[Isaac Mahoka's POV]
[Day 4|August 5th]
"Now are you sure you never played chess before?" I asked Johanna who was walking beside me.
It was seven-thirty A.M.
We finished breakfast a little while ago and now we were in the school building on the second floor.
Surprisingly, a lot of the rooms on the second floor were empty, and the club rooms were locked with black tainted windows that you cannot see through.
Johanna, scratched her cheek. "Well… I know the basic mechanics of chess. But I never played it until a little while ago when we played that visual blindfold chess and won…" She let out a self-deprecating laugh and had an apologetic expression. "You're not offended are you? I know you played like a grandmaster…"
It's been seven years since I played chess and even Johanna considers me a grandmaster level chess player despite it being her first time playing it and even though she was above my skill level at chess and even above all known grandmasters of chess.
If you pitted her against a quantum super artificial intelligence in chess, the success rate of her winning would be ninety-nine percent with a margin of error of one percent.
The Moonlight Society has never used official chess status because they belonged to the outside world, and the Moonlight Society, despite all of their accumulated wisdom and competency, has always found themselves arrogant when it comes to the comparison of intelligence between the inhabitants of the Moonlight Society and those of the outside world.
But I never considered either side more intelligent than the other.
Because the world and even the universe are vast and infinite with different potentials.
A person with no experience but with divine potential can sometimes beat someone with a lot more experience and knowledge than the former person has. Because it's all about how they apply their intelligence.
I view this for myself and others.
Although getting back to her comment if I found it offensive that she won against me in chess.
To be offended would mean I believe that no one could beat me, but I already contradict that statement because I know I am a mere frog in the well who does not know the depths of the ocean.
And it would also imply that if I were offended, it would mean that I possess either a superior ego or an inferior ego regarding the winning-losing dichotomy.
But even then, a magician as I am, am indifferent to that dichotomy, since only the performance is what matters; from the prologue to the encore.
If anything, I felt joyous and exuberant from losing.
As I said I am an intellectual variant of an epistemological masochist, whether being at a disadvantage breeds creative innovation. Losing means I still have more room and creativity to grow.
And it proves my point that I am but a small fish in a bigger ocean.
"If anything," I spoke cheerfully. "I felt joyous. It just means I have room to improve and grow."
"That's a very humble approach."
"I wouldn't call it humble; more so a melioristic approach," I said. "But I do appreciate the compliment."
She hummed.
We kept walking as we saw to our left, a rather interesting door that was dark oak and was labeled the student council room.
Even the label and door handles were gold-plated.
The windows were huge on the door, however it was impossible to see through them given that the windows were tinted black as matte.
However despite the doors looking locked, there was a distinct smell of a blend of stagnant natural organic compounds, industrial cleaning agents, and electronics.
This suggests that this room has been used as recently as six days ago.
This means this room was cleaned six days ago.
As impossible as it was to see through the window, my observation skills were honed enough to see through even the most unseen.
And I was able to see one particular seat out of ten that had a label that said:
Student Council President Joo-Mi Choi 3-A
I then unfocused my observation.
Well well well administration, it appears I uncovered a secret I had hypothesized when I saw that twelve of the sixteen dormitory buildings were off limits and recalled information before the public opening of the academy to its inaugural year that in the past three years a surge of empty slots in the criminally youth institutions worldwide increased in availability. Which now with all the information from memory, scent, observation, and discrepancies. I can say that we in fact do have sophomores, juniors, and seniors. And they're most likely at some other location for now being taught temporarily till they can be transferred back here, most likely next month.
"This door seems special," I said to Johanna, while looking at the door. "I wonder why it seems so special?"
"Perhaps it's because this room is called the student council." She pointed out.
I nodded sagely. "Of course," I said, my smile widening. "It makes sense."
I decided to try the door handle and it was indeed locked. "It appears to be locked."
"So it does." Johanna agreed, nodding sagely.
"Perhaps it'll open automatically if I knock on it three times?"
"Perhaps it may."
I knocked on it three times.
"Custodian." I said in a deep voice.
Knock
Knock
Knock
My voice returned to its usual serenity. "It seems these doors have a vendetta against me."
"Have you tried asking the doors to open?"
My expression brightened up as I was a baby and saw my first cookie, but it was really my mother's bust feeding me her milk. "What a wonderful suggestion Johanna!"
I looked back at the door. "Excuse me doors! Can you open for Johanna and I? We want to feel cozy in your room."
