The day passed quietly, nothing of note had happened, even as Emilia and I entered the room at the same moment, dragged to school at the same time.
Unfortunately I knew that this peace would not last, as the rumors grew, the times in which they arrived, consistently the same. All would fall into place.
And then, poof, peace no more.
As the lectures started, notes taken, I found myself distracted, by not only the results but the normality of it all. As just a week ago we were all fighting for our lives, taken to a simulacrum of a dungeon and placed to fend for ourselves.
Only to come back to a place such as this, where peace and normality were all that existed. It strained my mind to come up with a reason, were they just more mentally resilient, could they just shrug it off better.
All questions that could be answered another time. As with all that happened, the notes, the lecture, the impromptu quizzes.
With all of those it was no wonder that lunch came before anyone could predict, or maybe it was just me.
Either way I stood outside the school, on the rooftop, gazing over the populous of students clamoring for lunch and other such nutrition.
I found myself twirling my pen, along with the notebook that accompanied it. An idle fusion brought the pen and paper together. Making them into one item.
A curious thing that could write at the will of the user, all with a swipe of magical energy. A smile lit my face as I jotted down note after note.
Revising and revising theory after theory, a little thing that I liked to do. Something many thought useless, but it was my escape.
Mana, it was a mysterious phenomena, seemingly going against what one would see as the natural order of the world. Able to change what was possible with what was impossible. Strength and summoning of orders greater than even the greatest of mankind could achieve. All because of some impact.
But what was the impact…
I stopped there, letting the disappointment wash over me, I picked a stone once more from the ground. Yet this was concrete. I tried to fuse it again with another of its kind.
But nothing happened, it merely condensed into something more dense.
Yet that was all, nothing more, a mere piece of concrete.
The bell rang once more, and so too did the start of classes.
'Five minutes' I thought to myself, enough time to climb down from the roof and find my next class.
Yet instead of the normal class that the others were, filled with theory rather than combat. This one was different. It was one that everyone was required to take, regardless of want or need.
They must take this class.
Combat applications, the subduing and controlling of power. Or more commonly known as gym, where we learned how to fight, both against fellow men, and with other people.
I opened the door once more and changed into the required outfit, strapping the live steel to my side. And with that I was prepared.
…
…
…
"Inari and Michael, to the field."
From the stands both I and some pompous looking boy rose. His hair was a sandy blonde and his movements just screamed arrogant.
I sighed as I rose to the field and faced off against Michael.
"Ready to lose boy." He spat, trying to insult me, and honestly it would have hurt a lot more if he wasn't constantly looking to the girls for approval.
Only to be met with disgust and maybe one or two approving eyes. But that was only from his own friends.
And even those were kind of pitiful.
"First to be knocked out of the circle or forced to use mana loses. If injuries exceed the expected scope then I will intervene and decide the winner. Am I understood?"
We both echoed back a hum of affirmation before I turned back to Michael.
He held an ax in each of his hands, his stance low as he turned his legs in order to explode with speed.
The whistle was blown and the match was on.
Just as I would always do I crouched low and dodged the first strike.
Michael whistled in appreciation and turned, but he was not fast enough. Not without mana.
I was faster, so with a slice I pushed his ax to the side and gave a roundhouse kick.
"Bastard…" He whispered under his breath, glancing to the line behind him. I had almost got him in that one exchange.
But it seemed like I needed to put a bit more power into it.
He charged back in but this time prepared. Low to the ground he swung in both directions. It left me with little options on where to dodge.
"STOP" He yelled as I stepped to the back, barely out of range of his axes, "DODGING"
I stayed quiet, letting his rage consume him as he swiped back and forth. There was barely any rhyme or rhythm to it, merely a blind discipline.
But even that I could calculate, as within the next three seconds, three things happened.
One he tired out one of his arms, it showed when his next swing swung less forcefully and with a bit less speed.
Then I stepped into that attack, low to the ground as always.
Finally I swung upwards, the steel cutting deeply into his muscled body and throwing him to the ground in pain.
As a final gesture I kicked Michael outside of the circle.
It was a complete defeat, but one I felt I did not deserve. As I only won with a handicap, no mana. If it had been any other then I would have lost.
"Inari, good work." He whispered to me before gesturing for me to go back to my seat. Which I did.
Then he started to lecture about awareness in combat, using the screen and video he had recorded of the fight in order to analyze it with precision.
Taking key moments and picking them apart in order to find what we could have done better and what we had done right.
But as this was happening I felt a breath over my ear.
"Meet me after class." She said, whispering so quietly that I could barely hear her, even as close as we were to each other.