NOVEL WEB Chapter 34: Fog of War
Chapter 34: Fog of War
There was an obvious edge of aggression to Dr Connor’s command. The chatter surrounding the arena abruptly ceased. Some students started scrambling to form up, while the more thick-skinned seemed to leisurely make their way over.
Not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble, my group quickly joined the rest of our class. Scarlette’s earlier bravado had seemed to vanish. Her eyes darted back and forth between Dr Connor and the crowd. She reminded me of a cat trying not to be noticed.
The professor’s expression was stormy, his gaze sweeping over us like a predator sizing up its prey. As more students shuffled into their places, Dr Connor crossed his arms and spoke again, his voice even sharper than before. “Do you think this is a joke?” he shouted, his eyes narrowing. “Some of you seem to have forgotten what discipline looks like.”
His scowl deepened. “What was the task given to you? Was a relaxing walk part of the instruction? This exercise was meant to test your stamina, not to give you an excuse for a casual stroll, so why were some of you doing that?! And while we didn’t explicitly say you had to stick with your teams, it should've been obvious that you should never leave a teammate behind. This goes for not just one, but multiple teams!”
“Your teachers have been tracking the progress of everyone from each of your classes. They have noted down the behaviour of each team during the run, and there will be penalties.”
Following that, Dr Connor stepped forward, eyes locking onto random students as he passed. “We are not here for your amusement. This is a bloody training camp, not a vacation. If any of you think otherwise, you’re sorely mistaken.”
I couldn’t help but evaluate his approach in his admonishment. At our age, many of us leaned toward rebellion, and if he kept flying off the handle like this, some of us were bound to tune him out. He was going so overboard it was hard to take him seriously.
To his credit though, it was a quick and effective way to set the tone they expected of us. Furthermore, it did seem his intensity had intimidated a couple of students, who had their eyes glued to the ground. One boy shuffled uncomfortably under Dr Connor's glare, his face flushed with a mix of fear and frustration. I wondered if he was part of the bunch Dr Connor had called out.
I shifted my gaze towards Ms Reina. She had her arms crossed, her expression unreadable. I was admittedly curious to know her thoughts on the matter.
As Dr Connor continued emphasising on the importance of discipline, I noted the crowd growing restless. I made sure my sash was still tied around my wrist before turning to check my teammates. Throughout the run, I’d seen people tying theirs in all sorts of odd places—around their necks, their thighs. One person had even tucked theirs halfway into their shoe. The effectiveness of that method aside, I couldn’t imagine it being comfortable to run in.
More importantly, I wanted to check if our egg was still safe. However, now probably wasn’t the best time for it.
Dr Connor was nearing the end of his rant. Well, more like the weather was forcing him to. The clouds were beginning to hint at rain.
“I hope I have made myself clear. If you want us to treat you as adults, you better behave like one. I don’t want to see anyone slacking off after this. Is that understood?”
Quiet murmuring emanated from the crowd.
“Good. Due to the weather, you are to return to your tents and await further instructions. You are dismissed. Teachers, please guide your classes accordingly.”
The murmurs grew louder as everyone resumed their conversations.
“Man, what a way to dampen the mood!” Jonah grumbled. “It’s not like we did anything wrong either!” he continued, referring to our group.
“He’s pretty scary when he’s mad,” admitted Kaede.
“Tell me about it,” Scarlette said, shivering. I suppose she was still affected by the incident at the Colosso Dome.
Thunder rumbled as we began filtering out of the area, hurrying back to the campsite with the increasing wind urging us forward. Within minutes, we reached our tents.
“You heard what Dr Connor said! Behave yourselves while we wait for the weather to clear up!” Ms Reina called out. “I’ll let you guys know when it’s safe to leave!”
Just as my friends and I rushed to our respective tents, Ms Reina suddenly rushed over to us.
“Scarlette, Kaede and Cadel, I need to speak with the three of you. Let’s wait out the weather in one of your tents. Ideally, I would like to speak to your whole group, but it’ll be pretty cramped with all six of us in one.”
“Huh? Oh, uh, sure,” Scarlette said, motioning toward the girls’ tent. “Jonah, Mira, you guys okay with sharing the boys’ tent till the weather clears?”
