Disclaimer: The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk) is owned by Yuu Miyazaki. Illustrated by both Okiura, and Ningen. The original Light Novels and Manga were published by Media Factory. The anime was brought to you by A-1 Pictures. All rights are reserved to their respected owners. I only own my OC's. Please support the official release.
The green field glimmered from the sunlight of spring blazing down upon it. Her pink hair fluttered with the wind. A similar crowd of people were gathering around, like the duel that I had with Lucas. It's only my first actual day of attending this school, but somehow I was dragged into my second duel. This probably makes me look cocky. But what the hell, I guess I have no choice in the matter. Nor will I give up without a fight. I just have to look at the positive side of things this time around, and it should all be ok.
"You know that this battle is an uphill one for you, do you not?" Julis said staring daggers at me from across the field. "I'll give you the chance to take back what you said, and it will put an end to this duel."
Well at least it can't get any worse right? "Julis, if this is an uphill battle for me doesn't that mean that I can only travel up?," Right after I said this to her she got flustered. Then went back to that stand-offish face. Great, now she's even more pissed than she was before. "Well anyway Julis, are we going to start this? I know that you think you have me cornered, but a fight is the one thing that cannot be predicted! I Saito Kazuya hereby challenge Julis- Alexia von Riessfelt to a duel" Both of our badges began to light up, and a beam of the light connected the two.
"I accept" She replied almost instantly. There was a countdown before the match. The timer was slowly starting to decrease. I readied both of the luxes and took my stance. Julis readied hers, but it was different from an ordinary lux. The blade of the lux was glowing in a hot pink color. It's kind of similar to her hair. I need to clear my mind. I need to focus on what's right in front of me at this very moment. The echoing of the crowd around us soon began to fade into nothingness. I'm at the bottom, so the only place I can go is up!
"Start of the duel!" A robotic voice echoed from nowhere.
Before I could even think of what to do, Julis already started, "Longiflorum!" She chanted. Surrounding her came multiple spears of fire. She had a smirk on her face that read 'Game Over'. Pointing her sword forward the spears were coming towards me. I count six in total. My palms were getting sweaty, but I wasn't sure if it was from the spears of fire coming towards me, or if I'm just nervous.
The spears were traveling just about the same speed that the bullets from Lucas's lux were shooting. Alright! Just one step at a time, that's how it's always been done. As I charge forward, I need to figure something out. If I can't, I'll be well done. Let's just hope that that outcome isn't the one that I have to face. By the end of all this I would prefer to be still mooing. "There it is!" I thought out loud. There was a gap that was right in between the spear missiles that were charging towards me like rampaging bulls. Using my momentum I was able to slide right between the gap, but my light of hope was shattered a little bit too soon.
"Amaryllis!" She yelled.
"Great… This is just fan-fucking-tastic." I thought out loud. So, getting past just those damn missiles wasn't enough?! Now she's going to launch a huge fire ball at me too! I don't want to lose here! I started to change my course, and move to the right and evade that flying disaster that was propelling towards me.
"Explode!" She yelled.
"Wait, wha' now?" I stopped in my tracks once she said that. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Was what directly followed the bursting of the fire ball. The burst sent me flying towards the crowd. It had a fierce momentum that was propelling me forward. Losing grip of both of my luxes, I was able to regain my footing. The blades were sticking out of the ground. Majority of the white on the uniform was a charred blackish color now. Finally I was able to stop myself when I landed with my heels. I stopped at the side line, like a Football player who was just saved from going out of bounds.
"Well, that could have gone a lot better." I said wiping the sweat off of my forehead. There was a look of either surprise, or annoyance on Julis, but I couldn't tell what one of the two that it was. Both of my luxes were both in the same place that they had originally landed. I picked both of them up, and broke out into a full sprint. Both luxes were at my side as I was running towards her. Julis was readying her stance. Once I got close enough, she started to jab with her lux. The lux she was using looked kind of like a rapier. Once I got close enough she started jabbing with it. Her accuracy was right on point too.
