Admission

I stared at her. This again? First, it was that Nathaniel person at the recruitment station, and now the headmaster of this prestigious academy? Why can't some people just let me try to meet my sister in peace?

When I didn't say anything, the woman continued. "I know you probably know nothing about magic, but that's what this school is for, right? We'll teach you everything! From water magic to fire magic to basically anything you'd like! We have the best education for eons out in the temporal plane!"

"I…but you can't accept me…right?" I said, looking for a way out of this situation. "Only the top mages can—"

Gracelyn grabbed both my hands in hers before I could react, making me freeze. "Magic is only a part of what we see in a good student, Day. When you went to save the helpless damsel in distress today, you were a hero!"

"N—No, I was just worried for my friend… Ari and Abby would have—"

"No, no, no, Day, it's not just that! Your chronal skills are off the charts!" She gripped my hands tighter and leaned closer to my face, forcing me to step back. "Your movements were just so refined… the aura around you so pure… your temporal muscles so… smooth."

A drop of drool came out the corner of the woman's mouth, and I clenched my teeth in disgust as she pulled herself away from me, wiping her lips. What the hell was wrong with this person? Why was she taking such an interest in the temporal skills I had gained from Irnoma?

I stepped back again and held my chest, feeling the pendant my master had given me as if it would bring luck in sending the woman away. "Sorry, but I'm not planning on joining the magic academy," I told her. "I mean, I didn't even take the test."

"Oh, but why not? I can arrange a test for you tomorrow! But of course, your chronal skills give you a pretty big advantage. I'll make sure you'll be comfortable here once you get accepted! Oh, and how about this!?"

Gracelyn walked up to a confused Em and grabbed her hand. Then, she guided her up to me and took my hand as well. "When you went to save her, it was a dazzling performance! Oh, you two just look so cute together!"

The woman forced our hands together, making me flinch. Both our faces became red in embarrassment. "Why don't I arrange for you two to be put in the same dorm room? You couple not only can go to the same school, but also be roommates!" She paused, looking between us expectantly.

I glanced at Em. She was looking down and to the side, embarrassed. "I…I have some other things to do here," I said hurriedly. "I don't think I'd be interested in learning magic. Sorry."

Em turned to me at that and spoke up. "But why? This is one of the best schools in the Kingdom!"

I was surprised. "You mean you want something like that to happen?"

"N—No! It's not that… living with you as roommates…" She looked back to the ground, blushing.

Then I understood. The way the headmaster had phrased it, it was like she was guaranteeing Em's admission to the school. If I were to accept her offer, then Em would have a higher chance of getting in as well. Plus, her screwup earlier made this an even more appealing choice. Was she really that desperate to attend a school?

I freed myself from Gracelyn's grasp. "Why are temporal skills so important to you? Isn't this a magic academy? If I know none of that, then I shouldn't be coming here. Period."

The woman let out a chuckle. "Did you really just say that? That magic aptitude is more important than *your* chronal skills? Let me educate you on something here in the Capital—no, in the entire central temporal region of Kronoan Kingdom. There is such a thing as an average ability to time walk. That's me, your friends, and pretty much everybody else in this city. Now, what can I say? It's beyond our physical limits to see further than half a second or walk at five percent faster than the normal rate of time.

"We're always looking for ways to break those limits with machines, you know? Only a select few can move as fast as you through the temporal plane. And to be able to do so at such a young age, you're a prodigy!"

I looked down at my hands, then back up at my friends, who seemed to agree with the woman. Was I really that special? The only difference in me was that I trained under Irnoma. Other than that, I'm just an ordinary person who only learned about all this time-traveling a year ago. I turned back down to see the small lump on my chest where the pendant hanged. Irnoma couldn't have done something to me, right?

Looking up again, my attention immediately went back to Em. She had those huge puppy eyes on again. I can't let this girl cry... can I?

I shook myself out of it. Why was I being manipulated by that expression of hers again? I came here for a purpose, and I can't be sidetracked with helping someone with a personal matter. And roommates? With Em? I barely even know her!

