Awakening, Dante felt a splitting headache, like there was a hammer inside his skull which haphazardly struck around. Because of that, it took him a good few seconds before he notice Shin shaking his shoulder.

"Do you always slumber like a corpse?" the man asked with his deadpan monotone.

"Only when I would prefer to be one," Dante grunted, touching his head and attempting to sit up only to realise that vertical movement was far too painful to perform.

"To get severe mana strain on the first night of learning magic is rather impressive," Shin observed Dante's scowl and reached a conclusion.

"Mana strain?" Dante repeated, hoping to delay when he would inevitably have to stand up.

"You must have spent the entire night trying for it to be anywhere near this bad. The migraine is what happens when you try to move more mana through your body than it can handle," Shin explained, "Though think of the silver lining: The fact that there was enough mana passing through you to cause this means you are making incredibly quick progress."

"I would rather have my ability to move back," Dante scowled.

"I will go get you some painkillers," Shin decided after watching Null writhe for a few more seconds. Shin returned after what felt like an eternity, bringing some pills, a glass of water and a curious pair of ebony pupils along with the rest of Ariane.

“You are actually not faking it,” she concluded after a few seconds of carefully observing Dante. Shin looked at her after after helping Null take the medicine, outstretching his hand. With a huff, Ariane placed some bills on it and returned her attention to Dante.

“How are you feeling, mana strain is not fun,” she knelt down besides Dante’s bed in an unexpected gesture of kindness.

“Just like when I saw Damien dance yesterday but also with headache,” Null tried to joke.

“That was quite the performance, wasn’t it?” Ariane chuckled as Dante took a glance at her eyes. They should had by all means been terrifying, yet contrary to that, Null felt strangely at easy looking at the dark eyes of his captor, “Close your eyes and try to catch some sleep. It will get better soon.”

Dante did not protest and shut his eyes though he doubted the headache would allow him the respite of slumber. Dante wasn’t even sure Ariane and Shin were still in the room as they spoke no further. After some time of agony, Dante felt a strange pinch at his neck, followed by a strange overwhelming combination of pain and pleasure. Just like the day before, it took over both thought and reason, stealing focus away from everything else, thankfully including the unbearable headache.

Then Dante woke up, realising he had fallen asleep. Once again he hadn’t even noticed when that sensation ended. The headache had mostly receded and the room was deserted. He noticed something attached to the door and stepping closer realised it was a very crudely drawn map of the corridors and a clear arrow signalling where Dante was supposed to head.

Following that trail, Dante backtracked almost all the way to the room where the previous day’s events had taken place, though he took one of the side doors just before it.

“Take this!” the moment he entered a projectile was lobbed in his direction. Almost miraculously, Dante managed to react in time to catch it. The room appeared to be some sort of a small canteen with two large tables and a counter with what appeared to be a buffet. Although Shin and Ariane were not present, the other 3 teenagers were. Currently, the blonde boy, Julian if Dante remembered right, was in the middle of a food fight with the dark-haired Andrew. Meanwhile, the red-headed Katerin desperately attempted to avoid the crossfire. Looking down at his hand, Null realise that what he had caught was a meatball.

“Dante, you are finally here,” because she was less involved, Katerin was the first to notice his entry and looked at him with pleading and hope.

“The sleeping beauty came,” Julian immediately sneered as he saw Dante.

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“I had a headache,” Dante replied and walked around the table, making sure to pass by Julian.

“You seemed completely fine yesterday,” Julian made one more comment before returning to eating rather than throwing the food. Null didn’t pay that snide comment much attention, after all, Dante would not be the one to find a meatball inside his pocket later on in the day. Reaching the counter, he prepared himself a meal of mashed potatoes and meatloaf rather than the meatballs. Acting on Pete’s advice to never do anything that could put him under suspicion for things he had actually done beforehand.

“May I sit here?” he eventually approached Katerin since Julius was less than amicable and Andrew had refused to even look in Dante’s direction ever since he had entered the room.

