“Is that… is that eggs, bacon and… pancakes?” Max looked at his plate with such intense confusion, it could easily have been mistaken for disgust, which was exactly the way Akiko took his reaction to the breakfast she made him.

“If you don’t want it, make your own breakfast next time!” She puffed her cheeks in anger, though unable to hide the warmth of crimson embarrassment that bloomed across her face.

“No, that’s not it.” Max held up his hands in a show of pacifism. “It's just surprising. It was very sweet of you to make breakfast for me.”

Jin eyed his sister strangely from his seat. It was unusual of her to behave so bashfully with anyone else. She wasn’t even this way with her parents.

“It's a really fatty breakfast,” Jin glumly eyed his own plate.

“You two should just… ‘suck a batty’!” she exclaimed, causing Max to burst out laughing, to Jin’s chagrin.

“Akiko, no,” Jin frowned at his sister’s use of would-be profanity.

“That’s not how you say it,” Max said with a hefty chuckle.

Akiko’s face turned an even brighter red as she pouted in frustration.

“I just wanted to make you a nice breakfast!” she cried as she ran to the front door and quickly made an exit.

Max and Jin shared a lamentful look, though the amusement on each of their faces was quite clear to see.

“She didn’t do all this for me, did she?” Max asked.

“I don’t really like indulging much in fatty foods,” Jin said, unable to hide his irritation. He was strangely jealous that his little sister went out of her way for their new guest, though he supposed it was better than her resenting the fact that Max was there at all.

“She definitely made all this for you,” Jin bitterly took a bite of his pancakes.

Damn, and it tastes really good too, he thought.

“Ha, maybe she’s tryna kill us by chubbing us up,” Max raised an eyebrow with a slight smile. Just because he wasn’t from Japan, didn’t mean he enjoyed such a particularly American styled dish.

The two ate in a less tense silence than what they had shared the morning before. Once again, Max ate a little more heartily than Jin, who could feel the food going straight to his heart, slowly clogging up the valves that kept his blood pumping. At the front door, Jin reminded Max that they’d be breaking the law if they teleported, and that they’d be taking the train again.

“If you don’t wanna get strange looks, maybe tidy up your uniform so you don’t look like a thug to everyone,” Jin chided.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a real nag for an eighteen-year-old kid?” Max asked in a bitter tone.

On the train, they were stared at, exactly as Jin feared. Somehow, it felt worse than before, because Max was now wearing a prestigious uniform… quite shabbily. Most of the students at the academy were really wealthy, so not only was the public not accustomed to seeing a student of such a prestigious institution making use of cheap public transportation, it was also doubly strange for one of those students to be a foreigner.

“We really could have just teleported, you know?” Max complained.

“Will you lower your voice?” Jin said sharply, looking around the carriage to see if anyone suddenly took an interest in their conversation.

“I’m just saying,” Max said in a loud, hoarse whisper.

“You can teleport all you want at the academy!” Jin whispered at an equal level, if not a little more loudly.

“It's boring when everyone else is doing it.”

“Not everyone can do it,” Jin admitted sombrely.

“I can’t help that you’re useless.”

Jin’s head dropped sullenly in defeat.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Max spoke normally again, causing Jin to perk up at attention. “What took you so long to get to the seminar room yesterday?”

“I went back for my bag and kind of ran into Natsuno.”

“Was she being creepy as all hell with you too?” Max's voice rose excitably.

“I wouldn’t say creepy.” Jin thought about the right words. “Maybe a little overly assertive, and surprisingly intrusive.”

“Oh, so she was all up in your business?” Max nodded his head with a suggestive smile.

“Not mine. Yours,” Jin flatly rejected whatever thoughts Max had in mind.

“Oh, hell. What does that stoney-eyed ice queen want from me?”

“For one thing, she knows you’re not from the Masayoshi guild.”

“That seems unlikely. Maybe she read it off one of us? You think one of the higher-ups spilled?” Max’s tone hid any unease he felt. What was she gonna do? Send him home as punishment? She’d be doing him, and everyone else, a huge favour.

“I don’t know, but she does. She says there are no Scions from the Masayoshi guild.”

“That is what the Chancellor said.”

“Yes, but even he didn’t so confidently deny the possibility,” Jin answered pensively. “She seems to have a lot more knowledge about the Scions than we do.”

“You think she’s in cahoots with the Chancellor?”

“If she were, he would have told me so that I didn’t get in her way. Her problem seems a bit more personal. She really seems to have it in for you,” Jin warned Max. “In a way that makes her act very aggressively, which is quite contrary to what seems to be her normal demeanour.”

“You’ve got that right.”

There were certainly times when Natsuno Haruki from Mahō No Gakusei would act out in some unusual or aggressive manner, but it was usually with an enemy, or at those times when the plot was forcing some sort of drama between the characters. This act of hers was new territory, an unnecessary complication in an already messy plot of events.

"Though, I guess it's my fault. I told her off before class started,” Max’s tone sounded slightly regretful, but Jin couldn’t be sure.

“Max, I told you to play nice.”