Parrying the blade with one blade and trying to strike with another. But before I could even get close enough to using my other hand, she was already ready to block it. She started jabbing at me once more. Catching her lux with the "X" shape that I made out mine, and pushing it to the side, I struck horizontally with my left hand. The blade of the lux only grazed her uniform. Before the lux struck any skin she jumped back, with only minimal damage with the rip in her uniform.
Around us the crowd was saying things like, "Is she holding back on the new kid?" and, "Wow, the newbie is actually holding his own against her!"
She seemed like she was getting pissed by hearing that. I'm not really sure what's hotter, her temper or her flames? But then it clicked. 'Did I actually just make her back away?' No, no way! I'm actually gaining ground! "Alright, one more time!" But, as I charged towards her, she had that same smirk again. "Longiflorum!" she yelled once more. This time there were more of them, and they were thinner than before. They all came at me again. They were faster than before.
So, does drop, stop, and roll apply to this situation? No, wait that's when you're on fire not when it's coming towards you faster than a bullet. I ducked my head, and began to roll away from my death by fire. Once they passed me, and I stopped rolling, I picked myself up and went right back at it again.
"Amaryllis!" She yelled once more. The ball of fire was forming right in front of me. I can't dodge this one! Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! I crossed my luxes bracing for the impact.
"Ahhhhh!," Is this it for me? Am I going to lose here? No, I can't lose here! I won't lose here! A similar blue flutter was engulfing me one more. It was calming nonetheless. "What's this?" I started. It's something that feels so familiar, but yet so distant. "It's the power from the Genestella. So, this is what it was like that long ago. I feel lighter, and stronger than I did at the start of the duel." I thought. There was a solid feeling under my feet, but I wasn't on the ground.
I charged out from the ball of flames, and right back into action. The light blue aura was still surrounding me. The uniform that I was originally wearing had gotten tattered within the blaze. Julis was taken aback form my entrance. "Longiflorum!" she panicked.
I began charging towards her, but everything seemed to be in slow motion. The spears of fire were almost needle thin, but seemed slow. They should have barely any resistance, but they don't seem like that. I readied both swords at my side. I began to start cutting each and every single one of flames as they came my way. I kept drawing closer, and closer to Julis, as I we were both in each other's reach, she instantly began to jab with her lux. I caught it in an X shaped block, and pushed it to the side. Quickly with my right hand, I swung in an upwards diagonal motion. At that point, her badge was cut into a clean half.
She fell to the ground, and fell into panic. "End of the duel." The announcer called out. It hand my name and picture highlighted.
I began to walk away from her. I could tell without even looking at her that she was embarrassed, and probably pissed too. But there isn't really anything I can do. She's probably in no mood to talk to me about this, plus she doesn't even remember who I am.
But all of this was normal in a sense. I'm nothing but someone in her life that has only been there for a day. I'm no more than an acquaintance to her. It's understandable too. She's royal and I'm a commoner. She meets people day-in and out. She can't be expected to remember everyone that she meets.
Just as I was ready to calm down from all of this, I felt like I was trapped. It was like my body just started to move on its own. I don't know the reason, but my instinct began to tell me to strike with the lux that was resting in my right hand. Without even realizing what I had just done, sparks began flying right in front of me. It wasn't some that was caused by Julis's flames, but by the connection of energy that only happen when two Luxes are in contact in battle.
When I looked towards the ground there seemed to be an arrow of energy just a few feet in front of me. The crowd stared at me in shock. Like they were questioning what just happened? I knew one thing for sure though. That wasn't aimed at me, but for the princess that was still on the ground behind me.
"An assassination attempt on royalty huh? Well, that's really original." I mumbled. I turned to look at the princess behind me. She finally began to stand up, and looked right back at me. "Julis, you should really start to pay attention to your surroundings from now on. That arrow was aimed at you, not me." Just as I finished saying that, the arrow faded away into nothingness. I turned the Luxes off, and they retreated back into the base of the tool. I turned, and walked away from everyone.
