"Hey! Wake up El! You too Elis!"

"Just a sec Iris!" I say while sliding my arms through the sleeves of our school's uniform. Pulling the top over my head, I let my hands slide to the back of my neck and pull out my hair. Lifting a white, hoodless, cloak from the ground, also part of the uniform, I wrap it around my neck and button it. "Is Elis out yet?" I ask, gathering my hair into my fingers.

"Not yet." Iris says from behind the door. "Do you wanna let me in so I can help you with your hair?" she lightly taps on my door.

"H-here." I say, opening the door and turning around. It's been awhile since Iris has done my hair. For the past two weeks, she and Elis have been coming over to help me recover. From what they say, apparently I was knocked out after being hit with the lightning bolt. My cold decided to take over just as soon as it struck me. I'm sure that if I were more like him then I would've dodged it.

"Ribbon." Iris holds out her hand. She's gotten pretty fast at this.

"Here." I hand a short blue one to her. "H-how, how's Miss Ein doing?"

"She should be good to come back." Iris tightens it. "Just like us. If you want to know, then ask her yourself. No one's been to school for the past two weeks so I wouldn't know much more than you El."

"O-ow, ow, ow! Iris, don't pull so hard. I-I'm sorry." I say while snatching my hair away from her.

"It's best that you go talk to Miss Ein about that incident too." Iris leans over to knock on Elis's door. "She won't hold it against you. Nor will she be mad about it."

I lower my head, "I understand." my hands gently stroke my newly braided hair.

"EL!" Elis bursts from her room to give me a hug.

"Huh? E-Elis. Why are you hugging me?" It's not like she hasn't done it before, but I didn't expect one so early in the morning.

"Because I couldn't do it while you were sick, duh!" she releases me before leaning over the edge to glance down below. "I can't believe how they were able to fix the hole in the school." Elis slumps. "I was hoping for at least another week of good sleep."

"Pfft." Iris walks forward and pulls Elis's ear, "Let's get going. I know that you're excited."

"W-wha? What, what are you saying?" Elis shakes her head violently.

"You're stuttering like El so I know for sure you're lying let's go."

"H-hey! At least wait for El!" The two start down the stairs.

My stuttering isn't that bad. Right? "W-w-wait up guys! I'm comif!" Ow! I bit my tongue.

------------------

"Here we are." Iris says while turning her head just enough so that her soft, silky, hair bustled a bit. "Kinda feels like the first day."

"Yeah, except this time we won't have to stand in front of the class and make fools out of ourselves." Elis chides.

"That's because you were so excited and got ready early today." Iris attempted to pinch Elis's cheeks.

"Ah!" She instantly moved to bat her hand away. "I'll be going first, like last time."

"Wait Elis-"

Ignoring me, she curled her fingers inside of the little opening and, with a *boom*, threw the door to the side. So hard in fact, that Iris flinched. I was prepared though. As soon as she grabbed onto the door, I had already thrown myself against the wall, out of sight from anyone inside.

The wall's a lot colder than I thought it was going to be. Even with the winter cloak on, I'm arching my back to keep it away from the block of ice that is the wall. My hands are pressed against it, slowly having their heat sapped away.

"El." Iris crosses her arms. "Are you going to stay out here all day?"

I shake my head. "N-no. I-I'm just not feeling too well, I need a little support."

"You were doing fine on the way here. You said yesterday that your cold was gone too." Iris holds her chin as if she's remembering all of it.

Gah! Iris, just let me hide here for a little bit. I swear I'll go inside later... probably.

"I guess I'll go second, like last time." Iris starts but freezes for a second. After looking around, she smiles mischievously and says, "I'll see you inside in a bit."

Does she have that much faith in me? No, it's probably because she knows it's mandatory for me to attend. "Uuuuuuu." What if I go in and Miss Ein stops me in front of the whole class to say something? Then everyone will be staring at me. What if I find out that I left a permanent scar or mark on her? What'll I do then?

I throw my hands over my eyes. AAAH! Why can't I just walk in without feeling so dumb and nervous. I wanna read right now. Yeah, yeah that sounds good. I'll leave for the library and come back with a book covering me. She wouldn't bother me then right? I can just peek at her when I get to my seat to see how she's doing. That sounds good.

