Chapter 3
"Crimson Demon Academy...?"
A ray of sunlight crept into his room from the gaps between the curtain, he attempted to open his eyes but sadly, the flash made his eyes charred.
He groaned, covering his head with the blanket his futon provided, a whine was heard and the blanket was pushed from him by something-
"Uh... Onii-chan..."
-...or someone.
He replaced the blanket with his hand, overlaying his eyes with it, and now that the flash wasn't a nuisance anymore, he could easily open his eyes and sat up. He took a deep breath and muttered.
"...The first day, huh?"
Glancing beside him, a little girl was sprawling on his futon, shamelessly sleep like she owned the place. He just chuckled, shaking his head and stood up, stretching the stiff muscles he hasn't motioned for hours.
He sighed after he was done, staring at Megumin for a moment before going out. Snatched a towel and his uniform from his cupboard, which was a wooden block with a flat board as its covers, and greeted his parents.
"Morning, Kaa-San, Tou-San."
"Ah, My handsome son has already awakened from his slumber, so how it is? Maybe you were dreaming about-"
"Ehem, ignore your mother, Kazuma, yes, good morning for you too."
His mother was smiling happily, cooking rice with some vegetables with it, she used a wooden pan, which was a bad conductor to absorb fire, she covered it with a layer of mana so it won't burn. His father was relaxing on a chair with a cup of tea, he used a spell to make a fire from his fingertip for his mother to use.
He smiled, his mother is definitely in a good mood, cooking with enthusiasm while humming some unrecognizable tune, and his father serenely looking outside through the window while slowly sipping his tea. It was nice to see this view.
"Can you wake up Megumin in my room? She sneaked in again."
"Ah, sure! What kind of activity you did with her? Maybe-"
"Ehem, yes, I'll do it."
"Umm... nothing, we just played some game-"
"What kind of ga-"
"Anyway, Kazuma, go the to bath, I don't want you to be late on your first day."
"Aw, come on! It couldn't be that intense, isn't it? Could it be that yo-"
His father faked his coughs, making the fire brighter to fasten up the duration it takes for his mother to cook the fried rice, stealing his mother's attention at the same time.
"Oh my! Anata, you must be really hungry."
"Yes, I am."
'My mother teased too much.'
He nervously thought, walking into the bathroom and took a bath. By the time he was done with it, brand new uniform already equipped, Megumin was already eating her breakfast, sitting beside his father, looking pretty cheerful. He sat on the chair opposite his father and eat the breakfast his mother provides him.
"Waaah! My already handsome son became even more handsome!"
"You look pretty good, son."
Even his father call him 'Son' which was only occurred when he was really happy, yes, this is definitely a great day.
"Onii-chan, why didn't you wake me u- Wow..."
He turned his head a little, his wet hair was motioned, and an apparent blush dominates her pale face.
"Go to bath Megumin, or we're gonna late."
He reminded her, of course, his voice didn't reach her. The reason?
In a brand new outfit, he looks pretty good from the way his family reacts. He pulled the collar of the cloak in a dignified manner, elegantly smirking at his little sister.
"What? I look good, am I?"
"Y-Yes! Of course!"
She stood up and hastily strides to the bathroom, snatching the towel he just used and picked up her uniform in her room. After she was out of sight, he blinked before realizing something.
"...Why did she use my towel...?"
"What was that?!-"
"Kazuma just asked me something, don't worry about it. Yes, Kazuma, you should do it, I urgently recommend it to you."
His father's gaze on him was like a sharp knife, he hurriedly nodded at his father's 'answer' and goes to his room, which was to avoid her mother's yet another tease. He could hear his mother's voice from here.
"Ah, a talk between father and son, how sweet!"
His mother was really scary sometimes, not her rage, not her scolding, nor her glare. No, the scariest aspect of his mother was her teasing.
'Who would want her own children in that kind of relationship with each other?'
Although he did notice that his eyes were different compared to his family, his parents said it was a mysterious genetic awaken within him, thus allowed him to have green eyes since birth.
