Lunchtime is supposed to be something you look forward to. A break from the stresses of life to enjoy the simple pleasures of a meal.

  Instead, part of the room gave me looks of animosity and contempt the moment I was in their field of vision. Some people looked engrossed in their conversations to care, so I guess I’m not in as much danger as I thought I’d be. Still, I’ll be implementing that plan of eating in that beautiful square garden. Hopefully, that place is a sanctuary from violence, confrontations, and glares.

  I showed my key before picking the most appetizing options, then took my tray and headed for the garden area. It’d be wholly uncomfortable to eat in a place with looks from people that can actually kill you.

  I followed the route planned in my mind, and ended up where I first saw the courtyard garden area.

  The same square perimeter of 24 squares. The fountain and tree being in square diagonals to each other. It felt as breathtaking as when I first chanced upon it.

  Thankfully, there was no one around. So it was an ideal location to eat lunch alone.

  I decided to sit on the fountain’s wall and placed my tray on it. The wall was dense and thick enough to support someone sitting on it, so I didn’t need to worry about my tray falling over either way.

  Time to dig in!

  This time, today’s selection was merely 2 options, but they still looked and smelled equally delicious.

  One was a pasta with a creamy cheese sauce, and the other was chicken and vegetable skewers. The pasta dish was delicious by default, but what really surprised me was the skewers. The meat was good, but somehow the seared vegetables added to the flavor, instead of overpowering it with both its flavor and texture.

  It almost makes me want to forget my problems.

  I should return to him before I end up missing class.

  After sitting for a while, enjoying the silence and tranquility of the garden, I got up to clean and return my empty tray. That’s when I noticed someone else sitting on the fountain.

  It was Electric Blue, with her back turned to me.

  When did she get here? Why hasn’t she killed me yet? Is she toying with me?

  She seemed to sense me staring at her and turned around, making eye contact with me.

  And then she waved back.

  Huh?

  I waved back without thinking, following the rules of politeness engraved into my soul by my mother.

  Is she putting up a facade to let my guard down?

  She got up from her spot and walked toward me, and I awkwardly backed away. I kept walking backwards until my foot got stuck in something cold. It was ice, and my foot was enveloped in it. It seemed to have dug into the ground, further immobilizing me.

  Panic flooded my mind as I helplessly watched the girl walk up to me.

  Is this what it’s like to be powerless in the face of death? Small, insignificant, and helpless?

  If I didn’t watch myself die, this moment would be how I’d describe death far into the future.

  I closed my eyes, not wanting to see myself getting viscerally torn apart. If I’m dying, I only want to remember how I died once.

  I squeezed my eyes and clenched my jaw as tight as I could. If I did that hard enough, perhaps the sensation would override the pain of being murdered.

  I stood there, waiting for my inevitable death.

  5 seconds.

  Maybe she’s preparing something?

  10 seconds.

  She might be the type to see killing as a work of art and wants to make my death extravagant. Damn, did I end up awakening a serial killer? I’ll have to apologize for my excessiveness and impudence in dealing with her in my fight. I just…really didn’t want to lose.

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  20 seconds.

  Would this be the second time I’m waiting for death to arrive? No, this would be the second time I’m bored before my death comes. Wait, maybe it’s actually three times?

  30 seconds. After that, I stopped caring to count.

  Okay, this is ridiculous.

  Growing impatient and uncertain of what’s happening, I opened my eyes.

  Her face was inches away from mine.

  What is she…

  Suddenly, a moment of clarity hit me.

  I headbutted her as hard as I could, making sure to lean as far as I could while restricted by the ice around my leg.

  She stumbled back, clutching her forehead.

  I’m no expert in physics, but I do know there is a difference between dropping a ball on a hard, unmoving surface and dropping a ball on something that can cushion the ball’s fall.

  If I were to drop a ball on a concrete sidewalk, the ball would bounce up. That’s because the ball absorbed most of the energy from the fall. If I were to do the same thing on something like a pillow, the ball wouldn’t bounce, because the pillow absorbed all of the energy. That same logic applies to me leaning into my headbutt. Since it didn’t hurt as much, it means I did my headbutt attack right.

  She’s down. I need to make the most of this chance. Freeing my frozen leg would be a waste. I needed to incapacitate her before working on my leg.

