"Good Morning, Akagane-san. How may I help you?"

　　A short, crimson-haired boy stood in front of the registrar's office, inside the entrance building of the Japanese Interrealm Port. The boy was maybe 5'4 feet in height, looking like an absolute midget compared to the other tall teens falling in line and chatting with their friends. Unfortunately for him, none of his friends wanted to be a Mage, so he went to apply for the Mage Recruitment Examinations alone.

　　Follow your dreams, right?

　　"I'm applying for the Mage Recruitment Examinations.", Akagane said, nervously. The tall physiques of the other kids made it more nerve-wrecking for him, considering the fact that his thin physical body looks to be the least combat-ready out of all of these applicants. He ruffled his already messy crimson hair, conscious of the fact that his forehead was sweating.

　　"Ahhh, I see now!", the registrar said. She was a nice-looking lady sporting jet black hair which has been tied into a nice ponytail. Her eyes flickered between Akagane and her hologram screen. "You're Akagane Ousei, right? Let's see here..."

　　Ousei observed his profile picture on the computer screen through her rectangular, thin-framed glasses. She gently scrolled down, reading his data within seconds. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the screen when she looked up at Ousei's face again.

　　"You're a regular applicant from Kousetsu Junior High, huh?", she said with a surprised tone. "Wow...not many pass the M.R.E from small schools like yours. Usually most passing examinees come from big, recognized academies with multiple branches even spanning different realms."

　　"Actually...I have a scholarship..."

　　The entire registration hall quickly became silent, despite him practically whispering the words from his mouth. Ousei quietly passed the scholarship certificate to the registrar, who got it from his hand and began to examine it with wide eyes. Whispers began to flow throughout the room, some with curious voices, while others had more malicious tones.

　　"A kid like him has a scholarship? Unbelievable! Look at those stick arms!", one kid whispered.

　　"You never know, man! He might be one of those kids who secretly hold some extremely deadly powers!"

　　"He's so short, too! What a cutie!"

　　"Tsk! With a frail body like that, he wouldn't even last the A.C.T!"

　　"Uh...Sorry to interrupt, but what's an A.C.T?", Ousei asked the registrar, who chuckled a little in response to his question.

　　"Applicant Compatibility Test.", she explained. "It's a pre-test to the Mage Recruitment Examination. It's basically for testing if an applicant would be able to physically and mentally withstand the given obstacles in the M.R.E. If you fail, you won't be eligible to continue, and you'll be given the option to either re-register for next year, or revoke your scholarship."

　　Ousei could feel his heart pounding quickly in fear. Re-...revoke my scholarship? What?! I-..No way!

　　"Don't worry! Judging from the scholarship verifications I just did, it seems like you'd pass the A.C.T! Don't be too hard on yourself!", she cheered him up. "And you're probably wondering how I was able to read your mind. Well, it's my Aberrancy!"

　　Thanks! I'm definitely not going to be beaten to some pulp using this information you're giving me!

　　"Even in your thoughts, you have sarcasm!", she chuckled cheerfully out loud. "Well then, just sign this applicant form and you're eligible to enter the A.C.T in two weeks time!"

　　She slipped a small piece of paper, containing examination terms and conditions, plus some information regarding the applicant. After he filled in the required information and signing his signature, he was free to go.

　　　　　　　　　　。。。

　　"So how's your application?", Ousei's mother asked him as he approached the car. His father was inside, watching a Canadian Netflix show on his portable laptop. His younger sister was outside, chatting with his mother. "Did everything go well?"

　　"Let's just go home, please...", Ousei said, lazily treading his way towards their car. "I-...I need to practice more..."

　　"Is everything alright, Onii-san?", his younger sister asked him with an enthusiastic, high-pitched voice. "You look tired!"

　　Of course everything isn't fine, you twat! My scholarship is on edge here!

　　"How many hours till' we get home?", Ousei asked. All three of them entered the car in the process.

　　"We'll probably be home by eleven.", his father replied. "In the meantime, how about we go eat at Mos Burger, then maybe some shopping in Tokyo Midtown, perhaps? I think you need to lay back a bit, Ousei. All you've been doing is practicing for the past few weeks!"

　　"Yeah!", Ousei's sister, Haru, chimed in. "Just start your training tomorrow!"

　　"Fine...", Ousei croaked. Some change of scenery would be nice. "But starting tomorrow, leave me out of your vacation plans. I need to pass that A.C.T..."

