The moment she entered her next class, Kaede noticed one thing that slightly bugged her.
It was that girl. The girl that she'd accidentally angered during homeroom. She noticed that, as in homeroom, she was sitting alone. Still desiring to apologize to her but knowing she probably wouldn't budge; she decided to ignore her and sit in another desk.
This particular classroom had 10 desks, but they all had seats for 2 students. They were the size of 2 regular desks put together, but slightly longer and larger, obviously meant for sitting in pairs. That did make perfect sense seeing as this was the Magic Item Creation classroom, the class that focused on the study and creation of magic items that by themselves had magical properties. Many mages confused them with catalysts, but they both had one major difference: catalysts are meant to help you with your own magic, whereas magic items each have their own characteristics individual of one's magic.
Kaede sat down on the desk in the back. She took out her phone and started browsing it. Throughout the day, she'd taken the liberty of downloading some apps on it, like games, social media, and some others that seemed useful or entertaining.
I wonder how brother's doing…he's probably well.
She opened one of the games she'd downloaded and started playing it. This game involved putting colorful blocks in a horizontal line to clear space and get points. Now where has this been seen before…?
She played and played until she couldn't anymore, that being because she'd run out of space. Once she lost, she felt a bit sour but there was nothing she could do about it. Checking the time, she'd realized that…15 minutes had passed? Did something happen to the teacher?
"Where's the teacher?" Kaede asked herself. As though her mind was read…
The black projector above her started projecting (obviously). A blue screen appeared over the board, which started to form a sort of figure on it. As the screen became clearer, the figure of an adult man appeared. He had short, sleek back brown hair and a beard of the same color, and the same color eyes. He appeared to be fairly tall, but of course this wasn't confirmable.
"Good morning, everyone. My apologies for being late. As you can tell, I sadly wasn't able to make it to the class personally. So, for today only, I'll be giving this class, AKA your first class with me, through this device."
He paused for a few seconds, and then he started talking again.
"The class you'll be taking with me is Magic Item Creation, which I don't understand why "Creation" when we mostly only study it, at least for the first few months of the semester. But regardless, I'm going to assume all of you know what magic items are, as they are one of the most basic concepts in the world of magic. Now, does anyone in this class use magic items constantly?"
A girl in the middle row's left desk raised her hand.
"Yes. The girl in the middle row."
"Well, I usually use a variety of potions alongside my magic in order to make a few things easier, like heal myself in case I need it."
"Hmm, interesting. Potions are a very commonly used magic item, as they are in the easier categories as to how to make them, not to mention they are extremely useful. I still use them myself sometimes and usually mages in my category tell you not to because they're too much of a "beginner item". If anyone tells you that, just ignore them; you use whatever magic item you want and how you want."
Pausing mid-way again, he started again: "I apologize if I go off topic sometimes. That's a diehard habit of mine. Anyway, now let me get to the next topic: For the entire year, all of you will be sitting in pairs that I'm forced to assign, I'd like you to take the remainder of this class to get to know each other once you're assigned. I say this because I would like to officially start this class tomorrow once I am there in person. Well, then, let's begin."
The professor started taking attendance, but instead of going through the entire list, he called the 2 names of students he'd assign as pairs. This kept going until there were 2 chairs left to sort.
"Next, Kaede Makahoushi and Emilia Elna. Sit in the table in the back towards the right of the classroom, please."
Kaede entered a shocked state. She recognized that name, and she noticed that the girl that was in that desk didn't move. She walked towards it and looked at her.
With an awkward face, she started to wave and talk to her. "H-hey, I-"
"Don't talk to me." She crossed her hands and looked away from her.
It's useless, isn't it…?
She sat down, feeling nervous. Kaede really did regret what she'd said to her in homeroom, but she figured this Emilia girl wouldn't budge. It would be hard to take it all back, wouldn't it?
As the professor had mentioned, the remaining time would be used to get to know your fellow partner. But for obvious reasons, Kaede wasn't able to talk to her partner without her getting angry. Even so, she tried once.
"Listen, Emilia… I-"
She could her Emilia sigh. "If you're going to try and talk to me, at least call me "Elna".
"Huh? You want me to use your last name? Why?"
"I just don't like being called by my first name."
"Did anyone do something to you?"
Elna sighed once again. "It's just bad memories. I remember many bad things when anyone call me by that."
"Oh, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to."
"It's okay. Just remember ne-"
Right then and there, Elna had noticed that she started to talk to Kaede normally. Remembering what she'd said to her, she looked away again.
Kaede noticed this and just figured that it was hopeless for the time being. She pulled out the phone from her pocket and started to play again.
Without really much else to do, Elna put her hands within her uniform and pulled out a necklace she was wearing. She started to look at it as if she'd never witnessed it before.
Her curiosity taking over her, Kaede unconsciously asked: "What's that necklace? It's really pretty."
Still mad at her, Elna responded: "…it's just a gift that I got from a close relative of mine."
"That's really cool!"
"Yes, I think so, too. It's also important because I use it alongside my magic."
"Oh, really? What is your magic?"
"Oh, it's- Actually, you know what? It's none of your concern!"
She thought she got so close to a normal conversation, but then she ended up looking away once again.
No student in this class could lie when they said that this class was sort of…underwhelming. They thought they were going to get another lesson like the other classes, but instead all they got was a free period. Sure, most students would be absolutely thrilled for one of those, but in a magic school, most students were interested in learning about magic, instead. Either way, next class was the last for the day, and it was one that sounded interesting: Magic Training.
Yes, that title was vague, but it was self-explanatory.
Slowly but surely, or way too fast depending on who you asked, the period ended, with a group of extremely underwhelmed and bored students.
Kaede didn't do much else throughout the remainder of the class except look at her phone and at whatever Elna was doing. She was next to her, so that made complete sense.
And now, it was time for their final class, which was coincidentally the same class.