A Magus' Life

by AharhelVonHestia

Freedan Liberia —True Name: Aiden Api— is a mage with a troubled past. Escaping his family's massacre by the hands of mercenaries, he escapes to Souya, Japan alongside his little sister to hide. Though there's a couple of problems: There are Dead Apostle Ancestors roaming, The White Princess is in the city, and it's just one clusterfuck away from Alaya summoning a Counter Guardian.

1. Day 1: New Moon

The sounds of my own peaceful snores and the sensation of my eyelids forcing themselves open had notified me that I had just woken up. I could hear the chirping of birds through the open window of my room, and the still-dark room was a tell-tale sign that it was currently dawn.
"Haaaaa—" I yawned out, and I rubbed my eyes to clear them of any rheum that had collected during the time that I had slept. My eyes were drooping, still tired, even though I had a sound sleep. Strange… I usually felt energised when I woke up. Did something bad happen? Eh, I was probably just loving the softness of the bed and the warmth of being under my blanket. However, ignoring the feeling of drowsiness, I rose up from the comforting embrace of my bed without hesitation.

I swung my legs to the right and had them go parallel to the floor, doing the preparations to get out of bed. "Hyaa—!" I shouted out, and I jumped out of bed, and I forced myself to move even though I still felt drowsy.
Why the waste of energy? There was just a single reason: it consistently allowed me to shake off drowsiness whenever I felt it. Though, the only reason that I could actually have had that much energy was because of the fact that I always slept early. The normal time for dozing off was around nine-thirty.

"Haaaaa…" I yawned once more; the sleepiness that had remained caused my eyes to water. I opened the door of my bedroom, kept it open, and I marched to the bathroom. When I did enter, the feeling of the cold covering the base of my feet had shocked me.
I turned the faucet on as I quickly undressed, checking myself out in the bathroom's mirror as I did. There I saw the reflection of my face: tan skin, sharp red-eyes, and golden-blonde hair. All in all, a striking appearance for a person in Japan, and I wasn't completely Japanese, only having about one-fourths of it in my ancestry. Also, I was an exchange student in Japan, so naturally, I stood out.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and I asked, "Who's the lady killer?" I asked the reflection, and the reflection — myself — answered back, "Naturally, you are." Before I said another embarrassing thing, I was interrupted by a loud banging coming from the door.

Knock! Knock!

"Eeek—!" I squeaked out like a small, toy plushie that had just gotten squeezed. Just a second after that I could hear the sound of slight cackling laughter through the door and the echo of splashing water.

"W—Who's laughing?" I exclaimed, embarrassed to have made such a childish sound. Also, how dare they? How dare they interrupt my internal monologue?

"Why, it's your wonderful little sister!" a high-pitched voice replies through the door. I mean, who did I expect? My parents go to work earlier than the time I wake up, so the only person who could potentially do that is her, unless it's a trespasser… Eh, that's clearly not the case, so I won't think about that event happening.

"Why did you even do that?" I asked the million-dollar question. She wasn't the type to take joy in annoying me, especially when it's so early in the morning.

"Your stupid alarm interrupted my beauty sleep!" She gave the million-dollar answer. Though, her answer brought more questions than it actually answered.

"Explain it later, I'm busy right now." With that, our early morning argument ended.

---

I turned the shower off and I got out, though, not without hesitation; it was quite cold this morning, so when I stopped the flow of warm water, it immediately resulted in the sensation akin to the cold of a breezy rain. It wasn't winter yet, but I knew that I would be cursing constantly once it did come.

Quickly drying myself off, I wore my school uniform. "I can't lie, though. The Japanese winter uniforms do look pretty cool," I muttered to myself. "If only I could actually see myself in the mirror," I cursed, looking at the now foggy mirror; the hot shower had caused it to fog up. Though, it didn't matter, for I already knew that I looked good in it, I think…

Well, I suppose having that mirror all fogged up is a good thing; I once spent ten minutes idly staring at my own reflection, after all. At least now I don't have to worry about getting late.
I opened the door and exited the bathroom, the steam slowly dispersing outside as I turned right and walked through the hallway. As I walk, I catch a glimpse of my little sister. She had similar features to mine: clear and unblemished tan skin, short strawberry-blonde hair, and strikingly sharp red-eyes.

"G'morning, Freedan," she greets, giving a light smile as she does. Her expression had no shame. Normally, I'd be angry at her for interrupting my shower time, but those innocently cute eyes of hers had made me calm down.
Truly, little sisters have that special power to make older brothers care for them.

I copied a part of her sweet expression and my own greeting, "Cold morning, Alice!" I add, "Don't take too long in the shower, I'll be cooking up breakfast." She nodded as she continued marching through the hallway and towards the bathroom. "Yeah," she responded, very lately, I might add.

Ah! I completely forgot to give my name, I'm Freedan Liberia, hopefully you weren't too confused with my lack of introduction ever since I began narrating. Intriguing, is it not? I narrate as I go through the 'story', so I can directly talk to 'you'. Quite funny, really. I'm narrating my own life; I don't have an audience, and instead, I think to myself to try to narrate what's going on in my life to keep myself from boredom.

Imagine if this was a story being read by someone, though...
The readers likely would be too confused

"Haaaa—" a lackadaisical sigh escapes my breath just before I finally reach the kitchen; with a squat down, I open the cabinet beside the gas canister and pull out a medium-sized non-stick frying pan. Standing myself back up, I place it over the stove, light it up, and I walk over to the fridge to get four large eggs. I walk back to the now preheated pan, and I pour some vegetable oil onto its heated surface.

I lightly smashed the eggs to the surface of the counter — sounding a quick crack. Digging my fingers to the indented cracks of the shell, I opened the eggs up, and I lowered them till they were just a few centimetres from the hot surface; I had to make sure I didn't break the yolk, my sister and I loved it when they were runny, after all. Some people considered runny yolks to be disgusting, due to it being 'undercooked'. However, I disagree with that notion; there were three reasons for that: the mouthfeel, its gooey richness, and the fact that it goes so well with freshly cooked rice were the reasons both me and Alice loved it so much. Speaking of rice, it seems that she had used the time when I was showering to cook some rice — truly, my little sibling was wonderful.

With the eggs sent down to fry, I began to hum to myself, reaching the counter above me—I grabbed the salt shaker, and I began to lightly season the sizzling eggs. "Sweet older brother cooking for his wonderful younger sister~" I sang out, having complete disregard for pitch or volume in my voice.

After a few seconds of 'singing', I turned the heat off, and I flipped the four eggs, letting the residual heat of the pan cook the undercooked egg whites. Me and Alice may have loved runny yolks, but there's no way I'll endanger my sister's health with undercooked eggs; I've contracted salmonella once—experiencing the absolute suffering that resulted from the disease, so there's no way I'm risking that now, especially when I'm cooking for my little sister.

I quickly got two plates, and placed some paper towels over them. After that, I got two out of the four eggs that were on the pan to my plate, and the other two eggs to Alice's plate. All of the eggs were lathered with cooking oil, so I placed down paper towels for both plates to deal with that issue. Using more paper towels, I lightly pat the eggs to get rid of left-over grease.
Pitter! Patter! Footsteps came from behind me. "Perfect timing, Alice. The eggs just got done. Get your own rice, though, I don't know the portions you get." I was confident that she was the one who walked up behind me. After all, Japan was a country that had little crime, and I wasn't the vigilant type to be constantly paranoid; also, I'd be a horrible brother if I couldn't tell who my sister was with just the sound of her footsteps.

She stood beside me and gave a solemn nod, following up with a short affirming, yet dry response, "Yeah."

Taking off the lid, the steam burst forth from the rice cooker, and I took a slight whiff of the freshly cooked rice. Wait, that isn't a weird statement, right? Anyways, I scooped up some of the rice and placed it beside the eggs—after I took off the kitchen towels, of course; and when I finished, I walked towards the square dining table. The table had two lunchboxes in the middle of it, and I placed my food on the side against the sunlight and sat down; I dislike eating with it. However, I didn't start to eat until Alice had also sat down, as I was waiting for her to have the 'breakfast talk.'

"So…" were the words that I used to start the conversation. Following up with, "...About earlier—" I cut myself off as I took a bite of my food.
"Is this because of earlier? You know, when I startled you when you were showering?" she asked, knowing exactly what I was about to ask. Truly, a wonderful sister she is, being able to read my mind.

By the time she finished her sentence, I already swallowed the contents of my earlier bite, allowing me to give my response, "Yeah. What was the reason for that? I don't remember teaching you to interrupt the silence of a relaxing hot shower."

Likely expecting—No, anticipating the question, she gives an immediate response, "Your alarm clock ruined my sleep. I woke up fifteen minutes earlier because of it." I now knew why she startled me earlier: she was pissed.

Sure, startling someone for revenge sounds tame, but you have to know that Alice wasn't the type of person to even voice out something unpleasant, so her doing that was surprising; my sister is an angel, after all. Though, did she learn to be spiteful from her friends in school? If so, then I'll have to approach them, peacefully talk to them, and peacefully smash their heads to the pavement—No seriously, I should actually do that.

But this begged the question, 'Alarm Clock' is what she said. What did she mea—Oh, so that's why. Earlier back when I woke up feeling extensively drowsy, I had actually woken up before my alarm clock rang out. Crap, I also remembered that I didn't even close the door of my bedroom, so when the alarm clock did ring, the sound wasn't reduced from being in an enclosed room.
Beginning to fully understand the reason for her not-so-intense frustration, I drown myself in shame, metaphorically, of course, shame was just a feeling. Still, I'm so sorry, sister dearest!
Directly copying the action I had just done inside my mind,, I set aside my plate to the right and I bowed my head so quickly that I accidentally smashed my head to the table before I apologised, "I'M SO SORRY, OH GREAT SISTER DEAREST!"

"Really? 'Great sister dearest'? That's definitely not creepy, Freedan," she responded, a mocking smile had framed her lips. "Anyways, at least make your alarm clock more silent. It was loud enough for me to hear it, closed door or not. I mean, seriously, are you trying to make yourself go deaf?"

