Under the Veil of Night

A class without Kanae there was always boring. Misae missed her desk partner that would always sleep. Although Kanae barely did anything, her presence reassured Misae that she could ask the girl beside her anything. Now that Kanae was absent, Misae felt rather bored.

"Will Kanae return later?" Misae sighed.

Tommy smiled wryly. "I don't think she will."

Considering Kanae's condition when he saw her before, he doubted that she was going to come back to class. She seemed too tired. As for what she had experienced to get those bruises, he didn't want to know. There was no doubt that it was something inhuman in his opinion.

Misae sighed. "It doesn't help that the others are away for a meeting."

Laura and Alice were confirming their budget with the principal. Because Alice was uncomfortable facing him alone, Laura tagged along. As for Misae, she wasn't interested in seeing the principal when it wasn't necessary. It would be better if she stayed here for class.

This made her even more bored. Without anyone to talk to, she had to focus on the lesson.

"Why hasn't the teacher come yet?" Misae frowned.

"It's supposed to be Teacher Charlie's class next. I think everyone is secretly happy that he's not here," Tommy smiled bitterly.

Even though they knew that it was nearing the midterm, no one liked the way this teacher taught. Their scores for his class have been plummeting drastically, which made them hate him very much. Besides, no one liked his boring lectures at all either.

"I don't like him either, but my scores are going to suffer even more if he doesn't show up," Misae sighed. She didn't even reach the minimum passing grade for Teacher Charlie's class. If this continued, she didn't know what she was going to do.

Since Kanae was busy with her work, she could only ask Laura for help. Thankfully, these two were exceptionally smart. Sometimes, she envied their smart genes.

"There's a commotion outside," a student who sat near the hallway window suddenly announced.

"Where is it?"

"I want to see it."

In but a moment, the students stormed out of their seats and left the room. Seeing their enthusiasm, Misae felt rather perplexed. It seemed that a break was much more interesting than studying for them.

"Shall we go along too?" Misae turned her head to Tommy.

Tommy shrugged. "If you want to go, it's fine with me."

All he wanted right now was to sleep, but he couldn't possibly let Misae walk out alone. Knowing that this person was rather scatterbrained, he knew better than to let her see a fight all alone. If she did something stupid, the offending party would surely invoke the combined wrath of Mike and Kanae.

He shuddered as he imagined that. The combination of the smiling devil and the legend of the street terrified him.

"Let's go."

"Wait up, don't walk so fast," Tommy was too engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realize that Misae had already walked quite far.

The two of them left the classroom and saw the other students crowding the hallway. What in the world happened?

"Hey, teacher, can't you give us better scores?" a student was yelling.

"What are you all talking about? School is a place for studying, and I won't change your scores without reason. Improving your grades will depend on your abilities and effort."

Another student scoffed. "How long have you been here? Don't you know that it's normal practice here?"

The teacher, Teacher Charlie, frowned when he heard that. He was born in this city, but he could never accept such a practice. "Do you want to live as a wastrel for the rest of your life? It's important to study and whatever you achieve will be a result of your effort."

"He's so stubborn."

"Do you think he will change his opinion?"

"I'm not sure myself."

"What's even the importance of history? There's no need for us to learn so seriously such unimportant matters," the first student yelled indignantly.

Teacher Charlie's expression hardened. "Not important? Young man, do you know the consequences of not knowing the history of your own country? If you don't know anything about what happened in the past, you will never understand why a country is heading in the direction it is in the present.

History helps to define and shape culture. Do you think you can understand why there are disputes between the clans if you don't know their respective histories? No! It's impossible to know without searching deeper. By analyzing things that happened in the past, you'll learn why they're choosing to make this or that decision. It's an art that relies on everything that happened in the past.

The skill of analyzing the past can be used for a lot of things! It's an important skill to have if you want to be successful in the future!"

Most of the students scoffed when they heard what Teacher Charlie said. After all, no one was truly interested in learning history seriously. Some of them wanted to be fighters, others wanted to be ordinary workers, and yet others wanted to be entrepreneurs. Who would want to learn history seriously?

Tommy sighed when he heard that. He knew that history was important as Kanae has been cramming his head with the history of the streets ever since they first met. It was important because they could make use of the knowledge, as they had to govern the street in secret.

Teacher Charlie noticed the students' expressions, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation. These annoying students would never understand the real importance of history!

"Now, excuse me. It's time for me to teach my class."

The first student was rather angry. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere. We won't let you off if you don't be lenient on our scores."

Seeing the stubborn students, Teacher Charlie frowned. What should he do to convince them all?

"Go back to your class, this is the Student Council's order!"

Tommy was stunned to hear that Misae suddenly spoke out. For real? This girl wasn't only scatterbrained, she literally didn't have any sense of danger. If she came out right now, she was basically asking to get beat up.

What a complete idiot! She could barely fight, and she was only a secretary in the Student Council. Any position in the Student Council was important, but the students here were comprised of mostly third years. They wouldn't care if they got on the blacklist as it would only affect them for the remaining half a year.

'Mike, I light a candle for you. You'll surely have a tough future.'

"Student Council?" the first student saw that Misae already stood in front of them. He felt pissed off. Right now, his graduation depended on his score. Who would care about this irrelevant organization?

"F*ck you!"

As he said that, he lunged forward to punch Misae out of the way. Facing the incoming attack, Misae stood rooted in place.

Her feet didn't want to move as she felt terrified.

BOOM!

"What kind of man will raise their hand to a girl?"