Chapter 6

Rize Academy Arc

"222, 223, 224, 225, 226..." It was the morning after in which Amani was trying to focus. The day before was all to stressful. Her dad found her out, Yin is not himself, the school called her in to ask about the missing students in which she had to stay a few hours after school trying to get them off Yin's trail. "868, 869, 8- Shit it's useless!" She slams her hand into her head due to the headache being caused from the recent events. She quickly glanced at the time and decided to get dressed early and go to a cafe to cool off. Amani quickly through on some causal clothes, she couldn't be bothered to look her status today. Her eyes glanced over her notepad on the counter and her mind thought to take it. She stepped outside to a virtually empty street and strolled towards a small coffee shop near Rize. Sitting down at a simple yet comfortable sodden table with booth like seats. After settling down in a much more relaxing setting, she decided to meditate once again. After a few seconds she started to feel the stress melting away, a different result from a few moments ago. In the vast emptiness of her mind she felt perfectly still, as if everything else was arbitrary.

.

.

.

Time went by and she started to feel different. The meaningless dark land started to morph, change, fluctuate. "W-what?" She saw herself standing now behind a huge wall, the wall standing higher then she could ever imagine. She looked behind her frightfully, seeing a cliff. Looking down this cliff she could see another platform much like the one she was standing on right now. This isn't my conscious space, this is something different entirely. Amani pondered for a moment more, what could this be? This feels like some sort of staircase, the one behind me is easily reachable, however the one in front of me is unimaginable... even attempting to climb up this wall would incur a superb amount of agony on the mind. The girl began to walk up to the wall and brought her hand up to it, before she could even lay her finger tips on the wall she was woken up by a voice. "Ma'am! This isn't a place to sleep! Don't you have school to get to!?" Amani, still dazed from the events that occurred, frankly looked at the time. "Six thirty?! It's been two hours?! Sorry!" After her words, Amani handed the waiter some coins for the inconvenience and hastily left the cafe. As she was bolting for Rize, trying not to be late, she saw a man backing another in a corner. He was using magic to force the poor boy into handing over his valuables. "Ughh I don't have time for this!" Her leg slammed into the floor as to put her body in a stopped state. She pulled out her notepad from earlier and tossed it airborne next to her. "Transport koordinieren!" Suddenly the notepad switched places with the mugger, causing the mugger to appear right next to her. Before he could react, she grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the ground. All lights around the area immediately shut off. The sheer force from the attack put him to rest. After checking to make sure the boy was ok, dragging the criminals body out of the street, paying for the lights, and recovering her notepad; she finally went off to Rize. "Hopefully I make it..." What she didn't expect to find when she arrived was a huge crowd in the academy square.

In the center of the crowd stands a curly haired girl. She wears a colorful dress and her vibrant locks are shades of purple and blue. Her playful giggle echoes throughout the academy square as she raises a porcelain teacup into the air.

"Besties, it's me!" she proclaims, her gaze sparkling as multicolored orbs of light surround her. "Care for a cup of tea?"

Amani couldn't believe her eyes, one girl alone was causing a commotion as big as this one. After peering through the mountain of people she started to make out her face more. "She looks familiar... I can't quite put my finger on it." Amani went to ask a random bystander about her. "Oh? You don't know? It's Trixie! She's a teenage pop idol and she's here at Rize. We still don't know the details."

Her thoughts were running wild. "An idol?! Here? No wonder she looked familiar."

Seeing how it was useless to try to get through the wall of bodies, she decided to take this opportunity to seem on time, as even the teachers were out to see what was going on. However she was very interested with the idol, she hoped to be able to speak to Trixie if possible. After avoiding the crowd, she began to walk into the school.

The mysterious singer, hums a tune as she grabs a random boy from the crowd by the hand. Trixie holds up his arm and twirls around, somehow managing to keep the tea in the cup with her other hand. She lets go and with a vibrant smile, turns back to the crowd, leaving the young man staring in awe. Her glimmering eyes gaze falls upon Amani.

