Chapter Seven

Due to their age, most of the physical exercise performed by those younger than fifteen were dominated by cardio, flexibility, and body weight calisthenics. It functioned as more of an organized PE class than a militaristic or combat oriented training session, though a period of time was dedicated to the basic martial forms all Valkyries learned. All told, Daichi found he didn't dislike the activity, and while Navarre was strict, she was very fair and held realistic expectations for each class and individual. However that wasn't going to save her from him.

By far, the highlight of the morning for Daichi was showering and changing for their traditional education classes. Due to his adorable appearance and perceived purity as a child, all of the older girls, primarily the juniors and seniors of the secondary academy level, instantly adopted him, stealing him away to groom and dress him. His two tails were weaving and waving nonstop in pleasure as a buffet of nude flesh on the cusp of adulthood pampered his hair, ears, and tails. The rest of his body was washed as well, but those three areas received extra special attention from all present. The upperclassmen lecturing their underclassmen about seniority, and how they would 'have their turn next year to responsibly help their mascot represent the face of their academy', had his ears twitching in delight. He hadn't even needed to do anything but look cute to set up such a nice arrangement.

While his morning had him in an excellent mood, the actual educational periods left much to be desired. He was, in a word, bored. Dreadfully, terribly, unbelievably bored. Within the first five minutes of class his eyes had glazed over and he mentally checked out, hitting a zen meditation state completely unintentionally as his mind blanked. He was in the equivalent of a first grade class with the knowledge of a graduate level education rotting within his mind. He had originally thought to wait a couple weeks to let everything settle into a routine and get a feel for the dynamics of the school, but at this rate he felt he'd be lucky to last to the end of the day.

When the class finally finished, Daichi sped off to hopefully find Freyja. Dynamics were for plebeians. He was a Yako, he made the dynamics. He almost exploded through the door in his haste, but caught himself. That would be rude, and Freyja deserved respect, so he knocked and waited patiently. Or at least he tried, his ears and tails flicking back and forth in random directions with agitation while he bounced in place. It was only a few seconds later that he was finally called to enter.

"Oh, hello little fox. I didn't expect to see you until the end of the day but this actually works out well."

Daichi cocked his head to the side at her comment, her eyes still scanning through a document slightly raised from her desk. She took a moment to finish, then applied her signature and looked up to meet his eyes.

"So, before we get sidetracked, what has you in such an excitable state?"

Daichi finally noticed his still twitching extremities and made a conscious effort to stop their movements while driving straight to the point.

"I want to test out of academics."

Freyja blinked once with a nonplussed stare as she processed his statement.

"You… want to… test out?"

Daichi nodded.

"I'm pretty sure I lost brain cells forcing myself to sit through those classes. I can't waste my time staring off into space for hours to pretend like I'm a normal kid. I could probably qualify for a mortal's advanced education degree with all the raw data I have sitting up here." He tapped his temple a couple times in emphasis. Freyja remained silent for a few more moments, then sighed and massaged her forehead.

"Okay. We'll have you start the exams tomorrow. You'll have to take the exams for each year sequentially. No matter whether you can skip to the end or not, we have to have the paperwork and exams on file." Daichi simply shrugged in acceptance. Spending a day doing something, however trivial or tedious, was leagues better than becoming a braindead zombie for hours.

"Alright, with that taken care of I have something I want to discuss with you. You're missing the foundational knowledge necessary for Nordic Runic magic. Most Asgardian children, but especially aspiring Valkyries, begin learning the basics of our runic system from the time they can talk." Daichi saw where she was headed and decided to cut to the chase.

"So you want to assign a tutor to me in order to catch me up before releasing me into the world of dangerous magical explodey things."

Freyja chuckled.

"Yes. Exactly." She stood up, walking towards the door. "Follow me, we'll go introduce you to the girl I've picked out for you." Daichi shot her a suspicious glance at her wording, but only a twinkle in the goddess' eye gave anything away.

Daichi followed along a pace behind the woman, her own stroll leisurely enough for him to keep up with little effort. In a far corner of the academy they finally stopped in front of what looked to be an unused practice room. Cracking the door, Freyja gestured for him to take a peek into the room.

Its sole occupant stood in the middle of the area, all of the tools, dummies, targets, and other things having been pushed to the corners out of the way. The pair watched through the door as the girl, no more than ten or eleven, took to drawing runes through the air. Rapidly scrawling the magic, her runic letters, symbols, and design of the casting floated about the girl. Two concentric circles were suspended before her as the drawings began funneling towards the construct, the components snapping into place.

The finished product was equal parts artistic masterpiece and magically engineered marvel, the concurrently casted spells layering their effects multiplicatively, producing a shield that had Daichi's hair and fur standing on end from the magical presence it was emitting. The girl held it for several seconds, sweat beginning to run down her face before a sound like a gunshot echoed out and the shield shattered, the girl falling to her knees while gasping for air.

Freyja took this time to fully open the door, strolling in with the clicking of her heels announcing their presence. Daichi followed, stroking his fingers through his ear and tail fur to smooth out the fluffed hair. The two waited for the girl to get her bearings and catch her breath, though she only left them standing there for a few short seconds, quickly standing and bowing while attempting to slow her breaths.

"Headmistress, to what do I owe this honor?" Her face was expressionless, eyes unfeeling as Daichi observed her. Walking a circle around the girl, he looked her over from head to toe.

