Chapter 30 Old And New Faces

The application the student gave Lee Seng helped a ton. He inputted where he needed to go and it pinged his location and traced which areas he needed to go down like a GPS. Lee Seng held his phone out and slowly wandered down the halls. He turned left and saw a huge mural. He stopped and recognized it was a mural of the Academy's logo and name. He could see different students painted into the mural and wondered if they were proud graduates.

"Cool, huh?" A girl spoke up. Lee Seng jumped in his skin and turned to look to his left. It was the same Asian girl from before. Lee Seng couldn't tell if she was ignoring the fact he literally jumped or if she was observing the mural too well.

"Y-yeah, it's, uh, really cool. Are these students...?" Lee Seng trailed off. He felt like he put himself in an awkward position. Nobody really went out of their way to talk to a total stranger so he felt like something was up.

"They're successors of the school. Each time a student does something to be recognized, they get put into the mural. I guess Capitol City has a lot of success." The Asian girl looked at Lee Seng. Lee Seng was in awe of the girl. She seemed to know a lot about this kind of thing. She felt Lee Seng's stare and made eye contact with him. This made him avert his gaze and she smiled.

"You're taking the test too, right?" She asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Lee Seng cleared his throat. He held a hand out. "I'm Lee Seng Chang."

"Olivia Ok. I'm headed to Gymnasium C. Where you going?" Olivia shook his hand. Lee Seng let a smile out.

"Oh, Gymnasium B."

Olivia nodded. The two released their hand shake and she glanced at her phone.

"Well, I guess we're going the same way?" She peeked over at Lee Seng's phone. Lee Seng awkwardly moved his phone to show her and she nodded, looking up at Lee Seng with a smile. "I guess we..." She seemed to look into his ruby and sapphire eyes cause she stopped talking. Lee Seng blinked a couple of times and wanted to ask if she was okay, but she simply stared for awhile.

"My eyes must've caught you off guard?" Lee Seng asked. Olivia snapped out of it and brushed her hair around her ear.

"Oh, uh... Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to, uh..."

"It's fine. I'm just shocked it wasn't the tail for you." Lee Seng turned and she glanced at the white tail that was slowly moving side to side.

"Oh, you're that guy everyone's talking about!" Olivia exclaimed. Lee Seng raised his eyebrows. She clapped her hands together like she just figured something out. "You're the tail guy! It makes so much sense." She awkwardly chuckled. Lee Seng gave a forced smile and nodded.

"Yeah, the tail guy." Lee Seng started to turn towards the doorway. "I think we should continue forward before, uh..."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely." Olivia quickly responded. The two started to walk down the hall together. Lee Seng glanced at his phone and noticed the Gymnasium was to the left.

"I guess I'm over there." He pointed to the left. "And you're over there?" He then pointed to the right. Olivia looked at her phone and then looked up at him, nodding.

"Yeah, I guess. Well, good luck on the physical. Hopefully, we can see each other again." She smiled. Lee Seng waved and the two split. Lee Seng glanced over at the open door to the left and heard chatting. He stepped in and people began to look his way. The gym seemed to be reminiscent of the gyms he knew back at the lab. They were big, spacious, and dull. Bleachers were pulled out to Lee Seng's left and right.

Examinees were sprawled across the bleachers and gym floor. Lee Seng could tell they were all Fighters. They all had a similar rough features. As Lee Seng stepped further into the gym, the room grew quiet. He turned around and saw about fifteen people in the bleachers and about ten more sprawled across the gym floor.

Lee Seng gulped as he decided to wander towards the right side of the bleachers. Two guys and a girl were standing near the bleacher stairs and they glared at him. Lee Seng started up the bleachers when he heard a familiar voice from the left, behind him.

"Chang!" Jason said surprised. Lee Seng stopped and took a deep breath. He turned to see Jason and Jae Kang standing together. They were looking up at him shocked.

"He didn't look like that before." Jae whispered to his brother. Jason didn't take his eyes off of him. Lee Seng could see the coals in his eyes burning. Lee Seng waved and started to turn when Jason yelled.

