Most of the people in the inner yard were still too shocked to respond in any way.

The members of Annabel Xea’s class weren’t among them, though, roaring triumphantly as they ran toward Yuki, their newest classmate who had just defeated Sunbird High School’s tyrannical queen.

Eventually many other students also started cheering, an exception to that being Ulura Nightsong’s class who had gathered around her.

She had covered her face, sending one of her classmates who had leaned closer to her in the air with a green laser projectile and not a single word spoken.

Meanwhile, Hikaru and Seiren pulled Yuki to themselves before Annabel could reach her to perform her duties as the chief medic of the class, the battered ice maiden leaning on both for support as the hot-headed three looked at each other and smiled.

(Hikaru) ‘You did great, Yu. But try not to scare me like that again.’

(Seiren) ‘It was almost impossible to keep this bastard away from the fight. Good thing you wrapped things up when you did, girl, or he would’ve totally lost control.’

(Vega) ‘As if you were any different, Seiren.’

(Yuki) ‘Thanks, guys. Thank you for letting me do this on my own.’

(King) ‘That was one hell of a fight, Yuki! I didn’t know you could teleport with a static deva like yours!! You sure got us with that!!’

(Yuki) ‘Huh? That’s not a normal thing?’ – she paused only for a moment because of the confusion before the bright smile returned to her face – ‘Well, I don’t know how it happened exactly, but thanks, King!’

Annabel saw Yuki was completely surrounded by the boys at that point and what was worse, none of them paid any attention to her state because they were so impressed by how good a fighter she was. Someone needed to take the initiative if Miss Iceflame was to be stabilized, so the girl with flowing dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a complexion just a tone darker than average led the other female members of her class as they shoved their way between the male ones to reach her.

(Annabel) ‘Step aside, you brutes.’ – successfully reaching the wounded victor, Annabel addressed her next – ‘You got pretty roughed up during that fight, Yuki. Let me help you.’

(Yuki) ‘You can do that?’

(Annabel) ‘Your hands, please.’

Annabel gave Yuki a sign to give her hands and after she did that, cyan energy started to spread from the one girl’s body to that of the other, the patient’s wounds starting to heal wherever that energy passed through.

Upon closer inspection, the hot heads’ medic realized she had never seen someone who had been wounded worse. The white-haired beauty had a number of cuts across the whole body, some of those on the upper half of the right arm and the right thigh being quite deep, the deepest being across the left side of the middle trapezius. Alongside that, puncture wounds that were a bit shallower were spread throughout the torso.

Yuki was covered in so much blood that there wasn’t an inch of her lingerie that had preserved its original white color. Something definitely wasn’t right with this picture and not just visually.

Anyone else who had sustained such damage would not be able to fight actively enough to take down the strongest female in Sunbird, let alone talk and laugh after that. This girl’s stamina seemed to be beyond even supernatural levels.

(Yuki) ‘Wow. That’s a great deva. Thank you … um …’

(Annabel) ‘Annabel. Don’t strain yourself with trying to remember my name now. We’ll have plenty of time for that later. And I’m the one who should be thanking you. As should probably everyone else around here.’

(Yuki) ‘Why?’

(Exo) ‘Ulura has been terrorizing most people in school, including some from her own class, for a while now. Everyone hated her, but no one could stop her.’

Tokura jumped straight at Yuki with a dreamy extra-wide grin at that point, spreading his arms so he could hug her.

(Tokura) ‘But things changed today because of our new queen right here!’

The pseudoknight had dropped his guard to such an extent because of being in awe of Miss Iceflame that he didn’t even think to put up his invisible shield before Annabel could smash an elbow in his gut to stop his attempted hug.

(Annabel) ‘Back off, Tora. Yuki’s in no condition to deal with your bullshit right now. And neither am I.’

While reeling from the elbow in the gut, Tokura’s awe hadn’t diminished too much, only it was now mixed with some level of confusion.

(Tokura) ‘B-but why …? She just showed everyone that she’s hot like hell, she’s strong and is willing to risk her life to protect our school! Now that Yuki’s been accepted as Sunbird’s white goddess, I just want to give her a hug as a sign of my fealty and appreciation!!’

