Ethics 101

Alysa scribbled down on her notebook almost frantically as she was trying to copy down every word the Mr. Aswad was spouting on about Magic Theory. They were discussing the potential socioeconomic applications of elemental Ki, and Alysa's mind was buzzing with the ideas that her teacher was spouting. The classroom is where we come to learn how to learn, to ask questions, and to be curious. It was the teacher's job it is to inspire and guide their students when we ask for help. Alysa had always found that environment welcoming and exhilarating, but right now, the whispers from the student behind her was distracting her from truly enjoying the class.

Lukas was one of the few troublemakers in the class, and Alsya had the bad luck of having him sit behind her in the assigned seats. "Fucking Mr. Ass-wad, can he hurry it up so I can leave already... this class is lame." He muttered. Alysa looked over her shoulder with slight disgust and saw that body language was slouched back with his arms crossed over his chest. She saw his typical empty desk, knowing that his backpack at his side probably wasn't even filled with any school supplies; as she never saw him take notes. A raise of his eyebrow in her direction forced her to turn back forward in fear of his retaliation against her.

Amir watched his sister mentally scold the delinquent, understanding her frustration but knowing it would probably do little good even if she verbally reprimanded him for slacking off in class. Though, he was just glad that the second of the troublesome trio which sat in front of him did less complaining and more sleeping. He thought to himself as he could hear the soft breathing of the blonde haired boy just under their teacher's voice. Despite his own complaints about the slackers, he couldn't help but hypocritically watch the hands of the clock and fidget a bit in his desk as his mind was preoccupied with their after school investigation. Finding irony in his inability to concentrate since it was he who had said they shouldn't let it get in the way of their studies.

The sound of the last bell rung loudly, interrupting Mr. Aswad who quickly looked down at his watch in surprise before looking back at the students who had already started packing their things. "Yes, it seems our time together has ended. Remember to study your notes, we have a practice exam next week! Have a good day." He spoke over the students whose chatter had filled the classroom.

Lukas got up from his seat, moving toward his still sleeping friend and kicking the bottom of the desk to wake him up which he did with a start. "Hey, Stef, class is through. I've got baseball practice today so let's meet at the usual spot afterward." He spoke, taking the second by a second to process before nodded. "Yeah, sure thing. I gotta run some errands anyway so I'll meet you there." The second boy responded before both gathered their things and left the room. Once the room was clear of people only the twins and their teacher remained.

Mr. Aswad gathered his things in his bag before turning to face his two remaining students with a smile. "Ah, yes, it's the Twins on clean-up duty today, huh? Then I know my classroom is in safe hands. If you two need anything I'll be in the faculty room until about five but I doubt you two need help with homework or anything." He jested with a quiet chuckle and a wave as he left the classroom.

Amir let out a sigh as the two were left alone, feeling a bit relieved that the school day was at its end. "I'm glad Mr. Aswad gives us both cleanup duty at the same time so we don't have to wait on each other," Amir said, grabbing the broom from the corner of the classroom. "The other classes have people on clean up as well, so maybe we should take out time to make sure we don't run into anyone while we're looking around the scene of the crime. It'll be pretty hard to explain why we're hanging out there." The enthusiastic boy suggested looking out the window to see the many students leaving out the front gate.

"Yeah, I agree. Besides Mr Aswad never really checks on us so I think we will be fine if we hang back after most of the other kids leave." Alysa says with a nod of her head as she goes to pick up a rag and sanitizing spray to begin wiping down the desks. The twins carried on with their tasks at a casual pace, eying kids as they passed by the door with their bags of trash, only returning to lock up the classrooms with a satisfying click of the lock signaling the end of their chore. When the rustles had died down a bit, Alysa peaked her head out into the hallway and saw that all the nearby class lights had been turned off. A sly smile crept onto her face as she looked at her brother who had been sweeping the same area for the past ten minutes. "Coast is clear bro. I think we should be able to take our little detour without any eyes on us. Are we good enough to head out? It looks like the sun is starting to set soon so we have to hurry before clubs get out." She said with slight urgency as she noticed the sky that was beginning to be painted in shades of orange.

