"So, Gnaeus isn't your father?"

"..., no."

"How come you live with him then? There're no adults that bother with us orphans just because of something like compassion."

"I... don't know, he just picked me up... you should stop bad-mouthing him, he is taking care of you as well after all."

"...But only because of you."

"What did you say?"

"Shh, nothing, be quiet."

"..."

"Did you hear that?"

***

Three weeks had passed since Leopold's sudden death.

The class mourned for an additional two days after the holidays. But after that period, Leopold's empty seat was removed and the class reorganized their seating arrangement.

This was how things went, a sudden death through a 'Realm' was something to be expected which left no time to mop around. After all, without the necessary preparations, you could very well be the next one. 

Everyone accepted that fact and quickly moved on.

Except for Frederic, weeks passed and he was still not quite himself. Their classmates felt it was pathetic, but Januar somewhat sympathized with the other. 

A situation like this was exactly what he was afraid of happening to his family.

So, every time Frederic disappeared to the stairway, Januar discreetly followed him and sat next to him.

He told himself that this provided at least some comfort to Fred, even if he wasn't exactly the perfect person for the job.

...although he didn't actually believe that it had much of an effect.

Constantine also questioned him on what he wanted to achieve with his actions.

Januar's only response was a shrug, after the first time he went to comfort Fred, the action had gradually lost meaning. Now, it was little more than him sitting next to the other, while pondering everything that had been going on recently.

For example, the training with Purge that was going surprisingly well or his improved school life, especially during Professor Bellator's lessons.

Or the dream he had again today.

He wasn't quite sure if they should be considered recurring dreams, as they were never really the same.

Always just voices speaking with each other, he also didn't know what they were talking about and what these dreams meant.

The only thing he knew was that they only occurred at certain moments.

Among them, being knocked unconscious or... an impending 'Realm'.

Naturally, he was more concerned about the latter, even though it felt ridiculous.

His fourth 'Realm' so shortly after the last one?

Very unlikely.

Still...

"Why are you doing this?"

Januar was startled out of his thoughts by these sudden words.

He turned to look at Frederic and found the other glaring at him.

"You think this is funny, right? Is that your form of revenge?"

Frederic abruptly stood up, still glaring at Januar.

"If that's the case, you're even worse than we ever were," Fred sneered, with a ridiculing tone.

Frederic's sudden outbreak didn't just surprise Januar, it also caused his card summons to appear.

Cast and Constantine frowned upon hearing Fred's accusations, Kay, on the other hand, reacted much stronger.

He was seething with anger.

Among the three card summons, he had been with Januar the longest and he was also the only one to fully witness the extent of the bullying Januar had been subjected to. And the way it had impacted Januar's personality.

Additionally, he had no doubts that what he saw wasn't the worst Januar had experienced prior.

He stomped towards Frederic, pointing furiously at the other, his face slightly flushed in anger as he started cursing.

"How f*cking dare you?! Have you any idea what things he had to endure every day? You hypocritical brat! Worse than you? Worse than you? Who was the one to instigate the others, huh?! And now, you pretend like you did nothing wrong?"

A baffled laugh escaped his lips.

"Ha! What I would give to punch that arrogant face of yours!"

Obviously, all his cursing didn't do anything, none of it actually reached Frederic's ears.

He couldn't even vent his anger by throwing a punch. Even though he really wanted to, just thinking about all the times he witnessed Januar's classmates hurt him in some way or another.

Taking things from him, knocking him to the ground, insulting him, throwing stuff at him, even direct beatings weren't out of question. The instance with Leopold only accounted for one of the occasional beatings, and although it was set up to become the most brutal in a long while, they were fortunate enough that Januar barely escaped thanks to his improved physical strength.

But what if he didn't?

What if they succeeded?

Hell, Leopold had even been armed that time!

So, even if Januar was taking his revenge at the moment, what right did the other have to judge him?

Kay couldn't keep listening to this hypocrisy anymore. He turned around and looked at the still-seated Januar, wanting to convince him to leave.

He found the other staring up at Frederic with slight hurt and fear in his eyes, but to Kay's surprise, Januar didn't back down as he usually would. A spark had been ignited inside Januar's eyes, one that was usually reserved for Constantine.

"I'm not the same as you, I don't need some petty revenge. I just didn't want to leave you alone with what happened," After a slight pause he soon continued, "...And if you really think I'm worse than you..., you should probably check the mirror."

After finishing this sentence, Januar also rose from his spot and quickly left the stairs.

This was the first time, Januar allowed his real emotions to surface in front of someone that wasn't a card summon.

Although it didn't compare to the true extent of his rage and hurt in the slightest, and he had still restrained himself unconsciously.

For the first time, he was able to make his feelings known.

While rushing through the school building, his residual wrath and Kay's complaint/praise mixture almost caused him to miss the creature that was crawling along the floor not too far away from him.

He only glanced at it, identifying it as a strange fish-like thing that left a trail of clear, slimy substance wherever it went. The slimy fish creature raised its head as soon as it realized that Januar finally paid attention to it. 

Revealing a pair of dark bottomless pits behind the seaweed (hair?) that clung to its scaly body.

The group of four was silent for a moment before they wordlessly continued on their way.

While walking, Januar rummaged through his card pouch, pulling out a thin stack of cards. Sorting out the familiar ones, he finally found the new addition.

It depicted the strange creature they met earlier, clinging to a big rock that was anything but smooth. Occasional cuts could be seen on the leathery skin of the creature, a dark brown fluid trickling out and mixing with the seawater. A storm raged around the creature, pieces of wood and cloth swimming on the surface and blowing the thing's dark hair away from its face just enough to reveal its eyes.

On top of the card, the words 'Little Mermaid' looked like they were harshly carved in the stormy sky. Trying to look intimidating but Januar didn't even bat an eye as he continued on his way home.

Today probably couldn't turn any worse, right?

Know that he thought about it.

This development was actually pretty fitting for the day he despised every year anew.

After all, today was his birthday.

 

 

Small Theater:

Mermaid: //(●///●)\\

Januar and Co: ...

Mermaid: //(*ﾉωﾉ)\\