Feeling as if she was being observed, Amani whips around to find the idol staring right at her. Not knowing what to do, she awkwardly steps forward waving her hand.

"Err..."

Regaining her composure, she exclaimed.

"Hi! Your performance was outstanding Miss... Trixie?"

Trixie sweetly laughs. "There's no need to call me Ms. Trixie! Trixie is just fine, after all, we both attend this school together! It does not put one of us above the other. And thank you, you're too kind." Amani notices a pink messenger bag filled with books and school supplies slung over the idol's shoulder. Trixie turns her back to the crowd and walks towards the school's entrance.

Amani hurriedly follows Trixie inside. "Woah! An idol like you goes to this school?! It's such an honor to meet you." Amani was rambling on excitedly. "I actually don't know much about idols, I thought they were on a tight schedule and didn't have time for school. Aren't you stressed?"

"Yep! It would be shame not to get a proper education! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well!!" Trixie matches Amani's energy, continuing to display a perky smile on her face. "You're very right, we have a lot of things to do, but little time to do it. I value school, so it's my top priority. All of my other activities are simply scheduled around it! To me, if your schedule is laid out properly, there should be no stress! That is if everything goes according to plan." She sighs and shrugged. "But sometimes things don't always work out as they should."

"Right! A friend of mine told me to always expect the unexpected, but the whole point of the unexpected is that you can't expect it! With this in mind we have to understand that it's impossible to contain this stress, only reduce the probability of it. In any case, the fact you value school the most is commendable... most people I know with status like yours forget how important it is to go to school, no matter how much of a drag it might be." Amani said, laughing as she spoke the last comment.

"You have some wise friends. Be sure to keep them around." She puts her hands on her hips. "It can be a pain, but it's a necessary evil, right?"

"Hey Amani!" A voice called out to her as it was none other than Yin jogging towards her, he had dirt all over his face. His clothes dirty and tattered up from his intensive training and he has a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Eh?! What did you do?! You can't look like the for school Yin!" She let Trixie hold her thought while she run back towards Yin, already starting to bat off the grime. "Do you not understand the meaning of self decently Yin? You can't come to school looking like you just traveled through the Sahara desert!"

Yin only laughed it off knowing he'll be punished for his appearance. "Well it doesn't matter, as long as I'm here!" he said dusting his clothes off.

Trixie stands back, watching the trio bicker. She had pulled out a hanker chief to hand to Yin, but now decides that it is unnecessary.

"Oh hey I was looking for y'all!" Wander called out to both yin and Amani as he was.....holy fuck he was on fire not only that but his clothes was a bit ripped and his shirt was gone what the hell even happened it looked like he jumped into a volcano

Amani's eyes glossed over Wander to see he was in shambles too. She looked back at Trixie and said, "Still think my friends are wise?" Shooting an insult at both Yin and Wander.

The idol awkwardly smiles. "Everyone has their moments," she states, trying to stay on the bright side of things. After all, making enemies is at the bottom of her to-do list.

Yin eyes twitched in annoyance as he flicked the back of Amani's head, he then looked at Wander before walking away. "I'll see you guys later.."

"Ima scram before I get tossed in a crowd again" he said walking off trying to catch up to Yin "Oi wait up!" He called out to him while running

Yin ignored Wander looking around the area to see where the library was "Excuse me, can you point me to the library?!" he asked politely but he was ignored by the random student who walked off laughing. "Well okay, I'll go look for it myself.." he said walking to the southeast part of the academy.

Amani sighs as the boys left and quickly as they came. "Sorry Trixie, they can be a bother at times. Where were we?"

Trixie rubs the back of her neck before snapping back to reality. "Oh, uh," she stammers. "Strange friends, I believe." Silence fills the air between them for a moment. "This is an odd question, but do you think I..." Her eyebrows crease. "...Fit in here?"

Startled by the question, Amani pauses for a moment. "You're question is a little vague. To answer something like, 'Do I fit in?' You just for define what 'fit in' is."