“I can’t help it! I can’t stand people gawking at me, but she thinks she’s entitled to stare through us like fucking plexiglass as if we’re not even really there. It's so creepy and condescending. It pisses me off,” Max shook his head annoyedly. “On top of that, it definitely doesn't help that she’s reading the mind of every person she stares at.”

“Wait, what?” Jin’s eyes widened.

“I mean, I know I was doing it too for some time, but she’s going full-on Professor X. It just feels so… unsettling.”

“But how do you know?” Jin shook his head in confusion.

“Those stupid goddamn glasses. They enhance her telepathic abilities.”

Jin’s expression grew pensive as he thought for a minute.

“Well, that would certainly explain a lot. How did you figure that out?” Jin remembered her quieting him telepathically at their class orientation. He never had any intention of addressing it, though her recent less-than-civil behaviour added a level of discomfort to the idea that she may have been peering into his mind for the entire time that they’ve shared a classroom.

“Because,” Max ranted, “they were just as annoying when they were used as a blatant plot device to create drama between you and her in the anime. Apparently, she doesn’t like ‘feeling vulnerable’,” he gestured exaggeratedly with air quotes. “So she wears the glasses to make sure she stays one step ahead of everyone around her. Talk about calling the kettle black.”

“I figured they were some kind of amulet. No mage has worn spectacles out of necessity for decades. I never imagined she would be so… well, creepy, as you say.”

“As far as I’m concerned, in the show, those glasses were always just some contrived plot point. If you wanna peer into people’s minds, don’t act so goddamn condescending about it. You’re not better than anyone just ‘cause you gave yourself some advantage over them.”

“I worry that you’re confusing this person in the show with someone who you’ve never even given a chance. Have you asked her, the real Natsuno, why she wears the glasses? Have you actually considered why she might feel the need to avoid feeling vulnerable? Maybe she has a reason.”

“The reason is unimportant. It was a dumb plot device then, and it’s only that much creepier now.” Max looked up to see that they were getting close to their destination.

“Yes, but this is a real person you’re dealing with this time, Max,” Jin said sternly. “With a real life, real problems, and a real past. You can’t just discard those things because of some show from your world. You ought to give her the benefit of the doubt before you go lashing out at her.”

Max remained quiet, not offering any sign of being bothered by Jin’s reasoning, though his mistakes were clear to him. Once again, Max seemed to conflate his feelings towards the anime with the reality that stood before him. For all he knew, her reason for reading everyone’s mind in reality may have been completely different from what it was in the show, just as his being there has made all of Jin’s university experiences quite different from what they would have been had Max never appeared.

He didn’t know Natsuno Haruki, not the real person at least. But he pretended he did, and partially took out on her what he had felt towards the anime character, who was clearly not the same person as the one he was dealing with in Yōsaishima. To some extent, it was hard to deny their similarities, but reality, where reactions and emotions were fluid and less predictable than they were in a story, made them distinct enough that Max should have known better than to impose his preconceived notions onto her, which was the same mistake he had made with Jin.

***

When Max and Jin reached the academy, Dr Mashima was waiting on the ground floor with folded arms. She smiled at them and told them to make their way to the back exit of the faculty building. She pointed them in the right direction and, upon reaching the exit, they were both equally surprised at the scale of the Scion faculty’s span.

The back of the faculty building was made up of a large courtyard, with healthy-looking grass covering all of the ground between the building and the large wall that closed off this part of the academy grounds from the outside world. Max had never noticed just how hidden the faculty was till he saw this exterior wall, which seemed abnormally large for an education institution.

In the middle of the courtyard was a large, circular, white-tiled platform, which was surrounded with large, roofed pavilions. The stands must have been a new addition, because they clashed with the serenity of the courtyard, and seemed quite disconnected from the building itself, forming a crude, makeshift stadium with the platform at the centre.

Jin and Max took a seat at the edge of the nearest pavilion, closest to the exit. It seemed that they were the last to arrive. Due to the small size of the class in comparison to the seating area on offer, there was an overabundance of space between all the seated students.

Jin saw Hitomi sitting at the opposite end of the courtyard and offered a wave. She struck a fighting pose in her seat, which visibly threw Jin off, causing her considerable amusement. She waved back cheerfully in response to his awkward reaction.

“These seats are a lot uglier than they looked in the show,” Max said with a tone of disappointment.

“Wait, so this was in the show too?” Jin looked up at Max in surprise, who was seated one row above him. “So you know the outcome then?”

“You wanna know who wins?” Max smiled slyly.

“Uh… N-No,” Jin laughed nervously. “I guess it’s better to wait and see. I think everyone should get a fair chance to see the outcome as it happens.”

Mashima walked up to the centre of the platform and looked around at all the faces. Some looked unsurprisingly nervous. Some were calm, like Haruki and Akira’s faces. Some were determined, like that of Brighton’s. Others were just annoying to look at, like Tenebri’s.

“Good, you’re all here.” Her voice, clearly enhanced, boomed out and was clear for everyone to hear. Surprisingly, despite all the empty space that there was in the courtyard, there was no echo.

“I must apologise for the small size of the tournament area. We were supposed to use the campus stadium, but some things came up that caused a change in plans.” She unashamedly looked in Jin and Max’s direction at this last statement.

