Practical exams Part 1

It’s now night time, my parents send my aunts and uncle off while I headed to my room. All of our bedrooms are located in the second floor of the house. The path to my room is like a short corridor with the end being my bedroom door. Half-way to my room, there is my little sister’s room on the left-side and my parents’ room on the right-side.

Making my way to my room, I was surprised when the door to my left suddenly opened. It was Chiba. She awkwardly stood there hiding something behind her back.

“Gift”, she said, avoiding eye contact with me as she revealed what she was hiding behind her.

It was a bluish white bracelet with a jade in the center shaped like a leaf. I accepted it and immediately put it on.

“Thank you Chiba”, I said while wondering why she is suddenly being all nice and thoughtful, since the Chiba I grew up with was always shy and quiet and I felt like she always involuntarily avoided me.

“For good luck, tomorrow”, she said while hiding her face which was a bit pinkish as she was blushing. She’s probably feeling nervous cause she’s not used to talking to people

“I don’t believe in such thing as luck, but since it’s a gift from my cute little sister, I’ll be sure to treasure this”

She just nodded, entered back to her room, then closed her bedroom door. I continued on my way to my room, still checking out this bracelet I received from Chiba. You might be thinking right now that I’m some guy with a weird sister complex, well you’re wrong, I have absolutely no such romantic feelings towards my little sister.

I finally make it to my room and started reading the Academy Student Handbook that I got about two days ago during the aptitude test. I browsed the booklet for the definition of those affiliations that the Academy was offering.

“Short Introduction to the Three Magic Affiliations”

“Astral Affiliation, the study of using the user’s magic power to project any object/shape that the user focuses their mind on.”

“Hmm so this is what my father took up during his stay here at the Academy”, I mumbled before continuing to read the next affiliation.

“Elemental Affiliation, the study on how to use magic power to imitate and/or control the elements (Fire, Water, Air, and Earth)”

“Sounds fascinating”, I commented

“Mythical Affiliation, the study of memorizing specific chants/spells and channeling user’s magic power to cast powerful and complex spells found in the Book of Supremes”

“I still can’t make up my mind on which one to go with”

“I guess I’ll think about my final choice tomorrow”, I said before drifting into a deep slumber.

- - -

“This place looks familiar”, I said as I looked around at my surroundings.

This is the same alley as where I was at during my dream last night. I continued looking around and suddenly I felt a sharp pain on the right side of my lower back. I turned around and see a shadow of what seemed like tall and skinny man holding a pointy object which was dripping some thick red liquid. He moved his arm and I felt another sharp and screeching pain, this time somewhere near my stomach. I then felt incredibly weak and I fell down on the rough and dirty concrete as I see the man slowly walk away and disappear.

“Toshi! Toshi!”

I hear someone calling out from the distance. This person seems to be approaching me since his calls were getting louder and louder.

“Toshi! Toshi! Toshi… To…. shi….”

“Shinzo? Shinzo! Wake up, Shinzo!”

I shake my head in confusion and slowly open my eyes. I see mother seated on the side of my bed, trying to wake me up. I quickly got up and asked, “What time is it?!”

“Don’t worry, it’s still four hours before your practical exam”

“Huh? Then why were you so eagerly trying to wake me up?”, I said, confused and a little frustrated.

“I was going out to buy ingredients for the lunch that I’ll pack for you, and then I remembered that I never got to ask you what you wanted for lunch so…”

“All right, all right… I’ll just come with you to the market”

“Thank you Shinzo”, she said and then giggled a little.

She headed towards the door and left. I then fixed myself and changed into some decent outfit before heading downstairs. I meet her at the front door where she was waiting for me and then we made our way to the market.

I bought ingredients for the sesame tofu that I’ll have in my bento box later. After we were done buying the ingredients we need, we started walking back to our home to cook them. I helped my mother cook breakfast which were omelet and fried rice. And then she helped me with my dish, even though I said that I’m old enough to cook my own lunch.

After having breakfast, I looked at the clock to and realize that my practical exam will begin an hour from now. I told my parents about this and I quickly headed upstairs, grabbed my bag, and made my way to the Magic Academy.

It’s a good thing the Academy isn’t that far from my house, it only takes me about ten minutes of walking time to get there. But I still tried to quicken my pace since the earlier I get there, the more time I’ll have to get myself ready for the exams.

By now, I can almost make out the figure of the Academy’s gate from this distance. As I continued “race walking” towards the gates, I slightly lost my pace as I stepped on something that felt like a solid stick. I looked down and saw a dark violet fountain pen. I picked it up and as I was examining this pen, someone bumped on me from behind.

“Sorry”, the girl said with her attention on the road as if she was searching for something. She was gorgeous. She had dark red hair which ran down up to her abdomen area and she was wearing a yellow blouse and a short blue skirt. I also can’t help but notice her perfect body composure which wasn’t too fat or skinny, just something in the middle of those two. She also has a nice pair of assets in front of her (I sound like a complete pervert right now).

“Zora! Come on, let’s go!”, said the girl who was with her apparently. As I got a better look at this girl, I noticed that she looks somewhat similar to the girl who bumped me. She also had dark red hair and she was wearing a greyish blue long sleeve blouse and a black knee length skirt. She did seem to have a smaller chest area, but she is definitely taller though

Both of them seems to have ignored my presence because they left before I could talk back to that girl who bumped me. I shrug off this incident and continued making my way to the Academy.

Entering the large main gate, I looked around and I could see that there are at least a hundred students here with me, all making their way to a large dome shaped structure. Naturally, I went to where everyone was heading to. And as I was walking along with the crowd, I saw a sign that says “Grand Stadium up ahead”.

I find myself viewing this wide stadium and everywhere I looked, I could see students seated and some were making their way towards any unoccupied seat. I spot a seat near the stairways that was vacant so I headed towards its direction.

I struggled to get to that area since there was a line of students in front of me, all were looking for a seat to occupy. After a few minutes of waiting, I’m finally seated here at the vacant seat I spotted earlier. I took a minute to catch my breath and then brought out my Student Handbook to finalize my decision on which affiliation I will pursue. About five more minutes later, a guy wearing what looked like the school uniform went on to the stage that was set up in the middle of the stadium.

“Please be informed that we will be starting with the practical exams shortly…”, the guy said in a loud and clear voice that I’m pretty sure everyone in here could hear.