The doors pitifully did not respond, for they are not sentient objects.
This was a losing battle, but I intended to win the war, by using my ultimate illusionist skills!
"This appears to be a losing battle," Johanna said to me.
"So it does," I agreed. "But fear not! For I have trained in the fields of magic, therefore I have come prepared for situations!"
I unbuttoned my blazer and showed the insides which contained many homemade magic wands that I had personally created! "Behold my essential magic wands of life that are totally magical and definitely not homemade engineering that took me to finish in one night!"
Johanna's face brightened up and clapped her hands in excitement. "Oh my…!" she said loudly. "There… there are so many…!"
I nodded, showing off a magician's smirk. "Of course! Now then…" I picked the purple one.
"What does that one do?!"
"This one is called the wand of the lunar sun!" I announced. "It casts glowing glitter that'll force anything or anyone to do as I say!"
I pointed my purple wand at the door, as I became flamboyant and extremely theatrical. "Now as I am! The great illusionist of the Moonlight Isaac Mahoka! Will make you open doors! One way or another by casting my spell!" I turned to look at Johanna. "Step back my dear! Things might get messy!"
She stepped back three feet hitting the walls.
I turned back to look at the doors, positioned myself as if I were in a duel in an RPG. "Now in the principles of the hocus pocus moonsicus!" I began. "I cast the hand of the moonlight to open you up!" I began to finish up. "ABRACADABRA!"
I discreetly pressed the button on the wand as the wand shot out glowing purple and gold glitter as it hit the door and it started to light up as if it were glitter firecrackers.
"YES! YES! YES!" I yelled elegantly. "NOW OPEN UP!"
"Do you think this is a good idea?!" Johanna asked with concern for me.
"OF COURSE MY DEAR!" I responded back loudly. "MY MAGIC SPELLS NEVER FAIL ME!"
The popping and smoke faded away, as the doors were the same as they were before.
I stared at the door, and the next thing I knew, I lay on the ground headfirst and curled up, and groaned in doom and despair. "The doors… are apparently anti-magic…"
"That's a poor shame…" Johanna frowned in genuine sadness.
"It really is," my voice muffled on the floor.
"Wait, Isaac!" Johanna said, as I heard her expression change to a genius idea. "What if you used that white magic wand that was in your blazer?"
"Hold on…" I said, getting up instantly as if I hadn't failed.
I put my wand of the lunar sun away and grabbed my white one that had an andalusite gemstone under it. "The aether wand of the thirteen suns!" I pointed the wand into the air as I reached the heavens of triumph. "You're a genius, Johanna! A beautiful sexy genius!"
"E-eh?!" Johanna's face flushed once more. "S-sexy?! Me!"
"Yes!" I admitted shamelessly, accepting my dying fate in the hands of Priscilla in the future, as I switched to a conversational serenity. "Oh yeah, put these on." I tossed her a pair of sunglasses as I put on some too.
"How come?" she asked as she put them on.
"Because it's about to get very bright. And the light on this will blind you if you don't wear them." I explained, returning to my flamboyance. "Now then! Are you ready?!"
Johanna put out two thumbs up and huffed a yes.
I looked back at the doors. "Now…" I began. "As I summon the eyes of the thirteen aether suns! They will showcase their lights to the point that their brightness is at full force and will disintegrate you fully!" I pointed at the doors. "NOW I SHALL MAKE YOU DISAPPEAR!"
I pressed the button on the wand as it shone a light that would blind anyone.
"Is it working?" Johanna asked loudly.
"Hold on!" I said loudly as the light faded.
"GAH!" Johanna and I gasped in shock and despair.
The light did not disintegrate the wooden doors…
Even the eyes of the thirteen aether suns were not enough to force the doors to surrender.
I found myself on the floor again, in the same position. "The aether wand didn't work…" he groaned.
I underestimated the door's resilience to magic.
"Maybe the third time's the charm?" Johanna offered weakly, helping me up with her soft warm hands.
"Yes," I said softly, clinging to the hope of defeating the doors. "Third time is the charm indeed."
I put away my aether wand and picked up my pink wand of Astrid, which too had a gemstone on it which was a pink rhodonite. "This is our final card!" I held it up like it was Christs' holy grail itself.
"Now what is this?" Johanna looked at it closely with excitement that matched a seal's expression when they saw a beach ball.
"This," I began. "Is the wand of Astrid. Astrid was the benevolent witch of whimsy! And I have applied her magical knowledge and principles into this magic wand of surprise!"
