Hey, I'm back! Just thought I probably should have specified this before, but this story takes place around the time the Seal Stone is recovered in the Adventurer storyline. So yeah. On to the next chapter!

Edit (16/7/2016): Wow, I was a really bad writer.

Important note: I will be deleting every unedited chapter, because there's going to be a lot of things different. Actually, I should probably just take down the whole story and make a new one, but I'm too lazy, so there.

Chapter 4:

When Ascion woke up, he felt rather comfortable and warm. Refreshed, too, since his mana reserves had replenished with sleep. Still groggy from just waking up, Ascion decided that getting a little bit more sleep was a great idea, so he snuggled into the soft and rather warm pillow that was hugging him.

… Wait a minute. How could a pillow actually hug him?

Ascion opened his eyes immediately. What he saw just made him sigh in exasperated fondness.

Kaede was hugging him like a body pillow, her face snuggled against his chest. Her breathing was slow and even, signalling that she was still asleep.

Holding in a chuckle so as not to disturb Kaede, Ascion carefully looked around, noting the dirt ground, the slightly shimmering barrier, the tree branches shading the two of them and the blue sky, easily drawing the conclusion that Kaede had probably set up camp after he collapsed.

He frowned when he noticed the blue sky, though. Something felt of…

Reaching into his pocket dimension, Ascion withdrew his cellphone. He unlocked it, taking a look at the time.

And promptly panicked.

"Kaede!" He roughly shook the sleeping archer. "Kaede, get up!"

Kaede blinked blearily, before flushing a bright, almost luminescent red when she noticed her position. She hastily detached herself, sitting up and turning away to grab her weapons. No, her turning away had nothing to do with how red her face was or how fast her heart was beating, no sire.

"W-What is it?" Kaede asked as she fastened her quiver over her chest.

"We're going to be late!"

…

Kaede mechanically took out her phone, checking the time. Sure enough, the digital clock showed 7.52am.

"Dammit, I thought the sky was too blue for it to be early morning-" Ascion was cut off as Kaede suddenly grabbed his wrist. Somehow, Kaede had managed to pack up everything in the time it took him to say that sentence and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"We're running." She hissed, embarrassment forgotten, before taking off like a rocket, Ascion flailing behind her like a banner.

"Wait- Kaede, watch where you're running! Mind the tree- HOLY FUCK! Slow down a little!"

Of course, all of Ascion's desperate pleas fell on deaf ears as the archer continued to sprint as if Crimson Balrogs were on her tail.

"My arm!" Ascion groaned pitifully, slumping in his seat as he clutched at his abused arm. "My poor, abused arm!"

"Oh don't be such a puss." Kaede waved off his complains as she stabilized her breathing. "At least I got us here on time."

"I think you've lengthened my arm." Ascion muttered pitifully as he lifted his limp arm before letting it flop bonelessly onto his desk. "I can't feel it either."

Kaede rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Ascion. Even if you really can't feel it, and I know you can, you can still heal yourself."

"Tch. Take away my fun, why don't you." Ascion joked before he retrieved a blue potion from his pocket dimension and downed it. Then he tossed the bottle back in and took out his staff. A tap and a golden glow later, and his arm was back to normal.

"The teacher's going to be here soon." Ascion said as he stowed away his staff. "We actually blew past him on our way here."

As soon as those words left Ascion's mouth, their homeroom teacher kicked the door open, striding into the room.

"Alright, class! Shut up and sit down!" When most of the class just stopped and stared at him, their teacher slammed his palm against his desk, causing it to make an unnerving, cracking sound.

"WELL?!" Mr. Benjamin Lee roared.

The results were instantaneous, the students rushing to get back into their seats. The teacher nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, rollcall!"

"Fierce, too." Kaede remarked as the teacher started belting out names, rapidly marking attendance even before the students could answer. "I think he's the only teacher that swears in front of his students."

"I'm starting to like him more and more." Ascion smirked.

"Alright, with that done, self-intros!" Mr. Lee announced. There was a collective groan from almost everyone in class.

"What, nobody wants to introduce themselves to their 'mates?" Mr. Lee asked, then plowed on without waiting for an answer. "Well, too bad! Let's get started! Akio Shinohara!"

"What?!" Ascion yelped, twisting in his seat to see the white haired chess master from yesterday stand. "That guy is in our class?!"

"Well, its' not like we pay attention to other students most of the time." Kaede murmured.

The boy's expression was blank, maybe even a little bored, as he stood up to face the class. "Shinohara Akio. Thirteen. I am a Page." He said blandly, then sat back down.

Ascion blinked. "Well, that was brief."

"You're probably not going to be any better yourself." Kaede reminded him. He just shrugged.

"Eh, probably."

"Next, Ascion Wolf!"

"Ah, shit." Ascion muttered before he stood up.

As he expected, murmurs immediately sprang up from all around him.

"-isn't that the guy-"

"-didn't he kill someone?- "

"-sent more than twenty people to the hospital-"

Ascion ignored the murmurs. "My name's Ascion Wolf, and I am a Cleric. I dislike people who can't see the difference between truth and lies, so don't bother me." He said bluntly before sitting back down. Kaede gave him a dry look.

"Really?" She asked exasperatedly.

Ascion merely shrugged. "You know I like to be blunt."

"You're not earning yourself any points with the class here."

"Whoever said I was trying to?"

"Touché."

"More importantly, when do you think you can gather enough information on Akio?" Ascion asked, ignoring the rest of the introductions.

