Chapter 1: Alarm Clock!

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP--

The digital alarm clock blasted into Hiro's ear as he rolled over and tried to cover his head with his pillow.

[Hiro: Ughh, I don't want to wake up yet…]

Hiro groaned and rolled to the other side of the bed, trying to get away from the alarm clock.

[Hiro: Stop beeping…]

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP--

After a good thirty seconds, Hiro realized that he needed to shut that thing off, or he would never get any extra rest.

He rolled over and lunged towards the alarm clock, his hand outstretched, ready to slam the snooze button. His eyes caught a quick glimpse of the time from the rigid red numbers--

7:54 A.M.

smack--

The snooze button-- pressed! The beeping-- halted! Sleep time-- resuming!

Time to snuggle back into the blankets and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Hiro closed his eyes once more, and burrowed back under his blankets…

WAIT! 7:54 A.M?!

He frantically flung the blankets off of him and squinted at the calendar. X's marked all of the days that had passed… all up until today.

Monday. A school day.

[Hiro: Aaaah! I forgot!]

He hopped out of bed and quickly slipped on some socks, a shirt, pants from his laundry pile and a hoodie--

In the living room, he could hear the voice of his brother, Shuuki.

[Shuuki: Alright Mom, bye!]

[Mom: Okay Shuuki, have a nice day at school!]

{Hiro: WHAT? HE'S ALREADY LEAVING??}

school... school… school… school…

The word school seemed to echo and distort each time in Hiro's head, and he was getting dizzy.

He couldn't be late! He hasn't ever been late! He needed to get the PERFECT ATTENDANCE reward at school! He needed that medal! He needed that free candy bar! But more importantly--

He couldn't be beat by his brother!

Hiro ran to the bathroom, took a quick piss, splashed water on his face, then stared at his toothbrush, contemplating if he even had time to brush his teeth.

{Hiro: No time for that.}

Hiro ran down the hall and down the stairs into the living room. The sight before him was like something from a movie. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

As Hiro yelled--

[Hiro: Noooooooooooo--]

--he watched Shuuki walk up the bus stairs and wave goodbye. His mother waved back as the bus engine revved before driving away, leaving a cloud of diesel in its trail.

Hiro collapsed on the floor in despair.

[Hiro: How could this happen?]

Hiro fell down on his knees, as he pathetically hit the ground with his fist.

[Hiro: How could I let time slip so easily through my fingertips? Why couldn't I have woken up sooner? My perfect attendance-- ruined! My whole life-- ruined-- ack!]

Hiro was whacked in the back of the head with a wooden spoon.

[Mom: Hurry up and eat your breakfast, you can still make it if you rush.]

Even though Hiro's mother had a frown on her face, Hiro looked up at her and admired everything she was and stood for. An angelic being.

[Hiro: Mom… you made breakfast today?]

Hiro's eyes shined. He was thankful to have a mother like her--

whack--

[Hiro: Ow!]

[Mom: Hurry! The rice and eggs are getting cold!]

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After Hiro gobbled up his breakfast at an unhealthy speed and sprinted a mile on a full stomach, he finally reached it--

A big building more wide than it was tall with big red kana which said:

Teiko Junior High, Middle School for Magical Studies.

It was quite the normal middle school. Nothing about it stood out. The only thing special was that it taught magic studies classes, but then again, those weren't even that uncommon these days. Nowadays, many people want to hone their magic abilities.

Even though Hiro reached the gate, he didn't stop-- he still had to get to his class.

Hiro was regretting eating as much as he did. His stomach was cramping up so much from the food. He should've just gone without eating.

Hiro showed his school ID to the administrators before continuing his rush to class. Across the campus, up two flights of stairs and down a painstakingly long hallway, he finally made it to his classroom.

Out of breath, he opened the door.

ringggggg--

8:30 A.M.

Hiro dropped right where he was, and leaned up against a wall, panting. Relief spread like a wave through his body, and he felt a hundred times better; despite his aching muscles.

[Hiro: Ahhh, I barely made it. That was way too close for comfort.]

[Ku Sensei: Nakashiyama Gotou--]

[Nakashiyama: Present.]

[Ku Sensei: Yan Hibano--]

[Yan: Present.]

[Ku Sensei: Hiroshi Hiroto--]

[Hiro: P-present!]

All of the students in his middle school classroom looked back at him, resting against the wall.

[Ku Sensei: Just in the nick of time, Hiro. You were really pushing it.]

