Reina briefly wondered if Arcturus was stupid, or just too angry. It could have been either, he tended to be stupid when it came to her and he suspiciously acted a lot like a child sometimes.

Still, this was going a bit far, wasn’t it?

This was what Reina Romane thought as everybody gave her glances, ranging from worried to shock to wary. And Reina could understand all of them.

After all, it’s not every day somebody punched through a machine that was meant to withstand a train and not look the slightest bit fazed.

Yet it only happened because of Arcturus.

Earlier, they’d moved on to the next test: brute physical force. This was figured out by a punching machine, which registered the impact and delivered the verdict.

It was all good and dandy, and Reina would have remained in the shadows. That is until Arcturus decided to become petty once more.

“Next!”

Reina stepped up to the mat, calculating. Everybody else who’d gone had gotten a score between 100-200. If she got 180, that would be enough to give out a message she wasn’t one to be bullied but not over the top.

Arcturus glanced at her. “Hurry up and go,” he snapped.

Reina almost lost it before regaining control. Like he had any say over her anymore. Just to irritate him she took longer, checking her shoes and fastening her clothes.

“Hurry up or get a 0!” Arcturus ordered.

Reina shot him a sneer before punching the bag. The monitor blinked and flashed 179. Not the 180 she was looking for. She needed to work on her control a bit more it seemed.

Reina model to get off, eager to hide back in the shadows.

“Wait a second. Come back,” came the cold voice of Arcturus.

Reina inwardly groaned. Was he this petty? Dragging her feet back, she glared at him.

“What?”

Arcturus scowled. “Try again. This time, hit it with everything you got.”

Reina grit her teeth. Was he seriously trying to get her isolated by all her peers? “Fine, fine, whatever.” She took up her position again.

“If you get less than 1000, you failed this test as well,” he added in.

At that moment, Reina decided to be petty as well and unleashed one of her strongest attacks, completely pulverizing the machine and sending it crashing into the wall.

Amidst the gasps and crows of astonishment, Reina shot Arcturus a dirty look. He didn't even acknowledge her as he moved her along.

Stomping, she did as he ordered. Seriously! What was the deal with him? A grown man acting so much like a child didn’t bode well for the future of her sanity here.

Everybody scattered the instant she got near, making sure not to remain within touch but close enough to peer at her. Reina growled at them.

“What? I’m not some sort of circus animal for you all to look at!”

Most of them had the decency to look ashamed, but of course, that didn’t stop them from continuing to gaze at her. Felicie appeared in front of her.

“Wow, Reina! You’re so amazing! You punched that thing way out there! Look, the score is 9999! How’d you do that?” Felicie asked.

Reina groaned and gave the standard question she gave Avery. “Hard work and dedication.”

Felicie pouted. “Reina! You’re so mean! No amount of exercise can give you that kind of strength!”

Reina nonchalantly shrugged. “Why don’t you do it and see if it checks out?”

Felicie struggled for a moment before beaming. “All right! But only if you’re there with me!”

Reina was taken back by how quickly she agreed before shrugging. “All right.” Maybe it would be fun.

Reina was starting to regret the idea by the time they left the punching bag station (Arcturus, that bastard, had a new one in preparation already) and headed to the speed section. The main gist of it was you had to sprint 200 meters with everything you had and Arcturus timed you. This also determined if you were allowed the chance to get into Track and Field.

Reina didn't care about either Arcturus or Track and Field, so she was originally going to half-heartedly do this. But if the past few exams had proven anything, it was that Arcturus wouldn’t allow that.

“He’s fast,” Felicie commented as they watched Logan dash through. He cocked at an insane pace of 19.34 seconds. “I’m a bit worried, Reina.”

Reina waved her concerns away. “Calm down, what's the worst that can happen?”

Felicie turned around to give Reina view of her teary eyes. “You don’t understand! Once, I was running and I tripped and fell! My entire face was all bruised!”

Reina blinked. “Okay, that sounds bad but I don’t see how it ties into-“

Felicie cut her off, clutching her head in agony. “Ever since then, just the mere thought of me running makes me nauseous,” she admitted.

Reina was left flabbergasted. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Felicie mumbled sadly, “No, it’s true.”

Reina shook her head. “Just run and it’ll be fine. If you trip and fall, I promise I’ll carry you, okay?”

Felicie shot back to life. “Really?!”

Reina backed away from her. “Yeaaaaah,” she said slowly. “Of course.”

Before she could react, Felicie glomped her. “Oh, thank you so much, Reina! I knew you were the bestest friend anybody could have the moment I saw you!”

Yeah, more like the weirdest friend, Reina thought in her mind as she was slowly being crushed.

“Angel!” Arcturus called.

“Oooh!” Felicie dropped Reina and faced the exam again. “Come on, look, Reina, look! It’s Angel!”

“Cool, cool,” Reina muttered, wiping down her skirt.

Felicie frowned. “Wait a second, isn’t she blind?”

Reina nodded absentmindedly. She was more focused on Angel herself, not how she would win. “She’s blind, that's right.”

“Then how does she run?” Felicie inquired.

All around them, people were asking the same thing. They’d seen her eyes, but they’d also seen her walking around like normal. Even Reina admitted she was a bit curious.

“Ready, set, go!”

Angel went off, running at a relatively normal pace for a girl of her stature. She finished at a decent 25.87. The thing everybody focused on however was that she didn’t hesitate; she ran like any person would, like she could see.

“Interesting,” Reina said. “Very interesting.”

