Someone bangs on the door. “Rise and shine, Astrid and Kai! Time to get up!”

Ugh…so early. What are we doing up already? There shouldn’t be any classes at this hour.

“Damn… My body hurts,” Astrid says, sitting up from the bed. “How are you feeling, Kai?”

“Tired…but otherwise feel fine. What are we doing up so early?”

“We do ten laps around the Academy every morning as it helps build our stamina, but that might be too much for you to start out with. Let’s start out with five in the morning and five before dinner. Come take a quick shower with me first.”

“Okay,” I say, following her into the bathroom. Seeing her frame from behind excites me. We’ll be doing that every night? This is the best. I’m so glad I’m part of this team now.

Astrid and I do our morning routines together and get dressed. Everyone else is already ready to go at the front entrance.

“The big man is up! How was your night?” Taihan asks with a grin. “Must’ve been good since Astrid is usually the first one up.”

“Shut it,” Astrid says and punches his shoulder.

“Let’s go,” Lance says and then opens the main door. We follow him out.

“We’re not eating breakfast first?” I ask.

Lance responds, “We’ll eat breakfast after our morning exercise. We’re doing ten laps around the Academy.”

“Yeah, I’ll cook you up something good, Kai,” Gaston says. “We stocked up on premium ingredients yesterday.”

“Actually, I think ten is too much for Kai to start out with,” Astrid informs. “I’m going to be doing five laps with him now and five later before dinner.”

“That’s fine to start out but he’s going to need to scale up fast and even better if he does more than ten per day because he’s two years behind us,” Taihan says.

“Of course! I’ll work with him to increase his laps up by one per week! Right, Kai?”

I smile skeptically. I don’t know if I can even finish five laps today… I can’t imagine having to do more than ten laps in a day. Usually three laps is my limit. “Yeah.”

We start out laps with Gaston and Taihan leading with the highest speed. Soon enough, only Astrid is running alongside me. The exercise gives me perspective that I have a long way to go. Even their Calculator surpasses me easily and overtakes me from the next lap. It’s a little frustrating. I know how Marin and Luna feel now when I’m usually the one passing them from a future lap.

I finish my five laps in a little over an hour, utterly exhausted. Meanwhile there were two members of my new team that completed their ten laps without breaking a sweat and under one hour. The rest of the team takes around the same time as I do five with their ten or slightly longer.

With that task completed, we head back inside for breakfast. Today’s menu is steak and eggs benedict. Finally, something good to eat! I love a succulent ribeye.

The team gives me the notes over the past two years to study while they head to class.

Finally! Some alone time to read Emdos’ book! I go to my room to take the book out from my backpack. Where’s that page…here it is! The strange symbol. Grinning, I put my palm onto the page and release Scrap Mana. Nothing happens.

Ohh. I probably need to use that. I do the same thing with my Mana. As expected, the symbol disappears along with the page, leaving the rest of the book open for reading. Another keyword appears in my head. Gate? Should I give it a try? It would be disastrous if it ends up damaging the room. The keyword doesn’t sound like anything dangerous, though.

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The eye-catching words on the new page of the book explain it—Void magic. I gape at those words for a solid ten seconds. I know that’s not one of the magic categories that we learned about… Maybe it’ll be in the two years’ worth of notes?

I focus back on the page. This page seems older than the previous parts of the book for some odd reason. And the handwriting is different.

To my son, Kai, this book is dedicated to you, our last hope… This book contains all of the knowledge of Void magic, the manipulation of time and space that we have accumulated…

Huh?! To my son, Kai… This was written by my father! I’m not sure what the rest means. Could this be what Emdos meant when he said I was special? He knew that my parents had magic no one has heard of. I have so many questions that I want to ask him!

The front door opens. Huh? I thought everyone went to class? I close Emdos’ book and keep it stowed in my backpack again before heading out of the bedroom. I meet Astrid on the other side of the door.

“Kai? Shouldn’t you be studying?” Astrid asks. “What are you doing in there?”

“I was a bit tired, so I wanted to take a nap.”

“Good call! Let’s do it!” she exclaims, coming into the room and locking the door behind us. “One more thing… Karen screamed my ear off about keeping her up all night. So we need to find a different time for our activities.”

“A different time…? Like right now?”

“We could…”

And so, we take off our clothes and go for another round.

“Ahh that was good,” Astrid says, panting. “I’m not complaining, but I can’t do this every day. I need to go to class, and eventually you’ll come along! That’s why I’ll be your private tutor until then. You need to learn as fast as possible.”

“Sure, sounds good,” I reply, closing my eyes. I wish every nap starts with this feeling.

