5. Can I get a refund?
"He did not say bad words! Jackson said worse things than him!" Joy interrupted.
Mrs. Ryes held her daughter's shoulder. "You stop talking. You don't know anything."
"What explanation do you have for your actions, Mr. Ben?" The dean asked in a strict tone.
It was clear no one was interested in hearing what was right or wrong. They only wanted to gang up on me.
No smart person would go against such powerful people when there was no clear evidence of anything happening. I had learned from a very young age that there was no such thing as a good person. Only interests and profits. Even people with high morals acted in such a way as to get recognized for their 'Good' acts, either by society or by the gods.
"Will I get a refund if I get expelled?" I asked.
The baffled expressions of the adults were comical. "Re.. Refund on what?" The dean stammered.
"Fees of this semester, what else?" I replied.
"So you accept your wrongdoings? Don't you think you should apologize to Mrs. Ryes and Mrs. Blare?"
"What wrongdoings? Is it a crime to explore my sexuality? If words of myself, Gwen, or Joy, who were present there, are not proof enough to clear my name, how are just words of two bitch-ass, jealous boys enough to judge me guilty?"
"You bastard!" Jackson jumped towards me, but I simply moved away, and the guy crashed into the bookshelf behind me. His mother immediately got to his rescue.
"How dare you say such words in my office! You shall be punished!" The dean fumed.
"You are a dean, not a judge. Fuck you and fuck your academy."
With that, I turned around and left the office. Grabbing my bag from the class, I walked away without saying a single word to anyone. I heard footsteps behind me in the hallway. Gwen and Joy were running after me.
"You don't have to go! They can't expel you; there is no valid reason." Joy said, catching up to me.
"Expell? Are you leaving? Why?" Gwen had no idea what was going on.
"It's alright. It's my fault, I forgot my place. I shouldn't have hurt the fragile ego of young masters. Let me give you some free advice, though. Stay single forever but never accept such pompous, entitled love. They will make you hate the very idea of love itself."
The two girls were speechless.
The guards didn't stop me as well. I just chose a random road and started walking. I didn't want to go home; it felt so strange in there.
Like I was a guest in someone's house. It was a place for old me, not the real me. I thought about calling that hot mom I met in the park, then decided against it. I was in no mood to play games.
I found a shrine after twenty minutes of aimless walking. Buying a lemon drink from the vending machine, I sat on a bench beneath a tree inside the shrine grounds.
After a few minutes of mindless doomscrolling on the internet, I heard laughing voices coming from the main shrine area. There was an accent in their voice which I had never heard before.
Unlike the Asian women with white skin, which was common in this country, these two women were pale white with large blue eyes. One had blonde hair, and the other had black hair. They were making silly poses before the shrine while taking selfies.
Seeing such beauty in everyday life was the best part of this world. Back on Earth, they might be supermodels. They were head taller than average women I had met till now. Their boobs were bigger than average and their hips as well. Normally, such large women do not have hard muscles; some were fit, but the majority were not. They were the same as Earth humans, only slightly taller.
But not these two. One of them was slim, and the other had quite a bit of muscle. The slim one was slimmer than the others; in reality, she was much bigger than me. Her blonde short hair was beautiful. Both were maybe in their early 20s.
Talking and laughing, the two women walked near the tree I was seated beneath. The tree was full of threads that the believers had tied to its trunk. From their conversation, the two women wanted to do that as well, but they were having a hard time reading the instructions written in a weird language.
When I glanced at the board, it all automatically changed into English. That's how it was with me. Once I look at any written text, it automatically gets translated into English. Phone, books, shop signs, etc. The language I spoke and heard people speaking was English as well, but I doubted that was really the case.
Otherwise I wouldn't be able to understand these two foreigners perfectly. The accent remained, though, which was interesting.
"It says they are usually free and we just think of a wish while tying it." The brunette said, looking at her phone.
"Why did they write prices then? Maybe this temple is different; we might have to pay." The blonde replied, looking around.
Our eyes met. She smiled and then shyly looked away. The brunette noticed it and whispered in the blonde's ear, "Have some shame; he's a young boy. You Dog."
The blonde stared at her friend as if caught red-handed; then they both started giggling uncontrollably.
A minute later, the brunette finally decided to put a 500 coin inside the donation box before taking two red threads. I had to say something at that point.
"It's a donation box. The threads are free to take."
The two girls stared at him wide-eyed. Then spoke at once.
"You speak Cirethi!?"
"Ah... sorry. We were being too loud and disrespectful."
I stood up, walking near them. "It's fine. I speak many languages."
The two women bowed to me, then tied the thread around the tree, one by one. The blonde asked me to take a picture, so I complied. For some odd reason, the two girls even took a few pictures with me.
They refused to leave and stood on either side of the bench, casually chatting about the weather and trains.
"It's like you are native. I have never met a Kelnic who could speak Cirethi with such fluency." The blonde exclaimed.
"Yeah, we can't even find decent translators, and everything is written in Kelin. I wanted to ask so many questions to people, but no one understands us." The brunette sighed.
"Is there a good place to eat around here?" The blonde asked.
I had no idea, but I did pass a restaurant on my way here. "There is one in that way; I have not tried their food."
"Do you want to come with us?" The blonde asked again, "The menus are the worst to translate."
I was a little hungry, but my account didn't have enough money to eat out. "I don't have money."
"It's alright. Our treat."
If that was the case, "Sure."
I led them to the diner, and we ate shrimp fried rice. It was nice. The two girls introduced themselves as Judy and Ylena. The blonde was Judy, and Ylena was the other one. They explained why they were here and where they were going next, but something in their explanation didn't make sense. When they finally shut up, I asked,
"What do you mean by capturing memories into carriers to show shooting locations to your company?"
The two girls exchanged looks, and then the blonde pulled down her shirt a little. A familiar coin-sized tattoo was drawn on her upper chest. It was exactly the same as the one behind my right palm. She had pulled down more than necessary, and the pink nipple was half visible. Ignoring the distraction, I asked,
"What is it?"
Now the women were shocked. They glanced at each other like not sure what was happening.
Ylena asked, "Do you not know what ION Code is? Do they not teach you that in school here?"
Ion Code? That five senses crap? I thought it was some weird religious crap for humans of this world, but maybe it was more than just a tattoo.
I turned my hand to show them.
"Wow, you are a Visualer as well? How is it that you still don't know what it is?" Judy asked; her voice was louder than necessary. The other customers glanced our way occasionally.
Instead of explaining any further, Ylena took her phone, searched for something, and showed me the screen. It was search results for ION Code five users. Details of each with the distinct tattoo symbols were shown in order.
1—Visualization: Able to store memories in objects.
2—Memorization: Perfect memory since 3 years old.
3—Sensitization: Able to sense emotions of people close to them.
4—Amplification: Able to enhance physical strength by five times.
5—Skinchanging (Transfiguration): Able to modify their bodies for a short duration.
The fuck? Store memories? Enhance strength? Sense emotions? These bitches have superpowers!?
I was genuinely shocked. Humans with powers? I knew this world was slightly different but didn't anticipate fantasy elements in this shit.