New Year's passed. We held a nice, cozy little party with everyone who was in our 15th birthday. There was a mob outside mansion, asking to be let in and celebrate with my grandparents, but of course, none of them got in.
It's finally the first day of school. I say first day, but in reality, it's only the admission test. I still need to pass that and then I can have my first day of school.
The admission tickets arrived the other day. Two of them, one for me and one for Shin.
I couldn't believe it when the name of the school was actually called "Advanced Magic Academy." That's like naming McDonald's "Fast Food Establishment." I just expected something grand and prestigious is all.
Still, it's not like the school name was absolutely crap. I would've still gone anyway if that was the case.
There's just one problem, and it wasn't school-name related.
"Grandpa, I think I have a fever."
"Hoh~ I'm sure you're just excited since it's your first time going to school. Besides, you've never had a fever before, even as a baby."
It's true. I was a very healthy baby. But that doesn't mean I can't ever get sick.
"I've never seen you like this before. It's really funny," remarked my oh-so-caring brother. I'm being ravished by disease yet you have the gall to laugh at me?!
"Well, it's not impossible to get sick. It can happen. You're the weird one here. How are you so calm on your first day? I mean, I'd be pretty calm if I wasn't sick. No, wait, I reckon you're secretly excited since you'll get to see Sizilien again—"
A hand covered my mouth.
Heh. That's what I thought.
I slapped his hand off. "I'm sick, remember? Don't get my germs on your hand."
"Sure... sure... keeping your mouth shut would help as well."
Shin doused his whole hand on fire to kill off the germs. While doing so, he turned to grandma who was looking at me with complicated eyes. "Grandma Melinda, can't you cast healing magic on Thomas to make him feel better?"
"I'm sure you and your brother know more about that topic than I do. If healing magic can't do the job, then it should be something related to the mind... Thomas is just nervous, dear. It'll be just fine."
"I'm telling you guys! I'm actually sick! This is scaring me!"
This weakness... this nausea... this irregular, fast-paced beating of my heart... what kind of deadly, otherworldly disease have I contracted?
Fuck, it's because I moved to the capital, isn't it?! Staying from the forest, away from civilization, made me pretty much safe from any illnesses in society! Was it the food from the other day? Or yesterday? Or the one currently in my hand?! It's suspicious I got sick while I'm eating this delicious chicken wrap!
In the end, it is what it is.
Since I was feeling sick, grandma and grandpa were coming along to make sure I get to school safely.
I hopped on the carriage with everyone else and made our way to the magic academy.
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******
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"I feel like throwing up."
"I feel like throwing up seeing you feel like throwing up."
"Boys, there's no time for chitchat. It won't be good if you were late for the test. Hurry along now."
"Yep, yep. I'd rather die than miss the entrance test." As sarcastic as I was, I am looking forward to seeing how schools in another world operate.
Shin hugged grandma and Grandpa. I didn't do the same since I didn't wanna infect them, but I did wave them bye. It was perfect timing really since a crowd started gathering around the carriage as Shin and I walked through the entrance gates.
"They sure are famous."
"Yeah. Do you think people will swarm us too if they learned who we are?"
"I hope not, not when I feel like vomiting."
"No, that's a good idea. Just vomit and drive everyone away. There's less trouble for us then."
"...you make a point."
The academy was big. It was definitely bigger than my high school from my previous life. I'd say it's about the same size as Hogwarts even? You know, complete with the Quidditch field and lake and all, but not with the dark forest. The academy isn't that big.
But it was big enough to get lost in.
"I say just pick a random direction and hope for the best," I recommended.
"If that's the case, you pick. You have way better luck than me."
"Aight, I'll see what I can do."
This way, that way, let's go through here, this way again, and...
"Ooh, nice."
We bumped into an information board. It had a map of the school and everything. There were other students, probably people taking the admission test as well, all bunched up together, looking for the right direction. It was noisy because of that.
Damn magic bacteria...
All the noise and people made me nauseous. I used magic to turn my hearing down and silently looked for the words "admission hall" on the map.
As I thought, the school is really big.
"Hey, you. Move aside."
Apparently we just move in that direction for the admission test. Easy enough.
"Can't you hear me?!"
Woah, there's a pool—no, TWO pools? That's like, only for rich schools right? Daaaaaamn.
"You cretin!"
Someone grabbed my shoulder. Probably Shin.
"Dude, apparently we have to go in that direction for the admission hall. Can you remember that? I wanna keep memorizing this map."
"Are you crazy?!"
