Devil

As Luke watched Isaac run around the track he couldn't help but be amazed.

'If only I could run like that.' he thought as the sound of pounding feet reached his ears.

His eyes took on a determined look as he contemplated the future.

Ever since he was little he had been looked down on.

He had been born to a relatively happy family who loved him and had lived a rather listless life.

He had somehow been accepted to the academy however as the lowest rank.

Having long ago given up on succeeding he had been content to just toil through the days listlessly.

However, after watching Isaac run, he suddenly felt the embers of something implant themselves in his heart.

Later on, he would come to find out what these embers were.

Hope

Hope for the hopeless.

***

I felt a slight chill run down my back as if I was being watched by a creepy stalker.

But I'm not that handsome, right?

Right?

"How did you do that?" came an exhausted voice to my right.

As I was catching my breath with my hands on my knees, I turned around.

-Wheeze

I nearly died from the force of the glare directed my way.

"Well, I nearly died doing it, can't you see?" I said with a snarky tone, I mean my legs were on fire and my abs were combusted.

At least that's what it felt like.

Shaking her head, Anna turned away and ignored me as she began speaking to Lucia.

Wait.

Speaking to Lucia?

When did these two lovebirds become close?

I suppose it was a good thing as they were both anomalies and it would be easier to keep track of them if they were together.

Suddenly they both looked at me.

What did I do?

Hey, could you please stop?

I'm right here you know.

Turning my head away I began talking with my classmates, my usual smile plastered on my face.

"Dude, how did you do that?" asked Liam, a 'friend' I had made in the nerd group.

I was actually quite comfortable in the nerd group as they didn't require constant manipulation of words to be happy, they were pretty relaxed.

"I don't know, it's probably from all the exercise I do," I said, pointing at my right hand.

Everybody broke out into laughter despite it not making any sense whatsoever, and being really cringe.

Such was the power of popularity.

As I stood there surrounded by many smiling faces, I looked around,

taking in the fresh air, the smell of the grass, and the not very hot sun beating on my face.

Things would start getting complicated from here so I enjoyed every moment of it I could.

***

'What?' was the only thing that went through my head as I listened to the teacher.

Ron Hertzbrig was a mathematical genius who eventually decided to teach engineering at the academy.

Mana Engineering to be precise.

And I didn't understand any of it.

The rotund teacher fixed his glasses as he began explaining how humanity created holograms.

"-Therefore if we consider the fact that the spring circuits would form a regular display, then we can connect laser circuits with an ion processor and create a hologram," he said as he connected them on top of his desk and showed us.

"Vwalla!" he said as a hologram was formed.

The rest of us looked at him stupidly.

'How do we do that?' was what ran through our minds.

The classroom we were in was a special classroom outfit with the latest equipment, it also had the latest protective equipment as stuff tended to explode a lot here.

Glancing to the side I looked at my partner.

White shoes, blue skirt.

White button shirt and a blue jacket and bow tie.

Long blonde hair tied in a ponytail.

Creamy white skin.

Her cold blue eyes were focused on the circuit board in front of her.

I could feel the iciness from her stare through the masks we were wearing.

Her gloved fingers delicately paired the circuits as Mr. Hertzbrig had done.

What was I doing?

Copying her of course!

I could practically feel the sweat falling off my brow as I paired my circuits.

Focusing my eyes I delicately placed the processor on the motherboard.

I had gotten a book at the library on mana engineering however it wasn't that helpful in this case.

The book I had gotten taught you how to build bombs and weapons out of ordinary everyday items.

Cool right?

Well, it certainly didn't help me in class.

-Brrrrr

As Emilia's hologram whirred to life, I focused on my own in an attempt to imitate her.

My eyes squinted tightly as I attempted to connect the last wire.

'Please…' I whispered in my mind.

"Everyone come look at what Miss. Von Claire has managed to do!" came a loud voice to my left.

A large bespectacled frame appeared in front of me.

'No. no. nooo.' my mind went as I missed the circuit.

-Boom!

As the small cloud of smoke cleared, I could only gape in horror.

Mr. Hertzbrig was staring at me, his face covered in soot.

Some might even say his expression was ashen.

However, this wasn't the time for jokes.

No, I was quite literally dead.

We just stared at each other as a minute of silence passed by.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

"Congratulations Mr. Moreau for showing us the prime example of what not to do," he said before walking off to clean his face.

