“Hohoho. Come inside, Maagical Girl Flare. Take a seat.”
Said the old frail bald old man who is commonly called the headmaster. Thank
god he was wearing a shirt right now. Well, it wouldn’t be called a shirt, it’s
that cloth that old people wear around them. Lonicloth? Was that what that’s
called? You know, the thing which looks like yukata, but only covers the upper
half.

“Is there a problem?”

“Oh, no, sorry. I was just distracted. Haha.”

“Ho, that’s okay. Take a seat.”

I sat on the black sofa again opposite to his desk. This
time, there was also a woman with him, about forty or something, wearing formal
attire and accompanied by many guards.

“So, how was your first class?” asked the headmaster.

“Oh, it was fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Good. It was very good. I learnt a lot.”

“Hoho, so I suppose Ms. Redwood has taught you about magic
circles.”

“Yes, a little.”

“I see, did you find that hard to understand?”

“No, it was very easy, she taught it very well.”

“But surely, it must be difficult to even think of
memorizing those symbols, right?”

“Well, I suppose, yes?”

“Huhu. You need not worry. For you have an excellent gift,
Maagical Girl Flare.” He took a pen and began drawing a circle on the sheet of
paper on his table. The circle was very crude, with one side flatter than
other, almost as flat as a line, but at the end of it, he drew that bent M near
perfectly. He touched it and it glowed, not that bright, just as much as a
candle. He handed me the paper.

“Now, you try.” He said.

I take the paper. Just as that, what was her name? Wood
something? Worm wood? Or was it wool? So, like Ms. Wool taught me, which really
wasn’t nothing that I think about it. We just studied for 10 minutes! And this
magic circle thing just was for what?, 30 seconds?

“Hoho, you need not try any longer, do not be disappointed,
the result was expected.”

The sheet was taken from me before I even tried to put
energy through it. What did he meant by expected result. Surely, I have been
clumsy here and there, but he couldn’t have figured out my disabled intellect
so soon.

“As you saw, Maagical Girl Flare, the magic you use and the
one we use is quite different. No, not just different. Its superior. Say, can
you let is take a look at your magic circle? Ah, not the one you used at exams,
something , more tame.”

“Ma-magic circle? When did I make one?”

“Oh, you know, the thing you made with your wand, during the
exams.”

Ah, he means the hearts. I summon my wand. It was still the
one I knew. White handle with shiny pink gem. I was afraid it was gonna turn
into ash coloured one like the one I saw in museum. I hold it, and draw hearts
in air. I never used magic other than to fight, but this really raises many
questions. I always keep drawing multiple hearts. Somehow, one just becomes
perfect. I don’t even know the criteria. I just keep drawing till one fills
with love and does the deed. Somehow , it’s always what I want them to do.

Even this one. It just filled with energy, and floated in
air with a pink glow. A light emitting heart.

“Well" asked the headmaster to the lady besides him,
“What do you think?”

“It does certainly look like it. Flare, is that your name?”

“Yes.”

“I believe you have already been to the Emperor’s Rest.”

“Yes, I went there yesterday.”

“I see. Did you like it?”

“Yes, very much. It was a nice learning experience.” I said
almost instinctively. That was the standard question to be asked in school
after coming back from a trip. The next one is going to be what I liked the
most.

“So, what did you like the most?”

“Well, there was the statues of the exceptions. The tree
throne. And there was the wand of second.”

“Wand of Second? Are you interested in it?”

“Well, it’s very different than mine. So, I suppose I am a
bit curious.”

“Well, you can satisfy your curiosity here and now.” A guard
passed her a suitcase. She opened it and pulled out that dull looking metal
stick. The wand of second.

Holding it now, I can see the difference. My own wand was white,
like made of porcelain, and had a swollen handle with some golden inscriptions
in it. The metal stick, on other hand, had a small hammer like head as the
handle. Flat from one end, pointy from other. And the gem itself, well, I can’t
call it gem, since it doesn’t look anything like it, it felt like plastic.

“Excuse me,” I asked “Can I call someone to get a second
opinion?”

“Call? Who?”

“Ah, its, well, us, magical girls have a partner, which can
be summoned and all.”

“Oh, please do that.” Said the woman excitedly.

Her excitement really raised the bar for me. Usually, I do a
dance and all but I was too embarrassed to do that. I just held out my palm and
Nanoja just appeared with a small radiance.

While the old man was taken back, the woman simply had a
look of expectation on her face. Guess she isn’t really interested in anything
except that stick.

Nanoja sprinted from my palm to the stick, holding it cutely
with his little paws.

“Just as I thought.” He said in his squishy voice “This really
has three circuits.”

“Ah, Nanoja. You never told me what are circuits.”

“Circuits are just paths through with magic runs. This wand
has three of them, hence it can perform 3 different types of magic. We partners
can see them, through the wand. They are right here, from handle to the gem”

“What about mine?” I asked, “How many circuits does it has?”

“Your wand is different. Your wand has parallel canals which
can be rotated to form combinations. All that is suspended in a liquid matrix which
arranges the canals that way. Hence, there are seemingly infinite circuits in
your one. This one, if it is from our world, it must be a very primitive model,
before I came into the business.”

Nanoja really sounded like a vacuum cleaner seller while
saying that. He would really make a good door to door salesman.

