My limbs were locked in place by Mr. Blonde’s golden particles. The extent to which I was allowed to move was breathing, moving my eyes, gyrating my waist, and clenching my buttocks.

  On top of the particles being attached to my skin, a spherical cage of orbs surrounded my levitating form. When we approached the main door, it morphed into a more rectangular shape before returning to a sphere. I wondered if the shape of my cage contributed to the restraining properties of the golden orbs or was a simple design preference.

  My body was carried through the halls of the school. Seeing the other students walking through the halls and giving me looks, 5th period is about to start. This continued until my restrained body floated through the door of Mr. Blonde’s office.

  I wonder if this is a usual occurrence. The students didn’t appear as shocked.

  When I was in the center of his office, the restraints disappeared, and I unceremoniously dropped onto the floor.

  “Ow.”

  I bore the pain and slowly got up, being careful to keep an eye on my captor and Ms. Grey.

  Both of them had looks ready to kill.

  If the Water assailant’s expression was a desire to kill out of impulse and pettiness, then their expressions were weighing the options of killing me, expelling me, and letting me stay against each other. Cold, calculating, and unforgiving expressions.

  I’m glad I didn’t act out against the old man. If I had, who knows what these two could have done to me.

  I’m starting to consider the possibility of the hierarchy not being an indicator of their salaries and authority, but also their strength and combat abilities. Could it mean that Mr. Blonde is the strongest one here, with Ms. Grey and the old man being 2nd and 3rd respectively? If that’s the case, then I wonder just how much of a difference in strength there is between all three of them?

  No! This isn’t the time to think about comparing their abilities!

  The door closed, and Mr. Blonde walked over to his desk. I may be a little on edge, but each of his footsteps sounded louder.

  He isn’t doing much, but it’s already making me nervous.

  I mean, I guess it’s the natural course of things. I smacked and imprisoned a student before failing to flee and getting dragged back here, but she’s the one who wanted to kill me! I was defending myself!

  Although judging by his expression from when I presented that comic book, he didn’t believe me. The extent of his cringing told me that the idea of Electric Blue openly declaring her intention to murder her target with a bystander as witness was just plain ridiculous.

  Actually, that is ridiculous, but so are plenty of other things, and they’re accepted as normal when they shouldn’t.

  Ms. Grey is behind me on standby. I’m pretty certain Mr. Blonde is more than enough to keep me here, but having an ally for added security would help in case I somehow slipped from his power in an attempt to escape. But…

  I’m not reckless enough to fight back when I’m completely cornered.

  It’d be the equivalent of trying to fight a military tank with a fire truck’s hose. At best, I could inconvenience the tank with a blast of pressurized water. They could retaliate with live ammunition.

  My only option is to sit and wait, like I had one with my previous classes.

  Mr. Blonde sat down in his chair and crossed his fingers, staring at me intensely.

  It’s easy to feign ignorance thanks to my language barrier, but his intense gaze is nerve-wracking. What the hell do I do to pass the time?

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  He spoke, then Ms. Grey spoke. They exchanged some words before I heard the door open and close behind me. It sounded like she left to do something.

  We sat idly. He maintained his gaze while I fidgeted. I’m certain the 5th period has already started. Not that I looked forward to it, following what happened yesterday.

  Does he want something from me? In the little time I’ve known him, he conveys his thoughts using drawings.

  I made a pencil and paper and handed it to him. He took them and started drawing.

  To pass the time, I decided to examine the room multiple times. The shelf, table, and tapestry, all of them could work as topics of conversation if we both spoke the same language. Instead, I decided to imagine how conversations would play out between Mr. Blonde and me.

  “That branch is from the Great World tree. It’s dead, so I decided to keep it as a souvenir.”

  “So, where is the Great World tree?”

  “I don’t know. It was a gift.”

  Yeah, I can’t imagine a meaningful conversation from my impressions of his personality alone.