No one of the class had paid much attention to the fact Yuki was half-naked up until then, the amnesiac immediately being overtaken with shame when she heard the pseudoknight’s words.

Hikaru then took off his uniform’s blazer and gave it to her so she could cover herself while he and Seiren stood between the medic-patient duo and everyone else around with folded arms, Annabel being able to imagine the death stares they were using to keep the students away well enough without even seeing their faces.

(Hikaru) ‘Don’t any of you bastards look!’

(Seiren) ‘That’s right! That honor’s reserved just for me!’

A lightning-clad fist smacked the pervert across the jaw mere moments later, his rather angry rival being responsible for that.

(Hikaru) ‘You’re the one I definitely won’t allow to look, Blackscale!!’

As a fight was about to start between the rivals and between the students who insisted on talking to Yuki and her classmates who had formed a defensive wall around her, a mixture of pale red and orange flames burst from the tallest central part of the main school building. Out of those flames came a massive fiery bird that descended upon the yard, a deafening sound coming out of its mouth as the flapping of its huge wings caused the forming of gusts of hot wind, many students screaming in terror and running back inside the building in response to that.

Exo was the one who screamed the loudest, but who at the same time could move his body the least because he was gripped by fear. Annabel couldn’t blame him, though, because she felt some of that fear as well while the phoenix landed before the hot heads.

(Random Student) ‘It’s the headmaster! Find cover! Run before he incinerates us all!!’

As usual, headmaster Zoran Lawell exuded enormous amounts of both light and heat, the power emanated by his deva echoing probably even beyond the school grounds despite being limited to just 30%. Neither Annabel, nor any of the others had never been this close to him, however, so all of them started sweating, some – quite profusely. Whether it was because of the heat or because they were afraid, the hot heads’ medic couldn’t say.

Another burst of pale red and orange flames led to the replacement of the creature by a man in his early forties with very long and shiny straight black hair, black eyes and warm ivory skin with a rather stern expression on his face. This combined with the particular attire he was wearing – a black coat over a suit that consisted of a brighter red waistcoat and trousers and a darker red shirt, a black belt and formal shoes – made Mr. Lawell particularly terrifying.

(Hikaru) ‘Headmaster, about what happened here …’

Zoran raised a hand to interrupt the hot heads’ negotiator, looking like this time even Hikaru’s great ability to balance things wasn’t going to save his class.

(Zoran) ‘Hold it, Hikaru. I saw everything.’ – the headmaster’s gaze focused on Yuki now, which immediately made her look away with a guilty expression, Annabel in turn temporarily stopping the amnesiac’s treatment to stand in front of her and add another layer to the wall of classmates protecting her – ‘I must say this is not the sort of behavior I was expecting when you enrolled in our school, Miss Iceflame.’

(Seiren) ‘Yuki did what she did to protect the school! If you were watching, you must have seen most of the damage around here was done by that bitch Nightsong! If it wasn’t for our baby, a lot more of Sunbird would’ve been destroyed!!’

(Yuki) ‘Annabel, please step aside.’ – hearing that made the medic turn with shock to her patient who looked incredibly serious now – ‘What happened here was my fault, too, so I will accept the consequences.’

Annabel felt intimidated enough by the white-haired beauty’s gaze to fulfill her request, so she stepped aside with the intention to heal her remaining wounds later. If there was a later for either of them.

(Zoran) ‘If that’s the case …’ – he raised his hand toward Miss Iceflame to the terror of all students and then put it on her shoulder with a warm smile – ‘… it’s OK. Don’t worry.’

There had been few times in the young medic’s life where she had felt her jaw might literally fall off her face from shock as much as in the present. Looking around her classmates, their expressions were as full of bewilderment as her own.

(King) ‘So that’s it? We’re cool?’

(Zoran) ‘If I have to be honest, Ulura was a problem for me as well.

Her family makes a number of donations to our school every year and it would not be an overstatement to say Sunbird has survived as it is because of the Nightsongs. There aren’t many deviants who want to financially support our school and much fewer who have the resources to do so, which was why I was forced to accept the contributions from Ulura’s family all this time. While relying on that money, I couldn’t really take any measures to punish her in spite of the fact she tortured everyone.’ – removing his hand from Yuki’s shoulder, Mr. Lawell turned his attention from King back to her – ‘If a student were to take care of putting her in her place, however, I could say it was out of my hands. That’s why as soon as I saw someone was able to hold their own against Ulura for as long as you did, Miss Iceflame, I thought a perfect opportunity had presented itself.