A number of giggles came from around the class as I looked down at my ruined circuit board.

Oh, come on!

It's not my fault, if anything the book taught me too well!

As I felt an icy stare pierce through me, I turned to see Emilia glaring at me.

There was some soot in her hair.

Gulping slightly, I bemoaned my luck.

Why was it so terrible?

Sighing heavily, I began cleaning up the mess I made.

It seems it wouldn't be so easy to climb the rankings.

***

It was a windy winter day, the trees blew heavily.

In an empty classroom in the middle of Rosaria Academy, there was only pin-drop silence.

A girl with long blonde hair and cold blue eyes was watching over a thin black-haired boy as he once again attempted to connect the circuits.

After the class had ended the teacher had told Isaac that he was not allowed to leave until he finished building a new circuit, as they had a free period after the class this wasn't a problem.

However, that didn't mean it was easy.

He had also assigned Emilia to supervise him as he did it so that no accidents would happen.

Begrudgingly she had agreed after he said she would be given bonus points if she did so.

However, she was now wondering if perhaps Isaac was a lost cause.

As Isaac delicately fumbled with the wires, Emilia could only sigh as she watched him.

"If you could stop drilling a hole into my back I would be able to focus more," he said, his eyes never leaving the wires in his hand.

"I wouldn't be staring at you if you had just finished the circuit properly," she said with a small huff.

"Yeah… well if you hadn't finished your circuit so quickly I would have," Isaac said, his gloved hands gently connecting the CPU.

"So it's my fault?" Emilia asked incredulously.

"I never said that, did I," Isaac said with a small smirk as his eyes surveyed the next task.

"Yes, you just did," Emilia said, staring at him in disbelief.

How stupid did he think she was?

"No, I was simply inferring that if you had gone slower I would have been able to keep up," he said with a grin.

Sighing in exasperation, Emilia got up and was about to leave.

However, before she could she noticed that his wire was about to be placed improperly.

"Stop!" she shouted.

"What?" he asked impatiently as his hands stopped.

"You've got to place it in this position," she said, annoyed.

"Like this?" he asked as he twisted his hand.

"No, like this," she said, doing the hand movement again.

"Like this?" he asked again as a look of confusion came over him.

"No! Ugh.." Emilia huffed in frustration as she stretched her hand out and put it on his hand.

However, as her hand was about to twist his to the proper position he pulled his hand away from her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his eyes holding a trace of anger in them.

"Believe me I don't want to do this either but I also want to move on with my day so bear with it," she said before grabbing his hand again.

Isaac said nothing as together they placed the wire in.

-Brrrr

'Finally!' Emilia shouted in her mind excited to finally be able to leave.

As she looked at Isaac she frowned.

Was it really so bad to be touched by her?

Any man would bend over backward just for her to glance at them let alone touch them.

"Ah, sorry I was just shocked that's all!" he said, rubbing the back of his head, an apologetic smile on his face.

However, Emilia didn't buy it.

She had noticed the small trace of anger that flashed through his eyes.

Deciding to leave it alone, she waited as he finished up the hologram projector.

Only the sounds of the scraping and ticking of metal echoed through the silent classroom as an awkward atmosphere descended between them.

-Dwinggggg!

Suddenly a mechanical whirring sound broke the awkward atmosphere as the machine began working.

Smiling in satisfaction Isaac looked at the hologram projector.

"Well then, I will be going now," said Emilia, getting up from her seat.

"Wait," said Isaac as she began walking away.

Turning her head her long blonde locks fluttered, framing her in a picturesque position.

Her cold blue eyes locked with his.

However, what she saw caused her to shiver.

A cold chill went down her spine as she stared at his eyes.

On Isaac's pale and gaunt face, a small smile hung as he stretched out his hand.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot, how about we forget about everything before and start fresh?" he asked politely as he smiled at her.

However, Emilia was still staring at him, her eyes locked on his.

After a few moments of silence, Isaac coughed withdrawing his outstretched hand.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked as he scratched the back of his neck.

'Was I perhaps mistaken?' wondered Emilia as she turned her head away.

As she left the classroom she couldn't help but ponder about what she had seen in his eyes.

When she had met Isaac's eyes earlier.

It looked like a devil was staring at her.