Their Start

<p><br/>...<br/>The day after the exam...<br/>At the entrance of the school, there were many students still chatting with their friends. And among them were Asta & Yuno who were looking at the school with a toothy grin and a small smirk respectively while wearing a matching uniform similar to the other students; a sign that they both managed to pass the exam.<br/>"Yuno..." Asta muttered excitedly.<br/>"Yes, Asta..?" Yuno asked with anticipation.<br/>"WE MANAGED TO PASS THE EXAM!" Asta shouted while leaping repeatedly, which caught the attention of the other students.<br/>"Yeah, but you only have three days left until you get kicked out," Yuno bluntly replied as he naturally breathed.<br/>"Oh, yeah..." Asta tugged his uniform, which consisted of a white blazer with black linings and some parts of it being green. However, there was a clear difference between his and Yuno's uniform, which is that the latter's uniform had the school's emblem, whilst the former's did not; indicating that he was a Course 2 student.<br/>Both Asta and Yuno passed the exam, but there's a catch to how each of them managed to pass; both of them did well in the written exam, with Yuno being in the top three, and Asta getting a 75 average. But the practical... let's say it was interesting. Yuno aced all the magic-oriented tests and was on par with another very talented girl that one could say, was the personification of a Yamato Nadeshiko. However, Asta flopped all of the magic-oriented ones, BUT! aced the physical ones and managed to set new records for all of the exams, with pure physical prowess alone.<br/>After that... well, let's see it for ourselves.<br/>Flashback...<br/>Asta got called out by the principal, so he went to the principal's office after a short talk with Yuno.<br/>"*Breath in...*breathe out... All right! let's see what business this guy has with me," Not gonna lie, he was nervous because there was still the possibility of him being rejected by the school. He expected at least a greeting, but as they say, "Reality is often disappointing."<br/>"You won't be accepted in First High or any other Magic school." Momoyama Azuma, the director of First High, said as a matter of fact without sugarcoating anything the moment Asta entered his office. He was an elderly man with a long beard and a very serious demeanor.<br/>It was as if Asta's whole being was shattered by that one sentence. He was very close to breaking down, but he held himself from doing so in front of the principal. Asta mustered up the courage and asked with a broken voice,<br/>"..W-why..?"<br/>"It should be obvious, don't you think? You know that you're the only person in the world who's born magicless, right?"<br/>Asta could only nod weakly at that.<br/>"I barely even let that failure of a Magician, Shiba Tatsuya, enter this school; and it was all because of his intelligence,"<br/>Asta was getting more devastated as the director continued to speak. He brought his head down as his face was covered by shadows.<br/>"And the only reason why I'm holding this conversation with you is because of your physical tests, and that 'thing',"<br/>"You mean my Grimoire..?"<br/>"Yes. Though I noticed you couldn't even activate it; however, I could sense it was yours because it was bound to you. I won't question how you got it, but..." Azuma held up three fingers as he continued,<br/>"...I'll give you three days to activate your Grimoire. If it gets to the fourth day, and you still haven't unlocked it, then never come near any magical facility ever again. Understood?" He asked harshly while gazing right through Asta's soul.<br/>Asta gained his energy as he heard that he still had a chance to redeem himself. He grinned as he replied with a ninety-degree bow, "Yes sir! I won't stop trying all these seventy-two hours until I unlock my Grimoire!"<br/>"You're awfully strong-willed for someone without magic,"<br/>"It's precisely because I'm magicless, that I'm determined to become the strongest more than anyone!"<br/>Momoyama Azuma was taken aback by Asta's reply, conviction, and especially his determination. He hadn't seen anyone so determined as Asta in many years, and he was a magicless cripple no less. But then he shook his head. It didn't matter how strong his willpower was, he was still going to get kicked out if he doesn't manage to do any magic.<br/>"You can go now, I'll be waiting for your awakening."<br/>"Thanks, principal!" Asta ran with full speed ahead.<br/>"Sigh... I blame this useless bum enrolling on you, Julius-dono."<br/>Meanwhile, somewhere else during flashback...