Chapter 4: Risa The Wind Mage

Akira and Risa settled down at a two-person table and began to chat.

"So, you've mastered the wind element? That's a big surprise," Akira said.

Risa kept chewing her food with a smile on her face, ignoring what Akira asked.

"So, how's the food?" Akira inquired.

Risa swallowed her food before responding, "Hmm, it's not as good as I thought it would be, though."

"Hmm, maybe this will satisfy your hunger," Akira said as he pulled out a box of sushi for her.

Her eyes widened, sparkling with joy. "Really?! For me?" Risa said, ready to dig in.

"Knock yourself out, I don't mind. After all, I'm not hungry," Akira explained, looking out the window.

"Hey, you have to eat eventually," Risa insisted as she started to pick one of the sushi rolls for Akira.

"Huh?" Akira said, confused about what she was doing.

"Come on! Open wide!" Risa said.

"I'm not a child…" Akira said, crossing his arms and looking back out the window.

"If you don't eat, I'd feel bad eating your food!" Risa explained.

"You shouldn't feel bad. I'm offering it to you for a reason, Risa," Akira said.

Moments later, Akira and Risa started to hear a bit of commotion in the cafeteria. They noticed two big bullies harassing another student.

Akira tried to get up but was stopped by Risa. She grabbed his left wrist, preventing him from going further.

"Risa?" Akira said, confused about what she was doing.

"I'm afraid not even you can do anything to help that poor boy. It's better if you mind your own business, Akira," Risa explained.

Akira was purely angered by the bullies, but he let out a sigh and sat back down.

"She's right. I can't actually do much even if I wanted to help him. I'd basically be asking to get bullied too," Akira thought for a moment.

All of a sudden, they noticed someone walk in between the two bullies and stopped them from doing any further harm.

He was wearing a red cape, had glasses, his hair was blonde, and he seemed like a higher-up classman.

"You wouldn't mind if I joined, right?" said the man.

The two bullies took a step back and were a little scared but tried to act tough.

"Hey..." said the bully to the left as he started to walk up to the upperclassman with a fierce look.

"Who do you think you are, HUH!" the bully shouted as he threw his right fist at the upperclassman's face, but he was instantly stopped as the upperclassman held the bully's right fist with his left hand.

"H-huh?!" the bully said, confused about what just happened.

"Man, you pathetic bullies really don't learn, do you?" he said, smirking at the bully who had thrown his fist at him.

Akira and Risa watched, and Risa started to explain something about the upperclassman.

"That's Hiroshi Tanaka; he's an A-rank mage who uses fire and wind magic! His whole outfit is red because he just loves fire magic, so he represents the flames," Risa explained.

Soon after, Hiroshi flicked the bullies' foreheads and launched one so fast across the cafeteria, crashing into the wall.

The other bully was frightened and started to plead for mercy.

"You? Pleading for mercy?" Hiroshi said, picking the bully up by the collar of his shirt with his left hand.

"That man was pleading for mercy, yet you didn't stop. So allow me to demonstrate the pain of going through bullying," and Hiroshi's eyes glowed red, his left hand started to glow ominously with red aura around it.

"N-no, please! I-I-" the bully pleaded, but Hiroshi began to heat up his hand, making it feel like the man was touching a very hot stove.

The bully screamed in agony, trying to wiggle his way out of Hiroshi's grasp.

After a couple of minutes, Hiroshi threw him on the ground, leaving burn marks on the bully's neck.

"The next time you pick on someone, I highly suggest you reconsider. The next time I see you won't be so gentle," Hiroshi threatened.

Akira and Risa looked at each other, a little intimidated by what they just witnessed.

"Hahaha...he's strong," Akira chuckled and commented.

"Do they really allow him to do that, though?" Akira asked Risa.

"Actually, there's a club he's in that allows him to use brutal force like that against people who are harming the weak; it's called the Arcane Forces! They are like officers in a way, but instead of being arrested, they actually beat up the bullies to prevent any further harm," Risa explained.

"Interesting..." Akira said, thinking about something.

"Oh? Do you want to join the Arcane Forces? You might be able to fit in there if you can obtain or master one of the 6 elements!" Risa said.

"I don't think I could ever join them, to be honest. I feel kind of out of place here in general..." Akira said with a sad tone.

"Oh, come on, just because you can't master any one of the elements yet doesn't mean that you won't be able to! Trust me, it took me 6 months to even master one element," Risa said, hoping it would cheer Akira up.

"Anyway, lunch is almost over. What class do you have next?" Risa asked with a curious expression on her face.

"The class I'm in is called the Mage Arena class; I'm assuming that's the class that Mr. Asric teaches?" Akira asked.

She nodded.

"That's right!