"Sarai."
Benjamin called out to her, but she didn't stop. He put both hands on her shoulders and that finally got her to look up.
"Sarai, that's enough. It's just scratches, a bit of saliva and it will be gone in a flash."
"But, you're bleeding. Because of me... Ugh, I'm sorry."
"Stop. I said it's fine. This is... Just the price I have to pay for hurting your feelings."
"No! You did nothing wrong! I am the one who is in the wrong. I can't believe I did this to a boy, to you. Dammit, I'm such an asshole."
Seeing her blaming herself again, Benjamin tried a different approach. He put both hands on her cheeks and forced her head in his direction, looking into her eyes straightforwardly.
"If you are blaming yourself then I forgive you. Do you understand? Now, let's both forget about this and we can continue acting as usual. Alright?"
She tried to escape from his hold but he held her strongly. After some time of failing to break free from his grip, she gave up. She looked conflicted but after a minute of brooding, she calmed down. Eventually, she nodded and Benjamin let her go. She massaged her cheeks and looked at him weirdly.
"It's because you're like that... Sigh, fine. I will take you to the infirmary."
Benjamin wasn't keen on going to see Sasha in this condition, though. He wasn't sure they could play the roles of a normal student and nurse in normal circumstances, much less in extraordinary ones like these.
"No need, I will just clean up the blood with some water. You go back to our class now."
"But..."
"Please, Sarai."
"...Fine"
She moved away from him, looking at him one last time before disappearing at the corner of the building. He waited for two minutes and headed toward building three's toilets. There, he let water flow on his arm until it was clean. He dried himself and when he felt it was alright, he returned to his class.
As soon as he opened the door of the classroom, he was met with tens of stares, all checking his expression. Startled, he looked around to see that all of his classmates were looking at him, even the boys. Soon, however, they noticed the state of his arm and all hell broke loose. Everyone turned toward Sarai, who was sitting on her seat with a depressed look, and some girls went straight to her, one of them shouting.
"Sarai! How dare you do that to him!? Are you crazy!?"
Sarai kept her head low, biting her lips, without answering the accusation. Benjamin was confused by the events for a second, before realizing the situation. It was nothing new. He thought he had been discreet about reading the note and going to meet Sarai but, as usual, he had no privacy in this classroom. He could only hypothesize that some people guessed the situation and then spread the news about Sarai confessing to him. They must have seen the depressed look on her face when she came back to the class and understood that it didn't go well. They were probably waiting for him to check his reaction to the confession, and that was when they saw the marks on his arm. They instantly concluded what had happened and went to blame Sarai.
The girl who had shouted was now grabbing Sarai by her T-shirt, menacing her. Nathan and Julian had joined the group of assailants, very unhappy that a girl had hurt their friend.
"Why aren't you answering, Sarai?"
"I am sorry..."
Benjamin decided to interrupt them at that point.
"Stop!"
At his cry, everyone turned in his direction, startled. He continued.
"I already talked to her about it. She excused herself with sincerity and I forgave her. I am happy that you are defending me but it's alright now. Please release her."
Nathan took over now, claiming.
"What do you mean it's alright, Ben? This is not acceptable at all! A girl hurt a boy so badly, at school even. Let's call a teacher and she will get punished for it. She should get suspended for that, at the very least!"
Julian, the boys, and a lot of the other girls nodded in agreement. Sarai now looked even sadder, ready to accept her fate. However, Benjamin had no plans to go that far.
"There is no need to go that far. She got emotional for a moment, this is something that can happen to anyone. Especially... given the circumstances. Can you all say that you could remain perfectly calm in the same situation?"
His question seemed to make them think for a moment. After a few seconds, Julian mentioned.
"Still, that doesn't mean she shouldn't get punished for what she did. Look at your arm. What if it leaves scars?"
"Ahah, what do you mean scars? This is just a scratch, even the cat that I don't have at home would claw me harder than that. In fact, I think this is a good thing. This is just proof that she is very human, she can get agitated when necessary and make mistakes. If everyone was perfect, the world would be a very boring place. Don't you all agree?"
He gave a bright smile at the end of his sentence. If he had to say, he was quite proud of his impeccable logic. He looked at his classmates, ready for their applause, and saw the whole class watching him like he had smoked way too much strange herbs. Sensing that his argument went very far over their heads, he quickly decided to use his best trick, the one which had never failed him before.
"Did anyone manage to solve Math's problem number 4 on page 17?"
Now they just looked at him like he was crazy. A few moments later, the girl holding Sarai's T-shirt released her, sighing.
"Shit, I can't even get angry anymore. You're really lucky he is like that, Sarai. I didn't forgive you, though."
Benjamin intervened one last time.
"Oh right. Everyone, please forgive her too. And don't exclude or bully her, alright? I don't like stuff like that."
They alternated between looking at him and Sarai, frowning. Finally, Nathan sighed and said.
"Fine, only because you're asking, Ben."
He was also soft-hearted and even if he hadn't agreed, he would probably have forgiven her soon enough. After that, all their other classmates followed his example and assented to forget about the whole event. Sarai was staring at Benjamin, watching him as if he was some sort of divine being who had lost his way after falling from heaven. However, there was still one thing that Benjamin forgot to take into account.