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.

2. Day 2: Waxing Crescent

Day 2 — Daylight preference.

In a large open space outdoors, there were two people. One of them looked to be an Eastern-Asian woman who seemed to be in her late-thirties; the other one was a bronze skinned, golden-haired boy that looked to be no older than thirteen.
Weapons of differing shapes and sizes — mostly bladed weapons — were on a table twenty metres away from a slightly elevated area with a floor made of what seemed like tiles of smooth concrete. The elevated platform was a square with an area of nine-hundred square metres, and what littered the centre were three upright, human-shaped dummies; the platform clearly was a training ground.

The two of them stood next to the table that accommodated weapons, and the boy had been pointing his index-finger on a particular weapon, a japanese sword. However, the woman seemed to disagree with the boy's request to wield it, and instead, she picked a sheathed knife for the boy to practise.

Normally, to willingly allow a prepubescent child to wield a weapon — especially a bladed one — would be regarded as a highly irresponsible thing to do. Now, for mages, such a way of training would be uncommon, sure; but it would also be somewhat understandable for them. To guide their heirs to effectively grow and be able to shoulder being the head of their respective families was important for mages; it was something so important that it could be argued that it was the most important thing to do for mages, outside of reaching the Root — Akasha.

The both of them walked towards the tiled platform, and once they were on it, the boy had stood at the centre of it, whilst the woman picked up one of the dummies, placed it on the edge of the arena, and she professed, "As this is your first day, we'll be starting at the basics: footwork." The boy snapped to attention. "I want you to reach this in four steps," she said, tapping the dummy's shoulder to convey that it was the boy's goal.
It was a seemingly simple goal, but the boy had to reach the dummy that was fifteen metres from him within four steps.
"Oh, and you have to reach it in two seconds." That goal seemed slightly more difficult now.

The boy nodded, despite the unspoken complaints of indignance. He leaned down to the ground, and he burst forth.
WHOOSH!
With acceleration comparable to that of a cheetah, his muscles contracted with so much force that any average adult's tendons would have ripped. In the first step, he had put every ounce of leg strength that his undeveloped body had to propel himself forward, and he had cleared seven metres with it. In the second step, he attempted to maintain his acceleration, but the first step fatigued him to the point where even if he tried his hardest, his legs would've given out; with the second step, he cleared through eleven metres.

Though, considering that his last steps were performed with the deliberate intention to slow down — to stop himself from flying off of the platform. His originally defective second step had almost saved him from flying off the platform. A further testament was the fact that even his attempt at deceleration was insufficient, and he dove into the grass, landed head-first and rolled around smothered with the taste of grass.

"You okay there, kid?" She asked. The boy — in her perspective — dove into the grass and rolled around, and when he stopped, he didn't move for a while. She walked up to the boy, crouched down, and looked at the boy's expression of annoyance. As if he was upset from failing in his first ever try.
"Yes," the boy weakly replied. The boy had narrowed eyes, and he lay on the ground for five more seconds, before he chose to stand up.

"Don't worry about that, kid. Actually, you far surpassed my expectations of you," the woman gave some words of encouragement. She added, "Your father told me that you guys are far stronger than normal people, and I believed him, but you took the cake on that. I mean, you had speeds that equalled mine when I was sixteen, when I was already five years into practising, even with your poor technique." The woman didn't seem to have pride, happily proclaiming the boy's first day was better than her first five years.

"But," she started. "As you saw, or should I say 'experienced', you're trying too hard. Remember, this is your first day of training, if your body wasn't as powerful as an adult's, and instead was that of a typical kid your age, then forget training, your tendons would have ripped off!" she explained, hoping that her emphasis of bodily harm would stick to the boy's head.

The boy explained, "Bu—" and he was interrupted.
Her face took a gentle appearance, and she said, "No 'buts'. Look, I know that you— No, I know that everyone in your family has insane genetics, but you have to remember to be careful." She sighed, before she added, "Anyways, now that I've warned you, let's continue, but this time, I'll show you how I do it."
The boy's expression grew to one of excitement. "Please do, miss." The boy had surmised that her display would be impressive.

The woman stared at the boy in disbelief; her gentle expression had vanished. "I'll kill Naar if I see him later…" she whispered underneath her breath, but the boy heard what she said.

"Miss, you're going to kill my father?" The boy worriedly asked, alarmed with how quick the woman's mood had changed. One second she sounded like a nursing parent, and in the next she sounded like a vengeful ghost. What also surprised was the fact that she mentioned his father's name, the head of a highly-respected family of mages, without any honorifics. Though, after a while it made sense to him; after all, why refer to someone with honorifics if you were going to threaten them?

She sighed; the woman tried to get rid of her wrathful glare, but to no avail. The woman put her hand on the boy's shoulder, looked him in the eye, and revealed, "I'm your grandmother. So to hear my own grandson not even know who I am greatly angers me."
The boy's jaw dropped. A woman who didn't even look like she was forty yet was his grandma? "What? You are?" The boy had asked in great astonishment. Though, he didn't wait for a reply, and he muttered to himself, "But you look so young."

His grandmother's expression immediately lightened, and she began to laugh. Though, 'giggle' was the better word to describe it. "It pleases me to hear that, Aiden. I have magecraft to thank for that." After a few seconds her giggling had ceased, and she said, "Let's go back to your training. Your father's punishment can come later." Aiden nodded and he followed her back up the platform. Both of them walked towards the middle, exactly where Aiden did his first attempt. She held index finger up, and she declared, "To allow you get a feel for the technique, I'll show you how I do it." She bent her knee, leaned down, and stretched out her right arm. It was similar to that of a runner's crouch, but it looked more… dynamic.

"Wait," Aiden stopped her. She looked over her shoulder to look at him.
She asked her grandson, "What?"
He wondered, "Grandma, why is your right arm stretched out? Isn't it better for both arms to be planted for support?"
"Well, good question." The woman pondered for a few seconds, maintaining the pose with perfect posture, without a sign of straining. "Likely from getting used to wielding a weapon?" She answered with an unsure tone, likely hypothesising the answer on the spot. It was likely that her guess was correct; that she had been so used to performing with a weapon that it was common for her to do it in such a position even without a weapon to actually hold.

"Anyways, I'll be demonstrating it now." Aiden readied himself to witness the technique as well as possible.
She took a deep breath, tensed every single muscle fibre in her body, and—
FWOOM!
A gust of wind followed her direction, and an instant later, she vanished, as if she was never there from the start. The boy had tried to analyse her movement, but even he could barely see a blur when she performed it. His grandma was exactly on the edge when he did look over in that direction.
"That was a single step," she declared.

Aiden looked at her in wonder; his gaze clearly conveyed the question, 'Can I also do that?'
His grandma smiled, and she answered his unspoken question, "If you want to be able to do it, you should start practising." Aiden immediately nodded, and he attempted to emulate her earlier crouch as well as he could.
FWOOSH!
Aiden dashed forward, he moved quickly like her, but unlike his grandma, his destination seemed to be smooth, concrete tiles as he tripped and slid on the floor. "Ouch…" Aiden meekly said out loud. That was interesting, he thought he could've done it just because he witnessed how it was done. He grumbled, "Why couldn't I do it like you?"

His grandma sighed. Not because Aiden failed, but because of the fact that he thought he would succeed so easily. Clearly, the boy had high expectations of himself.
Sure, having a high expectation was a good thing as it showed some degree of confidence, but for Aiden to expect to even do it somewhat well was quite worrying.

She helped his grandson up, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. She admitted, "I'll be honest, I thought you would be able to move forward with a simple technique because of your physical ability, but clearly, I thought wrong." It was a straightforward manner of speaking, and she professed, "We'll stick to the original plan then, Aiden. I'll have you do the basics first."

Aiden's gaze lowered at her words. "I'm sor—" he tried to apologise, but she interrupted him.
"You have nothing to apologise for, Aiden. It's my fault for not sticking to the original plan." She realised that her words might have sounded too straightforward. She regarded it as her mistake, done as a result of her inexperience in teaching.

"Let's go, it doesn't matter if you're not as quick as I am right now. Just try to get used to the acceleration, slowly working your way up." Now that her words of encouragement had been spoken, she got back into position, watching the boy practise, and if he made any glaring mistakes, then she would give some advice.

Soon, two hours had passed, and Aiden had slowly throughout that time. He was deliberately slower than earlier, to slowly get used to the instantaneous increases in speed.

"Haa...haaaa—" Aiden's breathing had become laboured during two straight hours of medium-intensity movements. His golden-hair got messy, and his whole body dripped with sweat.
His grandma was on the side, and she commented, "I must say, you're improving quite well." The boy looked over towards her with a tired smile. "Since you look like you're about to pass out, we'll continue this tomorrow."
Aiden tried nodding, but even that simple act seemed as difficult as lifting a metric ton without reinforcement. Well, he still nodded.

The both of them slowly made their way off the platform and into the family manor. During the way, Aiden greeted some relatives that he met as he walked along the hallways. "...So," he began. "Why did father ask you to train me?"
His grandma paused for a moment, before she answered, "He said you inherited my eyes." Aiden quickly took a shocked expression. His special eyes were from her?

Aiden grew surprised. "My father told me that these eyes weren't hereditary, because he didn't get them from his mother — you — grandma." His eyes were told by many of his family members to be special, being slightly more common than Mystic Eyes, but special nonetheless. A quick explanation that his father gave him a year ago was that his eyes — Pure Eyes as they were called — allowed to see things which normally cannot be seen.

"Yes..." she said weakly, almost with a hint of regret. "Anyways, what do you see with yours?" She asked.

Aiden closed his eyes for three seconds, before opening them, crimson-red eyes turned into a glowing aquamarine; eyes that shone so beautifully that it be compared to jewellery. "I can see colours," he answered.
"Anyone that's not blind can, Aiden," she responded sarcastically.
"Ah— I meant that whoever I looked at would be painted over with a colour. They'll just be a coloured silhouette in my eyes." His eyes returned to their original lustre of crimson.

"Is that so? If that's the case, then they're almost like mine." Her eyes had changed to silver. "My eyes tell me the emotions of anyone I look at."
"They do?" He asked for confirmation.
She nodded and exclaimed, "Uh-huh!"

"I… can also see auras. Everyone in the Api has them, grandma," he stated; Aiden added, "Everyone but you, do you know why?" The boy was curious, as for some reason, everyone in his family had an aura that emanated from their silhouettes; even more curious, everyone in the family had the same 'glow' to them: a golden aura that lit more like a dying flame, rather than the consistent flow of something like a lightbulb.

"Hmmmm…" she pondered, thinking it through. "I… have no idea." She exclaimed. "I'll be honest, the things that our eyes witness — that the Pure Eyes see — are up for interpretation. I only really found out about my ability to see the colour of emotion because of the fact I was coincidentally using my Pure Eyes when a crying brat was given Ice Cream.
But enough talk about our eyes; your father might get envious. Actually he should be in the dining hall here." She pointed at the large double door that the hallway led to.

CREAK…

She opened the door, and the sight of a well-dressed, young-looking man with blonde hair, red-eyes, and tanned skin had made him look like the future version of Aiden. Though, it was a given, considering that the man was his father — Naar Api himself. "You dare make me teach your son the techniques of the Nanaya, only for you to forget to mention to him that I am his grandmother?!" She yelled out in a fit of outburst.
Naar's impression of a handsome, well-dressed man had crumbled down like a building during an earthquake as his expression visibly faltered to one of utter panic. "Mother, I apologis—" he tried to call out for an apology, but everyone in the room knew this:
An angry mother was the scariest thing, even in the world of mages.

