“Now, now, students, settle down.” An airy voice whispered from the stage.

Below, a crowd of thousands of people dressed in robes—incoming students—watched the headmaster Aer with deep respect. They’d been accepted into the Elementa Academia, after all. Just by looking at the velvet-violet stage curtains dripping with golden ornaments, they could all tell the prestige of this university. Not only that, the statues of winged angels, the colourful marble floors, the satin seats they sat on… each and every student felt like they were in a dream.

Headmaster Aer cleared her throat, then stepped up to a podium.

The woman had soft, jade-like white hair that fell over her shoulders like water. Dressed in an upright azure gown, she resembled a fairytale princess who had escaped from her story. Her white eyelashes trembled as her milky green eyes flitted around the auditorium. The students in the first row could probably tell… Headmaster Aer was actually blind!

Small murmurs echoed across the hall, reaching a slight crescendo.

Suddenly, a sharp bang on the podium brought everyone back to attention. Kneeling at the edge of the stage, staring daggers into a louder student’s eyes, was a professor of tall stature. Spiky hair with frosted tips, piercing white eyes that flashed red for a second…. Who could it be but the renowned Professor Pyre? The student being glared at immediately shut up, turning into a docile kid again.

From afar, rows back, a student with long white hair and heterochromic orange eyes yawned. He wore an orange scarf with a realistic flame design over his royal purple student robe. The colours contrasted so viciously, hurting peoples’ eyes, that the students on either side of him scooted away a little. Blinking hazily, the small tear droplets resting on his long eyelashes faded away.

The unconventional student watched as the blue-haired professor onstage disciplined the students for their lack of etiquette, another yawn rising in his throat.

“...The hell are you giving her such a hard time for, you knuckleheads?...”

Snippets of the professor’s lecturing floated through this student’s ears. For someone who looked so young, he sure was a violent professor.

Phos would never want a class with him.

—

Sitting in the first row of his first class, the newly appointed freshman Phos stared in dumbfounded disbelief as a man with spiky blue hair made his way to the front of the room.

“Yo. Call me Professor Pyre.” He tapped a large grimoire-looking book over his shoulder, a disinterested look in his white eyes. “There are too many of you, so we won’t be calling attendance.”

Phos glanced back at the three other students in his class who were cheering with all their strength. Was this professor stupid?

A woman with short brown hair and green eyes. A man with silver hair and a monotone expression. A boy who looked like the incarnation of a birdnest. These would be his classmates from now on.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“As you all know,” Professor Pyre continued, “all of you are given an elemental residence to live in. I’m in charge of dorms related to fire and light and all things bright. I also only teach classes to students in this department.”

Phos did a double-take of the students in his class. None of them looked even remotely close to having any foundations in light or fire.

“But this class is special. You know what it is?” The Professor rolled his eyes and looked at the clock. This 50-minute lecture could not pass any sooner. “A physical education class.”

Phos choked on his own surprise.

The woman with shamrock-green eyes rushed to help him, patting his back. She said some comforting words, none of which Phos kept in mind due to his more pressing issue of choking to death. But he remembered her name—Nymph.

Like a fairy of nature, the name really suited her well.

Before Phos could finally catch his breath to thank the woman, the sole of a black leather shoe landed firmly on his desk.

“Student. Are you that impatient to leave my class?” Professor Pyre scrutinised Phos with his eyes—which held traces of orange, almost reflecting Phos’s.

“Professor, I almost died. Are you that impatient to get sued in court for student negligence?” Phos scowled right back, eliciting waves of gasps from the three students behind him. “Plus, I never signed up for this course. Why is it on my schedule?”

Professor Pyre’s face softened. He never expected any students to actively talk back. He brought his foot away from Phos’s desk and returned to his own.

“It’s a mandatory course for all students. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged for these core classes.” The professor smirked. Phos could hear in his words that he would have more unexpected core classes in the future.

“So your name is Phos?” Professor Pyre finally looked at his attendance sheet. “What a terrible name.”

“Professor, you sure are unfiltered. Especially for someone named ‘Pyre.’ ” Phos retorted almost immediately, crossing his legs and leaning back in his seat. “Shouldn’t you at least be more considerate for the reputation of this prestigious university? What will prospective students think of you?”

It was Phos’s first day. He hadn’t even fully settled into his dorm yet. This random professor wanted beef with him? He’d give him beef.

Professor Pyre’s sarcastic smirk widened to a grin. He’d never met someone who so blatantly opposed him before. Only having graduated from Elementa Academia a year ago, due to his top marks and numerous awards, not even the professors dared to scold him for his recklessness. What made the freshman before him think he could?

With a clap from the Professor, the magic doors of the classroom swung open.

“Class is dismissed. Mr. Phos, enjoy the rest of your evening.” Pyre’s eyes narrowed contentedly. He had plenty of surprises for this special student.

“But I—” Phos tried to respond, only to get thrown out of his chair by some magical force.

He didn’t even register the doors shutting in his face, blocking him from the classroom and Professor Pyre. Swivelling around, he found his fellow classmates miles away from him, walking away as if class ending prematurely was the most common occurrence in university.

What exactly was this school?? Phos gripped the edge of his orange scarf and bit his lower lip.

As he took a seat in his second class—finally, a course on exploring the element of light—Phos glanced around at his class once more. The students in his first class were thankfully gone, replaced by almost a hundred students with the golden crest of his residence uniformly clipped to their robes.

Phos anticipated the arrival of his professor, wanting to ask many questions about not just the class but about the university as well. He could invite the professor to coffee. Maybe even a short walk in the garden nearby his dorm. When the long-awaited footsteps of a single person tapped on the cedar floor of the lecture hall, stopping at the podium in front, Phos eagerly looked up to see…

“Hello, students. Call me Professor Pyre.”

A blue-haired, white-eyed menace. Who leaned down to the white-haired heterochromic student in the front row, whispering a phrase that made him turn pale:

“By the way, Mr. Phos, I not only teach light-element classes, I am the only professor who teaches them.”