Chapter 6- Popularity repellent pixie dust

I looked over to my classmates, who were absolutely stunned. No one made a sound, as if I just accomplished the unthinkable. Even the coach, the one person who spoke, looked like he just witnessed something unbelievable.

Following deafening silence, all of my classmates roared with excitement. Well, all but one girl, who ran to make sure Duran was okay. It's good to know at least someone cared about him.

A familiar sight of pixie dust rained down on me from above and additional weight plopped itself on my shoulders. I probably would've staggered if she wasn't so light.

"Haha!" Luna laughed. "I knew you could do it. Lunch buddies rule!"

So much for being afraid to make me unpopular. She seems to have abandoned that ideology altogether.

I looked back to see her grinning happily. You would think she's the one who won the fight.

"That was so cool!" Connor yelled, as he ran over to me. His maroon eyes were the liveliest I've seen from him yet and his expression was pure excitement. Was beating Duran that big of a deal?

He stopped as he got closer, and by closer I mean inches from me.

He opened his mouth started rambling. He spoke so fast I was worried he might run out of air. "Y-y-you actually did it! I didn't expect you to, given that he's a top student and you're a new kid, and also you didn't have any mana after dealing with my demon form, but you did it, although I don't know how you got your mana back. Maybe a trick between rune magicians. You are a rune magician right? Regardless, that was awesome. You're definitely going to receive attention after this. You may even replace Duran as one of the top students. Then you could go to tournaments and win prizes and oh my god it sounds so cool."

I put on my best fake smile. "I don't really have any interest in being part of any of that though" I admitted.

"Wahh!? Why not?"

"Because he's too busy being a lunch buddy!" Luna announced, while rocking back and forth on my shoulders.

"What she said."

I guess I should just get used to her at this point. It's clear she wasn't going away. Additionally, she's surprisingly useful. I wouldn't have beaten Duran without her mysterious mana regeneration. Being a 'lunch buddy' for the time being probably won't be the worst thing in the world.

I looked over to my classmates, who looked excited and hyped up from my victory over the "legendary Duran", but by the same token appeared too anxious to come near me. Maybe Luna really is a popularity deterrent.

A loud whistle filled the gymnasium as well as pierced my eardrums, and for a moment I thought I'd actually gone deaf.

"Okay, okay. Quiet down everyone," the coach yelled. "We need to get the next match underway." The coach then pointed at us. "You three, off the court!"

Hearing this, she saluted. "Aye aye chief!" Luna said.

And with that Luna pixie dusted us in the middle of our classmates.

Conard groaned. "P-please Luna, no more teleporting."

"But it's fun."

"So is not throwing up." He complained.

Our classmates around us stared at me, but didn't say anything. Furthermore, when I locked eye contact with someone, they looked away.

Weird. Does this also somehow have to do with Luna?

Once again the coach broke the silence. Luckily, it was with his voice and not the whistle this time. My ears were still recovering from last time.

"Next up is Kray vs Lowain."

Two of our classmates stepped up on opposite ends. One guy looked like a typical biker thug with a brown mohawk, while the other was clearly a player. He had short chestnut hair and his dress wear was on a fine line between professional and business casual.

Ah, I can already tell this is going to be boring. Mohawk boy won't last a minute by the look of things. He's too eager and will probably jump into pretty boy's attack.

To my dismay, I was right. The fight lasted a total of twenty nine seconds before Lowain jumped right into Kray's (very slow might I add) blast of ice and was frozen solid.

"Pfft, is this what constitutes as a challenge nowadays?" Kray asked as he flipped he hair. He looked at the man frozen in ice and gave him a disappointed look. "Pathetic."

Kray walked off of the stage, leaving Lowain frozen. As soon as he entered the crowd, a loud snap was heard and the ice evaporated, with Lowain landing on all fours.

"Freaking elites." He complained. "Thinking they're all that."

With that he stormed out of the room. He didn't even bother grabbing his stuff.

"Yeesh, what a sore loser!" one girl from the crowd yelled.

"Bottom tier garbage honestly," one guy said. "He'll always be useless."

I see my classmates are encouraging. Makes me wonder what would've happened if I lost my fight.

The next few fights were a blur. Some were alright but the majority were mismatched one-sided stomps. It was like watching the hero face off against side characters.

The coach cleared his throat. "Okay next up is Isabelle vs Cypress."

I looked over to see who they could possible be. My eyes locked over to the girl before who refused to give me directions to the cafeteria before. She was sitting in the corner with earphones in, staring at her phone.

I figured she probably didn't even hear the coach with her earphones in, but to my astonishment she was already getting up. She grabbed a black case that I didn't even notice in her possession before. Was she a musician? Must be why she's always listening to music.

Looking at her face, it was clear she was disinterested in having to fight. It was less fear and more a look of annoyance, like this was a chore more than anything to her.

