Chapter Text
"And this'll be your practical magic class!" Headmaster Miku waved to the classroom, where Professor KAITO and five other students were currently panicking.
"Where is she?!"
"I don't know!"
"Careful! Nobody move!"
"...It appears we've lost a student. Well... moving to the next class! This'll be your history of magic class, where-"
CRACK. BOOM.
"Ah! Hello Asahina, what a pleasure to see you here!" Headmaster Miku giggled, completely ignoring the fact that lightning just shook the whole building.
"Good morning, Headmaster Miku. Is this our new student?" The girl asked, looking in his direction.
"My, how observant! Yes, he is! This is Tsukasa Tenma- he'll be joining us for the rest of the year!"
Tsukasa just stood flabbergasted at the fact this girl was able to summon lightning out of thin air to announce her presence. Was she a powerful spellcaster? No... perhaps a perfect student? Maybe she just commanded a room like no other. She didn't seem like the attention seeking type... she was fascinating, and Tsukasa was going to figure her out!
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Tsukasa Tenma!" He bowed, looking up at the girl. She looked at him with minor confusion, before letting out a small laugh.
"No need for such formalities. My name is Mafuyu Asahina, but you can call me Mafuyu." She smiled, holding out her hand. Tsukasa shook it, and she had a surprisingly small grip. She gave Headmaster Miku a small bow, before heading for her seat.
"Asahina's such a wonderful student, I know you'll get along!" Headmaster Miku nodded to Tsukasa. While it was a small school, Tsukasa had yet to meet a bad student. Everyone here was so... nice. And he was looking forward to spending his time here.
"Your school is so nice. It's incredible you're able to teach such fascinating magic in such a small building." Tsukasa said, looking around at the beautiful architecture.
"Oh, it's really not much. I built it for a select few students who just... well, wanted a more tight-knit student body. I find it easier to learn when the students know everyone!"
Headmaster Miku explained the history of Mikudemy to Tsukasa, telling her about the long lines of all the headmasters in her family, before it finally fell to her. She regaled the stories of previous students, and how everyone here had their own unique type of magic.
"Indeed, everyone here is different. Other schools teach uniform magic, but me? Why, I say to embrace whatever magic is inside of you, even if it's-"
"COMING THROUGH!"
"WHY IS HE SO FAST?!"
"JUST CATCH HIM ALREADY!"
"YOU'RE ALL SKIPPING CLASS!"
Tsukasa barely had time to react before a dog zipped down the hallway, being tailed by three students. Professor Luka was closely behind, more angry about the fact the students were skipping class, rather than the fact a literal dog was on the loose in the school. Tsukasa heard legends of the Mikudemy being... well, unique, but seeing it up close? "Unique" was a bit generous.
"Ah, yes. Our resident dog wranglers. You'd be surprised how often this happens." Headmaster Miku explained, seeming completely unfazed.
"...Why is there a dog in the school? It seemed pretty tightly secured." Tsukasa asked, looking towards Headmaster Miku, more curious than confused.
"Oh, I know I said dog, but he doesn't like it. I meant student." Headmaster Miku shrugged, turning away from Tsukasa and walking down the hallway, expecting him to follow, but Tsukasa was too utterly concerned to even move. A student. That dog... was a student. Headmaster Miku did say that they also lost a student, which explained the others searching in practical magic... and maybe why lightning struck whenever Mafuyu entered a room...
Tsukasa followed after Headmaster Miku, trying to handle the tour, though it was quite hard to see the Mikudemy the same now. Headmaster Miku ended it off at the dorms, gave Tsukasa his schedule, and then... walked off. Like she expected him to already be used to everything.
He wasn't.
"...Psst! Hey, you! Blondie! C'mere!"
Tsukasa looked around, confused, wondering who had the audacity to call him "Blondie", when he was clearly closer to genuine yellow. He then saw a girl with grey hair standing behind a pillar, giving him an intense stare, and a mildly bioluminescent girl with short pink hair behind her.
"Um... me?" Tsukasa asked, looking around to see who else might be the lucky blondie she was talking about.
"Yes, you! Who else here has bright yellow hair?!" The girl scoffed, already seeming annoyed with him.
"Rin and Len!" The pink-haired girl chimed in, and the grey-haired girl nodded, knowing she'd been bested. Tsukasa felt his heart pounding nervously as he approached the rather menacing girl, hoping that today wasn't the day he'd die. He barely even got to study alchemy!
"So. I see you're new. And looks like you need the run-down of Mikudemy." The grey-haired girl raised an eyebrow, looking Tsukasa up and down, as if trying to understand him.
