Kimura wakes up as his head was on a table, sitting up and rubbing his head along with his neck. "Finally you're up." A voice calls out as he looks up and sees three individuals sitting across from him. "Man you really knocked him out Fujiwara." one of the individuals commented, however she replied, "It was because he tested me during our interaction." she crossed her arms once more.

"So Um...Why am I here?"

"You're...actually why is he here?"

"Takashi told me to bring him in, sensing his immense mana output."

"Ohh...That makes a whole lot more sense."

While they talked between each other, Something else caught Kimura's attention, looking over towards an empty seat. He glared at it for a second before he heard his name called out. "Kimura! Keep your attention over here will you." Fujiwara shouted, he turned his attention back to him as Takashi sighed, sitting in the middle of them.

Takashi sat the most formal out of the three, sitting upright with his gold eyes glaring at Kimura. His hair was a dirty blonde as it was neatly combed down. "So you're Kimura Makoto." he said in a calm voice, Kimura grew weary as he nodded a bit. Seeing the shift in Kimura's tone, he smiled warmly, asking him, "Say...Are you the Kimura Makoto of the Kanuri Academy Incident?". Mentioning the Kanuri Academy Incident suddenly got a reaction out of Kimura, his eye blazing up in rage all of a sudden.

"NOW LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE—" but before Kimura's rage could get to Takashi, He suddenly felt his body drop straight to the floor.

"You're in MY Territory Kimura, learn to get into the food chain."

Kimura was unable to move as Takashi's gold eyes were glowing, he kept his glare at him as gravity was fighting against Kimura. Gravity Manipulation... Kimura was stuck as a crater was slowly forming, cracking the floor little by little. "Takashi! That's enough!" Fujiwara shouted, she glared at him, pointing daggers at him as he sighed, lifting the gravity off of Kimura.

He exhaled as his breathing was heavy, slowly getting up from the crater. I...I thought everyone forgot about that incident... He then heard footsteps come over to him, his arm being lifted up and around Fujiwara's neck. "C'mon, I'll help you to the infirmary for any sustained damage." She said calmly, glaring over at Takashi with an angered expression.

He looked away as Fujiwara and Kimura walked out of the room, he looked at Fujiwara as they were in the hallway. "Thanks, for getting an excuse to get me out of there." he felt thankful for her as she replied, "Just...Don't get in our way next time, you will be sent to the infirmary next time.". Fujiwara then lets go of his arm as they both stand up, Kimura was leaned in a bit as Fujiwara left back to the room.

* * *

Kimura walked to his homeroom class as Suzuki and Yun seemed concerned about him, seeing him having his bandage on his face. Kimura looked over at them as Suzuki was the most concerned about his health. A folded piece of paper landed on Kimura's desk as it was tiny, he unfolded the small piece of paper as it read, "Are you sure you're okay?".

He turned his attention to Suzuki as she was directly looking at him worried. Kimura ripped a piece of paper from his notebook, writing in it and tossing a crumbled up piece of paper to her. she looked at it as it said, "I'm fine. Don't worry.". Suzuki sighed momentarily as she went back to focusing on their class work.

tap tap, tap tap, tap tap

Kimura tapped his pencil on his notebook seemingly taking down notes early and whenever possible. Just five more minutes... he sketched into open spots of his notebooks as he waited for the bell to ring. Tick tok Tick tok the clock was moving at a snails pace in his mind, he wanted to leave his classroom as his mind was clouded by a thought.

He sighed as a familiar sound rang, DIING DIING! the bell had rung for lunch as the students began packing their stuff. Kimura began packing up as Yun and Suzuki waited for him to finish. He gets up and puts his bag on, walking over to Yun and Suzuki as they all leave to the cafeteria. Kimura walked beside Yun as Suzuki and Yun were talking between themselves, leaving him out of their conversation naturally.

Kimura looked ahead as he saw Fujiwara open the door to the cafeteria. He felt his world slow down a bit as he looked at her. His heart slowly paced faster as he snapped back to reality, shaking his head and hurrying forward.

"Kimura wait up!"

Yun and Suzuki ran after him as he grabbed the knob and opened the cafeteria door. The cafeteria was loaded with other students as other students were sitting with each other and eating. Some of them were talking and laughter rang out within the cafeteria halls. Where is she where is she! he hastily looks around the cafeteria as Suzuki grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Man...You really know when to bolt it."