I ordered the teachers and staff to stay alert but not intervene in the fight unless absolutely necessary. While there was more damage than I expected, I would still like to say I’m very grateful to you.’ – Zoran paused for a moment, having a guilty look on his face now – ‘And I want to apologize for exposing you to such danger on your very first day here. You’d be well within your rights to leave Sunbird after what happened and I will make no objection on the matter if that’s what you wish.’

Due to the headmaster having said so many things, each one more shocking than the last, Yuki needed a bit of time to process everything she had heard before coming up with a response, the smile having returned to her face by then.

(Yuki) ‘It was quite an extreme first day, I’ll admit. Then again, every day since I’ve arrived in Deckstoru has been extreme, so it’s nothing new.

If I leave Sunbird, I’ll have to attend a school in another city and be separated from everyone here and I don’t want that. Moreover, I’m not sure another school would take me with the troublemaker name I seem to have made for myself.

If it’s possible … I’d like to stay right here, headmaster.’

The amnesiac’s words brought  the smile back to the phoenix-morph’s face as well, the way their conversation was going seeming to have put Annabel as well as everyone else from the class at ease.

(Zoran) ‘It’s more than possible. I would welcome it, Yuki!’ – after the hot heads around their class’s newest troublemaker took a sigh of relief, Mr. Lawell took a quick look at her remaining wounds – ‘It appears you will need some additional medical treatment, by the way. Annabel can’t heal that much damage at a 50% output.’

(Exo) ‘We’ll be taking her to the nurse’s office, then.’

(Zoran) ‘Do that and get right back to class. Today’s schedule has been ruined enough as it is. Yuki’s excused from classes until the end of the day, of course, so she can get proper rest.’ – the headmaster looked away from Exo and back at Yuki again, this time not only smiling, but winking at her – ‘And since you’ve decided to stay and contribute to the school’s future, Miss Iceflame, I expect you sharp and ready for work tomorrow!’

(Annabel) ‘Work, sensei? What work would that be?’

Zoran’s smiling face then quickly turned back into the stern frown he had had on upon landing in the inner yard earlier.

(Zoran) ‘I said not to worry, but I didn’t say there won’t be any punishment for Yuki’s actions. Enough school rules were broken today to leave this scene without reprimanding the students responsible.’

(Seiren) ‘Punish Ulura, then! She’s the real guilty one here! I told you!’

(Zoran) ‘As I already explained, Seiren, I can’t do that. Ulura’s parents will not be happy with what happened here and will claim their daughter was the victim. They’ll insist someone be punished for what’s been done to her.’

(Tokura) ‘So you’re throwing Yuki under the bus after she took care of the most troublesome person in school for you? Sounds to me like all your problems are solved while someone totally innocent will be taking the blame, sensei.’

The phoenix morph smiled awkwardly and scratched his head upon hearing that, probably in the hopes of improving the mood of the clearly angered students.

(Zoran) ‘It does sound quite bad when you say it like that, but that’s why I told Yuki there’s no need to worry. The punishment won’t be anything severe. It’s just a formality to appease the Nightsongs.’

(Yuki) ‘And what will the punishment be exactly?’

(Zoran) ‘You’ll have to fix all the damage that’s been done to the yard and the main school building, clean the pool, the gym, the bathrooms and some of the classrooms. Nothing much.’

With that, Zoran’s attempt to cheer up Annabel’s class failed miserably, Hikaru quickly reminding him with another one of his outbursts  that the hot heads from that class needed to be appeased as much as the Nightsongs.

(Hikaru) ‘Excuse me, headmaster, but how did you come up with that bullshit?!! Even with Yuki’s abilities, that sounds like a whole lot of work for one person!!!’

Unfazed by the boy’s rising tide of fury, the headmaster patted his shoulder with an encouraging wink.

(Zoran) ‘Right you are, Hikaru! That’s why you and the rest of the class are going to help her out with all the cleaning.’