"I'll change up its settings later when school ends." I assured her, taking my last bite after I did. Finishing my breakfast, I drank two glasses of water, and looked towards the wall clock; it was now seven-thirty in the morning. After waiting for about thirty more seconds, Alice had finished her breakfast, too, so I took the now empty plates and placed them on the sink, where they would be washed after Alice and I come back home from school later.

"Start the car," I tell her as I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth. She merely nods in response, and in a few seconds I could hear the faint sound of an engine roaring. Though, considering the amount of walls between the bathroom, it would surprise me if anyone else can actually hear that. In about thirty seconds, Alice entered to brush her own teeth.

Finished with brushing my teeth, I quietly walk towards the garage, and I enter my car. The interior was neat, not even a speck of dirt or dust blemished the sleek matte-black; red lines accentuated the black along with gold trimmings. With a push of a button, the windows rolled down, and the scent of the fresh morning air entered, relaxing my mood.

As I took deep-appreciating breaths of fresh air, I heard the sound of the car door opening on my right, and felt the car shifting slightly with added weight. "I brought the lunch boxes you forgot." From her tone, I gathered that she was annoyed.

"My apologies, Alice," I replied. Opening my eyes to see her holding two small bags, and I look towards her face, her normally aloof expression turning to one of a slight frown — a frown so subtle that only I, her brother, would be able to notice it.

She sighed. "Apology accepted, Aiden." Hearing her words, my eyes narrowed slightly, and my voice lowered. "Do not call me by that name," I growled. It was a light growl, one that showed annoyance rather than anger, but still, "Ah—I'm sorry, Alice," I immediately apologised. I took another deep breath, and I said, "You know what happened six months ago, Alice. So please, don't ever call me by my old name unless we're having a meeting with the Barthomeloi."

"Understood." Her face contorted as her lips pursed and her eyes glistened from tears. But they didn't escape, they didn't flow, my sister wasn't the type to show her vulnerable to me, not anymore. Her calling me by my true name suggested the past, but my response directly referred to it. I should not have reminded her of the past. Sure, she started first by calling me of true name, but I shouldn't have lost my composure like that.
"Speaking of the Barthomeloi, have they contacted us this week?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

The wetness that used to be on her eyes was all but gone now, and only steam lingered. Though, even if the moisture caused by her getting teary was gone, her voice was still shaky when she said, "Nothing except for the allowance they give us monthly."

---

That car ride was awkward. Alice slept through the thirty-minute journey between our house and school, but I still felt off considering what we just argued about just earlier.

"Haaaa—" I sigh. Sure, cruising around Tokyo to Metropolitan Souya High School was pleasant; with the bright-yellow light of the morning sun. However, just the pleasant sunny morning wouldn't make the tense atmosphere disappear. I'd rather be forced to talk to The White Princess for a whole minute than deal with this.

Imagine if I actually had to talk to her though; if that was the case, then I might just cry on the spot and hope she isn't interested in drinking my blood. Oh wait, True Ancestors don't need blood. Or do they? You know what? I'd rather not think about that, it's not like that'll ever happen, so I should just calm myself down.

Finishing parking my car, I turned my head towards Alice, who was currently napping, and I nudged her arm to wake her up, "We're here."

"Hmm?" she grunts for a moment, but she immediately fixes her posture and opens the door, exiting it with the grace of a noble. Though, I wouldn't allow her to be more graceful than I am, and so, I left the car stylishly, as befitting of me, a narcissist. Being proud of winning a competition against a contestant that didn't even know they were competing, I narcissistically laughed inside my head.

Just saying though. I'm not an actual narcissist.

We started to walk towards the school building together, and I waved my hand to some passing acquaintances. "Good morning, Freedan" was what they usually said. My usual response was just nodding and casually saying, "G'Morning to you too."

I saw a blue-haired girl a hundred metres from us, not an unusual colour of hair, but I was sure that there wasn't a blue-haired bespectacled beauty in the school. "Hey, sis. You see that girl over there, the blue-haired one with glasses?" I ask, my eyes glowing faintly with a faint pale-blue light.

Alice quickly looks towards the girl after a moment, and she whispers, "No, never seen her before. What, have you fallen for her? It's not always that you use reinforcement just to gawk at a girl." Good, she's being sarcastic, at least she's not upset anymore.

"Don't talk about Magecraft here in the school, and I didn't use reinforcement on my eyes," I whisper back, completely ignoring her attempt at teasing me. A light grin paints Alice's face, and she runs towards the Women's Kendo Club.

I checked my wristwatch and saw that there was still more than an hour before homeroom starts at eight. Knowing I still had a good amount of time, I walked in the direction that Alice ran. After all, we both were in the Kendo club, but we were separated by a wall as we weren't of the same gender.

Walking through the hallway, I could evidently note that there were in fact, little to no students walking. Which makes sense, as there it was only those that had club activities that actually went to school this early.

As I got closer to the Kendo Club,

Pitter-Patter! Pitter-Patter!

I heard a series of footsteps coming from behind me, and the rate of the footsteps indicated that whoever the source of the footsteps behind me was running.

"Good morning, Freedan!" The voice behind me greets me with an excited voice.

I turn around, and I see neatly combed black-hair and bright, yellow eyes.

"Club president, good morning," I say, lightly bowing my head as I do.

He nods, and shows a slight smile as he says, "You know, Freedan, you're pretty relaxed."

One of my eyebrows raises in confusion. "May I ask why you think I am?" I ask him. I was only walking through the corridors, so why does he think I was being relaxed?

"Well, you didn't turn around to look behind you when I was running towards you," he answered.

My lips form into a joking grin as I say, "Club President, I must have you know that the world doesn't run around you for me to care if you were speeding up to me or not."

His eyebrows raise in response, not responding for a second, likely reflecting on what I just said, and almost immediately he responds, "Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" he yells out, sounding embarrassed. He takes a deep breath, clears his throat with a dry cough, and explains, "I didn't mean it like that, really...It's just that ever since the news of the 'vampire-killings' spread, most students have acted more tense and vigilant of their surroundings."

My eyes peer into the Club President's as I smirk and say, "Right..." sounding as if I wasn't believing a word that he was saying. It seems like he noticed that, and in response, he attempted to show that he was serious, he narrowed his eyes into a blank stare.

The 'Vampire-Killings' are a rumoured series of murders done in a way where the bodies found showed signs of their blood being sucked. There are vampires that exist, but the correct term we'd use for them is 'Dead-Apostle', there is another type called referring to themselves as 'True Ancestors', but only one True Ancestor is left alive, being 'The White Princess' I referred to earlier.

However, even though vampires exist, I doubt that a Dead Apostle would be here. And the Mundane public — people with no knowledge of the supernatural side of the world — would also agree with my statement. After all, not only did they not believe in the existence of beings such as vampires, but it's far more likely that it's just a random psychopathic serial killer with a literal thirst for blood.

Imagine how shocked I'd be when I found out that there really were Dead Apostles roaming around.

"Anyways, I have something to do, Freedan. I'll be talking to a friend in the Archery Club," he breaks up the light-hearted staring contest between us, and starts walking towards the Archery Club. "Oh, and you don't have to worry about the Kendo Club Room being closed, one of the first-years went inside early to practise."

Whoever the first-year that's practising already deserves my praise, hardworking people are hard to come by; and nothing screamed hard working to me like students who invested a lot of time to what they were passionate about. Whoever I see in the Clubroom would be given something valuable from me: praise, and maybe I might pay for his lunch.

"Okay, President." I turned away, and I began to walk towards my original destination, planning to reward an underclassman.

Reaching the sliding door of the Kendo Club, I swing it open and I dash to the right. It was one of the many displays of inhuman instinct that I had. It was likely because of the Pure Eyes' passive ability that I was able to have instinct so... accurate that my body moved away from danger even before my mind could perceive it. The last time I truly did require it so much as to cause an involuntary reaction was just two months ago, when a fellow student capable of moving metres in just a split second tried to cut me into seventeen pieces with a knife. Though, it's fortunate that the danger this time is nothing compared to that.

Fwooosh—!

Passing wind whistled through the air as a Shinai swung in a diagonal trajectory. The Shinai didn't reach me, but I knew that it would've been painful if I was hit, so I was thankful that my body moved for me. Unfortunately for me, that instinct would only be used in life-or-death situations.

It was fortunate, however, that this wasn't a life-or-death situation.

It looked like the one I was about to praise and give a hearty-meal to was trying to attack me. How unfortunate for them, no more praise, no more free food, and definitely an assured beating.

Annoyed, I turned around, and I saw the sight of an average Japanese teenager. Short black hair, brown eyes, average build, no magecraft, and not to mention that disgustingly average looking face. It was annoying to think that such a mediocre insect dared to hit me— Ah, my magus side showed up for a bit. I sighed before asking, "You attacked me without warning, can I consider that assault?"

The mediocre insect immediately gave a panicking expression and tried to say something, "I—I..." 'it' stuttered, before continuing with 'its' excuse. "I'm terribly sorry, it's just that your sister told me that you had great reflexes, so I did that to test out if what she said was true." What a sloppy excuse.

My expression showing enmity, I smiled before speaking, "Since you wanted to test it out so much, how about we have a duel?"

He meekly nodded, noticing my fury even as I tried to hide it.

I quickly put on my Kendo equipment and we began our duel. Actually, it's a lot more accurate to call it a single-hit beatdown; ever since he annoyed me, he never stood a chance of even touching me. Now, do you want me to recite a poem on how thoroughly I smashed this insect?

---

In Kendo's realm, where warriors spar,
Two souls clashed, near and far,
For I, a vessel of pride and ire,
Struggled to quell my inner fire,

Donned in armour, they faced the ring,
A duel of words unspoken, a deadly swing,
A clash of wills, battle unseen,
Where arrogance and anger danced between.

There I stood, my gaze ablaze,
Five metre's distance, a lethal maze,
Eyes held bloodlust, a storm concealed,
As the other shook, his fate was sealed.

The air grew tense, electric, raw,
As the insect boy's Shinai saw,
A feeble attack, a futile stride
There I sidestepped with utmost pride.

My own strike swift, my Shinai's kiss,
Landed true, brought torment's bliss
A calculated blow, a twisted glee,
In that moment, my true side set free.

Facing forward, they boy took flight,
Three metres backward, a pitiful sight.
A grim satisfaction, a moment's thrill,
As my dominance sought to instil.