Astrid was a mythology I made up, but I had been writing a mental book about my own creative mythology based around magic.
I switched to a flamboyant seductive but still whimsical demeanor as I pulled Johanna close to me. "Johanna…" I breathed, my voice dropping to a low intimate tone, my eyes half-lidded.
My face was already four inches away from hers, my breath hit her hot breath.
"I-Isaac!" Johanna flustered, her breath hitching, but her body vibrating with alarming excitement. "W-what are you—"
I brought her body much closer to my chest, her enormous bust pressing against my chest like a pillow to a steel.
Her eyes glittered with a lot of emotions: excitement, nervousness, joy, religious guilt, arousal, and whimsy.
She stopped speaking when my thumb gently pressed against her plump glossy lips. "I cast a sardonyx spell of seduction on your heart, eyes, and mind to tell me your current and fiery desire…"
I created this creative tactic on the spot, since it was fun for both of us… and out of a… personal curiosity…
And this is technically the first time I ever used seduction, I plan to add that on the list for Priscilla of reasons to kill me for.
I brought my wand of Astrid to her mouth, just an inch away from it. "Now Johanna, tell me what you desire right now, at this very second."
Her breath shuddered with ecstasy as she whispered. "What I most desire right now is…"
We began to say it in unison. "To get revenge on the doors."
I rubbed the gloss that was on my thumb and rubbed it onto my lips and gave her a quick kiss on the lips as I backed away and smile. "Your wish is my command…"
I looked back at the door, pointed at Astrid's wand at the doors. "In the name of Astrid and the principle of the heart of Sardonyx! I CAST THE SPELL THAT YOU ARE NOW THE PROPERTY OF!"
I pressed the button on the doors as the wand began to spray cotton candy spray paint on the door as I spelled: These doors and rooms are property of Isaac Mahoka and Johanna Wilson; The Moonlight Illusionist and the Priestess of Eden. P.S. Look at this cat in a top hat I drew.
I drew a kitty face with a top hat.
"The mission was successful," I announced to Johanna, putting away my wand back in my blazer.
Johanna nodded and gave me a high five to which I returned the favor. "Yes, though aren't you worried that it will be able to wash away. It would defeat the purpose of winning the war against the doors if it gets washed away."
"You'd be right," I agreed. "But, I created a permanent paint that cannot be removed unless you use enough heat that would melt the building itself or you have to replace it completely."
And requiring the removal of these doors would mean you would have to renovate this entire second floor, or perhaps the entire building given that the doors are embedded into the walls since they lack hinges and the technological wiring into the buildings would need to be replaced in order to remove the doors without problems to everything else.
So in a way, the administration would have no choice but to keep it on.
Which means Johanna and I won our first battle against the system.
A smile came on Johanna's face. "Ah, how cunning of you."
"Mhm, it's a part of the magicians' aesthetic to be cunning."
We continued our way since we were heading to the physical educator lounge which was on the third floor.
That was our main reason for coming up here, and I asked Johanna to come with me since she had a supernatural intimate understanding of my intentions, despite only meeting me less than thirty minutes ago.
"Say how many wands do you have in your blazer?" Johanna beside me asked.
"Well, I have an overall of one hundred and twenty made and all packed in this blazer." I said as I unbuttoned my blazer and showed her the inside of my blazer by spreading it open.
And her eyes widened in surprise seeing there was nothing, as if the compartments of my magic wands had never been there.
"What the—? Where are your magic wands?"
"Watch my dear."
I buttoned the last button on my blazer, pressing on the button and turning it until I heard a click.
And then I showed her the inside of my blazer once more. "Voilà!" I said with enthusiasm.
"Whoa…" She breathed, amazed. "So there are layers for twenty-four wands? That would make… Five layers."
I nodded. "You'd be correct my dear." I buttoned back up. "Two weeks ago, before school began. When I received my school uniform. I began to engineer and redesign the blazer by creating an extra linen layer of two-millimeter-thick high-density soft foam to help prevent any forms of printing. Now that linen layer compartments were easy to make, but how to access them is a rather complex problem to solve despite it being a micro-scale problem." I continued. "You see, the bottom button is not really sewn to the cloth itself; instead it's mounted onto a miniature rotary indexing mechanism, similar to the dial on a safe or a heavy-duty mechanical dial, which is hidden inside the blazer. And inside the button mechanism is a small spring-loaded ball bearing that drops into grooves as you turn it. And when you turn it a quarter or half turn, it gives an audible click..."
