Chapter 15 – Agitate

Sal couldn’t believe how busy the canteen was when they finally arrived after their class had ended. The normal staggered approach had somehow been shelved in favor of dumping as many students as humanly possible into the space.

What was once the remnants of a few cohorts getting their meals was a whole new beast with the arrival of the second-years. Black uniforms signaled their status as second-years, with all of them having a colored shoulder and upper chest design to showcase their class.

Sal saw a sea of reds, and assumed from their swagger that they were likely Offense class. Many of them sat together with elevated voices, and he wondered whether the whole cohort concept was abolished after they moved into the second year. When he scanned over the rest of the crowd, he saw another collection of second-years with blue shoulders seated together, who looked much quieter.

If he was to try to discern them from the others, it was that they looked similar to Dominic’s build, which would make them the Defense class. Sal’s gaze flitted over the rest of the colors. There were only a couple of greens in the entire crowd.

Their rarity was common knowledge, and Sal knew that they were definitely the Healer class. Which left the yellows and purples. Sal wished it had been a tougher challenge, but the Supports were so obvious in how they shied away from the others that he instinctively marked them as purple in his head. Vibrant yellow shoulders and upper chest markings signaled the Controllers, who all looked as aloof as Victoria.

“Fuck me, isn’t this a little intense?” Barry asked as he walked past Sal to take in the view of the bustling canteen.

A line extended all the way to where they stood, almost exclusively filled with first-years in their gray uniforms. Barry took one look at the line and then back at the crowd of students seated around the canteen. He looked thoughtful before he turned back to Sal with a grimace.

“There’s some fuckery going on here.”

Before Sal could ask what he meant, a student in a black uniform with red shoulders got up from his seat and walked past the entire group to the front of the line. He called back to his friends to ask if they wanted anything and a few shouts came back with requests.

Sal and Barry watched in disbelief as the students in gray backed away from him instinctively. More than a few of them dropped their gaze to avoid making eye contact with him. With a laugh, the second-year made his selection and started to move back to his table. Sal had thought that at least one person would object, but they all looked terrified.

Just as Sal was about to speak, Barry took a step forward and intercepted the second-year. If the looks of the first-years were anything to go by, Barry had just made a huge mistake.

“What the hell are you doing? Can’t you see there’s a line?” Barry sidestepped tact and went straight for the jugular.

Sal took a step forward, unsure what to do in this situation. He didn’t want to see Barry get hurt, but at the same time, he didn’t want to throw himself into a fight needlessly. Especially considering that he would be of zero use in his current state.

The second-year’s face broke into a wide grin as he looked Barry up and down. Rather than answering the question, he turned back to his friends with a laugh.

“Looks like they didn’t get the message! Should I be a bit more thorough this time?” He raised his voice with each word, ensuring everyone around him could hear.

Sal didn’t like where this was going. Many of the other students looked conflicted, but they didn’t do anything to interject. The Supports kept their eyes on their trays, while the Controllers looked on with bored expressions.

None of the people in gray looked particularly familiar, and Sal guessed they were likely to stay out of any brewing conflict. Only he and Barry had rushed to the canteen after the class, so it would be a while before more of the Silver cohort arrived.

As he turned to assess the situation, Barry took another step toward the second-year and cocked his head to one side. “Sal, is this one of the guys who failed Chatfield’s class? The reason we’re getting our curriculum changed?”

The smile on the second-year’s face vanished. A flash of anger crossed his face as he whipped his hand up into the air.

Sal felt a sudden pressure building in front of him, as though the weight of the sky was pushing down on them from above. It was clearly some kind of gravitational ability, but it didn’t faze Barry in the slightest. He stood there calmly, as though waiting for the finale.

With a stricken expression, the second-year dropped the tray and raised his other hand as he stared at Barry menacingly. The change was dramatic, and Sal almost had to take a knee to endure the sudden onslaught. He couldn’t imagine how Barry was able to withstand it, being so close to the second-year. Looks of visible discomfort washed over the first-years as the power enveloped them.

All except Barry, who didn’t make a single move.

“Wow. Your power is fucking useless.” Barry laughed as he imitated the raised hands in front of him and wiggled his fingers. “Are you even trying? This is the best you can do?”

Sal staggered back until his back touched the wall. He could feel minor vibrations coming off it too. He looked at the second-year in absolute disbelief. Was he trying to bring the roof down on top of them?

Glasses on the surrounding tables shattered as the tables buckled under the sudden downward force. Pained groans from his friends didn’t reach the second-year’s ears as he focused everything he had on crushing Barry.

Most of the first-years were in a seated position, bracing themselves against the pressure. Some of the other students, who had been happy to watch, now looked uncomfortable. Defense, Offense, Controllers, and even some of the Healers were on their feet and moving toward the culprit, their expressions ranging from annoyance to visible anger.

The only person who looked calm and composed was Barry, who still stood defiantly against him.