  When I was standing near the shelf, he was glancing at me every few seconds while committing to his drawing. I looked to the door and saw it was surrounded by golden particles. That told me I wasn’t leaving until he said so.

  Is this petty revenge for all the times I’ve entered your office unprompted?

  …

  How long has it been since I’ve been stuck in here with Mr. Blonde? I’m not one to keep track of time. I just do mental math between the last and most recent times I’ve checked the clock.

  It seems that Mr. Blonde only intends to keep me here, not caring what I do with my power to pass the time. All he did was tap his desk a few more times before holding out his hand, and I provided him with more sheets of paper.

  The only thing I had to listen to in the meantime was my own thoughts and the sound of the pencil I gave him scribbling on the paper. It’d be therapeutic if I weren’t in his office waiting for punishment.

  There was a knock at the door, and Mr. Blonde made a swipe with his other hand. I heard the sound of the door unlocking, and Ms. Grey walked in.

  Electric Blue walked in after her.

  I got up off the floor, readying defensive measures in my mind. I felt something stick to my body, and Ms. Grey get in her defensive stance. It reminded me of the Wind Mage I saw fighting the Vine Mage, but felt more honed.

  Mr. Blonde said some words, and Ms. Grey relaxed her stance. I did too, not wanting to escalate the situation to another fight.

  Electric Blue’s wariness wasn’t misplaced. I headbutted her before strapping iron balls and chains to her wrist, and trapping her under 2 cardboard boxes, one of them having breathing holes. I anticipated she’d be able to shake the other box off her head if she tried.

  I saw Mr. Blonde wave his hand again, and the 2 chairs in front of his desk were spaced out using his golden particles. Electric Blue sat in the one farthest from me, so I naturally sat in the one closest to me.

  There was a monologue, followed by a 3-way exchange between Mr. Blonde, Ms. Grey, and Electric Blue. Only the blue-haired girl shouted a few times. Mr. Blonde tried to pacify her apparent rage with words of his own, and Ms. Grey gave her input here and there. I felt that she was supportive of Electric Blue’s stance, since I headbutted her, but I feel like they’re ignoring the fact that Electric Blue wanted to kill me… right?

  They were swift and decisive with Water assailant, likely because my summoner testified to being bullied by the former, which led to him being treated like a flight risk, or a complaining Karen at an airport, escorted like a criminal.

  And yet their reactions are different to Electric Blue. I know I gave Mr. Blonde a comic showing her declaration to kill me, even recording the likeness of the witness in the cafeteria. If she isn’t being treated as a risk, then… did I misinterpret the situation?

  He announced something before giving the papers he drew on to me.

  It was a series of pencil illustrations with numbers in the corners to indicate their sequential order. The style appeared much more simplistic than the Chibis Mr. Blonde had drawn when I had been presented with the workplace hierarchy. Everything had the style of 2d side-scrolling children’s book.

  A boy and a girl met at a school. They noticed each other, fell in love, and got married, ceremony and all.

  Wait, that symbol looks like the one here

  I looked at the sheets again before looking at Mr. Blonde straight in the eyes.

  There’s no way he called me here just to draw a cute love story.

  I needed to make sure there was no room for misinterpretation. On a blank sheet of paper, I printed a comic panel of Ms. Electric Blue openly declaring her intentions to murder me, except the place where her expression would be was blank, along with her thought bubble. With Mr. Blonde’s talent for art, it shouldn’t be too hard to- actually, I’ll just fill in the face with a neutral expression. Her expression from then didn’t leave any interpretable emotions.

  I gave him the sheet with the blank comic panel, and he got to work.

  A minute later, there was a more detailed sketch of a marriage ceremony with Electric Blue as the bride, and me as the groom.

  My head turned at breakneck speed toward my supposed bride.

  …

  There was a three-way exchange of words between Blue, Ms. Grey, and Mr. Blonde before both of us were dismissed. I waited a bit, as I planned on going to the dorm. It felt like more than enough time had passed for the last class to be over, and I didn’t want to be accused of following her. Also, I needed some time to think.