Amir dumped the last bit of trash into the bag and tied it tightly, setting the broom back in the closet and throwing the bag over his shoulder. "Yeah, we're good. The classroom is so spotless we should've gotten paid for it." He said, following out the door behind his sister to into empty halls. Most of the clubs took place in a separate building than those that housed the classrooms which all but guaranteed their likelihood of running into anyone else was greatly diminished. With trash in hand, they made their way down the stairs and out the side door that let out just around the corner of the gymnasium. Walking down the path they were surrounded on either side by the concrete wall of the school building and the wall that surrounded the entire school.

It was a short walk from their exit to the incinerator, the two throwing in the trash and emptying the recyclables into the large green bin. With that done their investigation had begun. The two walked back, passing the door the two had exited from and rounding the corner toward the gymnasium. Amir felt adrenaline running through his veins despite the simplicity of their task, knowing that they were doing something they could get in trouble for wasn't his usual style nor his sister's. They rounded the gym to find the small alleyway that seemed to end with a wall at the other end. The side of the gymnasium had windows, though, they were too high up for even an adult to reach from where they were as they were meant to be opened from the bleachers inside the gym meaning they didn't have to worry about anyone seeing them.

The small alley-like corner of the school seemed dirtier than what they were used to seeing, trash littered the ground and the walls looked as though they had been drawn on with many years worth of markers and spray paint. Amir's eyes danced around the space, not liking the many empty packs of cigarettes and even a few cans of what looked and smelled like alcohol. "Why would Sayaka have come here? Or anyone for that matter? This place smells as gross as it looks, I don't even want to think of what we would find if we looked hard enough." He spoke as the two continued down the path until something interesting caught both the twins eyes, feeling an unfamiliar and dark magical aura. Turning to look toward the wall of the gym the two saw an odd shaped symbol that stood out among the rest of the meaningless marks as it seemed a radiate magic with an almost visible glow in the shadow of the building. "Whoa, I've never seen anything like this before..."

Alysa eyed it curiously, reaching out her hand to trace the mark that was imprinted on the wall. She could feel the malice radiating from it as if the mark had a will of its own and was warning the twins to leave its domain or else..."Looks like some sort of rune, but I don't think I've ever seen a spell like this before... maybe Sayaka saw it and was curious? Or maybe she didn't come here if her own accord... it is kind of off the beaten pa--" Alysa remarked as an unknown noise stopped her in her tracks. The sound of rocks being kicked against the pavement told them that someone was coming this way and if they were to keep their presence a secret they were going to need to hide. "Let's get outta here!" She hissed as she grabbed her bother's arm as she looked up to see that the roof wasn't too far of a stretch. With there backs against the wall this was really their only option...*I sure hope this spell works...* She thought as she wraps her arms around her brother and channels her Ki towards him, "Rise." She chants she uses the gravity distorting spell their dad taught them to lift the twins up far enough before they fall back on the roof with a thud.

Amir felt the force of falling onto the hot concrete roof of the gym but let out a sigh as he heard the familiar voice of Stefan entering the alleyway humming to what seemed to be some kind of music. He wanted to turn to his sister and something along the lines of "that was close" but didn't want to risk being heard as he knew they weren't quite out of hot water just yet. Motioning for Alysa to follow, moving toward the opposite side of the roof and once more using their magic to land safely on the ground below them. It wasn't until the two had made it to the school gate that Amir finally spoke up, "I didn't expect anyone to show up there..." He said before taking a deep breath as though he had been holding it in until this point. "It sounded like that guy who was sleeping in class earlier, I'm pretty sure it was him anyway. I didn't get a good look at him though." Amir explained, unsure if his ears were reliable enough to be trusted. "Maybe we should have confronted whoever it was about that weird symbol? I don't know what it was but it didn't feel like it was supposed to be there."

