The next day, on the training grounds of the Shin’ō Academy, sunlight filtered through thin cloud and laid mottled shadows across the ground.
Scattered groups of students filed out of the examination hall, comparing answers in little clusters as they went.
A full day of theory testing behind him, Silas stretched out his arms.
Book knowledge didn’t drop fragments, so Silas had genuinely put the work into learning it.
Luckily he had Nanao, that little top student, so he could tag along on her revision and spare himself both the effort and the heartache.
“How did it go?”
Nanao looked at how relaxed he was.
“Easy.”
“Don’t get careless. This only accounts for a small part of the final grade. The full assessment of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kidō over the next two days is what matters. As I recall, your overall scores have always been low.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You… you never train seriously, you’re sloppy about everything. What happens if you fail the division entrance exam later on?”
“I won’t fail. Don’t worry.”
Silas kept up that carefree attitude of his, which left Nanao feeling like she was punching a pillow again.
His overall scores may not have been high, but he had never once dropped out of the Elite Class.
That part of him was oddly steady.
Which couldn’t help but make Nanao wonder.
If this man had a diligent streak in him, if he trained in earnest, would he turn out to be truly powerful?
Nanao tried to picture it.
Silas with peerless strength, standing at the top of the Elite Class, divisions fighting over him.
And if that ever happened, with looks like his, there would surely be no shortage of girls around him…
Nanao shook her head and threw the stray thought out of her mind.
Looking at the white-haired underachiever beside her, arms folded lazily, Nanao tightened her grip on her schoolbag.
Never mind.
This way is fine too.
“Tomorrow’s Kidō test will still be Shakkahō, the standard item, though this year’s curriculum should cover some higher-level Kidō.”
“Your Shunpo does look like it’s improved. Maybe you can use it to pull your score up a little this year.”
“Zanjutsu and Hakuda are both live combat assessments, but you always go down so fast, giving up after a few exchanges…”
Nanao rattled on beside him while Silas chimed in now and then.
The two of them strolled through the crowd like that.
“Vane-senpai!”
A hearty greeting rang out.
Silas and Nanao looked over at the sound.
“Haha, what Shiba kid? Just call me Kaien.”
Shiba Kaien came over in a Shin’ō Academy uniform with a package under his arm and a beaming smile on his face.
“Ise-senpai is here too.”
“Yes. Hello, Shiba-kun.”
Shiba Kaien looked considerably older than her, so being called senpai felt a little odd.
Still, Nanao returned the greeting properly out of politeness.
“Have you finished enrolling? We’ll be classmates from now on, so please look after me.”
“Haha, I will, and the same to you. Speaking of which, Vane-senpai, I don’t know what’s gotten into my Kūkaku, but lately she’s been ve~ry fond of eating at Ichiraku Ramen.”
Kaien leaned in with a wink and gave Silas’s arm a light nudge with his elbow.
“Oh? Is that so. Good for her…”
Silas’s eyebrows twitched.
The next moment, he felt a sudden chill coming from his side.
Oh no…
Kaien plainly missed the shift in the air and kept right on smiling.
“Isn’t it? Kūkaku’s been running off to that ramen shop every other day recently. I was wondering when she turned into such a ramen fanatic. Then I heard her say you were the one who recommended the place, senpai.”
Silas felt the temperature beside him drop several degrees further.
Alright, that’s enough, stop talking, you absolute menace…
Kaien seemed blind to the message Silas was sending with his eyes and warmly threw an arm around his shoulder.
“Speaking of Kūkaku, that girl’s been wild since she was little. I’ve never seen her fuss over any boy the way she…”
“Cough, cough!”
Silas coughed violently, trying to cut him off.
It was too late.
Beside them, Nanao pushed up her glasses, her voice terrifyingly calm.
“Oh? So Shiba-san takes that much interest in Silas’s business?”
“Exactly!”
Kaien seemed wholly unaware of the danger, still grinning.
“So, Vane-senpai, if you’ve got time today, how about dinner together? Kūkaku would probably be delighted to have you along…”
Kaien looked at the despair on Silas’s face, then at the darkening one on Nanao’s beside him, and finally caught on, a little late.
“Ah, well…” He scratched his head.
“Sounds like Kūkaku’s calling me. You two seniors must have things to do, so I won’t keep you. I’m off…”
With that he waved at them and was gone in the blink of an eye.
Only Silas and Nanao were left, the air around them seemingly frozen solid.
Silas ventured.
“Hmm?”
Nanao looked up, wearing a calm expression he had never seen on her before.
A calm that was rather frightening.
“Why do you look so grim…”
“Silas!”
An energetic voice came from a distance.
Silas and Nanao turned their heads at the same time to see Shiba Kūkaku running toward them.
She was in casual clothes today, her long black hair streaming behind her, a bright smile on her face.
“Huh, that’s strange, I definitely saw my brother here a second ago. Where’d he go? Oh, little Nanao’s here too.”
Kūkaku ran up to them, looked at Silas, then at Nanao, and seemed to catch the odd mood.
“What’s the matter? Why the serious faces?”
“It’s nothing.”
Nanao recovered her usual cool at once and answered flatly.
“Kūkaku, what brings you here?”
Silas looked at her, trying to shift the atmosphere.
“You, obviously!”
Kūkaku said it with a smile.
“My brother came in today to collect the enrollment materials for the Shin’ō Academy freshmen, so I tagged along. It might not be this easy to get in later on.”
“I heard you had tests today, so I thought I might catch you near the gate. And here you are.”
Kūkaku leaned in as she smiled.
She had only just run over, so her breath was still hot and a fine sweat glistened on her forehead.
Nanao looked at the chest rising and falling with that breathing, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
Wh-What is this?
The next second, Nanao’s gaze sharpened like a hawk’s, the edge of her vision locked onto Silas, who was sitting on pins and needles.
If his eyes drifted so much as a fraction, she would strike without hesitation.
These eyes that fall into the abyss without even knowing it, I will personally…
Fortunately, Silas’s gaze was wandering all over the place, nowhere near the minefield.
Kūkaku seemed to sense nothing of the eerie air around them.
She leaned in casually toward Silas, her eyes shining.
“Hey, Silas, have you got time in a bit?”