"Probably after lunch, so you'll be on your own today. Don't get into fights."

"No promises. People do see me as the weaker one between us, after all, what with my thin body frame and my reputation as a basic-spells-only mage."

"… Just try. Please?"

"I will, but I don't think it's going to work. Your turn, Kaede."

"Right, damn." She muttered before standing up. Like Ascion, she ignored the murmurs as she gave a short self-introduction.

"Hayashi Kaede, given name Kaede." She said softly. "My class is Hunter." Immediately after she finished, she quickly sat back down.

"Still shy, I see." Ascion observed dryly.

"Shut up, Ascion." Kaede muttered.

"No matter how many times I see it, I still find it kind of amusing how headstrong you are around me, and then your entire brave and brash personality collapses the moment you have to stand in front of other people."

"I can't help it, okay?"

"You need to learn how to stop being so timid."

"You need to learn how to wake up."

"That's easier than getting over shyness."

"Tch." Kaede clicked her tongue in annoyance while Ascion smirked. He won that round, and they both knew it.

"W-Whatever." Kaede said forcefully, her cheeks tinged with red. "Back to our main topic. Try not to get into trouble."

"Like I said, I'll try my best, but no promises. Now pay attention, class is almost starting."

Kaede sighed when Ascion gave her a lazy wave before plopping his head onto his table. "Good night, Ascion."

Ascion sighed as he strolled around the school. Without Kaede accompanying him, he had wolfed down his lunch (pun not intended) and now, lo and behold, he was bored.

He wanted to do something, anything, but there was nothing he could do. Ascion started listing out all the activities he could possibly kill time with. Again.

He had finished all of his homework, so that's out.

He had enough teleportation training with how much Kaede likes to sprint while dragging him along like a banner, so training is out as well.

He had pretty much cleaned out the small school library last year, so there's nothing new to read.

He didn't have a laptop, and nobody was allowed to use the school computers for gaming, so no luck there.

He wasn't welcomed by the other students, so he couldn't chat with anyone.

And he had all the subtlety of a clumsy ox, so helping Kaede with information gathering was a lost cause.

Ascion sighed again as he ran through the same list for the nth time. He really had nothing better to do…

"Oi, you!"

Scratch that, there's something to do now.

A predatory grin stretched across Ascion's face when he heard the shout. Anybody calling for his attention usually wanted a fight, and a fight was, in his opinion, one of the best ways to relief boredom.

Try not to get into trouble.

The grin slipped off his face when he remembered what Kaede said. It was an old agreement between the two of them. While they didn't particularly care what anybody thought of them, they both agreed that they can make do without extra hate.

With a resigned sigh, Ascion spared a quick glace over his shoulder at the group that called out to him. A bunch of standard thugs and bullies that were common in almost every school stood behind him, leering.

Just not at him, but at a frail looking girl, whom they had backed against a wall.

The girl was pale and clearly desperate, if the way she was tightly gripping her wand was any indication. The bullies were relaxed, jeering and laughing as the girl flinched and whimpered from their remarks and any sudden movements.

Ascion quickly weighed his options. Help the girl, or walk away and stay out of trouble?

He sighed for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Me and my bleeding heart.

"Oi, you lot." Ascion called. When the bullies turned to face him, Ascion calmly drew his staff from his pocket dimension. "Scram." Ascion pointed his staff at them threateningly, his voice still calm and collected.

One of the bullies stepped towards Ascion, his hand rested menacingly on his pistol. "This doesn't involve you," he sneered, "so why don't you just turn around and go away?"

Ascion's response was to blast an [Energy Bolt] near his feet, causing the bully to scramble back in shock.

Ascion's predatory smile returned. "How about you leave, and nobody gets hurt?"

With a snarl, the bully started to draw his pistol, but before he could take aim at Ascion, the mage had already teleported beside him, his staff in motion.

The pirate was sent flying straight up, his gun spinning out of his grip. Before he could land, he was flying again, this time to the left and straight into a wall.

The entire exchange only took three seconds.

"Alright, who's next?"

Seeing his unsettling smile, the bullies ran.

"Cowards." Ascion muttered, stashing away his staff. "Hey, you." He said gruffly. "Are you alright?"

With how unnervingly confident Ascion usually was during combat class and his passively polite yet impudent attitude towards teachers he did not like, most people would assume that Ascion would have no problems talking to people.

That couldn't have been more false.

Ascion bounced on one leg uncomfortably. He knew Kaede wasn't the only one that needed to get over her unwillingness to speak to strangers. While he wasn't as bad as the archer, he wasn't stellar either.

"A-ah, yes." The girl stammered.

"Hn. Good." Ascion gave her a light nod before turning away and leaving as quickly as possible without seeming rushed.

He had a reputation to maintain, dammit, and that reputation was what kept stupid people from bothering him.

"A-ah, thank you, um…"

Ascion glanced back to see the girl looking at him inquisitively. Now that was a surprise. She didn't know who he was?

Then again, she didn't run off screaming the moment she saw him, so probably not. Maybe she was a first year and hadn't had the chance to integrate herself into the rumour mill yet.

And also, there wasn't a need for him to think so much about this, was there? Being bored out of his mind had muddled his brain too much.

Nobody ever remembered the good he did anyway.

Ascion huffed silently as he continued walking without breaking his stride. He wished he was still bored. At least being bored was better than being sour.

Edit (16/07/2016): And that's a wrap. Please review! It really spurs me on.