As soon as the others where out of sight, Siyeon turned into a small and lonely forest. Mao greeted her with a ruffle through her hair before he pulled her closer. “So you caught my secret sign?” he asked chuckling while Siyeon nodded. “I did, but barely. I think we have to agree on other signs.”
“Haha, yeah, probably. Can I kiss you?” he asked while he wiggled his brows. It surprised Siyeon that he hasn't kissed her yet but instead of giving him an answer, she stood on her tip toes and he leaned in immediately.

The chaste and rather careful kiss quickly turned more passionate and Siyeon was the first to break it off. “We can't be seen here,” she reminded him but Mao only rolled his eyes and showered her with kisses on her lips. “M...a...o!” Siyeon managed to urge out between his “attacks” but then he suddenly cupped her face and, only to kiss her forehead. “That actually doesn't matter much. There had been teacher-student relationships before and some of them were very public.”

In other colleges and in other schools in general teacher-student relationships were an absolute taboo but then again the mageíyan society was somewhat different from the human society.
“But since I love you so much and take your worries into consideration, I will be careful when someone is around. Well, no one is around here, so I don't have to be careful, aye?”
Another kiss on her forehead before leaned back a bit. “You are worried because of Paul, right?” Mao asked with a small frown on his face and Siyeon nodded.

“This whole power play worries me. I know I sound crazy but I truly wish for Mori to come back. Her authority guaranteed order here but none of this exists anymore. To be honest, I don't really get why they try to take over the current student council. What good does it do to them?”

Mao's answer was rather sullen, so as if he had heard and answered many times already. “It's a practice for their life after college. In our society you won't get far if you are not ready to walk over dead bodies. You either do that or find someone who is ready to do that and hook up with him or her.”
Shudders ran down Siyeon's spine. Would she walk over dead bodies to reach her goals? She didn't know an answer to it yet because her heart and mind still were indecisive, but she was sure that in the near future she would.

“What about you?” she asked Mao. He didn't even flinch and his answer was straight. “I already killed people and I would use any method to get rid off my enemies or the people who stand in my way.”
He was a Warrior, Mao was a Warrior and Siyeon tend to forget it sometimes. “Do you want to come with me? I make sure that Paul will be on his feet in a few minutes and you can watch me at work.”

It was a kind offer which Siyeon accepted immediately. She wanted to talk to Paul, actually since she was interested in the things that group of bullies said to him.
“Practice, huh?” she muttered to herself. “Dangerous practice. Their parents are and all the other adults are just as malicious though they can be way more subtle and decent with their methods.
Decent was maybe an understatement but there were some people who weren't as devious as others.

On the way back to the infirmary both Mao and Siyeon went back to their normal student-teacher relationship. “Do you think they will target him again?” she asked him worried and Mao nodded. “They will. For now they will target those who work for the student council without belonging to it, before they will target each member, probably.”

More than ever Siyeon wished for Mori to come back because the ruckus, which slowly boiled under the surface, would stop then.

“How is he doing?” was the first thing Mao asked as he entered his office. Kati stood up immediately and pointed at the room next door. “Nothing broken or ripped, as far as I noticed now but the burns look quite horrible and they seem to extend.”
Mao immediately walked to the other room and Siyeon and Kato followed on spot. Paul laid on one of the beds, his face showing extreme pain while his chest moved up and down heavily.

“What a nasty technique. The eating fire. The burn marks reproduce themselves on the body until the vict