In the rooms of the third building. One in the and hallway, a mysterious room located.
...At the Student Council Chamber.
A circular room.
High ceiling.
Glass windows etched with ancient runes.
Five students sat around a long table.
At the head--
the Student Council President.
Calm.
Unmoving.
A document lay open before him.
Vice President: […The instructors submitted a report.]
He tapped the paper lightly.
Vice President: [A first-year scholarship student.]
Vice President: [Name---Taika Zeit.]
Silence.
A girl with silver gold hair leaned forward.
Treasurer: [Scholarship?]
Treasurer: [That's rare.]
Vice President nodded.
Vice President: [More than that.]
Vice President: [She failed standard circulation---yet maintained output without collapse.]
Another member scoffed.
Discipline Officer: [Luck.]
The president finally spoke.
President: […No.]
The room stilled.
President: [Luck does not ignore established mana law.]
He closed the file.
President: [A body that rejects magic—yet adapts.]
President: [A mind that refuses standard theory.]
He looked toward the window.
Toward the training grounds far below.
President: [That is not talent.]
A pause.
President: [That is potential.]
The silver-haired girl frowned.
Treasurer: [Should we observe her?]
President nodded.
President: [Quietly.]
President: [No interference.]
He stood.
President: [Galdur Academy was built to shape geniuses.]
President: [But once in a while…]
His eyes sharpened.
President: [One appears who reshapes it instead.]
The council members exchanged glances.
Outside--
Unaware.
Taika Zeit continued her small steps forward.
And the academy....
Had begun to watch.
Taika and Maya having a book study in the library, Second building.
Maya: [Hey, you know the legend?]
Taika: [... of what exactly?]
Maya: [it's the school mystery story. Long ago in this academy. Students noticed that their classmates are being missing. No trace. It was said that it's the demon's doing. The next day, the students who are missing, are peacefully back on their own bed like nothing happened.]
Taika Shivered.
Maya: [boo.]
Taika: [ AHHH!, what the hell, Maya~]
Maya laughed.
Maya: [You're that easy to startle?, Sorry my bad!]
Taika: [.. I'm guessing it isn't true?]
Maya stopped laughing.
Maya: [To be honest with you... No, it's true and it really happened.]
Taika: [so uhh, you tell me tat for....?]
Maya: [Nothing, just trying to test your skills on being nonchalant.]
Taika voice are shaky.
Taika: [is That a necessary skill to learn or something?]
Maya: [Mmm... No, not really]
Taika sighed.
Clare was listening to them from behind the book shelf.
Maya noticed.
Taika: [is everything alright, Maya?]
Maya: [You can come out now...]
Taika: [who?]
Clare: [I'm surprised you noticed me. What was that?, eye magic?]
Maya tilted her head.
Maya: [You were staring pretty hard.]
Clare ignored the comment.
Her eyes shifted to Taika.
Clare: [You're Taika Zeit.]
Taika stiffened.
Taika: […Yes.]
Silence.
The library felt colder.
Clare: [Your mana circulation.]
Clare: [It's inefficient.]
Taika lowered her gaze.
Clare: [Yet you didn't collapse.]
Clare: [Most first-years would.]
Maya crossed her arms.
Maya: [If you're here to mock her----]
Clare raised a hand.
Clare: [I'm not.]
She looked back at Taika.
Clare: [I'm curious.]
Taika blinked.
Taika: […About what?]
Clare stepped closer.
Clare: [You're doing magic wrong.]
Clare: [But it works.]
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Clare: [That shouldn't be possible.]
Taika swallowed.
Taika: [I just… try not to force it.]
Clare paused.
For a brief moment---
something shifted in her expression.
Clare: […Interesting.]
She turned away.
Clare: [Be careful.]
Taika frowned.
Taika: [About what?]
Clare stopped at the end of the aisle.
Clare: [This academy doesn't like anomalies.]
Clare: [And you're becoming one.]
She walked off.
Her footsteps faded.
Maya exhaled loudly.
Maya: […She's intense.]
Taika nodded slowly.
Taika: [But… she wasn't lying.]
She looked down at the open book.
Mana diagrams.
Perfect circles.
Too perfect.
Taika closed the book gently.
Something was changing.
And deep within Galdur Academy--
The mystery Maya joked about earlier
felt just a little less like a joke.
The hallway buzzed the moment they appeared.
Whispers spread like a ripple.
The student council walked in perfect stride—
calm, confident, untouchable.
Students lined the sides without realizing it, eyes drawn in.
They had charisma.
The kind you couldn't ignore even if you wanted to.
