“So do you have a plan?” Ari asked during her breakfast with Shiki.

Shiki leaned back in his chair, “Why do we need a plan? Plans are pretty pointless since we’re going to win anyway,” Shiki replied nonchalantly shoving another piece of food into his mouth.

“You should probably start taking this more seriously, we don’t know what kind of people are going to show up. What if we meet someone who’s crazy strong?” Ari glared at Shiki. “How can you be so calm about this?”

Shiki ignored the remark and pointed his fork at a kid with black hair wearing what was probably his middle school uniform. “We’ll beat that person up. It seems pretty simple to me.”

The boy was laughing with his friends at a table near theirs. He’s the kind of person you wouldn’t usually notice in a crowd.

“How do you know he’s not weak? He could have some amazing power we don’t know about!”

Shiki sighed. “Look, you’re getting scared over nothing, this exam is gonna be a cakewalk, trust me.”

“Well if you say so,” Ari replied, not reassured from Shiki’s attitude.

When the two arrived at the examination area, Shiki looked around at all the other examinees. “See? Most of these guys look weak, I only see a couple of strong looking people, but I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Shiki said with a grin.

“Who do you think is strong?” Ari questioned nervously.

Shiki pointed behind her. “That guy over there.”

Ari looked over and saw a tall guy with brown hair slouching on a tree. “You’re right he does look strong,” said Ari with a little bit of worry in her voice.

Shiki shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, I’m sure we’ll be fine, he might be strong, but even if he is we can still beat him. As I said, this is gonna be a cakewalk.”

“That makes no sense,” said Ari.

Everyone walked up to the starting line and Akari started to explain the exam. “Just like I’ve said in all of the other exams, there are no rules, except for no killing and you must reach the finish in the allotted time, which is two hours. All you have to do is follow these two. Do that and you pass!” Akari grabbed what looked like a stopwatch out of her pocket. “I’ll count to three and the exam will start.”

All of the examinees prepared to start, some shoving to get in front of others.

Akari started the countdown. “On your ma-”

Suddenly, a massive slab of earth shot out of the ground launching the boy who was leaning against the tree from earlier into the air. “See ya losers!” he shouted as he was soaring above the trees and into the dense forest.

All of the kids became confused and a panic arose.

“What’s going on?” one boy said.

“Hey I thought the exam hadn’t started yet,” said another.

Shiki’s eyes widened. Crap! I’m an idiot! “Ari cast a speed spell on us now!”

She was still mystified, looking at the sky where the boy was launched.

Shiki shouted, “Ari! Snap out of it!”

Ari heard him this time, “What’s going on?” She looked just as confused as everyone else.

Shiki grabbed her shoulders. “Speed spell. Now.” He demanded.

“O-Ok. 『Gust』”

He quickly grabbed her wrist and sprinted into the forest. Trees were practically flying past them. This spell is better than I thought.

“What are you doing! We’re going to get disqualified!” Ari shouted.

Shiki gritted his teeth. “No, I’m just an idiot. I should've realized it sooner.”

Ari looked even more puzzled than she did before. “What are you talking about?”

They slid under a loose tree limb, “There are no rules except no killing and reach the finish in the allotted time. Simple enough right?”

Ari raised an eyebrow. “Right?” she said slowly, follow close behind Shiki.

He looked condescendingly at her. “Wrong.”

She got irritated at his response. “Ok genius, then tell me what’s so special about these-” Ari stopped speaking finally realizing what he was talking about. “Oh. I did not think of that.”

“We can pretty much do anything we want as long as we don’t break those two. This is also a test of wits.” Shiki grinned. “And I’ll definitely use mine.”

Out of nowhere, a kid sprinted past them at surrounded by a faint lightning aura. He had blonde hair with blue eyes and appeared to be wearing what seemed to be a normal pair of athletic clothes.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Shiki watched the kid run past them and ended up slamming into a tree because he wasn’t looking where he was going. “Ugh,” he moaned.

Ari leaned over the injured Shiki and smiled, “Nice going. What were those wits you were talking about?”

He stood up rubbing his forehead. “Yeah, yeah, shut up would you?” The spell started to wear off. “I’m gonna find that kid. I’ll make him pay for distracting me like that!” said Shiki as he started to get excited.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it was just you being stupid. Anyway, it's probably not a good idea to get into a fight right now. What if it takes too long and we finish the race late?” said Ari as they started to jog through the forest. As Ari sped up using a little bit of wind magic she heard rustling in the trees above her and noticed Shiki bolt past her.

“Looks like I’ll have to fight him quickly then,” said Shiki as he ran through the trees out of sight from Ari.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Ari under her breath. “『Gust』” She tried to get Shiki back in her sight.

O O O

After running through the forest, she reached an open area and saw Shiki and the lightning kid from earlier. I can’t just leave him, but at the same time, I can tell he’s going to fight regardless of what I have to say. That only leaves one option. She ran towards Shiki, before leaping into the air. “『Hurricane』” she yelled, as a torrent of wind spiraled out of her hands, catching the other boy off guard. He stumbled backward, and Shiki seized the opportunity. “『Light Press』”

A wall of light came out of his hands, completely knocking the kid off his feet.

“Shiki, we need to keep moving!”

“No way,” he said with a smirk. “We’ve got two hours and I’m gonna use em’.”

The lightning boy stood up and pulled out what looked to be a kendo sword. Water sloshed out from the scabbard when he pulled his sword out.

