David didn't want to open his eyes, not for this, arguably the worst part of the summoning process. How that he was personally experiencing it, that was confirmed as despite his efforts, his eyes still peeled open at the sheer force of the wind as he fell, though he couldn't really see anything as his vision had faded to black despite still being fully conscious since his eyeballs were being pushed to the back of his head.

It was awful. The pressure was like a rollercoaster spiralling out of control with no tracks and no cars, just falling straight downwards, completely unable to stop or even slow down.

His ears popped as he hit terminal velocity, the familiar shape of the Tristain Magic Academy rapidly drawing closer below him as the ground slowly came to view, though his vision was still fuzzy and colorful spots formed everywhere he looked.

It made him feel sick. There was a reason he'd never wanted to try skydiving before, and this only proved it. It didn't help that he felt his guitar banging against his back, the wide surface area of the case giving it just enough lift that it wouldn't stay flat on his back, banging repeatedly against his backpack with every small variation in his speed. Hopefully the instrument would survive intact, he really didn't want to lose his prized possession from something like this.

But he had bigger problems to deal with right now than the guitar potentially breaking. He was more worried about what the added weight might do to his body once he hit the ground. In the anime, Saito had stopped just before hitting the ground and then simply collapsed in the remaining few inches...but Saito had not had a heavy instrument strapped to his back.

He would have sighed in resignation had he not been falling at 120 miles an hour towards a deceptively tiny-looking patch of grass between the crowd of people that he started being able to see.

He couldn't help but close his eyes and brace for impact as he fell. There was nothing he could do about his situation right now, so panicking would do nothing to help him. Instead, he let his body relax, arms and legs extending outward to catch as much air as possible while the guitar acted as a sort of sail.

The fall continued for what felt like hours, before he passed into a thick cloud of dark brown smoke that blurred what little vision he had, and upon reaching the cloud, his momentum was cut short, stopping him just above the ground and knocking the breath from his body as the sudden stop forced all the pressure of the fall onto his chest and stomach.

Luckily for him, his guitar stopped just as quickly, and from the lack of sound or movement coming from the case, it seemed to have come out intact. Good, he didn't need to worry about it.

Instead, there was only one other thing to be immediately concerned about.

"Oof…" The last inch of the fall, once again kicking the air from his lungs as it dropped him the rest of the way, the guitar's weight pressing on his back as he lay still on the ground, facedown in the grass.

Now that he'd stopped moving, he had a keen sense of his body's unfortunate reaction to this unwanted turn of events. He wasn't going to throw up, but his stomach still turned as his forehead felt hot, a headache forming thanks to the intense forces he'd just had to go through.

The summoning itself, tearing him from his perfectly content life in his world, was bad enough, but was there actually any logical reason why it had to thrust him so high in the air? It seemed that it was invented purely to make the familiar's life as miserable as possible right from the start…

As he regained his senses, he rolled to his back, lying on the guitar case, the sound of people coughing clear now that his ears had stopped ringing.

He was lucky enough that the motion of his body had forced the cloud to dissipate in his immediately vicinity, but he still groaned at the throbbing in his spine as he instinctively gasped for air, his lungs still aching from being repeatedly squeezed.

Eventually, he was back to normal, at least enough to be more aware of what was going on.

The dust cloud had dissipated, and David became acutely aware of the eyes now staring at him and the pinkette standing nearby, a wand raised in her hand and an unreadable expression on her face.

Several seconds passed, before someone started to chuckle, and it quickly spread until everyone in the crowd was laughing.

"Look at that! The Zero summoned a commoner!" Kirche said, laughing as she sat with her new salamander, who had combusted the smoke near him and spared his master from the coughing fit everyone else was dealing with.

"Look at those clothes! So weird!" This time, it was Guiche, his pompous laugh easy to recognize despite awkwardly squatting next to the large mole he'd summoned.

"What is that thing he's sitting on?" Oddly, Montmorency, someone he hadn't expected to make a comment. Then again, it was entirely possible he was just hallucinating all this, and the small frog sitting on her shoulder really didn't help sell this being real.

David couldn't understand everything they said, but he knew from both watching the show and from the tone of their voices that they were jeering at the girl, who he recognized as Louise de la Valliere.

Great...looks like I'm not dreaming all this up after all...if this headache wasn't enough to prove it already…

Louise glared at him, a piercing stare that didn't look all that intimidating on her cute face. Why was she acting like this was his fault? Sure, he knew she was very focused on keeping a personal image thanks to her already consistent failures, but still, this was all on her.

"Mr. Colbert, can I try again, please?" she asked. David didn't even need to understand her to know what she was saying, this part of the series was easy to remember.

The bald instructor shook his head apologetically, tapping the ground a couple times with the large staff he held in hand. "Summon Servant is a sacred ritual, you can only perform it once...Ms. Valliere, please complete the contract."

Louise growled, before squatting in front of David, who sat up to look around better before blinking, shifting to lean back away from her.

The ritual was always completed the same way, and as embarrassing as it was to think about it, he was currently more worried about what comes after. Even just seeing it animated was painful to watch, and now, there was little he could to to prevent it from happening to himself, not without being immediately attacked by either an Explosion spell or something worse from an actual competent mage. So he grit his teeth and closed his eyes, sitting still and waiting for it to come.

Louise stared at him. "Alright, familiar. I don't care if you're a commoner, I'm going to make this work no matter what."

She went quiet, and after hesitating long enough that he almost opened his eyes to check what was going on, the feeling of something on his lips came, and instinctively, he jolted back, the guitar rattling in its case as his eyes snapped open again.

He wasn't sure whether it was more that he had steeled his nerves for the burning soon to come, or Louise didn't know what she was doing, or if she truly saw no oddity in the act, but the actual kiss was almost worse than the fall.

She didn't even seem offended at his rapid retreat, simply staring at him, having not even blinked during the whole process. Briefly, he wondered if that short contact was enough or if she'd try again, but soon, his unspoken question was answered as he shouted in pain, his right hand moving to grip his left wrist as pain shot through his body, centered on that joint.

It was as if his entire left arm was on fire, his nerves all lighting up as once as the runes ᚷᚢᚾᛞᛟᛚᚠ carved themselves into the top of his left hand

He clutched his wrist with his right hand, staring as the runes ᚷᚢᚾᛞᛟᛚᚠ were burned into the skin of his left hand. He probably shouted a curse when it happened, but it was so intense that, despite it finishing and the pain vanishing in less than a second, he had no concept of the world around him, his mind focusing exclusively on that pain before it left, leaving him to flop to his side, curled up as his eyes remained wide, the air cold as he'd begun sweating.

At least it's over now… he thought, internally laughing at himself. Who am I trying to convince? It's barely started...