The teacher arrived and checked the students with one quick look. He was a man in his thirties and he didn't lose any time once he was present. After a brief introduction, he talked about some important information about the school year before making a roll call. My mind was slightly elsewhere, however.
'Is this what they mean when they say there are important points in someone's life where a decision can change everything? '
Now, let's consider the situation. Let's forget about the perverted girl for a moment and focus on the other one. What would a normal person do in a similar situation? After everything I experienced, the answer to this question was simple.
'Ignore it and go on with your life as usual.'
I saw it myself many times. People only truly cared about themselves. At the very most, this extended to the beings they were very close with. And that was it. This girl was a stranger and there was no reason to do anything for her, much less get into probably serious trouble for her sake.
In the past, when I was still doing well, quite a few people approached me to befriend me. And as soon as I got into trouble, none of these people were still there. Everyone was gone and no one stood up for me. Not even my parents. In the end, I had to face the full brunt of unfair accusations and take responsibility for something that wasn't my fault. Such is the world. Such are humans. I paid the full price to learn that lesson and I wasn't going to forget it.
However, those same people were the ones I hated with all my being. I would never be the same as them. Never.
'No one stood up for me when I was in trouble. Well, I'll stand up for that girl, that stranger. Just to show them. To show the world I'm not flesh waste like them.'
"Kyr Auda."
"Yes."
I raised my hand as my name was called and everyone focused on me for a second. Most had the same reaction and their thoughts were going wild with things like "killer", "drug addict", or "mafia member". I was so used to it by now that I didn't care in the least. In my eyes, people who judged others by their appearance were the ones who had an issue, and not me. They were simply not worth my attention.
The roll call continued and I went back to my thoughts. My power would come in handy to understand this girl's situation better. I could just follow her from afar until I got a better idea of what was happening. As for the other girl… I would also check her thoughts from time to time. She was something else, that was for sure.
Our homeroom teacher also took care of the lesson for the first period. School lunch came after the fourth period and I decided to match my actions to that of the girl, whose name was Reyn. She was obviously in a very bad situation but she didn't show any of it. She even managed to chat and smile with other girls in the class even though I felt her smile was a bit forced, now that I was paying attention to it. She moved together with those girls to have lunch at the school cafeteria and I followed them.
I felt like a stalker but I didn't care. I also wasn't suspicious since I did not need to maintain a close distance from them. Most of the students were also on the way to have lunch anyway. I was just one among many.
One thing that I loved about my ability was that it exposed people as they truly were. Taking Reyn's friends as an example, it was easy to see they weren't that good people overall. Even though they were all smiling brightly, their thoughts were in no way as nice as their grins.
("Look at that girl's fake smile, it's so ugly.")
("Mary messed up her makeup again. Well, it makes me look better in comparison so it's all good.")
("Reyn's so dull, can't she move faster?")
And this was but a sample of what they were thinking. In comparison, Reyn's thoughts were like those of an angel.
("Sophia seems tired. Did she have a bad night? I hope she gets better.")
("Mary messed up her makeup again. I should teach her how to do it correctly when I have time.")
("They're walking a bit too fast for me. Wait up, girls!")
From my point of view, it was hard to understand why such a girl would hang out with these sorts of "friends". I saw myself in her, at this moment. These were precisely the sort of people that surrounded me before the incident. To say things as they were, they were more than useless as friends. They were actually harmful to keep around.
Nothing special happened during lunch except for the fact that I still had to train to focus on specific thoughts when there were hundreds of people thinking around me at the same time. I needed to change all voices to whispers except the one I wanted to hear and this needed quite a bit of finesse. I spent most of the lunch trying to make this happen. Soon enough, afternoon lessons started and we were all back in the classroom.
After school, Reyn separated from her friends to head somewhere by herself. She was going toward the second school building but didn't enter it. Instead, she walked to the side and continued behind the building. I had to be careful now that she was in such an isolated spot. I decided to enter the second building and go to the furthest classroom, the one that would be the closest to her. Fortunately, my range was enough to cover everything to the end of the school premises from my position. I wouldn't miss anything from here.
She didn't have to wait long before several more voices came her way. They were all boys and one of them immediately addressed her.
("You saw the message, right?")
("Yes… I-it's a bit too much. Can you reduce it, please?")
("Huh? Are you trying to rebel?")
("N-no, I'm sorry. I'll do it.")