They arrived in their grandfather's teleportation room. As soon as they walked near the door, someone opened the door. There was a mature looking young woman wearing the usual maid outfit you've seen countless times with beautiful dark green hair and dark green eyes, and with big "assets." This was the siblings' grandfather's main maid. Someone he trusted with his life.
"Hello there. It's been a while, Kaede. Shu." The woman said to the siblings.
"Indeed it has, Sonia. I was actually here a few days ago, but I didn't see you. Were you busy, by any chance?" the brother said to the maid.
"Oh no, on the contrary. I was on my break. I was getting my lunch from a nearby restaurant", the maid who's name was Sonia, responded to him.
"It's good to see you, Sonia!" Kaede said whilst being behind her brother.
"Oh sorry! I got distracted! It's good to see you too, lady Kaede", Sonia told Kaede as she gave her second formal bow, the first one being towards Shu.
"Oh, don't worry its fine! But anyway, is our grandfather busy right now? We need him immediately."
"It's the perfect time, actually. He's on his break".
"Excellent", Shu reacted to both the girls' words. "Please get him to the front door. We need to talk to him", he finished.
"Right away, Shu", she said and walked away fast.
"I'm surprised she's stopped calling me "Master." "What a relief," he whispered to his sister.
Sonia had a habit of calling Shu "Master" when he was younger due to him being the grandson of the family. Shu kept telling her to not do so, and she eventually stopped.
The siblings walked to the front door of their grandfather's mansion and opened the door. Outside was a really big area for a mansion in the area where he lived: there was a big gate from where the cars would enter from, and many beautiful trees near the roundabout that was near the entrance.
After what seemed like 5 minutes of waiting, they heard a voice behind them, interrupting the 2 of them while they were sitting down on top of the steps towards the main entrance, just looking at the entrance of the house itself: "Are you both finally ready?", their grandfather said from behind them.
"Yes. It's all led up to this", Shu said out loud as a response to his grandfather.
"Yes, sir! I mean, grandfather!" Kaede said.
"Alright then, so you said that you need to go to Port Eltria? We can get there in like 50 minutes".
"Yes we do", Shu said.
"Alright then. Let me just…"
He walked towards the empty roundabout and put his left hand over his right hand. Then:
"HAAAH!"
He used his left hand as claws to cause his right hand to bleed. He stretched his left arm forward, which caused a big blood red magic circle to appear under him.
"Activate, summon spell!
Target: Vehicle.
Action: Bring it to me!"
After chanting a sort of spell, he caused a car to appear where the circle was, and the circle faded soon afterwards.
The car was a grey sedan that was sort of messy inside, but still had enough space.
"Alright, you 2. Hop in!" he told the siblings.
The both of them entered the back of the car to have the most amount of space possible. Of course, before this, they put their luggage in the trunk to have more space.
"This is getting exciting…!" Shu said when they hopped in the car
"Let's go!" Kaede said.
"Alright! Let's go!" their grandfather said.
And so, they drove off. Off to Port Eltria.
Around 20 minutes had passed, and nothing much had happened in the way. Shu and Kaede were going through their devices, and their grandfather was, of course, driving. Actually, one thing that HAD happened was that the 3 of them were talking about random topics that came to mind, ranging from what they had for breakfast to their magic's strength.
"Yeah, my magic's been fine" Kaede said. "I still need more practice though.
"I suppose so. And I still can't figure out what the symbol in my hand means".
Shu still hadn't thought of a possible explanation of the diamond-shaped symbol that appeared on the back of his hand every time he used his fire magic.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Shu".
"Oh don't worry. I'll eventually figure it out. I hope…"
They kept driving for 20 more minutes talking about the same topics that they were talking about before.
"Ok but being serious", their grandfather started a new topic, "how do you feel that you're going to one of the 7 Academies?" he said.
"Honestly, I'm pretty excited. It was all extremely sudden, but everything's gone well so far, so I'm glad", Shu shared his opinion.
"I agree! But I am very excited to see what it's like to go to a school that teaches something like magic!" Kaede shared her own opinion after her brother, in which her brother mentioned soon after:
"Although, if I had to say one of the few cons that came with this opportunity would be that I won't be seeing my friends in a while. A long while."
"Ok yeah that IS probably the one and true con."
"Actually, now that you mention it", Shu started once again, "How did you know that the letter was the real thing? You said that almost no one got one anymore, so how did you figure that out?"
The car was quiet for what seemed like 5 minutes (excluding the outside, of course), but then their grandfather gave his answer:
"Because I've gotten one before."
The siblings were shocked. Well, not as shocked like in your usual movie, but still shocked to the point that using the word "shocked" was 100% valid.
"You went to the Academies?" Kaede started.
"Only for a few years." He responded.
"To which one?" she said after his response.
"I would love to tell you, but we're already here."
"Huh? We are?" she looked outside. "Oh! We are!"
Right to the right was a cruise ship port. Compared to most ones that they had passed or seen before, this one was relatively smart, not to mention that it only had 2 cruise ships in the entire area. From the area where the cruise ships were, you could see the highway as if it was on a "higher level" above this area. They stopped their car in an area where many people had done so. Many people were saying goodbye to specific people with hugs, kisses, and other ways that were also as innocent as that.
"Well, were here. Welcome to Port Eltria."
"What time is it, Kaede?" Shu asked his sister, who was still next to him.
