High School Revolution

Chapter 22: Prelude for the Next Week

Strider took an aching ride on the train back home and settled his belongings once he got into his family's apartments. After settling everything away, he made sure to mental note everything that transpired while taking some time to rest. Afterwards, he made a list of the aspects of all the staff members. One of them was the person playing the strings, and if there's one thing television taught him, there's someone more higher up than possible. While he wasn't too sure, Xenosis had to be behind it, and judging by Kevin's statements, Strider assumed he was either disguising himself as one of the teachers or had one of them on his payroll.

The only problem was he didn't have a lot of details on most of the teachers. All he knew was that Mr. Kazeshiro was very skilled, Ms. Yvonne could sick her man eating plant on everything, Mr. Guy was physically fit, and any of them could have just gone along with the situation. He scratched his cheeks, trying to ponder who was responsible. With the exception of Mr. Leo, none of them gave him any concerned vibes, but he then considered the possibility that one of them was masquerading their true personality and behavior.

It wouldn't surprise him. He met a lot of teachers and students that showed their true colors and resulted in him getting hurt. Then something crossed his mind.

"Aren't the principals usually the evil one? Nah, not every school principal is evil. Or bad at their job, just some are. Then again, Kevin mentioned he worked with Ivo, so this affects him too." For now he kept that thought inside, the only thing that he could think of that would make sense if Ivo was responsible would be him pitting Kevin and Xenosis against each other for some secret ulterior motive. He was on his bed at this point when he opened up his notebook.

Then he looked at the list of objectives he made for himself for the day, wondering if he could stick to it.

The first thing he wanted to make sure of was who he could consider a friend. Kevin sounded like he didn't want to trust anyone, but Strider wanted to keep a group of six people at best to support Kevin and him. He only found people he could consider friends in middle school late into his final year, and wanted to avoid that. He breathed, trying to figure out which of his classmates he could see as a valid friend, acquaintance, and ones to not cross. He started with the latter:

Eliza, Tori, and Shamlya all gave him bad vibes, the former two's toxicity towards their own family member was already questionable enough. His own family had enough communication issues. As for the later, she made it very clear she hated him, and given the trauma he had from a spoiled girl from his past with similar mannerisms who attempted to ruin his life, he wanted to avoid that behavior from anyone. If he couldn't vibe with the only other black person in his class, so be it. Part of him wanted to see if he could make things work out, but the other part of him already detested the other kids who treated him differently despite being the same color. He took off his glasses.

"Just to be accepted for me. Is it really that hard?" He shook his head. "Focus, I need someone I know can have my back. Anyone crazy enough to consider me a friend is worth the world."

After careful deliberation, he came up with four: Hanaka, Janill, Yuki, and though he hesitated, Krystal. All of them gave him a strong feeling. Hanaka's social cues were similar to his own, and the fact she put her trust in him had his heart beating in joy. Janill's timid nature tended to be exactly like his own, to the point he remembered some of his teachers telling his mom that it took him a while to adapt and occasionally would make them worry his grades and participation were in sync. If he could work with someone similar to work on that issue and make a new friend in the process, then so be it.

As for everyone else, he considered them valid acquaintances. He didn't have a problem with Ken, but he came off as a bit aloof and didn't want to cross his path as a enemy. Johnny and Devin, moreso Devin seemed nice, but he never wanted to get in between their relationship, end up as a third wheel or get them hurt. Ron seemed cool but he wanted to learn more about him while Mark was too attached to Tori. Durby, Zhichao, and Urwa were in a similar boat. Finally, while he felt he had a strong connection to Yuki, he wanted to avoid driving her away from her friends. Instead, Yuki, Natsumi, Chiko, and Yaoi's dynamics was something he also wanted. Rather than invading them, he wanted to blossom his friendship with Yuki while he learned more about the others slowly. Strider felt he could be a bit clingy and attached to one friend, which he learned over time could get annoying. Not wanting to push anyone anyway or be annoying, he opted to slowly befriend them one at time. For now, everyone else seemed like they could be friends, but he wanted to be cautious.