"Miss Ayanami?" She paused and glanced at the subject, who may now be seeing it as a public persecution. "She's a Psychic, uh, like in the Human occult?"
Psychic (adj.) - relating to or denoting faculties or phenomena that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, especially involving telepathy or clairvoyance; psychic (n.) - a person considered or claiming to have psychic powers.
Contempt and confusion lied synonymous for each student in the reinforced room. For a time I wasn't worried because the Mind Club has no authority in the place, I didn't expect the relief to be demolished while we haven't yet left the room. I shouldn't have tried to relax for a single second, now I'm lamenting on a decision I shouldn't even lament.
Fine, I'd warrant myself a chuckle.
Since strain crawled under our mysterious newcomer's skin, I couldn't be the one experiencing true dread.
From the yokan jelly thief with a worth of cringe, internal scream bellowed as clear as it could have conveyed. Flesh and bones frantic where they're placed, her heart resonated throughout the reinforced test room. Fairly, everyone shared her heartbeat pattern and I'd be damned not to appreciate the noise.
Snow White's challenger from the Human Side.
I can freeze the pool in an instant.
I suppose Nayami Ayanami, conjurer of fire and wind, can melt what I froze in a matter of seconds.
No, I don't think it's a baseless assumption.
Cumbersome for the class to be embroiled in a power crisis, only two people remained unaffected.
"Hmm! That's kinda nice," Amaterasu murmured under an unbreakable smile.
"Hn, what are your thoughts?" I asked, persevering on the demented subject of a superpowered human.
She wryly sported a smile and hit it off with the word, "Surreal!"
I know right─and it couldn't have been more reasonable.
I have a more imaginative view about them as I've seen them in video games and manga. I've seen the outside world and your pop culture that narrowing a singularity for her being a Psychic explodes for a ruckus. Branding her being one, excitement can be barely contained but for those who never left the Magic Side, all of my classmates, it's a trip to anxious hell.
For the Mage community, honestly, we've never heard of Psychics.
However, if we're introduced to someone out of nowhere and someone of incredible stature says they're strong, we can only be thrown into chaos.
"From the human perspective, we're the occult though."
I miscalculated: there was one more person who was unfazed.
All nerves were slightly broken, all eyes unto someone irresponsibly unable to read the atmosphere.
Tsukuyomi Origami, my fake little sister's twin brother, caught upon himself the ostracizing looks from everyone else. Seems like I've missed another unbreakable smile. No matter, I'd rectify the statement and say there were three people who remained unaffected.
"Hmm, what now, she's going to read our mind without using the butterflies?"
"She is not going to read your mind," Kuzuhara cleared for him, slightly unimpressed. "She already said she specializes in fire and wind, remember?"
"Oh─!" Impressed at our president's attention to detail, he wowed in utmost enthusiasm.
"Means she invokes the phenomena themselves. No Gods and Spirits, only mind and willpower."
I butted in, prodding close to our current twain of troublemakers.
I drew their attention to me, perhaps, but the plan was to only cut between the primary speakers. When Naru looked at me, it was clear as day her mind's being strangled─having forbidden a nonstop discussion to unfold unless they're reprimanded. She could have stopped them herself, but preoccupation from the new student's unbridled nervousness divided her attention.
Definitely, even when she didn't show signs of them.
I'd like to think she's compassionate enough even if I'm glorifying her image.
Laughable for a fact─the gravitation to normal came smoothly at the sound of my voice. It wasn't angelic, nor was it authoritative. Only that I've been almost always representing them.
"You're taking it from here and from who, Yukihime? This was your job in the first place."
Tsukuyomi breezed in, playfully poking at our indifference to the subject.
In reference, I, who slept through the opening ceremony, and his sister, who didn't drop her level of joy once, instead of showing interest.
"You were always supposed to spearhead any problem relating to the unknown."
From him, we've been given a refresher course, our roles remembered albeit slightly obscure.
"You don't usually think of us as experts with these kinds of things, right?"
"Huh?" And, Tsukuyomi furrowed his eyebrows. "You're literally from the Detective Club."
And so everyone's consensus for the matter, ending at Amaterasu who winced at the fact both of us are accountable for.
