Outside the school of Magic and Swordsmanship, I gaze upon it in all its glory. A massive school with three main buildings, one for swordsmanship, another for magic, and last but not least; the dormitory.

The 'sword' building has a large courtyard at the center where the students can practice their sword skills on one another or spar with their instructors. There are numerous practice weapons neatly placed on pedestals and racks around the grounds: wooden swords, various types of shields, axes, spears, and many others which you've probably seen before.

One wing of the 'magic' building is dedicated to the study of spells, incantations, runes, glyphs, and other such arcane arts. The other side is devoted to magical research -- the laboratories here conduct experiments involving elemental magic, alchemy, and more esoteric fields that are often considered beyond mortal understanding. from what I've heard, there must be hundreds of artifacts within the magical research labs, including countless vials of potions, sealed jars containing strange liquids, scrolls bound tightly by wax.

There's nothing special about the dormitory for the fact that it houses most of the student body (with the exception of those who live off-campus). Most people refer to it as simply "the dorms" since saying dormitory every time is considered too much, they enjoy it feeling like a home as well; that is what I heard at least. But being a fan of architecture myself, I couldn't help but notice how elegant and beautiful everything looked. It had two stories above ground level with wide windows overlooking the landscape below while beneath the structure was an expansive basement where supplies could easily be kept in case of emergency.

For public services, 'the dorms' have everything. From restrooms to cafeterias, it is possible to find any important daily need there.

Off the main campus, nearby there are shopping centers for all sorts of goods. Though for good reason, this school is extremely hard to get into and is owned by the government as a private school. Only the elite of the elite in magic or swordsmanship can get into this school, here people are taught things like magical architecture up to battle training.

I look at my notepad with class schedules and see that there is no class today asides from a meeting in the auditorium; location in the center of the other four buildings; which are placed diagonally around it. I decide to walk over to the dormitory and become acclimated to my new life for the next few years.

***

I make it to the entrance of the dormitory and step inside to see a relatively relaxed reception hall, simple lighting and a few paintings and other mediocre decorative additions. I look towards the end of the reception room and see a receptionist casually reading her book.

"Hello?" I ask in a medium tone.

"Oh, hello," she says casually while reading her book, "Are you new here?"

"Yes, I am."

"Okay, and your name?" she says while flipping to the next page on her book, using the time to glance up at me, before returning right to reading.

"Arc," I say

"Room 18-2," she says and tosses a pair of keys towards me with a marking on the handle that says '18-2-D.'

"Thank you," I say before walking off to my room

I inspect the keys while walking down the second-floor hallway and make the assumption that the 18 is the room number, 2 is the floor number, and D is the building, which is the dormitory in this case.

While I'm walking and looking down towards my keys and hit something and hear a thump, I look up to see a young man, presumably also a first-year student, on the ground rubbing his head.

"Sorry," I say

"It's all right," he says before getting up and quietly walking away.

My door was conveniently right there, so I test the key and it opens the door with a roll into a click. So, I pull open the door and see that it is relatively dark in the room, with the blind down and a dim light flickering from the ceiling. Looking around I see a door, which likely leads to the bathroom, and the rest of the room which consists of two beds on one side, evenly spaced apart with a small desk, and a small kitchen against the wall along with a simple couch.

"Wait!" I hear somebody say in a high-pitched tone from the room, "I need a second!"

"Sure, sorry," I say while wondering what the problem was, thinking about it again I did see something that looked like a figure by one of the beds.

"Okay- you can come in" I hear, so I accept the invitation and enter the room to see a girl with long black hair and black cat ears with white fluff inside, she is wearing a casual shirt that exposes her shoulders and a skirt.

"Hello," I say

"Hey," she says before quickly moving her hand over her face, as if hiding behind her shoulder for some reason.

She then points at me, "Oh my god! Are you Arc? The new guy?"

"Yes, I am?" I say, confused.

"I'm Kanade, your roommate." she says nervously.

"You seem nervous," I say, "You mentioned my name before I said it, am I of importance or something?"

"Yes, you are!" she says laughing a bit, clearly more relaxed, "You are already considered one of the best young swordsmen in the whole country, plus you know how to heal people."