She began walking but stopped completely when a hand raised up over everyone's heads.

The guy who raised his hands up had messy blue hair and cyan blue eyes. He wore a plain black t-shirt and joggers.

"Sigh. I'll concede this one." A bead of sweat ran down his head. It was clear he didn't actually want to surrender.

A girl wrapped her arms around his arm and tried pleading with him.

"Ohhh, come on, Cychii, at least try to fight her."

"Think I'll pass on this one if that's ok with you coach." He said, looking over to the buff whistle abuser.

"Yea yea, I'll move on to the next." The coach was mumbling something under his breath that couldn't be heard while almost violently scratching something off the clipboard.

I looked over to see Luna behaving herself for once. "Hey Luna, I thought skipping fights wasn't allowed?" I asked

She looked at me with a straight face, no giggling or anything. This normal state must be a mode of hers. "Normally yes, but not for the top ten freshmen. Because they're so strong, most people opt out to fighting them, so the coach lets you pass if you have to fight one?"

"But wasn't Duran one of them? Why did I have to fight him?"

"Because you're new. The coach needed data on you."

That sucks. I guess I'm just unlucky.

"So you're saying she's also one of the top ten?"

"Yup. She's currently ranked number four, although people argue that she should be higher.

"Hmm."

I looked back over to Isabelle, who returned to her original spot, and was now tuning out the class again.

"For reference, what rank is Duran?"

"He's rank ten, why do you ask?" Said Luna, who was sucking on a pink lollipop.

"Just wondering."

If you use rank as a moniker of strength, that means that she should be at least sixty percent stronger than him. Although I doubt it worked like that. If anything she was probably ten times better than him.

For a split second, I feel like I saw her look up at me, but when I looked back over to me, her head was buried in her phone like always.

Coach also looked over to Isabelle, before sighing and looking back at his clipboard.

The remaining fights weren't very inspiring and were about as boring as I expected. Eventually the bell rung and the class grabbed their bags and started heading out, and I followed suit. I walked outside the gymnasium only to remember that I didn't know my way around and didn't know where my next class was.

Crap. I need to find someone to ask, I thought to myself. I shrugged. Shouldn't be too hard as long as I ask the right person.

Just then, there was a tug at my arm. I looked back expecting to see Luna, but instead it was Conard.

"Um, Elijah, do you need help getting to your next class?"

"Sure, but how'd you know?"

"I didn't." He admitted. "Luna figured you didn't know your way around and asked me to guide you to your next class."

She's definitely smarter than I give her credit for.

"Huh, why didn't she just lead me there? Why'd she ask you?"

He made a face that radiated irritation. "I wasn't told anything. She asked me to do this and then poofed away."

I see, so even Luna sees you as a pawn. What a sad fate.

He led me to the next class, which wasn't too far away. I got him to open up about what he holds important. Turns out he's a regular nerd, so our conversation turned into an argument of who wins between one punch man and squirrel girl. I'm pretty certain that I lost because of my lack of knowledge. I grew up too poor to be a nerd. Or anything for that matter.

We got there pretty early and upon entering saw Luna sitting in her seat. I looked around the classroom. She was the only one here. Not even the teacher was here.

"Oh. You're here early" she said.

"Luna!? What are you doing here?"

"I just got here."

"Why didn't you help Elijah then?"

"I had to help Miss Bellerose with something."

"Our home room teacher?"

"Mhm. But I got done faster than I thought. I figured I'd be late to class."

"Well Conard, thank you for leading me to class." I said. "You should hurry on to your own class before you're late."

"What do you mean? This is my class."

"Oh? And Luna being here means...We all have the same class again?"

I pulled out my schedule and Luna did the same. They were identical. Looks like I was spending every waking moment of my semester with this girl.

I turned to the demon boy. "What about you Conard?"

He shrugged. "I have every class with Luna."

Great, I'm stuck with these two it seems.

It wasn't long until people started walking in and the classroom became packed. The teacher hopped in with such excitement that you'd believe the subject was more interesting than magic history. Don't let his white scruffy hair and thin figure fool you. Mr. Reno was an energetic man who was as passionate about the class as I was leaving this place and going home. Admittedly, his enthusiasm made the class far more interesting than it should've been.

The next few classes were a blur. I daydreamed through the classes, mostly because I already knew the material, but made sure to at least jot down some notes here and there. Conard seemed fine as of now, probably because he was out of mana, and was writing furiously. Surprisingly Luna was also paying attention diligently.

The bell rang and the teacher paused.

"I see." Miss Renee said. She slammed the book in her hands closed.

"Class dismissed. Everyone enjoy your weekend. Don't let me hear any of you fools on the news for misusing magic."

"That was one time!" One boy yelled. "And it wasn't even my fault!"

"I don't need excuses Trey. I need results. "'

"But-."

"No buts. Show me you can behave yourself in public."

