Chapter 1: The New Kid

I can hear the teacher through the door. His muffled voice spoke to the rest of the class. The principal told me to wait here until the teacher has a chance to introduce me to the rest of the class. I can feel my legs trembling under me. What if the class doesn't like me? I can't have it be like it was at my last school.

I do my best to calm myself down as I patiently wait for the teacher to greet me at the door. The room goes silent, and I hear faint footsteps make their way closer to me. I take a deep breath as the teacher slides the door open and greets me with a large smile.

He grabs my arm and guides me to the front of the class. I can feel the piercing gaze of my everyone. I steady my focus on the floor in front of me. Maybe it's how my shirt is buttoned or tucked into my pants? Trying to fix it now would be more embarrassing for me.

"Alright, class, This is Mako Sato. He is a transfer student from a classical school. Unlike all of you here, he has never had any experience with magic, so you should make sure to take care of him." The room fills with whispers.

He pats my back with his large hand. "Is there anything you would like to add, Mako?"

I mean to say no to him, but the best I can do is shake my head gently.

"Wonderful." He looks around the classroom before pointing to an empty desk in the back row of the classroom. "You can sit in that desk next to Jiro."

The boy he points to looks away from the window with a disgusted face. Our eyes meet for a brief moment before he turns his head back to the window.

I quickly make my way over to the desk, so that the stares of those around me stop. The boy I'm meant to sit by looks like a bit of a mess. His shirt isn't tucked in and the buttons are messed up. His tie is loose, but thankfully his jacket is on correctly.

I set my bag down and sit next to the boy. I hadn't noticed it before, but his hair is a bit of a mess. Pin straight and midnight black, but it shines quite bright even for how dark it is.

I tap his shoulder, but he doesn't move. "Um… I'm Mako." I have no idea what I want to say to him. "I heard the teacher call you Jiro. I have never heard that name before. Usually, it's used as a suffix at the end of names." I pause, waiting for him to say something back. "Is it a nickname?"

He looks back at me, clearly annoyed. "Don't talk to me. In fact, don't even look at me. To you I don't exist, alright?" I nod my head. "Good."

Everything will be just fine. It's not going to be like last time. I take a deep breath and focus my attention on the teacher.

"Tomorrow we are going to be working on creation spells. Meaning, that I want you guys to have a good idea of what exactly you want to create. It could be a pencil, a glass of water, a plant— although I doubt you'll be able to achieve that last one. I simply want you to have an idea of what it is you want to create when you come into class tomorrow."

The bell rings and everyone rushes up from their seats. Jiro gets up beside me and makes his way to the door. Before he can reach the hallway the teacher stops him. "Actually, I need to talk to you."

I grab my bag. I should probably leave as it would be rude to eavesdrop on their conversation, but I have no clue as to where I'm supposed to be.

I patiently wait near one of the corners until someone notices me. I feel as though it would be inappropriate to interrupt when they are already talking. However, neither of them seems to notice and so they only continue on in their conversation. I want to ignore them so that I'm not eavesdropping, but with them so close, it's too difficult to ignore.

"Jiro, I know that you don't enjoy this place. I understand that you would much rather be off doing something much different. However, your family is one of the most powerful magical families in this country and we both know how much they want you to carry their name to great lengths."

Jiro scoffs. "They barely care about me and you know that. I shouldn't even be allowed into this academy with how 'embarrassing' my magic is." He air quotes the word embarrassing before shoving his hands back into his pockets. "The only thing they want from me is to disappear so that I don't drag their name through the mud anymore."

He attempts to leave again, but the teacher stops him once again. "I know you have a lot of potential Jiro. Don't let your family's expectations for you ruin that." The teacher's face looks distraught. I have never seen a teacher be so concerned about a student before.

Jiro pushes his arm away and gives him the same disgusted look that he gave me. "You know nothing about me." With that, he leaves.

The teacher sighs and leans against a desk. He looks toward my direction and his face quickly changes into a surprised look. "Mako! Sorry I had no idea that you were still in the classroom. What is it that you still need?"

I sit there for a brief moment. "No, I um… just got lost in thought. This whole magic thing is new to me." Before he can say anything back to me, I dash out of the room.

I saw Jiro turn right when he left the room. Strangely I feel drawn toward him. As I'm racing down the hallway the bell rings again. I'm late for my next class. However, I don't care. I want to talk to him again. He isn't in the hallway but I briefly hear the door to the stairway click shut.

In no time, I'm opening the door to the stairs. Jiro looks back at me. Without a second thought, he continues down the stairs. I follow him catching up to him quickly.

"You're going the wrong way." he doesn't pick up his pace at all. His legs still move in a melancholy way, as if they dread that they have to move at all.

"So are you."

"No, I'm leaving. You should be in class right now."

I hoist my bookbag closer to me. "Maybe I want to know what you're doing."

He sighs. "And maybe I don't want you to know." He looks at me as a sarcastic grin spreads across his face.

"Look nobody wants to talk to me–"

"Probably for a good reason." He interrupts me before I can finish.

"No. It's because they think I'm a regular human being. My whole life I've gone to regular schools." I trip on one of the stairs going down but catch myself before he can notice.

"Why are you calling it that?"

I hoist my bag closer to me once again. "Call what, what?"

"That you're a regular human being and your school regular school?"

"I don't know, isn't that what you call it?"

He chuckles a little, and I can't help but smile. I'm surprised that someone like him could smile let alone laugh. "Non-magic users are called Waists and their schools are called Classical."

"Waists. That's like the dumbest sounding name for them."

Jiro looks at me confused. "They call them that because it sounds like the word waste. Most non-magic users don't notice the similarity and don't get offended."

"Oh."

He must have heard the disappointment in my voice as he nudges my shoulder. "Don't sweat it though. Many magic users don't use that term anymore. We just call them non-magic users.

Somehow we have already reached the bottom of the stairs. Jiro looks back at me, as he stands at the door.

"Well, Maki–"

"Mako." I correct him.

He waves his hand at me. "Yeah, whatever. It was strangely fun talking to you, but I don't want to do it anymore." He grabs a jar of something from his bag. "Welcome to Greenwood." he grins and throws a powder-type substance at me.

My vision goes blurry and my legs feel as though they have turned to water. I collapse to the ground as he exits the stairwell.