"No, I think that would have been a bad idea. I mean WE weren't even supposed to be there, whoever that was probably didn't want to be seen either and would definitely fight back." Alysa says as she ran her fingers through her hair and smoothed out her uniform. "But I agree, whatever that symbol was, I got some really bad vibes from it... But now that we know that it's there we should definitely keep an eye on that place and see what happens. Because I feel like the caster would want to keep an eye on his spell, ya know?" She said uncertainly. From what she has been taught, she knows that keeping runes in place requires a steady supply of Ki towards them or else they lose their magical quality; and based off the negative energy that symbol was putting off, it definitely wasn't inactive. "Maybe we should have our lunch outside tomorrow and see what kind of goes on around there, but I think we should stay away from the guy you think it was... Steven? Stefan? I don't know," She said with a shake of her head. "Regardless he seems like trouble anyways, and I don't really want to aggravate him and his *best bud* Lukas." Sarcasm and disdain dripping from her words at the mention of the delinquent that always seems to bother her during Mr. Aswad's class.

"Maybe you're right..." Amir said with a sigh, knowing that getting into a fight with the class delinquents wouldn't turn out well for them no matter who came out on top. Following his sister's example, Amir patted the dirt from his uniform as best he could to avoid any odd questions from their parents. "We should definitely keep an eye on the place as best we can. Still, maybe we should see if we can tell a teacher about this? I mean, I don't want to get in trouble or anything but if that really does have something to do with what happened... Well, it obviously isn't good no matter what it is." Amir crossed his arms, a look of badly hidden concern plastered on his face. "Either way, we should try to get home soon. I'm pretty sure mom and dad know we don't have clubs today so we'll have to come up with something to explain why we're so late."

A look of worry crosses Alysa's face as she looks down at her watch to see that time has already gotten away from them. She begins walking back towards the school building so they can grab their bags and lock up the classroom. "Yeah we better hurry back; we can just say we were helping out other students. So then technically we aren't lying; cause if this is what caused the incident with Sayaka we are helping out by investigating!" She says with a half smile as she holds the door open for her brother once they reach the school door they came through. "But I think we should keep this to ourselves for now until we have a bit more definitive evidence. You know how the teacher's treat us. They'll say we are just having an 'overactive imagination' and we should stop worrying. I'd rather be able to hit them with facts so they're forced to listen, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know," Amir spoke with less confidence than he'd have liked to as they collected their things and began their walk home. While he wanted to have faith in what it was they were doing he had begun to fear that they were a bit in over their own heads. Still, he knew they couldn't just leave it alone and that his sister was right about how the adults would treat them if they voiced their concerns. "Then we should do our best to get whatever evidence we need. Unfortunately, that might mean we'll have to confront those guys about whatever they've been doing behind the gym..."

Once again the twins met outside the lunchroom as they'd agreed, heading to the roof again which provided a good vantage point over the school and a private area for the two to talk about their investigation. Amir sat down on one of the benches, pulling out his lunch and popping a grape into his mouth. "We looked around the scene of the incident but all we had time to find was that weird rune thing. I don't know if we should go back and look around or try to confront those jerks about it? I know which one is technically safer but I didn't see much besides trash. Maybe we should try to figure out what Sayaka was doing there anyway? I mean, I don't know her well but I doubt student council members pick trashy alleyways as hangout spots." Amir voiced before popping in another grape.

Alysa glanced towards the direction of the opening to the alley in which they found the rune the other day, eyeing it with skepticism. She wasn't sure what the right thing to do was, her heart and mind were a flurry with the potential possibilities. "I don't understand why Sayaka would go down there too. It's not like there is anything in that direction aside from some dumpsters... it makes absolutely no sense." Alysa said as she scratched her head in confusion, proceeding to place her face in her hands with a heavy sigh. A sudden flick on the top of her head alerts her to look up at the smirking face of the red haired boy who's hair was always smothered by a dark beanie. "Crying over your sad existence again loser?" Lukas sneers as he laughs out before walking away.

"Stupid Lukas, I can't seem to escape him ever... " Alysa sighs as she watches him give a high five to his best friend Stefan, as they walk off in the direction Alysa was eyeing earlier. Turning to her brother she gives him a puzzling look. "I think we need to check it out again when there are fewer people around. There's way to many people around to look at it now. Plus I am not one for confrontation... I don't know, what do you say?"

