Chapter 4

He held his jaw and felt the stinging pain. His lips started to taste metallic as well.

"I warned you, didn't I?"

Cyril looked down on his fist, soothing the pain on his knuckles.

That simple statement from the younger boy was enough to make Eric stand up and clutch his collar. By this time, Eric's friends decided to step in. 

Ken, who happened to just finish his break time, saw the commotion from afar. Since Cyril got involved, he immediately ran over to their booth and went to his side.

"What's happening here?" Ken asked, trying his best to pull the two arguing students apart.

"He came to harass me. I just punched him, after I gave him a warning that he didn't seem to care about. Then this happened."

"Break it off, Eric," one of his friends said. "We'll get in trouble again if you don't stop."

As if on cue, the older guy let go of Cyril's collar. Then he took a step back and fixed his uniform. He even smirked at Cyril, as if he's silently telling him that he'll get back at him some other time.

It made Cyril feel in danger, but at the same time, he knew that he'd be ready whenever Eric decides to mess with him.

"Are you okay?” 

Ken watched the group leave the area before he paid full attention to Cyril.

"Yeah, thanks," Cyril clapped Ken's shoulder to show his gratitude. "Don't mind them. Let's just finish this event."

Ken only nodded at the younger guy before he placed down his bag on a vacant chair inside of the booth. Then he went back to his position and assisted some other students who want to learn about their club.

The day ended with Ken and Cyril being able to recruit more or less 40 new members for the Board Games Club. They both enjoyed the day even though it was quite tiring because what’s more important for them is that they were able to help the club grow and also they met new people today.

“That girl from section 2 earlier was super nice,” Ken commented as he picked his bag from the ground. “She was just smiling at me the whole time. I thought I was falling in love.”

“Most students from higher class sections are really polite and good,” the younger boy agreed. 

The two boys continued to gather their things and prepare themselves to leave the booth. But since there wasn’t any announcement yet from the president of the club, they can’t just go.

“Hey Cy,” Ken called which caught Cyril’s attention. “Come visit sometime, will you?”

He was unsure what the older boy was talking about. Is he asking him to visit the club or visit the higher-level classroom? Nevertheless, he just nodded his head in agreement to which Ken smiled widely.

“Alright, you two thank you very much for helping out today,” the club leader called to them. “ I really couldn’t get hold of the other senior members earlier. Usually, they’re the ones who recruit the new students because of their testimonies, but you two seemed to be more convincing to the freshmen.”

“It’s always about the testimonies, Anna. Sometimes, you just need a good-looking member.” Ken slightly disagreed with the leader’s statement. He also didn’t forget to wink at Cyril.

The leader only looked at the two of them weirdly before questioning the latter. “Are you talking about yourself or?’

“Really?” Ken looked displeased and it only made Cyril and the girl laugh at him. “That’s really how you would treat me, after 3 years?”

“Of course I was just kidding,” Anna answered, even making an effort to tap Ken’s shoulder. “But let’s admit it, Cyril here has more pictures with the freshmen than you.”

Knowing that her statement was true, the older guy only nodded in agreement before smiling at Cyril. Meanwhile, the latter, although he felt proud that there are a lot of people who like him, was still shy from all the attention that he is getting.

Not because he didn't want it but instead because he didn’t like what the wake usually brings him.

“Well, that is all for today. It’s nice to meet you, Cyril. Thank you very much for assisting us here,” Anna said as her final words for the two. “And you too Ken. Thank you for always helping me out.”

“No problem. It’s my club too,” the older guy shrugged slightly.

“Okay great. You guys can go now, I still need to give the report for today,” she said.

Both of the boys nodded their heads before leaving the booth. Ken went straight to his friends after bidding goodbye to Cyril who went in the opposite direction to fetch his best friend.

Even from afar, Cyril immediately saw Hera standing sitting on the stairs to the main lobby. She’s also scanning a book in her hand which made Cyril think to himself, Maybe she’s had a change of heart about reading books.

“Hera,” Cyril calls as he approaches the girl.

While she popped her head up as she heard her name called. “Cy. Cy! Come here!”

Speeding up his walk, he ended up sitting beside his friend as well. Then she showed him the book in her hand.

“What is that?” 

Hera licked her lips before answering the query. “I saw this book in one of the stacks that the club was giving the freshmen.”

“You liked it?” 

“No, it’s not because of that,” Hera answered. “It was written by a student from this school.”

Learning that information, Cyril got a little interested in the book. Not because it was written by a student from the school but because the title seemed to be hiding something about the writer.

“Have you read the synopsis already?”

“Nope. I just took the book since the president said that we can take home a book with us if we want.”

“So, are you gonna read this, or you just really want to show it to me?”

Hera shook her head. “I may read this. After all, this student’s case interests me so much.”

Cyril furrowed his eyebrows at what Hera has said. “Student’s case?”

“Yeah, don’t tell me you forgot about Arthur already.”

The boy dumbfoundedly shook his head sidewards because he truly hasn’t heard of that student yet.

“Are you serious?” Hera asked, sounding so disappointed at her best friend. “I told you about him over summer vacation.”

“The guy who got expelled?”

“No. Rumor has it, he left the school because of extreme bullying,” Hera explained. “Oh, now I know why you don’t know about him. You weren’t listening to me when I was telling you his story.”

“Sorry because I’m not an aspiring detective Conan,” Cyril sarcastically said. “I'm not interested in other people’s lives.”

In return, Hera shook her head in displeasure.

“What happened to him anyway?” the boy asked, bringing up the previous topic they have.

“Well, aside from what I already told you,” Hera sighed deeply before taking the book from Cyril’s hand. “I may need to read this book to answer that question.”

“Okay,” Cyril replied. He glanced around their campus, looking for nothing in particular, only watching the maintenance people do their work of cleaning up the booth setups.

On the back of his mind, he felt a little bugged by the mention of Arthur’s name. Although he didn’t know who that guy was, he felt like he'd heard of it before. He’s just not sure where and when.