She takes a deep breathe in preparation, "Fitting in is often described as belonging in a specific group or setting. However, 'belonging' somewhere can mean many different things. You could belong via being the same as everyone else. If you act the same way as everyone around you then you could be classified as someone who belongs there. Another way you could belong is by being needed. A school needs a teacher and therefore a teacher is needed yeah? The final way to 'belong,' and the most important, is for you to feel you belong. Self confidence is one of the most important beliefs in this world. If you yourself feel that you are part of said group, then who are other people to tell you otherwise?" Amani sighs, once again throwing up her hands in a shrug. "Its not anyone else's place to tell you where you belong and where you don't. So the real question is, do YOU feel like fitting or want to fit in here?"

The cold desk froze my arms as it laid crossed with my face in inside the empty space it left for me. It seems I slept too long, I started to raise my head to students frantically trying to enter the class late. Damnit, I really should start setting an alarm here. Ever since I entered this school I made a deal with the principle to be allowed to sleep here. I mean, it's the best I could really do until I get my living arrangement in a better spot.

The teach continued to blabber on, I was honestly too tired to listen. Yesterday was so unbelievably embarrassing. I jumped to conclusions and attacked an innocent, damaging the school in the process. Maybe I should add that to my lists of do-nots.

No using my powers directly on people

Don't do anything without reliable information on the situation.

Ahh, this should be common knowledge. I really gotta stop letting people use me, I am not the weapon I was created to or seen to be. A few minutes pass by and I start to lose consciousness. I really didn't sleep well... I guess it could hurt to get some more shut eye, I thought before my mind slipped away.

...

"What are you doing Ren!? Kill him!"

"What a useless waste of energy you are, not even capable of deconstructing a bug!"

"THATS IT! YOU ARE BA-"

Shut up.

Looks like my brain decided it needed to remind me of my past a little more. Never mind that, it sounds as if someone is calling me.

"Ren... Ren!" It seems Ms. Lock was calling on me. Her green eyes looking almost crimson with rage from my dazed state.

"Her- here!" I say with a exhausted tone.

"Would you like to answer?"

Oops, I could probably answer this question if I knew what it was. Couldn't hurt to ask right?

"So uh, what was the question?"

I realized how dumb that was to ask right after I said it, however, no one in the class seemed to laugh.

"Explain why some peoples magic can be attributed to non-existent phenomena." My instructor said.

Oh, I got this!

"Well that's because magic itself in its purest form is non-corporeal. It doesn't exist within the martial world. In just manifests in the form of will." The teacher thanked me for my answer and continued well... teaching.

After class ended I had some free time. The usual student has 8 classes here, however, because if my circumstances, I have 5. Meaning a large portion of my day is talking with the skipping seniors.

As I was strolling through the schools walls a student that looked new here quickly came up to me.

"Hey! Hey! You're Ren Sato right?" The excited girl exclaimed. She was pale skinned and had long dyed pink hair. Her eyes looked as if they were sparking and she was not in school uniform in any sense of the phrase.

"Er, yes. Do you need my assistance?"

"Yes! Well, not yet... In middle school I saw you in the school tourney! I thought you were amazing! You have an insane ability, but when your opponent wasn't going down to territorial attacks, you forfeit! You never used your ability on them."

Hmm, that's right, I did forfeit. My opponent was a long ranged fighter and i didn't see a way I could beat them with just territorial damage. Because of this i just quit, I'd never use my powers on people directly. Well, some people in this school I probably couldn't anyway, most recently the dragon ki-

Wait, how does she know I can use it on people?

"Uhh, wdym? I forfeited because I couldn't harm the opponent. I can't use my abilities on people." And then she started... laughing?

"Hahaha, silly. That's just the front you use, you see, I can see the limit to your ability with my own magic." The girl points to her eyes.

I was speechless, I didn't even consider someone having ability reading magic.

"Oh... well, I'd like to thank you for the compliment... you said you needed help with something? Or is going to?"

The girl immediately replied, "Oh yes! I'm planning on creating a little club... I was always really passionate about band, and I thought you could help me with it. My voice doesn't really reach out to many people, nor do they take me seriously. But if someone like you could advertise with me, it would increase my chances a lot! If you don't want to I understand, not everyone is interested in band."