And since zippers require a physical pull tab moving up and down, which cannot be operated by simply pulling a stationary button. I simply used spring-loaded mechanical catches hidden inside the two-millimeter foam lining.
Johanna catching up to the implication spoke the unspoken part without me saying it. "And when you turn the button backwards, it pulls a thin, high-tensile fluorocarbon line through hidden fabric channels along the edges of the panels. And as you rotate it back, it acts as a miniature winch pulling the layers tightly shut until the hidden physical latches lock back into place."
She already possesses a superior linear syllogistic inference prowess than I do.
"Honestly Isaac you are pretty creative," She continued. "Usually most people apply those engineering and fashion design knowledge for money making skills or clinical skills."
"Most people aren't magicians."
Johanna nodded in agreement, remembering to hand back the sunglasses as I put them away into the realms of my blazer.
I believe I am starting to understand why Johanna can perceive me accurately, as Scarlett can.
Johanna is much smarter than I am, that much is for certain. She can counter me in many direct ways, no matter how thoroughly I plan, she can easily counter-plan and anticipate me more than I can anticipate others.
But not being smarter than me is why she can see through me clearly.
She can see through me because she thinks exactly like me, and has the same emotional range as I do.
One would believe I am having a cognitive bias or simply projecting, and I would agree with that assessment if it were me who only witnessed it.
But since Aurelie was able to predict that Johanna and I share a frequency, Isidora also agreed as well.
And now I am starting to see why and I am also agreeing.
"You know," I said, glancing at her with delightful compassion. "I admire your indirect leadership skills."
Her face went flush with embarrassment, then she scratched her cheek and let out a relieved nervous laugh. "Was it that obvious?"
I shook my head. "No, in fact, it would be impossible to deduce your involvement. Since your actions were so discreet that even a suspicion of your engineering would be dismissed as a coincidence and circumstantial at best."
In order to conclude that she is the indirect leader of Class B, you would need to think exactly like her. Not just to feel like her.
All reconstructive empaths and hyperempaths would fail to think exactly like her Johanna.
You would need to have an authentic philosophy, methodology, and psychology like Johanna's to figure it out.
And it appears given the evidence and the fact that I figured it out, only furthers the claim that she and I are exactly alike.
I continued speaking. "You already saw what Mr. Kwon failed to perceive. Which was her potential for learning ability and leadership which led to why Aurelie is ranked so high despite her personality. And due to seeing what Mr. Kwon did to Aurelie, you waited till Wednesday to join Mr. Kwon's faction because you saw how Aurelie developed a mental fortitude against Mr. Kwon on Tuesday which made you conclude your premise that Aurelie has a high environmental and situational adaptability skills enough to be a leader. And when you joined Mr. Kwon's faction and told Aurelie why you joined despite the negative social perception that would be bestowed upon you. You gave her a seed of hope in my mind that would form a defensive faction against Mr. Kwon's faction. Meaning you can regulate Mr. Kwon's aggressive methods to be more softer by appealing to the cost-benefit of his psyche, while at the same time indirectly facilitating Aurelie's goals into leading Class B in the right direction."
"So you knew what Jinhyuk did to Aurelie on orientation day?" she asked, not seemingly surprised, meaning she already knew I had an involvement.
I nodded. "She didn't tell me at first when I noticed. But with her permission, I used a reconstructive therapeutic method on Orientation day with the help of Isidora's conversational event on Tuesday, which helped Aurelie a lot to strengthen herself." I paused as I continued with my previous explanation. "And your indirect leadership premise of mine strengthens with you not being surprised by me showing up this morning with Aurelie's proposal. Meaning you already predicted the conversation and proposal and who would be involved in Aurelie's hangout."
Johanna nodded and spoke softly. "You're right on all accounts… I know that I am not in a position to be a direct leader… Cause I myself am afraid of putting others in danger… hence why I believe Aurelie would make a better leader than I…"
I nodded in understanding.
Despite myself not being exactly a Christian due to the fact that the Moonlight Society constructed all forms of religions that lead to their… Reunification planning…
Which is a sad reality for me to know, since I always found Christianity… especially orthodoxy to be… appealing to me given how the mysticism and resonance appeal to me. Though that doesn't mean that I have favoritism towards a religion, in fact I find all of them beautiful, it's just orthodoxy that resonates with me the most.
