F-Rank Soul Eater-Chapter 136: We Must Work Together

By the time Soren returned to his room. He was surprised to see someone waiting for him at his door.

Bloodshine.

She sat on the ground, head resting against the doorframe of his room, arms wrapped around her knees.

The Dormitory was far warmer than the freezing outside, but it was still cold.

She was sleeping.

It was probably the most peaceful he had ever seen her.

He approached, fingers slightly brushing aside her bloody red hair to reveal her features.

She looked cute.

—another image flashed in his head.

Vinegar.

Her smile.

—Then her tear filled face begging him not to kill her fathers.

Soren pulled back his arm, standing to his feet.

However, the moment he looked away, he heard her voice.

"Husband. You are nøt back!" She yawned, stretching.

"Yeah." He turned to her. "You shouldn’t stay out here you know, its cold."

He advised, opening the door, walking past her into the room.

She gazed at him a small smile tugging at the side of her lips. "You are nøt sweet. Wasn’t it simply a day?

Besides, I have nøt faced far worse growing up."

She stood up.

Soren’s eyes widened. "I have been gone for a day?"

She nodded.

"Shit." He cursed. Realizing that it meant he could not repeat the day, and prevent the things that happened.

That Red sword and the lab assitant that died were gone forever.

"We need to get the others. There is work to do."

She nodded again, reaching for her watch.

Thirty minutes later, and Cynthia, Polystar, Pencil, and Vass had made it to his room.

Vass kept looking around the place, obvious dissatisfaction on his face.

He had come second place after Goldsworth, but with Soren’s and Cynthia’s arrival, he had fallen to fourth.

His room was no where this luxurious. It ruined his mood.

Polystar, resting against a wall—hands pocketed—had different thoughts in his head.

His battle with the rune-laced cadet had ended in his victory, but it left a sour taste in his mouth.

One that he just could not understand.

Tommy sat at a corner of the sitting room, staring at the faces around him.

Everyone here was either a noble, or had incredible achievements in the academy. He felt so... out of place.

Cynthia occupied a part of the room, even sitting cross legged on the ground, she was still a mountain of a fellow.

And Bloodshine, she had her eyes on Soren the entire time, sometimes, blushing, and other times, giggling to herself.

Soren stared at the faces of the people around him.

Individually, they were good in their own ways.

But together, they were barely a functioning machine.

Regardless, he needed their help.

The room was silent for a while, then Soren spoke.

"Doctor Kaya has assured me that she would be able to treat Tommy and the others."

All eyes settled on him.

Hands to his chest, Pencil gave sigh of relief.

Then realized something. "Wait... Wasn’t Tommy missing?"

Soren shook his head. "From what I, Polystar and Vass found out, he had been attacked by the Shade Stealer last night in the detention center.

However, the authorities had thought it a good idea to keep the matter private.

From what I understand, their reasoning was a simple one." His eyes turned to Polystar.

Polystar snickered, "don’t worry, I don’t mind. You can say it. Nobles are assholes."

Soren sighed as he continued. "They planned to solve the Shade Stealer mystery, but were going to pin it all on Tommy."

Aside Polystar, everyone was taken aback by Soren’s words.

"But why? Tommy did not do anything." Pencil spoke up, feeling wronged on behalf of his friend.

"Why!?" Polystar adjusted his glasses.

"After what happened yesterday in the science research institute, its clear that they already figured out the identity of the Shade Stealer."

"Huh?" Bloodshine’s eyes brightened. "Who is he?"

"A noble." Soren replied.

No one needed further explanations.

Only those from noble families could become instructors.

If a noble was the Shade Stealer, then it would bring trouble to their family. After all, this was a crime punishable by death.

They were covering their asses.

Such things like honor and dignity, were important in noble circles.

It was the same reason that the Ivory family pursued Soren as much as they did.

They did not mind paying off a prisoner to kill him in jail behind the back of everyone.

Nobles were seen and regarded as a kind of people without faults—especially to commoners.

Maintaining that facade was important to how the empire was governed.

Tommy had been sent to the detention center.

