Yo, author here. Sorry for the wait, although this chapter did take quite a while, at least its a long one. Actually, this chapter is my longest so far, so it took quite a while.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

*****

Reluctance

“Yosh~ It’s time for class…”

A half hearted greeting escaped from the lips of one drowsy looking teacher.

Although I say teacher, she looked, and was in fact young enough to be a fellow student.

Lacie, or in this case, Miss Col, moved over to her desk and fiddled with a magical item. It was an inconspicuous looking blue box, that looked innocent enough, but in fact, it was an object that was responsible for creating holograms.

Since Miss Col was a rather lazy person, the holograms have become a sort of lifeline for the students when it comes to actual education.

vrrrrrrr…

After a few minutes, a faint blue flickered in front of the room. It quivered for a moment before settling down to reveal a holographic copy of Miss Col.

“Now... pay attention...I think there’s a quiz next class…”

With the resounding sighs of the students accompanying Miss Col’s flippant comment, the hologram kicked into gear, and a rather uneventful class of Mu Geography and Research ensued.

The hologram itself spoke in such a monotonous tone that it threatened to put the students to sleep. All the while this happened, the actual teacher was sleeping comfortably. Today, she even managed to bring along a small pillow and a modest portable air purifier.

Truly this type of person was fully prepared for the wrong reasons.

Although class was usually like this, and always perpetuated an air of dullness, today, it was particularly boring.

Normally, there would be some measure of excitement, due to Morgan’s presence, but today he was oddly absent.

Morgan managed to make this class...not enjoyable, but tolerable. His excitement and eagerness was contagious, and on more than a few occasions, he managed to rouse the class’s collective spirit. He would always be the first to ask questions (which largely went unanswered), and would make a point to comment on anything he happened to find interesting.

Being around and involved with him for these past two weeks, I managed to learn a bit more about this person.

For one, I discovered that he had a bit of a ‘habit’ of making very feminine miniscule gestures. I also noticed that his voice rises an inflection or two whenever Morgan got a bit excited, or absent minded. Normally these things would have went largely unnoticed, but in Morgan’s case, they stood out even more.

Was it because he looked like a girl? Maybe his appearance just made it natural for him to act like one too?

Well, in either case, Morgan’s absence drastically cut down the excitement level of this already boring class.

...Actually, it isn’t the first time Morgan’s been absent.

Although it’s only been the two weeks since the new semester, Morgan’s been frequently away.

I’d pursue the issue with him, but… for some reason, I feel like it would just bring more trouble to my doorstep. And no matter how bored I am, a dull boredom is several times better than a painful difficulty.

Oh, and there’s also the thing about personal space… which I abide by…

At any rate, without Morgan here, another mundane class with the sleeping teacher passes by peacefully.

****

After the end of Miss Col’s class, comes my last class of the day.

I released an over exaggerated sigh, as I crossed the campus.

“Ugh, I’m already regretting walking over there…” I moaned.

Normally, I wouldn’t be so despondent over a simple class, especially one that I have a high chance of slacking off in, but...I’m a bit caught up in a special circumstance.

To keep things short, I wound up what could only be a slacker’s worse nightmare, extra schooling. Or, to be more specific ‘special training’ from Professor Kiryat.

“Ah, damn it. I really don’t want to go…” I inwardly mumbled to myself while repressing another sigh.

The situation was obviously not to my liking. Not many know this, but I made a vow to myself to avoid all bothersome extracurricular activities, and not even 2 weeks has passed, and I’m already caught up in some rather pointless training.

It’s like how someone forces you to do something, but there’s just no way to refuse.

Or like, how as a child, your parents force you to go somewhere when you’d rather be at home playing video games.

Like how theres an unskippable tutorial in a game that you’ve already played before.

AH! I could sit here and complain all day, but my misfortune won’t disappear.

Rather, if I’m going to continue to complain, I should curse that day from a week ago, since that’s when this whole conundrum started….

****

It all started about a week ago, while I was in my All Purpose Combat Class.

The teacher who taught the subject, a short, and well aged old man named Mr. Wu, was explaining what he liked to call, “Year End Goals”.

Now, these Year End Goals were apparently a sort of school tradition, or at least it was for this particular class. It was something Mr. Wu proclaimed at the start of his 30 years of teaching in order to motivate the students.

The exact contents of these goals varied, changing from year to year, so it was no surprise that nobody knew what it was he was planning.

“Ahem.” Mr. Wu cleared his throat in front of the students.

As per his instructions, the students were all lined up against the eastern wall of the training hall. We squatted down, as we all looked up the man’s frail looking silhouette.

“Now, I’ll be brief, so you all better listen. I won’t be repeating myself a second time.”

He looked squarely at everyone present with a discerning eye.

“Simply, put, this class is either pass or fail.”

This sudden declaration caused a slight stirring amongst the students. It was understandable, considering one’s combat performance was quite a difficult thing to rate and evaluate, especially when you put in all the factors that come with students from a Magic Academy, like natural talent, mana capacity, prior combat experience, etc. Most of the students had assumed that this class was merit based, while some of the more lazy students (me included) thought it was a blow off class, where attendance was the thing to watch out for, like in a traditional gym class.

After all, All Purpose Combat was like gym, of course with the exception that it was several times more dangerous and that magic was mixed into the fray.

Mr. Wu’s announcement overturned everyone’s expectations.

The professor waited for the ruckus to die down before he continued on.

“Yare yare… At least let me explain before you lot start complaining...jeeze, youngsters these days.” He expressed his dissatisfaction as he complained to the whole class.

“Now, as I was saying, for your end of the year goal… You should all strive for this!”

He yelled as he pointed at Avril, the student helper who was quietly listening to Mr. Wu’s speech alongside the rest of the students.

Everyone shifted their gaze towards Avril, as she pointed to herself before replying blandly with an,

“Eh?”

“It’s honestly quite simple.” Mr. Wu carried on, “You lot will be having a rematch with Avril.”

At the face of this new information, the students’ temporary anxiety and worry, turned into full blown melancholy, as they despondently looked down towards the floor with glum expressions.

Mr. Wu ignored all this, and continued to explain.

“By comparing your performance during this rematch with your performance during the first match you had at the start of the semester, I will be able to observe how ‘successful’ you all can become. This serves as a means for assessing your prowess and measure of growth.

Basically, you will be judged on your ‘progress’.”

Mr. Wu momentarily halted his speech as the growing noise of worried mumblings continued to escalate. The students all exaggerated their discontent, through verbal complaint.

“It sounds simple at first but there’s one small problem…”

“Small problem? You’re underestimating the severity of this task, I mean it is her…”

“Y-yeah, just thinking about it….”

“I mean, the first time around was already bad enough.”

