First Lesson:

“Good morning class!” Akane Masahiro proudly announced. Her eyes swept the room and she took note of how small the class seemed compared to how many people they had prepared for. The room, made for housing upwards of twenty-five students, only held eight. That’s odd, Akane pondered silently. ‘There should be eleven, right?’

“Some students seem to be late, but I expected that honestly. In the meantime, I’m going to take attendance. When I call your name, say here.” Simple enough commands to follow.

“Akio, Yoshiie?” Silence. “Ah, well that’s one. Probably got lost on the way here.” Masahiro said off-handedly. “Cloud, Lucas?”

Lucas smirked and stood up. “Here.” He swiftly turned to look at two boys in particular. “I am here.” While his words were innocent, his tone held a challenge. Toshiro grit his teeth while Kasai simply raised a brow.

Masahiro felt the tension in the air and reveled in it. Looks like her first class was going to be a hot-blooded one. “Thank you, you may have a seat. Hasama, Mei?”

Mei stood up and bowed. “Here.” She didn’t bother with the challenge like Lucas did, however, she did take a glance around with a warm smile. Despite her unease, she even turned to Kasai and offered him a bow and was pleasantly surprised when a ghost of a grin appeared on his face and he bowed his head. Mei grinned in return before sitting down.

“Kagami, Yume?” Masahiro asked, scanning the room. The timid girl was thankfully near the front-row so she was easy to spot when she shakily raised her hand and said ‘here’ in a barely audible whisper. “Kasai, Kaiyo?”

“Here.” To everyone’s surprise, Kasai’s voice was low and husky. Everyone turned to look at him and he returned a half-lidded gaze. The boy looked bored and tired, yet he opened his eyes wide enough as if to let everyone see his unique slitted pupils better before casting his attention back outside. It both amused and annoyed him how often people would stare into his eyes but now he felt way more amusement as evident when the room got slightly hotter and his eyes seemed to glow.

“Hello, Kasai-san.” Masahiro greeted politely. “Can you not burn the class down?” She half-joked.

Kaiyo grunted in response before reigning his power in and allowing his eyes to return to normal.

Rikuto leaned over to Yume and whispered, “Do you think those eyes are real?” However, he spoke much louder than intended and his face turned red when he realized everyone heard him.

“Yes, my eyes are real.” Kasai answered with a tired voice in a tone that sounded like he’d said that line many times in his life.

“Very interesting, Kasai-san.” Masahiro added. She made a mental note to find out more about him later and carried on. “Lee, Yun?” Another moment of silence. “Ah, second one who’s late. Honestly, I did tell Masaru-sama that the maps would be a bit hard to read. Maeda, Rikuto?”

Rikuto raised his hand and smiled brightly at everyone. “Here.” He turned to glance at everyone to which most returned the smile.

“Someone’s a morning person.” Masahiro commented. “Rivera, Leona?”

Leona, instead of saying a word, stood up proudly and roared. A playful, powerful, animalistic roar which was much more a display of affection rather than intimidation.

“So you can roar. I knew that beast powers often gave the person the beast’s characteristics but I haven’t actually seen it before. Very interesting. Shina, Riuka?” Another span of silence. “Well, I guess that explains those three. Well, I guess eight out of elevan isn’t bad; I was honestly expecting a few more to get lost but… this is good. Sumire, Byakuya?”

Byakuya had her head face down on the desk’s surface and barely managed to raise her hand high enough to be seen. The gentle rise and fall of her back told Masahiro everything she needed to know, and the older woman had to hold back a giggle fit. “It’s alright, little one. You’ll need all the rest you can get for what we’re doing today.” Masahiro said sweetly, but the ominous undertone was not missed.

“Yakumo, Toshiro?”

Toshiro turned to face the class with a fierce scowl. There was a condescending look in his bright blue eyes as he scanned the class. For the most part, people looked at him with fear, which he enjoyed. But there were three who completely ignored him. “Oi.” He growled out.

Masahiro completely ignored his small, yet powerful aura spike and carried on. “Alright, so that’s good. Now that we have most of the class, I’m going to make a note for those who are late so they can find us later. But for you all, my name is Akane Masahiro. This is my first time being a teacher so please bear with me if I make any mistakes.” She asked pleasantly. “I have high expectations for you all, which I’m sure all of you will have no problem meeting.”

Despite her words, Masahiro felt inwardly nervous. Being her first teaching job was one thing, but having to teach students whose power easily matched or surpassed her own? Completely different dynamic. “Alright, follow me students.”

“What is this place?” Rikuto asked in awe. The place in question was a large area located beneath the Advance Class’s main building and it easily had twice the area of the actual building itself. It had a very waste-land feel with large stone pillars and abandoned buildings everywhere. Even looking up, Rikuto noted the artificial sky that somehow perfectly matched the real world.