I take a turn and start walking. As soon as I reach the corner, I bump into someone.

"Oof." I immediately lower my head. "S-sorry." I say.

"Ellar?"

ACK! I keep my face down. This is just great. I should've looked inside first. Iris, she knew Miss Ein wasn't inside.

"N-nice to see you again M-Miss Ein." I cling onto my hair. "I-I was just getting to class."

"The classroom is that way." Although I can't see it, I know she's pointing behind me. "What were you doing going this way? Were you perhaps trying to skip out on class?" Unlike how it might've sounded like at the beginning of the year, her voice is soft.

"Ah-ahahaha" I can only laugh awkwardly to buy time for a response. "N-no, not at all."

"I see. Please lift your head."

Argh. I don't want to, but I do it anyways.

"Ellar-"

*DING*

Miss Ein looks to the side, annoyed. "Well, we must get to class. You first."

"Y-yes." I say, turning on my heel. Quickly, I rush up the steps to my seat, a few of the other students chuckle as I go with my head down.

"Late again?" Maak, a golden haired boy says.

I ignore him and take my seat. Iris and Elis both grin. I wish that they told me earlier.

"I'm late too." Miss Ein comments. "But, teachers get passes." Miss Ein presses her hands together. I don't think that anyone else knows, the students at least, that Miss Ein was injured. "Everyone, because of the attack two weeks ago, we've had to shut down the school, as you all know. So, to keep up with our previous plans, we'll be heading to the gymnasium after a short summary of the lessons which were supposed to be covered in the last two weeks."

A few groans permeate from around the room. The loudest one is only a seat away from me. Elis, putting her head in her arms, she slowly rolls her head from side to side. Iris rubs her back, "It's okay Elis. You wouldn't have listened to most of it anyways. I'll clue you in later."

"Umu." Elis, instead of going to sleep, she rests her chin on her arms. "I think that I'll try to listen this time."

"Hmmm? Why? I mean, it's a good thing that you're listening but I'd like to know why the change of heart." Iris says while tilting her head.

Elis doesn't respond and stares straight ahead.

What is she thinking? Did something happen while I was sick? For some reason, I glance over to the middle of the room. A single seat which should be occupied by a certain black haired boy is empty. Where is he?

Time passed. Miss Ein began her lessons, summarizing everything we would have learned in the past two weeks, had the school not been attacked. Interestingly enough, they were all just reviews for what we've learned so far. Or, at least that's what it was for the students who listened.

"Whoa guys." Elis exclaims. "We sure missed a lot of stuff! Lucky that Miss Ein summarized it for us huh?"

Shaking her head, Iris covers her head with her hand, "I had hope for you Elis. That little spark just died right then."

"Alright class!" Many of the students are getting up. "We'll-"

At that moment, the door slides open. The room falls silent as Rainen steps in, face calm and indifferent. Without paying any heed to the eyes on him, with a slight angle of his body, he mutters an apology.

"Sorry that I'm late Miss Ein. I was called into a meeting with some of the other teachers."

At this announcement, whispers appear around the room. Our classmates lean over to each other, some cupping their hands over their mouths, some staring in suspicion. What happened while I was out? Did he do anything?

Before I'm able to register their words, Miss Ein claps her hands, sending the room into an instant silence. Some students standing up feel compelled to sit down and do so.

"You came at the perfect time." Miss Ein says. "We were just about to leave for the gymnasium. I'm sure that they would've sent you there had it taken a little longer." With a wave of her hand, she ushers Rainen out of the room and we follow behind her.

"What happened while I was sick?" I turn to Iris.

She shrugs, "I've only heard a little bit but Rainen was missing during the attack. Apparently the teachers immediately started doing room checks once it was understood that the academy was under attack. Even after the streets were cleared out, they still couldn't find him. Until he magically reappeared in his room that is."

Magically appearing in his room?

"Did they check the bathroom? Were they sure that he wasn't in a friend's room or something? Maybe he was in the school like we were." I take a second to collect my thoughts before asking more questions. "Were they watching the entrances to the dorms?"

Elis nods, "As soon as we were found in the library and saved, they took us back to the dorms. It was crawling with almost all the teachers in the school. I don't really think that anything could've gotten past them."

