The halls of Theta Magic Academy could pass for the halls of a grand palace, fit for the king of Japan. The walls rose high, and curved into arches, decorated gold and silver with gems and multicolored ribbons that draped from the top and hung above us. Each separate hall had its own hanging chandelier that dominated the hallway, doing its job to illuminate the entire hallway all on its own. It was made out of pure crystal that allowed you to see through it and see the glowing balls of fire that acted as the light source. The Academies main lobby could pass for an entire ballroom on its own, large and decorated with statues of the school founders. In the center of the lobby, was a pair of winding staircases that twisted around each other, leading to the second floor of the building. The lobby itself branched off into multiple different passages, each marked with a name. One was titled, "Dining Area." Another, "Magical Classrooms." "Engineering Branch" "Extracurricular" And one that particularly caught my interest, was one titled, "Student Evaluation." As we walked through the large lobby, to the student evaluation corridor, the student council president, whose name we had found out to be Suijin Hajimoto, explained to us the history and origin of all these things.
"I regret that I can't show you throughout the entire school, however, I do have to give a speech for the opening ceremony, I hope you understand."
I nodded. "No worries here, if anything, I should be the one apologizing for causing you this hassle of having you walk me to the auditorium."
To my right, the defense force captain, Yuri Hanami spoke up. "You're Japanese is surprisingly good for a supposed foreigner." The suspicion and accusation in his words did not go unnoticed. Before I or the Suijin could speak up however, Kami quickly answered his question.
"Although we weren't born in Japan, our parents were Japanese, so we grew up around the culture." Hanami nodded, but I could tell from his body language that he wasn't convinced just yet. Just as we reached the auditorium door, Suijin turned around to face us.
"This is as far as I can take you. Just find any open seats you can. First years occupy the left half, second years in the middle, and third years on the right." With that, she gave us a smile and walked off with Hanami. I turned around to face my sister.
"Well then. Let's go, shall we?"
***
I pushed through the large double doors into the auditorium. As I stepped inside, I was nearly blinded by the brightness of it. Multiple large Chandlers hung from the ceiling each one. It felt like standing in a room with multiple miniature suns. In front of us, leading from the entrance all the way to the stage were stairs. I couldn't tell much about the stage itself, aside from its amazing size. It was covered by two large red curtains. Just like Suijin had explained to us, there were three major sections of seats. One to the far left, one in the middle, and one to the far left. Each row was separated by a set of steps. The auditorium was nearly packed to the brim. Some students chatted, while some sat quietly, and others read books, or played with magic. The students closest to the door had turned to look at us, and instantly began muttering among themselves. I guess that's to be expected. I noticed that my sister had stepped a bit closer to me, obviously nervous. "And here I was thinking I was useless without you." I said, taking a jibe at her.
I got an icy pinch in return.
"You do know that were in two different years right. I'm a second year and you're a first." I gestured over to the first-year seats to the far right of the auditorium. Nearly all the seats had been taken, with only one or two open seats available. "Better go now or you'll be forced to stand." I turned to look for a seat of my own in the second-year section when and Icy palm touched my shoulder. I turned around to see Kami glaring at me.
"Not only did not offer to walk your poor little sister to her seat, instead leaving her to walk by herself, you also couldn't at the very least, you'd wish me good luck." The temperature was dropping at an alarming rate.
"Even if I did offer yo-" The look in her eye's stopped me from finishing that sentence. Instead, I smiled an offered to walk her over to her seat. "Would you like me to walk you to your seat?"
"No, but thank you for the offer!" She said sarcastically before turning around to leave, walking at a brisk pace. I stood at the top of the staircase, scratching the back of my head. I wonder how long she'll stay mad at me for. I then turned and scanned the second-year seats, searching for the perfect spot.
