“Akira, what time do you want to go to the city today?” Yuki asked as he put on a pair of shoes. “I’ll probably be free any time after three.”

“We can go a bit before of after dinner,” she suggested. “Grab something to eat out in the city then go buy a class crystal.”

“That’ll work,” he nodded. “I’ll be going to the Academy now.”

“Bye,” Akira waved as he walked out of the door of their apartment. 

“Have fun,” Erica called out.

He shut the door and started the walk toward the transport station in Fenrir. His body still felt a bit sore but for the most part it didn’t hinder him. Putting his hand to his ear, he slipped an earpiece in it.

“Uriel, I take it you wiped my record?” he asked as he made his way to the station.

“Of course. We can’t have you walking around as a criminal, now can we,” she replied. “Was there something else you wanted me to do?”

“No. I just wanted to make sure. Though I might have something for you to do later if the need arises,” he said.

“Okay~. Call me when you need me. I’ll be optimizing the golems in the meantime.”

“Go ahead. I’ll be going to the Academy.”

He took the earpiece out and stored it into his ring as he walked to a transporter. A few seconds later, he walked out and was in Junction. From the station, he made his way to the familiar gate of the Academy and strolled right in. He walked the familiar path to the Main Hall and passed by a few people that ignored him for the most part. Then he entered his homeroom.

‘Everything still looks the same. I shouldn’t have missed much,’ he thought as he sat in his usual seat. ‘One week isn’t that long of a time.’

Scanning the room, most of the students seemed engrossed in their own things, chatting, playing, or listening to music. He saw Yuna walk towards him and behind her, a few seats back, was a girl who was staring at him with unreadable eyes.

‘Hmm, I wonder what she wants.’

“Hi, Yuki,” Yuna said, her voice cheerful but her eyes anything but. “Mind if I sit here for a bit?”

“Go ahead,” he replied, tilting his head toward a seat beside him.

“So how have you been doing?” she asked. Her voice was pleasant still. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m doing better,” Yuki answered, his voice equally as pleasant. “I had a few problems that I had to attend to and I was quite sick for a bit, but I’m doing fine now.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, I just was exhausted and almost felt like I was going to die,” he said. “It took some time, but I’ve recovered for the most part.”

“I’m sorry,” Yuna said, her voice softer, her facade cracking. “That you became that sick, of course.”

“Don’t worry about.” He stared directly at her. “I’ll do it again if I needed to. Smarter the next time, but I would still do it. Staying home, of course.”

“Well, class is about to start,” she said, looking away. “Let’s chat later.”

“I don’t mind.”

She stood up from her chair and gave Yuki one last concerned glance before heading back to her seat. Yuki’s eyes flickered back to the girl that was staring at him before and saw that she had averted her attention to Yuna. She was smiling as she began to talk to her.

‘Maybe jealousy?’ Yuki mused. ‘That could explain why she was staring. But if it was, she’s very good at controlling her facial expressions.’

Yuki glanced at his watch. He counted down the seconds until the bell rang, signalling the start of class. Mabel walked in, a bright smile on her face as she looked around the room. When her eyes landed on Yuki, her smile grew wider and she gave him a nod of acknowledgement. 

“Hello, everyone,” she greeted. “It’s Thursday so the weekend is almost upon us. I see that some of you have returned healthy today and that’s wonderful. Before I get on to today’s lecture, I need to make a semi-brief announcement. Does anyone know what is going to happen in three months?”

“The annual tournament,” one voice threw out.

“Exactly,” Mabel nodded. “This year’s a bit early because a few factors within this year’s tournament but you should expect it to start in three months. Sign ups are posted on the Academy page so you can register there or at the Headmaster’s Castle if you so choose to. Now, I’m going to get into a bit of detail about the tournament this year. It’s a bit different.”

“Normally, you register by yourself and are a single team of one. It doesn’t matter what type of battling we did or the environment, it was always one person. However, there are times where that changes.”

