Help! I unknowingly enrolled myself into a supernatural Academy-Chapter 65: This is my mate

Mr. Nikolai sighed dramatically and looked at Aiden with a sly smile. "Now you’re just trying to make me sound like the villain here. I’m not trying to crush that bleeding heart of yours that only wants to learn. I’m giving you this punishment because I know you can handle it. You’ll all survive missing three days of academic classes—especially you, Aiden." He pointed directly at him with a wide smile on his face, his tone sharp but almost teasing. "You’re so brilliant that I have no doubt you’ll come out just fine. After all, you’re the genius who used physics to calculate the trajectory of a wolf and then combined that with human anatomy to defeat a wolf boy who was clearly stronger than you. If you can do that, I’m sure you can survive three days without sitting in a classroom. You’re such a genius."

Aiden’s mouth opened, but no words came out. His glare at Mr. Nikolai could have burned through a wall. He wanted to argue, to snap back with something clever, but before he could speak, Mr. Nikolai cut him off with a smirk.

"If you say one more word, I’ll just give you extra work. Clearly, you have too much energy to waste," Mr. Nikolai warned casually, as if daring him to try.

Aiden clenched his jaw and looked away. Inside, he was fuming. In his mind, he cursed the man thoroughly, deciding on the spot that Mr. Nikolai was a cruel tyrant who thrived on crushing joy. He probably sat around thinking of ways to make students miserable.

Mr. Nikolai, satisfied that Aiden had gone silent even if he was still glaring like a thundercloud, nodded. He was well aware that Aiden was mentally cursing him right now, and that only seemed to please him further. "Good," he said finally, his tone calm. "You may all leave now. Remember, your punishment starts exactly at midnight."

Zane, who had been silently brooding this entire time, suddenly snapped his head up and glared at Mr. Nikolai. "Midnight? Who starts punishment at midnight? Don’t you think you’re being unreasonable?"

Instead of being offended, Mr. Nikolai’s lips curled into an amused smile. "Unreasonable? Not at all. I said your punishment would last three days, and a full day is measured from midnight to the next midnight. That is the only way it will be a true twenty-four hours. Therefore, your punishment will end at midnight three days later. Where exactly is the problem?"

Ryker, who had been holding himself together until now, also glared at Mr. Nikolai. It was bad enough they had to do punishment duty, but starting at a time when everyone else would be sleeping felt unnecessarily cruel.

Mr. Nikolai, unfazed by the storm brewing in their expressions, continued in the same calm, self-satisfied tone. "In fact, I’m being considerate. If you pack bags with three days’ worth of clothing and bring them to the building, you can start writing your apology letters at midnight, stop when the sun rises, clean during the day, then write again after dark. That way, you’ll finish faster. See? I’m actually helping you plan."

Ryker’s eyes narrowed. His wolf stirred within him, bristling at what it saw as a provocation. He took a step forward, glaring at Mr. Nikolai with the full force of an Alpha’s presence. "What about eating or bathing?" he growled. "You can’t just expect us to work for three days straight without rest."

"Ryker." Mr. Nikolai’s voice was calm, but there was a warning edge to it. "Don’t glare at me just because you’re a dominant Alpha. That intimidation won’t work on me. And what do you mean I’m making you work three days straight? During my youth, over a hundred years ago, we spent three whole months in the forest preparing for war. Three days of writing and cleaning is hardly the end of the world."

Aiden’s head snapped up, eyes wide. "Over a hundred years ago?"

He turned to the others, expecting them to be shocked too, but they didn’t even blink. Mr. Nikolai looked like a man in his forties—handsome, broad-shouldered, with just a few faint lines around his eyes—but he was over a century old?

It hit Aiden like a revelation. Ashton and Julian had explained before that wolves and Fae could live up to five hundred years, although he believed it but Aiden had never actually met someone that old in skyline academy. So his brain was still wired to judge people by the human life span of one to a hundred years. Seeing a man who had lived more than a century standing right in front of him forced the concept to finally sink in.

