Nava decided to stop him before his stutter ran entirely out of control. Again. ‘That sounds like it would be agreeable, so long as you’re willing to have Melissa Connelly asking questions when she gets stuck. I have already agreed to help her where she needs it and I will not back out of a commitment already made.’
‘N-no, of course. I wouldn’t ask you t-to. I h-have found that helping others with a subject can often solidify my own thoughts on the t-topic. I would be h-happy to assist Melissa Connelly as well.’
‘Thank you,’ Melissa said. ‘In which case you can call me Mel.’
‘M-Mel… Thank you, Mel. You may call me Chess. It’s the one nickname I’ve picked up which I’m comfortable with.’
Melissa giggled. ‘Chess. It suits you. And now I actually have a chance of getting through the year-end exams without failing.’
235/1/20.
‘I admit that I’ll need to further study such things as tactics if I wish to make it through to the final years and forget about all that,’ Rochester said. He now spent his lunch hours with Nava and Melissa, and his stutter was effectively gone unless he forgot and looked either woman in the chest.
‘It’s a matter of utility,’ Nava said. ‘However, it’s also a matter of effectiveness in your chosen profession. It’s never to your detriment to broaden your horizons. That’s why I’m on the support stream.’
‘I… won’t argue,’ Rochester said and then he prepared himself to argue. ‘However, I feel–’
Nava saw the attack begin and could, perhaps, have avoided it, but doing so would have driven her into Rochester and Melissa, so she braced herself to take the hit. Walking in the opposite direction from the trio were four boys, third or fourth years from the general look of them. They were laughing about something and appeared thoroughly engrossed in themselves, but Nava saw the leader’s eyes scan over her before he shifted his footing so that he would collide with her. You could tell he was the leader because he was bigger than the others by a few centimetres and had a cockier attitude about him.
The impact jarred through Nava’s body and she twisted her torso to shrug as much of it off as possible. There was going to be a bruise on her shoulder soon enough and, annoyingly, the uniform dresses were sleeveless. But it was the immediate reaction of the bully which brought all nearby motion to a halt.
‘Watch where you’re going!’ he exclaimed in a loud voice. He was a redhead with green eyes and a significant amount of muscle on his tall frame. He was trying, and failing, to hide a smirk.
Nava regarded the man for a second. ‘I would suggest that you take your own advice, but your action was deliberate.’
‘What? Are you accusing me of deliberately barging into you? You insult me and expect me to let this stand? Apologise.’
Nava could see where this was going. The whimper from nearby suggested that Melissa could see it too. Nava had two courses of action: apologise or be challenged. The apology would defuse the immediate situation, but not the overall threat. Unfortunately, the other route would likely solve very little either… ‘I will not apologise for your actions.’
The bully straightened his back and squared his shoulders. ‘I am Devin Girard Sonkei and I challenge–’
‘Declined,’ Nava said.
Surprise showed on Devin’s face until it was overridden by arrogant confidence. ‘You can’t just decline a challenge from–’
‘I can and have. Section three of the school disciplinary code, paragraph six. “Frivolous, casual, or contrived duelling is forbidden.” I am within my rights to decline a duel where the challenger has engineered a situation in order to make a challenge possible. Now, if that is all, I’d like to get some lunch.’ Turning on her heel, Nava started off in the direction of the refectory, Melissa and Rochester hurrying to catch up with her.
‘Don’t walk away from me!’ Devin roared from behind her. ‘This isn’t over!’
‘No,’ Nava muttered, ‘I don’t suppose it is.’
235/1/21.
Nava was annoyed, but it did not show. She was currently missing lunch because the Student Security Force’s captain had summoned her to a meeting. Luca Newton had passed on the ‘invitation’ in homeroom that morning. Nava was now standing at one end of a table where four people sat in judgement. They all had sandwiches and drinks.
‘Nava Ward,’ the one at the other end of the table said, ‘you have been accused of declining a challenge to a duel. I am Courtney Martell Garavain, Captain of the Student Security Force. I will be dealing with this, quite serious, infraction of the school rules. How do you answer the charge?’ She was calm about it but appeared mildly amused. She had short brown hair and dark eyes. Her skin was a lighter shade of brown and she was a pretty woman. She had been the SSF head for two years and was now in her fifth year at the school. Nava had familiarised herself with all the student representatives after meeting Mitsuko.
‘This is regarding the incident with Devin Girard yesterday?’ Nava asked. What else would it be? And where was Devin? If he had accused her, he should be here, missing lunch.
‘That is correct.’
‘Devin Girard purposefully bumped into me in order to extract an apology or a duel. Under the rules of this school, I would be required to decline such a challenge.’
‘You have evidence that he attempted to force a duel?’
Nava considered the statement. Specifically, she considered the tone of the statement. There was a hint of eagerness about it, as though Courtney was hoping that Nava had evidence. ‘No,’ Nava said, and the relaxation of Courtney’s facial muscles suggested that Nava had not mistaken the eagerness, ‘but you do.’
Courtney’s eyebrows lifted. ‘Explain.’
‘You have access to security camera recordings. There are two cameras covering the stretch of corridor where the incident happened. If you review the recordings, you’ll see that Devin Girard changed direction to ensure a collision. Additionally, his reaction