“I really don’t want to go a second round with that… that battle maniac!”

“Argh! Why did it have to be Avril?! S-she’s too strong…”

It seems like a sort of trauma was created amongst the students who all had the pleasure of ‘fighting’ Avril.

As the students wailed rather loudly, the busybody next to me all showed a bit of dissatisfaction.

“F-fighting Miss Avril again…uwawawa…” Morgan’s face contorted in worry.

He continued to make strange noises before he turned to me with tear filled eyes.

“W-what should I do Kelp? How am I supposed to fight miss Avril???”

He leaned his body closer and grasped my free hand as he pleaded for some sort of comfort or advice from me. I reflexively leaned back, as I scratched my cheek while I racked my brain for an appropriate reply.

“Ah, um…” I thought long (2 seconds) and hard (well not really) before I gave up. I sighed and shrugged, and gave a rather half hearted response.

“Well… I’m sure you’ll manage. I mean, how hard can it be?”

In the face of my reply, tears once again welled up in Morgan’s cheeks.

“Uuu…” A weird noise slipped out from Morgan.

“Uh…” I casted a questioning glance over at him.

“...Uuuu…”

“M-Morgan?”

“*Sniff* You’re so mean Kelp! You’re so relaxed over this, while I’m over here worrying and struggling! Meanie!”

“I, um, what?”

I was honestly dumbfounded from Morgan’s unexpectedly childish remark.

“Y-you can only act like that because you're strong Kelp...Think about us weaklings for once!”

Morgan’s complaints soon faded into the concession of wails and complaints generated by the students.

Mr. Wu, who was previously listening to all this quietly, finally spoke up, and grumbled.

“Calm down you brats. I’m not asking you to do anything amazing like beat Avril, I mean, that’d be hard to do as is, considering she’s currently one of the strongest both among the first years and amongst the whole school.

Just fight her, and hope you do better then, than you did last time.”

Despite sugar coating the whole situation, the students still grumbled and complained.

Rather, what they feared wasn’t the rematch, but Avril herself. Their previous experience with the battle maniac produced an ingrained trauma that greatly incited their fear and anxiety.

“I thought this was a blow off class! I don’t want to risk my life fighting her again!” Remarked someone from the mass of students.

“Can’t we just have a normal fight with guys on our level?” One student complained.

“I’d much prefer fighting someone on my level, or better yet someone weaker!” A student selfishly proclaimed.

“Yeah, I’d rather fight someone like Morgan, than fight Avril again.” Another student stated as he pointed hopefully at Morgan.

“Eh?” Morgan dumbfoundedly looked over the crowd. “I-I’d rather not fight if that’s at all possible.”

He hastily shook his head as he waved his arms frantically. This brought Morgan to everyone’s attention.

“Yeah, that’s right, let’s just not fight!” A student latched onto Morgan’s words.

“I’m a pacifist in the first place! I hate fighting!”

“Say no to violence!”

Seeing this escapism display from the students he was suppose to be teaching, Mr. Wu couldn’t help but sigh to himself once more.

“Really, these kids…” He mumbled, “You’re in a damn Combat class, and you expect not to fight?”

Amongst the growing discontent, an unexpected voice caught Mr. Wu’s interest.

“Yeah, I don’t like this year end goal thing too!”

Mr. Wu turned to the source of the familiar voice. There, nestled between the wall and the mass of students, was the center of all this commotion, the student helper, Avril. She pouted quietly as she expressed her own, unexpected dissatisfaction through facial gesture and body language.

Mr. Wu, raised his eyebrow at this, “Hmm? Even you don’t want to fight Avril? That’s unexpected, considering your such a battle maniac.”

“Ah no…” Avril quickly stated before she made an uncomfortable face.

“Er, it’s not that I don’t want to fight it’s just….erm..” Avril brought her palm to her face and looked up at the ceiling.

She made an action as if she was in agony over a mental indecision. She racked her brain from left to right, before frowning even more.

She looked over at me, as if to help her relieve her issue, but this only prompted a bigger frown to mask her expression.

Finally, she sighed before replying back to Mr. Wu. “It’s just that, I’m unsatisfied.”

Mr. Wu raised an eyebrow once again.

“Unsatisfied?”

“Uh, yeah...I can’t quite put a finger on it but…” The growing sense of discomfort continued to well within her as she struggled to find the words to express this distress.

After a while, Avril glanced over at me once again. This prompted a sense of understanding to swell within in her. Her eye’s widened and her small lips curved into a look of determination.

“Ah..that’s what I wanted…” She mumbled to herself.

She then turned around and looked squarely at Mr. Wu with a newfound sense of resolution.

“I have a goal of my own.”

“Oho~, What may that be?” Mr. Wu’s eyes shined with an interested glint.

She smirked. “It’s a goal to get stronger. I have to catch up to someone.”

Oh no.

I inwardly sighed. I felt my own sense of distress, as Avril shot a mischievous look over at me.

The other students’ reactions weren’t that far from mine, as Avril’s sudden declaration swept all hopes of… well, they didn’t really have any hopes by this point.

“G-get stronger?!”

“That ridiculously strong person want to get even stronger?!”

“*sniff* A-am I going to need a body bag?”

Once again, in the face of all this whining, Mr. Wu became even more discontented with the bunch of ‘no-back bone jellyfish’ students he unfortunately received this year.

A vein popped in his head, before he addressed the class, in his usual soft spoken tone, this time though, with a hint of malice seeped into his words.

“Ah, quit yer whining already! This type of attitude is exactly what’s wrong with this generation. You all need to be...better! At this point, I don’t know how to fix you lot...Why don’t you try acting like Avril. Although she’s a first year, like the rest of you, her strength already far exceeds yours. And she also WANTS to get even stronger.

Truly quite a commendable student.”

“That’s only because she’s a battle maniac…” A quiet voice interrupted Mr. Wu’s rant.

“Quiet you!” He barked in reply.

“ It’s that type of attitude that hinders growth!

The point of the matter is, try not to be so...pathetic! Work harder, don’t complain so often, and stop being afraid of a girl who’s the same age as you!

Now, split up for some daily training! The way things are going now, you’ll need every bit of it by the end of the school year.”

He sighed a sigh that revealed the wear and tear of his age before, promptly turning away and walking over to his familiar seat near the back of the room, leaving behind the students to their own devices.

Everyone broke off into their already ingrained daily routine of arduous self study. In the absence of Mr. Wu’s personal tutelage, self study was a common occurrence within this class, and right now, after the end of Mr. Wu’s little speech, everyone was a bit motivated for a little bit of studying.

Although despite this quiet complacency, the whispering of dissatisfaction still remained amongst the disheartened students.

