No More Secrets

Aftermath

The next day at school was uncomfortable. As John walked through the hallways everyone scrambled out of his way. He hated that everyone was scared of him, as it reminded him of when he was the King of his previous school. Students would avoid him and gossip about him, insulting him when they think he couldn't hear them.

"Look, there's John! He defeated all of the Royals!"

"He's so brutal! He sent Juni and Zeke to the hospital!"

"He's beaten up so many people!"

"Shh! He'll hear us!"

Don't pay them any attention, he thought to himself, repeating Seraphina's words. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Their words mean nothing to you.

"Hey, cripple!" John turned around to see two mid-tiers leering at him. The students around them gasped at their brashness.

"Did Mardin just call John a cripple? Did he not hear the news or see the battle? I thought everyone knew John is Joker!"

"Are Brea and Mardin challenging John? They'll get obliterated!"

John fixed them with a bored look. Are they really stupid enough to challenge me? "Just don't. Unless you two live under a rock I'm sure you've heard that I'm not a cripple."

"Oh yeah? Then prove it!" Mardin activated his ability and rushed towards John. The "cripple" activated his own ability, parried his punch and sent the mid-tier flying into the wall with his own punch to the kid's gut. Mardin slouched over, wheezing from the hit.

John turned to Brea, who was shivering in fear. "Do you also want to try me?" The girl ran away, almost running into several students who were watching the whole ordeal. He turned back to Mardin, who looked like he was about to pass out from fear. Pathetic.

"Don't ever try to challenge me again." He walked away from the stunned crowd of students. A part of him wanted to beat the mid-tier into unconsciousness, however he was determined to prove himself better than the violent and cruel King he was in New Bostin.

~~~~~O~~~~~

Seraphina was walking to her next class when she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see Evie and Roland approaching her.

"Can we ask you a few questions about John?" Evie asked Seraphina.

"Sure. Let's go on the roof." she replied.

As they walked to the roof, Seraphina noticed two students walking in their direction. As soon as they noticed the former Ace they hurried away. They're too scared of John to even approach me. At least I won't have to worry about being beaten up.

As soon as the three low-tiers reached the roof, Evie and Roland bombarded Seraphina with a bunch of questions, trying to understand what happened.

"Wait, hold on, I can't answer all of your questions at once," Seraphina said.

"Oh, sorry about that," Evie apologized. "We're just really confused. Why did John hide his ability?"

"His reasons are very personal," Seraphina replied. "John has had a rough past and it led to him pretending to be a cripple."

"Then why did he reveal his ability if he's so against it?" Roland asked, confused.

"Partly because I lost my ability, and because Arlo forced him to."

"Arlo? What did he do?"

"While I was suspended, he got John to befriend him. After gaining his trust Arlo ambushed him with two elite-tiers in order to force him to use his ability." Seraphina responded.