But then another thought crossed his mind, and his focus returned to the most pressing issue. "Wait, I’m getting distracted here," Aiden said quickly. "Mr. Nikolai, what we’re really trying to say is that we need to eat and bathe. We can’t just take clothes to some old building and not bathe for three days straight. This is 2029, not a century ago like you said. In this era, we take hygiene seriously."

Mr. Nikolai’s expression softened, and for a brief moment, Aiden thought they had gotten through to him. "Ah," he said, nodding as though he had finally understood.

Aiden let out a quiet sigh of relief. But then Mr. Nikolai’s next words made him want to pull his hair out.

"Well, I already thought about that," Mr. Nikolai said smoothly. "I will be ordering the school kitchen to bring you three meals a day. I will also provide bottled water so you can brush your teeth. As for bathing—consider yourselves lucky. One of the old buildings that are due from repair that I told you to choose from has a river behind it. You can just choose the one with the river. There, problem solved."

Aiden just stood there, completely speechless. How could a man over a hundred years old be this petty? This infuriating?

He swallowed back the urge to argue further. Now he understood that the more they talked, the more ammunition they gave Mr. Nikolai to make their lives harder. "Fine," he said flatly, his tone sharp. "We’re leaving."

"Good," Mr. Nikolai replied. "But remember—be there at midnight sharp. If even one of you is late, I’ll add another full day to your punishment and give you extra work. Think very carefully about what time you plan to arrive. I wish you the best of luck."

Aiden glared at him one last time, then turned to the others. "Let’s go."

Ryker and Zane nodded silently and followed him out, not even sparing the other disciplinary committee members a glance.

Carl, however, remained rooted to the spot, glancing nervously between Mr. Nikolai and the door. It felt wrong to just leave without being dismissed properly, but staying was making him increasingly uneasy.

Mr. Nikolai raised an eyebrow. "Why are you still standing here? Do you want me to give you even more punishment? Because I can."

That was all Carl needed to hear. "No, no! I’m leaving!" he yelped before bolting from the room.

Once the students were gone, Mr. Nikolai leaned back in his chair and let out a laugh, clearly pleased with himself. "Wasn’t that wonderful? Did you all see their faces? Those little demons looked so angry. It was perfect. I’m sure they’ll think twice before breaking any more school rules."

The seven other members of the disciplinary committee forced smiles, but none of them dared look him in the eye. Privately, they all thought he had gone too far and was being unnecessarily petty with four children. But none of them dared say a word. Not only was Mr. Nikolai the head of the disciplinary committee, but he was also one of the school’s vice principals and came from an incredibly wealthy family.

If it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Nikolai genuinely loved this school, he probably wouldn’t still be here working as just a vice principal.

Meanwhile

As soon as Aiden and co stepped out of the disciplinary hall, Aiden was still seething. He stomped down the corridor, his voice sharp with irritation. "How can a man who has lived for more than a century be that petty? That man is completely ridiculous. What does he even gain from making our lives miserable? He’s so old and such an undying man that he could be our great-grandfather, and he still finds joy in tormenting us like it’s his favorite pastime."

Ryker’s mouth twitched as he struggled to hold back a laugh. Calling Mr. Nikolai an "undying man" sounded both accurate and strangely funny coming from Aiden. Zane, on the other hand, threw his head back and laughed openly, clearly enjoying Aiden’s rant.

"You’re absolutely right," Zane said, grinning at Aiden with an amused glint in his eyes. "Every day you just keep proving that you’re exactly my type. I swear, I find you more and more to my taste every time you open your mouth. You are so my type, so what—"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence because a voice suddenly called from behind them.

"Wait for me!"

The three boys turned, and Aiden immediately frowned when he saw Carl running after them.

"What were you even doing back there?" Aiden asked with a scowl. "Were you waiting for them to invite you to a tea party or something?"

Ryker glanced at Aiden in surprise. He hadn’t realized just how sharp Aiden’s tongue could be when he was angry, but he found that he didn’t mind it at all. In fact, something about Aiden’s fiery attitude only made him look more captivating. Ryker felt his chest tighten slightly, his thoughts slipping to one quiet truth: this was his mate.