Chapter Text
It was a beautiful, sunny day in the big city. The sun had risen high already, the sky a light blue color in response. Mannequins, who all looked… different now, were walking down the streets, chatting and minding their business. They seemed more… drawn instead of 3D. And… humanoid? It was clearly very busy in the big city ‘Glonka’ (Yes Caine made up that name last minute, no he didn’t notice how bad it sounded.) And in the center of the big city lies a big school building. Literally the Amazing High School. The lessons had already started a while ago, all the students seated in their designated classrooms. And in one classroom, the students were doing anything but following the lessons.
It was class 2a. Inside, it was pure chaos. Students were chatting and causing chaos, even though the class only existed out of six students. They somehow made it able to be the smallest AND hardest-to-deal-with class of the entire school. And we all realize very well that such a statement should not be seen as positive.
Luckily, the teacher came to the rescue. The door of the classroom, slowly opened and a tall, blonde man walked in. He was slank in figure, but still seemed very much strong for his age. His light blond hair and mustache showed off his true older age, his light blue eyes piercing through the gazes of his students. It was obvious who was standing in front of them as the man lifted his glasses slightly more up his nose. Kinger.
“Good morning, class! I hope you all slept well, because we have a lot to go over today!” He announced in an energetic tone, clearly ready to live his life as the role of a teacher. But someone wasn’t very happy with it, his voice sounding annoyed. “Ugh, do we HAVE to do this again?”
The eyes of the teacher traveled to a boy leaned back in his chair, his feet kicked up onto the desk. He was wearing the school uniform like any other student, his dark brown and curly hair hanging slightly in front of his eyes. He had dark green eyes and a light brown skin, his face contorted into a scowl. Jax.
“Come on, Jax! It wasn’t that bad last time!” A female voice tried to make Jax’ mood go up. Jax turned his head, his eyes locking onto the girl sitting in the corner. Her deep blue eye smiled nervously at him as she moved her red fluffy curls out of her face. She wore a blue bow in her hair in an attempt to keep her wild curls tamed, without much success. Her light skin matched that from Jax, complimenting with her blue eye. Her right eye was covered with a light blue eye patch, a crossed out pattern sewn onto it, making it seem like a button. Ragatha.
Jax scowled again at hearing Ragatha’s attempt to cheer him up, his arms flailing in the air above him. “I already said it last time! Slice of life animes are the WORST!” Jax’ complaining got cut off by a high feminine shriek echoing through the classroom. “THEY’RE NOT!?” When looking over his shoulder, his eyes locked onto the shy girl sitting on the chair, her face showing off an irritated expression. Her black flowy hair was tied back in two cute buns, tied together with two pieces of red ribbon. Her grey eye seemed tired, faint eye bags underneath. Her skin was very pale, making it seem like she was constantly sick. Despite wearing the uniform like everybody else, she had added a small red scarf around her neck for the aesthetic. Gangle.
At the desk next to Gangle’s sat a grumpy looking person. Their arms were crossed over their chest, their sharp heterochromatic brown and grey eyes glaring at Jax as if they were trying to kill him with their own eyes. Slowly, they leaned in with their piercing filled face to Gangle, their gaze softening when it locked onto the girl. “Just ignore him, Gangle. He’s just jealous that your suggestion got chosen twice and his didn’t.” While talking, their gaze drifted back to Jax, narrowing at him in a mocking way as a smirk formed on their face. Their short, dyed pink (and obviously cut by themselves) hair swayed slightly in their face as they leaned back to their seat. They were wearing the same uniform as the others, but the male version instead of the female one. One of their legs stood out more than the other too, their left leg being a prosthetic leg. Zooble.
Jax huffed heavily with lots of dramatic flairs, running his hands down his face before he paused and turned his head slowly to the girl sitting at the desk next to him. “So, what do you think of all this, Pom-pom?~” The girl’s bangs hung down her forehead, just about avoiding her eyes. Her blue eyes glanced curiously at him. From the entire classroom, that girl probably looked like the most normal girl of them all, her brown hair short and reaching the shoulders. And from all of them, next to Zooble, she acted the most normal too. Pomni.
“Uhh, I don’t know…” Pomni mumbled a bit unsure, glancing away from Jax in slight thought. “I actually don’t mind this adventure again. I quite liked it last time.” Jax was not happy at all with that answer. He hoped Pomni would join him on hating on the adventure, but it seemed like Pomni was choosing the nice side again. Luckily, Kinger chimed in to silence his students. “Now now, quiet down everybody! We’re supposed to start the lecture of today!” As Kinger spoke, he turned to the chalkboard, grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote a Japanese word on the board. For some crazy reason, the students were able to understand the word and translate it into perfect English. The word read ‘LECTURE’, written in big letters on the board.