If I weren't born into the Moonlight Society, I would have definitely been a convert to the Orthodox faith.
But even now I admire Christ even if the Moonlight Society conditioned him…
Anyways, in Christian tradition figures like Queen Esther and many biblical matriarchs are celebrated for using quiet strategic influence. They avoid overt power to protect their people, choosing instead to guide the person holding the direct position of power, even so subtly.
"So you are practicing an indirect form of—"
"Diakonia," Johanna finished for me. "The Orthodox Christian leadership that prefers influence over raw power."
"A servant leadership," I simplified, nodding in understanding. "My position in Class H is similar in a way. Also if you don't mind, can you turn on the audio recording on your phone?"
Johanna looked at me with an amused smile as she took out her phone. "Ah so you figured Jinhyuk knows about your involvement with Aurelie."
I returned the favor with an amused smile of my own. "I have my ways; a magician sometimes doesn't reveal his secrets."
I didn't mention about me eavesdropping at the female gym from yesterday.
I continued. "Now how well can you do a voice impression of Aurelie? Like, get really into it." I asked.
Johanna's face brightened to the exact expression that matched Aurelie's with perfect accuracy. "How does my Lyonnais accent of Aurelie Louise sound?!"
It's absolutely scary how Johanna's acting skills are, they're much superior to Scarlett and mine.
She has even gotten the high-pitched voice and the accent of Aurelie to a hundred percent accuracy that if you were on a call with Johanna impersonating as Aurelie, you would genuinely believe that you were talking to Aurelie.
I smiled as I adopted a Cajun French accent into my English. "Ya sound real sweet, like a natural Cher, with dat perfect Lyonnais accent, eh?"
"Oui oui," Johanna said, touching her glossy lips.
"Oui oui indeed," I murmured.
I gestured for her to begin recording as my voice returned to its normal serenity with my moonlight Latin accent, or what the Moonlight Society calls it Lunarian-Moonoch. "I find your goal to achieve Class B to become a bicephalous class structure to be admirable. Class H has also done something similar, though the head leadership resides only with Jun Naomi who is also the head of the morale of Class H, since there are seven extra domain leaders and I am more for internal issues for Class H for I am the consultant leader."
"That's… that's incredible Isaac! That your class was able to form a democratically cohesive class!"
"It won't be easy, we are the bottom of the barrel after all. We are bound to hit some internal obstacles due to ideological issues amongst us."
"Mhm," Johanna hummed like Aurelie. "Say Isaac if you don't mind me asking… could you perhaps go to the physical educators lounge to ask my Class B instructors with Ruby Points to make sure the Ruby Points reward for my physical education period event is allocated to everyone in my class? I know it's a lot to ask, but you are my friend right? And that is what friends do to help one another. After all, you have done it before when you did that flora reading that I asked you to do to help gather information about Class A."
Yes!
I was totally in love with Johanna after she added that last sentence that Johanna perfectly understood what I was trying to achieve that would increase Johanna's leadership concealment further.
The reason for this fabrication recording is to achieve the goal of cultivating Mr. Kwon's intellectual vanity to finally perceive Aurelie as the ideal archangel Michael of her intelligence to Mr. Kwon's Lucifer intellectual vanity.
And how this fabrication works is that it sets the idea that I am Aurelie's puppet to set up a made-up network of influence through me to gather allies without those Allies knowing that Aurelie is the leader of this network. And since the additional of the flora reading part will solidify that Aurelie was using me is because Aurelie did come with me to the flora reading on Tuesday, which creates a castling move that would frame me the one pulling the strings of creating a network, despite this supposed network not existing at all.
This will influence Mr. Kwon's psychological mechanism to see the benefits of working with Aurelie after Class B's gym even whatever it may be, because it will force Mr. Kwon to believe he has overestimated me, and that he underestimated Aurelie severely, and since Mr. Kwon would have no choice but to believe that this secret network of Aurelie exists, makes him interested and agrees to work with Aurelie.
And how this helps me is that he won't see me as a threat but as a mere pawn of Aurelie's and would see me and Class H as a non-threat.
And this helps Johanna further is because it will solidify her false loyalty to Mr. Kwon's faction by her showing this audio recording after Mr. Kwon loses against Aurelie's faction in the gym period event.
"Why of course Aurelie, that is what friends do after all." I agreed.
"Yay! Thank you so much, Isaac!" and then Johanna ended the recording.
