New People

The school for the day was over.

Earlier, I agreed to join a group as per Haruto Sora's invitation.

And now, I find myself at the library. Well, how exactly?

Because just moments ago...

"Kyosuke-san!"I was fixing my things, and preparing myself to go home when Haruto suddenly called out to me with an excited smile.

"What is it?"I replied rather nonchalantly whilst still continuing to fix my things.

"Well, our group will have a meeting right now at the library. It will be a great opportunity for us to know each other!"

Sounds like a hassle.

"I'll have to pass. I have-"

Before I could finish my statement, he cut me off.

"I'll take that as a yes, let's go!"

He exclaims happily as he leaves the room.

What in the world is wrong with that guy? Is he deaf or something?...

And now, I find myself standing in the library.

"There's everyone."

He pointed at the left-side corner of the room, a table surrounded by students of different genders.

We slowly made our way towards that table, and out of all the people I didn't expect to see there, I saw the quiet and serious black-haired girl at the end of the table, reading her book.

"Oh, is that the guy you mentioned?" One of them said,

"Yeah," Haruto responded.

"Hello, I'm Kyosuke Ryo," I said as I slightly bowed my head and conveyed formality.

"I see, Interesting name! I'm Takahashi Arata from Class A! Nice to meet you!"

The guy with an under-cut haircut and black hair greeted me enthusiastically. He looks like a delinquent, yet is friendly and approachable.

"Hello Kyosuke-san, I'm Akamine Airi, also from class A." Her voice was of an angel, gentle and soothing. She bowed her head elegantly as she introduced herself. Her hair was whitish blonde, which matched perfectly with her crimson, apple eyes. Her aura gives off a sense of being from an elite household.

"Kyosuke-kun, I don't think we need to introduce ourselves anymore, we're classmates anyway!" Last but not least, Ayane Hina. She waved her hand energetically, along with that vibrant smile of hers.

"And lastly, that's Fujimoto Kyouko, She doesn't like talking but once you get to know her, she is friendly," Haruto whispered as he pointed at the serious girl on the corner. Yet, Fujimoto Kyouko didn't bat an eye. Her gaze was locked onto the book that she was reading.

Well, putting those introductions aside, Haruto and I grabbed a seat across them. He begins the conversation within the group with an introduction along the lines of " I'm very happy that we all gathered here" And some other things, and then he begins to ask questions. At one point, he turned his head towards my direction before asking,

"So, Ryo-kun, What kind of magic do you have?"

Type of magic, huh? Commonly, there are eight common types of magic, or the primary types, as they call it; Fire, water, stone, wind, nature, lightning, light and dark. Basically, it plays around with the common elements found here on Earth. However, there are those they call "uncommon types". These are those who are branched out from a common magic type, or, a mix of two types.

One good example would be ice, which is a mix of wind and water. These are usually hereditary. One way to describe how types of magic work is through the colour theory in painting. Similar to the colour theory, there are primary colours; Red, yellow, and blue. In magic theory, these are the primary magic types. To create another type, or what they call "secondary colours", one must mix two primary colours. The same applies to magic theory. To create ice, you must combine wind and water. At least, that's what the book from a century ago that I've read states.

But at the very least, magic theory is not stagnant. Usually, there are discoveries of new magic types within humans in some centuries or two. Each person is normally limited to a single type of magic energy within them. However, in some special cases, a person may have two, or even three in the rarest cases.

"For me, I use lightning," Haruto added,

"Mine is... fire..."I murmured, 

"Fire... that's actually nice. I only know a few people that use fire."

He said with a smile. 

"Well, how about you, Hina?"

"I have nature! Isn't really useful in fights, however, I excel at supporting others." She replied.

Nature naturally excels In supporting others. However, with the right combination of attacks and spells, you could be a killing machine.

"How about you, Airi?"

"I specialize in ice."

"And lastly, Arata, how about you?"

"Still learnin' about it, but I could use stone. Really uncool if ya ask me, but I could work with it." He replied before breaking out into a boisterous laugh.

"That's the spirit. And lastly for Fujimoto-san, "

He looked at her, who seemed to be in the zone of reading her book. It is as if she's a stranger to them.

"Really not in the mood to talk, but, she uses lightning."

Lightning...? I thought she'd be specializing in light or dark. Among the common ones, light and dark are usually the rare ones. They are considered the primary ones, however, only a few people can wield them, as they take a tremendous amount of energy.

"I suggest next time we show our abilities so that we can see how we could combine them," Airi suggested. The others agreed without a second thought, except for Fujimoto-san.

Suddenly, Haruto's phone began ringing in his pocket."Sorry guys, I have to pick this up." Excusing himself, he left us momentarily.

