January 17th, 2012 — 8:04 AM
Asura Academy — Class C Homeroom
Perspective: Elfie
The heavy oak doors swung open, and the chaotic shouting at the front of the classroom died instantly.
I sat up straighter, my hands resting neatly on my desk.
This is it. The first real step into the academy.*
I glanced sideways at Kai. He was still resting his chin on his palm, looking completely bored by the very concept of being awake... As long as he was here, sitting right next to me, I could handle whatever this academy threw at us.
Footsteps clicked lightly against the stone floor, and a woman walked down the tiered steps toward the instructor's podium.
She was beautiful. She had pristine silver-blonde hair that flowed elegantly down her back, and she wore formal, emerald-green robes that shifted like liquid mana. But it was her gold-flecked eyes that caught my attention—they were bright, entirely devoid of the cold arrogance I had seen in the Director. She carried a stack of heavy leather-bound books, her smile warm and incredibly uplifting.
"Good morning, everyone!" she greeted, her voice carrying a cheerful, melodic energy that instantly softened the tension in the room. She placed her books on the podium with a heavy thud.
"My name is Aisha Olyvra. I have the absolute pleasure of being your Class C Homeroom Instructor for the next three years."
She clapped her hands together, beaming at us.
"I will also be your primary instructor for Elven Magic, Celestial Magic, and Elemental Synthesis, as my mana affinity allows me to freely traverse between them. Now, I know some of you might be terrified of the academy's rules, but let me tell you a secret about myself: I absolutely love it when students break boundaries. I am an academic researcher at heart. I have spent my entire life obsessed with the theoretical paradoxes of magic, and nothing brings me more joy than seeing a student achieve the impossible." She laughed softly, a genuine, bell-like sound.
"I tend to get a little... carried away when I discover brilliant magic. But as long as you give me your absolute best effort, I promise I will fight for every single one of you in this room."
I couldn't help but smile. She felt so warm. She really wants us to succeed.. She's nothing like the rumors of the cruel Asura instructors.
Instructor Aisha picked up a piece of chalk. "Now, before we begin the syllabus, the Director requires me to file your leadership registry. Have you all decided on a Class Representative?"
The room went completely, awkwardly silent.
Aisha blinked, looking out at the 25 of us. A few hands tentatively raised, pointing accusatory fingers, but no one stepped forward. "Oh? You haven't decided yet?"
"That's because half the room is entirely incompetent, Instructor," a sharp, aristocratic voice declared.
A girl in the front row stood up. She was human, with perfectly styled, curled brunette hair and sharp, judgmental violet eyes.
She crossed her arms, her posture practically dripping with entitlement.
"I am Delyra Nysira," she announced, not even looking back at us. "And I am volunteering myself as Representative. Most of the students here barely scraped by on physical combat, acting like brutes. I, however, hold the highest academic score among the girls in this room. If you want someone to actually read the exam rules instead of punching a wall, it has to be me."
Immediately, five other girls sitting near her nodded enthusiastically, forming a protective, popular clique around her.
She's so mean... Her academic score wasn't even that high if she's in Class C. Why is she acting like she's a queen?
"Shut up, Nysira," a harsh, violent voice snapped from the other side of the room.
A boy stood up, his chair loudly scraping against the floor. He had messy, ash-reddish hair and piercing green eyes that looked like they were constantly searching for a fight. He carried a heavy, dominant presence—the kind of aggressive aura that made my skin prickle with instinctual fear.
"You barely scraped by your academic tests because you hid the whole time," he sneered, his voice laced with absolute contempt. "In a real war, books don't keep you alive. Power does. I'm not following some weak girl who thinks she can lead just because she memorized a few textbook pages."
Instructor Aisha frowned slightly. "Language, please. And your name?"
The boy didn't even look at her. He kept his aggressive glare fixed on Delyra.
"Milo Sterling."
I felt Kai shift next to me.
I glanced over. The sheer boredom had completely vanished from Kai's face. His blue eyes—were suddenly fixed on Milo's back.
Sterling...
Victor Sterling. The genius who dropped to Class B.
Is this his brother?
