The sound of bells rang through the academy’s stone walls, echoing across the grounds. Students who had been practicing magic outdoors hurried back toward the entrance, funneling inside before their next csses began.

  Lush green grass stretched neatly across the courtyard, trimmed soft and even. A tall metal fence circled the perimeter, its cold bars serving as a silent warning against entry or escape.

  Above it all loomed the clock tower, its aged stonework crowned by an enormous bell that watched over the campus like a sentinel.

  A sudden explosive crack shattered the calm air, rattling the soil underneath, as a blonde young man leapt into the air with a shout of triumph.

  His hair was drenched in sweat, not from the lingering fmes of his spell, but from the sheer amount of magic he’d burned through. The bell signaling the end of practice did nothing to slow him down.

  “That was my best cast yet!” he cheered, pumping a fist into the air. “I bet I can squeeze in three more before the professor stops us!”

  Albo’s short, modified robe fluttered around him as he bounced on his heels, his voice loud and bright, bursting with the kind of reckless energy that refused to sit still.

  Ka Magic Academy enforced strict uniforms. Girls wore button-up tops with optional vests, long academy robes, and skirts. Boys wore nearly the same minus the skirts, as it was repced with bck scks.

  Following the school guidelines properly held no appeal, as Albo preferred to treat rules as mere suggestions.

  Three buttons of his shirt hung open, and his robe had been cut and shortened into something closer to a vest. It wasn’t tailor-made, just a messy, homegrown modification he’d clearly done himself.

  Beside him, a blue-haired girl cpped softly at her friend’s new record. Saya’s hair fluttered in the breeze as she gave him a small, nervous ugh, quickly reaching out to grab his sleeve before he could cast again. Unlike him, she looked every bit the model student, wrapped neatly in her regution-length robes.

  “I don’t know if I want to get in trouble with you,” she said gently. “We’re already te.”

  Unlike Albo, Saya’s voice was moderate and delicate. She spoke softly, trying hard not to break the immersion around her. She disliked standing out from others, so she made it a point to hide away from the world as much as possible.

  Even so, her goals would often be pointless, considering she spent most of her time with someone like Albo, who was a magnet for attention.

  If Albo was known as the jester of the academy, then Saya was known to be the kind neighbor that helped with their gardening.

  Her eyes darted toward the main building, where most of the students had already filed inside.

  Moments ago, the courtyard had been filled with overpping chatter. Now the noise blended into a dull hum, fading with every passing second as Saya and Albo were left alone in the field.

  All that remained was the cold wind, howling softly as it tugged their coats from side to side.

  “Ah—we should get going,” Albo said, his gaze fixed on the academy doors.

  A smile tugged at her lips, eager to head inside. Cold air didn’t bother her as Albo’s fiery spells often kept her warm, but practical csses held little appeal. All she wanted was to sit indoors, read, and lose herself in the world of theory..

  “Let’s go, then,” she said, poking his back to urge him forward.

  But the boy remained unmoving. Instead, he turned and firmly grabbed her wrist, startling her. “We should really get moving.”

  Only when he stepped aside did she see what he’d been watching. A professor with slicked-back hair, dressed in the same academy robes, was sprinting frantically from the main building to them.

  For a moment, Saya figured they couldn’t possibly be the targets. Sure, Albo’s magic might’ve been a bit excessive, but nothing about it seemed serious enough to warrant this kind of reaction from a teacher.

  That was, until she caught the scent of smoke. When she looked back, the training dummy was abze, the mannequin that they were using was completely engulfed in fmes from head to toe.

  Saya worryingly gnced at the still-smiling boy.

  “Hey… why didn’t you put that out yet?”

  But Albo simply smiled back at her, “how else are we going to do our getaway?”

  Before Saya could fire back, her body lurched forward as Albo exploded into a sprint. His sudden yank nearly sent her stumbling, but she quickly regained her footing and ran alongside him.

  For Albo, taking off at full speed was nothing. He loved anything that involved running, jumping, or blowing things up. Some of their cssmates even joked that he should’ve enrolled to become a knight instead.

  Being a bookworm to the core, Saya preferred the quiet company of her own thoughts and textbooks far more than anything that required physical effort. Running, especially at Albo’s reckless pace, was torture for her.

