Under the Veil of Night

The next day, Kanae ate more food than usual for breakfast. The new training Master Rudy imposed on her caused her to be more tired than usual. As a result, her appetite increased greatly.

"Sis, we're going to be broke if you eat that much," Laura teased as she saw Kanae digging into her fourth portion.

Kanae smiled, but she didn't speak as her mouth was full. The two of them quickly finished their meal before they departed for school. Her friends were happy when they saw Kanae return to school.

"You sure are unlucky to get sick so often," Tommy teased.

Kanae frowned. "I'm sure that there are a lot of tasks for you to complete before it's time for the Student Council to elect new members."

"Not again! I have a competition today."

"Is that why the fields are swarming with girls?"

Tommy nodded with a sour face. "There's a famous student from another school competing. He's fast and handsome, so the girls are running out to see him."

"That's correct. He is one of the most handsome boys that I have ever seen in this city. I can't wait to see him," Misae squealed in delight.

Alice and Kanae rolled their eyes. This girl's habit still didn't change in the slightest. Somehow, they felt pity for Mike because that man has to bear with his girlfriend squealing for other men. Even if it was mere admiration, it still wouldn't feel good.

"What about Mike?"

"What about him?" Misae stuck out her tongue. "It's not like I'm cheating."

The others: "…"

They silently prayed that Mike wouldn't get jealous of his girlfriend being like this. If he did, the two of them would need to sit down and talk about their difference in relationship values. Well, it was not their problem, so they wouldn't try to pry deeper and involve themselves in the mess of other people's relationships.

Because of the competition, there was only the morning class. Unfortunately for their class, they had to listen to Teacher Charlie's lesson.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you have read the part that I assigned last time."

Several students averted their eyes. It was obvious that they hadn't done their homework. Even if it was only reading, they were still lazy.

Teacher Charlie swept his gaze across the class. "Miss Misae, can you tell me what you understood from the reading?"

Misae stood up reluctantly. She didn't read everything as she was not sure that she couldn't remember them all. Since this was history class, she could only rely on her memory.

"The reading tells us about the power division in a clan. Inside a clan, there are three kinds of people: core members, inner members, and outer members. Core members usually belong to the direct lineage of the clan head and are the most powerful people in the clan. Inner members… inner members…."

"They're people who have been in the clan for a long time and have shown their worth," Teacher Charlie continued. "You can sit down, Miss Misae. Thank you."

Misae sat down again. She was rather nervous when she was answering just now. It was clear that she couldn't answer, yet the teacher didn't seem to be angry at her. This made her rather relieved.

"I think Teacher Charlie pays more attention to you, Misae," Alice commented.

Misae frowned. "Why would he do that?"

"Because you score the lowest," Laura teased.

Misae's face darkened. She was about to lash out when she saw the teacher looking at them. Immediately, the words that she was about to utter never came out.

"…As for outer members, they're people who have joined the clan recently and are also those who aren't good at fighting. Their position is the lowest and they barely receive any benefits except the protection of being in a clan…"

After enduring the painful lecture for two hours, the class was finally over. The students ran out from the classroom happily. Most of the girls immediately headed to the field. They wanted to catch a glimpse of that handsome boy.

Tommy stared at the massive army of girls enviously. He wanted to receive all that attention too.

"If you perform better than that boy, you will surely get the girls' attention," Kanae patted her friend's back with a sly smile.

"What are you talking about? I'm FAR better than him!"

Seeing how Tommy got riled up so easily, Kanae shook her head in amusement. She turned her head towards the others. "Shall we watch the competition?"

"Sure!"

"I want to hand this to Tommy first," Alice said awkwardly. She had prepared an additional bottle of water for Tommy because she knew that he was competing.

The others smirked. "You can go ahead. We'll search for good seats."

"Thank you."

Seeing Alice run to the field, the others laughed internally. They quickly cleaned up their belongings before they headed to the field. Their school was the host today, so the students were more pumped up. Along the way, they could hear the girls cheer for the opponents.

"He's soooo handsome!!!"

"I know, I don't care which school he comes from. Handsome boys are always at the top of my cheer list."

"I want to talk to him after the competition is over."

"I'm going to do it first!"

When they heard what the girls were talking about, they silently looked towards Misae. Kanae sighed when she saw her friend's eyes locked on the handsome boys. Stop it! You're basically drooling right now.

"Misae…" Laura didn't know whether she should cry or laugh when she saw that Misae was already ignoring them and staring at the students from other schools. This friend of hers was quite peculiar.

Tap!

"It's cold!" Misae exclaimed in surprise.

In front of her, Mike was holding a canned drink to her cheek. His face was smiling as usual, but there was a dark aura around him. Seeing his foul mood, the others tactfully moved away. They didn't want to get caught up in this couple's quarrels.

"Are you having fun watching?"

"Yes~," Misae answered and reached out her hand to take the drink, yet Mike raised it above her head. With his big and tall build, Misae wouldn't be able to reach it.

"What are you looking at?"

"Boys…" She could sense that the atmosphere around Mike was getting colder and darker. "I'm just admiring them. Can't I do that?"

Mike saw her pouting and sighed internally. Why did he fall for a girl who loved to chase after handsome boys? He was pretty sure that he would bound to be jealous very often in the future. This was truly torture.

"You're not allowed to look too much."

Misae wanted to retort, but she kept her words in her throat when she saw his dark expression. Seeing this side of Mike, she couldn't bring herself to counter him. In the end, she merely nodded her head, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Yes."

"If you want to look at boys, just look at me."

"Okay!" well, if she couldn't look at the others, Mike would be more than sufficient. The very reason she got closer to him was obviously his face, so there was nothing wrong with looking at him.

Mike sighed in relief. It might be uncomfortable to be stared at so much by her, but it was far better than her staring at others.. At least, he could admire her face from the corner of his eyes too.