Nanami awoke in the morning, the sun piercing through the high arched dorm windows. As usual she was the first to wake up and the first to begin her day.
After the others would awake she would spend the first half of the day, helping Kaito understand.
the magic the professor had explained. She helped with him, and then he would help Dante.
Nanami spent most of her time buried in the library, nestled between towers of books and scattered blueprints. From morning until long past sunset, she sat at the same table in the back corner, where sunlight filtered through high arched windows and dust motes danced in the quiet air. Around her were worn notebooks filled with calculations, schematics, and strange symbols—each one a piece of the puzzle she was obsessively trying to solve. Whatever she was building, it was complex, ahead of its time, and probably not sanctioned by the school—or any school, for that matter.
It wasn't long before her quiet presence caught the attention of another student.
"Hey," came a sudden, chipper voice, cutting through the silence like a dropped book. "Are you seriously working on that?"
Nanami blinked and looked up, caught off guard. A girl stood across from her, arms crossed, leaning in slightly as she peered at the blueprints spread across the table. Her hair was wild, curly and partially dyed an electric blue, and her expression was one of animated curiosity. She had the air of someone who lived entirely in the realm of ideas and rarely waited for permission to speak.
"That's some pretty advanced stuff," the girl continued, eyebrows raised. "Quantum phasing, adaptive circuits, cross-lingual interface logic? You're telling me you understand all of this?"
Nanami hesitated, unsure how to respond. The girl wasn't hostile—just intensely inquisitive, the kind of person who thrived on the unexpected. She gave a small nod.
"I've been working on it for a while," Nanami said quietly.
The girl let out a low whistle and pulled up a chair without asking. "You have to tell me how you figured out the interface protocols. And those inscriptions—are those ancient scripts?"
As the two of them talked, the girl's rapid-fire questions continued, jumping from theory to theory, her words buzzing with enthusiasm. Yet, as Nanami began to explain her process in more detail—layering advanced terminology with precise reasoning—the girl's smile faded into something more contemplative.
"Wait a second," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You're not just smart. You're… too smart."
Nanami stopped mid-sentence.
"I mean," the girl went on, tapping a pen against her lip, "I've been at this school for three years. I know the brainiacs. If someone like you had been here this whole time, I'd have noticed. Everyone would have."
There was a tense pause. Nanami's hand instinctively moved to close one of her notebooks.
But then the girl grinned again, leaning back in her chair. "Relax, I'm not going to rat you out. Honestly, I'm more intrigued than anything else. It's not every day someone shows up with working knowledge of both experimental tech andobscure ancient languages."
Nanami let out a soft breath of relief.
"Name's Kaelin, by the way," the girl added. "And since you clearly know your stuff, let's keep talking. You might be able to help me with my project."
Their conversation resumed, this time shifting to theories on energy transfer systems and dormant machine interfaces. As Kaelin casually mentioned the role of hieroglyphic systems in transmitting commands across non-verbal protocols, something clicked in Nanami's mind. Her eyes widened.
"Hieroglyphics…" she murmured. "That's it. That's what I was missing."
Kaelin raised a brow. "Missing link for what?"
Nanami didn't answer right away, her mind already racing ahead. With the ancient symbols, she could potentially activate the mechanism—without Crystia's core. She looked up at Kaelin, her expression caught between gratitude and disbelief.
"You just helped me solve the last piece," she said.
Kaelin grinned. "Glad I could help. Now I really want to see what you're building."
Kaito and Dante were deep into their sparring session in the training room, the sound of footwork and padded impacts filling the space. Kaito moved with sharp precision, his strikes fast and rhythmic, while Dante did his best to keep up, breath already coming in short gasps.
"You're leaving your right side open again," Kaito called mid-swing.
"I'm aware!" Dante yelped, dodging with a stumble more than grace.
Just as Kaito was about to press forward again, the doors at the far end hissed open.
A girl stepped in, and the room shifted the instant she crossed the threshold.
She didn't say anything at first, she didn't have to. Her presence was immediate, almost suffocating. Tall, lean, and composed, an elven woman, she walked with the ease of someone used to moving through rooms like they belonged to her. Her uniform bore several distinctions neither Kaito nor Dante recognized, but it was clear from her posture and expression that she held rank, serious rank.
Her eyes landed on them like a blade being drawn.
"You don't go here," she said flatly.
Kaito, still holding his sword, gave her a once-over. "You can tell just by looking?"
"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "And more importantly... you're in my training room. Move."
Kaito narrowed his eyes. "Kind of rude, don't you think? You could say please."
Dante swallowed, already shrinking back. "Kaito, maybe we should just—"
"Quiet," the girl snapped, without even looking at him.