  Her breath quickly turned jagged. Each inhale scraped her throat raw, and a sharp sting bloomed beneath her ribs until it felt like her diaphragm might tear apart.

  For a fleeting moment, she imagined casting wind magic to push herself forward; to let the air carry her weight. But the reality that she couldn’t use magic shattered the thought instantly.

  The academy was a monument to order, its stone walls and pilrs were pced with a neat, unrelenting symmetry that showcased a dedication to uniformity. Every pilr stood as a silent testament to excellence, aligned perfectly as far as the eye could see.

  The halls themselves were short and narrow, creating a cramped, focused atmosphere within the five-story building. From above, the structure formed a perfect, rigid square.

  At the heart of this stone perimeter, on the first floor, was a small park. It was a patch of neatly trimmed greenery, dotted with benches where students could find a moment of free space for a picnic or a quiet breath between csses.

  Eventually, the two fleeing students slowed to a stop in front of the cafeteria entrance, both of them bent slightly forward as they dragged in heavy gulps of air. Dryness cwed at her chest with every breath. She swallowed repeatedly, desperate to wet her throat, but it stubbornly refused.

  Still gasping, she muttered, “If you weren’t so selfish, we could’ve just walked back without any problems.”

  Albo let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

  “My body didn’t think that was fun,” Saya shot back, leaning her back against the cool stone wall for support.

  “It’s fine! A few bites of lunch and you’ll be powered back up in no time,” Albo said brightly. “Besides, we’ve got a free period now, so you can rex your muscles.”

  “I see. You have a free period.” A deep, cold voice called out from behind the enthusiastic Albo as a rge hand cmped down on his shoulder.

  The sudden contact jolted his body as his spine went rigid. He turned slowly, his body already trembling at the immediate realization of who the voice belonged to.

  “H-h-hey, Professor Hector…” Albo stuttered, trying to pass off his greetings as casually as possible.

  The looming professor they had fled from earlier now stood directly behind them. He exhaled sharply from his nose, and while Albo assumed that he was furious at the mischievous student, Saya could see clear as day that he was simply trying to contain his exhaustion.

  “Since you two are free, you’ll be coming to my office,” the professor said with a thin smirk as he grabbed Albo by the colr and began dragging him away.

  He trusted the young dy to follow on her own and saw no need to treat her the same way he treated the wildcard trapped in his grip.

  Me too? Saya thought to herself.

  Albo cried out in despair. Whether it was regret for angering the teacher or just the misery of getting caught was unclear. Either way, the punishment clearly suited him more than her, as she barely felt the sting of it at all.

  Later, in a quiet, dust-moted office, Albo and Saya sat side-by-side on a long, wooden desk. Stacks of paper towered in front of them, nearly blocking the view forward.

  Small shelves lined the walls, housing over three dozen books that stood shoulder-to-shoulder, while framed pictures of childhood memories and family faces looked down on them from the decorated walls.

  From the other side, Professor Hector worked in silence, with only the sound of scratching quill emanating from his desk. Behind him, a rge gss window acted as a floodgate, beaming the light of the outside world inward and illuminating the swirling dust in the air between them.

  The clock ticked slowly as the three of them worked on grading papers for their parallel css, and with each answer Albo checked against the answer sheet, his stomach dropped lower and lower as he began to understand exactly what kind of grade he might have earned on his own assignments.

  Saya had no such worries, as written work was of little concern to her.

  “Psst, Saya,” he whispered to his partner in crime, and even though they were practically shoulder to shoulder, he still felt compelled to lower his voice as much as possible.

  “At this rate, I think I’ll end up being unemployed instead of securing a cool magic job.”

  Saya’s shoulders slumped as she sighed. “I told you to focus, how are you going to pass the year at this rate?”

  “I’ll have you know, my grades are completely satisfactory! A bunch of 60s and 70s are passing! I’m just worried about the tests, since if I fail those I’d be hitting below 50,” Albo countered.

  Saya simply dismissed her friend, pulling her ear away from him. “Sure, I’ll help you out, with the promise that you owe me one big time.”

  “Yes!” Albo excimed as he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Albo,” the professor spoke clearly. Albo yelped in fear, suspecting he was about to receive further punishment for even speaking to his friend.

