Conflict

The moment Kyle walked in, he gave a quick and simple sweep of the area, confirming that the layout was just as he imagined it to be from the blueprints he had studied.

He saw Tammy that seemed to be paying attention to the crowd of children wanting to pet the dog she was holding, but he noted that she was paying close attention to Alex.

Kyle quickly looked at where Alex was.

Ah, Alex.

He saw Teacher Alba taking out a phone but before she could press the buttons, another teacher came by. Kyle recognised her to be Sybil, who was the Science Teacher for Van Goh and the Homeroom teacher for Picasso.

Kyle paused and slipped into the shadows.

Not like there were many places that were hidden, but he knew where they were.

MIB were extremely thorough when they had surveyed the shelter. They had not only provided him with the blueprints, but also a detailed report on all the 'red' zones aka places that could be dangerous as it was a blind spot.

Places where the cleaning equipment were kept, for example.

Right now, he was just in a slightly curved area that was partially hidden by a standing display set-up that contained information on adopting dogs at the shelter. It wasn't an ideal place, but since the crowd here was mostly kids who were more interested in the dogs than anyone who entered, it was enough.

Kyle's entrance had not been noticed either - well, other than Tammy, of course. Kyle was satisfied by the way she had managed to mask her surprise and her actions did not alert anyone around her.

Hence, he could easily blend in and disappear from sight.

It's just that he wanted to observe what Sybil was going to do and how Alba was going to handle it.

It's nice to see these things for himself, rather than reading the reports. Kyle smiled to himself as he leaned against the wall, silently observing.

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

"What's the matter now?" Sybil asked Alba, her expression showing obvious displeasure.

"It's nothing that I can't handle," Alba replied politely.

Sybil took a glance at Alex, then at Alba before saying, "Doesn't seem like it. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle something as simple as this."

She turned to Alex and said in a stern voice, "Alex, stop causing trouble."

Alex hardly gave her a glance, replying, "I am not. Causing trouble means to act or behave in a troublesome manner. To cause problems or issues."

He then looked at her, "I am not shouting, nor making a fuss. I am merely stating a fact. There is no problem because all that you need to do is just let me adopt Max."

"On the other hand, Teacher Sybil," Alex continued, "By trying to assert your authority when Teacher Alba is clearly already addressing the issue and handling the matter, is not only disrespecting her, but you're also causing discord. Thus, the only one here that is causing trouble, Teacher Sybil, is. You."

Alex deliberately emphasized the last two words before turning to face Max again. Max was extremely happy to see Alex paying attention to him again and he jumped up, leaning on the window.

He started scratching at it, as if wanting to go out and be with Alex.

"Auw, he's so cute, Alex," Aurora couldn't help but gush, "Too bad there's only one of him."

"Actually," Kiki said rather hesitatingly, "Max wasn't the only one that was abandoned. There were a few others."

"Really?! What happened to them?" Aurora asked.

"Well," Kiki began, a bit worried for the impact of what she was going to say would be on them, "They were all in pretty bad condition, to be honest. Only two from that litter survived. Max and Iori."

"However, Iori is still rather weak and under observation. She's not healthy enough to be put up for adoption," Kiki explained.

"What?!" Aurora gasped, her eyes wide open, "Max has a sister?"

Kiki shook her head, "I don't think that is his sister because while Max appears to be more dog than wolf, while Iori seems to be more wolf than dog."

"Huh?"

Kiki smiled wanly, "I'm sorry. That was rather vague. I mean, they do not seem to be from the same litter. It's quite obvious that both Max and Iori are wolfdogs but their mixes seem to be different. Iori has more wolf characteristics than Max does."

Of course, all of that is based on appearances and Kiki wasn't an expert. It was just her feeling. What was evident was that the pair did not look alike. It was subtle, but it was there.

"Iori?" Aurora mumbled, not caring about the difference. She then grabbed Alex's arm, "We should adopt Iori as well. We can't leave her behind!"

Alex looked at his sister and shrugged, "You heard Kiki. Iori isn't well enough to be adopted."

"But she'll die if she's just left behind!" Aurora said with a pout.

"You don't know that," Alex retorted.

"But you can't deny she might," Aurora countered.

"True," Alex conceded, but before he could say anything else, Sybil's impatient voice butt in.

"What is this? It's not enough that you're talking back, but you then ignored your teachers, and now you want to adopt yet another dog?"

Sybil was beyond annoyed now.

She was angry.

Never before had she been faced with such rude children.

In her class, everyone was obedient.

She just knew that Alba was just too green to be able to handle her class. More so when they were filled with these little upstarts who felt they were better than everyone else.

Every single time she had her lessons at Van Goh, she felt like they looked at her as if she was stupid. Especially their so-called leader, Alex.

Though he never said a word to disrupt class and always finished his work before time, Sybil was convinced that he disdained her lessons and did everything perfunctorily. He may appear like he was paying attention but she could tell.

His eyes did not have the focus they should have.

It was children like these that made her gnash her teeth.

Geniuses they may be, but they were all fundamentally flawed on one thing: they were too proud.

They thought they knew better just because they were cleverer than most.

Such kids would naturally fall down the wrong path and it was up to her to shape them up properly. Alba was just too weak.

Sybil never had the reason to admonish or punish these kids before, but now, she did. The chance she had been waiting so patiently for finally appeared.

Direct disobedience. Rudeness.

They were more than enough for her to take action.

She will show them, and discipline them, and beat the arrogance out of their little bodies before it becomes too ingrained to be saved.

Sybil reached out, wanting to grab the two disobedient children but to her chagrin, they avoided her hands. This only fueled her anger, making the simmering ember into a roaring flame.

Still, she managed to mask the displeasure from her face as she quickly tried to grab home of the two again.

But they were like slippery eels.

She stomped her feet and hissed through her teeth, her patience starting to get thin and her composure was slipping. As she was about to try and grab the kids again, she found her wrist being held.

"Sybil, it's okay. These are my students and I will handle it," Alba asked, holding onto Sybil's wrist then going to stand in front of Alex and Aurora.

Sybil directed her anger at Alba now, starting to say while pointing at the two children behind Alba, "Those two... "

Alba stepped forward, her back to the kids as she glared at Sybil. Keeping her voice steady, and low, she said, "It's fine, Sybil."

Though she did not agree with what Sybil did, it did not mean that she wanted to have a direct confrontation with her in front of the students. As it was, they were garnering attention and the last thing Alba wanted was to have a show-down.

At the end of the day, Sybil is her colleague and it would not do anyone any good to have such conflict in front of the students.

It's like parents who have disagreements.

They should never fight in front of the children because it could cause them some harm. It wasn't to say that they could not have disagreements in front of the children, but rather, one should not *fight* in front of them.

Having disagreements that are argued openly and settled amicably would teach them the correct way to deal with things. Having a shouting match, however, would not.

So right now, Alba was trying hard to calm Sybil down and show the children that sometimes, adults can lose their temper and they can even have differences of opinions - but, they will settle it like adults.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Sybil appreciated Alba's painstaking efforts. In fact, she only saw Alba's words and stance as Alba putting her down in front of the children.

This would not do.

Not at all.