"I can. But I have no reason to."
Souta looked a little annoyed when he heard that reply. He had a good reason to be — as an heir of the Arasi clan, he always got what he wanted. And now, out of nowhere, a guy flatly denied him in front of the girl he'd always had a crush on.
But he couldn't afford to act pathetic in front of her. Instead, he could use this as an opportunity to impress her. All he needed to do was show his supremacy.
"Haha…then how about we make a reason, with a little contest of luck?"
'Luck, huh?' Razak thought, and as he did, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Okay, what's the contest?"
"Guys, the program is about to start." She paused and looked down while whispering, "And everyone is looking at us."
Yasumi was trying to remind them of the atmosphere around, but their minds were already made. There was no way either of them would back down, as a man, at this point.
"This won't take long, Miss Yasumi. It's just the good old coin-flipping."
Souta took out a coin from his pocket. Even though the coins went out of practice a long time ago, the coin-flipping didn't. And at this point, it was probably the only thing they were useful for.
Razak stood up from his seat and both of them walked to the passage on the left-hand side of the hall. Yasumi, who was sitting on the chair next to the passage, stayed seated.
"Magic cannot be used. Make a choice before it drops."
With those words, Souta threw the coin up in the air.
"Tails."
When the coin dropped on the ground and was about to flip to a side, an unnatural movement was observed. It just stood on the edge without flipping to either side. And after a few seconds, the coin flipped. It was tails.
There was no way to tell if it was magic or not. It could be because of various factors like the surface of the floor or the thickness of the coin.
All the confidence that Souta was showing a moment ago, flew away. His face that looked calm and composed a while ago now had a shocked reaction.
"Well, looks like you lost."
"B-but that's…show me your MM."
He was sure that Razak used magic, now all he had to do was prove it. And the best way to do that was by showing the graph of mana absorption rate that's recorded in the MM.
Razak took out his phone-like MM and showed the reading of past hours. The curve was straight with no apparent fluctuations.
"Impossible."
The word slipped out of his mouth when he took a closer look at the readings.
"Everyone, please take your seat. The program will now start."
With that announcement from the stage, everyone, who was looking towards them, turned forward.
"I guess I still have no reason to sit somewhere else."
With those words, Razak returned to his seat. Souta just stood there, unable to utter a single word in defense.
"Sir Arasi, I think you should find somewhere to sit too. The program has already started."
"Y-yes."
He couldn't even look at her face as he was saying that. Intense anger could be felt from him as he hastily rushed towards the other corner of the hall.
"Man, that dude was seriously annoying."
Both Razak and Yasumi looked behind towards the source of the voice. And sitting behind them was a guy whose appearance as his voice was slothful.
'Those eyes— a technopath,' thought Razak as he immediately noticed the blue gear shaped pupil. 'But what's one doing here in the Eastern province?'
Technopaths were usually from the Fectum clan in the Western Province. It was unusual to see someone from a clan studying in another province.
"I am not sure what just happened though. For once the coin just stood still."
"Well, both of them used magic without MM. The white-haired dude underestimated him, so he lost… Haa-yh..."
It looked like Yasumi still had some questions, but the yawn at the end discouraged her from asking them. She pretty much understood what just happened, but the question she now had was, 'how was he able to do it?'.
The moment the coin dropped, both started applying magic on the side they wanted to flip it. That was the reason why it didn't bounce even though it dropped on the edge. Souta underestimated Razak. He thought Razak wouldn't be able to use magic without MM, and even if he could, not to his level. But Razak proved himself superior.
"You know, you would have lost if magic wasn't used."
Despite the slothful attitude, that picked Razak's interest.
"Are you basing that on probability?"
"No, calculations based on physical laws."
"Your eyes are better than I thought."
"And you are shrewder than you look."
"Well, it was obvious that his confidence wasn't just based on luck."
"Kat F. Nerdy."
Kat brought his hands forward for a handshake. Razak accepted it and they both shook their hands.
"Razak Grace."
"Well, looks like the main events are about to start. Time for me to take a nap. Good luck surviving that."
Kat leaned back in his seat and as he did both Razak and Yasumi looked back towards the stage.
"And now before we move towards the cultural events, I would like to welcome the Principal, Mister Kin Ongaku, to the stage for the rank announcement."
An old bald man wearing round glasses slowly walked towards the stage. His appearance looked completely normal for someone of his age. In fact, it was so normal that if someone unfamiliar finds him about to cross the road, they would volunteer to help him.
But those who are familiar with him, knew what kind of beast he was. In his youth, he was feared by the armies of all other races. They knew him with the nickname 'Battlecry of Death'. And even now, he was ranked #16 in the National Magician Ranking (NMR).
When he stepped on the stage, all the gossip stopped, and the whole room fell silent. No, it was more like they couldn't speak. Their lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. The whole hall fell into confusion.
"Now, only I will speak."
And with those words, the eyes of everyone in the hall were focused on a single person in front.