After Sasha went home, Magatsu decided to spend the rest of the afternoon thinking about what he would do from there onwards.

He had his dojo's official diploma, so there was no reason for him to keep going there, so the best course of action would be to search for a new place to train in.

The question was: where?

– Dear – His mother calls him from outside his bedroom. – , dinner's ready. Come already before it gets cold.

She doesn't wait for an answer and goes back to the dining room to eat.

Magatsu checked his computer for the time. It was 8:00 PM. He sure lost track of time with his thoughts.

Now sitting with Agatha, Magatsu asks her about his little issue. She takes a bite from her meal, which was spaghetti with steak bits.

– Listen, dear, I think you should invest more in your Affinity. Your body is already in good enough shape, right?

– But that's just it, mom. – He says. – I don't know anyone in town that's both a tutor and a wind adept, or at the very least knows the more advanced stuff of the wind Affinity.

– Ever heard of research? – She points her fork at him. He snorts lightly from that, for no particular reason.

– Sure, that. Guess I should start tomorrow, then.

– But obviously, you'll go to Dedalus and talk to him about this, right? – She questions him with a puzzled face. He nods.

– Of course. But all of that is for another day. Now, I'm hungry and tired, so excuse me.

After that, they eat the rest of their meals in silence.

Once done, Magatsu cleans the wooden table covered with a large orange cloth and goes to his bedroom. After taking his shirt off (he didn't like sleeping with it), Agatha enters his room without knocking, starling him.

– Come on, mom. Knock before entering.

– I'm your mother, dear, and you shouldn't have secrets to hide from me, of all people. – She says while walking towards him.

She was proud of having a son with such a build. He wasn't jacked, but his muscles were in incredible shape for someone his age and size.

Once close enough, she hugs him tightly with a deep, joyful smile.

– I just wanted a hug. Is that too much?

– No, it's not, but knock next time, alright? – He answers while letting her go. She kisses his forehead.

– Goodnight, son.

– Goodnight, mom.

She exits his room, leaving him alone inside it.

Something interesting about his room was that, despite having a bed, he actually slept on a red net he gained from his mother. To him, it was everything a bed wasn't: comfortable, malleable, and portable. He took it everywhere every time he had the opportunity.

Now on it, he closes his eyes and slowly reaches the dream realm.

The dream he had, however, wasn't quite pleasing.

It involved a tall, muscular man revolved in shadows standing menacingly in the background of an already not so good dream.

Throughout the whole experience, turning his head and seeing the figure there made Magatsu feel uneasy, especially when he woke up and remembered those moments, specifically, but not the rest of the dream.

Now up, he stretches himself, goes through his normal morning routine and goes to school.

In the meantime, Sasha was practicing with her wooden sword in her house's backyard.

She was excellent with any kind of weapon and had a preference over axes over anything else, but her parents always told her she had to be a swordfighter.

She didn't dislike it, but she would rather use something else. Something more aggressive, more radical, less traditional.

An ax would be perfect.

Dwelling on those thoughts for longer than intended, she shakes her head and keeps swinging the round practice sword around with impressive precision and speed.

After all, having an Affinity with earth gave her this advantage when it came to weapons, or tools in general.

She does various vertical and horizontal swings followed by straight stabs and finished with a spinning strike. Despite not being an Adept, merely having the Affinity already gave her an edge.

After thirty minutes, she stops to drink some water and rest. Being all alone was more than just physically tiring.

While sitting down on the grass while bathing herself with the early morning's sunlight, she thought about how lonely it was to have an entire house all for herself and not be able to share it with anyone else.

Her parents were extremely wealthy and even well-known among several groups of people, but she always rejected them as persons and examples of what she should do with her life.

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She, at the young age of 10, made a deal with them, saying that if she managed to beat her school's local tournament, they should promise her she would gain a house and live on her own.

Sure enough, winning it wasn't difficult, and her prize was freedom from their grasp at age 14. By then, she was old enough to do pretty much everything she had to keep the house clean and not starve to death.

Unfortunately for her, one of her cousins would occasionally drop by to make sure everything was in order. They didn't fully trust her just yet.

But he would mainly appear to check her sword fighting training. Her parents told her that she had to practice no matter what she did, or else they would take the house back from her until she made 18, which by now would happen in only a few months.

After that, she would be free to do whatever she wanted with her life without her parents tormenting her every second.

Thinking about that put a smile on her face as she thinks she had enough rest and goes back to training with her sword.

While his friend finally graduated, and thus no longer needs to go there, there Shinda is, still under the tutelage of his father.

It's not like he ever needed anyone else's training. His father was, after all, considered one of Mashifu's most skilled fighters.

But knowing that his only equal and friend would go somewhere else to practice techniques he is likely to never get the chance to even see kind of annoys him, making him lose focus during his studies with his mother.

– Focus, son. – She knocks her wooden pointer stick on the blackboard, gaining her son's attention once again. – I don't think I have to remind you of...

– No, you don't. – Shinda quickly finishes for her as he yawns deeply. Being homeschooled by his mother wasn't something he enjoyed, but it was far better than having to stand other people's annoyances, especially the teachers', while barely learning anything for hours.

After the agreement he made with his mother, she was more than glad to teach him what he needed, even though she didn't know much of what she was teaching herself. In the end, the internet had to save them more times than one, but neither she or he minded.

Barely ten minutes passed as Shinda drifts back to inside his head. He wondered what his friend would be doing in school.

