Chapter 1: The new kid

Shiro Honoki walked down the corridor of his new school towards his new class.

"Look, that white haired kid doesn't even have rank I yet!"

"What is he, some newbie?"

"I could probably beat up a wimp like that any day"

Shiro pretended not to notice all these comments and carried on walking. Just as his new class came into his sights, a big kid with a rank 'III' on his hand intentionally bumped into him.

"Watch it, idiot. Useless nobodies don't deserve to even touch a rank three like me".

Everyone around them kept quiet while giving snickering glances at Shiro. Suddenly the bell rang. Shiro walked towards class with a slightly quickened pace. As he entered, the teacher called Shiro towards him.

"Hi, your name's Shiro-kun, right? Well my name is Tadashi - sensei. Um, I know of your circumstances and I am well aware that you might not be welcomed in the most pleasant manner, but sadly I can't do much about that outside of class. Anyways, everyone's here now so let's start class."

Shiro took a step back behind the teachers desk.

"Alright, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. As of today we have a new student joining our 'ranks' and his name is Honoki Shiro-san. I hope you all welcome him nicely and help him progress with the rest of you"

"Yeah but sir, how will a newbie like him who hasn't even got a rank one 'progress' with us?", said the kid from before in the hallways.

"Arato-kun, just because you are a high rank doesn't mean that you can direspect others like that. Anyways, Shiro-san, why don't you sit there in one of those two empty seats".

Shiro walks toward the seats and sits down, well aware of the many eyes which were drilling into him.

He quickly took in his surroundings. He was surrounded by around thirty other students, all of them with at least rank I on their hands. As he was sitting at the edge of the classroom, he only had one space for someone next to him, however, for some reason no one was there. He also had a window right next to him which looked over the whole of the school grounds and entrance.

"Right then, i guess it's time to sta-"

"WAIT!!!", said a voice outside the classroom.

An orange haired girl stormed into the classroom, breathing like someone who just ran a mile.

"Azumi Kyoko-san, this is an extremely bad start to this term. I thought that you might actually try to improve the number of lates that you get this term but it doesn't look very promising."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I slept in again."

"Anyways, you're going to be sitting next to the new boy, Honoki-san over there"

The girl rushed towards the empty seat next to Shiro.

She sat down and started unpacking her things without even looking at Shiro.

"It's probably because she's embarrassed or something", thought Shiro.

"Look, both of the newbies are sitting right next to each other", said some other kid this time.

It was obvious to Shiro that everyone had quite a low opinion of the girl (and him).

"Anyways, all interruptions aside, I guess we should start with a little recap session of our insignias. Should be easy enough as you've all done it before. And instead of raining hate on our new student, Honoki-san, here, i think you all could learn a thing our two from him. He may not be as magically adept as all of you but he makes up for that with his efforts. Let's begin then".

- - - - -

"So, since the beginning of time, people used magic throughout civilisations to build upon society. People worshiped the gods, and in return were able to harness powers such as fire and wind through magic. Everyone had magic capabilities to some extent, even if it was just to light a very small flame. But then came the war of the gods. The gods fought until there was one left, the god of peace. After all the suffering, the god realised that the only way to bring peace again was to destroy himself and, to ensure that the humans never make the same mistake as the gods, magic had to be removed from the world. And so for four millenia magic was forgotten until five centuries ago. And what happened five centuries ago? Why don't you tell us, Honoki-kun?"

"It was the great war, Sensei. The war in which magic was reawakened by the one who is now known as 'St. Addam'. He was able to stop the great war and more importantly brought back the power of magic for the next generations of the human race."

"Very good. But the way he brought magic back is crucial, mainly for us as insignia wielders. Why is this?"

"Sir, can I answer again?"

"Go ahead Honoki-kun"

"It's because he found a way to channel all the magic through an item that he found dear to him, making the first insignia."

"Good answer again. Anyways, after the war, we started to try to incorporate this long forgotten power into everyday life again, and after some time it we adapted and magic schools were made all across the globe. The first magic school was founded in the U.S.A as it was a global superpower back then."

"'Sir?", said someone from the back of the class.

"Yes, Seshiro?"

"What was life back then during the time when we had forgotten all about magic?"

"From all of the sources that we've seen, it was pretty dull. People had limited technology compared to today and had little to no knowledge of the world of magic, except believing that it was a myth. So, back to the magic schools back then. The schools only accepted students who were magically adept enough to focus their magic energy through an item that they held dear to them, like St. Addam did. The reason that these items were called insignias was because Addam used a small trinket with his lover's family's crest (which can also be known as an insignia). Well, I've already said so much so I might as well talk about the magic classes and fields as well. Although it is basic knowledge, a little recap can't hurt, can it? So there are quite a few classes of magic, let's see, Kyoko-kun why don't you tell us what they are?"

