Already in his dorm room, Shu had just finished showering. After drying himself, he put his sleeping clothes on, these being dark blue shorts and a grey shirt, brushed his teeth, and then exited the bathroom.
After the exited the bathroom, he remembered the gift his grandfather had given him. He took the box from his backpack and opened it, revealing the rainbow-colored knife he'd received a few days ago.
For some unknown reason, his roommate hadn't returned to the room yet. He didn't particularly care; he was perfectly fine with the quiet of the night.
He looked at the knife without being able to look away, analyzing every nook and cranny of it.
He was unable to hold back his smile. "This really is one of my grandfather's creations, huh?"
His grandfather was not only known as a very strong mage, but also as a creator of many different gizmos and objects, such as the device Shu and Kaede had used during their time in the SR. Of course, they still had their respective devices, but they changed to cellphones for convenience's sake.
Due to being alone, Shu wanted to try out the knife out of curiosity. Looking both to the left and right, for whatever reason, he then took the knife and put the tip on his index finger.
As the did, a small drop of blood traveled down his finger, but this wasn't any drop of blood.
For one, he noticed that the drop had a faint glow to it, symbolizing that the knife itself had work.
And for two, he noticed the blood's smell. It smelled exactly the same as his sister's when she used her magic.
"So, it's real, huh?" He put it back into its box and closed it. After putting it back into his backpack, he jumped with his back into his bed. "I can finally do it. I can use Crimson Magic!"
As he stared at the ceiling, he remembered something else he wanted to do earlier, sitting up his bed in the process. "I should ask Lucille what I wanted to ask her."
He took his phone and found Lucille's contact. Even though he was nervous to do so at first due to just meeting her today, and because he knew how shy she was, he persevered and sent her a very simple message, anyway:
Hey, sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay?
He thought she either wouldn't answer, or take a while to, so he was about to put his phone on his bedside table, but as he almost did…
*Buzz*
His phone vibrated on his hand. He looked at it, and surely enough, she replied.
Oh sure. What's up?
He started to type his next message: I noticed that you wear the same peculiar uniform I wear in the academy. Do you by any chance know why, exactly?
He hit send once again.
This time, he put the phone on his bed and took out something from his terminal's bag, that being the book he'd rented. He was currently on page 20, and he couldn't lie when he said he enjoyed it. He thought it was an interesting concept, and it was the first novel he'd read in a while, so he was getting to read it as he waited for Lucille's respond.
However, as he was about to start reading it, his phone buzzed again.
"Damn, she's faster than I thought. For such a shy girl, too…"
Yeah, I would've asked you too, but I was too shy, so my apologies. Yeah, I don't know myself. It's really strange, though. People gave me weird looks, as if I was an alien or something.
"Is this really the same Lucille?" Shu couldn't help but think out loud. She was so different through text that he had to question it.
Oh, okay then. Thanks a lot!
Shu decided to keep watch of the messages due to feeling that she'd reply extremely fast.
Not even 10 seconds passed this time, and she replied: No problem. Goodnight. :)
Thanks, you too! (: was his reply to her message.
And so, he still had no answers. He couldn't just forget about something that'd remain in his mind until he got an answer. But the other thing he couldn't help but wonder as well was how different Lucille seemed through text and in person.
"It's hard to believe that she's related to Avery…"
As Shu wondered this, he laid down in his bed, opened his book and started to read it.
The book plot goes as follows: The most popular girl in a school falls in love with one of the school's biggest "losers", who is in fact a nerd when it comes to RPGs. One day, the girl goes to his house, and he started teaching her about RPGs, making her fall into this rabbit hole. It had an interesting premise, and Shu was all for it.
Around half and hour passed, and he read around 35 pages of the book. He was a relatively fast reader, which was how he was able to read books that talked about magic so fast, especially since most of those books had less words than a full-on novel.
Once he marked the page with a random paper he found and closed the book, he placed it on his bedside table.
"So, she's getting into his favorite game…how interesting. Damn, this kind of romance is so fun to read. I haven't even finished it yet, and I can tell I'll love the rest of the series!"
The series had 6 volumes currently out, so it was safe to say that he wasn't going to run out of it any time soon.
After placing the book on the table, he took his blanket, and covered himself with it, looking at the ceiling once again.
He started thinking to himself in that moment: Today was such a day. Our first day in a magic school, and we already have new friends? This is going so well! I wonder what tomorrow holds…
As soon as he finished that thought, he fell asleep immediately…with a smile on his face.
They'd done it. They'd officially started their life in Crimson Rose Magic Academy, the highest ranked of the Seven Magic Academies. Even so, they can't help but wonder:
What does this new life have in store for us?
This was a question they couldn't help but think, but it was one that couldn't be answered so soon. It was one that would gradually be answered as time went on.
Now, with that said, let's see how their lives unfold…as an old one ends…
And a new one begins…