“Allow me to ensure that this is a safe environment. I know how… destructive… some of these competitions can get.”

She raised her hands skyward and closed her eyes. Muttering something quietly, she opened them as a bright green stream of light shot from her hands up into the air. Above the platform, the light diverged in several directions, all coming down in an arch and surrounding the ground around the ring. By the time the last of the light had shone into the air, a filmy, transparent, barely visible dome had formed above the platform, covering it, and all of the ground around it.

“This barrier will ensure no stray magic hurts anyone in the audience. Additionally, only those who I permit through will be able to enter the ring’s perimeter, so don’t get too antsy and try to jump into an ongoing fight. You will be immediately disqualified,” Mashima stated firmly.

“Now, the rules are simple. If you touch the ground outside of the ring, or are rendered unable to continue the fight, you lose. This also means that depleting all of your stamina will result in an immediate victory for your opponent. So try to conserve your power and control your flow, like we’ve been learning. Fighting hard is good and well, but it's time for some of you to learn to use those brains of yours,” she looked around with a smile.

“Be aware that there is a medic on site in our training room, and you’re allowed to go up to get healed at any time. Also note that if you miss your name being called to engage in battle, you will be disqualified, so use your time wisely. At the same time, that doesn’t mean I need any corpses on the ring. Try to avoid the really advanced stuff. In fact, stick to Elemancy and Mana Augmentation as much as you can.”

Jin looked around curiously, wondering what Mashima considered to be ‘advanced’ among a group of first years. There was barely a change in the expressions of those around him, save for some who seemed somewhat disappointed. They weren’t taught exceptionally powerful offensive spells in high school, and the most unique spells that might set them apart are the ones inherited from their family or guild, and even those wouldn’t all be particularly useful in a fight. Though, it wasn’t unlikely that many other students, like himself, made the effort to learn spells on their own or from tutors. Some may even have learned techniques specifically for their martial arts.

Considering this thought, he realised the stakes were a little higher than he’d accounted for, and suddenly he was somewhat grateful that they weren’t necessarily being allowed to go all out.

“Now,” Mashima continued, “I believe each of you have received the message updating you on who you will be fighting against.”

Upon hearing this, everyone took out their cell phones. Max, who of course had none, glanced around to see some rather fancy mobiles. Most of the class had extraordinarily extravagant models in comparison to Jin’s very standard touch screen. He would even go so far as to say he was surprised Jin wasn’t a flip phone user. That seemed far more in line with his character.

“One last thing before we start. Any enhancement totems, save for your rings, will not be allowed in the tournament. So remove them before you enter the ring.”

She paused for a moment, and no one seemed to reach for anything on their person. Not even Natsuno.

“Will our first two competitors please approach the platform?”

Mashima walked towards the middle pavilion and sat in the centre row.

Apprehensively, Hitomi and a male student stood up and approached the platform. The young man was quite tall, with hair as equally blonde as hers. They both looked determined, though Hitomi was noticeably more nervous.

|“You got this, Hayate!”|

|“They’re both so beautiful.”|

|“You’ve got this, sweet sweet foreign honey!”|

The crowd was rather vocal, and the other student, Hayate, smiled at his supportive friends and gave them an endearing thumbs up. The two got onto the platform at opposing ends. Jin and Max couldn’t see the other student’s face, but could clearly see Hitomi’s expression turn fierce.

“Now, the first match of the Scion tournament commences,” Mashima called out. “Hayate Yotsuka vs Hitomi Brighton. Fighters, are you ready?”

The two opponents nodded their heads. Hitomi didn’t take her eyes off her opponent for a single second, while Hayate turned to nod at Mashima directly.

“Begin!”

“Forgive me,” said Hayate. “I’m not prone to attacking those of the fairer sex, but I won’t be holding back.”

Hitomi smiled bitterly.

“I would hate it if you did.”

The young man took an offensive stance. A trickle of electricity sparked at his fingertips before full masses of electric energy began to orbit in vibrant, volatile patterns in his hands. They buzzed noisily and shot little sparks at the platform, leaving little burns and scuffs at his feet. He crouched slightly, and, like a slingshot, dashed up towards Hitomi at an impressive speed. A speed Max was sure he couldn’t physically keep up with if he tried.

Hitomi’s eyes produced a gold glow, as she quickly and gracefully leapt into the air above him, causing him to crank up his head and send the two masses of Lightning hurtling at her in two solid electric beams. They looked similar to ki blasts Max had seen before, and his eyes widened in excitement at the sight.

Holy shit, this is the real deal!

Despite the magic he had already seen so far, nothing seemed to compare in aesthetic to the lightning beams Hayate had sent into the sky. Their ephemeral, yet almost violent nature, struck a chord with the otaku in Max, and he had to break his gaze away from how cool they looked to remind himself who he was rooting for.

Manifesting a force of wind, Hitomi propelled herself to the side, dodging Hayate’s attack which instead hit the invisible wall some distance above the platform.

Landing lithely on her feet, Hitomi threw herself forward using wind once again, pushing herself through the air within striking range of her opponent, who was preparing another mass of electric energy.