“Hoh, you really seem to know your stuff.” Said the woman,
reclining forward, “say, Nanora, was it? Can you tell us what ‘circuits’ are in
this wand? “

“I would require tools for that. I studied this stuff when I
was a student. Right now, all I can do is the second one. It is the one most
similar to Flare's one.”

Wait, student? Nanoja was a student? Did he used to wear
uniform? Did he wore a suit to his graduation? Or was he naked all the time?
Well, not naked since he is covered in fur, but imagine standing without
clothes in front of whole school. And every single student is naked as well.
Including the teachers.

“The first thing is, that the first and second circuits are
upside down.” Answered Nanoja. “Which is quite strange. I don’t know this gem,
but assuming it is made to emit magic, it doesn’t make sense. But in order to
cast the first and second magic, one has to grab it by the gem instead of the
handle.”

“Oh, really!” remarked the woman. “We knew about the first
one, but t is the first time I am learning that the second one is inverted too.
I am so happy we came to you, Flare.”

“Wha, but, I didn’t even do anything..”

“Don’t be humble, if you weren’t here, we would never be
able to unlock the mysteries of past. Now, Nanora, what about the third one?”

“That one is normal. From handle to gem. I suppose that is
the primary function while the other two are accessories added later.”

“Aw, that’s all? Anything else?”

“Well, the second circuit. It is a very simple one. I
suppose you must had already studied it by now.”

“Hm, you should not put ladies into spots like that, you
know? We get really troubled when men expect something this big from us.”

Hey, wait. Why am I seeing a what I am seeing. I could
almost hear the romantic songs being played in the background.

“Ah, is that all?” I ask.

“Why, of course not, Flare. We haven’t even started yet.
Now, as Nanora said, this wand has 3 magic circles. Out of those, we know the
function of two, and we have analysed only one. Isn’t that a pity? Thousands of
years, and we can’t even do that. Say, are you interested in knowing what it
does?”

“I, I, I suppose so.”

“Excellent. Stretch out your arm.” She said while putting on
gloves. I stretched out my arm and she picked the wand with its top. The fact
that she put on protection made me guilty to touch it bare handed. I mean,
there might be some food stuck to it now. I don’t remember whether I even
washed my hands or not. Wait, did I even brush my teeth? Is there something
stuck in my teeth right now?

“Well, did you feel anything?” asked the woman.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Well, then we can do that again.” She said and raised the
wand high, and bought it down to my hand quickly. It was too quick for me to
retract my hand. All I could do was to squint my eyes and wait for the terrible
pain.

But, it never came.

I slowly opened my eyes. The stick did touched me, but it
really didn’t felt like anything more than a tap.

“So?” she raised her eyebrows.

“It, it doesn’t hurt.” I said.

“Yes, it doesn’t. The first magic circle, when you pour mana
into it, from here, the gem, it gains the ability to nullify all forces greater
than 1 thenimy, to 1 thenimy. Ah, you don’t know how much that is, right? I
thenimy would be like, a coin, perhaps? Like a coin landed on you.”

“That’s Amazing!”

“Yes, it is. The basic concept is similar to the light
emitting one you just saw. But we suspect it contains some mechanical parts
which can not be studied without breaking it apart. Now, for the second circle,
you try.”

“Eh, me?”

“You, of course, who else? The second circle doesn’t get
activated by mana. We believe it can only be activated by you, by power of
love!”

The picked up that stick, and almost dropped it, but saved
myself on time. I have already bought dishonour by touching it by bare hands, I
mean, this wand is like a buddha statue to these people.

I don’t really know what to do with this. Even the weight is
wrong. Nevertheless, I took it and began drawing hearts. And, well, it felt
wrong. Not wrong, but more accurately incomplete. It’s like writing with a pen
without any ink. Just after a few swirls, I gave up and handed it back.

“I am sorry, but, I can’t seem to do it.”

“Oh, that’s ok. Why, that’s completely fine. You can’t force
such things. I just wanted to speed things up because of children.”

“What children?”

“Oh, you know. There are many children who can’t even afford
to study under a light. They begin to work at such a tender age, there are also
many in hospitals, some can’t even get a bed.”

“Uh..”

 Oh, look, now I am
rambling. Don’t mind me, you go at your own pace. I was just thinking we might
be able to feed everyone with this. Malnutrition would no longer exist.”

“Can, can I get another try?”

“Of course, you can, you can try as many times as you want.”

I took the stick again. This time, I felt an urge. A
connection? Just a feeling. Like something was pinching me. I let go of the
stick, but it didn’t fall down. It remained stuck to me fingers. As I moved my
fingers, the stick would crawl from spaces to spaces, spinning between my
fingers. I held it between my thumb and index finger, and spinner it like a
top. It elegantly rested on my finger, spinning and spinning like a helicopter.
I caught hold of it. And spun it again. And stopped it. And spun it again.
Sometimes I let it spin for longer, sometimes I would stop it as soon it
started spinning. Each time the result was same.

The stick would always stop such that the ash coloured black
heart shaped thing rested in my palm. I tried it many times, but the result was
same. I held it high, and after spinning it, I brought it down to the table.

There was a light. A yellow flash. Then there was darkness. Someone
opened the curtains to let the light in. Turns out there was a blackout.

From the faint light in which I could see the woman, she was
checking some metal boxes or something , switching between them. She met my
eyes, and said with a smile,

“Congratulations, you were successful.”