Outside the window to my room I could see the sky, lit with a reddish golden glow. It was my favourite time of day.

At the moment I rested on my bed with the folder labelled “Ex. 14-2” open and held between my fingers. I’d taken it home with the rest of my work for today, thankfully without any difficulty.

My eyes returned to sweeping through each line of the notes, assembling this puzzle Livia had unknowingly left me. It didn’t help that many of the terms were outright foreign to me, but the internet could define anything I couldn’t. It was understanding the context that was hard. Although Livia’s writing was certainly tidy, I couldn’t wrap my head around her thought patterns. The notes seemed closer to sporadic bursts of thought rather than an organised collection of results meant to be presented to anyone other than herself.

Random lines like “1, 2, 5 rejected”, “undefined” and “EOL” would pop out of nowhere which, frankly, made zero sense to anyone but Livia I would guess.

Why did she write this though?

It was no secret in this day and age that most people used technology for anything and everything they can. Nowadays, most stores wouldn’t even bother to stock such things either, so it wasn’t exactly easy to get your hands on.

And she insists on me doing all my coursework by hand and recorded this by hand… why? What benefit is there to this?

I laid there, eyes passing over words inattentively. I needed a break. The folder snapped shut, pushing air into my face, as I got up and dropped it on my desk. My legs headed for the door, and I stepped into the living room, where the sound of the TV caught my ears. I looked to the couch but spotted no one.

Guess Ruri left it on.

It didn’t bother me so I left it. Plus, I liked to leave the TV on in the background when I was alone. Simply having the sound in the background to keep my company was nice. It made the place feel more alive.

Please be food I thought, as I opened the fridge and grinned. There wasn’t a whole lot, but I wasn’t one to complain. Our mother sent each of us an allowance, but only enough to buy the necessities, so if I’d opened the fridge to find it stocked full of food I’d have been more confused about where Ruri was getting all her money. But it wasn’t. A couple apples, half a liter of milk and a bowl of leftover stir fry were what filled our fridge.

I grabbed the stir fry and put it in the microwave for a couple minutes before taking a seat on the couch and digging in. It’d been an extremely successful day compared to last week, what with me being taught two spells from Livia nonetheless, so I felt no guilt with taking this break. It wasn’t as if me snooping through some random folder I’d found in Livia’s office was a productive use of my time.

And I still have to get my coursework done…

Monday. The first day of the week. And I already felt like jumping off a bridge.

I got what little work I could motivate myself to do done before hitting the bed early, unexpectedly tired.

***

The sound of birds chirping their morning melody woke me up. Hazy, I blinked a few times while forcing myself out of bed. Once my feet touched the ground I started my morning routine. Take a shower, get dressed and find something to have for breakfast, more often than not cereal which I wasn’t bored of yet.

“Morning,” I lazily greeted Ruri, who was already dressed and ready to leave, as I headed for the shower.

“You too.” Ruri’s voice was clear and wide awake. The exact opposite of my own.

By the time I finished my shower Ruri had already left. Before I left as well, I returned to my room to grab my bag and stuff my coursework inside, which was still lying on my desk from the previous night.

Huh?

It was missing. I checked my bag, but it wasn’t there. I checked under my desk, but it wasn’t there. Under my bed, because god knows how it could get there, I still had to know if it was there. But it wasn’t.

I scrambled around my room, turned my bag inside out and eventually did the same to the rest of the apartment, sparing Ruri’s room. I was pretty damn sure she wouldn’t sneak into my room to steal a file she didn’t even know I had, and, primarily, I wouldn’t search through my sisters room. That would just be weird.

In the end, I found nothing and gave up, resigning myself to the fact that I’m fucked. The moment Livia would realise that file was missing from her office where, as far as I knew, I was the only other person to ever enter she would without a doubt do something equivalent to murdering me and then murder me.

Calm down Ryu. It’ll be alright.

That’s all I thought as walked to the station, boarded the train and headed for school.

***

As the door to Livia’s office opened and I was greeted by the sight of her smiling brightly, I smiled back and found myself tittering in an “oh I am so fucked that I don’t even give a shit anymore” kind’ve way.

Oh yes, she knows.

“Sit down,” said Livia, stepping back for me to enter and locking the door.

Her smile dropped the moment that door closed, not that I was surprised. It was nothing more than an act. A farce. No one but me was to know her true colors.

