My spirit animal is a F–Rank gecko-Chapter 52: Welcome home Jaster
Jaster finally got discharged from the hospital. He and Annie got discharged at the same time, and they both decided to go to the school together.
"UGHH.... It feels so great being out of the hospital!" Annie stretched her arms while screaming her heart out.
"Hey! Don’t be too noisy. We’re still in the hospital."
Annie narrowed her eyes at him; she side-eyed Jaster.
"So.... You said your friend is waiting outside the hospital?" She said shyly while playing with a strand of her hair.
Jaster looked at her confused while feeding Purpleberry a blueberry.
"Yeah. Her name is Karina. She’s one of our classmates."
That’s all Jaster said, and he continued to walk without thinking much of it.
On the other hand, Annie looked visibly pissed.
Karina? That sounds like a girl’s name. I didn’t know Jaster had other ’girl’ friends.....
She looked down, feeling disappointed. She thought she was the only ’girl’ friend that Jaster had.
She tried to reassure herself that everything was fine.
But when they went outside and she saw a long purple-haired girl wearing a crop top and a skirt, leaning against the railing outside the hospital, scrolling through her phone,
Annie immediately frowned at the sight of her.
"Hey..... That’s not your friend, right—"
Annie’s voice got cut off when Karina spotted them. She raised a hand.
"Jaster, over here!"
Jaster immediately waved back with enthusiasm, which irritated Annie even more.
"Ann, let’s go over there. I’ll introduce you to Karina!" He said while smiling.
Annie followed beside him, but her steps slowed slightly as they got closer. Her eyes lingered on Karina.
Her crop top revealed her belly, while she wore a short skirt that barely covered anything, showing her smooth legs.
Compared to Annie, whose hair was all messy—she’d just woken up. Eyes baggy, wearing a plain blue t-shirt that didn’t compliment her at all.
Annie started feeling insecure.
Karina slipped her phone into her pocket and walked toward them.
"Finally," she said.
Then she lightly punched Jaster’s shoulder.
"You took forever. Did you fall asleep again in there or what?"
Jaster rubbed his shoulder with a laugh.
"Hey! I just got discharged. Have some sympathy, will ya!"
Karina rolled her eyes, but a small grin tugged at her lips.
Annie watched the two of them silently.
They look... comfortable together.
Jaster suddenly turned to Annie, completely unaware of the girl’s feelings.
"Oh right—Ann, this is Karina. She’s in our class!"
Karina’s gaze shifted to Annie.
For a moment, Annie forced the brightest smile she could manage.
"Nice to meet you....."
Her voice was sweet, but Annie’s fake smile was so obvious that Karina noticed it immediately.
Karina tilted her head slightly.
Is she okay?
"Nice to meet you too. You probably already know my name, but it’s Karina." Both of them shook hands with each other.
Jaster was beaming. He was happy that the two girls seemed to get along with each other.
Unaware of the hidden tension between them.
---
Inside the school, many students gathered in groups, whispering about something.
Jaster raised his eyebrows, seeing them looking at each of their phones.
"Did something happen?" He asked Karina.
She just shrugged it off while blowing a bubble with her gum.
"Meh, I don’t know. Could be a new rumor going around."
Reaching the front desk to get Jaster and Annie their own classroom keys, Karina was shocked to see it was a completely different person this time.
Before, it was an old man who looked like he was in his 60s, and he was really rude to the people of Class J.
But the class administrator had been replaced by a sweet, innocent-looking woman who smiled at them and asked for their IDs.
Jaster and Annie gave her their IDs, and she gave them the classroom key.
Before going, Karina’s curiosity got the better of her, and she asked the lady.
"Hey, excuse me... What happened to the previous guy that worked here?"
The lady’s eyes widened; she seemed nervous to talk about it.
"You mean the previous class administrator? Well, haven’t you seen the news?"
Jaster’s ears perked. He went to the lady, his face stiffening.
"What do you mean by that?"
The lady looked at the three of them and sighed.
"Apparently, the previous class administrator got drunk at a bar last night and picked a fight with someone there..."
Annie tilted her head.
"So? Did he get severely injured?"
The woman’s voice was trembling as she said it.
"It’s worse.... Apparently, the guy he picked a fight with used his skill to burn the class administrator on the spot."
Everyone’s eyes widened in terror.
Jaster’s heart began to race.
No way.... Please don’t say it’s one of the Brokers....
Annie stepped in front, her eyes looking sharp.
"What do you mean by that? So the guy just killed the old man and got away with it? Plus he used his attack skill in a public space!"
While the others were discussing the situation, Karina remained quiet. She was shocked by the news.
Yes, she did want to punch that old man in the face. But burning him alive? That was too far for Karina.
"I don’t know much, ’cause that’s all they said. But there were rumors going around that the guy is associated with the Broker."
After the woman said that, Jaster let out an exhausted sigh.
Great..... If he’s really a Broker, then he’s gonna be a problem for us in the future....
Karina noticed Jaster and Annie’s faces looked serious. She didn’t want Jaster to be stressed out on his first day of being discharged.
Plus, there was something that Karina wanted to surprise him with.
"Hey, hey, let’s not get distracted, okay? Let’s just go to our classroom. You’ll be shocked seeing it, Jaster!"
Despite Karina’s words, Jaster still felt tired. He knew that the lowest-ranked classroom was always the dirtiest out of all the other classrooms.
Despite his friends saying they’d cleaned it already, he doubted it would be any better.
But his doubt quickly changed into a shocked expression as the three of them stood in front of the classroom door.
"SURPRISE!!!!" All of his classmates said in unison.
Everyone was present in the class.
Ivy, Reza, Jay—his teammates from the first special bond exam.
He saw Reza holding a giant cake, while Ivy and Jay were holding a party poppers and wearing party hats.
Beside them were Joshua and Anastasia, who looked like they were already close with each other—
Ana hugging her fox, and Joshua’s black cat on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Tia and Benjamin stood awkwardly beside each other while Tia lazily blew into a noisemaker.
"Yayyy... Welcome, stranger," Tia said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
Jaster couldn’t even form a word at what he was seeing.
A banner hung across the room that read: (Welcome back Jaster <3) Balloons and confetti covered every surface. The floor sparkled. Sunlight poured through the windows, bathing everything in a warm, golden glow.
It was... perfect.
Jaster felt his eyes sting.
He felt like he was gonna cry.... And so he did.
Plop. Plop.
Tears kept running down his cheeks while Purple was shocked, seeing its owner cry.
"KRRK KRRK?"
"JASTER! What’s wrong?!" Karina immediately patted Jaster on the back.
The crying boy dropped to his knees, sobbing his heart out, the tears falling onto the white floor.
Everyone looked at each other, confused about what to do.
Annie was overwhelmed by this situation. She hadn’t expected to see Jaster crying, not to mention the whole class celebrating his discharge from the hospital.
She rubbed her temple while mumbling.
"Great... This is gonna be a long school year...".
