The Mech Lord

"It's unusually lively today.." Leo muttered as he looked around. There were a lot more students than yesterday.

"What did you expect?" Billy asked as he shook his head, and his fluffy ears lowered down a bit, "You are more popular than you think, it's another matter that it is in a negative manner."

"You mean they are here to see me?" Leo asked in surprise. He definitely hadn't expected that.

He would admit that people paid attention to him, but wasn't there a murderer roaming around? Were they really willing to take a risk just to watch him get bashed?

This definitely was a foolish choice.

"Where is Harry?" Billy suddenly asked when he noticed that Harry wasn't at his usual place. He always sat at one corner with Leo by his side.

"Well, he said he had something to look for.." Leo vaguely replied. He couldn't say that guy was out there to confirm some of his suspicion regarding the murderer.

..

"Why am I here?" Spike asked as he looked below. He was standing on Harry's head as the two looked around the hallway behind the library.

"Because you were the only person free.." Harry calmly replied. He wasn't that afraid to be here even though there was no surveillance. It was because he had made sure that Jack was in the Library before coming to search the place.

"Isn't this a dead end? Where are you going?" Spike asked in confusion.

"You know what? I heard a few people from the Dorms that they put a petition to build an exit around this place so that they could shorten the distance from the dorms. Is it true?" He asked looking above.

Spike lived in the Dorms as well.

"Yeah, those stupid guys.." Spike shook his little head in disdain, "They have no idea how healthy it is to walk and get some physical activity in the morning. These people want to cut slack everywhere."

"What the hell are you looking for anyway?" Spike asked in confusion when he saw Harry knocking on the walls around.

'Something has to be here..' Harry looked around with a frown when his eyes fell on some old locker kept in the corner. Those kinds of things were no longer used since the storage devices were made a few decades ago.

But, the Academy was still keeping the antiques.

"Hmmn?" Harry suddenly seemed to have realized something, and when he walked ahead, he pulled the locker door.

But, nothing was there.

His expression immediately eased, and he shook his head.

"Hey look here.." Spike's voice suddenly entered his ears, and he saw the little guy had climbed above the locker and was looking behind it.

Harry walked towards the side, and looked behind it as well when his eyes widened in surprise.

"I knew it!"

He immediately grabbed the locker, and moved it easily to the side.

Behind it was a hole in the wall. One that could easily fit a person, if he stooped down a bit.

"Let me see what's behind it." Spike immediately jumped down, and went through it. Harry soon followed behind him as well.

The two of them soon came out in the open. They could see bushes and trees all around. There was fencing surrounding the place, and if one climbed over, they could easily walk ahead and reach the dorm within a few minutes.

"I can't believe there was a shortcut here! Look, someone had even made a cut through the fence." Spike pointed.

Harry's eyes immediately turned serious and he turned around. He was trying his luck. He was just wishing that he would find something that could lead him to the culprit.

A second later, his eyes caught something in the corner. It was a piece of clothing.

'It is the same color that the girl was wearing..' Harry didn't have any idea if it was just a coincidence. But, there was a chance that it was hers. When the Zest took over her arms, it was evident that her sleeves were ripped off.

'One thing is for sure, the person is definitely someone from the Dorm..'

"What is that?" Spike came up to Harry and then looked at a piece of clothes.

"It smells familiar for some reason."

Harry frowned and gave it a sniff as well. But, he wasn't an animal spirit. There was no way his sense of smell could compare to Spike.

"Can you remember it? Where have you smelled it before?" He immediately asked him.

"It's just a perfume. I could have smelled it anywhere." Spike gave him an odd look.

Harry stood there and contemplated on it, 'A smell that Spike is familiar with, the culprit can be a Dorm resident, and is female Demi-Human..'

"Let's go.." Harry's face had turned dark. Even though he didn't want to turn the blades of suspicion towards a certain someone, it was ending up towards that direction.

….

"Who do you think will win?" Tristy looked at Amelia with an excited look on her face. They had taken a seat in the stands and were waiting for the time of the fight.

They weren't the only ones. The stadium was slowly starting to fill up even with the classes of other departments having been cancelled. It was evident that a lot of people were interested in this, and this was even more so when a lot of them had placed bets on the fights.

Amelia looked at Tristy, and forced a smile on her face. She wanted to say her brother would win. But, when she saw all the looks of her friends around, those words didn't leave her mouth. They actually made fun of Leo, and this wasn't something unknown. To be honest, there were times when she joined them. It was obviously when she had a fight with her brother. This exchange might have been the reason that she slowly began to look down on her brother which she once admired.

The fight today was somewhat due to Amelia's actions, and hence she supported her brother. She knew that he was always working hard, and hence she wanted to shout out loud that he would win. But, she couldn't do it in the end.

This made her depressed and frustrated.

At this moment, a message came up on her smart link.

When she saw it, she was surprised as well as happy.

It was a message from Runeko.

She seemed to be calling her to the Dorms. They couldn't talk yesterday, so she thought that it was a good time to do it now.

'But..' Amelia suddenly hesitated while raising her head to look at the ground ahead. She wanted to stay and watch the match. She felt that she should be here to cheer Leo, and that was something very important.

'But..I might not get another chance to apologize. What if missing this opportunity creates some misunderstanding?' She got a bit nervous.

In the end, she came to a decision and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Tristy asked her and the rest of the guys looked at her as well.

"She might not be fine seeing her brother getting a black eye." One of the guys joked, but the next instant everyone laughed.

"I think she will be happy to see that, right?" Jason asked her with a smile. He knew that she hated the guy, and always fought with him. It wasn't a surprise to anyone in the group.

Amelia looked at Jason but didn't reply to him. She then turned her head towards Tristy and spoked, "I am going to the washroom."

Jason saw her leaving back, and frowned a bit. He felt a bit of hostility from her when he made fun of her brother. 'Did I imagine it?'

He wasn't sure. And, to be honest, it didn't make sense. When did she ever care about that dumb elder brother of hers.

…

"Well, the class will end here.." Vanessa looked at the class. There were barely any students around. Most of them were either absent or had gone to take a seat for themselves in the training stadium.

She knew what was going around, and hence, turned her head to look at Leo, "I heard that you are participating in a bout. I appreciate your efforts. But, you are my student and I don't want any serious harm to come to you. So, I would like you to keep your limits in mind."

She was just reminding him to know when to give up. After all, it was no easy job fighting someone ranked above you. Especially, when the guy even had a higher color skill rank than you at the top of a higher level.

Just like her, nobody believed that Leo could do anything.

This fight was unfair to begin with. A wall that couldn't be climbed.

Honestly, she was already impressed with Leo's courage. Only a fool or brave guy would accept this kind of challenge, and she for sure knew that Leo wasn't a fool.

"Let's go..." Leo got up the moment Vanessa left and began to walk towards the indoor training stadium.