Shot of Silence

Chapter 10: Rumors Aside

"Hen-Hen?" Heath arched a brow when he saw his cousin waiting for him as he reached the main road.

"Yo!" the blond greeted before they both walked back to Henko's apartment.

Their way home was rather uneventful, marked only by light chattering. This was how Henko perceived their trip. Meanwhile, Heath took advantage of the situation, attempting to glean more information about his parallel self's old daily life from his talkative cousin.

Through his efforts, he did manage to gather some basic information and cross-referenced it with what he knew from his previous life. One noteworthy match was the names of his parents and a few others from his family tree. Despite differences in surname and social status, the core element aligned. This made him wonder if there were other similar facts that could be uncovered if he persisted in his inquiries.

Before he knew it, they were back at the comfort of their humble abode, preparing a meal for their dinner.

"So, do you feel at home in your new class?" the blond asked as they finished cooking.

"I won't call it homey just yet, but well, it's not as bad as the others made it sound. The kids up there are fun to be around," Heath said, taking a bite of his dish.

"Oh?" the older one arched a brow. "And here I was expecting you to come back crying and not wanting to work again because it was so bad or something."

"Now now, don't be rude. It's not so bad over there."

“Really?” Henko hummed, “But that’s not what I heard in the main building—”

The blond then shared what he had heard from his peers. Unfortunately, none of it was good news. The stories ranged from delinquents in his classroom bullying other students to the point of driving the victim to almost ending their own life, to devious rumors about one of his students trying to manipulate teachers for better grades.

What makes his blood boil the most is how these stories always place the blame on the students and never once consider the possibility of teacher negligence, assuming any of them were true anyway.

‘These are heavy accusations! Wouldn't any of them go to jail if any of these rumors were proven true? What are the adults doing that such deceitful words can escalate this far?’

—And yet, Henko wasn't done yet.

“I mean, drugs? At first, I can’t believe any of them would get involved in that kind of thing… But the more I heard about those kids, I don’t know anymore— eep!”

He takes a sudden step back, his gaze fixed on the abrupt intrusion in his line of sight.

Heath had twirled his chopstick dangerously close to Henko’s eyes with a cold glare and a plastic smile.

"I said, don't be rude, didn’t I~? Please watch your tongue, dear cousin~"

Wide-eyed, that blond turned his head back at the perpetrator, a comical thick mark on his head.

Henko snapped back, "The heck, bruh!? Are you going to kill me?”

However, the brunet only maintained his sweet smile, making the startled man gulp in fear.

"Ay-yo... No need to be so defensive," the blond threw his hands up in surrender, as he never thought the brunet could be this scary.

"The rumor was simply that bad, you see. I was just worried about you. It's honestly relieving that all of those are nothing but empty words."

The former royalty hummed, turning back to normal and eating as if he hadn't just about to stab those pair of jade eyes, "Well, I guess some parts of it are true. Regarding their grades, that is. I’ve seen the report and indeed, most of them need guidance in getting better scores."

"R-Right, it's rather unnerving to hear that they have been discriminated against by others that far." Henko sighed, genuinely frustrated with himself. "There are some diamonds in the rough within the bunch. If only they could get a chance or be given by someone."

The brunet stared at him.

"What?" That blond shot him an annoyed look.

"Aren't you, like, the homeroom of Class A-9? Or was it Class B-9? Either way, won't the Chairman hear you out?"

Henko huffed, "Dude, I used to go to the same school as that guy in high school at one point. Words won't get through to him." He replied, stabbing the pile of ginger before taking a mini bite and continuing. "If anything, I'd be advising you to stay as far away from him."

"Huh?" Curiously blinking, Heath then asked, "But why?"

“‘Why’ you asked?” Henko hummed, thinking of a way to explain it.

"I guess if we're to put it simply, it would be the phrase 'If there’s no merit, why bother’? That guy is an opportunist through and through after all,” Henko waved his hand.

“Hee… But that doesn’t sound so bad, though. I mean, being an opportunist isn’t a crime, right?”

“Well, yeah. And he’s not a criminal either. Or at least that’s what he wanted us to believe from what he showed on the surface.”

“Oho~?” Heath arched a brow, “Are you implying that he’s involved in some shady syndicate under the surface or some shit?”

“Syndicate— what? No.” Henko scrunched his face upon the teasing.

“Well, I don’t know how clean he is in the eyes of the law, nor do I want to find out. I’m just saying that our dear chairman is as sly as a snake. He’d get what he wanted and he'd eat you alive in an argument. So, unless you are sure of a miracle happening, or you have an expensive proposal going on, I really won't recommend getting on his bad side." He warned seriously before then muttering a soft “Not again.” —which unfortunately went unheard of by his cousin.

Hearing that, Heath hummed quietly, 'Miracle, huh?'

"You know, Hen-Hen, there's a saying that a miracle won't happen if you don't leap."

Honestly, Henko can only facepalm upon seeing that confident smirk.

"Just... stay away from jail, hospital, and obviously don't die. Can you at least do that much?"

"No need to worry about me, dear cousin." That brunet grinned brightly with sparkles on his back.

"If things take a turn for the worse, I won't be the one in any of those places. I promise~"

—Poor Henko can only let out a tired sigh in response.