Chapter 3: Hidden In The Flowers

After class was over, Akira immediately headed to the courtyard.

"Hello!?" Akira shouted as he kept walking aimlessly.

"Uhh...person that sent me this letter? Are you here?" Akira shouted.

All of a sudden, Akira heard something moving in the bushes.

"H-huh?! Who's there?!" Akira said, trying to look around his surroundings. The ominous thing was moving around super fast between the lines of bushes.

But suddenly, there was no movement within minutes.

"W-what the?" Akira said as he went over to the bushes to observe.

However, he didn't see or sense anything and was questioning what it was.

In a mere second, someone snuck up behind Akira, wrapping their arms around his neck with a knife near it.

"W-whoa?! W-what do you want?" Akira said, realizing he was in a life-threatening situation but not as huge as some would say.

The female girl chuckled and then put the knife away.

"You're very clever, Akira," she said.

"You know my name?!" Akira said.

She pulled away from Akira and looked at him with her clear blue eyes.

"Wow, you don't know who I am?! It's Risa! You know...the girl that literally sits next to you in Professor Mia's class!" Risa said with her hands behind her back and a cute smile.

"So, what did you want, anyway?" Akira asked.

"I heard you're going to be in S-rank classes even though you're an F-rank mage!" Risa said.

"How did you hear about that?" Akira asked, curious about how she could know.

"I have my ways," she said, walking in circles around Akira.

"What do you really want?" Akira asked Risa, glaring down at her.

"My, my, I didn't expect you to be a little suspicious of me. I only wanted to talk and be friends," she explained.

"So tell me! What element can you master?" Risa asked.

"W-well...the truth is I haven't mastered any of the 6 elements, to be honest," Akira explained.

"R-really?!" Risa shouted in shock.

"I mean...is that a surprise? I am F-rank for a reason, you know," Akira said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Wait, so how are you even in this academy? You have to at least have one element mastered to enter!" Risa asked.

"I have my ways," Akira smirked as he started to walk away.

Before Akira could step toward the door, Risa grabbed his left wrist.

"H-hey! I'm not done talking yet!" Risa yelled.

"It's lunchtime, dummy. Could we at least talk while walking down the halls?" Akira complained.

"Aren't you a little curious about what my elemental mastery is?" Risa asked Akira.

"Not really...but if you really want to show me, I'll watch," Akira said as he turned around.

Risa jumped in the air in excitement and began to walk towards the middle of the pathway.

"What are you-" but Akira was cut off.

"Shhh...just watch and be amazed by my performance!" Risa said with a smile.

Akira stood and watched Risa; she started to perform a beautiful dance.

She moved gracefully and smoothly, her movements so fast and unpredictable that Akira couldn't even keep up with his own eyes.

She started to spin around and jumped in the air like a ballerina, and Akira was in awe.

"Her movements are so...fast and smooth, I can't even tell what she's doing! Is she just that fast, or are my eyes being deceived?" Akira thought, trying to observe her every movement.

Ten minutes later, Risa stopped and finished her dance. She bowed down at Akira and moved her head up, looking at Akira with a gentle smile.

"Sooo? How was my performance?" Risa asked as she walked towards Akira.

"So...was your power basically you dancing like a princess?" Akira said sarcastically after realizing she didn't actually perform her magic.

"No silly! Didn't you feel a little breeze at least?!" she asked Akira.

"Breeze? Are you going insane or something?" Akira said, questioning what she meant by breeze.

Risa sighed in disappointment but shot back up with a smile.

"Fine then let's see if you feel this!" Risa said with a mysterious smirk.

"H-huh?" Akira said confused, but suddenly, Risa made a snap with her 2 fingers, and a powerful gust of wind started to blow Akira away.

"W-what the hell?!" Akira thought in his mind.

The strong gust stopped after a few moments, and Akira sighed in relief.

"So you're a wind element mage..." Akira said, trying to neatly fix his outfit.

"Yup! And I heard you have the potential to be a fire mage! So I want you to be my partner for the battle arena class!" Risa asked.

"Fire mage? How can you tell?!" Akira asked.

"Hehehe, haven't you checked your elemental core status at least, Akira?" Risa asked.

"An elemental core?" Akira questioned.

Risa sighed, "You know...the magic core inside you? You really don't know anything, huh?" she said.

"H-hey! I only just became a mage...and I'm still learning how to use magic, okay!" Akira explained.

Risa pulled out an orb and displayed it in her hand.

"This is an elemental core! It's what contains all that magic power inside you!" Risa explained.

The core had a green ominous aura surrounding it, but then she made it disappear in thin air.

"H-how did you..." Akira said in amazement.

Risa put her index finger between Akira's lips.

"We'll talk later. Let's head to lunch, shall we?" Risa said as she walked off.

"Hey...that's my line!" Akira said as he ran up to catch up to Risa.

To Be Continued...