You wake up to bad news the next morning.

"Dr Song said that you and the new exchange student were involved in an incident last night. The principal had neutralized the situation but reminded you that this is a very serious situation and the two of you are not allowed anywhere else except for the dorm and school for the next week or so." The secretary maintains her monotone throughout the phone conversation.

You start to protest but the droning continues.

"And Dr Song would like you to see her in her office on Monday first thing in the morning."


You groan.



It's a boring weekend with the only highlights being exchanging messages with Soo Jin. You think it's unfair though, that their Principal, who's motto is "Let's love everybody", hasn't barred her from anything at all.

"It's outrageous, some of the things we can get away with, that's also partly why after the basketball match everyone's sorta throwing in their own party tricks so..." Soo Jin replies. "But the conflicts between our schools have reduced significantly. I think the special concoction at the party is working. Everyone around me seems to be falling in love."




Everyone huh?

__________________


"Dr Song, you were looking for me?"


The stark white office is a big contrast to the full black attire she is dorning. You have a very dark foreboding as you wring your hands and approaches her.

She types in something furiously on her laptop before turning her attention to you.



"Yes, ____________ sshii, please sit down."

She gives a slight motion and you oblige, a reverence in return.


Swiveling the laptop to face you, she hits play and you see a fuzzy video playing on the screen.


"This is the surveillance from Friday's incident."

You cringe.

"I must say I'm pretty disappointed with you, __________ sshii. You've been under my wing long enough to understand the basics of field battle. Why then had you exhausted your power in the beginning when you know it's not necessary at all?"

"I... " You begin but she cuts you off.


"It's because of this boy isn't it? You lost your focus." You want to tell her the boy is in fact, Soo Jin, morphed into a guy, but decides against it because she doesn't look interested in any explanations at the moment, opting instead to watch the screen where Soo Jin is delivering a blow to the ground and it cracks open.

Whoa. Impressive.

"To your credit, your Negation has damaged Tao's combat effectiveness so much he wasn't able to deliver a psionic weaponry attack, that's why he used his primary skill to disable you. Your Balancing however, is terrible. No matter how negative your past memories are, you should learn how to control it. How are you to going to win against Tao if you keep behaving like that?"



"But, I'm not going up against him anymore, am I?"

Dr Song sighs.

"Tao's scholarship has been revoked. He'll be going back to his homeland at the end of the month. But he had requested for a re-battle with you." She pauses.

"And I agreed."


"What?!" You are flabbergasted.

"_________ sshii," Her voice remains calm but frigid. "You lost in a public battle with him. He's one of the best students from his school and likewise for you here. The news has already reached the ears of his principal and it's our reputation at stake here, it's not up to you to decide. You are going to agree whether you like it or not."


"But... I can't! He's too good..." You object, struggling to keep yourself from screaming at her.

"That's nonsense. I've trained you myself and I've seen how much Tao can do. I was one of those who screened him. You are as strong, or maybe even stronger in terms of power. Your only problem is Control. You have to learn to manipulate your emotions to aid in your combating, not impede it."


"But..." Your voice lowers.


"Balance, __________ , is finding positivity to curb your negativity. Your original power, as I know, is not Negation. It's Augmenting. And I don't think you need me to remind you a Power Augmentator is far stronger than a Negator. You have to unlock your potential in that area."

Before you can respond, she answers that question at the tip of your tongue.

"And to do that, you have to find a source that's more powerful than your current ones. A single emotion that can override your negativity every time he tries to use that against you."


"An emotion...?"

"Love, __________ sshii. Is the one source that can potentially ascend your power infinitely. Since you have a boyfriend already, I trust that will come easily enough for you. Unless you don't love him?"


"I..."

You don't know how to answer that.


_______________


You step out of the office with the dreaded reminder in your head.

"End of this month, ________ sshii, that's two weeks from now. You will be spurring up training with me from now on until the battle day."


You whimper and drag your feet along to the cafeteria, where Amber is waiting for you.


"_______ !"

A deep voice calls out behind you. You turn and see the tall, lanky guy from the basketball team, Chanyeol, running towards you.


"Hey." You smile weakly.

"I heard about the incident." He pants slightly. "Are you hurt?"


"No, I'm fine." You shake your head.

"That's good to hear." He nods, crazy reggae hair bobbing. "Say, would you like to go out with me?"


You blink.

"W-What?"


The Fire Manipulator breaks into a grin.

"I-I've always admired you, you know, your skills and also, well... So I thought maybe we can grab a coffee or something when you are free, later after class?"


You figure your expression must be quite a sight now because he's cackling again, face wide with baring teeth, just minus the thigh-slapping.

 

And you are still out of the humor.

_______________


Kyungsoo receives your call in the middle of lecture.

His heart is suddenly thumping as hastily as the phone is vibrating against his palm.


Checking to make sure the Shapeshifting professor in front is still deep in practice with the student, (who has the entire hall sniggering as he morphed into a mouse instead of a snake to combat the lecturer) he answers the phone.


"Hello?" He whispers.

"Soo Jin! Gosh, this is totally unacceptable but, I need a favor." You sound desperate.


"A-A favor?"

He peers up and sees the lecturer trying to catch the nifty mouse who is scurrying away.


"Yes, well, you know, my friend Amber, who's in the basketball team, has a friend called Chanyeol and he has been really sweet to me all this time but I didn't think too much about it, but just now, he suddenly asked me out for coffee after class. I don't even like coffee! But that's not the point, the point is, I lied that I've already got an appointment but he is still insistent so I said that I've got a boyfriend."

"You do?"

"No, I don't! Ok, look, he was very very persistent ok, so I told him my boyfriend is coming to pick me up and when he asked me what's his name... " You start drawling. "I might... have just said your name."


"What?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry Soo Jin, but I don't know any guys and the first name that pops up in my mind is Kyung Soo and well, so if you are free later, would you mind meeting me at the gate?"


"I- eh..."

Kyungsoo watches the mouse squealing as more students start morphing into mice and scrambling around the hall with the professor screaming at them. It's getting a bit chaotic. So is his mind.


"I know! It's all too last minute and if you aren't free or if this whole thing sounds absurd to you, just say no, I'll understand." You exhale.

"No, I-- "

"No? Ok.. I w-- "

"No! I mean, I'm free later and yes, I'll go pick you up later at three?" He puffs.


"Y-You sure?" You sound a bit hesitant.

"Yeah, well, since I can shapeshift and all and you need my help... I'm glad to act as your eh... " The word lingers at his tongue before he rolls it out. "Boyfriend."


He hears you huffing into the phone before piping cheerfully,

"Great! I'll see you later then?"


"Yeah," His voice lifts as he repeats. "Yeah, sure, I'll see you later."