Woah, not what I thought she'd say. Many people use me for power and such, but all she wants is some advertising? Not only that, but it's in a subject I was interested in as a child, my parents would just never let me explore it. This may be a really good opportunity.

"Well, first, I'd like to know your name miss."

"Oh! Where are my manors? My name is Aria Cecelia, my friends, and you, could call me Ari!"

Hmm, what a nice name, "Well Ari, I'd be happy to help you out, I am interested in band myself."

Ari's eyes gleamed with delight as she starts jumping around, "AWESOME! Can you start now?"

"Ehh, yes, I have some free time. How do you supposed we begin?" Ari got out a two foot planner from her bag, hold up; how did she even fit that in there? She proceeds to open it to the first page and show me step one.

"Well... since you are the first to join, the first step is getting us instruments!"

Well that isn't practical, how are you gonna get the product before the buyers? You usually complete the club first. Before I could respond she continued.

"I know I know, it's not normal, but I haven't had anyone to play with. I want to make sure we synchronize well!"

"Well, I am fine with this, however I'm not allowed to leave school grounds during work hours for reasons I can't discuss right now. Do you mind waiting until after school?"

"SURE! Meet me at the shop around the street!" She then left as quickly as she came. What an energetic girl. Well that's a first, I usually don't have plans after school, let's see if this could be entertaining for once.

——————

As time went on, we see Yin taking sword lessons from his own principal, Mei. He was swing his sword left, right, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. "Stop pushing yourself too far, or else..." she ducked under his swing, turning 180 degrees hitting him on the side of the head "You'll leave yourself open." the boy landed on his back trying his best to regain his stamina.

"Well I guess...I lost this round..." He stood back up, his legs trembling from overuse of muscles and collapsed from exhaustion. "Yin!"

...

"Uh..." Yin woke up to see he was at his kingdom. Why? There's something wrong about this scene that got him suspicious. He then looked to his left to find a house destroyed and a cellar door open.

'Where does that go?'

He walked down the cellar, he couldn't see a thing until he reached the door that enters the basement. He kicked the door open to see nothing but darkness, tilting his head in confusion he decided to turn back — until he felt breathing behind him. It couldn't be a dragon because he would have smelled them close by. "Who's there?!" he asked not turning around, the breathing was still heard and when he turned around, a huge blue eye opened up in front of him scaring him to death.

...

Finally after a few hours, he woke up in the infirmary room, screaming as loud as he could, the fear placed in him was too much for him, his face patched up with bandages and he looked over to his right to a brown hair women wearing a standard nurse outfit staring at him with a clipboard in her left hand. "The Pendragon finally woke up.." she sounded tired and wasn't fazed at all by his sudden awake. The question that he was asking in his mind was: What kind of secrets was the principle hiding from him?

Wander....got lost again as he kept trying to avoid large groups of student as he accidentally left the school and went into town as he didn't realize it till it was too late "whoops....gotta go back" he said walking down a street only to end up back to the same place.

Each time he tried to leave and get back to the academy he ended up in a different location or in the same place "ok ok if I go this way then-...." He stopped as he started to feel a bit off as he passed a person in some kind of robe "..." it felt like everyone else was just gone like only one thing was near him and that one thing was a threat

Wander quickly turned around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary as the sun was starting to be covered by the clouds, shining a dim light on the street before him. "... I swear something was there." Still trusting his intuition, Wander kept on guard while trying to find his way back.

He comes across a religious site, remembering a student he once encountered wearing a cross, he thought that the church would possibly be able to lead him to the school again. Before Wander could knock on the entrance, a man with white robes and golden strips walked out. He wore a cross similar to the students, so he assumed it was the same. "So he-" Wander cut himself off as he noticed the aura of the priest. It was dangerously high, higher than Amani's who is considered a high class magic user even for adults. He felt the urge to back off, but prior to his decision, the priest spoke. "Ah, welcome child. Did you need something?" The priest was staring so intently, almost as if he was staring into Wander's "soul."

