It has almost been 5 months since I got into Infinity Academy. Before I even realised it, it’s already reaching the end of the first semester! It’s amazing and scary at the same time of how time moved so quick without even knowing it. Before I even get to do anything, I might already end my study in no time. That’s how scary time can be. But as much as any other person to be talking about how scary is time, I think I’ve experienced enough to know how amazing, scary and dangerous time can be.

I mean looking back at what I’ve done with the space I was given, my impatience to obtain my magic ability has fruited me with the ability to partially manipulate time. I didn’t really manipulate a lot with time since I was only limited to stopping it for a few seconds in a small area. But let’s not forget that when the first time I used the ability, I actually rewind the time and saved my cousin! The other time where I completely used a different manipulation other than stopping was when I used that Pen to rewrite history, literally! It caused a timeline reset that returns me back to a point where everything was still okay.

Much of what I did there also erased a bunch of other noteworthy memories that happened throughout the trials against Escher. It’s almost like Aspye mastered his ability and was able to wipe out a whole memory of a single huge event. Except that I ended up hating doing that. Why? Because I thought I would also be affected by the effect that I explained before. But I did not. I was cursed to remember everything that happened, even the people that was involved during that time. I even had to suffer the loss of an amazing young wizard that I uneventfully, killed her through the use of that dangerous artefact.

Why am I even telling all of this again? I think it was probably because I can’t keep forgetting that time that I have completely tried to erase from everyone’s memory. Half of Team Stardust somehow had the same effect as I did and in the end we promised to never speak of it anymore until Zenith appeared and came to me. She had a small role in my high school life but that role was as significant as The Magic Duel. And now, I’m with her getting ready for the final examination for this semester.

Zenith looked a little anxious. It was probably because of the exam. I mean anyone can be anxious about such thing. Even I am like her right now. But even more so, Zenith looked worried as well.

I tried asking her, “Hey Zen…uh…” I didn’t really want to say it but I had to, “Did you study throughout the study week?”

Zenith begins to get flustered and shrunken down as she shakes her head left and right. It’s not a surprise that she’s not studying at all. I mean…I’m also like that. I didn’t even study anything about the test except for last night and right now. It’s pretty much last minute studying.

“I only studied last night…I’m not sure I can do this…” Zenith puts both of her hands to her head as if she had a headache.

I tried to calm her down by telling her, “It’ll be fine, Zen. What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

“You can get dropped by the academy.” Yumiko interrupted.

I looked at Yumiko and gave her a stern look and said, “Can’t you at least be more sensitive, Yumiko?”

“What? I’m just cheering her up. Don’t you know that when you are trapped in a corner, something inside of you will come out and overcome the hardships you’re facing? So what I did there was indeed, cheering up.” Yumiko justified her harsh words.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Well…that is a proven fact.” I considered that as well.

“White…” Zenith sounded like she was about to cry or something. Not the usual cry mind you. The witty kind of crying. The pathetic kind.

Then, from behind her, Blanc pats her and said, “Oh come on, Zenith. It’ll be fine. You’re a smart girl compared to Shiro.”

“Hey, why am I the butt of the joke again?” Shiro heard that and joined us. “Fancy meeting you here, Blanc.”

“We’re having a test…Of course we’re seeing each other…” Blanc was still blunt to Shiro.

Looks like those two hasn’t fixed their relationship ever since. I wonder what happened between them when they went missing in the forest next to our campus. But that’s another story for another day.

“So, are you guys ready for the cruise?” Shiro opens up a different topic.

“Cruise?” Blanc didn’t know what was happening.

“Are you seriously thinking about the cruise right now instead of the exam, Shiro?” I quickly pointed it out to Shiro.

“But I just can’t wait to get on that ship and enjoy a lovely cruise as we make our way to the most beautiful island I ever known.”

“What are we talking about again?” Blanc was lost.

Yumiko then explained it to us, “If you haven’t heard it, Sam Maximus invited everyone from our batch to join her cruise. Of course, it’s not free but it’ll be worth it because all you need to pay is just a measly amount of 10 Gold Coins.”

“10 Gold Coins?! That’s like…” Blanc begins to count with her fingers and said, “1000 Silver Coins!”

“And that’s a lot of Bronze Coins…” Zenith was getting dizzy as well.

She didn’t really need to get dizzy in this since I’m the one who was paying for her. Why did I pay for her? Because she really wanted to ride the ship. Now comes to the question of where the heck did I get 20 Gold Coins? Well that’s a funny story…I had to borrow a large sum of coins from Team Stardust…I said it was an investment for the progress of our research on Chaos. But that’s obviously not the case. What’s done has been done and I already paid both tickets to Sam’s cruise.

I never had the intention to go on her cruise at all but since Zenith decided that it was the next best thing in the world, I can’t just let her go on her own do I? I mean for one, Yumiko will be there as well. I got to keep an eye on that girl as well.

“Where are we going anyway?” Blanc asked one more time.

Shiro laughs a bit and proudly said, “We’re going to my homeland! The Huge Island or more famously known as The Sunrise Land, Nihon!”

“Nihon?”

“Yup. That’s where Sam is taking us.” Yumiko seems displeased from saying that, “I really wanted to go someplace else instead of that place…but that woman…curses.” She bit her lip.

“We’re you involved in deciding where to go, Yumiko?” I asked her.

She nodded, “Indeed. But my suggestion to go to a land that has historical value in terms of war was quickly shot down in turn for a land with historical value in terms of its culture.”

“War? Why?”

“I’m just interested in seeing the remains of the defence walls and such. But I guess that’s just me being selfish. I mean I can go there on my own with my portal…But where’s the fun, right?”

“Wow…I didn’t know you would have some sort of interest in that kind of thing.”

“As much as know, White. I can simply just use a modern looking gun to shoot at you but instead I chose to use a flintlock because it has a historical value to it.”

“But isn’t a normal modern gun still has its own historical value?”

“It’s not the same, White!” She screamed to my ears. “When compared to a flintlock…”

I quickly intervened and said, “A modern pistol is more effective, accurate and has a faster loading time when compared to a flintlock. What do the flintlock even has that the modern pistol couldn’t surpass?”

Yumiko got annoyed at me and wittingly answered, “Well! You can’t have this lovely design on your modern pistol now can we?” She showed her the engravings that were on her flintlock.”

“Your debate is kind of flawed when you’re using a multitude of different types of bullets that can be found throughout the history. You modified your flintlock for that to work!”

“Sure. But don’t you think that the most important thing for a firearm is can it kill? Well…I can surely say that not only can it kill a bird…it can also rip out a time-space continuum hole.”

“Take that back, Yumiko. You’re being disrespectful to your friend.”

“What are you talking about White?”

“I’m talking about that second last point you gave. Killing a bird? Is that supposed to be a joke to Zen?” I couldn’t control myself.

“Jeez. You don’t have to get riled up over a few words.” Yumiko then looks at her watch and said, “Oh look at the time, it’s almost time to get into the examination room. Good luck everyone and see you tomorrow!”

“Hey, wait up Yumiko!” Blanc followed her, “I can I still join you guys tomorrow...”

Well, that didn’t end well. It ended up with me being a little bit angry as I tried to finish answering the exam feeling full of frustration over a single blonde girl. Just how badly can this go anyway? Well I won’t know until the result will come out later during our holiday. I guess that’s that for now…

TO BE CONTINUED