Biohuman

Four days had passed after the betting match. The interview got out onto the internet and billions of people saw it through circulation. Many people began to speculate that Lee Seng was hiding something with his bet and a lot of people hung onto that. Lee Seng was watched closely by the school. They talked about him, close or far, they didn't care. They wondered how Tristan lost to a 'newbie' and talked about 'rigging' and 'luck' came up.

It was the last day of classes for the week and Lee Seng pulled out of his room and shut the door behind him. He made his way to the stairwell and exited the stairwell and headed towards the cafeteria.

A bunch of people chatted away and switched their conversations when they saw him. He ignored them like usual and right as he was about to turn right into the hallway, two people called his name.

"Ey, Lee Seng!" Ritsuka and Liz shouted his name. People began to turn to look at the source of the callout. Lee Seng turned with them and watched as Liz and Ritsuka happily moved over with their luggage and backpacks. They were in casual clothes. Lee Seng's lips curled into a smile and he wandered over to them.

"Oh, you're back! I've been waiting for you guys." Lee Seng waved. He gave them half-hugs and continued to smile warmly at the two.

"It's so boring there. How did you even survive three weeks?" Ritsuka asked.

"Homework, work out, run, and practice my powers." Lee Seng told them.

"You could've had any accommodations and you chose that?" Liz asked.

"What else would you do?"

"Read a ton, maybe get my blood pumping and practice a bit." Liz shrugged.

"What about you?" Lee Seng nodded at Ritsuka.

"I pretty much did what you did plus some casual television." Ritsuka answered. "Which, by the way… I heard you did a betting match?"

"You did a betting match?" Liz asked. "With who? What was the bet?"

"Mmmhm. I did it Monday. I won, by the way." Lee Seng answered.

"Who did you fight and why?" Liz elbowed Lee Seng.

"I can explain it to you as we walk. You guys wanna change first before breakfast?"

"Mmm, I don't wanna lug this around." Liz pointed. Lee Seng moved over and grabbed the luggage from her.

"'Kay, let's take the elevator then?" The three moved and went up on the elevator. They stopped at Liz's dorm first since she was the furthest and Lee Seng lugged her stuff in with ease. Lee Seng managed to get a peek in before Liz ushered him out. She changed fairly quickly and they headed down to Ritsuka's room.

"You hear about the others?" Lee Seng asked.

"The doctors told us they're still recovering. That's it." Ritsuka answered as he opened his door.

"What did the doctor say when you asked?" Liz inquired.

"The same thing. You guys had like half a week in comparison to the others. The others will be in there for a bit longer. Hopefully they show up before the field test." Lee Seng answered. Ritsuka excused himself and went to change. After Ritsuka popped out in his school outfit, the three of them went for breakfast.

"You never answered my question about the betting match. What happened?" Liz asked as they all sat down. Ritsuka noticed eyes on them and turned his attention to his friend. Lee Seng shrugged and began to eat.

"Not much. I came back on Monday, kinda late for first period, and during lunch people kept eyeing me. Someone had the guts to call me out about the invasion." Lee Seng started to explain.

"Ohhhh." Ritsuka said loudly. "The rumor." He turned to look at Liz, who also gave the same exact response. "That's why they're staring at us."

"More like me, but yes. Anyways, I got cornered by a group who wanted to throw hands and the two Third Year transfer students I know, so I had to make the bet. First one of the school year by the way."

"Wow, sounds… tough." Liz sympathized.

"Yup." Lee Seng nodded. "So I beat him by a narrow margin. His aura distortion was really annoying."

"And the bet?" Ritsuka asked as he spooned eggs into his mouth.

"Public humiliation and immunity to anyone betting about the rumor."

"You went that far? I would've expelled him or something."

"Either situation wasn't going to solve much, but it gave me immunity from the rest who wanted to fight me."

"What're you going to do if someone wants to fight you for a different reason?" Liz asked.

"Both parties have to agree on it and so far, I've been asked a lot this week and declined every one of them because the reasoning wasn't good enough." Lee Seng answered.

"What were some reasons?" Ritsuka asked.

