Eventually, we reached the fifth floor. The fifth floor of all buildings tends to be the quietest of all floors. This was because unlike the floors below it that housed six classes, or large laboratory rooms with sizes equivalent to six classes, the fifth floor only housed two rooms, the rest would be used as a storage space, thus why the elevator was particularly large. It could fit maybe twenty people at most.

“Don’t you think it would be a pain if they need to bring down stuff?”

I asked Antonio, who stopped in front of our destination, room B51

“There is a reason gravity exists.”

“Don’t go throwing stuff out the window!”

He ignored me and knocked on the door. Not long after, a female student opened the door.

“Oh hey, aren’t you Aliya’s and Mina’s friends?”

She asked. It was Plona, one of Aliya’s band members.

“Come on in.”

She opened the door for us, prompting me and Antonio to enter. Inside, sat Aliya and Mina together. There were only the three of them. I was slightly taken aback at the sight, as I did not expect them to be here.

“Ranold. I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

Aliya looked at me and waved.

“And… and there’s Antonio… too.”

“Interesting…”

Antonio muttered the second he saw them.

“I thought you three are supposed to be preparing for the performance?”

Plona let out a somewhat sad sigh. Seeing that, Aliya took over the explanation for her.

“To put it simply, the club had three members, Plona among them. The other two, who also happened to be the band’s previous vocalist and pianist, graduated, leaving her alone.”

What kind of coincidence was this?

“So you joined in?”

“Yep. Traveling sounds fun!”

Aliya answered, clearly excited.

“Mina, you too?”

“Umm… my parents say… traveling, seeing the world is good.”

Mina continued. She didn’t seem as excited as Aliya, so maybe she just joined in because Aliya joined? Regardless, if Aliya’s here…

“I’ll join, I can bring the luggage.”

“Eh?”

The traveling club’s goal was to travel around the nation, and internationally if possible, understanding culture along the way. A student exchange, if you will. The original founders thought that this would be a good way to understand the differences between fellow humans, allowing us to respect and appreciate others more. Cutarvir Magic High School wasn’t the first to start the club, though, as based on the story that Plona told me, the first club actually appeared in a small village high school away in the Moratinian Highlands. Despite the story of the legendary knight, the village remained largely unaffected. Sure, it had more tourists now, but not enough to turn it into a big city or a tourist spot.

One of the high schoolers there wanted to travel around the nation, see more than just beautiful mountains and breathtaking valleys. So their group started traveling every school vacation. They would carry things that were produced in the mountains and sell them in their destination to help fund the travels. Eventually, the ministry of education took notice, and today, many high schools have traveling clubs.

As to why the club was now relatively empty…

“People here tend to come from rich families, so they travel all the time…”

Plona let out another sigh.

“Besides, why would you choose floor five anyway?”

Aliya who sat on her left asked. I glanced at Antonio.

“It is because traveling requires the person to walk a lot, so if one is to get tired from just staircases, how would they keep up with the group’s activities?”

“That’s what my seniors told me… but I think they’re just running their mouths, as no one showed up today… sigh.”

Seemed like Plona was in a really bad mood. How would they perform later today?

“Wait, I thought I said you were making that up?”

“Things that I made up tend to be based on my own personal observation of the situations and circumstances that presented themselves.”

“... Huh?”

Apparently, no one understood what he was saying.

“But why are the two other band members not a part of the club?”

I asked, to which Plona simply shook her head.

“They don’t want to. They’re one of those who traveled a lot with their families and friends.”

Oh…

“Are you, by any chance, invited into the band by the two seniors that had graduated?”

“Yes. I’m not really close to the other two. It’s not that we’re not friends, it’s just we’re not ‘best friends’. How do you know?”

Antonio casually shrugged.

“Analysis.”

This dude…

Regardless, while I did get slightly tired from climbing five floors, the feeling was only slight. The traveling club also didn’t seem to have any specific requirements.

Except…

“How much do you usually pay for each trip?”

“Depends on the situation.”

Plona got up from her seat and grabbed her notebook from her bag. She flipped through the pages.

“When we last traveled, we headed to the island of Kitaira, so not very far from here. It took a single person less than a hundred EC, around ninety EC to be precise.”