"It's… 1:35?! Were here way earlier than expected!"
"I suppose you're correct on that."
"Well, I think you 2 should get in that cruise ship so you can get everything ready as soon as possible."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go, Kaede!" Shu exclaimed.
"Yes, sir!" she exclaimed back.
They got out of the car and took out their luggage and bags from their car's trunk. They both had one suitcase and one backpack.
And that's when they started to realize that they were getting slightly sad. And they started to shed a tiny amount of tears.
"Don't tell me you guys are going to cry NOW! The cruise ship's right there!", their grandfather told them as they were crying.
"Yeah…you're *sniff* right. It's just all coming in right now."
"Sorry *sniff*, but I agree. I never thought it would be this sad."
Shu and Kaede exclaimed these things right after the other.
"Well, don't worry. It'll all be okay. Plus, I have something to give the both of you."
"Huh…? *sniff* what?" Kaede said.
"What's this…? Are you giving us gifts right now?" Shu also responded.
Their grandfather went to a specific part of their car's trunk and got 4 different objects. 3 he put on his pocket, 1 was a long, small box that was too big for it to be able to fit in his other pocket, so he just carried it in his right hand.
He went back to the siblings' location.
First, he took out 2 objects from his pocket and told both of them to extend one arm and open their hand. They both did so, and he placed one object on Shu's hand, and the other on top of Kaede's. It was a rectangular feeling object, and once they looked at them, they knew exactly what they were.
"Are these…cellphones?" Shu said once he saw it.
"Indeed, they are." Their grandfather answered.
"Why would you give us these? We already have the devices you gave us. We don't need these", he kept saying.
"In reality, you're correct. You don't need these at all. But I decided to get them for the both of you because I want you two to feel like regular students going to a school. Even if the school's you're going to is a magic oriented school.
"Oh. Thank you then…I appreciate it!" Shu said after his grandfather said that.
"Same here!" Kaede was standing their just listening while they were both talking.
"Heh, your welcome. Also, these phones aren't that hard to use. You'll get used to it soon enough. You could probably just look up tutorials or something I don't know."
"True that!" the sister exclaimed, laughing to herself a little.
"I have 2 more things hold on."
He took out a small cylinder-shaped container in his pocket and gave it to Kaede.
"Hun? This is for me?" she said.
"Yes. Open it."
Kaede opened the container and found a group of papers put together, written by hand in a blood red color. "Wait! This is-"
"Yes. These papers are a collection of Crimson Magic spells. Since you only know so few, I decided to give these to you so you can learn them."
"Oh my god! Thank you so much!" Kaede said whilst looking at them papers.
Shu was slightly disappointed due to not having the ability to use said magic, but he didn't say anything and just stood there.
"And here's your gift, Shu."
"Huh? Something personal for me?"
"Of course. I wouldn't give one of you something personal and not the other."
His grandfather handed Shu the long, small box to Shu. He looked in surprise because he was expecting that box to be for Kaede.
"Open it." His grandfather told him because he stood there looking at the box for 10 seconds.
"Oh! S-sorry." He opened the box and saw something he wasn't expecting to see. It was a knife. But not any regular knife; a chrome knife. It was a knife with a rainbow color texture, on both the blade and the handle.
"A knife? Why would I want a knife? I don't really fight with weapons…" Shu said, looking disappointed.
"You're wrong, Shu. This knife isn't meant to be used as a weapon by itself. It has another ability."
"Huh? What do you mean?" he said out of confusion.
"This knife was made specifically for you."
"Why for me?"
"This knife has the ability to make regular blood it touches turn into Ceremonial Blood."
The siblings were shocked once they heard him say this.
"Wha…what did you say?!" Shu exclaimed a bit too loud, which caused some people around him to look at the three of them for a second before those same people stopped caring a few seconds later.
"You heard me. Using this knife on your blood will temporarily transform it into Ceremonial Blood."
"R-really?!" Shu said once again.
"Indeed. There are some instructions on how the knife actually works written in a paper in the box. It took me a long time to make this knife, so I hope that it works as intended."
"Does it actually work?" Kaede, who was listening to everything, asked.
"From what I tested, it works perfectly. But I don't know if anything's gonna happen since I tested it with blood that wasn't in my body."
"Th-thank you so much, grandfather!" Shu was incredibly happy about the gift.
I can finally use it…my family's signature magic! he said in his thoughts.
"Congrats, brother!" Kaede went to her brother and gave him a tight hug. "You can finally use our magic! I'm so happy!"
Neither of them could contain their happiness.
"I'll test it as soon as I can!", Shu said to his grandfather.
Kaede looked at the time in her phone. "Oh its already 1:50!"
"Oh, then we better get on the cruise!" Shu exclaimed.
"Alright then. Come here, you two."
Their grandfather and the both of them went in for a group hug. They let go after 10 seconds.
"Well…it's been a blast being with the both of you." He started to cry a little when he started talking and cleared his tears after a second. "But I won't try to stop the 2 of you." Good luck! If you ever need anything, let me know!"
"We will!" The siblings said at the same time. "Bye!"
They both started walking towards the cruise ship. Something that they couldn't believe was actually happening was really happening. Enrolling into a Magic Academy. Going to the Magic Side. They both grabbed each other's hand without realizing it and entered the cruise ship. Inside it, there was a small reception desk, which is where they would need the one thing that would change their lives: the 2 tickets that were waiting to be used.