Since he had saved her once before, she already established an imprint of a ‘protector’ whenever she thought about him. Similarly, she established an imprint of a ‘helpless victim’ whenever she thought about Alyandrea and Aria. That’s why, what couldn’t work for Mr. Abrams, Alyandrea and everyone else, worked when they came out of Noel’s mouth. The over-worrying, over-protective words that left Noel’s mouth made her feel once more, like both a big sister, relieved to see her little brother was alright, and like a little sister, unwilling to reveal her pain and suffering, but unable to hold out any longer. Tears welled up on her cheeks, and her face transitioned from pained, to a soft smile as she spoke.

Ophelia: “I… I think I...was forced to-”

Noel: “Shh, it’s fine. You had no choice, and worrying over shoulda-coulda-woulda’s doesn’t serve any purpose. It’s useless, so just stop it. If you’re put into a position where you have to either ‘beat’ your enemy, or let them ‘beat’ you, then you should NEVER choose the latter – always the former. Good job! Heheh.”

Ophelia: “*Sniff* Al-Alright. Heheh.”

Mr. Abrams: “…(Huh? Why the waterworks all of a sudden? …Does it have anything to do with her assumption of killing those two criminals? It was the same assumption which we all thought of, but I’m pretty sure I softened her worries by denying it. I suppose, the human mind is incredibly mysterious.)”

Elijah: “Noel? What’s going…?”

Noel: “...Nothing. She doesn’t like using her strength, but was recently forced to use it, wasn’t she? Naturally I worried about her.”

She doesn’t like using her strength?

Elijah was shocked to hear this, and turned around. He gave a questioning gaze to the other four, as if waiting for a confirmation that this was some sort of joke. What he came across instead, were a mixture of surprised, guilty and pained expressions. Alyandrea felt pained for depending on her so much back then, especially remembering her crawling up into a huddled position while trembling. Ian averted Elijah’s gaze. He knew somewhat, he could pick out bits of he body language over the matter, but he also realized that logically it was the best decision they could make – to depend on her strength would become an enormous benefit while waiting in the forest.

The other two were just surprised.

The former Prince of Shades was about to open his mouth with some hope of quickly coming to terms with the truth – he had a bounty of questions flooding his conscious brain, threatening the boy’s mental capacity!

...However, it was clear that such unrestrained behavior wouldn’t bode well for him. Recalling how offensive such actions would be deemed by the party in question – and remembering vividly how much anger her endured after undergoing the very same curious prodding and inquiring once all semblance of control over his own powers escaped him, those words of curiosity couldn’t even leave Elijah’s widely-parted lips.

Then a cocky voice rattled its fellow student’s eardrums.

Rise: “Where’s my gift?”

His hand was outstretched and his eyes held an indisputable curiosity within their pupils. Others couldn’t tell, but to Noel, who’d spent the most time with the wild teenager and having surpassed normal standards with regards to his attention to analyzing extremely minute details, this way of behavior wasn’t normal.

His cocky, expectant look would ordinarily be replaced with a derisive remark; something not unlike ‘Hmph! Now you people come?’ as his head turns to face another direction entirely. At least, that’s what Noel expected him to do. But now, seeing this… quiet way of behaving with an expectant gaze and an arm outstretched, awaiting another ‘useless’ gift to enter his grasp…

Was he… happy? Noel couldn’t tell if the man was pleased that familiar faces came by, instead of those troublesome ‘Kings’… or if he was trying to joke around as his own unusual attempt at bringing their moods to an elevated state of being…

Basically trying to cheer everybody up.

Either way though, Noel found him to be slightly off-putting right now.

{...He’s way too easy to read. Whatever – nothing good can come from thinking about that guy. Let’s focus on happier thoughts, Noel! Back to business! There’s something I’ve been meaning to do, but forgot to. These gift-bearing snobs just gave me a reason to form it.}

Yes. In truth, Noel was absolutely correct, this time around. After seeing so many students he finally knew, ones who treated him as ‘equals’ rather than something in a corner of the room to belittle - his heartstrings softened quite a bit. In order to satisfy this strange feeling inside his broad chest, he instinctively acted upon that ‘warm’ feeling. He had an inkling over what it was, but the only person worthy of this feeling was his mother. He knew, that nobody else deserved it from him.

This ‘feeling’, despite being so small, was called trust.

Yet, Before he could retract his hand is disgruntled embarrassment, the peanut gallery awoke, from their stupor.

They couldn’t tell that he was joking, nor that he was feeling slightly happy after receiving familiar faces.

Ian: “Presents? Why would I bring one of those?”

