After heading up to the third floor where Inea's laboratory was located and dropping off Faf, Fen, and Mew, I made my way to the classroom.
The moment I stepped inside, Muto—the boy with the silver undercut—marched up to me in a blind fury and grabbed me by the collar.
"Is it true that Padde and the others can't come to school because of you, Kai Heinemann?!"
Good grief. So that was the story Padde and his lackeys gave him. They had been completely honest with Babel's administration, yet they fed Muto a lie. I had a pretty good idea why.
Brushing Muto's hand aside, I replied,
"Well, who knows? But if Padde and his crew ever try to challenge me again, I intend to beat them within an inch of their lives."
I really had handled things the wrong way. Even if Muto and Padde pulled stunts like this over and over, I could brush them off as many times as it took. But doing so wouldn't help them grow in the slightest. That much was obvious from what had happened with Gil. In the end, humans simply cannot change unless pushed to the absolute brink.
"Bring it on! You'd better be ready!"
Muto roared in anger, but just as Rose was about to shout back at him with fierce, venomous eyes—
"Muto-kun, what do you think you're—"
I stepped in front to cut her off, fixed my gaze on Muto, and said,
"I'll settle the score for this incident. Once and for all."
I made the declaration clearly and firmly.
I was going to beat that rotten attitude out of Padde and his gang. Either way, pampered brats of their sort were practically guaranteed to repeat the same mistakes unless forced to face what they had done. Besides, I had by no means forgiven them for dragging Lumine into this.
"Don't you dare regret those words!"
"Ha! Bark all you want, but you're only showing how pathetic you are."
At my mocking retort, he snarled,
"You bastard—!"
Just as he was about to lunge at me, an unexpected figure entered the classroom.
"All right! That's quite enough! If you want to throw a tantrum, take it outside!"
She clapped her hands together, her voice ringing out across the room.
Standing defiantly before the podium was a woman with long, asymmetrical blue hair.