This is the place?

Adion looked to the building he had just been directed to, where he hoped he could see Sell before she left.

He hurried inside the administration building and looked around. The only thing he could see was rows of desks with people lining up to a few of them. Adion approached one of the desks without a line.

“Excuse me,” Adion said to the clerk behind the desk, “I want to look at a list of the newly admitted students. Is that possible?”

Hopefully, I’ll be directed to where Sell is.

“Of course,” The clerk, a middle-aged man, nodded as if it was a perfectly normal thing to ask. “It will be 1000 credits, please.”

“1000 credits? I don’t have that much,” Adion said, a little stumped at the extreme cost.

“Your House didn’t give you the credits? Wait. You’re a newly admitted student. Why are you looking for the information?” The man asked.

“I just wanted to see if an old friend made it,” Adion made up.

“Well, I’m afraid the cost is 1000 credits. There’s nothing I can do about it,” The man said with a regretful expression.

I guess the price makes sense if it’s only the big Houses that buy this information.

“Can I spend more credits than I have?” Adion asked.

“Not without punishment,” The clerk said with a serious expression.

“Haaah,” Adion sighed, “Alright…Do you have a bathroom I can use?”

The man looked at Adion weirdly for a few seconds before pointing out a door further inside the room. “It’s the one over there.”

“Thank you,” Adion nodded and made his way over.

Once in the bathroom, Adion made sure to lock the door before closing his eyes and releasing his space mana from his core, filling it up and trying to get a look at the place. He focused on the people inside the building, but there were too many people moving about, and Adion couldn’t get a clear image of everyone’s body without spending a lot of time. He tried focusing on the auras he could feel. He knew Sell would be a high Bronze mage after all.

The first one he felt was on the floor above, but a quick test of grabbing the space there revealed the shape of a large man. Adion moved on to the next aura, but wasn’t any luckier. Finally, two floors above him, around 250 feet away, Adion felt an aura that he immediately recognized.

Of course. I wouldn’t forget her aura.

His heart started beating in excitement, and Adion examined the room Sell was in to make sure she was alone. Unfortunately, there was another person in the room with her, a peak Bronze mage.

Is it someone looking up information or someone working here?

Adion examined the peak Bronze mage closer and found the woman was sitting by a table, just like Sell, seemingly writing something down.

Probably another student. What should I do? I guess I could wait until she leaves, but there would always be people around.

As Adion was thinking about it, though, he noticed the woman in the room get up and turn to leave.

Perfect.

Adion focused on the space inside the room, and as soon as the other woman left, Adion teleported into the room.

“What the-” The first thing Adion heard was Sell’s flustered voice as she turned to look at the place where she just felt someone appear.

“Hello, Sell,” Adion said with a smile. Sell was staring at him with her mouth open.

Beautiful.

“Adion!” Sell yelled out in shock, but soon, a big smile appeared on her beautiful face. She hurried up from her seat and ran to embrace him.

Adion heart was beating fiercely.

What do I even say? I should have thought this through! I had the time!

Adion turned his head down to look at her. Only the crimson hair at the top of her head was visible to him. Her face pressed against his chest.

I’ll just hold her for a while.

After a minute had passed in silence, Adion finally spoke. “I’m sorry I’m so late,”

“You’re really late,” Sell complained cutely, lifting her flushed face to look at Adion.

Something in Adion made it impossible to hold himself back, so instead of explaining his lateness, he put his hand on her left cheek and leaned in to kiss her.

“Mm?” Sell let out a surprised muffle as their lips touched, but she soon leaned into the kiss as well.

After what felt like far too short, she leaned back with a face as red as her hair and looked at Adion accusatorily. “Y-you…You kiss me like that without explaining anything?”

“Mm,” Adion nodded with a pleased smile, “You have somehow gotten even prettier.”

“So embarrassing,” Sell mumbled and looked away with a smile.

“I missed you a lot,” Adion said. He felt it now more than ever.

What did I do for the past year and a half? I should have just gone to Amyss immediately. We could have figured something out.

“I missed you too,” Sell said, looking up to Adion again, smiling. “But what happened? Why are you just arriving now?”

“I’m sorry,” Adion said, “I was with your uncle in Rethi. He taught me some shadow magic. And then the trip took a long time because of the weather. I didn’t get here until yesterday.”

“Wait, you were with my uncle?” Sell asked.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “Quahim. We met by coincidence, and he offered to teach me.”

“You told him about us?” Sell questioned.

“He recognized me from the painting you made of me,” Adion said with a smirk, “He showed it to me. It was a very nice painting.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“He did what!?” Sell yelled out in horror, letting go of Adion in embarrassment, and started fiddling with her hair. “He-He-I will have a talk with him.”

“Haha,” Adion laughed, “What’s wrong with that? I’m flattered.”

“Stupid,” Sell muttered. “So you and uncle had fun together while I waited, huh?”

“Well…” Adion hesitated, realizing he was not in a position to tease his girlfriend. “I got you something,” Adion said, trying to change the topic, as he remembered the necklace he had bought.

Adion had left his backpack at his grandfather’s residence as he thought his pills would be safer there. But he still brought the necklace he had bought Sell, as he hoped he would meet her when he got to the Academy.

He brought out the small box and opened it up to show the necklace to Sell. He was feeling a little embarrassed now that he was actually gifting it, as he realized how unimpressive it was to someone like Sell.

Maybe this will just make her more disappointed?

But Sell looked at the necklace with an open smile, surprised at the sudden gift.

“You bought me a necklace?” Sell asked.