Alyandrea: “HAAH?! Don’t be so full of yourself, you – you long-haired weirdo! You ain’t THAT special! Why would I bother giving you a gift, huh?!”

Rise: “If you don’t have an offering for me, then leave. Talking with you isn’t worth the effort. Useless…Anyone with gifts can leave them on that table over there. We already got a bunch before you showed up.”

Alyandrea: “Wha-USELESS?! The NERVE of this asshol- err… of this - this freak of nature! How fucki-err, how – how freaking unappreciative after I… I mean WE dragged our sorry behinds to visit you! Be grateful, you moron!”

Brennan: “Hmm…? Now that I take a look at it aren’t these all… get well gifts? Look at the baskets. Who in the world would have visited you both anyways?”

Li Shun: “Probably the principal and staff. Maybe that sneaky reporter who’s always putting the school down. No doubt she received a wonderful chance to slander us after that night time showdown proved security was frightfully lacking.

Elijah: “After doing some digging with some old friends, I discovered the security force that were personally overseeing the hero division building is most likely going to take over Mr. Byle’s position as Head of security. Supposedly, the woman came to replace him, but Mr. Byle refused to step down from his post, noting how fishy it was when he never broke protocol. And now this… That night-time assault might've just sealed his fate. How weird, right? It’s almost like…”

Mr. Abrams: “...(As if an invisible hand is at work here. Dammit they’re making it so obvious too if even some inexperienced children can figure this stuff out. The new head should be an Ericson… that brat Borg’s sister, no doubt…)”

As Mr. Abrams pondered over their predicament, he suddenly showed an expression as if remembering something critically important. Without warning he turned around and left the room…

…

*THWACK!*

Rhys: “Aaah~!”

Rise: “…*Ignores* If you pass me one of those crumpled chocolate boxes, then I’ll tell you the names of those who paid us a visit.”

Brennan: “Why are they crumpled? Are you sure you wanna trust ‘em…?”

*Hands over chocolate box*

Rise: “*Shrugs* If they’re edible then why not? Now then.

*Munches*

You wanted to know who visited us?

*Munches*

It waths zthe Twen Kwngths.”

Elijah froze for a second, before speaking up.

Elijah: “Heheh, Rise… Wha- what did you say? I couldn’t quite understand with all that food in your mouth.”

Alyandrea: “Do you honestly think I could make out anything you just said?!”

Ian: “Yeah, spit it out and then spit it out! The food… and then the, uh, words, I mean.”

Li Shun: “...(There’s no way, right? It has to be a lie.)”

Rise: “*GULP!* Ah, satisfying. Now then, where was I…

Yeah… That’s right. The annoying visitors we kept receiving one after another. They were all ten Kings members, or whatever you guys wanna call them.”

Ian: “You lie! There’s NO way they would come here and visit you! They’re all popular and magnanimous! You’re unknown and HE’S *Points to Noel* public enemy number one! Why would they visit you both?? They don’t have any-!”

Rise: “Argh, stop talking for a second, will you? I don’t know the fucking details, nor do I care. But Noel brought up a good point. It’s most likely a political stunt to improve their popularity. Who knows how many of them were genuine with that pile of gifts.”

Elijah: “Of course… That… that makes perfect sense! If that old woman is advising them, then maybe… no! Not just her, either. Any of their backgrounds would most likely recommend that sort of thing – especially after Ophelia bruised up Harvey. Noel, Did they try anything funny with yo—u?”

…

seeing Elijah’s face, everyone turned around to face his bed. Simultaneously, Mr. Abrams came back inside of the room while dragging the arm of his son, and the final ‘King’ to pay them both a visit: The ‘Listless King’ or ‘Elemental King’ himself, Rhys Abrams! Except he was struggling.

And opposite them, while sitting upwards on his own borrowed bed - Noel: with a notepad and fancy pen in hand, was currently writing away, either perfectly unaware, or simply uninterested in the gazes that fell upon him.

Elijah: “Noel, what are you doing? Taking notes…?”

Noel: “...Something like that.”

Too curious to contain themselves, Ian and Brennan scampered over to where he was ordered to lay down, writing away in the notepad his right hand held.

Ian: “They Hit Me List…? What the heck...hey, Noel, are you feeling alright?”

Brennan: “’Xano’? ‘Harvey’? ‘Momo’--oh wait, that one’s crossed out. ‘Savannah’? ‘Nathan’ and ‘Nilia’? Are these---(The King names are there too)These are all ‘names’ right?”

Except, rather than an answer like they expected to receive, the only sound their young classmate released was an unintentional hum, with every jotted down name.

---