Gap

Before Atsuo could realize what was going on, he heard the woman’s hoarse voice again.

“Up next… Atsuo of Brimor,” she called him to the front and instructed to sit down.

He sat down near the old woman, absolutely clueless as to what is going on.

Lord Kaiser who was going back into the crowd of people, glanced back at Atsuo’s bewildered expression.

He looked confused and tried motioning something to Atsuo who took a few seconds to notice him.

Lord Kaiser was gesturing something with his hand, followed by a thumbs up before continuing to the crowd.

Atsuo did not understand any of that. He glanced at the old woman, who was looking back at him.

“Give me your hand,” she said, smiling.

‘Huh?’ Atsuo thought to himself, visibly flustered, ‘What is going on…’

Seeing his hesitation, the woman took his hand herself. Atsuo recoiled in his seat from awkwardness.

“Now… no need to be so on edge…” she said, interlocking fingers.

Atsuo flinched, jerking his hand, but the woman had it tightly gripped, staring at him.

“If there is a single person who should take this test, it’s you…” she said, loud enough for only him to hear.

As he looked up in shock, the woman appeared to be facing the crowd, smiling.

After a few strenuous seconds, he resigned and sat back in his chair, anxious as to what is going on.

“…Of course…” she said, “…we’ve been waiting for you…”

Atsuo snapped his neck towards her again, but she was silent, smiling at the crowd.

Suddenly, her hoarse voice sounded across the room once again, announcing the results.

“Congratulations to the second person with limitless potential, Atsuo from Brimor” she said, releasing his hand and clapping with the crowd.

Cheers filled the auditorium as Atsuo sat, bewildered. Ready to get out.

“Am I free to go?” Atsuo whispered uneasily.

“No.”

“Yes, of course. Congratulations,” she said with the same smile on her face.

Perturbed, Atsuo hastily got up and got out of there.

He went outside, seeing that they were in one of the auditoriums on the first floor. He spotted the main entrance and hurried out of the Academy.

The gusts of wind, filled his lungs with cool, fresh air. His mind was instantly relieved of some of the stress as he sat down on one of the benches placed around the building and campus grounds.

“I heard you were winning, what’s with the sour face?” a familiar voice suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.

It was the young woman who checked their identifications this morning. She was laying back behind the same reception desk from this morning, looking bored out of her mind.

“Huh?” Atsuo uttered, “Are we?”

“…What’s with that answer…” she said spiritlessly, sitting up, “how do you not know how well your own academy is doing?”

Atsuo stared at the ground.

“…Are you not one of the guys from Brimor?” she asked perplexed.

“I am,” he replied, “I just wasn’t… ‘paying attention’, you could say…”

The woman stared at him suspiciously, before leaning back in her chair.

‘Again?’ she thought to herself, getting one last glance at Atsuo.

“Well, whatever the case, you’re in first,” she said, “if you weren’t disqualified, I suggest you cheer up. Others don’t like seeing the winners in a shitty mood.”

Hearing they were in first did not faze Atsuo for some reason, the only thing on his mind was the gap in memory.

“You’re right…” Atsuo said, getting up, “thanks.”

Fully reclined, she waved from under the table, as Atsuo went back into the academy.

***

As Atsuo was walking down one of the halls in Drezore, he stumbled upon his friends.

“Oh, Atsuo!” Rivia called out, “Congrats!”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, looking at them.

“Where is Kaiser?” he asked seeing one less person than usual.

“He went back to his room to write a letter” Eskasa replied.

“Huh? A letter?” Atsuo asked.

“Yeah,” Crod replied, “something about having to ‘let her know’ that you guys won.”

Atsuo chuckled at the thought of him eagerly writing another letter to Yuna.

“Wait, we won?” Atsuo asked confused.

“Yeah. Where were you by the way?” Rivia asked, “Kaiser had to take your medal on your behalf when you didn’t show up at the award ceremony.”

“I didn’t even know it was happening…” Atsuo said, “as soon as that old woman said I could leave, I just stormed out of there.”

“I think they were expecting you to stay in the audience… not leave entirely…” Rivia said, sighing, to which Eskasa giggled.

“Whatever…” Atsuo said, looking at them, “I see you guys took second and third. Congrats.”

Around their necks, Crod and Eskasa wore silver medals with the obverse reflecting Drezore’s lion emblem and “500th Aptitude for Magic Competition” inscription, while Rivia wore a bronze one.

“Thanks,” Eskasa said, “the lead we created in the first event was the end for our opponents.”

“Yeah, we pretty much won the moment we got a 63 point lead…” Rivia said proudly, “all that was left was to perform decently on the other events, but we did well on those as well.”

“Anything interesting happen when I was gone?” Atsuo asked.

“Not really,” Crod said, “but Kaiser had something to share once he took care of the letter.”

“Should we go up to him?” Rivia suggested.

Atsuo nodded, and the friends started ascending the flight of stairs to the Minae dorm.

When they got there, their knocks were left unanswered, making them assume Lord Kaiser was out. However, right as they were about to discuss their next actions, Lord Kaiser appeared from around the corner.

“Speak of the devil,” Atsuo said, “were have you been?”

“Where have I been?!” Lord Kaiser reiterated in disbelief.

“I should be the one asking that!” he said irately, walking over, “I had to receive your award on your behalf. Do you know how much awkwardness I had to endure?”

“What–”

“WE WON AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN SHOW UP TO THE CEREMONY…” Lord Kaiser exclaimed, “WHO DOES THAT?! What were you thinking?”

“It came across as disrespectful to most of the people there...” Lord Kaiser added intensely.

“I didn’t–”

“Whatever the reason, go and apologize first,” he continued, “I’ll listen to your excuse after.”

As much as Atsuo did not like his words, deep down he knew Lord Kaiser was right.

“I’ll be back” he said and went back to the first floor.

“Are you sure you didn’t go a little overboard?” Rivia asked looking at Atsuo leaving.

“Yeah, didn’t seem like you were holding back” Crod added, turning to Lord Kaiser.

“He’ll be fine” Lord Kaiser said, opening his door after they watched Atsuo disappear behind the corner.

They entered his room, and waited on Atsuo’s return.

***

Atsuo went around apologizing to the supervisors and the other staff for his absence, under the pretext that he wasn’t feeling well. While not entirely true, his conscience still allowed it, considering that the truth was a part of some sensitive information, and it was still better than a full-on lie.

After he finished, he went outside to speak to the young woman as well, wanting to thank her again and tell her that they won, but the reception desk was gone, along with herself.

He went around the academy to check but didn’t see anything except the hundred tables that remained from Sana’s tea party event. It was a peculiar sight.

Coming to terms with not finding the mysterious woman, he postponed his thanks and went back inside the academy, to the Minae dorm.

As he neared Lord Kaiser’s room, he heard laughing and lively chatting. To not be the bearer of dejection, he changed his expression so as to not affect the mood in the room and knocked on the door.

“It’s open” Lord Kaiser said, and Atsuo entered.

“How did it go?” Rivia asked, as Atsuo closed the door behind himself.

“They were all very understanding and grateful that I told them,” Atsuo said, sitting down.

“Unsarcastically” he added, seeing their uneasy expressions after his deadpan delivery.

“That’s good to hear” Lord Kaiser replied, as the group nodded along.

“Well then, let’s get started” he continued.

Atsuo turned to Lord Kaiser, puzzled.

“Started with what?” he asked.

“With discussing what the hell you were doing during Sana’s events.”