So came another unprecedented jaw-dropping moment for Annabel and co., their anger turning to surprise only for a moment before they collectively returned to the rageful outbursts.

(Seiren) ‘We can’t do all this shit today! We’ve still got classes! And what about our club activities?!’

(Zoran) ‘You can get to work when you’re finished with today’s classes. And as for the club activities, I’ll excuse all of you from those until the week’s end.’

(King) ‘But why till the week’s end?’

(Zoran) ‘Because you’ll be doing this all week long. Our cleaning staff members have been exhausted by having to clean up the aftermath of each mess the students make and this newest one would definitely be the end of them, so I’ll let them rest this week while you do their job.

Now that the attention of Ulura’s class will be focused on her and they won’t be causing any trouble, you won’t be fighting them at every turn and will have more free time on your hands. Might as well use it to repair some damage rather than cause it for a change.’

(Tokura) ‘Are we gonna get paid for this, then?’

(Zoran) ‘No, Tokura. This is punishment.’

(Vega) ‘That’s just straight-up criminal, sensei! Can’t we …’

Zoran’s expression had become even sterner that before, now appearing to be borderline angry as his eyes were engulfed in his two-color phoenix flames.

(Zoran) ‘Do you have an issue with the punishment, Vega? Or maybe one of your classmates does?’

(Exo) ‘No, no, no, sensei! No issue at all!! We’ll do all the things you’ve told us to! For the whole week! Even for longer, if we have to!’

Seeing as how this argument was one her class couldn’t possibly win, Annabel decided to redirect her attention to the person who needed it most in the moment – her badly wounded newest classmate.

(Annabel) ‘Come on, Yuki. I’ll take you to the nurse while these suckers get back to class.’

The hot heads’ chief medic could get to the nurse’s office with her eyes closed as she assisted her far too often when some student got hurt too bad. It was in the same part of the main school building as the canteen, only on the second floor.

And since she knew Nurse Neana Ilre better than any of her classmates, Annabel thought it best to personally prepare Yuki for the first visit to her office. On the way there she could tell the ice maiden felt very guilty as she avoided eye contact and as a whole looked at the floor while walking forward, deciding to address the matter by breaking the awkward silence between them.

(Annabel) ‘Yuki, are you …’

(Yuki) ‘I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with me, Annabel. Anywhere I go, I get in trouble.

And what’s worse, I get those around me in trouble. This time it’s my classmates that will have to pay for my mistakes.’

A whole-hearted laugh that hurt Annabel’s chest came out of her when she heard that, confusing the new student.

(Annabel) ‘That’s what’s bothering you? I don’t think you quite yet realize what a class you’ve become a part of, girl.

We’ve been getting ourselves in trouble like this and worse long before you came along. That’s just who we are. And I’m actually relieved you have a knack for getting in trouble yourself! That means we’re going to get along really well!’

Those words seemed to bring some happiness to the white-haired beauty’s face, just then the duo stopping in front of a pink wooden door that had ‘NURSE’S OFFICE’ written on it with dark purple metal letters.

(Yuki) ‘Looks like I made the right choice by staying in Sunbird, then.’

(Annabel) ‘Absolutely. We’re here, by the way.’ – she knocked on the door and then turned to Yuki to give the preparation speech – ‘Now, about our nurse. Neana is also deputy headmistress of Sunbird and is very strong and smart. She looks a bit weird, but is a really nice and dependable person, so long as you don’t say anything about her appearance.

Just a piece of advice from me: focus on all the other stuff she’s put in the room to not look at her too much, don’t say anything bad about Lawell-sensei and you’ll be fine.’

(Yuki) ‘I’ve seen all kinds of weird stuff for the last couple of days and have been around quite a few dangerous and unstable people. I think this won’t be a problem.’

Neana partially opened the door a moment later, sticking out her long scrawny neck with a pale-skinned bald head attached at the end that had a number of stitches on its pate, deep dark circles under its icy blue eyes and some black cracks on the skin around its lips wearing dark blue lipstick. The amount of shock on Miss Iceflame’s face from that sight showed she had clearly not been prepared despite her words.

(Neana) ‘I was wondering when the famous queenslayer of Sunbird would finally get her ass here. Come in, then. We have a lot of restructuring to do.’