<br/>In one corner of the world, there was a middle-aged blonde-haired man with purple eyes, and a blue six-pointed star on the left side of his face; and wore clothes that resembled an emperor's attire. This seemingly emperor was currently gushing looking at the four monitors in front of him; each of them showing four of First High's freshmen,<br/>"UWAAA! A four-leaf Grimoire, and a five-leaf Grimoire user in the same year?! There are also Tatsuya-kun & Miyuki-chan too! Ohohohoh~! I can't wait to see them at full power in the future!" The unknown man squealed with stars in his eyes.<br/>"Julius-sama! Get your geeky ass back here and finish the paper works! I'm sick of always doing your job when you run off to find new magic." A young man with bowl-cut hair shouted to the man now named, "Julius".<br/>"B-but, Marx-kun! This is our only chance to see if the rumors about the five-leaf Grimoires are true or not; I can't let this chance pass by!"<br/>Marx Francois, the Wizard King's assistant, then said with a natural face,<br/>"I don't care about any of that. What matters the most now, is you doing your job as the Wizard King, Julius Novachrono."<br/>As you've all guessed, Julius was none other than the current Wizard King; the title granted to the strongest magician of the current era. The one that bears this title has full authority over the world, acts independently from every organization in the world, and is tasked with keeping the peace between nations. If a country tries to act with malicious intent towards another, then by tomorrow, that country's government will cease to exist with all the civilians in safety. Then a replacement government will be appointed by Julius' Captains, which he chose himself.<br/>To become a Wizard King, one magician must show these three qualities:<br/>1) Prove that they're the strongest.<br/>2) Prove that they're just.<br/>3) Merits; the most important of the three.<br/>"Sigh... fine, but as soon as I finish, book a flight for Tokyo."<br/>"Hmm? You wanna meet with Yami-dono?"<br/>"Well, it wouldn't hurt to see him; but I'm planning on meeting those two youths," Julius replied as he looked at the monitor which showed Asta & Yuno fist bumping with each other.<br/>Flashback end...<br/>"It doesn't matter though, Asta. We'll somehow find a way to unlock your Grimoire." Yuno replied calmly, but he then remembered how many methods Asta tried last night to open the damn thing; from chewing to hammering it down, dropping acid on it, etc. He then inwardly said, 'Yeah... I'm not so sure about that now,'<br/>"Oka-!" Before Asta could finish his sentence, a very beautiful girl, which one could say was the personification of a Yamato Nadeshiko, was yelling at her cool, but stoic, brother; caught the surrounding students' attention,<br/>"I can't accept this! Onii-sama, why are you a reserve!? didn't you top the entrance exams!"<br/>"Miyuki, you're still on about this?" Her brother replied as if he wasn't even fazed by this.<br/>"Miyuki? Shiba Miyuki..?" Yuno said with his eyes narrowed.<br/>"Hmm? You know her, Yuno?" Asta asked his brother with a raised eyebrow.<br/>"Not that I know her, but she was before me in the practical exam, and her magic was impressive, to say the least," Yuno answered with mild amusement as if he didn't care about her magic, even though her magic prowess was on par with his.<br/>"Shiba..? Wait! Does that mean that boy is Shiba Tatsuya, her brother?!"<br/>"Beats me, do you know him or anything?"<br/>"I've just heard his name from somewhere; and besides, he was right after me in the exam." Obviously, he couldn't tell Yuno that the director called Tatsuya a "failure of a magician" right in front of his face when his imouto would probably hear them.<br/>They were about to discuss further, but were interrupted by Miyuki once again,<br/>"The freshman representative should not be me. But you, onii-sama!" It seems the girl is not letting back up.<br/>"This is a magic school. It's obvious they'll place more emphasis on practical ability over paper tests. With my practical ability, it's surprising that I even made it into Course 2," It was kinda disturbing how he said that so apathetically; even Yuno was disturbed to a certain extent.<br/>"But onii-sama! Nobody's a match for you in both studies & Taijutsu! Even in M-!" She covered her mouth before she said the last word. Let's say it wouldn't have been a good thing if somebody noticed that. She sighed and continued, but this time calmly,<br/>"Onii-sama, let's call tou-san for he-" However, she was cut off by her broth, who raised his voice just a little,<br/>"Miyuki!"<br/>"!" She was a bit startled, she didn't interrupt her brother and let him continue, but this time he spoke softer.<br/>"He's busy enough as it is, let's not make him go through the trouble for such trivial matters."<br/>"I...I a-apologize..." She meekly responded.<br/>"Nevertheless, it warms my heart to see my little imouto being angry in my place. I also feel the same way about you, Miyuki," He said softly to her as he patted her gently with a soft, yet handsome smile; which caused her snow-white face to be painted red.