This weekend was hell.
Hayama decided to focus almost exclusively on two things: improving my physique and getting me used to pain.
And he took both of them pretty seriously.
The soreness made sure to remind me of every single exercise that, according to him, had been light.
Light, my ass.
By the time Monday morning finally came around, I was still feeling the consequences.
I carefully got up and stood in front of the mirror to put on the school uniform for the first time.
Apparently, every student could request a few modifications.
The standard uniform was a very dark navy blue, but I’d asked for mine to be black.
I’d also had the collar lowered a little and added several white stripes along the sides, as well as a hood in the same color.
I like having a uniform.
It means I don’t have to think about what to wear.
“Looks like I just came back from a war,” I muttered, examining a bruise that was ruining my handsome face.
I arrived at the first-year classroom.
Utahime was already standing at the front when I appeared in the doorway.
“Alright, everyone,” she said.
“Before we start, we have a new student.”
That was enough to make every pair of eyes turn toward me.
“Come in, Nagi.”
I walked to the front, trying not to make my limp too obvious, then turned around to get my first proper look at my new classmates.
Alright, let’s see.
In the front row, on the left, a blue-haired girl sitting with perfect posture greeted me with a smile.
Wait…
wasn’t she the same girl who was outside the principal’s office the other day?
She seems nice.
Sitting next to her was another girl with short, dark hair, a bored expression, and her phone in her hand.
She didn’t even bother looking up to acknowledge me.
She doesn’t seem nice.
And behind them, sitting completely still while calmly reading a book, was some kind of mechanical humanoid.
Am I seeing things…
or do we have a robot in class?
I looked at Utahime, expecting some kind of explanation, but she simply gave me a knowing look.
I cleared my throat.
“Uh…
I’m Nagi Shirokawa.
I’m fifteen, and I was born and raised here in Kyoto.
Umm…
why are there only four losers in this class?
Is everyone else absent or something?”
The blue-haired girl let out a small laugh.
“We already explained that sorcerers are rare,” Utahime replied.
“Having three or four students per year is completely normal.”
“I joined a little later than everyone else,” I continued.
“My current rank is Grade 2.”
“Grade 2 already?” the blue-haired girl asked, turning toward me.
The girl with the phone finally looked up for the first time since I’d walked in, and even the robot raised his head from his book.
“That’s amazing, Nagi-kun!” the blue-haired girl exclaimed.
“You must be really strong!”
The other two looked at me a little differently after that.
There was a certain competitive edge in their gazes.
“I’m Kasumi Miwa,” the friendly girl introduced herself, raising a hand.
“I think we’ve already met.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“You were outside the principal’s office when I arrived.”
She smiled, clearly pleased.
At least this girl seemed friendly and relatively normal.
The other girl sighed.
“Mai Zenin,” she said without much enthusiasm, barely glancing at me before returning her attention to whatever she was doing.
“Could you not shout so much, Miwa?”
“Sorry, Mai-san…” Miwa replied, immediately lowering her voice.
Mai looked at me again.
This time, I held her gaze, trying to figure out what her problem with me was. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“And stop looking at me like that,” she added with a slight frown.
“It’s annoying.”
I’ve been here for five minutes and I’ve already found the perfect person to annoy whenever I get bored.
What an insufferable girl.
Without saying anything else, I walked over to my seat and sat beside Mechamaru, directly behind Miwa.
“I’m Mechamaru,” the mechanical guy said calmly.
I’d been trying to hold myself back ever since I entered the classroom, but I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you a robot?” I asked, pointing at him slightly.
Mechamaru went completely still and didn’t answer.
…
Miwa turned around and leaned slightly over my desk.
“They’re…
a little special,” she whispered.
Utahime clapped her hands a couple of times to get our attention.
“Alright.
Before we continue with class, I want to avoid any misunderstandings once you start working together on missions.
You three already know more or less what the others can do, but Nagi has only just joined us.”
“So we’re going to go over everyone’s abilities.
You’ll explain yours to Nagi, and he’ll explain his to you.
There’s no need to reveal any details you’d rather keep private.
Just the essentials.”
Miwa was the first to stand and move to the front of the classroom.
“I don’t have an innate cursed technique,” she explained with a slightly awkward smile.
