Their journey back wasn't as long as they'd expected. They were able to remember the route from which they came here from, retracing steps and finally leaving the forest after 10 or so minutes of running towards it.
As they secretly expected, they returned to the academy's main entrance and Sasha wasn't there. She did say that she had something to take care of, after all.
By the time they returned to the school's gate, they didn't really know what to do next. The final preparations for enrollment (choosing your dorms and classes and some other things), weren't going to be until tomorrow. So, they just stood there, wondering on what to do for the time being. It was only around 1:25 in the afternoon. Just what could they do to kill time?
To be real, there wasn't really much they could do. They started thinking while looking at their surroundings. Even though they'd gotten a glimpse of it when they entered the academy, they were able to fully take it in now.
Behind them stood the long pathway with trees on the sides that led to the giant, beautiful, and majestic Rose Academy. From this angle, you could only see the main building, but there were many more. Rose Academy was as big as the college campuses on the Normal Side, maybe even bigger. With a count of more than 20,000, it had to be that big. Of course, they hadn't gotten the chance to walk through the entirety of the academy since they'd only gone in in order to take the Battle Test, which they'd both succeeded in doing.
Oh wait a second. Kaede suddenly remembered something very important. "Brother, where's the map Mr. Leblanc gave us?"
"Huh?" Shu questioned. "Why do you need it?"
"Because," Kaede responded with a look of thought on her face, "If I recall, Mr. Leblanc wrote his phone number there. Since we don't really have much to do, I figure we might as well call him so he can pick us up or something."
"Oh, right! Yeah, here."
He took out a piece of paper from within one of his pockets and handed it to his dear sister. As she was looking at the map and admiring how big the academy looked on it, she took out her phone and dialed the number written on the map. She then put said phone over her left ear.
Someone answered from the other side: "Hello?" It was a voice that they remembered.
"Yes, Mr. Leblanc?" Kaede said, pausing for a second. Afterwards, she continued. "It's Kaede. Kaede Makahoushi."
"Oh, yes. How may I assist you, Ms. Kaede?"
Kaede told Adam if he could pick them up now, to which he basically responded with "Yes, of course. Right away." Of course, Kaede had to tell him about the fact that they'd both passed the Second Test and after tomorrow's final steps, they'd both finally be official students at Rose Academy. Then, they talked for a few more seconds more and the call ended there.
They were now waiting for Adam to pick them up, which happened quicker than expected when they both saw the same purple energy begin to materialize near the school's gate.
Adam's car appeared soon after, with him inside it, of course. He waved towards them and lowered the car's right window and told them to get in, which they did soon after.
"First of all, I gotta say congrats to the both of you! I'm so happy that you both passed." He congratulated them both.
"Oh, thanks, I appreciate it!" The brother acknowledged.
"Yeah, thanks! We're so happy we passed!" The sister responded after her brother.
After smiling at them and congratulating them, he asked them both what they wanted to do.
But that was probably one thing that he shouldn't have asked, since they had no idea about it, either.
The three of them tried to think of something to do, but no one could think of any good ideas.
All you could currently hear inside Adam's car as he mindlessly drove was just 3 different individuals going "Hmm…" for uncomfortable amounts of time.
But suddenly a lightbulb lit over Adam's head.
"If you want, we can go check it at a hotel around the area, and maybe we can go eat at a restaurant in the main city." Adam suggested to the siblings that were in deep thought, bringing them back to the real world as he suggested.
"Yeah, sure!" Kaede talked with a happy tone. "That'd be fun!"
Shu nodded and smiled while he responded with "I agree!"
And then, it was settled. Their goal? Checking into a hotel and going to eat.
And so, they began this main quest.
After a while, they accomplished the first half of their quest: check into a hotel. There was many around the city, but the one they chose was one from a company called the "Thurston Hotel Co." To be completely honest, nothing of much interest happened. They entered the hotel, checked in, and waited in their respective rooms, doing random things like talking, reading, etc.
It's completely fair to think about something like "we haven't seen much magic even though we're in the Magic Side. Where is what I was promised?"
That's the question that was currently in the Makahoushi siblings' head. But there's a good explanation for this.
Similar to Longar, the current city, named Alie, was one that was pretty "reserved" when it came to using magic.
Yes, there're more people that use their magic here than in Longar, but that doesn't mean the amount of people was THAT much higher.