Dodging another beam at an extremely close distance (which provoked a hefty ‘Whoa!” from the rest of the class), Hitomi, with breath-taking grace and form, grabbed the attacker’s outstretched arm and flipped him off his feet. The blond landed with a thud, and before he could respond, Hitomi’s free hand clenched down on his face, releasing a mass of electric energy of its own.

The opponent’s body jolted as she sent the current through him, long enough to put an end to his struggle and cause his body to become eerily limp. She raised her hand slowly, checking for activity from the enemy. When she was confident he was out cold, she stood up and straightened out her skirt with a cheerful smile.

“That’s a victory for Miss Brighton,” Mashima called out with an arm stretched out in Hitomi’s direction. There was a sudden roar of applause.

|“She’s… It’s like she’s from another world!”|

|“Oh no! HAYATE!”|

|“We will forever keep you in our memory, my friend…”|

|“He’s not dead though…”|

|“I knew it! I believed in you Hitomi! MARRY ME! PLEASE!”|

|“No, screw that guy, MARRY ME!”|

|“But… you’re a girl!”|

|“Is there some kind of problem with that?”|

|“Uhh… No…”|

Nobody expected Hitomi to finish the battle as quickly as she did, and Jin was glad to see everyone recognise her efforts. Max had to admit that he himself was impressed. Not just by her victory, but by the clear practised grace of her martial arts, which her magic seemed to compliment, similar no doubt to the tutor that she had spoken of. He was beyond certain that if it were him up there, he’d have lost to her a lot faster, and he was glad she hadn’t taken any of his jabs quite as seriously as she had taken the fight he had just witnessed.

Mashima got up and approached the knocked-out Hayate. She knelt and, hovering a hand over the centre of his body, teleported him to the simulated infirmary. Mashima had to admit that she was all too happy to be putting Shouta, who was manning the infirmary that day, to work.

“Alright. I must say, that was quite an impressive display,” she called out. “Very well done, Miss Brighton. Take note students. Aimlessly firing off your offensive magic will not grant you any victories. Fight with your mind, as well as your body.”

She nodded at Hitomi, who bowed and quickly strode back up to her seat in the pavilion.

“Will the next two competitors please approach the platform?”

“So you don’t have to recite spells for elemental magic?” Max asked Jin quietly as Mashima made her way off the platform.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“No,” Jin answered discreetly. “Some magic, like elemental magic, only requires a charge of mana, just as you’ve seen with Traversal and Psychokinesis.”

“The more skilled you are at conjuring a particular element, the less time it takes to manifest the mana required. Some Elemancy works faster when you verbalise the spell, but usually only very specific or, more accurately, very powerful magic, requires a verbal recitement.”

Max nodded his head in quiet acknowledgment. He forgot about the reciting part of the magic in Mahō No Gakusei, and realised that he might need to learn to recite spells if he intended to find a way to portal back to his own world.

On the ground, Natsuno, before reaching the platform, removed her glasses and made them dissipate in a small shower of sparks. Her opponent was a female student of equal height with medium-length brown hair. Clearly not a member of the main ‘main cast’, as far as Max was concerned. Though maybe that was a bit of an unfair assessment to make.

The opponent’s expression was neutral, and this time it was Natsuno whose face couldn’t be seen.

Neither party said anything, but the longer the silence persisted, the more obvious it became that the other student was nervous. Something about Natusno’s expression slowly seemed to be instilling some kind of fear into her.

Mashima waited a moment, and finally beckoned for the fight to begin.

“Come forth, Snow of the divine, Harbinger of cold death,” Natsuno quietly uttered her spell, her eyes opening to reveal a white glow. “Frost Wall!”

“Hey, I didn’t know spells were recited in Japanese,” Max stated excitedly. It meant that he wouldn’t have to spend too much time learning some ancient language to do spells.

“They’re not,” Jin looked at Max askance.

On the platform behind Natsuno, a terrifying wall of floating, spiked ice orbs manifested from thin air. Each of the deadly-looking orbs gave off a cold, white mist, which mixed together to create a dense wall of white fog. The orbs instantly began to rain down on the opponent before her with the point of a finger.

The opposing young woman quickly conjured and raised up a transparent, almost glass-like, blue, circular shield, which seemed to be patterned with runes at the edges as well as a rune at the centre. Max couldn’t see enough to make out what exactly the shapes were.

The shield deflected the raining shards, though it looked like it took considerable effort on the student’s part to keep it up. At the sight of her defence, the orbs rained down more rapidly and in a larger quantity, each orb in the wall behind Natsuno being replaced by a new one as they pierced down in a violent storm on her hapless opponent.

There was the sound of a CRACK! Then another. Natsuno’s orbs, her ‘Frost Wall’, completely tore through her opponent’s shield, leaving her exposed to the ice raining down in less deadly-looking clumps as opposed to the sharp, crystalline shape that they were moments before.

Rapidly, they relentlessly hit the opponent, before a larger clump sent the student flying off her feet and onto the grass surrounding the platform. The force of the attack caused the young woman to skid across the grass, ripping at her uniform as she landed face down.