The girl sitting next to Shiro awkwardly shifted in her seat.

"Uh, the classes are, field defence, healer, and..."

Everyone waited in anticipation for the last class. To save her from further embarrassment, Shiro quickly whispered,

"familiar user"

Then Azumi quickly carried on,

"and familiar user, sensei"

"Good. And as none of you are familiar users, I may as well tell you all what they are again. They use a magical 'pet' called a familiar to attack and defend themselves or someone else and communicate through telepathy, although they do have an important bond of trust as well."

After a few minutes of the teacher's lesson, Azumi quietly nudged Shiro to get his attention.

"What?", quietly whispered Shiro.

"Thanks for before. You really saved me there. The words slipped out of my head at the last second", said Azumi.

"Oh, it was nothing".

"No, really. If you hadn't done that, everyone would have started saying mean comments like they always do."

"They do that?"

"Yup. They never let me hear the end of small little things. I think they just pick on me because I'm not rank one yet. They may pick on you too, Honoki-kun."

'They will, will they?', thought Shiro.

"Thanks for the warning"

Their conversation was interrupted by a couple of whispers from the middle of the class.

"Look, the two losers are keeping each other company."

"Azumi is probably going to bring that new kid down with her. Not that he's any good to begin with'"

(*Author's note*- Referring to someone using their first name and also no honorific without their permission would be considered quite rude)

"Just because my back is facing you lot doesn't mean that I can't hear you. I advise you to stop this nonsense now if you wish for there to be no consequences", said sensei abruptly after these two comments.

"Anyways, where were we...?"

- - - - -

Eventually class ended and everyone stood up.

"I expect to see all of you after break in the training grounds at the back of the school. Use the help of your smart watches if you're new or don't remember the way there. You may now leave."

Everyone exited class. Shiro walked towards the cafeteria, with Azumi seemingly going to the same place. After a few minutes, it started to get a little awkward, so Shiro tried to start a conversation.

"So are you going to the cafeteria too?"

"Yeah, I'm a little hungry. You don't mind if I come with you right?"

"No, it's alright. Besides, it's nice to have someone to talk to."

Suddenly both of their watches vibrated for a second. It displayed a minor notification.

"Wow, these watches really are quite neat, aren't they?"

"Actually they only give us those as an excuse to monitor whether or not we use our insignias outside of training. All of the extra features are just implemented into the watch to hide that. Really you should be able to disable the system and data transmitter if you expose it to extreme heat or put in between a good radio wave canceller and-"

Azumi stopped talking as her face went a bit red. Shiro looked at her with a slightly dumbfounded look.

"I blabbered a bit too much, didn't I"

"No, not at all. I'm just a bit surprised. It seems you like technology quite a lot"

They both stepped inside the cafeteria -

"Yeah, I guess it's the one thing I'm good at."

-and proceeded to walk towards the counter and ordered.

"I'll have a bowl of ramen", they both said after each putting 600 ¥ on the counter.

"Let's sit over there"

Azumi and Shiro both walked towards a table near the back.

"Uh, Shiro, I've got a question. How are you so passionate about magic when you aren't even that good at it? I mean, you aren't even rank one yet but you seem to know as much as a skilled magician from the way that you answered all of sensei's questions."

Azumi turned slightly red as she realised what she said.

"I kinda stepped out of my bounds there, sorry..."

Shiro chuckled a bit before answering, "It's alright, I know you meant well. And for the reason, I guess it's because magic fascinates me and the limits that a person can reach have the potential to be multiplied simply by sheer will-power."

Then shiro suddenly changed his time of voice to a more serious one. 'Another reason is because I have the weight of protecting someone close to me on my shoulders, and in order to do that I have to be able to protect myself first"

'Although I know just how capable I already am', he thought.

"Protect yourself, huh", Azumi said with a seemingly sad expression. However this quickly changed as she finished her ramen and got up with a smile. "Well see you in class, Honoki-kun."

"You know what, just use my first name"

"Okay then Shiro-kun, see you in class",she said as she started to walk in the direction towards the locker – room.

"You should really smile more often in front of others", Shiro said jokingly.

"That will be a little hard", she replied as her happy expression disappeared once again and she walked away. After a few more minutes, Shiro got up as well after finishing his bowl too and headed towards the locker room.