"Freyja, why does one of your students look and act like a doll? She's very pretty, and obviously incredibly talented, that shield was amazing, but it's like there's no life in her."

Freyja frowned at him.

"Daichi, mind your manners. That was rude."

He simply puffed his cheeks out, pouting slightly like the child he was.

"I'm just calling it how I see it, my goddess. No kid should look so burdened."

Freyja sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers, the girl in question watching the byplay in front of her in stoic silence.

"Daichi, this is Rossweisse. She's the best student at the academy with Nordic Runes. Rossweisse, I'm sure you've heard of Daichi by now. I'd like to ask you to tutor him in our magic system. He's brand new, and I don't have anyone else I feel I can trust with this task." Rossweisse glanced between the two, taking a moment to survey Daichi, her eyes tracking subconsciously to his ears and tails while Daichi smirked. After a few quiet seconds, Rossweisse nodded in acceptance.

"Yes, Headmistress. I understand. I will teach him." Freyja nodded with a satisfied expression.

"Excellent. Thank you, I'll be sure to excuse you from your class. I know you're already more than competent enough to pass the senior exams, so consider this an equivalent graduate project." Rossweisse nodded in acceptance.

"Yes, Headmistress." This time Freyja simply sighed in response, shooting Daichi a glance that said more than all the words exchanged within the room combined. He simply winked with a smile in response, his left tail tip flicking back and forth.

"In that case, I'll leave the two of you to it. You'll be meeting here from now on during normal class times." Rossweisse gave a bow to Freyja's retreating back, Daichi giving a lazy wave.

"See ya at home, Freyja." She closed the door behind her with no response, though Daichi could have sworn he saw an eye roll accompanying a small smile as she turned away. Daichi turned back to Rossweisse, a bit intrigued to finally be meeting one of the main cast. She was about as much as he expected from her backstory, though her teaching competence at age ten would remain to be seen.

"So, what's first, Little Rose?" Her eyes snapped up to him from the ground.

"Don't call me that."

Daichi cocked his head to the side.

"Why not? You look like a white rose, though I'm still deciding on whether or not you have thorns."

Rossweisse stared at him for a couple of beats, her cheeks slowly flushing a light pink.

"Oh? It looks like the doll does have emotion. You're much prettier now that you don't look so cold, I bet your smile is beautiful." The little girl's eyes seemed to be burning holes in the floor, her cheeks flushing further, though from anger, embarrassment, or shyness, Daichi wasn't entirely sure. Not giving her a chance to make up her mind, he continued on.

"Alright, Little Rose," Daichi stroked her cheek with the tip of one of his tails, startling her from what was likely a miniature internal panic attack. "Where do we start? I'm excited to learn magic." His comment seemed to refocus her on the task at hand. Going over to the whiteboard at the front of the room, she took one of the markers and scrawled out what Daichi interpreted as the Nordic Runic alphabet.

"Copy these repeatedly until they're perfect." Pulling out a stack of paper, she placed it on one of the desks around the edge of the room, handing him a pen as well. "They have to be perfect, or the runes will explode from magical feedback." Daichi nodded along in acceptance. "Once you have the alphabet calligraphy correct, I'll teach you the meanings of each letter, followed by syntax. After that, you'll be ready to try your first rune." Humming lightly to himself, Daichi sat at the desk, resigning himself to old fashion study. Devil magic was cheating bullshit. Every other system required study and practice while they got away with imagination.

It was a shame he had no intention of ever becoming a devil. He would live forever simply by staying alive long enough to ascend, which vastly outdid the measly ten thousand years Devils could reach, plus he'd be free from whatever influence he'd have to subject himself to if he was reincarnated. Nothing was worth the price of his freedom, no matter how bullshit or convenient.

Setting the extra paper to the side, Daichi began studiously attempting to perfectly recreate the symbols before him. Rossweisse observed his careful script for a while, occasionally making comments on mistakes or improvements. After reaching a satisfactory level for each letter, she left him to continue practicing while she went back to her own studies of advanced spell layering. It was a boring few hours, but Daichi was an old hat with prolonged study sessions. College developed skills that lasted longer than one lifetime so it seemed, though it was made less boring by the girl sitting next to him petting his tails while reading her textbook.

It was universal. Even doll-like, cold girls couldn't resist his charm. Soon, he would break this lonely, sad girl out of her shell, and help her blossom into the powerhouse she had the potential to become. He would teach her just as she was teaching him. Lessons that family expectations were not so mandatory, not that it would be too difficult since her own family was very supportive. Add on that teasing and bullies could be dealt with in nonviolent, amusing ways, and she would be his little mastermind.

Yes… Daichi could already envision his Little Rose's genius orchestrating pranks from the shadows. He definitely wasn't maliciously chuckling. That would scare the poor girl, but a sinister grin was absolutely fair game.

A/N:

Fun Fact Corner:

Rossweisse's grandmother, Gondul, is from actual myth. She was one of the major named Valkyries.

The Grove of Barri is also a place from Nordic myth, the description I put in regarding the location is accurate to the place's story.

I picked Freyja as Daichi's mentor because her domains contain nature, as well as love, fertility, and attraction, which meshed really well with the needs for a Senjutsu teacher that can handle the Yako mischievous nature.

I'll try and make this a regular thing for interesting tidbits I pick up from research from both the original story and mythology.

Thank you all for the continued support! I really appreciate it!