"... Wa..! Wake...! Wake u... Wake up!"

Mathias was sleeping peacefully in his own bed until there was a hard knock on his head. He groaned as he held his head, hazily glaring at the evil figure at that attempt at his defenceless self, and tried to summon the energy to smite it.

His clenched fists felt the soft, speckled fur and he lost the battle. If it meant he would be sent to the blissful dreamscapes once more, it would be worth dealing with the devil.

"Get up!"

He yelped as his body was pushed over, and cold stone pressed against his bareback.

A diabolical ray of light landed square on his face. It was too early if the sun's light could travel diagonally and still grow hotter.

He curled up in the fetal position since it seemed the most sensible way to defend himself from the accursed sun god's age-old assault on mankind.

"It isn't even that early," she huffed. "I woke you up a bit earlier since we were almost late last time, but isn't this too much?"

".. Definitely... definitely... too much."

She ignored his complaints and passed across the room. "And why were there so many people talking to me this morning? It seemed strange."

"... Definitely... definitely... too much."

"Stop it! Anyways, get dressed already!"

"... Don't wanna."

It felt like he had maybe four hours of sleep. Not nearly enough to function with so few furs. The liberal amount of bathes ensured his body's only slights this morning were fresh; sun-light burning his eyes, bruises from landing on the cold floor, and his pride.

Since he deftly managed to wiggle his body away from the sunlight, he could finally open his eyes. He saw the evil demon who once awoke him carefully fold up the fur and set it back on his bed.

"... Not evil, but... still a demon," he thought appraisingly, noting his defenceless fur wasn't immediately attacked..

"I'm a what?!"

He reached for something, anything to help him up. He struggled seemingly blindly until he grabbed the wooden frame of his bed to bring his head back up past his shoulders. In short order, with hazy clothes magically appearing in front of him, he changed.

"... Good, let's go," a figure said after peaking their head from a wall that appeared in the middle of the night. He was sure he was dreaming now.

"... Where...? To bed...?" He yawned, but he was pushed out of the room.

"Here."

"... Yes..."

He slipped on some strange boots. He did not recognize them, but they fit? It was a mysterious dream.

"Be careful."

"Yes..."

He yawned and missed a step. He was rescued by the figure before he could crack his head open.

He decided to rub his eyes a little more.

"... Eh? Wasn't I just here...?"

He had a sense of deja vous. It was much too troubling for his limited capacities right now.

"Do you dream about this? Weirdo," the figure said as she ordered two drinks and one meal. After receiving them both on her tray, she guided the figure to a nearby table - where he promptly dropped his head. "Don't sleep! Here! Drink this!"

A bitter scent called to him. He knew not why, but it was extremely enticing. "... What is it?"

"You had it yesterday. Drink it."

"Yes..."

He conceded that the figure, even if it was a demon, was not evil. So he drank the liquid after his head moved just enough to justify the action.

Then a little more.

And a little more still.

Finally, he looked around to Lisanna. "Huh? What... where are we? Or rather, why are we here? More specifically me."

He took a great big yawn and rested his head on his arms and leaned down.

Mathias was not covering his head anymore so she sighed and choked back the complaint.

"I figured I'd let you 'live life' at school a little more. This way you can experience more of what the school has to offer."

"... Live my life... not the school's... and it was supposed to be after..."

"Even so," Lisanna said easily. "You're here now. Did you want anything to eat?"

"... Too early."

"I guessed so," Lisanna looked around and several of the morning larks were looking her way.

"... Were you lonely?" He asked blankly, with a disinterested yawn.

"That... it was weird because people were talking to me here. I mean, I don't mind, but it would be weird to be alone again like that, right?!"

Mathias turned his head to stare at the wall, slowly registering the contents of the whisper. "I see... so you woke me up for that...?"

"Be grateful."

"... I'm grateful you care more about my fur than me... can I go back to bed now?"

"Nope. I wanted to ask if you knew about the Mana Entanglement concept that Mr. Shields was talking about. He said it would be the main topic for next week, but I still can't puzzle it out."

"... It's in the book," Mathias grumbled. "Chapter Three references the basics, but he also mentions things that are in Chapter Thirteen and Eighteen. I don't think the latter ones are tested..."

"Okay, so in the event two spells collide in mid-air?"

"... They explode, obviously, if it isn't a contained force. An open system, so to speak. However, if two contained forces collide, like two swords, they reject each other. They can also render each other inert, but it depends on the distribution of force... and energy... and..." he closed his eyes.

