That Pablo guy was making a big show of doing the right thing again. His personality was as flashy as his Noble Arm powers. The perfect match. He could respect Pablo’s ideology and they might have even been good friends had it not been for the Filipino’s ego and holier-than-thou attitude.

It was for that reason that Luis stayed at his desk, hunched over the work he wanted to catch up on and ignoring the ruckus around him. Pablo would probably find someone else to go with him. Luis didn’t really give a shit about the teacher’s absence. Hell, he didn’t give a shit about the Academy in general, contrary to his class representative-like behaviour. He only had a couple of years left, before he could leave this trash heap school that the step-dad had shipped him off to without a second thought. Luis frowned at one particularly pesky question before glancing up in resignation. There were kids from other classes as well as his own chatting amongst themselves. He’d join them later, after he finished this one stupid question, unless someone felt like joining him before that.

@KindledBeast
Gloria slightly nodded to her thoughts, satisfied with the situation's development. It has all gone more or less as planned: when presented with overwhelming peer pressure and a reason to de-escalate without losing a face, most people usually aren't likely to start shooting. Trivial inconveniences like being in the centre of attention(nothing new to her, actually) or someone mouthing off to her(let them simmer, words never bothered Gloria all that much) could be ignored. All in all, things were good.
Which was not good is one of those guys Takumi usually talked with - What was his name, Yuri? Was he Russian? - stealing her place at the table - and having the temerity to do it like it was empty in the first place, despite Gloria's notebook on the table and haversack on the backrest. She marched to the table and towered over him:
- Dude, you're sitting in my place. - her tone, while slightly irritated, was not actually angry or threatening - while they were not close friends, Yuri's been around their group often enough to be a common sight and so had the benefit of a doubt.

"Oh damn!" King snorted loudly when the door closed behind the philippino paragon of nobility and proper education. "What a guy, that Pablo! You think he's as good a fighter as he is a person?" He inquired from anyone who could be bothered enough to answer. "Anyone sparred with him already? You, Gloria, would you even have the nerve to hit such a swell guy?"

@Progenitus
Yuri smiled up at the large women, "I'm terribly sorry I didn't see your things here." Yuri stood, giving a slight bow and gesture for the girl to sit. He then quickly found a seat infront of them. As he took his seat a mischievous smile found its way to his face as he hoped the large girl didn't notice the tac he left in the seat

Gloria didn't even bother to look at the chair before plopping down on it and immediately winced, pulling the flattened bit of plastic and metal from under her. She examined it, then threw away, giving an exasperated sigh.
- Dude, you knov tat my skin 'as to be perforated by a frickin' avl to drav blood for analyses, right? Next time use a nail or someting like tat.
She lazily turned to the King and shrugged:
- Vhy not? As long as it's not to letal, I don't see anyting vrong vit 'itting eiter 'im, you, or anyone else 'ere in a spar. It's vhat ve do, no?

@Progenitus
Hearing Gloria speak Yuri turned back to her slightly, "Well I mean come on I didn't want to hurt you after all just give you a little scare." Yuri leaned back in his chair slightly twiddling his thumbs waiting for a teacher to arrive.

King chuckled a little:
"Damn, i still can't get used to just how supremely hard-boiled people are around here. Thought we were meant to also grow spiritually here is all. Though it's probably just because my silly tricks don't even let me hit people."

Pablo was a good person, but as far as Reinhard could tell, that did not make him popular in class, so Reinhard didn't go with him, as there were simply more people not staying in class. Besides, sitting uses up less energy than walking, especially when someone was already doing what you would have been doing.

"No, I have not." Reinhard, who was sitting one row directly behind King, answered King's second question. His breathing had normalized again at this point. "As for what he can do in a fight, it largely depends on how effective he can use his abilities. But most beacons of 'good' will not use the most efficient and effective methods, because that usually requires a bit of ruthlessness."