“Let’s sleep for now. Sweet dreams, my little prince,” she says, wrapping her arms around me.

…

We wake up in a few hours and start our study session. I start with Year 2 topics. There’s so much information going in all at once! Is this how Hiro felt? Having all these notes in front of me reminds me of him. How has his studying has been going?

“What are you thinking about?” Astrid asks.

“Oh, nothing. Just my old team. I was helping Hiro study for his retake exam. He’s the only one that failed the theory exam.”

She laughs. “What an idiot you have to be to fail the theory test!”

“Yeah, he’s an idiot, but he’s an idiot that tries hard. It was my fault too for not realizing his cluelessness.”

“No, don’t blame yourself for that. But I have to thank him too. Because of him, you met us. So be happy about that!”

I frown. I know I should be happy, but I just don’t feel that way. I have everything I could possibly ask for in this new team. More than I could possibly imagine.

“Well, I know you probably still miss your old team, but those feelings will come to pass since you’re with us now. I’ll make sure you feel welcome here. If you want, you can introduce me to your old friends!”

Oh, no. That has to be avoided at all costs. I can only imagine what Luna will do to me if she finds out about our relationship and… extracurricular activities. I’ll have a fate much worse than Sitos. Luna she… she’s just a friend just like Sitos, Drugo, Hiro, and Marin, but why don’t I want her to find out about Astrid and I in particular?

“No, that’s okay. I don’t want to interrupt Hiro’s study time. Maybe some other time,” I respond.

“Whenever you want. Let’s focus back on studying,” Astrid says.

I spend practically the entire day studying the notes without much breaks other than for Lunch and the five additional laps before dinner. Completing those were harder than the set of five in the morning. Dinner was delicious which I had nothing to complain about, and each meal I got to learn a little more about my new team. Still, the day leaves me with a feeling of emptiness that has me stumped.

I think about it as the next few days pass.

Today should be when Hiro retakes his exam. I find some time to sneak away from my studying while the others are in class. Let’s see how Hiro is doing.

I arrive at the classroom, open the door slightly, and put an ear inside. Moria is wrapping up the last remedial lesson.

“You can do it, Hiro! Even if you don’t believe in yourself, believe in me who believes in you!” Luna exclaims.

I smile. I miss hearing her voice and pep talks.

“Are you ready?” Moria asks.

“Yes, sir! I believe in everyone else!” Hiro declares.

I almost let out a cackle, but I hold it in.

“You are the one taking the test,” Moria says after a short silence.

“I know, sir!”

“Okay. Here is your test,” Moria says and hands him a packet. “Your time limit is one hour. No talking from anyone until then.”

Good luck, Hiro. I’ll be quietly cheering you on. I’ll come back in an hour to see the results.

I get up and see Astrid literally behind me with her arms crossed. How long has she been standing there? How do I explain…?

She walks away without saying anything. I follow her. “Astrid, wait. I can explain.”

“Kai, are you happy with us?”

“Ye-yeah, of course!”

“Don’t lie to me. I’ve been with you the last couple of days and I’ve noticed your mood has been on decline since the day you’ve arrived. Are you at least happy when you’re with me?”

I think so. I love feeling good with her.

“Wait, don’t answer that,” Astrid says before I say anything. “Do you want to go back to your old team?”

A question that I thought I would never have to consider again. Why would I ever want to leave this perfect team? I even got to celebrate a victory without even being involved in the competition. Maybe I do want to go back despite all that… Maybe that’s really what’s been bothering me the last few days.

“Rankings don’t matter. We’re a team!” Luna’s voice echoes in my head on our very first day together. I realize the true meaning of her words now. Everyone still cared about me despite knowing I had no talent from their perspective. Hiro too. He welcomed me despite everything, especially because I was working hard. And here I am. I abandoned him in the one time he needed my support most.

“Will you be mad?” I ask.

“I’ll only be mad if you give me a half-assed answer.”

“Okay then… I want to go back.”

“I know.”

“I like you and everyone else, but…”

“I know. You’re bonded to your old team, right? I understand, so don’t worry. I’ll explain it to Lance and the others. Pack your things now and leave before they’re back.”

“Okay…can I still visit? Maybe we can—“

“No. It’s better if we don’t see each other again. This arrangement we had…was a package deal for you to join us as a team.”

“Alright…” I reply. It’s a shame. I’ll miss her and the rest of the team even though we spent only a short time together, but I need to go back to where I should be.

“It won’t be goodbye forever. The next time we’ll meet will be as Adventurers. I’ll make sure you’ll regret not joining us,” Astrid says with a grin while flexing an arm.

“Right,” I respond with a smile.

“Don’t let me catch you moving out,” she says and walks in another direction.