The classroom erupted into chaos.
"You're nothing but a violent brute, Milo!" Delyra shrieked, her aristocratic mask slipping into pure venom. "A Representative requires tact and strategy!"
"A Representative requires the strength to not get us all killed in the first month!" Milo roared back, stepping out from his desk.
Instantly, half a dozen boys stood up behind him, mirroring his aggressive, combat-ready stance.
The room fractured directly down the middle—Delyra's academic clique against Milo's combative loyalists.
This is a disaster, I panicked internally, gripping the edges of my skirt.
We're going to tear each other apart before we even take a single exam.
"Alright, alright! Settle down!" Aisha clapped her hands, sending a soft, suppressing wave of emerald mana through the room.
It wasn't painful, but it felt like a cool breeze that forcibly calmed everyone's nerves.
Milo scowled and sat back down, though he didn't break his glare. Delyra huffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder and taking her seat.
"Since you clearly need more time, the academy allows you until the first monthly exam to officially register a Representative," Aisha said, her tone gentle but carrying absolute authority. "You have time. Decide together. A divided class will not survive the exams."
The tension in the room remained suffocatingly thick.
I leaned my head slightly to the left, keeping my voice down to a whisper so only Kai could hear.
"Who'd you choose to be Representative, Kai?"
Kai didn't hesitate. He didn't even fully turn his head, just side-eyed me with his perfectly deadpan expression.
"I'd choose you."
My breath hitched.
I stared at him, my heart suddenly hammering violently against my ribs. Me?
I'm not a leader...
I panicked during my combat exam. I cry too much. I only survived because Kai literally held my hand and solved the impossible for me. I can't command people like Milo or Delyra.
But looking into Kai's eyes... there was no joke there. He had an absolute trust that he always placed in me.
The sheer weight of him believing in me made me feel so incredibly warm, I had to look down at my desk to hide my blushing face.
"Let me explain why this decision is so critical," Aisha continued, walking to the front of the chalkboard. "The Representative is not just a title. It carries extreme weight in this academy's system. They have five core functions."
She held up her fingers as she listed them off.
"1st, they distribute the monthly class funding. They decide who gets resources and who starves. 2nd, they decide the lineup for the multi-class wars—meaning they hold your lives in their hands. 3rd, they alone can negotiate with instructors for advanced training grounds. 4th, they hold the absolute authority to veto any internal exam pairing."
Aisha paused, her golden eyes turning deeply serious.
"And 5th... the burden. If Class C falls into a negative point deficit, the Representative takes the direct penalty. They protect the class with their own merit."
The room fell dead silent.
Even Milo and Delyra looked slightly hesitant at the sheer responsibility of that 5th rule.
Aisha sighed softly, resting her hands on the podium.
"I will be honest with you all. It is an unfortunate truth of Asura Academy. In the entire history of this institution... Class C has never once beaten the elite geniuses of Class A. Not once. You are considered the leftovers. The ones who just barely scraped by."
She looked around the room, her gaze lingering on each of us. When she looked at me, her eyes softened with a strange, reverent warmth.
"But I don't believe in limits," Aisha said softly. "And I don't believe you are leftovers. I trust you. I want you to do the unthinkable. I want you to give me your absolute best, and together, we are going to surpass Class B and Class A."
She smiled, the cheerful energy returning to her voice.
"Now, open your Elemental Magic books to page one. Let's begin."
37 minutes had passed. Instructor Aisha had swiftly cleared through the fundamental theories of elemental magic—core concepts most of us already knew by heart from our preparatory tutors.
She closed her heavy leather-bound book with a soft thud and smiled at us. "Now that the boring part is over, let's play a fun game."
She stepped out from behind the podium, holding out her palm. "The true essence of elemental magic, especially simple ice, relies on three core steps. Focus on visualizing the element in its raw form. See the creation of the magic within your mind's eye. And finally, amplify your internal mana to force it into reality."
A brilliant, intricate snowflake materialized above her palm, spinning gently and radiating a biting, refreshing cold that swept through the classroom.
"Let's introduce ourselves and play a practical test!" Aisha announced excitedly, her golden eyes sparkling.