The biggest reason Alie was very reserved with magic was not because anyone forced them otherwise. It was rather because of the population's decision. The population of Alie preferred just living life normally, without using magic to exploit daily routines. Of course, students of Rose Academy were different. Most of them just used their magic as they pleased, which somehow caused many of Alie's residents to do so as well, going back on their word of "living a normal life."
To explain in a single sentence, the percentage of magic used within Alie usually raised when the school year started because of the students' influence. Very ironic, isn't it?
* * *
"I still can't get over this scenery. It's so beautiful…" Kaede commented as they were sitting down on their table. The 3 of them had began their second quest: eat at a restaurant in the main city.
After waiting a few hours in their hotel room, they went out to eat at nighttime and as of now, they were currently in a tower near the middle of the city, which had a really big restaurant within. It was one of the more luxurious restaurants in the entire city, and while it wasn't the top one, it definitely excelled in one thing compared to the rest when it came to one thing: the scenery.
Her brother commented after her by saying "It really IS rare to see a sight as beautiful as this."
Of course, they were enjoying the night city view alongside Adam, who was sitting on the other side of their rectangular table. Shu and Kaede sat next to each other as per usual, and to top it all off, their table was located near the long glass window that surrounded the restaurant's wall, the night as beautiful as it could be. You could say that this view was one of their personal favorites.
As it currently stood, the 3 of them had already ordered their respective dishes, now waiting whilst engaging in miscellaneous chatter.
"And that's how I was able to beat him!"
"That's admittedly cooler than how I beat my opponent." Shu acknowledged with a dry smile.
Shu and Kaede had started to talk to Adam about how they were able to win the Battle Test.
"What do you mean? Both of your stories are really interesting! I don't think I could've won a fight in such cool ways using my magic." Adam remarked, letting out a laugh after doing so.
"My fight was sort of complicated though." The sister began to explain. "My opponent had this really strong water magic. Compared to your usual water magic, I'm 90% sure that he was able to fully manipulate the water he created from within his body, which made it sort of hard."
Both Adam and Shu looked very interested.
"Now that I realize, it felt very similar to your magic, brother, except that instead of fire, it was water."
Shu put his right hand on his chin, analyzing what Kaede had mentioned.
"I suppose so. It is rare to find someone with full control over our magic. Maybe his magic, despite it being water and not fire, is somehow related to mine…"
"That's what I was thinking. I'm telling you: if you both fought each other, I guarantee that you'd be on equal footing with each other. But since I won, I doubt that'll ever happen."
"Oh yeah, I wasn't expecting that to ever happen." He said and let out a small laugh. Then, he started once again," Moving on to my fight, my opponent had relatively simple magic: lightning magic. He was also able to control it very well, but something about it felt sort of…odd."
"What makes you say that?" Adam asked, which Shu start thinking of the answer to his question.
"I don't really know…It felt as though he couldn't use his full power. That's what I felt from his presence, at least. I thought about it for a second, but I ended up prioritizing the actual fight over that instead."
Once Shu ended his statement, the order came to the table.
"Here's your food!" Their waitress said, handing the 3 of them their dishes.
The restaurant itself focused on cooking various different foods from around the world, which was rare nowadays since most restaurants now rather focused on a more limited selection of dishes.
The 3 of them all ordered different things. Shu ordered the Conditus Curry, a very spicy curry dish with some of the finest selection of rice in the city. As someone who enjoys spicy food from time to time, he simply couldn't resist.
Kaede ordered the AB, which stood for Absorption Burger. It had a name that was sort of interesting, but the dish itself was delicious, consisting of a regular burger with special buns that would soak up any sauce you added on them extremely well. It was a local dish that originated in Alie, which was why it was a rare sight to see outside the city.
Last but definitely not least, Adan ordered…a small pizza. A cheese one at that. Maybe it wasn't as interesting as what the siblings ordered, but who wouldn't say no to a basic cheese pizza?
They all said their equivalent of "bon appetit" to each other and began to eat.
"This is so good!"
"I know, right? I don't remember the last time I had a burger this good! Have you been here before, Mr. Leblanc?"
"Yeah, a few times. Maybe around 3 or so? I don't really remember…"
As they kept eating, they kept savoring the delicious food in front of them, attempting their best to fully enjoy it before it ran out.
* * *
Within a dark room in an unknown building, a girl sat on her room's respective bed, her legs crossed in an elegant manner. As she was in this pose, she browsed her phone's contact list until she found the one she desired to start a call with.
She tapped it and it rang for a few seconds until a voice answered from the other side. A voice that she recognized very well.
