Chapter 5

Ring... Ring...

The alarm goes off.

Yawn... I'm still very sleepy. It must be because I slept too late last night while waiting for Mom and Dad.

Ah, yes. I have to hurry up, lest Dad has already gone to work.

"Dad! Mom!"

I quickly run downstairs just to find Mom and Dad in the kitchen.

"You're awake, Petra. Why are you in such a rush?" asks Mom.

"I thought Dad had already left for work."

"Dad took some time off to heal his wounds. This tea is still warm. Drink it now, Petra," replies Mom, while pouring me some hot tea.

"Thank you, Mom. But I want to hear about yesterday's story."

"I knew it. Well, I'll tell you about it," says Dad.

Dad explains his real job. It turns out that Mom's also working as a secret agent with Dad. I didn't realize they're both that awesome.

30 minutes later

"Petra, get ready first. Otherwise you'll be late for school," says Mom.

"Alright. You have to continue the story after I get home from school, Dad."

I quickly shower and get ready for school.

"Dad, Mom. I'm off."

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I still didn't expect that Mom and Dad are members of the Zodiacs' secret team. I wondered why Dad's job was always to take care of the neighboring villages. It turned out that what he meant was defeating the demons. I've never once fought a demon. Are they that scary?

"Hey, Petra!" calls Dominggus from a distance.

Dominggus and Daniel come over to me. They're my best friends.

"We're both late 'cause the bus had a flat tire," says Daniel.

"No wonder. As far as I know you two always come early. Today there's only a spell casting competition. I guess school doesn't start as early as usual."

Arriving at school, the school gate is already closed.

"Whoa! Mr. Doni! Please open the gate. Let us in, Sir."

Mr. Doni walks from the guard post to the school gate.

"Gosh... How can you guys still be late? It's been more than 8 minutes," says Mr. Doni.

"Please, Mr. Doni. Today is just a spell casting competition. Show some leniency for us, could you?"

"Yeah, Mr. Doni. Please help us just this once. The bus had a flat tire, so Daniel and I were late," pleads Dominggus.

"I might be able to let Dominggus and Daniel in, but for Petra... Hmm... I can't decide, 'cause Petra is often late. I'm afraid Mr. Satoshi will get angry. He's the teacher on duty today," says Mr. Doni.

Mr. Satoshi is coming toward the four of us from a distance.

"Mr. Doni, let the three of them in. Today there's only a spell casting competition, so it doesn't matter if they're a little late," says Mr. Satoshi.

Seriously? I felt something was different about Mr. Satoshi. Is it 'cause he asked me to study that ancient book of his the other day?

"Hey, Petra. Why are you being so quiet? Come on in," calls Mr. Satoshi.

"Ah... Alright. Thank you, Mr. Satoshi."

After putting down our bags, we immediately rush to the field beside the school. There are already a lot of students gathered there. There are also some students from other schools.

"Hey, Dominggus. Look at that. Isn't that another school's uniform? I thought today's competition is only for our school."

"I don't know either, Petra, but we can't let our school's name be tarnished. Let's show them what we can do," replies Dominggus.

As usual, Darius is always looking for attention with his skills. He's such a show-off.

"Petra, do you see what Darius is doing?" asks Daniel.

Darius makes a small cloud out of sand using his magic spell and sits on it. Transforming real objects or real materials using magic is very complicated. It takes quite a trained skill to do it.

"Yes, I saw it clearly. He does have a great magical ability, but if we come face to face, I'm sure I'll beat him."

"Are you serious? His aura power is about 25,000. Do you have that much power, Petra?" ask Dominggus.

25,000 aura power is incredible. I think he could keep up with Mr. Satoshi.

"The last time I took the aura power test was last month. If I'm not mistaken, my power was around 18,000, but now I haven't tried it again."

"Yours is quite strong. Dominggus' and mine are around 15,000 each," says Daniel.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE!! WE'RE ABOUT TO START OUR SHOW. WE HAVE OUR FRIENDS FROM SALVADOR SCHOOL COMING. THERE WILL ALSO BE A SPARRING BETWEEN THE STUDENTS OF SALVADOR SCHOOL AND OUR BELOVED MONTERO SCHOOL," shouts Mr. Satoshi over the loudspeaker.