"We'll try to showcase our elemental capabilities right here. Who wants to go first?"
Immediately, both Milo and Delyra shot their hands into the air, their glares briefly crossing like swords.
Aisha chuckled softly and pointed to Delyra. "Let's start with you."
Delyra stood up, brushing off her skirt with an air of absolute superiority. She extended a graceful hand, her violet eyes narrowing in concentration. With a sharp exhale, she materialized a beautiful, intricate ice necklace, carving the details flawlessly with her mana. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the delicate necklace suddenly snapped, reforming into a barrage of razor-sharp ice spikes.
With a sweeping motion, she sent them flying across the room. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! They landed perfectly, embedding themselves deeply into the center of a wooden training dummy Aisha had hastily conjured near the chalkboard.
The class erupted into genuine applause and gasps of surprise.
Delyra flexed her fingers, tossing her curled brunette hair over her shoulder with a smug grin.
"As you can see, precision and elegance are the true marks of a superior mage. My magic works by hyper-compressing the water particles in the air, freezing them instantaneously into aerodynamic shapes to maximize velocity and piercing power," she gloated, basking in the admiration of her clique.
Milo scoffed loudly, shoving his chair back. "Flashy garbage. Step aside and watch how real magic is done."
He didn't even wait for Aisha to call on him. Milo stomped to the front, thrusting both of his hands forward. A violent, chaotic surge of mana erupted from his core. Instead of an elegant construct, a massive, jagged boulder of ice exploded into existence in front of him, covered in terrifying, uneven spikes. With a primal roar, he launched it forward.
The heavy ice boulder smashed violently into the dummy, shattering it into pieces and leaving a dented frost-burn on the stone floor.
"That's how you kill an enemy!" Milo bragged, flashing a feral, aggressive grin at the stunned class. "My magic doesn't need 'aerodynamics.' I flood the area with pure, unfiltered freezing mana and condense it into raw, blunt force. Elegance is for the weak; absolute devastation is all that matters."
Aisha clapped enthusiastically. "Wonderful displays of both control and power! Now, who's next?"
She scanned the room, her eyes landing on a girl sitting silently near the back. She was pretty and tall, with striking black hair that flowed long down her back but was styled neatly with silver pins. Her piercing blue eyes carried a deeply serious, almost stoic expression.
"You there. Would you like to introduce yourself?" Aisha asked warmly.
The girl stood up smoothly. "My name is Kayla Caroline."
Without another word, Kayla raised a single finger. The temperature in the room dropped significantly faster than it had with Milo or Delyra.
A perfectly smooth ring of ice materialized around her waist, spinning rapidly. In a blink, the ring fragmented into dozens of tiny, beautiful ice butterflies that fluttered around the room, leaving trails of frost before returning to her and shattering into a harmless, glittering mist.
Even I felt my eyes widen in sheer shock. That level of multi-construct control... it's absurd.
"My application of ice magic relies on continuous flow," Kayla described in a calm, analytical tone. "Rather than static constructs, I maintain a constant flow of mana into the ice, allowing it to move and adapt autonomously based on pre-programmed mental commands." She bowed her head slightly and took her seat in perfect silence.
Aisha looked genuinely impressed. After praising Kayla, she pointed to a pretty, short elf girl sitting two rows ahead of me.
She had bright blonde hair styled into twin braids and nervous, wide green eyes.
"And what about you, sweetheart?"
The elf girl scrambled to her feet, her hands trembling. "U-um... my name is Scarlet Hearst..."
She nervously held out her hands, squeezing her eyes shut. A small, frail lump of ice formed between her palms. It looked lopsided and weak. "I... I try to visualize the cold, and then... um... I inject the... wait, no, I extract the heat... and..."
She stuttered through her explanation, clearly mistaking several core concepts of thermal displacement. As she lost her focus, the frail ice in her hands suddenly melted, dripping embarrassingly into a puddle of water on her desk and the floor.
Scarlet's face flushed bright red as she looked down. Milo stared out the window with blatant disinterest, while Delyra just looked at the girl with a smug, condescending sneer.