The blonde haired boy rolled his eyes, got his back and ran off, along with most of the class.

I grabbed my bag and headed out. The hallways we're pretty packed but at the very least I could navigate myself out of the school. I was finally free. I could finally go home and maybe watch an anime or a television show. Maybe read a manga? It doesn't matter.

After being cooped up in the school for so long, the sun felt radiant, giving me the illusion that it's been days since my last encounter with nature. I got on the sidewalk and started walking home. The house wasn't too far from home so taking the bus wasn't necessary. If anything, it felt nicer to walk.

So that's school, huh? Could be worse. Might even be enjoyable if I was surrounded by normal people. Sadly I had to run into the galaxy queen and demon edge boy. Quite literally the weirdest people at the school as far as I was concerned.

I didn't get too far before a similar feeling landed on my shoulders. Sigh, just when I thought I was finally free. Just as I looked back the weight was lifted and the image of pixie dust littered my view. I turned back around to see Luna posing in some super goofy position.

"Hah hah!" The queen has arrived!"

"Well 'queen', it seems your mana is back."

"Ehh, you figured it out already? You're no fun."

I guess my theory was right.

"Though I'm completely clueless on how you got so much mana back so fast."

"That's just a passive ability I was born with. My mana regeneration is higher than most people." She posed like she was proud of that.

"Makes sense." I walked past her and kept walking.

"W-wait."

I turned back around. "Why are you following me?"

"Ahah, I'm not. My house is also this way."

"Whatever."

I kept walking and she followed behind. Or rather should I say she started levitating in the air. I walked past a convenience store and then stopped. Luna lowered herself to the realm of mortals also known as the ground and started poking me to get my attention.

Why do I feel like I'm babysitting?

"Eli, why'd you stop? Did something happen? Are the aliens here? Are the Anti-mana men here to get us?"

"I need to stock up on candy," I said calmly.

"Same actually!" She said, pulling out a bite sized snickers and popping it into her mouth.

I entered the store to be met with the generic gas station setting that could be found every two to three blocks around the city. I headed to the candy section and grabbed as much cheap candy as I could. It's not like I didn't have money; it was just a habit.

Luna grabbed about a handful of bite sized candy pieces and with that we made our way to the counter. The cranky man that rang up our snacks mean-eyed me like I'd done something wrong to him. I'd guess he's just having a bad day.

I tried to be as charismatic as I could. "I'm sorry sir, did I offend you in some way?"

Hearing this, he eased up. The tension in his shoulder lessened and his eyes were reflected sadness instead of the deep-seated hatred he was showing earlier. "No youngin', it ain't you. A bad day is all. If anythin' I should 'pologize ta ya."

"It's fine, everyone has bad days. Just know that tomorrow is going to be a brighter day. Today doesn't last forever."

The man let out a small smile as he looked at me.

"Thank ya sonny, I ppreciate' it. Here's your bags."

I grabbed our bags and smiled at him. "Have a nice day, sir. Hopefully the next time I talk to you you're in better spirits."

He let out a small chuckle. "Aye, we'll see."

Outside, Luna let out a burst of energy. "Woah Eli, that was so cool! You turned his day around! Was that magic?"

"Close. It was psychology. Sometimes it can be as powerful as magic."

"It seems cool. I want to learn it. Can you teach me?"

"No."

She teleported in front of me with puppy dog eyes. "Why not?"

The sad part is she's using psychology on me right now. She just doesn't know it.

"Too much of a hassle."

She shot her hands up in declaration. "Mark my words. I'll learn psychology someday."

"It definitely won't be through me."

"You're a meanie."

"At least you're aware."

Luna and I walked past a dark alley when we heard a scream. I looked around and no one looked to be in the area besides us. We peered in to find a teenage girl surrounded by four men. Without even thinking about it I turned towards my house and kept walking. Sadly, I was stopped by Luna, who ran in front of my path. I tried walking past her but she teleported in front of me. I thought about punting her away but figured she'd just teleport back.

The glimmer in her eye looked all to familiar, which made it very easy to guess what she was thinking.

She grabbed my arm. "Eli!"

"I'm not helping her."

"But she's in trouble."

"And?

"We have to help her!"

"No, WE don't. She's not my responsibility."

"Can you live knowing a girl may die because of you?"

As far as psychology goes, she's got guilt tripping down fairly well.

"Easily."

I tried walking past her but she clutched to my arm even harder. I was about to shove her off when she teleported us right next to the entrance of the alley.

"Luna wai-."

"But before I had time to react, she teleported us in between the girls and the men."

The girl, who was an average brunette with emerald green eyes, was on the floor. Her blouse and her skirt were dirtied and her make up was running down with her tears.

The men all had their faces hidden behind black ski mask. Without hesitation, they pulled out guns towards Luna and I.

Of course we're in another ordeal. Stupid Luna. Why does this keep happening?