The Tokyo Imperial Blade Academy (TIBA) was an imposing metropolis of steel and arcane energy, extending far from the traditional limits of Tokyo. Deep inside its specialized training Annexe, the air was sharp with the tension of spent Mana.
Ryuko Kazama, a seventeen-year-old B-Rank Mage Knight publicly branded The Zero, was locked in a mock battle. His opponent was Director Chabashira Shizuka, who wielded her Divine Artifact, the sleek conceptual pistol Hakushiki, firing anti-magic Temporal bullets faster than thought.
Ryuko, clad in a black and white tracksuit, met the barrage with nothing but his sword, Uramasa, and hybrid skill. He cut through the Temporal bullets with deadly precision, his movements a blur of Ghost Step agility.
His true advantage was Eagle Vision, which allowed him to perceive the flow of Chabashira's Mana to predict her timing. He used Ghost Step to collapse the distance in an instant. He spun, turning Uramasa down, and struck the Director's hand with the sword's heavy hilt, disarming her. The momentum carried him into an upward slash that halted precisely before it could touch her body.
Chabashira fell to her knees, panting from exhaustion. Her brown ponytail was messy, and sweat plastered her white t-shirt to her body, the outline of her bra visible. Yet, a genuine chuckle escaped her.
"Well, Ryuko," she managed, catching her breath. "You've improved. I'm lucky your sword was in its illusionary form, or I'd be dead from that cut. Or I suppose," she added, "I could shoot myself to lock the damage. Might be worth it for the insurance claim."
Ryuko allowed a faint, controlled smile. He spun Uramasa once, and the blade dispersed back into a latent state within his soul.
"Will she be here for long?" he asked, referring to his mother.
"Not really. She needs to speak with me first."
Ryuko nodded. He left the Annexe for the accommodation part of the academy city, deep in thought. I wonder what they're talking about. I doubt they'd risk speaking about that man here.
Ryuko's mother, Widow Sayagusa, had already ascended to the observation room when Chabashira walked in.
"The boy is improving," Chabashira noted, rubbing her wrist where the hilt had struck. "He broke through my lock bullets last time.
But really, Widow, why seal his powers of the Void? We both know he could be the strongest one here if he had his Void unsealed."
Widow's deep red eyes fixed on the Director with a cold intensity. "That shadow sphere has already broken one seal; even he knows that. Regardless, those Conceptual Seals on him will keep breaking one by one until the Void is free, and I can't put them back again.
Besides," her voice dropped, "I don't want that so-called Patriarch of the Japanese Knights Association breathing down on Ryuko. He's already poisoned our daughter with his ideals, and I don't want his heart in the wrong place, even if he doesn't show it on his face, mostly."
Chabashira reached out and gently squeezed Widow's hand. "Don't worry. That man won't even know what the Void is, and he's not touching your son while I'm here. I'm a mother, too, you know."
Widow sighed, a rare display of relief that quickly vanished behind her stoic mask. She told Chabashira she had other things to attend to. Chabashira watched her leave through the spatial portal she created.
I hope you know what you're doing, Chabashira thought with cold intensity, her mind focused on the difficult life Widow had chosen for her son.
Ryuko made it back to his assigned room and unlocked the door, slipping off his shoes just inside the entryway. He walked into the medium-sized room. Its design was functional yet comfortable, featuring a master bedroom aesthetic and a modern bunk bed.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Amidst the perfectly standard furnishings, a girl was standing. Her long pink hair was tied back into a ponytail, revealing an alluring, fit figure currently covered only by her underwear. She was clearly in the middle of changing, her back to him as she reached for a shirt.
Ryuko's mind went completely blank. He was usually immune to surprise, his senses too finely tuned, but the sheer absurdity of the situation flustered him. What is a beautiful girl like her even doing in my room?
The girl turned, her face immediately turning a furious, deep red from embarrassment.
She tried to speak, but only stammered, unable to form words. Ryuko, normally the picture of chilling control, found his own composure shattered. He awkwardly laughed, the sound hollow and strained in the sudden silence.
"Okay, let's just get you some clothes first and calm down," Ryuko managed, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "We don't know each other, so I'm Ryuko Kazama. What is yours?"
This is just making it worse, he thought, his internal panic escalating. She's obviously going to end me.
Ryuko's awkward attempt at de-escalation failed instantly. The girl's face, already flushed crimson, tightened into a mask of pure, humiliated fury. She didn't stammer this time; she let out a piercing shriek.
"Y... Y... Y... YOU PERVERT!"
Yeah, I'm gonna die, Ryuko thought, his earlier panic spiking into cold resignation. He held his hands up higher in a futile, peaceable gesture.
The situation immediately worsened. The bathroom door swung open, and a second girl emerged. She possessed a fit, medium-long physique slightly less statuesque than the pink-haired girl, and her dark brown hair was damp. She was wrapped tightly in a towel, clutching a dagger, its blade gleaming in the room's sterile light.
"Princess! What's the matter?" she shouted, before her eyes immediately locked onto Ryuko.
She wasted no time. The dagger was instantly pointed at Ryuko's throat, and the verbal barrage began. "Lecherous creature! You vile Zero! Did you dare violate the Princess's dignity? I will tear the Mana from your soul for this impertinence!"
Ryuko shifted his weight, trying to keep his composure despite the very real threat of being stabbed. He managed a nervous, strained smile. "I think you have other problems more important than that."
The dagger-wielding girl glanced down, realizing her own state—naked beneath a rapidly dampening towel, standing over a partially dressed, hyperventilating young woman—in the presence of the very male student she was accusing. The sight of the three of them—Ryuko in his casual clothing, the Princess in her underwear, and the guard with her dagger and towel—was a tableau of pure, unadulterated absurdity that promised absolutely no good ending for The Zero.
The scene cut abruptly to the Director's office, a space of sleek steel and pressurized calm. Director Chabashira Shizuka sat behind her desk, a cigarette pinched between her fingers. She took a slow drag, then carefully extinguished it in a crystal ashtray.
Standing before the desk, side-by-side, were the three students.
Ryuko was impeccably neat in his TIBA uniform, but his composure was betrayed by two vivid, angry red slap marks across his cheeks.
The two girls were also in their Academy uniforms: a striking design of white jackets, red trim, and dark skirts that spoke of elegance and power. The pink-haired girl—the one they called the Princess—had finally regained her composure, though her eyes still held a furious fire. The dark-haired maid stood rigidly beside her, arms crossed, radiating lethal hostility.
Chabashira leaned back, a smirk playing on her lips. She gestured toward Ryuko, the picture of professional suffering.
"Well, Ryuko," the Director asked, a playful, yet knowing tone in her voice. "What happened to you?"