“Is it that fun to accuse me? You are the killer and the person you killed was your own mother. And the reason you are not in jail or some other facility right now, is because of your father’s influence as a businessman.” Johnny’s words spread throughout the students.

  You could easily see the differences between us. With a couple of words and a smile, he could sway public opinion like water. However for me, even if I fought with all I had I could at most make people waver slightly.

  I also now knew from this that Johnny was no naively kind child. He purposely told lies to change public opinion against me. He was definitely evil, but without sin?I felt that he held an answer to the workings of my power.

  Pushing all the over the top thoughts out of my head I refocused on the present. What were my current goals?

  Being understood was not among them. And what happened with my mother was not something I wanted to share.

  My first focus should be making sure this does not affect those girls. Their matter is more important than what is happening to me.

  Then another of my goals would be finding out how this power works. And then taking down Johnny from grace.

  “I don’t care about your mere words. Bring some evidence before you start talking in my presence.” I said trying to place myself in a superior position.

  “I already found out what happened, otherwise this conversation would never have happened in the first place. So aren’t my words as good as evidence?” Johnny said confidently.

  “Do you really think so? Your lies hold no weight to them. There is nothing stopping you from lying.” I answered.

  “But I wouldn’t lie, I think everyone here can agree to that.” He said looking around at everyone nodding in agreement.

  “But if you really are as smart as you think, wouldn’t you see the moral obligation of having a check on people regardless of perceived character. After all, some people put on a nice face for the outside.” I had seen through him.

  “You would be correct, instead of just relying on the trust I have built up, I should use this chance to prove my character even further.” Johnny said. It seemed like both of us rolling with the blows like this would get nowhere.

  “Then shouldn’t you leave, right now you are just lying in front of an audience. With no evidence you are worthless.” My words could be perceived in multiple ways, but it was all poisonous.

  “Sure, I will come back and prove you to be the villain that we think you are.” Johnny replied.

  Soon everyone left, and we were all waiting in the classroom for our first class.

  I needed to find Johnny’s depth. It would seem he is quite competent. He accused me of murder based on the small information from reports. That likely means that he was able to guess I had trauma, and exactly what it was.

  It seemed like the upcoming game would be much harder. With the school stacked against me, it would also be a battle of endurance. If they didn’t want to publicly oppose me, they would certainly do so anonymously.

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  It had started before I knew it, when I came back from the bathroom during class-time my desk was filled with dirt and mud. Which was impressive if they could do it in front of teachers, unless…

  Additionally, all my writing utensils had been stolen. Which was annoying. Someone even broke the lock on my gym locker and threw my clothes in the toilet.

  When I was changing for P.E, which I was now attending again, someone took my shoes. When I arrived outside of the changing rooms I was still in my uniform and without shoes. The P.E teacher ignored me, which was only slightly better than reprimanding me.

  Finally the class was reminded of parents day next week where our parents could come to class with us.

  They still did something like this even in highschool? I asked myself. I had long gotten used to such events. At least for me they were not very different from a normal school day.

  I left school for the day without shoes, and walked home carefully. I was able to buy cheap shoes at a store which made the trip much easier.

  I then made a series of phone calls to check in with the four victims I was already acquainted with. First and most likely to be the hardest, Jane Machat.

  “Hello, this is Azure.” I spoke coldly.

  “Those are quite some rumors going around school.” Jane teased.

  “Well, they are just rumors.” I said coldly but hesitantly.

  “Don’t worry, I trust you.” Her words calmed me subtly. I was relieved, since Jane goes to school she would have heard the rumors. Thankfully she did not read into them.

  “Is that all you wanted to talk about?” She asked calmly.

  “Yeah, I have to call the others.” I said.

  “Why? They don’t even know?” Jane asked curiously, but her true intentions were obvious.

  “I want them to know the truth. It will be better that way.” I answered.

  “Then it might be better to do it in person. That way we can also all meet each other.” Jane suggested.

  “That might be for the better, in multiple ways.” I responded. That way even without me…

  I called the other three girls and instead of telling them about the rumors, we planned to meet up over the weekend. I also invited Kaede, I was planning to tell her the truth as well.

  I kept adding reasons for this meeting, enough that my original intention did not seem as guilty.

  But I probably couldn’t invite Abby, she wouldn’t want to see me.

  I then became lost in thought over means and methods of different things. Thinking through plans thoroughly was enough to distract me from the usual bullying.

  The next day at school was mostly the same. Dirt and mud thrown into my desk. This time most of my school stuff was stolen, including my shoes again. This time I went to the teachers office and reported my stolen shoes and other objects. Most of the teachers looked at me with obvious hate, but they still handed over my cheap shoes.

  I quickly inspected them, they were smeared with mud on the outside. However the inside seemed slightly different. I pulled out the insoles of the shoe. Glued to the bottom were dozens of tiny tacks. I immediately showed this to the teachers, however they all ignored me.

  I had given them the chance to do their job properly.

  Our P.E. class was combined with one other class. Which means the person who stole and laced my shoes must either be from my class or the other class. I quickly activated my power in my class. However, what I saw confused me greatly.

  Not just the shoes but all the other bullying they had done to me. None of it was shown through my power.

  I ran to the other class we shared P.E with, I surprised them with my appearance. I activated my power, however nobody in this class had stolen my shoes either.

  My power, was it not working?

  The small white haired child’s words came to mind. He said my power was working fine. I also thought about Mr. and Mrs. Drake, as well as Johnny. My power didn’t work at all on any of the three. Does that mean there is a condition for the power to work. But then none of it would work on the students who bullied me.

  A sudden realization came to me. Was there a condition for sin? And in that case the three my power failed to work on must have something more deep-rooted going on.