The president walked at the front, posture sharp, gaze forward.
Beside him, the vice president smiled faintly—polite, calculated.
And then there was the treasurer.
Elegant.
Beautiful in a way that felt unreal.
Her presence alone made students straighten their backs.
The other girls followed, each with their own quiet aura.
Grace. Authority. Prestige.
Taika slowed her steps.
Maya leaned closer.
Maya: […They're popular, huh?]
Taika nodded unconsciously.
Then—
The treasurer's eyes shifted.
She noticed them.
A black-haired student walking beside a pink-haired girl.
Taika felt it immediately.
That subtle pressure.
Like being weighed.
The president followed the treasurer's gaze.
President: […Is that her?]
Vice President: [Yes.]
Vice President: [The one from yesterday.]
The treasurer's lips curved slightly.
Treasurer: [So that's Taika Zeit.]
The council continued walking, but the air changed.
Students whispered louder now.
"Who is she?"
"Is she a first-year?"
"Why is Maya with her?"
Taika's shoulders tensed.
Maya noticed.
Maya: [Hey, don't mind them.]
Taika forced a small smile.
Taika: [I'm trying.]
As they passed each other—
For just a second—
The treasurer and Taika made eye contact.
Blue met silver gold.
The treasurer smiled.
Not warm.
Not cruel.
Interested.
And as the student council disappeared down the hall,
Taika knew one thing clearly—
She had been seen.
And in this academy,
being noticed
was never harmless..
Taika keep training in the wrong way.
But she's also somehow succeeded on using fire, water, earth and wind. All the main elements.
Taika: [Did I just....do that in my own way...]
Maya was cooking soup using a pan, vegetables and fire magic.
Maya: [that's new..congratulations my girl!]
She hugged Taika.
Maya: [If you have your own way of learning, I'm sure, you will succeed.]
Taika: [that was my plan after all...]
Maya: [Plans?, when?]
Taika: [it's what the old man said... He said that I should climb up to the top and become a genius... Thats what I remember.. ]
Maya: [Mmm... Interesting, the man who gave you the scholarship.... What does he looks like exactly....?]
Taika: [it was blurry... I actually have eye problems...]
Maya: [it's fine..here, borrow my reading glasses for temporary use.]
Taika looked at herself in the mirror.
Taika: [Honestly, I looked cute here.. ]
Maya: [wow not bothering to say it loud?... Because it's true!!]
She feels excited, seeing her with glasses.
Maya clapped her hands once, clearly trying to contain her excitement---and failing.
Maya: [Okay,wow. I officially approve of the glasses look.]
Taika adjusted them again, tilting her head slightly.
Taika: […You're staring.]
Maya: [I'm appreciating.]
Taika let out a small laugh, the tension from earlier finally easing.
The magic residue around the room slowly faded---embers cooling, water droplets evaporating, loose stones settling back into place, the wind dying down to a gentle draft.
Taika looked at her hands.
Taika: [I didn't follow any formula… no chant, no proper flow. I just… imagined it.]
Maya set the soup aside, the fire beneath the pan shrinking obediently.
Maya: [That's exactly what's strange.]
Taika: [Strange… bad strange?]
Maya shook her head.
Maya: [No. Dangerous strange. And impressive.]
Taika swallowed.
Maya walked closer, her tone softer now.
Maya: [Most mages can barely handle one element. Two if they're talented. All four…? That's not something you "accidentally" do.]
Taika: […So I really did it.]
Maya smiled gently.
Maya: [You did. In your own way.]
Taika clenched her fists, a spark of determination flickering in her eyes.
Taika: [Then I'll keep going. Even if it's the wrong way.]
Maya: [Careful.]
Maya: [In this academy, "wrong" usually means "forbidden."]
Taika: [Then I'll just have to be careful not to get caught.]
Maya laughed under her breath.
Maya: [You're really something, Taika.]
As Maya turned back to the soup, Taika glanced at the glasses again--then--
For a split second—
The reflection in the mirror shifted.
Not her room.
Not Maya.
A tall silhouette stood behind her in the glass.
An old man.
His eyes sharp.
Too sharp.
He smiled.
Old Man (memory?): "Climb to the top."
Taika gasped and spun around.
Taika: [Maya,!]
The room was empty.
Only the quiet bubbling of soup remained.
Maya looked over, concerned.
Maya: [What is it?]
Taika hesitated… then forced a smile.
Taika: […Nothing. Just thought I saw something.]
But her heart was racing.
Because for the first time--
She wondered if that "old man"
had never been just a memory at all.