That’s the exact amount that Aliya’s family gave me!

“But don’t worry.”

Plona returned the book to her bag.

“Before our travels, we would do some fundraising to help lessen the funds needed. Last time, we held a bazaar-”

“-Eep! Ah, sorry!”

Mina had let out a frightened scream. Guess she really didn’t like the idea of doing fundraising. Realizing she accidentally yelled, she silently shrunk back into her seat.

“Ah, it’s alright. Well, we held a bazaar and did some part-time in my mother’s restaurant. We also managed to convince the band to do some live performances, which helped with the funding. In the end, it only cost fifteen EC each for a group of six.”

“Well… I’m fine with that…”

Fifteen EC was relatively cheap for traveling, and the prospect of a part-time job didn’t really disturb me as long as it was something that I could do. Based on Mina’s teary eyes, though, she was certainly not alright with the idea of going to public for work.

“Great. Does that mean you’re joining? We’ll hold our gathering a week from today.”

I nodded and stood up. Plona guided me to the teacher’s desk, where she had laid out a book listing the names of students who joined. I wrote my name under Mina’s, totaling three new members.

“Also… how many members are there in the club, excluding us thr…”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence when I saw Antonio putting his name under mine.

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“I thought you were with the science club?”

“I’m open to new experiences. Besides, just because I am in the science club, doesn’t mean I am banned from joining other clubs as well. I think the possibility of the traveling club crashing schedules with the science club is rare, given the possibility.”

“Science club, eh? Don’t they have their meetups on Wednesdays? We always hold ours on Saturdays, because we often need more time compared to other clubs for planning, but we don’t meet every week, though.”

“I see, by the way, excluding us four, how many members are in the traveling club?”

Plona let out a wry smile while scratching her hair.

“One. Me.”

“Just… one?”

“Yeah. One of the members from my year quit, and the remaining graduated.”

Well, at least we weren’t too crowded.

“Alright! Glad to have you on board!”

Plona said excitedly, her gloominess from before gone.

I guess that’s how I look when I feel down…

I then noticed Aliya’s eyes on me. She then stood up.

“Can I borrow Ranold for a while?”

She asked, and without waiting for an answer, she took my hand and pulled me outside.

“Sure.”

Plona answered, despite her answer clearly being unneeded. Aliya pulled me out of the room and guided me through the hallway. I followed her to the southernmost end of the building, where large openings gave a view of the school complex below us. Only the southern section along with half of the eastern and western sections of the building’s upper floors had balconies. The northern side along with the north half of the side walls had windows between the railings and the roof. It made the southern side feel more fresh as the morning winds blew past.

“So, what is it?”

“I thought we should… you know, catch up a bit. We hadn’t talked much these last few days.”

“Yeah… You’re busy with your band, right? How is that going?”

Aliya put her right hand on the railing, the soft wind blowing past her hair.

“It’s going great. The upperclassmen are really welcoming, although as Plona said, they don’t really have an interest in traveling.”

I rest my body on the pillar behind me.

“Oh, did she invite you in front of them?”

“Yeah, and Zriat said something like ‘yeah you two should join, so that she stops asking us about it’ and when we did agree, he was the second most excited.”

“Guess he really hated the idea, huh?”

“I heard he traveled with his family a lot, but didn’t enjoy it very much. He preferred being home or traveling around the city, not outside it. How have you been doing? Especially after, umm… yesterday.”

I decided to try my skills on Aliya. I looked at her silently for a few seconds. I felt my powers had been getting stronger in the last few hours, as when I previously needed maybe fifteen seconds before the shield would show itself, now I only need twelve.

“Is something wrong? Do you not want to discuss yesterday’s events?”

She probably noticed that I couldn’t do anything yesterday, that I was unable to throw a single magic spell.

“Is the way I’m staring weird?”

“Not really… but you are looking at me without saying anything… which is a bit unnatural of you.”

I paid attention as she started to glow. She got the wrong idea and bowed.

“Umm… I’m really, really sorry for abandoning you yesterday!”

“... Did the detergent you use have ice-related properties?”

She lifted her head, bewildered.