---

It's quite apparent that I have what it takes to be a poet, and safe to say, he'll be regretting what he did, when he wakes up. Seriously, though, who attacks someone just because they thought that person had great reflexes? That's like jumping off a cliff just because you know you can't die. Still, I might have gone overboard; after all, I put enough force to make this random mundane pass out. It wouldn't harm him in the long-term, but I still hurt him quite a bit. Now, how do I explain this to the Club President?

BAM!

The door of the clubroom slides open.

I look behind me, and I sigh, not a sigh of relief though, it was a sigh that was for the expectation of a punishment.

Of course, it's the club president. Most likely, he'll be asking what I did, and I'd have to be careful answering; I can't show my grin of joy and satisfaction.

I took a deep breath, fully accepting the Divine Punishment known by the whole of the Kendo club as 'The Justice of a Fair Fight.' Where the perpetrator of the 'injustice' is beaten down by the best practitioner of Kendo in the metropolitan prefecture of Tokyo. And from the amount of force that I put in my strike against the boy, I'll definitely be the one who's taking the beating.

"WHAT THE HECK?! What happened here?!" The president yelled out. His gaze towards the unconscious boy, and in a moment, his gaze turned to my direction.

This will hurt, but I genuinely need the beatdown. Sure, the kid assaulted me for a stupid reason, but I shouldn't have struck him so hard to have caused him to literally pass out with one swing to the body. I need to accept my punishment.

"President...I got angry at him, requested a duel, and I...put enough force to knock him out in one blow?" I said, sounding unsure of myself on whether I would lie myself out of a well-deserved beating, or to accept it like a true respectable heir of the Api fami—No, I'm Freedan Liberia now, but yeah, I deserve the punishment.

"Since you're honest, I'll only beat you up to the point where you can still walk. Albeit, with heavy steps." I gulp at the statement. Physically, at this moment in time, the Club President's latent physical strength is more than mine — when trying to pass off as a normal person — and as I said earlier, he's the best in all of Tokyo, so safe to say the I'm actually gonna be hurting until I can safely heal myself when I can get into the boundary field of my house. Wait, I don't need to use Magecraft to regenerate a few bruises like that.

The Club President hummed to himself as he wore his equipment, and with each equipment that fastened to him, the more my breathing started to hasten. Thank goodness I'm a magus, if I wasn't, then I won't be able to heal any bruised bones that I'd gain from my punishment. "Remember, Freedan; you mustn't blindly anyone, even if they annoy you." Says the guy that's about to be beating me up. He continues with a kind voice, "I know this is somewhat hypocritical of me..." Thank god you know. "Anyhow, we'll be having a proper duel, so block all you can."

"Yes, sir. I will consider this punishment as another form of training," I said, trying to sound honourable. "If we duel at least once every few days I might surpass you in skill by next year," I said, not noticing how arrogant-sounding the words that I had just stated were. I mean, they weren't blatant delusions, but what I just said would earn me the beating of a lifetime.

"Oh, a true beatdown is what you're asking for, huh?" he asks, with a confident smile on his expression. "Don't worry, oh underclassman of mine, I'll clear you of your delusions."
Both of us go into stance, and the air around us freezes. The advent of my punishment is nigh.

My left foot forward slightly, and my centre of balance firm, the duel begins.

He takes a step forward and swings down his Shinai, his balance unfaltering; The swing came down at such a speed that the air whistled.

I take a deep breath and lightly step back as I block his first strike.

Wooden swords clash, the sound echoing throughout the 'arena'.

For me, there's no room when in a duel. Only an arena, a stage for battle, if you will. One must not care for anything that isn't related in battle. Sure, looking around for the optimal spacing, hindrances within the arena, and trajectory of sword swings may seem like basic things to look out for, but they must be fully considered. Experience allows for the ability to make these thoughts into a part of their fighting-style, allowing for flowing combinations of sword swings that have the optimal force, and optimal trajectory that forces their opponents on the defensive.

Though I blocked his sword, my balance has faltered from the rushed step back, and I wait until I plant both of my feet on the ground before I sidestep for better positioning. "Kuh—!" I voice out; my opponent swinging horizontally before I could regain my optimal form. I regret making that provocation.

With his horizontal strike blocked, I move forward, thrusting my Shinai towards him.

But it's blocked, through sheer skill and reflexes, he parried my thrust just in time, forcing my Shinai downward.

I tried to bring my sword up, but just a split-second after his parry, his Shinai had already struck my chest.

Thanks to the armour, the impact of the blow is reduced, but it still hurts.

Once more, he swung horizontally, and I attempted to parry in response.

But before the swords clashed, his trajectory changed, and his feint worked.

The side of my ribs were struck with a diagonal swing, and the impact felt far more apparent.

"AH—!" I groaned. However, I had no time to wallow in pain, for this was a duel, and there was no mercy shown in duels.

Ignoring the pain to the best of my abilities, I swung down. Surely he had expected me to falter for a few milliseconds from the pain.

The sound of my Shinai striking was heard, but that sound was that of the whistling air.

He dodged it with some difficulty, so he wasted a split-second of movement, but I completely whiffed my attack, so I wasted at least half a second.

Before I was able to solidify neither my offence or defence, a swing had already struck my head.

I felt no pain, and yet, everything went black...

---

"Uhhhh..." I groaned out, my head aching as I rubbed my bald head. Wait, bald head? Good lord, who did this?

I immediately sprang up from my position and sat up, and I realised, it was just the feeling of the head gear.

"Does it hurt, Freedan?" the voice beside me asks.

"Yeah, I feel like my head got split in half." Words came out, I also said it with a complaining tone of voice.

"Yeah, I expected that." He looks directly at me. Is he trying to look at my brain through my eyes?

"You never showed that ferocity against the others, president," I complained. Taking off my head gear and lightly grimacing as I remembered his merciless technique before my head turned to him.

"You said you'd surpass me in a year, so I had to show you who's boss," he answered, smiling happily as he explained. Quite understandable reasoning, to be honest; I mean, if someone younger told me that they'll surpass my Flame Magecraft, then I might just burn them on the spot. All in all, very understandable. Remembering that I came to school to actually go to class, I asked, "What time is it, president?"

"Seven-thirty, why do you ask?" he answers, before giving a question of his own. Though, he ignores his own question and continues to speak, "Also, don't call me 'President' anymore, call me by my name of Yaiba." He gives a warm smile.

"Yaiba...like the word for the blade of a sword?" I asked, trying to understand the meaning. It was one of my favourite things to do when someone gave me their name, and the main reason I like Japanese names so much; Japanese names had a meaning most of the time, and whilst most names also have a meaning, the problem was that people named their children for the name rather than the meaning itself. Though, I can't lie, I wish I just picked any name that wasn't Freedan Liberia. I mean, both first name and last name meant freedom, but the problem is that they sounded off; like a cringey child trying to look cool; safe to say, I am that cringey child. I'm the one who requested my alias to be named as such, after all.

"Yep! It's why I practised Kendo so much," he nods as he laughs. "It makes me sound like I was born to be a swordsman, don't you agree?" he asks, likely expecting me to agree, to which I do.

I understood what he meant. "Yeah, it sounds great." A self-fulfilling prophecy. My true name is one, too. Aiden, meaning 'little fire' denoting my family's love for flame centred magecraft. Though, it's quite the funny name at this point, everything about my magecraft screamed 'big' rather than 'little' to me. Thinking about the past, a nostalgic feeling comes out.

I miss my family...

"It's only thirty minutes before class starts. You should be taking off your gear soon," those were the words of advice that he gave. How intriguing, I think what he said would've sounded better if he changed the order of the sentences.

"Yeah, thank you, Pre—Yaiba. The duel we had was pretty thrilling." I almost slipped up, just a moment's notice from calling him 'president' rather than his name.

"Don't worry about it." He waves his hand lazily and shakes his head. I took off my armour, propped my Shinai to its proper place, and I left the Club Room.

Walking through the fields, and into the halls of the main building, the number of students now compared to earlier in the morning was like the difference between a pale of water and a bathtub; sure, the analogy I was making isn't as extreme, but at least it was far more closer to reality. Anyways, I wonder how Alice is doing right now. Eh, she's likely socialising right now like any other person would.

Freeing myself from my older brother's mindset, I head to the staircase, the second-floor was where the Second-Years were, after all.

Walking up the stairs, I caught the sight of a bespectacled, blue-haired girl. She was beautiful, her eyeglasses were the perfect frame for her face shape, and her eyes shone like Lapis Lazuli. Something was telling me she wasn't nor—

Lub-dub!

My senses warned me, and I sensed it: magical energy. This girl is clearly a magus.

I wanted to confront the blue-haired girl, but there were far too many students right now. Though, even if there weren't students, I'd still be wary of facing her.

I now remember why I hated my experience of being in the Clock Tower for a year; once every few weeks back then, I had a terrifying encounter like this.

The girl fearlessly walked towards me, her eyes lacked any care, as if I was a harmless ant. "Meet me in the Tea Ceremony Room later this afternoon," she said, her voice sounding calm. The clarity made me even more wary, and at this point, my heart was already racing, and my sweat glands were doing their job: sweating, that was their job.

"...Yeah." I gave a firm nod. Trying my best to look like I still have my wits on me.

I need to notify Alice quickly; knowing that, I tried to go down to reach the classroom to quickly notify her. But before I could take a step down the stairs, she grabbed my shoulder. "Don't do it, Freedan, you can tell your sister about me during lunch break," she warned me. She knows my name, and yet I don't know hers, this is the worst possible situation to be in. It's obvious, if I try something, everyone in school is in danger, and so, I follow her orders. Fuck...I wish this was just a nightmare, for not even the worst of lucid nightmares could fill me with this much dread.

I heeded her warning, and I ignored the idea of telling my sister anything. If only I had a phone; stupid old me, if only I had that piece of modern technology then I wouldn't have to go to Alice's classroom to warn her.

Note to self (if I survive the day): Get a Fucking Cellphone.

