The moment the guy with the black, scraggly hair made a move toward Zac, the young Small was already prepared for his opponent's advance.
Zac didn't know this youth, but his senses were better than ever. After his experiences fighting bums and troublemakers, he could now sense when someone was looking at him strangely or plotting against him.
He saw this student's strange look from afar. When Dario's emissary tried to trip and knock him down in the cafeteria, Zac skillfully used the little of his abilities he already had under control.
By moving one of his fingers, Zac made the boy trip over his own foot before kicking him.
Suddenly, while many students were chatting and eating at the edge of the large area, the scraggly-haired young man's confused voice rang out, and he fell face-first to the ground.
Everyone turned their attention to the guy on the ground while Zac and Sean stopped to take a closer look.
"That..." Sean muttered, not having grasped the situation in the same way as his blond friend.
Zac kept his expression serious and looked down at the young man on the ground with a look of surprise, pain, and shame. "Did you trip over yourself? Do you want help?" He showed one of his hands, appearing innocent to the more than 50 witnesses in the area.
The young man on the ground ignored Zac's offer and simply picked up his things from the ground before limping away.
Zac watched as he heard the murmurs from the surrounding area, everyone talking about the young man, some laughing so loudly that there was no way the guy wouldn't know they were laughing and talking about him.
'Dario...' Zac thought of that name, knowing that the black-haired young man running away from the shameful situation he had put himself in was not responsible for this little incident. 'He doesn't seem to want to leave me alone.'
"He tried to knock me off balance," Zac commented to Sean as they stood in the middle of the main corridor of the cafeteria.
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Sean was surprised.
"He tried to knock me off balance, but he tripped himself," Zac explained to his friend before looking into Sean's eyes. "Who do you think was behind that?"
Sean closed his eyes and sighed. "Dario, I guess. Fuck, man. I don't know what that asshole's problem is. I heard that the people from The Vipers told him to forget about his problems with you... Apparently, that won't be enough."
"It won't be," Zac commented calmly but somewhat satisfied.
He wanted to take revenge on Dario!
If Dario stopped attacking him and hid behind the rules of The Vipers, it would be difficult for Zac to act and get his revenge. Not only would it be difficult for him to reach Dario, but he would also have no justification for taking action, which could cause him more problems in the future.
People thought that criminal organizations, the mafia, and so on had no rules and that crooks would do whatever they could. But things were more complex. If every member of a group were chaotic and acted only for themselves, the chaos of the group would be its end.
Most groups, like The Vipers, had rules and things that could and couldn't be done by group members. Hell, many of Ushal's criminal factions even had a criminal court.
If a member of such a group was killed after breaking into a house he didn't have permission to break into, the group itself would not avenge him.
The methods of these groups were complex and sometimes confusing to laypeople. However, the members of these groups were well aware that there was an ethic to crime.
And the criminal ethic was brutal!
"Do you know where Dario is this morning?" Zac asked Sean, feeling very good.
"I don't think..."
Zac interrupted Sean's speech. "Don't worry, I just want to know the places to avoid. I think situations like this will happen a lot from now on. I want to avoid them as much as possible."
"If that's the case, avoid Mechanics 2, English 3, and Finance 1. He sometimes misses these classes, but since he has to attend roll call so that his family doesn't lose their welfare benefits, you'll see him in these classes more often than not." Sean informed before adding. "You might want to be careful about going to your gymnasium in the early afternoon. I heard he goes to a gym near your martial arts place."
Sean and Zac talked a lot about messaging apps. Even though they hadn't seen each other for about a week, Sean knew a few things about what Zac had been up to the last few days.
"What gym?" Zac was interested in that.
"Premium Fitness."
"Tsk! That sounds like the name of a beauty product." Zac said while Sean laughed subtly.
"Mia goes to that gym. Did you know that?"
"I know, but she likes you, not me." Zac and Sean were open about the strange love triangle they were involved in.
Sean smiled bitterly and said. "Maybe she'll fall for you if you put on some muscle and become the fighter I know exists in you. You've already gained her brother's trust. It won't change the way she feels about you."
"Her brother?" Zac laughed, seeing that Sean didn't mind giving him false hope, even though they'd been friends for years. "You're the kind of friend that throws your friends in the shit, Sean."
Sean smiled when he saw that Zac wasn't so naive.
"Well, it does more good than harm for you to get along with her brother. That's for sure."
Zac shook his head negatively. "Only someone who never had a sister would say that. Amy loves me and does everything for me, Sean. But she would never have a relationship with a man just because I respect or like him.
Mia is just a teenager. It's easier for us to see a train pass under the school in the late afternoon than for her to consider Instructor Bell's opinion."
The Strength Titans instructor who had introduced Zac to martial arts and the gym was actually Mia's older brother. Zac didn't know it that day, but he found out after talking to Sean about his experience at Strength Titans.
"Do you want me to help you?" Sean asked. "If I join the gym, I'm sure she'll go there one day to 'see her brother.' It'll be your chance to show you're cooler than you look."
"I'm fine. I like Mia, but it's not worth it if she doesn't like me. If I can get her to stop liking you to be with me, what guarantee do I have that someone else won't do that against me in the future?" Zac thanked his friend as he finished his snack.
"Better to be alone than with a bad company, my friend."
With these words, he left the cafeteria alone, thinking something completely different from what he had said to Sean.