Chapter 8

The Transfer Student

8:30 a.m. Ten minutes until homeroom.

The classroom of 2nd Year, Class 3 at Kazami High was still filled with noise and chatter.

Amid the commotion sat a black-haired boy at his usual seat, resting his chin on his hand.

His legs were crossed as he warily observed the students passing by.

“Damn… everyone looks suspicious as hell.”

The reason for his unease was simple.

Yesterday’s events had shattered his original assumption—
he wasn’t the only magician in Sylphus.

Now, realizing that, Reon Amaya had reached a tentative conclusion:

Anyone around him—friends or strangers alike—could potentially be gifted with magic.

When he recalled his conversation with Adel, it had been clear between the lines that the world of magicians belonged to Bersow, but never once had it been said that magicians existed in Sylphus as well.

If anyone was to blame, it was himself—for jumping to conclusions based purely on subjective speculation.

“If I’d noticed sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have gone through that nightmare…”

Cursing his own stupidity, Reon sighed deeply.

He pulled out his phone and skimmed through the morning news.

“A famous actor’s getting married… Enigma Pharmaceuticals announces a major breakthrough…
Plans for next year’s mayoral election…”

He frowned as he glanced through the headlines.

None of it was what he wanted to read.
The only thing he cared about was news about that scruffy man.

A violent crime like an attempted murder in a peaceful district—
there was no way it wouldn’t be covered by the media.

And yet—

“There’s nothing… nothing! Nothing! NOTHING! It’s nowhere!”

He tried searching ‘High school student attacked’ and checked multiple sites, but it was all useless.

On the way to school, he’d even taken a detour to the scene of the incident from his memory.

Same place. Same scenery.
But there was no trace of the crime anywhere.

No blood on the ground.
No shattered stone wall.
No trees blown down by wind magic.

—

Nothing.

—

It was as if someone had deliberately erased the truth.

“This can’t be a coincidence, right? Could there be a mastermind behind this?
A crime syndicate? The mafia or something…? …Dangerous!”

Wild conspiracy theories raced through his mind, draining the color from his face.

His back went cold, his teeth chattered from the chill of fear.

“G–good morning, everyone!”

The voice that rescued Reon from his panic belonged to a young woman—she looked to be in her twenties.

The classroom door opened, and in walked a teacher wearing a sky-blue blouse and a plain light-green skirt.

As usual, she was enjoying her favorite lollipop. Today’s flavor seemed to be lime.

“Oh! It’s Miss Amemiya!”
“Huh? What happened to Mr. Tōyama?”
“Honestly, good riddance!”

Some students sounded confused, but most were cheerful.

The dull male teacher had been replaced by a popular young woman teacher—
for the boys, that was nothing short of a blessing (though the girls might not agree).

“Ah, um… I’m Misaki Amemiya,” she said nervously.
“I’ll be your new homeroom teacher instead of Mr. Tōyama. I… I hope we can all have a fun year together…!”

Despite her attractive appearance, the new English teacher spoke with a noticeable lack of confidence.

But that shy personality—and the slight awkwardness she sometimes showed—
were precisely what made Miss Amemiya Misaki so well-liked among the students.

“Um, today… we have a transfer student joining us.
P–please make her feel welcome.”

The announcement instantly set the class abuzz with excitement.

“I wonder what kind of person it is.”
“Hope it’s a cute girl.”
“Come on, personality matters more than gender!”

Reon, bored with the atmosphere, opened his notebook and began sketching the silver-haired girl from his memory.

He couldn’t afford to waste time.
All possible evidence related to yesterday’s attack had been wiped away—
the only person who might know the truth was that girl.

“Seriously, they’re overreacting.
Even if she’s cute, she’s got nothing on Tsukinagisa-chan.”

He glanced briefly at Nagisa Arisuki, sitting in the front row,
then quickly looked back down at his paper.

“No, focus! Concentrate!
First, I’ve gotta find that girl… but how?”

He couldn’t recreate her perfectly from memory.
And even if he could, finding a specific girl in Kazami City
was about as hard as fighting a demon lord’s lieutenant barehanded.

And since he didn’t exactly move in social circles, the task felt impossible.

Sighing, Reon rubbed his face in frustration.

“…You may come in.”

At Miss Amemiya’s cue, the transfer student opened the door.

She walked slowly to the front, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote her name on the board.

The classroom fell silent as everyone read what was written—
or tried to.

“Whoa… can’t read that.”
“Is she a foreigner?”

Some frowned, unable to recognize the letters she’d used.

Others, especially the boys, were too struck by her beauty to care about language barriers.

But Reon Amaya could do neither.

“T–this girl…”

He wasn’t the type to be interested in new students,
but human curiosity made him look up.

The moment her face entered his field of vision,
sweat trickled down from his forehead to his cheek.

What caught his attention wasn’t the foreign writing on the board—
it was the girl herself.

She looked exactly like one of the people from yesterday.

The girl had shoulder-length silver hair and skin as white and smooth as snow.
Her azure eyes shone like gemstones, mesmerizingly clear.

Even wearing the same white blouse and blue skirt uniform as everyone else,
she was undeniably more beautiful than any girl in the class.

“U–um… could you write it in Japanese, please?”

“Oh, right.”

The silver-haired girl gave a small, startled nod and turned back to rewrite her name in Japanese.

“My name is Misty Seraphine. Nice to meet you.”

Whether it was fate’s trick or pure coincidence,
Reon was so shocked by his second encounter with the girl called Misty
that he dropped his pencil.

As the boys erupted in cheers over the new beauty,
Misty’s sharp gaze pierced through the crowd—
and stirred Reon’s buried memories.

“Misty… Seraphine…”

He whispered her name quietly.

He didn’t remember everything,
but he clearly recalled one thing—
Misty’s face had been splattered with blood.

The blood of three enemies, brutally slain.

And when he had opened his eyes afterward,
he’d seen a shattered mask lying just a meter away.

“Is this seat taken?”

“H–huh…?”

Snapping back to reality, Reon looked up to see Misty staring right at him.

“…”

When he hesitated, Misty narrowed her eyes slightly.

She tapped her left hand lightly on the desk,
rested her right hand on the chair, leaned closer, and repeated:

“Reon, may I sit here?”

“Wh–why are you calling me by my first name?!
And how do you even know my name, Seraphine-san?”

He wasn’t exactly overwhelmed by her boldness,
but something else had him on edge—

Nagisa Arisuki’s icy glare, sharp enough to freeze the air.

“A–Arisu-san…?”

“Oh, don’t mind me, popular Reon-kun.”

“You’ve got it wrong! It’s not what it looks like!”

“Really? Because that girl’s calling you by your first name.”

“No, no, no! That’s just her doing! I barely know her, it’s the first time we’ve—”

Turning down the transfer student’s sudden request might’ve been
the safest way to calm down the annoyed Nagisa.

But letting Misty approach on her own was too good an opportunity to pass up.

On one hand, there was his childhood friend’s feelings.
On the other, the chance to learn the truth.

Caught in this awkward dilemma, Reon had no choice but to decide.

“…Do what you want.”

He turned away, answering weakly, his face slightly red.

And as he expected—he ended up getting both.

“Nice to meet you, Reon,” said the silver-haired girl, Misty Seraphine,
now seated beside him.

“Hmph! I don’t care anymore!”

And there sat an utterly sulking Nagisa Arisuki.