The next day, I woke up to find Levey of all people sitting next to my bunk on a chair that she had pulled up. She looked like she had been crying for a bit before eventually falling asleep. I'd have to talk to her about it later, but for now, I just decided to ignore her. I feel like I had an important dream, but the details quickly left my mind after I woke up. I gathered my toiletries and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I walked in, and everyone turned silent as they chuckled and jeered behind my back as I walked by. I'd decided that I had enough and snapped around before promptly asking, "Would you guys like to clue me in on what's so funny about me today?"A boy who was still washing his face in the sink said, "They are mumbling about what happened between you and that girl yesterday."I slump my shoulders, a little relieved that it wasn't anything serious, and said, "Oh. Is that it? Have fun talking about it all you want, but you should know we are just friends."Seemingly disappointed, everyone returned to their conversations and tasks that they were doing before i walked in. The matter seemed to be resolved, so I went to the only open stall. After getting ready for the day, I exit the bathroom only to find Arc and Sira outside waiting for me. Apparently Arc had finished his business without me realizing and was just waiting for me. We all headed to the cafeteria together, and we all sat down, silent the entire time."Hey guys. I know its awkward and all, but the way you have been glaring at me has me thinking you guys hate me or something." I say as I chuckle nervously in an attempt to break the ice.Finally, Sira speaks up. With a hint of annoyance in her voice, she says, "I heard the story from Arc. I personally want to slap you, but that might make things worse."I turn to arc with a confused look. He relents and proceeds to clear things up. With a small sigh, he says, "She's pretty angry at the way you think of yourself. She wants to know why you think your such a poor excuse for a person, since she thinks you're one of the most-."Before Arc could finish his statement, her face turns scarlet, and she slaps Arc on the back of the head. I look at her a little concerned and say, "I'm sorry Sira." At my words, she proceeds to flare up in rage rather than embarrassment and stands up forcefully, knocking her chair down. She then yells at me saying, "DAMNIT. If I wanted to hear you say sorry, I would have asked you too." She then storms off, leaving me to sit there in shock at her abrupt change in mood. Everyone stares at the interaction and silence for a few moments before returning to business as usual.The instructor approached me and warned me that if we didn't perform well on the next practical exercise, she would expel all of us. I heeded her warning and tried to talk to the two a few times throughout the week. All my attempts were met with them just walking right by me as if I didn't exist.Rumors started spreading around the school like wildfire. I did my best to put out fires here and there, but after Sira's outburst, there wasn't much to be done about it. We had a team building practical drill in the afternoon. I decided to try and sneak in a chat with Sira despite the fact that I needed to try my best as the squad leader which had been decided later than the others due to my absence from most of the class. I see everyone sitting in the grass with their respective squads. I see mine, and I walk up to a glare from Sira and the cold shoulder from Levey and Arc. This won't work out well if we continue to be like this. As the squad leader, I decide to take the initiative, so I speak up. "Listen. We do not have to make up right away, but what we do have to do is make it look like we are not fighting in any way shape or form. If we ca not pull that off, we will more than likely be expelled. Here is my proposal. We work together on a plan before we split up and follow, and if something does not go according to plan, we notify everyone else that that person will be doing things their way."Sira spitefully says, "Not a half bad solution for such a useless person."After she said this, I felt my heat break, but the only way anyone would notice this is by the slight flinch I made. It felt like a deserved punishment for everything that happened recently. Sira looked at me and scoffed before walking off."Are we in agreement?" I ask the rest of my squad. They nod their heads and go to join Sira. I felt absolutely devastated at the way that they were treating me, but this was what I asked for. I couldn't show this as the squad leader, so I shoved it out of my mind. The field drill was simple. Just a capture the flag style game where we were only allowed to use support magic on ourselves and others. Things went awry really quick. The plan was made entirely by me with an occasional sigh or scoff from Sira as I was speaking. Everyone played their part to perfection... Except Sira, who promptly went off on her own. The rest of the match, it felt like she was trying to actively sabotage us. She rushed in and beat the first two people before getting captured. After being