Chapter XI

Saying his farewells to Harvey, Kizu took out his orb and it directed him toward the music room. Although, once he reached that wing of the academy, he could tell which way to go just by the volume of noise.

As it turned out, the Music F class was not notorious for its lovely melodies and synchronization. He watched as different students played wildly different instruments. Everything from giant drums that students slammed their fists into, to a horn that wrapped around a student’s neck, looking like a choking hazard. There were a few normal looking instruments, but they seemed like anomalies. He stared at the little stand, trying to figure out where to go.

“Those of you without instruments, please make your way over here,” a voice said, just barely audible over the noise.

A man with professor robes and bright scarlet dyed hair stood in the corner with a small leather book that he scribbled notes in. Kizu approached him.

“Name?” he yelled.

“Kaga Kizu.”

“What instrument would you like, Kaga Kizu?”

“I don’t know.”

“A lot of students use traditional instruments from their homeland. They’re often loud and obnoxious. But parents are usually excited when the student decides on one of those. Do you have anything like that?”

He dredged up childhood memories, trying to remember any sort of instrument. His mind vaguely recalled Anna playing lullabies on a piano.

“Piano?” he asked.

The professor rolled his eyes.

“Of course, a piano,” the professor said, Kizu barely made the words out amongst the noise. “Imagine an F student who takes on a nice small viola or bugel. Or even better, a whistle. No, it has to be a piano.” Then he said, louder, “Go stand in the back with the other percussion. Next class I’ll have a piano in the back for you.”

Kizu did as commanded, taking his place where the professor pointed. A student who had been hitting the massive drum grinned at him as he approached.

“Welcome!” he yelled. Then he held something out to Kizu with one hand and pointed to the side of his head with the other. “Put these in your ears!”

Kizu took the object. He almost cried out in startlement as the things moved. Two slug creatures squirmed in his palm. He looked up at the other student, thinking he must be making a joke. But as he looked closely, he noticed a gray slug in the other student’s ear cavity. With a deep breath, he stuck the things in.

Immediately, the world’s noise smothered all around him. He looked at the boy.

“They eat noise,” the boy whispered to him. “Live off the stuff. But if you speak softly, they don’t bother with your noise. Name’s Gregor.”

“Kaga Kizu,” Kizu tried to say, but his voice was muted.

“Quieter,” Gregor instructed.

Kizu repeated himself, quieter this time.

“Perfect. Let me introduce you to the other percussionists.” Gregor pointed at a Tainted woman with mismatching eyes and talons in the place of fingers. “That’s Tara, she’s my other drummer.” He gestured at a student who looked borderline an adult, with facial hair sprouting from a chin. “That’s Yon, he does miscellaneous stuff. Whatever sound effects we don’t already have.” Then he pointed to a Hon girl with black bangs sitting in the corner. She looked bored. “And that’s Ione. When she bothers to play, she uses a triangle.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Kizu whispered. They all nodded with the exception of Ione, who appeared not to hear him.

“What do you play?” Tara asked.

“I think I’m being assigned a piano.”

“Bit boring,” Gregor lamented. “You should switch it before it becomes finalized. Go crazy and get an organ at the very least. You’ll make the whole academy shake with something like that.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Tara interjected. “Play whatever you want.”

“Or just play whatever gets handed to you,” Yon offered. “It’s worked for me. No commitment necessary this way.”

“Shut up you two,” Gregor said. “Ignis just started the lesson.”

The three other students removed the slugs from their ears and focused up front where the professor stood.

“And as most of you know, I’ll be your professor for Music F,” the professor said as Kizu peeled the slugs out of his ears. Ignis sounded exasperated as he continued. “Music constructs a magic that’s unique. It’s subtler than any other. It can be used to bolster and agitate, but also can soothe and rejuvenate. It’s a matter of weaving your magic into your instrument. But, to get to the point where you can do that, you must first learn the instrument. As a result, it is unlikely you will be performing any acts of magic in this class. You must first learn how to play”

Kizu heard the class groan in unison. Then Professor Ignis picked up a baton from his desk and waved it in the air like a wand. Everyone picked up their instruments and blurted out noises as the baton swung in the air. Ignis grimaced with each wave, but kept at it.