Lazy ass teacher. What kind of idiot was late to his own class? Obviously it was a guy because no girl would be this stupid, he was probably hungover. Meanwhile the rest of the class was sleeping or doing small talk. Booooooring. Nishka had been expecting something remotely exciting, but so far this was the worst. Very few students were actually studying except the spoilsport who was furiously studying. Somewhat curiously, Nishka strolled over and sat on the desk in front of him, using the actual seat for her feet. "Watcha ya working on nerd?" she asked, her tone indicating that she didn't really care what his answer was.

_@banjoanjo

@Eklispe

Nerd? Well he did kind of deserved that title. Didn't mean that it didn't offend him slightly.

"Math. This question is absolutely ruining me. Any idea how to solve it?"

He turned to the bright haired girl to show her the question in the textbook, which was framed by annotations, scribbles, annotations covered up by scribbles, and a very furious message written in red marker that said "I FUCKING HATE GEOMETRY". He wasn't really expecting a proper answer, not from this girl.

"Try cheating, that usually works." Nishka said casually, clearly not even looking at the textbook. "Teacher's usually keep the answers in their top left drawer or on their desk." Of course she hadn't gone to school for very long, but in the brief time she'd attended before she'd figured out that she could just leave she'd learned how to work the system. Of course he'd probably get offended by her suggestion and say something else nerdy. "If its locked I can open it for ya." she added as an afterthought, though she seriously doubted he would even consider her offer.

Luis chuckled a bit at her suggestion. She seemed pretty honest about it.

"Right now, it's more about understanding the work rather than just getting the result."

He paused.

"But I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer though."

He gave her a genuine smile before returning to his work.

@Letter Bee

On Pablo's way to the faculty room, there were several students loitering outside their class, a clear sign that theirs was not the only one without a teacher present. Some went a bit further than outside their classrooms, cutting classes and leaving the floor altogether.

At the faculty room itself, the doors were strangely locked, however, raised voices could be heard from the inside, however they we muffled and inaudible due to the obnoxiously loud hum of a nearby aircon.

". . . can't give . . ."

"Demands tha . . . !"

". . . terrorists . . ."

And then suddenly, the hall behind Pablo fell silent. The constant stream of chatter coming from the students died out without warning. A man with light brown hair combed neatly to the side, dressed in a simple dark blue barong tagalog. Coal dark eyes stared at Pablo -- no, past him, to the faculty room -- and his expression was unreadable.

On terms of looks alone, he should have been nothing worth mentioning. His face was unassuming -- handsome, yes, but not someone you'd remember. But he was remembered. Everyone who watched his interview remembered him. The way he spoke, the power in his bearing, and the sheer presence he held had been burnt into their collective memory. Coupled with the suddenness of his arrival, small rumors that were quickly escalating into urban legends had sprung up in his wake.

No, there was no forgetting this man.

The Director paused in front of the faculty room, and turned to stare at Pablo. Despite this being their first meeting, the man spoke with him familiarly, as if they were friends.

"Mr. Legazpi, I have this under control. Now please return to your class and inform your classmates that your teacher will be arriving soon."

The man touched the door knob, and a small click was heard as he opened the door. For one moment, the raised voices inside could be hear, before quickly becoming sibling to the silence in the halls.

---

Back in the classroom, things had devolved even more, to the point that the classroom was more like a park hangout. Desks and chairs were rearranged and put together to make small tables. Some students were playing cards -- with gambling money to go with it -- while others took out phones or laptops. What they were watching was up to the imagination, though it was safe to say that more than a few were viewing pornography. Other students crumpled up notebook papers and were using them to play basketball, with roll-down projector screen as the replacement hoop. One student had jacked her phone to the class speakers and started playing music on them.

Volume, of course, was raised to its maximum.

The two students arguing with each other earlier exited the class together. Some others followed them, faces grinning excitedly.

