Here We Go

-----Kaede's POV

Not much happened yesterday as we mainly just made sure that we have everything we need to begin classes for today. Yui still could remain separated by me which was relieving, however we still need to be careful.

Yui: "You sure about this?"

Kaede: "Yes. Now come on."

Yui: "It's just... It's weird to do it while conscious..."

We woke up early and got dressed for classes, but I'm not going until Yui at least gets some of my blood. I don't want to risk a commotion of Yui suddenly attacking some random person.

Kaede: "I can handle it."

Yui: "N-no. You might, but I can't"

Didn't she say she liked the taste of my blood? Then what's the harm in it? This is just like the time when I was being stubborn on not drinking Yui's blood. I really don't want to go through that again.

Kaede: "What's the problem?"

Yui: "Just... Biting into you. It feels wrong."

Kaede: "Hmmm."

If it's the biting part that she has an issue with. Then I guess I can just feed it to her myself? With my mind made up, I grow out one of my nails to cut into my palm, letting my blood pool up just like that other time.

Kaede: "Here."

Yui: "..."

After some hesitation, she gently held my hand I extended to her before bringing it to her mouth. A few moments pass until she finally begins to drink from my hand. It's not much blood, but she manages to drink it all, even licking the cut I made before I heal it. I'm still not happy about this situation though. What if during the course of her drinking my blood, she ends up changing more and more into a vampire? I don't want that.

After exiting the dorms, we split up in our usual groups, with Yui and Luna heading together, Olivia and her room mate going to theirs, and myself heading over to mine. I look back over to catch a glimpse of Yui in the distance before we lose sight. She seemed to be fine as she talks with Luna, leaving me at ease as I approach my classroom.

The moment I open the door however...

Everyone: "Congrats!~"

Everyone shouted out towards me the moment I stepped inside, including our teacher.

Julius: "Congratulations on winning the tournament, Kaede."

Kaede: "Thank you."

I give a light bow to the teacher before making my way further inside. That is when I spot Collin and Violet sitting together, waving out to me. Guess it's time to get all buddy buddy with them. I still don't know anything about nobility in this kingdom, but I believe I have to somehow meet their parents, and try and win them over for when the time comes. Thinking that, I smile and wave back to them as I approach. The smile might be a little forced, but it's better than being cold to them.

Collin: "Quite a big shot now, haha."

Kaede: "I guess, hehe."

Violet: "We couldn't catch up with you afterwards, but I still remember how you were flinging Marcus like a doll!"

Collin: "Oh yeah! That was pretty cool!"

Kaede: "Thank you. I made a bet with him if I could beat him within 20 seconds."

Violet: "With Marcus?"

Kaede: "Yeah."

Collin: "Well, I think you managed that. It all happened so fast, haha."

Good. Just keep smiling at them, Kaede. Win them over, keep being friendly. I'm not sure how to approach the subject of meeting their parents, but I'm hoping they'll do that for me.

Julius: "Okay! Everyone in your seats."

I move back to the front corner of the seating area where I usually sit with everyone else taking theirs. After hearing about Yui's mother's plans on fleeing to Yarene, I feel like this whole academy thing is quite useless now.

Julius: "I know the tournament came quite abruptly, but we'll continue with our familiar summoning training. Could I have a show of hands for those who are able to summon their familiar?"

Almost everyone in the class now had their hands up. They most likely were practicing during our break that we were given. I of course raised my hand as well, even if my "familiar" isn't quite normal.

Julius: "Perfect. We'll head on over to the training area after break. For those who are still struggling, let's continue-"

Ah~ This is quite reminiscent. The class can only go as fast as the slowest student. I'd like to hurry up and learn how to summon creatures. Guess this'll be a long day~

-----Yui's POV

So far so good. My body still feels normal, with no pain at all. It's confirmed now that when I drink Kaede's blood, I have more freedom to be able to do things. I just wonder why that is the case...

Kendal: "Good morning everyone. It's been a while so I'd like for us to head to the training area first. Some other classes also have the training area later today, so we'll make the most of it now. Also Ellen, congratulations once more for making third place in the tournament."

Yui: "Thank you, sir."

Kendal: "Well then. Let's get going!"