Morgan too, after a quick goodbye, made his way to the center of the hall, hands full with various magic items he somehow procured. He earnestly began his own training alongside the other students.

As for me, I moved over to sit in an unoccupied corner in the room, away from all the frantically hard working peers of mine, who, inspite of their earlier complaints, were showing quite a bit of effort.

In all honesty, I didn’t plan nor did I want to put in any effort of my own. My trained laziness prevented me from doing such things.

Although, going by the quickly approaching mass of ringlets, I doubt I could live my perfectly lazy lifestyle.

Avril, waved frantically at me as she drew closer.

Her determined look from earlier was still plastered on her face.

Before she could say anything, I greeted her with a somber expression.

“Yo Egghead.”

“Muu~! I told you stop calling me that!” Avril reflexively retorted.

“Yeah, yeah, so what do you want?” I asked with half open eyes.

She smiled back in response while crossing her arms across her chest.

“What makes you think I want something.”

I sighed, “Well, I don’t know, but you kinda looked like you had a purpose.”

I leaned back and waited for her response. Truth be told, I simply wanted to get this conversation over with. It’s not that I don’t enjoy hanging out with Avril, it’s just that she came at a rather bad time.

I was about to take a nap…

“Well actually, I did have something to say.” She spoke confidently.

“This wouldn’t happen to be about a rematch with me or something, now would it?”

“Eh, are you psychic? How’d you know?” Avril looked at with a flabbergasted expression.

“Lucky guess.” I blandly stated.

Rather, from your earlier display, its wasn’t that hard to guess what you were planning.

“But, yeah that’s right.” She continued. “ Right now, I’ve made up my own Year End Goal! And that goal is quite simple, ‘To defeat Kelp Kusanagi in a one on one rematch!’”

“Oi, oi, that sounds a bit too troublesome for me!” I loudly complained..

“Quiet! Challengees have no right to protest!”

“And I’m telling you, you're giving me too much credit for what I’m worth. I’m sure you’ll find a better opponent if you look hard enough.

Plus, you know, I’m not really that strong or impressive.”

“N-nooo! It has to be Kelp! It has too!” She frantically yelled She clutched onto my shirt while she helplessly tried to solicit a promise from me.

“K-Kelp, please have a match with me!”

I squinted my eyes incredulously at her. It’s not like there was any point for her to beg this ardently. Whether I wanted to or not, I’d still be forced into a rematch with her. This type of display was a little bit suspicious.

Upon seeing my expression, her face contorted to reveal an even greater worry.

“Puh-P-please!”

She begged without shame. It looked kind of pitiful, but I guess it was plenty affective, since somehow or the other, I reluctantly agreed to such a troublesome future.

Once I nodded my head in agreement, Avril’s face instantly brightened.

She made a cute little fist bump in mid air before she stated.

“Great! This is great! Now you promised Kelp!”

I narrowed my eyes once again. “Yeah okay, but there’s no reason for you to be this excited. What could you be planning, Scramble?”

“P-planning? I wonder~.” She looked away before letting out an all too familiar “Ohohoho!”

“...”

“....”

After a while, I finally let loose a defeated sigh.

“Well, its not like it matters, as long as you don’t do anything to troublesome.”

“Hahaha! Yeah, it doesn’t really matter! It’s good that you understand, Kelp!”

She smiled a radiant smile, that really contrasted with her inner thoughts.

“Then with this, everything’s settled! You better wash your neck Kelp! The year could go by in a flash, and before you know it, you’ll be kissing dirt as I stomp triumphantly on your mangled body! Blood splattered everywhere, mana all exhausted, both of us sweating profusely… I can already imagine it, what a spectacular battle!”

“Er...that’s some pretty scary visual imagery you got there…”

“A-also there’s another thing…”

Suddenly, Avril’s earlier mood shifted, as she looked at me with an uncharacteristically shy expression.

“I, um… t-there’s something I…” She stuttered and paused and stuttered again. Avril was struggling to express her words, her usual bravado has strangely left her..

I waited patiently while she regained her composure.

As she continued to speak, her face reddened at an almost imperceptible shade.

“I-if I win, give me a prize!”

“A prize?” I looked incredulously at her, before I squinted in realization.

Was this her real goal?

“Yeah, a prize!” Unbeknownst to the fact that I already caught on to her devious scheme, she brightened her smile, although the tinge of red on her cheeks was still present.

“Prize…” I thought for a moment before I looked aghast at her. “You… y-you can’t possibly want… money?!”

“NO!!!” She furiously shook her head. “Why would I need money from you, Kelp? I’m already rich.”

True, Avril did come from an affluent family.

She was a member of the prestigious Stelato Clan, an economic empire that was in its infant stage back when magic had yet to be introduced. Rumours had it that the family founder and current head at the time was involved in the earliest stages of magical development, dating back to when magic was still strictly hidden and regulated by the military.

Whether this was true or not was up for baseless speculations, but the Stelato family’s economic might can’t be questioned. They involve themselves in a lot of things, ranging from entertainment, to military, but without a doubt, their impact on the magical industry is the largest.

No respective magician exists that doesn’t know the name Stelato.

Financial problems should be the least of her concerns.

I awkwardly scratched my head. “Well, when you said prize, it was the first thing I thought of…”

“I don’t need that type of prize! Besides, I doubt you actually have any cash in the first place.” She declared, as she looked haughtily at me.

“Geh… When you say it like that, it sounds kinda bad…”

I sighed. I usually just ignored that little rich lady attitude of hers that sometimes manages to make it past Avril’s usual rambunctiousness. This time was no exception.

As I decided to ignore the slight insult she slipped in, I asked curiously,“Fine, then what type of prize did you have in mind? I doubt I could provide it.”

In response, Avril face once more, took on a deeper shade of red. She fidgeted around a bit, while keeping her head down, before she looked back up at me. I noticed that she was making quite a conflicted expression.

“I...I-I haven’t decided yet…”

“....”

I continued to stare at Avril, who for some reason was trying her damnedest to avoid eye contact with me. It was almost as if she were trying to hid some deep, dark, and embarrassing secret, and it was like I could extrapolate that information from her eyes alone. This odd behavior, coupled by her increasingly reddening face, was kinda suspicious.

I also doubted that Avril was the indecisive type. Probably, this person had an ulterior motive to this sudden declaration of hers.

Although not like it matters in the end…

I nonchalantly shrugged.

“Well, I don’t really care. Plus…” I let loose a smirk. “It’s not like I’ll lose to you, Egghead.”

Unlike her usual self, Avril acted quite uncharacteristically to my usual taunting. Instead of retorting back with that haughtiness of hers, She looked gloomily at the floor while clenching her hands into a fist.

‘I-I have to work hard…” She muttered low under her breathe, barely loud enough for me to hear.