The door opened again, and Yukki walked in, holding a drink and looking like he was hoping this wasn't going where it looked like it was going.
The girl immediately smiled, sharp and elegant. "There you are," she said, tone shifting like the click of a lock disengaging. "I was wondering where my kitten had wandered off to."
Dante blinked. "Your what?"
Yukki stopped walking. "Don't start," he muttered, mostly to Kaito, then turned to her with a resigned sigh. "Ashera."
She tilted her head, still smiling. "You didn't tell me you were bringing outsiders into my space."
"They're not causing trouble," Yukki said quickly. "Just training. They'll be done soon."
"They're already in my way," Ashera replied coolly. "Especially the loud one."
Kaito took a step forward. "Excuse me?"
Dante stepped forward too, but only to gently tug Kaito's sleeve. "Kaito."
Ashera turned her eyes back to Yukki. "You always find such interesting company."
"They're fine," Yukki said again, voice low. "Just let them finish up. Please."
She studied the pair for a beat longer, then waved a hand dismissively. "Ten minutes. And keep the volume down."
She turned and walked to the far side of the room, not sparing them another glance. As she passed Yukki, she flicked a strand of his hair with two fingers and whispered, "You owe me."
Kaito looked from her to Yukki, still frowning. "Okay. Who is she?"
Yukki groaned. "Ashera. Top-ranked student at the academy. Rank One."
Kaito raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Dante let out a soft wheeze. "She's terrifying."
Yukki dropped his drink on a nearby bench and mumbled, "You don't even know the half of it."
Kaito laughed, finally relaxing. "Well. Now I'm interested."
Yukki glared. "Don't be."
"What are you two up to anyways?" He asks.
Dante snapped back. "Right, i'm trying to figure out how Kaito can read me so well." He explained.
Kaito smiled. "Yukki, wanna help me show him?" He asks.
Yukki rolled his eyes. "Sure,"
Yukki was partially against it, since last time he spared Kaito it didn't go well, but he did become stronger so maybe he'd win this time around.
The sparring mat was cleared. Ashera had retreated to the far wall, arms crossed, silently observing while pretending not to care. Dante stood off to the side, clutching a notepad, watching like his life depended on it.
Kaito stepped onto the mat, rolling his shoulders as he faced Yukki. The two circled each other slowly, training staves in hand.
"This is for Dante," Yukki said, expression calm. "I'm not going easy."
"I didn't ask you to," Kaito replied with a grin.
They moved.
It started fast. Yukki lunged first, feinting left and pivoting low, striking toward Kaito's leg. Kaito deflected cleanly and snapped back with a strike to the shoulder, but Yukki spun out of range, blade whipping around like wind. The rhythm was fluid, strike, step, deflect, strike again.
Off to the side, Dante watched wide-eyed. "How do you see that stuff coming?"
"Everyone has a tell," Kaito called, ducking another blow. "Subtle shift. Weight on the foot. Tension in the shoulder. You read the body, not just the movement."
He caught Yukki's next strike near the hilt and twisted, forcing him to disengage.
"But you're not looking hard enough," Kaito added.
He was right, though he didn't fully understand how right.
As Yukki attacked again, this time faster, more precise, Kaito's eyes locked in. He wasn't just seeing motion. He noticed the way Yukki's breath hitched half a second before he moved. The way his right calf flexed just a little more before he pivoted. The brief rush of color under his skin as adrenaline surged through his arms.
It was like reading an equation before it finished solving itself.
Kaito sidestepped a downward arc before it even fully formed, pivoted smoothly behind Yukki, and tapped the back of his leg with his sword. Yukki stumbled.
Another strike, fluid and precise, landed against Yukki's ribs.
"Point," Kaito said calmly.
Yukki blinked, then stepped back, breathing a little harder. "Huh. That was fast."
"You hesitated," Kaito said, not smug but clearly satisfied.
"No," Yukki replied, narrowing his eyes. "You knew before I even moved."
Kaito shrugged. "I just read the shift in your stance. That's all."
From the side, Dante raised a hand like a student. "Okay, but how do you see that fast?"
Kaito glanced at him. "I don't know. I just… feel it. Like the movement's already happened, and I'm just stepping into place."
Ashera watched in silence, head tilted, lips twitching into a subtle smirk.
Yukki exhaled and stretched his shoulder. "You're not just reading tells. You're predicting intent."
"Is that bad?" Kaito asked.
"No," Yukki said, a bit too quietly. "It's just not normal."
Dante looked back and forth between them, eyebrows raised. "So… are we still teaching me stuff, or…?"
Kaito turned back to him with a grin. "Lesson one: fight fair. Lesson two: watch closely."