---

Ring! Ring!

I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of the incessant blaring of the alarm clock. I had a dream about the past, about four years ago, back when times were much… simpler? Likely not, but I considered it one of the best times as it was back when the Api family felt like a true family…
"Uhhhh—!" I groaned; I now knew how my sister felt like yesterday. I took a ripped page of the bible, and I turned it into a Black Key, and without a moment's notice, without a sign of reflection, I threw it directly at that lousy noise maker.
Thump!
The alarm clock fell, and thankfully it stopped. Well, at least it did its purpose of waking me up at exactly five-thirty in the morning. "I'm so sorry, dear sister," I muttered to myself for no particular reason. Though, it was probably related to the alarm clock.

It was another day of exaggeration, another day of attempting to move on from the past.

I jumped off the bed, as always, with the intention of losing that drowsiness. I quickly made my way to the shower, complained about the cold, and I finished. After showering, I made sure to satisfy my vanity by flexing on the mirror for a short thirty seconds, wore my school uniform, and got out of the bathroom.

I made a quick greeting with her as I walked down the hallway, before I began to cook eggs once more. Well, today's eggs would be different: they would be scrambled. Also, they would be served with toast rather than rice.
I cracked six eggs, quickly beat them, heated up the pan, added some cooking spray to it, before pouring the eggs. I quickly stirred them, making sure that one side didn't get overcooked, and I forgot the salt? Immediately, I sprinkled some salt on it, and thankfully the eggs weren't overcooked by the time I was finished handling the salt. I stirred the scrambled eggs one last time, before I equally halved the contents onto two plates, putting it on top of a nicely toasted white-bread.
Oh, and I added some oregano for garnish to make it look good.

"Whoo—!" I breathed out, looking at my handiwork with a satisfied gaze. I put the plates on the table, sat down, and waited for exactly thirteen seconds before Alice had walked to the dining table, her golden-hair slightly damp as a result of showering. Both of us began to eat, and as a mandatory part of our morning, I started our chat, "How's the food?" I asked.

"It's good," she answered. Good, I would've cried — metaphorically, hopefully — if she said it was bad.
Internally, I celebrated, externally, I also celebrated, "Fuck yeah!" I exclaimed with a smile on my face. Just from that single interaction, I knew that today would turn out absolutely amazing.
"Hmph," she scorned, but a faint smile was there on her lips.

Yeah, today should turn out wonderfully.

I began to brush my teeth once we were done with our breakfast, and once I was done, I took the lunchboxes on the table, and I placed them on the rear seats of the car, and I waited for Alice to finish brushing herself. Once she was finished, we drove to the school.

---

A thirty minute drive to school later, I had parked my car, and I greeted some fellow acquaintances on our way to the schoolyard, towards the club buildings. The ones I greeted came from all year levels, but most of the people I knew were fellow second-year students; I mostly got to know them when they came to my classroom to converse with their friends, but most of them ended up conversing with me.
After all, as I stated yesterday, I was a rare sight in Japan;. the combination of tan-skin and radiant-blonde hair was a rare sight here. Actually, I was a rare sight even in the Clock Tower.
Also, the fact that I was attractive helped them talk to me. Well, maybe those were just my ramblings as a potential narcissist.

"I'll see you, Freedan," Alice bid farewell, and she walked away, probably to go straight to her club.
I waved her goodbye, and I bid her farewell, "Yeah, you too, Alice." I stayed around, wandering about just to randomly converse with some people that I knew. Personally, I had no real attachment to them, or maybe I actually did, but my pride as a magus was avoiding it.
Now that I think about it, what would my late father think of me now? Would he be disappointed in me for going to an oriental country and avoiding mage society? Or would he not mind at all, thinking that my actions would just be a way to gain more experience around the world.

To be honest, I didn't know what father's reaction would be. After all, the only genuine reason me and Alice even went here, to Japan, was a result of their unfortunate end. Even worse, they died as a result of a massacre, targeting the Apis after they had just helped with the subjugation of a special Dead Apostle six months ago.
Maybe, just maybe, I should go back to the Clock Tower once these Dead Apostle related issues were done with. I knew what faction did that, or should I say: the Barthomelois and the majority of the Aristocratic faction suspected that it was the handiwork of the Democratic faction back in the Clock Tower.

Once I heard their suspicions, I originally thought of conducting an investigation, but I decided to just temporarily go into hiding here in Japan as a result of the wonderful things that my grandmother taught me about it. Also, I had Alice, it would be unfair of me to discard my life for vengeance considering that she had grieved our family's death as much as I did, perhaps even more. I've lost almost everything, but if I abandoned my sister, then she would lose everything.

That's the reason why I kept trying my best to be a good older brother for her…

"Goodmorning, Freedan!" An energetic voice came from behind me. I turned around, to face the one who greeted me, and I saw the sight of the blue-haired upperclassman with a gentle smile.
"Goodmorning, Miss Ciel," I replied, but she sulked when I referred to her as that. Why? Ah right, our 'deal' yesterday.
Still, I found it intriguing that she gave me a Black Key for such a superficial title.
"Ah, I'm sorry then, Senior." Indeed — as you've heard literally a day ago — calling her 'senior' was the end of the bargain that allowed me to earn a weapon capable of preventing the regeneration of vampires.

"There, much better," she said with a kind smile. It was unusual— No, I didn't mean that her smiling was unusual, I was actually talking about the context itself. Yesterday, she gave me a fright; she casually appeared yesterday, ousted my identity as a mage, and asked me to converse.
"Senior, may I ask a question?" I asked for permission. She wanted me to call her 'senior', so it was likely that she also wanted to be treated like one. Anyways, I had just remembered one of my unanswered questions yesterday.

"Ask away, Freedan," Ciel said, and we both started walking towards the club building.
I took a deep breath. "Yesterday, you asked what's been going on with my eyes, right?" I asked first.
"Indeed, they're Mystic Eyes, right?" She responded, most likely speculating.

Well, Mystic Eyes were eyes — obviously — with the capability of enacting a supernatural phenomena, but Pure Eyes weren't like that; they allowed for the ability to perceive the normally unperceivable, but it didn't enact a phenomenon. It was that difference that separated Pure Eyes from Mystic Eyes. For example, Shiki's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception could technically be considered Pure Eyes as they allowed it to perceive the concept of 'death' — something but they also had to be considered Mystic Eyes as not only did they allow it perceive death, but also allowed it to actualise it by tracing the lines. That's why, if I had to guess, Shiki's Pure Eyes most likely had become Mystic Eyes.

Anyways, I'm going off topic here. "No, they're somewhat different from them, but I digress," I corrected her. "My eyes allow me to see… coloured silhouettes, and normally the colour of mages like us is anywhere in the spectrum of yellow and blue." Obviously, there was also something else…. "There's also another thing I see when I use that specific ability: Auras. However, they're so rare that I don't know what they mean."

Ciel looked intrigued by what I said. "Well?" She asked me to continue with what I was saying.
"You have an Aura, senior." Her eyes widened slightly, no doubt surprised by what I said. "Alas, that isn't the important part. It's the hue of your aura; it's deep-red, almost like demonic beings." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Senior, do you have any idea why?" I asked her. Truth be told, I genuinely didn't know what to make of my Pure Eyes' ability. She didn't respond for a while, so I assumed she had no idea why. "You also don't know?" I asked for her confirmation, and she nodded. "Then we'll leave it at that, senior. I apologise for troubling you."

"Don't worry about it, Freedan," she reassured me, nodding.
We had entered the club building. "Anyways, I'll be going to the Tea Ceremony Club now, I have somebody I need to talk to, so bye," she bid farewell. Ciel started running off to the end of the corridor where the Tea Ceremony room was.

"Bye, senior." I waved my hand, and I proceeded to walk to the Kendo club.
Thankfully, the Kendo Club wasn't as far off as hers, so I just had to walk around six more metres to reach it.

I opened the door, greeted with a 'goodmorning'. I saw the first-year that tried to hit me with a Shinai yesterday, and he looked away. Clearly, the blow I gave him yesterday haunted him.

I began to change into my equipment, and I felt someone tapping my shoulder. "Freedan, want to spar?" I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Yeah…" I responded. "Just let me put this on properly, Club Preside—"
"I've been reminding you since yesterday to call me 'Yaiba', Freedan." Thinking about it, Yaiba was unique: he didn't care for honorifics. Sure, in other parts of the world, honorifics may not have mattered much, but this was Japan; forgoing the use of honorifics here could earn you odd looks from most people and a rumour that talked about how rude you are, especially in high school.

I looked back, and saw the sight of him in his gear, on his hands were two Shinai. He gave one to me, and we walked up to a spacious area free from people who could get hurt.

"Let's see if your techniques have improved since yesterday. If you did, you might fare better." Yaiba declared. I had a thought about holding back a bit less to allow for a draw, but if I wanted my skill as a swordsman to grow, I had to practise without any advantages.
And so, I decided that the saying 'No pain, no gain' would be my motto in the Kendo club.

---

"Ouch…" I muttered to myself as I walked up the stairs. It seemed like Yaiba knew I could take some beating, so he likely decided to hold back his strength less. Yesterday, I definitely ticked him off for saying that I was close to equalling him in skill, so he probably used full force; earlier today, he seemed excited to spar with me, and the force he used during said spar was equal to yesterday. Did he want me to call him using his first name as a result of him thinking that we were equals?
Well, as much as it hurt, I didn't complain about it. After all, my reflexes subsided enough to not immediately fall for feints.
To think that my suffering would lead to a quicker growth.

I checked the time on my wristwatch, and I saw that it was just about twenty minutes before homeroom.
I headed inside the classroom, said my 'good mornings' to more acquaintances, and I placed my handheld bag on the hook of my table. After that, I walked to the back of the classroom, to the seat closest to the window, where a bespectacled boy had been sitting down, looking through his phone. He raised his arms up, stretched them, and yawned. "Haaa…"
He noticed me approaching as he yawned out; he looked over to me, greeting, "Good morning, Freedan."

"G'Morning, Shiki," I greeted back. "So, how was your return to the Tohno estate?" I asked him.

"Hmmm…" Shiki pondered for a second or two. "Surreal?" He answered with an unsure tone; though, it was likely that the answer he had given was the most accurate description of how he felt about it.
Apparently, it's been seven years since he's been there, so having those feelings was understandable.

"So, how large was the estate?" I asked another question.
It was likely to be bigger than me and my sister's current home, but I wanted to hear how grand it truly was from the words of someone who's been there.

"Likely larger than the entirety of the school," Shiki determined with a grim look.

Huh, that's actually pretty spacious. Wait, that amount of space made sense; there might have been relatives living in it like the old Api Manor back in England.
"Do you also have relatives living in your estate?" I asked, intrigued on whether their home had plenty more residents to be wary of.

"No, not anymore," he answered.
That was good to know. Though, wouldn't he get lonely there? Well, I suppose he did have his sister with her. Funny, our circumstances are similar now.
"Wait, 'also'?" Shiki asked.
Obviously, he wanted me to clarify if I had also lived with my relatives. My mouth's been running off to who knows where, it seems.