"Y-Yeah...I'm kinda lost" Wander said as he struggled to speak and even move as he looked at the priests cold stare and each second he felt like a small animal cornered by a predator "....." the feeling of fear made it seem like the world around them came to a halt "I just need some directions...."

The priest smiled at his response, "Ahh I understand completely child. How about you come inside and tell me what exactly is confusing you about the geography of this city?" The priest asked as he tried to lead wander inside the church.

Wander wanted to shake his head no and leave but his fear took over as he nodded and walked in "I...I tend to get lost often it's actually a common thing with me" he said making sure his markings are covered as he looked around the church a tad bit

The priest stayed turned away from Wander while he walked deeper into the religious site. "Fascinating. I will help you with your problem, however, I am in need of assistance currently... Could you do me a favor and fix the lights in the room over there Wander?"

"Sure...It's the least-....." Wander instantly stopped walking hearing his name from the priest as he slowly turned around to look at him "..." every fiber in his body told him to get ready to fight or run "I never told you my name-"

Instantly wander jumped and rolled out the way dodging the beam of light as his hands and forearms turned black like coal "I don't know who you are...but I'm guessing I'm not leaving without a fight"

The priest laughed at his words while grabbing his spell book from his side pockets. "Hahaha. I can assure you my dear Wander, that you are not leaving this place at all! I may has slipped up this time, but nothing a little... cleaning up can't do." The priest recited a quick Incantation, summoning a large great sword the size of a pillar to swing its mighty force at the coal inducement foe.

Barely dodging the blade wanders shirt was ripped revealing the markings on his body as he slammed his hand on the ground "[Metal Knight Arts: Tenpirākurasshu]" he yelled as multiple pillars made out of lava and rock emerged from the ground and flew towards the priest.

The priest made a slight note on the markings on Wander's body, rejecting it and thinking it of tattoos before getting met with a barrage of molten lava. "Nhggg!" The priest attempted to make a sphere around himself made of photon light, however even with this barrier a few pieces of debris came in and smashed into his body. "Wh- what is that? There's no way a normal human could produce an attack like that." Shrugging it off for the moment, the priest warped the light that was around him into a ball of energy on his finger. He then pointed his finger at Wander. "You think you're strong huh? Boy! This attack is laser based, surpassing the speed limit of the conventional universe, even I won't be able to track it. It is also the hottest thing you'll ever feel. Even your lava won't save you from this!" The priest smirked before shooting the laser at Wander like a finger gun.

He ran towards the priest as his first glowed like lava "Then all I have to do is make sure you can't fire it!" He said jumping up in the air trying to catch the crazed priest off guard hoping to land his strike

The priest look up, unable to concentrate he fired the laser directly into Wander's leg. Before getting hit directly in the face by Wander, sending him crashing into the set up chairs. "W- what is going on?! That speed shouldn't be logically possible... unless." The priest thought for moment. He mixed his head about the markings, the techniques, the speed, it all pointed to one thing... a demi human. "DAMNIT, AN ALLOYED DEVIL?! Shit shit shit! I was not prepared to deal with a son of a bitch on that caliber!"

".....What the hell did you just call me" wander said as his fist turned back to normal as he stood there waiting for the priest to get up "I didn't hear that correctly so make sure to say it....loud and clear" he said as the markings on his body began to glow as he began to slowly walk over to the down priest as his footsteps began to melt the ground.

The priest, with a mix of fear and anger, yelled out, "YOU ALLOYED DEVIL! THATS WHAT I SAID! IM GLAD YOUR RACE WENT EXTINCT THAT DAY, ONLY PROBLEM WAS THEY LEFT ONE OF YOU FILTH!" With that, the priest fired the sun like heat laser straight at Wander's face.

"....." Wander stood there and took the beam as it seemed like a chunk of his head was now gone "...." He just stood there with a blank face as lava dripped down his face "Is that all...and to think it had me worried." he said now speaking with a sinister tone as his face began to regenerate

The priest stumbled back in horror, "Ah! Ah! No! STAY BACK!"The priest yelled, throwing all his attacks he possibly could at Wander.

