<30 minutes later>
I had completely covered the wooden block in each of the runes Garolt had put up on the board. I also realised that these runes resembled the old Viking alphabet but were slightly more complex.
'So I'm guessing these runes are also the fundamental letters seen in magic circles.' It made me wonder if we needed to memorise everything or if, when creating a magic circle, the letters came naturally. I couldn't imagine memorising an extremely complicated magic, but perhaps it isn't something done so commonly.
"Alright students, your time is up. So pens and wooden blocks down." Garolt hit his desk with the hammer, forcibly making the pens and wooden block position themselves in the middle of the table. Some students cursed as they tried to get a little more writing done, but now you couldn't even pick up the pens off the desk.
"Hmm, alright so far." Garolt walked back and forth between the tables, examining each and every wooden block. Sometimes he would stop to get a closer look or even pick them up. It was clear the ones he gave more attention to were the best. Many students as he walked up waited, anticipating that he would pick up their block.
'Please don't give me any attention.' But for me, it was the opposite. Like sure, I wanted to do well, but there had to already be rumours about how well I'd been performing in class. At least if I was bad at something, they could latch onto that and blissfully ignore what I do in my other classes.
"Oh?" Garolt walked up to my desk, being one of the last ones, thanks to the headmaster who positioned me in the back, which honestly, bless him for that.
However, Hearing Garolt make an audible sound, scared me since it was the first time he had shown any verbal reaction. I instantly felt the deathly gazes come from the other students, but to my surprise, Garolt turned and returned to his desk.
Students instantly began to mock me, taking it as if I had done so horribly that it made the teacher say a word.
I didn't think I would be relieved to hear these kinds of whispers, but I was. No one saw his face, but what he had actually done was wink at me before turning. He seemed to of read the room and decided not to give me any unwanted attention.
'I really wasn't expecting that. I really expected Garolt to be the teacher who is so obsessed with the subject that he freaks out whenever a student does really well.'
"Well done to everyone on your first attempts at rune crafting. Some of you seem to have the talent for it, which is nice to see. As for a general result, all of you would have achieved a passing grade for amateurs. There are many nuisances when it comes to the details, but the limited skills and tools you use today do heavily affect the quality of the rune." Garolt once again hit the desk with his hammer, causing the blocks of wood to disappear alongside the pen.
"Now that you have gotten some practise, I will get some of the boring history out of the way. This will unfortunately be on the written part of the exam you will have to do, so make sure you write this down." Now this is the part where I slightly tune out and run on autopilot.
*
'He wasn't wrong that it was boring.' After listening to 30 minutes of history, I felt like I could fall asleep. At first, it was interesting because Einstein somehow made his way into the magical lore and was the first to apply these runes to physical objects.
Other than that, nothing really piqued my interest. It was cool to know that most of the modern technology that I recognise is because of runes and only recently has there been a boom in utility.
*Ding* *Dong*
"Perfect timing, you're all free to go home." The bell echoed through the entire academy and every student funnelled out, making their way to the front gates.
I quickly packed up my notebook and walked as fast as I could out of the academy. Weaving through the hallways and the students, I tried my best to avoid everyone. Lyra wasn't here so the less time I spent here, the better.
'Please let it be a peaceful rest of the day.' Having already experienced torture with Raja today, I really hoped there would be no more hiccups. If there was, I don't know If I could mentally hold myself together.
My old trauma from my past high school experience was being re-lived, which made this whole situation a lot worse. Old anxieties and habits I thought I had gotten over have returned, possibly even worse than before.
I was yet to really reach a new low, but I couldn't help thinking something terrible will happen around each corner.
'What if Raja is there waiting? Is April going to do something? Will there be someone I don't even know try to hurt me?' These questions were a constant plague on my mind, putting me on the verge of a panic attack if one of them actually happened.
Every person I walked by in the hallway, I prayed for them to not do anything.
'Just keep walking, Saki. You're almost the-.' As I made it to the outside courtyard just before the gate, I felt the hood of my uniform be grabbed from behind. Turning my head to see who it was, my heart instantly dropped.
"A-April?" My heart rate quickened and my breathing began to get heavy. April was arguably worse than Raja when it came to mental torture. I could bear the pain of Raja's abuse, but April's mental torture was not something I wanted to go through again. However, the panic hadn't set in just yet, as I had yet to see how far April would go. I was a guy last time that she fucked me up, so my treatment here might be different.
"Hey, there Saki~ how about we have a little after-school fun with my friends? Lyra isn't around so surely you have some free time." April moved her grip to one of my fox ears while awaiting my answer. The two girls behind her giggled with a dangerous glint in their eyes.
'I-I need to try to get out of this.' Knowing I would have instinctively said yes before, I wanted to try to stand up for myself.
"N-." Right as I was about to say no, April dug her nails into my ear, causing a sharp pain to course through my body. I wanted to scream, but that will just cause students to look this way.
"O-okay." Being essentially forced to comply, April only smiled and began to drag me by the ear towards the side of the school. Once we were in an open space, she started to use wind magic to make us fly.
'Fuck, fuck, I'm about to be lifted up in the air by the ear.' Just as I thought I would be hung by the ear, I floated up alongside them. It seemed like April wasn't that cruel, but it then occurred to me that she probably didn't have the strength, unlike Raja, who would hold me by the ear.
'What a shitty way to experience my first flight.' We flew through the air towards the main city where Lyra took me and it was a great view, but fuck it sucked to be held by a bitch.
April and her insignificant sidekicks bickered about something, but I was too busy trying not to fall or cause more trouble for myself. I tried to take deep breaths while I could to keep myself from panicking, but there was a tight grip of fear around my heart.
Eventually, we reached a building that was close to the arcade and judging from the similarly shaped sign of a microphone. The place we arrived at was this world version of karaoke, which didn't surprise me that this was these girls' go-to location.
"Here we are, now be an obedient peasant and follow." April landed in front of the building and let go of my ear. I probably should have ran, but it isn't like I could escape it tomorrow. It will just make whatever she does to me tomorrow even worse, so I had to follow her inside.
**
'Fuck, where is Saki? She should of been one of the first people to come out.' I paced around the front gate, waiting for any sign of Saki. I couldn't just sprint inside as I was suspended and with my reputation in the dirt, I couldn't get away with it.
Even if the teachers favoured what I did, rules had to be followed otherwise, the academy will lose funding.
'What?' Right as I turned to look through another part of the gate, I saw Saki being held by the ear in the air. I instantly locked on who it was and a rage began to well up inside me.
'April! That fucking wench!' I wanted nothing more than to shoot ice spears at them, but with Saki in the air, it would be too dangerous. Instead, I opted to follow them, hoping I wouldn't lose them or they enter some place I couldn't get into.