“Huh? No, why?”

I paid attention to her. I then realized that the glow that engulfed her looked different from the one that engulfed one of the science club’s members. The one that engulfed Aliya circled the outline of her entire body including her hair, while the one that engulfed the science club member only circled her clothes.

“Does the soap you use have any ice-related properties?”

“Yes, it said it used magic to help protect the user from a hot day. It’s kinda expensive, though, so I only use it when… wait, how do you know?”

“So you didn’t apply the shield yourself? Instead, a product applied for you?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”

I looked at her and gave her a firm nod, which confused her even more. Eventually, I decided to tell her. Why couldn’t she, who was my very best friend, know? Besides, based on Antonio’s reactions, my ability might be rare, but it wasn’t that game-changing.

“I have the ability to see shields, if I concentrate long enough on them. As an example, I could see the purple shield that your maid cast on your training dummy back in your home.”

“... Really?”

“At least that’s what Antonio told me.”

I myself didn’t fully understand my abilities, at least not yet.

“Aren’t the ones who could see the shield just those who apply it?”

“And me, for some reason.”

I explained everything that had happened after yesterday to her. She remained silent, listening closely to my words. Eventually, as a test, she gave me her sword. It glows brilliant silver.

“Silver?”

“My dad told me that it had been coated with a metal-element shield. Metal is strong against all elements, but was the hardest element to apply to something. The Moonuvert Silver Sword was forged by one of the best blacksmiths in the continent, and was given to my great-grandfather to help with the war effort all those years ago.”

She said as I handed her sword back to her.

“But, even I couldn’t see the glow. That’s impressive! How strong does it glow?”

I had been looking at the sword for a while, and while I only needed a few seconds to see the color, the longer I concentrated on something, the stronger the glow became. On some objects, it would stop after maybe seventeen or twenty seconds, meaning the shield was fairly weak. On others, the glow would stop growing after thirty seconds, meaning it was a decently powerful shield, but…

“How long have I been staring at it?”

I asked, my sights still locked on Aliya’s sword. Aliya held it in front of me.

“I’m not counting, but it has been a while.”

“Had it passed a minute?”

“I don’t know…”

I continued looking at the sword, preventing me from looking at her face. I know I couldn’t use magic, but I wonder if I could wield something that had magic-enhancing properties like hers? I remembered failing to do that a few years ago, but was that really why? Did my ability really stop me from utilizing all kinds of magic, including magic-infused weapons?

I realized that I could still see the glow getting stronger despite me thinking about other things. This probably meant as long as my sights and a part of my brain actively thought about it, I would be able to see it.

“Do you need to be able to use magic to use the sword?”

I couldn’t see her expression, but based on the silence that followed, I assumed she was thinking about it.

“Umm… I always have the ability to use magic even without the sword. So I guess if you were to use it without magic… would it be a normal sword? I mean, without any of the magic-enhancing properties that came with it.”

So that meant no matter how powerful a weapon was, it would be nothing in my hands. I wonder if there really was nothing I could do to use magic.

“Still, to think it’s this bright…”

“Huh?”

The silver glow continued to grow stronger, even after looking at it for so long. Eventually, I got tired and shook my head. The glow disappeared completely. I looked at Aliya who stared at me, dumbfounded.

“So yeah… should we go back to the club?”

“Yeah, you’re right… wanna go somewhere tomorrow? Just the two of us.”

“Fine by me.”

The image of Mina crying alone in her room appeared in my head, but I quickly shook it away. Aliya returned her sword to its sheath and turned around, and we returned to the club.

“Ah, you are back. How did the date go?”

Antonio casually asked as we entered the room.

“It’s not a date. What kind of date lasts five minutes?”

I replied, but I noticed Mina’s weird gaze at me… no, she was looking at Aliya who stood to my right.

“You’re… dating?”

“Not yet.”

Aliya shrugged and sat down. Antonio then stood up and approached me.

“You still want to go around the festival?”

“Sure.”

“Alright then.”

He waved to the girls inside and immediately left.

“See you at the concert.”

“Yeah, good luck to you all.”

I waved to the three and exited the room, following behind Antonio who had walked away without waiting for me.