"You aren't going to say hi to your old friends?" Jason yelled. Lee Seng sighed and turned around.

"I wouldn't say old friends." Lee Seng began. He started down the bleachers and the three at the base of the stairs started to split. Lee Seng made it to the gym floor and took a couple steps away from the bleachers before turning to look at the twins. "I wouldn't call us friends especially after what you put me through."

"Tch." The fire in Jason's eyes was growing and Lee Seng knew exactly what would happen if he pushed it any further. Jae seemed a bit more reserved than usual so Lee Seng only needed to not push any buttons.

"I know you must be shocked I'm here, but..." Lee Seng shrugged. "I'm here. Don't mind me. Just act like I'm not here." Lee Seng waved. Jason marched forward but Jae quickly grabbed him.

"Don't. Not here." Jae whispered. Jason's anger burnt hot in his eyes and Lee Seng waved. He started up towards the bleachers when Jason broke out of his brothers grip and swung at Lee Seng. Lee Seng stumbled forwards and turned around.

Jason clenched his fists, shaking. His rage was showing and his ears were bright red. His jaw started to shake and his eyes began to water. "How can you play this off so calm? After everything that happened?" Jason's voice shook. Everyone was looking at them and Lee Seng glanced over at Jae.

Lee Seng moved forward. His heart had made the decision before he could even think. He reached out for Jason and grabbed him by the wrist.

"Let's talk outside." Lee Seng whispered. Jason yanked his wrist away. His eyes twinkled. Jae jogged forward and stood next to his brother.

"Jason, let's go outside. People are watching." Jae grabbed his brother's arm and wrapped his arm around Jason's back. He glanced at Lee Seng and nodded at the door before turning him and his brother. Lee Seng trailed behind them, trying his best to ignore the stares.

Jason and Jae were a couple feet from the door when Lee Seng stepped out. The two were whispering amongst each other.

"Lee Seng!" Jae spoke up. Lee Seng took a couple steps away from the door and hesitated to move closer. Jason still seemed hurt. He still seemed angry even now. Lee Seng covered his face with his palms and let out a long sigh. He pushed his hair upwards and took a couple more steps forward.

"What're you trying to do?" Lee Seng asked. He stuck his hands in his pockets. His nervousness was getting to him and the sight of these two were throwing him off.

"Didn't expect you to be here." Jae answered.

"I didn't expect you two to be here too."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Jason looked up. He looked like he was actually trying to suppress all of his emotions to say it. His voice was unsteady, but Lee Seng knew better.

'Don't provoke him. Just answer the question and get on with your life.' Lee Seng reminded himself.

"You blew up the locker room and never came back. We heard you got pulled from school immediately afterwards and..."

"Why do you want to know so bad?" Lee Seng asked. "After all you two put me through, what gives you that right to know? You two... You two... I trusted both of you and one day you decide that it was just all a lie?" Lee Seng's face was twisted with sadness and frustration. He bundled his fists in his pockets, desperately trying to hold back from yelling at the top of his lungs.

"So let's just go on with our lives like we've never met. I don't have time to waste on people who've trampled all over me and decided they want to hang me out on the front to die." Lee Seng turned around and started back in. Lee Seng stepped into the gym. People were talking amongst themselves, ignoring him.

'It's better this way. Why would I ever forgive them?'

He made his way towards the bleachers to his left and past the three who were talking around the stairs. He climbed up and decided to sit close to the wall. He pulled his phone out and checked the time.

7:59am

"Alright, everybody! Take a seat!" A deep voice bellowed out. Loud footsteps marched into the gym and a bulky man who dressed like a gym teacher stepped into view. Blonde hair covered with a hat, light skin tone, t-shirt with a windbreaker on top. Shorts and sneakers. He clapped his hands together and they echoed loudly. Lee Seng could see Jason and Jae had trailed in behind the man and were finding a spot like the rest of the students.

The teacher turned around and looked at everyone. His eyes were studying all the potential students and shook his head. He finally looked at Lee Seng and lingered on Lee Seng for awhile before looking away.

"Alright, welcome to the Fighter's Physical. You can call me Icarus. I'll be handling your exam for this duration."