After sprinting at a speed where Saph was aware of her surroundings, Reiki privately activated and used his Telepathy skill to roughly learn the direction that the academy was in. It took a few seconds to get from the open square to the smaller one that sat outside the entrance to the academy. After several wrong turns as he got closer, he came to a stop nearby to gently let Saph down without her feeling embarrassed.

However, Saph was delighted to have experienced such a thrilling ride through the city. Her hair looked like she hadn’t combed it in weeks. It wasn’t until after asking a young-looking Beastal wolf-woman strutting by for a comb, that it eventually looked presentable for an academy student.

‘Okay, thank you and sorry for borrowing it.’ Saph apologised to the woman, who giggled and bowed slightly with a palm to her stomach in return.

‘Haha, I don’t mind at all.’ The woman replied cheerfully. ‘I’m not the only one who struggled with bad hair after someone has sped past me. Forgive me, but I need to get back from my break. Was nice to meet you two though, the name’s Zofha, Zofha Evyns, but most people give me the nickname of Sofa as it’s easier to say and my place has sofas in it, haha!’ She rambled in a bubbly but friendly manner, then did the opposite of hastily skipping away in her knee-length egg-white dress with orange floral embroidery, and stopped at what looked like a café entrance with the first rotating door Reiki had seen since his arrival in Froesé.

‘It’s nice to meet you, Zofha.’ Reiki and Saph responded simultaneously, with Saph calling “Dupe!” on Reiki, who assumed it was this world's version of the “Jinx!” back in his old world.

‘Say, I hear there’s a warm patch of weather coming in next week. Feel free to pop into my café if it gets too hot for you two!’ She added over her shoulder in a raised, bubbly tone, before registering the two adventurers standing behind Reiki and laughed as the spinning entrance closed behind her.

‘Well, now my hair is fine, let’s go.’ She said, after a check of the hair around her pointy ears and looped her arm around his as they walked onto the campus.

Unbeknownst to Sapphire, Reiki was mentally sweating bullets at the fact that this girl was so brazenly entering his body space. Yet, he didn’t have that anxious want to pull away like he used to in his previous body. He just couldn’t put a finger on it, but during or since his reincarnation, maybe something within him had secretly been changed. He then let that thought drift into the winds of his mindscape, as he was slightly dragged into the academy grounds.

‘Okay, so I won’t overload or do that one-sided thing with you–’ she started to say, as she slowed her walking speed.

‘That’s called monologuing.’ Reiki unexpectedly replied bluntly, as they slowed to a stroll.

‘Yes, that.’ She said, as she unlinked their arms and she clasped her hands behind her. ‘Anyway, to cut things short, one of the last things we need to do is get you enrolled.’ She turned towards a large, ornate door at the end of their travel across the academy grounds and knocked three times.

Reiki had gone silent at the thought of requiring an education, as he didn’t know what this world’s customs were when it came to that. He hazarded a mental guess and decided to just go with it, as Saph brought him into the room behind the large door. Upon entering, the two of them came across a fairly vacant room, excluding a deep mahogany-skinned demon with a single horn and an elven woman both in a plain, knee-length skirt and pale-sky-blue jacket.

‘Excuse me, Miss,’ Saph spoke up, getting both of them to peek over. ‘I’d like to help my friend here get enrolled at the academy… Sorry for barging in, It’s kinda important.’ She added, making the Demon lady who’d looked back down to look back up again.

‘’ The demon mumbled in their native language, before immediately switch to the one required on Lyscian Academy’s grounds. ‘You’d like to help him enroll here? He’d have to take the entrance exams to get an education here.’ The demon woman monotonously replied, sliding up her circular glasses along the bridge of her nose and crossing her arms.

‘’ The Elvan woman spoke up as she came over, catching Vaerlyna, the demon woman, off-guard before slapping the demon’s shoulder lightly and turning to Reiki and Saph with a gentle widening of their lips. ‘Let’s see if we can find you a time-slot to take part. Follow me.’

