Tears dripped down her face.

"Ah…", surprised that she was crying, Mulkaida wiped the droplets that were beginning to stream down her cheeks.

"Hic- I, th-thought you you thou-ght I," Her voice wobbled as she continued, "I- was ann-oying to you."

I patted her head and hugged her, "Endearingly annoying." I corrected. I believe she had no clue about the contract and its consequences if Mulkaida didn't sign one, but she couldn't afford to think about it. Unable to stop her tears she broke down and buried her face into my chest as I rubbed her back slightly awkwardly, yet still soft.

"WAHHHH! Papa!"

Wait… this kind of seems fake…

Mulkaida rubbed her snotty nose from my shoulder to my collar bone.

Ah. I knew it. This little brat was testing her limits…

***

I couldn't help but want to crawl into a hole and hide as I walked to class.

"Ooo, is that a red panda?"

"Ah! So adorable!"

Mulkaida's nose was held up high as she let out a not so discreet smirk.

I swear the veins on my head twitched and were so close to popping. I clenched my hands in the pocket of my hoodie. This show-off…

This morning we had an argument about her disguise form as I obviously couldn't take her out as a dragon, or human due to the horns that came with it.

On top of that, she refused to be stuck inside my pocket as a ring. I thought a dog would be most suitable, it would gather the least amount of attention out of all the animals she wanted to transform into.

I swear I'll kill whoever slipped the pamphlet of endangered species into my mailbox because as soon as she saw the red panda on the cover she refused to morph into anything else. She was stubborn, and Kaida's stubbornness is on a whole new level, I literally had to change my definition of low-profile because of her.

Kaida wriggled out of my arms, circled around my neck, and climbed on top of my head. She then lifted up a paw and waved.

'Brat stop showing off.'

'You're only saying that because you're jealous.'

'Horse dung'

'Dung?'

Realising my mistake I quickly tried to revert it, 'Ai? I think you heard wrong.'

'Dung… sounds funny.'

'Okay, okay. You can stop saying it now.'

'Dung'

'NO- STOP'

'Dung, dung, dung.'

'What part do you not get about stop?!'

'DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG'

Only after I agreed to a bribe, did she stop saying 'dung'

I walked into my classroom, completely forgetting about the bullies as I chatted to Kaida.

‘Xira Academy, located in the capital, this place this known for its alumni.

Every graduate of Xira become an important figure of the continent, no matter what profession they took on. They were the ones who made life-changing impacts on the world whether it was in direct confrontations or auxiliary related.

They are the future and pillars of humanity, even the weakest of them cannot be looked down on.

Well, except me…

But then again, I haven't graduated yet. Yeah, like I mentioned, the key to becoming a powerhouse was to graduate, not enter. After all, every year a couple of students end up dropping out or getting expelled.

But let's not dwell on that.'

'HAHAHAHA, papa, are you that weak?'

'Shut it, you are contracted with that weakling.'

'Partypooper.'

'All the professors there are seasoned veterans and are very knowledgeable in their field. The academy provides high-end resources tha-'

'Boring, tell me something more fun.'

'If you have any questions about this later, it's your fault.'

‘These are the general cliques, the geniuses sit at the front, the rich kids sat in the middle (closer to the front), the weaker people sit in the middle, the bullies sat in the middle (but closer to the back), and the powerful people sit at the back.' I obviously took a seat in the middle section.

Of course, there were obvious outliers but I wasn't here to pay attention to them with so much already on my plate.

Kaida scanned the lecture hall as I entered. All the tables curved around the front where the large blackboard and podium were located. Since I was early, there were only a few groups of people were scattered around. She decided nothing was special before jumping off my head and nestled into my lap.

It was more peaceful than usual…

"Yo Elijah, where were you yesterday?"

Damn, I must've jinxed it.

I whipped around to the sound of the familiar voice, only to see Callum making his way here with his thug friends. They must've come here to have me "share" the location of my little haven with them.

My contractee groggily raised her head up from her sleeping position 'Papa, are they the bullies?'

'Mhm, don't worry though, they won't bother me, the teacher is coming soon.'

"Do you think we won't beat you up? It's written all over your face. I already am in deep sh*t, my rankings went down by thirty yesterday. I have nothing to lose." Callum's sidekick Gerald sneered.

'Are you sure you're alright? What did I tell you, you should have tried to at least manifest a portion of my power yesterday.' despite the victorious, I-told-you-so look on Kaida’s face, her nervousness leaked into my mind.

Before I could respond, Gerald snarled, "And you know whose fault is this? All yours!"

Kaida giggled, 'Is it not his own fault for his own rank dropping?'

As if Gerald heard her, he said "Hanging around you has made me weaker!'

The red panda met my eyes for a split second before I turned away quickly.

'...'

'HAHAHAHAHA'

'HIS EXCUSES ARE TERRIBLE AHAHAHAHA'

'Stop it!' I groaned as I almost doubled over and tears of joy unwillingly pooled in my eyes.

Damn it, why is her laugh so contagious?

As I could feel a portion of her emotions, I couldn't stop shaking from amusement, "Pfft-"

"Do you think it's funny huh?" Gerald said as he cracked his fists and stretched his shoulders, advancing forward.

He threw a punch at me, I tightly shut my eyes, waiting for the impact.

Before his fist met my face, someone tapped Gerald's shoulder.

Gerald's fist paused right before the impact landed, obviously causing a strain on him. Nevertheless, sweat quickly forming on him, he quickly spun around

"Ah, Asher, what are you doing here?" Gerald smiled, seemingly friendly, despite this he had a slightly nervous look on his face, as his demeanour changed without notice.

"Don't play dumb." Asher replied.

'Who is he?' Kaida asked as she tilted her head.

'Asher? His parents were also mercenaries that worked alongside my parents. They died sacrificing themselves so the rest of the team could escape, our parents were so close, he's like my brother. He inherited their excellent combat skills too and is rank one in our grade.' I answered wistfully knowing that I didn't receive my parent's strength.

Kaida said 'But I thought you don't have any friends?' so I added, 'He is the second main reason I'm being bullied, the others are jealous of my relationship with him so we grew distant ever since we enrolled into the academy.'

"Are you bullying Elijah?" Asher glared.

Gerald replied a bit too hastily, "NO! NOT AT ALL!"

A dark look cast over my childhood friend's face, "You…"

'There's something else I should mention too…'

'What is it papa?'

'If there was a protagonist-'

WHACK- Asher uppercutted Gerald.

'- Asher would be him.'