There was a grim silence as the student struggled to her feet. The torso of her uniform had been torn open, as well as the side of her skirt. She shyly grabbed at her exposed areas to protect them from the eyes of her peers.

“That’s a victory for Miss Haruki!”

The applause from the crowd was far less enthusiastic than before, and some faces seemed to go pale among the student body.

|“She didn’t stand a chance…”|

|“Was that even Elemancy?”|

Natsuno’s eyes shifting towards the crowd cut the chatter short very quickly. Mashima walked over to the defeated student and asked her something quietly. The girl nodded her head frantically with an embarrassed grimace, and the lecturer raised a hand to her body, causing it to instantly and noiselessly dissipate in the same manner as the previous student.

“Was that the power of the Scion ring?” Max asked in awe.

“I don’t think so,” Jin said grimly. “I think that was all her.”

“That was… Jesus, that was brutal.”

Max eyed Natsuno as she quietly and slowly made her way to her seat. It occurred to him now, more than ever, that it was dangerous of him to have taken her so lightly, but that was just another thing she seemed to share with the version of her he had seen in the show. It was a whole different ball game seeing up-close just how devastating her power was though, where the ice was close enough to cool the very air he breathed.

Jin looked on, sensing Max’s trepidation, but said nothing.

***

Another battle ensued, though it was far lengthier than either of the two fights before it. One student conjured up a weapon, a large axe, or at least something resembling the shape of an axe. It was an incorporeal weapon, with a glowing silver hilt and an axe-head surrounded by a visible filmy, silver aura. The axe-wielder's opponent, despite deftly managing to avoid most of the direct attacks from the axe, proved to be overwhelmed by the ruthlessness of the weapon's savage power. In response, the barehanded student was using small circular portals conjured up around his enemy to strike him from behind using significantly swift balls of fire.

“What is with that weapon?” Max asked, wary that such a dangerous weapon was even allowed in the tournament.

“It’s a form of Conjuration, a manifestation of the wielder’s mana,” Jin answered without taking his eyes off the ring. “Conjuration allows mages to summon all sorts of objects. Even physical weapons can be conjured with the right spell.”

The axe-wielder seemed to mindlessly take on whatever damage he couldn’t defend against and responded with fierce, far-reaching swings. His opponent was only mildly faster, and it seemed it was slowly becoming a game of stamina.

“Although, weapons manifested entirely from a mage's mana are more powerful and far more deadly than any physical weapon. But at the same time–”

Another swing and a miss. A series of small, dark circles opened up behind the burly axe-wielder, looking into what seemed like nothingness. Balls of fire flew out of these small portals, catching the axeman from behind, who took the burn without much agonising.

“–non-physical weapons can be dulled so that they’re barely dangerous,” Jin continued. “That's likely how this gentleman is using his weapon right now.”

Max winced a little every time it looked like the axe was about to hit, and raised a curious eyebrow at the hulking student’s ability to withstand the heat from the balls of flame.

“He sure is taking those attacks like a champ,” Max noted out loud.

“That’s Mana Augmentation,” Jin said, still maintaining his focus on the fight, watching the axeman attentively. “Similar to how you can strengthen your body for attacks, or enhance parts of your body to make you faster or more agile, Mana Augmentation can be used to withstand great amounts of damage.”

“You mean that… if they used enough mana, mages could become invulnerable?” Max looked down at Jin curiously.

“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. But I do believe that with enough mana, you can surely withstand immeasurable amounts of pain. I won’t lie though, eventually–”

The axeman finally caught up to his speedy opponent, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, and slamming him into the floor hard enough to knock him out cold instantly. The sound of the student’s body slamming into the platform was gut-wrenching, and Max could swear he felt sympathy pain in his own back.

“–you feel it,” Jin concluded as the axeman fell to a knee, raising his arm in celebration. He was heaving and sweating profusely, but eventually managed to get to his feet after Mashima officially announced his victory. The axe in his hand slipped away from his grip in a strange puff of smoke that seemed to fade away as fast as he’d made it appear.

Once the unconscious student’s body was transported to the infirmary and the ground around the platform restored to luscious green, Mashima beckoned for the next set of competitors to step forward.

“I guess it’s my turn,” Jin looked at his cell.

“Who you got?” Max looked over Jin’s shoulder.

“Looks like someone named… Shida Hiromitsu.”

Jin got to his feet and straightened out his blazer. He made his way to the platform, when Max suddenly called out, causing him to stop.

“Hey, Akira!”

Jin turned to face his foreign friend.

“Kick his ass,” Max smiled boyishly. From the side, Mashima gave a sharp glare before returning her attention to the students in the ring.

Jin shook his head disapprovingly, but turned to face the platform with a slight smile. Max’s words somehow amused him enough to shake off some of the nervousness he felt. He looked up to see Hitomi with her fist raised as a sign of good luck.