Amir grits his teeth with visible anger at the jerks but it ultimately faded with a sigh as the two vanished from view. He had little doubt that when it came to magic he and Alysa had the advantage but he also knew how disappointed their parents would be if they used what they had taught them to get revenge on some bullies who at the end of the day were just an annoyance even if they were big ones. "I don't know either, I do think we should check it out and I really do wanna show those jerks a lesson. Especially if they are the ones that put Sayaka in the hospital but bringing attention to ourselves by getting into a fight when we still don't know the whole story yet would only bite us in the butt in the end." Amir said, putting away his lunch as he'd lost his appetite. Crossing his arms, he spoke up again, "We have clubs after school today...I could make an excuse for skipping? I've already memorized most my lines for the play we're doing so I wouldn't be missing anything besides reciting them in costume. What about you? If you can't skip archery I could go back to the alley myself and we could meet up after? I know you all have tournaments starting in a couple of weeks."

Alysa bit her lip in contemplation, knowing that the season was about to begin and she could use all the practice she could get... "No, figuring out what happened and protecting everyone from what happened to Sayaka is more important. I can always practice another day to make up for it. Not like missing one day is a big deal right?" She asked more out of a means to convince herself that this was the right decision. She looked at the clock on the side of the schools brick wall and noted the time left until the end of school. "We have a few classes left, and given the time it takes for people to leave, I'd say that gives us four and half hours to come up with a game plan of how we are going to deal with tweedle dee and tweedle dumb if they happen to be the ones behind that weird rune... although, honestly I don't think they are even smart enough to have done it. It definitely seemed like something beyond the beginner stuff we are learning right now." She thinks out loud as she reaches into her backpack and pulls out the textbook of her Beginner Runes course and flips towards the back of the book to hopefully spot something similar to what they saw.

A somber look comes over Amir's face at his sister's words, bringing his hand up to his chin in deep thought. "Yeah, I didn't think about it like that. If we didn't recognize the Rune then I doubt those underachievers would know about it either..." He speaks softly, as though to himself as he begins to pace a bit. "Still, Mom and Dad have told us about tons of bad guys that have used really complicated magic to do really bad things so even if they are the best students if they've got something planned they probably would have done their research on it...I don't think we can be sure until we study that rune a bit more. Maybe we can trace its magic signature back to whoever made it? Then we'll know for sure who did it." He continued before being interrupted by the sound of the school bell. "Darn, lunch is over already. So we're agreed on meeting up after school by the gym?"

Alysa closes her book suddenly, stuffing it into her backpack as she nods her head. "Yeah, sounds like a plan." She said with a smile as she stood up and glanced over her shoulder towards the area they found the rune. "We can try our best to trace the rune back to a magical signature, but that could prove difficult in and of itself. But we will see I guess..." Alysa says as her eyes glaze over as they flash the potential possible outcomes before her. With a small wave she bids her brother farewell and heads to her next class. Rather distracted in her thoughts she feels the heavy guilt on her shoulders at the fact that she will be ditching her team's practice to investigate the strange rune. She knows that figuring out what happened is the best course, especially since it seems that her brother and her had found something their teachers had yet to mention to the student body; but her diligent reputation as a good student still scolded her for the idea of ditching her clubs.

After the school day wrapped up Alysa stood at her locker after having changed her shoes, becoming rather preoccupied in the complexities of tying her shoes as she waited for most of her friends to leave and head towards their respective clubs. Standing up and grabbing her things once the crowds had scattered thin, she walked towards the gym and waited anxiously at the corner of the building for her brother to show.

Amir walked at a quick pace despite trying to appear as though he was in no hurry, exiting the side door from the day before and picking up his pace to meet his sister. "Sorry I'm late, I had to explain to the clubs instructor that I wasn't feeling well but she wouldn't stop asking if I was okay or suggesting I see the nurse and all that stuff." He said with a sigh, clearly a bit annoyed by his own tardiness but also guilty to lying to his teacher. "Anyway, let's see what we can do about that rune." He continued in a more hushed tone, moving past his sister and peeking around the corner into the alleyway to see if either of those jerks were there but to his relief, they weren't.

