Aybar slipped and fell toward Nikita. As he was falling, he noticed a sharp stone on the ground. Instinctively, he covered Nikita's head with his hands. However, he failed to keep his balance and ended up falling on top of him.
Everyone froze in shock, staring at the two of them—because Aybar and Nikita had accidentally kissed.
Nikita turned bright red from embarrassment and pushed Aybar away. They both stood up. Aybar got to his feet and said in a calm, emotionless voice:
"Strawberries… that taste."
Nikita blushed even harder, flustered, and began spitting on the ground.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
He looked at Aybar with disgust.
"What are you… are you gay or something?"
Aybar replied coldly, without any change in his expression.
"What nonsense. I'm not gay. Did you eat strawberries for breakfast?"
Nikita clenched his fists, angry but still blushing.
"What are you even saying? Don't you have any shame? I'm about to die of embarrassment here!"
Aybar stared at him with an indifferent gaze. There was no smile on his face, not even a hint of emotion.
"Who should I be ashamed in front of? I don't see any reason."
Meanwhile, the other students began whispering and laughing among themselves.
"So they're that kind of pair, huh?"
"Haha… they actually look like a good couple."
Aybar slowly turned his head toward them. A crimson aura began to leak from his body, and his eyes glowed a deep red. The whispering students felt their throats tighten, fear crawling up their spines. One by one, their voices died out.
Silence fell instantly.
Ting, ting, ting…
The bell rang. All the students hurried toward the locker room.
Aybar suppressed his anger and looked at Nikita.
"Don't be afraid. They won't mock you. And I won't let them," he said.
Nikita snapped back, his face still red.
"Idiot… the problem isn't them. The problem is you. You bastard stole my first kiss. Because of you, no girl will ever date me now."
Aybar said nothing and walked toward the locker room.
Nikita followed later and waited until the other students finished changing. The boys started teasing him.
"What are you, a girl or something? Just change with us already."
Bakzhan added,
"Seriously, Nikita, you've never changed your PE uniform with the boys. You always wait until everyone leaves and then change alone. That's really suspicious."
Suddenly, Aybar pinned Nikita against the wall, placing one hand beside his head and standing directly in front of him. Nikita froze and began blushing again. The other boys stared in shock.
Aybar spoke in a low, commanding voice.
"Change your clothes quickly and get out."
He removed his hand from the wall and calmly began changing as well.
Nikita stood there silently, staring at Aybar.
After a moment, Aybar spoke again, his tone unchanged.
"Don't be mad. I just wanted to take a closer look at your face. Your eye color is almost the same as mine. But yours is a deeper shade of red."Everyone finished changing, and all the boys went home.
Aybar said, calmly,
"Don't be afraid. I won't peek. Go ahead and change. I'll guard the door myself and won't let anyone in until you're done."
Nikita hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Aybar stepped outside.
Nikita was changing inside. Just as he had promised, Aybar stood guard at the door, not moving even once.
After Nikita finished changing, he came out, and the two of them went home separately.
Aybar returned home and went straight back to his daily routine—eating, performing his five daily prayers, training, work, chores, and other responsibilities. In short, Aybar had no free time at all.
Nikita also arrived home.
As he stepped inside, something fell to the floor—something that looked like hair.
"Welcome back," Alexei said.
Nikita spoke angrily, his voice sharp:
"Damn Aybar…"
Alexei smiled, clearly amused.
"My dear little sister. Did that bastard do something again?"
At that moment, Nikita's true appearance was revealed.
Snow-white hair, long but tied back neatly. What had fallen to the floor earlier was a wig. His eyes were red—not artificial, but natural, his own. His appearance was strikingly beautiful.
Nikita was only a false name. His real name was Maria.
Maria went into her room and began changing clothes. She started removing the cloth and bandages wrapped tightly around her body—materials that had flattened her figure and made her look more masculine.
After finishing changing, Maria stepped out of her room.
