~7 years later~
Morning arose on the new day, the ray of light from the sun shining through the window into the bedroom of the young girl sleeping in her luxury bed. The young girl was Itsuki, grown into a teenager, who woke up from her deep sleep. She let out a long yawn while rubbing her eyes, Itsuki had woken up before her alarm went off. Surprisingly, it was a rarity for her since she loved her sleep especially after she stayed up late reading her favorite books again. She couldn't afford to sleep in today though, It was going to be her first day at Kamui Academy. She worked hard to be accepted, she practiced her magic tediously every day to pass the skill test, while she had written tests that were easy for her to pass without worry. Since it would be her first day, she wanted to enjoy meeting new people at the school she could make friends with. Especially with it having more boys from all over Japan entering now this year than before. There was only going to be a small amount since many didn't pass the tests or decided to stay at their respective private schools. Itsuki wasn't bothered by the numbers, she was also ready to accept some may not be ideal gentlemen or possibly trying to hit on her when they arrived, but it would be nice to see them anyways. Among the boys, she was hoping more than anything that arrivals coming would have one in particular, that was Koutetsu of course.
She had not seen or heard from him since that night of the funeral when he said he was leaving for the military school. Itsuki wrote him letters when she found out what school it was he was attending thanks to Major Komon since it wasn't a classified enrollment to immediate friends and family. Mana had listed Itsuki as an immediate friend for contact and emergencies, the best thing that Itsuki could ask for in having a way to stay in touch. Even with her writing letters she barely got a few back but they were written by Mana, it was disheartening for her but it didn't stop her from sending one once a month until her enrollment date was set for Kamui. She missed Koutetsu, Itsuki worried about Koutetsu every day and whether he still blamed himself for Akane's death. He was traumatized from that moment when she saw him at the funeral. She worried if he got counseling to help get through it or if he took his frustrations out on the other students, she wanted to know if he was ok even if it came from a small paragraph letter that would have been enough at least.
Itsuki grabbed her cleaned uniform for the school, she had it sized and dry-cleaned ahead of time in preparation for day one. She made her way to her bathroom, using the remote in the room to play music and start up the shower system for the warm water to run.
Itsuki removed her clothes, she let the warm water massage her skin as she lathered her body up with expensive body washes and shampoos. Even the towels she owned to dry off with were luxury items. If she wasn't a spoiled rich girl in the eyes of others already, just her daily beauty routine with her products would have really cemented that in the opinions of her peeps. Itsuki wrapped the towels around her body and hair, she wiped the fog off her mirror to see her reflection as she was grabbing her makeup and hairdryer. She became a beautiful girl in the years that passed. Her hair was long now, she tied ribbons on the sides of her hair and another one in a bow on the back of her hair. Her figure was envy to the people who knew and didn't know her personally. She was slender with ivory skin and no signs of fat on her body, no blemishes anywhere to be seen either. She had a well-endowed chest size, nothing crazy big but enough to not cause her problems for her back. Itsuki put on her makeup and uniform, she grabbed her book bag all set for her ride to school.
Itsuki made her way downstairs to say hi to her family, Yue was looking over the news on the television drinking her coffee. Ayaka was brushing Kaede's hair, she was getting her ready for her first year of junior high school as well.
Itsuki grabbed a piece of toast before hugging her family goodbye. The car was parked outside waiting for her. Itsuki didn't want to arrive showing off with a fancy vehicle but it was the first day and she wanted to get there quickly in case of traffic.
The ride over felt long even with the good pace they were driving at. She stared out the window looking at the scenery during the drive, during the drive she saw Mana's old restaurant on the way to the school. She wished she could have eaten there when it was still open, she didn't consider it at the time cause of being treated by five-star chiefs nearly every day, it would have been a decent change of pace to taste home cooking more often like Mana's. Koutetsu would share some of it with her at times when he wouldn't gobble it down like his tempura or a few pieces of barbecue meat. Itsuki was missing Koutetsu more now when she thought about it. She wished he could have contacted her himself personally, It felt like he just abandoned her.
"Miss we've arrived." The driver announced to Itsuki snapping her out of her deep thought. She responded in turn, she looked out the window to see the sight in front of her, with her lit up in excitement.
Itsuki saw the school in front of her, Kamui Academy lived up to its reputation as a elite school for the gifted. She loved the presence of it as she exited the car, the air around her including the vibe she felt made her feel joy. The image of her walking out of the car down the school steps looked majestic to the people who saw her. Many of the female students blushed seeing Itsuki in their eyes. She was a little embarrassed but had gotten used to it now with time, she always turned down advances from them. She wasn't into that lifestyle, and there was someone else she wanted instead.
A student approached Itsuki, she was the same height as her, with her figure curvier than Itsuki's. She had mid length strawberry blonde hair with tiny bells tied onto the sides. She gave a bow of respect to Itsuki and then introduced herself.
"Good morning Miss Shirayuki. I'm the new Student Council President Kurenai Natsume. I welcome you to our school." She gave a wink and finger gesture trying to act cute, a trait that always bothered Itsuki. Itsuki thought of it as annoying like it was a way of someone using their looks to get their way.
"Well, It's a pleasure to meet you Class President. May I ask why you're waiting outside here at the front gate? It wasn't for me wasn't it?"