  “Please don’t make me stay longer.” He pced his forehead against the wooden desk to mimic an apologetic bow. “Lunch is in a few minutes, I am not willing to ever miss out on this academy’s delicious meals.”

  Though what he said sounded like a joke, his tone carried every bit of sincerity one could possibly have.

  This guy takes lunch more seriously than his life.

  Saya thought to herself, but the professor simply continued his previous train of thought.

  “You’ve been sneaking out te at night tely, haven’t you?”

  The single question made Albo drop his quill as his face went pale, and based on his reaction, one would assume his greatest secret in the world had just been exposed.

  “What gave you that idea, Professor Hector?” he asked while nervously scratching the back of his head.

  “I work te in my office sometimes, and your distinct silhouette is the only shadow I see cast outside at night. I suppose I should thank your unique uniform for making you so distinct from the others.”

  Saya couldn’t help but chuckle as her dear friend trembled in embarrassment, a million thoughts queuing within Albo’s mind as he wondered if the professor wanted him to get new robes or stop going out at night entirely.

  “Are you serious? I thought I was being efficient and sneaky.”

  Hector simply shook his head.

  “Damn it.”

  “Language.”

  “Prof Hec, you’re too stingy with that nguage stuff.”

  Hector pushed up his gsses as he stood to put away the stack of papers he had finished grading. “I’m serious about the te nights. I know there’s no stopping you, but I’m warning you out of care.”

  The air in the room grew heavier as even Albo dropped the pyful personality he typically carried with him, and the two students simply stared at what the professor was implying while the clock ticked ever so slowly.

  “The capital has been facing several reports of missing people. I would hate for one of my students to meet the same fate. I’m sure the academy itself is safe, but please be careful.”

  Saya cocked her head sideways in curiosity. “Shouldn’t we be even more safe, since we’re quite far from the capital?”

  Hector turned back toward his desk, his shoes cshing softly against the wooden pnks as he sat down.

  “I suppose we should be, but it never hurts to be extra cautious.”

  Without another follow-up, the professor resumed his work, and the two students gnced at each other before shrugging and continuing the task they had been given.

  As minutes passed, the room’s atmosphere remained mostly unchanged, with Albo’s occasional yawns or groans breaking the silence, sounds that both Hector and Saya were already used to in their day-to-day lives.

  Slowly but surely, muffled footsteps began to seep in through the walls, the voices shifting from faint to crowded in a matter of seconds, and not long after, the bell rang loudly, vibrating the very walls and floor of the academy.

  The millisecond the bell’s sound reached Albo’s ears, he leapt up from his chair and rushed toward the door, waving goodbye at the still-focused professor.

  Even though Albo bolted out of the office without a second thought, Saya lingered behind, carefully sorting the graded papers before returning them to Hector. Despite the professor’s focus remaining unbroken, she still inclined her head in a polite bow before following after her friend.

  The moment she stepped into the hallway, the fragile barrier of silence shattered as she was met with an overwhelming blur of noise.

  Despite the crowd of nearly hundreds, Albo’s voice still reached her as he tugged against the current to find his friend.

  “Hey, let’s hang out with the others for a bit before we eat.”

  “Are you sure? We can go eat now if you want,” Saya asked.

  “Nah, there’s too many people,” Albo shouted back, his words nearly swallowed by the noise.

  Though they tried to weave through the flood of students as efficiently as possible, it was nearly impossible not to get separated.

  Some cut Saya off without looking, while others moved far too slowly for Albo’s liking, forcing them to constantly adjust their pace.

  Annoyed at the inconsistency of the crowd, Albo reached out for Saya’s right hand. His fingers brushed against hers before slipping between them, keeping her close so she wouldn’t disappear into the sea of uniforms.

  As an extra yer of security, Saya lightly tugged on the back of Albo’s robe, bunching the fabric in her fist. Though the culprit himself was unfazed, her reaction was far less composed.

  Heat rushed to her cheeks, her grip tightening instinctively as her eyes darted away from him, afraid that even a gnce might give her away. Hair fell forward like a curtain as she lowered her head, trying to hide the flush spreading across her face from the crowd.

