When we arrived back on campus, the sun was already going down. Night slowly approached, casting shadows over us. All the light poles around campus switched on.
"Well. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow. I should get going now." said Amy. She left off toward the direction of her dorm.
"Yeah. Same with me." said Yuji, "I have some important classes tomorrow. Better get some, rest." After saying his goodbyes, he, too, left for his dorm.
The only still here was just Airi. I waited for her to leave as well, but she continued to stand beside me. From her posture, it started to become clear, she wasn't ready to go just yet. It's like she had something to say, but no words came out.
So, I took the initiative.
"Aren't you leaving too? It's getting pretty late."
"Huh?" Airi raised an eyebrow, "It's not even close to being late. It's only seven o clock."
She was right. It wasn't that late compared to the lives of people in the city. But here on campus, students seemed to clock in early and go to sleep. I suppose that was due to the intense nature of this academy. You needed lots of energy to study efficiently. Though, you didn't have to be back to your dorm at any specific time. As far as curfew went, there were no rules enforcing it.
"Yeah. Guess you're right." I said, "So, what is it that you wanna do?"
"I was hoping we could just walk around and talk for a bit."
"That's all?"
"Yeah..." Airi hugged her book, eyes cast downward, "To be Honest, Kuro, you've piqued my interest."
What what this supposed mean? I didn't quite understand.
Does she perhaps think I'm attractive?
Admittedly, this was a leap in logic. But it was the only meaning I could think of.
"Are you flirting with me?" I asked.
The very moment that my question reached her ears, she jolted back.
"What?! No, idiot!" she shouted, "Nothing like that."
It was hard to notice, but her cheeks were slightly blushing. Her eye's met with mind, but it wasn't exactly a nice exchange. She was sort of glaring at me. Not out of hate, but it was more like she was saying "I do not see you in that way."
Which would make sense, we didn't know each other all that long for any emotions like that to bloom.
My question was answered, she was not interested in the slightest.
Thankfully
"Oh. Alright..." I breathed.
We started taking a stroll around campus. All the while, Airi was sending a hail of words through my skull. She was going on and on about the book she was reading earlier. {Louis's Tactics For Spells} As well as a few other of Louis's works.
I had already studied these books down to a science, so, I sort of ignored everything she was saying. Not on purpose, it just wasn't interesting to me since I already learned all of this. One thing was clear, Airi really loved anything related to magic. As she talked and talked, the joy on her face was clear. She was even smiling a bit.
Magic related topics really do excite her.
From her passion and from the way she talked, it was easy to grasp a lot about her. Most people our age doesn't go around reading thick books about magic tactics and laws of magic. Things like that are just boring for most people. And the majority find word-infested pages hard to read. So, I take I that she never really gets the chance to talk with others like this.
When I pointed out the book she was reading earlier, she must've figured that I was someone she could finally conversate with about things she liked. Poor girl, she must've been waiting so long to talk like this. In a way, she reminded me of my old-self.
Her love for magic is great. I can see that.
Some time ago, I used to be the same way.
Before...
"Airi. Can I ask something?"
"Sure. What is it?" she looked at me, puzzled.
"When it comes to magic, what aspect do you think is the most important?"
Of course, I had my own thoughts on this question. But, Airi was a smart girl. I found myself curious about how she would answer this.
"Hm...." she thought about it to no avail, "Wow. That's a pretty good question." Her eyes faced the sky. She thought about it quietly then answered, "Hmm. I suppose, everything kind of plays its own role. Magic knowledge, mana capacity, talent, casting speed, they're all important. It's hard to imagine one being above the rest."
It's true that they were all important in one way or another, but that wasn't the question, "True. But, what do you think is the most important when it comes to magic? The most important aspect of all?"
"W-well, I never really thought about that." again, my question puzzled her, "If I had absolutely had to choose one. I guess it would be magic knowledge."
I could see the logic in her answer. However, she couldn't be more wrong. That was okay, even the professor didn't know this much until I pointed out the answer.
