Having lost any motivation to continue shopping, he quickly picked up his gift and left the shop, still hearing its owner asking him different prices.
As he slowly moved between the streets filled with students, Steven felt like these were going to become the longest years of his life.
Until suddenly he collided with somebody, activating his barrier. Who dared to stand in his way? Snapping his head upward, he stared at the face of Edward, who also didn’t seem to have paid attention to his surroundings.
"What brings you out here, fake royalty? Looking for your crown?" Steven spoke, his voice sharp.
"You’re the one talking, bastard, out here finding your mom?" he countered harshly as they stared at each other for a few moments.
Until both of them began to chuckle as they started laughing. This kid has balls, he must admit. And his character is even more to his liking.
’’I just needed to check on somebody, that’s all,’’ Edward finally answered his question. ’’What about you? I heard you were just at training a few minutes ago.’’
"Also need to check something out; that’s all," Steven answered with a calm voice. Both were hiding something, but neither would tell it.
’’Well then, I would need to leave,’’ Edward answered, and Steven only gave him a small nod as he left. Steven continued to stand still, lost in thought; something doesn’t make sense here.
Turning his head lightning fast, he could catch Edward in the corner of his eyes as he entered the shop Steven just left. He was following his step; well, too bad for him.
Holding up the alarm in his hand, he stared at the time, 11:56. Well, that will be enough; with a powerful jump, he leaped onto one of the giant dorms to his left.
What was worrying him was not Edward following him; even he was just a first-year and barely a challenge for Steven. No, it was that there was someone else, maybe even multiple people, following him.
And as long as Edward was on their tracks, he couldn’t simply beat them up to escape. ’’Time to play some hide and seek.’’
His followers wouldn’t be dangerous as long as they stayed invisible, but because of so many magical presences it’s hard to track their exact movement. Sliding down the house on the other side, he landed heavily on a less populated street, beginning to bolt forward.
He could hear multiple pairs of feet landing on the ground nearly silently. And even one of them landed just ahead of him.
But Steven continued running; just at the last moment, he slid down perfectly through his pursuer’s legs. As he ran past a fruit stand, he quickly picked up a handful of fruits.
Hearing the shopowner yell at him. "I will pay you later," he said as he slowed down to catch a corner into a dark corridor.
Walking between the brick walls, he felt their singled-out mana several times stronger. But he had already given up on the plan to fight those guys. Instead, he had chosen this place for one simple reason.
As the dark path slowly opened to an inner courtyard, filled with flowers and completely empty of any person.
But this wasn’t the reason why; instead, it was because this place is the closest place accessible to their dorm. As he could see, their giant villa towered over the smaller houses.
But he couldn’t just escape there without them following. Suddenly, he felt another pool of mana drawing closer. On top of one of the buildings was Edward, who seemed to have noticed his escape and was trying to follow him.
As his plan was finally starting to work slowly, Edward didn’t know of his pursuers, and Steven would use that.
Finally coming to a stop just next to an old tree. He felt them starting to form a circle around him. But he acted like he couldn’t feel anything and instead started to dig around the tree with his bare hands.
’’My poor training suit.’’ He whispers to himself, acting busy. As he could feel Edward slowly descending from a building and closing in on him, too.
As the followers were barely a dozen meters away, Steven finally turned around and threw the fruits he was holding. While in the same second, a loud bell rang around the whole city.
As everyone turned around to see where the sound came from, he snapped his fingers, turning his body invisible. But that wasn’t enough; he also threw his fruits towards two of his enemies, turning them red and by that visible as the others crashed into different windows.
As they broke two raining glasses down on all of them, he took a slow step back and then leaped up towards a window from his dorm.
While flying upwards, he could watch the painted man turn around, searching for him but only finding Edward, who also finally seemed to realize there was more than one person around him.
But all of them forgot about Steven for just a moment, giving him just enough time to crash through the window. The sound was completely drowned out by the bell ringing its twelve time. And with many more windows broken, nobody knew exactly where he went.
As he landed hard against a wooden frame, breaking it in two and disabling his invisibility. As he rose just a moment later, he calmly walked over to the window, staring at the courtyard, which was already exploding in movement.
As his pursuers had now targeted Edward, who had seen them, Steven let out a chuckle. ’’He should be able to handle those guys. Or at least until some guards show up.’’
He was happy about this outcome, having lost his pursuers.
And paying back Edward without showing him his true power.
Nothing could go wrong now.
Until...
"Stev... Steven, what are you doing here?’’ A female voice called out behind him.
Turning around, he found Merency standing there, only wearing a towel.
For once, Steven’s carefree mouth had completely failed him.