"So, Kyosuke-kun, could you tell us about yourself?" Akamine leaned in on the table, resting her face on her face with a curious smile plastered on her lips.

"I wanna know more about you too! You look mysterious!" Hina added with that glistening smile of hers. What a hassle.

I sighed, before looking at them with my dead eyes."Well, I really didn't see a reason for me to start talking to everyone."

"Is that so? Do you have any social problems, or is it just your preference?"

"Preference. I'm not really a fan of talking."

"Hmm," She squinted her eyes a little bit, before returning to her smile. "I understand, I apologize for this conversation we're having."

As she was talking, I felt my phone vibrate. I grabbed it from my pocket and went to see what the notification was about. It was a message from my mother. I promptly tap on the notice upon seeing her name.

Inside was a picture of my little sister, wearing a Seiei Middle School Uniform, along with a short message that said:

Your little sister has passed the exam! She is now in the same school as you, but in middle school! I'm so proud of you two! She said she wants to be just like you, a strong magician! With several hearts and other kinds of cutesy emojis at the end.

That's very wholesome. The fleeting feeling of happiness surfaced in my heart as my lips curled into a smile on its own. Though I doubt the sentence of me being a strong magician is truthful, I will still do my best. She looks up to me. I should probably grab an achievement or two while I make my way into graduating from here...

...

Airi and Hina's senseless gaze stumbled upon Ryo, who was smiling warmly. A spark of wonderment and curiosity exploded within their heart as they looked at each other. First impressions in consideration, with a monotonous voice and dead, lifeless eyes, he certainly wasn't the best. However, that smile made them curious about him...

...

Just then, Haruto returned, I quickly hid my phone and looked straight back. His friendly face was replaced with a somewhat melancholy and worried look.

"Uhm..." He hesitated, looking a bit worried. "I'm sorry, I have to go now. You guys can continue though."

He said in a disappointed voice.

"Why? Were you called again?" Akamine asked with concern.

"I'm afraid, yeah. I'm sorry." Bowing his head and saying his goodbyes, he hurriedly grabbed his bag and ran towards the door.

"With Haruto gone, how do you all want to proceed?" Akamine asked.

"I'm fine with rescheduling," Takahashi replied.

Pretty much everyone agreed to a rescheduling, which concludes this short meeting. Well, I wouldn't mind, after all, I'm drained to the maximum.

I grabbed my bag and left...

...

All left except for Fujimoto Kyouko, who is still in her book. She waited a few minutes after they left before closing her book and grabbing her phone from her front uniform pocket. She called a certain number before pressing it up on her ear.

Her expression remained serious and straight as she waited for the call to go through. Then, someone spoke.

"Hey, Kyouko, what's the news?" A young man's voice spoke in a carefree way.

"There's nothing much for you to worry about the first year's." She replied nonchalantly.

"I see, I see, Looks like we're gonna throw a large number of students out from this school, huh?"

"Are you going to be the hunter?"

"Yes, I am. I'll start practising after I finish the paperwork you dumped me with! Asahi-Sensei always goes into the council room to mock me!"

"I'd say that's a well-deserved one." She taunted 

"Don't be like that. I need to get some rest too, you know."

"Whatever you say. Just don't forget to set limitations, or else you'll end up really hurting someone."

"I know, I know. That aside, I know you called me for another reason."

"It's about "that"." The man lets out a laugh, before continuing.

"Oh, about that student, Kyosuke Ryo."

"Fire. That's all. The next set of information would be given out tomorrow."

"I'll trust you up on that."

"Tell me Ryujin, why did the president release the annual test earlier than the expected time?"

"You're asking the wrong person, Kyouko. The student council members, including me and you don't have a clue as to his plans for this year."

"He's your classmate, right? Maybe if you push him further,"

"No can do that, for now, just do the task I've assigned"

"How foolish. Spying doesn't count as official work. This is only a mere request of yours" There's now a slight hint of annoyance in Kyouko's voice while the person on the other side burst into boisterous laughter.

"I know, don't be too mad will ya? Anyway, is being the only first-year member hard?"

"It is. If you think being ordered around is easy, we should swap places sometime"

"Hahaha! I don't know about that. Well, thank you for the service, I'll see ya later"He hung up on her. Slightly Irritated, she threw her phone at the table and sat back in her seat with a sigh, opening her book and gazing at it.

"Unbelievable" She murmured to herself in an exasperated voice as she frowned...

The next day at lunch, "And then, there's that! Don't you agree, Kyosuke?!" Takahashi said in his loud voice, paired with childish gleaming eyes, bragging to me and Akamine about something that happened yesterday in his life.

We're at the school cafeteria, lining up to choose from a good variety of dishes for lunch.

