I’m different from other people. I don’t know how or even in what way, but I do know that something is just not the same.

 

I learned this back when I was only a few years old.

 

I was out with my father, he had taken me shopping in the capital city’s market district. It was so bustling and full of life and so dreadfully noisy. Everyone was haggling and advertising and chatting. There were musicians and folk dances and many other lively things. 

 

I had never experienced that before.

 

I remember finding an alley there. It was just down the road, but it wasn’t like the marketplace. It was quiet.

 

So I snuck away to go down that alley. There were lots of people there. They were all so thin and dirty, and they trembled on the dusty ground with glazed eyes. Some coughed, some had sores that were clearly infected, and some… Well… They didn’t seem to be breathing at all.

 

But I didn’t mind. It’s not like these people had anything to do with me. I just continued down that alley, listening to the grunts of the dying. 

 

But then I felt a hand wrap around my ankle. It was an old man who looked at me with tears in its eyes.

 

It begged for my help. Just a bit of money. Just a bit of food. Anything. It sobbed, throwing away all its pride, not letting me go.

 

But I didn’t care. What would I have gotten out of it?

 

Gratitude?

 

Such things mean nothing to me.

 

And so I raised my foot. And I brought it to its eye. And the old man let go of my ankle, shielding its face in pain.

 

And I walked away.

 

Later, I learned that I was supposed to have felt something that day. A willingness to help, sympathy, confusion, fear… But I felt none of those things. It was just an old man at the end of his life. Why should that matter?

 

It would have mattered to anyone else, but not to me, and so I’m different.

 

When I came to this school, the Intra-Continental Academy, that is… Well, when I first arrived, I expected things to be just as boring as always. But then I saw her—Cadence Ella Madgeye. She’s interesting, you know. 

 

She probably hasn’t realized it, but the way she reacts to me is so funny. 

 

She’s supposed to be training with her brother, today… Should I come watch?

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“So, what was that again?”

 

The twins were out on one of the training fields near their dorm building. They had come with the intentions of improving Cadence’s gastraphetes spell, but they weren’t making much progress. Caleb had used earth magic to make several targets of varying size, and used wind magic to move them about.

 

He seemed to have been making some sort of game or puzzle, and Cadence just couldn’t follow.

 

“Right so, once we start, these targets will multiply every three seconds. You’re starting with four. Next you’ll have eight, then sixteen, and so forth. If you hit them, they’ll break, so you need to break all of them before they multiply faster than you can shoot. Got it?”

 

“Not particularly, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?”

 

Caleb nodded, and the match began. 

 

Four blocks of different sizes swirled around her. She summoned her spell, and looked away just long enough to load a single arrow into her contraption. When she looked up again, there were already eight targets.

 

That wasn’t enough to bother her, though. She took aim and fired. And then there were fourteen.

 

This process repeated itself until there were so many targets surrounding her that she couldn’t move. At this point, she had only shot down five. She was at a big disadvantage. Caleb stopped casting his spell, and moved to discuss with his sister what she could try differently.

 

But it wasn’t his voice that gave Cadence advice.

 

“Why don’t you just summon the arrow directly on the crossbow? Then you wouldn’t have to waste any time loading it…”

 

It was Noah. He walked over, pouting. Cadence then remembered that she had promised to go bug hunting again. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not with everything that had happened the day before. She had to turn him down today.

 

Caleb jogged over and began asking about Noah’s suggestion.

 

“Okay, but every time she loads, she has to pull the string back. Even if she summons the new arrow directly on top, how would she be able to fire it?”

 

Cadence shook away any other thoughts. She had to make noticeable progress by the end of the day if she didn’t want to resort to remedial classes.

 

“What if I make it set up and load automatically? I’d be doing a pretty constant drain on my mana, but then I’d only have to focus on aiming.”

 

The two boys nodded, and after some practice, it was time to try Caleb’s test again.

 

This time it went much more smoothly. She wasn’t able to take out all the targets completely, but she managed to keep them down to three or four throughout the half-hour long session. 

 

It would have lasted longer, but Mr. Bartholomew had shown up and interrupted the young magicians. And he had Martha in tow.

 

“That’s enough, can’t you see she’s worn out?”

 

Sure enough, Cadence was, at this point, out of breath, but she was more focused at the large cat ears bent back at the irritation of a student pushing themselves.