I was only just beginning to take my seat in the usual spot when Livia rushed over and took a seat opposite me. She looked me dead in the eye, that sly smile of hers creeping back onto her face.

“Did you read it?”

She said it slowly, clearly, pronouncing each word one after the other. I had an immediate urge to lie and tell her I had no idea what she was talking about, but I got the feeling that would only delay the inevitable.

“...Yes.”

The folder hadn’t seemed all that damaging. In fact it hadn’t seemed damaging at all. It just seemed like a collection of notes for some experiment. Even if I did read it, she couldn’t be all that mad could she?

“How much.”

“Uh… ten, maybe twelve pages. I didn’t get that far.”

She stared at me in silence so I stared back, taking up the unspoken challenge. She was trying to pressure me, make me confess to my sins like a kid in a confessional. But I wasn’t so weak. Such methods could only work on the simple and weak minded, neither of which I considered myself to be.

Livia eventually relaxed her stare, choosing to sit back and fold her legs in that way she must’ve known would catch my attention. She just loved to wear those tight fitting skirts didn’t she?

“You’re quite fun to toy with Ryu, but unfortunately I don’t have the time to play.” Livia actually looked saddened with that statement. “How much do you know about the war?”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Answer the question.”

“I know there’s a war.”

“That’s it?”

“I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Naturally you don’t feel it’s your problem, but it could be- will be. This city has walls for a reason Ryu. It’s the sole source of magical talent in our nation, and so it’s a major target.”

“What?”

Livia sighed.

Well sorry for not understanding miss know it all.

“It’s a single point of failure. Take out this city and our nation effectively loses its only source of mages on and off the battlefield. The government knows this and has tried to introduce new academies, but all attempts have failed to have any significant impact. Getting students to move is hard enough, let alone teachers.”

I turned my head left to right.

“I’m still not seeing the link between this and that folder.”

“Experiment fourteen dash two tested the effectiveness of several magical circuits on the battlefield. The results were… discouraging. Inerts simply struggle to control their mana even with a circuit to guide it.”

“You’re using a lot of words I don’t understand.”

“In layman's terms my research aimed to allow people who aren’t trained magicians the ability to activate spells.”

“Oh... that sounds useful.”

“It would’ve been if the experiment was a success, however all I found out was what I’d expected from the beginning. Even though there is mana in everything not everyone can manipulate it.”

“Why’d you do it then?”

Livia scoffed. “The military pays well.”

“Oh… right.” I was probably starting to sound dumb, what with me having nothing to contribute to the conversation other than “oh”. On the bright side, Livia was being a lot more talkative than usual.

Actually... I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Infact that can’t be a good thing.

“Anyway, that research is technically a military secret-”

“That you left out in the open.”

Livia shot me a “don’t interrupt me again or I’ll stab you” smile before continuing. “So don’t tell anyone.”

“But you just told me.”

“Because we’re in a relationship.”

“Huh?” I jumped forward in my seat. “We are?”

There it was. That sly smile.

“Right… mutually beneficial,” I mumbled. “What benefit is there in me knowing this then?”

“None. I simply thought you’d like to know.”

“Just curious, but am I your apprentice? Because I never said I wanted to be your apprentice.”

Her smile grew wider. Or should I say sly-er?

“Who told you about that?”

“What?”

“Apprentices.”

“A friend.”

“Mhm… well you’re not my apprentice Ryu. I wouldn’t screw my apprentice.”

In that instant I froze as my mind fell into chaos.

Does that mean-!

No. She was obviously toying with me.

It seemed like the world had to make sure there was always someone there to tease me. Although I was pleased that Ruri had stepped back from that position, in alignment with the rules of the universe the task of teasing me had fallen onto Livia’s shoulders.

I really need to find some normal people to hang out with.

“Anyway… can you teach me more spells?”

“Sure.”

“Huh?”

“But-”

“Ah.”

Livia stopped to shoot me another one of her death stares which, honestly, were losing their impact. It wasn’t that it lacked murderous intent, oh no she nailed that part, but rather that she used it far too much. It’d become its own tale of “the stare which said I’ll fuck you up”. I’m not very good with titles.

“Sorry.”

I only apologised to speed things up.

Livia took a quick breath before continuing.

“I’ll need to test you on your theory, and if you could stop interrupting me that would be nice.”

“You know you’re being really nice today.”