We both high-fived each other as our grips tightened, showcasing our bicep muscles, at full strength as my full grip strength from my personal measurement is seventy duodecillion kilograms.
Johanna's grip strength in full truth, is literally equal to mine.
How delightful!
We finally made it to the doors of the physical educators' lounge.
The first thing I noticed was two micro security cameras that were on the corners of the doors.
The second thing I noticed was that I felt two heat signatures nine feet away from the doors inside the lounge that were clearly hostile. And since I heard four guns cock audible click means they were pointing at the door at the moment Johanna and I arrived.
And based on the click sound of the particular firearm, it seems to be Desert Eagle's due to its short, sharp, tight click-clack sound.
I can even smell the tungsten-sheathed slugs that were in the rounds, and I smelled the faint, sweet smell of volatile nitrogen-infused plasma gunpowder which was a deuterium plasma distillate, drifting from the venting ports of their supposed custom barrels.
Oh dear… based on my perception and inference I am about to make… then each compound round is packed with enough condensed sub-atomic explosive yield to open a G-type star and vaporize its orbiting bodies.
Though given that the two people in question behind those doors are so confident to use it is because the school building materials are able to withstand such destructive force!
But that would definitely hurt someone.
Though I do wonder who I made so mad as to warrant getting me shot at with such destructive force?
I can think of someone in mind, but there is no proof of it till it's tested.
But the saying goes, they insist upon themselves.
I looked at Johanna. "Johanna, how strong are you? Asking out of curiosity."
"That is a specific curiosity to ask." Johanna pointed out.
"I like specific off-topic questions."
Johanna thought about it for a moment. "Is flicking bullets away casually good enough?"
I looked back at the doors. "Good enough for me."
We entered the room and it was quite spacious.
The first thing I noticed was Coach Bogard and Coach Minami, both of whom were looking at a laptop screen and drinking coffee while their shoulders tensed up.
Of course I recognized the other physical education instructors who were in here based on the information guide to the staff on the phones.
There was Coach Ezra Knight for Class A who had an indifferent expression and his tense shoulders betrayed him.
And the other two left were thankfully ones from Class B, Coach Hanna Naneke and Coach Anthimos Spanas, and even they were tense.
I was quite worried that Class B's instructors wouldn't be here, since I would need to ask the other instructors about changing another class's physical education period event and have to get permission from a student from Class B to agree in person.
Even if Johanna couldn't come with me, I would have asked Aurelie or Isidora to come.
Back to the origins of their tensions.
The origins were quite in front of me, which were two women who looked to be in their early twenties. One had red eyes and short hair that top half was red and the bottom half was blonde. The other woman had blue eyes and the same shirt hair as the other but with the top half being dark blue and the bottom half being silver blonde.
Oh yes! I recognize these two from the referee binder; they are sisters as the one with the red is Kaede Akiyama, and the one with the blue is named Yorumi Akiyama.
Now then this is a rather interesting development.
Since there are two referees that I have never met before who have shown hostility towards me specifically, and why I don't think they are showing hostility towards Johanna is because the Akiyama sisters are directing their gaze at me specifically. And they most likely view Johanna as collateral damage.
Which can tell me that they were following Johanna and I up here to the physical educators' lounge from a distance so that neither Johanna nor I could sense them, and most likely took the opposite direction in the building to head up into the room before Johanna or I could arrive.
And given the physical education instructors haven't made any interference, it would mean that the business the referees have with any of the students. The instructors cannot interfere unless the students in question report them, which also implies that the main administration and the head of the referees have permitted whatever these two referees are doing.
Which brings me back to their hostility towards me, which is not intimate hostility.
In psychology and criminology, aggression is split into two types, instrumental aggression and affective aggression.
Unlike affective aggression which stems from hot-headed, angry, and unstable emotions. Instrumental aggression stems from cold-blooded and goal-oriented origins.
An instrumental aggressor feels no anger or hatred towards an individual. Instead, they experience a detached, highly focused state of hypoarousal mixed with a dopamine rush of the hunt.
And when the existence of a hunt requires a bounty.
And that is when all the pieces fit together, like a symphony performed by the greatest orchestra of all time, hitting the peak.
Closing the door behind us, I spoke with a brightened innocent expression that matched Johanna's. "Good morning!—"
"Time to die you monochrome freak!" the Akiyama sisters said in unison with smiles that can scare any angel and demon.
Both press on their triggers at zero point five seconds.
