Chapter.7: The New Era Arrives

~7 years later~

Itsuki woke up from her deep sleep. She let out a long yawn while rubbing her eyes. It was going to be her first day at Kamui Academy. She wanted to enjoy her first day meeting new people at the school. Especially with it having boys from all over Japan entering. There was only going to be a small amount but it would be nice to see them, she was hoping among them was Koutetsu.

She had not seen or heard from him since that night he said he was leaving. She wrote him letters when she found out what unit he was staying with thanks to Mana telling her before she stopped communicating as well. She missed her friend, Itsuki worried about Koutetsu every day and if he still blamed himself for Akane's death.

Itsuki showered up letting the warm water massage her skin. She wiped the fog off her mirror to see her reflection. She became a beautiful girl in the years that passed. Her hair was long now, she tied ribbons on the sides of her hair and another one in a bow on the back. Her figure was envy to the people who knew her.

Itsuki made her way downstairs to say hi to her family, Yue was looking over the news on the television drinking her coffee. Ayaka was brushing Kaede's hair, she was getting her ready for her final year of middle school.

Itsuki grabbed her school bag before hugging her family goodbye. The limousine was parked outside waiting for her. Itsuki didn't want to arrive showing off the limo but it was the first day and she wanted to get there quickly.

The ride over felt long due to the traffic. She stared out the window looking at the scenery, she saw Mana's old restaurant on the way to the school. She wished she could have eaten there when it was still open. Itsuki was missing Koutetsu more now. She wished he could have written her back or contacted her. It felt like he just abandoned her.

"Miss we've arrived." The limo driver announced.

Itsuki saw the school in front of her. She loved the sight of it as she exited the limo, the image of her walking out of the vehicle looked majestic to the people who saw her. Many of the female students blushed seeing Itsuki. She was a little embarrassed but had gotten used to it now with time. A student approached Itsuki, she was the same height, her figure more curvy than Itsuki's. She had strawberry blonde hair tied in a large ponytail with tiny bells on the hair ribbon. She gave a bow of respect to Itsuki and then introduced herself.

"Good morning Miss Shirayuki. I'm the new Student Council President Kurenai Natsume. I welcome you to our school." Itsuki bowed in respect back. "Kurenai huh, by chance do you have a sister named Kurenai Honoka."

"Why yes. She's my older sister. She was the previous president. She handed the responsibility over to me when she graduated."

Itsuki was impressed. Normally a first year wasn't selected as president until the end of the year, but Honoka received permission due to Natsume's impressive skills and talent.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Class President. May I ask why you're waiting outside here at the front gate?"

"Oh yes. I'm here to greet the males entering the academy. There's a total of thirty altogether. With a few being from the Five Families." Natsume pulled out her tablet with the class roster. It showed the list of names, Itsuki looked hard at the list but didn't see Koutetsu's name on it. She thought he wasn't attending the school after all. It made her feel down, with Natsume noticing.

"Hmm, are you ok Miss Shirayuki?"

"Huh, oh yes. It's just there was a name I was hoping to see in the list but it's not there."

"Maybe you will. This list isn't complete. There are three names I was told about that were entered last minute due to complicated registration requests from the families. Maybe you'll see the one you want here."

Itsuki's eyes lit up. She was about to ask about Koutetsu's name but was cut off when a fleet of limousines arrived. All the girls saw the limos arriving open their doors, and coming out were all the men who would attend the school with them. Of the male students Itsuki and Natsume recognized some of the faces.

The first one wore glasses and had swept-back hair. He was around 5'10 and breathed an air of elegance

"Let's see, that one is Yagami Hiro. He's from the Great Families. Incredibly intelligent and winner of many Bow championships."

Two others followed behind him. One looked very intimidating, he had a large muscular body with messy hair and a lip piercing. The other one was a few inches shorter, he had an athletic build, a tattoo of the Japanese kanji for water on the side of his neck, with styled spikey hair carrying a Japanese Shirasaya style sword.

"The big one is Sakurai Ryuji. He's from a military family. He hasn't been able to stay in any of the schools he visits due to his bad behavior. He hasn't suffered major punishments due to him volunteering on Ghast hunting missions with his military connections."

Itsuki felt disgusted seeing him. He made the girls either fawn over his physique or scared from his taunting face.

"The one with the sword is Mitsurugi Ren. He's not from a major family but he was taken in by the Mizuno family to be the bodyguard for their oldest daughter and future leader. The tattoo on his neck is a sign of his pact to be their bodyguard. His sword is said to be a special one that channels purifying water magic that can kill a Ghast in an instant."

Ren definitely was the most impressive-looking of the bunch. Itsuki could feel he wasn't as regal or arrogant, more so like he was just living in the moment. All the male students lined up for roll call. Ryuji looked uninterested, he tried to light a cigarette before Ren sliced it in half with incredible speed.

"Oy, ya got a problem spikey?"

"No smoking on school grounds. Even a child would know that."

Ryuji was angered. He tried to throw a punch until Ren blocked it by smacking his hand with the sword sheathe. Ryuji was more upset now. He used magic to make the ground under him form a gauntlet of stone to attack Ren again.

The male students dispersed, and the female students backed away to watch the fight. Itsuki and Natsume were both embarrassed and irritated at the sight.

Hiro sat on a chair his attendant brought out, he was observing the two fighting for data on their skills.

Ryuji was a pure brawler, throwing powerful punches and tanking hits without hesitation. Ren was more technical, he had training in Iado-style swordsmanship including Judo with high speed movements.

"Stop it you two it's only day one you'll get in trouble." Natsume tried to yell at them.

Ren wanted to stop, he had no interest in fighting he was acting in self-defense. Ryuji was the only one who didn't care.

"Shut up!" Ryuji yelled while throwing a wild punch. Ren had cut the stone gauntlet off using Ryuji's momentum, but the force caused it to launch toward Itsuki's direction

"Oh crap!" Ryuji shouted in a panic. He may have been a violent hothead, but even he had boundaries. He never purposely hit a woman a day in his life, he had principles about hitting women unless it was for training. Ren looked scared as well, he didn't realize he hit it with that match force, he tried to charge after it, but it was already ahead of him. Itsuki didn't have time to react, she would have shielded herself but the speed was too great.

Itsuki's closed her eyes, hoping someone would stop it in time. Anyone for that matter. Her wish was granted, in a big way.

Everyone saw it, the stone gauntlet getting destroyed in an instant before it hit Itsuki. The gauntlet was disintegrated, by a brilliant blue flame. Everyone looked to see who did it. Hiro especially, was greatly interested in the one who launched that flame with that much power.