 

“It’s great that you’re taking the initiative to improve your skills outside of class, but as your professor, I can’t allow you to continue any more than-”

 

“OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!! You can make more than just fabric???!!!! Cadence you’re a wonder! What else can you make? Wait what if we made a retail shop that sold just things that you made with your ice??? We’d only have to pay the service fees and employee wages and rake in a fat LOAD of cash, ya know what I mean?”

 

Cadence sighed, “Martha, you’re rambling again…”

 

Martha responded by covering her mouth with her hands, giving a small ‘oops!’

 

Cadence ignored her, and went to question her teacher.

 

“Why is a general student here? It’s dangerous for people who can’t use magic to be on training grounds.”

 

“Ah… Martha was curious and wanted to see magic in person. I’m here to protect her, so you don’t need to worry about the danger. But…”

 

Mr. Bartholomew trailed off while the four ten year olds gave him questioning looks. The beastman then snapped his attention towards one student in particular.

 

“Caleb, could you escort Martha back to the general department? I have business with Noah and Cadence.”

 

Business.

 

The word sent chills down Cadence’s spine. What could it be? She prayed to herself that she wouldn’t have to watch anymore “research.”

 

Caleb agreed and happily lead the sulking Martha away from the others. Martha had clearly wanted to stay, and Cadence would have asked her to. Except that she wasn’t sure of which out of the two, Mr. Bartholomew or Martha, was the lesser of two evils.

 

Mr. Bartholomew had already started to leave before the girl could make up her mind. And Noah followed suit like a little duckling. At this point, Cadence had no choice but to follow.

 

In the end, they made their way to Mr. Bartholomew’s office. Alarm bells were going off in Cadence’s head, but she couldn’t run away now, could she? So she reluctantly entered the room, questioning her professor’s intentions.

 

“Mr. Bartholomew? Um… What exactly… Do you need us for?”

 

“Oh! Right, I forgot. I need help going through the documents on my desk. They’re all recordings of my findings. I’m supposed to write a field report and submit it to the school, but it’s such a mess in here that I can’t seem to… Find… Ah-hah! I knew I didn’t finish my tuna salad!”

 

Please note that it’s a bad idea to eat tuna salad that’s been left out.

 

Though Mr. Bartholomew didn’t care and just gobbled it down, anyway. Who knew beastmen were such big fans of tuna salad?

 

 

---

 

 

 

Cadence and Noah spent the next two hours sorting documents while their professor continuously got distracted, darting around the room to do practically nothing. Cadence got used to the sound of him running from one corner of the room and back to the other, only to stare at an emptiness on the wall. So used to it, in fact, that she began to feel strange. The room had been completely silent for a while, save for the shuffling of papers.

 

The strange feeling was building up, and Cadence couldn’t stop thinking that something was out of place. So she turned around.

 

And Mr. Bartholomew was mere inches away from her, staring with an expression she couldn’t identify.

 

“M-Mr. Bartholomew?”

 

All he had to say was, “I didn’t want to research bugs, you know. I’ve always been drawn to a bigger thing.”

 

“A bigger thing? Like.. Bigger bugs…?”

 

The beastman’s lips curled up slightly, and he continued to stare at Cadence in silence. She did her best to ignore him and finish up, but he didn’t seem to be leaving her alone. She didn’t notice at all before, but now she could feel his gaze on her back as if it had a physical impact.

 

Soon after, the two students finished, and prepared to leave. As Mr. Bartholomew walked them to the door, he asked, “Aren’t the two of you interested in how my specimens feel? Don’t my experiments make you curious?”

 

Noah nodded his head excitedly, but Cadence laughed awkwardly, inching away as conspicuously as she could.

 

"If you're curious, then the two of you can be my research assistants!"

 

Mr. Bartholomew's ears twitched with excitement, in time with his waving tail. All traces of his strange behavior from earlier had completely disappeared, and Cadence immediately calmed down. While Noah happily accepted, the girl considered the offer.

 

If she was an assistant, she'd be allowed to drop some  classes in favor of her research. AND she'd be able to read all she wanted as long as the book was on a related topic. Because then it wouldn't be reading. It would be research. And no one would be able to say a word in protest.

 

This newfound loophole made her ecstatic. She'd be able to have her fill of books without lacking attendance! So of course, she accepted. After all, Mr. Bartholomew's bizarre antics had now completely slipped her mind.

 

And with this, Cadence and Noah became official research assistants of the ICA-Magic Department.