Thankfully, I was a Second-Year, and from the fact that she had to go to the third-floor, her current identity was that of a Third-Year. Now that she's gone, could I reach Alice? Think, Aiden, think...Damnit, notifying my little sister will do nothing to help me, the only result would be the likely chance of the blue-haired upperclassman getting angry. I have to follow her orders for now.

I entered my classroom, and everything seemed normal. In the bottom-left corner of the room — using the blackboard of the room as the 'landmark' — were three students. Quickly hanging my bag to the hook of my table, I joined in on their conversation.

"—tely, there's been a bunch of new idiots in front of the North Gate. To be honest, I don't even wanna see their faces," were the words of Arihiko; his most notable features were his dyed orange-hair, his pierced earrings, and improper uniform. He was what most would call a delinquent. He wasn't a friend of mine, but he seemed... interesting to talk to, so we became acquaintances.

"Whose face do you not wish to see, Arihiko?" I ask. I needed social interaction to calm my nerves.

"Woah!" He yelped out in surprise, before turning to me. "Oh, it's you, Freedan...Ahem, morning! It's not everyday that I see you this early," his startled shock disappearing in a matter of milliseconds as he greeted. Also, by 'early' he meant that he's never seen me in the mornings.

"You're the one who comes to school late. Heck, sometimes you don't even come." I complained. It was an honest, factual statement. Even when he does go to school, sometimes he's so late that he actually enters in the afternoon.

"Awww, that's the exact same thing Shiki said..." he gave an exaggerated frown.

"Anyways, g'morn', Tohno, Yumizuka." I greeted the other two. Shiki Tohno, the eldest son of some rich people, but he didn't look too notable: black hair and eyes, plain looking glasses, and a pretty-boy look. Yumizuka was also plain, her brown hair styled into short twintails, mundane brown eyes, and a cute appearance, nothing intriguing about her.

Well, for Shiki Tohno, his glasses weren't so plain. Originally, when I was experimenting with the use of my Pure Eyes, I also used reinforcement to improve my visual acuity to the point where I could structurally grasp objects with just a gaze, it just so happened that I got to look at his glasses during that time that I realised that they were far, far more special than I gave them credit for. I mean, those glasses were created by the Grand, stolen by the Blue, and gifted to Shiki Tohno as a way to quell his Mystic Eyes.

---

Two months ago:

It was a summer afternoon. The orange-leaves of the trees fell, and the chilling air blew. I was in the middle of a forest facing an ordinary-looking pretty boy.

I hypnotised him and dragged him here; he's Shiki Tohno—a classmate of mine. It wasn't like me to hypnotise any normal person, but he was anything but normal. It had only been a day since I discovered that he had Mystic-Eye Killers for glasses, merely a product of chance. To be honest, if I hadn't been testing out my Pure Eyes, I wouldn't have found out that he had those special glasses.

Pure Eyes, a form of psychic power learned by the Nanaya Clan; they allowed the user to 'see what cannot be seen' and for me, they allowed me to use Structural Grasp Magecraft with just the use of my vision. Apparently, most Saints have a form of this ability, which intrigued me because I was pretty far from being one.

Now, why did I hypnotise Shiki Tohno? Simple reason: I wished to know what his Mystic Eyes were; simply put, I was so surprised by the fact that someone so anaemic could actually have such a gift.

"Why did the blue give you these glasses?" I asked, my voice laced with magical energy. He merely stood there unresponsive.

I see...then, let's ask the simplest question possible first. If he didn't know what the nickname 'Blue' meant, then it's likely that it's better for me to ask the 'Who', rather than the 'Why'.

"Who gave you those glasses?" I already knew who gave them, but I was just trying to confirm whether he knew of her identity or not.

"..." Tohno doesn't respond at first, but he opens his mouth just a second later and answers, "Teacher."

The blue had a student? Wait, that's impossible, after all, if the user of the Fifth True Magic did teach him Magecraft, then his Magical Energy would prevent my use of hypnosis, but he didn't, so Blue didn't teach him that. I'll probe more and see what more he knows. "What did she teach you?"

"She taught me to appreciate living things." That's an interesting answer. To be taught about that from a person as destructive as Aoko Aozaki — Blue — meant that whatever he used to be, it was something dangerous.

"Is it related to your Mystic Eyes?" I ask. A curt nod is all he answers with.

Mystic Eyes are a form of power concentrated in the eyes, allowing for the ability to affect the world through the medium of the eyes. Pure Eyes aren't considered Mystic Eyes due to only being able to affect the user. Though, it was just my own hypothesis that I gained from five minutes of thinking about it, so it's more than likely that that isn't the case.

"Then, what are your Mystic Eyes?" I asked the Million-Dollar Question.

"I can see lines over all things, and if I trace them with a sharp object, it 'dies'." The Million-Dollar answer came like a figurative bombshell that landed right next to me, figuratively exploding and blowing my mind through the sheer words I heard.

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Mystic Eyes so rare that most in the Moonlit World would believe them to merely be a fictional power, and I thought the same, too. And yet, here it was, someone who could use them.

"C—Can," I stutter, even though I'm the one in control. The shock that I felt was the testament of fear that those eyes held. I continued, "—you show me how it works?" I ask. It was foolish of me, but what's the worst that could happen?

"I can't do that," Tohno replied.

"Why?"

"I need a sharp object." A sharp object...I don't have to worry about it too much, I suppose; he's hypnotised, after all.

I grabbed a rock the size of my fist from the ground, and the image of a hammer striking hot metal is shown in my mind, producing a shower of sparks.

The image is how Magi are capable of opening their Magic Circuits. Magic Circuits are how Magi use Magical Energy to use Magecraft.

I chant my aria, "Temper." And my Magical Circuits warm up as I pour Magical Energy into the stone. The rock's structure forms into a shape I desired:a stone knife. The rock I held just a second ago turned into a stone knife; I swung the knife, feeling for the weight, and I checked the blade's edge, unsurprisingly it was sharp.

Alteration, a spell that allows an object to be given a property. What I did was impressive, yes; however, masters of the craft are said to be capable of turning metal into rubber, so me being capable of that wasn't actually anything special.

"Here, use it on that tree." I gave him the knife, and Tohno nodded, removing his glasses. The tree had a height of around ten metres, and its girth was around a metre. Even a lumberjack with an axe would take some time to chop the tree down. And yet...

Swoosh!

In one clean swing, the tree fell down.

From what I could see, the cut was smooth. From the rough bark, to the soft pith, it had been sliced like being paper cut by a razor. No, even that wasn't the right analogy, it was better to say that it was like a thin line gliding through water.

This is inhuman...

What was Blue thinking when he left the boy to his own devices?

No, what was I thinking of when I decided to test his abilities?

Looking away from the now fallen tree, I turned my gaze towards Tohno: his eyes narrowed like slits, his eyebrows twitched, and his expression turned into a twisted scowl. And...my gaze met his.

His twisted expression became a smile. It was a smile like any other, judging from the reason why he grinned: he was merely feeling joy. But that's not good, because even if his smile was genuine, it had the problem of being unnerving, his smile was—

"Tohno?" I asked, growing confused with his lack of response.

"Who?" he replies.

—sadistic.

His expression was one of wonder; a confident grin with a single eyebrow raised. It was as if he's never heard of that family name before.

He takes a familiar stance, a stance that my grandmother once demonstrated to me in my childhood. The technique being the assassination arts of the Nanaya Cla—

"..."

In a moment's notice, the sight of the not-so-plain boy vanished.

I bent backwards. My body responded even before my brain could even register the situation.

And there I saw it, for just a flash, just above my head used to be the trajectory of the stone knife, barely missing its target.

"Oh? Well done, you dodged it!" He exclaims, chuckling as he stands on a tree branch three metres off the ground.
When did he climb up?

"Are you a Nanaya?" I ask. To be honest, I expected there to be no response to that question, only asking it in the first place to have some time to prepare.

He scoffs, "You're familiar with us? Then I take it that you're not trustworthy." What a horrific joke. The Nanaya were a clan of demon hunters, so him thinking that I'm inhuman just means that he won't hesitate in harming me.

Nanaya Assassination Arts, as they were referred to, was the technique used by the Nanaya Clan. It wasn't a technique that I had mastered, but I've had a month's training in it by my grandmother, a member of the Nanaya clan, who got married to the Api family. My knowledge of the technique was limited, but I could tell that he is the pinnacle of the Nanayas; even my trained eyes were unable to react, having to use my instinct to be able dodge. If grandma was still alive, she definitely would have agreed with my statement of him being one of the best. Her agility would be equal with the boy in front of me, but that's only with her using Magical Energy though.

"Calm down, Toh—Shiki," I called out to him, ignoring his name 'Tohno' as it was obvious that he wasn't one by blood. "We're distant relatives, so can't you calm down?" I try to avoid the confrontation entirely.

"Oh, so you also are a Nanaya?" he asks in an excited manner. I've heard from grandma a few years ago that the Nanaya Clan was wiped out by a demihuman, so seeing a Nanaya alive, and obviously skilled was a joy for me. Though, I'd prefer if his hostility wasn't aimed to kill me.

Well, I'm a Nanaya by blood, if only so little, but I'm the heir of the Api family, so I can't just answer with a yes. "By blo—" I tried to correct him. But I immediately notice him mid-air, his knife thrusting towards me, and I immediately dodge away by dashing to the side.

"So what if we are cousins?" He asks rhetorically with a wide, joyous grin spread across his face. "It'd be intriguing to know why you tried hypnotising me, oh relative of mine, but I'm also intrigued on how you'll look without your head."

Great, he's a psychopath. At least I won't regret fighting back now.

"Temper!" I recite my aria, and immediate green lines glow through my body as I dash.

Fwoom!

My mad dash of escape resulted in me flying fifteen metres away in an instant. I immediately grabbed a branch and a small rock, and the branch and stone formed into a stone sword. I immediately poured Magical Energy into it to reinforce it.

An instantaneous use of Alteration and Reinforcement magecraft in the middle of a life and death situation, it's definitely not a feat that many could do. That's why, if I make it out alive, then I'll definitely brag this to Lady Barthomeloi.

I stood up, my sword pointed towards him, "Let's do this."

He laughs in response, and he dashes towards me. The distance of fifteen metres crossed in half of a second.

"Hya—!" I thrust my sword, my arms acting like pistons as they pushed the blade forward.

