Once the three of them were far from the Headmaster’s office, Kaius suddenly stopped on his tracks and let out the most haggard exhale that Lionel has ever heard in his life. It was like Kaius was gasping for air after being submerged in water for too long. Claudia crosses her arms and raises a brow at Kaius, frowning.

“Are you okay?” Lionel asks, reaching out his right hand to rub Kaius’s back, but Kaius takes one step back.

“I’m fine.” Kaius replied, though he doesn’t seem like it.

“Don’t worry about him, new guy.” Claudia says with a smile. Her eyes curve in a way that also shows amusement, which made Lionel feel somewhat uneasy. “He’s just nervous about meeting you. You must be really incredible to be able to transfer here this time of year.”

“Oh…Not really.” Lionel replies, the reply makes Claudia chuckle softly. She comes closer to Lionel, inches away.

“Don’t be so humble, indulge my curiosity.” She said almost too sweetly, “How did you do in your previous school? What kind of awards did you get? How’s your magic? It must amazing—”

Kaius suddenly came up from behind, gently pushing Lionel forward with his hands. Lionel flinches in surprise, turning his head to Kaius with both eyebrows raised. An awkward laugh left the dark haired mage’s mouth as he interjected, “We shouldn’t waste any more time. We only have two hours left to give our new friend, Lionel, a tour.”

Kaius gestures to the long hallway, “Be prepared Lionel, our campus is pretty big. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get lost for the first few days.”

Claudia glances at her watch on her left wrist. “Ah, right. Let’s go then.”

“We’ll start with the classroom, that’s one of the very important areas you need to familiarize yourself with early.”

As they walk through the halls, Kaius asks, “Did they tell you about the collar?”

Lionel’s fingers brush against the metallic material coiled around his neck. “Kind of? They said it was for security purposes. They told me that you two would explain it more to me.”

“I see.” Kaius mutters.

Claudia is the first to reveal the purpose of the collar, “It’s a mana blocker collar.”

Lionel gasps, “So that’s why my mana felt all weird.”

Kaius continues, “It’s a safety precaution for staff and students. The school doesn’t want any unsavory unauthorized fights involving magic to break out. We can only use magic in our classes that involve the use of magic, a teacher will temporarily disable the spell in the collar at that time.”

“I see, I see…” So cautious…but I can't blame them. "Well, I guess I need one on me anyways."

Claudia and Kaius freeze with Claudia asking, "What do you mean?"

Lionel grins, "Well, I need something to match with my 'ruff' personality after all!"

"..." They stare.

"..."

"..."

"Uh...that was a joke. Because...ruff as in dog and uh..."

"...Ahem." Kaius coughs while Claudia shakes her head with a small smile at Lionel.

Was is it that bad?!

Lionel is ready to drown himself.

The pair of seniors lead Lionel to one of the empty classrooms. Lionel examined the room in awe, it’s incredibly spacious.

Six desks in each aisle or lane, left and right, stairs to travel between the lanes and a single desk at the bottom of the classroom with a curved blackboard on the wall.

Claudia walks towards the nearest desk and ushered Lionel to follow.

The desk was made of wood, smoothly clean and expertly carved. However, a button caught Lionel’s attention, which was located on the upper left corner of the desk. The small button was the size of a ring. His gaze was perceived by Claudia, who explains,

“That’s a signal. If you want to answer, then you have to press that.”

Kaius pipes in, “Oh, and you can’t ask any questions unless the lecturer tells you it’s time to ask for questions.”

Claudia gives Kaius a sudden look before returning her attention to Lionel. “Classroom rules are simple. I’m sure you already know the basics like no cheating and stuff. But here’s what’s different here. Signal if you want to answer, ask questions when it’s time, you’re not allowed to leave for bathroom breaks, do not interrupt or make noises, and there is no possible way to be excused from the classroom unless it’s an emergency or if the headmaster asks for it.”

Lionel nods understandingly, “Noted.”

“Good, do you wanna add anything more, Kaius?” Claudia asks, placing her hands on her hips.

Kaius shakes his head.

“Okay, now we’re done here. Let’s move to the entrance hall.”

