28 Pulling out all the stops
Nova stood in the empty field until Freyana disappeared.
『Haaah. I think I need to burn a bit of mana before I go to sleep..』[Nova]
He put his hands forward, aiming them at the ground.
『Area!』[Nova]
A black hole appeared there, except it consumed a drastically larger amount of mana compared to his usual Area.
『If I had 11 units of mana.. I think that just wiped out 3 of them!』[Nova]
「Yo, Nova. Do you make it a habit to talk to yourself?」[Reischneid]
「Oh. Uhm.. This is embarrassing, isn't it?」[Nova]
「Well, whatever. Just don't do that if you want to make friends.」[Reischneid]
「Hahaha..ha..」[Nova]
「So, where does that lead to? If it takes you 3 units of mana to cast, must be pretty far away.」[Reischneid]
「My room. I guess this is just that far away.」[Nova]
「Yeah, it's a good chunk away. Maybe 30 miles away.」[Reischneid]
「Really? Which direction?」[Nova]
「Eh, doesn't matter. Just go to sleep. You've got class in like 7 hours.」[Reischneid]
Nova stepped into the hole and arrived in his room.
「Well, I'm going to go ahead and sleep. Good night Reischneid.」[Nova]
「Yeah. Good night partner.」[Reischneid]
Nova faded off into his dreams.
------
「Yo.. Nova. Wake up!」[Reischneid]
「Huh?! What's up?」[Nova]
「Let's go. You're not late, but maybe it's better to get there fast.」[Reischneid]
「Is something going on?」[Nova]
「Nah. Just want to make you a diligent young man.」[Reischneid]
「What about breakfast?」[Nova]
「That's why I woke you up. Go read your schedule real quick.」[Reischneid]
Nova pulled up his day's schedule.
8:00-9:30 Breakfast
9:45-11:30 Class
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:15-3:00 Class
He checked the clock, and saw it was only 6.
It was kind of a simple schedule, but it gave him a lot of time.
「Why is there so much free time?」[Nova]
「Well, extracurriculars. Duh.」[Reischneid]
「How do you even know all this? I thought you lost your memories!」[Nova]
「Well, since I've awakened as your guardian, I've been able to go around and experience the world.」[Reischneid]
「Oh. Whatever then.」[Nova]
「No. Not whatever, go outside right now! I never got to experience school life. LET'S GO!!」[Reischneid]
He was screaming inside Nova's head loud enough to make Nova completely forget about the existence of alarms.
「Yeah, yeah! Alright! Chill for a bit!」[Nova]
He got ready for classes and headed outside.
『Nova! You're up pretty early!』[Leo]
『Yeah. Good morning to you too, Leo.』[Nova]
『So? What's the game plan?』[Leo]
『Well, do you want to wake Rai up?』[Nova]
『...I'll play rock paper scissors for it.』[Leo]
『Sure.』[Nova]
They played, and Nova won with a paper.
『Damn it.. Alright. Here we go.』[Leo]
He knocked loudly on Rai's door, while screaming.
『Rai! Rai! Nova has a girlfriend!』[Leo]
Moments later, he burst out of the room wearing nothing but boxers.
『What?! Stop lying! No way!』[Rai]
He looked around to see Nova standing there, and Leo grinning at him.
『..Isn't it a bit too early for pranks?』[Rai]
『Nah. Let's go train.』[Nova]
『Train? You're insane. Train what?』[Rai]
『Leo knows some awesome mana circulation techniques.』[Nova]
Rai looked at Leo skeptically.
『You do?』[Rai]
『It's more of a focus technique. Nova can use it while running around and fighting now.』[Leo]
『...Oh hell no. You're teaching that to me.』[Rai]
Rai slammed the door shut before reappearing a moment later with his uniform.
『Let's go.』[Rai]
He began to run towards the training grounds.
『..How did he change that fast?』[Leo]
『...He's a magician.』[Nova]
-----
『Man.. I'm beat!』[Rai]
『Yeah. You can say that again.』[Nova]
On Nova's back was Leo, who was sweating an inhuman amount while gasping.
