Failed Insulation

With that, Kain departed, leaving me alone in the room.

"Ahh, you may take a seat wherever you want."

I strolled about the room, before selecting a seat in the rightmost corner, isolated from the rest of the students. The lecturer resumed his lesson, but I found myself struggling to comprehend the content. Suddenly, a student rose from their seat and made their way towards me, taking a seat beside me.

"Hey there, I'm Eva Engline. What's your name?"

The girl sitting next to me introduced herself with a friendly smile. Her orange hair was cut short, and her purple eyes stood out against her symmetrical features.

I didn't respond, choosing instead to focus on the lecture. But she didn't seem to mind, and continued to try and make conversation.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, playfully poking my cheek with her finger.

I couldn't help but feel irritated at her persistence. I roughly removed her hand from my face and turned to her with a scowl.

"What do you want?"

"Just wanted to know your name," she said, still smiling.

"Why do you need to know?"

"Well, we're classmates now, right?"

"For you."

She tilted her head, looking confused by my indifferent attitude.

"Hey! You two! Can you keep it down? I'm trying to teach here!"

The lecturer's voice interrupted her one-sided conversation.

I leaned back in my chair, muttering to myself, "I don't even understand what you're trying to teach, old geezer."

"Oh, you don't know about Quatom?" Eva next to me said, she must have heard me.

"No, so what?"

"I can teach you if you want," she offered with a smile.

I thought about it for a moment. Asking the teacher would be a hassle, and he probably wouldn't teach me if he knew I didn't have a last name.

"Fine."

"Alright! so Quatom is the ability that allows you to manipulate the quantum states of matter to perform all sorts of miracles," she began. "It's all about accessing and controlling your Quatom Synapse which you can do with your mind. Your innate magical talent determines your base Quatom Synapse, but you can increase it through training and practice."

"But there's also temporary Quatom Synapse, which you can borrow from external sources like magical artifacts or enchanted locations," she continued. "And stored Quatom Synapse, which you can store in magical artifacts like a staff or a ring, to use later."

"And your Quatom Synapse can be affected by a bunch of things like fatigue, stress, physical condition, environmental factors, and more." she finished.

"Cool." I responded, "So how do I use it?"

"Well, you can just use it like the usual." Eva replied with a shrug. "You just need to access your Quatom Synapse and use it to manipulate the quantum states of matter."

I couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration. I had been hoping for a more concrete explanation, but it seemed that even Eva wasn't quite sure how to explain it to me.

As the lesson ended and the other students began to gather their things, I made my way towards the doors. But before I could leave, a boy with brown hair and brown eyes pulled me back by the arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" he whispered, looking at me with confusion.

"I'm leaving," I replied, trying to pull away from him.

"You can't leave until the teacher does," he told me, still whispering. "That's just how it works here."

"That's a pain in the ass."

"My name's Journ Logan, nice to meet you," he said, introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you, Journ." he said, "What's yo-"

I immediately stood up and walked away from him, making my way out of the room right away after the lecturer left.

As I finally made my way out of the room, I heard someone calling out to me. It was Eva, running after me as I walked out the door.

"Hey, wait!" she exclaimed, catching up to me. "You don't know where to go next, do you?"

I sighed, realizing she was right. I had no idea where I was supposed to go next, and I didn't want to risk getting lost in this unfamiliar place.

"Come on," she said, gesturing for me to follow her. "I'll show you around."

I hesitated for a moment, but then decided to follow her. After all, it wasn't like I had any other plans.

She guided me towards a grand dining hall, located on the left wing of the academy.

"This is the cafeteria."

"I don't really care about this stuff, can you just teach me how to use Quatom?"

"Ahaha~ you're quite a pushy one, aren't you?" she replied with a small laugh.

"Yes, I am. And I won't hesitate to attack you if it's necessary."

"A-Attack? I thought you were a good person," she stammered, her face reddening.

"You're mistaken. I'm no good person," I stated, my words causing her to take a step back.

Just then, a chill ran down my spine as I sensed a killing intent behind me. I quickly turned to see a familiar face, staring coldly at me.

"H-How did you get in here..?"

A girl with long black hair that cascaded down her shoulders in a straight curtain spoke, her voice and appearance familiar to me.

"Don't say that..you came here to attack me again?"

"A-Again..?" Eva spoke, her voice shaking as her face turned red.

"What the hell is this? I'm done," I said, turning to walk away from the scene.

But before I could take even a few steps, I felt a pull on my shirt collar. "You don't seem like a student here, how did you get in?"

"I'm a student now, so back off." I said, as I shrugged off her grip.

She stepped back, folding her arms across her chest. She looked at me curiously, studying my face.

"You're not wearing the usual uniform, and I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"I said I'm a student, n-o-w. That means I just got in."

"Kuromu, I haven't heard you talk this much. Did you meet him before?" Eva interjected, joining in on the conversation.

I couldn't help but react at her name after I remembered that she was that girl on that night. "Kuromu, that's a cute name for a girl like you."

"Well, something happened," Kuromu said, as she turned to Eva, completely ignoring my comment. "Ah, I must take my leave now."

Suddenly Kuromu turned to leave, she walked away, leaving the scene behind her.

Eva, caught off guard, stammered out a response as she walked away, "Oh, um, okay."

As she left, I turned to Eva and said, "Now, can you just teach me how to use this Quatom Synapse?"