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"..Father...while I was out I had dreams...and visions.." I say

"..."

"...I want to know what happened to my mother!...the truth..." I continue.

"Your mother died because of an incurable disease..and that's that..now leave..."

"...And why...why did you try to kill yourself!?" I shout at him.

"..." He didn't say a word.

"..You were never there for us, you're a selfish excuse of a father...Have it your way.." I say as I close the door and walk away.

"Kazuki, the soup---" Baba tries to stop me in the hallway but can't do anything other than watch me enter my room without saying anything.

"That man..How could he.." I think as I sit down on my bed.

"Sup." I hear my brother Dan's voice seemingly appear out of nowhere.

"Oh...It's you...what do you want..?" I say, still looking down.

"Well you look more depressed than usually so I came to check up on you." He says.

"Oh..It doesn't matter...it's just that our father---" I try to say

"Our father is nothing more than our biological parent, he's dwelling in the past. That doesn't mean we should be like him too. We grew up without parents and whatever happened, that'll never change." Se said

"I was always in your shadow Kazuki, it didn't matter how much I trained or how strong I was, you were the first child and grandfather's favorite. While you had all the attention you wanted and fought with yourself I fought for acceptance!" He said.

"I did too!" I answer. "I understand what you mean but..."

"You're thinking too much about the past Kazuki, it doesn't matter where we were, what matter is where we are now and where we can be. It's on us to create our own destiny, to not make the mistakes our predecessors have and just..keep going." He says.

"But why...?" I ask, still looking down.

"Why not? Why the hell not? It gives us happiness and joy, we're proud of the things we achieve! Dwelling in the past gives nothing but pain and memories of "happy times" and all that crap." He says, almost shouting now.

Happy memories...

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"..You're right I guess---" I say

"Don't guess, I am right! Don't you want to get revenge on the people that almost killed you a few days ago? Didn't you want to prove to everyone that you can be a strong mage even with such low magic focus?? Well get your ass up and do that!" He shouts.

I can see he's trying to motivate me and, well damn it worked.

I stand up. "Okay then, when you're already talking like that then you won't mind helping me get ready for the tournament.." I smirk.

Dan returns the smirk "That's the spirit, let's go."

"Oh, by the way what happened with your team?" I ask him.

"Ah, my class refused to participate..They're a bunch of wimps, only person that wanted to was Ayame." Dan answers

"Really?.." I say

"I guess, nevermind that, let's train!" Dan shouts.

He seemed really happy. To be honest, I was as well, we never train like this and I finally felt some happiness and the feeling of family and warmth I rarely feel.

Even Oroshi seemed happy as he was Observing us from a distance, probably thinking about joining in...Heh, just like back in the day...

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Monday, the finale is this Friday eh? The sooner I tell Vely I changed my mind the better.

As soon as I enter the class I'm greeted by Vely's smile. I sit down next to him.

"Morning Kazuki, I---"

"I want to join the team, I changed my mind and...I'm sorry you had to wait so long.." I say.

Vely looked surprised but soon started smiling again.

"That's great Kazuki! I knew you'd change your mind. We need all the help we can get to fight those jerks." He says.

Well, that was easy. What was I expecting? It's Vely.

"Well, you can start by showing up to practice today and not just sleep in the locker room. It'll be a bit difficult to get you in sync with the rest of the team in just 4 days but I'm sure it'll work out!" He said, seeming rather excited.

"Sure sure, can't wait..." I say. I forgot I have to spend time with the idiots from my class...Well, actually just the idiot.

Oh well, most of the classes pass rather quickly, I was still just thinking about everything that happened...

...I haven't had a single dream of that woman since I got attacked by those thugs...It feels weird, It was only a dream but..I miss It.

It was like another world where I could rest and regain my energy, she always guided me and took care of me. But that was probably only my brain trying to relax? I'm probably just overthinking it.

Before I know it, we are at magic practice. I walk to my classmates who were getting ready for some training. Vely notices me and waves.

"There you are Kazuki!" He shouts as he waves. "Now I didn't actually want to tell them myself so I'll let that up to you Kazuki."

"Eh?...Okay then, well guys, we may not get along that well and all that but I decided on joining the team and helping you beat Eiden and his thugs." I say.

Jack and Baaya look at me, they smile, seeming rather happy about my decision.

"Well, welcome Kazuki, now we can get those little---" Baya was trying to say but got interrupted.

"Wait a second, who the hell do you think you are??" Daren says as we all turn to him.

"Do you really think we'll just accept you after we won most of the battles ourselves, making it to the finals?? We don't need you!" He says.

"Eh...I get what you mean but I just---" I tried to say.

