For one full second, no one moved.
The broad-shouldered boy remained frozen in the spot where his punch had missed, fist extended, eyes narrowed.
William stood two steps away, just as surprised as everyone else.
"…I would like to make it clear," William said, breathing lightly, "that I did not plan that."
A few students laughed.
The boy straightened slowly.
"You teleported."
"I don't think I did."
"You vanished."
"I relocated unexpectedly."
"That's the same thing."
"It feels different."
More laughter this time.
The tension in the room loosened slightly.
Not much.
But enough.
The silver-haired girl near the front leaned forward, interested now.
"No," she said. "He didn't teleport."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed lazily at William.
"He slipped."
The broad boy frowned.
"That means nothing."
"It means you're slow."
That got a louder reaction from the class.
The boy's jaw tightened.
"You talk too much, Serena."
"And you miss too much, Daren."
William glanced between them.
"…Do all introductions here involve violence?"
"Yes," said three students at once.
"That feels organized."
Daren rolled his shoulders and faced William again.
"Try that twice."
William sighed.
"I don't know how to do it once."
"Excuses."
"No, genuinely."
Daren charged again.
Faster this time.
William's pulse kicked.
That strange internal shift returned—
not fear.
Not speed.
Something stranger.
The room stretched.
Sound thinned.
Daren's movement became readable.
William stepped sideways instinctively.
Daren passed him again.
This time William stuck out one foot.
Daren tripped violently and crashed into a desk.
The room erupted.
Laughter.
Shouting.
Someone slapped a desk.
William stared.
"…That part was intentional."
Serena smiled faintly.
"Better."
Daren rose with murder in his eyes.
"This desk attacked me."
"It was self-defense," William said.
Even the sleeping student in the back laughed without lifting his head.
The doors opened.
Silence hit the room so fast it was almost physical.
A woman entered wearing a long dark coat with silver trim at the sleeves.
Tall. Calm. Dangerous.
Not because she looked violent.
Because she looked like she didn't need to be.
Her gaze moved once across the room.
Students sat instantly.
Daren righted the desk himself.
William remained standing in the center.
She looked at him.
"You must be the noise."
William considered lying.
"…Depends who's asking."
"I am Instructor Vale."
"That answers nothing."
"It answers enough."
He sighed.
"Everyone here does that."
A few students hid smiles.
Vale noticed all of them.
Then pointed to an empty seat in the third row.
"Sit."
William sat immediately.
"Excellent instinct," Serena said quietly as he passed.
"Survival," he replied.
Vale stood at the center of the floor space.
"Welcome to Class One-A. For those who forgot overnight, this class exists for students with ability, potential, instability, or combinations of all three."
Her eyes rested briefly on William at the word instability.
Rude.
She continued.
"You are not here because you are special."
A student near the back muttered, "That felt targeted."
"You are here," Vale said without looking at him, "because other classes could not survive you."
No one spoke after that.
William slowly sat straighter.
Okay.
That was a line.
Vale lifted one hand.
The lights in the room dimmed.
No one reacted.
Which meant this was normal here.
Still annoying.
A series of glowing circles appeared in the air behind her.
Different shapes. Different colors.
"Abilities are divided into broad categories," she said.
"Elemental. Physical enhancement. Manifestation. Mental influence. Spatial distortion. Rare variants."
Her gaze shifted toward William again.
"Unknowns."
Kai would have loved that sentence.
William hated it.
Vale continued pacing.
"Some of you were born with clear talents. Some awakened under pressure. Some inherited old bloodlines. Some should have remained asleep."
That line changed the room.
Subtle.
But real.
Students glanced at each other.
William felt his wristband pulse once.
Serena raised a hand lazily.
"Do we get to know which category the new one belongs to?"
Vale didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"No."
Serena smirked.
"So unknown."
Vale ignored her.
Daren looked back over his shoulder at William.
"I still think he teleports badly."
William nodded politely.
"I think you punch emotionally."
The room laughed again.
Vale's eyes flicked toward William.
Then toward Daren.
"Both of you. Quiet."
They obeyed instantly.
That was useful information.
"Today," Vale said, "we begin control."
Several students groaned.
She ignored them.
"Raw power impresses children. Control keeps adults alive."
She pointed toward a cabinet near the wall.
"Take one band each."
Students moved quickly.
William followed and found metal strips similar to his wristband, except thinner.
Serena spoke beside him.
"You're new."
"I've been told."
"You're also famous."
"I hate that."
"You'll hate more things soon."
She took two bands and tossed one to him.
He caught it.
"…Thanks?"
"Don't read into it."
"I wasn't."
"Good."
She walked away.
That conversation felt like a warning wrapped as kindness.
Vale demonstrated first.
She tied the band around two fingers.
"Channel through this without breaking it."
She flicked her wrist.
The metal glowed blue.
Perfectly stable.
Then she handed it to Daren.
He clenched his fist.
The band snapped instantly.
The class laughed.
Daren looked offended.
"It was weak."
"It was stronger than your judgment," Vale replied.
Even William laughed at that.
One by one students tried.
Some made the bands glow.
Some heated them.
One girl turned hers invisible and lost it immediately.
Then Vale looked at William.
"New student."
He pointed at himself.
"That narrows it down."
"Front."
He stood and walked to the center.
Every eye followed.
Of course they did.
Vale handed him a band.
"Focus. Do not force."
"That advice feels late in my life."
"Begin."
William wrapped it around his fingers.
Cold metal.
He closed his eyes.
Reached inward.
Nothing.
Then deeper.
That quiet presence stirred.
The pulse in his hand answered.
Warmth surged into the band—
and all the lights in the room went out.
Complete darkness.
Someone swore loudly.
Kai would have been proud.
A second later the lights returned.
The band in William's hand had melted into silver liquid dripping onto the floor.
Silence.
Vale stared at it.
Then at him.
"…Interesting," she said.
William groaned.
"No. Not that word again."