Monday, January 23, 2036. Today's another ordinary day in my ordinary life. Well, my life isn't that ordinary. The truth is, I'm... 

I glance over at my alarm clock.

7:55.

"I'm gonna be late!" I exclaim as I jump out of bed and rush get ready. I dress myself in my Sakurako Academy school uniform, which consists of a light gray overcoat, a white collared under shirt with a red ribbon, and a reddish-pinkish skirt that goes up to my mid-thigh. I also add in white knee socks. I tie my hair into long, blonde twin tails using a purple ribbon and dash down the stairs. But due to my accelerating force, I trip on my own foot and tumble down the stairs, where I suffer a minor scrape on my knee. 

I place my right hand directly above the injury and summon a translucent, orange barrier around the wound. Within seconds, the scrape is gone. 

Fully healed, I sprint to the kitchen where our family maid greets me. 

"Good morning, Lady Hikari. I have prepared your bag and your breakfast for you," she says.

"Thanks, Saya-san." I grab my bag and my breakfast, which is a piece of buttered French toast, and head out the door, calling, "I'm off!"

"Take care!" she replies.

Our family driverless limousine awaits me. "Welcome, Lady Hikari. Where shall I take you today?" it asks.

"School," I command as I stuff my face with bread.

"Understood," it replies as it drives me to school.

That's right. I'm a Mage. And not just any Mage; I'm the next head of the prestigious Mage family, the Ishikawa clan. But, I'm not my father's actual daughter. That would be my step-sister, Hanako-oneesama, who was unfortunately exiled from our family after proving to be unable to effectively use magic. My father wouldn't listen to me when I begged him to let her stay, he just too stubborn about his decision. Hanako-oneesama obeyed and disappeared for 3 years. But, at the beginning of the school year, she revealed herself at the school and we ended up in the same class. I was overjoyed by the news, but she ignored me whenever I tried to talk to her or invite her to be in a group. She would probably say something like "You shouldn't even be in this family. I should've been the the next head." I don't blame her. After all, I shouldn't  be in this family.

I was born in Tokyo, but I moved to Europe when I was  early a year old. My parents died from a car accident when I was 3, so I was sent to live in a small orphanage in a rural area with 10 other kids. It was like hell on Earth. The so-called caretaker serve us rotten food and whipped us with a belt if we didn't finish it all. We would do our studies for 8 hours straight using old books from decades ago. If we answered a question incorrectly or slacked off, he'd smack us on the head with a cane. After our studies, we had to clean the whole building until it was literally spotless. Anything below their standards, and we would be strangled. After living there for some time, I came to realize that almost everyone mindlessly obeyed, like robots. I hypothesized that they hypnotized themselves into obeying every command to avoid punishment. It was like they're souls were sucked out of them. However, there was one boy tried to escape, but the building had high-tech surveillance cameras and alarm system. He was immediately caught, and his fingernails were ripped out one by one as punishment. I couldn't stand it any longer. One day, I snapped and said a horrible thing: "I wish you would just die!" I didn't know what impact my words would have in the future.

Not long after, the orphanage was bombed in World War 3. The whole place was burned to ashes along with everyone else inside.  I was the only survivor. I subconsciously built a defensive magic barrier around myself to survive. That's when my father, Hiro Ishikawa, adopted me, saying that I have the potential to become an elite Mage and took me to Tokyo.

Upon arriving at the school, I manage to step foot in the classroom without a second to spare. "Made it!" I exclaim, panting.

"What's wrong, Hikari-chan? You usually come to school a lot earlier," my desk partner, Kazuki says.  Kazuki has been a good friend of mine since middle school. He has light brown hair and eyes, and wears a warm smile almost all the time. His girlfriend, Kei, sits behind him. She has short black hair to her shoulders and brown eyes. Like, Kazuki, Kei has been my friend for years. They've both been nice to me, despite my rather clumsy actions.

"I overslept," I admit as I take my seat in the front. I look to the seat to the right of Kazuki. Onee-sama's not here?

Sensei walks in and tells us to settle down. As the class representative, I lead the class in the morning greetings. 

"I'm going to pass back your tests from last week," he announces. 

When I receive my test, I sigh in relief that I got a 93, but I frown at the questions I failed to answer correctly, remembering my past.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ten minutes later, at 8:10, the class delinquent, Yuto Fukudo, enters the classroom. 