<br/>'F-feel the s-same way about me?! Kyaaa!' Miyuki dashed over and was squealing while constantly muttering "Onii-sama feels the same way,"<br/>'I guess I caused a misunderstanding, though I don't see any reason to correct her,' Tatsuya inwardly said with a deadpan face.<br/>"Hmm... Yuno? aren't they acting pretty weird for siblings?" Asta asked innocently.<br/>"...I'm sure their parents would feel like failures if they knew their children were into each other," Yuno facepalmed as he said, but behind that facepalm, was a smirk that he couldn't contain.<br/>"What?"<br/>"Nothing, Asta, nothing."<br/>"Your tone isn't reassuring..." Asta eyed Yuno suspiciously. To everyone, it may seem he was honest, but Asta wasn't anybody.<br/>"Anyway, I'll be heading towards the student council. It looks like there's another representative beside me so I have to prepare my speech quick," Yuno headed towards the student council while he was smirking inside. He was about to shake the whole school.<br/>"Okay, bye Yuno! I'll be training till the ceremony starts!" He shouted for Yuno to hear, though he had a slight shiver after Yuno left as he thought, 'Why am I getting a bad feeling about this..?'<br/>"Yoshi! I have plenty of time to train before it starts! Time to do one-hand push-ups again!" He excitedly claimed as he went to a quiet place and started training. First, he stood up by only using one of hand to not fall, then repeatedly did it back and forth with such speed that many would've thought he was a fitness monster.<br/>"115...<br/>116...<br/>117..."<br/>Not even a minute passed and Asta already went past one hundred one-handed push-ups; a physical monster indeed. Although, he, unfortunately, didn't notice somebody was watching him train this hardcore.<br/>Tatsuya was watching Asta train while he was sitting on the bench beside Asta. He was amused that he saw somebody train like this in an age where physical prowess was useless and only magic power mattered the most; nothing else. But he then had a scowl on his face as he remembered who this boy was, the one he sensed that didn't have any magic, likely due to him being born magicless. He guessed that the rumors were true, that there was indeed somebody born magicless in a world where everyone else could use it.<br/>'..He should just drop dead,' He thought with a slight disdain before he continued,<br/>'There's no use staying in this world when everyone's going to discriminate against you. I can already see even the 'Weeds' doing it too, much less the 'Blooms'. I don't know how you even got here, but know this will be the biggest mistake of your life thinking the people in here would let you have a normal school life,' He thought cynically as his eyes sharpened, though there was a hidden pain he himself even didn't notice.<br/>Although he had a point. In First High, students are divided into two sections; Course 1(aka Bloom), and Course 2(aka Weed) students. The school only sends one hundred students to the Magic University, but accidents could happen which would lead to some of them getting crippled and can't continue to study magic anymore; this is where the other one hundred students come in. If something were to happen to the Course 1 student, one student from Course 2 will take their place, this is also why they're called "Reserves". And you don't need rocket science to figure out what happens to the Course 2 students, much less to Asta.<br/>Tatsuya then decided to start up a conversation with Asta,<br/>"Why are you trying so hard?"<br/>"Eh?" It was only now that Asta noticed Tatsuya's presence. He was simply too engrossed in training that he didn't pay any attention to his surroundings. Asta flipped to stand up normally as he proceeded to walk toward Tatsuya.<br/>"That wasn't even me going all-out, you know? I can go all-out if you want to!" Asta said as he flexed his guns to Tatsuya.<br/>"No thanks." The apathetic boy immediately refused. After all, he didn't want motion sickness from watching Asta exercising.<br/>"Aww..." Asta was quite disappointed.<br/>"Anyway, please answer me."<br/>"Hmmm... well, my rival is ahead of me for now, so I want to catch up to him!"<br/>"Your rival?"<br/>"Yup, we're both aiming to become the Wizard King!" Asta answered<br/>'Nevermind, he's crazier than I thought,' Tatsuya's eyes bulged out when he heard this. No way this boy could ever reach 'him' in terms of strength when he personally witnessed it himself.<br/>"But do you think you could ever hope to remain in this school without any magic? much less becoming the Wizard King?"<br/>"Well... I don't know if I'm capable of something unless I try it, so why not?"<br/>Tatsuya didn't want to stay here any longer, he knew what kind of person he was dealing with. But deep, deep inside his soul, something was telling him to stay and question the boy further; it was as if something familiar to him was telling Tatsuya, that if there were any person he could relate to, it would be this boy right in front of him.