"Good evening." The voice from the other side answered.
"Good evening, Mr. Makahoushi." The girl responded, uncrossing her legs to enter a more comfortable position.
"Are you calling to report anything? Or do you want to engage in idle chatter?"
"Oh no, I do have a report for you."
"Ah, great. Go ahead."
"They're both doing very well. Tomorrow, they'll go through the final preparations to finally finish the admission process. Kaede got sick again out of nowhere, but I really hope that what I told them helped."
"I hope so, as well. I'm currently finishing the paperwork that the academy sent to me so I can send it back and finish everything on my end."
As they were talking, the girl bit the nails of her free hand, almost as if she was nervous about something in specific.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Makahoushi…"
"Hmm? Yes."
"How much time is left until…you know…that day?" the girl trembled as she asked this question.
The voice replied to her question, his tone turning to a more serious one. "As it stands, there's 4 months and a few days until that happens. We have time until Shu gets accustomed to the new situation."
"Oh, okay then. I hope that everything can be resolved until then…"
"I hope so too…"
Even though they couldn't see each other, they both had a worried look on their visage.
"Alright then. That was all I wanted to tell you. I don't have any more reports."
"Understood. Goodnight, then. Oh and also."
"Huh? Something wrong, Mr. Makahoushi?"
"Keep up the good work, Sasha."
The voice hung up from his side. As soon as that happened, Sasha laid down on her bed, looking at her room's ceiling as she did.
I really hope everything goes according to plan… she thought to herself. After doing so, she stood up from her bed and walked to the bathroom within her room.
"I'm gonna take a shower…" she muttered to herself as she closed the door that was behind her.
* * *
August 11, 2024.
After a nice night eating at the tower's restaurant, the siblings and Adam went their separate ways (in other words, to their respective hotel rooms), and rested for the day after.
Once they got ready the next day, Adam brought the siblings to the Academy once more and instructed them to go to their next location, that being two of the many classrooms within the Academy. Shu and Kaede would be separated for a small amount of time since they would both need to go to different classrooms due to being in different school years.
As they both said goodbye to each other, they each went their separate ways. For now, of course.
Kaede walked to a classroom that was on the second floor of the main building, whilst Shu was forced to make his way to another one of the main buildings around the campus.
The main building in Rose Academy (the one closest to the main entrance), had a sort of reception desk near its entrance, that being the first station in which freshmen would choose their new classes, dorms, and roommates (if any still didn't have one.) This was the station Kaede would be going to in order to finish all of this.
As for Shu, for whatever reason, he was told to go to the second of the 3 main class buildings, which was located somewhere else in the Rose Academy campus. As he used the map given to him by Adam, he looked around the campus, and he thought it was beautiful.
"Wow. Compared to Sakura Moon, this is so big like seriously!" He commented as he finally made his way to his destination.
He entered the building and of course, it resembled the first, albeit slightly smaller. He saw many of the other soon-to-be students there, attempting to see what they did in order to mimic them.
Sooner or later, they all walked to another area, himself following them until they reached an area he wasn't expecting in the slightest: the Academy's arena.
Once he entered the arena's main area, he looked around, analyzing its appearance. It had the shape and feel of a medieval arena, but with technology mixed with it.
There were many sorts of stands around the arena, each with their own respective receptionist. He saw people lining up to all the different ones, so he followed suit and did so as well, lining up to the one with the longest line due to assuming that that was the most important one.
5 minutes passed, and weirdly enough, he made it to the desk itself. The person behind it was a middle-aged looking man with short black hair with a slight tint of very dark red, and a fancy mustache.
The man was holding what seemed to be a blue rectangular device on his left hand. He tapped it and turned to look at Shu in front of him.
"Hello. Name?" The man asked Shu directly.
"Oh uh, Shu. Shu Makahoushi."
Once Shu answered back with a tone that made it seemed like he hesitated, the man typed his name on the device, and found his name.
Once he tapped something else, he reached for something under his stand. He brought it out, revealed to be a device very similar to his, except being smaller.
"Okay, so your 5 regular classes, those being Magic History, how to read/use Magic Runes, Catalyst Construction, Magic Item Creation, and Artifact Study, are already in your schedule by default. However, you can choose up to 5 other classes depending on if you want to learn how to use your own magic more, or if you just want something extra. This terminal I gave you gives you the list of options you can choose."