Without further questions, Saph released her grip on Reiki and walked beside him as they followed after the Elvan woman. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was a good sight for him to take note of all the various places he could spot on their jaunt with the teacher.

‘I forgot to mention, the rude scholar back there was Professor Feyluc.’ The Elvan woman spoke after a while, as they approached a large, ebony door. ‘She’s a bit of a jerk at times, but she means well for a demon. Her teaching methods are normal, calm and professional despite her demeanour. I’m Professor Serrin, I’m a Witch Scholar of Wind Magic. I also go by they, them. Just give me one minute, whilst I check for available time slots.’ Professor Serrin added, as they entered the room but held up a finger to keep us from entering.

‘Uhm, Sapphire…’ He spoke, his voice shaking a little as he turned to his Beastal companion.

‘Yeah?’ She quickly replied, and turned to look at him.

‘What’s a Witch Scholar?’ He asked, feeling slightly clueless.

‘...You’re kidding! Everyone knows what a witch is!’ She giggled, before realising he had a clueless look on his face after opening her eyes. ‘You're not… kidding… Okay, so I’ll say this quickly. After you’ve completed the final year of an Academy, male-oriented people can become Wizards and female-oriented people become Witches. If I remember correctly, I believe anyone outside of those main genders can pick either title. Although, I heard a rumour this system might be altered or removed if the Scholars go on strike at any moment.’ She added, as the door creaked open and Professor Serrin stepped out.

‘The young man is able to take one entrance exam slot tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, there are a few dorm rooms on the academy grounds that haven’t seen much use lately.’ The professor told them.

Just as Saph was about to answer, Markus and Sofya appeared from the corner of the hallway and spotted the three of them chatting. It didn’t take long for them to help solidify the afternoon slot, just in case Reiki himself forgot to attend. As it was approaching a lunch period, Sapphire persuaded him to eat with her as they headed to a cafeteria.

The two of them sat near what looked like a dirt-covered arena with Markus, whilst Sofya went to talk with Professor Serrin. Reiki was in the hands of Sapphire, as she guided him verbally through how the academy grounds were laid out. Mainly using straw stems for walls, taken from a practice dummy filled with straw and small pebbles to represent the people. Using a small but sturdy twig from a nearby tree, she was able to draw areas that couldn’t be easily mapped with the straw pieces.

‘So this is the court, which we entered from over here. I’ve already shown you how to get to one of the Sanctuary Rooms that our scholars store most of their physical classwork in. Over here is…’ She continued, helping him try to remember where everything was again. ‘...and we’re currently here in the training grounds along the edge that connects to the dining area. Please tell me you can remember all that.’ She groaned teasingly, as she peeked at him between her pinky and ring finger with her hand on her face in mock pain.

‘Har har, I think I remember most of it now.’ He replied, grinning at her behaviour.

Even Markus had a small curl on the side of his mouth as he nibbled on a crumbly piece of bread topped with a small, glistening, amber sauce. The two teenagers had easily scoffed theirs down when he brought them out from the dining area. Reiki was surprised that they allowed his temporary guardian to bring the snacks out for them. Markus had then told him that he once studied for three years at this academy before he transitioned to becoming an adventurer.

‘Hey, Reiki,’ Saph spoke as she laid back onto the patch of grass beside him. ‘What do you remember of your childhood? I hope you don’t mind me prying… I’m just curious.’ He lay back beside her, his smile wavered as he thought of what to say.

‘I… I’m sorry. It’s a touchy past.’ he replied after a minute of silence, trying to think of what he could tell her.

‘It’s okay, Tell me when you’re ready to.’ She replied with a gentle smile, as they now sat in silence.

They both watched a few bird-like creatures fly overhead as the deep blue sky became overcast with a thin layer of cloud. Each bird had two or three long single-feathers in their tails as they circled, weaved and danced through the air above them. The two of them just lay there, until Professor Serrin walked out with a man that Reiki thought looked oddly familiar, but slimmer than the person he mentally pictured. They were a little on the short side, like the dwarves he’d seen before, who looked more human-like, but still shorter than the other races.