"Yeah," I answered, looking through the window as I felt a sense of nostalgia. "It was pretty lively back then. We had weekly parties, and occasionally, we travelled around the country." Ah, to relive the past. I wanted to say 'You would have loved it', but I knew that he didn't know he had a connection to me. I doubt he would have even been added as part of the Api — even by name — considering the fact that Shiki didn't have magical circuits. At least, not that I knew of.
Ignore that. I was drifting off of what I wanted to talk about. "Anyways, about the talk we had yesterday. Did she say no?" I asked, referring to when I asked to have a talk with her sister.

He paused for a bit, trying to refresh his memory. "Oh yeah, that," he muttered, remembering it. "Yeah, Akiha said that she has no problems conversing with you. I didn't even have to say that cryptic message you told me yesterday."
Cryptic message? Ah, right— I did mutter something about the 'moonlit world', huh? Well, at least she won't think of me as a dangerous person right from the start.

"Is that so? That's good, then," I said happily, but Shiki had a dark expression on his face.
"Shiki, you don't look comfortable right now. Anything wrong?" I asked him.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked out of nowhere, as if choosing to do so would be disastrous.
I grew confused, and I responded, "Yeah…? Is anything wrong?"

"It's just that Akiha…" Here comes the revelation. "She's strict." Oh? That's intriguing? He added, "Last night, when we were having dinner, she took my phone away; and when I made a comment about needing a phone to see the news earlier, she told me to read a newspaper instead." That was it? Mages hated the idea of using technology; finding the idea of using something made by the common, non-supernatural populous gave them a sour taste in their mouths.

"Yeah… that's pretty bad…" I responded with a blank tone, obviously sounding disingenuous.
Shiki looked at me, confused for a moment by my comment. "Ah, right. You're not tech savvy, so you understand her?"
"Hey! I must have you know that I have a smartphone now! I bought it yesterday!" I yelled out proudly. I said it with such volume that everyone in class looked at me. Dang, did I have to yell that loudly? This is awkward.

Even more embarrassingly, they clapped their hands.
Great, I forgot how passive-aggressive Class 2-C was. Heck, some of my more distant classmates shouted, "Someone add him to the anonymous student bulletin board!"

What is an anonymous student bulletin board?

"Anyways, Shiki, can you help me with this?" I asked, trying to snuff out my embarrassment. I took my new phone from my pocket, and I pressed the button that turned it on. "Huh? Why isn't it turning on? Did I get scammed?" I asked hysterically, looking around every part of my phone for any signs of damage.
Shiki sighed, before he chuckled, and he said, "Freedan, you're pressing the 'raise-volume' button."

Yeah, right. I looked at my phone, and I checked where I pressed the button. There was another button on the bottom of it, and on the other side of the phone was also a single button, so I pressed that singular button.
It turned on. It actually turned on.
Dumbfounded, I looked at it with amazement, and I pressed the power button again, and it turned off.

"Ha! It's working!" I lifted it up excitedly, like a child that got their favourite treat. To think that these devices existed. It was an absolutely wonderful moment of discovery.
But after that feeling of wonder wore off…

I heard the numerous mocking cheers and claps of my classmates. Did they seriously find my wonder in technology that amusing?
As the seconds passed, the thought of turning the classroom into ashes pervaded my mind more and more.

"Haaa…" I sighed. Wait, why were they even being so passive-aggressive against me?

Shiki looked at me with a wary gaze, and he asked, "If you barely know how to turn your phone on, then how are you even able to drive?"
The answer was obvious, I was taught ever since I was fifteen. "A car is useful, a phone isn't."
"If you want, I'll teach you the basics on how to use your phone later," he offered. How kind of him.

RING!

The homeroom bell rang at the worst time. "Yeah, later at lunchtime, okay?" I told him as I walked to my seat.
Fellow students quieted down and returned to their seats, preparing for class.

Around four minutes passed, and within that time, the other students began chatting with one another once more, muttering about how the old teacher's replacement wasn't there yet.

The classroom's bout of chaos and incessant talking immediately passed as the door slid. The figure of a woman I've never met walking through and in front of the teacher's desk that faced was just towards me. "Is there anything wrong? All of you froze up all of a sudden.
Do I look like a Basilisk? No, that creature is unknown here… So, in this country's terms, do I look to be 'Sadako' from The Ring?" She asked around the classroom, making a reference to someone I didn't know.

A Basilisk I did know, being the King of Serpents. However, what the hell was 'Sadako'?
When I considered the context of being compared to a monster, Sadako was probably a mythological creature. Though, to make sure, maybe I'll ask Shiki what that was later.

She had European features, and she looked to be more like a University Student rather than an actual adult.
She cleared her throat, and she introduced herself, "Ahem. I'm Noel Aizome, and I'm the substitute of Toyama. I'll be here for a month, but I hope to be a wonderful teacher for all of you regardless."
After that, Miss Noel said that she'll be teaching English and Physical Education, but anything after that was just a collage of worthless personal information. Though, looking around, some boys looked to be listening with great interest.

Oh, and she winked. I wonder wh—

Suddenly, a numerous number of boys — or should I say 'ignorami' — rose up from their seats. Asking very personal information. I mean, did she look that beautiful? Did she just wink to get the hopes of these ignorami up?
To be honest, Alice was far more attractive than this new teacher.

That aside, nothing else worth noting came from the morning classes.

---

RING!

The bell rang, and with that, lunch break began.

I stood up, turned around towards Shiki, and I told him, "I'll be seeing Alice really quickly, can you wait for around two minutes?"
Shiki wordlessly nodded, and I quickly walked towards the ground floor, going over to Alice's classroom.
Though, even through the countless students that flooded the corridors, I could make out Alice's golden-hair.

"Hey, Alice!" I called out to her. Effortlessly pushing through some students as I went over to her. Once I reached her, I said, "I'm going to be hanging out with Shiki, so if you don't mind, I'll be eating lunch with him."

Alice responded, "You don't have to ask me permission, Freedan." She turned to her friends and they went to the direction of the cafeteria, before she turned around towards me. "Seriously, if you have to ask your sister to hang out with a friend, then people might think that you're a—" She forgot the word to use, and she turned to her friends for help. She nodded, and she looked back towards me. "They might think you have a little sister complex — a siscon."

"Yeah, yeah…" I ran back up to my classroom.

The classroom was now empty, safe for a group of girls accompanying Yumizuka, Shiki, and a bespectacled blue-haired girl talking to him.
Wait, there was only one person with those features here in school, and that was Ciel.
What was she doing here?

"Shiki?" I called out to him; I was confused as to why she was even talking to him.
Both of them turned to face me, and Shiki answered, "She was wondering if we could join her today on the courtyard." Now that was a surprise.

"Ah, right. Freedan, this is our senior, Ci—," Shiki quickly stood up and introduced her to me, but I interrupted him.
"Don't worry about it, Shiki. We know each other, too," I explained. "Isn't that right, senior?" I asked her. She nodded in response. Ciel smiled, and greeted, "Yeah. By the way, Freedan, how are you?"

"I'm doing perfectly well, senior. Me and Shiki were about to have lunch together." I smiled back. "So, we're going to the courtyard?" I asked for confirmation. I heard it clearly earlier, but I wanted to make sure.
"Yeah! So, would you mind if the three of us go there?" Ciel answered with a bright smile, inviting me as well. I didn't really see a reason not to; after all, it wasn't like she was going to interrupt Shiki when he was teaching me how to use a smartphone.
"I don't see a reason to say no," I accepted her invitation.

The three of us walked down the stairs, out of the corridors, and onto the School Store.
We went there first because senior wanted something that was just recently added to the menu. For some reason, she told us to not look at what she was buying, as she wanted it to be a secret. Not wanting to spoil the 'mystery', both me and Shiki did our best to look away to what she was ordering, and finding the interest in spending some cash, I also bought some 'Anpan', Japanese sweet rolls filled with red bean paste. I've brought a lunchbox to school, but I felt like it would be insufficient.

After I bought what I wanted, I offered to treat Shiki — much to his decline. Considering the paper bag that our senior had, we could tell that she had also received her order by the time my Anpans were given. After that, we went to the courtyard.
The courtyard was a fairly nice place. There were two tiled walkways that curve around a circular plot of grass with a diameter of around 5 metres. In the middle of the plot of grass was a small tree adorned with yellow leaves, even looking golden at the top as a result of the cascading light of today's bright sun. Along the walkways were benches that were usually occupied by students, but it seemed that today wasn't a usual day, for barely any students sat on the benches.
The three of us sat on one bench. I took the right side, Shiki was forced to be in the middle, and Ciel — no, senior — sat on the left.

Senior excitedly put the paper bag containing the 'goodies' on her lap, and she pulled out five stuffed buns.
"Ta-da!" She exclaimed, proudly showing five fried Curry bread. "I've requested since a week ago for them to include these in the menu, so imagine my excitement when they did include them!" She said excitedly, maybe far too excited.
It was likely that those buns were her favourites, or at least, had an element in them that she liked most. Though, it wasn't like knowing that information would help with anything.

I quickly 'reinforced' the taste of my lunchbox's contents of Fish and Chips. Senior sensed my use of magical energy, and she looked at me weirdly for a moment. Though, I just ignored it; one strange stare wasn't enough for me to avoid increasing my enjoyment of food.
I used my fork and spoon to eat. Actually, she also could've been thinking 'Huh, Why didn't I think of that?' Not knowing that reinforcement could be used like this.
Wait, did she even use reinforcement?

If only I could read minds.

Senior placed the bread on her lap; the paper bag was flattened to separate the oily fried bread and her skirt. "You'd think these were freshly baked from how nicely they were fried. Though, they're somewhat expensive at three-hundred yen a piece, so only the more 'affluent' students dare buy these." Was three-hundred yen actually that much? I mean, sure, she bought five of them, so it was actually one-thousand-five-hundred yen — seven-thousand-five-hundred if bought per school week, but even that wasn't that expensive.
Actually, she may just be trying to keep the guise of a normal student. Because there was no way that an Executor didn't earn money.

"Would you like some, Tohno?" She offered the bread to Shiki.
He thanked her, and took up on her offer, "I suppose I shouldn't waste senior's kindness." He picked up one of the bread spread out on our senior's lap, and he said, "Itadakimasu," before he took a bite. Shiki chewed for a bit, relishing the food. "Yeah, it's really good. The exterior is crunchy, the taste of the bread itself is slightly sweet, and the Curry is wonderful. Thank you, senior." Was the Curry bread that good?

I hear some sneaking footsteps behind us. I looked back, and I saw Arihiko sneaking like a predator towards the bench that we were on. Quickly, he pressed his index finger to his lips, wanting me to stay quiet.
Well, if he so wished for it.

Senior smiled, "It's a senior's duty to provide for their juniors, is it not?" She asked rhetorically.
I did hear her say something along those lines yesterday when she gave me that Black Key, didn't she?
"Anyways." She had more to say. "Would any of you two want some Barley tea?"

"—Yup! The Japanese choice for tea has to be Barley tea, right, senior? Whoopsie! I snagged the bread." He rushed from behind the table in high-spirits, absolutely surprising both Shiki and our senior.
"Eep—!?" She muttered out in surprise.

Quickly, Shiki reprimanded him, "You, why are you so good at messing around? Did I do something horrible in my past life to be around you? Or did you just grow up like this?"
It was clear that Shiki didn't enjoy that surprise.

Attempting to avoid the chaos that ensued from Arihiko's antics, I listlessly watched the sun's warm rays of light hitting the golden-leaved tree in front of me. It was a calming sight, if you ignore Arihiko's energetic ramblings.
That peaceful sight lasted for about ten seconds, where it was ruined by the senior herself. She had just jumped from the bench directly in front of me, facing to the side — likely towards Arihiko — and she began to shadowbox.