The two moved down the alleyway a bit faster than before now that their goal was much more clear. And they immediately raced to the spot that they saw the rune before but to their surprise the spot was blank. The feeling of malice and dark magic that had oozed from that spot before was gone without so much as a trace. Amir's face twisted into an expression of confusion as he turned to his twin sister, "What...I don't understand. It here on the wall yesterday, right? We both saw it...right?" He reached his hand out, touching the wall as though he thought it would find an illusion and that it was still there but all his hand found was the dry brick of the wall with nothing but a few lines of old spray paint where the rune had been only the day before.

Alysa also put her hand up to the wall, running her fingers over nothing but brick and paint, but feeling no sense of magic or even a trace of the rune that was once there. "Yeah... it was totally here..." She said a look of shock and disbelief gracing her features. "Do you think maybe it was moved..? But the only people I saw go in here were Lucas and Stephan... You don't think they saw us when we were here the first time right? I was sure we got away cleanly last time." Alysa says calmly as she takes a step back and brings up both hands to run her fingers through her hair. "I can't believe I skipped archery for nothing... where could it have gone..." She mutters in a whisper up to the sky as her brain racks itself with the possibilities. "Let's check behind everything. Maybe we just forgot where it was and it's covered by trash now." She pinches a soggy box and tosses it towards the middle before examining the wall it was concealing to see if there was any signs of magic interference.

Amir joined his sister in moving things around despite feeling positive they'd checked the exact spot the rune had been at just the other day. Still, he humored his twin in hopes that they would at least find something that would point them in the right direction. However, after a good bit longer than he would have liked, they stopped their search with nothing to show for it but dirty hands and frustration on their faces. "Even if they didn't see us, maybe they got paranoid that someone would find it. Maybe we moved or kicked something and they noticed it was out of place? But that still doesn't give us anything to go on...our first lead and it's vanished without a trace. We didn't even get a chance to tell one of the teachers or the Knights" The violet-haired boy shook his head, trying to think of what to do. "We should try to find it. It was a complicated Rune, I doubt they'd just throw that work down the drain so they had to have moved it somewhere they thought it would be safer...I just don't know where." He continued, beginning to pace back and forth. "Maybe somewhere close? Somewhere in the gym? Like the storeroom, or one of the locker rooms?" He thought out loud before turning to his sister, "What about somewhere that students wouldn't go? That way they'd have to worry about fewer people finding it? A maintenance room or one of the under construction buildings? Maybe?" He continued with less and less confidence after each guess as he came to the realization of just many places the Rune could be.

"Or perhaps the detention room?" A deeper voice replies as a look of dread crosses over the twins face. Alysa looks past her brother's worried face to the entrance of the alleyway to see one of the more fearsome teachers standing with his arms crossed. "Hey there Mr. Hayakawa...uhhhh, how are you?" She says skeptically as she stands up from rummaging through the trash. With his tall and commanding presence only accentuated by his military-issued uniform, Mr. Hayakawa was one of the more feared teachers due to his stern and unyielding personality. Uncrossing his arms and gesturing towards the two students before him, he spoke with authority and mistrust towards them, "Well I must say I am a bit disappointed to find some of my best students outside of their club activities and rummaging through the trash... I surely know that there are no troubles at home with the reputation your parents hold. So I can only assume you have both decided to go against school policy and roam the grounds without permission?" He asks as brings his hand up to press into his temple as if bothered by the disciplinary action he must take, despite his role as a teacher and adviser to the disciplinary committee.

Amir did his best to not wear his nervous feelings on his face, figuring the best way of getting out of trouble is pretending you weren't doing anything wrong and in their case, they certainly weren't. "We just thought we'd do some cleaning up around the campus, I know we shouldn't have skipped clubs to do it but with our busy schedules, we didn't have a lot of time to do it." Amir lied with a straight face, a skill he wasn't necessarily proud of but one he hoped would at least be useful.

Mr. Hayakawa raised an eyebrow at Amir's statement before shaking his head with a sigh, "Lying only digs the hole deeper. Why you're here doesn't really matter in the end, good intentions or not you're still breaking school rules and that means you'll have to be punished. Detention is almost over today so I'm afraid you'll have to attend tomorrow and don't go thinking I won't notice if you decide to try skipping that too. We'll have to call and let your parents know as well, I'm sure they'll be equally disappointed." Hayakawa said, delivering the twin's greatest fears on a silver platter. "It's for your own good, you're good kids so maybe getting a taste of what the bad kids go through will keep you down the right path. Go home, I'll see you two in detention tomorrow." He continued coldly before stepping aside and letting the two passed with heads hung low.