Shouldn’t that be where we started the tour? Lionel thought, maybe they just wanted to get the nearest place over with…but…

Lionel pushes his thoughts aside and follows his seniors out the room. The rest of the tour was simple and quick. They moved from one room to another as Kaius and Claudia explained very swiftly yet comprehensible. Every single room is what Lionel also expected them to be, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

The only thing he can consider noteworthy is the large stone statue of Goddess Adineas in the middle of the entrance hall. The statue depicted her kneeling on a circular platform with a large cloth draped over her head and body. Her eyes could not be seen due to the cloth, but everyone could see her curved up lips and sharp nose. She had wrapped her arms around herself and feathered wings sprouted from her back. Her neck, wrists, and ankles had thorns around, those parts also had some stone chipped off as if to emphasize the damage of the thorns.

“Okay, it’s Kaius’s turn.” Claudia said, crossing her arms as she sent a look to her classmate.

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“What she means is that it’s time to go to the dormitory.” Kaius explains.

“And I can get back to class.” Claudia said with a grin. She dashes off somewhere into the halls, not giving them a chance to say goodbye or anything. The scholarship student could hear Kaius curse under his breath.

Lionel noticed something about the two students. She really seemed desperate to join a class, the two of them actually. Everytime they passed by a classroom, they seemed fidgety and tense, like they were itching to join one. Nevertheless, Lionel is impressed by their dedication to attend classes.

“Okay, let’s head to the dorm.” Kaius said, and Lionel followed him out the institution.

“When do you start classes?” Kaius suddenly asks as they travel through the large courtyard.

The courtyard is vast with a stone fountain in the middle that Lionel couldn’t quite observe. He was trailing behind Kaius who was walking quickly.

“The headmaster told me that I’ll start tomorrow.”

“Good, you have a bit of time.”

“What do you mean?”

“You gotta catch up with your class as soon as you can.” Kaius answers, looking over his shoulder to meet Lionel’s gaze. “Your textbooks should be in your dorm I believe. Make sure to scan it and study as much as you can. That’s my advice for you.”

“Thank…you?” Lionel understood where Kaius was coming from. Since he’s a bit late, of course Lionel had to catch up. Whether Kaius tells him or not, he had already decided to do some self-study. What made Lionel puzzled is the fact that Kaius emphasizes this with a firm tone.

“Good.”

They finally enter the Male Dormitory and Kaius leads the new student to the second floor.

“What’s your room number?”

“Zero-four-three.”

“This way then.”

They walk through the halls, turning around a few corners and finally reaching Lionel’s dorm room. With a silver key, Lionel unlocks the door with a click. The pair enters and the room is revealed.

It was a simple dorm room that anyone would expect a dorm room to look like. There was a bed against the wall with dark green sheets, a desk on the other side with stacks of textbooks, a window with closed, dark green curtains, a closet, a bedside table and another door on the side which presumably leads to the bathroom.

“And this is your room. Make yourself at home.”

“This is really nice.”

“Yeah…” Kaius then adds, “Dormitory rules are simple. Curfew is ten in the evening and students caught outside their dorms will be penalized, students are not allowed to enter other dormitories other than their own, so you can’t enter the girls dormitory and they can’t enter ours, clean up after yourself especially during meals, and do not keep harmful tools or substances in your room. The school’s security sometimes does surprise room inspections, so make sure to clean up and stuff.”

“I understand. Thank you, Kaius.”

“No problem…” Kaius glances at the textbooks then returns his attention to Lionel. “Before I leave, can I ask you some things first?”

“Uh, sure, what do you want to know?”

“Are you a follower of Adineas?”

“Oh, that. No, I’m not. I don’t have a religion actually. Is that bad?” Lionel asks, frowning. Once again, from what he had researched, most of Wisiria’s student population are followers of Adineas. He wasn’t sure how authentic that information was.

“No, it’s not bad.” Kaius shakes his head, “I’m the same.”

“Oh okay, why did you ask?”

“If you were, I would let you know about the mandatory service they do every morning.” Kaius explains as he walks over to the window, sliding the curtains open. Lionel follows him, looking out the window and seeing the courtyard.

“There’s a chapel nearby. They wake up around dawn to pray together and stuff like that. There’s also a night ceremony they do at the end of every month. I don’t know much about that though.”