She then, bolted upright and beamed at me, her face masked with her usual determination.

“I’ll work hard, so wait for me Kelp!”

She then sprinted out of the training hall, all the while yelling, “Wait for me!!!!”

“Er...um, okay then…”

I watched her silhouette shrink into the open hallway before I let loose a tired sigh.

She really gives me too much credit… In fact, if it weren’t for this weird disposition of mine, I’d venture to think that I’d actually be quite weak.

I solemnly looked down at my broken arm.

I remembered how I felt after the match. The bitterness of losing existed, although not enough to prompt me into some crazy training period.

But after the match, I did realize something.

I don’t have what you might call a “battle sense.” During my match with Kiryat, I realized that I relied too much on my abilities, which was kinda ironic, considering I hardly used them to their full potential.

Well, in either case, without my abilities, I would be weak.

I don’t have a knack for fighting, especially fighting against people. I also don’t react well to situations, I make bad judgements in the heat of battle and my over reliance on my abilities causes quite a few problems.

Really, fighting doesn’t suit someone like me.

“Well, not like it’s all that important in the first place…” I whispered to myself with a hint of a bitter smile on my face.

I shrugged of the issue.

In a civilized society, much like my own, strength in battle isn’t really that great.

It’s not the guy who can throw the strongest punch that leads the country. The one with the best kicks doesn’t control the economy. Really, strength doesn’t matter. Even in the military, the ones with the most influence are the strategists and generals, not the foot soldier whose killed a thousand men.

Although it is kind of ironic. Considering current society has entered in what I can best describe as a modern day era of violence. Idolization of violence… the most famous people are the ones who can kill the strongest monsters or blow up the largest mountains.

“....”

But that’s besides the point. None of that matters to me. I don’t care to be the strongest. That’s kind of why I don’t like training.

Although my main reason for not training is simply because I’m lazy. I don’t enjoy training, nor do I want to become the hard working self I was in the past.

I made a bitter smirk. “Heh, in a sense, you could call me enlightened…”

I’ve realized the virtue of lethargicness and now I’m the type of person that strives for the path of the road not traveled.

While I was thinking such self deprecating thoughts, I noticed a slight commotion near the entrance of the training hall, the one that led to the hallway, from which Avril ran past.

“Hmm?”

Turning around to face the door, I raised an eyebrow at the scene.

Near the doorway, was Professor Kiryat.

He stood awkwardly around the entrance. He looked uncomfortable as he looked into the room. This current image of him completely contrasted with the man whom I fought with.

Fortunately for Kiryat though, he was saved from further awkwardness. Mr. Wu, had just noticed the new teacher, promptly stood up and walked over to meet him.

Since, I had nothing better to do, I decided to observe the two for a little bit. So through the noise of rowdy student, I focused my hearing, and listened in.

“...So Professor Kiryat, what brings you here?” Mr. Wu inquired in his usual soft spoken voice.

“Hmm.” Kiryat in response indicated at a stack of papers in his hands.

“Oho~ You brought me some paperwork?”

Kiryat nodded curtly. “...Right now, I have a free period, so I was available… Hautical needed to distribute some papers to some of the staff…”

“I see, that Hautical, sure is a busy body. I guess it’s not easy being the staff director..Now, let’s see what these papers are…”

Mr. Wu looked into some of the papers before he grunted and sighed, “Geh, its just a bunch of paper work…”

As Mr. Wu continued to look through the stack of sheets, Professor Kiryat’s eyes began to wander towards the training hall.

He looks at some of the students, whom were working extra hard thanks to Mr. Wu’s sudden announcement. He smiles at the scene before him.

As his eyes continued to wander around the room, I completely lost track, as before I knew, my eyes connected with his.

“Geh!” I let loose a reflexive noise, while Kiryat frowned upon seeing me.

Ah, crap! I messed up…

Right now, for a lack of a better sense, I stood out. A lot.

This was due to the air of rebelliousness that I had unwillingly become associated with. Although I used my broken arm as a guise in order to escape participation, somehow or the other, people associated my leisure relaxation with delinquent activity.

Right now, I looked like a guy dressed in a sloppy gym uniform, with his feet stretched out and his back leaned over, all the while casually sipping on a juice box. The image I was giving off right now was that of a punk who didn’t listen to his superiors.

In short, a delinquent.

And while I usually acted like this in class, since Mr. Wu hardly paid any attention to me, with Mr. Kiryat, I hesitated. Going by appearance, he seemed like quite a strict person. Plus, after losing to him, coupled with my teacher-student mentality, I developed a slight apprehension in regards to him seeing me like this.

Upon seeing Kiryat, I forced my back to straighten up. I threw my juice box away, while I formed the best semblance of a smile that I could muster.

Like I expected, Kiryat began to approach me.

It was the first time I had seen him since our match, so it was natural to act a bit nervous, especially after he sent such a disapproving glare towards me.

Without me noticing, I began to reflexively mutter excuses towards myself.

Things like, “It’s not like I’m skipping…. It’s my arm, my arm….. Broken bones heal faster during rest….”, leaked from my mouth.

I knew such words were pointless, especially since Kiryat was outside ear shot, but I couldn’t help play the role of the cowardly and oppressed student as Kiryat’s threatening silhouette loomed closer.

Before, he could reach me, Kiryat stopped his march halfway across the room.

He stared at me with an ever increasing frowning face. His gaze wandered around the room towards the other students, while I stiffly maintained an awkward smile in an attempt to convey my innocence.

Kiryat indicated to me with his eyes towards the other students. It was as if he was silently saying, ‘Look! Look at all these people! How can you be slacking off when they’re working so hard!”

It was an uncomfortable scrutinization probably created by my weak mindset.

I in return, strained to twist my head around, feigning interest in my, by comparison, hard working classmates.

All the while I was doing this, Kiryat maintained a perpetually unsatisfied expression as he looked between the rest of the students and me.

After a while, he turned away to face Mr. Wu.

Kiryat walked towards him before they shared an inaudible exchange. At the end of their quick conversation, Mr. Wu bursted into a sudden fit of laughter before nodding and pointing at my direction. I felt uncomfortable at the sudden attention.

Kiryat nodded and approached me. I gulped in response, maintaining the boiling sense of anxiety welling up within me.

For some reason, I had a feeling that something rather troublesome was about to happen.

“Um, why are you here?” I immediately asked once Professor Kiryat got within earshot.

Ignoring my question, Kiryat stopped just short of a foot away from me. He looked me over once again with that scrutinizing, and disappointed expression of his.

Without saying anything, he sighed a despondent sigh, before he suddenly grabbed onto my collar. He quickly yanked me up to my feet.

“O-Oi! Hey, What are you doing?! Let go!” I naturally protested.