"Oh, I didn't know that, thank you for informing me,"

"Seriously... It's an honor to be here with someone like yourself; that's why they made this room so nice..." She explains, sounding a bit nervous still though it isn't as visible.

"Why would they change the room layout?" I ask

"Well," Kanade says, "You first of all a big deal and secondly uhm-"

"Secondly?" I interrogate.

"They usually don't have a female and male in the same room; for obvious reasons." she says, clearly blushing, "So they changed the beds around to be close by and put everything in one room."

"Why am I with you in this room then?" I curiously ask.

"First off, it was set up by the instructors and administrators in order to tempt you to stay at the school; a nicer room and well, me..." she trails off for a moment before saying, "Anyway, they looked into first years and saw that I talked about you all the time and am a big fan of you. This in combination with the fact that I am a cat fauna, if you couldn't tell already from the ears and tail, which is a rare species,"

I look down towards her ears and back to her eyes, I did suspect her to be a cat fauna though I did not notice her tail, which is also black with a white tip.

"I see." I answer with.

"So anyways, just wanted to welcome you!" she says happily, "and I apologize for being so nervous."

"It's okay, we should start heading to the auditorium soon for the first-year entrance ceremony."

"Wait, Arc, together?"

"I thought I'd invite you as we should probably become better friends as we are living together now." I say, getting used to the atmosphere.

"Okay, sure" she says quietly, though it was pretty much written on her face with how she is blushing that she is clearly happy about this turn of events.

I put my luggage next to my bed and walk out of the room towards the auditorium, a massive building with great architectural advancements and lighting.

Once I sit down in a row of empty chairs near the back of the stadium I look towards the center of the auditorium and see a man who is likely the principal of the school along with the first-year instructors behind him. At the same time as I inspect them, Kanade sits down in the seat next to me and sits up straight as if trying to impress someone.

"Test, test-" after a long pause the principal says, "Okay we are now officially started the 23rd year opening ceremony of the school of swordsmanship and magical arts, or SMAS for short."

He proceeds to go over daily schedules and what we will be learning before finally saying, "Now, a word from our current president."

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An older student walks up and kindly takes the microphone from the principal, "I wish you learn much and enjoy your time here with us, we elder students are always willing to help and cooperate with younger ones" he says before finishing with, "That is all... Principal." gesturing for the principal to take the microphone.

"Thank you," The principal says with an appreciative smile.

"Next, we have a special student here to introduce." The principal smiles, "1st year Arc, please come up to the stage."

I sigh and get up, walking down all the way to the stage.

"Here, in our facilities, is the best young swordsman and an aspiring mage." the principal mentions proudly, "Anything to say, Arc?"

He puts the microphone in front of me and I accept it, "I wish you luck in your studies, everyone." I shoot a quick, kind, glance at Kanade and she blushes a bit after making eye contact. A few students around her look towards her and wonder what our relationship is, probably making up some absurd rumors in their heads as I hand the principal the microphone again.

"Now," He begins again, "Today's class schedule is as followed; first-year orientation where you'll meet your fellow first years, then magic training with the professors teaching basic spells until noon when second-year swordsmanship lessons begin at one o'clock. There is also a scripting class for those who are interested. You are dismissed, thank you for your time tonight, everyone."

"I am going to get something to eat now," I say

"Uhm... Can I join you?" Kanade asks me

"Sure,"

"Thank you!" she says happy tone and grabs my arm.

I make a small sound of surprise before continuing to walk out of the auditorium and towards the cafeteria of our dormitory.

***

The cafeteria is relatively muted as well, with simple but relaxing chairs and tables and a chef sitting down in a chair spinning his knife while humming until he makes eye contact with me.

"Are you, by chance, Arc?" he asks

"Yes, I am, by chance" I say teasingly.

He chuckles before handing me a fully boxed meal, "Here you are, enjoy the meal, you two."

"...Thank you?" I say, a bit confused as to why I got a ready meal, it seemed planned.

I get up and walk out of the cafeteria with Kanade and we sit down at a small table in our room.

