It wasn't until the next morning that Haruto realized Hiroshi was missing. Finding it strange, he asked around if any of the students had seen him.
Most students claimed that he had a talk with the principal, and wasn't seen at dinner or after that.
Deeply concerned by this, Haruto intended to question the teachers, but realised it wasn't necessary when he arrived at his first class on day 2, swordsmanship.
Hiroshi was already there, along with a few classmates.
"Where were you last night? I couldn't find you."
"Oh, it's all fine, I just had a few familial matters to clear up."
"Ok...if it's not that big of a deal..."
Haruto quickly turned his mind back to class. He was confident he would excel in swordsmanship, after all, he had been trained by his dad.
The teacher, a slender yet muscular figure, directed them to strike certain points on a wooden dummy.
Several students mumbled complaints, thinking swordsmanship wasn't useful.
"Why should we learn this useless subject? I bet I could beat the best swordsman in the world just through my skills, just keep them at long range!"
The instructor, overhearing this, lifted a brow.
"Then why don't you come over here and try, young man? After all, you have nothing to fear, I'm only a measly medium B-Tier."
The arrogant student, who Haruto saw was medium A-Tier, strode up to the sparring circle, confident in his entire tier of advantage.
The instructor lifted his wooden sword in acknowledgement, and settled into an offensive stance Haruto recognized immediately from his fathers training.
The student let out a roar and sent a pillar of dirt flying at the instructor, but he easily sidestepped and rapidly closed the distance.
The student hastily erected a earthen wall but it was quickly crumbled under the teachers onslaught, and within seconds, his blade was at the student's neck.
He gulped in disbelief, in denial about his defeat. As several laughs echoed around the arena, the student stepped away in humiliation.
Haruto stepped into the circle, requesting a duel.
"Teacher, I can see you are very skilled. Will you honor this humble student with a lesson?"
"Hmmm, what a polite young man. I shall indulge you. Feell free to use your skills, I won't be hurt anyways."
"I shall not need them. True strength lies in one's mastery over the blade."
The teachers eyebrows raised in disbelief, but quickly settled into a more balanced stance.
Haruto bowed, and held his sword horizontally above his head, preparing for a block.
The teacher sped forward, surprisingly fast, slashing his sword in a horizontal arc.
Haruto sidestepped and parried, catching only a glancing blow with the flat of his blade.
Damn, I'm out of practice after all these years. This should serve as a good warm up.
Haruto quickly stepped in with a thrust but as expected, the instructor was skillful enough to step to the right, evading it.
Therefore stepping right into his trap.
Haruto anticipated the counter thrust, easily sliding under it, and bringing his sword up in a sweeping motion, disarmed the instructor in one fell swoop.
The entire arena was dead silent, including the teacher himself.
Many were thinking, how could this mongrel be so skilled? Even defeating the teacher, that was no easy feat. And without even using mana? Impossible!
Haruto grinned in triumph, directing a look towards Ryuujin. He merely shrugged in acknowledgement and continued to lean against the stone column.
Hiroshi was the first to start clapping, cheering Haruto on.
Haruto smiled gratefully as he bowed respectfully.
"Thank you for the lesson, teacher. It was very enlightening."
The teacher could not help but feel a little humiliated, how could a teacher bear to be beaten by his own student?
Yet he sensed tremendous potential and skill with Haruto, in both mana and swordsmanship.
Many manablades scorned swordsmanship, yet what they did not realise was that once your mana started to run low in an evenly matched fight, long range attacks became difficult, and close combat was now essential.
It was in this phase of the fight that swordsmanship would usually determine the winner.
It was at this moment that a voice piped up from behind them.
"Hey, Haruto, that's your name right?"
Turning around, Haruto noticed that it was the final other S-Tier student in his year, whom many claimed was aggressive and always looking for a fight.
His blond hair, artfully tousled by the wind, as he strode up to Haruto. His fingers twitched around the hilt of his blade, practically spoiling for a fight.