"Huh? What was that? Lemme turn my magic down real quick. SAY THAT AGAIN? IT'S SO LOUD AROUND HERE—huh?"
When I looked back, I saw a stranger in place of my brother.
"You're not Shin."
"Who the hell is—that doesn't matter! Move you damn imbecile!"
The hand on my shoulder tried to push me away. I, however, stood perfectly still.
"Yo. Not cool. But it's also my fault for not hearing you earlier, so I apologize, alright?"
Now, where the hell is Shin... ah, there he is, with his little girlfriend.
I forgot that Maria and Sizilien were coming for the admission test as well. Looks like he found them.
That guy just keeps ditching me for girls, huh. I'm kinda hurt. It's nice that he's making friends though.
Suddenly, a warning came in my head.
—An insignificant shove from behind.
I stepped forward to dodge the shove. Then, I looked back. It was the same dude who pushed me earlier, and now, he was doing it again.
"Dude, seriously not okay. Are you alright? (in the head?)"
"You! You continue to ridicule me!"
This asshole was quite loud. I can feel myself getting nauseous again.
"Do you know who I am?! I am—"
Ahhh... that feels better.
Noise-cancelling magic or whatever it's called. I used them on my ears, and the noisy school entrance became nice and quiet.
The asshole was still blabbering but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I didn't want to get nauseous again so I just blankly stood there.
Is my dog shit luck returning? Why did I bump into someone annoying like this guy?
I could see veins popping out and his spit going all over the place. I took a step back. Maybe this guy was infected by some kind of rabies. That would explain a lot.
Is this gonna lead into a fight? Right here, right now? I sure hope not. I might cripple him accidentally.
But then the guy suddenly calmed down.
No, he froze up in fear.
He was looking behind me with wide eyes. When I looked back, there was someone approaching us.
The guy wasn't dressed like a teacher nor did he look old enough so he must be another potential student. I couldn't see anything about him that would make him scary either. His mouth opened and closed, so maybe it was what he was saying that was scary?
Soon enough, the asshole left. He still looked pissed though.
"Thomas! You good? What was that about?"
"Hah, now you show up? Traitor."
Shin had jogged over a bit too late. Ma boi was distracted by Sizilien and he didn't deny it. He sheepishly rubbed his nape while letting out a little hehe my bad, my bad.
I sighed. He's a growing boy after all. "Don't worry, I still forgive you. For now."
With Shin out of the way, I turned towards the stranger who came to my rescue.
"Yo, did you do that?" I pointed at the retreating asshole/cunt/attempted-shover/rabies-infected loudmouth. When he nodded, I said, "Thanks a lot. I couldn't hear what happened, but it must've been hard for you to make him run away."
The new guy had blonde hair and blue eyes. His clothes looked expensive andperfectly tailored to his figure. Compared to a forest bumpkin like me, he looked like a real aristocrat.
"You couldn't hear what happened?" he asked, a bit surprised.
"Yeah. My ears were blocked off."
"But you can hear me now, can't you?"
"Well, I unblocked them."
"..."
That same guy started to chuckle.
"Ahahahaha! That sounds so ridiculous! So what you're telling me is that all this time, you couldn't hear anything of what he and I said? And how did you manage to do that?"
"Through... willpower."
Well, I can't say magic now, can I? It's illegal to use them in a public setting.
"Willpower? Really? That's amazing. Kukuku..."
Is it really that funny?
The guy found it hard to stop laughing. Once again, Shin and I shared a look. This dude is kinda weird...
The guy did stop laughing eventually. Only then did he speak again.
"Ah, sorry for the late introductions. My name is Aug—"
"Wait. Stop right there." I raised a hand to stop him from saying more. "I know you're not a bad guy. In fact, I owe you one for preventing me from ruining my chance entering this school, but I'd like it if we don't know a lot about each other. I'm not here to make friends. See ya."
"Wait—"
I dipped, directly speed walking towards the admission hall without looking back.
I'll remember that guy's face since I owe him, but only that.
I can't be caught making friends. Besides, I'm mentally more than twice his age.
What kind of weird adult gets close to kids anyway?
******
Written and practical exams. They took place in that order.
Shin isn't in this exam room.
Since I left him back in the entrance hall, I wasn't surprised that we weren't grouped together.
"Your time starts now!"
The sound of papers being flipped filled the hall. Then there were groans.
Shit's easy for me though. I can say the same for Shin. I wonder how my future sister-in-law and her BFF will fare?
I finished writing everything down with more than half an hour to spare. I didn't bother rechecking the entire paper and simply handed it in.