"Can I tell you what I think it is?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm sort of curious what you think."
"Like you said all those aspects are pretty important. But there's one thing that outranks them all."
"What do you mean?" Airi asked. Her attention was entirely focused on me. In fact, she was so focused that she probably wasn't aware of anything around us.
I finished the rest of my answer.
"Your mind is the most important aspect. If you can master your mind, you can master lots of things. And it doesn't just apply to magic. It applies to how you think, how you see things. Your mind will even have an effect ton how you use magic."
"You lost me." Airi had the utter face of confusions.
So, I simplified it a little.
"In short, your mind is the most important. When you master your mind, you'll realize, the magic self isn't important. It's how you apply the magic in different situations."
A weak person who has a strong mind can defeat a strong person who has a weak mind.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." said Airi.
"Take that for what you will. But if you listen to what I said, it'll help you a lot."
"Noted."
Our walk brought us back to where we began. At the front gates of the academy.
I could see a slight smile on Airi's face, "When I said you were interesting. This is what I meant. You're actually kind of smart. I noticed it back when you solved those problems on the board. Even I was having trouble with it. You must be a pretty strong mage."
She came close to me, leaning forward, then stopped as if she was starting into my soul. Our noses were only a few inches apart, "I also noticed something else." she said.
"And what might that be?" I asked.
"Your eyes. You have magic eyes, don't you?"
"You can tell?"
Magic eyes. Some people are born into this world with eyes like this. On the surface, these eyes may appear normal, but they grant magical abilities to their owner.
The way I see it, my eyes weren't anything special when compared to other people with magic eyes.
"I didn't notice it at first, but ever since the restaurant, I saw that your eyes have a slight glow to them during some moments."
Perceptive. But also, weird.
So, she was watching my eyes the whole time?
That's a strange thing to do.
"You're right. I do have magic eyes."
In an academy like this, a few people were bound to have them.
"That's so cool." Airi grinned, tossing out a question, "What kind of abilities do they grant you?"
"Well, they basically just enhance my sight. That's about it."
Airi's grin faded, like she was a little disappointed. Usually, a person with magic eyes would be granted a crazy ability. Like fire manipulation or spell, amplification. But mine granted nothing more than enhanced sight.
At the end of our conversation, a genuine smile was shown across Airi's face.
I could see it, she was happy to finally have someone to talk with about the things she liked. During class and any other time, she was quiet and trapped in the pages of a book. Now, she seemed like a totally different person.
"Anyways. It was nice hanging out." said Airi, "I think I'll clock in about now. Let's hang out again tomorrow?"
"Sure. If I'm not doing anything."
"Well then. I suppose I'll be going now-Wait, one more thing." she stopped for a moment, handing a sticky note to me. The note contained her number, written in pen, "Contact me whenever. It was fun talking with you."
From there, she left. Her footsteps were as light as feathers.
'Does she just carry notes with her phone number written on them? Huh, weird.'
Once Airi was out of sight, I left for my dorm as well. However, while on the way there, a new problem arose.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. As usually, my sixth sense picked up on a set of hostile eyes. More like multiple sets of eyes. I glared in the direction of the academy's front gate. Nobody appeared to be there, but I knew better. A simple cloaking spell wasn't going to work on me.
I sighed at this attempt to fool me.
"Alright. You can how yourselves. I know your there."
The space in front of me warped and distorted, till four figures became clear. Four Individuals, dressed in black, wearing white masks. They stood there, facing my direction. Based on their bodies alone, it was easy to gather that they were all males.
"Oh? You noticed us. And I thought we were dealing with a novice mage." said one of the masked men.
They talked as if someone put them up to this. It seemed I was their target. My posture remained calm, but I was ready to engage them if needed. After all, these men were thriving with pure blood-lust.
"You know, non-students aren't allowed on campus. It's kind of against the academies rules." I said.
"Rules? Yeah, we don't care." The man lifted his cloak, pulling out a metal rod, "Why would we? We're here for one purpose only, and that's to make sure you never walk again."