We spent the rest of the day looking at the various clubs. Several clubs had some kind of events, like how scoring a goal in the soccer club could give you a chance for a lucky draw. I was unlucky, however, and despite managing to score a goal, I didn’t get anything.

“I am surprised you scored a goal in the first place.”

We rested on one of the empty benches in the garden, while Antonio drank a small cartoon of strawberry milk.

“Says the one who failed to score a single shot after three attempts.”

“I shall admit my weakness in sports-related activities, although one must also notice that playing sports with a lab coat on was a bad idea.”

“I figured.”

I looked at the time. It was twelve-fifteen. Antonio didn’t seem bothered by the heat, probably because he wore a shield on himself.

“You want to grab lunch?”

“I shall take you on that offer. Do note that I would not eat anything heavy, though. I am not in the mood for a heavy meal.”

Antonio stood up and threw his empty cartoon milk into the trash, and I followed him to the cafeteria.

While I bought fried rice, Antonio ended up only buying a crepe.

“Do you know, if you swap the last two letters from the word crepe, you will get creep?”

I didn’t know which was weirder, the fact that this lab coat-wearing dude casually said that while walking with his hands in his pocket, or the contents of the sentence itself.

“I know, but I don’t need to know.”

I said as I walked beside him, heading for the stage where Aliya would be performing. We walked into the auditorium, looking for an empty seat.

“Hello everyone, how’s everything going? I hope you had a great break!”

The MC loudly yelled, trying to hype the crowd up. The auditorium was relatively full, most of its seats filled with people interested in watching the performance. I looked at the time, five minutes before Aliya’s turn.

The MC started doing some small talk as we waited, but I didn’t pay attention. My mind went elsewhere.

I wonder if she’s scared?

I didn’t remember ever seeing Aliya show the slightest hint of fear. No matter what she faced, whether dangerous bears, the eyes of her peers gazing at her with expectations, or the exams, she never showed me that she feared any of them. She never had a reason to. She had good grades, she mastered the acoustic guitar, and she even showed concern for my safety when she faced that bear, without worrying about herself.

But she practiced fighting before, she spent years learning the acoustic guitar, and she would study in her free time.

But I really couldn’t remember her playing the guitar in a band while singing. I still remember how great she was when they played in front of me and Mina, but that was just the two of us, the two people who wouldn’t judge her no matter what. And now, she would be performing in front of many people.

Even if she wasn’t scared, how would Mina fare? Would she be fine?

“You seemed to be waiting with both great concerns and great expectations.”

“Yeah…”

I expect it to be alright, because it was Aliya. I knew she would pull through this. She faced a lot of worse things in the past, so a little concert like this shouldn’t be a challenge.

But I still feel worried regardless.

“Those who do not train are those who suffered the most in battle.”

“Huh?”

“The winners of a battle were not decided when the participants entered the field, instead the results were determined long before the prospect of battle existed. That is why armies are built and trained, so when the day of battle comes, they can ensure victory.”

“And you’re trying to say..?”

Antonio gave a small smile, one that seemed pure of malice.

“Trust in your friends’ training, and you shall not need to worry.”

Isn’t there a more straightforward way to say it?

I didn’t have the time to voice my complaints, however, as the next second, the MC called a band onto the stage.

“Please welcome, Winter Rockies!”

The audience clapped as the curtain rolled up and revealed the five members behind.

“... I guess they did not put a lot of effort into the name…”

Antonio muttered, seemingly disappointed for some reason.

“Hello everyone! How are you doing today? I hope you’re doing well.”

Aliya started off the introductions. She proceeded to introduce herself along with the rest of the band. What caught my attention was Mina who looked down at her piano the entire time, slightly shaking.

“This shall be an interesting show indeed.”

This time I didn’t comment. Instead, I looked concerned at them. Could Mina really play when she was this frightened? For a second, I saw her lift her face up.

And our eyes met.

I returned the sincerest smile I could, to which she replied with a faint, but visibly confident smile.

You can do this.

“Alright. I hope you enjoy this.”

Aliya said, retreating slightly from the microphone. She glanced at Zriat, who replied by hitting his sticks together.

And here they go.