"Wai-wait!" Someone called out. I glanced over my shoulder, and seen the pink haired princess calling out to me.
"Do you need something?"
"Your name is Saito, correct?"
"Just Kazuya will do your highness." I said to her right before I turned away once more. The crowd that was once surrounding us has begun to diminish from its original size. I walked through the few people that were left there, and made my exit.
0000
Julis's POV
What's wrong with him? I know that I was the one who challenged him, but I didn't do anything wrong here. But why do I feel this way? It's this feeling of da-ja-vu. Why couldn't I thank him there?
I finally pulled myself together, and got off of the ground. Kazuya Saito, he's an interesting person. He knew from the start that he had low chances of winning this duel, but he still wouldn't back off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he's like a knight. He saved me, but his attitude could you some work.
He was right though. I should watch my surroundings, and pay more attention to things. If it weren't for him, I would of be struck by that arrow. But who's the one that is trying to attack me? I need to find that out.
0000
Kazuya's POV: Boy's Dorm
Did I do the right thing there? I probably sounded like an arrogant asshole there. But if I didn't, I don't think that she would have listened to me.
Everything around me began to swirl. I couldn't make a clear picture of anything that was in the room. A sudden throbbing began pounding in my head. What's this a migraine? Then everything began to fade into black.
0000
*Beep Beep Beep*
The sound of my alarm woke me up. I was lying in the burnt and tattered uniform that I had fought Julis in the other day. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision, and everything was there. I got up and put on a pair of black shorts, and a black T-Shirt to match it. It was time to do my morning training. I started from the boy's dorm and began my morning run. It was just as pleasant as it was the day before. The chirping of the morning birds and the sight of the sight sun peaking just over the horizon was just a soothing sight to take in. A dim orange light began to spread across the walk way that I recently started using just the other day. It was a nice change compared to the previous day. I went behind the trees once more, and began to put some prana into my lux.
Every slash that I made left a faint afterimage as it cut through the wind. The echoing of each slash was faint, but still noticeable if someone was nearby. Each one wasn't wasting a single drop of energy. Through it was troublesome for me to keep the luxes operating for long time due to the constant flow of prana that I had to produce into it, I could at most keep both of them active for fifteen minutes at a time. I can't do anything about that fact, but it's more than enough time for this, and a match.
"I need to apologize to Julis today… I can't forget that. If not, then she'll be even colder towards me. Why can't this world be perfect and everyone get along? Then again dad did tell me that women were next to impossible to understand. Something like, 'Kazuya, women live in this world where every day is opposite day. You'll what they're saying, but not what they mean by it'." I said trying to make an impression of my father.
There was a subtle breeze and the grass around me was rustling. But there was a cracking of the grass, and leaves that was following it. It wasn't something that came natural with nature. It was actually someone coming up from behind me.
"Who's there?" I shouted as I turned to look behind me.
"Quite the greeting Saito." The person said. He and his brown hair, and school uniform with a hoodie said to me.
"Yabuki right? Sorry, I just wasn't sure who was coming from behind. So, what did you want?"
"Well I just was curious on what the newbie who managed to beat the Princess was up too. Plus I have some information that you might just find to be interesting."
"I'm not sure if this is something that I'd like to know, but it might be something that I need to know. So, what do you have to tell me?"
"Well for one, I didn't research this, but the Princess is more than likely pissed at you for stealing her number five spot within two days."
"Wait, I'm ranked five in the whole school!"
"Yeah, since you beat the fifth ranked student, you became that rank. You're what everyone is talking about actually. You claim to be weak but you're able to fight head-to-head with the princess. It doesn't make much sense. Also, how are your funds?"
"Well, I'd be lying if I said that they were great. But at the moment, both me and my wallet are kind of hungry."