Without a doubt, that upper classmen Jules was behind this. He likely paid these people a good price for this job.
"You're going to cripple me?" I titled my head in question, "That's a little harsh."
That's when my eyes noticed something. The rods that these men held weren't ordinary. I could see that these rods were high-quality magic weapons, embedded with a spell. As to what that spell was, I didn't know yet. Regardless, magic weapons weren't easy to get ahold of, they were considered military-grade. Therefore, magic weapons were heavily restricted by the law.
The men walked around and got into position, surrounding me. They had all my escape routes cut off. In front, the sides, and in back of me, they were ready to lunge at me. These guys knew exactly what they were doing, like trained soldiers.
I did my best to stand still without showing any signs of distress.
"Is there perhaps any way we can talk about this?" I asked, "Fighting would be a pain. For both sides. it would be a whole lot easier if violence could be avoided."
"That's just silly." said the masked man in front of me. He twirled his metalica rod, "This situation can't be negotiated. We've already been paid for this."
Man. This is stressful.
It was also risky, due to the fact I knew nothing about them. I wasn't even aware of their exact capabilities. These guys were hard to read. Usually, I could see someone's abilities from just a glace, but these guys were different. My magic eyes couldn't gather any info on them. Not a single thing. This meant one thing: they knew how to conceal their auras. Opponents like this were difficult.
My best efforts were pointless, these men only wanted to harm me. So, there was no other choice than to prepare.
"Well, do your best then."
Evenly, I positioned my legs in a firm stance. A breath flew from my lips. My fighting style was revealed as I lifted my palms.
The man in front of me. For a brief second, I could see his eyes widen through his mask.
Like he recognized my style all too well. This confirmed my suspicion, these men were military-trained.
"Don't try and imitate something you saw on tv." said the man in front of me.
His figure flashed forward in an instant. He swung the metal rod at my face, but I weaved to the side of it. My palm slammed into his rib cage, shoving him away.
The other's rushed me from my blind spots. They weren't in my direct line of sight, but I could feel the wind from their swings. So, I ducked underneath and dodged around. Left and right, metal rods nearly struck my face. One swing in particular missed by a centimeter.
I took a giant leap back and aimed the palm of my hand in their direction. Three of the men made the mistake of grouping up, thus, they made themselves easy targets. This was the perfect line up for one of my spells.
"Ripple." I said softly under my breath.
A powerful ripple of wind blasted out from my palm, launching in their direction. With force strong enough to shake a car, the men were struck and sent tumbling across the grass. The three of them laid without motion, but my spell didn't kill them, their chests were still moving as their body breathed.
There was just one opponent remaining.
"Gotcha!" a sudden shout came from directly behind me.
The final man was fast. Fast enough to dash behind me. As I turned to face him, he lifted his rod above me. Every single muscle in his forearm tensed up, his grip tightened. His eye shined a color of red, with intent to kill.
Before I had the chance to attempt a dodge, his rod swung down at the center of my face. There was no avoiding it . The only option was to face it head-on.
Plap!
The force of the rod stopped against my wrist. Just in time, I had managed to shield myself. There was tingle that traveled through my wrist bone. This strike could've left me in critical condition if it landed directly.
"A strike like that. That could've killed me if I wasn't quick enough to block."
"Yeah...and somehow you were." The man pulled his rod back then swung it at my throat.
I jumped back, dodging by an inch.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, "You fight like you've experienced life or death situations before. But, you're just an academy student." The man's gaze focused don me, then shifted over to his fallen friends, "And you bested my experienced friends. I don't believe that you're an ordinary mage. So, I'll ask you again. Who the hell are you?"
Shouldn't I be asking that? He just tried to kill me.
"To be fair, no student is ordinary here. It's a place where prodigies come to hone their skills."
"Don't give me that bullshit. I saw your fighting style. At your age, you shouldn't know a style like that."
"...."
"Where did you learn it?"