During his dash, he lowered his head and his shoulders, and he...passed out? I was momentarily confused, why did he just lose his consciousness? However, I didn't have answers, and acting immediately, I stood over him, my sword raised as I readied to chop his head off with the makeshift stone sword.

Should I kill him?
Unlikely, I'm not even willing to kill. I'm not that cold-blooded, not at this point in time.

But something clicked inside of me, he escaped my hypnotism, in spite of being unable to use his Magic Circuits. Even more curious, he only attacked when he took the glasses off. Is that how he escaped my hypnotism? It was more than likely that the burden of seeing the world without his Mystic-Eye Killers was the entire reason for him breaking free, and it also explained why he passed out in the middle of our fight.

Wait, no, that could be likely, but not assured; I've heard from my grandma that the Nanayas get a bit…bloodthirsty when they're directly hypnotised. If that's the case, then I'm sorry Shiki, I didn't mean to make you get quirky. Well, now that the predicament is over, I have something to think about. Should I try to learn the proper basics of the Nanaya arts?

Actually, let's remove his memories first, then I can think about that. I pick up the glasses, and I put them on Shiki. I wouldn't call him Tohno, unless he genuinely believes himself to be one. Though, if that truly was the case, then I would. Even if I'm only referring to him in my mind, I'll still call him Shiki rather than Tohno.

Remembering that wasn't pleasant. Luckily when he woke up back then, he didn't know of anything that happened, so I also tried to ignore what happened. Still, I found out just a while later after that day that he genuinely considered himself as Shiki 'Tohno'. Which was weird, because he clearly had knowledge of the Nanaya Assassination Arts. Even worse, I did try to learn the basics of the Nanaya art, but when I asked him, he raised a single eyebrow wondering what I was talking about.

---

"I'm sorry, Tohno, Arihikio, Yumizuka, but I feel sick, so I'll be sitting by myself," I genuinely felt like barfing. Remembering what I did to Tohno reminded me of the blue-haired girl earlier. She hasn't killed anyone in the school yet, so she shouldn't be the psychopathic type. Though, I wasn't worried about her personality too much; in truth, I was just scared of the fact that the amount of Magic Power she has greatly surpassed mine.

"Oh, it's ok, man, you can go," Arihiko says, lightly patting my back, 'Tohno' and Yumizuka nodding at his caring words.

I go to my seat at the front. Tiredly resting my head on my table. What a stressful day, and the first day of class hasn't even started yet. At that point, I was already cursing in my mind. Why did I even try to escape to Japan if I'm just gonna see so many dangerous people here.

I need to reduce some stress. "HA—" I sigh, before taking some pen and paper to do some simple graphs.

It wasn't usual for me to study maths to relax, but the source of my problems are anything but mundane, so doing something mundane should at least allow me to take my mind off of my problems.

Deciding to study, the sound of talking students subsided over a few minutes, but I ignored that fact.

By the time that I looked up, the first period had already ended, and the second was just about to start. The bell ringed, signifying the end of this period's classes. I waited for the teacher to conclude the lesson, and I hastily walked down the steps to Alice's classroom.

---

"Alice, come here!" I shout at her, getting not just her attention, but the other 1st-years as well. Some were quick to wave their hands at me, but I just gave a curt nod to respond to them.

Once Alice had reached me, I leaned into her and whispered, "There's another magus in the school, their magical energy is comparable to mine, and she asked us to meet in the Tea Ceremony Club later this afternoon."

She nods. "Ah, so that's why your normally perfect face is twisted this badly." That's sweet of her to say, or maybe not. She continues, "Anyway, we can't really do anything about it. So, wanna join me and my friends for lunch? They're interested in you."

"Do you think I'm interested in mundane girls?" I ask rhetorically. "But yes, please; let's go eat." The stress had made me hungry. Really hungry.

We headed for the cafeteria, and as we did, I heated up my lunchbox with magecraft, so that by the time we were going to eat, my food would have been nice and warm.

We sat down. And we muttered, "Itadakimasu." Before I ate, the image of a hammer striking on hot metal appeared in my head, and my magical circuits activated. I mentally recite my aria, "Temper." I reinforce my food, improving its taste and nutritional value. Reinforcement Magecraft, a type of Magecraft that pertains to the act of using Magical Energy to improve on something already present in an object. Using it on food was somewhat difficult —for other mages, I mean— but I am a prodigy amongst talented magi. Well, it also doesn't hurt that I'm one of the few buffoons — in spite of my 'potential' — who actually try to master the basic methods of applying magical energy like Reinforcement and Alteration. I didn't have to worry about my use of Magecraft being discovered. After all, reinforcement doesn't really interact with the world, so only fellow magi could actually sense it.

I can also do Gradation Air, a practice that involves the materialisation of objects through the use of Magical Energy, but I only know how to copy the appearance of the object. Though, I stopped trying to 'do something cool' with it ever since I was eight. I mean, I tried creating a sword with it, and it did work, but it was so hollow inside that when I tried putting it down on my desk, it shattered like glass, before fading away into motes of light.

Unless someone gives me a proper demonstration on how an attribute as worthless as this can actually show its use, then maybe I'll start practising it again. However, that possibility was mere wish fulfilment.

Who knew that I'd actually find a freelancer capable of doing that in the next couple of days.

Still...who was that girl, anyway? Actually, everyone else should know. "Hey," I called out to Alice's friends. "Do you know of the blue-haired girl among the third-years?"

"You mean Miss Ciel? She has the features you speak of," one of the girls answered. I've never heard of anyone named Ciel, so that's most likely the case. "Though, I'm surprised, upperclassman. You speak as if you don't know of her," she voiced out. It seems like she's implanted in everyone's mind that she's well-known...

I nodded, quietly grumbling to myself, and I sped up my eating pace, finishing in just a minute. Quickly, but elegantly standing up, I waved my hand goodbye to Alice and her friends. After all, it wasn't like we could think of a plan later when there were mundanes literally next to us. Well, that and the fact that my little sister is better off enjoying the company of her friends; after all, we couldn't allow anyone not part of the Moonlit World to know of anything we do.

I walked through the corridors, with students strolling and chatting about their daily lives, and I smiled and said hello whenever I met an acquaintance.

Nearing the staircase, I quicken my pace for no particular reason, and I catch the glimpse of the blue-haired girl — Ciel, as one of Alice's friends referred to her — as I walk up to reach my classroom.

"Ciel?" I call out to her with a questioning tone, trying to confirm whether the name that the friend of Alice said was correct.
"Yes, Mr. Freedan Liberia?" she responds politely with a soft smile. A soft smile, something that courteous when speaking to another person, yet hearing her speak to me in such a way unnerved me.

"I know this isn't the Tea Ceremony Clubroom, but can I ask why a magus would situate yourself in this mundane school?" I inquired, trying to sound as respectful as I could.

"I'm no magus," she explained. Her eyebrows raised, as if she was surprised that I even suspected her of that. Though, an expression like that won't clear my doubts.

Suspicious of her words, I proceed with my accusation, "There's no way someone blatantly using Hypnosis wouldn't be a mage."

"No, I'm being truthful; I am no mage, for I am an Executor. And to clarify, I used Suggestion, not Hypnosis." As if her words did any better than calming me down. Suggestion is a spell that implants an idea to the target; many consider it to be similar to hypnosis, likely because of the fact that it affects the mind, but there are also a few differences. For example, suggestion is used in situations where you want to be seen as something, like Ciel using it to make her appear as a student that's been studying in the school for a few years; whereas in Hypnosis, you give a command , and they do it without question as long as it doesn't go against their morals and basic nature.

Still, for her to be an executor is far too surprising, and why did she answer it so readily, too? Is it because of the fact that I'm also a part of the Moonlit World as a mage? If so, then why? The Mages Association and The Holy Church aren't on the best of terms; granted, the two factions work together sometimes, but to think that she'll answer just because I asked...I see. She doesn't see me as a threat.

Executors are the Holy Church's answers to 'heretics'. However, their methods of dealing with heretics primarily involve disposal. These heretics mainly refer to Daemons—demonic beings, Dead Apostles—vampires, and Rogue Magi.

"Are you hunting Magi?" I ask. It's an understandable assumption for me to make because of the fact that Japan —actually, Asia in general— wasn't a place where most Magi congregate. It was the main reason me and my sister even went to Japan in the first place.
"Dead Apostle Ancestor," she answered.

My breathing stops to a halt. A chill runs down my spine. The hairs on my arm stand up, followed by a tingling sensation, most likely a goosebump.

Lub-dub! Lub-dub!

The sound of my heartbeat reverberates inside my head. Echoing infinitely within the cavernous confines of my head.

A faint, buzzing drone rings inside my mind, the volume slowly rising. The drone is followed by a ringing that grows louder and louder, dread filling my heart.
"T—that can't..." I stuttered, a vocal error that I've only made once in my life before this. In any normal situation I would've felt embarrassed for it.

But this was no normal situation.

Dead Apostles, inhuman beings that are referred to as vampires, but even 'vampire' doesn't properly explain what their existence actually is. Actually, I even find it difficult to understand them in detail. But that wasn't all, Ciel didn't just answer with 'Dead Apostles, no, she clearly referred to 'Dead Apostle Ancestor'. They are nightmarishly powerful beings capable of destroying countries within days if they wished.

And in knowing that, my expression visibly falters, and my eyes grow wide with shock. "What the fuck is happening to this city?" I audibly cursed out. I take a deep breath, and I asked, "Can you elaborate on that?"

"I will, but it'll have to be later. There's something important that I have to do." Ciel walks down the stairs, disappearing from my peripheral vision as I stand in the hallway, my eyes staring at the wall.

"..."

I'm in a trance, "A...Dead Apostle Ancestor," I muttered out to myself. No wonder I heard some students talking about Vampire-like killings earlier, who knew those random rumours were correct. How did I miss this? No, even if I suspected it from the start then nothing would have changed; after all, I wasn't someone who would risk their life to try to help with such issues, and to be honest, I would have immediately abandoned my home and I would have ran to the Clocktower again with my little sister. "Haaa—" I sighed. Shaking my head, a sharp prick spread throughout my temples. This situation is absurd, so absurd that it couldn't be a nightmare; no person could ever have such a mind so messed up to have a nightmare like this.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down from the predicament I'm experiencing. "Damn it!" I shouted out, not caring if there were other students to see my sudden outburst. It's pretty evident that just taking a deep breath won't soothe my volatile emotional state.

