Chapter 122: Mia’s End

Mia gritted her teeth as she stared at the girl who continued to act as though she knew nothing about Jack’s absence. Sofia was the same person Jack had last been seen spending time with before he disappeared from their usual circle, and Mia could hardly believe that the freshman intended to keep playing innocent in front of her. She had already given the girl enough opportunities to explain herself, yet Sofia continued to insist that she knew nothing useful.

Mia had reached the end of her patience. She was no longer interested in listening to the same excuses, nor was she willing to tolerate what she considered an insulting attempt to deceive her. If ordinary questioning would not work, she would take a different approach and teach Sofia never to play games with someone like her.

Sofia lowered her gaze from Mia’s face to the floor, where she sat awkwardly against the tiled wall. Her beautiful hair had become disheveled during the confrontation, with several strands falling across her face and shoulders. She tried to straighten it with one hand, but the movement only reminded her of how roughly Mia had treated her. Despite the frightened expression she wore, her youthful beauty remained noticeable, and the sight seemed to irritate Mia even further.

Mia clenched both fists tightly. Her eyes remained fixed on the girl before her, searching for any sign of hesitation or fear that she could use to her advantage. Sofia had already shown that she could withstand a certain amount of intimidation, but Mia believed there had to be a limit to the younger girl’s defiance.

Then an idea came to her.

She slowly extended one hand toward Sofia. A purple glow appeared in her eyes, spreading through her irises like a pair of glowing embers. The air around her fingers began to shimmer, and tiny sparks of energy flickered across her palm.

"Withdraw!" Mia commanded firmly.

A sudden wave of energy flowed around both girls. The light gathered in front of Mia’s hand, swirling into a small, luminous phenomenon that briefly illuminated the bathroom. Sofia stared in astonishment as the energy converged, its glow growing brighter before a tiny figure appeared within Mia’s grasp.

It was a pixie fairy with long rainbow-colored hair, delicate wings, and a body so small that Mia could hold her like a doll. The little creature struggled immediately, her wings fluttering frantically as she tried to escape the fingers wrapped around her.

Sofia’s eyes widened.

"Wait, what? How did you do that?"

Her shock was understandable. Mia had just pulled a summon directly from its owner’s soul space with nothing more than a command. Sofia had never expected someone to demonstrate such an ability so casually, especially when the person being targeted was her.

Mia noticed the astonishment on Sofia’s face and smiled mischievously.

"Surprised?"

She tightened her grip around the struggling pixie, who squeaked in distress and attempted to pry Mia’s fingers away with her tiny hands.

"Let her go!" Sofia exclaimed, instinctively moving forward.

Mia raised her other hand in warning.

"Stay where you are."

Sofia stopped, her expression tightening with worry as she watched the fairy struggle. The creature’s colorful wings trembled rapidly, and her small face showed clear displeasure at being held against her will.

Mia, however, appeared thoroughly pleased with herself.

What she had used was a special summoner attribute known as Withdrawal. Like Echo, Symbiosis, and Exchange, it was an attribute technique available to certain summoners who possessed the necessary ability. Withdrawal allowed its user to draw another summoner’s summon out of their soul space or repel it from that space through force of will and command.

However, the technique was not something that could be used without limits. Its success depended on the difference in power between the summoners, with the stronger user having an advantage when attempting to affect someone of a lower tier. The greater the difference, the easier it could become to overpower the weaker summoner’s resistance.

Mia understood those limitations well enough to recognize what her successful attempt meant.

She had managed to pull Sofia’s summon into the open without much difficulty. To Mia, that was proof that she held a considerable advantage over the freshman. Whatever hidden abilities Sofia might possess, Mia was confident that she could overpower her if the situation turned into a direct contest.

At least, that was what she believed.

"Now, look at this," Mia said, waving the struggling pixie toward Sofia. "I found out that you aren’t a combat-oriented summoner with some terrifying creature waiting to tear me apart. That made this a much easier decision."

Sofia’s eyes remained on the fairy.

"You’re hurting her!"

"Am I?" Mia replied with a mocking smile. "Then perhaps you should have answered my questions when I gave you the chance."

She tilted her head, examining Sofia as though she were trying to solve a puzzle.

"It was obvious from the way you carry yourself. You don’t attract much attention, and you don’t seem interested in getting involved in fights. You haven’t exactly given people a reason to suspect that you can defend yourself against someone stronger."

Mia lifted the pixie slightly, studying her tiny figure.

"And then there’s your appearance. You look so harmless that I figured your summon would be just as harmless, something that wouldn’t pose much of a threat even to an ordinary person. So I decided to try my luck."

Her smirk widened as she weighed the little fairy in her grasp.

"Looks like I was right."

The pixie squealed and struggled harder, but Mia’s fingers remained firmly closed around her.

Sofia’s expression changed. Fear was still present in her eyes, but it was no longer the only emotion there. Watching someone threaten her precious summon had struck a nerve, and the sight of the tiny creature struggling in Mia’s grasp stirred something far more unpleasant than the anxiety she had felt when the confrontation began.