"Oh, no need to be embarrassed at all!" Aisha said softly, walking up and placing a comforting hand on Scarlet's shoulder. "Magic is a muscle. It takes time to train. You just lost your visualization for a second. You can work hard to improve, there is absolutely no rush."
Scarlet looked up, her green eyes shining with relief. "T-thank you, Instructor. I'll do better next time."
After a few more students went, Aisha's golden eyes finally landed on the boy sitting right next to me.
"You there, in the back. Would you like to introduce yourself?"
Kai stood up. His expression was completely blank, totally devoid of the nervousness Scarlet had shown or the pride Milo and Delyra had flaunted.
"My name is Kaiser Everhart."
He aimed his finger forward, pointing directly at the front of the room.
And then... nothing happened.
We all waited. Five seconds passed. Then ten.
Aisha blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Uhh... Kaiser?"
"I don't know how to use magic," Kaiser explained plainly, dropping his hand.
The entire class went completely, dead quiet. You could have heard a pin drop.
Aisha recovered quickly, her smile returning. "That's okay! You can keep learning and improve alongside everyone else. Let's start with theory, then. Kaiser, if you were to attempt to lower the ambient temperature of a localized area using elemental ice, how would you structure the mana flow?" It was a good, beginner-friendly question.
Kaiser didn't hesitate. He spoke with absolute, unwavering confidence.
"I would gather the mana in my lungs, scream at the water molecules to stop moving, and then punch the air really hard to create a vacuum of cold fear that freezes the surrounding environment."
It sounded absurdly confident, delivered with such perfect conviction that for a split second, it almost sounded like a legitimate, undiscovered technique.
But practically? It made absolutely zero sense. It was the most wrong, ridiculous answer humanly possible.
The silence stretched for another agonizing second before it broke.
Milo burst into roaring, mocking laughter, slamming his hand against his desk. Delyra covered her mouth, giggling uncontrollably at the sheer stupidity of the response. The entire class was almost too shocked to laugh, staring at him in disbelief, while even Instructor Aisha had to cover her mouth to muffle a soft, surprised giggle.
I felt my blood boil. My hands clenched into tight fists, my eyes narrowing dangerously at the laughing students. How dare they laugh at him...
"Alright, alright, calm down everyone," Aisha managed to say, waving her hands to quiet the room, though she was still fighting a smile. She looked at Kaiser honestly, her expression softening. "Kaiser, realistically... have you ever successfully cast a spell?"
"I can't use magic," Kaiser said simply, his voice perfectly even. "I never have, and I never will. I wasn't born with mana."
The laughter died down, replaced by a wave of judgmental murmurs.
"Are you kidding me?" Milo sneered, leaning back in his chair with a look of utter disgust.
"How big of a loser do you have to be to join an academy of magic without any magic? You're literally dead weight."
The class erupted into cruel laughter again, pointing and sneering at the boy who stood beside me.
Aisha slammed her hand against the podium, a loud bang that instantly silenced the room.
Her eyes were sharp, carrying a fierce protective light.
"Enough," she commanded, before turning her gentle gaze back to Kaiser. She raised her hand, giving him a supportive, uplifting gesture. "Kaiser, focus on your academics. Magic is only one aspect of a mage's life. Do not give up faith. You can succeed here, just like anyone else."
Kaiser nodded slightly and sat back down, completely unfazed by the mockery.
He's so strong, I thought, my heart aching as I looked at his completely indifferent profile. They don't understand him at all. They don't know what he's capable of. They can laugh all they want, but Kai is braver than any of them.
Soon, our celestial magic classes, Elvian knowledge lectures, and other theoretical courses flashed by in a blur of textbooks and chalk dust. Before I knew it, the bell rang, and it was lunch time. We sat at our desks, completely exhausted from the mental strain of our first real day at Asura Academy.
I turned to him, my cheeks puffing out. "Why did you let them do that?"
"Do what?" Kai asked, not even looking up as he stacked his books.
"Make fun of you! You gave the most ridiculous answer on purpose. You know how magic works theoretically. You've read all those books!"
"It was a funny answer."