"No! Fuck off filthy humanimal!" He says.

The situation got very tense all of a sudden.

"G-guys, let's not do something we'll regret later..!" Vely says.

"Too late.." Daren says, smirking.

"Not really, I'm not as stupid as to get insulted by some sad excuse of a mage that would probably lose his self esteem because a humanimal that's better than him entered his team and stole his show, even though he never tried or wanted that.." I say.

"Oh well, live in your safe little world Daren and keep insulting people, you might be able to actually believe your own lies one day."

"Eheheee...." Vely looks away.

I turn around and head into the locker rooms, time for sleep---

"Gahhh! Speed Up!!" I hear Daren say as I feel something hitting my back, sending me flying for several feet.

I hit a nearby tree and dust rises, our class looks at Daren, shocked about how this escalated.

"You got cocky Kazuki, someone had to put you in your place..." Daren says.

Before the dust clears I run out of the dust, surprising Daren. I go for a punch bit he manages to avoid the attack by doing a few backflips.

I don't give him any time to rest as I follow him. He does a rather impressive jump, retreating out of my range.

"Very well Daren, you started this." I take out a tarot card. "Your speed is impressive, but it's nothing compared to the fool's dance!"

I say as the card starts shining and my speed and reflexes get increased. I move towards Daren, almost teleporting in front of him. The only reaction he lets out is a short gasp before I punch him in the face.

He falls to the ground.

"Well, that's that..." I say.

"I...I'm not done...the filth caught me off by surprised, you're going down..!!" Daren stood up before getting into a stance and running towards me again.

The fool's dance was already deactivated but that one punch made him unable to fight properly. Yet he tried to, trying to land a blow while I just avoided his attacks. His moves were slow and desperate at this point.

"I...I won't get beaten by you...Greater Speed Up!" He shouts as a magic circle appears under him.

"A rank 3 spell? When did he learn that??" Vely says, shocked.

"This was supposed to be my trump against Eiden but I'll gladly beat you with it!!" He says as he moved towards me.

I took out a tarot card, getting ready for the hit.

"That's as far as you go!" We hear a voice say.

We all turn to the voice, seeing our teacher Duke.

"Duels are strictly prohibited without the supervision of a teacher and you know that! Stop right where you are."

He continued.

"Grr...Fine!...I don't care how good you are Kazuki, there's no place for you in this team...If you guys want this humanimal in our team then I'm out!" Daren says, turning away.

Baaya and Jack look at eachother for a few seconds. "W-wait Daren!" They say, running to him.

"I...I'm sorry Kazuki...I didn't think they would..." Vely looks down.

"It's okay Vely, I'm sure you'll do just fine without me. Go train." I say, walking away.

"..I'm sorry!" He shouts after me.

"Well...this'll be a problem...we have to inform master.." A young man with curly brown hair said as he finished observing us from a distance.

Well, today way strange. Guess Daren really hates me. Well, school is over and I'm almost home and--- What..?

"It's time to get rid of the Hatagano family! Even now when they brought 'democracy' to our village, the tyrant Oroshi keeps trying to rule over the village himself." A man said, attracting quite some attention at the Town Square.

"Well, that seems like a problem..oh well.." I say, continuing to walk home.

"There you are, you little shit!" I hear a voice. I turn to it to see Kiba and Chris standing there, here we go..

"How dare you leave my sister Ayame?!" He says, walking closer.

"Leave..? What..?" I say.

"She's devastated because of you! You used her and then left her!" He started shouting, attracting some of the people from the square.

"What are you talking about?? First you tell me to stay away from her and now you're pissed because we don't hang out..? Besides, that never happened, she said she was okay and---"

"Don't you lie to me!" I get interrupted by Kiba again "Don't you see this people, we are still slaves to the Hataganos, democracy or not! They still do whatever they want!"

The people turn to me and start booing. "That's not...what---" I try to say but can't even hear myself from all the booing.

"It's time for change! The Hataganos and the corruoted council won't be tolerated anymore! We need a man of the people that'll rule over Naofuma, someone that cares! My father is a man of the people and he'll bring the change! Long live the opposition!"

Kiba turns his argument with me into a speech. His father eh..? So that's what all of this is about. Baki really did it this time, I can't believe they're trying to do some sort of coup d'État..

"We'll take matters into our own hands! You'll pay for what you did to Ayame!" Kiba says, getting on all fours.

The people actually start cheering for him...what's wrong with them..? They were never so violent..In fact, some were even friends with Oroshi...something is not right here...Oh well, I can't risk fighting him, it'll just make the situation worse..

"You're dead Hatagano!!"

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