Chapter 3 New Noah

"Noah…!" Timothy yelled out, covering his eyes.

As the sharp blade neared his stomach, Noah was pleasantly surprised to find his reflexes had been sharpened to a high level, allowing him to easily react to the incoming attack and counter it by grabbing Lars' wrist.

'I doubt it'd even leave a scratch on me if I let him reach, but I don't need such theatrics right now,' he thought.

"Grgh…?!" Lars looked in surprise.

Noah smiled down at him, "Don't worry. I'm in a good mood, so this time, I'll take it easy on ya'."

Just like that, a nasty crack resounded through the block as the delinquent's wrist was snapped, gaining the attention of passing students that were too scared to watch or approach Lars, now gossiping and snapping videos on their phones.

" Graaagh…!" Lars screamed in pain, falling to his knees as he held his flopped wrist.

There was an immense level of satisfaction gained from the action as he smiled, standing over the thug as darker thoughts flooded his mind. Temptation rose to take things further, though he was taken out of this trance of darkness as a cop walked over.

"Hey! What's going on here?" The blonde-haired, middle-aged police officer commanded an answer.

Hardly any part of Noah felt the need to excuse himself as he cracked his knuckles, not afraid to stand against even an enforcer of the law. Though that bloodlust oozing off of him halted as a girl walked over.

"I saw everything. Noah was just defending himself–Lars here pulled a knife on him and lunged," the girl with hazel hair explained.

It was somebody he recognized from his school: "Emily." She wore black leggings and a short-sleeved shirt that had "BLOSSOM VIEW STATE TRACK TEAM" written on the back.

'She's always been nice to me. I've always had a crush on her…I wonder how I'd do with how I am now?' He wondered.

Timothy added in, "Y-yeah, that's what happened!"

He couldn't be less worried about the current situation, though it seemed to solve itself now with the alibis on his side.

"...Is that right? Well, count yourself lucky that you know some moves, kid," the officer said, looking at Noah before hoisting Lars up by his arm, "C'mon, you're going to the hospital then we'll discuss what happened here with your parents. If you're lucky, you'll get a light sentence in prison–but I don't count on you getting lucky."

–

After an eventful start to the morning, he was surprised to find Emily approaching him first and foremost as the blue-eyed girl seemed to look at him with different eyes.

"I almost didn't recognize you, Noah. You…really changed," Emily said.

"Yeah. Guess I did," he replied.

He could recall it well; before, the way she looked at him was of pity, as one would treat a wounded puppy, but now, she looked up at him with a slight flush to her cheeks as if looking at a man.

"I-I was going to say that, too! Did you have a growth spurt, Noah? You're like a whole foot taller!" Timothy spurted out, "Y-you could join the basketball team now!"

Noah looked over at him, scratching the top of his own head, "Something like that."

As Emily and Noah were standing together, Timothy seemed to finally read the situation as he promptly went on ahead.

"I-I'll catch you later," Timothy said, "Thanks for saving me, Noah."

"Sure," Noah replied.

It was just the two of them left to themselves now, which Emily gave him a look as if asking with her eyes 'Want to walk together?", which since they were on the same route anyway, he obliged.

There was no doubt that with his newly-gained abilities, less-than-heroic thoughts prodded his mind on the topic of women, but he felt little urgency.

'Everything is going my way; the world is operating in my favor now. I can just sit back and relax–taking things at my own leisure, when I want, how I want,' he thought.

"So…are you planning to get into any sports? You have, err…the build for it," Emily asked as her eyes lingered to his body.

He noticed the up-and-down looks she was giving him but ignored it, "I didn't plan on it. Why?"

"Just wondering–it'd be beneficial, you know? It's fun, and well, you can make friends, you know? Also, it can help you get more social! If you need it, I mean," Emily explained, twiddling with her hazel hair.

As he glanced to the side, there was an obvious amount of attention being drawn to the fact he was walking with Emily, who was somewhat popular herself, and though he had undergone changes in appearance, he didn't quite have such a dramatic change in the hierarchy of popularity. Though he felt that was soon to change.

Taking some initiative mainly for his own amusement, he slung his arm around Emily's shoulder, holding a heart-fluttering smile.

"Huh–?" Emily blushed.

"Well, I wouldn't mind trying out some sports. What did you have in mind?" He said with silver charisma.

Emily seemed to relax with a small cherry hue to her cheeks persisting as they walked together, "I was thinking…the track team could use some help."

"I'll give it a go, then," he told her with a false smile.

There was a natural charisma he obtained through his metamorphosis, though he only used it for superficial goals such as earning the girl's fondness for himself.

"Really?! That's great!" Emily beamed.

He simply smiled in return, finally reaching school premises as he crossed past those rose-decorated gates for the first time with confidence and without fear, now feeling as though he owned the place.

Through his heightened sense of hearing, he was able to pick up on the whispers and gossips of students in the courtyard; it was always surprising to him just how nosy students could be.

"Is that Noah Grays? He looks totally different."

"He totally does, O-M-G! Is he with Emily, too? I don't blame her…I mean, he doesn't look bad, does he?"

"Is that a new kid or something?"

—These murmurs only brought a small smile to his lips as the sense of chaos and attention brought to him that he never felt before as his once bland, uneventful self felt nice.

He looked up towards the pale-bricked building that was Blossom View State, recalling all of the times he feared even to step into its bounds.