<br/>"Why..?"<br/>"Hmm?"<br/>"Why are you aiming for such heights when you know you're not capable of anything?" There was a harsh tone in Tatsuya's voice this time.<br/>Asta wanted to retaliate, but he sensed something all too familiar in his voice; pain. He had a wry smile as he replied,<br/>"It's because I'm magicless that I want to become the Wizard King. Many discriminate against people with low magical powers, and especially me who's magicless. I want to become the Wizard King, to show that everything's possible, regardless of your talent. To show that you can do anything as long as you work hard and put your heart & soul into it." Asta then finished it with a determined smile and voice.<br/>"Then why didn't you try something else? Like bodybuilding, you're very gifted in your physique."<br/>"No, I wasn't physically gifted or talented at anything. During my fifth birthday when I was diagnosed with being born magicless, I broke down crying because my dreams were crushed. But the day after that? I trained until I fainted. I did this again, and again, and it became a routine for me where I always tried to break my previous record.<br/>Besides..." Asta then grabbed his Grimoire and showed it to Tatsuya as he continued,<br/>"I only have to show this to others to prove why I'm staying here,"<br/>Tatsuya's eyes widened at the sight of Asta's Grimoire. It wasn't that this was his first time seeing one, but he was caught off guard when he also couldn't sense a glimpse of magic from the Grimoire. What was even more shocking, was that the Grimoire is bound to Asta<br/>They were about to continue this heated discussion further but were cut off by the alarms ringing, indicating the start of the orientation. Both Asta & Tatsuya looked at each other before nodding and heading off to the main school building.<br/>"By the way, I haven't got your name..."<br/>"Oh! Sorry for not noticing earlier, you just surprised me with that question out of nowhere. My name is Gushiken Asta! but you can call me Asta, Tatsuya-san!" Asta bowed as he introduced himself.<br/>Tatsuya raised his eyebrow when Asta called his name. He wanted to know how he managed to learn his name, but he pushed it aside and didn't want to pry into it.<br/>"It's been nice meeting you, Asta-san. Let's go to the school building now, the orientation is about to start and I don't want to miss my imouto's speech," For some reason Tatsuya's eyes were determined.<br/>"Eh?! Your sister is also a representative?!" Asta was shocked as he didn't expect this.<br/>"'Also'? Does that mean there's somebody else?"<br/>"Yup, my brother Yuno is the boy's representative!"<br/>"Tell me, is he a womanizer..?" Suddenly, Tatsuya's voice got cold, which also oozed a little bit of killing intent that Asta didn't notice.<br/>"Eh? No, though there were a lot of girls confessing to him, he rejected them all telling them he had far more important priorities than romance."<br/>"Thank Kami she's safe from him..." Tatsuya quietly muttered.<br/>"What?" Asta was confused.<br/>"Nothing, let's go now, it's getting late," Tatsuya shook his head and motioned Asta to move on. Asta shrugged and continued walking beside Tatsuya.<br/>Unbeknownst to the duo, there was a girl with deep ruby eyes, long & smooth black hair, and white porcelain skin that appeared to be a third-year was giggling as she eavesdropped on them. She then said giddily,<br/>"Hohoho~ These two pairs of siblings are really interesting. Let's wait and see how'll they be like at the end of the year!"<br/>Oh boy, she doesn't even know half of what will happen at that time.<br/>In the seminar room...<br/>Asta & Tatsuya were both looking for seats. It seemed that most of the seats were already filled, but fortunately, there were still four empty seats left. They were going to those seats but Asta had a frown on his face as he saw the hall. He said with a somber tone,<br/>"Discrimination is as clear as day..."<br/>Indeed, the Course 2 students were in the back row seats with mediocre-quality ones, and the Course 1 students were in the front row with the high-quality seats; you have to be too dumb to not realize that this is blatant discrimination.<br/>"Yeah, though unfortunately, we can do a thing about it," Tatsuya replied naturally as if he was used to this.<br/>"But it doesn't mean it should be normalized," Asta said as he sat down on the second last seat while Tatsuya sat on the last one.<br/>The two of them were talking with one another until they were interrupted by a pair of girls; one was a redheaded girl with a tomboy-ish style and a decent chest size, while the other was a brown-haired, timid-looking girl with hazel eyes while she wore glasses. She also had a very large set of breasts and a curvaceous figure.