caught, she leaked our plans to the enemy in exchange for her freedom. However, immediately after she was free, she attacked the guards who had released her. She was promptly recaptured. The entire time while this was happening, me and Sira were arguing over private comms. I broke from the plan and beat the rest of the enemy squad singlehandedly. Although we won, we were not given good scores but rather a warning to get our act together. After the exercise, we were sent to our dorms to figure things out. When I was about to walk through the door, Sira stopped and turned around to slap me. I looked up to see tears streaming down her face. She then glared at me through her tears and said, "Do you know why I'm so upset?!"I shake my head awkwardly. She then slams me against the wall and calmly tells Arc and Levey to leave us be. I attempt to ask about what is going on, but I'm quickly shut down with a glare from Levey as she walks out the door. The door closes, and I look at Sira before turning my head away. There is a few moments of silence before she says, "Why do you think of yourself so poorly when you are so clearly amazing?"Still pinned against the wall, I mutter, "Why do you want to know?"She lets go of one of my arms and slaps again, and although I'm able to escape now, I let her keep me there. She continues on by yelling at me. "THAT WASN'T THE FUCKING QUESTION!"I'm unable to hold myself any longer and yell back with tears now streaming down my face as well, "IT'S BECAUSE IT IS TRUE! THAT IS WHY!"I'm suddenly pulled into her embrace, and she hugs me tight as she mutters in my ear, "You are amazing. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Stop and think for a moment. You are currently the only person in the academy, maybe the world, who can freely open and close their mana gates. You also have great people skills. I could go on for hours about how amazing you are, so don't let those dumb people from back home control you and the way you think." She pulls away and looks at me warmly before continuing, "Did it really feel that gratifying when I insulted you? From the look you made every time, it didn't look like it. I don't know if you were doing it for attention or if you genuinely thought that about yourself, but I will never allow you to say those things again. Every time you say those things, it makes me want to talk about how many times you saved my ass. Do you remember when we were young and you pulled up from that cliff in the rain. I was so scared, but then I saw your fire magic appear above me. You then used all your strength to pull me up in the rain. After that, we were scolded and both caught a cold. We were thrown in the bath together and even slept in the same bed while we waited out our fevers. I want to make sure you never say those things about yourself again. If it's for attention, I'll give you all you need without you saying that crap. And if you genuinely believe your worthless, I'll sit here for hours and tell you how amazing you are. Do you understand, Kazu?"I sit there and listen with teary eyes. After she finishes, I break down in her arms, unable to stop my tears from flowing. We end up on the ground with me resting my head on her lap. She sits there, comforting me while rubbing my head. It's only until around 40 minutes later that I'm able to stop my tears. I look up at Sira and say, "I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you Sira. I will try to start leaning on you from now on."She smiles at me and says, "I'm sorry for ruining your plan. It was actually really well made for it being made on the spot, and although I want to say it was part of my plan, I only ruined it to spite you." I raise my eyebrows at her and she rolls her eyes and says in a tone that was clearly not remorseful in any way, "I'm also sorry for slapping you so many times over the past few days."I look at her with my eyebrows still raised, and we both start laughing. Arc walks in with his phone in his hand and Levey behind him. He stops, raises his phone, and snaps a photo of me laying on Sira's lap. After doing this, Sira loses her temper, making Arc bolt out of the room. Sira shoves me off her lap and chases after him with her face red as a tomato. Levey walks in as I am getting up. I look at her awkwardly and say, "I hope you can forgive me for being such a dumbass and a terrible squad leader Levey."She sighs exasperated, smiles at me warmly and says, "Of course I forgive you, Squad leader." She says the last bit in teasing manner.I can tell she felt more comfortable around everyone in the squad, so I smile back at her and ask, "How about we play a game of chess?"The room is pitch black. Two black outlines can be barely seen as they discuss something of importance. The man with shoulder length hair is seen typing at some kind of terminal while the man behind him is shown standing guard, holding an item suspiciously shaped like a gun. The man at the terminal pulls a drive out of a port and motions the other one to follow him. They are walking out of a facility as the alarms are blaring, and the guards are frantically searching for an intruder they'll never find.