Mini Chapter - Midnight Realization

Midnight, in the Akirou's apartment.

Hiro was snoozing away in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed that he used to share with his younger brother, Hito. It has only been like 2 hours since he went to bed, yet suddenly, he shot up into a sitting position. His face colored in surprise as he clutches his head with both hands.

While he was sleeping, he had a dream. The dream was just random stuff at first but it soon became a replay of today's event; him waking up, running to school, going to the entrance ceremony, sitting down, realizing he forgot his phone, seeing a guy draw sketches at incredible speed, watching the guy interact with his girl friends, and contemplating about his life choices.

However, in the middle of contemplating his life choices; the face of the person he admires, who is also his new friend, popped up in his mind, making him snap out of it. This also made him realize something that should have been obvious from the start.

"That guy and Ishia-san.... Are one and the same!" Hiro shouted in a low voice as to not wake up his other family members. His mind started to work in overdrive, with his [Anxiety] at work he started to beat himself down about not realizing sooner and telling himself this was why he didn't have any fri-. Then the face of the people he had made friends with flashed in his mind, the beautiful and kind Izuno Asahina, the serious and mature Miyako Atsuka, the charming and playful Namaii Suika, and the two most notable of them Monoa Iniji and Ishia Ren.

Iniji was friendly and understanding, he also has the same interest as him, Hiro felt at ease when the two were shopping together when Ren went off on his own. His attempt at impressing Hiro showed Hiro that he was valued as a person and as a friend; it made Hiro happy just thinking about it.

Ren, a few words couldn't be used to describe him if Hiro were to describe how he saw Ren, it would be charismatic and gentle. The way he gave Hiro the push he needed and even extended a helping hand without any motives behind it, he looked like a brilliant hero that came to him in his dark times. Ren is the kind of person that Hiro admires and wanted to- no wants to become in the future.

A bright smile bloomed on Hiro's face as he laid back in his bed and slowly drifted back to sleep with a refreshed mind cleared of any negative thoughts, the only thing on his mind was the goal of improving himself to be like the person he admires.

At around the same time that Hiro woke, the person that he admires also woke up to a sudden realization as well.

"That's why the spell's effect duration was off a bit, I didn't use a staff in the casting process" Ren laid in bed, finally coming to the answer to his query this evening.

"I'll remember to use one next time, I can't control mana as skilled as my main body so a staff is no longer optional. But, which staff to use? I guess that Soul Weapon will do the job, but I need to modify it so I don't incur a backlash every so often" Ren thought out loud while planning to work on the staff he stowed away because it was too much of a risk to use.

"Whatever, I'll handle that on a later date"

Like that, he went back to bed, tossing the plan to modify that Soul Weapon to some other time.