Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 51: Last chance to steer clear (Cascading Collapse - Part 6 - Intermission 2)

Chapter 51: Last chance to steer clear (Cascading Collapse - Part 6 - Intermission 2)

"Excuse me," Nate raised his hand. "But what makes you think that you’ve got the right person?"

’I fucking knew it.’

Nate had to do his absolute best not to show himself fuming.

He warned his cousin over and over, settled the fallout of her antics again and again...

And now she did it.

People were coming to him, assuming her big secret to be known to everyone!

"My lady being the Phantom Thief? Please," Nate waved his hand in dismissal. "I wish I was under such a legend, but I don’t think you’ve got your facts right."

For a moment, Lukas stared at Nate in silence.

"Are you really going to be like this?" he then asked, squinting his eyes a bit as he refused to look away.

Nate, however, couldn’t care less.

"Unless you have some sort of proof, then you might consider this topic to be over," Nate shrugged his shoulders, "for what’s the point of conversation if we can’t even agree on something so basic?"

Lukas continued to stare at the man in silence.

"There are only two ways in which this goes," he then said after taking in a deep breath. "Either his family doesn’t give a crap, then your lady condemned an innocent man with her antics. And if his family does care?"

Lukas shook his head.

"Then she’s the reason for why that man is in this mess to begin with."

Lukas slowly closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Either way, I don’t think this is something that you are in a position to ignore."

Lukas stood up from his seat, not bothering to finish his drink.

"I will buy you as much time as I can, but it’s on you to bring Lady Tesh over so she can save that innocent man from the consequences of her own actions."

"Just out of curiosity," Nate interjected. "Even assuming what you are saying is true, then what do you care?"

Nate rolled his eyes.

"Aren’t you the one who stirred the whole issue by coming up with that report of yours?"

"That I did," Lukas nodded his head. "And now that I’ve seen how it changed my teacher, I consider it my responsibility to undo or, at the very least, limit the damage I’ve caused."

With this statement on his lips, Lukas turned away and left the cafe, leaving Nate alone with his thoughts.

Not for long, though. For in just a mere moment, the doors to the hall swung open again, leading Nate to lower his head and muffle a curse.

’Fuck, it just had to be her!’

As if sensing that there was something wrong, Tesh entered the cafe, looked around, and then, as soon as her eyes locked in on Nate, she moved forth.

"I just saw one of those Dreydarch guys in here," Tesh immediately addressed the problem, depriving Nate of any and all hope that she would’ve missed him.

At this point, however, Nate had to make a decision.

To stay true to his role and immediately inform his cousin of what just happened and feed her all the news he knew on the matter. But, knowing Tesh, telling her about all of that would only invite her to decide to do something even stupider than any of the actions that actually brought the current results.

’This whole trial, isn’t it her own fault?’ Nate gritted his teeth. ’If she gets involved with this whole mess, the end result will only escalate into something even god-damn bigger!’

Nate already had his hands full trying to clean the mess left behind Tesh’s impulsive decisions. And now he had to choose between staying faithful to his job... or saving himself the impossible task of keeping Tesh out of harm’s way.

"Something happened, didn’t it?" Tesh asked, her eyes locked on Nate’s face. "You look down and freeze whenever you think hard about something," she then added, leaning back with a sigh only to rest her hands down on her hips and then stretch her back as far out to the back as she could, not stopping until she heard her spine start cracking.

"..."

Nate raised his eyes to the girl again, before releasing a heavy sigh and looking away.

"That teacher you screwed around with all those times when I told you not to?" Nate started, shaking his head only to then fully turn away and lock his hands behind his back, his posture the expression of him feeling as powerless as he was in the right to slap Tesh with a fat ’I told you so.’ "He’s currently standing trial because of it. Something about physical abuse and imposing himself on you... Or, to be precise," Nate turned back and cast an icy stare at his cousin, "the Phantom Thief."

Tesh’s sympathetic, knowing smile froze on her lips.

At first, her face froze in surprise. Then, it twisted with worry and anxiety this old title of hers has become for the girl now. But as she took her time to process all that Nate said...

"Wait, what abuse?" she asked, leaning back and squinting her eyes as if to get a better look at Nate to find a solution to her damning confusion.

"There was a witness," Nate sighed. "Someone saw you after that teacher... excused you out of his room," Nate explained his own findings that Lukas’ visit only confirmed. "My best bet is, he saw you crash, reported it to someone with a grudge and, well, things just took off on their own from there on."

Nate shrugged his shoulders.

"And please, don’t make me tell you that if you dare to show up, that will be like... checkmate," Nate widened his eyes, trying his absolute best to make the girl understand the consequences of what she was likely thinking of doing next. "You will drop the ruse and admit to being the Phantom right then and there. And I don’t think you can imagine just how deeply seated grudges your... former activity left in every other student of this damned academy!"

By now, Nate raised his voice, screaming out as he already pleaded with the girl to reconsider.

But he could see it in her eyes, the way her thoughts wrapped around each element of the story and then squeezed it out of meaning, only to mix its juice with all the others and combine them together to create a mental drink of a proper, wholesome understanding.

He could see how she recognized her own responsibility for giving someone with a torch a cart full of fuel and pointing him towards a straw building. Or, in more direct words, she gave someone with a grudge a reason to attack someone who just happened to be vulnerable!

And now?

"Wait, if it’s that guy getting trialed," Tesh suddenly stopped, raising her hands to her chest as if to keep the emotional aspect of this whole mess away from her mind for a bit. "Why wouldn’t he call me for a witness? That’s literally all he would have to do to have me dispel all of those vile accusations myself, wouldn’t he?"

Nate merely shrugged his shoulders.

"No summons for you came here or to any of our other connecting locations," he explained. "That means, he either can’t, doesn’t want to, or... decided against calling for you?" Nate shook his head before taking a seat at his table and taking a sip of his now stale brew. "Either way, you weren’t called so you can still steer clear of this mess," he summed up, only to then stretch out in his seat.

A moment of silence passed between the two, only for Nate to release a long, pained groan and then cover his eyes with his hands.

"But you are not going to do that, are you?"

With his eyes closed, Nate couldn’t see Tesh’s changing expression. He could hear her sigh perfectly well, though.

"Indeed, you are correct," she said, before adding a small, "sorry."

"It’s nothing," still keeping his eyes shut by his own hand, Nate waved his other arm at the girl. "I’m the one responsible for cleaning all of your mess anyway? Doesn’t that mean you are responsible for creating the mess for me to clean up?"

This time, Tesh didn’t reply, nor even made a sound that could imply her thoughts or reaction.

"Thanks, Nate," she muttered after a long wait, only for the following rustling to indicate her turning around, ready to leave. "This is the last time, I promise."