Quickly, I looked back to Arihiko and Shiki. They both looked flabbergasted by the sight of our senior shadowboxing.
It was understandable for them to be confused: her form adopted that of a pro's. It was even better considering that her punches resulted in the formation of wind.
I tapped Shiki's shoulder, asking, "Why's she randomly shadowboxing?"

Shiki coolly pushed up his eyeglasses, and he answered, "Arihiko happened." That explained everything.
Though, that begged the question: "What part of Arihiko happened?" I asked in wonder. I turned back to our female senior, and the more punches she threw, the closer her hits got to actually making contact with Arihiko.

Shiki looked at me, "He stole one of her curry bread, engulfed it one go, and he… did an Arihiko." I couldn't help but feel amused.
Arihiko wasn't a bad person — I hoped — but he was definitely considered a trouble maker. If I asked everyone who knew of Arihiko to describe him in one word, the answer would be a unanimous 'delinquent'.

When one of the senior's swings did graze Arihiko, he immediately apologised, and he ran to the School store, probably to make amends with our senior by buying some more of those Curry bread.
Senior — 'Senpai' was what we actually called her, but I took it upon myself to translate — sighed as she sat back down on the bench. "I'm somewhat frustrated by Inui," she confessed.

An understanding grin pasted Shiki's lips; I let out a restrained laugh. In the six months I've been here in Japan, I've seen plenty sides of Arihiko. And my first impressions of him back then when I first met him was that of a chaotic student; he looked like a delinquent, acted lke one, and rarely did ever come to class on time — if he was even planning on coming to school.

"We feel you, but he's a good guy when it gets down to it," I said. The three of us nodded at that fact.
Indeed, he was a delinquent who rarely comes to class. And there have been times where I've questioned if he naturally lacked shame. However, if you were friends with him, he would absolutely watch out for you. That's why, even for his flaws, he wasn't a truly bad person.

Though, that didn't excuse the fact that he deserved the reprimands.

Still, to think that Ciel — I would forgo calling her senior in my mind — acted like familiar friends with the two of them.
It was surreal. She'd only been here since yesterday, but she had been acting like they've known each other since Shiki and Arikiho were first-years.

"..." The courtyard seemed to quiet down. There had been a group earlier on another bench quite the ways away, doing as friends did: having fun, making jokes, making meaningless conversations. But even that group seemed to be quiet.
I looked over to Ciel, and her expression appeared to be one of precise thought. There likely were important things going through her mind.
She returned my gaze, almost as if she had sensed that I was looking at her. "...May I ask how you know each other?" She asked, turning her head to me, then Shiki.

"I transferred here to this school at the very start of classes, back in April. I was a bit of a… rare sight in school, see, being a foreigner and all; so a lot of fellow students…" I thought about the proper word to use. I made quotation marks with my hands. "...They 'heckled' me with random questions regarding Britain." I took a bite of my Anpan after I explained, savouring the light sweetness of the filling..

"Hoh~" she mouthed in intrigue, lighty bobbing her head up and down in understanding. "Then?" She asked hungrily, as if she hadn't eaten a good story, and the words I uttered were her food. "Did you end up talking to Tohno because he didn't 'heckle' you?" She supposed.
Clearly, Ciel wanted all the juicy details.

"This isn't an anime, senior," Shiki intervened. He fixed his glasses before he said, "No, what happened was that we just so happened to take the same train home." Shiki had been making eye contact with Ciel as he explained, but his gaze was unfocused. No, he was likely reminiscing about the past, about that particular time of day.

"But yeah, after that, we talked more and became good friends a few days after," I added, and Shiki nodded affirmingly. "That's it, to be quite honest." Ciel had looked intrigued listening to my story, and she muttered something to herself. However, she only mouthed it. If she actually muttered something, then I would have heard it.

"..." Shiki had gotten quiet. It was because of the fact that our topic ended, but I suspected that he was thinking about that particular day, when we first talked to each other for the first time.

Speaking of reminiscing, I was currently thinking about why Shiki had invited me to eat lunch together. Ah, I remember now.
It was that. I've almost forgotten something really important.
I took something from my right pocket, and I held out a rectangular object. "You almost forgot to teach me how to use this," I said to Shiki. He didn't respond for about half a second, not even looking in my direction. I tapped his shoulder, and I repeated what I said, "You forgot to teach me how to use this."
He was startled for a small bit, but he looked at me and responded, "Ah— Yeah, I'll teach you now."

A snarky comment had crossed his mind because his lips parted into a grin and he said, "I still wonder how you can drive a car, but not use a phone." Wonderful, I was being mocked once more. Well, I found it funny, so I supposed that it wasn't too bad.

"That's— I told you already, didn't I?" I gave a blank stare. "Haaa…" I sighed. Shiki showed a smirk, relishing in the discovery of my newfound weakness regarding anything spanning over technology.
"Oh, and earlier, you said that a car was useful, and that's why you knew how to use it, but you didn't actually answer the question."

So I did forget… "Can you just help me?" I gave a tired glare. As I looked at Shiki, I saw a figure from the courtyard entrance. It was the delinquent person, the energetic Arihiko, and he was carrying two full bags of something, running with reckless abandon.

"Teach me now, because Akihiko's rapidly approaching." Chaos incarnate would soon be here… "Okay," he scooted over to me. We were already pretty close — considering that we were sitting on the same bench — but our shoulders were pretty much touching now. Wait, maybe I should've narrated that better, now it sounded like I was narrating a romance story.

"Well, let's get this over with." Shiki shrugged his shoulders. When Arihiko returned, he excitedly talked with Ciel. Shiki peacefully taught me during that time.

---

RING!

The ringing bells reverberated once more. It was signifying the end of afternoon classes.

That's right, afternoon classes. To be honest, nothing notable happened during the earlier lunchbreak up to the last period of classes. Though, don't hate me for it. I get tired of storytelling. I did learn how to use some of the more basic functions of the smartphone. Smartphones weren't that difficult to actually use.
Oh, and I used a suggestion on Yumizuka just before classes started.

As most of the students rushed outside — happily celebrating the end of this day's classes — I waited for all of them to leave the classroom. As always, I waited for no reason other than to enjoy walking down the quiet corridors of the second floor.

I stood up, taking my bag from my desk's hook. I turned around, and I saw Shiki also picking up his bag. "I'll see you later, Shiki." He looked towards me, and he nodded.
"Yeah, see you later," Shiki responded, putting his notebook in his bag. He readied himself to leave; he had started walking.

"Will you go straight home?" I asked. Shiki wasn't the type of person to go straight home; I've heard plenty of times from others that they've seen him walking around the city afterschool sometimes.

"No, I'll be hanging out in the Tea Ceremony clubroom for a while," he responded. "So yeah, see you later at the estate." With that, he left the classroom, leaving me as the sole person that was around.

I took the smartphone out of my pocket, and I turned it on. It was still a weird feeling whenever I used it, but with Shiki's earlier lessons, I was now able to use it.
Mind you, it was a slightly slow process; turning it on, inputting the password, and going to the messaging application took me about thirty seconds.

During those seconds, Shiki's footsteps had stopped not too far from the classroom door, and instead I heard a female voice speak, "Ah, here you are, Shiki. Can I have a minute with you?"
It was a voice that I had heard just earlier in the morning; the voice of the new teacher, Noel.

Through the room, my natural hearing was enough for me to easily discern sound and miniscule vibrations even from far away. Though thankfully, I could choose whether or not my hearing was like that or not; If I couldn't, I would've been unable of attending concerts. Though, I had no reason to eve go in one.

Shiki responded, "What can I do for you, Miss Noel?"
After that, I heard her giggling, before she said with a lighter tone of voice, "Yup, yup! Being called 'Miss Noel' is far better than getting called 'senior'.
I'm still not used to teaching in Japan, so I'm slightly nervous, but hearing you refer to me as 'miss', especially by a naive boy like you makes my heart flutter slightly."

What did I just hear? Quickly, I messaged Alice to wait for around 3 minutes, closed my phone, and I began pouring my utmost focus on hearing what was going on literally a few metres from me.
I had confidence that my hearing was good — even superhuman — but hearing such outlandish words uttered from an adult to a high school student made me doubt myself.

I heard some footsteps, just a few, and soon I heard the confused questions of Shiki, "Um, miss… Aren't you a bit too… close?"

I was getting the urge to burst out from the classroom, and shout at her, 'Are you out of your mind?' But maybe, just maybe, I was just misunderstanding things.
"Calm down~ This is one of those times where playing the act of a dense child would be more suitable.
I mean, look — no seriously, look at my neck, isn't it beautiful? Hold my hands, feel the warmth. I want you to eat me," she said with a low, sultry voice.

That was the last straw. What possible insanity was the new teacher thinking?

Immediately, I swiped the handle of the door. I stepped outside the room, but before that, I heard two footsteps. Those quick steps back were her way of retreat, and it was a reaction time that most people didn't have. So either she was ready to disengage, or she had good instinct.

I turned towards their direction. Shiki's face had been dripping with some sweat, considering how his skin glistened with the sun's reflection.
"Oh, Shiki — didn't you say that you have to meet with someone in the Tea Ceremony Club?" I asked, feigning ignorance. I adjusted my gaze to the questionable woman just a metre away from Shiki, likely stepping away when she heard me leave the classroom. Just like earlier, she wore a blue blazer and pencil skirt over a white dress, black tights, and high heels. "Ah—! Hello there, Miss… Noel, right?" I waved at her. She waved back, and with a surprised tone in her voice, she said, "Indeed, you are… Freedan, correct? The student that sat in the front?"

She thought herself smart, but I had literally heard everything. The woman was likely to be those creeps who liked younger boys. Though, personally, I wouldn't have minded her actions if they knew each other already, but from what I've heard, she had quite literally just done that out in the blue, and Shiki
It was from this sight that I knew we would hate each other.

Especially, when in around a week's time, where she would be doing the most sacrilegious act that I could possibly know of.

I would ask Shiki more regarding this matter once I visit the Tohno estate, but giving him the chance to leave and see Ciel — I suspected that was why he was even going to the Tea Ceremony Club — was not a bad move.
Besides, if she tried anything with Shiki, and he clearly was getting harassed by her, then I just might burn her into ashes.

"Anyways, Miss Noel — me and Freedan will be taking our leave now." He began to walk towards me at a brisk pace, and we both went down the stairs, but before that, I had given her a wonderful smile that would've looked mocking, but that was only if she thought that I knew of her actions.

Once we had gone down the staircase, I said my temporary farewell, "I'll see you later, Shiki." I had turned back, and I headed to the direction of the parking lot, but I heard him say two simple words. Two wonderfully simple words: 'Thank you,' that was what he said.

I used my phone, and I looked at the anonymous student bulletin board of Class 2-C. A quick backreading allowed me to see the plenty of shade that was thrown at Noel. The chat was anonymous, so I didn't know who exactly messaged them, but I remembered something about Shiki talking about how Noel sensei was hated by the girls of our class, so I suspected them.

I quickly checked if any teachers were in the chat — I learned this from Shiki — and once I confirmed that there was no one, I typed out two simple sentences: [I saw the new teacher, Noel, trying to flirt with a second-year student. Watch out for her.]
Sure, this could have been considered slander, but I was anonymous anyway, so I didn't really have much to worry about. A quick sound effect popped out and it vibrated for a moment. When I checked to see what it was, I saw a reply message saying: [I knew she was creepy!]