He nodded his head and smiled confidently.

|“Hey, look. It’s the trouble maker.”|

|“I got ¥5 000 on Hiromitsu!”|

|“Eeeehhh? Are we even allowed to bet?”|

|“Count me in for ¥10 000 on the delinquent!”|

|“I’ll see that action. Put me down for Hiromitsu too!”|

|“Crap, Mashima’s looking this way! Discretion, people! Discretion!”|

Reaching his end of the platform directly opposite from where the other student stood, Jin was surprised at the sight of the spiky, orange hair of his opponent. He couldn’t believe he didn’t notice it earlier. This was the young man who had fallen asleep on his shoulder in the auditorium during student orientation. Though it seemed the young man didn’t recognise Jin at all.

Max, looking at Jin’s opponent’s hair, realised that this particular student might be a threat. Orange hair, at least the kind of orange that made up the hair of Shida Hiromitsu, was symbolic of one who definitely belonged to the main main cast in anime. If not the main cast, at least a noticeably recurring side character. That meant that, to some extent, the spiky-haired young man was potentially quite powerful. Or amusingly useless.

Well, this might be problematic, Max thought.

Shida Hiromitsu gave a smile so sincere it almost disarmed Jin altogether.

“Hey, I know you!” Shida laughed excitedly. “You’re the dude who’s always up to mischief in the class!”

Jin could not have been more ashamed of the fact that he had accrued such a negative impression for himself. It was also quite sad that his shoulder wasn’t comfortable enough to be memorable.

“I’m terribly sorry for disturbing so many lessons.” Jin hung his head in embarrassment.

Shida shifted his eyes over to Max, still smiling amusedly.

“You and your friends seem to have a lot of fun. You think we can be friends too, when this is over?” Shida’s smile stripped away a considerable amount of the confidence Jin had felt just a moment before.

“You seem nice,” Jin said somewhat sullenly. “I hope that your kindness is sincere. I would be happy to be your friend.”

Jin firmly pressed his feet into the platform and assumed a fighting pose.

“But for now, I am your enemy, so I advise you to take me seriously.”

Shida prepared himself as well.

“Fair enough.”

He presented a fierce and determined grin.

“My name is Shida by the way. Shida Hiromitsu.”

“Jin Akira,” Jin smiled. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Jin’s body tensed up, and he shot forward, chipping off some ground where his feet had been planted.

“EXCUSE ME!”

A shout boomed across the courtyard. Jin, attempting to stop, slid across the platform, nearly ramming into Shida due to his momentum. His fist was still poised to strike as he looked up to see what the cause of the commotion was.

Mashima’s face grimaced in fierce annoyance.

“Did I say ‘begin’?!” she cried.

“Oh no,” Jin murmured in horror. “I am so sorry!” He bowed quite deeply.

“Uh…” Shida gave an awkward chuckle, scratching his neck nervously. “Sorry, Mashima-sensei.”

“That’s just not gonna cut it, I’m afraid,” Mashima got up to her feet. “Do you know I should disqualify you both right this second?”

“We’re really–” Jin started to speak.

“Apologise properly!”

“I’m sorry?” Shida looked at the lecturer, puzzled.

“On your knees,” she commanded.

The two shared a nervous glance.

“On. Your. KNEES.”

Slowly, awkwardly, the two got down on their knees. They both bowed, their heads touching the white-tiled floor.

“This is ridiculous!” Max suddenly chimed in. “Why did you take so long to yell ‘begin’ in the first place!?”

Mashima sent a ghastly glare in his direction.

In a moment, all three of the fools were on their knees in the middle of the platform, bowing and expressing their most sincere apologies. Max’s was clearly offered reluctantly, but he tried to be as convincing as he could.

“Next time, use your heads and think less with your fists!” Mashima chided. “Damn testosterone-fuelled idiots.” This last comment was met with chuckles and giggles from the females in the audience.

Another few moments later, the two competitors were once again facing off, with Max in the stands on his own. Jin prepared another launch, but waited and gave Mashima an awkward look, who assessed the two with eyes of disapproval.

“Begin!” she finally called.

Jin shot forward at an incredible speed, perhaps faster than when he had first gone at Shida. Max had remembered from the show; Jin’s main use of mana was enhancing his body to such a great degree that his speed seemed inhuman, even by magic standards. And it was clearly the case here, as Shida very narrowly dodged out of Jin’s barrage of sharp, jabbing attacks, jumping back to get some room between them. It was hard for Max to deny that he had trouble even managing to see Jin’s movements at all.

“Woah!” Shida’s smile vanished, melting into a look of sudden fear. “You’re really taking this seriously.”

“My friends insisted that I do,” Jin smiled in response to Shida’s surprise. “I can’t let them down now.”

Shida squared up again. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly. Before long, a warm, sharp, white flow of light had started to form in his hands, as his irises reflected a deep amber glow, before returning to a calm, sombre brown. The light completely swallowed Shida’s hands, covering them in a molten glow.

When he swung his hands into position to match his stance, the molten white glow seemed to evolve into a more fluid, aquatic-like motion around Shida’s fists. Despite his disposition to his friend’s opponent, the flowing white glow looked quite beautiful to Max. The light seemed to dance like fine satin ribbons around the mage’s fists.

“You’re not the only one using their family’s style,” Shida took a practised stance of his own.

“You recognised it that quickly?” Jin felt the confidence seeping back into him. “That makes me glad. It means I honour my family’s legacy well.”