Oh, that's interesting. So, up to 5, isn't it…
He started browsing the options after thinking to himself. Whilst he was doing so, he kept thinking about how the man called this item a "terminal." He put that thought aside for now and kept going through the options, noting how the terminal felt very similar to his grandfather's devices.
He finally settled on his 2 choices for additional classes and handed the man the terminal. He ended up settling on Fire Magic Training, and Magic Versatility.
"Alright then," the man started, "you'll want to go the stand over there to select your roommate." He pointed to the other side of an arena, towards a stand that was surrounded by many other freshmen.
"Thank you very much!" Shu said and left, beginning his short walk towards the respective stand.
* * *
"Oh my god, that was so difficult!" Kaede couldn't help but exclaim to herself, putting her hand over her head as she did.
She was in the middle of selecting her additional classes after hearing the receptionist lady's explanation. She ended up only choosing 2 because only 1 of the classes actually sounded like it could fit her magic and the other one just sounded interesting. Coincidentally, her first class actually ended up also being Magic Versatility, but the second one she chose simply because it sounded interesting, this one being called "Weapon Comprehension."
Once she was done, she was told by the receptionist to go to the academy's arena for the roommate selection process. She started her way there, admiring the beautiful academy in the process.
She made it past the main building's open area with a fountain in the middle and looked around. She looked at the many different buildings and trees, also seeing freshmen pass by as she did.
She reached the arena's entrance, and entered the main area, heading towards the stand for the roommate selection. Surprisingly enough, there was no one on the stand, so she took this chance to approach the large man with grey hair and eyes on the stand's other side.
She started by asking: "Excuse me, but is this the roommate selection stand?"
To which the man responded: "Oh, of course. Have you still not selected a roommate?"
"No, I haven't. Could you help with that?"
"Yes, of course. That IS my job after all." The man replied and laughed to himself.
Like the woman who'd helped her choose her additional classes, he took out a blue terminal and went through it. But as he did, he made a worrying face.
Kaede noticed this. "Huh? Something wrong?" She asked.
"Yeah, about that…We usually let you choose your roommate, but since there's no one else here, we have to pair you with someone random."
"Oh, that's fine! Don't worry."
"The problem is that there's no one left. Everyone already has a roommate."
Kaede was shocked, to say the least. Maybe even "sad" could fit her emotion right now. Of course, she wasn't on the verge of crying or anything like that. She was more so…disappointed.
But then…
"Oh, wait. There is one other person!"
"Huh? Really?!"
"Yes. Her name is Emilia Elna."
"Yeah, that's okay. As long as there's someone."
And so, the man paired Kaede with this "Emilia Elna" character. Sure, Kaede didn't know who she was, but at least she wasn't alone.
* * *
A small number of other things were done by the siblings in order to finally enroll. One of them involved getting their uniforms, which basically involved them going to a specific room and telling them their clothes size. Apparently, they would be getting these uniforms later in the day because the factory in where they were being made was extremely advances.
Shu had actually finished in the arena, so he returned to the main building to see if he could by any chance find Kaede. Of course, since she was now in the arena (them having basically swapped places), they weren't able to see each other. That lasted for 5 minutes or so, as they were able to meet up once again and say hello to each other.
But of course, this didn't last long as they both had to take care of one other thing.
They both returned to the main building and went to a respective classroom, Kaede going to the second floor and Shu going to the first. Shu entered his classroom and only saw a teacher sitting in the teacher's desk.
He walked up to him.
"Hey, I'm here to pick up my terminal?" he asked him.
"So, you're the one that's left. Yeah, here." The man went through a box and gave him his respective terminal. "So, I'll take it that you aren't going to use physical notebooks and such?"
"Well, not for now, at least. I just wanted the terminal out of pure convenience."
"Yeah, I suppose that does make sense. Although, if you ever want to use notebooks, you can just store them within the terminal."
"Huh? Are you serious?"
The man explained to Shu that weirdly enough, this specific terminal model had a "Pocket Dimension" feature. Shu didn't understand how it worked, but at least it sounded cool.
"Oh, that's cool!"
"I know. I use it every day for convenience. It's really helpful."
"Alright then, I'll keep it in mind. Thank you!" Shu said as he was about to leave.
"Hey, before you go…"
Shu turned around with his terminal at hand. "Huh? Yes?"
"What's your name? I never got it."
"Oh, it's Shu Makahoushi." He told.
"Interesting. Well, I'll see you around, Mr. Makahoushi."