‘This is our Head Scholar and Headmaster, Orinko Hyroel. He’d like to take a look at your Entrance Exam into our academy.’ Professor Serrin spoke, with a gesture to the short man. ‘He’d like to see how well you can perform.’ They added as their tail swished slowly, a subtle squint of their eyes appearing as they shifted their gaze to the young boy beside one of their potentially upcoming students.

‘So, my friend would be able to enrol here, then? I think he’s planning to become an adventurer.’ Sapphire said, her tail swishing side-to-side energetically as she brought a finger to her chin.

‘I believe that there’s a chance for an open slot today, if the young boy would like to have a practice session. Please call me Headmaster Hyre or just Sir when we’re in the presence of other students and Scholars. Can you do that for me?’ He winked with a warm and open smile.

‘Remember to be there at noon.’ Professor Serrin stated quickly, before turning to the Headmaster.

Before Orinko could return to his office, Reiki gasped when he finally remembered a letter on his person. However, it required a few strong pokes from Sapphire for him to remember he had it. In a haste to pull it out, he fumbled and it gently whipped and spun through the air away from him. A little oopsie on his behalf.

The letter rolled slowly towards a small grate, taking a good 2 seconds of flight before Reiki snatched it out of the air, his position in real time suddenly snapping to the side by a foot just before the fast whump of air blew at everyone's clothing except his own. A few sparks of green electricity quickly fading into the air before anyone could notice them.

‘Wha…?’ Professor Serrin gasped, as they had been watching the letter fly towards the grate, only to see it vanish just before a somewhat mild wall of air blew against them.

‘Oh right, you couldn’t see him, could you?’ Sapphire giggled whilst patting down her hair, then her dress. ‘Reiki-kun has a really cool ability!’ Her mouth widened and the corners rose as she placed her hand into his left shoulder.

‘Hm. Ray-key, was it? What a peculiar name…’ Orinko noted, stroking his round, bushy beard as his eyes darted to the ceiling briefly. ‘I think you’ll like it here. Come, let me personally guide you to the exam rooms first.’ Orinko added, his mouth gently widened and showed a surprisingly healthy set of white teeth as he closed his eyes with an air of patience, turning back to the teenage boy and getting a sigh of contempt from Professor Serrin.

‘Hear that, Reiki-kun?’ Saph said as she bounced on the balls of her feet, making her tail swish even harder as they began their group walk with Headmaster Hyre.

Saph’s wide grin stayed for the entire walk, with a very faint rosy tint every time she looked at Reiki. Sofya had been silent this entire time, keeping an eye on the two teenagers during the entire conversation, and noticed how he hadn’t said a single word in the entire interaction.

‘Sapphire, could I chat with you quickly?’ Sofya spoke up, grabbing the wolf-girl’s attention with a snap of her head as she stepped away from her latest friend slightly.

‘Sure thing,’ She smiled as she turned to him, and squeezed his hand. ‘I’ll be back soon.’ She winked and quickly sidestepped over to Sofya.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

As soon as she did that, Sofya put a small gap between them and Reiki, with the two Scholars of Magic on either side of him. Sapphire then noticed that Markus was by Sofya’s side as well, so lowered her expression down from her bubbly attitude down to the

‘What’s up?’ Her smile weakened when she heard what Sofya had to say next.

‘While I think he silently appreciates your excitement, I think that you should allow him to offer some input of his own without your help.’ Markus nodded in agreement with a grunt at Sofya’s comment from the other side of the female adventurer.

‘... Fine.’ She huffed. ‘But I–’

‘No but’s. You need to let him speak more.’ Sofya reminded her once again.

Being attuned to the two beside him, Reiki was unaware of Sapphire’s quiet admonishment behind him as he learnt about the surrounding academy grounds. Sapphire increased her pace and sidled up beside the boy in question.

‘How… How long does the exam… last?’ He said, leaving pauses in his words as he slumped his shoulders. ‘I just… I don’t want it to take too long. My attention may be easily … distracted.’ He added, as they came across a set of doors with a different design and size to the other, more common designs nearby.