Lisanna shook his shoulder again. "And?"

"... Alignment...? Why was I thinking of that word... what were you saying?" He blinked as he saw her turn to open her textbook, reference the passages, and make notes. "What are you doing?"

"Studying. You should help me with it too, sometime."

"... I don't wanna."

"Roommates are supposed to help each other. We'll talk about this later," she said contently, looking about at her textbook.

He drained the cup of the mysterious liquid that appeared beside him and dozed off to the sound of a scratching pen.

Mathias did not realize it as he slept, but there were a lot of students that used the dining hall as a place to study in the mornings. They did not want to wake their roommates, wanted some background noise, preferred to reward themselves with food for each completed chapter reviewed, or some other such reason.

He also did not notice the bodies that joined around him, quietly talk with Lisanna, and pull out their own books. As much as it was good to focus on the practical training aspect of Majin Academy, the bulk of their grades came from the, as the name suggests, academic portion.

By no means was he the only one who seemingly prepared since he was young for the Academy (granted, it was unintentional), but he was a minority amongst the students whose principal task was to learn in a place where it was expected that they'd be taught the subject matter.

If they wanted to just learn how to fight, they could have gone to a mercenary band, renowned tutor, or joined the military.

There were special recognitions afforded to those who were proved to be capable enough to graduate academies such as Majin; many positions required it, from petty reasons like advertising purposes all the way up to specialized positions that required such an in-depth knowledge of the art of magic that a single accident would spell doom for more than just the careless or ignorant caster.

"... you should have seen it," Ayla said, slightly below her normal, loud tone. "I haven't someone that enamoured in so long! Ah, James is going to be having it rough now!"

"So you're saying he fought five matches in a row - and won? And why did it even happen in the first place?"

"From what I've gathered, Midori and Akia hated the idea of Synthy losing, Gretchen just wanted to fight someone strong - even though she's Synthy's friend - and Mina was set up by Lina... because Lina thought it would be funny to rile up her sister? I guess it would've been if he wasn't hurt, to be fair."

"If what you said earlier about the other classes not training with those... things yet, then wouldn't they still have enough energy to just overwhelm him, if only at the end?"

"Ah, Mathias healed him between matches... uh, kind of? It was enough, I guess, to keep it reasonably fair. But I heard James did have to be put to bed by his roommate and Erik since he pushed himself too much, and stayed up too late."

"Yo, mind if we sit - again?" Erik laughed, already stepping into the spot where he placed down his book-bag. Thomas and Jebb sat at their spots too.

"I do, but you'll do it anyway!" Ayla said automatically before motioning to the seat anyways.

"Mathias, you okay there?"

He groaned. "... Noisy."

"He's fine, I guess," Thomas laughed.

Lisanna did not ask before the three boys went to wait in the long line, so she did now. "Erik, did you know if James is okay?"

Erik feigned grief and reeled back. "Another girl whose interested in him overnight?! Ah, I'm jealous!"

"No, I'm concerned since he's in our class."

"You're no fun. Anyways, yeah. He's fine. I sent him down with his roommate and checked before we came down here. He already had four love letters by the time I got there in the morning."

"Four?!" Ayla half-shouted, "who? Who?!"

"I peaked since they didn't even seal them: guess who the first one's was?"

"Tell me!"

"Mina!"

Ayla widened her eyes. She thought a moment and then shook her head. "Lina wrote it while she was asleep, I'm sure of it. But who else!"

Mathias was trying his best to ignore the noise. He had a pleasant nap when it was just Lisanna, but now that there were other people, he-

A mysterious beverage appeared in front of him.

He silently nodded to the thoughtful mysterious stranger who was in the middle of telling a story about whose names he did not know and whose actions he did not care about this early in the day.

He was torn because it forced him to raise his head up. Yawning internally, he forced his back up, cracking it as he shifted left-and-right, before hunching over the mug.

"Awake?" Lisanna asked.

"Unfortunately."

"This isn't that bad, is it?"

"I prefer being in bed at this time."

"Just think, you even have time to take a bath before class starts," she said, thinking it'll cheer him up.

"... I'd definitely sleep through it then," he said, stopped, and then slowly craned his head over to Erik. "Hey, did you have another spear?"

"And then- huh? No, not here at least. More importantly, how were those girls from Satyr last night?! The ones you left with after?!"

"... Girls? Left with...?" Lisanna's gaze sharpened.