And when the bullets came out, the velocity rippled and speed that came from the bullet was at one point twenty-five nanoseconds.
Meaning that the bullets from seven feet away from us were traveling one billion seven hundred million five hundred ninety-four thousand meters per second.
When I saw Johanna's expression, her bright innocent expression like mine did not change, and she seemed unfazed by this.
One would say is because of her perception hasn't reacted, but my perception saw her glance at me and wink at me, meaning she can see the bullet speed and can react to it, meaning I have no worries.
When the first bullets came at us, Johanna caught them with no injury, crushing them.
For me, I flicked them away casually while slicing them in half with a kinetic output that makes sure the plasma gunpowder cannot activate.
"My my!" I said cheerfully, continuing to flick them and slice them. "Is this a way to greet your students?! Because this is surely a new experience for me! How about you Johanna?"
Johanna looked at me still catching and crushing the bullets. "Oh definitely! I have never been greeted with bullets before so this is a new experience."
Kaede Akiyama shouted in frustration. "Stop destroying our bullets! Can't you see we're trying to get our reward?!"
"I'd rather not die in my first week of school," I replied smoothly, already hitting my thirty-first bullet.
"I agree as well," Johanna replied smoothly.
After a few seconds of them running out of ammo as Johnna dropped all fifty bullets that failed to hit her onto the ground as they were as flat as coins.
And on my part, I sliced all fifty bullets that tried to hit me.
It was silent for a few seconds after they emptied their ammunition on us.
"Oh…" Yorumi Akiyama said, looking bewildered, and looked at her firearm seeing it was useless despite being one of the current most powerful weapons in the world.
"I believe that introductions are in order!" I suggested, pressing my hand against my chest. "I'm Isaac Mahoka, and this is my friend Johanna Wilson. We simply came here to talk with Class B's physical education instructors. And before you two lovely colored hair twins introduce yourselves, in my culture hugging is my way of saying "I view you as friends and that I forgive you"."
I walked to them as Kaede protested. "You don't have to—"
It was already futile as I hugged them and went to their ear and whispered to them so that only they could hear as I spoke in Japanese. "あなたは私の話を聞くことになる.みんなが不審に思わないように表情はそのままにしてくれ.もしあなたたち二人が表情をほんの少しでも変えたら,私があなたたち二人をヨハンナと私を殺そうとしたと通報する.あなたたちがこの罠と,もし計画がうまくいかなかった場合に私たちが証言してもスタッフが何も報告しないようにするための手配をしたことも知っている.ここには防犯カメラがないから,そういうことになるのは道理だ.さて,これから質問する.あなたたちの答えは「はい」か「いいえ」だけにしてくれ.私の言っていることははっきり分かったか?"
(Translation: You're gonna listen to what I have to say. Keep your expressions the same so no one is suspicious, because if you two make a single micro change in your expressions. I will make sure to report you two for attempting to kill Johanna and me. And I know you set up this trap and contingency to have the staff in here not report anything if we did testify if your plan didn't work which makes sense given the lack of security cameras in here. Now I'm gonna ask questions, and your answer will be yes or no. Do I make myself clear?)
Given the threat and the sheer information I presented to the Akiyama sisters, they will have no choice but to comply and especially keep their composure.
Both of their expressions and composure were unchanged but the internal tremor I felt from their heartbeats do confirm they are complying.
"Yes," Yorumi whispered.
"いいでしょう.では,私の最初の質問は推論から始まります.そして質問です.あなた方お二人,あるいはさらに多くの審判員が,審判員の検査官の一人から,つまりより具体的にはレヴィ・ビスミングストンから,私の首にかけられた懸賞金を受け入れたのですか?また,その懸賞金の条件は,私を殺すか,私を追放するかのいずれかであり,それによって彼が私を殺すための個人たちの集団を仕組むことができるというものだったのです.私の推論は正しいですか?"
(Translation: Good, now my first question will start off from a deduction and then a question. You two and perhaps even more referees accepted a bounty on my head from one of the referee inspectors, or more specifically Levi Bismingston, and his bounty conditions were either to kill me or have me expelled so that he can engineer a group of individuals to kill me. Is my deduction true?)
Kaede spoke. "Yes."
I nodded subtly. "それでは,もういくつか質問です.あなたの上司や当局は,この懸賞金について知っていますか?知っているとしたら,ビーミングストン氏はいくらを提示していますか?そして,この懸賞金に参加することに同意した推薦者（審判員）は何人いますか?"
