Lumi stared intently into the eye slots of the cat mask. It wasn’t her original intent to show up abruptly, but one thing led to another. Plus she was anxious and wanted answers.

Her gaze seemed to pierce right through the material of the mask. One of her eyebrows was slightly raised, which seemed to indicate she wasn’t exactly in a pleasant mood. Still, there was a hint of relief in her expression. 

Ryder took a big whiff of the air, “You smell like blood, no wonder—”

Lumi turned her gaze towards Ryder. Although there was no expression on her face, Ryder coughed and looked elsewhere, signaling she lost the battle of nerves with a single look. 

“I just took out some pests before coming here.” 

 

‘The Lumi bus… is strong...’

The first thing Mamori assumed was that the System messing around caused the events to transpire in the way that they did. Secondly, Mamori knew that Lumi was socially awkward despite her pristine public image, so he didn’t make any hasty judgments.

While the thirteen thousand five hundred twenty eight messages he received in a span of several days was indeed excessive and such behavior needed to be addressed, it wasn’t the end of the world.

Rather, given the context, Mamori decided to think of the antics as cute. The alternative, showing aversion, would only hurt Lumi and sour their relationship. That seemed like a bad ending, so it was much better to slowly steer Lumi into the right direction while reaping the benefits of the Lumi bus. 

At the very least, being kidnapped by the House of Villainesses didn’t sound very appealing. If there was a problem, it was that Mamori was unable to clarify things to Lumi at the present moment because of the presence of the public eye. 

After all, Lumi seemed to want to maintain her public image.

“Lapis, it seems your sister is quite strong,” Mamori spoke in his normal tone, but afterwards he silently mouthed the words ‘thank you’. It was important to prevent aggression being directed at himself.

Lumi’s eyes moved ever so slightly. “Fumu. It is not like I took care of those annoying bitches because of you. I did it for Lapis.”

She managed to mouth ‘of course’ in response to Mamori. 

Mamori could almost imagine a tail wagging behind Lumi even though her face was dispassionate. It seemed Lapis would be a common excuse going forward. 

Despite her somewhat harsh words, Lumi's heart was beating multiple times per second. She suspected the organ might be broken because although she felt much more at ease after finally making contact with Mamori, the thing only grew faster. It was perplexing.

Meanwhile, Lapis was oblivious to such exchanges. She just appeared smug as if compliments directed at Lumi were also directed at herself. 

Mamori was somewhat thankful for Lapis’ obliviousness to the situation. She didn’t even notice that the rest of the students had created distance from the trio. It was like an isolated bubble separated them from the rest of the class. 

Because of this, Lapis continued to chatter away while Mamori and Lumi awkwardly perfected the magical rings of their respective structures. 

“Nyaaa!” Lapis purred and rubbed her face into Lumi’s arms, “What kind of spell are you engraving into that device?”

“A cage,” Lumi answered, her tone flat and even. 

Several sturdy black mana rings orbited the orb. The mana inside was perfectly contained without the ability to freely move. 

Professor Rivers, who was making rounds to check on the students’ progress, stopped by and inspected Lumi’s work. 

“What a stable structure…”

“Thank you, Professor,” Lumi spoke politely even though her words lacked emotion. 

The man stroked his beard, gave Mamori a sympathetic look, and then awkwardly left as quickly as he appeared as he went to examine the others.

Although he appeared rushed, he gave everyone the same treatment. He simply planned to examine the students’ work more thoroughly later; thus presently, he only gave a light glance — sparing a comment from time to time as he found appropriate. 

Lapis waited until the instructor was completely out of earshot before leaning forward. 

“You should have been there!” Lapis, who had been recapping the events she experienced, giggled into Lumi’s ears, “Four whole days!”

“That would explain the rumors…”

Lumi’s lips moved a fraction of a centimeter. 

‘Did you have to put Mamori into a coma though… he couldn’t message me… I was worried… and then there was that green-haired stalker… He looks so fragile… as his friend I have to protect him… at all costs…’

Lapis happily continued her recountment, “And then just yesterday there was this cute—” 

The object that Lumi was working on exploded. Lumi herself was unsure why she reacted the way she did. 

“Ha. I guess it wasn’t sturdy enough,” the corner of Lumi’s eyes were on Mamori, “Please, continue Lapis.”

