The Fifth Hargreeves

"Mission: Normal School." To track down a Commission agent hiding among teenagers, Five is forced to... attend a normal high school. For him, a man with the mind of a veteran killer, this is pure hell. The school bell rang. The girl, huddled as usual, made her way down the hallway to history class. Her heavy backpack filled with books, her only shield from the outside world. As she passed her popular classmates, she heard a hiss: "Look, our 'beauty' is back in the potato sack! With a face like that, nothing will help." The boys giggled. The girl lowered her head, feeling her cheeks burn. She was objectively beautiful, but years of bullying had made her believe otherwise. The mirror became her enemy, silence her only friend. Smart but vulnerable, she didn't respond to the insults. In history class, she took her usual place at the last desk by the window, hoping for an hour of peace. But the door swung open, and a new student entered. Short, with tousled dark hair and piercing blue eyes full of cold wisdom. He clutched a cup of black coffee in his hand, ignoring all the school rules. Mrs. Davis introduced him as Fifth Hargreeves. The class chuckled, but Fifth glanced around the room with such utter contempt that the laughter died down instantly. His gaze lingered for a second on the group of girls who had just been bullying the girl, and for some reason they cringed. Without a word, he headed straight for the back rows.

"Is this seat taken?" his voice rang out. It was low, hoarse, and completely out of place on his childish face.

The girl looked up at him. For the first time in a long time, someone was looking at her not as the butt of a joke or as a nobody. There was no pity in Five's eyes—he looked at her as an equal.

“No,” she muttered.

The fifth one sat down next to her, placed his coffee on the desk, and, without even opening his textbook, stared into space. She again felt the puzzled and angry glances of her classmates.