"Only made things worse?!" Chisa hissed in anger at Nagisa's accusation.
In response, he would exhale out calmly and tell her to do the same. A short mini re-cap was later told once they had exited the academy and returned to her beloved pastry shop to indulge buying her a slice of her favorite cake.
"I… see…" Chisa spoke out with cake in her mouth and Nagisa shook his head.
She had fully let her guard around him. On their way back Chisa inquired about what Nagisa's plans were for his supposed bullies.
"Train my hardest 'til Friday, what else?" Nagisa smiled and put on a brave facade and then faced forward with a more serious expression.
Miyuki was already at Stage-2, and Fire Magic enhanced his innate reactions, if anything besides the mana, they should be about equal. He pondered with an unwavering focus for some time until Chisa hit him and broke his little thinking bubble.
"What?" An irritated look was flung her way.
"Do not give me that look! I have been talking all this time and you have not listened to a single word I have said!" Chisa fussed and turned away her head and her arms crossed.
"Sorry, what is it?" Nagisa promptly apologized.
"How about I train you?" She turned back grinning.
Nagisa shook his head.
"No, thanks for the offer though," he declined politely.
This was something he had already decided to handle alone. The question was though, would he reveal his secret trump card, the one regarding the second examination.
"Fine, have it your way! Hope he beats you to pulp!" Chisa stuck her tongue out.
Nagisa knew Chisa was angry, and offered to invite her for dinner to make up for it. Thankfully, Chisa could not pass on good food, she clearly was a gluttony.
The two of them parted ways back at the dormitory, and Nagisa told her to stop by later since he had other matters to attend concerning his training and a little forging back at the blacksmith. The blacksmith appeared empty, so Nagisa headed inside after booking it for about an hour.
Chisa's dad had managed to deliver the Arcane Crystals and Nagisa found it in the vault with his name on which required his unique magical DNA to be unlocked.
"Well, starting from tomorrow, I will slowly make full use and forge you into my next masterpiece," Nagisa stated while caressing the Arcane Crystals slowly with his fingers.
Nagisa began drawing in his mind the next schematic for the sword. He spent then the hour to draw it out properly and prepare the crystals for tomorrow before heading out to the training grounds.
A lot of the small buildings with the training rooms inside were either booked or pre-booked, making it difficult to find one that was available. Chitose was right that people spent most of their time training outside above all else.
Right before giving up, Nagisa saw a door opening in front and rushed up to occupy it before someone else had the chance to. However a much familiar female silhouette with velvet black hair turned around and their eyes met.
"May?!" Nagisa panicked.
He had not seen or spoken to her ever since his little incident with the whiteboard back in their world. May extended her gentle smile once more, just like in the past to him.
"Are you here for training, you can have this room if you would like, I just finished," May calmly spoke and opened up a bottle of water to take a couple of sips from it.
"Are you not upset with me?" A daring question was tossed her way.
May shook her head slowly.
"I was at first, but then an entire year went by. And looking back... it was not fair how anyone had been treating you... and with us being in an entirely new world now, consider it all forgotten," May kept her calm composition intact.
Nagisa did not know if she was acting or just genuinely kind towards him like always whenever anyone was not looking. May reached out her hand for a handshake.
"I heard you are most likely fighting Miyuki on Friday, good luck with that! He has grown immensely strong, I suggest you surrender quickly before he torments you," May expressed her concerns.
"Thank you," Nagisa accepted her handshake.
May took her leave shortly after by bowing once with her head politely. He knew she meant no harm with that statement considering Miyuki's personality. If he had no chance of beating him, the earlier he gave up, the less of a beating he would take.
However Nagisa still had his pride for now. He had not forgotten his new vows to protect himself and everyone else around him, and to not run away and use his abilities to their full extent.
A motivated Nagisa went in with full focus. The training room was similar to the one during his second examination, and the same AI asked him for what he had in mind.
"I would like to initiate the same test given to me during my exam, and gradually increase both the pace and amounts of opponents coming at me," Nagisa spoke to the AI inside the training room.
Nagisa unsheathed his sword and closed his eyes to do his usual enchantments. He spent about two hours practicing before heading on out, however he put on a bitter face.
"With my current pace, unless I pull out all stops, there is no chance I am beating him… I can barely last five minutes! My mana pool is dreadful, and it is slowing down both my reading- and reaction time!" Nagisa bit down on his left thumb.
A large sigh and barrage of complaints were vented out before returning home to Emi. Chisa joined them later and the entire event of Emi hiding herself behind his back and Chisa trying to hug her repeated itself.
They had a quiet meal, and Chisa did not attempt to inquire how his training went. She took her leave and Nagisa prepared to take his bath before heading to bed. After all he had an early training session planned for tomorrow and to start forging his next sword.
Emi hopped right on in and Nagisa somehow managed to forget all about it. However this time around, Nagisa smiled gently at Emi, knowing that this was the best way to take care and be there for her.