‘The exam shouldn’t take all that long. I know some who completed the boring bits over several hours, but you should do fine.‘ Replied Orinko, a sly grin etched across his face.

‘I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine.’ Professor Serrin added themselves, as they entered the room.

It took Reiki by surprise when the six of them entered, the brown noise of voices that flowed towards them reduced in volume as they entered. Before anything could stop a majority of students from staring at him, both Professor Serrin and Orinko took to what looked like a raised platform that hadn’t been there before. Two of the teachers and Professor Serrin guided Reiki to a row of seats just to the side of the platform, as Sapphire was guided away with a bit of insistence by a scholar.

‘Students, as we all know by now, this year will be the time for some to leave and others to continue their studies. Like how a butterfly flies, we have no idea what path each of us truly takes, but we will be there to support their interests.’ His intonations that raised and lowered as he spoke almost matched with the other fictional character Reiki was familiar with. ‘Any today, we have a new student.’

Murmurs echoed into the chamber when he gestured towards the young teen, who looked around a little, startled at being called out. In the seated crowed, Sapphire couldn’t stop her fingers from grabbing her casual clothes on her knees. She felt both underdressed amongst her classmates and anxious for Reiki. She watched him take a slow sequence of steps towards the stage, catching snippets of the whispers from the boys and girls around her.

‘Who is he?’/’I’ve not seen him before.’ A Beastal girl and a Demon boy whispered, but not quiet enough.

‘Does he think coming here is a joke?’ One boy sneered, a few seats to her left and a row behind hers. ‘I can’t sense any magic coming from him at all.’

‘Why don’t I sense any type of combat experience from him?’ One of the human kids said right in front her, who then shuddered right when she snapped her eyes to him.

She couldn’t help but worry about him being picked on. Especially after she learned that if the truth about him got out, she wouldn’t be able to keep most of the rumours as rumours.

‘Sapphire, do you know who he is? I saw you walk in with him.’ A girl with pigtails in hand-dyed pale-lime and pale-cyan colours asked her, when she noticed how focused Sapphire was on him. ‘Wait, Saph?! You’re back?!’ She added, keeping her voice down.

The young wolf-girl didn’t know what she could say to her friend, as Reiki took to the stage beside Headmaster Hyroel. All she could do was a gentle nod of her head a few times. The volume of the chatter lowered as the Head Scholar raised a hand until it was far enough over his head that everyone calmed down.

‘That’s enough for now, everyone.’ He said calmly. ‘I think it would be best to let him join us this coming term. Please remember to be nice to him, he’s also very new to our city.’ He added, earning a few more but louder murmurs from the crowd of seated students.

Sapphire’s ears fell sideways as she watched Reiki standing awkwardly on the stage. His outfit giving him a hint of nobility, despite not being a Noble of any kind. With it being passed on to him from Princess Aerys, he hadn’t quite thought of how long he’d been wearing it. Headmaster Orinko continued to address the room about the upcoming exams to take place and a few other things that Reiki had already begun to tune out as he did his best to stand with respect a few feet behind him.

‘This is making me feel so nervous, just standing here.’ He thought to himself, as he tried to locate Sapphire in the crowd from the stage. ‘The collar is also getting a little itchy…’ He added, as he reached up and itched the nape of his neck.

Out in the crowd, Sapphire caught him itching his neck. She had no idea her classmate beside her was trying to ask her questions, but they weren’t coming though clearly enough as she focused on him. After the students started to leave, Sapphire carefully made her way through the crowd, as the pigtailed girl followed behind her. It didn’t take long for the room to be devoid of students as they all headed off to classes. Enough had left the room for it to become more comfortable to him. Which allowed Reiki to release the tension and anxiety held in his shoulders, and his posture.

‘You okay?’ Sapphire said, approaching him as her eyes followed Reiki as he left the stage behind the Headmaster.

‘...Yeah.’ He replied, his gaze downcast as his eyes avoided hers, and those of everyone else.