"Well, I don't think you'll need to worry about that. Asterisk is filled with opportunities for students to make some pocket cash during their life here. Might I recommend you working at a maid café?"
"Might you recommend someplace else?"
"Fine, I'll send you a few links of jobs in the area tonight. You should go check out the places during our day off in a couple days. It'll give you something to do after school, and you won't be that tight on funds for a little bit."
"Alright well, thanks Yabuki."
"Saito, don't think anything of it. Consider it a freebie for now. But this is nothing more than a down payment. You'll have something that I'll want to know eventually. So, just remember that." Yabuki said as he was walking away.
It's honestly hard to believe that I'm the fifth ranked student in the school. So, doesn't that make Julis a no-rank? Shit… I screwed, no wonder she's mad. After I finished my monologue I went back to my dorm room, and got a quick shower to get rid of the sweat. I got out, did all of the necessities, and put on the school uniform. Well, a new one that wasn't burnt to a crisp by the same girl who's probably going to burn this one too.
I walked out of the room, and locked to door. After leaving the boy's dormitory, I walked on the same path as all of the other students as we all made our way to the main building. The sliding doors opened, and I stopped right at my shoe locker. As I opened it, as envelope slowly made its way to the ground.
"You're kidding me, right?" I thought out loud. Part of me wanted to throw it away, and the other part was curious of what it's about. I put it in my pocket, and shut my shoe locker. Took a step outside where no one was, and slowly pulled the piece of paper from the envelope. At first glance it was easy to tell that it was a girl's hand writing. "Is this actually a love letter!? I'm average in the looks category, but I've only really have talked with Julis and I can rule that person out right away. So, what it… love at first SIGHT!?" I freaked out. Alright time to read it. Alright, 'Excuse me, Saito Kazuya. At lunch today, I would like to talk to you around the back of the school. Please come it's very important. Thank you in advanced. See you then.' "Am I actually getting confessed to today? This is my first time being confessed to! Damn, I'm too nervous!" I said as I felt a strange array of heat fall down upon my face. "I'll think about this later. I need to get to class now"
I walked back into the room with the shoe lockers. It was almost vacant with the exception of a few people who were switching into their school slippers. I opened my locker, and switched into the blue toed slippers, then made my way to class. The sliding door opened, and the bell rang. All of the students scrambled to their seats with me included with them. The pink haired, hot headed princess who would roast me to a char was sitting right next to me. Then sensei walked in without a care in the world if I remember correctly she's, Yatsuzaki Kotuku, our homeroom teacher. She's kind of… a carefree teacher in that sense. She's good at her job I think… All she really does is take attendance, and give announcements, but she does a damn good job at it.
"Alright, is everyone here?" She asked as she walked to the podium at the front of the class. But no one really responded so, she went into rollcall. She made it seem like the end of the world having to call out to each and every individual student. "Sasamiya Saya" She called out, but there was no response. Wait, who is Sasamiya? I don't recall ever seeing, or hearing of her until today. But now that sensei mentions it, there is a girl with blue hair that seems to be in her own little world sitting to the other side of me. She had her head down, and two braids going down the side of her head with hair ordainments too. "Sasamiya Saya, I see you right over there. You better answer before I have to go over there". There still was no response from the girl next to me. Sensei began to march down the path with a rolled up piece of paper. *Wham* the lifted her head up rubbing the spot where she got hit.
"Y-yes" she said rubbing the top of her head. "I'm here..." She said. Sensei then, began to walk away and right back to her podium at the head of the classroom. Then she finished up with the rollcall, and went on to the announcements. All I really heard was, 'blah blah blah, Festa, blah blah blah, exams, blah blah blah'. Sensei then left the classroom, and the next teacher came in to teach. First class was math. But there was a weird presence throughout the entire class. I felt like I was being watched throughout the entire class. Every time I looked over towards Julis, her hair was dancing in the air as if she had just moved her head in the opposite direction. There was no breeze in the room so; she had to be moving her head for it to be moving like that. Yet I still have no idea whatsoever of what she was looking at.
