CHAPTER 136: SKIPPING SCHOOL? LEO?

Next Morning,

Raphael looked at Leo with a slight frown. "Are you really sleeping well?" she asked, as her eyes lingered on his face... particularly on the dark circles that were slowly forming under his eyes.

Leo yawned weakly, covering his mouth half-heartedly as he nodded. "Yeah?" he mumbled, already digging into breakfast as though eating would erase the question.

Raphael’s frown deepened. She turned her gaze toward Ophis, and instantly her expression softened. "Looks like you’re going to the same school as Leo too... but I’ve never seen you there before?"

Ophis lied through her teeth,"I recently changed my school... due to my previous school getting broken."

"Oh? Yours too? What’s going on with schools these days? Was there not enough inspection to verify if the school was safe or not?" Raphael rambled, sounding like an old lady worried about the downfall of society.

Leo chuckled under his breath, hiding his grin behind a spoonful of food, while Ophis smiled faintly as they ate. Since Raphael didn’t have a morning shift that day, she decided to head to the school with them.

Ophis reluctantly parted ways with Leo at the gate. She really didn’t want to go, but Valra had already told her she needed to keep her attendance up to make it easier to transfer her classes... which, of course, was another one of Valra’s little lies.

Seeing Ophis suffer through it... Valra was really enjoying herself!

However, just as class was about to start—

Ring~ Ring~

Leo’s phone vibrated on the desk. ’Who could that be?’ he thought as he glanced at the screen. The moment he saw the number, his face turned serious.

Without hesitation, he crouched down under the table before answering the call.

"M-Mom... I... I... I’m sleepy... P-Please help me!"

Leo’s heart skipped a beat. "Sakura? What happened? Where are you?" he whispered urgently.

"S-Senior? You called me... cough, cough... arrhh!!"

Leo’s face turned pale. "Come on—where are you right now?"

"In... cough, cough... in my home... coooouggggghhhhh!!!!"

"Sakura! Drink water!" he said desperately.

Her voice sounded so dull, so broken, so painful compared to her usual cheerful, playful tone.

Gulp... gulp...

The sound of water being swallowed echoed faintly through the receiver, then—

"S-Senior... come home... please help m-me... I am so tired... I... I... so..."

"Sakura?" His voice cracked as he almost shouted, but the call just—

Beep!

Ended.

And in just a few seconds, a new message buzzed on his phone.

A location?

Leo’s face hardened, his heartbeat thudded faster than ever, almost like a ticking time bomb in his chest. He quickly tried calling her again, but she cut it off instantly. She wasn’t answering.

"Shit!" he hissed under his breath.

He looked up—and froze.

Standing right in front of him was the female teacher, staring down at him with sharp, suspicious eyes. She raised her hand slowly, not saying a single word at first.

Leo blinked back at her with the most innocent eyes he could muster. "What is it?"

"Tsk. Give me."

"Give what?" he asked, widening his eyes as though he truly didn’t understand.

"Mr. Leo... give me the phone. Right now." Her tone carried no room for argument, her face strict as ever.

Leo blinked again, tilting his head. "I didn’t have any phone with me. What are you talking about again?"

The woman’s face went blank, "Then, care to explain what exactly you were doing crouching down under the table?"

"Well..." Leo glanced around quickly before answering, his voice low and awkward. "Talking to myself? Anyway, I need to go to the restroom."

Veins popped on the woman’s forehead. "Raise your hands."

Leo nodded obediently without resistance, lifting his hands as she stepped forward. Her palms patted across his shoulders, down his sides, into his pockets, shirts, even along his pants. Her brows knitted tighter with each second.

There was nothing.

She was sure... absolutely sure she had seen something small bulging in his pocket before. Yet nothing turned up.

Her frown deepened as she straightened.

"Turn back," she ordered coldly.

As he turned, she checked his back. Meanwhile, the students gasped, eyes widening as they looked to the front—seeing... the phone was suddenly in his palm. Perfectly hidden. When her hands moved to the side to touch the palm, he slid it smoothly into his sleeve, only for it to reappear from the other sleeve.

Gasps filled the room.

They leaned forward, whispering among themselves.

As she continued to check, the phone kept moving around like a snake slipping through his arms, vanishing inside his uniform sleeve, then sliding down to his wrist before appearing again in his other hand. To the students, it looked unreal—like a magic show unfolding right under the teacher’s nose.

One boy couldn’t hold back anymore. "M-Mad—"

However, before he could even speak the truth, a single glare from Leo silenced him completely. His cold, sharp eyes seemed to say: Say one word, and you’re dead.

The boy swallowed hard and sat back down instantly.

Were they finally... freaking finally going to become good guys and tell everything?

Fuckers. These guys had shut their mouths when he was suffering before! And now... now they should continue to do the same.

The teacher sighed,"Whatever," she muttered. She didn’t even bother to apologise for her unnecessary searching... just returned to her chair as though nothing had happened.

"Can I go now?" Leo asked flatly.

The woman waved her hand without looking at him.

...And that was the last time they saw Leo that day.

He moved through the hallway, weaving between students and teachers with perfect timing.

At the school’s rear gate, a security guard sat with half-lidded eyes, distracted by his tea. Leo slipped behind a delivery cart, crouched low. When the guard glanced up, he quietly rolled under the truck’s shadow.

In one smooth movement, he was already past the gate.

The students watching from the upper windows nearly fell over in disbelief. Even the best class bunkers, the guys who prided themselves on skipping school unnoticed, muttered,

"Damn... he’s a legend."

Except... Raphael stared at the gate with an indifferent expression as she sipped her coffee behind the window.

"Oh... Oh... Looks like he learned more tricks... I see... I see.." as the cup she was holding slowly crumbled tightly.

Meanwhile,

Leo ran toward the location Sakura had sent.

While running, he pulled out his phone and dialled,

"Hello, police?..."

He informed them of the situation and gave them the location.

But he didn’t stop there.

"Hello, ambulance?..." he called immediately after, explaining everything again. Just in case.

Did he miss anything else?