My First Taste of Magic.

The ring of the starting bell marked the beginning of my inevitable doom. Somehow I, one of the lowest ranking members of Class A, someone with no magical ability, managed to tick off Ryu Takanashi, the top ranked student in Class A, enough so that he requested to fight me specifically in the opening round of the First Month Trial. Just my luck.

Standing before me was a student ranked even higher than Yukino, who I watched first hand wipe the floor with other students during her sparring matches, including Honoko. No matter how one looked at it, I was completely screwed.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Ryu asked mockingly. “Come on, attack me!”

He was trying to play mind games, little did he know they wouldn’t be necessary against me. Frozen in fear and trying to figure a way out of this, I didn’t move. The strange, clouded darkness surrounding us didn’t help to calm my nerves.

“Come on now boys, don’t just stand there all day doing nothing!” Ms. Kurokawa called out from her referee perch.

Should I make the first move, or should I wait for Ryu to strike? Without any magic, what would be my best move? Better to get the pain over with, right? Perfectly playing the part of the fool, I charged straight for Ryu.

In an instant I was no longer approaching him. My legs were still churning, but I wasn’t moving anywhere. I looked down at my feet, I was no longer touching the ground! With one hand up and a wicked smile on his face, Ryu made me airborne. I was floating, just a mere few inches off the ground, but there was no mistaking it. Ryu lifted me off the ground. So this was his magic, some form of telekinesis. I was totally helpless under his control.

“You’re not even going to try and break free?”

Clearly Ryu still had way too much faith in me as a combatant. This was just a warm up for him, a way to test my capabilities. He thrust his hand towards the ground, which forcefully drove my body into the ground. The impact sent pain surging through my body. He released his grip on me and started laughing. I slowly rose to my feet. He was toying with me.

“Come on now Nakamura, try running at me again!”

His maniacal cackling was starting to grow annoying. He sounded like a stereotypical movie villain. There was no chance I was going to run at him again, my body wouldn’t be able to handle another firm meeting with the ground.

“Fine, you don’t want to move? If you insist!” Ryu’s taunt was immediately followed by a chill through my entire body, starting by my feet and quickly moving upward. Ice was forming around my feet! I tried mightily to free myself from this ice trap to no avail. So Ryu was proficient in two distinct types of magic? There was nothing I could do, I was stuck.

Ryu walked over to admire his work.

“I know you’re one of the gutter students but come on, you’re still in Class A! I thought this would be at least a bit of a challenge. You’re not so tough when you’re not coddled by Yukimura and Hayashi!”

All his taunting made my blood boil. All my life I’d been able to keep a cool head, and while his insults were not far from the truth, for some reason his petulant mocking pissed me off. He was standing within arms reach now. Without thinking, I swung at him and punched him square in the face. I wasn’t strong by any means, but I wasn’t a total weakling either. To my surprise, my punch sent him stumbling backward. Ryu wiped blood from his nose.

“You little shit.”

The ice around my feet receded. I could move once again.

“Don’t get too comfortable rank 14.”

Ryu held up both his hands, creating massive flames in each of his palms. Telekinesis, ice magic, and fire magic? Just how much magic did he know? Ryu jumped in the air, but he never came down. He was now levitating above me, ready to hurl an endless onslaught of flames at me.

My elusiveness impressed even me. Adrenaline was one hell of a drug. I dodged all of Ryus’s relentless onslaught of flames. Thankfully the courtyard arenas were made out of weatherproof material or else the entire terrain would be a scorched earth. Unfortunately, levitating in the air, Ryu was untouchable. It was only a matter of time before he struck me down with fire.

“Are you never going to strike back? This is getting boring.”

I had no response. No matter what, I didn’t know magic, and there was no way for me to strike back. I got a lucky punch in, but that was no longer possible with Ryu flying above me.

“Wait a minute… do you not know any magic? You can’t even throw a basic projectile attack at me?” Well, he seemingly caught onto me. I made it a month at a real magic high school without knowing any magic, I guess it was a good run. “Well, no mercy from me!”

Dark clouds rolled over the sky with an ominous rumble. I tried to move, but couldn’t move a muscle. A bolt of lightning flashed through the air with a loud crack and in the blink of an eye, everything faded away.

I woke up with a surging pain throughout my body. Long gone was the school courtyard, the dark prison Ryu locked me in, and any sign of my classmates or teacher. Now, I found myself in a hospital bed at the island’s infirmary system.

“What happened…”

“You took quite a beating,” the attending nurse I had just now noticed said. “Pretty rough first battle at this school huh?”

You could say that again. My body was absolutely beaten, I just wanted to stay in bed for at least a month. I swear I could still feel leftover electricity coursing through my veins.

“How long was I out?”

“Oh only a day, 20 or so hours to be more specific. Strangely enough your injuries are healing incredibly slowly, magic users should be able to recover from magic battles pretty quickly.”

Well of course I wasn’t actually a magic user so my frail, normal body took quite a beating.