***
I had decided to take a seat in the 5th row, slightly closer to the back then the front. It was a seat by the stairs, across from the third-year seats. As I settled down in my seat I scanned around the auditorium room for a clock. 9:27. When we had first arrived here, we asked around town for information about the Theta Magic Academy, looking for when it opened, and where exactly it was located. Despite the fact that the Academy stood atop a large mountain, which should make it visible from any part of Japan, according to the locals we had asked, the entire Magic Academy was covered by a giant concealment spell, that kept it from the eyes of the public. They also told us that the only way to get there was through the Magic forest, littered with magic beasts. However, that was all speculation of course nothing concrete. One person who had a child that attended the school had told us that in your acceptance letter you would receive the exact coordinates to reach the Academy. Which brought me to the real crux of the issue. Our acceptances letters did not have the address printed on them. For some reason or another, that crucial information had been omitted from our acceptance letters. Which is why we decided to head through the magic forest. I know, a pretty ridiculous thing to start all of this commotion for however I was just grateful we made it in ti- My thought was interrupted by a shadow that appeared above my head. I looked up to see a large student flying down towards me. Seconds before Impact, I applied a levitation spell on the person, stopping them above my head. Instantly, three students rushed over to my row, apologizing profusely. There were two girls and one boy. One girl with long red hair, the other girl short blonde hair, and a boy with blue hair that came down to his chin.
The boy who had nearly crushed me had finally managed to get his feet back on the ground, and had turned around, with an embarrassed smile on his face. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that." He turned to face his friends. "Really guys?" All three of them looked they wanted to laugh. I nodded my head, accepting the apology.
"No hard feelings." I kept my response short and sweet, hoping to avoid any form of extended conversation. A student flying across the auditorium seats had already caused more than a few heads turn, and I'd rather avoid causing any more of a scene than had already been created.
However, to my dismay, the boy spoke up, analyzing me through his curtain of blue hair. "I have to say, that was seriously impressive. The speed at which you reacted to what was going on and activated the levitation magic sequence was pretty impressive." He complimented me, but it didn't feel like it. No. Instead, it felt like he was scrutinizing every part of me, simply making statements about what he had saw.
The brown-haired boy who had nearly crushed me spoke up in a loud, excited voice. "Yeah, it's almost like that of the "Pri-" He stopped his sentence at a pointed glare from the red-haired girl. "N-never mind. Anyways, I'm sorry for that, I really am." He turned around and began to walk towards the top row of seats, following the two girls. Only the blue haired boy remained, staring down at me. It almost felt as though his honey brown colored were seeing right through me, right into the very magical particles and molecules that made up my body.
"You're a second year, and yet I don't recognize you. Are you a new transfer? Or… A foreign exchange student?" His eyes never left me, and I returned the favor, staring him directly into the eyes as I answered his question.
"You are right, this is my first year attending Theta Magic Academy. I'm a foreign exchange student from America. However, my mom and dad were Japanese, and I grew up around the language." I anticipated his next question, which seemed to shock him.
He nodded slightly before turning around to go join his friends. Before he left, he apologized once more for what had happened. I nodded, and watched him leave, analyzing him just as he had me. He was tall, maybe 6 foot 1 to 6 foot 2. He carried himself with a relaxed demeanor, and he was dressed in the regular school uniform and nothing more. He didn't do anything to stand out, and instead did everything to blend in. To become a part of the crowd. It allowed him to be observant. I also know that when he needed to, he could also step in, and collect information that he couldn't collect from observation, through conversation. He was obviously skeptical of me, and I noted that, reminding myself to keep my guard up. It was best to assume that rumors had begun to spread that Me and Kami had traversed the Magic Forest, Theta Academy's best defense, unscathed. Assuming it had, I probably already had a target on my back. It was evident from the actions of Hanami and that blue haired kid.
The lights turned off, descending the room into instant, pitch black darkness, startling a few unsuspecting students including me. I heard the sounds of curtains being drawn back, and the stage lights began to turn on one by one, revealing a bare stage aside from two things. The student council president standing in the center, and a huge banner behind her that read, "Welcome to Theta Magic Academy." After a few seconds of silence, Suijin Hajimoto began to pace around the stage, speaking as she walked.
"Nearly 100 years ago, the first appearance of Magic was made. According to the records dug up by historians, a young girl who could emit fire from her hands, was discovered living in South America, which is now known as the home of Magic. After his discovery, the girl was tortured and burned at the stake." Everyone knew this story. It was one that every parent of a child who could wield magic was told. It was a story parents told to show to their child from a young age that we were different from others, more powerful yes, but it could also get us killed. "Soon after, more and more of these cases popped up, all concentrated in the regions of Mexico to South America. These magic wielders were hunted down, and they held mass burning, they were tortured, killed, and hung. Soon, these Magic wielders began to flee. Laws began to be constructed. It was illegal to house magicians, who at the time were called "Witches" and "Wizards". It was illegal to even interact with them. Anyone who violated these laws would be hung and killed right along with them. As these wizards flees, they traveled to different countries, and the populations of wizards and witches increased. Soon they were so plentiful that organizations began constructed to fight back. An organization known as the Grand Magic alliance. There were ten founders. As you may know, those ten founders became the leaders of the ten Grand Magic families."