"It wasn't funny! They were laughing at you. Milo called you a loser." My voice cracked slightly, a sudden wave of frustration and sadness hitting me. "I hated it. I hated seeing them look down on you."
Kai finally paused, turning his head to look at me.
"Elfie, their opinions don't change what I can or can't do."
"But still..." I muttered, looking down at my hands. "You shouldn't have to just take it."
"Well," Kai said, his voice dropping to a murmur. "I suppose if we had a Class Representative who actually cared, they might have stood up and protected me. Then I wouldn't have to take it."
I blinked, looking up at him. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. It just depends on the situation." He leaned closer, a tiny, teasing glint in his eyes. "More importantly, why are you so upset on my behalf? Are you that worried about me?"
"I-I'm not worried!" I stammered, my face instantly heating up. "I just... I'm your bestfriend! It's normal to be mad when your friend gets mocked!"
"Is that all?"
"Yes! What else would it be, you idiot?" I huffed, crossing my arms and turning away.
"Right. My bestie." Kai stood up, pulling his chair back. "Let's go get lunch before the cafeteria runs out of food."
"Wait for me!" I scrambled out of my seat, quickly catching up to him as we walked out of the classroom.
"By the way," Kai said as we navigated the crowded hallway. "After school, you should head back to the dorms without me. I need to visit the academy library."
"The library? Why? What are you looking for?"
"Some books on advanced mechanical engineering."
I stopped dead in my tracks, staring at him in complete disbelief.
"Engineering? Kai, we are in a magic academy! Why on earth do you need engineering books?"
"Just curious."
"Curious?!" I sprinted a few steps to catch up, pouting heavily.
"You're weird. You don't have mana, but instead of trying to find a way to get it, you want to build machines?"
"Machines don't need mana to work," he said simply.
"Hmph. Fine, be a nerd."
When we reached the cafeteria, the sheer noise and smell of food washed over us. We grabbed our trays and looked around the crowded hall until we spotted two familiar faces waving at us from a corner table.
"Over here!" Leena called out, her energetic voice cutting through the chatter.
Rigel was sitting next to her, already halfway through a massive plate of meat. "Hey, seems we survived homeroom."
"Barely," I sighed, sitting down across from them, while Kai slipped into the seat next to me.
"That Milo guy is a jerk." Leena said, her green eyes filled with concern as she looked at Kai.
"He's a brute," Rigel agreed, chewing on a piece of steak. "Don't let him get to you, Kaiser. Class C or not, we're all in the same academy."
"I'm fine," Kai said, calmly digging into his lunch. "The food is actually pretty good here."
"Right?" Leena beamed, pushing some of her side dishes toward me. "Try the sweet rolls, Elfie! They're amazing."
Eating with them made the lingering frustration from the morning melt away. We laughed, complained about the strict syllabus, and enjoyed the short break from classes.
After that, the afternoon classes went by. Soon all the classes ended, and the academy for the day was over, only lasting six hours in total. As the last instructor gathered their materials and left, I slumped back in my chair, raising my arms high above my head.
"Aaaah! Finally!" I stretched, my joints popping as I let out a long sigh. "My brain is completely fried."
"Too much studying," Kai agreed, resting his chin on his desk, looking like a deflated balloon.
But my moment of relief was cut short. The second the instructor's footsteps faded down the hall, the quiet classroom erupted.
"You're an absolute disgrace, Milo!" Delyra's sharp voice cut through the air as she stood up, slamming her hands on her desk. "Your family might be known for knights, but your lack of composure is embarrassing for the Sterling name to even be associated with this class!"
Milo sneered, kicking his desk forward. "Oh, shut your mouth, Nysira. Your precious academic family hasn't won a single real battle in a century. All you do is hide behind your pride and your high and mighty attitude. You want to lead? You'd cry the second a beast looks at you."
"At least we have brains, you brainless barbarian!" one of Delyra's friends chimed in, crossing her arms defensively.
"Yeah? Well, her brains won't block a nailstorm!" one of Milo's lackeys barked back.
The classroom instantly divided, a thick, suffocating wave of boys-versus-girls tension filling the room as both sides began shouting insults at each other.