“I-I’m pretty sure this is illegal! Stop, manhandling a student!”

I continued complaining, while he began to silently drag me across the training hall.

Even though my protests didn’t seem to appeal to Kiryat, they didn’t go unnoticed. Unfortunately, my loud yelling brought the attention of my fellow classmates.

“Huh, was that…”

“Look, look, it’s that delinquent student…”

“Did the teachers finally bust him?”

“I wonder what he did…”

As I made the shameful walk across the middle of the room, quiet whispers quickly spread throughout my class mates. It was the combination of my unruly reputation coupled with this bizarre situation which attracted such a crowd.

Even though, I’m usually lax and uncaring, it was still a bit embarrassing to get dragged around by a teacher. Once I discovered that complaining didn’t help and in fact only brought me more attention, I decided to stay silent and go along with this odd situation.

Although I didn’t waste this opportunity to question Kiryat.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked reproachfully.

“...I see, you are slacking.”

Kiryat ignored my question, instead opting to make a rather rude comment towards me.

“H-huh?” I replied dumbly to Kiryat’s sudden statement.

“You are slacking off.” He continued. “ And from the looks of it, you seem quite experienced in slacking off.”

I awkwardly scratched my cheek.

Truth be told, I had been slacking. Not just in this class, but in practically all of my classes. Although, I did notice that I was slacking off more than usual during this class in particular.

“...Just a bit.” I replied half heartedly to Kiryat’s comment.

Kiryat, grunted an agreement.

“Hmm. Then this is convenient. I will fix that wasteful personality of yours.”

“Wait, what? F-fix? I kinda don’t want to be fixed…”

“Tsk, tsk. Your character is the thing we will need to improve on. This is good, since I have a free period during this time, and since Wu has already approved.” Kiryat stated simply.

“Approved? Approved for what?” I asked wearily through squinted eyes.

Mr. Kiryat looked down on my as if I were an idiot.

“Isn’t it obvious? For your private tutelage.”

“Eh, what, t-tutelage?”

“You can call it special lesson, extracurricular, apprenticeship, disciple, What ever. You get the basic idea, it is your special training.”

“Oi, oi, I don’t really need any special training though, I’m perfectly fine here.”

I tried to bargain, only to be shot down by a reproachful glare from Professor Kiryat.

“...You are a lazy person. A slacker, a bad student, but you do have potential. In fact, a lot of potential. Although you are only a 1st year, you managed to push me and almost beat me during our match.”

Kiryat began to explain.

“Although you have such merits, you were unexpectedly a lazy person. I cannot let you squander your talent. That’s why I’ll train you personally.

Be honored you are my first apprentice, and with me around, I can build up your magic and turn you into a mighty fine Magician in the near future.”

He stated proudly, to which I could only hang my head in despair.

I can’t even use magic.

Without even mentioning the severe pointless ness to Kiryat’s special training, I felt a growing headache coming along as I realized that Kiryat’s stubbornness isn’t easily quenched. And considering the fact that he considered me important enough to be his first apprentice, I doubt I can get out of special training any time soon.

A tiny, silent droplet of water accumulated in my eye as I quickly realized that my hopeful lazy days has just permanently ended.

I sighed once more, as Kiryat ceased conversation and dragged me out of the training hall to god knows where.

As the training hall’s entry way grew smaller and smaller, I mustered a few short lines that went something like, “Ah~ I really am quite misfortunate…”

****

Well, although ever since that happened, I am receiving special training from Professor Kiryat in place of my actual Combat Class, I do still need to stop by the training hall.

I need to check in for attendance, otherwise it would be considered truancy. And right now, I’m trying to achieve perfect attendance, in order to placate my ever growing delinquent reputation. While I could handle the slight malice at the start, lately it has gotten to a point where even I have to do something. The constant isolation and fearful glares has worn me out.

Like a routing, I enter the training hall, and immediately make my way to the far back, where Mr. Wu was currently signing some rather important looking documents.

Once he saw me, Mr. Wu quickly looked up, and nodded, before he marked something down on another piece of paper.

With such little interaction, my purpose in this room ended quite abruptly.

I sighed dejectedly, as I turned around and made my way to the exit.

I absent mindedly scanned the room, not really expecting much. Amongst the crowd of busy students, I surveyed the scene, half heartedly looking for any familiar faces. I tried singling out Avril and her noticeable blonde ringlets, but amongst the sea of various hair styles, I could not spot the Egghead’s particular head of hair.

Although in retrospect, Avril’s absence does make a bit of sense. After all, Avril’s not really even a student in this class. In the first place, Avril was actually just a Student Aide, meaning she would come occasionally to help out Mr. Wu. In all likelihood, Avril either has her own class right now, or she had a free period.

It was just weird not seeing her here, considering she’s been in here almost everyday, and by this point, Avril’s practically the center of the class.

While I didn’t find Avril, I did find another familiar face.

Off in the corner, I could vaguely make out Morgan, as he fiddled with various Magic items he had strewn around him.

Since I really wanted to delay my own training, I walked over and greeted Morgan.

From the looks of things, Morgan was quite busy. He was obviously tired, bent over, and panting heavily under a blanket of sweat. All around him, the various magic items all had signs of recent use. Some still whirred and buzzed while others faintly flickered.

After a while of quietly standing over Morgan, He finally notices me, and lifts a weak and shaky arm in greeting.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

“Working hard I see?” I commented.

Morgan flashed a quick bitter smile before answering, “Y-yeah, it’s been tough, I haven’t made any significant improvements, but I have been getting better.”

I nodded understandingly.

Truth be told, Morgan was a really hard worker. He realized his own weaknesses and knew them better than anyone else. His most glaring problems were his lack of physical strength, and his low mana capacity, but despite this, he still strives in order to achieve his dream of going to Mu, and honestly, it was quite a lofty dream.

Although his hard working attitude really contradicts with the number of absences this man has. I noticed that Morgan’s school life is a bit… irregular. While Newgrounds does have a certain measure of freedom which most regular schools don’t have, Morgan’s situation has been quite bizarre. Although he doesn’t look like the type, He has had various random absences that I can’t help feeling uneasy about.

I considered the possibility that Morgan was actually a secret delinquent who was really just skipping class, but I can’t really connect that girlish face to such unruly actions.

While I was thinking such thoughts, Morgan pulled out a towel from his magically enhanced, extra storage bag, which by the way, resembled a beat up old satchel.

He promptly wiped is glistening brow, while initiating conversation with me.

“So are you heading for your special training again today?” He inquired whilst looking up at me.

I reflexively groaned at the mention of “special training”. I nodded in defeat.

I sighed. “Yes, unfortunately, I am.

Morgan ignored my gloominess and instead, his gaze began to sparkle.

