Rise Of The Hoarder

>BOOOOOMMMM!!!< r

The extreme collision between Ana's powerful fist and Melissa's sturdy barrier sent waves across the room, causing everything around to shake violently. Things turned out to be more serious than I expected.r

"I'll ask you once again, Melissa… and you'd do well to answer me. Explain yourself!"r

Melissa gulped this time, appearing extremely fazed by Ana's look.r

The fact that she was all alone in a room full of people who were suspicious of her didn't help matters.r

"Calm down, Ana. Jeez… I only came to talk about something when I saw that twerp. I didn't know he was-"r

"Twerp? Are you trying to dismiss what you just did right now? You know the sanction that awaits you for this, don't you?" Peter interrupted, glaring at Melissa as he spoke.r

His annoyed tone, coupled with the slight look of satisfaction at the situation clearly proved that Peter had something against her.r

"Relax, okay? I didn't break any rules!" Melissa quickly protested before Ana hit her barrier again.r

"Charles told me to come see you! It was urgent, so I came here after our group gave their report." r

Ana seemed to calm down after hearing this, retracting her energy.r

"So, Charles told you to assault Jeremy too?" Ana asked, still glaring at the nervous teen.r

'Hehehe. This is so fun to watch!' I mused.r

I already knew Charles was the camp leader, thanks to Lily's explanation. While he had a very high influence within this structure, merely stating his name wasn't going to fully absolve Melissa of her serious crime of assault against me.r

'Let's see how she'll try to wriggle out of this situation!'r

"O-of course not! That was by chance. I don't know what you know about Jeremy, but I have known him for far longer, especially when the world was still normal…" Melissa argued, trying to turn the whole tide against me.r

Too bad she made the wrong move.r

"S-stop it, Melissa… please don't tell them…" I weakly protested.r

Everyone looked in my direction, once again feeling pity as they stared at my bruised state.r

"You know her from before, Jeremy?" Ana asked, beginning to wonder if she had misjudged Melissa.r

'Of course, retard… I mean, big sis.'r

"Yeah… I… well, she was… she used to bully me back then, and I… I…" My voice failed me and my lips quivered.r

I appeared too shaken to say anymore and once again fell silent, wincing in the agony of my wounds.r

Melissa's eyes bulged, clearly appreciating my acting skills… or not.r

"N-no, that's not why I-" She tried protesting, however, one look from Ana forced her into submission.r

"So, you were Jeremy's bully back then. Melissa, you…"r

"This isn't what it looks like, okay?" She defended herself, glaring at me hatefully.r

"It's true I used to bully him, but-"r

"That's enough out of you, Melissa. Leave this place before I do something the both of us might regret." Ana growled.r

Melissa must have had multiple experiences with Ana since she didn't bother arguing. She stood from where her body had crashed and groaned.r

Deactivating her pink barrier, Melissa walked past everyone in the room, stealing one final glance at me. Since everyone was staring at her, waiting for the bitch to leave, no one focused on me… no one but her.r

In an instant, I gave her an evil, mocking smile as a send-off present, ensuring she saw it.r

'Y-you-!!!" Her face depicted the thoughts she was having.r

Still, she restrained herself.r

It would be suicide to try something in the presence of my able guards. So, the useless bitch had no other choice than to turn tail and run away.r

The moment she left, everyone rushed to my side and greeted me with words of worry and comfort.r

"Jeremy, are you okay?"r

"Hope you weren't too hurt?"r

"That bitch, to think she started picking on you already!"r

Ana was especially upset and visibly felt guilty. After all her lofty words of confidence, I ended up suffering so much on my first day. Poor me.r

"I'm so sorry, Jeremy. I promise you… she won't get away with this!"r

'Music to my ears.' I mused.r

"T-thank you, Ana. Thanks, everyone… truly. If you hadn't come at that time, I don't know what I would have done." r

My words appeared to move them, making me feel a little awkward. It was a strange feeling to have so many people worried about me, so concerned.r

'Weirdos…'r

"You must be hungry, right? We brought food for all of us." Daniel suddenly changed the topic.r

I smiled and nodded like an innocent little boy, deciding to leave out the part where I occasionally gave myself snacks from Subspace faster than they could perceive.r

These naïve people definitely needed it more than I do.r

Still, who says no to free food? Definitely not me!

*********************************

"Those bastards!" Melissa growled, driving her fist into a wall to relieve herself of the anger welling up within her.r

Since she had been in the Camp, and even before then, she had never suffered such humiliation, such indignity.r

"Jeremy, that bastard… he intentionally instigated them against me!"r

Her anger wasn't only directed at Jeremy, though. She hated the lot in Ana's group, especially the leader.r

Out of everyone in the Camp, they were the only ones she couldn't easily manipulate. Her influence also meant very little to them since they held a pretty high position as well.r

"Just you wait, I'll show you…" Melissa gritted her teeth, walking impatiently.r

"What's the problem? You look infuriated?" A voice suddenly came from behind her, startling Melissa for a moment.r

Yelping, she turned to see who the person was and felt relieved to find her boyfriend, Daniel.r

'I thought those guys chased me all the way here and overheard me.' Melissa heaved in relief.r

Still, it was a surprise to find Daniel all the way out here. Their room was on the opposite end of the building, on the next floor so what was he here for?r