In the morning Nagisa found her pajamas lying on the floor yet again, unsurprisingly. He exhaled loudly and took his early leave for practice and to begin forging.
During class, he would space out, everything Chitose covered was earlier topics that were much too familiar for him. During his lunch break he found her and asked if he could skip class and practice for the mock-battle during Friday and she nodded.
Apparently classes were not mandatory, however you needed to still pass every written exam and at least attend a few of them, especially the ones covering group battles and demons.
This made it easier for Nagisa to schedule for his training regime during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. He would wake up, practice and forge for a while, resume practice into lunch, then more practice until evening hits to head on home.
Before he knew it, the morning light of Friday morning awoke him in a blinding fashion. Nagisa tried to disentangle from Emi's tight grasp, although the more he tried, the more it tightened. It ended up with her waking up and smiling before hugging Nagisa.
"Good morning! And good luck today!" Emi cheered him on.
It served for more than enough encouragement needed. Nagisa patted her head.
"Thank you, I will give it my best!" Nagisa gave her a thumbs up with his other hand and took his leave.
Back at the training grounds Nagisa unsheathed his sword. It was the final time for him to sneak a bit of last-minute training in before the mock-battle would take place.
< Enshrouding Wind > & < Enshrouding Cloak >
Both his body and weapon emitted a small white mist around them
< Arcane Awakening > & < Arcane Coating >
A small stream of pink was emitted into the mist, buffering the glow slightly. Although not enough for one to think he had reached Stage-2 despite the Arcane Coating bringing up his Wind enchantments by 1 Stage.
"What test would you like to run today, Nagisa?" The AI asked him through a resonating sound inside his head.
"Stage-2 holograph of a possible Fire user," Nagisa asked.
"Very well, please hold while we create a prototype for you to combat against,"
The system began preparing a silhouette with the enchantments of a Fire Magic user at Stage-2.
A sound signaled the start of the combat and Nagisa dashed right on in. His Arcane Awakening could barely analyze the different strikes on time, and his own attempts missed as well. Every movement felt like Nagisa was playing from behind in chess. It began to feel like the silhouette had overtaken him, for it was Nagisa now who was forced to take steps backwards.
The silhouette aimed for his torso and Nagisa preemptively blocked it, and without much rest the strikes kept coming. Against his throat, waist, arm, shoulder, even for his own grip. It was hard enough for him to parry these blocks, even with his Arcane Awakening telling him where they would hit their set marks.
However, luckily a pattern seemed to repeat itself. Nagisa saw a small window immersing as the silhouette withdrew its blade to strike once more towards his chest. Nagisa chose to slide right under the sword to gain momentum, barely avoiding it with his own head, almost as he was playing limbo, then sliced through the hologram with an uppercut coming from underneath.
"Would you like a second round?" The AI asked and Nagisa nodded drenched in sweat.
His enchantments were already taking their toll on his body, he would surely lose this round quickly, Nagisa was already close to suffering mana depletion.
"With my current calculations, I can max hold on for about five minutes. Assuming my shield does not break and I lose before that. I need to look for a single moment to strike and continue my barrage until he is defeated without letting down my attacks," Nagisa wiped his sweat off with a towel from his bag.
The training room had a shower area which was automatically cleaned in between each booking. The water splashing on his face felt nothing short of soothing. Nagisa felt rejuvenated once more.
Now only time will tell if his preparations were enough to best Miyuki. He dressed back up and left the training grounds to head on north towards the large building where the mock-exam would take place.
"Yahoo!" Chisa slammed her hand against Nagisa's back, making him shiver for a second.
"You ready for today?" she asked.
Nagisa nodded and they bumped fists.
"You know it, are you?" Nagisa tossed the question right back.
"Yeah, after all, you have got me to warm up to before facing him!" She grinned at his posing question.
A lot of students were already there, preparing their warmups prior to their mock battles. Chitose was there early as well to instruct them. Miyuki and the others waved smugly towards Nagisa once they had spotted him.
They found an empty spot further back in the circled area resembling a colosseum of sort, and both Nagisa and Chisa unsheathed their swords. Nagisa made his usual enchantments and then looked at Chisa.
She unsheathed a beautiful rapier which was forged with Arcane Crystals, however it lacked any resembling magic penetration on it.
"So you use a rapier, huh?" Nagisa broadly smiled and she nodded.
The next thing that would happen would take him by surprise.
< Engulfing Flame > & < Engulfing Exterior >
"Wait, you use Fire Magic as well?!" Nagisa yelled out angrily, she certainly had failed to mention that part.
"You never asked? And stop yapping! I offered to train you and you refused," Chisa scolded him.
Nagisa bit his underlip, this much was true now that he thought about it. He only had himself to blame on this one, and to think Chisa uses the same rare magic attribute like Miyuki! If only he had let go of his stupid pride and allowed for her to help!
Chisa dashed towards him rapidly, smiling and pointing her rapier towards his throat.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Chisa smiled.