When I opened my eyes, I saw a white ceiling. White curtains
fluttered. I was in a white bed with a woman wearing white coat besides me.

“Are you feeling okay now?” She asked worryingly, “should I
call your friends?”

“Are you the school nurse?”

“Uh, don’t call me a ‘nurse’. I am a full fledged doctor
working for this academy.”

“Do you remember the 5^th exception?” I ask, still
half sleepy.

“The 5^th? Who? Oh, her, yes, yes yes. Uhh, it
was..something elf like.”

“Why doesn’t anyone remember her?”

“Oh, I won’t say none remember her. It’s just that she
doesn’t come in exams much, so both students and teachers skip that part.”

“I see. What was wrong with me?” I ask, just realising that
I am on a bed as a patient.

“Oh, just Mana depletion. Must be due to the exam. Nothing
too uncommon, lot’s of students faint like that.”

The exam? The balloon popping one? I don’t think so. But,
Vivian. She was so afraid. Why? That strange man. I can’t remember him now.
What is his relationship with her? Who even is he? As I was thinking about him,
my head pained again and I dozed off.

This time, I woke up in a normal bed. In a normal room. It
was night now. I couldn’t see much but the clock on the table besides me said
it was 9 now. I looked down and noticed that I was now in my school uniform. My
transformation must had been undone somewhere along the line.

I got up, and mumbled my chant, only increasing my voice to
gently whisper-  “Magical Girl Flare”

I was covered in light like usual, and my school uniform got
replaced by my pink frilly dress. I didn’t felt anything unusual. I was
perfectly fine.

I checked the window. It was locked but could be opened from
inside. I open it, and climb out. It was a beautiful moonlit night. I jumped
down. I just be at second or third floor but in magical girl state, I can make
such jumps without making any noise.

I wasn’t planning to do anything sneaky. I just wanted to
know what was in that direction. I do plan to run if I see that strange man, I
am just cautious.

I barely walked a step before I heard a familiar voice.

“Flare, where ya going?”

It was the noble sounding voice of Vivian, this time wearing
a light pink gown. Usually I would comment how cute she looks while speaking
wrong grammar, but right now, I was petrified.

“Ahahah, you see. Ahh, I was just..uhh, like...sorry.”

“Fufufu.” She giggled. “Don’t worry, I won’t tattle tale on
you. You want to see those dorms right? Let me take you there.”

And she held my hand again. Despite being looking so
diligent, she really is a rowdy girl, isn’t she?

We went back to the gates, and turned.

“So, what do you think?”

“This is..normal?”

What was in front of me was just an extended part of the
school. Nothing more. Well, there was a fountain and flower bed too. But
nothing out of ordinary. There was the usual chirping of insects

“There really is...nothing here.”

“Well, what did you expect? This is just a normal school,
you know.”

“Then, who was that man.”

“He...is someone. I mean, he exists. That’s all I can say.”

“All you can say?”

“Well, I was in first year then, it happened an year ago. I
don’t really want to talk about it. Just, things happened.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

“It, it really isn’t about telling anyone. Pretty sure most
people already know. I just, don’t want to say it.”

“Hah? What kind of logic is that? Come on, say it, say it,
say it.”

“Stop it.” She said while giggling. “Don’t you have any
secret you rather not tell anyone?”

“No, I actually don’t.”

“Hu? Wait, seriously?”

“I think it’s normal to not have secrets. The only one I had
was that I am a magical girl, and even that I really wanted to tell others.”

“Is that so. Wow. That, that must be an amazing world. You
must really love it there, right?”

“Umu. I really love it. That’s why I wanted to protect it.”

“Protect it, huh. From what?” she almost whispered .

“From Demons, of course! Aren’t they the bad guys?”

“Oh, yes. They are the bad people. Very bad. They kill for
sport, and take over our lands. They don’t even spare children.”

“See! What’s there not to protect?”

“Nothing. I just mumbled then. That’s all. Speaking of, you
see that fountain? That was the place where I met the other members of student
council for the first time.”

“Wait really? Isn’t this really lucky fountain then? Oh,
wait. This reminds me. Vivian, I have a really important question to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Which of the boys are you going after?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, you are surrounded by all these hot ones. There has
to be one in which you are interested in, right? Please tell me who is it so we
don’t clash.”

“Ahhh, I really don’t have a preference. But, you know Alex.
He is my brother, so could you not go after him?”

“Whaahh, Understood. I would totally not go after him. By
the way, which one was Alex again?”

“The one who found you in the forest.”

God, my luck. Why does the best of them have to be her
brother! Well, now that the number of contestants have reduced, I can actually
focus on remembering them. Let’s see. There was Alex, Nathan..and. Hmm. I don’t
remember anyone else.

“By the way, what were you doing outside at such time?” I
asked Vivian.

“Well, it’s the student council’s duty to make sure students
don’t loiter around late at night. I was just making my rounds.”

And so she said. I believed her. But the next morning , I
found her right on my doorstep, holding a uniform.

“Flare, from now you are officially a student of the Royal
Academy.”

The uniform was, well, quite unlike a uniform. I suppose
since this is a fancy school, things like this happen. The uniform in itself
was what we, the common people, would call a wedding dress, except it wasn’t
white, it was light brown, and there was no veil. It was like one of those
princess dress girls wear on Halloween. Can I even call it a uniform though?
Like, it is completely different from what Vivian wears. She wears a red-black
one. I changed into it, and surprisingly, it was a clean fit.

“How did you get my measurements?” I asked twirling and
swirling around.

“Our tailors are wonderful, aren’t they. They were able to
make this just by looking at a photo of yours.”

“Eh? Photo? When did you take one?”

“Ara, don’t you remember. We took one after the exam.”

“Hah? I wasn’t even ready at that time! My hair was so
frizzy at that time. There weren’t any bugs in my hair, were there?”

“Don’t worry about that. Anyways, you should take a bath
now. Breakfast starts in half an hour.”