He wanted to search for the history of his ancestors but decided not to, why? He doesn't really care about it, even if he doesn't blood-related with his family, so what? He would still love them as a family.
When he visited his considerably big village, he once saw two completely different looking travellers calling each other 'Brother', what does brother mean? It means a male sibling, but despite not being blood-related, they still call each other brothers. So why couldn't he do that with his family if he wasn't blood-related to them?
And second, he wasn't interested in history, yeah their stories were cool and all but why did he have to look back anyway? Although he admits he was fascinated at certain parts of history. Like when a great magician cast a powerful spell that could even turn the earth upside down, or when the magician could change the season itself with just a mere flick of his/her fingers.
How amazing was that?! They didn't look like magicians, they look like gods!
His eyes were shining when he imagined those magicians defend their home in history, giving all they had to kill all of the intruders that intended to destroy their home. Creating natural disasters with a mere wave of their hands and creating destruction comparable to doomsday just by pointing their staffs at their enemies. Absolutely magnificent!
Legends! Myths! They are so exciting, so fascinating!
Of course, he read some history books, after all, the things he learned right now could be achieved because of his ancestors.
Ironic really that he said history was irrelevant and not important to him, he nervously chuckled at himself.
Still, he was too lazy to confirming such an irrelevant matter which could take days of research. That, if his parents allowed him to look into the history of his ancestors.
"Onii-chan, I'm ready! Let's go!"
A squeaky voice brought him out from his daydreaming, he shifted his head to the source and saw the cutest girl he ever saw in his life.
"How do I look? I look really cute, right?"
Megumin winked at her big brother and gives him a hand peace sign, with a little bag hanging on her shoulder and stockings as her socks, an oversized black shirt that trimmed her little hands, plus a cloak that reaches her mid-thigh. And! And a knee-length skirt!
...
"My little sister has become cuter than she already was, such a miracle exist..."
He opened his mouth in awe, blinking his eyes a few times before taking a deep breath. He nodded at her and goes out of his room.
"Yes Megumin, you became really cute!"
Turning around, he flashes her a thumbs up and a huge grin before hurriedly sauntered to the entrance of his house.
Megumin felt proud of herself, getting such praise from her dear Onii-chan, no one but her could get it!
"Hahahaha! I, the one who would bewitch my own brother, such a sin! No one could rectify it, of course, except for myse-"
"Megumin! Hurry!"
"O-Oh, yes, I'm coming!"
When she passed the main room on her way to his brother, without her noticing, both of her parents' gazes were on her for a moment.
"Megumin-chan liked to cause mischief, but since a year ago when we entrust Kazuma to take care of her, she always sticks to her big brother. When she did something wrong, I remember Kazuma crouched in front of her and scolded her softly, his eyes were so gracious... Aww! So cute!"
Even Kazuma doesn't know the fact that he actually influenced Megumin when it comes to attitudes.
"Hm, that's mean I could entrust my daughter to my eldest child, I feel solace, it fills my heart with serenity when my malfeasance daughter became a good girl because of my honourable son..."
This time, when her husband subconsciously made a 'poem', she did not stop him. Indeed, she couldn't concern him to stop when she herself felt the same way. Her children had grown!
"Waah! O-Onii-chan! Onii-ch-chan w-where!?"
...Except for one little baby.
'Crimson Demon' Academy.
Location: ???
"It looks... quite big..."
Shifting his head upwards, he stared at the academy with a blank look. There are at least 5 floors, that itself is quite impressive, what's more impressive?
"Wow! There are so many buildings!"
With her big eyes, Megumin excitedly looks around from the corridor. She's right, there are at least 5, yes, that's right, 5 goddamn buildings with each have 5 floors, except for one. There's one building that looks grander than its surroundings, with at least 7 floors and a wider territory, which was filled with various facilities.
They were exploring the empty academy, the reason was that both of them came too early, way too early, the moon doesn't even disappear yet! It was still in the sky radiating dimmed light. But oddly, the gate wasn't locked, they could enter it without any interference.