‘Well, I saw you up there looking overwhelmed, but you survived. That’s what matters.’ She added, when a hand reached up and held her shoulder. ‘Oh, right.’ He looked up and saw both girls standing in front of him.

‘Sapphire, do you know him?’ The human girl spoke, as she tilted her head with her eyelids closing a little and her mouth widening into a cheeky grin.

The wolf-girl Beastal, without missing a beat, replied a bit too fast to her classmate.

‘Yeah, I do know him.’ Her ears flattened a bit and tilted backwards down the sides of her head as she turned towards the. ‘Why? What’s this about, Elysia?’ She added, as Reiki saw an eyebrow on the side of her face towards him twitch.

‘If so, you’ve gotta tell me the full story. I am glad you’re back though.’ Her voice lulled to a calmer tone before she turned to him, face-to-face. ‘Hi there, I’m Elysia Lunabelle, of the Lunabelle family. Close friends call me Elle.’ She held out a hand, palm down, towards him.

To the surprise of everyone but Sapphire and the two adventurers, his hand reached out with a soft touch around her fingers and bent over enough to place her knuckles against his forehead. A second later. He released her hand, then spoke. It was as if he could detect her nobility, which nobody had told him about.

‘I’m… I’m Reiki Honoka. It’s a plh-pleasure to meet you, Miss Elysia.’ He looked at Sapphire, opening a telepathic connection with her. [Saph, did you tell her anything about me?] He projected, not giving away the sudden mental intrusion he sent to her.

[Uhm… No, not yet. But I can do it while you get ready for the exam.] She replied with a very small flinch of her head away from him, an eye flinched closed for a short moment before she turned towards her classmate. ‘Reiki can catch up with us later, I’ll fill you in on what’s happened since I got kidnapped.’ Sapphire said to Elysia as she smiled, an apologetic frown on her face, before she looked away from him.

He disconnected their minds early enough to miss her surface thoughts entirely. With her ears now less flat than before, but with a slight glow on her cheeks he didn’t notice, she turned Elysia around. She then pushed her back for a few feet before they started to converse while walking out of the door together. Several young adults entered with an alternate outfit to the others as they both left.

‘I’ll be right back.’ Professor Serrin said, as they walked towards the students and started to move all the seats around.

Some of the older students had started using magic to alter the appearances of the wooden chairs into conjoined tables. This surprised Reiki, as he’d never seen a room change from a stage-like setup into a classroom in such a short time.

‘We’ll sit outside the room, just to make sure nothing distracts you.’ Sofya said, which made him jump a little.

‘Sorry, I’d almost forgotten you were there, uh… Sofya.’ He said, after letting a long breath flow from him. ‘I take it this is all for the written section of the exam?’ He asked, his head swivelled towards Headmaster Orinko.

‘Why, yes. We have both written test in this section of the exam.’ He replied, a gentle smile spread across his features. ‘Then the combat training is either in the event arena outside, or over at the Guild’s indoor arena. It doesn’t usually matter what order you do them in though, as long as it’s all done within the allocated time.’ He added, stroking his beard after a few hairs flung free from it.

‘I see…’ Reiki muttered to himself, his eyes defocused as they finished setting up the room.

It didn’t take long before some outfitted and casually dressed people older and younger than him entered the room. The headmaster had told him that they host everybody for each of the various exams together. He was positioned sat near the back, where the new entries were mostly situated for this first exam. Looking at the notes before him, he realised some of the contents was rather easy before the allocated time had even started.

Despite being seated at the back of the room, he could clearly hear the headmaster’s voice chime out just as loud as when he was beside him on the stage. However, his voice had a quick reduction in volume as he spoke with each step off the stage. All while engaging conversation with Professor Serrin. After he left, Professor Serrin got up on the stage and exclaimed to the room that “the first phase of the exam shall now commence” before they took off with a dash of speed to their steps.

‘So the stage isn’t just there for show?’ He thought to himself, as he got stuck into the papers. ‘At least my Auto-Translate skill helps with reading the questions.’ He paid no attention to the other young races around him, as he focused on the exam.