"Okay, he only gave us one box for some reason, maybe it is a sampler tray." I mention as I open the box, oh-

It was somewhat like I imagined but had one key difference, everything was together, there was meat and rice along with other high-quality food items... with a heart in the middle.

"Did you set this up?" Kanade asks while blushing.

"No..." I speak

"Oh..."

"Well, let's eat." I say

Not falling for their poorly planned trap, that still did a number on us, I grab a few dishes and split the food accordingly while leaving some for later.

"Here you are," I say as I hand Kanade some water and a portion of the primary meal box.

"Thank you," she says, from that point onward we eat our meal quietly until she finally gets up and says, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Okay," I say while cleaning up the plates, cups, and utensils for later.

***

After a bit I hear the water valve close and she soon after opens the bathroom door, wearing a black nightgown that reveals her shoulders and lower portion of her legs, most of the fabric is relatively thin except for the primary part covering her torso and the area below her hips.

"I'll take a shower now as well." I say before getting up and closing the book I was just reading, only after marking the page I was on. Then walking over to the bathroom and showering, selecting a simple t-shirt and pants to wear to sleep.

After walking out of the bathroom. I sit down on my bed and see Kanade testing her with a few pokes before laying down on it as if I'm not there, considering the relaxed sigh she let out.

"Goodnight," I say before proceeding to turn off the lights.

"Goodnight."

***

I wake up and see that Kanade is still asleep, so I change into clothes and eat some food from last night, leaving a bit for Kanade along with a note that mentions what classes she needs to go to and when.

Once that is over with, I wander towards my magic training class.

"Welcome to magic training," the instructor says as I take a seat by my already acclimated peers, "I'm your instructor for magic attunement,

Nami Ayakoji."

"In this class you will learn how to control your magic and properly make use of it, along with raising your mana capacity." she says before continuing, "The first thing you will do to get used to mana control is properly insert your mana into these," raising a set of stamps like cards.

"This is how you are supposed to do it," she then proceeds to show us the proper method for breaking the stamps and executes that method in front of us.

"You may now begin," she says as she passes stamps out to students.

After fiddling with it for a second I realize that mine was made differently; I figure out that I need to change the intensity of my mana flow and its trajectory in order to open it, I do so without and problems. Then I proceed to look at the other students and see that they are having trouble, Kanade figured out hers quickly and was given another one, which she is clearly having difficulty with, so I go over to help her.

"You need to insert the mana into the stamp differently, by looking at the wax on the stamp you can tell how much or little you will need." I continue to explain further in depth after that.

She twitches her left cat ear before saying, "Okay." and successfully breaks the stamp in quarters as intended.

"Time's up!" Nami says, "Anyone who did not complete the first stamp in time will stay here after class."

A few people sigh before everyone else gets up after the bell and moves to swordsmanship class.

"Hello everyone," A man says as we all line up shoulder-to-shoulder on a clear field, "My name is Daichi Akira, I'll be your instructor in swordsmanship for the following year."

"To start, everyone find a partner." He orders and everyone complies quickly.

An assistant instructor walks up to him and they demonstrate the swing and block, a simple vertical strike, footwork, and the upwards block.

"Please begin" Akira says and everyone begins practicing, people who finish quickly are taught a hanging parry variation.

Someone who seems important, an administrator likely, walks up to me and says, "This probably simple for you, report to the scripting class instead."

I nod and start walking to scripting class. I make it to the scripting room without any hassle, asides from Kanade joining me about halfway through my walk.

"Welcome, Arc," the teacher says as the two other students look towards me, they are a few grades above mine from what I can tell.

"We are learning how to script on a tablet, to make it light up the text, whole tablet, and some conditional effects like causing it to send a mana pulse or only light up on sides that are not covered."

"Here is your tablet, Arc," the teacher hands me a tablet, "And yours." he says as he hands Kanade a tablet.

"The instructions are on the board, please get used to conditional formatting and basic scripts, we will continue lessons tomorrow." he says before walking out of the classroom tiredly.

"Let's go back home. There's something I want you to show me anyway," I say to her before getting up and watching her look at me for a second before following behind.