I was a bit curious as to where this story was going, and I sat up in my seat. "They planned a grand rebellion, a fight against their oppressors. They claimed to fight for equity, to be treated as people and not as volatile weapons of mass destruction. They began a war, one that lasted nearly ten years before the Grand Magic Alliance finally came out on top. But instead of stopping there, at equality, the magic alliance grew greedy, and this time the oppressed became the oppressors. This tussle between magicians and non-magicians continued on for hundreds of years and leads us to the present day." She finally came to a stop in the center of the stage. "All this to say that despite the fact that you all are students of Theta magic academy that does not make you better than anyone else. At Theta magic academy, we take up our wands and activate our magic spells not for destruction and battle, but to achieve peace and most of all, strive for equality." Just then, when the buildup of magical energy had reached its climax, and droplets of water began to accumulate forming a wave of water that curved around Suijin and reached out across the bleachers wowing students. The flow of water took the shape of different ocean animals, flowers, cherry blossoms, and an assortment of different words and items. Her magic reached out from not only her but had a different item for every single person in the auditorium. There were easily around 200-300 students in here. it was an extremely amazing feat. in front of me was a Tsubaki flower recreated in pinpoint perfect detail. She dispelled the spell as everyone watched in uninhibited amazement.
After Sujin's amazing performance and warm welcome, she walked off of the stage, and from behind the curtains appeared a massive man, easily almost 7 feet tall, with graying hairs, and a long gray beard that reached down to his waist. He had a massive trench coat on, and below it, he wore a sort of black suit. Despite the fact that he had graying hairs, he didn't look old whatsoever. He stood ramrod straight and had an aura of power that commanded respect from everyone in the room. Things fell silent as soon as the man walked onto the stage. He also held a large stick in his hand that could have passed for a cane, with a large red gem at the top. One unmistakable factor about the man was his magical energy, which stretched from him to envelop the entire room. It was like someone had dropped a warm blanket on top of me.
"Students of Theta magic Academy." His voiced boomed loudly but he wasn't shouting. it carried throughout the entire auditorium and echoed off of the walls. "As magicians, you must keep a few things in mind. Just like your student vice council president stated herself. Your abilities do not make you better than anybody else. Nor does the tragedies that occurred in the past give you the right to bring harm upon others. You are expected to act like role models for society. Any student who violates that...." He didn't finish his sentence, and he didn't need to. Every single student sitting inside the massive auditorium had gotten the memo.
He walked forward, making his way to the edge of the stage. Each step of his massive boots echoing through the silent and tense room. "But most importantly..." He raised his cane-stick high into the air, and nearly every single student held the breath in anticipation as he slammed his cane into the ground!
"POOOFFFFFF!" A massive number of confetti fell from the ceiling as brilliant bright lights began to shine and glow all through the auditorium, and music began to play, giving it the vibe of some sort of crappy disco party. "HAVE FUN!" The man's booming voice rang out louder than the sound of music. The music lasted for a few seconds before gradually fading out.
"..."
For a few seconds it was silent, as a majority of the new students sat there in shock, me included. Thats when the sound of someone's laughter could be heard.
"HAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe it! The old man actually went through with it!" The rowdy laughing was coming from the row directly above me, so I turned back to see the same girl with red hair from earlier nearly doubled over in her seat from laughter. She flipped her head backwards before placing a hand on the blue haired kid sitting next to her, seemingly for support. "Masayoshi, can you believe it?"
"Please get your hand off of m....." However, Masayoshi's complaints were simply drowned out by her laughter once again.
I looked on in complete shock as she continued to laugh like there was no tomorrow. Mainly because she was the only person actually laughing. nearly every eye in the auditorium was on her, but it seemed like she couldn't care less.
From across the auditorium, someone could be heard saying, "I can't believe this. Who actually let Erika's idea go through?"
All the while, the man onstage seemed to be completely at a loss off words at the lack of reaction from the crowd. He turned to look at someone who was backstage before whispering a question. Well, it should have been a whisper. But his loud voice carried throughout the auditorium.
"Ana, I thought this was supposed to be a hit? What happened?"
Giggles could be heard from behind the curtain.
At the exact same time, me and my sister turned to find each other, our eyes saying the exact same thing.
What the actual hell...