Shiki squinted at the blade, “A wooden sword? Do you really think you can fight me with something like that? It’s not even sharp!” It looked like a kendo sword, except instead of bamboo, it seemed to be replaced with very damp wood. Shiki started to laugh hysterically, “What are you gonna do to me with that? It looks like it’s about to snap in two!”

A gust of wind seemed to surround the blade. “Hot weather like this isn’t my specialty, but I can’t afford to lose.” He ran up to Shiki with the sword, “Take this!”

He thought the boy was joking when he swung the sword. Time seemed to move in slow motion. Right before the wooden blade hit Shiki, he realized what was going on. He barely dodged the sword and when it hit the ground a huge pulse of electricity blew him back. “Ack!” He regained his footing and slid across the ground.

“Dang it,” the boy said. “I was planning on ending it with one hit.” His sword sparked with electricity.

Ari ran to Shiki, “Hey are you ok?!”

Without even looking, the boy swung his sword in the direction on Ari. A massive sword-like beam barely missed her head, only cutting a few hairs, then dispelled upon contact with the trees. “Sorry, not happening. A two vs. one just isn’t fair, right?”

Ari stepped back, gritting her teeth.

The boy put his hand up to the blade, another burst of wind surrounded it then disappeared.

“Why you little,” Shiki stood up. “I guess it’s finally time to try it.” Shiki exhaled slowly, “『Secret Art: Light Weaponry』” A circle of light appeared in front of Shiki. He put his hand to it. Ha, I’ve never done this before so let’s hope I don’t screw it up. He cleared his throat. “Give me the weapon most suited for me.”

Silence.

“What’s going on over there?” the boy asked. He started to walk over. His sword pulsed again.

Crap crap crap crap crap. PLEASE WORK.

Suddenly, a voice came from the portal. “Granted. Weapon for user: Shiki, has been constructed. Distributing: 『Secret Weapon: Light Staff』” What looked to be an illuminated bo staff fell from the circle.

Shiki grabbed the staff, “Not what I expected,” He spun the staff and adjusted it into an attack stance, “but I’ll roll with it,” he said gleefully. He lunged towards the boy staff in one hand.

“I don’t think so!” the boy said, “A small bolt of electricity shot from his hand.

Shiki ducked, “Not quick enough!” he slammed to pole down onto his head, but he only hit and electric mirage. The real boy dodged to the right of him. “Nice dodge, but you’re gonna have to do better than that if you wanna beat me!” Shiki may have missed, but a piece of the staff shot out of the side of it hitting the kid in the stomach shooting him into a tree.

He fell to the ground grabbing his stomach.

“You may be fast,” Shiki said dispelling the staff. “But my weapon is made from one hundred percent magic, which means I can manipulate it however I want.” He started to walk towards the injured boy.

“Shiki!” Ari cried, “You beat him, enough is enough.”

Shiki kept walking towards him.

He was holding his side with one hand and the sword with his other. “Don’t come any closer…,” he whimpered, pointing the sword at Shiki.

Shiki grabbed the blade. “Hah! It really is wood,” he said with a grin.

“Wh-What?” the boy asked.

“Come on, we have a race to finish don’t we?” Shiki asked.

“But I thou-”

Shiki interrupted him, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, I mean, you do want to get into this school right? Plus I think you’ll be a good friend to have considering no one knows each other.” He put his hand out to the boy.

He grabbed Shiki’s hand, “Thanks.” He stumbled getting up. “My name’s Fujio.”

“Well I’m Shiki, and this is Ari.”

“H-Hi, nice to meet you,” she stuttered.

“Yeah, you too,” said Fujio as he patted himself down. “But why didn’t you guys just leave me here?”

Ari glared at Shiki. What were you thinking?

Shiki laughed and scratched at the back of his head. “Like I said earlier, I just thought it’d be nice to meet a new friend!”

“I see. Well, it’s nice to be your acquaintance, Shiki, Ari.”

Ari cleared her throat, “That’s nice and all, but we still have a race to finish.”

As the group pressed forward they saw the finish line in the distance.

“Hey, it looks like we got here first!” Shiki exclaimed as the three of them crossed the finish line. Shiki turned to Ari with a smug grin on his face.

“I told you it would be easy, didn’t I?” As Shiki crosses the finish line, he noticed the boy who started early already finished. “Damn, I can't believe I lost to someone my age.”

The boy overheard him. “Oh? So you think you’re better than me?” He grabbed Shiki’s shirt.

Shiki gripped the kid’s wrist. “Yeah, so what?”

He grinned and threw Shiki to the ground, knocking the air out of him. He then swung Shiki into a tree and pulled his arm back for a punch.

Shiki put his arms up for a block, but right before he got hit, “『Freeze』” A lady walked up right behind Akari. “Were you just going to let these two boys fight, Akari,” said the woman.

“I was just about to stop them, but things were starting to look interesting,” said Akari as she looked at the kids, grinning.

The lady sighed, “Boys, the race is over now, there is no need to continue the fight.” She started walking away, before stopping after a few strides. “Now please don’t start anything, I don’t want to have to expel students before they get into their dorms.”

The two boys were let free of the spell and the other student walked away as Shiki fell to the ground. Damn, what the hell was that? His nose was runny from the cold spell. He sniffled, More importantly, why couldn’t I get out of that spell? With my light magic, I should have easily been able to break out of a water type spell. “Hey you,” Shiki yelled.

The other boy turned around and glared at Shiki. “What do you want.”

“What’s your name, I at least need to know the name of the guy I’m going to beat,” said Shiki as he stood up with a smirk on his face.

“It’s Katsuo, and you’ll never be as good as me.” He turned and walked away.

Shiki smirked. This is going to be fun.