After a few seconds, it had rapidly began vibrating continuously, and the earlier sound effect replayed every other second. "Haaa…" I sighed. I turned on silent mode, and I went to the parking lot, with Alice patiently waiting.
"I finally know how to use a phone," I told her with a proud smile. Though, my little sister looked unimpressed. "No congratulations?" I frowned. "Anyways, put your contact number on mine. I don't like having to come down to tell you something," I lied.
"Right… just admit you have a sister complex." She knew.

After our short banter, we wordlessly entered the car. We both fastened our seatbelts, and I drove out of school. "Freedan, why did you take so long?" Alice asked.
"With what?" I asked back, looking for clarification.

"I waited for ten minutes in the parking lot, so I was wondering if anything actually important happened." Her words weren't laced with sarcasm.
I had expected a quick insult, following the question, so the lack of the earlier took me back. "..." Silence met her question. Was talking about Noel the right move here?
"Hey, Freedan. Did you even hear me? Look, I know you're driving, but can you at least listen?" She asked, now sounding frustrated.

I supposed that she had the right to know. She was my little sister, after all. "Oh, uh… earlier, there was a new teacher." She hummed in response. "It turned out that she had an interest in highschoolers." I added, "Literally heard her earlier try to… seduce our cousin."
"Ha—!" Alice scoffed. "Sh—your teacher fancies him?" She reiterated. I was too busy focusing on being a careful driver to look at her, but I knew that my sister was currently sporting a smirk . "Did you report her?" She wondered with an amused tone in her voice.

"I didn't," I answered. "Anyways, let's talk about that later," I changed the topic. "Are you interested in visiting the Tohnos with me?" I asked.
"...Maybe some other time. I have a book to study." Now that was surprising.
"Ho?" I mouthed out in surprise. My genius sister requires studying?" That's what I was surprised about. Unless she was studying for collegiate questions, she had no genuine need for studies.

"Yeah, wait..." She paused, as if she he had just properly digested an outlandish statement.. "Why are you going to that place?! Isn't the Tohno family of a clan mixed-bloods?" She yelled out in shock.
"Calm down, it'll be a peaceful conversation between two family heads." I added, "Also, if I were to die, then call Lady Barthomeloi and tell her that the object she values most out of me is on my bedroom desk, in a vial." It was an attempt at a joke. Though, that could have also been considered as a serious instruction for if the worst-scenario did arrive.

Alice ignored what I said. "Are you sure about this, brother?" She asked worryingly. It warmed my heart to hear that — for her to call me 'brother' — but it was most likely going to be fine.
"Yeah, don't worry, Alice. You know how capable I am." I turned to her for a brief second, before focusing my gaze back on the road.

She muttered, "Yeah." It was weak. She said it for her to believe me, but also to comfort herself. It was obvious that she cared for me; I was her last 'true family', and she was the same for me. If our roles were reversed, then I would have immediately begged her not to do such a thing — to go to a place of potentially hostile superpowered half-demons.

"Seriously, don't worry." If my hands were free at the moment, then maybe I would have patted her head — much to her dismay — to act more like a proper older brother. I smiled at the thought. "I'll have my options ready. I'll wear those outfits." I joked, "Well-dressed people are invincible." She didn't laugh, but that joke wasn't for her to laugh; it was just to make her relax.

The conversations she and I had after that were just normal sibling interactions. What fitted my opinions of 'normal', anyway.

---

We've only just arrived back home. Today was Alice's turn to wash the lunch boxes, so she went to the kitchen sink.

I went to my closet, looking for some special formal wear, and after five minutes, I was looking at a mirror, admiring the reflection. I had quickly fixed my hair, slathered on some moisturiser, and dressed myself in a comfortable, pure-white turtleneck, with a navy-blue overcoat buttoned all the way except for the bottom, which I had deliberately left open. I was sporting a pair of snug, black suit pants and formal-looking brown derby boots. If the outfit was paired with average looking people — if their build was optimal for it — it would still appear nicely. Though, if a model scout happened to see me, then I would immediately have been offered a contract.

"Huuuu…" I puffed out. I turned the lights off the closet, and I exited the room dedicated to only my clothing. I went to the living room, with Alice laying down on the couch reading a book about biology — specifically, cell division. On the coffee table next to the couch was a stack of books, all of them relating from organs, to muscle tissue, to even bones. What was she studying for, I wonder?

"Do you have to read that much?" I asked her. Her scanning eyes shifted from the book she was holding to me.
Alice responded, "I've already read all of these." She explained, "I'm just skimming through them to make sure that my memory is fresh." Truth be told, when it came to biology, she was more knowledgeable than I was. A quick proof of that was the fact that she was the one that taught me healing magecraft.

"I'll be going now." I began walking to the lobby door with a poised gait. Alice showed a worried look for a second, but it went back to one of indifference.
"May it be fruitful, and please be careful, brother." I smiled when I heard those words.

I exited the house, and I walked to the garage. Quickly, I drove my car, and I drove off to the Tohno estate.
A quick question to Shiki on where their home was gave me the address, and I also asked him if he was still in school. Surprisingly, he still was, so I offered to pick him up at school. Apparently, he was still talking to our senior, Ciel.

Those two hit it off early. Having after school meetings just after two days? Though — in his perspective — Shiki likely thought that they've known of each other for years as a result of Ciel's suggestion magecraft.

It was honestly suspicious, because she was with him yesterday during lunch break — she was with us with the earlier lunch break, and she asked him to meet after school. Either something was going on, or she liked him…
Considering that Shiki and I were related, the second option was as likely. It was like the Nanaya blood that coursed through both of us resulted in us being a magnet for older women. For Shiki, it was Noel, and that doctor's daughter. For me it was— nevermind.

A quick and snappy sound effect came out of my phone, and I checked for the notification. When I checked it, it spelled out: [You don't have to, but if you don't mind, then yes.]
I typed: [I'll probably take twenty minutes.]
Shiki responded with a pictogram for a thumbs-up.

I turned the car on, fastened my seatbelt, and I began to drive towards my destination.

---

After a quick twenty-minutes — I predicted wrong — I had rested the car facing out from the school. There was just a single problem: Shiki wasn't around. And so, I used the newest tools in my arsenal: my recently acquired phone. I immediately grabbed it from my pocket, and I gave a quick message to Shiki.

The message read: [I've arrived.]
Around five seconds passed before I heard a familiar sound effect. Accompanying that sound effect was a response from Shiki in the form of a chat box.
It read: [Perfect timing. My talk with our senior just ended.]

I put my phone back in my pocket, and I sat still to wait for him. Apparently, he took his sweet time walking to the schoolgates, considering that five minutes passed before I could see him. Shiki began jogging towards me, and I unlocked the door for the passenger's seat to my left, the front-left seat. Shiki attempted to open the door, but he couldn't open as it was locked

Why was the door locked? Shiki tried to open the rear doors.

I rolled the windows down, and I informed him. "Sit yourself on the front seat. Alice is not here," I explained. He quickly took note of my words, opening the front-left seat.

"How was your talk with our senior?" I asked him. I raised the windows back up and turned the car on as I waited for him to answer my question. Obviously, I was interested in what Shiki and Ciel were talking about.

"Nothing too important. She asked me about The Tohno family." That sounded intriguing. "...She was interested in whether something bad happened for me to go back to the mansion." Was this just a genuine worry on Ciel's part?

Ciel acted kind to everyone, and it seemed that it was especially the case for Shiki. However, she was an Executor of the Holy Church. No matter how kind it was for her to give me a Black Key, I also had to remind myself that she was someone that had spent countless years hunting down heretics.

My thinking process was stopped as Shiki called out to me, "Hey Freedan." He tapped my shoulder. "You turn right on the road after this," he instructed.
I replied, "Ah, okay." I then stared blankly in front of me. We were already in the outskirts of the city's business district. And as he instructed, I turned right.

"I just realised this, Freedan, but what are you wearing?" He asked me. What about my clothes?
"Hm?" I hummed as I turned to face him. "Do you dislike it?" I sought a compliment.
"Don't get me wrong, you look great." Of course I looked great. "But… Why are you dressed up so… sophisticatedly? He asked.

"Well," I began. "...You could say that this outfit is meant for formal events." That was indeed the case. Every single one of the Api family members had to wear these types of outfits whenever they went out for gatherings that included other magi. "Also, your family head went out of her way to allow me to speak to her, so dressing well is the least I could do."

"...I suppose that you have a point there," Shiki noted. "Ah, Freedan, turn right over there." He pointed at a three-way intersection about fifty metres away. Soon enough, that distance was halved.

"Anyways, about Akiha…" I turned right. "Besides her strict nature towards you, is there anything else I should be wary of?" I asked. It was best to know what she wanted or at the very least, hated. I had no intention of accidentally making her angry.

Shiki narrowed his eyes in thought, and after a while, he finally spoke, "To be honest, I think the reason why she was strict yesterday was because she had high expectations of me." He joked, "Oh how disappointed she was…."

"I'll act my best, then," I announced. I had to be careful not to aggravate her; I didn't know how half-demons reacted to anger.
And I wished to make sure that I wouldn't have to know that.

As I pondered my impending meeting with the Tohno family's head of house, I stepped on the car brakes, stopping at a red light of a four-way crossing. The streets to my left and right were flatly levelled, leading to more lanes . However, the street straight ahead — beyond the crossing — was a long slope leading up to a hill.

"Where do I turn?" I asked the guy seated next to me. The streets here felt like a maze, so much so that I've had to ask Shiki what the way was numerous times. Though, considering that I didn't even know the address of the Tohno estate, I supposed that it was a given for me to ask for his help.

Thinking about it, how would I have reached the Tohno estate without Shiki? If I didn't pick him up earlier, then it was more than likely that I would have gotten lost within the maze of asphalt and concrete.
No matter, I focused my mind on Shiki's answer.

"Huh?" He muttered, as if my words pierced his thoughts. Considering what we were talking about earlier, his thoughts were likely centred around his sister, Akiha. "Go straight ahead. After that, you hug the left lane until you come across a gigantic, metal gate." His instructions were heard loud and clear.

"Affirmative, boss!" I responded. He merely gave a tired sigh and a slight grin as a reply.

After the traffic lights finally went green, I did as Shiki instructed. As we traversed up the slope, the chirping sounds of birds were heard through my vehicle's interior; it was a pleasantly peaceful sound, and because it was, I allowed my ears to hear at a higher capacity.
With the increase of my hearing capacity, the sound of my vehicle's mechanical workings hummed to my ears.
A second later, a light breeze whistled through the air, and what followed were the rustling of leaves from the trees to mine and Shiki's left.

I rolled the windows down, and I took a deep breath of fresh air. It was as I thought, even the air here smelled of nature. I gradually lowered my senses before I asked, "Is there a forest nearby?" It was a weird question, but passing the time and being able to stop thinking about that by having a conversation was more than important enough for me to set aside any feelings of awkwardness.

"Yeah…? Why do you ask?" Shiki replied.

"The air is particularly fresh here, so I was just wondering," I explained.

As we followed the curving, uphill slope of the road, I could see that the left side of the street was now a grey brick wall with a height of three metres that seemed to span forever. Though, there was also another noteworthy feature on the wall just twenty metres ahead of us: a large steel gate for vehicles; there were also two smaller gates between it, there for the access of individuals.

