It was a brand new day, and Mike, back in his student attire, accompanied Paige to Columbia University.
It had only been a little over a month since school started, but Mike had already skipped nearly two weeks of classes. Although MIB provided backing, skipping too many classes was still not good.
Taking advantage of the fact that MIB Headquarters had not issued any new missions, Mike felt it was good to come back and experience college life.
It is worth mentioning that Needy also came to Columbia University with him this time.
She enrolled in the Sociology Department at Columbia University through MIB Headquarters.
Her major direction was social research.
This major, which sounds like it requires communication with people, felt very unsuited for Needy.
However, this was not something Mike needed to worry about. At this moment, he, who hadn't been to school for nearly two weeks, was looking at the overflowing love letters and small gifts in his locker, feeling troubled.
"Let me handle it!" The farsighted Paige, as if she had anticipated this situation, had already prepared an extra large backpack in advance.
Before long, she, carrying two full bags of love letters and small gifts, one large and one small, very naturally handed the larger one to Needy, who was standing nearby.
As mentioned before, in the large villa, Needy's expression was only cold when she looked at Mike, but she was quite "friendly" to other girls.
In a similar give-and-take, although Paige and the other girls were wary of Needy, out of sympathy for her experiences, the girls did not deliberately ostracize her.
The result was that Needy actually got along well with Paige and the other girls.
Sure enough, facing the bag Paige handed over, Needy also very naturally helped carry it.
...
"Kid, I heard you're sticking up for that good-for-nothing Alex?" In front of the lockers at the school entrance, a tall, bad student blocked Mark's path and said fiercely, "I even heard you've been badmouthing me behind my back!"
Mark (Mike O'Donnell) was the lucky one with the [Return to Youth] ability.
And Alex, the good-for-nothing mentioned by the bad student, happened to be Mark's disappointing son.
Now, Alex was standing with Mark. Accustomed to being bullied, he became timid and submissive when faced with the bad student's "bullying."
And Mark, seeing his son's reaction, unconsciously put himself into the role of a father again.
He stepped forward to shield Alex, staring at the bad student and saying, "First of all, Alex is not a good-for-nothing; he studies very well..."
"Secondly, I haven't said anything bad about you. What I said were all facts, weren't they?"
"Only people with inner inferiority will want to bully 'the weak' to show their sense of existence..."
"They won't realize how ridiculous everything they did before was until they get older..."
Mark, with the soul of a middle-aged man, spouted grand reason one after another.
His verbal attack power was almost maxed out.
Using this ability against simple-minded bad students was simply a dimensionality reduction attack.
For example, now, the students gathered at the school entrance to watch the commotion applauded Mark's "passionate" speech.
But before Mark could gloat for long, the enraged bad student opposite him directly made a move, forcefully pushing him against the locker door.
"Alex is a good-for-nothing, and you being friends with him proves you're a good-for-nothing too!" The bad student showed a fierce expression.
Facts prove that the reason why bad students become bullies is that they are unreasonable.
Such people are often brawny and simple-minded, acting only on their preferences and never bothering to think much.
Of course, if this continues, such people will eventually suffer losses.
But in the relatively simple campus, such people are very popular.
"Violence cannot solve everything! Your current behavior involves physical assault. If you continue to act, I will tell the teacher about your behavior..." Mark, who was pushed back, was still trying to reason with the other party at this point.
He didn't notice that Alex, who was watching him from the side, had already dimmed his eyes.
"Tell the teacher??" The "school bully" on the other side, as if he had heard a joke, exaggeratedly made a gesture of digging his ears and sneered, "You shouldn't be at school right now; you should go find your mom to eat milk."
A standard American joke also earned the bad student a burst of laughter.
Returning to the topic, Mark, with the soul of a middle-aged man, might be very good at reasoning with people. But his mature personality lacked the youthful spirit that a young person should have.
The current situation was already very clear: throwing punches was Mark's best option.
However, he, who was accustomed to adult ways of handling things, obviously couldn't do it.
At the same time, Mike, who was standing in front of his locker nearby, also saw Mark being bullied not far away.
The other party should have taken Mike's previous advice and become friends with the bullied Alex.
However, the other party's current situation seemed a bit grim.
"That person is Mickey Paris, a bench player on the school's football team, and his personality is very bad..." Paige saw that Mike was interested in what was happening nearby, so she explained the bully's identity to him.
"This school really has all kinds of people!" Mike couldn't help but exclaim after hearing the whole story.
Before coming to college, Mike still had a bit of a famous school filter for Columbia University. But after coming to school, he realized that this famous school was not as beautiful as he thought.
There is no absolute fairness in the world.
And Mark, who was being bullied over there, also had some connection with Mike, so he didn't plan to stand by and watch.
Soon, Mike brought Paige and Needy and walked towards the scene of the incident.
At the same time, many female students at the school entrance who were secretly paying attention to Mike also became excited.
For them, a male classmate like Mike, who was super handsome and mysterious, was very attractive.
"Mark, you seem to be in trouble." Following the path cleared by the female students, Mike easily entered the inner circle.
"It's you?" Mark, who was being bullied, recognized Mike.
Then, he stubbornly said, "It's just a small problem; I'll solve it soon."
Mark hadn't forgotten that it was due to Mike's beautiful appearences that his well-behaved and sensible daughter had become a "flower fanatic."
Although this matter was not much related to Mike subjectively, as an old father whose "little cabbage" had been "arched," Mark still didn't want his embarrassed side to be seen by the other party.
This was probably the last stubbornness of an old father.
"Are you friends with them too?" The bad student Mickey suddenly turned his spearhead, staring fiercely at the handsome Mike.
Bullying "good-for-nothings" was nowhere near as fulfilling as bullying "handsome guys."
One should know that among the crowd gathered to watch the commotion, there were many beautiful girls.
A large part of them were there for Mike.
Mickey obviously saw this point too.
Therefore, out of some "perverted" psychology, he wanted to bully the more popular Mike even more.
"I don't know Alex, but I can barely say I know this classmate Mark." Unlike what the bully thought, Mike was not intimidated by his intimidating aura.
Instead, his composed demeanor made the eyes of the surrounding girls light up.
"Damn pretty boy, you wanna play hero so bad—?" The "bully" suddenly launched a personal attack on Mike.
The thought process of such guys is indeed sometimes unpredictable.
Perhaps only Mickey himself knew that he initially bullied Alex because of his good looks.
And the reason for bullying Mark just now was pretty much the same.
Now, a more handsome person appeared, and Mickey certainly couldn't tolerate it.
If Mike knew about such a ridiculous reason, he might choose to go a little easier on the other party when he "takes action" later.
After all, "bullying" a fool is also wrong.