I feel a hand grasp my shoulder, and I immediately swing my arm to get rid of it.

"Woah!" a familiar voice comes from behind me. Noticing it, I turn around and see Yaiba behind me, with his eyebrows raised and his expression into one of worry.

"Ah," I voice out, just realising who it is that I just acted rudely towards. "I'm so sorry, President!"

"Freedan, you don't have to worry, and call me Yaiba," he gives a caring smile. "Anyways, what happened? I just saw you standing in the middle of the corridor and then you randomly cursed." I see now, I made another inelegant bout of shouting. To think that the Api family's heir would be this worked up because of a few words sprouted from an Executor.

"Apologies, Yaiba. It seems that I did something unbecoming of me." I look down towards the ground, "Something's going on, but please, do not intrude." I knew that Yaiba was the type of person who wanted to help — in spite of the fact that he was infamous for being violent — and he noticed me sulking, so he definitely knew that there was something that I was worried about. That's why I requested for him to not help.

"I see, then I won't intrude. However, if you ever need an ear to vent off of — you know I'll be in the Kendo Clubroom." His answer was exactly what I expected him to say, but it made me relatively glad to hear it, irregardless of that fact.

"Yeah, thanks, Yaiba," I said, a genuine smile of appreciation forming on my lips. Witnessing my response, he waved me goodbye, before going up the stairs to the third-floor; and in turn, I headed to my classroom.

I should plant a suggestion to Arihiko and Yumizuka, a suggestion so that they won't go out at night. It was a suggestion that I'll plant inside their heads stating 'There's a serial killer near the area of your house,' or something along those lines. They may not be my friends in the sense that I relate to them much, but even I have a conscience; I won't go around actively trying to help others, but I'll help just a bit if it's an acquaintance.
However, if helping them would result in myself being in a dangerous situation, then I'll have to ignore them.

Look, it isn't like I'm a psychopath without the ability to empathise. Actually, I'm far more caring for the mundane when compared to most magi. Though, being more... empathetic compared to most magi wasn't an impressive feat to have; after all, most mages were horrible human beings, they were mostly just a bunch of self-centred, arrogant, and manipulative pricks.
Now, where was I?
Right, I was on my way to my classroom for the afternoon lessons. After that, Alice and I will be having a discussion with the Executor.

Entering the already opened room of my class, I witness the sight of students, fellow classmates, peacefully conversing with each other. As always, the topics of these conversations ranged from many things: after school hang-outs, current news, and even some snippets of my female classmates talking about a golden-haired boy. Oh wait, I'm the one they're talking about.

Seating myself on my chair, I put my bag on my desk and took out a notebook. It's not a particularly interesting notebook by appearance, the plain text and plain cover didn't do any better to help with that. Though, that was exactly the point. I mean, why would this notebook have to look special? After all, it's just a book filled with the descriptions of my spells, their situational uses, and their incantations. Sure, making it look good would give me something to appreciate, but that would just put unnecessary attention on it.

If what Ciel says is the truth, I should be doing my best to think about what spells I can use in potential situations. I've performed most, if not all of these spells, but I'll be rereading the spellbook to make sure that I can familiarise myself with the spells I deem most useful.

Thankfully, due to my family's attribute of 'Consumption', I can focus on smaller spells without caring about the more 'destructive' ones, so I should be looking for flame spells that can be shot multiple times at a single incantation, like a barrage of miniature fireballs. Oh, and the ones that shoot out over the speed of sound are better.

Man, studying spell books is fun. That begs the question, though. Why am I only doing this now? I mean, seriously, if I just studied every spell in this notebook, I would be able to use them effectively already.

I sighed to myself, and flipped through the pages. I could see a notable one — a flame lance that would be shot out at a speed around 50-150 metres per second depending on the user; the destructive power is apparently enough to go through concrete, and the heat is just about 1500 degrees Celsius. The aria is one line long — for those starting to use it — so it would take around 2 seconds to actually send it out. The directions for the aria state that it should include world flame/fire, and lance. Ah, I got it! Fire converges to a point. And once I have the spell familiarised, the aria would just be—

"What're you reading?" A voice to my right asked. I had been thinking so much that I'd forgotten that I was in a classroom. Even worse, I also forgot that I had my spell book out for the world to see.

"Eeek—!" I squeak out, making the exact same sound earlier back when I was showering. I immediately turned to the voice, and I found the sight of Satsuki Yumizuka giggling.

"Are you okay?" She asks, a smile painted on her face.

"Yeah." This is perfect timing, actually; I could use this time to put a suggestion on her.

The image of a hammer swinging down activates my magic circuits. I grab her shoulder; with my words now laced with magical energy, I say, "Do NOT go out at night, there's a serial killer near your home." Suggestions only for a while, so I'll have to do it again tomorrow.

I let go of her, and I immediately changed the topic. "Sneaking up on people now, Yumizuka?"

"I'm sorry." She clasps her palms together. "You just seemed so focused on that notebook." She adds, "Are you trying to be the school's number 1 student?"

"Wait." Something's wrong. "I'm not number one yet?"

"No. That's Ciel," she replies.

"Wait, she's an upperclassman, how does that work?" I ask. Seriously, how does that work? Like, did Ciel just say "I'm the number one student," and completely forget about the rankings being by year?

"Anyways." I lazily got back to my reading position and waved her off. "Yeah, I'm pretty focused right now, so if you wouldn't mind, I'll be studying." I'll just hope that she's not offended from being shooed away like that.

Now, where was I again? Ah, yes; the aria for the spell once I get familiar with it should just be: Lance. Nothing more, and nothing less. It should take a couple of weeks. Unless I have to cast it so much that I'm forced to familiarise it in just a few days.

The funny thing is that the number of times I have to use it in the next two days would be so much that it would become one of my most used spells.

But that is a day yet to be narrated.

Turning my head to the left, then right, I checked if anyone was around to interrupt me again. Thankfully, there weren't, and so, after I placed a bookmark on the page containing the Flame Lance — I began to flip through the pages once more, carefully looking for potentially useful spells. Blowing Flame, Warm Sun, and Afrit looked to have potential, so I placed a bookmark on their pages. However, from what I could gather, those three were the only ones that could provide some use — but even then, even those three seemed too... 'noticeable'.

Where Flame Lance was just a simple spell that summoned a projectile in the shape of a spear made of flames. Blowing Flame shot out arcs of flames the size of a small room, Warm Sun formed a miniature ball of flame, and Afrit was a spell that made a flaming, gigantic horned skull, and traversed at a meagre pace of 35 metres per second. It was clear that unless I was fighting in a place where there was no one — either from everyone being dead or being in an unpopulated area — I would be unable to use them.

RING!

The warning school bell, signifying the end of lunch break rings throughout the whole school.

I closed the combat-spell book, and a sigh of disappointment crept out. I've finished reading the book in its entirety, but all I found was one useful spell and three others that were too conspicuous to actually use in an urban setting. Though, I should still reread it in my spare time. Well, it's perfect that I finished reading the book, because a quick glance at my wristwatch had notified me that afternoon lessons were beginning in five minutes.

"Time for relaxation time." This period's lesson is Mathematics, so I should be able to calm myself down and lose myself in the simple lessons.

Truly, I needed to take my mind off of the current events. Sitting around and biting my nails in paranoia will not help me. After all, problems should be addressed at the appropriate time; only attempting to solve them after they fester is bad, but the same thing could be said when trying to deal with a problem that you don't know the idea of.

Though in this context, I DO know what the problem is. But the thing is, worrying about it now during school would just tax me mentally.

A crowd of students burst from the hallway to the classrooms — most likely stragglers who stayed in the cafeteria — and the second bell rings, this one signifying the start of the afternoon classes.

---

RING!

The last ring of the bell cried out, roaring to every part of the school. What followed just after that were the incoherent mumblings of my classmates as they stood up.

Quickly, I stood up and picked up my handheld bag, and I patiently waited for the crowd of boisterous students — who tried to, for some reason, get out of the room sooner by shoving the people in front of them.

I took a few steps, just before the doorway out to the school corridors, but before I stepped outside, I turned around. There, I saw Shiki 'Tohno' listlessly sitting down at the bottom-left corner of the room, as if he didn't notice the bell had already rung. "Shiki, are you alright?" I asked, using his first name. There were no other people here in the classroom besides the two of us, after all, and I only called him 'Tohno' when there were people.

Though, it didn't seem like he heard any of what I said. "Shiki, are you alright?" I repeated my earlier question, and thankfully, he finally noticed. I didn't want him staying in the school for no good reason, so having a short talk with him could make him consider going home.

Considering the fiery-orange light of the dimming sun, the amount of time present before the final strips of daylight unravelled before the darkness of night wasn't too plentiful.

With a light, lyrical grunt, he stops staring into blank space, and faces me. " Hrn? Oh, yeah, I'm alright, Freedan." He added, "It's just...I'm thinking about the mansion, it's been a while since I've been there, and it just so happened that today will be the day when I come back to it." That's an understandable sentiment.

I nodded, and I responded, "Is that so? To be honest, I want to tell you: 'Don't worry about it', but I'm not ignorant enough. The only thing I wish to tell you right now is that it shouldn't be as bad as you'd think it'd actually be," I said, attempting to comfort him.

"Also, surely you miss your little sister, do you not? I've heard you talk about her so much that it genuinely surprised me back then when you said that you have contact with her." Shiki had a little sister, and it appeared that he also had the 'older brother instinct' that I had, and he cared for his little sister enough to talk about her in a purely positive light. However, even if we both talked about our little sisters to each other, even I didn't lace my descriptions of Alice with 'cute', at least, not as much as he did. To be honest, I'm worried that he might fancy his step-sister. Anyways, what surprised me most was when he told me that this little sister of his was now the Tohno Clan's head of family .
Well, I suppose it made sense; Shiki wasn't a Tohno by blood, so him being older didn't matter.