Since I have some free time, I took a stroll in the academy grounds. Eventually, I found a grassy area with a few trees and fewer people around. There was a stick there shaped like a sword, so I practiced my swordsmanship for a bit while waiting.
Then, the practical exams began.
Me and five other people were stuffed in a room with multiple enchanted training dummies.
The examiner told us to use our strongest spell, which made me go nuh-uh, but then, the examiner came up to me and whispered a little warning.
"Please hold back."
So he's aware of my power. That saves me some trouble.
I wasn't the first person to "cast the magic you are most proud of at maximum power at the dummies." It was a girl who went first.
When she stepped up, I was immediately filled with curiosity. Maybe, just maybe, her pathetic mana pool wasn't an indicator of her strength.
Never judge a book by its cover, or so they say.
I imagined many scenarios in my head.
Will she use Fire? Water? Ice? Earth? Wind? Magma? Darkness? Light? Gravity?
Will the dummy explode, implode, melt, shatter, burn, break, or fly off?
The girl breathed in and breathed out. Her eyes completely focused on the dummy. She was ready.
"By ancient forces that weave the arcane—"
What the fuck?
"—I call upon the essence of hellish flames—"
Why are you waving your hands like that?
"—and light a spark that burns until the end of time!"
Why are you fucking twirling like a ballerina?!
"Fireball!"
A small ball of fire shot out of her hand.
*Poof*
It made that sound when it hit the dummy. It shouldn't be possible for fire to make a sound that pitiful, but it did. The dummy didn't even get charred the slightest bit.
""Whoa.""
Fuck do you mean, "woah?" That was pathetic! You guys must be joking.
They weren't joking. The three other students—and even the examiner—had sparkling eyes as they murmured in awe. They were very impressed.
Up went the next student to show off their magic.
"Freeze my enemies in an encompassing blizzard! Wrap them in death's chilling embrace!"
"Ice Containment!"
""Amazing!""
No! Not amazing!
This chanting shit repeated two more times, and two more times, the other people in the room applauded when the weakest magic known to man did no damage to the dummy.
What the fuck. This can't be real. I was just paired up with the weird kids, right? This isn't how everyone is, right? But that doesn't explain why the teacher is enjoying the whole thing!
Then, it was my turn.
Many eyes stared at me.
Fuck.
If I just do things like I usually do, will I be considered abnormal? How would that affect my school life? Good? Bad? Something else?
Fuck.
If I do things like I usually do, will they let me in the school? Or will they deem me too fucking impressive to let in?
Fuck.
"Heeeeeeeee.... hooooooooo...."
Deep breaths. There's no need to get worked up.
I'll just destroy a dummy and move on. But just to be safe...
I took one last breath to calm myself down. Then, I chanted.
"By ancient forces that weave the arcane..." I paused.
Fuck, I forgot the rest of the chant that the girl used. Damn it just improvise!
"...blow this dummy to smithereens."
That was really shit improv!
"Flame M-Missile."
A ball of blue flames emerged from my fingertips.
*BOOOM!*
Smoke filled the examination room. The screams of the other people with me reached my ears despite the loud bang.
I used wind magic to blow the smoke away. The dummy was gone, just as I wanted.
I blew that fucking dummy to bits. Now get me out of here. Feeling the stares drilling into me makes me feel itchy.
**********
"How did you go, Shin?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
"Let's talk about something else then. Ehem. 'The wind spins, the wind dances! Form a gust of wind and mow my enemies down! WIND STORM! Chuuuu~"
"Nice impression. I can feel my skin crawl just from watching you."
On the walk home, Shin and I talked about all the typical things to talk about after taking a test. Stuff like "what did you answer for question 8? I got B" and "how is question 27 even in that test? We learned that when we were seven" were mostly what was said.
The chanting thing didn't get away scot-free either. We dissed the hell out of it.
"Huh? You actually chanted?" said Shin.
"It would've been weird if I didn't."
"I could never do what you did."
"Well, what's done is done. MY chanting wasn't too bad. It had less arm waving, and the resulting explosion made it less cringe."
"Sure, man. If that's how you want to cope with the fact that you acted like a chuunibyou..."
"...Chuunibyou? What kind of demonized beast is that?"
"It's a person, someone delusional. Like you."
"Oi. Don't mess with me. I'm warning you. Wait until Sizilien hears about how rude you are and we'll see who gets no bitches then."
"No... bitches?"
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In a faculty room of the academy, located in Earlshide Kingdom's royal capital.