I watched the unfolding disaster with wide, anxious eyes. Amidst the chaos, Kai quietly stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"I'm heading out," he murmured.
"Wait, Kai, I'll come with you—" I began, half-rising from my seat.
"Stay," Kai interrupted, looking back at me with a calm, knowing expression.
"Something special is about to happen."
Before I could ask what he meant, Kai slipped out the side door along with a few other students who wanted no part of the argument.
Just then, Rigel stood up. Instead of heading for the door, he walked directly to the center of the classroom, standing right between the two shouting factions.
"Are you two done acting like children?" Rigel's deep, steady voice instantly drew everyone's attention. He looked incredibly calm, his posture neutral. "If we keep this up, Class C is going to self-destruct on day one. We need a Representative, but neither of you is fit for it right now."
"And who are you to talk, Rigel?" Milo growled.
"Just a classmate stating facts," Rigel said smoothly. "Delyra, your academic record is perfect—a flawless 98 on the entry theory exam. But you have zero practical combat leadership. Milo, you got the highest physical score in our class, but you have the tactical patience of a rabid wolf. If either of you takes the lead, the other half of the class will sabotage you."
Both Delyra and Milo glared at him, looking pissed, but neither could deny his words.
"So what do you suggest?" Delyra demanded, crossing her arms.
"I have a better candidate," Rigel said.
Beside him, Leena suddenly looked over at me and gave me a playful wink.
"Elfina Lunaris," Rigel announced.
Wait... what?!
My heart stopped. My jaw practically hit the floor as my eyes widened. Both Delyra and Milo immediately turned their glares toward me, their expressions twisting into shared irritation.
Rigel, are you insane?! Me? A Representative? I've never led anyone in my life! I don't have any experience, I panic under pressure, and I literally hid behind Kai during our exams! I can't do this. There's no way I can lead a class of elite nobles and hot-headed mages!
"Lunaris?" Milo laughed mockingly. "The girl who barely squeaked past the combat trials? You've got to be kidding me."
"Elfina is the only student in our class who is rank zero," Rigel countered, his voice remaining firm and analytical. "Even with no formal combat experience, she managed to survive the trial and hold her own alongside Leena. Leena's elvian magic is notoriously difficult to coordinate with, yet Elfina adapted instantly. She is active, highly creative in her magical style, and possesses both the intelligence and the raw power to bridge the gap between our cliques."
"Who are you to decide that?" Milo snapped, stepping forward aggressively. "A weak girl like her is just going to get us killed."
Delyra looked at me, studying my panicked face for a long moment. She let out a soft, dramatic sigh. "Actually... I'm fine with it."
"What?!" Milo roared. The rest of the class muttered in absolute shock.
Delyra ignored them and walked over to my desk. She placed her hands on my shoulders, looking down at me with a surprisingly supportive gaze. "I would much rather support an intelligent, capable girl than a brainless barbarian. Elfina, if you join my circle, I will openly give you my support and secure the votes of my group."
"I... I..." I stammered, looking between Delyra and the staring class. "I've never had any leadership experience before... I really don't think I'm qualified..."
"See?" Milo scoffed, taking immediate advantage of my hesitation. "Even she knows she's not qualified. She's weak."
My breath hitched.
Weak...
Suddenly, the image of Kaiser standing in front of the classroom flashed through my mind.
I remembered the mocking, cruel laughter of Milo and the rest of the class. I remembered how they looked down on him, calling him a loser and dead weight just because he didn't have mana. And I... I had sat there, silent and useless, too scared to stand up for my best friend. If only I had been stronger. If only I had been someone with authority, someone who could have spoken up and protected him... he wouldn't have had to stand there and take their mockery alone.
I took a deep breath, my hands clenching into fists. I shook my head, my eyes locking onto Milo.
"I may not be qualified right now," I said, my voice trembling slightly but growing firmer with every word. "But I will work harder than anyone else to become qualified. I promise I will protect every single person in this class, no matter who they are or what their magic is. I will make sure Class C doesn't fall behind!"
