A hand slammed down on the desk next to me as the student whose hand it belonged to sneered at me. His cronies, I mean, friends were glaring at me from behind him.
"Is there something funny?"
Ah, I messed up.
They must have heard me.
To think they would be able to hear me over the noise in the classroom while standing several feet away. They must have really sharp ears. It was just too bad they couldn't use it for the right reasons.
"I don't see why that is any of your business. What I do has nothing to do with you," I calmly said as I slowly yet swiftly put away my things into my bag.
I didn't want them to put their dirty hands on them just when I had already finished inspecting their condition. It would mean wasting more time making sure everything was good again.
"What did you say?"
The urge to sigh was on the tip of my tongue.
I couldn't understand why anyone would want to pick a fight with another person simply because they laughed.
Sure I was laughing at what they were talking about, but they couldn't have possibly known that. I could have been reading something funny or recalling something silly. There was no reason for them to suspect I was laughing at them.
Besides, I should be the one offended that they were talking ill of me when I was right in the room and at my back at that.
If I were any less amiable or rather less concerned about how others percieved me, they would be in a world of hurt or suffering a major blow in their standing in the class.
Not that they had much of a standing considering who was harassing me.
Standing up, I watched as they backed up slightly as if afraid of touching me.
They probably were considering the last time someone laid their hands on me. I didn't even have to do anything. The offender just started screaming for no reason.
Actually, I had an idea of the reason why, but I preferred not to think about it.
I had made sure to add them to my revenge list for when I grew strong enough.
Though, thanks to them, there was now a rumor that I was infected with something, and no one should touch me unless they wanted to get whatever I had too.
Well, all the better for me.
I didn't have to constantly deal with people trying to get all touchy-feely with me. Not only was it gross, but it was also unbelievably creepy having a random stranger come up to you and put their arms around you while acting friendly.
On the other hand, if it was used as an intimidation factor, then I was all for it.
"If you have time to harass other students, you should be focusing on your work."
Before the ringleader could get completely out of my range, I clasped his shoulder.
"After all, didn't you barely pass the last test? If you keep doing poorly, you might even get tossed out. What would your family say?"
He slapped my hand away.
"You!"
I shook my hand more for show rather than pain.
"I was giving you friendly advice as a fellow student. If this is how you respond to all advice, then I'll take note to never give you any."
"Don't mess with me."
He jabbed a finger at me, nearly poking my chest.
Instantly, any positive emotion I had vanished and was replaced with disgust.
If we weren't in middle of class and I didn't have to worry about getting caught, I would have broken the offending appendage. For now, I would have to satisfy myself with imagining what I would do in revenge in the future.
"You're mocking me."
Yes, I was, and now I was done playing around.
"If this is how you respond to what you consider mocking, I'm afraid to know how you'll respond to 'actual' mocking."
I swore his face turned into a tomato with how red he was.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be heading to my next class."
Practically shoving him aside as I passed him, I stalked out of the room.
Bennie Roy.
The third son of the Roy family.
Out of the three sons, he had the lowest potential as a mage and was considered the biggest disappointment in three generations.
The oldest son, Keagan Roy, was a medium Circle 5 and was rumored to be practically the head of the family already. Their father, Baron Roy, was simply acting as a figurehead for the time being and had plans to go into retirement with his wife, Saniyah Roy.
It was an unusual decision as the head of the family typically only changed upon the death of the previous head's death.
I supposed that only showed how proficient and influential Keagan Roy was in comparison to his father who was also a medium Circle 5.
There had also been news of Keagan's wife, Angie Roy, who was lower Circle 5 going to give birth soon.
Considering how high their ranks were, everyone was expecting their child to be high ranked too.
They were considered the ideal couple that were the subject of envy of many.
The second son, Zaire Roy, was a higher Circle 4 and was currently the target of many ladies as a suitable husband except it wasn't as simple as that.
He was quite a ladies' man and had stolen the hearts of many, but despite his flamboyant behavior, it was also said that he was quite a gentleman.
Hence, it was one of the reasons why he was considered one of the most eligible bachelors.
The other reason was his participation in preventing the war between the Doubalese Empire and Kingdom of Alenland.
He hadn't actually done anything that could constitute as preventing the war, but the fact he was on the diplomatic mission that had succeeded was enough for everyone to consider him a hero.
Then there was Bennie who had barely made the cut as a mage as a lower Circle 2.
From what I heard, it had been a close call.
The first test had indicated he would remain within Circle 1 much to the shock of his family, but he got lucky with later tests stating he was a lower Circle 2 and being allowed to attend the academy.
With him being the only one ranked so low in the family who had never failed to have decent mages in three generations, there had been many rumors that he was an illegitimate child.
It had initially caused a rift in the family, and Lady Roy's faithfulness was called into question.
Some time later, they had made a declaration that he was indeed a legitimate child and had inherited the family's affinity.
Though the rumors eventually died down into nothing more than whispers, there were still others who were unconvinced as having the same affinity didn't necessarily mean they were related.
Plenty of people had an affinity for fire.
Did that mean they were all related to each other?
Well, either way, it was definitely a sore point for Bennie who struggled to match up to his superior family members.
I would love to rub it in his face right now, but that would draw too much attention.
I had already acted out of character too much today and within eyesight of people I didn't want to see.
I needed to fall back into my persona before I ended up doing something that couldn't be taken back.
Like attacking someone just because they touched my chest.
The implications for doing so would reflect badly on me.
My current character was someone who was studious and unbothered by anything. I was also someone who didn't like physical contact so going further than a hand on the shoulder or brushing past someone would catch everyone's attention.
Everyone would either think Bennie had discovered a weakness of mine or I was snapping underneath the pressure even though it was only a few months into the school year.
No one would think that the reason I was so upset was because he nearly touched my breasts.
After all, I was registered as a boy in an all-boys academy.
The only reason no one knew that I was a girl was thanks to my earrings which tricked everyone into thinking I was a boy.
The power of fire, water, and wind were encased in them which created any kind of mirage the user wanted as long as said user had enough mana for it.
Considering it used three of the four elements, it required quite a bit of mana.
Fortunately, I had plenty.
It also helped that I hadn't grown in some departments so even without the magic, it wouldn't have been too obvious what my gender was.
No matter what, I couldn't afford to let anyone know my secret.
If I must, I'd kill them.