"Me?!"
Jason scoffed. "Yes, you."
Nanami seemed taken aback at the accusation, but Jason had no intention of stopping.
"You are unnecessarily loud, immature, and rude. Your actions are often unwanted, and your carefreeattitude is horrible for this course."
"Hey!" Nanami frowned. "So what if I'm a bit loud? I'm trying to lighten the mood—"
"There is a difference between lightening the mood and disturbing everybody else with your nonsense."
Nanami fell silent, then glanced around at his classmates. Some of them looked away, some met his gaze, but all in all the message was clear: Jason wasn't wrong.
"Wait," Nanami pointed. "You all... agree with him?"
"Yes," Raidou nodded reluctantly. "Whether we like Jason or not doesn't matter. The problem still stands: you are too loud."
"And insensitive," Jason shouted.
Nanami flinched back, feeling the sting of rejection. He looked down at his feet, his lips pursed. I guess... when I think about it, they're right. But it's not like I'm being insensitive!
"Nanami."
He turned in Lisa's direction, and she smiled. "No one is saying you have to be fully serious or anything—"
"I am."
"Shut it, asshole," Lisa glared at Jason. Before he could reply she continued, "You can be you, but tone it down whenever it's time to be serious, because it is annoying. If the mood is genuinely down, maybe you could actually read the room before cracking any jokes."
Nanami began to smile when Raidou cut in. "Also, your jokes aren't always funny, so they come off as annoying."
Jason scoffed. "Honestly, he could just stop altogether."
Zoe whispered something, then yelped when Hannah gently slapped her back. She looked around frantically to see everyone watching her, then hid her face.
"Um..." she squeaked. "I-I think N-Nanami could keep his voice... down..."
...Cute, several of her classmates thought.
Nanami scratched the back of his head, feeling conflicted. "I know you guys mean well, but it still kinda... well, it feels pretty embarrassing to hear this. So, um, I'll do my best to keep it down."
"Good," Raidou said as he patted Nanami's shoulder.
Nanami grinned back. "Yeah! It would be dumb of me to sulk about this when you guys just want me to—!"
"Volume," Raidou smiled, his grip on Nanami's shoulder tightening.
"Right, right. Sorry," Nanami chuckled as he patted Raidou's hand. "Please let go."
Raidou didn't answer, but Nanami soon began leaning to the side, holding Raidou's wrist. "R-Raidou, come on buddy-ow. Please let go—ugh!"
Raidou's smile widened as he closed his eyes and leaned in close. "Oh, I'm just encouraging you. I know you won't repeat the same mistakes in the future, so this is just a friendly reminder, okay?"
Nanami nodded fervently, and Raidou released his shoulder with a light chuckle.
"Okay, guys." Raidou clapped. "Any others?"
"Jason Wing," Lisa replied immediately.
"Yeah—!" Nanami slapped a hand over his mouth.
Lisa chuckled before continuing: "Jason is unnecessarily arrogant, dismissive, and rude. He doesn't appreciate a single thing anyone does for him, talks behind people's backs, lacks respect for anyone other than himself, is a braggart—"
"And what exactly is your problem?" Jason cut her off, sneering.
"You," she replied with a scowl.
"She isn't wrong," Lee said as he fixed a stare on Jason. "Your attitude is a problem."
Jason rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "I thought you of all people would understand, Lee, but I guess I was wrong."
He turned back to Lisa with a scowl. "It's not my problem if you can't tolerate my personality. Of course those of lesser... circumstances, would see me as 'arrogant'."
Lisa stared at him in disbelief, and Jason smirked. "When the talented and privileged simply talk as befitting of their station, the small-minded ones call it 'rude' or 'arrogant'. I am proud of my lineage, so why wouldn't I make it clear that I won't be subordinate to anyone? I thought that, as the daughter of Hiroshi Manabe, you would understand. But, your family hasn't been around—"
"Ugh," Lisa groaned as she put a hand to her forehead. "Enough of that nonsense you narcissistic jerk."
"Jason," Elsie spoke up. "Pride and arrogance are two different things."
"Oh? Then please, explain."
"Pride," Kazumi cut in. "Is respecting yourself. Knowing how much you're worth without making it everyone else's problem. Arrogance, is taking all that and being overbearing, annoying, and problematic. Get it now, pretty boy?"
Jason glared, then opened his mouth to retort—
"I agree," Tiffany said. "Just because you belong to the Wing Conglomerate, that's been around since the Clans were formed, doesn't mean you can walk all over us. Everyone's equal in this school anyway, and..."
Tiffany's gaze suddenly turned hostile. "I don't know where you get off bragging about your strength. I doubt you'd be able to handle that Liam guy for any more than a minute or so."
