Chapter 7: The Demonic Wolf.
A ray of light entered the room with the sounds of chirping birds droning on outside his bedroom window, bringing Haru to his senses. He felt pretty drained from the battle the night before, and that is when it came to his attention. His mana was about to run out.
He had constantly been releasing it during his day to day life and even when he was sleeping. He climbed out of bed and stood up, only to be hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion. "There it is." He let out a slight smile before falling on the floor as all the mana in his body had disappeared.
A familiar feeling made its way across his whole body. His mana had returned.
'If my estimations work out correctly, I should be able to maintain constant mana drain for maybe three years before it drains completely again.' He thought before standing up and then looking outside towards the noise of children talking and shouting at each other.
"No!!! It's already lunchtime!" He hurried to put on his uniform and made his way out into the courtyard. He hadn't even eaten breakfast yet, so he ran straight to the cafeteria to get some lunch before the two classes he had in the afternoon started.
He arrived at the cafeteria with only twenty minutes before his class would start. Haru walked over to the vending machines and began to look at the meal selection.
'Spicy Udon... Nah, I will pass on that one,' he thought and then looked again.
He looked right at the bottom and found what he was looking for. 'Steamed Red Bean Buns!!! At long last my favourite.'
He pressed the button and instantly four buns appeared on a plate and dropped out at the bottom of the machine.
"Gross. It's another one of those peasants who eat from the free meal machine." A voice called out, changing the atmosphere in the room. Haru turned around, holding his plate to see everyone's attention was now on him. He quickly found an empty table and sat down. He looked at his food with pure excitement before picking up one of the buns.
But just as he raised it to his mouth, there was a loud bang as the table shook. Someone had slammed their hands down on to his table. Haru looked up to see a student who looked to be a few years older than him. His uniform was a white color instead of the usual black. He had long blonde hair swept over to the side of his head in a comb-over.
He was looking down at Haru with a face of pure disgust before speaking up. "What are you doing here!?" He demanded an answer.
Haru took a large bite out of his bun and swallowed it whole before answering. "I'm eating. So, if you wouldn't mind letting me finish." He made a gesture with his left hand to shoo him away.
The boy picked up the plate of food and threw it across the room, hitting a wall and then dropping to the floor. "Aww man, what a waste." Haru said before standing up and gathering the buns to put them in the trash can. He finished the bun he was previously eating and made his way back to the vending machine and ordered one more.
The bun dropped down onto a plate and he took the biggest bite he could before the boy came over to him once again. "What is wrong with you!? Were you dropped on your head as a child!?" He screamed.
Haru stopped eating for a second to reply "I'm hungry, now go away little boy." he returned to chewing up a piece of the bun. The atmosphere of the room changed once again. It was silent to the point a pin drop could be heard. The tension in the room was increasing more and more as he took another bite of his bun. "Little boy!!?" He erupted into a fit of rage. "I'm older than you! How am I a little boy!?" He asked.
Haru took another bite and then answered. "Just look at how you're acting right now. And then tell me that is not the way a child would act." His face was filled with rage as laughter came from the very same people he wanted to humiliate Haru in front of.
Haru then took the last bite of his bun and then looked at the time. He only had three minutes until class would start. He began to make his way out of the cafeteria before the older boy shouted out once again. "Fight me!!! Right now, I demand you to fight me!!!" The room was tense once again.
"Nah, I will pass." Haru walked to the door before he felt a mana fluctuation in the room. [Swallowing Flame] he turned his head to see a flame flying towards him. He sighed and raised out his hand and put his own mana into the boy's flame [Break]. It was a simple spell used to dispel elementary level magic attacks.
The once raging fire was put out instantly. The boy looked back at Haru with desperation like a deer in a headlight. Haru still had his hand held out. [Ice spike].
'I guess this should be enough to get the message across.' He thought before a small shard of ice shot from his hand before striking the boy in the leg.
[Break] Haru destroyed the spell just before the ice hit the bone in the boy's thigh. The ice disappeared instantly, causing blood to rush out from his leg. The boy screamed out in pain before falling to the ground, clutching his leg. Haru sighed before leaving the room. "What a shit show." He made his way to the classroom and sat down next to Jake who was already waiting for him.