Kizu spent the class sitting back and watching as students puffed into their instruments and slammed their fists along the strings. He kept the slugs in his ears, otherwise the performance would have been completely unbearable. Recollecting on Harvey’s beautiful performance during the combat training, he saw that the class had a long way to go before they reached anywhere near competent.

When the bell finally sounded, notably louder than usual to be heard over their ruckus, Kizu let out a sigh of relief. He filed out of the class and said his goodbyes to the other percussion members. They insisted he keep his slugs and even gave him a little wooden case to keep them in.

“Okay orb, what’s next?”

“You now have a free period. The cafeteria is open and serving meals.”

Lunch. His stomach growled with the thought. It reminded him that earlier he had traded breakfast for sleep. He followed the orb to the cafeteria, but he realized he was beginning to recognize the hallways. The academy was becoming more familiar to him and he almost believed he could put his scrying orb away and get there himself. Almost. But as much as he wouldn’t mind testing his navigation, he’d rather not gamble his lunch.

Unlike his previous visit, the cafeteria was packed with students. He had to battle his way to an empty seat, lunging on it as soon as the previous occupant stood up. Snatching up the menu, he scanned it. It mostly contained seafood. He pressed a finger against a seaweed wrapped omelet, water, and a slice of cherry pie.

The food appeared in front of him and he dug into it. Scarfing it down with fervor.

“Slow down, you’ll choke,” some said, sitting down across from him at the table. He looked up and saw Emilia. Her sharp toothed grin reminded him a bit of Harvey. While she seemed a lot less animalistic than some of the other Tainted he’d met, she still had a bit of an edge to her. Two of her friends sat down on her left, the bench’s previous occupants making way for them.

He held a small omelet in his hand. Slowly, he set it back on his plate and picked up the dreaded sticks everyone else used to eat.

“Sorry,” he said reluctantly. “I didn’t mean to come off as rude.”

“Not at all,” she said. She selected something on her menu and a plate of noodles appeared in front of her. “It’s a Hon themed lunch today. But you eat like people back at my home. Watch, when we get some Edgeland food on the menu, you’ll find it way easier. For example, the desserts today are from Edgeland. Hon food is trickier. It takes a while to figure it out.”

Despite her words, she ate her dish of noodles with the provided sticks perfectly. Her two friends chatted to one another in a volume lost in the cafeteria.

“Do you miss it?” Kizu asked, trying to fill the silence.

“What? Edgeland? Hardly. I was there just three days ago. Here I get my own villa. The only family that harasses me here are the cousins I allow to bother me.” She ate some more noodles. “And the food is at least a bit more diverse. And you? How are you enjoying academy life?”

“The dorms are fine,” Kizu said. “And the classes are interesting. Some students are friendlier than others.”

“Hold up, you said dorms?” one of her friends interrupted, sounding incredulous. “Aren’t you technically considered a third year? They’re seriously making you stay in the dorms?”

“Oh, the academy isn’t. But it seemed like a better option than sharing my family’s villa with my younger brother.”

“Who is?” the other friend asked.

“Kaga Finn.”

Emilia leaned in closer. “Really?” She considered. “Can you try scowling?”

Kizu frowned.

“That’s it! Now I see the resemblance. He’s in my conjuring class. I remember my cousin telling me he was an absolute killjoy disappointment in comparison with his sister.”

“Your cousin knew Anna?”

“I suppose so. That was her only mention of her that I remember. My cousin graduated last year though, otherwise I would introduce you.”

That planted the seed of an idea. If he did his math right, there was a chance some of the fifth years might have known Anna back when they had been first years. All he needed to do was meet some fifth years.

“I see,” he said. He picked up his slice of cherry pie and took a bite. “Did you know she was expelled?”

“Your sister?”

“I’ve never heard of a student being expelled,” one friend said. “Not in the last twenty years. The last one was because he blew up a lavatory near the second year girls’ dorm.”

The bell rang again. The moment after Emilia and her friends stood and left, Kizu stuffed the pie into his mouth, hoarding it like a chipmunk. The cherries squished under his molars and the juice burned the inside of his cheeks. He wiped the crumbs from his mouth. It tasted delicious.