  I glanced at her wrists and imagined them restrained by iron shackles attached to heavy metal chains and balls. The balls were barely bigger than her head, but they should suffice for what I need. As for her eyes, I didn’t want to hurt her, and imagining a tied bandana around them to act as a blindfold seemed too complicated at the moment.

  I settled on a cardboard box around her head with a simple smiley face drawn on with a black marker. As a second measure, I made a bigger cardboard box covering her and the iron balls restraining her arms. I made a few air holes, each around the size of a pencil, to ensure she wouldn’t suffocate to death, even if she is my would-be murderer.

  Good, now I can focus on removing my foot from this ice.

  Think, what can I think of that will remove my foot from this ice as soon as possible with the lowest possible risk?

  Pickaxe? I might break my bones by accident. Jackhammer with levitation? Too much noise.

  I listed off options that’d make sense in a less urgent and more realistic setting, and started considering applications of superpowers that I knew of.

  Vibrating my leg at superspeed? Tempting, but moving my leg that fast could have consequences I can’t imagine, and speedsters usually have an external source of energy to protect them from things that the human body can’t handle going that fast. Too risky.

  Enveloping my leg in fire? I shook my leg, but it didn’t budge. There was no conceivable way a fire could start, unless I wanted to risk burning my leg. Pass.

  I racked my brain for the safest application of a superpower for this very situation, and then I realized something. The ‘liquid light’ I generated in the 4th period.

  I was mostly imitating what I saw, manipulating transparent balls of light that glowed brighter the more they overlapped. I have a history of exerting force on things I created, from invisible blobs of telekinesis to levitating actual people. Perhaps I could do the same, sinking balls of light into the ice and breaking it through a controlled exertion of force.

  I can’t see my foot because of how blue the ice is. Maybe I could try attaching a sensation to the drops of light?

  A drop of light formed in the air. It was warm and comforting when it hovered above my hand.

  11 more drops were generated and flew toward my leg inside the ice, hovering near it, but not too close to touch. The drops formed a ring around my frozen leg, their glow dimmed by the ice. Each drop was placed at equidistant distances around my ankle.

  I imagined the drops anchored to a point in the ice, then visualized them moving away from my leg, each drop moving in a straight line away from its mirrored partner. Since there were 12, I had 6 pairs moving away from each other.

  The attached drops attempted to move away from each other, like how magnets with the same poles repel each other when close. Since they were encased in ice, the phenomenon was contained, yet force was still being exerted. I dialed up the force, and cracks were starting to form. I kept turning the imaginary dial gradually, increasing my increment as more cracks formed.

  There was a crack, and then another, before a fragment of ice with 2 drops flew off, screeching to a halt at my command.

  I created a rubber mallet and used it break the rest of the ice before shaking my foot free—a success.

  The box was moving, its inhabitant still trapped. Sorry, lady, but I’m taking no chances with my life on the line. I ran, taking a detour with as few people as possible.

  In the hall, I ran a bit before making a floating platform next to me that kept up with my running speed, giving it scooter handlebars that accommodated my height. I stopped for a bit to get on before speeding off toward the school’s main gate.

  In my mind, I stepped on an imaginary gas pedal, which accelerated me.

  After a few seconds, I was outside, with the gate in my field of vision.

  My apologies, Mr. Summoner, I’ll have to rescue you after I make a sizeable force strong enough to attack the school.

  Just as I was about to cross the gate, an abnormally strong wind blew me off my vehicle and into the air. I spun around crazily. I felt like a camera recording a video being thrown into the air, except I was feeling motion sickness from how much I was spinning. For an instant, I thought I saw someone standing on the roof of the school.

  Suddenly, I was stable in midair, no longer spinning at around 150 to 300 rpm, or 3 to 5 rotations per second. Something was letting me descend gently, as if some invisible force wanted to make sure I wouldn’t die from falling to my death. Feeling continuous breezes all over my body, I realized it was Wind magic.

  I looked down and saw that Ms. Grey had her hands in the air, making simple, repeated motions as I was slowly brought down to the ground. Around 20 feet above it, golden particles appeared and planted themselves on my skin. I tried moving, but couldn’t.

  The figure on the roof jumped down and started walking toward me. When they were close enough, I realized it was Mr. Blonde. When he was a few feet in front of me, he wore a serious expression.