"Yeah, I get you" I answered, feigning interest as I pondered what to choose for my lunch. Letting him be, I looked around the glass shelf, and one particular food got my attention. I was grabbing my wallet, and rummaging through, looking for the right bill. I called out for the lady vendor and placed my order.

She placed my order on the countertop of the glass shelf. I grabbed the tray and we walked towards the table where Fujimoto and Haruto were, with Arata still on with the "Ultimate story of his life," his eyes sparkling like a star.

Arriving at the table, I laid down my bag and placed my tray on the table before pulling my chair and sitting. All the others do so as well.

"And then, and then, a huge BANG! echoed throughout the whole street!!!"He raised his hands like a kid telling a scary story. I grabbed my bread and took a bite as I listened to his childish story about a guy who saved a girl from being kidnapped in his street.

"Yes, yes, now, we don't want the food to get cold, you might want to eat before it gets into one" Akamine, looking overwhelmed by him, tries to somehow cease his energy most calmly.

"Oh yeah, you're right." He says as he opens up his burger and once again, as he sees the burger, his eyes light up and compliments that burger in the loudest way possible like a kid.

If I weren't so kind, I would have smacked him to sleep right now.

Haruto leaned towards him, "Keep it down Arata!", he said in a whispering voice as he pressed his finger on his lips. I let out a sigh as I took another bite.

"My bad, my bad"

"We can chit-chat, but please keep your voice to a minimum, okay?"

"Sure, sorry." Haruto's aura akin to a gentle father calmly controlled the situation. If that were me, oh, really, I would have resorted to smacking him in the head.

Finally, silence reigns over us, we finally have the time to eat peacefully. But after like a minute or so, Haruto decided to break that silence.

"So, Arata, who was this superhero you were talking about?"

"Oh, that, *nom* I don't know for myself but, *nom* I heard that it was one of the student council members here, *nom* but I'm not sure who," Haruto said in between chewings.

That story sounds awfully familiar. As he went into details, I realized that the story he was telling was the situation was the incident that happened a few nights ago. Apparently, someone saw it.

"But like, it was dark and all, so they weren't able to see who was it. *Nom*"

Dark, and wasn't able to see who was it...?

Planning to interfere, I slightly raised my hand. "I have a question," I asked.

"Oh, yeah?"

"How did they know that the superhero just saved a girl from being kidnapped? It was so dark in there to even see the hero's face, right?"

"After that incident, they saw the police, and there's where things got clear. They were some kidnapping group, who failed at their first attempt."

That's some dumb thing. Failing at the first attempt? Still, I'm glad that happened.

"So, Arata, who do you think is that hero? I've heard that it could be one from the council." Akamine said with interest.

"They said that there was a blaze of an orange trail, maybe a magic spell that was used. With that in mind, I think it's one from the council also.

"So, there's also a fire user in the council?"Is there also a fire-user in the council?"I asked,

"I don't know, but, I think Fujimoto-san here knows. You graduated from Seiei-middle school, right?" Akamine asked as she looked at Fujimoto, who was currently preoccupied. But upon hearing her name, she looked at us with her serious, black eyes as she put down her sandwich and book.

She just sat there motionless for a few seconds before finally opening her mouth to speak.

"There is." She murmured in her whispering voice. This first time that I've heard her voice feels surreal. Her voice was very soft and gentle, yet serious, with a coldness that lingers within.

"Oh, really, who is it?" Akamine continued to ask. All eyes were on her, after all, the council is the one responsible for being the hunter. This fire guy could be the hunter, which means that every piece of information is crucial.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"O-Oh, o-okay."

"However, I'll tell you this." Her gaze remained serious as she continued to speak.

"Each member of the council gained their positions through arduous training, and by having a great impact on the school. Each of them carries an unbelievably strong strength, with an incredible, sharp mind. Hunting a group of students is an easy feat for them. They are all unique in their own way, yet all of them shine the brightest. We all need to be prepared."

The group was flabbergasted and surprised at her words. It was like she was speaking as if she knew them very well.

"The council hierarchy starts with the President, the head of the whole school. This position bears the responsibility of being the "Head" of the whole school. They are the ones responsible for decision-making. Followed by the Vice-president, the Right-Hand of the President. And lastly, the council members, or the "Wings" of the academy. All together, they make the council that leads over this academy."

She added. "A-Amazing..." Haruto remarked while the others remained speechless. "What's with those reactions?"

She said in disbelief with a frown. "N-Nothing, t-that's just amazing..." Ayane remarked."If you all say so." A group of incredibly amazing people would be the ones hunting us in this exam.

That sounds... Quite the hassle. Still, that on its own, could help me test my magic type.

...

While all that was happening, little did Ryo know that from the shadows, watching him was a girl. She nervously held a letter in her hands as she hid behind a wall with a blushed, flustered expression.

"I-I finally found him!" She murmured under her breath before leaving,