　　　　　　　　　　。。。

　　As expected of the summer season, Tokyo Midtown was crowded with shoppers.

　　The garden area was filled with a sea of people on vacation. Shoppers shrouded themselves in shopping bags, while others flocked the nearest coffee shops and restaurants. A large fountain stood right in the center of the garden, while a glass canopy hung overneath. Recently, the canopy has been turned into a shallow aquarium area. Stingrays swam overneath the garden, casting shadows over the crowd.

　　"You know, they're building a public aquarium in the Japanese City of Mages.", his sister said, observing the wraithlike shadows of the flat stingrays. They both sat on a bench right beside the garden fountain. "Apparently it'll serve as a training area for underwater combat."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

　　"Are there even any dimensions that are completely underwater?", Ousei asked. "As far as I can tell, Japan doesn't have any colonies in Azurea, which is the only aquatic realm I could think of."

　　"Well, South Korea does.", she replied. "I'm guessing the public aquarium is for joint operation training, since we have a close partnership with the South Korean Society of Mages."

　　"I'm honestly having second thoughts in becoming a Mage.", he said, watching the people move about. "Am I doing the right thing?"

　　"It's your choice, really!", his sister said. "Nobody's forcing you to become one! And besides, isn't becoming a Mage your childhood dream?"

　　"People change, Haru.", he said gloomily. "Back then, I liked the idea of exploring the wilds, and Aberrant Martial Arts was one of my hobbies. Now, I don't even do anything athletic anymore."

　　"Well, you could always return your application form to the registrar.", she said. "If you don't like the idea of being a Mage anymore, maybe you should tell Mom...and Dad."

　　"You know, just because your friends aren't into the fact that you want to be a Mage doesn't mean you should give up pursuing what you want.", she said. "You're not stealing anyone's dreams, Onii-san. They're your own!"

...

Is it really, though?

For a Sansei like me?

　　　　　　　　　　。。。

The class was sleepily silent.

　　Math was the last subject of the day. Some of the students have already given up and dozed to sleep. Others were barely keeping their eyes peeled open. Trigonometry was definitely not something that would spark a student's interest.

　　"Now class, let us use this basic 30-60-90 triangle as an example for finding the inverse cosine. The figure has a hypothenus measuring one centimeter, so the adjacent leg would have a measure of the square root of three all over two. Can anyone tell me how to find the inverse cosine using the given values?"

　　A tall boy with rough spiky mellow yellow hair raised his hand. He was the only one who paid attention to the teacher. Seeing no one else was volunteering, she decided to call on him.

　　"Nunohito Kugutsu, what's your answer?"

　　The blonde haired boy stood up and answered her without any stutter in his voice. "To find the inverse cosine of the triangle, the formula would be arccos times adjacent leg over hypothenus equals theta. Replacing the variables, it would be arccos times the square root of three all over two divided by one equals theta."

　　"Very good, now can anyone solve for the unknown angle value using the formula Nunohito-san has given?"

　　Kugutsu sat down on his char, proceeding to take notes in his math notebook. Ousei peered over at his notes, spotting drawings of triangles and trigonometric function formulas.

　　"Seriously, I'm beginning to think you're a Sansei with those math skills.", Ousei whispered to Kugutsu. "Maybe you're second Aberrancy would be quickly calculating numbers or something."

　　"Honestly, a math-related Aberrancy would make my life so much easier.", he whispered back. "Fabrikinesis doesn't exactly get you that far in trigonometry. It just...doesn't suit me at all!"

　　"Well, at least you're not stuck with two useless Aberrancies like me.", Ousei said. "Seriously, blood manipulation and an Aberrancy for copying other Aberrancies isn't...cool."

　　After some minutes, the bell rang. Students greeted the teacher goodbye and began filing out of the classroom. Ousei and Kugutsu ran down the stairs, elbowing their way through the crowd of students, making their way towards the school track field to practice. There were some students over there, already engaged in practice duels in preparation for the upcoming Mage Scholarship Exams.

　　"You really like the idea of becoming a Mage, do you?", Kugutsu asked Ousei as they laid their bags down by the bleachers and stood far apart from each other on the field, preparing for a practice duel. "Doesn't it feel...scary?"

　　"Not really.", Ousei said. "Once you get over the fact that you could potentially die on duty, the scariness factor tends to lessen."