Lapis gulped and Mamori just coughed lightly. 

“Well, I have a new roommate…” Lapis twiddled with her fingers, seeming to finally realize that maybe something was off. 

“...”

The silence lasted an entire minute before Lapis couldn’t take it anymore and broke it by making a cute ‘nyaa’ noises.

The pressure Lumi exerted decreased as she just nodded. After some more silence Lumi seemed to have come to a conclusion.

“I’ll move in,” She moved some hair out of her eyes as she muttered as such. 

“Huh… but Block Zero is only for new stud—”

“Don’t worry. I won’t break any rules.”

“That’s good…” Lapis smiled, her voice trailed with a mix of emotions. 

“Yes, as the leader of the Lower Student Council, I just need to change them.” Lumi didn’t miss a beat.

“Nyaaa. You’re so awesome.” Lapis gave her sister a thumbs up. It seemed she had officially decided to ignore any negative implications from the proceeding events. 

Lumi nodded again. The relief she seemed to exhibit was palpable.

‘It seems she wanted to move in sooner…’

Still, Mamori, who just witnessed an abuse of authority, became uncertain about his future. More than anything, he couldn’t help but look at Lapis.

‘Why do you look so proud of this…’ 

“But… you still have to get permission from Mamori!” Lapis smugly smiled at Mamori. 

‘I’m glad you thought of me, but I’m not sure I can be grateful.’

“Is that so?” Lumi’s face gained a fraction of a degree of redness as she waited for his response.

“As long as Lumi doesn’t break any rules, I’m fine… err… happy with the arrangements,” Mamori spoke plainly, only a little bit of sweat was dripping down the nape of his neck. 

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Lumi almost seemed to smile, “In the worst case scenario, I would simply go to my grandmoth—”

Ding! A notification appeared. 

 

Mamori once again thought of the elders of the Holy Mountain Sect. 

‘How many arranged marriages did I avoid?’ 

Mamori emptied his thoughts and decided not to dwell on things. On the positive side, various things began to make more sense.

“Is that so,” Mamori coughed, “I’ll look forward to it then.”

Lumi didn’t respond, yet when Mamori looked into her eyes, he couldn’t help but feel there was something strange. It was like they were swirling.

 

‘Oh… am I still perhaps in danger?’ 

As Mamori speculated about such things, River clapped his hands. The nearly hundred orbs flew to him.

“I have roughly examined everyone’s work. We will now move on to the main part of today’s lecture: practical experience. I will assign pairs for everyone and you will take turns casting basic abilities: for mages that will be magic shield and magic blast. Alternatively, supports may focus on casting barrier, magic knights may focus on applying magic reinforcement to a projectile, and magic tanks can work on applying magic reinforcement to a defensive object.” 

There were various complaints around the room because of the forced pairing, which was ignored.

“Pairing is based on practicality. If you want to mess around and have fun then do so outside of class. Failure to comply will result in zero participation points for the lecture.”

The groans were stifled with River’s words. The Pink Faction was the only classification that was stringent on participation. 

However, Lumi was an exception. She locked eyes with the instructor and then dragged Mamori to a corner of the grassy fields. 

River’s gave a light cough, “Alright let us begin. If you want to complain about unfair treatment, then how about you earn the ability to do so first.”

In the corner of the field, Lumi stared intently at Mamori. She silently took deep breaths as she sorted her thoughts.

‘I must make sure he can protect himself… if he can’t… then as his friend… I’ll have to…’ Lumi’s thoughts trailed off. She felt a certain heat build in her body.

Lumi shifted her weight slightly before her black mana began to coalesce, “I’ll begin then: disrupt, dodge, deflect, or block my spells.”

The main purpose of using a systemic structure like magic circles was the ability to flexibly bind mana. The first advantage it provided was allowing a mana user to cast a spell without using the body as a medium.

When Mamori used the deafen skill on goblins during orientation, he had to generate the mana in his body and then launch it directly at the goblin’s auditory organ.

Using a magic circle he could stabilize the mana outside the body. Setting the parameters of the spell in advance through the magic sequence, the spell would automatically target the intended coordinates without the need of manually controlling the mana flow.

Lumi was currently using this type of spellcasting with [Magic Blast]. It was a simple process of molding mana into a projectile that transmitted a certain amount of force. 