Alexei looked at her and asked,
"Why are you so angry…?"Maria: That… Aybar… because of that jerk, I have to endure so many troubles. That scoundrel—I hate him, she said angrily.
Alexey: The Law Keeper… did he do something?
Maria: That scoundrel… she blushed… said he kissed me on the lips today.
Alexey immediately became serious: "What… that bastard, how did he dare?" His anger started showing on his face.
Maria: No… it was accidental… and she tells him everything.
Alexey, calming down: Are you sure it was accidental? He's a scoundrel The Law Keeper—he does whatever comes to his mind. And if he does anything to you, I won't just stand by. I won't spare him…
Maria: Brother, please calm down, it's nothing. Thank you so much for worrying about me—that's why you're saying this, I understand. However, facing him in a head-on duel might be beyond both of us. But I won't give up. I'll show him. I'll humiliate him and surpass him… she said.
Alexey, smiling: Of course.
Maria (to herself): I must defeat him. Aybar, I will defeat you in the near future. I'll give it my all to beat you.The next day, as usual: Aybar and Maria arrived early and were tidying up the classroom. But Maria was completely ignoring him. Aybar tried to talk to her several times, but throughout the entire day Maria kept ignoring him.
During the last lesson before the final one — history class — the class took notes, summarizing what the teacher explained. There were 20 minutes left until the end of the lesson. The class was divided into 4 teams by drawing lots.
Symbat, Aybar, and Maria ended up in three different teams.
General game rules: 5 minutes are given for everyone to quickly review what they wrote during the lesson. Then, starting from team 1, students take turns answering the questions the teacher asks (all questions are from today's lessons).
Game mechanics:
A student from team 1 comes out and answers the question. If correct → team gets 1 point.
If wrong → the question passes to team 2.
If team 2 answers correctly → they steal 1 point from team 1.
If team 2 also fails → question goes to team 3, and so on.
If no one answers correctly until team 4, then team 1 gets a second chance to answer their own question (and can reclaim the point).
Important rule: If a team answers while sitting in their place (without sending a student forward), the point does NOT count and the question immediately passes to the next team (like "bait" for the next team).
The student who failed to answer must give their point to the team that eventually answers correctly and sits back empty-handed.
Teams:
Team 1: weak players overall
Team 2: leader — Symbat
Team 3: leader — Aybar
Team 4: leader — Maria
The game started and went very intensely — time flew by unnoticed. Toward the end of the game, the very last, decisive question remained.
Team 1 had almost no strong players, so they kept passing the question without answering.
The final decisive question reached Team 2 — Symbat's team.
At that moment the score was tied between Aybar's team (3) and Maria's team (4). Symbat's team was 1 point behind.
Symbat could have answered the question correctly and tied the score with the other two teams.
However, because of her feelings for Aybar, Symbat deliberately passed the question — wanting Aybar to win.
Now Aybar's team had a chance to win, but Aybar deliberately passed the question to Maria's team.
Maria happily answered the question correctly — and Team 4 took 1st place.Maria was extremely happy about her group's victory.
Symbat understood that Aybar had deliberately let them win, and she wasn't upset about it.
Aybar congratulates the 4th group, and the 4th group is overjoyed because Aybar himself is congratulating them — for them, this feels like a huge honor.
The 4th group turns to their leaders, Nikita/Maria, and says:
"You're actually not such a bad person after all. Thank you so much!"
Aybar walks up to Nikita (Maria in male form), extends his hand, and says sincerely:
"I congratulate you. You beat me.
How about we become friends?"
He offers his hand with genuine warmth.
All the students freeze in shock and stare.
The whole class (whispering):
"No way… Nikita, you're so lucky… He's literally living my dream right now. I'm so jealous…"
But Nikita (Maria) makes a motion as if he's about to accept his hand — then suddenly slaps it away.
Symbat gets angry and snaps:
"What the…?"
Everyone is stunned.