“Wow~...” He sighed contentedly. “No wonder you’re so strong Kelp… you’re such a hard worker after all, going so far as taking special training classes…

Although, going by first impressions, I thought you would be the type to slack off, but I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Hearing this type of praise, all I could do was awkwardly scratch my head. Really, almost everything Morgan just stated was wrong. I was in fact, just like I looked. I am a slacker, and most certainly not hard working.

Feeling a bit bad about receiving this false praise, I tried shifting the subject a little bit.

“E-er, if we’re talking about hard working, then wouldn’t it be you Morgan?” I stated.

At the face of my unexpected praise, Morgan flushed red, while he imitated what I did recently and awkwardly scratched his cheek.

He awkwardly tried to hide his reddening face through a mess of silky hair.

Seeing this display, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Really…” I went on. “When you make those types of expressions, it’s no wonder Nanami calls you Moe-gan.”

The redness in Morgan’s cheeks instantly increases in intensity.

“P-please don’t use that nickname…” He began to weakly protest.

Noticing how flushed he was getting, He attempted to hide his red face with his eyes. Blocking out his girlish face, with equally girlish hands, leaving only a small opening between his fingers so that his right eye was visible.

“...it’s embarrassing.” He finished.

I couldn’t help but make a weird frown as I sighed once more.

“... Are you sure you’re not a girl, Moegan?”

“Yes I’m sure! and don’t call me that!”

His voice raised to an octave too high for any normal guy, making his statement less valid by the second.

As Morgan shooed me off for excessive teasing, I blissfully walked away laughing.

It was fun teasing Morgan. He reacts the same way Nanami does to teasing. Rather, I’d say I was the type of person who liked teasing people, that’s why it was fun hanging around people like my sister or Morgan, since they have such wonderful reactions to any form of teasing.

After I left the training hall, I quickly left building C, and headed of to where Professor Kiryat was dutifully waiting at.

I crossed the center courtyard and entered building A, which sat in front of the school entrance, acting as a sort of center command for the school.

Building A was different from the rest. Unlike, both B and C, where they focused on a certain topic, for instance, C focuses on combat, while B focuses on research and study, A didn’t do that. Rather, it taught a hog podge of high level courses. This was only natural as building A housed most of the “talent” of this school.

A building was reserved for the high ranking individuals, so it was only natural for bit of privilege to exist. As a result, this building was filled to the brim with high level classes. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say A building’s facilities and lesson content were superior to the rest of the school’s. People like his sister, Avril and the school president all congregated here.

On that note, if it weren’t for the terrible outlook everyone has on Monster Tamers, my class would have been located here too. After all, Advanced Placement Monster Taming is considered a high level course.

I made my way through the quiet hallway. At this point in time, no students were left roaming, which was natural. After all, class was well on its way, and it would be rather odd to find an honor student type person not his class.

I quickly moved to the east wing of the building, where I entered a room guarded by a wide set of sliding doors.

There, I was greeted by an open space, filled with nothing except for a padded floor. The room was twice as big as the training hall, which is saying something, considering the other room took up the space of about ten regular classrooms.

In the center of all this emptiness, I could make out Professor Kiryat. He was sitting on the floor, cross legged, and from the looks of it, he was currently trying to do some mana meditation.

Now, mana meditation were among the first things that Kiryat tried ‘teaching’ me.

According to him, this type of training helped build up the amount of mana an individual naturally has, while it improved both the mage’s overall control and capacity of the unknown element.

Naturally, Kiryat tried getting me to do this, and just as naturally, I tried brushing it aside.

There was no way this type of training was ever going to work, so I really didn’t bother with this type of thing.Of course I did try it at first, just to be sure, and the results were as expected, zilch. Although, it wasn’t a total loss, since I did manage to pass down the useful bit of information to Morgan and Nanami, who were both in the dark as to this special type of training.

The two of them acted quite differently at the face of this new information. Morgan was giddy with joy, since he certainly needed something that would increase his mana, while Nanami looked at me oddly. She knew my condition, so she found it quite weird that I was learning about mana when I didn’t have any.

Like this meditation, Kiryat tried teaching me various other magical training methods.

All of them unfortunately, were all magic based. This clearly didn’t work, and seeing both my adamant non compliance and the lack of progress in his teaching, unfortunately, only served to fire Kiryat up even more. He was a seriously devoted teacher.

While Kiryat’s motivation was sky high, on the inside, it awakened a deep sense of melancholy within me. I pushed these feelings aside, but it was obvious they still affected me.

After all, it reminded me of the past. When I worked hard at everything in order to uphold my naive belief that with enough hard work, I could grasp that impossible something called magic.

But well, that was in the past, and going by the present, it was obvious none of that childish wishful thinking and effort paid off.

Recently, Kiryat’s been trying to teach Martial magic.

Martial Magic, according to my dull faced professor, was in its simplest form, a mix between magic and martial arts. It was a particular magic art, which couldn’t really be qualified as a magic art, and a particular martial art, which couldn’t really be qualified as a martial art. Martial magic emphasized on the relationship between the body with magic, and the body with the mind. Down to its core, it was basically using magic through the body, as opposed to the traditional way, which was using magic through the mind.

Basically, as opposed to using predetermined spells or incantations, a practitioner would be able to draw out magic’s latent potential through bodily movements.

While obviously, I couldn’t use this magic, I at least ended up learning the basic martial arts portion of it, which, surprisingly, resembled a blend of a lot of the old traditional martial arts that used to be quite popular.

So I basically learned about half of the process. Of course I couldn’t fully utilize Martial magic to its full potential without the magic portion, but at least it was something. Although Kiryat did mention, without learning how to properly blend in magic, the things I’ve learned would pretty much be powerless in face of a real practitioner or mage.

Hearing that type of saddening news, really dampens my already low motivation…

While learning it from Kiryat, outside my unwillingness and despair, I did realize one thing; I have absolutely no talent for this. Rather, like my fight with Kiryat, this only served to awaken the knowledge that I did rely too much on my abilities.

Although, I did brush aside this issue after about a minute of pondering. It was useless to delve too deep in things like this. Even if I did rely too much on my abilities, what’s wrong with that? I mean, what use are my abilities if I don’t use and abuse them?

“… Do you still remember what I taught you last week?” Abruptly starting the “lesson,” Kiryat spoke up from the center of the room. He was still sitting crosslegged and had his eyes closed, but his voice spoke perfectly clear and echoed in the quiet room.

“...Um, I kinda forgot.” I lied, while scratching my mop of hair.

I feigned ignorance.

Although I did perfectly recall what that stubborn old man tried forcing down my throat, I wanted him to explain again. Not because I needed clarification or anything, but because the longer he talked, the less time there’d be for practical practice. And I really wanted to delay practical practice as much as possible, since it’s kinda hard to feign magic when you have no magic.

