I open my eyes.

I push my body forward to get up.

As I look to my hands-

Was it a dream-

"I can't believe you did it."

A girl with pink hair awaited nearby.

I was lying on a bench.

"So, magic exists."

"Yes. Magicae is the school of magic after all.

It is even on the name."

"Do, everyone from the school know about it?

"No, around seven have discovered so far.

The teachers keep it hidden, only revealing through hints."

"So some graduate without even knowing about it."

"Exactly. I discovered it on my first day though."

"I thought you already knew about it.

Which was why I was quite surprised when you didn't actually talk about it."

"Why would I know about it?"

"Just a hunch.

You know you could have died in that battle right?"

"I could, even so, I couldn't let a innocent die."

"Pfft. Innocent?

I might as well tell you what happened.

She has been taken to a hospital.

Her name is Ypryn, she is from out class.

She tried to take on the rift alone, and-

Oh, you don't even know what a rift is."

She took her time to explain the majority of details from what happened.

There exists multiple dimensions in this universe.

And sometimes, rifts appear between them.

From these rifts, monsters come pouring out.

Magicae was founded to train humans to fight against the monsters.

It is kept deep into secret, with only a few knowing about their existence.

Dragons, mermaids, giants.

All of them exist in the dreams of humans.

They do not exist in reality.

But due to their existence in our mythos, this universe is connected to theirs.

Which is why the rifts keep appearing.

If the general populace knew about them, the connection would become stronger.

And so, greater rifts would appear.

Fortunately, the same way our thoughts allow their existence.

Our thoughts also believe in the concept of magic and of heroes that can defeat them.

Which is why humans can awaken their inner magic to fight back against them.

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Rifts can be found before they open up. So mages can enter them and defeat the monsters before they escape.

To train the new students at Magicae. Weak rifts are found by the teachers, and their location is given through code.

Clearing a rift then grant higher grades compared to normal students.

Arstria is the top student mainly because of the many rifts she cleared.

The rift from today however, she completely forgot to go clear it.

Rather, another student from the class went there on her own.

She didn't awaken her magic like me, rather got it through training.

After failing to defeat the salamander in the rift, she tried to escape.

Escaping a rift without killing the monster is prohibited.

As that force-open the rift before its time.

Which is why this one appeared.

Arstria gave her a protective amulet, when her life is in danger, it creates a sphere around her that can take high amounts of damage.

However, the sphere was nearly broken when I found her.

Without me there, she would have died.

"What about my arms? I lost them in the battle."

"What are you talking about? When we found you, you were completely unharmed.

Your magic must be immense for that, surely."

She doesn't seem to know about it at all.

She wasn' there, so I can't ask her about it.

Everything feels right.

I'm saving girls from monsters.

And I'm slowly getting Arstria's admiration.

"Yawn."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you.

It is 1 AM."

Wait, what.

I did notice it is nightime.

Did I faint for that long.

"I-I need to return home."

"Bye."

We say goodbye, as I'm walking away.

"Just a question...

Do you want to die?"

What a sudden thing to ask.

"Of course not, why?"

"The way you ran towards the building on fire it almost seemed you wanted to die.

Risking your life for a stranger, I took the impression you just wanted an excuse to die."

"That was not it. I thought it was just an ordinary fire, so I went to help.

After discovering there was a monster, I would have ran away, cause I couldn't help anymore.

But after my awakening, I knew I could help, which was why I fought."

"I see..."

After seeing her solemn expression, I walked away.

----------------------------------------

"Living, I don't know why people like that so much." - Said the pink-haired girl alone in the park.

----------------------------------------

Okay, so how do I return home...

I don't have a phone.

Should have asked her, but now it is too late.

I live literally in another city.

As I think about how to return, I keep walking towards it.

I don't have any money for a taxi.

And-

The road closes as a train is coming.

Wait, this line goes to my city.

As I approach the train line.

One of the wagons is open.

"You're not thinking about it right-"

*Wind*

The way to win against fear is to act without thinking.

By controlling the wind to send me flying towards the train.

Entering a body in movement means that in a second I'm getting ran over, even if I'm inside it.

*Weight*

I unify my concept with the wind around me, becoming lightweight.

"For some reason I just did all of that without a shred of anxiety.

Have I done this magic thing before? That seemed as natural as breathing.

Maybe in my past dreams I had trained this."

The train got to my city fast enough.

Then I just needed to reach my home by walking.

*Wind*

By letting the wind propel me, I could run way faster than before.

Rather than spending calories, I could spend this magic fuel instead.

After getting home, my parents were already sleeping.

The butler had prepared dinner a few hours back, but had already gone to his room too.

There is no need for any complicated puzzle before bed anymore.

I slept like a rock.

Or better, slept like the wind.