The students (whispering):
"What did you just do?! He offered friendship to this fool, and he just threw away something most people here would dream of like it was trash…"
Nikita (Maria), with a smug look on his face:
"Hmm… I don't want to be friends with you."
Nikita (Maria, to himself):
"I was planning to humiliate you… and wow, I actually managed to humiliate you perfectly…"
Then he walks out of the classroom.
Meanwhile, the other students are burning with anger (whispering):
"What an idiot… Who does he think he is? That was an amazing opportunity. If I had been offered the same chance…"Aybar froze, standing cold and motionless, while Symbat, taking his hand so it wouldn't stay awkwardly hanging, said, "It was a good game, thank you."
Maria, unable to contain her joy during the break, happily went to the cafeteria, had something to eat, and then the next—the final—lesson began: Chemistry.
The chemistry teacher wanted to stop the conflict between Aybar and Nikita and thought to herself, "No matter what, I will make my two favorite students become friends."
An idea came to the teacher's mind.
The chemistry teacher said, "Let me offer you a special deal. The summative assessment won't be prepared by me, but by two excellent students. They are The Law Keeper... So they know everyone's level very well. That means they can make the tasks easier, adjusted to each student's abilities. I will allow it. Isn't that more convenient for you? You'll take the test without cheat sheets, because The Law Keeper will help you. Isn't it great?" she said, trying to persuade the students.
All the students, except Symbat, were scared, but still gathered their courage and began begging Aybar. And Aybar, not pushing them away, agreed.
The teacher added, "However, The Law Keeper must prepare the test questions together with Nikita. Otherwise, it won't work."
But Nikita stubbornly refused to agree. Aybar understood the teacher's plan and accepted it as a form of help. He said that he knew Nikita's older brother and even knew where Nikita lived. When Nikita still refused, Aybar said, "Be waiting at your house at exactly 3:30."
Nikita replied, "Who gave you permission? Ha… I absolutely refuse."
Aybar said, "Fine… so if you become a The Law Keeper in the future, you're planning to be an even bigger tyrant than me, huh?"
Nikita snapped, "Just don't talk to me at all…"
Aybar continued, "Being a The Law Keeper isn't just an empty title—it's about being able to help. And you're proving that you'd be a worse The Law Keeper than me. Look, if the students had to choose between the two of us after this, they'd choose me. Even if they didn't like me. You've admitted that you can't live up to their expectations and that you've lost to me."
Nikita, getting angry, said, "Who said I lost to you? Fine… I agree."
After the lesson ended, Maria came home and angrily burst inside, saying, "You bastard… who do you think you are?"
Alexey asked, "What happened… The Law Keeper again?"
Maria replied, "Yes… that jerk forced me. He said he'll be here at 3:30."
Alexey said that he wouldn't be home at that time and that he had things to do.
Maria blushed. "Wait… brother, I'll be alone with that jerk… with him… No, brother, postpone your plans," she said.
But Alexey said he had already promised his classmates.
Maria sighed, "Ugh… fine," and agreed.
Alexey left early at 2:30. Maria kept thinking and eventually fell asleep.Aybar arrived exactly at 3:30 and knocked loudly on the gate of the house. He tried calling as well, but Maria didn't hear him—her phone was on silent. When no one came out, Aybar started calling out her name, shouting, "Nikita… Ni-ki-ta!"
Hearing this, Maria jumped up in surprise. She hurriedly managed to put on her disguise and opened the door.
"Why did it take you so long?" Aybar said. "I called you so many times…"
"I fell asleep," Maria replied.
Then, blushing, Maria let him into the house, and they began their work together. The task was very easy for them—after all, they were the two strongest students. They were almost finished when the adhan began to sound from Aybar's phone.
"It's prayer time…" Aybar said and asked Maria if she had a prayer mat.
Maria was surprised and looked at Aybar with a hint of respect.
"Of course… you—do you pray?"
"Yes," Aybar answered.
Maria began to realize that Aybar was not as bad a person as she had thought. She prepared everything he needed and then quietly went into one of the inner rooms…