Even if it was going to be terrifying, even if it was going to be hard, I was determined.
Milo scowled, clearly annoyed by my declaration. "Hmph. Your pretty words don't mean shit, Lunaris. Let's see how long you last." He waved his hand dismissively to his group. "Let's go."
As Milo's clique left the room, the tense atmosphere finally dissolved.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, turning shyly to Delyra. "Um... thank you, Delyra."
"Please, call me Del," she smiled, her attitude completely shifting into something warm and friendly.
"Del... why did you decide to support me so quickly?"
Del rolled her eyes. "Because I don't trust guys, especially loud, arrogant losers like Milo. Us women have to stick together, you know? Besides, your academic score was a perfect 100/100. That's incredibly impressive. Having you as Representative fits my goal of beating Class A and Class B perfectly."
I couldn't help but smile. Her confidence was contagious.
Rigel and Leena walked over, smiling at us. Seeing that everything had settled down and we were becoming friends, they waved goodbye and left the classroom, followed by the remaining students.
"Well, now that school is finally over, let's grab lunch!" Del said, grabbing my hand enthusiastically.
"Ah..." I hesitated, thinking of Kaiser. "Actually, I have to go and speak to my friend first..."
"Your friend? The mana-less guy?" Del tilted her head. "Just message him. Don't tell me you don't know how to use your phone?"
She quickly pulled out her own sleek device, showing me how to open the messaging app. Under her guidance, I quickly typed out a text to Kai, explaining that I was going to get lunch with Del.
A second later, my phone vibrated.
Kai: 👍
Kai: It'll be fun! 🥀
I smiled softly at the screen.
"See? He's fine," Del laughed, taking my hand and pulling me toward the door. "Come on, follow me!"
As she dragged me down the hallway, my mind began to wander.
I was happy that I was making more friends, and I wondered what it would be like to hang out with Del and her circle. But at the same time, I couldn't stop worrying about Kai.
Why did he need books on engineering? What was he planning to build? I wondered if he was feeling lonely walking to the library by himself. Even though he told me to go, I felt a little guilty for leaving him. Still, I remembered his words about spending time together at night. We lived in the same dorm building, after all. I just had to make sure we spent more time together tonight so I could ask him all about it.
January 17th, 2012 — 3:21 PM
Asura Academy — Library
Perspective: Kaiser
A stack of heavy books rested in my arms, ranging from Beginner's Guide to Dwarvian Cogwork to Advanced Core Theory and Engineering. It had taken me nearly 40 minutes to locate them all. The academy library was colossal, a multi-tiered labyrinth of towering mahogany shelves that seemed to stretch infinitely upward.
Fortunately, the elderly librarian had been kind enough to guide me to the correct section. She had looked entirely baffled, murmuring that students rarely, if ever, requested texts on Dwarvian engineering crafts.
I looked down at the sleek Dwarvian phone resting in my pocket. I wonder how you look from the inside.
To understand the lockouts and battery conduits of the black-market items I bought last night, I needed to master the basic architecture of their engineering.
I walked down the quiet, shadowed aisle to retrieve the final book on my list.
As I approached the desk in the corner, I noticed a girl sitting alone under the soft glow of a mana lamp. It was Kayla Caroline, the girl from my class who had summoned the ice butterflies. Up close, she was undeniably pretty, sitting with her back perfectly straight, her styled black hair caught in the warm light.
She was reading a mystery novel.
I caught a glimpse of the cover page: The Crimson Alibi by Reinier Austin.
I knew the name instantly. I had read that book back in the DF archives long, long ago. It was wholesome to see that people still liked it.
As my shadow fell over her table, Kayla looked up. Our eyes met, and we shared a brief, awkward stare.
Her blue eyes shifted down to the heavy stack of technical manuals in my arms. She raised a single eyebrow.
"Engineering? How odd."
"And The Crimson Alibi," I replied, nodding toward her book.
She blinked, surprised. "You know it?"
"I finished it a long time ago."
Kayla sat up a little straighter. "Did you manage to find the murderer before they were revealed at the end?"
"No," I lied smoothly. "I couldn't."
She seemed pleased by that, nodding slowly.