(Translation: Then here are a few more questions. Does your boss and the administration know about this bounty? And if so, how much is Mr. Bismingston offering? And how many referees agreed to partake in this bounty?)
Yorumi responded. "Yes. The amount of the reward is four hundred seventy five million United States dollars. And thirty-nine thousand nine hundred referees agreed to partake in this bounty."
"この学校に在籍しているソフォモア,ジュニア,シニアの存在があることも確認できますか.もしある場合,ビスミングストン氏は審判員に対して,これらの上級生にも報奨金について同意するよう求めたのでしょうか.もしそうなら,人数は何人ですか."
(Translation: Can you also confirm the existence of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are enrolled at this school, and if so did Mr. Bismingston tells the referees to get those upperclassmen to also agree on the bounty as well, and if so how many?)
"Yes…" Kaede whispered. "And yes the entire sophomore, junior, and senior years agreed to this bounty and to partake in it as well, meaning six hundred of the whole upperclassmen are also planning to get you as well, along with their reward being twenty million Requiems."
"では,これから起こることを説明します.私たち3人は友だちになり,そしてあなたたち2人は,私と同等の立場で私を手伝ってくれることになります.結局のところ,私たちはみな人間ですから.私は手紙を届けてもらいたいのですが,その手紙は受付のイヴァナ・ペッファーミンツに預けておき,私が彼女のところに行って手紙を受け取るまで保管しておいてもらいたいのです.そしてその手紙の内容として,上級学年・中級学年・2年生の各クラスがどのように運営されているのか,またそれぞれのクラスを誰が率いているのかについての情報がほしいのです.あなたたち2人は,それを私のためにやってくれると信じていいですか?"
(Translation: Now then, here is what is gonna happen now. We three are gonna be friends and you two will assist me as equals to me, since we are all human at the end of the day. And I want a letter delivered to me but leaving it to the receptionist Ivana Pfeffermintz for her to keep till I arrive to her to get the letter, and for the contents of the letter I want information of how all the classes in the senior year, junior year, and sophomore year operate and who leads which class. Can I trust you two to do that for me?)
"Crystal…" Kaede replied.
I backed away with a bright smile on my face. "There all is now forgiven right?"
"Of course Isaac!" Kaede said with a bright smile on her face. "And how rude of us that we didn't introduce ourselves. I am Kaede Akiyama and this is my sister Yorumi Akiyama. And as you two can tell we are part of the referees!"
Yorumi nodded beside her. "Yes, and we do apologize for the shooting," She bowed slightly. "We were merely testing these new prototypes."
"Ah well that's okay," Johanna said, looking bewildered by this absurd situation. "I'm just glad Isaac is alright."
I nodded as I turned to look at the Akiyama twins. "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you," I pulled out my phone.
I always assumed that they ultimately believed I might be bluffing, but complied given they are rational competent individuals going off by asymmetrical information and not knowing I was anticipating the trap.
In fact, their strategy was not bad at all; it would work against a hefty number of people.
I continued speaking. "I would like to be friends with you two, if you two don't mind!"
Their smiles froze and their eyes widened seeing my recording of them shooting at Johanna and me.
Before entering the room, I positioned my phone's camera lens in my pocket to peek out and record all the evidence I would use, if things went south.
After the video stopped, I quickly switched to my contact app for them to add their numbers.
"U-uh sure…" Yorumi said with a sweat dropped as I handed her and Kaede my phone to put in their contact as they handed me their phones so I could add my contact to theirs.
I thought back at the information that I extracted from the Akiyama sisters.
A bounty on me that the conditions need me killed or be expelled to be killed with the reward to the referee being four hundred seventy-five million USD and thirty nine thousand nine hundred referees agreed to it, along with six hundred of the upperclassmen agreeing as well with their reward being twenty million Requiems.
To summarize I have almost half of one hundred thousand people hunting me down, while I am still discovering the king of trash campaign mastermind, dealing with the competition against the studentmates of my year, and dealing with the upcoming infiltrators of the Moonlight Society that are here and more to come from their influence.
In a way, this bounty head will make it easier to help me identify the Moonlight Society infiltrators amongst the student body and perhaps the referees.
Because the ones from the Moonlight Society would try to get me expelled and perhaps Scarlett as well so that the Moonlight Society can capture us.
Well one thing is for certain…
I'm gonna need to build a bigger stage…
[To be continued]