"You wanna know why none of your attacks work on me?" he asked staring down the priest as each hit did nothing showing that each attack was more futile then the last "Legends says my kind forged in the strongest heat and that's why we are called forged." he said glaring at the priest.

The priest hissed back, "Well that didn't save your kind did it?! 'That's why we're are called the forged.' How about you explain to be how you were still exterminated!" The priests eyes, still darting back and forth looking for an escape route.

The priest hissed back, "Well that didn't save your kind did it?! 'That's why we're are called the forged.' How about you explain to be how you were still exterminated!" The priests eyes, still darting back and forth looking for an escape route.

The priest groaned as the hits from Wander's fists gradually increased in force. After awhile of the constant beating he felt his jaw snap, and slowly his consciousness started to slip away.

Wander slapped him back away as he was gonna strike him again "....." however he stopped and threw him down "It's obvious you know who I am so ima just say this....if you ever try to bring harm to my bring harm to my friends.." he slightly turned to look at the priest before saying his final words "**I will feed you your own heart**" he said slowly walking off "This is your first and final warning." he said exiting the church slamming the doors closed as it sound echoed through the building.

————————

With the young dragon prince, he was currently in the library studying everything he could about Eolorial world. It was 40x bigger before the gods expanded it, when the size of the world began to expand separate realms where all created such as: The Void, Heaven and Hell, World Line, even the multiverse plate, and etc. "The our world is connected to the ancient dragon realm? But my father told me that it was lost when Tiamat destroyed it."

His research had to continue when he turned the page to se the Material World, it had specific set of outcome someone could experience during their lifespan and everything that happens after the time they die. Every universe has an infinite number of world lines represented as alternate timelines. 'Even if it is true I doubt our world is bigger than we could ever imagine' he thought to himself his understanding to the connecting realms around Eolorial. It wasn't easy but Yin finally understood where he must go — the dragon realm to train his draconic power.

—————

I step outside to the vast school campus. It's still early in the leaving process, so kids are still sitting around the perimeter of the school talking. As I take more steps out of the the busy entrance, I hear Ari call out to me.

"Ren! Over here!"

I look to my right, and in the distance I can see Ari waving her arms excitedly. I walk outside the gates that mark the walls of the school and greet Ari.

"So where exactly is the shop for instruments?" I ask.

"Oh don't worry I'll show you!" After her words, she starts to pick up pace and stroll towards a store with the name, 'Yamada.' We both went through the doors and were greeted with a wide range of isles. Each containing its own set of instruments. Ari was the first of us to speak.

"Ooo, what to choose what to choose?"

"Are you not already proficient in an instrument?"

"Oh I play them all!"

"What? How can that be? You've never owned any."

"That's exactly why! I've never owned any, but that didn't stop me from playing as many as I could. Anytime I had a chance to play one, wether that be through renting one out, or going to my friends house, I would always take it. I have around... ninety hours of experience with 80% of the instruments here."

I couldn't believe what I heard, is that even possible? Learning that many instruments would take up so much of my time, not to mention the amount of information capacity you'd need to have. Maybe it has something to do with her ability? I decided to answer her original question nonetheless.

"Hmm, well you should probably get something that is hard to learn for the average person. After all we don't want to put pressure on anyone right?"

"Agreed! Although all the ones I learned didn't see harder than the other. I wouldn't know the answer to the question, Which is the hardest?"

"I see... why don't we ask that man over there." I said while pointing at the person manning the cash register. Ari just nodded in response to my suggestion. It seems she wasn't as excited to speak to him, and i didn't blame her. The dude just looked angry, possibly because of how little people were entering the store. Nonetheless, I still went to the counter and started to ask my question.

"Sir, if I might ask, do you know which instrument is considered the hardest to learn?"

The guy, seemingly spooked from the fact someone spoke to him, responded with a simple.

"Why is it always the overconfident teenagers that believe they can learn the hard stuff?" Well, rude, looks like he misunderstood.

"Sorry sir, this is not because I want to learn the instrument. It's for positional value."