“I’m trying a new technique.”

So you know you’re normally a bitch.

“A mage's biggest strength is their adaptability after all.”

I nodded my head. I could either accept this or be an idiot and not.

“So when’s this test?”

“Now.”

“Of course it is…” I mumbled.

Livia stood up and grabbed something off her desk, dropping it on the coffee table before me. It was the folder. “Ex. 14-2”.

“Why are you giving this back to me?”

“It’s what I’ll be testing you on. Along with the rest of your subjects.”

“You’re testing me on everything?!”

“I’ll give you five minute reading time. Pages twenty-three to forty-six should cover the basics of magic circuits, so I would start from there.”

I slumped back.

“Urgh…”

How did she even get it back?

***

It took three hours to finish Livia’s testing which was for more comprehensive than I’d expected. In the end even with my best effort I failed, spectacularly, leading to Livia declaring “I will need to supplement your coursework since it’s clearly lacking” even though this was the exact same work every other student of the academy was given.

She really loves her theory.

Apparently since she believed it was the education system’s fault for my failure, she agreed to take me out to the training grounds again on the condition that I passed the next test.

Just how much does she expect me to know in one week? Jeez.

“Ryu pay attention,” said Livia, standing about five metres ahead of me.

“Shielding is one of the hardest skills to master since it can either save your life or get you killed. Now recite what I told you earlier.”

I sighed. “Mana shields are the the most commonly deployed shield due to their simplicity and adaptability.”

“Correct. Casting is very simple. Imagine you are shielding yourself and the shield will form around you.” Livia pulled out another of those marbles from her pocket. “This isn’t something I can demonstrate, so try to stop this marble from hitting you.”

Her hand flicked in my direction, catapulting the marble towards my chest faster than I could even think about raising a shield. It hit me and dropped back onto the ground, rolling around until it vanished and appeared back in Livia’s hand.

So that’s how she did it.

“Put up your shield Ryu.”

She flung the marble at me again.

“Can you wait?” I batted the incoming marble to the side with my palm before it had the chance to hit me.

“Sure.” The marble was back in her fingers, rolling around in that oddly arousing way.

Damn hormones.

I looked away and shook the image of Livia from my head, replacing those thoughts with images of me raising my arms up in front of myself in defense.

It’s amazing how much easier it is to focus when a pretty lady isn’t throwing marbles at you.

The shield materialised as Livia had said, and it was just as I thought, a light blue shimmering cocoon. The shield vanished the moment my thoughts diverged from shielding myself, but I assumed that was a limitation of the spell rather than my own failure.

“See? I can do it if you just give me a second to-”

Livia threw a marble at me.

“Fail.”

Another one.

“Fail.”

The next one hit me square in the forehead.

Her lips moved slowly, forming the next word. “Dead. I don’t care if you can put up a shield with no distractions. That’s useless.”

“No it’s not.”

“Are you sure?”

“If I put up a shield first you can’t hit me.

Livia smirked. “And neither can you. That shield works both ways while continuously draining your mana. If you think you can win a fight by hiding behind a shield any competent opponent will either dispel it, batter it down or wait until you run out of mana. Whichever is most appropriate of course.”

“You didn’t tell me that.”

Livia’s voice rose a little but maintained its usual clarity. “Stop being stubborn.”

I took a step forward. “Then teach me properly!”

Livia looked down at me, eventually choosing to walk towards me and stop within arm's length.

“So… what is the 'correct’ way for me to teach you, mister Hyuni?” said Livia, in her normal, but always patronizing, voice.

I stood my ground. “I don’t know. Let me join classes like everyone else.”

“They won’t teach you a thing. I’ve seen the curriculum and it barely even touches upon magic, so if you want any chance of getting out if this dump you should do what I tell you.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to stay here?”

“No I mean why are you doing this? Why me?”

“The only thing you should worry about is your-”

“Don’t bullshit me, what are you after?”

I heard Livia laugh, but that quickly subsided when she realised I wasn’t going to budge,. “Data.”

“On?”

“You.”

I took a step back. “...Why?”

“If I told you any more that would compromise the experiment mister Hyuni. So that’s all I can tell you. Understand?”

“But you will tell me when you’re done.”

That signature smile of hers returned. “Sure.”