Jason sneered at her. "Nobody asked for your opinion—"
"But it's a class meeting," Hannah said with a smile. "What was that thing you like to say? Freedom of speech?"
Jason clicked his tongue. "Whatever. This meeting isn't getting anywhere. If you don't understand my point of view—and I certainly don't understand yours—then let's just move on to other matters."
Lisa clicked her tongue and sat down. Now I want my dad to stop making deals with the Conglomerate. Who cares how long they've been around? They raise horrible children. Just because your family has a finger in every pie of business doesn't mean you get to walk all over people.
The meeting continued, and they discussed their future routine, their homework, a few more group matters, and were silent for a minute or two until Steve stood up.
"I wanted to ask..." he said, clearly troubled. "What do we do about the whole... Liam thing?"
The atmosphere in the classroom immediately turned awkward. They knew for sure that they couldn't really speak about someone's Venma to others, and many of them wanted to deny the fact that they knew. After all, knowing someone's greatest secret when that exact person hadn't even told them was a heavy responsibility.
Raidou crossed his arms with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Lee, do you have any idea what that was?"
Lee stood, then adjusted his shades. "No. The things I do know are that he seemed to be mostly unconscious during the whole exchange, as well as being unable to recognize us."
Jason scoffed. "How do you know that for sure? How do you know he wasn't simply suppressing his true nature—!"
Jason's voice broke off, and he shivered involuntarily. He glanced to the side to see Lisaa standing, glaring at him with a dangerous light in her eyes.
"Say that again," she whispered, her eyes boring straight into Jason's.
"What? Are you—"
"Shut up, Jason," Jay cut him off, removing his hood and moving towards Lisa. "You're messing with a lot of people right now."
Jay could see it. The blazing red light of hostility radiating out of Lisa. The same light flared around of Lee, Hannah, and Nanami, all directed towards Jason. Kazumi was clearly annoyed, but Jay forcibly lifted his sight up from General's filter before he could see anymore.
I can't blame them, Jay thought as he put a hand on Lisa's shoulder, only for it to be immediately pushed away. I'm angry too.
"Liam isn't some emotionless combat junkie," Raidou said, his tone hard. "Anxious and awkward yeah, but not a battle-crazed person."
"Then explain what we all saw," Jason replied.
Jay answered him, "It seemed to be a sort of... mental shutdown? The intent behind his movements was... directional. It wasn't fixed on anybody, and there was zero hostility till the last moment.I guessed it was instinctual after watching him avoid attacks he couldn't have seen coming, especially compared to how he'd been moving before. There was zero hesitation in everything he did, and an overthinker like him would never move without thinking it through, even if its brief."
Everyone stared at him, and in an instant, his hood returned to its place atop his head.
Jason glowered at him, then shook his head. "Then what about his Venma? That has to be Forbidden or something. Blo—"
"Jason," Lisa growled. "I suggest you shut it before I get there."
Jason scoffed, but didn't continue.
"Well." Raidou put a hand to his forehead. "We'll talk about it when Liam is present. This is his secret, and isn't ours to talk about without him."
"You say that," Steve said, "but that doesn't make it less scary. What if it happens again? What if he switches up on— mm!?"
Steve clamped a hand over his mouth when he noticed Lisa's gaze turn to him.
"Lisa, please stop scaring people," Raidou sighed.
Lisa turned to him, confused. "Scaring? Who am I scaring?"
Raidou chuckled. "Look, I find it admirable that you're worried about Liam, and that you'd get angry on his behalf, but you can't direct your anger at people during a meeting."
Lisa fell silent, then nodded after a few moments before sitting down.
"Well, let's put the Liam situation on hold for tonight," Raidou said as he checked his CID. "It's getting late anyway. This has been a pretty good meeting, so thank you all for participating."
****
... Everything hurts...
Hm? Deja Vu?
Liam cracked open his eyes, then closed them again when light seared into his eyes. He sat up with a groan, a hand on his aching forehead.
What... even happened? he thought as he gritted his teeth. It all feels so... blurry.
Liam took several deep breaths before examining his body, then grimaced at the sight of his bandaged hands. He hesitated, then began poking himself to check out the extent of the pain he was feeling.
"Hm?" he raised his eyebrows. Apart from his fingers and head, the rest of his body felt fine. After a few more moments, Liam could even feel his headache diminish slightly.
"What... happened to me?" he muttered, looking down at the white sheets covering his legs.
"We have no idea."
"GAH!"
Liam almost fell out of his bed at the sound of another voice right beside him.
"Heya," Lisa waved with a grin, the rest of their friends standing around her.