"...Yeah. How could you tell?" Tsukasa asked, feeling mildly offended at the fact she immediately recognized he's new. Because, for some reason, Tsukasa thought he'd immediately blend in.
"Basically, we've got a problem kid. His name is Rui, and he's a bit too good at magic. Tried to help some of us, but just gave us mildly annoying curses. So, if you see a freakishly tall and lanky guy approaching you, just pray that he doesn't want you as a guinea pig. By the way, my name is Nene, and this is Emu." The grey-haired girl explained, pointing to the pink-haired gil- who was totally glowing, Tsukasa could swear his skin care products on it- but he didn't say anything.
"...Got it." Tsukasa nodded, before quickly walking off. He wasn't late to a class, he just needed time to process what the heck he just signed up for.
So, it took him a few hours ( and the help of Honami and Saki ) to understand the situation. Nene got it pretty spot on, Rui... is a bit weird, and made it everyone's problem. The student that they lost in practical magic is named Kohane, and she just... randomly shrinks down, which Tsukasa thought was, quite possibly, the worst thing to happen to someone. The dog was Akito, who was in the same situation as Kohane, but... dogs. And apparently Akito was deathly afraid of dogs, so Tsukasa felt pretty bad for the guy. Mafuyu's curse makes lightning ominously strike whenever she enters a room, Emu glows when she smiles, Nene sees the world as an 8-bit game, animals are incredibly afraid of Shiho ( so she and Akito had a hard time getting along ), and another girl named Minori alternated between godly luck and then... well, needless to say, hearing that she once accidentally stepped on her phone and broke it, Tsukasa didn't need to know how bad her luck was.
"Welcome to Mikudemy, big bro! But, don't worry, Rui's actually pretty nice. He did apologize for everything, but he doesn't really know how to fix it, so... we all just kinda deal with it!" Saki explained, and Honami nodded along.
"Whenever Kohane shrinks down, we typically have to stop class to find her. Thankfully, it goes away in... well, an hour or two. But it's still difficult writing down notes when the pencil is bigger than you..." Honami nervously laughed.
"And, one day... ooooh, we had Mafuyu, Minori, Kohane, AND Akito in the same room! Needless to say, that day went down in Mikudemy history." Saki giggled, as if the moment was funny for her, whereas Honami's eyes went wide. She clearly wasn't as amused as her.
"...Well, uhm... thanks for the crash course, you two. I've got to get going, but I'll see you two later." Tsukasa said, nodding as he grabbed his bag and headed to the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, he saw Mafuyu sitting with a girl with long white hair, who was currently asleep in her lap. Nene and Emu were playing video games, Toya and Kohane, who was back to normal, were giving Akito, who was also back to normal, and another girl a crash course of the classes they missed, Minori was carefully trying to grab spaghetti from the food bar, unsure on if it was good luck day or bad luck day. A girl with short blue hair next to her laughed and scooped it for her, before those two walked off. And, in the corner, doodling away in various notebooks, sat the legend himself...
Rui Kamishiro.
Tsukasa took a deep breath, deciding he'd be the better man and introduce himself. Rui didn't sound like a bad guy- in fact, he sounded pretty nice- so Tsukasa didn't mind trying to befriend him. He just had to be careful around him, lest he lose his charm... or, worse, his impeccable hair and complextion.
"Hey... you're... Rui Kamishiro, right? Mind if I sit here?" Tsukasa asked, pointing to a free seat across from Rui. He looked up, his eyes boring into Tsukasa's, before he closed his notebook with a smile and nodded.
"Sure! Go ahead! And, by the way, you don't have to ask. I'd be fine if you sat across from me unannounced." Rui laughed, looking up at Tsukasa with a warm smile. There's no way this guy, who looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly, singlehandedly caused all the drama in Mikudemy.
"Well, I just wanted to know. You seemed busy, so... didn't wanna interrupt!" Tsukasa smirked, striking a humble pose. It wasn't humble, but Rui found it funny.
"No, no, it wasn't anything important. Nene and Emu know about it, so it's not a major secret, or anything."
"Really? I talked to them earlier today, and they didn't mention anything."
"Well, I mean... they decided it was a secret, but you can know. You're pretty cute, so I don't mind." Rui smirked, somehow beating Tsukasa's smug smile. He looked at Rui with utter shock, his jaw dropping at this man's pure audacity to compliment Tsukasa's wonderful appearance.
"...I'm honored!" Tsukasa tried his best to respond, but that was all he could say.