"Oh no. I'm here to greet the males entering the academy. There's a total of 50 altogether. With two being from the Five Families and some from respected ones." Natsume pulled out her tablet with the class roster. It showed the list of names, Itsuki looked hard at the list but didn't see Koutetsu's name on it. She felt that he wasn't attending the school after all and decided to stay in the military one. It made her feel disappointment in her heart, with Natsume noticing from the look on her face.
"Hmm, are you ok Miss Shirayuki?"
"Huh, oh yes. It's just there was a name I was hoping to see on the list but it's not there."
"Maybe you will. This list isn't complete. There are a few names I was told about that were entered last minute due complications. Maybe you'll see the one you want here when they arrive."
Itsuki's eyes regained their composure. She was ready to see if it would happen, she wanted to ask Natsume if she possibly heard of the missing names, but was cut off when a fleet of vehicles arrived. All the girls saw the cars arriving open their doors, and coming out were all the boys who would attend the school with them. They all fawned over at seeing the groups of boys coming their way. Most of the girls have never met a boy save for old movies or shows. Others may be one or two if they were lucky.
The one that caught their attention most wore glasses with his hair combed over to the side in a dignified manner. He was around 5'11 and breathed an air of elegance. Natsume looked through the roster to see his information. She found his photo and history in a minute.
"Let's see, that one is Yagami Hiro. He's from the Five Families. His family is the lead in the medical field, even owning their own private emergency response company. They also have a successful resort in Kiyoto that's a popular sight for tourists and local families. He's Incredibly intelligent and a winner of many Archery championships specializing in creation magic to make his own array of bows."
Two others followed behind him. One looked very intimidating, around 6'2 with a very muscular body with buzzed sides on his head, messy hair on the top, multiple earrings, and a lip piercing. The other one was 5'9, he had an athletic build, a tattoo of the Japanese kanji for water on the side of his neck, styled spikey hair, a thin long ponytail in the back, carrying a Japanese Shirasaya style sword.
"The big one is Sakurai Ryuji. He's from a family who works in private security, his dad who founded it also ran a biker club many consider as street heroes. He hasn't been able to stay in any of the schools he attends due to his bad behavior. He hasn't suffered any real punishments due to him helping in cases of faculty security or neighborhood watches."
Itsuki felt disgusted seeing him. He made the girls either fawn over his physique or scared from his taunting face.
"The one with the sword is Mitsurugi Ren. He's an orphan so there's no information on what family he was born from but he was taken in by the Mizuno family to be the bodyguard for their oldest daughter and future leader. The tattoo on his neck is a sign of his pact to be her sword. His blade is said to be a special one that channels purifying water magic that can kill a Ghast in an instant."
Ren definitely was the most impressive-looking of the bunch. Itsuki could feel he wasn't as regal or arrogant, more so like he was just living in the moment. A modern-day samurai being assigned to attend school to help in his development for future opportunities in the Mizuno family. All the male students lined up for roll call. Natsume went down the list, and Ryuji looked uninterested in any of this. He was bored, he tried to light a cigarette to kill time, but not before Ren sliced it in half with incredible speed.
"Oy, ya got a problem spikey?" Ryuji asked with his veins bulging on his face.
"No smoking on school grounds. Even a child would know that."
Ryuji was angered. He tried to throw a punch until Ren blocked it by smacking his hand with the sword sheathed. Ryuji was more upset now. He used his skills as an Esper to make the dirt and rock under him form a gauntlet of stone to attack Ren again.
The male students dispersed when they saw the violence breakdown, the female students backed away hurriedly to watch the fight, they didn't care about the roll call. They wanted to see the boys in action. Itsuki and Natsume were both embarrassed and irritated at the sight before them.
Hiro sat on a chair his attendant brought out, he was observing the two fighting for data on their skills.
Ryuji was a pure brawler, throwing powerful punches and tanking hits without hesitation. Ren was more technical, he had training in Iado-style swordsmanship including Bujustu, and Aikido, with high-speed movements from his rigorous stamina training.
"Stop it you two it's only day one you'll get in trouble." Natsume tried to yell at them.
Ren wanted to stop, he had no interest in fighting he was acting in self-defense. Ryuji was the only one who didn't care.
"Shut up! Don't get opportunities like this to finally fight with another guy on my level." Ryuji yelled while throwing a wild punch. Ren had cut the stone gauntlet off using Ryuji's momentum, but the force caused it to launch it toward Itsuki's direction
"Oh crap!" Ryuji shouted in a panic. He may have been a violent hothead, but even he had boundaries. He never purposely hit a woman a day in his life, he had principles about hitting women unless it was for training. Ren looked scared as well, he didn't realize he hit it with that match force, he tried to charge after it, but it was already ahead of him. Itsuki didn't have time to react, she would have shielded herself but the speed was too great.
Itsuki's closed her eyes, hoping someone would stop it in time. Anyone for that matter. Her wish was granted, in a big way.
Everyone saw it, the stone gauntlet getting destroyed in an instant before it hit Itsuki. The gauntlet was blown to pieces, by a brilliant blue flame. Everyone looked to see who did it. Hiro especially, was greatly interested in the one who launched that flame with that much power.