"Yeah, same, Mr…"
"Leca."
"Alright, Mr. Leca. Good day!"
Shu left the classroom.
* * *
They had finally finished everything. Shu and Kaede were now going to officially become Rose Academy students tomorrow.
"Oh my god, we did it!" Shu told Kaede and Adam, all of them currently nearby Adam's car.
Kaede exclaimed next: "Yeah, finally! That took forever!"
As they both talked, Adam listened to everything.
"Congratulations, both of you!" He couldn't not say. "Well, I suppose I should help get you to your dorms. They aren't that far away from the Academy, so it should be relatively easy to get you settled in.
Weirdly enough, Rose Academy had 2 types of dorms. The first was within the school itself, usually reserved for the younger students for security reasons. The other type, the one the older students resided in, were in an area outside the Academy, still relatively close, but maybe a few minutes walking distance from it.
Adam drove the siblings each to their respective dorms' buildings. Obviously, the dorms were separated by age and gender, and since Kaede was 2 years younger than Shu, she was in another dorm building, relatively close to her brother's dorm building, anyway.
Kaede was let down first alongside her luggage, with Shu being let down afterwards. When they were both let down, they both respectively thanked Adam for everything he'd done for them, and they if they needed anything, they could contact him.
But Adam told Shu something before he entered the building.
"Wait, Shu…"
Shu turned around, sort of surprised at Adam's speech. "Huh? Did something happen?"
Adam looked as if he was hesitating, but he just had to say it.
"Take good care of your sister, okay?"
"Eh? What's this, all of a sudden?" Shu chuckled.
"I'm being serious. Please do."
"Huh? I don't understand…why're you telling me this?"
Adam told Shu to get closer to him.
"I can't say much, but please trust me."
Shu wanted to ask so many questions, but he decided not to as Adam said he say much.
Shu nodded, Adam saying "good" afterwards, waving him goodbye, and driving away.
* * *
They had both finally settled in their dorms. Shu's roommate hadn't gotten here yet, for some reason. He also wondered if Kaede was doing alright in her dorm.
"I should call her later…" he thought out loud.
It was currently 7 pm, and the night was very beautiful. As he looked at his phone, though, he heard a ringing sound.
"Huh?" he wondered.
He looked around to find the source of the ringing, and he found it within his backpack: his grandfather's device. He also noticed the knife that he'd also given him.
Right, I should try this out sometime… but that wasn't important right now.
He looked at his device's screen, and he was…surprised, to say the left.
"Huh? Why're you calling me?" He couldn't help but say out loud as he pressed the answer button and placed the device flat on a wooden table that was nearby his bed.
A hologram appeared from the device, showing the live recording of a man with rectangular glasses and red hair, with a pair of eyes the same color as his hair. A man that Shu very well recognized. Shu sat on the desk's chair.
"Hello?" he asked the person on the other side of the call.
"Hello, Shu." The man on the device started. It's been a while."
"Why are you calling me, Father?" Shu asked the man.
"Look, I'm sorry. I know it's been a while since you've seen me, but I wanted to tell you something. Something important."
"Oh, so now you care about us."
"I've always cared about the 2 of you. I just haven't been able to see you."
As the conversation started, the son couldn't hide his true feelings.
"I know you're lying. You just don't want to see us."
"You know that's not true, Shu. I want to see the 2 of you. But I have to work."
"Yeah, whatever. Why are you calling me? You said "something important."
"Yes. I'll be sending a package to your grandfather's house in the following days. I need you to get it because it's important."
"A package? What's inside it?"
"That's something I can't say. All you have to know is that it's very important."
"Yeah…sure…"
Shu's father then, for a second, looked sort of…scared, for some reason?
"Listen, Shu. I have to get back to work."
"Yeah…okay."
"I love you. Also…congrats on making it to Rose Academy."
"Yeah, whatever. Bye."
Shu hung up the call. After the call ended, he was furious.
"If only he actually cared…"
Shu and Kaede's father, Shuko Makahoushi, was someone who they (especially Shu) had some sort of issues with. Shuko worked a lot, causing the siblings to rarely see him as a result of this. He never talked about his work because he said that he wasn't allowed to.
Regardless, after this call he had, Shu laid down on his bed and looked at the ceiling.
Tomorrow's the day isn't it… he thought as he looked up at the darkness and smiled. Our first day…at Rose Academy.
In her room, Kaede thought the same thing as they both fell asleep with a smile on their face, finally prepared…for the big day.