Magatsu had quite the surprise during snack break.

The girl he had helped the day before was there eating a sandwich all by herself. Seeing no reason to ignore her, Magatsu decided to give her some company. Being alone was, after all, a big toll for anyone, especially young people like her.

– Hello. – He greets her with a wide smile. She looks from her sandwich to him. – Mind if I sit here?

Her face sparkled with awe as she nods while giving space for him to sit.

– Thank you for yesterday. – After about a minute of silence, she timidly tells him with a faint but warm smile. Magatsu's grin grows wider as he feels good about himself.

– It wasn't much. I'm the one who should be thanking you for convincing that guard of letting me go. You saved me a lot of time and I owe you one.

She looks to him and smiles.

Magatsu notices something weird after a bit too long and asks her.

– Why are you in high school at this age?

– I... might have skipped a few of the earlier degrees. – She kind of loses interest in her sandwich, it hanging loosely in between her hands.

– Impressive. What about friends? Isn't it a bit lonely here all on your own?

– I'm... – Her voice is faint, the words not coming out. He notices it and supports her.

– Come on, you can tell me. I promise I won't make fun of you.

After a few seconds, the girl nods while speaking again.

– I'm not good at making friends because of my behavior issues.

– Come on, a sweetheart like you? I doubt.

– You have no idea...

Without realizing, they spend the next few minutes of break chatting about some trivial stuff before the bell rings. Before Magatsu leaves though, he remembers that he has no idea of what her name is.

– Awkward, but what is your name again?

She giggles, making Magatsu feel warm inside. Seeing her, or anyone for that matter, smile and laugh like this always made him feel happy with himself. Now, it was no different.

– My name is Juno Aliodi. – She politely and gently bows. – And what is yours?

– Magatsu Astarosa, pleased to meet you. – He offers her a handshake, one she takes with pleasure.

– Well, gotta go back to my class. See you again later.

After that goodbye, both of them go to their respective classes. The rest of the school day ends rather slowly for Magatsu's taste, but it ends nonetheless.

Once outside, he sees Juno waiting while standing against a lamp post while fidgeting back and forth with her hands behind her, a smile across her face. She seemed excited.

He doesn't notice it a first, but she, despite looking at his direction, isn't looking at him specifically. That raises his suspicions of her being blind once again, but he still has no idea of how she reacted to him earlier, making him keep his suspicions under check.

Once he approaches her enough, she finally starts looking directly at him with an innocent and happy smile.

– You actually came!

– Of course. So, mind if I accompany you home? – He asks her, but she shakes her head.

– You don't have to. You probably know who my father is, right? – She asks him.

– Disarm Aliodi, right? – She nods with a hum. – What about it?

– He always sends someone to pick me up a few minutes after school ends. I actually... Uh...

Magatsu raises an eyebrow with her sudden shyness. She swallows nothing before finally speaking.

– I'd like you to come with me to my house if that's not a problem.

Magatsu doesn't quite get what she means with that, simply nodding reassuringly.

– Not one bit, but it would be nice if you told me why, exactly.

– Can we talk about it once the car comes? – She asks him politely. He contents himself with a shrug.

– No biggie. I can wait.

Five minutes later, a black car appears from a left curve, soon stopping in front of them. She opens the door and enters the backseat, gesturing for Magatsu to do the same.

He sees no reason to not enter, despite something ringing on the back of his mind (a gut feeling involving his mother teaching him to never take rides from strangers), as he does so.

Three minutes later, he looks at her with a smirk.

– Now, we're in the car. Why did you want me to come with you?

– Honestly, it's not me that wanted to see you. – She admits with a defeated face. – It's my father. After I told him about what you did, he demanded to know who was the boy brave enough to get out of his way to come and save me from those meanies.

– Why didn't you come to talk to me about it earlier? – He asks her. She looks somewhere else with an embarrassed face.

– I was going to do that. Eventually... but still.

Magatsu laughs lightly.

– This should be interesting. – Magatsu rubs his chin with three of his fingers. – To think that Disarm himself would want to talk to me. Damn.

Seven more minutes pass before they finally reach Juno's house.

The house looked like a big deal from where they were. It was, much like other houses from the city, two-story tall, but it had a grey paint and was visibly larger. It also had a really big front yard, enough to fit another house.

– Someone's rich, ay? – Magatsu mocks her. She rubs her arm with a nervous smile.

– I wouldn't put it that way.

Once outside the car, they enter the front yard and walk calmly. The grass smells like the wilderness, giving Magatsu a funny feeling of excitement.

Now inside the actual house, Magatsu sees that it really isn't that big of a deal. It looked like other houses, except that it was bigger. From where they were, the living room was occupying a lot of the first floor's front half of the house, the kitchen further inside it, and the rooms upstairs being out of sight.

From said stairs, a large man without hair walks down with heavy steps as he has a gentle and welcoming smile under his thick light grey beard.

He was wearing livid red pajamas with a coat of a darker red over everything. The whole thing was made of cotton, making it feel warm and cozy to wear. So were his slippers.

– Dad! C'mon, we have a guest! – Juno awkwardly yells at her father while trying her best to avoid eye contact with Magatsu, who can't decide if he should laugh or not.

The man known as Disarm laughs loudly after setting foot on the first floor.

– Welcome, champ. – His voice is comforting to listen to as he speaks. – I was waiting to talk to you. Please, follow me.