Jason sneered, folding his arms across his chest. "What the hell is this about, Raidou?"
Every member of the Hunter Class had gathered in their classroom in response to Raidou's summons. The boy himself stood in front of them, a look of uncertainty clear on his face.
"Thank you all for making time for this meeting," Raidou began. "Since you all seem to be in a hurry, I'll make this quick."
"I hope so," Jason muttered.
"This meeting has been called to determine once and for all if we are ready to become a proper unit of people instead of individuals."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve asked, sitting on his desktop. "Aren't we already a class?"
Raidou scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Well, not really. The first thing I have to mention is that there's going to be a slight change in the... management of this class."
Confused noises drifted up from those assembled until someone stood up from their seat and walked to the front. Everyone fell silent as even more confusion swept over them.
Raidou put a hand on Jay's shoulder and said, "Jay Ares, will be our new class representative."
"What?!" Nanami shouted. "When—?"
"Shut up," Jason cut him off with a glare. "You're too damn loud."
Nanami raised his hands. "Sorry, sorry."
Jason kept his eyes on Nanami for a moment, then looked away.
Raidou put a hand to his forehead and sighed. "The matter is complicated, but due to the incident that got Liam in the state he is, our teachers have decided to make Jay our leader."
"I'll have to object."
Everyone turned around to look at Elsie, a few in surprise.
"I know Jay is capable, but you have to think about this carefully. He never says a thing in class, and refuses to take the initiative until the last moment. I don't doubt our teachers' judgement, but Jay as our leader is... debatable."
Nanami surged to his feet, but before he could say anything...
"She's not wrong," Jay said as he pulled off his hood. "And it's not like I want this."
A few people recoiled in surprise. One gasped, while another leaned forward. Jason raised his eyebrows, muttering, "So the cryptid has a face..."
Jay rolled his eyes and continued. "To be perfectly honest, do I look like someone who can actually lead you guys? Like Elsie said, I'm passive, antisocial, lazy—"
"Heh, at least you're honest."
"—and unfit to lead. The only reason I was even forced to do this was because of my Venma."
His classmates stared at him in surprise, then a voice from another unexpected source spoke up.
"Hey, is that really true? What kind of Venma gives someone the ability to lead?"
Everyone turned to the back to look at Jeremy, who looked bored enough to die. He returned their disbelieving looks with one of surprise.
"What?" he raised an eyebrow. "Just because it's 'rude' means I can't ask."
"My Venma's called 'General', and it doesn't mak3e me a leader."
Everyone turned back to Jay in open shock. It was one thing to pry into a person's private matters, but it was another thing entirely for that person to willingly expose not only his flaws, but his own power.
Jay blatantly ignored all the looks directed at him, even though they were incredibly intense, numerous, and close.
I feel exposed, he thought as he tried his best not to look at Raidou, who was also staring at him. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but if I stop now, I might get saddled with unnecessary responsibilities... I don't want to have to deal with stuff like how Raidou does.
Jay cleared his throat and continued. "What I mean by that, is my Venma doesn't make me a leader: it allows me to make sense of any situation I find myself in.
First of all, I can see the states of people through colors. Hostility, fear, injury, stuff like that. Secondly, I can... well, assess a person's characteristics and... um... deduce their Venma."
The class went dead silent.
He can... what? Raidou thought.
Jay scratched his hair, his hands inching towards his hood. "And the last thing is... if I'm recognized as a leader of a group, I can see possible connections between them... and if their trust in me—or so I think—is high enough, I can actually command them... so yeah. Not a Venma that makes me a leader."
Jay pulled his hood back on and shoved his hands into his pockets, but before he could waalk away—
"Where do you think you're going?" Raidou whispered as he placed a haand on Jay's shoulder.
Jason stood up, a look of rage on his face. "... Are you saying, that you know our Venmas?"
Jay waved his hands in front of himself and shook his head. "N-no!"
"What about me?" Nanami raised his hand.
"You revealed your Venma on day one," Rex sighed.
"Oh, right," Nanami chuckled. "My bad."
Jason gritted his teeth and glared at Jay. "I second Elsie's notion. He isn't in any way fit to be a leader. If he can break a simple code of conduct without any of us knowing, how can we trust him?"
Jay remained silent, and Raidou shrugged. "I don't really have a say in this. Kane was the one who made the decision, so it isn't really up to us to stop him. And besides, he's pretty good at leading."
Lisa raised a hand, and Raidou nodded at her to speak.
"Personally, I'm not against it. But, when we take how you, Raidou, act as a leader into consideration, Jay really isn't the best replacement. Maybe you could maake him your assistant?"
Jason glanced at Lisa for a brief moment before nodding. "If we can't do anything about it, surely we can put him on the backburner? And you all keep vouching for this guy. It's disgusting how clearly you favor him. Or did he command you into doing this?"
Lisa ignored him, and Raidou shook his head. Then Kazumi, who had been silent the entire time, stood up.
"Nanami made a recording of the incident, so I believe it's best we watch it to a certain point to understand a few things before talking about Jay's qualifications."
Jason sneered. "What incident? Do you mean when you beat up that idiot, Paxton?"
"That's a bit too harsh," Hannah muttered, glaring at Jason. "Just shut it and watch."
