- - - 1.5 - - -

Surprisingly, they had rice, which was a godsend, considering the twins were really picky eaters. Kidlat lay under the table, gnawing on a bone that Shura had managed to get from the waitress – he was a regular, apparently. The meal was a simple one, but freshly-cooked. A bowl of boiled-pork soup, three servings of rice, and a plate of beef ribs were placed on the wooden table. Lucinda dug into her food like a pig while Lucas ate, quietly. I smiled at the spectacle.

I looked across to Shura. "So..."

"Questions? Regarding enrolment?" He asked with a rib in his hands, fingers covered in sauce. Despite his demeanor, he was like Lucinda when it came to eating. "...first step: appraisal for enrolment – recommendation, written on school-bought parchment, and made by a fifth-tier or higher magus, is needed," he held out a hand, in a wait gesture, then licked his other hand clean of sauce and bits of meat, "before you question me: indeed, Grandmother Lion is fifth-tier or higher. A brief notice: judgment of enrolment was considered..." his face curved downwards, "a joke, by the majority of the lower members of the Elder Administrative Court, owing to the fact, that the results of your mana-capacity test... were crap – to put it, bluntly –, they were very low."

I chuckled, and then sighed. "So, I'm not enrolled here? Not that I care, though, but what about the twins? They need the school more than I do." From what I've heard about this school – mostly from the internet –, this place was amazing, where only the best of the best was allowed to attend. I had no doubt that the twins were going to be great.

Shura was licking his plate clean, and after finishing, he resumed looking at me. "No worries. Lucinda and Lucas Ruiz are official students of the Olden Academy of Scholomance for Higher Magical Learning as of yesterday..." he let out a burp, "along with their guardian, Juan Xavier Lee – who after much deliberation by the members of the Elder Administrative Court, and much prodding from certain personages, was accepted, just this morning."

My eyes grew wide, and – I believe – a disturbing smile crept on my face. I was on the verge of shouting hallelujahs and praise Jesus, but I was stopped by a tugging on my right sleeve. I turned my head, and my gaze was met by big, bright-brown, cloudy eyes.

"D-Does that mean, you aren't leaving us?" Lucas – who I hadn't noticed, was listening in to our conversation – asked me, but before I could give him a nod, something dropped, spilling carbonate-soft drink all over the table's surface.

I turned to my left, and again, my gaze was met by big, bright-brown, cloudy eyes, but this time tears were pouring down, like a broken faucet.

"Y-You're... l-leaving?" Lucinda managed to stammer out, before letting out a heart-rending wail, her sobbing made my eyes, involuntarily tear up, too, and apparently, Lucas saw that I was crying, and he bawled his eyes out, too. I hugged them both, and the three of us cried, while Kidlat was howling from underneath the table, and between our cries, I could hear Shura, assuring the staff and the other patrons of the restaurant that everything was fine, in his impassive voice.

After a while, I stopped crying, but the twins were still blubbering. I let out a laugh, and ruffled their hair. "I'm not leaving..." I said, quietly, so only we on the table could hear. I then noticed something from the last conversation, and looked at Shura. "A moment ago, you said my results were low, what does that mean?" It should be non-existent not low, right?

"Ah, yes. Grandmother Lion and the High Elder planted results, actually a mana-reading of Lasius niger... a common black ant," Shura let out a yawn, "Also, information of your lack of magic must be kept secret, under guise of dismal mana-capacity."

I understood that the forgery was a secret, obviously, but the fact of me being a Null? I asked Shura why, and he told me that there was a chance that I could be the last Null left, and there were certain groups that would kidnap me for experimentation, or kill me. I shuddered at the thought. After that, Shura paid for the meal, as he said he would, and we left the restaurant for the dormitories, the twins and I were assigned to, but we didn't walk.

Apparently, there was a teleportation circle, at every gate, and when I asked why we didn't use it earlier, he told me that it used the user's mana, but reassured me that all I needed to do was to eat food, because it had mana. I understood that, but why did we need to come here, then? I asked him, and he told me, it was, because he was hungry, and he always had lunch at Homely.

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