"It's like you said. I learned it from television. I saw it and thought it looked cool. That's all it is."
The man chuckled, "Sure you did." he steadily walked my way, the rod clenched din his hand, "I was only paid to hurt you. But now, I have a new reason for doing this. I'll make you tell me where you learned that."
I braced myself, knowing how he was going to come at me head-on. I raised my palm and tried to cast a fire bolt, but something was wrong. My magic wasn't working at all. To be specific, it had been sealed.
I understand.
When his rod had collided against my wrist bone, that was when my magic was sealed. The rod had a spell meant for countering mages by sealing their casting ability. The only requirement was making physical contact.
Swip!
But it was going to take a lot more than that to stop me. I'm not cocky, but I am aware of my own abilities.
As the man swung his rod at the top of my skull, I quickly side-stepped, grabbing ahold of his wrist.
He used his free hand to throw a jab at my lower rib. But before it could land, I delivered a firm palm-strike to his stomach. He dropped to his knees instantly.
The moment he tried to stand again; I smashed his face a giant the ground. With a crackle, his mask broke apart, revealing his face.
Blood trickled out of his nose.
"Kid...you hit like a truck..." he grunted.
I held his arm behind his back, ready to snap it if he tried to move.
"I'd like to ask something. If I may." I said, "Who sent you after me?"
"You won the fight, but that doesn't mean I have to answer your question."
"Was it Jules?" I asked.
"Jules?" The man raised his eyebrow, "Who the hell is that?"
His reaction was genuine. I could see, he didn't know who I was talking about. This meant Jules wasn't the one behind this. Someone else was the culprit. But who else would have a reason for doing this? I couldn't recall making any other enemies recently.
If I failed to get a lead on who's behind this, it might be trouble for me in the future. The only lead I had was the man under my grip. Slowly, I bent his arm further and further behind his back, far enough to make him feel pain.
" You're only hurting yourself at this point. I promise, you already failed at your job. So, just tell me who sent you. It's that easy."
The man went silent for a moment, his eyes widened from the agony of his bending arm. It was obvious, for a second he thought about speaking up.
In the end, his resolve was greater than I expected, he ended up telling me nothing.
"Damn... kid...go screw yourself..." he grunted.
Well, isn't that unfortunate.
Just as I was about to snap his arm, the voice of my professor spoke from behind me.
"We'll take it from here." He wasn't alone. By his side were four men in white uniforms. They were this academies security force. Form the rumors, they handled trespassers with violence. On each of their hips was a holster, holding an enhanced revolver. One of the security guards in particular had a riffle on his back. They were very well-equipped. I guess you could say they were similar to a private military, working directly under the academy.
Professor Luis laid his hand on my shoulder.
"Kuro. Are you hurt?" he asked, his eyes looked me up and down with concern.
Fortunately, I had no injuries to speak of.
"I'm fine. I got lucky when fighting them. They were pretty sloppy with their attacks."
"I see, I see. Glad you're alright."
When I looked back at the trespassers, they already had cuffs around their wrists. A few regained consciousness, but security had their weapons drawn, making sure these men went nowhere.
Though I'm sure the trespassers had prior military-training, I could say for certain that they were outmatched here. The security force had a deadly aura emitting from them.
Professor Luis adjusted the tie on his suit then clear his throat.
"You don't need to worry. As I'm sure your aware, campus is treated as its own independent land. And because of that, we have our own laws here. These trespassers will be dealt with as we see fit. I can assure you that they will not attack you again."
"Oh. Thanks, I guess." I replied.
"You may head back to your dorm now." The professor stopped and looked at me, "One more thing." his lips bent up right, forming a smirk, "I'd like to speak with you tomorrow."
After this, I was free to leave.
I returned to my dorm. First thing I did was slump over on my bed. Not much energy was expended during the fight, but it was still tiring nonetheless.
I wondered.... What did the Professor wanna talk about?
I supposed I'd have to wait till tomorrow for that answer.