The training session went on for another half hour of me practicing mana shield versus marbles with couple repels near the end, after which we returned to Livia’s office. From there I did my coursework for a couple hours and only then would I finally get to go home. Though going home wasn’t much better since I still had stacks of work to do, at least Livia wasn’t there.

***

“Hey,” I said, greeting Ruri on the couch as I entered our apartment.

She was still in her uniform, bag on the floor, so I took that as her having only gotten home recently.

Ruri turned her head towards me, though she didn’t look me in the eye. “Hey.”

“Want a drink?” I dropped my bag behind the couch and went to grab a cup of water.

“Water, please.”

I filled two clear glasses with water from the tap, handed Ruri hers and took a seat on the couch beside her. The TV was on, like usual, but I wasn’t really paying attention to it. Considering Ruri was either looking up at the ceiling or out the window, I got the feeling she wasn’t either.

“Long day?” I said, bringing my cup to my lips and guzzling some water down.

“Yeah. I had my first tutorial today.”

My cup was already empty, so I held it between my hands. “Oh. Like a magic one?”

“Yeah. The teacher taught us how to cast repel.”

“Yeah they normally teach beginners that one,” I said, only realising how what I’d said could sound after I’d said it.

Ruri’s head turned my way, having suddenly mustered the courage to look me in the eye, albeit, only for a second.

“Uh, Livia taught it to me yesterday.”

“Oh.” Ruri’s voice contained a hint of disappointment, small enough that it’d be indistinguishable to most. There was something she disliked about Livia, in fact, she didn’t seem too fond of me mentioning any other girls name.

Is she jealous? But why?

I left the thought there, already having an idea of where it might lead. Sometimes it’s easier to ignore something and hope it turns out okay. For now, that would be the best way for me to treat this, at least that’s what I told myself.

“Show me,” said Ruri placing her cup on the coffee table. “Wait. Come with me, we can’t do it here.”

Ruri got up and headed for the door, so I jumped out of my seat after her.

***

It turns out our lil dorm had its own exercise grounds, though it was on the roof and fairly limited in activities. There were a couple benches, raised bars, a court drawn on the ground with paint and going around the perimeter of the entire roof was a metal metal chain link fence about double my height. Looking around, I also noted there no one else here.

Guess that makes me lucky for once.

Ruri and I stopped in the middle of the court.

“Alright now you can do it.”

I put up my arm and quickly fired off a repel, surprisingly myself at how natural it felt. When my eyes returned to Ruri, I noticed she was still waiting.

“I did it,” I said.

Ruri opened her mouth, closed it and then opened it again to speak. “I forgot that it’s hard to see.”

“Yeah.” An idea popped into my head. “This one should be easier.”

I raised my arm again and visualised a ray, causing a much more defined streak of glowing blue light to shoot off and hit the fence. It rustled and shook from the impact, but fortunately survived. I didn’t want to get in trouble for breaking public property after all.

“Was that repel?!”

“Technically, but it’s normally called arcane missile which isn’t actually accurate…”

Holy shit I’m starting to sound like Livia.

“Did she teach you that as well?”

“Yeah, she also taught me mana shield today.”

“Wow…”

Ruri went to take a seat on one of the benches, looking out towards the center of the city. I took a seat beside her.

Minutes passed without a word being spoken; the silence spoke for us. We looked towards the city, where buildings several times taller than our own blocked out parts of the sky, leaving behind a glowing silhouette. But none of them could top the wall that circled us all. It made even the tallest building look insignificant.

“Do you think you can get into yellow academy?” said Ruri.

Is that what’s been troubling her?

I took a look at Ruri. The wind was brushing her hair, pushing it and pulling it in whatever direction it so happened to be going.

“I think so.”

She looked at me, her eyes watery but not dripping. Were they dry from the wind? No... I knew why.

Without a word she laid her head on my lap which I didn’t dispute. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and seconds later she placed her hand over mine. I silently cursed to myself. Even in such a situation my body was incessant, more so now that I could feel the warm breath of my sister tingling against my skin.

I felt her suck in, readying to speak.

”Please get in.”

I took a breath of my own, but not for the same reasons.

“I will.”

Her body relaxed, and she shuffled around in my lap a little, finding herself a more comfortable position to rest. I could only sit there and hope she wouldn’t mention my boner, confident of the fact she’d noticed, as I rested the side of my head on my palm and sighed.

I don’t know where we’re going. But… we’re going.