Sensing the murmurs rippling through the crowd below, President Maya gave a satisfied nod. Once this mindset took hold, the vast majority of students would fall in line with her plan.
Even the younger kids who hadn't come today would be deeply influenced. It was hard for older students to pick up ideas from younger ones—but younger students naturally looked up to their seniors and absorbed their way of thinking.
President Maya wasn't done yet. While the crowd was still buzzing with discussion, she turned and beckoned to her loyal aide, Lucius.
Always attuned to her unspoken wishes, Lucius immediately stepped forward with a tray, presenting her with a freshly brewed cup of goji berry tea.
President Maya—head of the elementary division—accepted the offering with a gracious nod of approval toward the high school division president's attentiveness.
As a former top lieutenant under President Maya, Lucius had risen to become student council president of the high school division. Yet even now, standing before his beloved president's approving gaze, he trembled with barely contained excitement.
After drinking half the warm cup of goji tea, President Maya leaned back toward the microphone and continued. "I have already made it explicitly clear in the school rules—students are not permitted to bring firearms onto school grounds. You have violated those rules, and there must be consequences."
The crowd erupted in noise again. President Maya paid it no mind and pressed on. "This time, I've decided not to deduct your moral points. Instead, your punishment is this: after school today, every one of you must run between 20,000 and 30,000 meters on the track before you're allowed to go home. This will continue for ten days."
"No way! Just take my points—I've still got plenty left this year. 20,000 meters is 20 kilometers (12.4 miles). Running that would kill us!"
"Exactly, that's way too much. Dock our points instead!"
"The president is as ruthless as ever. Heh heh heh—good thing I didn't listen to that idiot William. Dodged a bullet this time."
The chatter below was chaotic, but President Maya could pick out every word with ease.
Once the uproar died down a little, she spoke again. "Don't panic. I'll personally lead the run—and I'll be choosing the full 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). As for getting home, don't worry. I've already worked it out with the school. The bus drivers will stay overtime and take you all home once you've finished."
"Running alongside the president doesn't sound so bad, honestly."
"Are you an idiot? That's 20 kilometers! Manhattan end to end isn't even that far. By the time you're gasping for air and seeing stars, you won't be in any mood to think about guns."
"You don't get it—just watching the president's back as I run will give me limitless strength."
"Hope you're still saying that tomorrow."
"..."
With that, President Maya declared the assembly dismissed. She still had to head to the gym to confiscate the firearms—she wasn't about to trust anyone else with that. Back when she was weaker, she used to travel with a squad of athletes as backup muscle. Now those same troublemakers couldn't take her on even if they rushed her all at once. Naturally, she needed to show up and stand by her people—if only to make sure none of them accidentally got hit by a stray round.
As for the stage that had been assembled for the occasion—well, whoever built it could take it apart. High school division president Lucius, ever the dutiful workhorse, stayed behind to direct the student council officers in cleaning up the mess.
4:30 PM. The old principal's office.
"How did all these guns end up here?" a middle-aged white man asked, eyeing the old principal.
This was Jeff, principal of the high school division, currently seated across from the old principal's desk.
"Ha, Officer Henry will come by shortly to collect them all. As for why they're here—well, take a look." The old principal chuckled and pointed out the window toward the track. "That little girl down there is leading the run right now. She's a bit busy to deal with them herself."
Jeff leaned forward to look. Down on the cinder track, a small girl in a white-and-red athletic shirt and shorts was jogging at the head of a pack of male students.
The group was a mixed crowd—white, Black, Latino, even a few Asian students. Their clothes were a mess; some were pulling off their shirts mid-run, and a number of the ones who couldn't take the heat were already bare-chested.
"Good lord," Jeff muttered. "That's got to be more than thirty people."
"Thirty-seven. Elementary and high school combined—thirty-seven male students. Out of fewer than three hundred boys total, more than one in ten were sucked in. Unacceptable." The old principal's smile had vanished. His expression was dark and heavy.
Jeff let out a weary sigh. "I didn't realize it had gotten this bad. Frank's death... he had it coming, but the effect on our students has been enormous."
"Indeed. When Maya came to me this morning, I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. Thank goodness that girl is truly capable—she handled this situation flawlessly."
"Exactly. If we'd left it alone, both our schools would be missing a dozen or more students by tomorrow. Though I'll say—you really do trust her, old man. You came running to my office this morning before you'd even confirmed the facts."
"Ha—and yet here you are in my office now. Well? Is Maya up to your standards?"
"More than up to them—she exceeded them. If I'd handled this myself, the best I could've done was haul everyone in for a scolding and confiscate the guns. That would've been the end of it."
The old principal shook his head. "That kind of heavy-handed approach only backfires with teenagers in their rebellious phase."
"You're right. Maya Hansen—the reputation is well deserved. If she were a high schooler, a crisis resolution like this alone would earn her a fifty-point bonus at any university in the country."
"You think she needs bonus points to get into college?"
"Fair point. No university would turn away the Manhattan Twins. Honestly, setting aside the family background, I think Maya Hansen has Tony Stark beat in nearly every way. It's too early to compare their raw intelligence—but in emotional maturity and wisdom? Tony Stark, who spends every night clubbing, doesn't hold a candle to her."
The old principal waved a hand in disagreement. "They're not comparable. Their circumstances are entirely different. Tony, for all his adult trappings, is still just a child. Maya, young as she is, has already grown into an adult. You can't really measure them against each other—not for another twenty years."
"You hold her to an awfully high standard."
"Because my expectations for her are just as high." He laughed. "Ha ha ha."
President Maya, of course, knew nothing of the conversation between the two principals—even though her senses could reach the old principal's office.
Right now, President Maya was jogging along while quietly cycling her chakra. If she cut loose, she could finish the 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) in half an hour. But that would terrify everyone and defeat the whole purpose of leading the group.
The punishment run wasn't just punishment. Maya's goal was to drain every last bit of energy from those troublemakers through a marathon-style endurance run—a further safeguard against them being lured into serving as cannon fodder.
It also gave them a ready excuse—a legitimate reason to turn down the gang boss the next time he came calling.
Even if they'd already realized that risking their necks for some crime lord was an idiotic deal, they were still bound by commitments they'd already made. Another round of threats and bribes from the boss was inevitable.
But with President Maya's punishment run on the books, "I'm too exhausted" became a perfectly valid shield.
In other words, the president had genuinely poured her heart into protecting those knucklehead classmates of hers—going so far as to give up her own time to run alongside them.