"Well... if that's what you want. I guess I would recommend the Oboe. It needs so much maintenance and can put a lot on the person without even considering the difficulty."

It seems he was much more bright with his response. Maybe he likes talking about music? Let see if that can make the mood more bearable.

"Ohh interesting, well what about the clarinet? It also has a reed, shouldn't that also make it hard?"

His eyes lit up even more, "Not necessarily! While both of a reed that has to be maintained, the Oboe also has a pitching system. Making it the worst of both worlds."

"I see, well then, could you lead us to a good quality Oboe?" He gladly accepted, it seems I fixed whatever bad day he was having. After getting Ari an Oboe, and me grabbing a violin, I tipped the man an extra two silver coins and walked outside of the store. I then asked a question I should've asked beforehand.

"Wait, Ari, where are we gonna practice? I doubt you have a reserved room in the school."

"Oh that... well I was just planning on you coming to my house. I guess I didn't ask if you were ok that."

She knocked on her head after saying that, which was deserved. If I were to say something like that to someone younger than me, I'd be in jail.

"Oh sure that's ok, just the garage is good for me." Ari agreed with this as we went to her house. It was in a very secluded area, far from the school.

"Do you have a hard time getting to Rize?" I asked.

"Not particularly," she said, whipping out her Oboe from the bag we bought. "But it does suck when I have to walk alone." After awhile of her getting used to the Oboe, which didn't take long by the way, and me trying to get my hands straight, we started the learning process.

"It seems like you got the notes down!" Ari said.

"Yea I know, linking them to make chords is the problem." I said while struggling to make the sounds come out right.

"It because you're trying to hard Ren! The Violin's strings are a stiff component, it seems that because of this, you put so much pressure on them. See watch." Ari grabbed the instrument from my hand and gently stroked the strings in quick succession. The music that came out was exactly what I was envisioning for the past hour. She continued on with her lesson.

"You know the violin isn't the only thing like this, life itself is very similar. If you fight fire with fire, or in this case, push hard on the stiff string, you won't get anywhere. Just because someone may come off as hard or rude, doesn't mean you should rage and combat that rudeness. And you most certainly shouldn't destroy the strings."

Interesting, I thought of that many times myself, but didn't apply it to instruments. Maybe Ari isn't a airhead, it seems she has some brain haha. I took the instrument back from her and finished my lesson. After 3 hours of work I fell back. It was 22:00, I should be going back, but in reality I didn't want to go. I've never had a moment like that, much less with a girl. I've never had this much fun before, even if it was just a learning stage. I was craving it more, i wanted it more.

"sigh, it's getting late, do you have somewhere to be?" She said.

"I do actually, thank you for your time, this was fun. I come again the day after tomorrow right?"

"Yes! That wound be great." After packing my stuff, a quick thought came to my head.

"Actually Ari, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"If your ability allows you to see the limit to anyones magic or power. Could you deduce who the strongest in the school is?" She thought for a moment.

"...Well as you know, some people got into the school without the test of power and energy output. Because of this, no one can accurately say who the strongest is. Right now, out of everyone who's done the test, who outrank all in energy output. However, this isn't accurate. Some people in the school like the teacher Mr. Satsuki I can't read. Not because they are too strong, but because he has some sort of concealing magic. He is not to be trusted, especially when you consider the fact he's been with some... questionable characters."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Well that brings me to answer your question. One of the characters who didn't take the test is a girl with pitch black hair. She emits a dangerous aura. Even you, who could possibly wipe out a mountain range of let loose, is not even a fraction of her. It surpasses everyone at Rize that I can read. Even using my ability on her drains my energy. And now it gets to why Mr. Satsuki can't be trusted. He is the one who recommended her, there was also many occasions in which I've seen them talking together alone. Worst part is, I think they knew I was eavesdropping, which would be really really bad."

Woah, so many figures that I didn't even think about before. Could this school really be that secretive? I thought I knew everything about it.

"Thanks Ari, I'll keep that in mind, see you."

I left the house, went back to Rize, and slept soundly on my first period desk once again.

Thanks For Reading Chapter 6!