Rui opened his notebook and explained to Tsukasa what he was planning: It had been a year since he made those magic mishaps, and he had spent the time learning how to reverse them. He didn't want to try until he had more evidence, or risk making it worse ( for example, accidentally making Emu a walking glow stick ), so he wanted to make sure he knew absolutely everything, to guarantee that he could fix everyone without hurting them more. Tsukasa looked at Rui, surprised at his dedication. He spent a whole year... wanting to fix it? And nobody knew... so he had been doing this, hoping he could surprise everyone.
"That's... really cool, Rui." Tsukasa smiled, feeling a sense of respect grow inside of him. Rui just shrugged, closing his notebook.
"Well... I just feel bad, so... I want to make up for it." Rui nodded, determination sparking in his eyes.
Tsukasa spent the rest of his lunch period talking with Rui, getting to know him better. Turns out, he had a more... imaginative type of magic, meaning his magic was pretty strong, but... had a pretty high chance of backfiring, too… which was basically every time Rui tried it on his classmates. Rui said Akito was first, in that he tried to get rid of his fear of dogs. And Tsukasa assumed what happened after that. Then it was Minori, and Rui… partially made her luck better! But he also made it worse… then it was Emu. Emu just wanted to have her smile shine brighter. Rui’s magic took it literally. Then came Kohane, who wanted to be a bit more courageous. That one went well. Mafuyu wanted to be less intimidating, which quite possibly backfired in the worst way possible. Nene wanted to be better at video games, and Shiho wanted to be better with handling animals. Tsukasa got to talking to Rui for a while, and before they knew it, lunch was over.
Tsukasa made his way to Headmaster Miku’s office, where he had to figure out what his type of magic was. He had to go through personality test, working on his form, casting actual spells, some more personality tests, and then Headmaster Miku and Professor MEIKO analyzed his results.
”Let’s see… Mr. Tenma, seems your magic has got a knack for helping others. You’ve got a talent for making other people smile, that’s for sure.” Professor MEIKO nodded, before handing Tsukasa his results. Tsukasa looked them over, before thinking… if Tsukasa’s magic was helping people… what if he teamed up with Rui? If Tsukasa’s magic worked with Rui’s magic, maybe… they’d be able to get everyone fixed together! Of course, Tsukasa didn’t exactly know… how to do magic… but he’d learn along the way! He could contribute to helping everyone and be considered a hero, even if he only came here for Saki and Toya! Oh yeah… it’s all coming together.
Tsukasa headed for his second class, which was… yes! Alchemy! He felt a sense of excitement at the idea of messing around with dangerous chemicals and making even more dangerous, potentially lethal, liquids. But that was the thrill of magic! Possibly dying! Professor Luka taught that one, and she seemed pretty stern about it. He looked around and saw Mafuyu sitting with a girl with short brown hair, who seemed to be cramming a book, and Shiho was sitting with Honami. Akito was asleep, and Kohane was trying to get him to wake up, while Minori was sitting with Shizuku. Tsukasa decided he’d go and sit with Emu, who was sitting by herself. She was still somewhat glowing, but not as intensely. But when Tsukasa sat next to her, her glow… certainly intensified!
”Tsukasa! How cool is it that we share a class?! I used to be lonely, but now I have a friend! I bet you’re a good alchemy partner!” She rambled, tightly hugging Tsukasa, blinding him as her glow intensified, distracting Mafuyu, waking up Akito, and making Honami giggle.
“Emu! I’d appreciate it if you got your glow under control, please!” Professor Luka sighed, putting her glasses on and shaking her head. Tsukasa had a feeling that alchemy was going to get much more interesting.
…Except it wasn’t that interesting. Primarily that Akito has perfect timing in catching Kohane when she shrinks, Shiho managed to scare away the rat that attempted to infiltrate the class, and Mafuyu scared the living daylights out of everyone after coming back from grabbing a piece of lettuce from the cafeteria for some kind of mysterious potion Luka was making. Tsukasa sighed, leaving the class mildly disappointed.
However, as he was walking back, he was approached in the hallway… by a certain someone.
”Hello, Tsukasa! I heard you got a helpful type of magic… perhaps you could… help me out.” Rui smirked, as if he knew what Tsukasa was thinking.
Now, Tsukasa had two options: Go with Rui and hope he was going to end up like some of the other students… or just hope that Rui had grown attached to the normal Tsukasa.
”…Sure. Let’s get this party started.” Tsukasa nervously laughed, before yelping a bit as Rui grabbed his hand and bolted down the hallway. Tsukasa was now permanently involved with Rui’s antics.
And Tsukasa felt like it was certainly going to be an interesting experience.