"Fact check, it has been collecting dust for more than six months now," I mentioned in exasperation, though it's a failure to begin with so it doesn't even hurt. "And the only member is your sister," I added, pointing to Amaterasu.
Tsukuyomi looked at his sister, the intention─a second opinion.
"Quit it." She mildly scolded him. "We know nothing about Psychics, although we're more than ready to investigate!"
Amaterasu pumped a straight fist to the air, eagerness oozing to the anxiety containment.
I can't say everyone would be excited over her plan.
First and foremost, the impact of our new companion's presence to the Magic Side would be on everyone's thoughts. My fake little sister wants to know from a purely curious perspective. While the others were also curious, they all definitely thought it was better contained.
"I dunno but I'm more interested in the fact that she's selected for my imposed breakthrough. What…how come someone on par with the Strongest Mage agreeing to the King?"
Initiate.
Nayami Ayanami nervously stared at her immediate opponent, her heart thumping to their loudest yet.
Breaking in sweat, confused over my alien action, she couldn't take it and dug sight down her shoes.
I straightened myself and locked eyes with our scheming teacher and a heartless government lapdog.
Naru smiled back the moment I asked, by means inconceivably sympathetic without relishing her facade.
"You're pooling Miss Ayanami and I in a fight, right?" I prattled, much to the insinuation of her sardonic personality. "How about we skip your procedures and get on with it?"
Nayami Ayanami, having heard their objective leap out of her opponent's mouth, shed tears then and there. Not from fear or anything else concerning her safety or image, she finally directed her look towards mine─straight to the heart.
As if yearning to carve it out, eager to recite her soulful elegy to her six bloodlusting guardians.
No, there wasn't a soulful elegy.
What we all heard was a soulful shout of valor─from a strong person who appeared weak.
"Comet…Howitzer!"
Sway and swerve: Nayami Ayanami's forelocks languidly followed the breeze of her swiftness.
Almost unable to parry the dynamic collision from above him, Snow White can no longer ridicule her. Mind you, I haven't taken her lightly. However, I was close to breaking her into submission. Astounding as she came for sheer action, what was triggered instead was the threat for dear life.
Flesh waited to be mowed down: drills of fire emerged alongside her, and she hadn't spoken anything yet aside from two distinct words.
For the love of chaos, her attack move has a name. I can understand why she's a Psychic.
Worth a sigh for the individual involved: Nayami Ayanami, a seemingly meek girl, has to gauge the ability of the Strongest Mage.
First, I'd like to announce: Amaterasu has already seen through everything.
I might not know her methods but I trust her deduction─despite posing as the assistant, she's the Detective Club's ace. Kuzuhara also knows what's going on, for what her mind's worth for her. Our class has its fair share of secrets, and I'd trust someone originally─albeit secretly─from the Human Side to understand the nature of our latest problem child.
"It's what the government intends me to initiate, and I will see it through."
Naru's words from before we began: when I said our classroom is composed of villains and misfits, the gallery isn't only reserved for the students.
Same words resonated in the isolated pool, reasoned from its obscure note.
"I'd like to confirm if you're on board with the plan, Miss Ayanami," I asked for her consent.
Also gauged her how prepared she was, and maybe, itched to extract the tiniest clue I could as the leader of the Detective Club.
She answered, "Since the beginning…"
I peered into her eyes, staring at her abyss.
It was my first time making eye contact with her, deciding that she was the victim one needed to save─our damsel in distress like in classic fairy tales. It may have been a candy for thought. I branded her prisoner to the Seven Gods─but it wasn't how it worked at all.
Nayami Ayanami was a nonstop subjugator, unrelenting for each and every dire hit eager to reach the heart.
No punches, or in this case, bolts pulled, almost as if we were engaged in a game of death─all minds suppressed from the weirdness.
Fire versus Ice, a binarily unfathomable disadvantaged match.
Common sense would teach you the differences in real life.
What's more, I've created a battle arena out of the pool. I could have thawed out earlier than planned to annoy the Swim Club…Oh boy, that was a mistake in its own accord─but at least, we wouldn't be swimming in case an accident happens.
Within the selfsame ring, the inevitable disengaged.
We clashed under no personal connection─but what was it that led to the very scene where I'd protected myself to the death?