"I'm still going to decline," I finally said firmly, facing Gracelyn again.

Suddenly I felt the pressure of all four pairs of eyes on me. "Sorry," I added automatically. However, I didn't want to apologize. I didn't come to this world to make friends. I wanted to do my own things, and the other three can go do the same.

"You should really consider Em's feelings a bit," Abby said after a short silence, finally making her argument.

"No, it's okay."

We all turned to Em, who shook off Gracelyn's hand and stepped away from her.

"I thought about it a bit more. It's okay, actually. Day has his own things to do, right?" She gave me a forced smile.

"Em, you don't need to—"

"It isn't my choice, Abby," Em said. "Day doesn't want to apply. I won't force him to. Plus, it's not that I need Day to get in, right?"

"Aww, Em..." Gracelyn spoke again. "Are you sure that's fine with you? I would love to have both of you two in the academy! Day, you know how much your girl dreams of attending school here, right? I'm sure you wouldn't want to make her cry—"

My patience had finally run out. "Can you all just shut up!?" I yelled out. "I came here to find my sister, not to enroll in some dumb school of magic! >Ah, sorry, Em. I didn't really mean the school's dumb<, but there's no way you guys can force me into all this. Now, where were we going? That seafood place, right?"

Without waiting for a response, I turned to leave. The other three followed, and Gracelyn gave one last attempt at persuading me, to no result.

***

The door opened and Abby stepped in. "It's no good. She still refuses to come out of her room."

We were still in the same inn we checked into on our first day here. Ari and I sat at the edge of a bed in our room, despite it being mid-day.

I sighed and habitually rocked back and forth on the bed. "I think we should just give her some time. The news must have been too much for her…"

The news that I spoke of came this morning. After having our breakfast at the inn as usual, we immediately went back to the academy, where the results from the tests yesterday would be posted.

At the front entrance stood a large board that seemed to have been erected overnight. On the board was an electronic display which listed the results of each and every student like a long dinner menu—names to the left and scores to the right.

Before we had even gotten there, Em had taken off, entering the crowd of familiar students. She looked one by one through the list, searching for her name. Full 1000 points on the written exam. Over 50 thousand points on the practical exam. 77th place. That was her ranking.

Well, thousands of students had attended the exams that day, so she was already at the top percentile. But she was just so close to getting there. It was so close that if she had done just a few percent better on the practical exam, she would have gotten the ticket into the academy.

Only sixty-some students were accepted. Those sixty-some students gave their little whoops and smiles as they strode out of the crowd, attracting jealous stares from the others. They would be spending their next few lives training to become an expert sorcerer, while Em would not.

Abby snickered at my comment now. "You know, while I was talking to Em, she did say something you should probably know."

I turned to him, curious but also doubtful at his frightening look. "What is it?" I asked innocently.

"Oh, it's nothing, except she was wondering if she would have gotten in if you had accepted the headmaster's invitation!"

My heart skipped a beat. So she really did care that much about that? If I had really done as the woman had said, would Em still have been rejected? Would she still be crying in her room right now? I put my head down, digging my hands through my hair. Was this all my fault?

"Man, you didn't have to be so up-front about that," Ari said, defending me.

I looked up at him and realized. Had Em talked with him about it too? When I went in to comfort her, she gave no mention of my refusal to apply to the academy. I wanted to believe that she was doing that for me—so I wouldn't have to hear the same annoying words of the headmaster again—but my doubts were overflowing. Does she really hate me now?

"I—I didn't know—"

"Oh sure you knew!" Abby yelled, cutting me off. "I'm pretty confident you can interpret such clear words from the headmaster! She literally said she'd accept both of you!"

"Abby, just—"

"Don't you interrupt me!" She interrupted Ari as he stood up. "Don't you think this kid needs some educating!? Doesn't he need to know how to at least look out for his friends!?"

I looked to the ground, ignoring eye contact with both of them.

"Abby, he did save Em from drowning, you know."