The bell rang to switch to the next class, and every time that I looked over the same thing with Julis continued to happen. She moved her head out of my direction. I guess she's really that mad at me. She doesn't even want to look at me. I'm a failure of a man to make a girl hate me so much. Maybe if I'm lucky I won't get the death penalty by her country. Well hopefully it will never leave to that. She might be mad, but I don't think that it's anything that will lead to that… well I hope at least. But after this class the lunch bell rings, and I finally get to see who the person who left the letter in my locker. *Ding, Dong* now the bell tolls. When I got up, Julis had already vanished.
"Damn, I didn't get the chance to apologize to her for yesterday. Maybe after the meeting I can find her at the cafeteria". I got up and left for the back of the school. The hallways were crowded with students who were leaving to go to the cafeteria. I somehow managed to get through the crowd of people who filled the hallway to an almost immobile state. I switched to my outdoor shoes, and make my way around the school to the back of the school.
As I turned the last corner, my breath was taken away. It was like the beautiful sight of cherry blossom trees fluttering through the air in the middle of spring. The pink haired, hot headed and beautiful princess was waiting for someone.
"You came!" She said with a smile.
"Eh?" I questioned.
"Well, it's not like I wanted you to come or anything… idiot."
"Okay… so, were you the one who left the letter in my locker?"
"That's correct. Saito, there's something that I wanted to tell you. It's something that I didn't get to tell you yesterday."
"Well, that's good, there's something that I've been meaning to tell you too."
"Well then you can go first."
"Very well, Julis-Alexia von Riessfelt, I'm sorry" I said as I bowed towards her. She began to stumble back
"Wha-wha-what!" She panicked. "Why, are you apologizing to me?!"
"I thought that it was a given. I was kind of a asshole after the fight when I lectured you so, I wanted to apologize to you for that. So, what was it that you wanted to say to me?"
"Well..." She started as she was rubbing her finger up against her cheek. "Um… I wanted to say thank you… You know for saving me yesterday… I'm in your debt" She said lightly bowing.
"Could you clarify what you mean by you're, 'in my debt'?"
"You know… I do you a favor because, you saved my life. But don't get any perverted ideas!" She said freaking out, like she was just about to burn the entire school down.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I would never think of anything like that. By the way Riessfelt, are you busy on our day off?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"Alright, then were going on a date," just as I finished saying, I walked away.
"A… a… a da-da-daaattee!"
"Yup, that's what I said didn't I? Riessfelt you said, you're in my debt. So to pay it off, you're going on a date with me. It fits within the criteria that you set for my one demand, no?"
"Indeed it does, but why that of all things!? Saito… do you have those type of feelings for me?"
"Don't get the wrong idea or anything. There's something that I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't ask for this…"
"And what might that be?" She shyly asked.
"Well… I have no idea of the cities layout so; I was hoping I could use this as an opportunity to get a good look at the city."
Julis didn't respond right away just as I thought would happen. I didn't want to look behind me either because, I wasn't too sure of what to expect from doing that. Maybe she was blushing, or maybe she was mad. But my confidence of reading the atmosphere failed me in this case. Shortly following my reason was Julis's laugh.
"Very well, this Sunday meet me at the gate at 10:30," Julis said as she turned around too. We both left and made our way to the school to finish the day.
(Time Skip)
Boy's Dormitory, 18:30
"So, Saito how was the meeting with the princess at lunch?" Yabuki asked as he was waiting at the door of the dormitory just to ask that. I wasn't quite sure on how to respond to that either. I was a little shocked that he is that well informed, and knows everything that's going on around him, but at the same time it was a bit creepy too. The sun was setting and I was still debating on how to respond.
"It was nice… I guess."