“Well, I didn’t know what to get, and I thought you might already have everything you want. But I remembered that my mother was very happy when she got a necklace from my father…so, yeah, the jewel is a Flame Ruby. I thought it would suit you,” Adion said, not sure when to stop, “It’s also said that it can help with comprehending fire concepts. I mean, you probably already-”

“I love it,” Sell said, looking at Adion with an amused smile.

She picked it up from its box and held it up in front of her.

“It’s beautiful,” Sell murmured, “Thank you, Adion.”

Sell once again stepped forward and hugged Adion, this time more shyly than before.

“That’s good,” Adion said, relieved.

“I’ll forgive you for being late,” Sell said with her head against his chest.

“Really? I thought I could make it up for you with a date,” Adion said.

“A date?” Sell asked, looking up at Adion with a happy smile.

“I promised that we would go see a bard performing together here in Cyalis, didn’t I? Do you want to?” Adion asked.

“Yes!” Sell nodded her head vigorously.

“Good,” Adion smiled.

“Help me put the necklace on,” Sell said excitedly, handing Adion the necklace. She turned her back to him and pulled her hair away, exposing her neck.

I have to buy her more necklaces.

Adion placed the necklace around her neck and made sure it was securely fastened.

“How do I look?” Sell asked as she turned around again.

“Beautiful,” Adion said seriously, earning him a blush from Sell.

“You know,” Sell started saying, but stopped herself as the door to the room opened.

Why?

A student who was probably in his second year based on his age stepped inside, immediately looking toward Adion and Sell.

“Er,” The young man hesitated.

“What do you want?” Adion asked, a little aggressively.

The student's eyes kept darting between Adion and Sell in confusion. “I’m here to look over the list of new students.” He replied with a slight frown and made his way to the table in the middle of the room.

Can I get him to leave? Maybe with some credits?

“Adion,” Sell grabbed his attention in a low voice, “Let’s go.”

“I guess,” Adion nodded.

He grabbed Sell’s hand and started walking out of the room. When they were outside in the hallway, Sell let go of his hand with a flushed face.

“We can’t show that we…you know,” Sell said in a hushed voice.

“Oh…right,” Adion said, remembering the need to keep their relationship a secret.

That’s not going to work.

“I’ll figure something out,” Adion said, determined.

“What are you planning?” Sell asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Adion said, “But I’m not going to spend the next five years hiding.”

“Well,” Sell said, “Is it so bad that it’s secret?”

“It’s bothersome,” Adion nodded.

“Okay, we’ll figure something out together then,” Sell said, “Now tell me, what have you been up to? How strong are you?”

“I’m-” Adion stopped, remembering how he had gotten there, “I have to teleport back. Meet me outside.”

“Oh, right,” Sell nodded, hurrying down the corridor alone.

Adion found the bathroom through his sphere of space mana and teleported back. Stepping out of the bathroom again, he made eye contact with the clerk who had directed him there.

I wasn’t in there too long, was I?

Adion gave a short nod to the man and headed outside.

It didn’t take long for Sell to join him. Even though he had seen her not even a minute ago, the visage of her hurried steps toward him caused Adion to smile.

“Let’s go for a walk while we talk, shall we?” Sell asked.

“Mm,” Adion nodded. He noticed that Sell’s beauty had caused more than a few heads to turn.

This is why I don’t want to remain a secret. It would feel nice to grab her hand now.

“I came here with my brother and sister and told them to wait for me by the arena. Do you know the way?” Adion asked.

“Yeah,” Sell nodded happily and started walking, “So you met your family? How was it? How did they react?”

“They were happy, of course,” Adion answered with a smile, “And surprised. I was a sparkless when they left, and now I’m a Silver mage.”

“No way,” Sell said, looking at Adion with her eyes wide open, “How?”

“I meditated a lot,” Adion shrugged.

“You think I didn’t? It’s unfair,” Sell muttered.

“Well, I will train with you from now on to make sure you don’t slack off,” Adion said with a smile.

“Haha,” Sell laughed, “It’s a promise. But still, I can’t believe it. You’re a Silver mage already. Did you advance recently?”

“Almost a year ago,” Adion said, “I’m not far from middle Silver.”

“That’s…Whatever, I’ll catch up. Just you wait,” Sell said, “I’m not far from peak Bronze. I’ll make sure to reach Gold before you.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Adion said.

“Does the Academy know?” Sell asked.

“No, I hid it down to middle Bronze,” Adion said, “I didn’t want to gain too much attention, but I’m having second thoughts. I revealed my space powers as a Gift, and that seems to have already alerted the whole school. Your sister and her friends even knew about it. I met them on the way.”

“You met Rell?” Sell asked, “Oh, right. She knows your brother, right? I met him too, you know.”

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “He told me.”

“He did? What did he say?” Sell asked.

“He just said that you were acting strange. But he could see why you did so after learning about us,” Adion said.

“You told your family about us?” Sell asked, surprised.

“Of course,” Adion said, “I told them about everything. My space core, too.”

“That’s…that’s nice,” Sell said, “I wish I could tell my family.”

“Well, your uncle knows. I even got his blessing,” Adion said with a smirk.

“You got his blessing?” Sell asked with an amused smile.

“In a way,” Adion nodded.

“I want to hear about it,” Sell urged.

“Then let’s go this way,” Adion said, stepping off the bricked road onto the grass.

“But the arena is that way,” Sell said, tilting her head in confusion.

“I thought we might take the long way,” Adion said with a smile.

Sorry, Aiden and Ailera. I won’t be too long.