Elaine stared at him, her frustration growing with each second. Her hands shook just thinking about his insensitive request.
"Are you serious?" she snapped. "You just watched soone explode, and now you're asking to try?"
She crossed her arms and glared at him. "What kind of ssed-up person does that? Don't you care if I die and get blown up like—like that guy?"
Asher didn't look worried. "I an, you were able to leave before, so I thought you could—"
"That was before!" she cut him off. "For all we know, sothing's changed. And that's not even the main problem! Why are you so calm about this? Soone just died, for God's sake!"
Elaine was beyond frustrated by how detached he was. She knew he was a calm person, but there was a difference between being cool headed and being indifferent.
'How could he be so nonchalant?'
'How could he act like what just happened didn't matter?' she muttered to herself
Asher shook his head and sighed. "I'm not saying it doesn't matter. But what's done is done. Feeling guilty won't fix anything. Right now, we need to figure out what's going on."
"You..." Elaine clenched her fist, her mind racing. She wanted to argue, to scream at him for being so cold.
Before she could say more, footsteps echoed from the direction of the school building.
A crowd of teachers, students, and staff rushed toward them, drawn by the earlier commotion.
Lyka was at the front, looking concerned.
"Asher... Elaine... what's going on here?" she demanded.
Her eyes turned to the ground, and the sight of blood and scattered internal organs made her freeze. Her face turned pale, and within seconds, she leaned over, retching uncontrollably.
Others weren't any better. A few students clutched their stomachs, stumbling away, while so staff mbers turned back, muttering panicked excuses to avoid the horrifying scene.
Asher observed the crowd. Their reactions looked all too real—fear, confusion, and disgust were painted on their faces. There was no sign of pretense.
The more he looked at them, the more he was convinced they were real people, not just illusions.
"It was him!" one of Jas' lackeys shouted. "He pushed our friend to the gate, and then he exploded!"
All eyes locked onto Asher.
The blood covering his clothes didn't help his case; if anything, it made their accusation even more believable.
Murmurs spread quickly, growing louder as the crowd began to connect the dots—or at least thought they had.
"Yeah, I pushed him," Asher admitted, keeping his tone casual. "But I just wanted him to grab a drink from outside."
It was a blatant lie, but he figured it was better than the truth.
Telling them they were stuck in so twisted reality would only cause panic. Worse, they'd probably think he'd lost it and try to force him down. Enjoy more content from empire
"See? I told you! He's a criminal!" The thug kept fueling the fire, and his friends chid in, backing him up.
"Yeah, he's definitely guilty!" one of them added.
The crowd hesitated, unsure of how to react. So seed to believe him, while others exchanged skeptical glances.
"I'm innocent," Asher said again,
The students who had accused him wasn't having it. "That's the dumbest excuse I've ever heard! He's dead because of you! You killed him!"
Asher raised an eyebrow "And how do you think I did it?"
One of the thugs shouted, "I don't know, maybe you made him eat so kind of explosive!"
Asher was montarily stunned. That was actually a good explanation. He hadn't thought of it that way.
Suddenly, everyone was looking at him, suspicion written all over their faces. The crowd tensed, waiting for him to explain himself.
Then Elaine stepped forward. "He's innocent. I know he's a jerk and an asshole, but he is not a murderer."
She defended him though, technically, he was one. The number of people he'd taken out could humble a serial killer.
"She's an accomplice!" one of the thugs shouted, accusing her of being a criminal as well.
Elaine stepped back, her heart pounding. "I'm just telling the truth. "
"Bullshit, you like him and you're protecting that killer! Let's get him and call the police!"
Elaine's fists clenched at her sides, her mind racing. She was still trying to make sense of everything, but these accusations were getting out of hand.
Rachel and the others quickly moved to her side, their faces hard with defiance.
"She's right," Rachel snapped, glaring at the thugs. "You guys are making this way worse. Stop spreading lies."
The crowd of students that had gathered began to shout over each other, their voices blending into a ss of accusations and counterpoints.
anwhile, Asher just stood there, ignoring everything around him. His expression remained unchanged, like he was watching the world burn without a care.
In the back of his mind though, he was already considering his next move.
Just as the tension reached its peak, the adults finally took charge.
The principal's voice sliced through the chaos.
"Calm down ." he barked.
Teachers quickly began directing the students, pushing them back and urging them to stay in line, while other staff mbers scrambled to call the police, their voices urgent as they fumbled with phones.
Surprisingly, they got a response on the other end of the line. This made him wonder if they were finally back to reality.
'If that's the case, then maybe I should wait for a while before making any move. If the police really show up here, it ans I'm back.'
"Asher!"
His thoughts were interrupted by the principal, who approached him with a stern look.
"Co with us. We need to detain you until the police arrive," he instructed with a firm tone.
Asher didn't resist. There was no point in arguing—it would only make them more suspicious of him. Besides, beating them up was not an option.
The crowd around them slowly began to disperse, but the murmurs continued.
Whispers filled the air, so students glancing back over their shoulders at him with a mix of fear and disgust.
Even though the teachers tried to maintain order, so students couldn't hold back their anger.
They threw whatever they could—empty water bottles, papers, and even a few backpacks. Asher easily dodged the first few items, watching them fly past him with little effort.
But one of the bottles, aid too wildly, ended up hitting a teacher who was standing nearby. The teacher flinched, then turned, their face reddening with frustration.
"Who did that?" the teacher snapped, looking around with a stern glare.
The students froze, realizing their mistake. The one who had thrown it stepped back, his face turning pale as he was scolded in front of everyone.
In the end, the teacher sighed, realizing it wasn't worth the trouble.
With a frustrated shake of the head, they gave up on trying to calm the crowd any further and just continued walking.
The sooner he was gone, the less likely the students would cause any more trouble.
Along the way, Asher continued to observe his surroundings. Despite the chaos, it didn't seem like whoever was behind this was planning to directly attack him.
'What's it trying to do?' he wondered. 'Or is it just trying to trap here?'
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