[Hiro: Sorry.]

Hiro smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

[Ku Sensei: Now get to your seat, before I dress code you.]

Dress code?

Hiro looked down at his clothes-- he didn't have his jacket zipped, showing a t-shirt he used to wear when he was in elementary. A cute penguin from a kid's TV show-- "The Wonderful World of Pengy"--was holding up a peace sign on Hiro's shirt.

His face turned red from embarrassment and he quickly zipped up his jacket.

The students laughed, and Hiro felt flustered, but felt warm and fuzzy inside when he saw the girl that he liked-- Jun Hanegawa-- laugh as well.

Jun was a sweet girl with long, purple hair and a bow. She had nice form-- not to mention she was also sweet and kind, and smart! That's three in one! What was there not to like about her?

However, that was a small problem. Hiro bet every boy in the school had a crush or still has a crush on her, and that they would stop at nothing to go out with her. But Hiro wasn't going to lose to them! Hiro had to win her heart!

Jun paid attention to him, and he made her smile! That's all he needed to brighten up his day.

If he could make her feel happy then it was worth it.

Hiro smiled propitiously as he waddled to his chair. The waddling was not intentional.

[Ku Sensei: Shuuki Hiroto--]

[Shuuki: Present.]

The teacher continued with the attendance.

After Shuuki was called, he turned around and looked at Hiro, then smiled.

Was he being smug? Was he making fun of Hiro?

Ergh, Hiro didn't like that one bit.

Shuuki was always like that, pretending like he was above him. Shuuki would always say or do things to Hiro and not mean it.

On the outside, Shuuki was a magical and academic prodigy; always exceeding everyone's expectations and showing off his skills. Not to mention a goody two shoes and an overly polite bastard.

However, on the inside, Shuuki was a snake; tricking and deceiving others, then boasting his intelligence and talent. Each day, Hiro had to live in the shadow of his adopted younger brother…

But never mind that. That was pretty dark, wasn't it?

Shuuki had snowy white-hair and was a year younger than Hiro, skipping a grade, while Hiro had raven black hair, fifteen years old. In fact, Hiro's birthday passed only a month ago.

[Kaori: Good morning, Hiro.]

A girl with glasses that sat adjacent to Hiro smiled and greeted him.

Kaori was a girl with glasses and dark blue hair as blue as the ocean. Even though she was shy and timid, once you got to know her, she had a personality of gold. Kaori was one of Hiro's best friends ever since the beginning of middle school, and a person he held dear to his heart. For real.

[Hiro: Good morning, Kaori.]

Hiro smiled back at her.

They knew what to do.

They did their unique secret handshake that lasted for a good thirty seconds, then sat back down in their seats.

After Ku Sensei finished taking attendance, the announcements went off, blurting out random facts and events going on at the school-- things that didn't matter all that much. And after a few minutes, the announcements came to an end and the teacher stepped up to the whiteboard.

Ku Sensei clapped her hands together.

[Ku Sensei: Another day, another dollar. We can't waste any time!]

Hiro could feel the students wincing at Ku Sensei's choice of words.

[Ku Sensei: As all of you know, the end of the school year is edging closer and closer, and that means your finals are edging closer and closer as well. We've just about covered every unit for our Pre-Magic Studies course, so I think it's about time to review!]

All of the students in the class collectively groaned.

[Ku Sensei: Mm, don't be like that! You guys need to pass those exams just as much as I need to keep my job. So focus!]

Focus… Magic Studies, Hiro's favorite class. It was typically hard for Hiro to focus on anything, but when it came to magic, he could study it for hours. Magic was fascinating.

In addition to that, he remembered Jun saying that she liked boys who took their schooling seriously. So that was extra motivation.

Hiro pulled out a pencil and paper to take notes on.

[Ku Sensei: Going back to the basics, mana is the energy source for all living things, just as much as electricity powers a machine, mana powers organisms. Mana is just as important as food, or water, or blood; mana is what keeps us alive. However, other than just an essential to life, it can be used to perform actions otherwise impossible without it. This is called magic. Just like emotion and speech, magic is something exclusive to humans.]

Ku Sensei paced around.

[Ku Sensei: Magic can be used to create things with no physical matter, or to manipulate substances or change the properties of substances. With the use of mana, other types of energy, or even physical matter can come out the other side. Each person's mana is different, therefore each person has a unique magic ability, whether it be being able to shoot fire from your fingertips, lifting rocks with your mind, or creating water from thin air. However, even though everyone has mana, not everyone can use magic.]