Yeah, about that, was that gate was a portal or something? There are sculptured words besides the gate that said "Crimson Demon's Academy!" Because there's a rock beside the gate for further information. And the moment they entered it... they had arrived.
Was this academy supposed to be an academy for kids like them? He felt kinda doubtful.
When he was exploring the academy, he literally saw various broken fields. There are scorched grounds, pierced irons, damp volcano imitations, bent trees, and literal mini-mountains.
He was serious, it sounds ridiculous, but they were really there!
There are target dolls too, from the various marks they sported, he could guess they were for practising magic's accuracy.
As he strolling around, he visited all the buildings that existed in this academy. When he saw the content of the classes, he was kind of surprised, instead of chairs, tables and whiteboard/blackboard, which he found out in books that typically classes have those things, they were replaced by long tables and benches, with rows and rows of them. Dozens of colourless globes were on the tables. What prevailed instead of whiteboard/blackboard was a layer of light blue shiny looking thing.
They were too many areas, this place was so big! Massive, no, tremendous was the right word to describe this place.
There were many places that he couldn't identify, like a place where they are many refractory tables with long benches completed the sets, besides them are formal-looking stalls, looks pretty classy if he was being honest. There are toilets too, but toilets aren't really outstanding. Oh, and there's this weird big 'room' where a big stage was showed off and rows of chairs neatly lined up before it.
So many places, yet he only recognized a handful of them.
In short, this place, is incredible. There's no way that all Crimson Demon kids could fill this place, which means-
He would meet outsiders.
"Such a place existed?"
He muttered emptily, staring at a huge green field before his presence. Vague functions of the facilities this academy provide was what he has been pondering about, though he was sure there's a guide or something.
He and Megumin were already done exploring, by now the sun had pretty much lightened up the world with its warm rays.
"I wonder which class we're going to?"
Megumin exclaimed out worriedly, recalling some classes that had specific names. Like the one called "Special Ones." There's a class called "Future Powerhouses." Too, from its name alone sounds terrifying.
He noticed too, not all the classes were the same. Some classes look grander while some look... mitigated-in-quality.
Although for him, they are all pretty good, so it doesn't really matter which classes they would occupy.
"I'm worried I would have to part with Onii-chan..."
His little sister softly hugged him, proclaiming her worries. He responded by patting her head slowly, he too had a worried look on his face. What if some bullies are exploiting his cute little sister, or some playboys were thinking that his little sister was cute and tried to do 'their ways' to her without him knowing?
They were kids, he knew that, but Crimson Demons, his race and clan, were different. When he reached 13 years old, he could be considered mature! A grown-up! So it's normal for parents in his village to educate their children about... how a baby was made at his age.
But what he was worried about wasn't his clan, no, the kids of his clan strangely acted dramatic like his father and couldn't care about such petty thing. What he was worried about were the outsiders! Although he doesn't know if the outsiders' notions were the same as his or not, by looking that they could enter the academy Crimson Demons entered, it's not impossible.
Their ages aren't confirmed yet, but still-!!
'I swear to god, if someone would dare to do that to her I-'
"Onii-chan, look! There are people!"
Megumin invited him to sit down with her on a stone bench, he immediately accepted it. They silently spectating the rows of students coming out from the corridor that connected the 'gate' and the main place, which was where they at right now.
The main place was surrounded by the said buildings, it couldn't be considered as a building, the right way to define it was-
"An enormous flat field with corridors encircling it that connected each building that surrounds it."
...Literally.
Both of them quietly watched as the crowd of students with various uniforms orderly moves through the corridor.
'I was right, they are kids like us.'
He silently watched each of the students with keen eyes, and find out something intriguing.
There are 4 different uniforms, the black one like his, white, grey, and-
Gold.
Narrowing his eyes, he especially pays attention to this colour, going into groups and bumping people like they were supposed to do that. The pretentious ones, gold uniform students are arrogant people. They were walking like they owned the place.
"Ah, Kazuma-Kun! Megumin!"
A voice called them out, and a familiar girl appeared before them as she emerged herself from the crowd. A moment and a couple of girls followed her.