The first few pages caught him off guard. Despite expecting things from his world like maths, history and written works. His exam sheets asked questions with a deep focus on economy, living expenses, adventuring and loot analysis. He found himself knowing quite a lot about healthy living, due to his experience in a more developed world that he’d been in for a majority of his previous life.

He was a bit surprised at the quill and ink that had been sat on his allocated desk space, but after a bit of practice, he could use it. After reaching the end of the first stack of questions, he noticed others were all scratching their heads and weren’t even past the third page. He then noticed everyone was moving a little slower than he expected and realised he’d answered the questions at superspeed.

It was unintentional, but it was too late to undo now. After he placed the quill back in the pot and leant back, something up by whom he assumed was the adjudicator blinked on what looked to him like a stone tablet. He noticed Professor Serrin had left without him even noticing. He couldn’t quite remember their name, but for him, the scholar looked similar to the previous professor. Despite having big, circular glasses and her hair half in a bun and a single-sided pigtail.

He hadn’t looked up all the way, but after performing a tiny surface scan of their mind, he soon learned what the stone tablet was. The Scholar was reflecting on how handy the artifact was. The supposed stone tablet from his view was in reality a dark crystal artifact, which was designed to detect when someone at a desk was either procrastinating or distracted. How this was a good technique discovered and developed by an Elvan Scholar of Null Magic from several years back.

Reiki had intended to put his hand up to signify he was done, but the surface scan with his Telepathy skill had informed him otherwise. Disconnecting his skill, he looked over as they looked up from the device. With a surprised raise of their eyebrows, they picked up a stack of paper in from of them after sorting through it and replaced his finished one with them. It didn’t take long for him to realise how difficult these were in comparison to the earlier paper, and he was tempted to use an ability.

‘Maybe I should reach out… no, it might be considered cheating if they might know about my skills already.’ He admonished himself, as he was stuck on one particular question about knowing how dungeons can form or spawn. ‘I can just ask Saph or one of the… uh. .. oh right, the Scholars later about all this stuff.’ He added, as he started to go through these much harder questions he had no idea about whilst trying to remember the official profession title for the staff member.

With his small knowledge of anime and manga, he could only get so far. Yet, he managed to get through these final pages of exam questions. Despite being an early finisher of the previous paper, he consciously reminded himself to not race through them and with his extra time, he was the antepenultimate person to finish his second and final exam paper. Once everyone was done, the Scholar stood up and addressed the room.

‘Thank you for taking the allocated time for your written exams. When I call out your previous year, please stand up together and grab any personal items from the storage box by the door on your way out.’ They said from the raised platform, the monotonous yet strangely energetic tone felt weird and alien to him for the character of the person on the Stage.

He waited for his group to be called up in an orderly fashion. However, on his way out, professor Serrin stepped back in with Headmaster Orinko and as in a big surprise for Reiki, Ren Murrows had joined them as well.

‘So, Reiki.’ Ren said, a hint of concern laced into his voice that already had a slight wobble of worry to it. ‘I got a small bit of time to help them understand your condition. Do you mind staying back for a brief interview?’ He added, as the group of them became the last people to be standing in the room itself.

‘...What for?’ He replied, feeling his heart starting to thump faster in his chest as his hands started to shake.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll let Miss Simona join you. It’s just a precaution, seeing how you’re a unique case after visiting the Guild earlier to test for your aptitude.’ Ren said with an upbeat tone, as Professor Serrin spoke some words Reiki couldn’t make out and the room was covered in a golden glow. ‘Don’t worry, Sapphire can enter while nobody else can.’

After a short while, his friend entered the room and the adults all noticed him visibly relax. With the furniture moved around, the interview was soon ready to start. They did make an exception for the adventurers Sofya and Markus to be present and as a surprise for Reiki himself, Sapphire didn’t speak a word for him once the interview was under way. He was glad to have someone to rely on by his side if he ever got stuck on a question.

Now he just had to get through the interview without ruining his backstory.