  They moved tethered together, using each other as anchors amidst the chaos.

  By the time they reached their homeroom, Albo casually let go of her hand as if it meant nothing, already waving in greeting toward their friends.

  Despite it being lunchtime, students still lingered in the cssroom in small groups, while others hovered just outside the doorway, waiting for their friends to finish packing or grabbing their lunches.

  A few groups had already cimed tables with meals in hand, engaging in deep conversation as they blocked everyone else around them out.

  The scene drew her in, the ughter and chatter merging into a comforting hum, until Albo’s voice snapped her back into reality. He hadn’t even called out to her, but his voice alone, rising above his conversation with their friends, was enough to pull her back into the world of the living.

  Four tables had been pushed together to form a single, uneven surface, their legs misaligned and corners jutting out at awkward angles.

  Chairs crowded around on all sides, tilted just enough that anyone seated could face the others, leaving nobody out of the circle. It was the kind of arrangement that left no room to hide during conversation.

  As Saya took a seat, Albo was already well underway in a heated discussion with two of their fellow cssmates.

  “Okay, but let me say this,” he said, leaning forward with both hands on the table, “I think this school’s roasted lizard tail is the best.”

  Before anyone else could respond, Saya spoke up without hesitation. “You’re dead wrong. I don’t think any of the food here is good, or fresh.”

  “Yeah, I’m with Saya,” another student chimed in. “My older brother said the food used to be way better when he attended.”

  Albo groaned as he pressed his right palm to his forehead. “So what, has the Queen suddenly run out of money? She can’t even spare us a loaf of bread to go with the lizard meat? Wait, actually, I feel like it all started going downhill when the Minister of Health implemented those lunch changes a few years ago.”

  “You actually might have a point,” his friend interjected.

  Saya raised an eyebrow. “But putting bread between meat doesn’t automatically make it better, you know.”

  Pointing at her accusingly, Albo smmed his palm against the table. “Alright, now you’re just being a hater.”

  The others nodded in agreement. “As unfortunate as it is,” one of them added, “Albo’s right. Bread does elevate meat by a drastic amount sometimes.”

  Albo shot up from his seat, all traces of his earlier disappointment vanishing at once. “Dude, especially if it’s milk bread. Dear Eudoxia, that stuff goes perfectly with any kind of roasted meat.”

  His sudden rise and loud decration sent his chair cttering backward, the legs scraping harshly against the stone floor and drawing nearly every eye in the room.

  Conversations died mid-sentence as students turned to stare, some frozen halfway through a bite while others paused with food halfway to their mouths, all of them trying to see what the commotion was about.

  “Bro,” one of their friends cut in, shaking his head, “don’t be saying the Goddess’s name in vain.”

  He tugged on Albo’s sleeve and pulled him back into his seat.

  Undeterred, Saya leaned forward slightly. “That may be true,” she said evenly, “but the real question is, does it elevate the meat the school’s serving? I think it’s gross.”

  Brimming with confidence, Albo puffed out his chest. “See, that’s the difference between you and me.”

  “What difference?” his friend asked.

  “I live to eat,” Albo decred, smming his palm against the table’s wooden surface. “You all eat to live. We are not from the same world. I see things others simply don’t when it comes to food.”

  The sharp crack on the table made Saya flinch. Instinctively, her eyes darted around the room, half-expecting annoyed gres or someone shouting at him to keep it down, but none came.

  A pair of students at the far end continued their conversation without pause. Another simply turned a page in their novel, the paper rustling softly. Someone else zily chewed, staring out the window.

  It didn’t take long for her to realize why the results were different this time. Whatever surprise his outbursts once carried had long since worn thin.

  To everyone else, Albo’s noise had become background, acknowledged for a second, then dismissed just as quickly.

  Only when she realized the atmosphere hadn’t changed at all did Saya finally speak.

  “What are you, the embodiment of gluttony?” she asked, a smirk tugging at her lips as she barely held back her ughter.

  Albo’s expression hardened as he slowly turned toward her. “Now, now,” he said sternly. “Miss Idnsil, could you repeat that one more time?”

  He leaned forward over the table, feet pnted, chair legs screeching faintly as his weight tilted it back. His shadow fell across her tray.