Nanami blinked repeatedly as his classmates turned to him, then his eyes widened. "... Right. I actually forgot..."
****
After connecting his CID to the smart-board, Nanami opened the video file and pressed play.
"I'm recording this, duh."
Nanami chuckled as his voice came through the board's speakers, nd the video shook as angle and view suddenly lowered. Nanaami had placed his CID on the floor so the recording process would go on smoothly.
"Let the show begin," his voice chuckled out of the speakers.
Soon after, the rest of the class bore witness to the ensuing fight. Some began glancing at Kazumi with fear in their eyes at the sight of the moves he was pulling out. Others were entranced by the entire fight itself, and began muttering to themselves about how good it was.
After a few more moments, Steve commented on how crazy it was that Liam was still standing. Zoe stared in shock at the sight of Kazumi's acrobatics, and many gasped as Liam began his counterattack.
Since the video was incredibly high quality, they could easily make out Liam's red-tinged skin, and Jaason frowned as he realized Liam had become noticeably faster than before.
The dialogue that followed had more people glaring at Jason, and he shrugged and smirked. "I doubt that can beat me—"
"HA!" Lisaa laughed. She shook her head and covered her mouth, ignoring Jason's gze once more.
I don't get it, Jason thought as Kazumi kicked Lim away. What is this supposed to... huh?
Liam's skin suddenly flushed a deeper red, and everyone could immediately tell something substantially different from before had happened.
"That's wild..." Steve murmured as Kazumi immediately responded to the change in Liam.
Then everyone fell silent as the multi-angle camera caught the image of Liam stopping his momentum with red webs.
Hannah grit her teeth, and Lisa balled her hands into fists. Nanami slumped forward, his expression uncomfortable, and Raidou reached out and grabbed Nanami's CID to pause the video.
"From here on out," Raidou said quietly yet firmly. "No one should overreact, panic, or tell anyone what you're about to see."
His classmates exchanged several looks then agreed. They didn't know what to expect, but when Liam's blood stopped falling midair, the entire class froze.
And when the face of their dorky and anxious classmate went stone-cold, they shivered.
"Hannah, Ruby, go get the teachers!"
Several members of the class flinched as Jaay's voice jumped out of the speakers, and the boy himself tugged his hood on harder.
A few exclaimed at the sight of Lee stopping the two attacks fairly easily, and some thought that was it until Liam attacked him without a shred of hesitation.
Zoe covered her mouth as the sound of Kazumi's mask getting broken off, and Hannah's eyes widened at the kick Lee gave Liam shortly after. There was a collective gasp as Liam vaulted over both Liam and Kazumi, then dash towards Raidou and Nanami.
A few winced, and others covered their eyes, when Liam punched Nanami. A few turned to look at Elsie when she got a knee to the face in the video.
Steve began shivering as Liam began escaping and attacking everyone that came for him. Rex winced when he saw himself getting slammed into the ground, and Hannah hissed quietly when Nanaami's hands were kicked away and stomped on.
Then Jay's voice came through once more: "Liam is running on pure instinct right now! We can exploit that using the basic things we all naturally avoid!"
Everyone looked at the back of the boy who was currently pulling on his hoodie's strings.
"I have a simple strategy! And it ends when we get Liam to Lisa!"
Only a few people noticed, given how far away the two were, but if one focused on the image of Lee throwing Liam back, they would be able to see the needle coming out of his fist.
Jason, Steve, and Hannah shivered simultaneously.
Then everyone witnessed Jay turn the haphazard group of dangerous individuals into a team with a unified goal. Jay glanced back, then immediately looked away as the blue light of respect flared up out of some of his classmates.
And Raidou stopped the video right after Lisa commanded Liam to stop.
"As you can all see," Kazumi said. "Not only did several of the best fighters in this class to subdue Paxton, it took one person's strategy to detain him in less than a minute."
Jay glanced around, appalled by the small and large blue lights of respect radiating out of his classmates.
Come on Elsie! Jay clenched his hand into a fist. Fight back! Don't fold—!
Elsie was glowing blue.
Jay stumbled as the weight of future responsibility crashed down on his shoulders.
"Well," Elsie said, standing up. "I can definitely admit that Jay was invaluable in that situation. The obvious problems still stand though... maybe..."
Elsie snapped her fingers. "Jay seems to work best under pressure, so the position of class representative is definitely enough to force his leadership skills to grow."
"I agree," Raidou smiled.
"Same," Kazumi muttered.
"Yeah!" Nanami yelled.
"He definitely seems like he'll do his utmost when there's something to lose," Jason grunted, clearly irritated. "Whatever. As long as he isn't useless."
Res...ponsibility... Jay thought as the weight intensified when the rest of his classmates agreed. Raidou patted Jay's shoulder with smile.
"Well Jay, congrats! Now we know who to turn to when things go to hell."
... Nooo... Jay thought in defeat.
After a few more minutes of congratulations, Raidou was elected as his assistant, and he moved on to the next topic.
"I understand that everyone here won't understand each others views just yet, so how about we take turns to point out our most glaring problems?"
Everyone began talking when Jason slammed his hands down on his desktop and surged to his feet, a wicked smirk on his face.
"In that case..." Jason pointed at one person in the front. "Let's discuss that one first!"
Everyone looked at the surprised boy as he pointed at himself.
"Me?!" Nanami gaped.