As the two exited the school gates, with Hayakawa fully out of earshot Amir raised his sulking head. "This isn't good at all, Mom and Dad will definitely be upset and we didn't even get any more information on that Rune. We're not even back at square one, we're in the negative." His voice filled with defeat at their current predicament.

Alysa's teeth ached with how hard she was clenching them, feeling a sense of dread with the truth of the statement her brother said. "You're right. But it's not in my way to give up this easily. I know what we saw was real," She said with a heavy sigh, "And I can feel it in my gut that it had something significant to do with what's happened lately. The fact that it is gone, but the teachers still have the school on lockdown means that they weren't the ones to undo it, or they might not even know about it. So we just have to keep looking." She said with a determined fire as the two walked through the door of their apartment complex and made their way up the stairs. "The bigger challenge here is what is waiting for us at the top of these stairs... what are we gonna say?" She said as a wince of internal pain stabs her heart at the premonition of the disappointing looks and words they are going to be lashed with when they step inside their home.

Amir shook his head as he looked at the stairs that would lead up to their home, sharing his sister's concern over what they would now that they've no doubt worried their parents. "We should probably try to come up with an excuse and hope Mr. Hayakawa didn't overhear us and told them? I'm sure mom and dad would believe us, but I'd feel guilty taking advantage of how much they trust us. Still, if we tell them the truth they'll probably try to coddle us. Which would probably mean we wouldn't get any chances to investigate any further." His legs felt weak as he moved up the first step, knowing they couldn't just stand in the lobby now that their parents were no doubt expecting them home very soon. "You're right about not giving up, the rune was a big clue so we've gotta try to follow up on it, even if it means lying to mom and dad...right?" He asked, looking for affirmation from his sibling. "Maybe we were looking for something? Something one of the other kids took or threw out the gym window? I mean, at least that's only a half lie..." He said with continual hesitation in his voice.

The fact that they were planning out a lie shaped Alysa's face into a grimace, but she ultimately shook her head in agreement. "Yeah let's just say we were looking for someone's notes that got thrown out the window from another classroom; that way we don't need to give names or anything. But let's play it cool just in case Mr. H overheard us and told them, plus you know how keen mom and dad are on finding out the truth... Man this'll be rough..." Alysa sighed as they climbed the last couple stairs to their apartment and stood outside the door. With her hand on the handle Alysa looked towards Amir and gave a steady nod, though her furrowed eyebrows gave away her internal worry. As the door crept open the silence that met them was rather eerie as they walked in and left their shoes and bags by the door. Cautious steps were tread as they walked past the entry way and turned the corner to see their mother and father sitting prim and proper in the loveseat awaiting their arrival.

"We're ho-home..."Alysa announced as she stared at her mother's hands wringing around the mug that she was holding close to her chest. The soft smile that was on her face was rather misleading as she welcomed them back, but the sense of stern parental worry was fairly evident in her words. "Welcome home loves, can you guys come have a seat? Your father and I would like to have a talk with you." Theia spoke softly, as if raising her voice would shatter the air in the room. Alysa's heart felt suddenly heavy at her mother's tone, for although it was fairly infrequent, when their mother got upset it was a scary sight to see. It was as if you were sitting in the eye of a storm. Words and actions were calm and composed, but you could feel a sense of fear and anxiety within you, as if one wrong step would send you flying off into the hurricane that surrounded you.

Amir felt his anxiety rise at his mother's soft tone, a sickness rising in his stomach as he followed his equally anxious sister into their living room. Their mother held a face as calm as her voice but he knew without a doubt that they would be in for a long talk. Their father attempted to follow in their mother's footsteps but his bouncing knee gave away that he was not as calm and collected as he pretended to be. When the two sat down across from their parents Amir felt the sick feeling rising into his throat as though he would puke. It wasn't often when they upset their parents and so it made him feel all the more guilty when he disappointed them. He wanted to look to his sister for guidance but could not take his eyes away from their parents even as he avoided their gaze. Still, he knew that looking to his twin would only confirm that she too felt exactly the same way.