Once I reach our dorm room, I lock the door behind and put away my stuff into my side of the closet.

She takes off her coat, scarf, and bag putting them on a chair next to her bed and the corner of the main room.

"What did you want me to see?" She asks while closing the window with magic, though she still has all the curtains open.

"Show me your attunement," I say as she unclips her hair and it falls to her shoulders as she holds up her right arm,

"This is your attunement?" I say in surprise, attunement is essentially your magic capacity and efficiency, along with how quickly you can cast magic and your repertoire of spells put into one symbol, she had an angel as hers which is absurdly high.

She nods as she sits on her bed while I kneel next to her.

"What's with that symbol?" She asks curiously, looking at my symbol of fire with the large wings at the bottom of it on my right arm.

"I guess you could say this is my symbol of power, it signifies second best swordsman in the world." I say as I reach out for her hand with my left arm which has my own attunement symbol of a snake wrapped around my left arm, which is relatively normal and pretty average for our current grade.

"You're joking." She says in disbelief as she touches my left arm with her left hand which makes her attunement symbol turn on with a slight blue glow before returning to its previous state, the snake wrapped around my left arm glowed a very soft and muted red.

"No." I say in response.

"I thought you had amazing magic skills too." she says.

"No," I say again, "Those are just rumors, I am pretty average at practical magic if not bad at it."

She giggles and continues to hold my left arm as her attunement starts to glow softly and a small red dot appears in the middle of her attunement symbol.

"What is that?" She asks as her eyes widen and she stares at it with curiosity.

"Mana infection, my symbol takes mana from others, which is also why those rumors likely exist."

She blinks as she looks back at me.

"What does it mean?" She asks while leaning away from me slightly,

I grin a bit and laugh, "Don't worry, it only takes mana if you're touching it in any way or I am making it do so."

She relaxes and looks back up at me with a smile on her face before looking at her attunement again and touching my left arm lightly with her hand.

"How long does it take for you to get infected?" she asks

"Full mana deficiency would take a few days with how much mana you have and how slowly my attunement symbol takes mana

when I'm not operating it myself." I say in an assuring tone.

She nods in understanding before grabbing her tablet and messing with it until she manages to get the light spell to work.

I grab mine and do the same, along with the first conditional effect that makes it so it will send out mana pulses when I give it short bursts of mana.

"I'm going to eat something now," I say while walking over to the kitchenette, eating some of the leftover food from yesterday and putting some out for Kanade.

She's still sitting on her bed while writing on her tablet when I tell her, "I left some food out for you, I'll be taking a shower now."

She nods in response while watching me as I walk to the bathroom.

Once inside the bathroom I close the door before getting undressed and putting my clothes on the rack in the room along with mine from yesterday.

After I finish showering and put on another t-shirt and pair of pants that I had, I sit down on the end of my bed and look outside our window for a moment before bringing the curtains together and laying back in my bed, "Need anything else? I'm going to sleep now" I say.

"No thanks, I'm fine." She replies with and goes to shower and change in the bathroom. She then gets in her bed, in a similar nightgown as yesterday, still a black one with her shoulders exposed, though it has a longer skirt this time and covers her arms. She reaches over and turns a knob which, in turn, causes the room to become much darker, with only dim lighting remaining.

We both quietly sleep for what I'd have to guess was 40 minutes or so minutes before she quietly pulls my sheet up a bit and climbs into my bed.

"Kanade?" I ask

"Shh," she whispers as she snuggles in closer to my back

"Why are you-?"

"I couldn't fall asleep," she interrupts, "I'm sure you wouldn't mind, and the school clearly wants me to do this for some undisclosed reason."

"Well, now I won't be able to sleep" I interject.

"You don't need to," she says before whispering again, "You were still awake when I got into bed."

"True," I say before she plants her hands on my back and pushes closer to it.

"You really shouldn't be getting much closer, Kanade" I say with a nervous tone.

"I'll move if it's too much for you," she says before pressing her head against my neck.

I don't say anything because it feels good, and I don't want to ruin it for her either.

After a few moments, we both fall asleep.