"Oh yes, I know! And I also know that that was something completely different from this matter! It's good and all that he got out there so quickly to save her. And it's also nice that you saved Ari back during the duel too. But those are life-or-death situations, right!? It's your duty to save anyone from death. This thing with Em's admission to the school… That's just—"

"More important than him saving our lives!?" Abby's constant ranting had finally flicked Ari's switch. He stepped in front of me to face her.

"I said, that's something different, okay!?" Abby retorted.

"Yeah, of course they're different, but don't you think you're getting it flipped!? When he saved Em, did you even thank him!? And when he saved me, too!" Ari hesitated to say his next sentence, but he continued, "I didn't even thank him… So why do you think we even deserve his help!?"

"We're FRIENDS! Don't you get that!? I know we've only known him for a few days, but it's only natural to look out for one another, alright?! Jeez, you're the one that's getting it flipped!"

"So if we're looking out for each other, why don't you go and look out for Day here!? It's his own decision he doesn't want to learn magic! You can't just force him to attend that school!"

"And I don't see what's wrong with that! Day becomes famous and has a chance to meet his sister, and Em gets into her dream school! It's a win-win scenario! You know it is! Why don't you just go ahead and tell him that!? That there is no easy way to meet those princesses!"

I stood up suddenly, making the two turn to me and realize again that a third person was in the room. I kept my eyes down, still avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Oh, you better be!" Abby continued. "And you better go tell Em that, too—"

"Abby, can I get some of my money back?"

Abby stopped and looked at me in surprise. When they both realized what I was implying, Ari spoke first in a soft voice. "…Day…you're leaving?"

"Just half of it's okay," I continued, still talking to Abby. "I'll leave the rest of the coins for you. It's just as thanks for you people taking care of me."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on a moment there," Ari said to me. "Why so sudden? You didn't do anything wrong. Don't listen to what Abby was—"

"Here. Your money." Abby reached out her hand, and my pouch of coins materialized over her palm.

Right as the pouch appeared, though, Ari swiftly grabbed it. "Day, you aren't leaving this group, you hear? We need you! You need us! We're a team, right? We agreed on that last time, right?"

I shook my head. "No, we're not. I realized it in the beginning, and I forgot about all that until now. Remember that time when we fought the wolves? Well, no. It wasn't that 'we' fought the wolves."

They both nodded. "Yeah, we were able to kill them all off, right?" Ari said. "That's why I'm telling you. We need—"

"It was a separate fight," I interrupted, shaking my head again, "something that didn't look like teamwork at all. Don't get me wrong. You three were amazing. It was like you were acting on the same mind. I was jealous of that."

"But Day, you did well that day, too!" Ari tried to reassure me. "It was only your first day! I'm sure we'd work great together, even if you were fighting alone that one time." He held the coins out to Abby and continued, "We're not letting you leave, Day."

However, Abby ignored the pouch. "You heard him, Ari. If Day doesn't want to team up anymore, we shouldn't force him to stay. You're the one who said we should help him out, right? And this is the only way we can help him now."

"Help him by letting him leave? Are you crazy!?"

I sighed. All this arguing was getting repetitive. Stealthily, I slowed my temporal speed. Before either of the two could react, I snatched the bag of coins from Ari. When I returned time back to normal, he stood there, looking at his empty hand in surprise.

"I just prefer doing things solo," I continued, then reached into the pouch and grabbed a handful of shining gold coins. I handed the coins to Abby and placed the pouch back into my bag. As I finally left the bedroom, I turned to look at my former friends' conflicted faces one more time and gave them my farewell.

"I'm not gonna lie. Traveling with a team was fun. Ari, I hope you can get stronger and get into the Royal Task Force one day. Tell Em I wish her good luck on her second entrance exam next month. And last but not least, Abby, have fun being an adventurer once you become one."

I closed the door softly behind me and walked towards the elevator. Not wanting the two to follow me, I slowed time once again. The elevator was already closing when our room's door opened again, with Ari rushing out, calling the last words in slow motion.

"Just you wait, Day! I'll find you again no matter what!"