"Hey, why are you so late? I thought you were just skipping class all day." He laughed for a moment before the door flew open. "Haru Kitagawa! A word, please." Miss Fujima gave him a death stare as he slowly got up from his seat and walked back outside the classroom.
The class erupted into chatter as soon as the door closed. Haru looked back to miss Fujima who was shaking her head in disappointment. "I can't tell what it is with you. Does trouble just seek you out? Or is your innate ability to create trouble wherever you go?"
Haru let out a light-hearted laugh before replying. "You know what they say, trouble always finds those who try to do good." Miss Fujima smiled a little bit and then sighed.
"You really shouldn't have injured that fourth year. He just so happens to be the son of a British politician. There is bound to be some action from his father on this incident. Whatever. It doesn't matter much we have witnesses saying you acted in self-defence. So just try not to cause any more headaches for me." She said before opening the door again.
"Yes, Miss Fujima," Haru replied before sitting back down again.
He looked around the room and that is when he noticed. "Where is she?" Haru whispered to himself. Jake's ears pricked up. "Oh, you mean Mia? She didn't show up today either. I thought you guys went on a date and that's why you didn't show up this morning. But then I remembered. Who would want to date you?" He laughed before suddenly his head was thrown backward violently as a book dropped into his lap.
"Shut up! I'm trying to teach here! Now, who can tell me about summoning magic? Hmm... Haru how about you?" Haru slowly stood up from his seat and prepared for his short explanation. He was never any good at explaining things but he wanted to give it a good try.
"Summoning magic is used to call a magical beast or demonic entity from its realm to be used to fight or help you with tasks. You summon them by forming mana into a magic circle of your choice be that a demonic circle or a magic circle. You can also call known beasts or entities by writing their name on the magic circle in the celestial language. Is that good enough?" This class went completely silent before Miss Fujima laughed a little bit.
"I have no idea where you learned that but no you are incorrect. There is no such thing as Demonic entities or using mana to draw magic circles is just ridiculous. The amount of control it will take to draw with mana it just isn't worth the effort. We use magical devices much like a lux but it comes in the form of a military dog tag. It is called a Gateway Tag but is more commonly known as a Gate for short and what is this celestial language? I think you should study more and read fewer fantasy novels."
A few of his classmates began to laugh and so did Jake. "Woah she just ripped you a new one" He laughed again. "Okay then. How about we make a bet?" Haru stood up and looked towards Miss Fujima. "A bet? Oh, You want to prove to me that what you said is possible? But what could you possibly offer me and what do you want in return?" Haru thought for a moment. "How about the signature of the great mage? I found a document with his signature on it back at home. And for what I want from you is to be able to have the rest of today off. What do you say? Do we have a bet?"
She looked shocked for a moment before composing herself. "The great mage's signature? That would be pretty valuable at auction. Sure, we have a bet. But don't go back on your word." She said before smiling like she had already won.
"Okay but don't go back on yours either." Haru said before walking down to the front of the class. He then started by gathering some mana into his fingertip on his index finger and then started to draw a demonic circle in the air. It was pretty much shaped like a pentagram but with a cross instead of a star.
The circle started to flash red as the mana turned into a mass of red energy that was starting to let out black electricity. "Wait what is this thing!?" Miss Fujima spoke out in a panic.
"Just carry on watching," Haru replied.
The ball of red energy floated down to the floor before a pillar of pure darkness shot into the air shooting balls of electricity out. The sound of thunder could be heard as there was a roar of anger that sent out the feelings of dread and despair that emerged from the darkness. The darkness suddenly disappeared and there was now a pitch-black demonic wolf with glowing yellow eyes standing in the place where the energy touched the ground.
Miss Fujima was standing still, speechless as the demonic wolf lay down at Haru's feet.
"I will be leaving now," Haru said with a smile before whistling for the wolf to follow him. The wolf got up and ran after him and they both left the classroom.