『Why.. Didn't you tell me that he knew how to use Extend?』[Leo]
Nova looked at Leo while hauling him across the school.
『You didn't ask.』[Nova]
『Haah.. I'm so tired, and sweaty. I don't think I have time to change..』[Leo]
Nova threw Leo onto the ground.
『Ouch! What was that for?!』[Leo]
『Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]
A blue flame engulfed Leo suddenly.
『Woah!』[Leo]
The scratches and dirt quickly "burned" from Nova's flame.
『Is it working?』[Nova]
『Yeah! What is going on?』[Leo]
『I'm just converting my mana into energy for you.』[Nova]
『Woah! That's amazing! Are you a healer type?』[Leo]
『Leo. I literally have no knowledge of types. If you want the answer, you've gotta explain what a type is.』[Nova]
『Uhm.. You heal! That's all.』[Leo]
『No. I do a bunch of different stuff. Just healing would be lame, wouldn't it?』[Nova]
A voice was heard behind him.
『..Thanks.』[Jack]
『Woah! Where did you pop out from?!』[Nova]
『What the?!』[Leo]
『Oh?! Is that Jack? How are you doing buddy?』[Rai]
『Not bad. Was just going to grab some breakfast.』[Jack]
『Us too. Want to join?』[Rai]
『Sure.』[Jack]
The group of boys all talked as they headed to the cafeteria.
As they opened up the doors to the cafeteria, they were greeted by Andrew already tucking into the first bagel of five bagels filled with a variety of ingredients.
He started calling out to them with his mouth full.
『Gwooah!』[Andrew]
He waves his hands in the air, before swallowing that first bite.
『Over here!』[Andrew]
『Man, you're here early!』[Nova]
『Well, gotta make sure that you digest before class!』[Andrew]
『Andrew, you're pretty diligent in a way..』[Leo]
『Of course I'm diligent! I'm the next head of my house! I have to be diligent!』[Andrew]
Nova placed his hand on Andrew's shoulder and laughed at Leo.
『That's right! Hahaha!』[Nova]
『Nova.. You act differently when you're with Andrew..』[Leo]
『Of course I do! Me and him bonded over the food challenge!』[Nova]
『Yeah! Food is a real man's arena! Hahaha!』[Andrew]
『What?! You did a food challenge without me? That's it!』[Rai]
Rai did some strange mouth and jaw stretching while walking over to the window where they served food, and pulled Nova along too.
『Yo! What are you doing?!』[Nova]
『Excuse me! I'd like the same thing as him!』[Rai]
Rai pointed at Andrew, who finished his first bagel and was waiting on the 2.
『Uh.. Me too.』[Nova]
A tray with the same bagels as Andrew appeared.
『Thanks!』[Rai]
He grabbed the bagels and waited for Nova to get his bagels.
A moment later, 5 bagels that looked exceptionally better than theirs appeared.
『..Thank you, Freyana』[Nova]
『...This is some kind of discrimination. Like, an insane amount of discrimination.』[Rai]
They sat back down at the table with Andrew while Leo went to order with Jack.
『Alright. You two finish up the first bagel. I'll wait.』[Andrew]
They finished up the first bagel in a few moments.
『Whew. I can't get over how large these servings are.』[Rai]
『Really? Then looks like we know who's going to go down during this food battle.』[Nova]
『Oh? Then.. let's see!』[Rai]
He formed a needle and stimulated a point above his heart.
『Extend!』[Rai]
『What the?! Are you an idiot?!』[Nova]
『If you can burn your own mana to finish the challenge, I can to!』[Rai]
『That's the spirit! I'm gonna circulate my mana too!』[Andrew]
『You're all insane.. but.』[Nova]
「Freyana is watching. I can't let her down.」[Nova]
Nova began to burn a deep blue.
『I respect your resolve.』[Nova]
『That's more I like it!』[Andrew]
They all began to dig into their food, while the two others watched on the side.
『...I'm so glad that the rest of the students aren't here..』[Leo]
『Yeah. I'd almost rather be affiliated with Thean than them if I had to eat a table with them.』[Jack]
