The teacher pulled out a candle and a smooth stone with inscriptions. She placed the candle on one of the corners of her desk and lit it using magic. She then lifted the stone and showed it to the students.

“Do any of you know what this is?”

One of the students, a slightly chubby boy with brown hair, raised his hand and the teacher looked at him.

“It’s a magical focus.”

“Very good, Andrew. This stone right here is useful specifically for beginners who can’t exactly cast spells yet. I want you to try and use it to put out the candle. Now, get in line.”

She placed the stone down next to the candle and waited as the students formed a line, each trying to use the stone to create either a small gust of wind or a drop of water. None of these worked and the ones that tried ended up getting very tired. The students, one by one, walked up to it hoping to prove themselves, and walk back to their seats disappointed. Out of the 34 students, only three didn’t try: Arthur, Cassandra and Yuuki. The teacher could instantly pick them out, simply because they were the only ones who didn’t look like they pulled an all-nighter.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try? Alright, how about this? The first one to successfully put it out this week will get the focus as a reward.”

The lesson then continued with everyone being shown the basics of meditation and told to try and practice it in their free time.

The next lesson was etiquette class, which was split based on gender rather than age. Yuuki and Cassandra decided to pair up while they had to practice formal greetings for an hour. They went to lunch break together, and sat down on the balcony.

Cassandra had quite the large amount of food on her own plate, but Yuuki had even more.

“Hmm?” Yuuki turned around to look at Cassandra, who was watching her eat.

“Oh, sorry nothing. It’s just that I don’t often see someone eat as much as me. I have a condition that makes me burn through food quicker...”

Yuuki was surprised she’d call being blessed by the goddess of light a condition, but it hardly mattered. “I just like eating.”

They spent the rest of the lunch break eating with no restraints, and went to their final class of the day: mathematics. They jumped right in and learnt the first 20 numbers.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.

The next day started with double PE classes. It was out on one of the large open spaces covered by grass. They were told about safety and the different rules before being told to run a lap around a building after warming up. Yuuki came out on top by a significant margin.

After PE they had an hour free before lunch break, which they used to play some ball games. Yuuki used the chance to get to know her classmates a bit better. The last class that day was history, but it was quite difficult to teach considering not everyone could read and write yet.

On Thursday Yuuki had no classes, because all 4 lessons were literacy classes, which she didn’t need. She stayed in her room all day and read books.

On Friday, they had 2 etiquette classes, and PE. The last lesson of the day was magic basics. They were told the very minimum to help them better understand what magic worked before they could all try again with the candle. Yuuki knew for a fact it was a sham. Last time, the candle was enchanted so it couldn’t be put out. This time, it was a normal candle that everyone succeeded in putting out, so they’d feel better about having “advanced” in such a small time frame.

They were all told to participate, so the three who didn’t try last time stood at the back of the line, waiting for their turn. Arthur casually aimed the small stone at the candle and created a gust of wind that not only put out the fire, but also knocked over the candle. The rest of the students applauded while he went back to his seat.

Cassandra aimed the stone at the candle and looked around nervously.

“Don’t overthink it. You can do it.” The teacher said encouragingly. The candle then became a bit brighter for just a moment before the flames vanished. Cassandra used a ray of light to vaporize the wick.

“Alright Elizabeth, why don’t you try lighting it on fire again?”

Yuuki knew that the teacher had looked at her dossier since their last meeting and most likely wanted to test her. Since she had no intention not to stand out, after all, it would provide more opportunities to create relationships that might be beneficial in the future, Yuuki decided to show off a bit. She didn’t bother picking up the focus as she created a blue flame on her index finger that she ignited the candle with. Not only the wick, but the wax itself burnt away quickly leaving no ash, no smoke, nothing behind. It didn’t spread to the table, the blue fire disappeared after it was done eating the candle. Yuuki went back to her seat with a sly smile as the other students, and teacher, looked at her dumbfounded.

“That’s about enough for today. Have a nice weekend.” The teacher said quickly, and the classroom began to empty.

--

“That was awesome! And the way you walked away without saying anything. Ahh, it was so cool.” Cassandra was currently fangirling over Yuuki while looking at her with wide eyes. “How did you do it?”

They were walking back to the dorms and Yuuki was actually enjoying this praise now that she had some minimal emotions.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what you did.” She replied.

“Oh, that… I used some light to burn the wick. It’s nothing too crazy.”

“Come on, you’re downplaying it! It was great.” She affectionately petted Cassandra’s golden hair.

“R-Really?” She was looking at Yuuki as if she just gave her a box of ice cream.

“Yeah.” Yuuki smiled happily.

Cassandra was so busy daydreaming she didn’t even notice that she followed Yuuki all the way to her room.

“Wanna come in?”

“Can I?” She said it so quietly, she was practically whispering.

“Sure.” Yuuki happily put her arm around Cassandra and led the blushing girl into her room. She let her go once they were inside the room and sat down on her bed. “So, what’s the plan?” She asked with a playful smile.

“Your tail. Can I touch it?” She whispered while hiding her beet red face in her hands.

“One condition: you sit in my lap.”

“Eh?! There’s no way I can…” She was getting quieter and quieter as the sentence went on.

And so the shy girl sat down in Yuuki’s lap, hugging her tail while Yuuki was hugging her.