“Actually, we need one more,” Luna says.

Wait, what? My eyes widen.

She continues, “If it’s okay with Kai, we’ll take him.”

“What do you say, Kai?” Moria asks. “Do you want to join her group?”

“Yeah,” I respond. I try not to show any particular emotion, but I still can’t believe Luna invited me.

“Great. Luna, you will be responsible for him from now on,” Moria says.

“I’ll do my best!” Luna exclaims.

I hope she isn’t taking the teacher too seriously. It’s not like I’m a little kid who can’t take care of himself.

Moria lets out an exasperated breath as he heads up the stairs. He mutters, “Who left the door open?”

The other students have started shuffling around the room.

Who are the rest of my group? There should be four other members, right?

“Luna, are you crazy? We do not need a talentless scaredy-cat who is afraid of carrots,” a guy with a black ponytail says. He’s seated behind Luna.

My eye twitches once to his comment. I don’t like this guy already.

“Yeh, he’ll drag me down,” a guy walking up to us says. I’m not sure about this guy either. He must’ve gotten good results on his test if he’s this confident. He’s about the same height and weight as me but has orange, spiky hair.

The guy following behind him has a much larger frame. He’s both taller and heavier than me. He’s got black hair styled into a buzz cut. What piques my interest in him is that he’s wearing nothing on his feet. Is he poor or something? I’ve seen people like that before in the Residential District.

He says, “Hiroster, don’t be like that. If he trains hard, he won’t hold us back too much.”

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“That’s right, Drugo!” Luna exclaims. “The strong has to protect the weak.”

“I’m not weak!” I exclaim. I thought Luna would understand, but she’s the same as the rest of them. It’s only that her words are softer, and whenever she talks to me, I feel warm inside.

"Right, you're actually holdin' back your real power, sure,” Hiroster says.

But it’s true…

He continues, “Consider yourself lucky, Kai. I’ll make up for your lack of strength with my amazin’ talent.”

“That is not something the second least talented member of this group should be saying,” the ponytail guy says.

“Shut up, Sitos! Ya wanna fight?” Hiroster raises his voice and slams his fist into his palm.

“Bring it. I will take you down easily,” Sitos says while standing up. At this point, I notice he’s wearing a black kimono with splotches of red and a white sash around his waist.

What’s with that outfit? I frown and wrinkle my nose. I’ll bet against this guy any day. Hiroster should beat him and teach him a lesson.

“Hiroster, don’t start fights you can’t win,” Drugo says.

“Whose side are ya on?” Hiroster asks.

“I’m on your side, but he’s right. You’re not very talented. Just a minute ago you were telling me the results of your test.”

“Shh!” Hiroster interjects. “Don’t tell ‘em ‘bout that.”

“Tell us about what?” I ask. I’m not sure if Hiroster realizes that his comment only makes us more interested. If it turns out this guy is the second least talented person in the group, assuming that I’m the least talented, that means he’s the actual least talented person of the group. I don’t want that guy to act all high and mighty as if he’s better than me.

Drugo answers, “He scored B, C, D in that order on the test.”

B in Scrap Mana, C in Unrefined Mana, and D in Rich Mana? That sounds pretty bad. I misplaced my hopes in this guy to give Sitos a beatdown.

“Pfft…” Sitos mutters and snickers.

“Damn it, Drugo! We don’t know for sure that no one else scored worse than me other than Kai,” Hiroster says. He points to Sitos and continues, “You’re so high and mighty. What didja score?”

“I do not have to tell you anything.”

“Ha! So you’re basically admittin’ thatcha have bad results too!”

“Test results are not the only indication of talent. Have you ever held a weapon before?”

“Hiroster, give it up. He’s probably received combat training already, so you can’t beat him in a fight,” Drugo says.

“I know—damn rich kids. I’ll have ya know that if I got some real trainin’, I could beatcha in a fight fair and square,” Hiroster says. “I’ll admit you’re better than me now, but not for long. We’ll decide the rankin’s again next year.”

“We will see. So, Luna is number one, I am second, Drugo is third, Marin is fourth, you are fifth, and the scaredy-cat is last.”

I ignore him. I won’t let myself get angry over something trivial. I know I’m better than him and everyone else. Who’s Marin, though? The girl with red hair sitting by herself who’s glancing at us every so often? Everyone else has already left the room, so it must be her. What a weird girl. If she’s curious about us, why doesn’t she join?

“Rankings don’t matter. We’re a team!” Luna exclaims. “Since Kai has joined, we need to reintroduce ourselves.”

“There’s no need,” I say. I point to everyone and say, “You’re Luna, he’s Sitos, he’s Hiroster, he’s Drugo, and over there’s Marin.”

“Wow, you already know everyone’s names,” Luna says. “But, that’s Hiro, not Hiroster.”

“Didn’t Drugo call him Hiroster, though?” I ask, confident that I didn’t mishear it the first time.

“Ah, I add something to the end of everyone’s name. It helps me feel closer to them,” Drugo says. “Kaister.”

“Oh, I see,” I say.

“But that’s Hiro the Great ta ya,” Hiro says.

More like Hiro the Dunce, but I keep my thoughts to myself.

“Marin, why don’t you join us?” Luna asks.

Marin, who has been quiet this entire time, stands up and walks slowly toward us. She’s got red hair that goes up to her shoulders. A white headband rests on top of her head. Still, she says nothing.

"Now that everyone knows each other, let's head over to the front of the Academy! We only have a few minutes to spare," Luna says as she walks up the stairs. We follow behind her.