"What are you doing here?"
"Is he a spy? Perhaps from other impacts?"
"I won't find it surprising to be one of those despicable dark spirit pieces of sh*t!"
"Let's beat him first, then capture and lock him up!"
"Well said! Who is going to help me? Anyone?"
William suddenly became the hot focus of everyone in the plaza. And soon enough, everyone looked at him in a hostile and vicious way. More spirit masters started to come from nearby corridors, attracted by the ruckus and shouts spreading all over the plaza.
William was about to take out the token thing he got from the old man, praying inside that this token would be recognised by few, or held any value at all.
Or else, he knew he'd suffer a hellish beating just for nothing wrong he did!
However…
"Hey! Stop this nonsense! All of you retreat! All of you get away!"
William's hand paused in their place while a weird look appeared on his face. He turned, just like everyone else, towards the direction of the incoming voice, while many parted ways for a familiar face to appear in William's eyes.
"You…" William was instantly taken aback. He looked up and down at his saviour, while the latter approached slowly, with a team following suit.
"He is an old friend of mine," a refined looking young lady stopped just ten metres away from William, turned to face others of the impact, while crossing her arms in a challenging way.
"Ro, are you sure you do know him?"
"It would be bad if he turned out to be an agent of the other side."
"Stop this bullshit! He isn't anyway related to any dark spirit master group," Ro's voice echoed strongly in the place, while William didn't know how to react to this weird surprise.
He previously met Ro when he attended the Spar arena's big day back at the academy. And right there, he executed one of his most brilliant battles since returning back to this world. And she was there, witnessed everything that he did, even saving his life once.
He always felt that she had a mysterious background, least to his knowledge that he'd find her here.
"This impact… It's no coincidence at all!" William was much surer now of his earlier hunch. This impact and him seemed to share many ties, and that was the machination of nothing else but fate.
That got him curious about what fate prepared for him, to link him to such a big impact, one that wasn't supposed to meet or cross paths with ever.
"Are you sure?"
"Why not double check?"
"You do know how those bastards act, how their weird methods in shapeshifting work."
"Stop this circus," Ro didn't get fazed by the many shouts coming at her. And that told William she was a famous figure here.
"How about him being a spy of other impacts? Coming here to check on the test results?"
"Ahem," before Ro would speak up again, William did what he wanted to do in the first place. He took out the token, raised it high in the air, as he slowly added in a calm tone, "I'm not any of what you thought. I came here invited by a senior, and he left this for me to prove my words."
"This…"
"No way! How come this thing is with him?!"
"Holy sh*t!"
The moment William took the token out and said these words, the expression on everyone's faces changed dramatically.
William prayed that they'd recognise this token, few of them actually. But their current reaction didn't give any peace of mind. Instead, they made him feel weirder and more worried.
It was like looking at someone infected with a deadly disease or got cursed by bad luck or something. And in the next few minutes, everyone stepped away, moved far from William, leaving a distance of tens of metres between them and him.
Seeing all that made his eyes twitch. "What's wrong with this thing? Am I in any danger or what?" as he lacked any intel, he turned instantly towards Ro and her group.
Ro was a beauty, but she was now surrounded with other stunning and more beautiful young girls. They were at the same age as herself, and it seemed like she was the leader of this team.
Their faces weren't any better than the faces of others. And that made him feel much worse than ever.
"I shouldn't have taken this damn thing out and let her defend me instead," he inwardly sighed, blaming his earlier rash move and his desire to silence everyone here.
"This… Sigh! Why is it always this troublesome every time I meet you? Huh? Are you a magnet for trouble or what?" she didn't just say these words from her spot, but even moved closed and knocked on his head like she was knocking on a door or something.
"Ouch! Ouch! It hurts! Stop it! Ouch! Ouch!" he tried to escape her reach, but she kept tagging along, knocking on his head while her friends laughed.
"Ro, is he really one of your friends?"
"He is a bit funny."
"I like him Ro, let me knock him as well."
"Yes, I too want that, Tu wants that!"
"Hey hey! Ladies! I'm not a damn punching bag for you!" William had to use his technique to get away from the clutches of Ro. and when he did, the laughs of the twenty girls of Ro's team choked in their throats.
"Don't let him mislead you," Ro aimed for such a result from the start, "he is a very dangerous dude, here and here!"
She pointed at her head and waist, a move that made William's face change at once.
"Hey! Who said I'm dangerous here?!! Huh?!" William pointed at his little brother, while shouting in disbelief.
"I'm just protecting my sisters from the evilness of someone like you," Ro put an honest expression on her face, one that William didn't buy.
"Ro, please, lend him to me. Tu wants to play with him at night, please lend him to me."