Mia noticed the change but mistook it for the reaction she wanted.

She tightened her grip again, forcing another distressed squeak from the pixie.

"I suppose this should be enough to make you talk," she said. "Or perhaps I should take her into one of these stalls and dip her in the toilet. Would that finally convince you to stop wasting my time?"

Sofia stared at her in disbelief.

For several seconds, she said nothing. Then her expression settled into an unsettling calm, and she slowly raised her head.

"Ha," she said, letting out a short, humorless laugh. "So this is what you wanted all along?"

Mia’s smile faltered slightly.

Sofia looked directly at her.

"You want me to tell you about Jack Godbrik, the sophomore from Class A, don’t you?"

Mia’s expression changed at the mention of his full name.

Sofia continued, her voice becoming harder with every word.

"So you’re the one who has been controlling him all this time? The girl who expected him to obey every order, as though he were nothing more than a pet?"

For the first time since the confrontation began, Mia appeared genuinely taken aback by Sofia’s composure. The younger girl had been frightened and uncertain only moments earlier, but now she was looking at Mia with an expression that carried unmistakable resentment.

Mia narrowed her eyes.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Sofia gave a bitter smile.

"I’ve always told Jack that I hate liars. I don’t tolerate dishonesty, especially from someone who claims to care about me. He knew that, and he promised me he would never lie to me."

Her gaze briefly lowered to the fairy trapped in Mia’s hand before returning to Mia’s face.

"But he did lie. There were things he kept hiding from me, and I eventually found out that you were behind some of his behavior. You were pulling the strings while he tried to get away from your influence."

Sofia’s voice tightened.

"Poor guy. I should have realized sooner that something was wrong."

Mia’s jaw stiffened. She had expected Sofia to be frightened into giving her information, not to begin accusing her of controlling Jack. The words struck a sensitive point, and she could feel her temper rising again.

"You don’t know anything about what happened between Jack and me," Mia snapped.

"Oh, I know enough."

Sofia shifted slightly against the wall, trying to sit straighter despite the discomfort in her back.

"When Jack first approached me, all I wanted was trust and loyalty. I thought he was being honest with me, and that meant something. I believed him when he said he wouldn’t hide things from me."

She paused, her expression darkening.

"Then I started noticing the lies and the things he refused to explain. It wasn’t until recently that I began to understand how much he had been keeping from me. When I finally found out, I confronted him. I wanted him to explain himself and take responsibility for what he’d done."

Mia stared at her.

Sofia’s hands curled into fists.

"I just can’t believe someone would become so obsessed with controlling other people that they would interfere with a relationship like that. You treated Jack as though he belonged to you, and you expected him to keep following your orders even when he wanted to make his own decisions."

Her beautiful eyes lifted, and the resentment in them became impossible to mistake.

"You’re the cause of this. You ruined everything."

The firmness of Sofia’s words made Mia’s lips twitch. She pressed them together until they formed a thin line, struggling to contain the anger that had begun to rise within her.

"So you’re telling me that you already knew about me the whole time?" she demanded. "Then what was all this supposed to be? Why pretend you don’t know anything? And where is Jack? I’m asking you for the last time!"

Instead of answering immediately, Sofia’s expression changed into a sleek, unsettling smile.

"Of course I know who you are," she replied. "I was just waiting for the moment you finally came to confront me."

Mia blinked.

For a brief moment, she could not understand the sudden shift in Sofia’s behavior. The frightened girl who had been trembling against the wall seemed to have disappeared, replaced by someone whose calmness was far more disturbing than her earlier fear.

Sofia’s eyes moved toward the pixie in Mia’s hand.

"Pie," she said softly, "I think she’s held you long enough."

The fairy stopped struggling for an instant. Her little face twisted into a displeased frown as she looked at Mia, then turned her attention toward Sofia.

Mia barely had time to react.

The pixie suddenly lunged forward and sank her tiny teeth into Mia’s fingers.

"Ah!"

Mia shrieked from the unexpected pain. Her hand jerked instinctively, and her grip loosened enough for the fairy to slip free. Mia immediately looked down at the small bite marks, her expression twisting with irritation.

"You little pest!"

But the pixie was already airborne.

She fluttered upward with the ease of a butterfly, her rainbow hair trailing behind her as she circled once above Mia’s head. A faint magical glow surrounded her wings, and a fine cloud of shimmering dust gathered around her mouth.

Mia looked up.

"What are you doing?"

Pie answered with a mischievous grin.

Before Mia could move away, the pixie blew a stream of sparkling dust directly into her face.

Mia coughed and stumbled backward.

For a moment, the bathroom seemed to dissolve around her. The tiled walls stretched into strange, dreamlike shapes, while colorful lights drifted through the air like tiny stars. The floor appeared to ripple beneath her feet, and the familiar room became a surreal landscape of shifting colors and distorted shadows.

Mia blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision.

"What... is this?"