"Oh, and please tell your sister that I, Freedan Liberia, wish to have a conversation with her." I stated, quite haughtily, too. "Of course, that talk can happen whenever she's free; she's the head of the Tohno family now, right?" I said to my friend; he was definitely my cousin — but he didn't know anything about our blood connection, much less about the Nanaya clan, so he'd likely just get confused and weirded out if I tried explaining that to him.

It was weird, I still remember him talking about the Nanayas back then. Maybe, just maybe, his original memories were locked out, and the one who attacked me was a split-personality who remembered everything?

I wished to hypnotise him once more to know more of his present situation, but knowing of the dangers of attempting that — especially from the experiences I had just two months ago — I decided that asking his sister, the head of the Tohno family, would be a safer thing to do.

Hopefully, she won't be too hostile when I do ask about it.

"And if she refuses at first, tell her that I'm asking for a 'business meeting' from a member of the Moonlit side of the World," I suggested, hoping that she wouldn't refuse if I did ask for it like this. What if she still refuses? "And if she still refuses to have a meeting after you tell her that, then let it be, Shiki, " I clarify. After all, it would be rude of me to force the matter.

I knew the Tohno family were part of it, the more secretive side of the world, and I also knew that they were humans with the blood of the Oni coursing through their veins, so why would they have Shiki Nanaya — someone from a lineage that hunts them — as part of their family?
Clearly, the Tohno weren't just a family of normal 'aristocrats'. Something was going on. Something I absolutely needed to know.

The story on how I knew that they weren't even completely human would be a story I would explain on another day.

Shiki smiled as he answered, "I'll do it, Freedan. But don't take it to heart if she says 'no', okay?" I nodded and smiled back. To be honest, I genuinely did wish that he knew just a bit of his Nanaya heritage, it would've brought a smile to my little sister if she found out that we still had blood relatives. At least, blood relatives that weren't a product from the Api family's frequent arranged marriages.

"Thank you, Shiki," I expressed my appreciation. "May your reunion with your sister be pleasant."

"Yeah," Shiki muttered, and he stood up, before picking up his bag.

" And don't forget, Shiki. Do NOT go out at night, " I warned him. It would not be funny if he, someone close to me — for magus terms, at least — got bitten by a ghoul just because he chose to do something stupid.

He merely nods, as if to confirm that he heard what I said.

Finishing my short conversation with him, I turned around and I stepped out of the classroom. Walking further from the classroom, I heard Shiki's distant voice say, "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Freedan." Unknown to my own self, a smile encroaches on my lips.

Truly, out of everyone in this school that's not my sister, he'll be the only person that I'll think about saving if he ever finds himself in a harsh situation .

Now, with everything out of the way, I can finally join Alice to have a nice talk with Ciel.

There was this heavy feeling on my chest. It didn't hurt, but it felt uncomfortable.
Was I nervous? Well, that was pretty obvious; the sweat dripping down from the side of my cheek, the sudden increase in my intake of air, and the heart that was yelling out — thumping — answered that.
But there was something else, something other than just that agitation.
It was intrigue—No, there was a better word for it: thrill.
To converse with an executioner, someone used to hunting magi, just the idea of it excited me. The absolute idea of meeting people that could battle Dead Apostles, beings that most magi dared not to face, beings that my family hated, beings that she and her lineage absolutely abhorred, to meet someone that hunted such beings excited me.
Don't get me wrong, these feelings are misplaced; if I wanted to look for someone who hunted Dead Apostles, then I could just go to my father's gravestone, but executors are people I've seen, but not talked to.
Of course, other magi would consider my actions to be considerably... stupid. I mean, no intelligent human being would be excited to meet a glorified killer of Dead Apostles and magi.

And finally, something clicked; I had realised that I was even more foolish than I originally thought. Why was I not preparing for the highly likely chance of an altercation?
Sure, there was the rule that mystery — the 'basis' of magecraft — must be hidden, and that rule was followed by both the Church and the Mage's Association, and both sides were willing to kill to make sure that rule was maintained. However, what was the time now? It was after school, and barely any students currently roamed around on school grounds, so even if there were people who could potentially witness us having such confrontation, the witnesses can simply be... disposed of, and they can easily make up some excuse for what happened to said witnesses.

Well, to have almost forgotten the need for caution — especially when meeting with someone trained to kill magi like me — it's quite evident that I've gotten somewhat used to living a mostly mundane life.
'Thankfully', I'll be able to go back to having a not-so mundane life starting in about two minutes when I finally converse with Ciel. So, yay!

I closed my eyes for a moment, blinking. My crimson-red eyes had changed hues to an emanating pale-blue, faintly glowing. It was as if an aquamarine gem had light passing through it; the Pure Eyes that I had gained from having the blood of my grandmother, a former member of the Nanaya clan.
If my magic circuits hadn't made me enough of a special person, then my eyes definitely would have.

I went down the stairs, through the corridor, and through the school field.

If I haven't explained yet — most likely forgot to explain — the school's clubrooms were situated away from the main building.

Slowly making my way to the club building, I set my eyes on a few people who just so happened to march by. Using my eyes, the mundane people looked... even more basic than they usually are; one of the abilities that my eyes had was to see the colour of people, to see their silhouette; I would've called it 'Aura', but that would mean that the colour radiated off of them.

The absolutely average, people incapable of magecraft, mostly had the colour of off-white.

Most magi that I've encountered using my eyes, the ones my family trusted enough to see my ability, were within the hues of yellow to blue.

But there was something strange...

Pitter-Patter!

I heard some distant footsteps getting closer that were coming from behind me, I looked back, and I caught sight of a peculiarity, the colour of sky blue surrounded by a golden aura. It was faint, like the shine of a dying flashlight, but there it was, an Aura .

Witnessing that , I immediately knew who it was. The coloured silhouette of sky-blue spoke, "I was looking for you, Freedan." And she asked, "What took you so long?"

We entered the club building, and I explained to her, "I had a talk with our cousin, Alice." Indeed, for some reason, my sister had an Aura.

Aura, something that I rarely saw with my Pure Eyes, and yet, for all of its rarity, it was the first ever peculiarity that I saw. What I saw first was the radiance of a golden aura, glowing brightly as I looked onwards to my family, most of whom have had it. All Api's had it, everyone that had the Api blood coursing through their veins. But the only situation when I saw the aura was with my family, which led to this question: What does the Aura signify?

Maybe it meant that it only had an aura for those who I was related to?

That was the only explanation in my mind, but that hypothesis had crumbled down like a collapsing brick wall when I opened the door to the room of the tea ceremony club...

The colour of a cobalt-blue silhouette, shaped like the executor I conversed with earlier, and there it was—

An Aura , not from Alice, and certainly not from a reflection of myself. No, the 'light' that emanated from it wasn't golden, like the one I'm used to seeing from those who were a part of my family. It was red, but not like blood-red or crimson, it was more of dark sienna, if anything else. It was a hue that screamed 'demonic' to me, but that doesn't make sense.

This whole situation doesn't make sense .

Some random executor had an Aura , but I didn't know anything about it. What does the presence of it signify?

"Ciel..." I called out to the silhouette.

Looking at it had physically made me wish to vomit, and I did the most sensible thing: I turned off my Pure Eyes.

I blinked, and my eyes had returned to their original lustre of crimson.

"What was that?" Ciel questioned.

What was she asking about? "What do you mean?" I questioned back, looking for an elaboration.

Ciel answered, "Your eyes were glowing blue for a second, but they returned back to their red colour just a second ago." So that's what she was referring to.

"Let me and Alice sit down first," I said, and both of us slowly walked towards the middle of the club room.

The 'Tea Ceremony Club' looked wonderful; it was a Japanese-style room. Tatami mats blanketed the flooring. 'Shoji' lined the walls, and a particular one divided a space to the side; the part close to the door was just spare room, but the side that was separated was anything but 'spare room'. The other side was a ' tokonoma ' — a space fit specifically for artistic display — and a fresh flower arrangement propped up the floor of it, with a hanging scroll on the wall that had the wonderful ink strokes of calligraphy on it.
The room didn't have any artificial lighting, but it was far from needed as the light diffused from the Shoji just behind the sitting form of Ciel had diffused the sun's warm-orange light. If I had to pick a room that was the most beautiful for its simplicity, then this would be it.

It was calming, worryingly so. Ciel sat there on a 'Zabuton',a sitting mattress, in a Seiza position.

Did you know? Seiza was practised by everyone in Japan back then to make sure that those who sat would have trouble with assassination. How that was done was because of the fact that the Seiza numbed the legs in purpose, and it also made it harder to stand up to quickly attack, so her sitting that way had allowed me to be at least feel safer, and it also gave me some respect for her; personally making yourself vulnerable as the host is a sign that you mean no harm. And so, me and Alice began seating ourselves on the Zabuton, and we also sat in the Seiza position — to make sure that her wish for temporary peace was respected.
I waited for my sister to properly position herself, and I broke the twenty seconds of silence by asking her, 'Now, what was the question again?" I perfectly heard what she said earlier, but I wanted just a bit more time to think about my answer.

Actually, it would be better if I just withheld information rather than flat-out lie. I would rather not invoke the executor's wrath by lying about the first question she gives.
I waited for her to repeat her earlier question, and I answered, "I just have special eyes." Quite simple and vague — truly, a magus' way of answering.

Ciel nodded in response, and she probably thought that I wouldn't divulge any more answers. Quickly, she changed the topic. "Freedan Liberia, Alice Liberia, both of you may be wondering why I requested a conversation with you." Both me and Alice nodded at her words, and Ciel added, "I wasn't lying when I said that there was a Dead Apostle Ancestor here."

"I see..." I sighed. "Are you asking for us magi to help you take care of the 'undead' to force them out of hiding?" I asked. The Mage's Association and The Holy Church are groups that aren't the most... friendly with each other, but recently, they've been on more amicable terms when it comes to Dead Apostle hunts.

"Oh?" Ciel voiced out. She sounded intrigued, as if something I said was particularly surprising. "Clearly, you know more about Dead Apostle Hunts compared to the average magus. May I ask how?" Ah, right. I let my tongue slip on that. I suppose I should properly explain to her.