"This is it, right?" I faced towards my left, where Shiki had been sitting since I picked him up from the school.
He nodded in response, and he said, "We — or should I say you — are unable to enter without pressing that doorbell over there." He pointed to the side of the large gate, and a small button — the doorbell — was there.

"I suppose I should ask you to press it," I requested for Shiki to do it.
"I'll do it, but the gate doesn't open by itself, so I'll need you to push it with me," he explains.

After I parked the car nearby, the both of us left the vehicle. Shiki first pressed the button, and after a while, the gate had gotten unlocked. There was a prerecorded voice on a speaker just above the button that invited us to enter. I pushed my half of the gate with ease — the one-hundred plus kilograms swung backwards just as any hinged barrier would — and it was the same with Shiki.

I quickly entered my car and passed it through the now opened gate. Just as I was about to step back out to close it, the metal gates closed on their own.

Seeing that, I complained, "Seriously? The gate has to be opened manually, but it closes on its own?" The complaint wasn't directed at anyone in particular, or anything at all, but it was confusing why a gate could automatically close but not automatically open.
I sighed indignantly, but I quickly let the feeling of exasperation go; there were more important things to be done.

Apparently, the Tohno mansion was still a drive up the soft slope, then a turn to the left. Considering that this was the estate of one of the most influential families in Japan, I wasn't too surprised. It would have been a lie though if I said that I wasn't impressed with the amount of land the Tohno's had; after all, from what I could see, it was as spacious as the old Api estate back in England.

When the left turn arrived, the ground finally became flat again. It was somewhat dark, the sea of trees sandwiching the pathway I was driving in prevented the already little moonlight.
Ah, I forgot to add that detail: it was already dark out. It was around five-forty five, but it was autumn,
The paved road that I was driving on had been sandwiched by thick greenery and trees; I speculated that the area around the mansion was a forest. Also, it explained the woodsy fragrance that hung around the air.

After driving through just a bit more, I could finally see the Tohno mansion in all of its glory.
It was a large white building with a blue roof; the mansion's white walls were intricately adorned with arched windows and decorative columns. The dominant colour of white gave it a classic yet modern look. There was a balcony directly above the mansion's main entrance with double doors. All in all, the sophisticated details that decorated it was a marvel to look at.

I stopped my car's engines, and I slowly exited out of it with a certain flare, a kind of elegance. Once I had stood straight, I could see Shiki's bemused expression staring right at me. "What?" I asked. I already knew why he looked at me like that. He wasn't used to me acting so… gracefully. Well, the term he would describe would have been 'weird'.

He sighed, not bothering to question me. "Let's just go," he said as walked slowly towards the mansion's front doors.

I took a few deep breaths, the woody scent of the forest nearby filled my nose. I soon followed suit. Shiki was already under the shade just in front of the doors. Though, there wasn't any sunlight to actually be shaded from, for the sun had set an hour ago.

"I must say, Shiki… The blue roof adds a nice regal touch to it," I called out to him. I saw his eyes widen. "Is there anything wrong?" I asked.

"You can see the features of the mansion even though it's so dark?" Shiki sounded exasperated. Why was he so confused?

"I eat a lot of carrots," I explained. In response, he gave a blank, unconvinced expression, but he didn't ask any further in spite of that. It wasn't a good explanation, but it didn't matter; after all, Shiki would've given an even blanker glare if I answered with 'Biological Superiority.'

After I had finally walked up the stairs leading to the front door, Shiki took a deep breath, and a second later, exhaled with a sigh. "You seem… nervous, Shiki," I commented.
He looked at me, and from what I could see through his glasses, he looked slightly worried. "Please, try not to anger Akiha; she's even scarier when furious," he admitted. I nodded, taking a step to the left side of the still closed entrance. "Can I be with you during your talk with her?" Shiki asked, almost out of nowhere. "...Just to make sure that I can try and defuse the situation if it ever gets bad," he explained.

"No," I answered with zero hesitation. Shiki's offer made sense, yes; however, he had no idea about the supernatural side of the world — The Moonlit World — and I wanted to talk to his sister regarding exactly that.
I would be honest if I said that I wanted to tell Shiki about everything: our blood relation, the presence of mystical powers, and far more pressing — the dangerous Dead Apostles that wandered around the city. However, I couldn't do that; if I told him that, then not only would he be overwhelmed with the information, but he would also not even believe it.

Actually, I had ways to prove it, but the earlier issue still persisted, there was a lot to unpack. It also didn't help that I genuinely wished for him to live a normal life. Ughhhh, this is so annoying! Shiki's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Freedan, are you okay?" Shiki asked. "You were randomly complaining about how annoying something was…" He looked genuinely concerned for a moment.
Why did he react like that? Ah, I accidentally said my thoughts out loud…

"It's nothing, really," I quickly responded. "Anyways, are we entering your home or not?" I immediately changed the topic. Thankfully, Shiki decided to let my previous mistake go.
Shiki took a deep breath. I did the same. He put his hands on the doorknobs and rotated them.

Creak…!

A sliver of warm white light had passed through the gaps of the sides of the doorway as Shiki pulled the doors. I took a few steps back, and once there was ample room for us to enter, we walked in. I squinted my eyes as I went through the doorways, and I closed the doors for Shiki. A few seconds later — once my eyesight adapted to the presence of bright light — I looked around, and I could immediately tell that the mansion's interior was far, far more intricate than its exterior.

Crimson-red carpets lined the floors, giving a refined look. From what I could tell, there were five doors that all led to different rooms; this was clearly the lobby of the mansion. A refined-looking chandelier illuminated the room with white light, and numerous wall lamps were also on to provide slightly warmer yellow light. There was also the most defining feature: a wide carpeted staircase with beautifully carved wooden carvings. All in all, it was a room that could easily be remembered just for its architectural beauty; the one who designed the room obviously had wonderful tastes.

"Master Shiki, welcome back." It was an unfamiliar voice of a woman that I heard as I scoured the lobby, searching for any more details to appreciate. I looked over towards the voice, next to the left door beside the base of the staircase. The source of the voice was a red-haired girl that seemed to be Alice's age; she wore a maid outfit, and she bowed to me, "...It seems that your friend was with you, master Shiki," she took notice of me. "Please come to the dining room, both of you, master Akiha is patiently waiting."

I waited for Shiki to move first, towards the dining room; I had no interest in seeming like an ignorant person. Also, I didn't know where it was, so even if I was ignorant, I would've waited for him. "Thank you, Hisui," he said. So that was the maid's name — Hisui.

I slowly followed Shiki, and we walked towards the door next to where Hisui stood. I quickly took a deep breath before I entered. I took a quick glance around the dining room. Numerous paintings were framed on the walls, and the dining table itself was spectacularly long.

I saw another maid that stood on the far corners of the room, and there was a well-dressed girl that patiently sat on the table. The girl that sat down was likely Akiha — the sister that Shiki loved complimenting so much. And to be fair, from what I saw, I now understood that every compliment regarding her beauty were perfectly placed — actually, the compliments might not have been enough to do her justice: Jet-black hair — typical of the Japanese, skin so smooth and unblemished that one could have thought that she was a doll, and Cerulean-Blue eyes fixed with a calculating, ardent gaze; the feeling that she gave off was similar to Lady Barthomeloi, but less terrifying.

"Freedan?" Shiki whispered. I quickly left my stupor and slightly jerked my head towards his direction. He was giving a suspicious look, as if he was assuming something. I merely gave a confused stare in response, and he responded with a blank expression. "I know she's beautiful, but please keep your senses," Shiki whispered.
I see, he was feeling protective of his sister.
Ironic, he gave a similar reaction to me now back when he first saw Alice in the past, and it was even funnier that I also told him off in the exact same way. Was this his revenge?

Akiha stood up in a dignified manner. "Ahem—" She cleared her throat gracefully, very gracefully. "I am Akiha Tohno, the newly appointed head of the Tohno family," she introduced herself assertively.
Judging from Akiha's body language, I could tell that even though she had only been the head of a family as affluent as the Tohnos, she had been groomed to become the family head.

I bowed my head, "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss Akiha. I am Freedan Liberia, a friend of your brother." I genuinely acted politely; she didn't know of my true identity, and it was likely that she didn't even know of my presence in the supernatural world. I also didn't introduce myself properly as Shiki was also in the same room.

She replied, "A pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Freedan." She turned to the maid standing near the corner of the room. "Kohaku, please serve our guest." From the corner, the maid — Kohaku — took a few steps towards us. It was obvious from the difference in name that this wasn't the previous maid, Hisui; however, they looked similar; just a look at her hair colour told me that Kohaku and Hisui were related, likely sisters.

"Mr. Liberia, Mr. Shiki, please take your seats," Kohaku politely requested. Both of us did as she kindly asked of us, Shiki sat on the chair that faced Akiha's, and I sat next to him. After we both sat down, Hisui filled two glasses with water, and placed them down. Kohaku carried a tray of what seemed like traditional Japanese dishes. She placed the plates and bowls down just in front of us.
The dishes looked wonderful, and it was likely that every single ingredient — every single step of her cooking — was handled with utmost care. The dish that was in front of me looked good, and it was more than likely that the taste would be heavenly.

I restrained myself from immediately digging in; I had to show etiquette. Nothing screamed more like a foul ignoramus than someone who completely disregarded table manners. Akiha was the head of the mansion, and I was just the guest, so I had to wait for her to start.

I let my eyes wander around, listlessly observing the room's layout. They wandered everywhere, from the white and blue carpet's designs, to even the fabric of the dinner table; I was looking quite literally everywhere, everywhere except the delicious temptations that were propped just in front of me.

As my eyes appreciated every surface of the room like a child that had seen a magic trick for the first time, I heard the distinct sound of thin wood smacking against thin wood. I followed the sound, and it was right beside me. It was Shiki, with the two chopsticks clasped between his palms, and his mouth opened, "Itadakimasu," he said.

I sensed malice across the table, and I saw the physical representation of a demon. The eyes that I appraised to be ardent were clear and empty, as if the cerulean-blue colour was clouded with disappointment. Well shaped eyebrows twitched. A sigh escaped.

"Miss Akiha, you seem to be in deep thought," I told the head of the Tohno family. In a moment, as if everything I saw was a blur, her expression returned to its original state.

"Ah, no need to worry, Mr. Freedan," Akiha assured me. She added, "It's just… it seems that my brother truly does need to relearn his etiquette." Those cold, unfeeling words… She reminded me of Alice. I felt that Alice would have been like Akiha if she had more authority than me.
Shiki quickly stopped himself from eating, and he looked at his sister with a tinge of fear, a result of her judgement.

Shiki wasn't necessarily rude; he acted like a normal person. The problem was that he acted like a commoner as the eldest child of the previous head. To me, it didn't matter. However, judging from what I could feel about Akiha, she was clearly — and I meant 'clearly' — disappointed in him. Actually — no, she looked like a movie director knowing of a bad actor's poor performance; she wasn't disappointed because she had no hopes in the first place, but she still felt negatively looking at it anyway.

Akiha closed her eyes, and she sighed, "...Itadakimasu." She began to eat, trying her best to ignore Shiki's lacking etiquette. I followed suit; I was hungry, and the food that was served looked absolutely wonderful.

My use of chopsticks needed more practice before they could be considered perfect, but I tried my best to at least look somewhat respectable. And as much as I've referred to Shiki's way of eating as 'crude', he wasn't actually that horrible. We slowly ate — for Shiki and I, we were trying to seem respectable — and it took me around six minutes to clear through all of the food.

