I made the right choice. My father immediately changed his attitude, assuming an expression of relief and subtle happiness. He walked over to me and gave me a big hug.

"Hachirō, I'm so glad you chose that school. I never told you this because I wanted you to make a completely unbiased decision, but Eritoakademi is where I trained when I was your age..."

My father had once told me that he graduated 2nd in his class, but he never told me that he graduated from Eritoakademi. I'm sure it wouldn't have affected my decision, but regardless, my sights were now set upon their doors.

If going there meant that I could become strong and help save Minerva, then that was where I wanted to go, regardless of if it meant I could be killed at any moment. But there was another reason I wanted to go there, something more personal...

...I wanted to avenge my mother...I wanted to make her proud, and reassure her that her son would turn out to be the fine young man she would have wanted, and that he would grow up to protect humanity, just as she and father did...

"Dad, you telling me where you went wouldn't have changed my decision one bit. I'm not doing this purely because you did it, or because I'm practically forced into it, I'm doing it for mom..."

"That makes me very happy. I'm glad you have such a level head on your shoulders. Tomorrow, we will write your application, and send it off. Thousands of other individuals will try to apply, but I have a feeling you'll get accepted."

"Here, come with me, there are a few things I'd like to give you. It is still your birthday after all!" said my father, patting me on the back.

My father led me into the other room, where numerous gifts lay wrapped up on the table. I could only assume based on their shapes what they were.

"I thought hard about what I should get you this year. I hope you appreciate everything, and if you don't, I'm sure we will find some other use for it. Go ahead now, open them up!"

"Thank you, dad."

I picked out what appeared to be a small cube-shaped gift first, and was immediately surprised at how heavy it was. I began to unwrap it, as it slowly revealed its contents to me.

Peeling away at the wrapping paper, I discovered that it was an unmarked cardboard box. It was taped all over, almost as if it wasn't meant to be opened. I cut through the tape with a knife, opened the box, and gazed at its true contents.

"...Dad, what kind of funny joke are you playing on me?"

Inside the cardboard box was another box, that contained a small prism. I thought perhaps my dad had been pranking me until I realized his expression went unchanged.

"Please hold the prism in the air, Hachirō, and I will explain its purpose to you."

I held the prism into the air, it felt weird, as if it was emanating some kind of strange aura. My dad walked over and sat in the chair next to me.

"What you are holding in your hand is something that I have dubbed a "Strange Prism"."

"...Strange Prism?"

"Yes. I was the first to discover their existence, and I did so many years ago, when I attended Eritoakademi. Before then, nobody knew of them."

"Their origins are unknown, and their existence is few and far between. I found this one laying in a field of grass a few miles west of City F. Since then, only a handful of others have been discovered."

Looking at the prism, I could feel strange pulses of energy course through my body. The prism was made out of some kind of dark metal. It was very small, fitting nicely in my hand, but it was incredibly heavy.

"What does it do? How many others were found?"

"I'm not quite sure how many have been found as of today, but if I had to guess, I'd say only a few dozen. As for what they do, hand that one over to me, and I'll show you."

I handed my father the prism, and he tossed it into the air. It suspended itself in midair and began to spin around, rapidly. It kept going, faster and faster until it began to glow.

"What the hell? How is it-"

"Just watch, Hachirō."

My father then held his hands underneath the prism, anticipating its plunge. After a few seconds, the prism stopped spinning, and then suddenly, an object began to form from the prism. It looked like a piece of bread.

The bread fell onto the table, followed by the prism falling back into my father's palms. He placed the prism gently on the table and began to smile. I was stunned, however.

"Ah-ha! I'm glad this thing still works. You'll be relying on it at your lowest points."

"What the hell did it just do? Did it just generate a piece of bread out of itself!?"

"Yep! Go ahead Hachirō, eat it! Let me know if it tastes any good!"

"You want me to eat it!? That's fabricated bread from God knows where, what if it like, I dunno, harms me?"

"It's not going to harm you boy, just eat it."

I lifted the piece of bread into my hand and looked at it. It looked like your average slice of bread that you'd get from a regular loaf. It was inconspicuous, yet still mysterious.

"Alright, here goes nothing." *munch*

As I took a bite, I expected it to taste awful, but to my surprise, it tasted fine. It was, quite literally, just a normal piece of bread.

"See? I told you it wouldn't harm ya. Now, allow me to explain what this prism does. You see, this prism has the ability to generate food. There are other prisms like it, as I said before, but they have different powers."

"My good friend Daizen owns 2 of these. One of them simply warms up the surrounding area as if it were a radiator and the other one creates water. The three of them would be a great survival trio!"

"The reason I am giving you this is that you never know when you're going to be stranded without supplies. As long as you have this prism, you'll never go hungry. Just toss it into the air, and you'll get bread."

This was an amazing gift, if this "strange prism" really was able to generate unlimited food, that would mean I'd never go hungry! I wondered why we hadn't used this before in the house, but my question was soon thereafter answered by my father...

"Unfortunately, however, the prism can only generate bread..."

"Oh, I see... well, that's still okay, food is food after all!"

Despite only being able to receive bread, I knew that I wouldn't go hungry. I was also intrigued, wondering if I would find other prisms just like this one.

"Thank you, Dad, I'll put this to good use! I'm still kinda weirded out by the fact that it can just summon bread though."

"I was too until I found out how much I relied on it. Don't lose it. Now then, I have another gift I'd like to give you, just wait here."

I continued to ponder the prism, amazed at its properties. It was almost surreal. I decided to give it a try myself, raising it into the air.

"So all I need to do is just chuck it into the air, right?" I asked myself.

I tossed the prism into the air, and just like before, it began to spin rapidly in the air. Shortly after, I could see another piece of bread emerge from it. It fell onto the table, and the prism followed.

"Ah, I see you've figured it out already, good on you!" said my father, returning to the room with his hands behind his back.

"This thing is so cool, it's basically an infinite food generator, even if it can only make bread."

My father smiled and stood in front of the table. He took a deep breath in, and then out. He was holding something behind him.

"Before you open the other presents on the table, I thought I would present you with this. You're going to need it if you're going to be a successful student."

He then presented me with the item in question. He took it from behind his back and laid it on the table. My eyes widened...

"Are you sure you can trust me with this?" I asked. My father smiled and patted me on the shoulder.

"I used it when I was your age, and I'm sure you'll have no problems using it yourself... just be careful with it, it means a lot to me still, even if I haven't touched it in quite some time..."

On the table, in its full glory, was my father's old sword...