"Suzuki not now."

"What do you mean not now?"

Suzuki was just as confused as Yun, but as she was going to talk he then saw Fujiwara again, in line and waiting to get her food. There she is! he rushed over to her as Suzuki lost her grip on him. "Hey—" but before she can finish Yun grabbed her wrist, looking at her silently as he pointed over to Fujiwara. She turned to look at Fujiwara as her eye twitched, gritting her teeth.

"Not HER again!"

She was visibly frustrated as Yun sighed, walking forward while holding onto her wrist. Suzuki noticed her wrist was being held still as they made it into the line.

"You can let go Yun."

"I don't care, we need to eat Ayame."

"I—" Suzuki paused realizing he used her first name, flustering up a bit as she lightly smacked his shoulder.

"—Don't use my first name!"

"Fine, Suzuki."

"Better."

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Yun sighed as they slowly went forward. Kimura stood two students behind Fujiwara, holding his plate as they kept moving up. Why can't this line go any faster!! he tapped his foot a bit as he finally got his food on his plate, noticing Fujiwara leaving outside. As he got the last bits of his food, he followed Fujiwara outside, walking out into the center garden of the building. Kimura finally got a good look at the academy building now, seeing that the building was a box structure, having a fountain in the center of it all.

On top of the fountain was a statue of the founder of the academy, exactly the same as the fountain in-front of the dorms. He saw Fujiwara sitting on a bench under a tree as he walked over. Fujiwara ate her food peacefully as she looked over before he could reach six feet to her. Keen senses! he was surprised as she glared at him.

"What do you want Kimura."

"Ahh...Is it fine if I can sit beside—"

"No"

"—Nearby—"

"The bench across from me will be fine enough."

YES!

He fist pumped in excitement as he sat down where she told him to sit, sitting on the bench across from her. He ate his food happily as she looked at him confused. "why are you so excited all of a sudden?" Fujiwara asked him confused, He looked up at her eating noodles. He raised an eyebrow as she repeated, "Why are you so excited all of a sudden.".

Kimura finished his noodles as he wiped his mouth with his jacket, responding, "Well, It's not every day I get to eat my food without a fight.". That response surprised Fujiwara, she was caught off guard by that as he went back to eating his food. Peacefully eating huh...I wonder what else you have buried in your past... She also ate her plate of food, now curious on Kimura and his background.

* * *

Takashi saw them eating in the garden as he sighed, sitting down in his chair as he looked at a student sitting at his table as well. This student wore a different academy jacket as he awaited on Takashi. "So? do you think you'll accept?" Takashi took a bit of time to think as he rethought about his current position.

Let's see here...Abiding to Territory rules we'll have to...So it'll be Me, Fujiwara and Kobayashi...and one backup...Problem is...we don't have a strong enough backup...

Takashi looked out the window once again, looking down at Kimura and Fujiwara eating peacefully. He looked intently at Kimura, thinking back to their reports.

'Takashi...The new student one shot Ito."

'What? But Ito's our most defensive Esper. He can't lose to someone who barely got here.'

'The new student's taking on Yamada..."

'The same Yamada who can throw pebbles strong enough to knock someone out?'

'Yes THAT Yamada."

'What's his name again? Kimura Makoto?'

'Yes, Apparently he's from the countryside, he was part of the Kanuri Academy Incident."

'Hmph...He must be strong then.'

A perfect candidate...Kimura Makoto.

"Yes I accept, we do it in the middle grounds."

"You have my word Takashi."

A portal then formed right beside them as the student got up and walked through, hearing it collapse in on itself as it closed. Takashi sighed as he looked at the clock, seeing it was just about time for class to start again.

Five minutes before class ends the loud speakers go up, "Kimura Makoto, can you please report to the infirmary, Kimura Makoto, can you please report to the infirmary.". Kimura was confused as Vallance jerked his head to the side a bit to give him permission to leave. Kimura got up and headed out of his class as he walked down the hallway and headed over towards the infirmary.

Why do they need me at the infirmary of all places...?

Kimura was confused but abided by the speakerphone's call, walking into the infirmary as he saw a couple of individuals there. Takashi, Fujiwara, and Kobayashi were in the infirmary as they discussed something. Fujiwara was the first one to notice Kimura as she looked over, Kobayashi looking over as well as Takashi being the last.

"Hello again Kimura."