  Their two friends began chuckling under their breath. Saya quickly looked away, but Albo kept his eyes locked on her. Every time she turned her head, he sidestepped to block her view, looming closer like an overdramatic interrogator.

  “Miss. Id-n-sil,” Albo repeated ftly.

  “I-I didn’t say anything!” Saya gulped. “I promise!”

  A nervous giggle slipped out as a bead of sweat trailed down her temple, but Albo remained completely unmoved, eyes locked onto her like she’d committed a crime.

  Then an idea struck her to hopefully escape the dire situation she had pced herself in.

  “Well,” she said casually, forcing her voice steady, “maybe we should head to the food court now then, I bet you’re real hungry.”

  It was as though a spell had broken. Albo instantly straightened, spun around, and grabbed his bag in one swift motion.

  “You’re right, let’s go. If we don’t move now, they’re going to run out of the good stuff.”

  “Shouldn’t we have gone earlier if we cared about ‘good portions’?” Saya asked.

  “No, no, no,” Albo interrupted, waving her concern aside. “You always join in the middle of the pack. Too early and you get trampled, and the food is probably undercooked with how the chefs rush to get everything out in time, and if you go too te then everything’s dried out.”

  “It’s like when you go to the market and choose the item behind the one on dispy, because the one in front is all touched and squeezed and ruined by everyone else.”

  Their two friends stood, bags already hanging over their shoulders. “Your logic is impeccable as always.”

  Saya began packing her things as well, sliding her notebooks into her bag, when her eyes drifted toward the front of the room and caught sight of her professor. Her teacher was struggling to carry a towering stack of books and loose papers that wobbled dangerously with every step.

  She had apparently stayed behind to finish grading, and now seemed intent on relocating everything in one trip.

  The elderly professor’s short frame was nearly swallowed by the load in her arms, the stack rising past her chin and forcing her to peer around the side just to see where she was walking.

  At the rate that it was headed, it was clear that eventually, the materials would all tumble down. Seeing that inevitable disaster py out in her head, Saya turned back toward her friends.

  “Actually,” she said quickly, “you guys go on without me.”

  Before Albo could even open his mouth to compin, she had already slipped past him and hurried over, gently taking half the stack from the professor’s arms.

  One of Albo’s friends tugged his sleeve, smirking all the while. “Let’s go. If you get too clingy, she might end up hating you.”

  Albo clicked his tongue but allowed himself to be dragged away, casting one st look over his shoulder.

  Bancing two thick textbooks with an uneven pile of papers stacked on top, Saya adjusted her grip as the corners dug into her forearms and the edges of the pages brushed against her chin, carrying the faint scent of old ink and dust.

  The older professor turned to her with a gentle smile.

  “Thank you for your help, sweetheart.”

  “It’s no problem,” Saya said, shifting the weight and trying not to wobble. “And thank you for the lesson today, Professor.”

  “Oh?” the woman asked warmly. “Did you enjoy it?”

  “I did,” Saya replied, exhaling sharply under the weight. “Though I admit, I struggled to keep up at times.”

  “The lesson on synergies?” the professor asked. “Did you want to ask me anything about it now?”

  “Oh, not really,” Saya said with a nervous chuckle. “I started imagining the synergies in my head and zoned out before I realized it.”

  “I completely forgot, you can’t cast magic so it’s not normal for you, then how did you get into the academy?”

  The question came suddenly, but it wasn’t one she couldn’t handle; she had been asked this exact thing countless times over her three years at the academy, and the professor was simply curious about how someone incapable of casting magic had managed to earn a pce among her peers.

  “Oh, I ended up getting really good scores on the written exam, so they let me in.”

  “That’s quite nice, have you thought of a field to focus on?”

  Saya’s eyes flicked upward toward the ceiling as she considered her answer. “I suppose you can say that. To be honest I’ve been scking quite a bit and haven’t given it much thought. I guess I should start focusing again.”

  The professor studied her face for a moment before adding another comment, “You should start putting more effort into finding your field if you’re seeking out the Mage Tower. But I suppose it must be especially hard for you, being different from the rest of us.”

  What the heck was that phrasing?