“I know, right?! Do you think she’s just pretending to be blind? Or maybe she has some really good ears?!”

“Hm. She’ll need an insanely good set of ears to accomplish what she just did,” a voice scoffed.

Reina and Felicie turned to find Brandon, Lucifer, and Dawn behind them. Reina groaned and turned around again while Felicie hugged the life out of Dawn.

“Hi, Dawn!”

“I saw you like 10 minutes ago!” Dawn cried.

Lucifer remained Reina. “You know, I’m more curious about how you punched through that bag. Why’d you use your powers?”

Reina didn’t even spare him a glance as she replied, “Would you believe it if I told you I didn’t use my power?”

Brandon butted in. “Of course not! Nobody can do that without using their circuits! What, do you think we’re stupid?”

Reina barked. “I’ve yet to pass judgment on your brother, yet you? Yes, I do believe you are stupid.”

Brandon ballooned up like an overgrown whale and Reina quite enjoyed the sight. It was funny to see how easy it was to rile Brandon up, especially she knew he was from an ancient family. They would have taught him manners, something he sorely lacked. That told her either he never paid attention or he was just plain dumb. Either way, Reina would have fun with him.

“You little-!”

Lucifer stepped in between her and his brother. “Sorry about that,” he chuckled uneasily. “He tends to lose his anger easily. He’s not used to people arguing with him.”

Reina raised an eyebrow. “Oh? So he’s the pampered prince type. How annoying.”

Brandon shoved past his brother. “Me? Annoying? The only thing annoying is-“

“What’s that? It seems our dear old teacher has been calling you for the past few minutes,” Reina cocked her head. “Looks like he angry.”

Brandon paled as he remembered what Arcturus had done when he’d gotten angry. He practically fled to the front of the room.

Lucifer frowned. “I didn’t hear him call out.”

Reina shrugged. “Neither did I.”

Lucifer shot her an alarmed look before the sound of Brandon groaning filled the air. They both whirled towards the action, Lucifer because he was alarmed, Reina because she wanted to see what’d happened.

Brandon was on the ground, tending to his bruising head as another person-Daphne?-dashed around the track. Reina giggled. “Looks like his pride got lowered a few pegs.”

Lucifer shot her an angry look before storming over to his brother. Reina blinked in shock. “What?”

“Heeeey, bestie!” Felicie swung an arm around her. “So, I asked Dawn and she totally agreed!”

Reina had to take a moment to recollect her thoughts. “Agreed to what?”

Felicie pouted. “You know, the girl’s shopping!”

Reina fought the urge to yell. “Of. . .course.”

It wasn’t that she had anything against shopping. Like anybody, she appreciated the art of shopping. It was just that clothes. . . .well, she always wore the same thing every day. It wasn’t like she needed to change or even wash them, Xia’s power handled that all for her.

But she’d promised and Reina always went through on her promises. “Yeah, I remember.”

Felicie jumped up and down, bringing Dawn with her. “Yay! This is going to be amazing!”

Reina nodded her head before her name got called up. “Want to give me luck?”

Felicie nodded. “Absolutely! Good luck!”

Dawn sent me a skeptical look. “Are you sure you need luck? I mean, from what I’ve seen. . . . . “

Reina crossed her arms. “Fine then,” she replied before walking away.

“Wait! Good luck!” Dawn shouted. Reina smirked, not that they could see her. One win for her.

Strutting towards the track, Reina glared at Arcturus. “Any stupid and insane expectations for me, sir?” She said ‘sir’ as one would say ‘bastard’.

Arcturus nodded. “Get it in 5 seconds.”

Everybody who heard was left flabbergasted and wondering what the relationship between us two really was. Reina on the other hand was furious.

“Um, yeah. That’s a no-no. I’m pretty sure it’s physically impossible for any human to do that, especially since you stated no Arts.”

“I’m also sure no human can punch that across the room and destroy it, yet here we are,” was his snide reply.

That was all because of you! Reina thought. “I really can’t do that.”

Arcturus groaned. “And why not?”

Reina motioned towards her cloak, then lifted her fingers to show the rings on each of them. They were weights, specifically designed to weaken her and make her slower.

Arcturus groaned. “Fine. Do whatever you want! Ready, set, go!”

With at last a reasonable goal, Reina made it across in 31.25 seconds. Not the slowest in the class, but still below a lot of people.

“Next!”

Reina walked away proudly with her head held up high as she watched Dawn and Felicie’s shocked look. She laughed quietly. Did they really expect her to get 5 seconds?

Once everybody was done, Arcturus moved them to the climbing set. There was a plastic mountain with edges poking out. Using those edges, we were required to climb up.

“This time, everybody will do this at once. Whoever comes out on top will get a reward. GO!”

Reina waited at the back as everybody rushed in. She grabbed Dawn and Felicie’s collar as they went back, but neglected to do the same for the two brothers.

“Ow! What the heck, Reina?” Dawn asked.

Reina nodded at Angel, who was the only other person to stay behind. “Watch.”

As Seamus grabbed onto the first ledge, he pulled himself up. The instant he did so, a pole shot out from the mountain and smacked him in the stomach, sending him flying backward.

“What the-?!” Dawn screamed.

Felicie laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh, this is so interesting!”

Everybody on the wall saw what happened and was now much more cautious, decided to stay lodged in place rather than go any higher. This was the time.

Reina nudged Dawn and Felicie forward before jumping over everybody onto the wall. She heard Felicie cry out behind her, “I feel like a superhero!”

Reina sighed. It was a miracle if this girl survived.