We start to move out, heading further away from the other class rooms. Thanks to Kaede's experiment yesterday, I know that I should be fine even if we're at opposite sides of the academy. But even still, I'm quite nervous since I only drank just a handful of blood.

After arriving at the training ground, we all split into pairs as we begin our sparring session. Luna and I ended up pairing up together since it has been a while since we crossed swords. But it came as a surprise to me to feel that the weight of Luna's swings were a little weaker than I remembered.

Yui: "Were you not exercising during break?"

Luna: "N-not really..."

Yui: "I knew it, haha."

Luna: "W-what's with the laugh? Oh..."

Yui: "Mm!"

She caught onto my my thoughts as her face went limp. I want Luna to be strong to be able to hold her own, so it seems like this calls for more exercise sessions.

Luna: "...Then!"

Suddenly, her attacks became strong and fast, just like I'm used to, as if she's fighting to be free from my training. Well if she's getting serious then I may as well too.

Our swords clash against one another, with my sword swiftly deflecting her blows. I'm surprised to see how much she's improved actually. She's even dodging when I try to counter attack, even if she's swinging around such a long sword.

Yui: "There we go!"

Luna: "Hmph!"

I'm still just focusing on defense, letting her wail on me as she pleases as I slip past all her attacks with ease, mimicking Alice's teachings. I am excited when the weekend comes around. Mom and Alice told me to come by, and I'm expecting a long awaited session with Alice. Who knows, she might even punish me with using water magic as well.

Suddenly, Luna makes an unexpected upward swing at me while I was in my thoughts. Thankfully I stepped aside just in time as I go to deflect her blow. That is when I noticed something strange. Instead of just deflecting her blow, my strike also sent a water blade straight towards Luna, counter attacking as our blades made contact.

Luna: "!!!"

Thankfully, Luna reacted quick enough as she also managed to block the water strike as well. But the shock on her face just now really made me panic just now. We both stop our sparring session with the both of us having questionable looks on our faces.

Luna: "Ellen?"

Yui: "Did you cast water magic just now?"

Luna: "N-no! I wouldn't be unfair like that. I want to beat you fair and square."

Yui: "Then what was that?"

Luna: "You didn't see? It came from your rapier."

Yui: "Huh?"

I look at my rapier to check, but it looked normal to me.

Luna: "Did you enchant your sword while you were gone? That's quite expensive even if you're a noble."

Yui: "N-no. I didn't get it enchanted."

Luna: "Then..."

Yui: "Are you saying I did that?"

Luna: "Yes."

What? But how? My magic doesn't work like that. There has to be magic already present for me to take control of it. So this doesn't make any sense.

Luna: "Try swinging it again."

Yui: "Okay?"

I stand back from Luna and proceed to swing my rapier horizontally, but just like I figured, nothing happened.

Luna: "Are you even putting mana into it?"

Yui: "You're asking someone who doesn't even have mana to begin with. How am I supposed to know how to do that?"

Luna: "Ah- Right."

I try to swing once more in a different direction, and another time, but both end up the same way.

Luna: "Hmmm. What were you thinking about?"

Yui: "Eh?"

Luna: "When we were sparring. You looked to be thinking about something, so I managed to find a nice opening to counter-attack. That was when it happened."

Yui: "Oh. I was just thinking about what my punishment will be like with Alice."

Luna: "Punishment?"

Yui: "I'm sure it'll be us sparring again, so I was thinking about that."

Luna: "Wait. Isn't Alice a water mage?"

Yui: "Yeah."

Luna: "Try and imagine your fight with Alice again!"

I think I see where she's going with this. It's a bit hard to visualize it on command like this, so I close my eyes as I imagine my fight with Alice. Specifically, her using her water magic to encase her sword in water. With the imagery now in my head, I go to make another swing, opening my eyes as I do so... But again, nothing happened.

Yui: "Hah~"

Luna: "I swear to you that you did that!"

Yui: "You sure?"

Luna: "I'm certain!"

I guess I did rely on my instinct when Luna did make that attack. So maybe it'll come again naturally during our training session today? I don't believe Luna will lie like this, so I'd like to figure out what this is. If I truly did just use my own magic just now, then I'll be over the moon.