“You’ll be able to check out soon, we just need to run a few more tests and monitor your vitals for a bit longer. You’re going to be out of commission for at least two weeks though.”

Two weeks of doing nothing, not like that was any different from the month I just spent doing nothing. I was never one for self confidence, but my self image was about as low as humanly possible now.

“Okay, thank you for your help ma’am.”

The nurse smiled as she walked out of the room. Until she returned to take my vitals, I had nothing to do but sit around.

After what felt like an eternity I was released from the infirmary. The nurse told me to head straight back to my dorm, so I found myself walking the streets heading towards Sugawara Hall. Since I passed out I missed all the first month trial matches following my own, and my morning academic classes. The next round of the tournament was this afternoon, but by doctor’s orders I was not allowed to leave my dorm room. Part of me wondered how everyone else was faring. Did Shun put up a fight against Yukino? Were Honoko, Emi, and Shinobu able to advance? But for the most part, I was focused on the pain I was currently feeling, and how my time at this school was likely soon coming to an end.

I finally reached my destination. I swiped to enter the building and took the elevator up to my floor. I unlocked my dorm room and lethargically walked in, still feeling the effects of my beat down. Much to my surprise, Honoko was in our room, looking longingly out the window. It was the middle of the school day…

“Hayashi, what are you doing here?”

My words startled her. She jumped in place and turned to face me. Somehow she hadn’t heard me enter the room.

“Oh wow, Nakamura! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon!”

“Shouldn’t you be in class right now?”

“Well yeah… it’s not like I skipped to wait here for you or anything! I didn’t even know you would be back now! I just didn’t feel like going this morning.”

No one insinuated that she was waiting for me, but okay.

“You know what? I changed my mind, I do want to go to class. Are you coming?”

Even if I wanted to go to class, I couldn’t, by doctor’s orders. In reality, it gave me the perfect excuse to miss class when I would have skipped it anyway. I couldn’t bare the thought of showing my face in class after my embarrassment yesterday.

“Sorry Hayashi, the doctor said I have to rest up for a few days, so I won’t be going to class for a while.”

“Oh, alright.” There almost seemed to be a look of disappointment on her face. “Well, later loser!” And just like that, she was gone.

I could feel my own eyes struggling to stay open. I was out cold at the hospital for so long, yet I still found myself on the verge of falling asleep. With nothing better to do, I succumbed to my drowsy desires.

I jolted awake to a loud pounding at my door. I sluggishly dragged myself out of bed to answer the door. I was greeted by a tall man I had never seen before.

“Can I help you?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

“I’m here on behalf of the school administration. Please come with me.”

Being part of administration did explain his fancy black suit. I was in no condition to refuse this mans request. Even if I didn’t want to go with him, he definitely had the strength to drag me out by force. I reluctantly followed him out of my dorm room and Sugawara Hall.

The administrative wing of the school was located on the top floor of the building at the end of the hallway. I exchanged no words with the man escorting me the entire way. Upon arrival, he let me into a small waiting room, with just a couch, table, and water cooler. Eventually, the waiting room door opened.

“The Board is ready to see you now.”

According to the student handbook, the board was the overarching governmental body for the school. Both the School of Magic and School of Alchemy had their own boards. The board comprised of the Head of the School and four administrators selected by the head.

I left the waiting room and entered another room simply labeled “The Board.” Once I entered, five people were sitting before me at a long, curved table.

“Please state your name, age, and class, for the official record,” the man seated in the middle of the group said with authority.

“Arata Nakamura, Class 1-A, age 15.”

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“No sir, I don’t.”

The man who escorted me to the administrative wing briefly stepped out of the room. He returned alongside Ms. Kurokawa. I was shocked to see her, the school day still wasn’t over. Plus, she needed to officiate the remainder of the Class A tournament after classes ended.

“Thank you for coming, Ms. Kurokawa. This shouldn’t take long.”

“I’d hope not,” Ms. Kurokawa replied sharply. “I have a busy schedule you know.”

She kept her same snappy tone even with the administrators of the school. She was truly a frightening woman.

“I’ll cut right to the chase, Mr. Arata Nakamura. Do you have the ability to use magic?”

The man put me right on the spot. There was no point in lying, magic users this powerful could easily expose me if I attempted to lie. Plus, there was no reason they would bring me here unless they already knew the truth. It was better at this point to be honest.

“No sir, I don’t…”

“Just as I suspected. Ms. Kurokawa, it seems your reports were accurate.”

Ms. Kurokawa must have seen right through me during my “fight” with Ryu. She sold me out to the board.

“Well, this case seems simple enough,” the head of the school said. “We will now take a vote and-”

“Now hold on a second sir,” the lady at one end of the table interrupted. Just look at this poor boy’s face, he’s clearly terrified/”

“That is not my concern.”

“Let me ask you something, Arata Nakamura,” she continued. “Do you like this school?”

Her question caught me completely off guard. Of course I liked this school, it was a truly unique experience, and for the first time since I was in elementary school, I had people around me I could almost call genuine friends.