  Her bluntness caught Saya off guard, not just for the sudden shift in topic, but for the directness of the statement itself, as if it were the goal of the entire conversation from the start, though cking any attempt at smooth transition.

  While the thought may have crossed the minds of others, Saya hadn’t expected it to be said aloud, especially not by a professor.

  Silence fell upon Saya, unsure on whether to feel offended or simply acknowledge the remark.

  The space between them grew awkward as her eyes darted frantically around the corridor in search of a new topic.

  Hoping for the moment to pass by quickly, she gnced toward the teacher’s lounge, pnning to help silently and leave without further comment.

  “You have a beautiful mind. Don’t become too fixated on what you can and can’t do.”

  Whether the professor was entirely unfazed or simply oblivious to the tension remained unclear, but the words stirred curiosity in Saya, prompting her to ask for crification on what she truly meant.

  “It’s true you were born without a Birthmark,” the professor added, “but magic is more than just casting spells.”

  I know that better than anyone

  She imagined every experience lost to her birth defect, a quiet ache settling in her chest. Unlike other students, when practical exams were being held, she was often relegated to being a teacher’s aide or making up for her absence through alternative scoring methods.

  “For practical applications to exist, theory must come first,” the professor continued. “I believe a good career path for you might be a teacher, or perhaps even a mana scientist.”

  Saya understood the implication behind the professor’s words, but frustration welled up in her chest. She appreciated the advice, yet it felt unnecessary; as she had already chosen her own path.

  Her mind returned to the lesson that had sparked the conversation in the first pce, synergies, a concept every mage was expected to grasp. While most spells could be cast with a single element, the way a caster wove multiple elements together separated novices from true experts.

  Among the list of synergies, one topic had been brushed aside due to its rarity in both possession and application. The professor had dismissed it as “too advanced” and moved on.

  But if Saya couldn’t cast the common forms of magic in the first pce, then there was little reason not to start early on something obscure, especially something so few seemingly understood.

  For three years, Saya had devoted her entire academic prowess to the study of arcane magic. But such mysticism didn’t revolve around elemental foundations; it required a deep understanding of the fundamentals of human nature.

  Or so she believed.

  Unfortunately, there were little records in regards to anything reted to the arcane, making Saya’s hunt for knowledge all too inconvenient.

  Having spent more hours in the library than she could count, she knew of a section that could aid her search. It was strictly off-limits to students, accessible only to experienced professors.

  Yet now seemed as good a time as any to ask a question she had been meaning to submit to the faculty.

  She’s the one that brought up the topic anyways.

  Saya pondered silently before speaking in a slightly shaky voice, “Would it be okay if I had more access to arcane material?”

  “Oooh, that’s quite an interesting request,” the professor replied. “But why ask? Isn’t the library enough?”

  Saya hoped a single question would be enough to get her point across, but she realized she had to be more direct.

  “Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of material on arcane magic in the regur section.”

  A lightbulb seemed to switch on in the elderly teacher’s mind as she lightly grinned at Saya. “I believe we’re getting a new batch of books tomorrow, so you should perhaps check the library again.”

  Saya’s right eye twitched in disappointment and annoyance; it wasn’t the answer she had hoped for. A part of her wanted to ask outright for access to the off-limits section, but doing so could jeopardize her hopes, so she opted to instead submit a formal request ter.

  The two individuals halted in front of the teacher’s lounge.She gently kicked the door to knock, as both of her hands were still full.

  In seconds, the door swung open to reveal the teacher’s lounge, where several professors rested or chatted quietly among themselves.

  She carefully id down her load on a nearby desk before spinning to leave. Though her feet still ached from the sudden burst of activity caused by Albo’s antics, she jogged toward the cafeteria.

  The halls were mostly empty now, as most students had already retreated to cssrooms, the outdoors, or the cafeteria. Saya cpped her hands together on her cheek, refusing to let the disappointment dampen her mood.

  I wonder if they’re eating already.

  Her robe fluttered behind her as a chilly breeze brushed against her face, but just as she began to enjoy the moment, a voice called out behind her.

  Cold ran through her veins, halting her mid-step. A familiar voice approached, unmistakably threatening, accompanied by the soft jingle of jewelry, a warning of what was to come.

  “Hey, mudbiter.”