"Do you know about Barthomelois?" I asked in return. The Barthomelois were a famous and well respected lineage of Magi. They were also known for having an extreme dislike of Dead Apostles; participating in Dead Apostle Hunts with Executors on a regular basis. Ciel nodded in response to the name, and I added, " My family used to work with them — especially on Dead Apostle Hunts. I've been on one myself, actually. Though, I only helped with a few ghouls."

I coughed, suddenly remembering the question that she didn't answer. "Ahem. Anyways, why did you request us to be here?" I asked, it was a different question from last time, but I considered it the same due to the fact that it led to the same answer.

"At first, I would've just requested for you to not interfere with our work..." I'm expecting a 'but' here. "But considering that you have some experience, would you mind if I request you go on patrol at night around your area?"
As I predicted, Ciel said 'but'. Anyways, I'll probably just notify Lady Barthomeloi later.
"Yeah, but I'm not experienced when it comes to looking for ghouls, so It's likely that I'll miss some." That was a lie. Using my eyes, I could probably scour a crowd of people, and find the silhouette of the undead; it was the reason I was even invited for the hunt that I talked about earlier.

"That's good," Ciel said, and she turned her head to my sister. "How about you, Alice Freedan?" She asked my sister. I suppose that was a given, Alice has said nothing during the three minutes we've been conversing.

Alice gave me a pleading stare, asking for help. Noticing her obvious plea, I did as my important little sister had asked: I answered for her. "Ciel, I implore you to refer to us just by our first names." I immediately go back to the topic, saying, "Now, for my sister; Alice hasn't been in a Dead Apostle Hunt before, and as an older brother, I'd rather not put her in danger when I am sufficient to take care of some ghouls."

That's more than sufficient," Ciel commented; and she explained, "To be honest, that's all I needed from the both of you, so unless you have other questions, this short meeting is over."
What good questions have I thought of? Ah, here's one: "Why are you here in this school?" I've been interested in it since I met her earlier, actually. I mean, what actual reason would she have to be here? It's likely that Ciel was trying to avoid me asking this particular question, but I genuinely needed to know why.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Ciel responded. Now it was absolutely clear that she had a reason for being here. Wait, was there someone in this place suspected of being an ancestor? "There's someone you suspect of being an undead, huh?" I muttered out. Ciel's neutral expression changed a little, with her eyebrows raising slightly, but the reaction was so small that only someone deliberately looking for a reaction could see it.
"Considering your lack of denial, I'd take that as a yes."

I changed my sitting form from a Seiza to a cross-legged one, before I stated, "Anyhow, let's steer away from that ." I asked another question, "Are you selling black keys?"

Black Keys . They were one of the many sacraments — weapons — employed by the church that were regularly used by executioners. They looked like long, slender swords. Though, from what I've seen in the past, they were usually used more like dirks, or even throwing knives; it was quite understandable, considering the obscene length of their 'blades' compared to their hilts. I mean, if my eyes weren't wrong, the ratio of the 'blade' and the handle was seven to one.

Ciel appeared to be in thought, and after two seconds that lasted an eternity, she looked me directly in the eyes. "I'm very sorry, but no."

Eh? There shouldn't have been a reason for her to refuse, so I looked for one. "Can I ask why?"

"Avoiding the fact that selling a sacrament of the Holy Church is a heinous thing, Black Keys are very hard to use — especially for their relatively low power — so even if it was allowed, I wouldn't have given it to you," Ciel explained. I suppose I should've expected that, but I needed a Black Key, even just a single one.
"Please think about it more; what if there's a chance that I meet a Dead Apostle by accident? Even if I could use my spells, they'd heal through most of it to the point that I would fry my magic circuits from overuse," I lied again. After all, there was no conceivable chance that my magic circuits would ever get overused from firing off a few spells.
No, the reason I wanted a Black Key was far simpler than that...
I simply thought that they were cool.
Well, it would've been funny if I did want one for such a childish reason.

"Miss Ciel," I pleaded. "Even if it's one that's been used already, I wouldn't mind." Ciel sighed at my words. Good, she wasn't refusing immediately, so I still had a chance. "Please, I'll pay twenty-thousand yen for one." Ciel's eyebrows raised, surprised by my sudden inclusion of a price.
She waved her arms, and she refuted, "Oh, no. You don't have to pay." Wait, she didn't say no? I looked up towards her, and I saw that she had an amused expression on her face.

"Wait, I can have one?" I hurriedly asked. This might be it... why did I just ask for one? Simple, if I used Structural Analysis on it, then I'll be able to know of its blueprint, and if I used my Pure Eyes in conjunction with that, then I'll be able to even see its history.
It's what I did that even allowed me to know of Shiki's Mystic Eye Killers; though, that was accidental.

Ciel sighed in response to my pleading. "Fine, but please don't think you'll be able to use it properly," she muttered. With the way she uttered it, her response sounded more like a parent reprimanding a child, but I didn't care. She looked at the floor blankly, as if to contemplate why she had even accepted, and she nodded to herself, likely finding her excuse.

Ciel stretched out her arm to the side, and pulled out an object from her sleeves. It looked to be about twenty centimetres in height, half a centimetre in width, and two centimetres in length, its dimensions making it look like a thin-strip of metal. She pointed the thin object up, and with the sensation of magical energy pouring out, I saw the strip stretch out. In the literal blink of an eye, the strip had turned into a shape, it was the shape of a sword, a 'sword' with a handle far shorter to its 'blade'. The earlier strip that Ciel pulled out had increased both in height and length, the height for the part that looked like a blade, and its length for the cross-guard. Though, to be honest, if it weren't for the fact that I saw it literally transform into the shape of the sword, I would have just believed that earlier strip-like sheet to be a weird object that emitted magical energy.

"Hoh—!" I exclaimed out in excitement, and I slowly raised my arm forward until it was parallel to the floor, and I faced my palm up to the ceiling to 'humbly' accept her gift for me. "I didn't think that what you pulled out earlier was a Black Key," I mumbled about. Truth be told, I genuinely didn't expect for them to be that easy to store. Ciel had returned the Black Key to its original form, but just before she gave it, I questioned her, " Why are you so willing to give it to me now?" I voiced it out politely, but I needed to have that question answered.

She opened her mouth almost immediately, and she answered, "Well, not a lot of Executors these days use the Black Keys, so seeing someone who had an interest in them stoked my fire as an avid appreciator of them." What did I just hear? She, an Executor, accepted my admittedly selfish request for such a reason?
"Besides, an upperclassman has to help their juniors, don't they?" She asked rhetorically with a proud pose — well, as proud as possible for someone sitting down in a Seiza.

"Do I have to call you 'Ciel-senpai' — senior — now?" I asked with a tired look. This Executor had most positively made me tired.

"Why, of course!" She exclaimed in a tone that seemed to say 'Is that even a question?', and suffice to say, I'm too confused to even respond to her, let alone say no. Finally, she handed me the Black Key, and she asked, "I don't think you have any other questions... but just to make sure, do you have any other questions?"
The only response that was given was the excited shaking of my head. When I looked to my side, I expected Alice to be there, energetically shaking her head with me, but she wasn't there.

"Let's go, Freedan." I heard a voice from behind me. "Your passionate talk about whatever those Black Keys was boring me, so I stood up," Alice explained with a cold tone as she gave me a blank stare. We both walked out from the Tea Ceremony Club room, but I could tell that I made a mistake...
That mistake was getting my sister bored, and as a result, she was distancing herself away from me. Though, I suppose it was better than Ciel actually being a hostile Executor.

Wait, I completely forgot about Ciel's Aura...

Fuck.

---

decided that the Aura situation could be asked about another day, so Alice and I immediately went into the car, and I quickly drove the car to the mall — to buy a smartphone for both me and Alice — and then we headed straight back home. Also, I bought a copy of The Holy Bible.

"We're home~" I yelled out just outside of my home, but there wasn't anyone to actually respond to that.

Alice ordered, "Shut up, Freedan." Lest you consider being told off by your sister as a response.

Oh, and when I muttered about something along the lines of my parents going to work early in the morning, I was actually lying. The Api clan was massacred, leaving only me, my sister, and some relatives who married off as the survivors. But don't be fooled, though I speak regarding my family's unfortunate tragedy with indifference, it didn't mean that I didn't care about it. No, I had simply decided that it was better to prioritise the family I still had, rather than be focused on what I had lost.

Anyways, I immediately called her, it was about six-thirty in the evening here in Japan, meaning that it was ten-thirty in the morning for her; though, that was only the case if she was in England.
The telephone hummed, before it abruptly stopped, signalling that it had been answered.

"Good morning, Lady Barthomeloi, it's me, Aiden."

"Aiden, are you interested in finally coming back to the Clock Tower?"

"I'm afraid not, Lady Barthomeloi..."

"Speak. What is it, then?"

"I've heard from an Executor that there's a Dead Apostle within the city I'm in."

"I will not participate in the hunt, for I am already occupied with another one in Greenland."

"It's a Dead Apostle Ancestor, Lady Barthomeloi."

"You should've told me from the start."

"Will you be coming to this Oriental country?"

"Indeed. Besides, I'm interested in why you even bothered going more Eastward than you already were.
Now, do you have anything else to say?"

"No, Lady Barthomeloi."

"May you have a pleasant evening, Aiden."

"And may you have a pleasant morning, Miss Lorelei."

"Y—You dare?!"

"Apologies, Lady Barthomeloi.
But please, do have a pleasant morning."

The telephone call ends...

In a few days, once I see Lady Barthomeloi, she'd most likely be really angry with my cheeky response at the end, but it'll be worth it.
Who am I kidding? She'll demand a strict apology, most likely, and even after the most whole-hearted apology, she'll probably punish me for it...
I was imagining how beautiful she would be with a cold gaze looking down on me—oh, who am I kidding? She looks at everyone coldly. Still, it pleased me to know that I would meet her again soon.

"Haaaa—" I yawned, clearly tired of the day. I quickly heated up our dinner, and we quickly ate through it. Alice went to the Living room to read some books on Cellular Division, whilst I went to my workshop to read the history of the Black Key that Ciel had given me. After about two hours, exactly at nine in the evening, I went back to my bedroom, and I lay down on my bed.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a day that wasn't as stressful.

Yeah, right. As if I would be able to have a day to unwind with everything going on.