“Yes ma’am, I do like it here, a lot. I’ve always loved magic.”

“How did he even get an application to our school?” Another one of the men asked. “Our promotional material is exclusively sent to the magic users around the country. How did a regular like him get an application?”

Regular must have been the term magic users used to describe normal, non-magic wielding citizens.

“My counselor showed me the poster… although I’m not sure how he got it.”

“That doesn’t matter,” The woman chimed in again. “At the end of the day this boy applied to our school, auditioned in front of the judges, and was accepted. He was even put into Class A! Just keep that in mind as we conduct the vote.”

“Alright,” the head of the board said. “This will be a standard vote, majority rules. We will be voting on the matter of expelling Arata Nakamura from the Apex School of Magic. If we vote to expel, we will follow our standard memory wipe procedures.”

“Memory wipe?” That phrase piqued my interest, and my curiosity go the better of me.

“The true nature of this school is a highly classified government secret, as you know. To regulars, The Apex School is simply a boarding school funded by Apex System designed to nurture the brightest students in all of Japan. In consequence, we cannot risk the truth being released to the public. You, along with every other student here, signed a non-disclosure agreement upon enrolling in our school. When we believe students may act out against the school, such as in matters like expulsion, we must wipe their memories clean of this school and magic entirely.”

So, when the board inevitably votes for my expulsion, my memory of this school would be erased? My memory of magic genuinely existing? Not only that, but I would probably lose my memories of Honoko, Yukino, Emi, Shinobu, Shun, and everyone I have met on this island? My only friends would be deleted from my life?

“Please don’t expel me and erase my memory,” I begged, looking pathetic in the process. “I’ve made friends here, and I don’t want to return to my old and boring life alone. Even if I don’t know magic, I’ll train hard and prove I belong at this school.”

My please seemed to fall on deaf ears, the head of the school had no reaction at all. Completely unfazed.

“Enough wasting time. Let us vote. Ma’am as always we will start on the end with you.”

“I vote he stays.” I could hardly believe what I just heard. Sure, she stood up a bit for me during the proceedings, but still, voting to let me stay? “He seems like a good kid,” she continued. “I think we should give him a chance to prove himself.”

“I vote he’s out,” the next man up said. Well, any feeling of relief I had was short lived. Next up was the man in the middle, the man in charge of it all, the head of the school.

“He’s out for me.”

It was now two vote to one in favor of my expulsion. One more vote for expulsion, and I was gone.

“I vote that he can stay.”

With that, the vote was now two to two. It all came down to the final member of the board.

As I watched the final board member deliberate internally for what felt like an eternity, I had an epiphany. The man, the board member who would decide my fate, was the old man judge at my audition for the school! Did that help me, or harm me? Did he remember me or my performance? Would he be mad that I somehow slipped under his nose despite not knowing any real magic? I could feel sweat on my brow as I held my breath in anticipation.

“I…”

Here it comes.

“Vote…”

My future came down to this.

“He should stay.”

“What?!” For the first time during the proceedings the head of the school broke his rigid, authoritarian character.

The old man’s words registered in my head, but I couldn’t process them. I was allowed to stay at the school, but honestly, why? If I were in their shoes, I would have voted for my expulsion. In the mind of the board members, I deserved no sympathy.

“Excuse me, I lost my composure there for a moment,” the head said as he fixed his necktie. “Rules are rules, so Mr. Arata Nakamura, you are allowed to stay. However, I am going to impose a special rule on you, using my executive privilege.”

It only seemed fair he could impose some sort of special rule on me. After all, I shouldn’t be a student at this school at all.

“Yes, sir.”

“Seeing as you know no magic, you are likely to finish ranked last in your class. This is where my special rule comes into play. Normally, students ranked last participate in the relegation tournament to determine if they will relegate to the lower class. As a member of Class A, that would normally place you into Class B. However, if you are relegated at the end of the year, you will be required to leave our school of your own volition.”

Avoiding relegation was an impossible task for me, but I had no choice in the matter. If I agreed to the terms, I would at least have the rest of the school year to try and work some miracle.

“Understood.”

“Does anyone else have anything they would like to add?” The other board members shook their heads. “Alright then, there is one final point of order. Ms. Kurokawa, as the teacher of Class 1-A, you have the displeasure of teaching this student despite knowing he lacks any magic capability. Is that something you are okay with?”

She shrugged. It was very clear she didn’t want to be here. “The board made it’s decision, who am I to step in the way of that? Nakamura is just like any other student, as long as he performs and behaves in the classroom, I couldn’t care less about his rank.”

She was blunt, but fair, and forgiving. It must have felt insulting to be the teacher of the prestigious Class A, only to have a student like me make a mockery of it.

“Okay, well then, Mr. Nakamura, you are dismissed. Ms. Kurokawa, thank you again for taking the time out of your day to be here.”

Ms. Kurokawa left the room without another word. I bowed before the board to show my respects before leaving the intimidating room. How on earth did I survive that mess? Little did I know, things were bound to get much messier.