uuhhh... Is it too late to give up? I don't feel like fighting the third best student of my class today... I would be fine with a lower number for once."

"Hey, man, don't worry! I told you! I'll be going easy on you! We're just two guys having fun!" Hugh stated while cracking his knuckles.

"Two guys having fun... Right..." Kurt mumbled realizing he was not escaping this one.

He wasn't really sure how to feel about Hugh. It was clear that Leon was a little shaky around the guy, but he couldn't tell if he just had a difficult personality or if it might be something more. He also didn't want to judge someone again without having enough evidence. Last time he tried to assume things without knowing the full story, he ended up making Gaby cry.

For now, he just wanted to wait and see where things would go from there. It's not like he was afraid of getting hurt after all.

The kid began to stretch his arms and legs and prepared for the worst. If he could survive the top two students, the third-best should not be that much trouble, right?

He gazed at the crowd of kids and, as usual, he was the center of attention with all eyes on him and Hugh.

Trevor and Gaby were confused from seeing him entering the arena again so soon. One could practically read the words 'What are you doing??' written all over their faces.

Leon also wouldn't stop staring at the two. His entire body kept shivering while holding his hands together and switching back and forth from Kurt to Hugh.

And, as was tradition by that point, all of the students began to whisper with each other about what they were seeing.

"He's going to fight the number three!"

"This dude really is crazy!"

"Wait, isn't it usually the other way around? Don't people tend to start at the bottom first?"

"I wonder if he can win!"

"Didn't he won against Saramin?"

"No, he only won because he had Gaby helping him out."

The whispers of the classmates continued to spread. Kurt had pretty much become a sensation among his colleagues with his strange habit of fighting people nobody in their right mind would ever try to fight.

"I really need to stop drawing so much attention..." he mumbled.

"Don't like having people look at you?" Hugh wondered while flexing his biceps, causing a couple of the female students to gasp and scream, and even some male ones as well.

"I don't like when people assume things about me based just on what they see..."

"Really? That's odd..." Hugh commented while holding his chin and staring at Kurt with a wide-eyed expression as if he was a little puppy, "All I see is the son of an emperor trying to pretend he is less than what he actually is!"

Kurt's entire body suddenly froze, "Wh- What did you say?"

Hugh smiled at him, "You're the son of the emperor, right? I asked my friends to collect some info on you and they told me about some of your antics! You're a funny guy!"

"Your friends...? What... What friends?"

"You don't remember them?" Hugh laughed, "They called you out on the first day to see if you were a big deal or not! I was really glad when I heard you wiped them out all alone! Very impressive!"

Kurt then finally understood. Hugh was talking about the group of bullies that ambushed him, attacked him, and even tried to harm Dorothy.

His expression began to change from remembering the words from that day. An intense glare started to take over his face, "YOU!"

"Oh! So you do remember!!" Hugh replied while smacking his fists together and causing his entire body to set itself on fire, "Does this mean you feel like fighting me now? Cause I'm already all heated up!!"

Kurt's entire being felt like it was about to explode. Many emotions began to twirl inside his body from recalling the events of that day.

In particular, the image of the shaved-head kid grabbing Dorothy and picking her feathers and laughing as if it was a game.

He took a deep breath and finally responded, "Sure... Let's fight..."

"Awesome!!" Hugh shouted as he started to dash towards him while leaving behind a trail of flames with each step, "Let's find out what you're made of- BLLUEAARGHH!!!"

Kurt did not say a single word and just approached the large kid with all the speed he had, proceeded by shoving his fist right in the center of the lad's face using every single bit of strength he could gather in his right arm and displaying an amount of power he had never shown before.

The classmates could only watch with their mouths wide open as Hugh was sent flying all the way across the gym until he was knocked out against a wall and creating an enormous hole with his body from the impact.

"GUAAAGGHH!!!" Hugh cried as his flames quickly began to vanish before dropping on the ground unconscious.

All boys and girls began to stare at Kurt who was breathing heavily while still holding onto his glare and healing the arm that was burned from touching Hugh's body.

He noticed their stares of shock and horror and realized that he had just knocked out one of the top students with a single punch while lost in his own rage and almost killed him in the process.

"Oh... I'm... I'm sorry..."