CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER 91: NO PLAN

Seven hours had passed since the students of Mega Academy had been kidnapped, and some had already drifted off to sleep. Others sat quietly, weeping or whispering in hushed, fearful voices. Despite the different ways they were coping, they all had one thing in common:

They were facing the walls.

How could they not be, when the Dark Millennium still had not bothered to clean up the corpse at the center of the hall?

The body still lay there, untouched and uncovered. Whether the Dark Millennium had deliberately left it in plain view or simply hadn’t gotten around to moving it didn’t matter. The message was clear either way—they had actually killed one of them.

"They... they said they weren’t going to hurt us. Why would they do this?"

"Stupid. They lied. Villains lie. That’s what they do—they lie, and they hurt people."

"B-but... why? We didn’t do anything. We’re just..."

"We need to get the fuck out of here. They’re going to kill all of us eventually."

"Get out? Are you serious? There’s only one door!"

"I think that Ross kid is planning something. He and that Japanese girl blocked the entrance earlier."

"She removed it, remember? Said she was scared they’d start hurting everyone if they saw it."

"Yeah, and she was right. Who knows how those psychos would’ve reacted."

Their voices grew more frantic by the minute.

"Did you see the one who wasn’t wearing a uniform? You think... she’s their boss?"

"Who the hell cares? If we don’t act, we’re all dead anyway. We should fight!"

"Fight? We’re kids!"

"And we’ll be dead kids if we don’t do anything. And bitch, you look at least twenty!"

"What did you just say to me?!"

And very soon, their conversation heated up. One student grabbed another by the collar, shouting in his face. On the other side of the hall, a similar argument erupted. Just moments ago, everyone had been curled up quietly in despair, and now they were turning on each other.

The commotion woke several of the sleeping students, who immediately tried to intervene, stepping between the growing number of fights spreading like wildfire.

"G-guys! What’s... what’s happening?! Why are we fighting?!" One of the students who had just woken up tried to get between the students who were fighting.

"O-ouch!"

Only for her to immediately get pushed to the side and fall on her butt. More and more people tried to stop the fights that were spreading like wildfire. It wasn’t until someone finally moved away from the wall and rushed to the center of the hall, right beside the corpse, did they actually stopped.

"Guys! We shouldn’t be turning on each other! This is exactly what these villains want!"

The voice belonged to a tall student, taller than even Gracey, with a posh English accent that made him stand out. But it wasn’t just his accent; he was still growing, his body stretching upward until he nearly reached the ceiling.

"You’re all fighting because you’re scared, and trying to prove a point," he continued, placing a hand over his chest. "Well, I’m here to tell you—you’re not wrong! But instead of yelling and lashing out, we need to collect those fears, those ideas, and turn them into one concrete plan!"

"Plan?! If you want to die, then do it alone!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Then I will!" He didn’t allow himself to be intimidated as he looked down at the schoolmate who pointed at him, "At least I would die knowing that I did something to escape and to help people. Come on, guys... we’re supposed to be superheroes! We... we can do this! There are dozens of us here! And even though... even though I know I’m not one of the strongest people here, I wish to fight. I wish to—"

"You’re going to get us all killed!"

And before the giant boy could finish his words, someone suddenly launched at him, hitting him with a massive fist, which caused him to fall back like a tree being cut down.

"N-no!" Gasps erupted from a cluster of students who were directly behind him, right where his enormous butt was about to land. They tried to run, but his bulk descended too quickly.

"No!" They all crouched down and covered their heads, their instincts failing them right at the very moment. They closed their eyes, gritting their teeth as they dreaded the fate that was about to befall them.

But then... it didn’t happen at all.

They slowly opened their eyes and looked up, and another set of gasps escaped their mouths. The giant boy was frozen in the air, suspended just inches above them.

"W-what?"

The giant boy’s eyes were also wide with shock, but he quickly composed himself. With effort, he began shrinking, reducing his size until he returned to normal. The moment he was small enough, whatever invisible force had held him aloft released him, and he dropped to the ground from at least ten feet high.

"Kh..." The boy immediately rolled on the floor to grab his butt, rubbing it several times as he hissed. But after a few seconds, he pushed through the pain and stood up.

He and the students he almost crushed looked at each other, and then they all scanned the others at the same time.

And soon, their eyes all settled onto one person—it was the person who was also looking in their direction.

Riley Ross.

He was lowering his arm that was pointed at them, which made it clear to them and to everyone there that it was he who prevented the giant boy from toppling down on them.

"Th—"

Before any of them could speak or approach him, Riley simply turned away and sat back down, quiet as ever. The group hesitated for a moment, exchanging looks. Then, wordlessly, they nodded and moved toward him anyway.

When they reached him, however, none of them seemed sure what to say. They nudged each other awkwardly, pushing one another forward.

Finally, one girl stepped up, opening her mouth—only for the now-normal-sized boy to speak first.

"It’s you," the boy muttered, "You’re the strongest out of all of us here. You... you can lead us out. You were able to shave off the metal platform during the demonstration and compress it into a ball. You can... you can open up a hole there, and... and you can fly us out of here, right? There are others who can also fly, maybe they can carry us and—"

And before he could finish his words, Tomoe suddenly stood in front of Riley and raised her palm at him.

"Stop," she shook her head. "Let’s say Riley could indeed open a hole, and trust me, he could—where do you think we are?"

"That—"

"What if we’re high up in the sky, moving at speed? How many do you think would get sucked out before anyone could react? Or worse—what if we’re underwater? Most of us wouldn’t survive either way."

The tone of her voice was still robotic, but her words were nonetheless clear.

"Then... then we just fight our way out through the door," the boy insisted, pointing at the only visible exit. "We fight and—"

"Then are you ready to kill them?" Tomoe looked him in the eyes, "Because they are going to kill you. You can’t subdue them, we don’t know how strong they are—and I believe they know almost everything about us."

"W-what about him?!" The boy pointed at Riley. "He’s not even supposed to be here—he’s not on that villain list or whatever! W—"

"Are you only going to rely on Riley? And if you do gain the courage yourself to kill them, who’s going to commandeer the ship? It—"

"Tomoe." Riley suddenly stood up, and Tomoe abruptly stopped her words to make way for him.

"I like your idea. Let us take over the ship."

"Okay," Tomoe replied without hesitation. She bowed her head slightly, then leaned close and whispered something in Riley’s ear. After a brief pause, she stepped back, bowed again, and headed toward the door. "First, we need to disable all the cameras."

"I—I’ll do it!" The boy raised his hand, his frame once again slowly growing larger by the second. And without even being told to, his large hand swung toward the nearest camera—but then suddenly froze a foot short of his finger actually crushing it.

But he didn’t stop because he wanted to, no.

He stopped because he couldn’t move his arm anymore, no. He couldn’t move his entire body.

The only thing he could move were his eyes, which were now following Riley as he floated right in front of his face.

"Tomoe told me something, Random Student," he said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the boy’s shoulder, "I do not know if it is true, but she said that no one but her should know that I am not on the list. I thought about it for a moment, and it made sense. So...

...which Day of the week are you?"