I don't even know how many teachers are in this school. By rough estimate I'd have to guess around forty, five for each year plus some extra members like Mr. Reader. They should all be fairly talented with magic too.

"What's the big deal then?" I ask.

"Well El," Iris glances around. "since the beginning of the year, ever since he knocked out that teacher, some people have been suspicious of him. He-"

"Please sit down." Miss Ein says as she opens the doors to the gymnasium.

Iris didn't need to finish her sentence for me to understand what she was going to say. I can't say I know a lot about other people's opinions about my partner but they're not very good ones. I don't understand why though, unlike us, the mages, he knows how to fight without magic. I think that's amazing.

His magic isn't great, it's weak but he can more than make up for it, class just isn't his place. Maybe he'd be a good adventurer. I, I really wish I could adventure with someone but I probably wouldn't get accepted into any parties. Iris and Elis wouldn't want to be full adventurers anyways.

If only I had some semblance of control over my magic, I think I'd be able to do it. I might be able to become great like in the stories.

Pulling my arm along, Elis leads Iris and I to the front seats.

It's a familiar sight. The way the gymnasium looks isn't impressive other than for its size. Thousands of red seats, enough for the whole student body, circulating the large arena like pit in the middle. With walls over five meters tall, the ones not participating in battle seem quite safe.

We haven't been here for a while, ever since the incident.... I don't know what happened but I lost control again and almost killed him. I didn't mean to do anything bad, I didn't want to hurt him, I was just scared.... Maybe I should've bowed out as soon as I started feeling all that pressure on me. Rainen would've been fine, he would have been able to take those two on.

I, on the other hand, was useless. I could barely provide any support. What's the point of magicians, of becoming a magician, if I can't control my magic or use it to help others? My spells were easily deflected by their barriers, they would've been able to close the distance and hit me without any trouble.

Using Iris's idea of summoning earth pillars under them was a good one, one that I didn't use.

Elis sits down and Iris falls next to her. I place my hand on the armrests to lower myself down. Somehow, these feel a little... odd.

"Iris?" I say. "I-, are your armrests like this?"

"Hmm?" she extends her left arm. After getting a feel of it, she switches back and forth quickly as if she would lose the feeling if she were any slower. "Huh? That is weird. A little bent out of shape."

"Probably damaged when they installed it." Elis says. She's crouching down in front of my seat, running her hands along the refined wooden plank. "Hey El. Try seeing if you can cover the bumps and bends with your hands."

Following her suggestion, I allow my fingers to curl around the edges. My fingers sink in, finding nice cozy places which they can fasten themselves to. My wrists have to arch up to fit the figure of the rests. They're shaky, they rattle every time I move my hands, as if they were going to fall off.

"Someone probably did that." Iris points out. "I'm sure that the workers who installed them would've fixed it if they knew."

Tilting her head, Elis looks to Iris, "Who do you think did it then? When do you think they did it?"

"Who knows. It's not a really big deal, meaning that it could've happened years ago but no one thought it was important enough to say anything about." Iris grips her own armrests, "Mhm. The person who did this must've been a swordsman or a beastman. No way that a mage could've done this, without magic of course."

"Unless," Elis stares at me. What is she thinking? Why are her eyes so bright? "you have superhuman strength!"

Uh... no. Sorry Elis but I don't believe that I do.

"Sit back down before you say another dumb thing Elis."

"What if El does turn out to have super strength? Then she could wreck all of those magic swordsmen!"

I don't think that I could do that, not one bit. Even with the power to lift a horse, they'd cut me down in no time. Just like what happened when Kazuo and Aethel, the two from the S ranked party, defeated the giants. Sure they were strong, but they were no match for the two skilled swordsmen.

It was really cool how fast they were able to do it too! I mean, it's just like how I imagined the adventurers in the books taking out monsters. With one swift, decisive, slash, a gaping gash opens up in the monster's body and the adventurers go in for the kill.

If it's possible, one day I'd like to go and explore a labyrinth.

My thoughts are stopped short when the headmaster steps through the doors leading to the arena. Walking to the middle, he stands where it's easiest for everyone to see him, clear as day, he raises his hand.