Jin prepared himself once more.

“Hard to miss the Akira style in your footwork. I’m quite a fan,” Shida responded.

He made a sudden dash, closing the gap between the two and striking repeatedly as Jin swiftly, seemingly effortlessly, dodged his attacks. Jin returned the blows, feeling a strong heat emanate from Shida’s fists wherever they met his own.

Without losing a step, Shida made for another attack, which Jin swung under, attempting to sweep his opponent off his feet. Shida gracefully dodged the leg that came at him with a high, deft backflip, landing some distance away from Jin.

Shida straightened up into a casual stance and smiled down at Jin’s clothes, which had numerous new scorch marks. Jin stood up from his crouched position and looked down as well.

“Fire? No… Light?” Jin asked.

“People tend to forget just how dangerously hot the Light element can be when used properly,” Shida waved a finger.

“I suppose I’ll have to dim your shine.”

Jin performed a complex sequence of fluid movements with a surprising amount of ferocity, ending in another fighting pose.

That’s some stylish shit… Max thought.

Icy smoke began to rise from his fists as his irises lit up in their tell-tale crimson shine, before fading back to black.

“Ha, are you not paying attention? You just said yourself that I’m not using Fire,” Shida sneered mockingly.

“These are not for your fists.” Jin once again caught Shida off guard as he rushed in at breakneck speed, striking at Shida’s limbs, causing his opponent to focus on dodging before Jin quickly grabbed an arm that was caught up in defending against his attacks.

Shida cried out in pain as frost began to cover his arm. He gave a swift kick, forcing Jin to hop back, allowing Shida to create a portal on the ground beneath Jin’s feet. Another portal appeared above the grass outside the platform, which Jin came falling out of to what looked like certain defeat.

“Shit!” Max yelled, resulting in one or two heads turning his way in surprise. Mashima turned her head towards the young man and gave a subtle shake of disappointment.

Outside the ring, Jin, regaining his composure in mid-air, made another portal of his own beneath his falling body. He fell through it, seeming to disappear into nothing as the portal promptly shut. Shida sent his gaze up to the air around him, attempting to spot the obverse portal that would spit out his enemy. He did not see it appear on the ground behind him, bringing Jin’s body up like a marionette being pulled to its feet.

Shida’s reflexes, however, were quite good. He nimbly dove out of the way and conjured up a shield that looked similar to the one used by the girl who had been devastated by Natsuno. Instead of using it to defend, he threw the shield like a projectile, which Jin shattered with a bare-fisted strike.

The two took their respective stances once more, each waiting for the other to pounce.

|“Is there still time to change my bet?”|

|“No.”|

|“You’re ripping me off?!”|

|“You’re goddamn right, I am.”|

|“No point complaining now. We’re already breaking the law…”|

|“But the delinquent is on some hot stuff!”|

|“He is hot stuff…”|

“Jin,” Max called from his seat. “What are you doing?”

“Shut up, Max!” Hitomi replied from across the courtyard. “Let him focus!”

She looked concerned. She also recognised the Akira family style of martial arts. It was quite well renowned throughout the martial arts world, though she never would have connected it to Jin. The Akira’s used a very old form of Ninjutsu, almost specifically focused on taking out an enemy before the battle even properly began. Her sensei had insisted that it was designed for killing, but she was sure that Jin was most certainly no killer. She imagined the Akira style she had heard about must have belonged to some other Akira family.

“Stop playing around with this clown.” (“Ouch,” Shida frowned.) “Use the thing, dammit. Stop hiding what you’re capable of!” Max yelled. “C’mon, I wanna see the thing!”

“Mr Tenebri!” Mashima gave Max a stern look. “Please do not distract the competitors. You may not be competing, but I will have to remove you from the audience if you cause any disturbances.”

Max held his tongue, but not before sticking it out at the lecturer in mockery, which made even him feel quite juvenile. Mashima herself held back the strong urge to approach the young man and slap his face so hard that he’d instantly fade out of existence, which again, would be very easy for her to do.

|“I, too, would like to see ‘the move’…”|

“Will everyone just shut up?” Hitomi called out.

|“Forgive me, my queen!”|

Jin dropped his fists to his sides, his lips curling up into a conceding smile.

“Fine, Max. I don’t really think it’s necessary right now, but something tells me you’ve been wanting to see this for a while. I’ll only do this once.”

Shida looked puzzled.

“Don’t let your friend throw you off,” he said sternly. “You’re doing quite well so far, if I do say so myself.”

“Mr Hiromitsu, can I be honest with you?”

“Seems like a strange time to get sentimental, but sure.”

“I’m really bad at controlling my mana,” Jin scratched at his head with an embarrassed smile.

“What’s this now? Is this some weird way of admitting defeat? That would be so boring! Come on, don’t be boring…”

“I suppose it's because… I’m worried that someday… My mana will control me,” Jin said sullenly. “That I’d become nothing more than a slave to impulses beyond my control.”

“What are you talking about?”