“Be my guest,” the redhead nodded, closing the book she had just taken back out after the food fight ended.

“So, what do you usually do here during the day?” Dante attempted to break the ice. It was the first time they held a conversation and he frankly knew nothing about the girl beside her specialty in law.

“Classes, or at least something close to it, in the morning,” she explained, “Shin usually takes his time to explain some extremely niche issues of organised crime I never would’ve even thought about, like the time he talked about the complex logistics of blackmailing juries. In the afternoon it’s lessons tailored for each of us by Ariane, sometimes inviting an expert in our field so that we can have some questions. In the evening its self study for me and Andrew while Julian works out with Shin. Now that I think about it, what is your thing?”

“I am a pretty good pickpocket I guess,” Dante answered, trying not to sound too humble or boisterous.

“Then show me,” Katerin’s eyes flared up a bit. Dante glance at Julian in consideration. The boy was probably going to blame him either way with or without evidence, so why not go out in style and impress a girl in the meantime?

“Julian,” Dante called out and the boy looked up from his food frowning. Considering that they were not that far from each other, the other two teens likely clearly overheard the entire conversation, “Your back pocket,”Dante said and gestured.

“What?” Julian was confused, not usually carrying anything in the back pockets of his pants. Though to his surprise, he managed to grab onto something greasy when he reached into one of them. Taking it out for an inspection, he found a slightly squashed meatball with a bit of leftover sauce. When he realised what that meant, Julian went slightly red in the face, part from anger and part from embarrassment about the large stain that would be very visible as soon as he stood up.

“Impressive,” Katerin’s eyes widened a bit and even Adrew took a quick glance at Dante before returning his focus to the food, “I was looking right at you as you passed him but haven’t noticed a thing.”

“I had to earn a living somehow so,” Dante sighed, reminded that in the end he still technically didn’t have an identity, “You on the other hand, you could just study law normally. Why get involved with Damien and this place?”

“My father used to work fo Damien as a lawyer,” she answered the question after taking a moment to consider, “I guess it’s just natural that I follow in his steps. I don’t really think about such things too much. I really just want to learn how to wield the law like my father did, loopholes and everything.”

“What…” Dante was about to follow up when the door creaked and Shin walked in, interrupting their conversation.

“Are you feeling better, Dante?” he asked as soon as he spotted Null.

“Yes,” he nodded, “It’s as though the headache never even was there,” which was actually strange, Dante realised after considering not that long had passed.

“Then you get to show them this,” Shin reached into his pocket, taking out a needle and a matchbox.

“You are still not giving up on that lie?” Julian huffed, “The book is obviously fake,” he claimed, while Andrew and Katerin sharpened their gazes as they looked at the two item in Shin’s hands.

“They gave you that book on your first night?” Katerin asked, slightly puzzled.

“He had actually asked for it,” Shin did not let her wonder, “And unlike you three, Dante might actually have the talent. You know what to do, right?”

“Of course,” Dante took the two items and remembered the passage from the book he had read just the previous day. Carefully he pinched his ring finger and allowed two or three drops to fall before covering the miniature wound with the sticking plaster Shin had provided. Then he took a match out of the matchbox and lit it, staring at the flame for a split second before moving it towards the blood. According to the book, the blood was supposed to evaporate at abnormal speed, instead it was set ablaze. It was like setting flame to pure ethanol. Dante’s blood lit up bright with long tongues of flame before they burned away accompanied by a puff. All that was left behind were a few particles of dark dust.

“That is unexpected,” Shin commented, eternally deadpan.

“Did your blood just burn?” Katerin asked Dante directly, not sure what she had just seen.

“I guess?” Dante was no less confused. Unfortunately, the book did not go into detail as to why the blood was supposed to quickly evaporate, therefore Dante was none the wise as to what had happened.

“Finish your food and come with me,” Shin decided, “It’s best to report this directly to Ariane.”

“Yes,” Dante gulped. Did that mean trouble?