“This place is the training area for the advanced students. Masaru-sama at first thought this wasn’t going to be used much at all, but after seeing the displays, he said we are to only use this. Using your powers anywhere else could be… problematic.”

Rikuto playfully nudged Lucas and the boy rolled his eyes. “Oi, I take offense to that Riku. Who has better power control than me?” Lucas asked to no one in particular.

“It’s not about control, Cloud.” a masculine voice interjected. “It’s more about, we’d rather not have a crater where the classes are supposed to be.” The class turned to see Headmaster Masaru approaching them, hands in pockets and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His tie was less than neatly tied but the wide smile he had on his face easily drew attention from it; or so he hoped.

“Good morning, Masaru-sama.” Akane bolted past her students and dropped into a deep bow. Ochi laughed heartily.

“No matter how many times I tell you, you really won’t stop bowing will you?” He jested before messing up her hair. “It’s fine. Carry on. I’m just here to observe my students on the first day.”

Akane did as she was told and stood up, ready to address the class. “Yes, sir. Before we start, I’d like to ask a few questions. You are on recon in enemy territory, what’s the plan?” For a moment, no one said anything. Then Lucas raised his hand high.

“Attack head on because no one else can stop you?” He asked completely serious.

“Tear everyone to shreds?” Toshiro chipped in.

The area went silent. Masahiro looked at the boys with slightly wide eyes before casting a concerned glance over to Ochi, who simply continued to smile like a madman.

Rikuto raised his arm next. “Assess the situation, then try to be as stealthy as possible.” He said confidently.

“Correct,” Masahiro nodded before continuing. “Stealth is always an extremely valuable trait. Since flying is almost an impossibility, the next best thing is to be as undetectable as possible while on the ground. This exercise will test not only your stealth, but also planning. Your goal is to enter this building, retrieve the flash-drive on the second floor and bring it back in one piece in the fastest time possible. There are dozens of the same puppets you faced at orientation there and they are triggered by aura.”

Ochi continued for her. “That is one way to do it, yes. The other way is to simply destroy all of the puppets and bring the flash-drive back but that will take some time. Your grade will be predicated on how fast you can complete the course. Any questions?”

Kasai raised his hand a bit but before he could voice his question, someone’s voice shrieked in the distance. “Wait!”

The class as a unit turned towards the direction they came to see three students bolting at them. The sole male of the trio had both females under his arms in a tight grip. His feet were glowing a bright green and he seemingly ran on the air itself. “Please wait!” As he neared the group of students, a strong gust of wind accompanied him. As he slid to a stop on an invisible platform, the wind continued and threatened to knock the group over before Ochi stepped in. He raised his palm and it took on an odd property as it seemingly distorted like static.

The gust of wind stopped just before his palm and dispersed in a visible ring of wind. “Whoa there, young man. I understand your enthusiasm, however, powers are not to be used unless authorized by a teacher or me.” Though his smile was true, his tone did become more like a hardened general.

“Right. I’m sorry, sir.” Yun unceremoniously dropped both girls from his arms and bowed deeply.

Rikuto stared at him. ‘So that’s Yun, huh?’.

Yun was tall, Riku noted. He nearly stood eye level with the Headmaster himself and even Kasai had to angle his head up very slightly to make eye contact. He had short, neat brown hair with equally brown eyes that were visible through rectangular glasses. His face had more angle to it than his peers, which showed his older age, and he had a very muscular build. ‘Geez, and I thought Lucas was lean.’ Riku thought to himself. Yun held an impressive aura around him and if the very small display of his speed and wind control was to be believed, he wasn’t one to be taken lightly.

“Ouch…” A tan skinned girl whimpered out. Upon standing up, Riku took a guess that this girl was Yoshiie Akio. She was short, curvy and the mop of hair on her head was a sandy blonde. Her eyes were a bright yellow and she wore her sash slightly below her bust. Her face had some clear baby fat and even her awkward smile had beauty to it.

Beside her was the equally stunning, and taller Riuka Shina. The first thing Riku noticed was her long, lime green hair which she had tied in a low ponytail. The second thing Riku noticed were her almost otherworldly purple eyes that shone in the daylight. He found that they both were eyeing the class with some level of shame for being late, which Masahiro simply shrugged off.

“Nice of you to finally join us, you three. Normally, there would be a punishment for being late, but since it’s the first day, I’ll let it slide,” Masahiro reassured. The teacher watched a lot of tension leave the student’s shoulders and she repeated what she and Ochi just said.

“So, I’m first?” Yoshiie squeaked. When Masahiro nodded, Yoshiie let out a defeated sigh. “It’s fine. I’m ready for this.”

Her aura spiked in conjunction with her words and her eyes narrowed.

“Akio, time starts when you get within five meters.” Masahiro informed as she led the non-participating students to an observation room. “3… 2…. 1.... Begin!”