Oh, have I described what the food was like? It was absolutely amazing; the flavours were perfectly balanced. I would have loved to explain exactly what made it so delicious, but the best compliment that I could give was that whoever cooked the food was a cook that was as skilled as the Api family's chefs.

"The food was wonderful," I said to no one in particular. The way I said it made it seem more like a widely-accepted fact rather than a statement. However, judging from the others' expressions, what I said was a sentiment shared by Shiki and Akiha. Of course, good food tasted good — that much was obvious — but people had different tastes and preferences, so their concurrence still had merit.

"I'm sure that Kohaku is pleased to hear that, Mr. Freedan," Akiha affirmed. Ah, so it was her that cooked that meal. "Now, it appears that all of us have finished dining, so may I ask why you wished to speak with me?" She asked. Now this was going to be the dangerous part. From what I could tell, she was a calm and reasonable person, but if I blatantly said that I was related to a family of demon-hunters — people that Akiha most likely did not like — she might become hostile.

"I apologise, but this is important, so may I ask Shiki to be left out of this conversation," I requested. It was more than likely that Akiha would dismiss my future statements if Shiki was here, so he needed to be away. When I turned to face him, he looked concerned.
"Be very careful, Freedan," he whispered. I could hear it clearly because of my wonderful hearing, but it was likely that if it was anyone else, they would have heard nothing.

"I see, then would you mind that we have this conversation over tea in the living room?" She suggested. "Anyways — brother, why would your friend require extreme caution?" She asked menacingly. Shiki jolted from her words; it was obvious that he wasn't expecting his sister to hear such a quiet whisper.

"..." Shiki stayed quiet. He knew that responding in any way would just result in a quick, condescending admonishment.

It was almost guaranteed that in a parallel world, a world where Alice was my older sister, it was likely that she would have been acting like Akiha.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat, interrupting them. "Tea sounds nice," I said. Akiha gave a small nod, and Shiki was now temporarily free. Akiha stood up from her seat, walking to the door; she gestured for me to follow.

Before Akiha stepped out of the dining room, she looked back, towards Shiki. "By the way, brother, since you have a sufficient amount of free time, please study; the midterm exams happen in three weeks," she reminded him. Akiha then looked towards the maid that was following her; she ordered, "Kohaku, please prepare some tea."

Kohaku bowed down respectfully, "Yes, Miss Akiha." She proceeded to exit the dining room, likely headed for the kitchen.

Akiha faced me, "Let us go." I nodded. She began to walk towards the room across the lobby — I followed her.

I heard the faint voice of Shiki as I followed Akiha. "I'll be going to my room now,' he told someone, likely Hisui. It was the logical conclusion — after all, Kohaku was likely preparing tea in the kitchen, and considering that I saw nobody else enter the room, it had to be Hisui.

A door creaked behind me. "Mister Freedan, is everything all right?" Akiha asked. "It seemed like you were looking at something," she explained.

"Yes," I answered. "I was just appreciating the wonderful decorations," I lied. It wasn't like me to lie pointlessly, but the less she knew about my capabilities, the less her chances of becoming apprehensive about me were.
Akiha opened the door fully, and she walked in the room. I quickly followed her inside, and from what I could see, the room that we were inside was the living room.

The living room — like all of the other rooms I saw earlier — was beautiful. Though, the room evoked more of a feeling of relaxation. I supposed that it was fitting; this was the living room after all. In the middle of the room was a dark rectangular coffee table. Three similar looking sofas surrounded on three of its sides: left, right, and front of the room — from how someone saw it as they entered through the door. Akiha sat down on the sofa to the left.

"Please, sit yourself, Mister Freedan," she offered, her arms laid out to the sofa to the right. "Would you like to talk about it now, or would you like some tea?" She asked.

"I'm afraid that what I'll be talking about might cause an…" I needed to think of a proper word for it. "…upsetting reaction, so maybe tea might help us remain civil." I've only realised now that muttering that was a mistake. It was likely that she would assume my words to be bad.

Akiha looked at me with a suspicious glare. "Oh? May I ask why that is?" She asked coldly, suggesting, "You do not think to 'threaten' the Tohno family, yes?" The tone in her voice darkened with every word she spitted out. Her ardent eyes, despite looking the same, were hiding an unsettling feeling as she peered at me.

Akiha looked at me with a suspicious glare. "Oh? May I ask why that is?" She asked coldly, suggesting, "You do not think to 'threaten' the Tohno family, yes?" The tone in her voice darkened with every word she spitted out. Her ardent eyes, despite looking the same, were hiding an unsettling feeling as she peered at me.

I immediately tried to defuse the situation, "Oh no, I did not mean it as such!" I exclaimed. I explained, "It's not about the Tohnos, Miss Akiha — it's about Shiki." Her threatening aura subsided, but not by much; it was obvious that she found anything regarding her brother to be of importance. I took a moment to take a deep, calming breath, and I repeated, "It's about your brother, Shiki." I elaborated, "Your adopted brother." She immediately glared daggers.

"I know that the Tohno family has non-human — Oni — blood coursing through their vei—" I immediately stopped speaking when she stood up. "...Please calm down!" I yelled. She did not listen, and I could see that the ends of her hair were becoming a tinge of blood-red. Fine, it was time to reveal the bomb. "Shiki is my biological cousin!" I yelled out, hoping that she would actually start listening. She still had an intense glare that could have killed me.

Thankfully, she actually did stop after that. "Hah—?!" She uttered in surprise. Her expression was now that of shock.

"Huuu…" I sighed in temporary relief. "I just wanted to ask this simple question: Why was Shiki Nanaya — someone from an organisation that hunts down demons — adopted to the Tohno family?" I asked. She took a deep breath, and she sat back down. "Oh, and don't worry, Miss Akiha. I'm not a demon hunter," I added, giving an 'innocent' smile.

Creak…

The door swung open, and what came in the turbulent room was a trolley of a teapot and two teacups. I paid no heed to it, and I repeated, "May I ask why?" Kohaku wordlessly walked towards Akiha, giving her some tea; the maid didn't seem to care about what we were talking about. After that, she walked over to me, and she also poured me a cup of tea. "Thank you," I whispered.

Akiha elegantly picked up the saucer and drank her tea. Once she was done sipping, she said, "...Shiki was adopted into our family because… I'm afraid I can't tell you." She took another deep breath, "However, I promise you this, Mister Freedan: the reason for it wasn't malicious. Far from it…" I looked into her clear ocean-blue eyes, and judging from what I saw, she was unlikely to have been lying. Yes, there was a likelihood that she was lying. However, I was a mage, someone used to seeing rat-faced scum constantly lie through their teeth, so I had trust that I wasn't wrong.

As I sat there like a statue, Akiha asked, "Do you have any other questions, Mister Freedan?" To be honest, there wasn't.
Ah, there was one.

"Knowing that I'm related to him, are you not concerned that I'll try and steal him from you?" I asked. It was a slightly light-hearted question, and I said it with a tone that seemed to be more of a joke.

Akiha gave a beautiful smile. "I feel as though you're not the kind of person to do that, Mister Freedan," she answered. She continued, "Besides… since he's legally not an adult yet, he can't escape the country, so I should be able to track him down." Her smile was still there, despite the threatening words I heard.

"I only want what is good for Shiki, Miss Akiha," I subconsciously made an attempt to appease her. "Ah, speaking of what's good… I've heard that you took his phone?" I asked. She nodded in response. "That's not good at all, Miss Akiha. Phones are extremely useful, and you can trust my word on that; after all, I used to avoid technology as well."

"They have useful sources of information with just quick search, and they allow for near-instantaneous communication regardless of time and place." She was listening to my words with a focused gaze. Actually, there was another useful thing for it: "Also, you can attach tracking devices on them, so if they are ever lost, you can use it to find them." Yes, that was a very useful feature. It seemed that Akiha was now convinced. "It's like a mystic code," I blabbed.

"So like magic?" She asked seriously— Wait, she knew what mystic codes were? I supposed that I should have expected it. After all, expecting the clan head of a family of demon-blooded people to not be wary of other supernatural things was foolish.

However, I didn't question her knowledge as she had asked as if magic was just normally mundane things like the weather. "More like magecraft rather than true magi—" I blabbed once more. It seemed like my mouth was like Arihiko's; I wasn't shutting up.

"Wait…" she muttered. "You're a mage?" She asked. So she did know about us. She furrowed her eyebrows, and I even saw Kohaku shift her posture to be ready for a confrontation in the corner of my peripheral vision.

"Don't worry. 'The reason is not malicious,' Miss Akiha," I copied her earlier words, hoping that she wasn't a hypocrite.

She gave a slight frown, but an innocent smile that I had given her made her… frown even more. "Just like how I trust you in spite of having demon-blood, please trust me in spite of me being a magus." She sighed, and I was thankful that she let it go easily.

"..." She paused. "Anyways, phones…" She said with an air of contemplation, and almost as if her earlier suspicions were gone, she returned to her earlier thoughts — the phone. "I'll let Shiki use it, but that's only if I can track him," she declared.
I — Aiden 'Freedan Liberia' Api — was great at many things. It seemed that I was even a wonderful persuader.

"Wait, Miss Akiha. I don't think Shiki will accept that," Kohaku interjected. She slowly approached Akiha as she spoke.

What would Shiki not like about that? He could use his smartphone again, so everything was all well and good, right? "Of course he wouldn't," Akiha said. She looked at me and observed my confusion. "But still, explain why," Akiha demanded. Akiha knew what Kohaku meant, but she asked Kohaku for me to understand. Kohaku cleared her throat, and she explained, "Mister Shiki would consider it as a breach of his privacy if he were to be tracked, Mister Liberia."

That didn't make sense. What part of that was a breach in his privacy?
I thought deeply about it, yet even after careful consideration of Shiki's personality, I saw no reason for him to reject the chance for him to be allowed use of his smartphone. To be honest, Shiki was actually quite fortunate, when compared to me; I couldn't head outside of my family estate, and my room had plenty of security cameras to make sure that no outsider mage family kidnapped me.

"Kohaku, give my older brother's phone back to him once we get a tracking device on it," Akiha ordered, and Kohaku nodded. I then drank some of the tea that the maid had served just a minute ago. The tea was refined, exquisite even; it was bitter, but also sweet — the flavours were complex, yet every single flavour was pronounced.

I savoured the heat of the tea in my mouth before I swallowed it. It was easily the best tea I've had since I came to Japan. However, I've tasted better; nothing could beat the wonderful taste of the tea served by the servants of Lady Barthomeloi back in England. Still, it deserved praise. "This is quite good," I said, my lips curling up.

"Ahem… The tea was wonderful, but I have to go," I said, standing up. I had nothing else that I had to do here. I've already eaten dinner with them, had a conversation with Akiha, and I enjoyed Kohaku's tea — the most important part was obviously the tea. Though, jesting aside, I genuinely had no reason to stay, so it was best for me to head back home.

"It is understandable, Mister Freedan," Akiha sympathised. She turned to Kohaku, "Kohaku, please escort him to the outside of the mansion."

"Yes, Miss Akiha," she obeyed her employer. "Follow me, Mister Liberia." Quickly, she walked over to me, and she escorted me outside of the living room to the lobby. And as I walked over to the door outside of the mansion, I heard a series of footsteps from the floor above me, and when I turned around, I saw Shiki. He waved his arms as a sign of goodbye. I did the same.

Our farewells weren't wordless, however. The both of us simultaneously said our 'goodbyes', and I finally exited.