"Were the Magi's grandsons... really that strong? Clarify for us."
"Then I'll go first. Shin Wolford intended to hold back yet his magic spell still half-destroyed the examination room. All the training dummies are now dust. He also didn't chant, and his spell took him only a moment to cast."
"W-woah..."
"He's that strong?"
"Then, what about Thomas Wolford?"
"Thomas Wolford's magic spell only took out one training dummy. The rest of the examination room was relatively unharmed. Compared to his brother, he also made use of a chant, although he did seem a bit unfamiliar with it. Overall, though, his performance was perhaps the best out of everyone I've seen throughout my teaching career.
"What kind of magical baby formula did the Magi give them...?"
"The family of heroes truly lives up to its name."
"If they are already this powerful, why would they enroll in our school? They seem more than capable to become teachers—OUR teachers, themselves."
"Agreed. His Highness said that he wanted them to attend this school to learn how to socialize with others."
"Socialize? Hmm... the most we can do is to make a new research room, fill it with others their age, and hope for the best."
"Good idea. That'll at least mean the pressure of teaching the Magi's grandsons becomes more... bearable?"
"Heh. I get the feeling."
"Same."
""Same.""
"So, both of them got full marks on both exams, right? Who will do the speech?"
"..."
"..."
"...why not both of them?"
"No, that would take up too much time and ruin the schedule. We have to choose one.
"..."
"..."
"...coin flip?"
"Coin flip."
"Heads for Shin Wolford, and Tails for Thomas Wolford."
*Clink!*
"..."
"...so, who is it?"
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It's that time of the year when test results come out. Well, admission test results, but whatever, tomato potato.
"Made it?"
"Made it. You?"
"Yep."
"Nice."
Well, that settles it. Shin and I are officially going to school.
"Shin! Thomas!"
Hmm? Who's calling us?
It wasn't a girl's voice so it couldn't have been Sizilien or Maria.
"Oh, Aug! I saw your name! You made it as well!"
"Is that right? Then how about you? I'm assuming you two made it as well?"
It's the same dude from the admission test day. His name is Aug, huh. Looks like Shin and him became friends, but how does he know my name?
"Thomas, Aug is Uncle Dis's son," clarified Shin.
"Oh damn. So, we're basically cousins?"
"That's what I said too when he introduced himself. Looking closely though, they really do seem alike."
"Huh. Well, waddup, Aug?"
Even though I said I won't be making school friends, it's a different case if we're cousins.
"Kukuku, you two really are strange. Ah, but in a good way."
"I'll take that compliment any day."
Since the three of us confirmed that we got in, we headed to another area where we can get our school supplies and uniform.
"Here you go. The uniform is enchanted with a variety of defensive magic."
"Thank you." I grabbed the bag being handed to me and tossed it in my spatial storage. Shin and Aug also got their stuff before we all got told our class.
Class S.
Noice. We're all nice and bunched up in one class. At least I know I won't be as bored if Shin is around me.
"Oh, and Mister Wolford?"
""Yes?""
My brother and I both answered.
"Oops, sorry. I meant Mister Shin Wolford."
"What is it?"
"Mister Shin Wolford is to deliver the greeting speech on behalf of the new students in the entrance ceremony as you are the top scorer. Mister Thomas Wolford was also another top scorer, but as the schedule can only accommodate one speech, you were chosen."
"...WHAT?!"
Shin started to freak out.
"M-Me?! Can't Thomas do it?"
Nuh-uh. No way. I'll sue the school if they make me do it.
"Unfortunately, the decision cannot be changed."
YEEEEEESSSSS!!!
"Pfft! Ahahahahaha!" I laughed at my despairing brother. Heh. I mean. Heh. Hehe. Imagine giving a speech. Hehehe.
How lucky. Oh, how lucky indeed. It's probably because you didn't chant that gave you extra points. You mocked me for my actions, but look who's cringing now!
When we got home and grandpa saw Shin's downcast expression, he started freaking out too.
"What's with that look?! You didn't pass?!"
"No, I did... and now I have to give a speech," Shin mumbled.
"oh... That's good news! You'll have to prepare then! Many people will be there, even high nobility! I remember the last time I had to stand in front of a crowd. It was suffocating... but in a good way!"
Grandpa was over the moon. He was absolutely not helping Shin in this case by telling him about all the important people attending like all kinds of foreign nobility, heads of merchant guilds, and so on..
"Hehehehe."
I mean, all I could do in this situation is laugh at him. It's the best thing in the world!
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#Omake#
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Get SIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKEEEEEED