Arit waited for a few more seconds to make sure that Maria was not keeping anything else from her for cinematic effect before she thanked her and turned to leave. Arit did not have enough information to come to a concrete conclusion, but from what she just heard, she knew that there was definitely a connection between what happened in that meeting and what Esmeralda said yesterday.
If they had a meeting to try and expel Mark, then it was obvious that the meeting did not go Linda's way since Mark was still in this school. But if Linda was meeting with Esmeralda, then does that mean she was not giving up yet?
Was she trying to use Esmeralda to try and get rid of Mark for some reason?
Arit stopped walking as she reached the door and turned to Maria.
"Is there any rumor that has been going around the school recently?"
Maria's eyes widened as she heard this and she scratched her cheek timidly while looking away from Arit.
"Eh? Well..."
Maria was hesitant to talk since she did not know what sort of reaction Arit would have to the information. As a member of the student council, she had a lot of connections in the school, so she knew about everything that happened there. Even the smallest rumors did not escape her attention, and she would know about them before the day was over.
There has been a rumor going around recently that Maria did not want to tell Arit about at all. She knew that Arit would also hear about it eventually, but that did not mean she wanted to be the one to tell Arit about it. She wanted Arit to find out about it from some other unfortunate soul!
"There is something, isn't there? What is it?"
Arit began walking towards Maria again, and Maria raised her hand in surrender as she noticed Arit balling her hand into a fist.
"Don't hit me! I didn't do anything wrong! I'll say it!"
Maria remembered what Arit did to that table, and she did not want to know what that much strength would do to her skull if Arit hit her with it! Maria was now certain that Arit was a superhuman that has been hiding her powers! Maybe her blessing is just very weak so she cannot fight against Anima, but that does not mean she cannot kill me in seconds if she tries!
Maria would rather have Arit be angry at Esmeralda for the rumor rather than take the punishment from Arit for keeping information from her. Maria started talking quickly before Arit could get too close.
"I heard one of the juniors talking about it in the hall this morning. They said that... Mark had the highest amount of property damage and death during his fights because his fighting style focuses more on causing as much damage as possible to the enemy using heavy punches. They called... They called Mark a murderer."
"Arit, you're late."
"Yes, sorry ma'am. I had to go to the toilet."
Juliet nodded calmly and turned back to her books.
"Okay, just take your –"
"Hey, move out of the way."
A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Arit and cut Juliet off, and Arit felt her entire body lock up like a jackhammer once she heard the voice.
'KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL HER!! KILL THE FUCKING BITCH RIGHT NOW!!'
Arit turned around to look at Esmeralda with a glare, and Esmeralda furrowed her brow in confusion as she saw the look in Arit's eyes. For a moment there, Esmeralda could have sworn that she saw something yellow flash across Arit's eyes, but it was gone before long, and Arit just moved away from the door to take her seat.
Arit was trying her hardest at that point not to allow her other side to come out, and she was grateful that she had enough control not to allow it to take control. Arit knew that anything related to Mark could easily make her other side come out, so it took a lot more effort to make it calm down in this sort of situation.
"Alright, let's start taking –"
"Am I late?"
Another voice spoke up from the door, and Juliet felt her words hang in her throat as she turned to look at Mark. A small blush rose on her cheek, and she forced herself to answer him in a stable tone and told him to take his seat.
"You're right on time, Mark. Please sit down."
No one complained about the obvious favoritism that Juliet just showed. They were too busy staring at Mark to even bother pointing it out.
Mark thanked her and went to sit down beside Arit. He smiled at Arit as he took his seat and Arit was about to smile back, but Arit's eyes immediately trailed towards something on Mark's collar. It was light, but there was a smudge of red lipstick on his collar that was shaped like a pair of lips. Arit's eyes widened, and she immediately turned to Mark to ask for an explanation.