　　Kugutsu removed his neck tie from his bag, and wrapped it around his right forearm. Using his Aberrancy, he manipulated the necktie to be more sturdier in shape, forming a blade which extends from his wrists.

　　"I dunno, man.", Kugutsu said, readying his stance. "My Aberrancy isn't really fitted for combat. Really, how many ways of turning cloth into weapons could you think of?"

　　"Good point.", Ousei agreed. Crimson red blood began forming hexagons on both of his forearms, solidifying arm guards. Blood gushed from his skin, solidifying into a red knife in his right hand. "I guess using your head a lot in real time battles could really put you in a disadvantage. Still, I'm going to Axis Mundi. I'm confident that all this training would pay off."

　　They readied each other, weapons drawn at their opponent. Kugutsu's necktie blade and Ousei's crimson blood knife were pointed at each other.

　　"Start whenever you want.", Ousei said.

　　Kugutsu rushed towards Ousei, blade out front and focused on his target. Ousei backed away slightly, preparing to parry his attack.

　　He jabbed the necktie blade, attempting to go for his head. Ousei was surprised, but managed to duck in time, as Kugutsu was way taller than him. He stabbed Kugutsu in the stomach, causing him to grunt in pain and frustration. After that, Ousei telekinetically pulled Kugutsu's blood from his stab wound, causing him to stagger on the ground and scream in pain.

　　Kugutsu looked at Ousei's innocent face, blood dripping from his deep red stained lips. A hint of anger glinted in his eyes, competitively annoyed by the fact that he was getting beaten to a pulp by this Hemokinetic midget. "You're getting way too good at this. Do you realize how brutal of a fighter you've become?"

　　"Good.", Ousei replied. "That means there's progress."

　　Kugutsu kept slashing and jabbing his blade into Ousei. For every attack he launches, Ousei kept dodging, looking for an opening. But ever since Kugutsu has been pierced in the stomach by that blood knife of his, he has been keeping his defence up, restraining his attacks to prevent any openings.

　　But Ousei knew him well. With every miss he unintentionally does, the more competitive he becomes, desperate to at least lay his blade on Ousei's skin. He grew angrier and angrier with his every failure, every ounce of hope slowly fading away.

　　"Damn it, Akagane! I can't-...why-"

　　"You're not taking this seriously.", Ousei coldly announced, without regard of his effort. "You keep slashing and slashing, leaving an opening for me to counter your strikes. Haven't you learned anything from your previous practices?"

　　"What?! I-"

　　Ousei slashed his knife at Kugutsu's torso, leaving him confused and in pain. "You keep leaving yourself vulnerable to attacks. In a real battle, your opponent will always find a way to exploit you, using whatever tactics you could think of. It is your job to defend yourself from every possible attack you could think of. That brain of yours is meant for thinking, so use it!"

　　"Akagane, I-...I need a break-"

　　Ousei once again slashed him with his blood knife. "A break? There's no time to peacefully think! How could you possibly become a Mage if you're slow on your feet?!"

　　"Akagane, please...please stop!"

　　"This is why you're weak!", Ousei teased, continuously throwing him around telekinetically like a ragdoll using his blood. "Too stupid to prioritize your life! You want a scholarship, right? Then train like your life depended on it!"

　　"ENOUGH"

　　Kugutsu has screamed at him at the top of his lungs. The dueling students around them stopped fighting, turning their heads as they recognized a voice of anger and jealousy. Ousei released him from his grasp.

　　"YES, I WANT A SCHOLARSHIP! YES, I WANT TO BE A MAGE LIKE YOU! BUT CLEARLY, I LACK THE MENTAL PROWESS FOR IT, UNLIKE YOU! I'M NOT YOU, AKAGANE! I CAN'T TRAIN FOR A FEW DAYS AND BECOME AN EXPERT AT FIGHTING! I'M NOT A GENIUS LIKE YOU! I'M NOT AS TALENTED AS YOU ARE! I ENVY YOU! I'M TRYING MY BEST HERE! CAN'T YOU SEE THE EFFORT I'M TRYING TO EXERT? AND IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, THEN STOP TRAINING ME! YOU'RE CLEARLY A BETTER MAGE THAN I AM!"

　　Kugutsu stormed off, coughing up blood while hastily walking through the grass and wiping his tears off his face. Ousei stood like a statue, his face without a flicker of life within. A single tear drop rolled down his face.

　　What has he done?