The silence filled the apartment for what felt like whole minutes before one of their parents spoke up, their father leaning forward and looking at them both. "So...your mother and I got a call from the school today." Izar's eyes looked back and forth between his children, his face not one of anger but of concern and perhaps a hint of disappointment plastered where his soft and loving smile would normally be. "They said that you were skipping your clubs and hanging out somewhere you shouldn't have been," his eyes continued to move between the two as he fell silent again.

They both knew their father wanted an answer, even if he didn't say it out loud. Amir cleared his throat as quietly as he could but the action drew his parents eyes to him, making him the center of attention. He tensed as his eyes met both his father and mothers, "I-I know we shouldn't have skipped clubs, but we were just trying to help out a classmate. You see, during gym, there were these two jerks who took another kids notes and threw them out the window when Mr. Hayakawa wasn't looking. W-we didn't say anything then because we didn't want to start a fight but after school, we both decided we should go look for them. We were just trying to do the right thing but then Mr. Hayakawa found us and told us to go home...and that he'd call you." He left out the part about detention just in case Mr. Hayakawa hadn't mentioned it during the call. Each lie made the saliva build in his mouth as though it were preparing itself for him to puke but he swallowed it down, feeling a bit of shame in using his acting talent to boldface lie to his parents. "We just thought it was the right thing to do, you know." He finished, knowing it was his sister's turn to corroborate their half made up story.

The underlying nervousness of her brother's tone made it feel like they were both walking on thin ice; doing their best to navigate the conversation without causing too many cracks that would force them to fall through the lie they were weaving. "It's true. We were just trying to help out without getting anyone else in trouble. We thought if we told the teacher's about what happened they would be sure to have a talking to with the bullies, which would just make the situation worse next time. We know what we did doesn't look the best on paper, but I can honestly say, we were just trying to help out the other students..." That last line she said with much more conviction, as it was honestly the truth. Though the problem they were trying to help with was far greater than that of a few lost papers.

Their mom look at them with darting eyes, as if trying to read any fault in emotions on her children's face. She set down her mug on the table with a deep sigh. "I know good intentions are not something we should be upset about, but sometimes you need to think through the repercussions of your actions." Theia spoke with a sympathetic eyebrow raise and soft smile. "The fact that you tried to help you classmate is not something I would scold you for, but that fact that you skipped out on your responsibilities without letting anyone know is something we can't look over. What if something were to happen to you when you went looking? No one would know you whereabouts because you didn't communicate with anyone from your clubs or the teacher's whose responsibility it is to look after you. Luckily Mr. Hayakawa was patrolling the campus and found you; you both know that the school is on very high alert with what has happened recently... We don't want that to happen to you guys too, right dear?" Theia says with a slightly shaky voice as she looks to Izar and reaches out to hold his hand.

Izar takes his wife's hand into his own, bringing it up to his lips in hopes of calming her nerves as he took the brief moment to think of what to say to the two beautiful, but awfully guilty looking children in front of him. Despite a lack of any tells that his eyes could see he felt deep in his gut that they were lying to them. He wanted to banish the thought more than anything and believe that their children were not up to no good but he couldn't help but worry what the two out of the three loves of his life were up to. "Of course, your mother is right, as she often is. We would be in the wrong to scold you when you went out of your way to do a good deed but regardless, you did so without thinking and made us worry for your wellbeing. You're getting old enough to understand that the world is a much more dangerous place than what you've been lead to believe until now and with the incident that took place at your school only a short time ago I expected you both to be more cautious despite the generous amount of freedom your mother and I have given you during this time. You two do not get in trouble often so when you do, it leaves me and your mother with the choice of making an example of you or letting you off with a warning. This is something your mother and I will have to talk about before we can decide what to do. In the meantime, I want you both to know that we're glad you're safe and we don't know what we would possibly do if anything happened to either of you." Izar spoke, a clear indecisiveness of whether to be stern or tender in his voice as he turned back toward his one and only to see if she had anything to add.