Once I took a few steps outside, I felt an unpleasant sensation, a horrible feeling of cold. From what it felt like, it was around five degrees centigrade. Thankfully, the clothes that I was wearing were mystic codes, so I was still warm and snug. The reason that I even felt the chilly wind was because my face was exposed.

Also, mystic codes — in simplest terms — could be considered magical items. My stylish, dashing choice of outfits were there for practical reasons: all of them were worn for protection, and they all were conceptually built to keep what was out from the inside — and to keep what was inside from going outside.
I chose to wear them because I knew that going to the Tohno estate was dangerous, and Akiha earlier was about to give my clothing a reason for use that wasn't just for looking beautiful.

As I slowly walked towards my vehicle, I looked up towards the sky and gazed at the moon; there was only a thin streak of it that was illuminated, and from what I could assume — it was the first day of the waxing crescent in the Lunar Cycle. A soft breeze passed by as I looked up, and the cold wind whistled past my face. "It's way too cold…" I muttered under my breath, and a fog formed as I sighed. Deciding that the chill was far too unbearable, I quickly jogged towards my car, and I drove it to the gate.

Unlike earlier, the gate opened itself automatically. "Have a pleasant rest of your evening, Mister Liberia," Kohaku said through a speaker. I did not respond, as it was likely that it sent out voice messages, but did not receive them. Though, even if it sent and received voice messages, I wouldn't have replied; Kohaku only said that out of courtesy.

As I slowly drove past through the twists and turns, a dog barked and sprinted on the sidewalk with great speed. It was almost as if it was running away from something. I ignored the loud animal and kept my eyes on the road, and just around twenty metres away, a white-haired man with a refined, yet barbaric furskin coat walked on the same sidewalk, as if he was following the dog.

I aimlessly gazed at him more and more. With every passing second, I could feel a burning, stinging sensation of bloodlust emanating from myself. I knew what this feeling meant; it was my instincts as someone with the blood of the Nanaya clan that coursed through my veins. The instinctual will to kill those who weren't human. However, it was watered down, and since my family only sought out Dead Apostles to hunt, it was only Dead Apostles that I genuinely felt the bloodlust for, so I knew that this man was one.

Normally, I would have ignored it. My agreement with Ciel would have only been with Dead Apostles and Undead near my home, but this was different, the Tohno estate was just a hundred metres from here. Out of pure instinct, red eyes like ruby turned into blue eyes like aquamarine, casting a faint glow.

I immediately parked my car way further away, to the side. I grabbed five ripped pages of the bible scattered around my outfits, and I took a deep breath. The image of a hammer striking down activated my Magic Circuits. I remembered how Ciel made the Black Key she gave me yesterday, and I turned the five pages of the bible into five Black Keys.

"Temper!" I yelled out. My magic circuits activated, producing excess heat. I reinforced my whole body. I reinforced the elasticity of my tendons, reinforced my muscle's ability to contract and relax, reinforced the cushioning of my ligaments, and lastly, I reinforced my bones' hardness and toughness.

I took a deep breath, and I exited the car. However, before I did fight the Dead Apostle, I pointed my arm to the sky, and I began my incantation, "Enveloping heat encompasses dunes of sand… Yearning flames burn the land… Fireworks!" As I started my Aria, I used my Odic force to jumpstart the spell, but I used the surrounding mana to power it, turning it into a ball of golden flame. The spherically shaped flames then shot out to the sky, and it flew to around two hundred metres above from where I stood, and it blew up once it reached that height. Hopefully, Ciel would be able to notice it and come to help me.

I took a deep breath, and I prepared for the battle. I looked over to him, and sure as it was, he had a filthy crimson silhouette, and unlike Ciel's aura, the deep red encompassed every single part of him. I held the Black Keys exactly like how Ciel held hers, and I threw all five of them at the same time. They whistled through the air at a speed of a hundred metres per second, and in just half a second, they struck. I aimed for the heart and head, but I was only able to hit his torso.

Almost immediately, he looked back, and from what I could see, a scowl painted the expression on his face. He said something in Russian, and in a single step, a single leap, he jumped high into the air, and he dove down to where I was, with a gigantic cleaver in his hands. It took him less than two seconds for him to cross a span of fifty metres towards me, but I reacted in the blink of an eye. I hopped to a nearby wall, planted my feet, and as I prepared to leap, six pages of the bible became five Black Keys. I performed the sequence at such speed that by the time that I was able to throw four, I was still preparing to leap towards him.

"Hyaaa—!" I yelled as I performed a Nanaya technique. Before he could even land to where I originally was, I had already thrown four Black Keys to where he was going to land. The air whistled as the Black Keys brushed past the wind at their earlier speed of a hundred metres per second. However, even though I had thrown the Black Keys a fifth of a second ago, with the high-speed movement techniques of the Nanaya arts, I overtook the Black Keys, and I reached the Dead Apostle sooner than the Black Keys that I had thrown.

I used a single page per Black Key, but I had used two pages to construct a special one. That special Black Key was being held onto with my right hand, shaped into a two-handed sword rather than the lengthy dirks of traditional Black Keys. It would take one-tenths of a second for him to land, one-fifths of a second for me to strike him with my newly formed sword, and one-thirds of a second for the projectiles to reach him.

CLANG!

I swung my sword as fast as I could, yet he casually blocked it with his machete. "W—" I tried to ask something, but before I could voice out a single syllable, a spark of orange flames burst from his other hand. I covered my face with the sleeves of my overcoat as I quickly dashed back. In half a second, I was twenty metres back.

I took another deep breath, giving my muscles the oxygen that they desperately needed, and I briefly took a look at my overcoat's sleeves. They were mostly fine, however, there was some charring on the surface. It was surprising, in less than a moment's contact with his flames, my overcoat was charring? My overcoat was a mystic code designed to be durable, for it to even take damage meant that if it wasn't for my timely dodge, my skin would have melted just making contact with it.

"Why do you bother me, Executor?" The red silhouette asked with a hoarse voice, now speaking in a language that I understood. He continued, "I must say… it is impressive for you to sniff me out so soon… Truly, you are befitting of being dogs of the church." This man was dangerous, and from what he said, he wasn't a Dead Apostle that had long been here in Souya. I needed more information…

"Tell me, Dead Apostle, what is your name?" He kept his eyes trained towards me, quietly thinking to himself.
He responded, "I have no name to give you." He raised his arm up, and in just a moment three flames formed into hands. They glowed brightly, illuminating the night, and they were hot enough for me to easily feel the heat that released from them. I was twenty metres back.

As he prepared his attacks, I was thinking of one simple thought: how to get him away from the Tohno estate.

I turned the two-handed sword back into paper, and I turned them into two separate Black Keys. His raised arms aimed down towards me, and I crouched down. The very next moment, I was already behind him, and I tried to throw the two Black Keys point-blank. However, before the dirks left my hand, two flaming hands flew towards me, seeking to incinerate me to ashes.

I planted my feet on the ground once more, and I avoided the hands. Once I was able to steer clear of the dangerous flames, I gazed at the sight in front of me, and my eyes went wide with shock.

We were standing on concrete — a material that only started melting at temperatures above one thousand degrees Celsius — so why was it that the place where I was standing just moments ago turn into a puddle of molten goop!?

My magic circuits produced more heat as I prepared for a spell. "Flaming Lance!" I used the spell that I had just started learning yesterday. Four lances rapidly formed as the air around me cooled. Then I added, "Fire converges to a point!" The four lances became a single one. However, they didn't fly off towards the man. The aria that I developed yesterday didn't take into account when I sent them off as projectiles.

Magecraft required self-hypnosis to properly function, so the aria was required to have them work. That fact was most apparent on new spells. Though, there was a simple solution. "Flaming Lance, fire!" The single spell traversed at speeds that broke the sound barrier. Using my family's Thaumaturgic Attribute: Consumption, I performed an A-ranked spell with the aria length of a C-ranked spell, and I fired it off. It had the destructive capability of blowing through a house, so this was more than able to damage the man.

It was a spell that was sure to damage the Dead Apostle, but the lance was unable to reach its target. No, it dissipated before it could even come close to the Dead Apostle.

"Huh?" I muttered out in shock. My spell dissipated as if it never existed. "What happened? Answer me, Dead Apostle!" I screamed at my opponent.

"Thank you… for the warmth," he said to me in gratitude, as if my spell was a pleasant gift. His answer made no sense, but what if his magecraft was similar to mine, where he absorbed the heat of the air to further enhance his spells.

I joked, "If you're so thankful, then leave this place." I continued, but this time, I yelled angrily, "You have nothing to find here!" At this point, I was merely pleading. Knowing that one of my more powerful spells was completely ineffective wasn't giving me any hope.

"If you wish… Executor." My eyebrows raised at his response. That was surprising; Dead Apostles were egotistical, and they preyed on humans, even hunting them for sport at times. This situation was far too weird.
"Is that so?" I asked rhetorically.

"Your flames have momentarily satisfied my need for warmth, so I'm showing you my gratitude," he answered. He further elaborated, "As long as you don't attack me, anyway." It sounded far too good to be true; he knew that he had the advantage, so why was he following my request? "And so, I ask you this: Shall we stop this confrontation?"

DO I CHOOSE: [As long as you stop and never come here again,] or [No deal, Dead Apostle. You're just trying to trick me.]

I thought deeply about my choice, and I prayed that he kept his word. "As long as you stop and never come here again," I hoped for the best. The Dead Apostle gave a small nod, before he leaped away to the direction of the city. "Those are some people dead," I whispered to myself. However, it wasn't my problem. That was far away from the Tohno Estate and my home, so I had no reason to help those people.

I looked in the direction of where the white-haired Dead Apostle went, to the bright lights of cityscapes five kilometres away. "I should head back home…" I muttered to myself, running back to my car.

---

I opened the door to my house, and as I entered, I saw Alice sleeping on the couch with a book on hand. The book was titled 'An in-depth analysis of the Digestive System.' I nudged my little sister to wake her up, "You should be sleeping in your room, Alice." She did not wake up. I sighed, and I gently scooped her up, carefully walking to her room. I carefully turned the doorknob, and I put her on her bed. I whispered to her, "Good night, Alice."

After that, I walked through a few hallways, and I entered my workshop. I quickly went towards the Black Key that Ciel gave me yesterday, and I used my Pure Eyes in conjunction with my Structural Analysis to 'see' the history of the weapon. It was how I even learned to make Black Keys from pages of the Holy Bible in the first place.

I carefully placed it on both the palms of my hand, and I began the arduous process of absorbing the 'memories' of the object. This time, I was using Structural Analysis to absorb the 'skill' on how it was used. If I had only absorbed two more days' worth of memories, I would have been able to properly aim my earlier Black Keys — the ones I made — towards his head and heart.

"Huh… I didn't know that they could immobilise someone by striking the Black Keys in the shadow of potential opponents…" That was a golden find. Though, considering that the immobilisation lasted just a second — from the 'memories' that it was used for — it wasn't exactly foolproof. Still, I was thankful for the fact that I had requested an old Black Key rather than a fresh, brand-new one.

A new Black Key didn't have the 'memories.' That's why I requested from Ciel yesterday for an old one; so that I could absorb the 'memories' of it. If Ciel had given me a brand-new Black Key yesterday, then I wouldn't have even been able to throw Black Keys properly.

After around two more hours of absorbing the 'memories,' I concluded that it was time to sleep. It was far, far too late at night; it was now eleven in the evening.