'She does have friends.'
Yunyun was in a black uniform, just like them, but there's a white strip on her cloak. The girls behind her, on the other hand, have 2 white strips on theirs.
"You guys were already here! Thank god, I thought I have to wait at the gate..."
She said in relief, there's a nervous air around her, you could tell she was kind of jumpy. The way she secretly glancing at the two girls before her was the obvious gesture to show that she was nervous because of those two.
"Yeah, both of us came too early..."
He replied, smiling softly at her, his little sister stared at him for a moment before nodding in agreement. She was directing her attention to the girls Yunyun came with.
"Onii-chan, I wonder who they were? Their faces look pretty stringent..."
Megumin whispered in curiosity, secretly nudging him with her finger. Unquestionably, she was right, although the strict looking girls were the same as his little sister in height, they have this air that told them they were experienced, seniors.
"Alright Yunyun, we treat you pretty well considering that we allowed you to roll in two students from your branch village. So I hope you won't disappoint us."
The one with a pair of glasses proclaimed blankly, glancing at Yunyun who suddenly sweated the moment she looks at her.
"Haha! I'm sure they won't disappoint us, Yua! Although I was kind of discontented when one of them said that we look pretty stringent..."
"Eek!"
Megumin instantly hides behind him, peeking at the girls warily. The one who said it was a girl with heterochromia, with a pair of crimson and pink eyes. Her hair was straight and she wore an oversized uniform, like his little sister.
"Ah? You, you have a pair of green eyes?"
She asked him afterwards, striding and standing before him, his eyes met hers, and she stumbled backwards. Widening her eyes, she shakily grasps his arm, getting a raised eyebrow from him.
"...Show me."
"Show what?"
"Your magic p-prowess."
The one with glasses showed her enthusiasm by blinking her eyes. Yunyun, on the other hand, was frozen, completely unmoved. It was like seeing something so shocking that she couldn't do anything more than stares at it and be shocked.
"Lyn-senpai... s-stuttered?"
"What's wrong, Lyn?"
Lyn, the girl with heterochromia said nothing, moving to her previous spot and pondered silently, getting a curious look from her colleague 'Yua'.
"Onii-chan, what did you do?!"
"N-Nothing...?"
His little sister looks pretty concerned, hissing at him worriedly. All he could say was "Nothing." Because he genuinely didn't do anything!
"W-What's your name?"
The girl 'Lyn' asked him, looking at him with a look of wariness and surprisingly, respect.
"Kazuma."
"Kazuma... Kazuma, ah, Kazuma-Kun..."
She keeps repeating his name like it was a mantra, muttering it silently. Although it doesn't matter because all of them were near her.
"Lyn...?"
"Alright! Both of you, follow us, we're gonna test you to see if both of you were qualified or not!"
That's all she said before turned around and hastily walks to the building with a black exterior. Megumin stood beside him and look worried, before widening her eyes and moodily followed the girl, muttering things he couldn't hear.
"Onii-chan... bewitching... unacceptable..."
Yunyun glanced at him in amazement, flashing him a smile and followed Megumin
"I did nothing at all... why people here behaved strangely?"
Kazuma groaned in disdain, sighing in pity for himself. The girl with glasses looks at the walking girls from afar and said.
"...I hope you met my expectation, Kazuma-Kun."
She, like them, walked to the building calmly, giving him a note and left. He blinked and read the note she gave him.
"Be careful of students of different factions, I recommend avoiding conflict with those troublesome people. I warned you with this because I know Crimson Demons, our clan, doesn't like it when people doubt their abilities, I included. But still, please restrain yourself from making trouble.
-Yua, Member of Student Council."
Doubting his abilities? He smirked, looking ahead and saw the girl with a pair of glasses over her crimson eyes adjusting her glasses, staring at him with her bright eyes.
Unfortunately for the other 'factions', the one who would regret doubting his abilities won't be him. The one who would regret it would be them.
He followed Yua, glancing at the crowd of students discreetly, with a smirk and a pair of glimmering green eyes. The students couldn't help but shuddered.