“So what do students with different religions or those with none do?”

“They either pray on their own or do nothing.”

“Whew, I was worried there was gonna be some discriminatory or isolation stuff here…” Lionel breathes a sigh of relief.

“...”

“Kaius? What’s wrong?”

Kaius looks around the room before pulling Lionel towards the bathroom.

“Kaius?!”

With an overly cheery tone, Kaius says, “Let me show you the bathroom next! The faucet can get a bit crazy!”

They barge into the bathroom and that’s when Kaius finally lets Lionel go. Lionel watches Kaius turn on the faucet of the bath with a gaping mouth as he rubs his wrist. A rush of loud, running water bursts out the faucet and into the bathtub, making it a little hard to hear anything else.

“Hey, what are you—” Before Lionel could question the third-year’s actions, Kaius pressed his index finger against his own lips, warning Lionel to be quiet. Fortunately for Kaius, the newbie followed. He gestures for Lionel to approach with his right hand.

Kaius whispers, “Why are you here?”

Lionel whispers back, “Huh? What do you mean? I came here to study, what else?”

“You made a mistake.”

The third year’s expression has completely changed and it baffled Lionel further, it even frightened him. Kaius’s entire body was trembling, like he was ready to burst or break down. His eyes go wide and his irises shrink, and he takes sharp breaths.

“Kaius, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Lionel was more concerned than confused now.

“You made a mistake.” Kaius repeated.

“What are you talking about?”

“Shit, we don’t have much time.”

“Kaius, you’re freaking me out. Can you just explain?”

“The school, it’s…the people, they—” Not knowing where to start, Kaius ruffled his hair, ruining and messing with the hair tie of his ponytail. The tub is also almost filled. “Just mind your business for now. Don’t do anything impulsive and keep to yourself. Don’t accept any challenges.”

“What—”

“Just listen to me if you want to survive.”

“...”

What?

Survive?

Survive what?

Kaius leans closer as his whispers almost fall into silence, “Next time.”

Lionel tries to comprehend Kaius’s words. Is he just stressed about how difficult the lessons are? Survive the classes? Survive what?! Finally, Kaius turns the tub off and scratches at the skin beneath his collar.

“Classes…” He whispered. “I have to go.”

“Kaius?”

Kaius suddenly smiles brightly at Lionel, causing Lionel to get a whiplash from what he assumes to be bipolar in the flesh. The shift in mood is briefly overwhelming as Kaius shakes Lionel’s hand again.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Lionel. If you have any questions, feel free to approach and ask me! For now, I must return to classes!”

And with that, Kaius quickly leaves Lionel in his bathroom and walks out the room. The new student wanted to chase him to ask more questions, but it was impossible since Kaius didn’t have any intention of responding anymore. He had left Lionel even more confused and he didn’t like it one bit.

What did Kaius mean by all of that?

What was with the sudden mood change?

Was Kaius bipolar? Did he have a split personality or something? Lionel couldn’t figure it out. One thing is for sure, something was off about this school now.

Lionel notices the mirror above the sink in the bathroom. He stares at his reflection and his eyes drift to the black collar. The fingers of his right hand press against the metal, tugging it, twisting it, scratching it and tugging it again.

The headmaster personally put it on him when he arrived at the gates. He was a little concerned about it at first, but once he mentioned security, Lionel put it at the back of his head. When he found it was a mana blocker, it made sense.

Back in his previous school, a lot of rebellious and delinquent mages broke out into fights every now and then. A lot of other schools have fights like those as well. Mana blockers were a thing there too, but there was a lot of backlash with the use of mana blocking as some perceived it as taking away the rights of mage or something like that as Lionel recalls.

Anyways, there were a lot of arguments regarding mana blockers, whose magic should get blocked, when and where, then overprotective family members would butt in, threaten to sue them or something, there was a lot of complicated stuff happening that Lionel couldn’t quite grasp due to how troubling it sounded.

Lionel personally didn’t mind if his mana was blocked for such security and safety purposes, as long as there was guarantee that they would be free from the block when needed.

But at the pit of his stomach, he felt that there was something that didn’t seem right…

Well, Kaius did say “next time”, so he’ll get his answers then…

Whenever that will be.