Kiryat sighed. He finally stood up, and left his meditative state. A strong gust of wind blew out from Kiryat, as the accumulated mana he trained finally released. This strong wind was a sort of side effect from Kiryat’s mana meditation.

The accumulated mana, which, while in meditation, was stressed and taught, would finally lose all its tension upon the release of the meditation state. This release caused a slight rebound, resulting in a small gust to blow out from the practitioner..

He motioned for me to come closer, while he stretched, and began to explain.

“Then, I guess let’s go back to the beginning. What do you remember about meditation?”

“Hm…” I fake pondered for a moment. “Nope, sorry Teach, I don’t remember.”

“....”

“...”

“...Magical meditation is first and foremost, the foundation of almost all types of martial magic.”

He spoke in a repetitive tone.

“Constant repetition and commitment to meditation is important, especially for us Martial magicians. Like I stated, before…” He glared reproachfully at me, “...Magic meditation allows one to blend magic along with your psyche.

For that brief period of time, the distinction between the mind, and the magic that flows through you blurs, and becomes one. This phenomenon is important, since one of Martial magic’s foundations is that of total hegemony. To bring together the aspects of the mind, body, and mana is the goal of all practitioners.

There are also other advantages of blending your mana together with your psyche, first of all, it makes it easier to utilize magic. The mana within you becomes more receptive, more flexible, and more susceptible to control.

Honestly, Magic meditation would benefit all walks of mages, but unfortunately it isn’t all that popular, and the knowledge of it is sparse.

…

Oi, are you listening?”

Kiryat reproached me as he observed my eyelids grow heavier and my attention wander.

“Wha, huh, y-yeah, I’m listening…” I hastily shook the boredom away. “Oh, yeah, since you're explaining, can you tell me why magic meditation isn't more used.”

“Hmm…” Seemingly satisfied that I really was paying attention to the point where I could ask decent questions that actually stuck to the topic, Kiryat eagerly thought about the issue I brought up.

“The issue with magic meditation isn’t really that people don’t find it useful, but that some people actively try to limit its distribution.”

“Why’s that?” I asked with a yawn.

“...Aside from Martial Magic practitioners, magical meditation was also a main proponent for mages who practiced mind control. As you may know, the almost all magic related to the forbidden arts has since been restricted or shunned, magic meditation is no different.”

He coughed once, before resuming.

“Well, I can teach magic meditation to you since I’m a Martial Magic practitioner, and meditation plays an even larger part for us than it does for mind control users.

Since practitioners utilize body movement and inner thoughts rather than spells and visualization like a traditional magician, having something that improves the relation between mind and mana becomes all the more important. With meditation, you can bridge the gap between two out of the three key concepts; Mana, Mind, and Body.

And once these three concepts come together, they can converge to create a powerful Magus. In fact, this was how I managed to reach rank S as an adventurer, by mastering martial magic’s key principle.”

Kiryat spoke a long string of words, which was rather uncharacteristic of his obtuse self. Normally, it was unusual for the man to speak so much, but whenever it came to teaching, he was rather passionate about it, and would often go off on various long tangents.

I already heard the basic gist of this rant during my previous lessons, but what caught my ear was the new piece of information Kiryat happened to tack on to his speech.

“Professor, you were an S rank?” I inquired innocently.

He momentarily halted his speech and looked over at me before laughing heartily.

“Hahaha. Am. I AM an S rank. Pretty impressive no? Not many people are credited with such an achievement.” He answered honestly with a hint of uncharacteristic bravado.

I absentmindedly nodded as I delved into my own thoughts.

Kiryat was ONLY an S rank? That would mean, in loose terms, something like Snapper head was stronger than him…

After countless encounters with various monsters of varying strengths, I kind of developed a sense for what a monster’s rank would most likely be. From my harrowing encounter with Snapper head, I’d safely estimate his strength to be around SS rank.

This meant that damn Dragon fish was significantly stronger than Kiryat, not only in ranking, but in combat power. The ranking for a monster and a person don’t necessarily equate. In almost all scenarios, a monster holding the same rank as a mage or adventurer will generally be stronger.

What piqued my interest wasn’t the disparity between Kiryat’s and Snapper Head’s level, but Kiryat’s own level. I honestly assumed that he would be at least a tier or two higher in rank.

I sighed.

It just goes to show how much I’ve been overestimating myself.

Kiryat did happen to beat me, but I happened to beat Snapper head (albeit with a little help from Timmy), so where does that exactly put me in terms of power?

I beat an opponent that the person who beat me couldn’t possibly beat.

It was harsh, but in my mind, I thought that I lost to someone weaker than myself. This was a rather arrogant mind set, even for me, but it wasn’t unbased. I was someone who fought numerous monsters (and on some occasions, magical beasts), some of these monsters were levels ahead of what any normal adventurer would encounter. To get a glimpse of the type of monsters I fought, a comparison would be that snapper head was probably only about the 4th or 5th strongest opponent I’ve fought.

Ah!

I hit my open palm with my fist to show that I finally figured it out.

There lies my problem. My opponents.

Up until my initial beginnings into the shut in lifestyle and to the start of school, the only types of enemies I’ve actually fought were monsters. I was a complete novice when it came to fighting a human.

It would then be safe to assume that, at the hands of Kiryat’s veteran experience, a loss would have most like occured. Since monsters have different attack patterns, motives, methods, etc., it wouldn’t be hard to see such a conclusion. The way a person and a monster fights were worlds’ apart. The difference between the two types were so astounding for me, that to switch between the two without no prior incident would have been impossible.

While I did rationalize my own loss, in another sense, you could call this the howling’s of a loser.

I bitterly smiled to myself as Kiryat snapped his fingers in front of my face.

Snap!

“Kelp! Are you listening?” He voiced.

“Yeah,yeah, I hear you.”

“....Well okay. For now, do some meditation, let’s build up that almost non existent base of yours.”

As Kiryat moved over, he positioned me into where he stood earlier and instructed me to do meditation.

I squatted there absentmindedly, while my thoughts wandered. As expected, meditation didn’t work on me, so the best I could do was fake it.

Eventually, enough time passed in silence before Kiryat’s distinct voice cut through the room like a hot knife cuts through butter.

He sighed almost as dejectedly as me.

“You… I really couldn’t feel any mana coming from you. Were you really meditating?”

I nonchalantly shrugged. I had no answer, and it was best to stay silent, lest I reveal something unwanted.

My lax attitude to my apparently dire problem caused another sigh to burst forth from Kiryat.

“I guess you really do have terrible mana reserves. It’s almost as if you had no mana…”

“Haha, Yeah, almost…” I awkwardly laughed.