"My appearance, my status, some old rumors, I rigged my way into the academy. Those sorts of things." Lee Seng had only listed off some of the silly reasons as he took a bite of the biscuits and gravy he had.

"Ahhhh, sounds like a rough week." Liz sighed. "Hopefully things clear up soon."

"I'm used to it." Lee Seng waved. "Not like it's the first time someone's tried to pick a fight with me."

"It doesn't make it any better." Ritsuka spoke. Lee Seng nodded.

"Exactly! It doesn't make it any better that they're targeting you based off of some rumors that aren't even true. There has to be evidence of why those guys invaded the school. Who'd be stupid enough to invade the school anyways?" Liz sympathized. The two boys nodded and they finished eating their breakfast and catching up.

"So, how was the exam?" Ritsuka slid close to Lee Seng. "Any pointers?"

"It's easy." Lee Seng looked at him. Ritsuka was acting cuddly which Lee Seng didn't think a guy who wore baggy clothing and black on his off time, would do. "Infiltrate your way into a warehouse and fight some bots. You have to run into the building with a ranged shooter, too."

"Ah dammit." Ritsuka groaned. "Please tell me it isn't the full length of the gym, again!"

"It's like… almost half or half the gym. You'll be fine. It's way easier."

"Chloe told me the Glass test was putting a bot in a colored square." Liz brought up.

"Yup. It's easy." Lee Seng nodded. "You should be able to do it easily."

"I heard you got it in under twenty seconds or something."

"Yup and made a fool outta Felix." Lee Seng smiled.

"Felix made a bet with you?" Liz raised her eyebrows.

"Which one of us could finish faster," Lee Seng shook his head. "I've been practicing how to hold an object while I was quarantined, so it was easy." Liz chuckled and shook her head.

"That dude needs to step off of you. It's like he's trying to prove something by trying to dethrone the guy with the highest familial background."

"Like I said," Lee Seng stood up and collected his things. His friends followed suit. "It isn't anything new." The three started their way towards the dishwashing area, dropping off their trays and heading to the Academic building together. "You kinda just get used to it after a while."

"You must be made of some strong Adventure-grade steel. It seems like nothing bothers you." Ritsuka patted Lee Seng in the back as Liz stood off to the left of Lee Seng.

'I wouldn't say that…' Lee Seng thought. 'I'm just good at hiding what I feel most of the time.'

"Mmm, I wouldn't say that." Lee Seng told him. "I'm not that strong of a person."

"Have I even seen you mad?" Liz tapped her chin as she raised her head upwards.

"When I saw Manny the first day I moved in." Lee Seng pointed out. "Or when we saw you guys pass the living room lounge."

"You were mad?"

"Annoyed."

"Mmm, that does sound about right." Ritsuka nodded. "He felt off when Manny and you saw us at the lounge."

"You and Manny must have a long history." Liz glanced over at Lee Seng. "Manny doesn't mention much about his past. He mentions Sara once in a long blue moon, but he never mentioned you until you showed up."

"Long history." Lee Seng agreed. "Lots of history."

"Something happened between you two or something?" Ritsuka asked. "You two seem like you're doing fine now." Lee Seng didn't answer for quite awhile. Liz awkwardly gave Ritsuka wide-eyed glances, mouthing to him 'he shouldn't bring up the past.' The three were halfway to the Academic building when Lee Seng spoke up.

"Disagreements. Fights. Typical friend stuff." Lee Seng answered.

"Ahhh, I, uh, didn't mean to…" Ritsuka began to apologize when he trailed off. He was making it more awkward than it should've been.

"Eh, I can see why you both would be interested in me and Manny. And before you ask, no we didn't date. That'd be more awkward if we dated." Lee Seng shivered.

"Thank god!" Liz let out a loud sigh of relief. The two boys turned to look at her and she quickly got defensive. "What? The tension you two had, I thought you guys had some weird sexual tension as ex-lovers..." Liz shrunk a bit.

"Ewww." Lee Seng started to fake barf. "Bleh! Manny and I just go way back. Like we both said, we grew up in the lab together so we played together. Just a lot of stuff happened all at once that… made things the way they are."