A First Year's Guide to Survival

After dispersing the crowd, who were cheering for Nova and Rai, they began to talk.

『Nice reaction, Nova.』[Hanzo]

『Thanks! I think it was just barely in time though.』[Nova]

『Nah. If those two connected, probably would have two seriously injured nobles on the first day.』[Hanzo]

『Yeah, what kind of idiots get into a fight on the first day?』[Rai]

『Well, it happens every year. First years get arrogant and start a fight. Always happens.』[Oswald]

『Did you get into a fight, Han-bro?』[Leo]

『Yeah, did you Han?』[Rai]

『Lets see... obviously I got into an epic brawl against 5 others and..』[Hanzo]

『He got beat up by a single girl.』[Sarena]

She stood there, right behind Hanzo.

『..Han-bro?』[Leo]

『..No? Sarena, what are you talking abou-?』[Hanzo]

『You hit on Derenne, then she flipped you onto the floor hard enough to knock you out for the entire school day.』[Sarena]

『...I don't remember that.』[Hanzo]

『Man, must've hit you really hard then.』[Oswald]

『..Et tu, Os?』[Hanzo]

They laughed, even as Hanzo's face turned bright red.

----

Rai showed up at Nova's door.

『Yo, Nova! You ready to go get some food?』[Rai]

『Yeah, just let me grab my student ID.』[Nova]

The student ID wasn't just a card. It featured communication functions, and features that made it on par with phones that haven't even been released yet. On Nova's student ID was a list of "How to survive 1st year" from Oswald and the rest of the teachers.

『Step 1.. Make some friends.』[Nova]

『Yo, Rai.』[Nova]

『What's up?』[Rai]

『Let's go get Leo.』[Nova]

『Oh, yeah! Good idea.』[Rai]

They knocked on Leo's door.

『Hello?』[Leo]

『Yo, Leo! Let's go get some food.』[Nova]

『O-Oh! Alright, please give me a moment.』[Leo]

Sounds of shuffling and movement leaked through the door.

The two of them stood there waiting for a good 15 minutes.

『..Should we go?』[Rai]

Just as Nova was about to answer, the door swung open.

『Sorry I took so long!』[Leo]

There Leo was. Wearing a shirt with some character from a kids' show.

『How's the shirt? I think its pretty cool!』[Leo]

『...Alright, guess it works.』[Nova]

『I don't really care right now, I'm just kind of hungry. Takes a lot of mana to use my power without Extend on..』[Rai]

Leo looked at the two of them with confused stares as they walked away.

『Huh?』[Leo]

He stared down at his shirt.

『...This isn't the right one.』[Leo]

He disappeared for a moment to go change his shirt and catch up to them.

----

They were navigating to the lunch room with the student ID.

『Leo. What kind of abilities do you have?』[Rai]

Leo looked slightly troubled by this question.

『..Uhm. Well..』[Leo]

『You're Han's little brother. You've gotta have some skills right?』[Rai]

『Oh! That's right, I've been learning martial arts since I was a child, and training my mana nonstop since I've awakened about a month ago.』[Leo]

『Oh? Then we've gotta fight later! Han's bro versus Han's disciple!』[Rai]

『Huh?! No way! I saw you earlier! You demolished those two!』[Leo]

『Them? They were weak. Nova caught them off guard for me anyway.』[Rai]

Nova was reading "The Guide To Surviving Year 1", and responded while he was reading.

『Eh. Someone would've handled it. Might as well have been us.』[Nova]

『Yeah, why not?』[Rai]

『But, isn't it scary? What if they come for revenge』[Leo]

『If they come for revenge, I'll break their arms.』[Nova]

Both Rai and Leo stared at Nova who didn't look up until he realized the silence.

『..Huh? Why are you guys so quiet?』[Nova]

『..Dude. That was kind of dark..』[Rai]

『..Wait. Really?』[Nova]

『..You were serious?』[Leo]

『Uhm.. Sorry. My teacher- uh... mentor, is a bit of a sadist.』[Nova]

『Oh. Sarena. Right.』[Rai]

『She taught you with Oswald? How did you even survive?』[Leo]

Nova was already back to reading.

『Barely.』[Nova]

『..When Nova says it, it doesn't sound like a joke..』[Leo]

------

It was about 5 minutes later from that conversation.

『How long have we been walking now?』[Rai]

『Not long. Oh! Rai! Look at your student ID under the Currency tab!』[Nova]

He took his card out and swiped around.

『Huh? What's up?』[Rai]

『If you do things around the school to prove yourself, you get merits, which can be used for special things at school!』[Nova]

『What kind of special things, and how do we prove ourselves?』[Rai]

『Well, we just got 50 merits for restraining those two.』[Nova]

『Sweet! A bonus!』[Rai]

『I don't know what you can get yet, the store is empty. I think we should check back later.』[Nova]

『Man.. You guys are already at the top of the year!』[Leo]

Rai raised an eyebrow.

『Top of the year? What do you mean?』[Rai]

『Well, merits are used to rank the best students of each year. There are points that you can spend, and points that are used to show your rank. I bet you are both Rank 1 if you both got 50 points! 』[Leo]

『Woah. You're pretty knowledgeable, Leo.』[Nova]

『Well, of course! I was raised in one of the great houses! I've got to know at least that much.』[Leo]

『Haha! Does that mean I can rely on you for homework?』[Rai]

『...No. I'm probably worse than Han-bro when it comes to studying..』[Leo]

『Welp! It's up to you, Nova.』[Rai]

『Nah, you guys are on your own.』[Nova]

『What?! No, please!』[Rai]

They stood in front of a massive grand door.

『Oh hey, we're here. Time for food!』[Nova]

『NO! DON'T JUST DODGE THE TOPIC!』[Rai]

Rai chased after them, with Leo sighing and following after.