Yabuki had a blank expression as he was looking at me. He was probably hoping for a juicier explanation. He thrives on the social life of others, and wants to know everything that's happening at the school. I can't say that it's a bad trait, but it's a damn annoying one. "I see, so what did the princess have to say?" he asked because, he knew that I didn't plan on taking this conversation that far on my own.
"She just wanted to thank me for saving her during our duel the other day. Anymore questions?"
I guess Yabuki didn't expect me to catch on to him that quickly from the start as he lowered his head in embarrassment. "Well actually there are a few now that you mention it," he said as he lifted his head up with a devilish simile.
"Like…?"
"My sources tell me that you asked the princess on a date."
"How reliable are these, 'sources'?"
"Very, why do you ask?"
"Damn, I guess there's really no hiding it from you is there? But in a sense it's not really what you would consider to be a date. Its more-or-less an outing to learn the surrounding area so, I can get around the city later on."
"Saito, no matter how you phrase it, it doesn't change what it actually is now does it? A date is a date even if she's just showing you around the city."
"I suppose that's one way to look at it. But think of it as what you want. Just do Julis and I a favor and don't blurt this out to the world would ya'?"
"I would never do something like that. I mean that would take all the fun out of the princess's first stroll out of the castle with the knight who's worthy of her, no?"
"Quite the metaphor you just made Yabuki. But if Riessfelt heard you, I think you wouldn't like to be cooked like a charred steak now would you?"
"Nah, I prefer to still be left raw, but thank you for the offer. But just so you know, the princess has changed a bit since you got here," he said putting his hand on my shoulder. "It's a nice change so, I wouldn't mind if it stayed like that with her. She used to be like a house with no windows or doors. No one was allowed to see her or step into her world. But now it seems that house if finally getting renovated, and some fresh air is coming in. I don't know what you did, or what you're doing, but keep doing it. I'm counting on you Saito," He said as he pushed off of my shoulder, and began to walk the same path that I had when I walked to the dorm. I walked in, and went to my room.
I'm not quite sure what Yabuki had meant when he said what he said, but I do know people change all the time. The Julis I remember from when I went on the business trip with my father from when I was a kid was completely different from the one that I know today. People change all the time so, what makes this any different from that. I don't really know what Julis was like before I came here, but I'm pretty curious to find out what she was like back then too.
AN: Hey guy it's me again! Well this took longer than expect due to some… unforeseen hurtles in life. Once again I'm not the best author in the world, but I would appreciate it if you guy could cut me some slack here… I think I only got good reviews on the first chapter of the story so; I would like to thank those people who did review.
DragonHeart-san: *whispers in awe* perfect – Thank you so very much! You were the first one to leave a review, and that inspired me to start writing this chapter. It means the world to me that people actually read my content, let alone have someone think it's good. Well. Once again thank you!
MrAlan: Whoa, nice fic, you definitely had the same idea for the Original Character as me, so sucks to be me XD, anyway nice fic... I like the idea of the weak character, still... I wonder how that power he has will affect the future... also will you be adding Ayato? – Well, my good friend it might "suck to be you" but you wrote a damn good one yourself! I think it might even be better than mine, but we're kind of in this together. We're both Gakusen Toshi Asterisk, fic writer. And I have to say that were the best at it, but then again from the last time I checked we were the only authors that are in this category. Our chats have really helped me out a bunch when I was brain storming… Even though most of it had nothing to do with our fics XD! But I hope we can still continue being friends, and all that good jazz!
Willgm: Not a bad start- definitely preferable to the opening of the actual show. Looking forward to the next chap. – Thank you! I appreciate the complement on that. But I don't think it's actually all that good. But then again I don't think that much about anything I do. I'm just a bit pessimistic at times. Well anyway I hope that you continue to read the series until the end!
This goes for all who actually read this; I appreciate each and every one of you who took the time out of your day to read something that I wrote. I want to hear what you people think about my story too. The more feedback I get means I know what I need to work on sharpening. Thus, it leads to better content for those who read Progressive.
-SaberAoi.