Quiz

Miyori spent the morning deciding whether to head home right after school for once. 

Classes were hard in the mornings because she got hungry quickly. Her parents didn't love that she refused to eat breakfast at human size, but they'd compromised: they insisted on paying for the school lunch, which was much better value for money than most other human meals, and Miyori insisted that was enough to get her through the day. It wasn't like she was starving herself or anything—when she shrank down, she got more than enough food, just like everyone else in her extended family. She just had to deal with a couple rough hours at the beginning and end of the day, that was all. 

She distracted herself from her rumbling stomach by worrying about Takasu. 

She hadn't meant to borrow trouble, but the more she thought about it, the more worried she became. It was obvious that he'd run away from home, and it seemed recent. He'd been absent a few days at most, but he'd already told her flatly that he'd dropped out, and the teacher didn't say anything about his empty desk this morning, which meant it might already be official. 

Who did that, suddenly dropping out of school in the third week of term? Had the teachers really just accepted it? It wasn't like high school was compulsory, but she was pretty sure the tuition payments weren't refundable, and the next set of those wasn't due for a few months, so it probably wasn't just for money reasons…

She sighed, struggling to focus on the teacher and copying down her notes. The better attention she paid now, the less homework she'd have to do before she could go home and ask Takasu what was going on herself. But that didn't stop her worrying her way through math, history, language arts, and magic.

Fourth period magic class was the worst timing, and Miyori hated it on the best of days. Today, she hated it even more than usual, because the teacher arrived and immediately passed some sheets of paper. Then, with a gesture, she sent translucent orbs floating over their heads, till one floated above each of them. 

This was a pop quiz. 

Miyori swore silently as she stared at the symbols on the page before her. It was a moderately complex magic circle, one made to channel magic power from the channels in the walls into its assigned orb. Not just raw power, either—there were incomplete instructions for colors and patterns. 

It was exactly the fussy sort of make-work that had shown up more and more often in this class since the beginning of the year, only this time it would be clear to everyone if she messed up. 

Aware of this pressure, Miyori still took her time, analyzing the parts of the pattern that were there and readying her pen. Not every student had the same strategy: within a minute there were a couple flashes and surprised exclamations as the paper lit up, in some cases igniting in magical fire. 

"There's no brute-forcing this," the teacher called from the front of the room, not bothering to hide her grin. "Complete the operations in the circle properly. Here's a hint—start with the conversions we went over last time."

Miyori pored over her circle as the first few orbs flickered into life above other students' heads, forcing herself to focus. She conversion formula she needed was familiar. She'd studied it yesterday before dozing off in the library…but that didn't mean she understood it. 

The teacher passed her, walking the rows. Behind her, there was a yelp as an orb that had been flickering on-pattern flickered and sparked. 

"I understand the desire to take shortcuts," the teacher called. "And sometimes it'll even work for a while. But there's no replacement for well-crafted spellwork, and trying to cut corners in class is only going to hurt you in the long run."

Miyori gritted her teeth. It was a good reminder, it was just one she didn't need. Her magic was busy, and it was busy every single day at school; controlling another spell when her enlargement spell was active was like trying to hold an extra bag with a spare finger. 

She completed the calculations and drew in the best completion for the circle she could, and then shoved a small spark of magic into the array. 

There was a long, breathless moment when she stared at the dim orb over her head…and then it sparked to life, flickering in pattern with the rest of the class. 

Miyori breathed a sigh of relief—and then jumped when the teacher slammed an eraser into the desk at the head of the room. There were a few jumps, a few screams, and a lot of sparks. One or two of the orbs overhead actually shattered. 

"See!" the teacher barked. "There are reasons to make sure you do the work properly." 

Still stiff with surprise, Miyori glanced upward. Her orb was still flickering through a complicated pattern, along with a handful of others. Most of the rest were stuttering out of rhythm. 

"Ogimura, Tsujii, Hidaka…several of you got it, at least. Nice work, full marks. The rest of you, you get one more try. Three minutes." 

Miyori let out quiet sigh of relief and studied the pattern again. She got a wave and a triumphant smile from her friend Shizuka two rows over, whose orb was also flickering steadily through the color sequence. 

Miyori waved back and then opened her textbook to review. She'd managed to keep up this time, but she was at a disadvantage with every spell she was expected to actually cast. She needed to stay a step ahead if she was going to keep her position near the top of the class rankings. 

Forty minutes till lunch, and then she could spend the rest of the school day fighting off drowsiness from a full stomach. And then she thought she might head home early, study time or no study time. 

She had questions.