There was an audible wave of confusion rising among the class.

|“Can I switch my bet to Hiromitsu instead?”|

|“Sorry, I already said no take-backsies!”|

|“Bastard!”|

Max looked at Jin’s peers and felt a tinge of regret. He realised he might have asked a little too much of Jin, considering he probably could have won this fight without relying on the strength he seemed to flee from.

“Please, don’t take this personally Mr Hiromitsu, but this is over for you.”

Shida smiled fiercely, somewhat offended by Jin’s statement and underestimation of his power.

“I didn’t take you for the cocky type, but I like that.”

“Soon, you’ll understand. For now, I can only hope that an apology is enough,” Jin bowed.

“You’ve made a mistake underestimating me!” Shida seemed poised to rush in.

Closing his eyes, Jin whispered softly.

“Unbind my soul, Kyoukai Kossetsu.”

Shida’s eyes widened as a blazing stream of crimson aura began to emanate from Jin like blood-soaked smoke. Jin’s eyes were consumed by a perpetual shade of crimson.

Max couldn’t hide his beaming smile. In his mind, this was likely the closest he’d ever get to seeing a real life Super Saiyan, and his nerd heart began to beat rapidly in excitement.

“Hit him with that blue fucking laser, dude!” Max shouted unwittingly, before immediately trying to hide his face when the whole class turned to look at him in confusion.

Jin shut his eyes as his face broke out into a sombre smile. He was glad to see how happy Max was to witness this horrifying version of him that he never thought he’d show anyone, let alone his entire class. His eyes opened calmly, and his smile faded.

Suddenly, he was gone.

Shida didn’t see – couldn’t see – Jin’s movement. The speed was so immense, it was as if the young man had paused reality where he stood, and moved freely to any position that he wished, while the world stood frozen in time.

He appeared behind Shida, who didn’t realise – couldn’t realise – that he was being attacked. His body was somehow unable to comprehend the fierce speed and strength with which it was struck.

Jin lowered a palm onto Shida’s shoulder, as gently as he could… which was still not gentle enough. The young man was instantly out cold. His body stiffened up, falling to its knees and dropping to the floor. To Shida, it felt as if there was no pain at all. Just a swift, sudden loss of consciousness.

Mashima had heard of the secret of the Akira boy, but she wasn’t sure she believed it. Her eyes, similar to that of Shida’s, did not see – could not see – the split second between when Jin moved and when he attacked.

|“...What?”|

|“Uh… is it… is it over?”|

As he stood over his opponent’s unconscious body, anyone would have thought he had stopped time. Only, Mashima knew that this wasn’t the case. Space-Time magic, outside of teleportation, was extremely complex and required an inordinate amount of mana to use. What the Akira boy did was something else. He had augmented his physical capabilities to the point where his body should have begun to tear itself apart. He was clearly something special.

His uncle certainly was not exaggerating, Mashima thought.

Jin turned to face the crowd, and saw a gasp of shock and concern from Hitomi, who seemed petrified at the sight of him. There was a stunned silence among the rest of the class as well. Surprisingly, there were some smiles of excitement on one or two faces. Natsuno, as usual, seemed to give nothing away. She eyed him with a cold distance that made her seem miles away from where she sat.

“Swallow me in chains of justice, Kyoukai Fukugen,” he whispered, and the aura surrounding his body began to dissipate, his eyes turning to the black they had been before.

In silence, he walked back to his seat below Max’s, who smiled and excitedly shook his shoulder in celebration of his win.

“That was epic!” Max lauded.

“That was uncalled for,” Jin shook his head and gave a sad smile.

“Nah dude, that was incredible. Give yourself some credit.”

“Even so,” Jin asserted sternly. “That’ll be the first and last time you see that.”

“Fuck, I don’t care dude. It was worth it!”

Jin couldn’t help but smile, and for some reason, blush. He didn’t wanna use that power so recklessly, but Max made the decision slightly less regrettable.

Mashima was quite impressed with the display. It dawned on her that perhaps having Tenebri lodge with Akira was a mistake. Akira was brimming with the kind of potential that she would like to see to its fulfilment, but who knew about Tenebri? He was as much an anomaly as Jin was, if not more so. At least Akira’s place in the world was undeniably certain. She realised that Tenebri could pose a threat to his peer’s potential. That, or he could serve as the catalyst that ensures that Akira’s power reaches its peak faster than anyone from the Scion Initiative could hope for. One way or the other, their being together made things more complicated than she initially expected.

A little poke from a female student brought Mashima back to the situation at hand. She seemed to have forgotten to call the fight.

“That’s a very impressive win for Mr Akira,” she got up to her feet and faced the students.

|“What even just happened? How are we supposed to compete with that?”|

|“That was otherworldly…”|

|“So, he will destroy me, eh? Well, I’ll just lose before he gets to me!”|

|“Man, I just lost… sooooo much money!”|

|“Snooze you lose, suckerz!”|

“A fine use of mana, but remember class,” Mashima addressed the audience. “Raw power is not all that it takes. Training our bodies to withstand that power, and training our minds to control it, as we saw with these two excellent competitors, is equally, if not more, important.”

She looked down at the body of Shida Hiromitsu, and very much hoped that he was just knocked out, and nothing worse.