Well, that’s okay.” Kiryat brushed aside the issue. “We can fix that eventually through magic meditation. For now, let’s work on the body movements.”

Kiryat moved over to stand 6 feet away from me.

“Now since your arm still hasn’t healed yet, and ” He stated without remorse, “We’ll keep working on what we’ve been going over these past few days, footwork.”

Kiryat moved his legs into a familiar pose. He bent his knees loosely, while putting his right foot in front, and keeping his left foot at the back.

I attempted to imitate his pose as best as I could.

“Now, normally the first thing any practitioner would learn is hand to hand, but seeing as how that’s currently impossible to do, we’ll focus on the third tier Martial Magic, [Shadow Step].”

He began to jump up and down on the balls of his feet, like an experienced boxer.

“Shadow step is one of the prerequisite tiers for the Hidden Skill, [Flash Step]. It’s basic concept is prediction and aversion.”

As he jumped, he began sidestepping left and right. Basically he was just moving around a lot, demonstrating some foot work.

All in all, the basic concept of [Shadow Step] was almost identical to boxing, so it was almost like learning any other martial art.

“This particular technique has no real stance, rather its a very adaptive technique. In order to properly use this technique, you need to sync yourself with your opponent’s movements and move accordingly.”

I nodded health heartedly.

“Pretty simple.”

“I’ve shown you the basic foot work these past two weeks, so for today, let’s work on actually implementing them.”

As he spoke, Kiryat waved his hands, and conjured up 5 flaming balls of fire above his head.

He plucked one ball, and held it loosely in his hand.

“Now, dodge using [Shadow Step].”

He threw the fire ball exaggeratedly at my direction, making a point to highlight exactly which body movement corresponded with which action. It wasn’t going at such a fast speed, and coupled with my reflexes, it was an easy thing to dodge.

I successfully dodged the first three balls before Kiryat abruptly stopped throwing and sighed.

“No no no. This isn’t right.” He sighed again.

“Huh? What’s wrong, aren’t I dodging properly like you said?” I asked, also frustrated since I honestly did think I did pretty well.

“You dodged, but not like the way I told you too.

Your purely relying on your own reflexes, rather your reflexes are too fast. Shadow Step relies on prediction, your only reacting.”

He stated something a bit confusing.

“Match my movements. Predict where they will go before they even leave my hand, don’t just react, predict. Be like flowing water….river…”

Kiryat’s words dwindled down as he too struggled to explain the concept. I guess it was the first time he’s face the problem of someone reacting too fast.

Kiryat conjured up more fireballs, and once again threw several flaming balls and I once again dodged.

After 4 balls, he shook his head and sighed once more.

“Sorry, I can’t help but dodge, its a reflex.” I apologized.

“And there lies the problem, its reflex.

You need to not rely on that, reflex is something vulnerable to things such as feints. [Shadow Step] is a technique which completely trumps over feints.”

He pondered for a minute, juggling the flaming balls in his hand.

“... This would be much easier with magic. A mage who is well versed in mana manipulation and well experienced in magic meditation would be able to sync the natural mana which flows within their opponent’s body with theirs.

...without any, its a difficult task to sync two people’s body movements while purely relying on kenesthetics. It really is too bad you can’t go around using your mana until we’ve properly built up your base.”

He sighed, before shrugging.

“Well we’ll figure it out.” He flippantly stated as he conjured up several more fireballs.

“For now, you can just dodge.”

The rest of the period went by like that. Kiryat would throw a fireball, I’d dodge, he’d berate me over not doing it properly, and we’d repeat the cycle again.

There were one or two moments when Kiryat approved of my movements, but all in all, I’d say it was a pretty unsuccessful day.

At the end of the period, I did get a pleasant, er, scratch that, unpleasant surprise.

As calm and composed as ever, a familiar figure walked into the large open room as I prepared to leave for the day.

Earlier, Kiryat had already left after instructing me to do some after work meditation until school ended, so this sudden person was quite a surprise.

“What brings you here, Miss Secretary?” I perfunctorily greeted the familiar face.

The glass laden face looked sternly at me before she spoke up.

“Hmm, I did here you were being instructed by Professor Kiryat, but seeing you here is still quite a surprise.”

I shrugged in return. “Well, it’s not like I want to either, believe me, I’d rather be at home, on the internet or maybe playing some video games...wrapped up under a warm blanket, the curtains closed, the lights all flicked off… ah~...”

I momentarily lost myself in idle self derusion before I managed to calm down.

“…Anyway, why are you here exactly? I don’t think your reason for seeing me is just so you we could have this chat.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Well, true, carelessly and casually conversing with you is the last thing I’d spend my free time on. No, today, I am on official business.”

Hearing this, my face dropped a shade.

Sounds like something troublesome again…

Although I’ve only interacted with them once, that one time was enough for me to develop a serious dislike over the Student Council. They made me go through that mess last time….I don’t want to relive anything similar.

“And that wouldn’t happen to be anything too bothersome, I hope?” I asked.

She sighed in return. “I don’t know. I was… not informed.”

I raised my brow upon hearing this. “That’s a surprise.”

“...”

Apparently, that was a bit of a sour spot, as Ami quietly brooded.

“... W-well, I don’t think any possibility of me refusing now is there?” I asked hopefully, yet fully expecting a refusal.

“I’m afraid not.” She stated with a straight face.

I remained unmoving for a moment, contemplating my actions before I finally caved in and sighed.

Seeing this, Ami began to walk out, with the full intention that I’d be following her.

“Well, it might not be so bad to see Miss President again…” I stated in bitter absent mindedness as I followed her into the hallway.

At the mention of her favorite person, Ami corrected me.

“Unfortunately, Miss Roe will not be gracing us with her presence this evening.”

“Huh?” I drew a perplexed face at this. “Then who asked for me? It better not be that punk Aleksey. If he mentions my sister even once, I’m punching him in the face.”

“No, it wasn’t Aleksey, it was someone even worse...” She wrinkled her nose again.

“...Um, who was it then?”

She bitterly remained silent as she forged into the empty hallway. The setting sunlight illuminated her path, and reflected off her short, yet well styled black hair.

“...”

For a moment, I forgot about my curiosity and my thoughts wandered.

From this angle, it looks like one of the scenes from that one eroge I played a while ago…

I silently observed the striking similarities between my own fantasies and reality before shaking my head, as I banished such weird thoughts

After a while, I asked Ami again. “Who was it exactly that called for me?”

As if awakened from a haze of hatred, she turned back for a second only to wrinkle her nose in disgust. She quickly turned back around, but not before answering my question.

“...The Vice President wants to see you.”

****

Well... as always tell me what your thoughts are. And if I made any errors, please inform me.

Chapter 15

Chapter 17