The spellcasting only took a couple of seconds, but during that time, several black rings orbited the core of the spell that was forming in midair.

Speed, amplification of destructive force, duplication, and homing were used to augment the [Magic Blast]. 

Mamori’s eyes glowed slightly as he interpreted and read the flow of energy. Even after the spell was completed and launched, by focusing his sight, he was able to see the black rings.

Through perception he could interact with the structure and thus disrupt it; this was especially true as the effect was unguarded.

Lumi’s actions were not much different than just flinging mana at a target, which might work against a non-magical combatant but was mostly just a waste of mana against a true magic user. 

Mamori conserved his own mana by only intercepting the ring that augmented the spell’s speed. 

When the ring dissipated the spell drastically lost momentum, allowing Mamori to simply sidestep the projectile had that split into two. As the homing effect that was used was a low level augmentation and only took the initial coordinates of the target, the spell crashed into the floor. 

Lumi didn’t hesitate and created five similarly constructed spells simultaneously. It was the tactic that used quantity over quality: speed of casting versus the speed of disruption. 

Notably, some of the parameters of some of the [Magic Blasts] were adjusted, meaning each blast was slightly different. 

Mamori intercepted two of the spells before they fully formed, dismantled the speed augmentation on two more, and fully disrupted a spell point blank that had followed him with enhanced homing. 

Lumi only nodded. 

Three more spells began to form. The complexity of the structures increased despite the decrease in the amount of magic circles used. 

One ring was used for enhanced homing, another was used for speed, and the final ring was a safeguard mechanism that shielded the spell from disruption.

Mamori raised his hand and intercepted the spells more directly. He created three localized barriers. 

Pop. 

Pop.

Pop.

The [Barriers] and [Magic Blasts] fizzled out when they made impact with one another. 

“Fumu,” Lumi gave a light humm. There was the slight sound of her cracking her knuckles as she flexed her fingers. 

‘I. Have. To. Make. Sure. He. Can. Protect. Himself.’ 

Over ten spells with varied structures began forming. Her black mana seemed to ripple in the air. 

Mamori took a deep breath. He had to analyze and figure out the right combination of disruption and interception. He would dismantle any unprotected spells, block the dangerous projectiles, and dodge the remaining attacks.

However, he failed. 

‘Ohh…’ 

That thought was the only thing Mamori thought as he was launched backwards and forced to look at the ceiling.

The five [Barriers] he created were destroyed by five [Magic Blasts] that Lumi quickcasted after the initial ten. Their sole purpose was to pierce his defenses and allow the other spells to continue unimpeded. 

The result was multiple spells striking his body. Because the training field was set to non-lethal mode, there was no pain. He just felt a light impact and then the weightlessness that came from his body leaving the ground as he was launched into the air.

Mamori was aware that Lumi was swiftly showcasing multiple tactics. It was a practical teaching method that sought to cover a wide array of basic combat principles. 

‘But isn’t this a little excessive… it looks like you are bullying a junior…’

While looking skyward, Mamori could still sense more spells being created. 

‘She is a merciless teacher… or maybe clumsy… like you know we have a level gap, right?’ 

As for Lumi herself, she was deeply conflicted, and her thoughts continued to fluctuate.

‘Ah, I have to make sure he can protect himself… there are too many crazy bitches out there… but… what if he gets hurt… oh… oh… we have to be tough! But oh he just got hit! We have to stop…! W-wait… he is kind of cute like that… ahem… yes, we have to be tough… gulp…’

The last lesson Lumi taught Mamori was the ability to minimize damage: the principle of losing an arm to protect the head. 

Well, given the non-lethal measures implemented, Mamori was just ragdolled back and forth across the field.

The man resisted to the best of his ability, but eventually it became futile. 

‘We will need a safe word going forward…’ With that thought, Mamori closed off his consciousness and began to take a midair nap. It was like being rocked back and forth in a chair of clouds. 

Ultimately, Lumi’s actions would net Mamori a bonus stat because of the news coverage that they generated: ‘Lower Student Council relentlessly attacked the Man in the Cat Mask in the middle of class’.

While in the world of dreams, Mamori saw a shadow take on the form of a knight. It made him wonder what Lumi would do if she ever found out that there existed a woman that was able to sneak into his dreams. 

‘It is probably best she doesn’t find out…’