He was away from all eyes when he was attacked by the Shade Stealer.

Considering the fact that he had been sent there in the first place as a result of his suspected involvement in Rhea’s attack, it was easy to pin all blame on him when the problem was solved.

"But who is the noble?" Tommy asked the question on everybody’s mind.

Soren pressed a button on his wristwatch and a holographic projections appeared in front of them.

It was of the skinny, pale skinned cadet that he had interacted with, and stabbed in class.

Soren had gotten certain files from Hector.

Of course, these were files that should not be in the possessionof cadets.

But Hector had given them out anyway.

On seeing the projected face, Soren noticed eyes brightened in the room.

Vass even pointed. "Hey. Is that not the bastard that was in the sick bay with us?"

"You guys know him?" Soren asked.

Bloodshine nodded, explaining.

After their encounter with Instructor Ivory, all of them had ended up with varying injuries and needed medical attention.

However, another cadet joined them in the sick bay.

He had been brought in by the Soulbound knights that went out to fight that day.

This cadet had been the only survivor of another train incident carrying hundreds of first year cadets to the academy.

This information made Soren’s eyes brightened.

He had looped while on the train so many times, that he knew the faces of all his course mates.

—except this one.

No wonder the cadet’s face looked out of place when Soren saw it in class.

Then another thought struck him.

How had this cadet been the only survivor?

From what he knew, they were at least a few instructors on any train taking cadets to the Imperial Soulforge Academy.

A shiver ran down Soren’s spine. He had a feeling that things were far deeper than he could imagine.

He shook his head. Those thoughts would not help him now.

"If the instructors already know the Shade Stealer, why have they not done anything about it?" Pencil asked.

Polystar snickered annoyed. "Do we have to tell you everything? Or do you do all your thinking with your pot belly?"

"—Polystar!" Soren interrupted. "If you don’t have any nice thing to say, then don’t say it."

Polystar turned to Soren.

A commoner should not talk that way to a noble. Also, he wanted to say more, but he got the vibe that if he did, a punch would find home in his face.

Soren turned back to Pencil.

The boy’s question had not been wrong in anyway, but Polystar was intensionally picking on him.

From the moment they entered Soren had noticed how Polystar viewed them all.

For those that had shown strength, he respected.

Even though Soren and Cynthia were still clowns, he viewed them differently.

But Pencil.

He was different.

It did not help that the boy had also been mostly useless in the battle against Instructor Ivory.

Soren massaged his brows.

The world was just too unforgiving of the weak.

Soren pointed at the holographic image.

"Even though the instructors now know who the Shade Stealer is, they have not found it.

That’s where we come in. We need to find where it is hiding, and how it is targeting cadets."

Polystar raised a brow. "And here I was thinking I was the only one that had figured

Its targets all have similarities." Polystar tapped a button on his own wristwatch.

The faces of the seventeen people that had been victims appeared in mid air.

"There is too much work for one person to do—checking background, physical characteristics like eye color, hair, sex, Soulbound rank. However, I have already ranked the things we should be checking for.

We this, we should be able to narrow down possble victims for future attacks. "

Soren nodded.

Asking for help was the right move. After all, people had their specialties. And without Tommy and his information gathering skills, things were going to be difficult.

"Any questions before we start?" Soren added.

Tommy slowly, careful of the gazes that had turned to him, raised a hand.

Polystar frowned.

"Yeah... uh... why do you guys keep calling him ’it’?" He pointed at the holographic projection of the cadet.

"Because..." Soren pointed. "... it is not human."

...

And so they went to work.

Polystar sent his findings to everyone in the room, and they began making comparisons, looking for patterns.

Bloodshine brought in papers and pens. Some information needed to be scribbled down.

In this manner, hours passed.

Soren ordered coffee for everyone.

And twice, they had a break to eat.

However, the investigation process was a very challenging one.

Even with the information that Soren had gotten from Hector to ease their efforts, things just did not make sense.

It just didn’t.

Many of the Shade Stealer’s victims seemed like they were from separate worlds.

Not until Polystar noticed something.