An ambulance left the school a little while later, yet the only students who seemed to care were those who belonged to the Rugby team, as well as those like John who felt guilty about Mr Root’s sacrifice. Gary, had watched the ambulance drive off into the distance until he couldn’t see it any more, worried about his teacher.
‘Is it my fault that everyone I actually somewhat care about ends up being hurt? Why didn’t I just act sooner? I should have stood up when Mr Root took the blame… NOT after they had beaten him up so badly…’
“It’s not your fault.” Kai spoke up to comfort his friend. Turning his head, Gary could see that the others were there as well. The other members of the Howlers along with Tom.
“We should have acted from the beginning. I wasn’t much better than the rest of those scared sheeple. I was too worried about that…” Kai let out a frustrated sigh.
It seemed like his upperclassman understood how the green haired teenager was feeling and blamed himself for his earlier advice of just observing the situation first. Nevertheless, Gary understood what Kai was really worried about… whether the Underdogs or the Grey Elephant might have been behind that entire attack.
They still had no idea why the red colour gang would do something so daring in the first place.
“Kai… I want to put a stop to all of this mess. I don’t want anything like this to ever occur again, be it in our school, our town… or my home.” Gary eventually said.
“So do I.” Innu stepped forward, and the rest did as well, standing by Gary’s side.
Although Riv had managed to escape with most of his men, the high schooler had not only managed to save his schoolmates, he had also completed his Quest.
[Quest reward: Instant Level Up + Bonus Exp]
[Congratulations, you have now reached: Level 13]
[A stat point has been granted]
Aside from the Instant Level Up, which had earned Gary the obligatory stat point, he had further received 2 Exp for each person that had gotten out of the situation unharmed. Unfortunately, the number had dropped a bit, which suggested that Tom wasn’t the only one who had been hurt when people had stormed out of the main hall.
That, coupled with Gary having defeated a few gang members, meant that he was currently sitting on [Exp 1546/2346].
Gary had noticed that after getting stronger, especially after he had chosen the Warrior Class, the amount of Exp he would gain for people he could easily defeat had further lessened. As such, he wasn’t too disappointed that his rewards had ‘only’ been in the form of an Instant Level Up and extra Exp, rather than a new skill.
Turning around, the group went back to the others. All the students had gathered at the field. Headmistress Young, who hadn’t been at school at the time of the attack, rushed over as soon as she was contacted. Right now, she and the other teachers were busy doing a headcount.
The police had arrived a few minutes before the ambulance and already started to investigate the scene, while some officers had asked the teachers and students for testimony about what happened. They were confident in their chances to catch the criminals since they were able to apprehend the red colour gang members that Gary and the others had knocked out earlier.
“Hey, that’s them, right? They’re the ones who fought off those gangsters.” One of the students whispered while pointing at Gary’s group.
“Yeah, I mean, we all saw the green haired kid, but I couldn’t see the others well. I’m not surprised Blake stood up for us!”
“They were kinda cool when fighting. I didn’t know they were that strong.”
Gary might have enjoyed the compliments from his fellow students if it had been in the past, but not today, especially not after the vocal majority had tried to make him into a straw man. For a second, he caught Mrs Bedford glancing his way, and Gary just stared back at her. The female teacher turned her head, unable to look him in the eyes.
Eventually, after waiting outside for some time, Gary, and his group had been approached by the two police officers. One of them in a long brown coat while the other looked quite young wearing a blue shirt with straps.
“Nice to meet you, kids. I’m Chief of Police, Anton Milstun, and here’s my little helper, Roo Game.” The older one introduced both of them.
“We just got the reports from your teachers and students about what had happened. Unless you want to add anything, I believe we have heard enough about your ‘courageous’ act.” Anton sighed, seemingly unwilling to say what came next.
“What you guys did back there was a very dangerous thing. While it might have worked out in your favour this time, you shouldn’t forget that those were gang members.
“Most colour gang members might be low on the totem pole and not too different from a regular school delinquent, but you never know what someone might do when pushed into a desperate situation. Of course, none of you will get into trouble for what you did. It was self-defence, after all!”
“Sigh… personally, I think all of you did the right thing. You acted when no one else did, and while it was reckless of you, I’m glad that things turned out well. I hope to have more people like you on our police force. Still, the next time you find yourself in a tough situation… Please, just run and call us!”
After saying what he wanted to say, it looked like the police chief was off, but he did have another thought on his mind as he turned around and looked at the kids.
‘This school… it’s the same one that deceased kid went to if I’m not mistaken. We only ever found his fingerprints on the knife, making it clear that he had been the aggressor. According to the gathered testimonies from her peers and lack of any criminal history, it must have been done on emotion…
‘Which means most likely it was someone they knew. We checked all those that were close to him, but could it be that maybe the person who did that to him is here? Is the one we are looking for in this school. Come to think of it, isn’t this school also the one White Rose visited because of a suspected unregistered Altered?’
Anton started to scratch his head, contemplating if all of this was coincidence or if there might be some sort of connection. It was a bit of a reach, but he had learned never to put anything off. However, that would have to be done some other time. Right now, the most important thing was to find out just why the red colour gang had gone so far against this school.
“Sir!” One of the other officers came running towards the two of them. They hadn’t moved far from their spot and Gary with his hearing was able to listen in on everything that was being said
“I have a report to make. All the students have been accounted for, apart from one. The teachers checked and checked again. The one missing is a Xin Clove. She’s the mayor’s daughter!”