<br/>The glasses girl started speaking up, "A-ano... are these seats empty?"<br/>"Yeah," Tatsuya beat Asta into answering.<br/>The timid girl was about to sit but she was pounced on by the enthusiastic redhead from behind which caused the former to be startled,<br/>"Yatta! we can seat right next to each other!" The redhead excitedly exclaimed.<br/>'What's wrong with her..?' Both Asta & Tatsuya simultaneously thought with a sweatdrop. Though Tatsuya sensed that somebody was being a hypocrite.<br/>Then the redhead sat beside Asta while the glasses girl sat beside her. Both of them introduced themselves afterward,<br/>"My name is Shibata Mizuki, nice to meet all of you."<br/>"I'm Gushiken Asta! But please call me Asta!"<br/>"My name is Shiba Tatsuya, nice to meet you two,"<br/>"I'm Chiba Erika! Nice to meet you, Asta-kun! Shiba-kun!"<br/>'One of the Number families, huh?' Tatsuya thought as he looked at Erika. Although he expected to meet one of them sooner or later, but didn't expect the first one he would meet turn out to be a Course 2 student.<br/>The Numbered Family system, a system where each of the magician families involved have a number as their last names; though there's more to it, but we'll get into that later.<br/>Then Erika continued energetically after pondering for a second,<br/>"Asta, Chiba, Shiba, and Shibata. It's interesting that our names kinda rhyme."<br/>"You mean our last names? but it's Asta-kun with his first name," Although Mizuki was embarrassed to call Asta by his first name, but it honestly sounded way better than saying his mouthful last name.<br/>Before they would've continue any further, the girl that was eavesdropping earlier on Asta & Tatsuya appeared and said,<br/>"The entrance ceremony for the Magic University affiliate, First High school, shall begin,"<br/>From the teachers, the principal, and the student council president, gave their speeches. Now, it was time for the freshmen representatives to give theirs.<br/>"Due to having two students topping the exam, one girl and another boy, we decided that there will be two representatives this year. Please, welcome our Girls' Freshmen Representative; Shiba Miyuki!" A handsome boy with mid-length brown hair said as he pointed to the entrance.<br/>Miyuki came in with such grace as if she was a princess. She then started her speech, she emphasized on everyone working together on different subjects other than magic, which caused Tatsuya become tense as he thought she was using risky terms in a magic school. But got relived as he saw everyone was admiring her instead.<br/>"You have a very cool sister, Tatsuya-san!" Asta whisper-shouted excitedly.<br/>After Miyuki's speech ended, she gave a curtly bow and left the stage. Then the announcer boy said,<br/>"Coming in as the last person, to give their speech, the Boys' Freshmen Representative; Gushiken Yuno!"<br/>Asta got more excited because it was now his brother's turn to give his speech. Yuno had a slight smirk before he left, so this means that this won't be an ordinary speech, he couldn't wait to see what he'll say!<br/>Woosh~<br/>The winds were dancing around as Yuno coolly entered the stage with his apathetic expression and handsome face, which caused the some girls squeal at the sight of him.<br/>"Kyaa! he's so handsome!"<br/>"I can't believe someone as blessed as him exist... will he even notice me?"<br/>"Ara~ he seems like a cute snack~!"<br/>And of course, there were some jealous boys as well.<br/>"Ugh..! I wanna punch that arrogant face of his!<br/>"How can this poor me get a girlfriend when most of the girls are in love with him at first sight...*Uwaaa!"<br/>"I hope his pp would be as small as mine..."<br/>However, Yuno didn't pay any heed to any of the whispers and went toward the microphone. He then started his speech with full of confidence in his voice,<br/>"I have a dream,"<br/>Everyone became silent and started listening to Yuno as he continued,<br/>"To become the Wizard King!"<br/>This announcement caused most of the students to gasp. Sure, many dreamed about becoming the Wizard King, but they didn't announce it so determinedly as Yuno, who showcased his resolve on becoming the strongest magician. Basically, what Yuno did just now, was a declaration of war on anyone who had the same dream. He continued further,<br/>"I don't care about any one of you on why are you here, if you dare to stand in my way in any shape or form, I will crush you,"<br/>Now this statement caused a lot of stir among students. Many were fuming on how arrogant Yuno sounded, and some were angry that Yuno said it indiscriminately; they expected him to say something else, but not this selfish statement.<br/>"The only one who can keep up with me, is..." He pointed to a certain direction, and with a visible smirk, Yuno finished,<br/>"...My one and only rival, Asta!"<br/>"EHHHH?!"<br/>...<br/></p>