"Students!" he bellows. "I understand your confusion about what is taking place currently. Normally, we'd only gather the first to third years here for the event but I'd like to apologize for a few things that have happened in the past weeks." putting his hands behind his back, he continues with his speech. "As you may know, the third years especially, during the raid two weeks ago, a teacher was killed."

The sound of voices, jumbled and mixed, spreads across the room.

"To make sure that such an event does not happen again, we've enlisted the help of the government. Security will be a little tighter but will be almost unnoticeable for you so please do not worry about your freedoms. Next thing, to replace Mr. Haleon, we've also hired a new teacher. Please welcome the newest addition to this school, a third year teacher, Mr. Rune."

Claps pour out from around the room.

Striding across the open ground, Mr. Rune approaches the headmaster before bowing slightly to show his respect. After that short display, the headmaster continues his speech. Eventually, five minutes before the tenth hour, the headmaster clears his voice.

"Students from first to third year will be coming here tomorrow for lessons. Your teachers will guide you on what to do."

*DING*

"All right." the headmaster responded to the bell. "Now is your free time. Spend it wisely."

----------------------

After school, I decided to go to the library to check out some books. I really need to start carrying them around with me more. That way, I could have something to use to shield my face from view. I know it won't stop any staring, but it'll at least let me lie to myself for a bit.

With my fingers running along the spine of the books I can reach, I search for any tales that I haven't read yet and that interest me. Read this one already, I've got no interest in these, pass on this one. Again and again it continues until I finally give up. Turning to Mr. Reader, who's also seemed to recover, I ask him for a recommendation.

"Aha." he says. "Ellar. I have just the perfect book for you." reaching under his desk, he pulls out a short story book. "It has pictures and such but I believe that it can hold your attention."

"T-"

Stopped before I can say anything, the words being spoken behind me halt my breath.

"Did you hear about that first year?" a feminine voice says.

"Yeah. He's the same one who attacked that teacher at the beginning of the school year right?" another one comes.

"But he was only protecting another student." a different girl says.

"Don't you think that the headmaster would've stopped it if they thought something wrong or bad was happening? All he did was interfere in a fight, then assaulted a teacher." the first voice from before says. "Think that he has something to do with the attack? They couldn't find him until after all the chaos was over."

Black Hair, Rainen, is not bad... I think. He, in my opinion, made the right choice when he went to help the lizardman.

"He's pretty suspicious. An odd kid. From what I've overheard, he's more fit to be in swordsmanship classes than magic classes. Some kids do make fun of him for it." the second voice says.

Mr. Reader is giving me a funny look. I simply stand still with my back to them. There's a dull pain in my hands.

The third one finally chimes in again, "S-so you're saying he did it for revenge? Isn't it just speculation?"

"But something bad is definitely hanging around him, he's dangerous so we should do our best to avoid him tomorrow. Else he might kill us."

Turning on my heel, I stomp over towards them. Slamming my hands upon the table I shout, "H-he, he's not like that!" That was enough to stop their conversation, but their eyes turn onto me. Feeling hot in the face, as they face me with furrowed brows, I quickly return to Mr. Reader, pick up the book, and exit the library.

Going as fast as I can without running, trying not to break school rules here, I stop when I'm out of sight, just around the corner behind the open doors. I move my hand over my heart, it's beating really fast. I can't believe that I did something like that.

Gah! What was I thinking? Now those girls are going to remember me! They're probably third years or something! I, I messed up really bad. Maybe I should go back and apologize? No, no, I did the right thing there. Yeah, I was only defending my partner. Though I don't know him very well, they didn't either.

I release my held breath.

"Haaa."

"Something wrong?"

I turn around the the voice behind me. Leaning against the wall, Rainen watches me with his arms crossed.

"Wha-what?" How much did he hear? "H-how much di-did you hear?"

"Haaa."

What's that mean? Is he mad because I don't know? Maybe I caused him more trouble than actually helping.

Upon seeing my confused face, he points at me and says, "I heard you sigh."

"O-oh!" Oh! So that's what he heard! Good, good. "I-I see." I nod once, and then again. "I-I'll be leaving now. Bye." With a flick of my wrist I signal my leave. I'm just lucky that he didn't hear me.