“So I mainly focus on katana combat and New Shadow Style.
Defense is my specialty.”
New Shadow Style…
I’ll have to ask her what that is later.
Mai went next.
“My innate technique is called Construction.
It lets me create physical objects using cursed energy, as long as I understand their structure.
Though, for example, I can only create one bullet a day because I don’t have much cursed energy.”
When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound very impressive.
“Oh, and I use firearms,” she added, pulling out a revolver and holding it up in front of her.
So that’s why she emphasized making bullets.
We’ve got a gunslinger in class.
Finally, it was Mechamaru’s turn.
“My true body is not here ,my cursed technique allows me to remotely control mechanical bodies,” he explained.
“I can operate multiple puppets from a distance and channel my cursed energy through them.
This body is only one of the many puppets I possess.”
He lightly tapped his chest with his knuckles.
Clonk.
“I am Kokichi Muta, and my current rank is Semi-Grade 1.”
From his tone, it was pretty obvious he’d added that last part just to get a reaction out of me.
It worked.
Enjoy it while you can, Mechamaru.
Utahime cleared her throat.
“Nagi,” she said.
“Now that everyone else has explained their abilities, you’re the only one left.”
Three pairs of eyes were fixed on me.
Well…
two pairs of eyes and Mechamaru’s visors.
“My main technique is called Chronostasis,” I began.
“I can create spheres that affect time.
If one of them hits someone, the target becomes completely paralyzed.”
“How does that work?” Miwa asked.
“Time stops for the target.
They can’t move, think, or even realize they’re trapped.
From their perspective, no time passes at all.
The effect breaks as soon as something comes into contact with the sphere.”
“Gross.
Another guy who won the genetic lottery.”
“Besides that, I have a visual ability called the Shinkeigan.
I can read someone’s movements through the neural signals in their body and anticipate what they’re about to do.
It has a few other functions too.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Miwa suddenly turned toward me.
“Then you should be able to tell what I’m going to throw if I like …, do….
if throw a rock-paper-scissors.”
She raised her fist.
Before she could count to two, I answered.
“Paper.”
Miwa slowly opened her hand.
Her palm had barely started forming paper when she froze and stared down at it.
“Whoa, I was going to pick that.”
Utahime ended the introductions shortly afterward.
My three classmates left the classroom, leaving me alone with her.
Utahime leaned against the desk.
“You have a considerable amount of cursed energy,” she said.
“It would be a shame to waste it because you don’t know how to control it properly.”
“You’re going to teach me how to control it?
Am I going to have to climb trees or train with leaves?”
Utahime stared at me for a second.
“That’s from Naruto, isn’t it?”
“I’m a fan.”
She sighed and pointed toward my abdomen.
“Cursed energy is born from negative emotions.
You already know that.
The most widely accepted theory is that it originates in the stomach and spreads from there throughout the rest of the body.
Think of your body as a circuit, with its core located there.”
“Like electricity?”
“Exactly.
If the circuit is inefficient, you lose energy along the way.
Up until now, you’ve compensated for your lack of technique by spending far more cursed energy than necessary.”
That explained a few things.
“Try to concentrate it,” she ordered.
“Make it flow evenly from your core throughout the rest of your body.”
I closed my eyes and searched for that familiar sensation, that dark, restless pressure.
I tried to push it toward my arms, and an uncomfortable jolt shot all the way down to my hands.
“No,” Utahime corrected me immediately.
“Don’t force it.”
I tried again.
This time, it flowed more smoothly, but I quickly felt some of that energy disperse as it reached my limbs.
“There.
You just lost energy,” she pointed out.
I opened my eyes, frustrated.
“It’s harder than it looks.”
“You learned how to use cursed energy completely on your own, so you’ve picked up some bad habits.
That’s normal.
Empty your mind and stop trying to consciously control every part of the process.”
I tried for a third time.
I breathed slowly and stopped forcing the sensation until, little by little, the same current flowed through my arms, torso, and legs.
“There,” Utahime said.
“That was much better.”
Utahime pushed herself away from the desk and gathered a few of her things before looking back at me.
“By the way, Nagi.
How would you feel about having a training match against your classmates?”
Enjoying the story?
Chronostasis and help more people find it!