"Glad you could join us, Fukudo-kun, ten minutes, late!" Sensei yells. "But perfect timing. I was just passing back everyone's test. Here's yours," he hands Fukudo his test after showing the whole class that he got a zero. "Looks like your getting a double detention today. Not that I want to see your face around for much longer. I'm just glad the school year is almost over.

"Sorry to disappoint you Sensei, but you're not gonna see me today after school," he says, with a smirk on his face.

"Huh? Why is that?" he asks, like he's almost taunting him.

"'Cause I'm about to blast holes through ya!" he yells, pulling out a hand gun from his bag. He removes the safety on the gun and points it at Sensei.

The whole class gasps.

"No one make a sound. I'll shoot ya if you do," he orders.

I have to protect everyone here. 

Right as I am about to use my magic, a girl armed with a katana jumps through the window and shatters the glass. She looks about the same age as me. She has long, glowing pink hair, a hot pink shirt, a black sweatshirt, dark blue Capri jeans and a black scarf tied around her lower half of her face. Her eyes are blue, like mine, but they're different. Her eyes are ice blue, symbolizing her cold personality and lack of sympathy for those she kills with that katana. Is she-

"Who the hell are you?" Fukudo shouts.

"The Lightning Assassin," she replies, in a serious tone. "Let's have fun together, okay? I haven't killed someone in a while, so please put up a decent fight." Her tone changes into a playful sound. She actually enjoys killing others.

"Screw you! You can go to hell with this bastard!" he yells as he fires a bullet at her head from about three meters away. 

The Lightning Assassin uses her sword to slice the bullet in half.

You're kidding! She cut the bullet in half...and from that distance! She must be amazingly skilled.

Fukudo stares at the assassin in fear, but then regains his focus and fires several shots at her. She effortlessly slices the bullets in half as she slowly walks towards Fukudo. When she's in point blank range, she lifts her sword up by her left shoulder, ready to kill him. Fukudo pulls the trigger twice, but it's out of ammo. 

"Too bad. It looks like playtime is over," she says.

Fukudo reaches into his pocket and draws a knife. He attempts to stab the Lighting Assassin, but she dodges the attack. During that instant, he dashes towards me and puts his arm around my head, and using his legs to wrap around my arms so I can't move. He puts the knife to my neck. 

"Don't move! Or I'll slit this girl's throat!" he threatens.

Who do you think you're dealing with? I really wanted to say that out loud, but I choose not to.

I look down at the position of my hand. Good, I can still use it. I look back up to where she was standing, but there's no one to be seen in that direction. She's gone! When I look around the classroom, I find her right behind Fukudo. She had already swung her sword downwards and split his body in half. Blood explodes out of his body like a volcano spewing out lava. Blood covers his entire body as it releases me from its clutches. The dead body falls to the floor. The room is silent. Everyone is speechless.

"Target eliminated," she declares. "Damn, he was no fun either."

I slowly stand up, unable to take my eyes off of this sight. My memories of the fire in the orphanage come rushing back. I hold my head with hands, about to scream. The Lightning Assassin puts her hand around my mouth to stop me from doing so. I calm down after a few seconds.

"Don't worry, you won't remember any of this," she whispers into my ear. She takes her hand off of my mouth and pulls out a silver pen. When she clicks it, a bright white light flashes and envelops the entire room. I see her jump out of the window immediately after, but I end up collapsing on the floor, along with the rest of the class. 

The bell rings I wake up from the classroom floor. Everyone's unconscious on the floor. "Hey, wake up, Kazuki-kun, Kei-chan." I shake them gently, and they open their eyes slowly. 

"What's going on? Why is everyone unconscious?" Kei asks.

"I don't know. I just woke up," I reply. "It's already time for second period."

"We've been asleep for that long?" Kazuki asks.

I nod. I try to recall what happened before we collapsed, but my memories are hazy. I remember Fukudo walking into class, but.. 

"Fukudo-kun!" I exclaim. "Right before we collapsed, I remember him walking into class late, but he's not here right now."

"He probably used this opportunity to ditch class," Kei says.

"Maybe. Ah we should worry about that later. We should wake Sensei and report this to the principal," Kazuki suggests.

We nod.

Something's definitely wrong here. Something went on today. I'm going to find out what.