"Huh? I remember yesterday he didn't say there would be any sparring between our school and another school."

"Yeah. Are we going to fight students from Salvador School?" asks Daniel.

"I think we'll be exchanging magical knowledge. Maybe only a select few students will be competing," says Dominggus.

"Thank God. I don't think I'll be chosen for the sparring," says Daniel.

"THE REPRESENTATIVE OF MONTERO SCHOOL IS... DARIUS!! PLEASE COME FORWARD," shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"Heh. I knew that show-off would be chosen."

"NEXT... DOMINGGUS!!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

Dominggus is taken aback.

"Huh? Me?" asks Dominggus in surprise.

"Hurry up. Don't embarrass our school."

"NEXT... DANIEL!!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"Huh? Seriously? Why me?" asks Daniel in surprise.

Daniel is taken aback, too.

"Go on. When else will we have the chance to show our skills in front of students from another school?"

"NEXT IS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF SALVADOR SCHOOL... MARVEUS!! PLEASE COME FORWARD," shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"NEXT... MARIE!!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"THE LAST ONE IS... DIANA!!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

Looks like it's gonna be fun. I really wanted to be there, though. Well, maybe it was 'cause I misbehaved and fought against the teachers that they didn't choose me.

A teacher from Salvador School approaches Mr. Satoshi and whispers.

The teacher asks for one more student to be added to the sparring groups of three. Mr. Satoshi agrees.

"What are Mr. Satoshi and the teacher from Salvador School doing?"

Mr. Satoshi suddenly looks at me.

"WELL, THERE'S AN ADDITIONAL REPRESENTATIVE FROM SALVADOR SCHOOL. THAT WAY, I WILL ALSO CHOOSE ONE MORE STUDENT. YOU, PETRA!! PLEASE MOVE FORWARD," shouts Mr. Satoshi.

Huh?! Seriously? Whoa... I'm getting nervous.

"Okay. Petra, you can do it!"

I step up with certainty.

"THE ADDITIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SALVADOR SCHOOL IS... SIERA!! PLEASE COME FORWARD," shouts Mr. Satoshi.

Whaaaat? Siera? So she goes to Salvador School?! How could this be fitting? Gosh... I really didn't expect it.

"Alright. Please gather here. Before the sparring begins, you can get to know each other first. The first event is the singing of the Montero School march followed by Salvador School march. Then, there will be a few speeches from the principal. After that, you will spar with each other followed by the final event which is a spell casting competition," explains Mr. Satoshi.

"Boring! Why don't we just fight right now?! I'll fight the four of them myself if I have to!" says Darius.

"Hey, you!"

Mr. Satoshi interrupts.

"The rules I made are not to be broken. Do you understand, Darius?" says Mr. Satoshi firmly.

"All right. I'll wait patiently. When the time comes, I'll destroy you all!" says Darius.

Darius walks to his seat.

"If the show is still a while away from starting, why are we being called right away?" asks Dominggus.

"If I call you later, you might already be busy somewhere. That's why I called you to sit in this front seat," replies Mr. Satoshi.

I still didn't expect to meet Siera here. Why is her face bandaged, though? Is she injured? Ah... It's okay. She's still beautiful, though!

"Hey, Petra. Why are you smiling to yourself?" asks Daniel.

"Ah... No, it's nothing."

"Mr. Satoshi, didn't you say that today was just a spell casting competition? Why has it suddenly become like this?"

"I thought so too. It was all at the request of the Salvador School. They directly asked permission from the principal, Mr. Dominic. I'm just overseeing this event as a committee," replies Mr. Satoshi.

"Alright. Do you students from Salvador School have any questions?" adds Mr. Satoshi.

"Sir, can we use weapons during sparring?" asks Siera.

"Yes, you may. However, you're not allowed to kill each other. If one of your opponents surrenders, it's considered a loss. And you may not attack him again! Understood?" says Mr. Satoshi firmly.

We answer in unison.

"Got it!"