A crackling noise thundered out in quick succession as the surrounding tables then crumpled under the weight, slamming into the legs of those seated at them. Not even the agonized roars of the students were enough to break him from his singular motive of destroying Barry, and his power amplified as Barry’s grin grew wider.

All the approaching students who wanted to put an end to it were helpless under the gravitational pressure of his ability, and their bodies crumpled uselessly to the ground the moment they got within reaching distance of the duo. Veins appeared at the temples of the second-year as he gritted his teeth. He was clearly going all out, but it was having zero effect.

The power suddenly evaporated, like it had all been a figment of Sal’s imagination, and he inhaled a huge breath of air as everything calmed down. With a glance left and right, he could see that everyone else was no longer bound by the crippling pressure. Relief washed over their faces as they warily got to their feet and dusted down their clothes. Many were covered in wooden splinters from the tables, but some unlucky students had shards of glass embedded into their arms and chests.

The Healers looked pissed off as they made their way to their fallen peers, each of them sending a scathing look at the second-year who had started it all.

When Sal turned to look for Barry, he was nowhere to be seen. In his place was the calm figure of Sakura, who had a single hand placed around the neck of the second-year student. She looked around at the devastation that had been caused before speaking in a slow and calculated tone.

“You’re coming with me to the headmaster’s office.”

When Sakura’s eyes landed on Sal, she paused for half a second. “Was he the only instigator? Any accomplices?”

It was a tone that just wanted the facts. She did not seem like she was in any mood for chitchat, so Sal shook his head.

“None that I could see. Everything here was done by him, but you may want to ask the other first-years. They looked spooked when I arrived.”

Sakura nodded and pointed at one of the terrified first-years in the line. “You. You’re coming with us too. You can give your statement to Quest, and he’ll decide the next steps.”

If the first-year had been terrified before, Sakura’s words transformed them into a blubbering mess of excuses. All it took was a single stare from Sakura to shut the first-year down, and they followed the Assassin out of the canteen with their head hung low.

Sakura paused as she reached the doorway and looked at Sal again. “Are you hurt?”

Sal shook his head with a smile. “Not from this, but I’ll be fine. Thank you for arriving when you did!”

Sakura’s lips tightened as she shoved the second-year forward through the door so he could walk himself to the office.

“Yeah, not fast enough apparently.” With a sigh, her face finally cracked into a slight smile. “Gotta admit, your friend is an absolute piece of work.”

Sal frowned, and she pointed to the other side of the canteen where Barry was seated, a wide grin on his face. In front of him were two trays of food. Sal gaped at him in shock, which caused Sakura to laugh musically as she finally left the canteen.

Sal hurried over to where Barry was seated. A fresh steak was waiting for him on a tray, which Barry slid across the table in his direction. Judging by the food on Barry’s plate, he had already gotten through half of his meal. He didn’t even have the grace to look guilty and instead gave Sal a shrug.

“Did he figure out he was having a pissing match with an illusion? I couldn’t tell from over here.”

Sal did a double take and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He tried to piece it all together but was having a lot of difficulty. “But…there was no time. When did you even…”

Barry laughed. “Like, the minute he cut the line. Threw up an illusion and went straight to the front of the line to get our orders while fake Barry drew everyone’s attention. Genuinely thought he’d throw a punch or something and realize he was an idiot… But trashing half the canteen and making everyone hate him? That was an unexpected bonus.”

Sal stared at the exit where the second-year had been dragged off by Sakura and then looked back at Barry. “He might get expelled for this. Are you okay with that?”

Barry shrugged and pointed his fork in the direction of the second-years across the room. “What kind of Heroes sit on their ass when someone is being bullied?” He stabbed a cube of potato with his fork as he looked at Sal meaningfully. “I couldn’t give two shits if he gets expelled. He made his bed—it’s time for him to sleep in it.”

As Sal sat at the table and started to eat, they watched the comically late staff arrive in their white uniforms, milling around and asking students about what happened. They mostly sat in silence as they watched the cleanup crew who came in to repair the tables and gather the shattered glass.

Sal guessed that it was too inconvenient to restore something as cheap as glass, so they likely were just going to replace them. The silence grew between them before Sal mentioned what was on his mind.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t jump in to help. I felt like I’d have been dead weight.”

Barry sighed in exasperation and gave Sal a wry smile. “Sal, I was literally getting food. I don’t care that you didn’t back up my illusion. People like us need to think with our brains, not with our fists. Don’t worry about silly shit like that, and focus on making cool stuff for yourself and the team. Speaking of which, how is the tracker coming along? Think you’d be able to put in something that’ll make you see my illusions? It would be much easier for you to keep up with me.”

Sal laughed as he continued his meal. When he looked back to the other side of the canteen, it had been restored to perfect condition. The only thing that threatened his mood were the wary glances he received from a collection of second-years who looked anything but friendly.