"Are you not reading forward until you figure it out?"
"No," she said firmly. "There is no fun if it's just revealed to you. It defeats the entire purpose of a mystery."
"Fair enough. It's a tough case."
"I'm still analyzing," Kayla said. "Who did you suspect when you read it?"
"The victim's best friend, Julian," I said.
"Julian had a clear window of opportunity. The victim, Lord Alden, was found inside a locked study, cut to pieces with a silver letter opener. Julian was the only one who knew about the secret passage behind the bookshelf, and he had access to Lord Alden's safe keys to steal the deeds. It was the perfect crime—a clean entry, no signs of struggle, and an immediate inheritance."
Kayla frowned, looking at me as if I had just suggested something incredibly stupid. "That is a foolish deduction. Julian is a red herring. It's completely impossible for him to be the killer."
"Oh?" I murmured, keeping my tone mild. "Why's that?"
Kayla tapped a sheet of paper beside her novel, covered in neat, logical tree diagrams. She had been working on this for hours.
"First, Julian has an ironclad alibi—he was at the local tavern with three guards when the murder occurred. Second, the silver letter opener was found in the garden, but Julian suffers from a severe silver allergy; his hands would have been covered in contact dermatitis. Third, the secret passage is only three feet wide, and Julian is a broad-shouldered knight. He literally couldn't fit. And finally, the safe deeds were already missing a week before the murder, which Julian couldn't have known."
"I see," I said, acknowledging her logic. "Who do you think it is, then?"
"It's hard to say," she said, looking back down at her notes. "There are too many conflicting variables."
I let out a quiet sigh.
Kayla's eyes snapped back to me, her expression turning slightly cold. She clearly didn't like the sigh, taking it as if I were looking down on her.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing," I said, adjusting the books in my arms. "It's a good novel. But the author is tricky. He likes to make you look at the obvious suspects while hiding the truth in plain sight. For example... I always thought it was tragic how the father was the one who cut his own son to pieces."
Kayla stared at me, then shook her head. "That's impossible."
She tapped her logic tree, rattle-firing facts to disprove me. "First, the father was bedridden at the estate five miles away during the estimated time of death. Second, the father himself was the one who filed the initial report to the constabulary, practically begging for justice for his son. Third, the weapon used was a silver letter opener, but the father is a retired blacksmith who only works with heavy steel. Fourth, the murder took place in the locked study, and the father had no keys to the estate after their falling out. Fifth, the father's eyes were failing due to cataracts—he couldn't have made such precise, clean cuts in the dark."
I leaned against the shelf, looking down at her. "He seemed too perfect, didn't he? A grieving, blind blacksmith father who begged for justice."
"Because he was grieving," Kayla argued.
"A perfect alibi is often the first sign of a perfect setup," I countered quietly.
"Consider the father's actual profile. He is a retired blacksmith, but he still maintains his martial status as a former high-ranking captain of the guard, meaning he possesses exceptional muscle memory. He has a bitter, ongoing feud with his brother over the family lineage, yet his brother suddenly vanished three months prior. His friends and neighbors all described him as a saint who never left his bed, but his medical reports show he purchased large quantities of night-vision draft potion from a local alchemist. He filed the report to direct suspicion away from the estate, and he used a silver letter opener specifically because he knew Julian had a silver allergy, framing him."
Kayla froze. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the logic tree on her desk.
She looked back and forth between her notes and the open book, her mind spinning as she processed the variables.
"Why didn't you conclude it was the father from the beginning if you knew?" she asked, her voice hushed.
"It felt too fantasy-like," I said simply.
With that, I nodded to her, turned, and walked away toward the checkout desk. Behind me, I could hear the rapid scratching of a pen as Kayla frantically began noting down the new logic branch.
I smiled slightly. She would figure it out now.
The novel was 600 pages long. I had solved it by page 47, though the last pages from 486 to 596 officially revealed the twist. With the hints I had dropped, she would bridge the gap easily.
I checked out my stack of books and walked out into the warm afternoon air.
As I made my way toward the dorms, I wondered if Elfie was having fun with her new friends.