The lecture started and everyone started paying attention… EXCEPT for Jax. The guy was looking anywhere but the board, sighing every minute that passed and at one point even started complaining about a ‘sore throat’. Zooble tried to shut him up, noticing how Gangle wasn’t able to concentrate thanks to Jax. Neither were they, so they needed to act. But it only made Jax louder. “I just want a bottle of water!”
All of a sudden, long rectangular screens appeared in front of each student. On the screen, it read the suggestion ‘Give Jax a bottle of water’ with a green and red button. Everyone froze immediately in either shock or confusion. A silence fell over the classroom, long and awkward. Even Kinger had stopped talking to stare at the screen in front of him.
“…He forgot.” Jax suddenly whispered, glancing over at the screen in front of Pomni. Slowly, a smirk grew on his stunned face, starting to make Pomni very worried. “Uhh, w-what’s going on?!” Pomni asked in a slight panic. She never heard Caine mention the voting system returning once back at the circus! Ragatha quickly spoke up to explain what was happening, but even she seemed very concerned about the sudden situation. “Caine never reuses features like the voting system in other adventures. He reuses NPC’s, but not… this. And the lightning round was weeks ago!... He must’ve forgotten about it.”
Manic laughter from Jax echoed through the classroom, making the others shrink back or glare protectively. “HE FORGOT IT!” The brown-haired boy shouted out in pure joy before leaning back in to Pomni, pressing the green button before she could make her decision. Ignoring Pomni’s stunned “H-Hey!”, Jax stood up from his chair and at insane speed (like a rabbit) ran across the room to press everyone’s green button on the screen. The only one he left untouched was Kinger, but he already had enough yes votes that way. Eventually, Kinger even pressed yes out of himself. He didn’t want a student to sit with a sore throat!
Out of thin air, a water bottle materializes right into Jax’s hand. Sitting back down at his desk and leaning back again with his legs crossed and arms resting on the back of his chair, Jax turned the plastic bottle open and drank from it like a dehydrated animal. The others turned their heads away in disgust or hate as the water just streamed down his chin, missing his mouth completely.
But the trouble wasn’t over. Because when Jax pulled the bottle from his mouth, sighing loudly in satisfaction, he froze… and a BIG smirk slowly crept onto his face. Zooble immediately recognized that face, their brows furrowing in a protective way. “Jax, don’t you dare do something stupid.” They warned in a low voice, leaning over to Gangle as if ready to pounce and protect. Ragatha and Pomni exchanged worried glances, not really happy with both Jax’ and Zooble’s reaction. That only meant trouble.
Slowly, Jax turned his head to Zooble, the smirk still wide and creepy. Under his breath, Jax mumbled something. A request. And before it could be stopped, the voting screen appeared again.
Everyone was staring at the request put on their screen. The reactions were mixed. The girls seemed horrified, with no idea how to react. Gangle even covered her mouth in shock. Would this work?... And if it worked, would it be a good idea?! Zooble was staring with… curiosity. At first, they thought Jax only had bad ideas. But this… this seemed like a fun chance to have fun in an adventure for once. And Kinger was just… staring, wide-eyed, like he was always doing. But behind those eyes, there was something small laced, something almost unnoticeable… it was worry.
Jax kept leaning back in his chair, a proud smirk on his face, hands behind his back. He know his plans can be harsh sometimes, but this may be his best one yet. And he can’t lie, he’s loving the interested look in Zooble’s eyes. He speaks up, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “SO! What do we say? Good plan?” The silence stretched somewhat after before a green checkmark appeared on Zooble’s icon on the screen. “I’m in.”
With an approving nod from Zooble, Gangle also pressed the checkmark button, the green checkmark appearing on her icon “Let’s hope this doesn’t go wrong.” Kinger and Pomni followed after, both at the exact same time. They exchanged a quick glance before nodding at Jax. They were both in. There was one voter left.
Ragatha. Her eyes were glued on the two buttons. One red. One green. One wouldn’t make the request go away, but she’d be seen as the one against the idea. Against them all. The other… she was unsure. She didn’t know if this was actually a good idea. And even though there was no changing it with one red vote, she would feel so bad to actually go in with the plan…
She glanced to the side, clearly looking for anything that could help… and her eyes met those from Pomni. Her classmate smiled sweetly at her, wanting to make her feel alright. She didn’t have to feel pressured. That seemed to be the message in Pomni’s eyes… After a deep breath was taken, another checkmark appeared on the screen.
Out of nowhere, a loud, feminine voice echoed through the intercom of the school, the small speaker box hanging in the corner of the classroom moving comically like a mouth speaking. “Your attention, please. Class 2a, you’re having a new student.” Immediately, the door slowly opened. All the eyes in the class were on the door. And Jax smirked once more. “It’s showtime.”