Hiro's pencil tip snapped. He grabbed his pencil sharpener and began to twist.

Ku Sensei picked up a marker and began drawing on the white board.

[Ku Sensei: There are multiple reasons for this. The first reason is that some people are able to, but they do not have enough mana to perform any magic. The second reason is that they are late bloomers. A magical ability usually manifests during the ages ten through fourteen or earlier, but in rare cases they can manifest later, even in the late twenties or thirties. The third reason is some people are not aware of their ability. If someone's ability is that they have resistance to flame, would they ever notice if they were never burned? No they wouldn't! And the fourth reason… is the lack of mana type.]

Hiro's pencil tip snapped again.

[Hiro: Cheap pencil.]

[Ku Sensei: There are eight mana types: water, earth, fire, air, dark, light, space, and time; which classify a magic ability. If the user controls, creates, or manipulates liquid in any way-- they have a water mana type. If they control, create, or manipulate solids in any way-- they have an earth mana type. If they control or manipulate temperature in any way-- they have a fire mana type. Most of the mana types are self explanatory. And people can be tested for their mana type through the Purple Orb Test. However, if someone does not have a mana type, meaning that they do not fall into any of these categories, they cannot use magic, and will never be able to use magic. These people that cannot use magic consist of about thirty percent of the world we live in.]

Hiro's heart was beating. Beating really hard. He could feel the blood pumping in his ears.

Thirty minutes passed by. Then an hour. Then--

ringgggggg--

The bell.

The students began standing up and leaving the classroom.

[Ku Sensei: Don't forget to get your report cards signed and returned to me by Friday! Have a nice day!]

Hiro had been so engrossed in his notes that he didn't even keep track of the time.

Hiro scrambled to get everything packed so he could reach his next class on time. The school made transition times only one minute long, with the excuse of "every minute of every day counts"-- which really sucked, because Hiro had to run across the campus to get to his second period.

[Shuuki: Hey.]

Shuuki had walked up to Hiro. Hiro had to express his dislike of him. Hiro looked the opposite way from Shuuki and "hmmphed" before responding.

[Hiro: What?]

[Shuuki: Uh, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to take a shortcut with me today. I found out if I placed a portal at second period on the way to first period, I could easily travel there after first period ended--]

Oh yeah, not only were Shuuki and Hiro brothers that shared the same home, they shared the same exact school schedule as well! Hiro couldn't avoid him at all, even though he knew Shuuki was trouble.

Hiro looked past Shuuki at a shining gray oval the size of a doorway by where he was sitting earlier.

It was Shuuki's magic. Portal magic. Shuuki's rare spatial magic that was so unique and useful that it would make anyone want to get their hands on it if they could. Shuuki could place two portals anywhere, and could travel between those two places in an instant.

When they were kids, Hiro used to always play tag or hide and seek with Shuuki, but it was always impossible to get him because he'd be in one spot, then one portal later he would be in a different spot!

But the fact that Shuuki was showing off his magic in front of everyone wasn't what shocked him. It was the people (or the person) that was walking through the portal.

Jun!

Hiro was planning on asking her out sometime, and who knows, maybe he would've gotten the chance today, in the halls, in first period transition. But now Shuuki ruined that possibility!

[Shuuki: And don't worry, I got permission from the administrators that I'm allowed to use my magic on the school campus, so you don't have to worry about getting in trouble. They were giving me such a hassle about it when I was using the portal to go to school every morning, but now they seem fine about--]

[Hiro: No, I'm okay.]

Hiro finished packing up his binders and folders.

[Shuuki: You sure?]

Hiro zipped up his backpack.

[Hiro: Yeah, I'm sure.]

Shuuki frowned.

[Shuuki: Okay. See you in second period, I guess.]

Shuuki walked away and let the last few people go through his portal, and then walked through last. The portal then zipped out of existence.

[Kaori: You ready?]

Kaori walked up to Hiro.

Hiro swung his backpack over his shoulders.

[Hiro: Yeah.]

Kaori looked at Hiro, and Hiro looked at Kaori, and they knew exactly what they had to do.

[Hiro: Goooooooooo!]

[Kaori: Gooooooooo!]

Hiro and Kaori yelled go and sprinted down the hallways, down two flights of stairs, then ran across campus to their second period.