Sight-Infused

Fifteen boys and fifteen girls stood side-by-side. Each year had a hundred fifty students, split evenly between boys and girls. If seventy-five boys signed up for the school, then they wouldn’t let a single extra enter, even if there was still space. I found that kind of ruling rather weird. Maybe they want to balance out the jobs? It made sense considering that most Keepers were men.

Some keepers were women, but the ratio wasn’t equal to one-to-one. I didn’t think it would ever be exactly equal, but I guess an attempt at balancing out the field would be commendable. But how many would survive, though? I heard the rate of women Keepers has been rising steadily these past few years. I saw Aliya’s strength myself, so I couldn’t doubt someone’s strength just from the gender. Even with that, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the fifteen students here would survive the first month…

No, how many of the thirty students here would survive the first month?

Considering my weaknesses despite being a boy, the fact that I was a contender to quit probably meant gender didn’t matter much. Unlike physical strength, magic didn’t distinguish between genders, after all. Besides, a girl could easily be stronger than me. I would probably lose to half of the girls here in arm wrestling. I actually tried it against Aliya before, and I remember losing embarrassingly.

“Is everyone here?”

The girl who stood at the front of the group asked. I looked up at her, her style slightly different from the other seniors. Like the others, she wore the regular school uniform. But unlike the others, she wore a large, purple witch hat. She started counting us one by one, before reaffirming herself.

“Okay. My name is Eliysya, and I’ll be your tour guide for today.”

She said excitedly. We waited for class B to leave, before exiting through a side door.

“Everyone line up. We will be taking a tour throughout the school. The others are in class, so be quiet, okay?”

She said as if we were little children.

“Alright.”

Someone in the front replied. She smiled and turned around. She then led us around the school, introducing us to the various facilities inside the school grounds, before leading us to our classroom.

“So this is where you’ll spend most of your time for the next year.”

We arrived at our class. Our home class for this year would be A23, building A floor two room three. The class sat below the school’s walls, so not much could be seen beyond the windows. Well, it was better than the first floor, at least. I took a seat in the middle row, not too in front and not too behind. People started filling in the back rows, while some decided to volunteer and take the front rows.

Aliya approached me, Mina not far behind her. She pulled the seat in front of me and sat down, Mina sitting on her right.

“Hey, wasn’t expecting us to be in the same class.”

She grinned. The follow-up voice of a chair screeching beside me was heard. I reflexively looked to my right, where Antonio, for whatever reason, decided to seat down.

“It was not unexpected if you put in some research. The school always, always puts students according to their IDs. This would only change in the second and third years, but for the first years, it is always according to the IDs.”

He said as he sat down. He swiftly opened his notebook and started writing something again.

“I see. Why do you think they do that?”

Aliya, who heard the comment, asked.

“Unfortunately, I have no answer to that question. I may think of myself as a researcher, but I, too, have things that I could not explain. The name’s Antonio Riork.”

Even Aliya was slightly taken aback by Antonio’s acting.

“I… see… I’m Aliya Moonuvert, she’s Mina Poverlista and he’s-”

“Ranold Laydi? We met before.”

He curtly said. Aliya was even more taken aback by the way Antonio acted, and Mina looked slightly frightened.

“Do you three know each other?”

He threw a question, and Aliya, after considering what the best response would be, answered.

“Yes.”

Apparently, her thoughts didn’t lead to much.

“Aliya, is it your family the ones that funded Ranold?”

Antonio asked out of the blue.

“Umm… yes, why?”

Antonio shrugged.

“This is an interesting development. I shall shut my mouth for now.”

He said, returning his attention to his notebook. He scribbled some words on it, but neither of us bothered asking. I had no intention of conversing with this dude, or else he would absolutely trample on my already terrible self-esteem. Aliya seemed really confused, while Mina looked extremely uncomfortable, as if Antonio’s very existence sprouted some kind of evil energy. The weird conversation caused none of us to say a word, and we stayed silent until the day ended.

“That dude is so weird...”

Aliya uttered after leaving the room. The clock showed the time,

Two forty-five in the afternoon.

The class had finished, but Antonio didn’t seem to budge and stayed behind. The three of us didn’t say anything and left him there, not like he cared anyway. Mina simply nodded to Aliya’s words, wholly agreeing with her.

“Anyway, what should we do now?”

Aliya asked.

“I’ll be heading back.”

“Isn’t it too early?”

I shook my head. I need some time after the relentless attacks Antonio fired at me before.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Alright then.”

Aliya waved at me, while Mina, who seemed slightly, but only slightly, more comfortable around me now, lifted her hand. I left the two and headed back to the dormitory. The dormitories felt emptier compared to the morning, probably because the other students were spending their time getting to know each other. I had lost most of my mood after today, though, so it would be better for me to return. Wouldn’t want to ruin the day for others, would I?

I entered my room and closed the windows before turning on the AC. I set down the backpack on the floor and tidied up my books. Today, after the morning tour and lunch, we had biology for two hours before finishing the day. They handed the books out during each subject. I checked the school student assistance app to see if tomorrow’s schedule has any similar subject. After checking through the schedule, it turns out every day has different subjects, with no repeating ones. Every subject had a two-hour quota.

This school’s curriculum also contained several extra classes that one couldn’t see outside a magic school. The Keeper’s training took the entire four hours before lunch on Friday and was the only lesson that had more than two hours for a single session. I heard it was the only lesson that combined two classes into one, however, so I could understand the extra hours. It should also be one of the toughest lessons, considering the attention this school gave to fostering future Keepers.

I took the two books and put them on the wardrobe’s lowest shelf. The closet was large enough to fit all my clothes along with my equipment, so I wouldn’t need to mess up my desk. I then closed the drawer and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. I read through the new information handed out to the students via the student assistance app. There wasn’t much in it, so I closed it and headed to the toilet. I took a quick shower and swapped into my room clothes. Laying down on my bed, I stared up at the ceiling.

If I had an EC for every second I stared up at the ceiling these last three days, I would be rich.

I thought, but I had nothing to do either. I’m not extroverted enough to go out and actively search for friends. While Aliya exists, she would probably be busy with her own friends. To make matters worse, I now knew that someone would actively pay attention to us. I wouldn’t want to drag her down… but the thought of me being alone for three whole years…

I need to find new friends, new normal friends. That meant I needed to be good at at least something so that people found value in befriending me. The question remained, what am I good at? As weird as Antonio was, he did have a thing for research… I think. He seemed rather mysterious. I wonder if he lived in this dormitory too? He didn’t mention anything about himself or his family. Based on his words, he didn’t seem like a noble. I decided to make sure by doing a quick search, but I turned out empty.

I let my phone back down on the bed. Looking up at the gray, boring ceiling, I couldn’t help but feel like I was looking at myself. I tried remembering my past, searching for something that I’m good at, or maybe something I enjoyed doing, or something I achieved, yet my search came out empty. I couldn’t remember anything remarkable.

All I remembered was the sight of her silver blade, piercing the brown bear, her silhouette shone by the countless stars of the night sky. The streak of silver, its radiant glow, its piercing power…

Everything I could remember relates back to Aliya somehow. I never really thought about it until now, as I rarely saw Aliya with someone other than me or her family. No one ever reminded me of how pathetic I am up until this point. I found myself cornered on my first day of high school, at a complete loss for what to do.

I still have one month, right?

Eventually, I gave up and decided to rest.