Sight-Infused

The day went without a hitch. The winds picked up once more after school. I managed to track the origin to somewhere above the administration building’s roof, but it didn’t take long before the traces vanished. Aliya and Antonio warned me to not go out of the dormitory without escorts, and Mina simply nodded with them.

I spent the entire day in my dorm, practicing my skills. I looked at the building beside mine and focused on it, looked at its shield, shook my head, and let the shield disappear, before looking at it again. I repeated the process several times. After I was satisfied, I rested, preparing for the next day.

It was seven forty-five in the morning. Thursday would be the most physically exhausting day for me. After PE class, we would have some time to rest before immediately continuing with our weapons training. Students were given four sets of gym clothes, and if they required more, they could get them in the school store. I wore mine and was ready to head for the indoor sports field, where today’s training would take place.

I exited the dormitory, finding the other three waiting on a bench not far from the dorm’s exit. The two girls sat down, while Antonio gazed at the entrance, waiting for me. When he saw I went out, he lifted his hand. I then walked toward them. They all had their gym clothes on.

The skies were clear, the darkness of space extending beyond the horizon. It felt hot, as expected from a summer morning. Antonio approached me. The book in his left hand was engulfed by a white glow.

It then floated, and he aimed his free right arm at me. White lines appeared from it, surrounding me. I felt a sudden but momentary chill.

“Done.”

I already did this when we had anything relating to physical activity. Exercise and the summer heat didn’t go well together. After seeing him apply the ice shield on me, the two ladies stood up.

“Shall we go?”

The four of us walked toward the indoor sports field. We walked beside the large clock tower, which stood in between the four school buildings. Its massive hands tick, the minute hand getting closer to the number twelve. I looked at it for a moment, wondering if today really would be the day. The time hadn’t even passed eight, there would still be a lot of time left for someone to act.

Then I saw it. A light green silhouette.

I stopped in my place, looking at the figure. The silhouette became stronger, the light green glow covered his entire body. The others noticed me stopping and stopped as well, gazing up at the lone figure standing far above the clock tower.

“He is up there, is he not?”

Antonio asked.

“Yes, he is.”

“I couldn’t see anything.”

Aliya said. It felt weird being the only one with the ability to see the figure. I used to think that everyone could see it, and I was once again reminded that it wasn’t the case.

“Did he… see us?”

Mina asked while shaking. The figure didn’t seem to notice us. He stood there, unmoving.

“Based on the shape, he’s looking southward.”

At the administration building. He seemed to sense something and turned his head toward me. I took a step back from shock, Aliya reflectively getting in front of me. The figure proceeded to immediately disappear.

“He’s gone…”

“Already?”

“I see that I do not get to have my fun.”

"Phew.”

I realized that some of the other students were watching us, so we decided to pick up pace and head for the sports field.

“This is probably the coldest summer I have ever gone through.”

Aliya said while hugging herself. The room itself wasn’t particularly hot, and she covered herself with an ice shield, but those weren’t the reasons she felt cold. The thought of someone watching over us…

“Will… will we be alright?”

Mina asked. She looked around the gym frantically. We were practicing badminton for today. We divided ourselves into two pairs. Originally, Aliya would be with me, and Antonio would be with Mina, but all three of us ended up destroyed in a way. Antonio sucks at sports, while Mina was great at using the racket. Both me and Aliya were decent somewhat. We realized we would struggle every time Mina shot the shuttlecock. She often used smash shots that were hard to return, while almost every time the ball fell in front of Antonio, he would find some new way to mess up. So both me and Aliya unanimously agree to keep sending the shuttlecock to Antonio. Antonio got overwhelmed and kept missing.

Eventually, we tried switching and made it a three versus one.

Only then would the game be balanced.

And Antonio could return only one of the three shots he faced.

Mina’s victory didn’t make her feel any better, though. Naturally, anyone would be scared at the idea of a mysterious force spying on them. Aliya also didn’t seem excited at the idea of fighting this mysterious figure, either. Only Antonio seemed calm.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher gave us an extra fifteen minutes to rest. All four of us brought our equipment to the sports field, so we didn’t go back to the dormitory, unlike the others. Using our free time, we assisted with bringing out the practice dummies out. The plans were for us to practice archery. Before the lesson, I thought of trying it out. In weapon training, we were lent wooden or plastic training weapons to be used during the lesson.

“Can you teach me a bit of archery, Mina?”

“Eh, um… sure…”

“I want to see as well.”

“I guess it would not be a bad thing to join in.”

The weapons were only distributed once the lessons started, thus Mina used her own bow. Unlike Aliya, who was a single child, Mina had two brothers. Usually, when it came to family weapons like this, the weapon would be given to the oldest child, but the bow somehow ended up in Mina’s hand. Maybe the other two received their own weapons?

All four of us approached one of the unused practice dummies. Unlike Keeper’s training, the weapon training banned the use of magic, and the practice dummies had metal shields applied to them. She aimed her bow at the dummy. She pulled the string back with her left hand. A long, thin, sharp silver glow appeared in front of her hand, where an arrow would normally be.

“Ah, Mina! You’re not supposed to use magic!”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. My bad.”

She shook her head and the silver arrow disappeared. She slowly released the string, letting it back to its original position. She looked around for a plastic arrow that she could use, failing to find anything. Antonio jokingly handed over the stick that was used as a wand, and she visibly panicked, wondering if it was alright to use it. Obviously, if we were going to use the stick anyway, there would be no point in going up to the dummy, as it would just fall flat to the ground. I may not know much about aerodynamics, but if a wooden stick could fly, then they would just make planes from chunks of unprocessed trees.

Eventually, Antonio pulled his wand back, stuffing it back in his pocket.

“Why do you carry that around? Don’t you use your book as a weapon?”

“Because we are doing archery today.”

All three of us looked at him and stared.

“Antonio… you’re not planning to actually use it as an arrow, are you?”

“If being with him taught me anything, then yes, he would actually use that stick as an arrow for no good reason.”

“I just thought of investigating the aerodynamics of a wooden stick.”

“Why would you even do that?”

“To relax.”

Aliya gave him a doubtful look.

“He also plays games like a normal person.”

“Oh.”

Aliya looked reassured, for some reason. But, knowing Antonio, it wouldn’t be surprising if he really did bring his wand just to try shooting it with a bow.

As I was wondering about it, the large windows on the upper sections of the wall started rattling again. The sound took the entire mood off, and all three of us returned to our previous positions on the side.

“So, we are not throwing my stick?”

All three of us looked back and stared at Antonio, and for the first time ever I saw him startled.