Mathias blinked, yawned, and shrugged. "... They were just talking about rumours the entire time... It seems like people think I'm Erik's sidekick or henchman or something... It's exhausting."

"Hey! It wouldn't so bad to be a sidekick for me!"

"If you're going to be a sidekick, at pick me: the great and beautiful and awesome and undefeated me!"

"... No thanks."

"Boo!" Ayla stuck her tongue out and then called out to a group behind their table. She spoke quickly, confirmed some rumours and dismissed others as baseless; even so, she returned to look forward, declaring, "my sources tell me... da, da, da! Erik is the sidekick!"

She watched Erik begin to retort aggressively, but cut him off, "just kidding! The issue was whether you started some of the things going on in Scylla: which isn't completely wrong. But Lisanna, fret not!"

Lisanna snapped to attention as she called out directly.

"James is the first-order target for the girls! Then..." she turned back and included the two girls who were possibly interjecting their own personal opinions in the matter, nodding thoughtfully all the while. "And then Synthy, because she's that awesome, and then the other class' Justin, Kahn, and one guy I don't know! Some Chad or something!

"Mathias is not in the ranking system yet, Lisanna! Be happy that you don't have to deal with love-struck visitors every hour of the day! More importantly-"

Thomas spoke up. "That idiot."

Kahn was being dragged to Synthy across the room. Akia was covered in a half-cuirass of solid fire. Her expression was not peaceful. Gretchen's face remained stoic, but her fingers drummed the table top powerfully. Synthy stood and, all the while, looked impassive as she silently stared at the boy who was struggling with all his might.

She punched him in the face. Twice. Without saying a word.

... And he kept his battered jaw wired shut even under duress.

"What is happening?"

James appeared standing tall and firm beside the table. He had lightning-flower-like scars on his right hand. Mathias was not able to so quickly remedy the deep scar tissue he facilitated to prevent contamination.

"No idea!" Ayla said after a pause. "Wanna go check it out? I'm going right now!"

She ran forward, as if burning with desire to be kept in the loop. She did not even check in on James who looked around in confusion.

Kahn was hit again and James moved to intervene.

While Akia may have been the one who brought Kahn forward, she turned away from the scene. Guilt clouded her eyes and she bit her lip. It flashed back to a dispassionate stare as she saw James approach.

Synthy met him half-way and stared caustically behind her.

"What is the meaning of this?" James asked with an undeterred eyes.

"He admitted to terrorizing a classmate. I will not stand for it even if you act as his champion. I regret that you would side with this cretin. Disgusting. I thought better of you."

Much to her credit, Synthy did not attempt to strike James. He did understand what was going on, but a recently discarded Kahn approached steadily.

Kahn pulled James to the side just as Erik and Thomas approached. Ayla, at the sidelines, went to talk with Synthy as she left the dining hall, running back to double-check the story with the other girls still at her table.

Kahn maintained his composure even as Akia, Gretchen, and others sighed. Erik clasped the boy's shoulders tightly and looked at him emotionally.

Kahn took the fall for the entire event once he caught wind of Synthy becoming suspicious. He co-opted Akia's help, but suffered damage in return.

"... She would have beaten Akia, Midori, and Gretchen at the very least," Kahn explained to James. "It was easier this way."

"... You're a great man. We'll reward your actions generously," Erik said seriously as he called Eldrich forward - or was it Hunter?

"... I do not like keeping this from her," James said honourably. "She should know the truth."

"In doing so, you'll endanger at least three others. Is that alright with you?"

"That... is not what I want," he said, troubled.

"Kahn isn't in our class and I doubt she'll hold a grudge against you. She isn't known to think too deeply about things after she 'resolves' them. Just leave it."

"I understand."

The boys reached a conclusion not far from Mathias' table. Rather than the fight, he was more concerned with the lack of the liquid in the mug. It was a troubling realization that he had to keep his head up without any tangible reward for his immense efforts this morning.

Lisanna looked at him. "Even with all this, you're still debating going back to sleep?"

He bit his lip. "How'd you know?"

"I had a feeling. It seems like everyone is leaving now too. I'm guessing the consensus is to just not talk about last night - well, I wasn't even there, mind you." Lisanna looked slightly hurt. "Invite me to these things too."

"... It ended at one or two in the morning."

"Uh... invite me to earlier ones."

"... Like midnight?"

"Earlier."

He sighed. Jedd was already finished packing up and threw his bookbag over his shoulder.

"... Ready?" Mathias asked sighingly, noting the action.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"... Unfortunately."

They had class to attend.