_{@Eklispe-@The ghost in black-@KindledBeast-@Altasaire-@banjoanjo-@Apollosarcher-@Progenitus-@Keksalot-@M127}

King, quick on his feet and with his wits, have immediately seen the opportunity for financial gain and therefore proceeded to mercilessly yet tastefully rob his classmates of their money and valuables by means of cheating in the cards. His tricks were incredibly simple, yet efficient - as of now he was peeking into the hands of three opponents by using aligned polished plates of his tower-metal as mirrors. Pile of coin and crumpled banknotes at his side of the table grew ever larger and he even got himself a new wristwatch and thin, cheap cigar to chew on.
"Wot's it's gohna be, Ceejay?" He menacingly inquired from one of the players, poorly attempting to speak in some strange foreign accent. "Come on Ceejay, call or fold, call or fold, wot's it gonna fookin' be?"

Yuri watched to dumbass duo leave the room, he gave off a loud sigh before getting to his feet and walking out of the room. Though as he was exiting the room though a small flash of white could be seen as he drew a ivory colored M1911 with a portrait of a women in a white dress on the handle. Yuri followed the group of other students making sure to keep a eye on the two who were about to fight.

How did he know?! Pablo thought as he gave a slight bow to the director, then began the trek back to his classroom...only to find the two students from before departing from said classroom, this time with an escort, making sure that he could not interfere like he did last time. So, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, the boy returned to the room, then spoke:

"The Director himself told me that the teacher will be coming soon."

Briefly, Pablo's mind wandered; terrorists? Anti-Noble Arms, or Pro-Noble Arms?

Luis sat up triumphantly, having just defeated that devilish question. His smug grin soon faded when he saw the idiot duo from earlier walk out the room, followed by a small crowd that included Yuri Omenthrall not so discreetly summoning one of his pistols (seriously, what an asshole). Honestly, this whole dispute was none of his business. Really, it wasn't. So what if one of them received a deadly injury, so what if they both got expelled? Plus with that creepy new Director, the latter was definitely more likely than ever. A twinge of guilt wormed its way into his thoughts and made him frown.

But instead of walking out after them, he resigned himself further to the desk. He packed up his books and turned towards Nishka, hoping to strike up conversation.

"Say Nishka, how do you feel about this whole school fight business?"

@Eklispe

Some of the students at the table with King glared. He was cheating. They knew he was cheating. No one could win that much in a row! Unfortunately, nobody could prove how he was duping them. Some of them discreetly looked around him, trying to see if he had set up a device of some sort.

The aforementioned student glared back. "You fucking cheater," he said accusingly. He slammed his cards on the table and grabbed King by the collar. "Game's over, now gimme my money back, you fuck!" At once, the other students around the table stood up. Some backing away quickly, now wanting to get involved with this, while most of them flanked the boy, also eager to regain the things they lost as a bet.

Meanwhile, outside the classroom, Pablo was mostly ignored, and the crowd pushed forward, one of them shoving the poor kid over the shoulder as they went by.

"Not your business, 'Hero', stay out of it," the one who shoved him jeered.

@Keksalot-@Letter Bee-@KindledBeast

Gloria wanted to suggest going after the militant group to crack their skulls into shape, but then someone proverbially caught the King red-handed.
She hissed:
- Shhhit! Takumi, cover me, I'll go and try to pull tat idiot out of the pit he dug 'imself into. - she stood up and quickly walked to the gamblers - Guys, let's keep tis civil enough for nov, director's said teacher vould be here in a moment. 'ov much did 'e cheated you for, anyvay?

Takumi nodded and started paying attention.

"Wow-wow-wow, Ceejay!" King sneered, standing up and very gently taking hold of the assailant's elbow, but never undertaking any hostility towards him - yet. "You don't disrespect a chinese bruda like that." He glanced at Gloria quickly when she spoke, immediately understood the mood she was in, instantly felt genuinely, really sorry for his actions and, now with a very guilty expression on his face and much less bravado in his voice, replied - "A half a hunnert tops, plus a watch and a shitty cigar, is that a reason to start a ruckus? Let's settle this like gentlemen lest we get into some old gangsta shit, m'kay? I'll return exactly the half right now just so that ya'll calm down and we won't have to appal our dear teacher with a brawl, we have a deal?"