Chapter 3: Initiation

On Monday morning the freshman initiation started. As I already know what will happen, I didn't bother to ask Virginia any questions.
I wonder, if Damien will approach me, like in the game? Most certainly, I guess. Of all the routes I could avoid, I'll have to avoid Damien's route the most. He will try to get my soul otherwise after all. Though I should be safe, since I know what he's actually after. And it's hard for me to imagine, that I could act
like a stupid goody-two-shoes enough, even if I would want to go on his route out of some masochistic whim or something.
I may not be the most egoistic, self-assertive person, but I certainly do cherish myself and my well-being. While I still contemplate on how to act towards Damien, William already enters the stage.
"Good morning, everyone! My name is William Danson and I am your incoming senior class president. But for the next week, half of you will be calling me Sir William. Welcome to the Freshman Initiation. …" I don't bother to keep listening to him, as I already know everything there is to know about this initiation.
After his speech, we freshmen line up to announce our name on the stage. When I was sixteen, this would have made me nervous, but as I got older, my shyness decreased a bit. After receiving my Initiation Handbook, I curiously browse through it a bit.
Learning all the names of our seniors will be quite difficult, as I'm bad at remembering names. I'm not sure, whether I will be able to…
After the last freshman announced her name, William gets back to the stage and proceeds to explain to us, that we're about to become a senior's slave.
After that the chaos erupts, as the seniors start to bully us with poking and yelling commands. A bit intimidated, I kneel down, in order to be 'not taller than a senior', while watching the other freshmen getting bullied. Someone sits down with her back to me. I take a quick glance – it's Ellen. Thought so.
"You" I look up. In front of me stands Damien in the flesh. He gives me a charming, but also arrogant smile. His light-blue skin tone looks strangely natural on him, with his violet hair enhancing the colour. So weird, how him looking so exotic doesn't make him unattractive at all. He clearly doesn't look human after all, so why am I still able to appreciate his attractiveness? I thought I would be more against… interspecies love or whatever. But the magical world here is after all VERY open, when it comes to love. Maybe me finding him attractive is part of the game? I wonder, if I would still find him attractive, if I would be the old me from the old world.
I don't like this thought. I don't want to be 'manipulated' by this game world. I hope it's just a natural ability of his or something like that, even though it doesn't make much of a difference. "Elise Ojousama. I think you should be mine." I think you should go f**** yourself, you handsome, goddamn demon.
"Uhm, sure.", I answer, not showing how upset I am at him being handsome. "Stand up.", he commands me. I look at him reluctantly. "It's alright, you're with me. You don't have to worry about the rules if I am with you. Only what I say matters.", he misinterprets my reluctance.
"Here, take my hand. I'll help you up." Damien stretches his hand towards me. Should I take it? If I don't use his help for standing up, he will shove me back to the ground and yell at me. But this way I would avoid his route. But then again, there are enough different opportunities to push him away and I don't want to be pushed down and yelled at. I decide to go with the flow and lie my hand in his and pull myself up.

With that Damien leads me out of the door, without causing a scene, while talking with me about how the rest of the week will look like and how I should study blue magic. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't matter, what I say, the people will more or less respond to me like in the game anyways, apart from a few, tiny adjustments. Like Damien suggested, I focus on blue magic this week, but also attend some black magic and green magic classes.
Unlike in the game, you can attend up to 3 classes a day, with a class lasting 2 hours. And Professor Potsdam isn't teaching all black, green and white magic classes, she wouldn't have the time to do so anyways, but it is possible to avoid other teachers for attending these classes.
Grabby also isn't the only one teaching red and blue magic, but avoiding him is still difficult, since he teaches most of the classes. He seems to be quite the workaholic, compared to Potsdam. Before my first magic class I wondered about how the classes will look like, since you can choose them yourself. Meaning the personal levels of the students in the subject vary extremely in the classes. This problem is apparently solved by teaching the students individual, everyone has to start at the beginning of the textbook and work through each chapters separately. While doing so, we have to practise the spells and the teacher will go around and correct us, and ask or answer questions. Furthermore, they will mention additional information from time to time, such as how to use the magical pronouns.
That being said, the success of a class depends a lot on the student's self-discipline. We learn magic in a really independent way, which doesn't make it necessarily easier. If Grabby notice you slacking off during class, he will give demerits though.

After class I go towards Grabby nervously. I want to ask him about literature recommendations regarding magic, mainly about the magic world, since our textbooks are enough for learning about the different magic colours. I figured, that I don't want to stay an 'ignorant wild seed girl', but I had problems in finding books suitable for someone as uninformed as I. In my old university, all Profs would give book recommendations for the course, at the beginning of the semester. As Professor Grabiner LOVES to read books, he would be the most knowledgeable about which books to read anyways, so he should be the right person to ask.
On the other hand, I have never seen Professor Potsdam with a book in hand, apart from the textbooks in class, so she probably wouldn't be much of a help. Furthermore, even though Grabby kind of despises students, he really wants us to learn, so I don't think he would deny my request and give me demerits or detention for asking. I clear my throat, as I approach his desk. He looks up and raises a brow at me, looking half quizzical and half glaring. I unconsciously start to fidget.
"Uhm, Sir, I wanted to ask, whether you can recommend some books for wild seeds? I'd like to learn more about the magic world, since I feel a bit overwhelmed about coming here, but I couldn't find any books, which were comprehensible for someone knowing nothing about magic…." Against my will my voice grew more silent with every word. I'm an adult, goddammit. How can a teacher intimidate me so much? That doesn't make any sense. Well, I was never the most courageous person,
when it came to authorities, even as a teenager I never really rebelled much. I mean I did sometimes act bitchy towards my parents, because of hormones and stuff, but apart from that… "Oh?" answers Grabby, probably surprised at my request. I say probably, because he is really hard to read.
How can he be so temperamental and easily get angry, but still have such a good poker face? It doesn't make sense! "Well, wild seeds are a minority, being born with magic in a non-magical family is rare after all, so you should probably stick to children's books, as other books will overexert your mental capacity." So there are simply no books for wild seeds yet? Great. Also, did he really have to insult my mental capacity, just because I'm a wild seed? But then again, this IS Grabby I'm talking about, so I guess anything else would have been unnatural. "I see. Anyway, thank you." And with that I leave the classroom.