She'd cast her name in projecting firebrand spears out of thin air, and ignited misery from it.
Comet Howitzer, her spoken skill, laden like one of those comic moves, had twenty-seven charges coming my way in crazy algorithms.
Four of which pointed towards my torso and the remaining being feints.
The purpose of bombs is to threaten, not to kill.
I get it, and it's the silver lining keeping me out from freaking out. I've spent chances dodging her four skewering firecrackers while not minding the others. Painstakingly a pivotal move, I waited for the last minute, for them to pass at the exact time they should hit and tear my vestment.
It didn't necessarily lessen any hit points lost, though.
Also, it was an error in judgment when I termed the remaining twenty-three blasts were deceptive feints.
Vehement motions to dodge weren't enough.
Having to face her direction again had me anticipating seven projectiles primarily targeting my shoulders alone.
And if it wasn't enough, a dark horse went ahead my forehead. I managed to dodge but only by a hair's breadth. Else, she gasped from her own carelessness that she swerved the trajectory by half an inch.
I hate people who are good at predictions.
If this would be a blitzkrieg battle, then I just have to pick up her pace and turn her forecasts into wreaking chaos.
Controlled breathing straight in the uptake.
I could pin her down to the ground and call it a quick match.
I'm quite sure I'd make a sounder name if I knew how to get physical, though. Strongest Mage must mean being a spellcaster and not a martial artist. I have combat experience and a conscious capability of evading almost anything─but I wasn't properly trained.
Never mind, each of the seven projectiles passed through air.
I dodged them as I dashed─and by a chase of time, the feints I thought weren't feints, became feints.
I intended to look back─to observe if they disappeared and not try to be stabbed from behind.
No, her aggression whispered.
Our resplendent jackal broke her run and jumped, in her strikingly warping flexibility that she was able to upturn her body. A raging kick came from above, I couldn't help but form a shield of ice. Location: midair─where casting took several turns to run out of breath.
For a moment, I wished 'abracadabra' was a universal spell which instantly realizes the intended effect thought by the caster.
While I didn't have to chant spells, all the preparations and commands were slower compared to her movements.
One more thing, she was one hell of an acrobat.
She used her signature howitzer to propel her blocked foot, breaking the ice shield in the matter.
I wouldn't have imagined what loophole she would exploit next.
Such an overpowering entity: she flipped to gain momentum. I'd cast another wall of ice, thicker and thicker and thicker…And they'd break through her tactics─the pierce, the force, and the heat intensifying more and more. Around and around, each and every time, I failed to negate her.
Nonetheless, no one's backing down.
She didn't take long to realize─so she took her leap of faith.
A snap second where she switched focus.
Critical to how I could have saved myself if I held onto the thread of life.
"She stopped aiming for the heart," someone digressed.
Nonetheless, quite the vile, merciless move.
I take it she doesn't heed any doctrines when faced with an adversary.
She has practically no care of the damages could mean if ever they landed. Injurious as it is sophisticated, the psionic being has to have lost her heart somewhere in the battlefield. I couldn't care less if that was the issue─but it's strange how she's about to eradicate my existence.
Why were we fighting in the first place, I don't know, it's possible I've been thinking wrongly all these time.
Else, I know exactly what has been happening.
I'm only forgiving her for her actions for reasons I can't seem to comprehend.
Why?
"Yeah, you were always kind enough to die for her sake," someone came snark enough to jab my monologue.
And, I hate him.
"Who the hell are you?!" Sorry, I must have snapped.
His flippant ass only answered, "John Smith."
Smirk.
Mages weren't gladiators: so it's fair to point out how mock battles don't usually stretch so long at the first detection of transgression.
I fail to believe no one came to notice the odds.
None of the class showered cheers─nor did I hear any outside sound at all.
Narumi Narukami was in the same playing field but provided no commentaries for someone when she'd share otherwise.
Miss Ayanami and I fought in the frozen pool, a makeshift arena of otherwise poor taste.
Not gonna lie, I was being pounced.
Then to cut it all short─I was defeated by such a sinful error.
Snow White's neck snapped from her devastating bunny hop.
Whiplashed into foregoing life, the Strongest Mage has officially died.