"Hey, did'ya hear me? I challenge you to a duel, or are you too wussy to fight me? You're strong, but I'm stronger."
"Students, there is no need to fight. You will get that opportunity soon enough. There will be a year-wide school tournament held after the mid year exams, so you can look forward to that."
The teacher interjected.
"Heugh...what a pain. I suppose I can wait for a while. But until then, you better remember the name Raiden Arashi! I'll be the one to beat you!"
...
That night, he and Miyuko sat on a bench beside the fountain, as he helped her with her schoolwork. Her arithmetic was weak, but she was a quick learner.
"So, the 3x can be divided by 3 here, you see? This side can all be divided by 3..."
"Say, onii-chan, you're enjoying school, aren't you?"
Her sudden interruption surprised Haruto, and he simply nodded.
She sighed, seeming a bit dejected.
"Well, I'm not. My swordsmanship is no good, my arithmetic teacher says she's going to downgrade me again, and I can't seem to get the hang of mana circulation!"
"It's fine, I'm sure you'll pick it up soon enough, you're a very talented young lady after all! You'll get the hang of it in no time."
"You sure?"
Miyuko pouted, and Haruto couldn't help but find it cute, like a puppy making the adorable eyes.
"I'm sure."
...
Months flew by, and Haruto breezed through his exams. Arithmetic was simply remembering what he did in high school.
He thought that teaching high school subjects at 18 was quite ridiculous, but who was he to judge, this was a new world after all.
His superb swordsmanship had him placed at the top of his class, and he took direct lessons from the regional swordsmaster.
The swordsmaster was about on par with him, much to his surprise.
They sparred almost every day and the swordsmaster shared many new stances and moves apparently unique to this world, only usable because of mana.
Arithmetic he conquered easily, he wasn't even tested for swordsmanship and instead given a straight A+, drawing the envy of many.
Mana control and affinity strengthening were slightly more difficult, but he still found it easy, demonstrating great control over his mana, easily performing mana circulation and coatings over numerous surfaces.
Seeing his results on the scoreboard, he was slightly shocked to see he was only in second place.
With his proficiency in swordsmanship and arithmetic, he should've easily got into first place, but he was edged out by none other than Tsubasa.
Apparently, she was a natural prodigy, and while her arithmetic and swordsmanship might not have been as good as Haruto's, she had obtained perfect marks for both mana control and affinity strengthening, also getting slightly better results than him in other subjects.
Haruto accepted defeat humbly, even as he sensed Tsubasas good natured grin aimed in his direction.
She walked up to him, smiling amiably.
"Wow, you're not bad yourself, I nearly lost to you! To think you would be such a great competitor!"
"Well, I still lost, so in the end, a loser is a loser."
"No, you should be proud of yourself! Any other school and you would be top. Too bad I'm here though!"
She giggled.
Haruto let off a groan and trudged back to his rooms.
Miyuko clapped him on the back, congratulating him on his results.
"Can you believe I got 31st place?! I swear I thought I would be lower than 50, but somehow my arithmetic actually passed! My mana control wasn't too shabby either!"
Yet as everyone else celebrated their mid-terms, Haruto had another thing on his mind.
The mid-year tournament.
It was clear the tournament was on many people's minds as well, as the next day there were many hushed whispers and discreetly placed bets on who would win.
Amused to see his odds of winning were 6.5 to 1, he askde Miyuko to take a leap of faith and place a silver coin on him. (100 bronze=1 silver, 100 silver=1 gold. 1 bronze is equvalent to 1 USD [I'm not lazy I swear])
"You sure I won't lose my money? You better pay me back if you lose!"
"Hey, that's the mentality of a loser. I'm gonna win. Watch me."
As the day of the elimination rounds started, Haruto strode into the arena, hand tightening around his blade.
He would win at all costs, thrashing any one who stood in his way. After all, he (thought he) was the main character in his own story, and he would crush his opponents.