"What is it this time..." Kimura coldly glared at Takashi.

"Look We made a bad impression but—"

"Lemme guess, A territorial war."

"—You learn fast."

Kimura sighed, asking, "Do they even do it around these parts?" expecting a no response. To Kimuras surprise, Takashi responded "Yeah, a lot actually.". He got curious, unexpectedly hearing yes rather than no. Huh...I guess city people do have to get their hands dirty. Kimura popped his knuckles one by one as he asked, "Where is it going to be at?" as he doesn't know where it's held.

"It's going to be at a place called the Middle Grounds, a sturdy land where espers can duke it out."

"Middle Grounds? That sounds lame."

"Not like we can change about it."

Kimura analyzed them as he checked his watch, He then asked "Is it going to be us four going?" confused as Takashi nodded, walking out of the Infirmary with Kobayashi and Fujiwara following behind. Kimura also followed behind as he walked beside Fujiwara, they took off their indoor shoes in exchange for their uniform shoes. Kimura however, wore casual shoes as they just looked at him weirdly, "What? You guys don't have regular shoes?" he asked as if they're pinning something on him.

Takashi and his group walked out to meet the same student that had met up with Takashi hours before. "This your group?" he asked, Takashi nodded in response as The student smiled. He recognized the three of them, staring at Kimura a bit suspicious about it.

"Hey, Who's this kid?"

"Him, he's our back-up, showing him the ropes."

"Pssh, suit yourself."

The student turned around and snapped his fingers, opening a blue vortex portal for them to enter. They entered one by one as Kimura was the last person to enter before it closed. At the other side they walked out and saw the Middle Grounds. Other students from other academies were also here, camping out here as they awaited for their match. whoa... Kimura was amazed at the scale of the Middle Grounds, it seemed endless as Fujiwara broke off to meet some other students.

Kimura was going to go get her but he felt his shoulder being grabbed, he stopped and looked to see that it was Takashi, "She's just meeting some middle school friends, Our match hasn't started yet." He reassured Kimura as she turned to see that she was talking to a group of female students. He sighed standing by Kobayashi and Takashi. While everyone was still greeting each other, Kimura looked around the area, seeing the trees around them but hearing nothing but nature itself.

It must be an isolated place for us to go wild on our abilities then...

Takashi brought back enough supplies to set up a small camp like the rest of the students here, Kobayashi and Takashi wasted no time setting up camp while Kimura kept staring where Fujiwara was. Fujiwara was laughing and smiling, nothing like how she acted at school where she was cold and serious. Is that how she really is when she's out of school...? he grew curious as Kobayashi caught onto him, getting up and lightly punching his shoulder.

Kimura looked at him confused, patting his right shoulder as Kobayashi had a smug smile on his face. "What?" He asked as he opened a bottle of water for him to drink. Kobayashi nudged him with his elbow saying, "You like her don't you." as Kimura choked on his water and coughed out some of the water.

"The hell you on about?"

"I know when someone likes someone else, I can tell."

"Pssh, yeah right."

"If I really did like her, I would have asked her."

Kimura drank his bottle of water once more as Kobayashi raised an eyebrow with his smug face. Just...play stupid me... he kept drinking his water bottle until he finished it, crumpling it down before throwing it into a trash bag. Fujiwara ran back as she smelled a pot cooking food. "Ooh! Stew!!!" She said delightfully, Takashi was cooking stew as Kimura asked, "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET A POT AND FOOD?!!".

"Keep it down will you, They provide us food and drinks as well as cooking and survival tools."

"Yeah"

"That's pretty much it Kimura."

"I—"

Kimura was dumbfounded as he's never done anything like this before, only heard rumors about it. I guess it really is true...This kind of stuff does exist... He scratched the back of his head as he sat down near the fire. Kimura looked around as he saw students laughing and sharing stuff around with other academy students, unable to process how this place could be so peaceful yet destructive at the wave of a hand.

"Takashi..."

"Hm? What is it Kimura?" He kept swirling the pot.

"I'm sorry, for how I acted last time."

Takashi looked at him surprised but not all too familiar to him as well. He smiled, patting Kimura on the back, replying "Don't worry about it, As long as you don't get on my bad side I won't put you into the dirt.". I apologize and THATS your response YOU PASSIVE AGRESSIVE!! He chuckled smiling a bit as Takashi handed them White Stew as they ate as a group.