It was a bit awkward, but they didn’t seem to mind. As they split off, the rest of us clambered into the girls’ tent with Ms Reina. We quickly removed our shoes, wrapped them in the plastic bags our team had packed, and stashed them in a corner of the tent.
“Thank you,” Ms. Reina said, accepting a bag that Scarlette had handed her.
At the same time, I opened my lunch box to check on the status of our egg. Thankfully, it was still fully intact.
As we settled in, the first raindrops began tapping softly on the hood of our tent. I quickly leaned over to zip the entrance shut, sealing us inside just as the rain picked up. The three of us sat expectantly, waiting for Ms Reina to begin speaking.
“There are a few things I want to talk to you guys about. I was initially planning to tell you guys eventually, but there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes,” she began.
I straightened up. I could tell this was about to get interesting.
Ms Reina raised her voice over the sound of the rain. “Let’s get today’s incident over with. Kaede, could you describe the girls who pushed you over?”
“Um, they didn’t really push me over. One of them just stuck her leg out and tripped me. She was a little taller than me, with long blonde hair.” Kaede continued describing the rest of the girls to the best of her ability.
Ms Reina continued. “How certain are you that was intentional?”
Scarlette cut in. “A hundred percent. I was just beside her, so I saw it. Besides, they were laughing at her after she tripped.”
Ms Reina frowned. “I see. I’ll let the other teachers know about this. This is something that cannot be tolerated.”
She leaned forward. “Cadel, you may be wondering why I called you over as well. There's a more significant issue I need to discuss.”
Oh? I made sure to pay close attention.
“I’ll be blunt. The school is perfectly aware of the incident you guys had with the Horizon High students. We have contacted their school, and action will be taken accordingly. You may be curious on why we haven’t made a public announcement about this yet. Truthfully, the whole situation is a bit more complicated than you may realise.”
“As you know, District 4 only consists of two schools: Waning Crescent and Horizon High – us and them. This has obviously led to a rivalry that has been ongoing for years. While their faculty have slammed the actions of Ignar and his friends, they argued that no one on our side sustained lasting injuries, and that the whole incident was nothing more than a silly ‘prank’.”
Scarlette looked like she was about to blow her top, but held herself back.
“I believe they would still be punishing Ignar’s gang, but Horizon High are not the type to publicly apologise. Until we settle matters with them behind the scenes, our school has decided not to take further action against them. Of course, the Administration is aware of this as well. In the meantime, we will be tightening up security. Anyway, it’s not like the student body isn’t aware of the incident. Gossip spreads fast, especially among young people, right?”
She paused for a second to let us soak in the information.
“For now, the Administration has decided to let all of this blow over as a ‘prank’, because acknowledging it as an actual ‘attack’ would paint both of our schools in a bad light. The incident is still under investigation, so if there are any updates in the future, I’ll let you know. Do you guys have any questions?”
I did have a couple, but they weren’t related to the Horizon High incident. Frankly, I had already put that behind me. Instead, I decided to ask Ms Reina what I was currently most curious about.
“How much do you know about Dr Connor?”
If Ms Reina was surprised by the nature of the question, she didn’t show it.
“Sorry, but we aren’t allowed to share personal information about faculty members.”
I sighed, disappointed by her response.
“But to answer your question, I would say… I know enough.”
I narrowed my eyes as a pang of both annoyance and curiosity hit me. What was with that cryptic answer? I decided to press her for more information.
“So you’re aware he’s a shady figure?”
“… I’m afraid I cannot comment on that.”
Her response was enough to supply me with the information I needed. Normally, a teacher would tell off a student if they made a comment disparaging another teacher. It was a blatant sign of disrespect against a figure of authority in a school environment. Dr Connor was clearly one of the more senior members as well. From that, I could likely infer that she did not have a good opinion of Dr Connor.
“I see, thank you. Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your Ability?”
I noted the surprised looks on Kaede’s and Scarlette’s faces as I bluntly posed another question. I wasn’t expecting an answer though, since it was a private question. There could also be security protocols in place to prevent teachers from answering such questions.
I watched as Ms Reina’s expression softened, a trace of a smirk tugging at the corners of her usually stern lips.