I passed?

Mr. Ryo started to a make his approach towards my position. I am panicking inside right now as this tall, well-built man is currently approaching me with a very serious look on his face. I really need to explain to him and to everyone that what happened was all an accident and it was never my intention to cause any trouble.

“Wait! Let me explain mister”, I managed to say this as he was about a few feet away from where I was standing.

As I said that, my right arm was extended and pointed at his direction with my hands open signaling “Don’t come near me”. Sharp ice spikes suddenly appeared in the air or in the space between me and Mr. Ryo. I was surprised when the spikes shot out towards Mr. Ryo but I felt relieved when I saw that he managed to dodge all of them.

“Hmmm?!”, he stopped and said this in a questioning and threatening manner.

“I myself don’t know what happened back there. All I know is that…”

“Sleep.”

I didn’t get to finish what I was saying as I immediately felt lightheaded and lost consciousness after he said that word.

- - - - -

“Cold, I feel cold and… Ughh”, I started to cough and I kept my hands pressed against my abdomen area where ounces of blood kept pouring out of me and on to the concrete road.

“Toshi! It’s alright, I’ve called for help. Hang in there!”

I tried to tilt my head towards the voice that I heard. I then see a girl with her face pressed against my chest sobbing. This girl, is the person I was with before in that dream I had about a day ago.

“Miko-chan…”

- - - - -

“Hey kid, Wake up!”

I wake up from my sleep as I hear someone talking to me while I am being shook lightly. The last thing I remember was passing out in the stadium grounds and having another episode of that weird dream that I’ve had since my 17th birthday.

I look to the right side of the mattress I was lying on and see a woman with braided blonde hair wearing black ties. I try to hide my blushing face when we somehow made eye contact. She’s a total beauty! She does seem to be a bit “flat” though. And I think she just called me “kid”, so maybe she’s way older than she looks.

“Are you okay?”, she said as she puts her hand on my forehead.

“Hmmm, you have a slight fever, probably from all that ice back there”, she continued.

The door to the room I was in opened and two guys entered, one was a skinny, dark-haired man in black ties similar to what this lady beside me was wearing, the other person to enter was the guy who put me out, Mr. Ryo. The skinny man walked over to where the lady wearing similar attire to him was. Are these two somehow related to each other? Workmate? Or are they a couple?!

“Yuki-chan, what did you do to our little trouble-maker here? He looks flushed”, he said in a joking manner while lightly elbowing the lady’s side.

“I just woke him up and all I did was check if he had a fever. And didn’t I tell you to stop adding “chan” to my name?! “Yuki” is just fine.”, she replied a little bit flustered

“Aheemm”, Mr. Ryo mumbled from the corner of the room where he was standing.

The two in black ties both apologized, fixed their stance to look more professional, and moved over to make way for Mr. Ryo to approach me. Mr. Ryo walked over to me and sat down on the chair that was at the side of the bed I was lying in. I get up and sat down since I thought that it would be more appropriate to have a conversation in a seated position.

“First of all, Mr. Kazushi, I want to apologize if you think my actions earlier were a little extreme. I only acted the way I did because I saw it as the quickest way neutralize the situation.”, he then bowed his head a little after saying this.

“Ahahah please raise your head, mister. I understand, and I’m not seriously hurt so don’t worry too much about it.”

“After running a background check on you, we’ve come to a conclusion that you had no intention on causing any trouble and that all this was just an accident. We also came into possession of the Power Adapter that you were using at the time and we’ve noticed that it was broken and no longer functional. Though I was informed that all the Power Adapters to be used today were checked by the school officials for any defects. Can you please tell us what you did during your spell execution?”, said Mr. Ryo and he looked over to my right hand where I put the adapter on.

“Uhhmm well all I did was focus on casting the spell I wanted to use, Jetstream. I was visualizing my execution in my mind and as I was doing so, my Power Adapter started acting like it was malfunctioning and then cracks and sparks started to come out. I swear that’s all I did and whatever happened after was not my wanting.”, I tried desperately to explain myself to the man that I was shooting ice spikes at earlier.

“Well, it must be a Power Adapter defect that the officials overlooked... Or could it be…”, he just shook his head and didn’t finish what he was saying.

I look over to the two people behind him. Mr. Ryo noticed this and he signaled the two to come over here. The skinny man in black tie made his way towards me.

“Koyasu Senzo, 3rd year Astral Affiliation student. Nice to meet you!”

The lady who was also wearing a black tie approached me,

“Yuu… Yuki Usami, 3rd year Elemental Affiliation student. It’s a pleasure to meet you”

“Shinzo Kazushi, applicant student for Elemental Affiliation. It’s nice to meet you Senzo-senpai and Usami-senpai!”, I greeted them back.

“Uhhh… Senzo-senpai, Usami-senpai, may I ask why you two seem to have that black tie uniform?”

“Ohh this? This is the uniform of the Academy’s Student Peacekeepers. We only wear this during special occasions though. During regular school days, we just get a badge to go along with the school uniform that everyone else does.”, Senzo-senpai answered.

“Ohhh… One more question, are you two dating?”, I asked hesitantly.

Senzo-senpai broke out in laughter after hearing me say this while Usami-senpai just palmed her face in disappointment.

I was dismissed without any further questioning and I was escorted back home by the Senzo-senpai and Usami-senpai. The practical exams carried on without any delays and a week later, a letter was sent to all the students who qualified. I was not particularly confident that I will receive such a letter of admission from the Academy. But to my surprise, I actually got a letter of admission and it was delivered to me by Senzo-senpai.

“Here’s the letter of admission for you Shinzo-kun, congratulation! Don’t forget to look for me and Yuki-chan after class hours of your first school day, we’ve got something important to discuss with you.”

“Thank you senpai! I will!”

A week later…

Here I am at the Academy gate, looking at the big sign that says, “Magic Academy”. I proceed inside to try and look for people who were wearing the same uniform as I am. Students here have the same uniform design; the color of the uniform depends on what Affiliation you are in. Red is for Astral, blue for Elemental, and orange for Mythical. The year you are currently on is decided by how much black stripes you have on the left shoulder side of your uniform.

“Kazushi-kun?”

I turn around to see who was calling my name from behind me. I smiled awkwardly as I realize who it was. It was Aozora Kido, and she’s wearing the same uniform as I am (which is to be expected since I clearly saw her executing Elemental magic during the practical exams).

“Yes?”, I replied