It was the night after the duel between the insolent girl and the washed up talent. Harrison awoke from unconsciousness for the second time that day however, this time he did not raise.
He was still at the school infirmary but made no movements to go home. As he laid there his mind was flooded with thoughts about his situation. The abuse of his sister and the humiliation of that girl.
That girl.
"It was her fault." It was obvious. His sister would never have been upset at him had he not lost to that rude, arrogant brat. Harrison laid awake all night. He had been told by the nurse that due to his condition he could stay if no one came to get him. He scoffed at the thought that his mother would take time out of her day to pick him up. She would never do such a useless thing.
His thoughts festered and roiled all throughout the night until the sun rose and the boy could hear the movement of students walking the halls.
The nurse returned in the morning. When she saw the boy still in bed she could not help but sigh in pity. She cleared her throat and approached the boy's bed. "How are you feeling this morning, Young Master Harrison?" The boy's eyes, reddened from lack of sleep, slowly turned to face the woman. He sat simply staring at the woman's face for minutes causing her to feel quite uncomfortable.
"Ahem. Young Master? If you want you can-"
"I do not require your pity, Miss." The nurse flinched when the boy cut her off. She nodded nervously. "I understand. As per the school's rules you may stay in here for another hour before being asked to leave. Let me know if you- wait. Young Master?!" The woman called out as the boy had risen from the bed and began to gather his items.
"As I said..." The boy turned and glared at the woman scaring her the very core.
"...I do not need a commoner's pity. Know your place and stay there." The boy removed his hardened gaze from the nurse and slowly left the room. As soon as the boy was gone the nurse collapsed into muddled pile of fear. "Master was right. I should never have agreed to work for young nobles."
Harrison smoldered through the halls. All eyes on him as he went by. He heard the voices of his fellow students.
"Look, its the Fleeting Ember of the Floie family." One insulted.
"You sure he's not a bastard child. He's covered in dirt like a commoner after all." Another teased.
"Come on everyone. He was a torchlight that believed himself the sun until that feeble stick of his turned to ash." Another stated.
The students. They were all looking down on him. Insulting him. Treating him as though he had never achieved anything. That was fine though.
"I do not need the approval of cowardly upstarts." He said this but the insults continued. They flew through his mind like a violent storm. Yet, he was determined to ignore it. He went to take his first class of the day desperately trying to keep calm.
He moved to his normal seat but before making it was pushed from behind sending him sprawling to the ground. He tried to stand but was prevented from doing so as a foot dug into his back.
"Argh!" the boy cried out. "What's wrong, Young Master?" the brown haired aggressor said mockingly. "Can't stand tall anymore? Not enough kindling for you to burn BRIGHT!?" The boy stomped onto Harrison back again causing intense pain.
"I haven't even-Gah!" Harrison struggled to speak and was kicked in his side by a different person. "What? You haven't done anything to us? Do you know how much shit my father gave me because of you!?" The new boy picked up Harrison by his hair. "How-"
"Huh? Speak up, damn bastard." The boy leaned in closer to Harrison. Suddenly, Harrison's hand grasped the boy's face and he cast, "Scalding Grasp."
The second aggressor screamed in pain letting go of Harrison as he tried to remove his hand. "AAAAGGHH!!" Harrison threw the boy into the side of a desk knocking over it in the process. The injured aggressor looked at Harrison petrified. "W-wait! We're not allowed to use magic against each other like this!" The boy tried to scramble back but had nowhere to go.
Harrison lifted his hand at the boy scowling, "Does it look like I care?" Mana swirled in the air as Harrison once again prepared to cast a spell. His target looked around to his friends for help but they were too shocked by the sudden change in situations to move.
"Flare Blas-"
"ENOUGH!" The teacher grabbed Harrison's arm and threw off the boy's concentration on the spell. "Harrison! Go to the Headmaster's office this instant!" The stern man ordered the boy. Harrison glared at him for a moment before ripping his arm free and calmly made his way out of the class room as though saying that he was leaving on his own terms.
At that moment, class had actually came to an end naturally. The teacher had a habit of being chronically and extremely late with Harrison also having been quite late.
Harrison moved through the hall on edge. He was trying to regain his composure but every time he came close something disrupted him. He was managing to keep up appearances fortunately. As long as nothing else happens he should be-
A bump. That's all it was. In fact, it was even more like a slight graze from something akin to the wind. The graze from the passing student that didn't even seem to notice that they had run into Harrison. That graze was all it took. Harrison grabbed the student by the collar and threw him against the wall.
Those passing by were immediately drawn to the scene. The victim of Harrison's rage looked up raggedly. His pale skin, messy short grey hair, and boney figure looking up at the boy in confusion.
"Who do you think you are!" Harrison shouted and punched the boy in the face. "I-I don-" Harrison hit the boy in his stomach next. "You think I'm weak? HUH!? That I'm just some nobody that you can run into in the hallway!"
Harrison beat the defenseless student some more. He breathed heavily as he looked down at the boy. The boy's gaze trailed up to Harrison's eyes and for a split second he saw it.
The will to fight back. It disappeared a second later and this enraged Harrison even more. He lifted his fist and clenched it harder than he ever had before.
"WORTHLESS BASTARD!!!" Just as he went to let his fist fly a hand caught it. Harrison whipped his head around to the one stopping him.
"WHO THE HELL-"
"Settle down, bastard son. I have some questions for the dog on the floor." Alix stated coldly as she held Harrison's fist. He looked at the hand that held him and tried to pull away from her but it was too strong. "Hey, you." The girl called out to the ragged figure on the ground. "Why did you give in?" The boy tilted his head, "Wha-"
"DON'T IGNORE ME!!!" Harrison swung his opposite hand at the girl. A decision that he immediately regretted as she easily caught the other hand and kicked the boy down the hall. Harrison fell to his knees gasped for air as he held his stomach.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Lashing out so desperately? Did big sis or mommy scold you?" Alix slowly approached Harrison who was attempting to stand straight.
"This is pathetic." Alix lightly kicked Harrison knocking him back onto the floor. "Your like a hapless ember desperately trying to ignite a fire in the middle of the ocean. Uselessly desperate." The girl clenched her fist as Harrison's red eyes glared fiercely at her.
"Guess I'll have to put out this fire yet again. Now sit quietly and get extinguished!" Alix swung her fist hard and fast slamming into Harrison. The boy was hit so hard that blood came flying out of his mouth and he was imprinted into a crater that had now been formed in the middle of the hallway.
The boy lay unconscious as the girl simply returned to her original target. The crowd stood awestruck. Was Alix always this strong?
The ragged boy was just as shocked as the girl crouched down before him. "You never answered my question."
"W-what? A question?" The boy was very confused. Alix sighed.
"When I passed by I noticed that for a split second you looked like you were ready to do what I just did but you didn't. You let Harrison continue to beat you into a pulp. So I ask again, why did you give in?"
"I-I could never do what you just did. I'm nowhere near strong enough. Besides it would just be a wasted effort in front of someone as powerful as him." Alix grimaced at the boy's response.
"How disappointingly expected of you to say. And here I was, hoping that you were different from the sheep that we call fellow students." Alix stood up and began to leave but said one last thing to the boy.
"I have no patience for mind slaves. You really are worthless boy." And with that Alix went to her next class leaving the hallway a mess and the boy confused. He stared at the direction the girl left in unmoving.
He shook his head to regain his thinking process and stood up. He dragged himself to his own next class as his mind continued to think about the dissatisfied girl .
"Why did she call me a mind slave?"