She gave a meaningful look to everyone in the room.

“This year’s tournament is a team challenge. You can group up into teams of four maximum if you want to. It’s not a requirement but it is recommended. What the format of this tournament with be is not something I can discuss at this time but expect something that requires cooperation.”

Murmurs spread throughout the room as the students began to let their imaginations run wild as they tried to come up with ideas as to what the tournament will be.

“I can, however, tell you this,” Mabel continued. The room quieted. “The reward for the winning team in this tournament is something unique. It’s not special equipment or potions. It isn’t money or treasure. Rather, this year’s is a position. The winning team of the tournament will be gifted a spot in the Libra Task Force training camp and can potentially become one of its members.”

Yuki watched as the eyes of many students light up at the announcement. The Libra Task Force, or L-taf as most people in Libra called them, were a special operations force that operated for the Libra military. 

‘It’s not something I really want though.’

“So with that said, I urge everyone here to start preparing for the competition ahead of time. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you all and I hope that you all try your chances. You never know what could happen.”

---

 

The rest of Yuki’s day flew by as if it was any other day. His other instructors didn’t seem to care about his week of absence and he was never called up to the headmaster to be questioned as to why he was gone for so long. 

‘Uriel seemed to do a good job.’

The last class of his day was his support magic class. Walking in, he found Mabel already inside the classroom, sitting on the floor. She saw him enter and her eyes lit up and she stood up from her seat.

“Yuki, welcome back,” she smiled. “It was quite boring without you here. I had nothing to do for the end of the day.”

Yuki nodded and sat in his place as he waited for Mabel to start instruction. She sat back down and placed her hands on her lap.

“May I ask why you weren’t in class for a week?” she asked.

“I was sick,” Yuki replied. “I was recommended to take a week of rest so as to make sure that I heal properly.”

“One week? That must have been quite a strong disease.”

“I guess you can say that. But I’m fine now and so here I am.”

“Here you are indeed. Well, we’ll just be doing what we were doing before you became sick,” Mabel said. “Elemental infusions and enchanting for the most part. I can’t really teach you much since my forte is healing and yours is enchantments and such. I’ll be giving you a few more spells to memorize and then we can test them out later.”

“Alright.”

“But, Yuki. If I can make a suggestion,” she continued. “What you’ve been learning here is useless without the practice of using these spells for practical purposes. I believe you’ll improve even more if you tried to spar with your peers and utilize your enchantments and support magic.”

“Skirmishing is a good way to practice,” Yuki nodded.

“Are you planning to enter the tournament?” she asked.

“I’m not certain, but most likely not. I don’t see the need for me to do so,” Yuki replied. “The reward is nice but not something I need or really want.”

‘But it would be a nice power of influence if I can get someone in there.’

“I think you should join,” she said. “That’ll be your real life practice. The three months before the tournament, we can study combat techniques that combat supports usually employ and you can do some training. Then on the day of the tournament, you can use you new skills and see how you fare against others.”

“Use the tournament for practice rather than consider it as a competition?”

“Basically,” Mabel nodded. “It would be a great opportunity for you and if you do well, your Academy rank will go up and you’ll gain more opportunities.”

“I see.”

“In fact, instead of a final for the year, I’ll make this the final. If you compete in the tournament and can get the top, let’s say fifty, then I’ll give you full marks for the year. How about it?”

“Well, if it is my final then I’m going to have to do it anyway,” Yuki said. 

“It’s easier than an actual final.”

“That’s debatable. But I’ll do it. It won’t hurt.”

“Wonderful,” Mabel smiled. “Now I know what we will be doing for the next three months as well.”

“I feel like that’s what you really wanted when you suggested for me to join the tournament.”

“No, of course not,” she shook her head. “It’s just an added benefit. One that I planned, but still a benefit.”

“Mhm.”

“Anyways, let’s get on to the lesson shall we?” 

“Alright.”