Volume 1 Chapter 1.1: The Disillusion of Magic

Magic is bliss, isn't it?

Magic is what always brought excitement and joy to people in our pessimistic world. Of course, real magic doesn't exist since it is all an illusion. However, I have always believed in the illusion because other people believed in the illusion. After all, people are emotional creatures, people cope and lie to themselves about the reality they are in and look at things from an emotional humanitarian perspective and not from the unbiased logical perspective due to how ruthless and cold it is.

Of course, I don't blame them for wanting to fool themselves from the cold reality, it is why I love magic. 

My love for magic also stemmed from my mother who always did magic tricks for me to bring delight to me since we didn't have a lot in our times of trouble. Nevertheless, I wanted to do what she has done and bring joy and delight to people through the fields of illusion.

I was currently standing in front of my new school, in fact, it recently has been created as I and 199 others will be the first-ever students to enter this school.

International Requiem Academy, the elite of the elite academy that opens right in the dead center of Austria. The school has been designated for the most exceptional students worldwide as it allows autonomy for us students as the area of the school is the size of that of an average American small city that accommodates us students.

Of course, I was surprised when I took the entrance exam for this school since I wasn't expecting to make it in but I am glad nevertheless.

"The landscape and exteriors of this school are amazing!" 

I heard a girl beside me say as she had stars in her eyes from looking at the design of this school.

I looked at her appearance and noticed she had beautiful short red hair and a luminous purple iris, also her smile was about on par with my mother's, perhaps my mom had a long-lost daughter she wasn't aware of.

Has she been standing beside me this whole time?

From her accent, I think she is French. "Pardon me, but are you French perhaps?"

She looked at me with a bit of surprise sketched into her eyes as if she was happy that someone knew she was French.

"I am! How did you know?"

She asked me out of curiosity. "Well…. Some of my family members on my mother's side spoke French so I took the liberty of studying the language and finally learned how to speak it and translate what is saying in my brain."

This was true since my mother's side derived from European Latin lineage so they spoke a diverse amount of Latin languages, so I had to learn all of the Latin-based languages for the sake of speaking to my other relatives with ease. Of course, my father's side was easier to learn since he only spoke two languages which were English and Japanese, and nothing else so it took me a quicker time due to the quantity of languages I learned on my dad's side in contrast to my mother's side.

Although my linguistic knowledge only ranges within those, if it were any other language, I would be as dumb as a blind bird.

"That is impressive."

"It isn't that much in my opinion, given we are going to this school. There must be someone superior to me in that linguistic field."

She then looked at me narrowly as if trying to pry out something from me. Or am I making a weird expression?

Have I somehow made a bad impression for the first time being here?

Well I guess it was expected, I haven't been the social type so I guess I was destined to give out a weird impression of myself to others.

What an unfortunate way to start my new school life, making a girl get weirded out by me.

"It's a bit cute to see you overthink a bit too much fufufu.." The girl giggled as she continued.

"Nevertheless, I wasn't weirded out by what you said. I was just surprised at how modest you are about your language skills. Anyways my name is Aurélie Louise, Class B." She said with a smile as she extended her hand out to me.

Well, it's good to see that I didn't have her perceive me as a weird guy, also she called me cute. Anyway, I shouldn't stay quiet for too long, or else I would be considered rude if I didn't respond.

I extended my hand to her as well. "My name is Isaac Mahoka and I am from Class H. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Louise." 

I can tell she was happy and a bit disappointed, most likely due to being in a different class.

"Miss. Louise? You're quite formal with who you speak. Are you like that with everyone?"

It was an understandable question since you usually direct someone's name that way to your superiors or teachers.

I nodded to her question. "Yes, since I believe the best approach to someone is more formally to gain respect."

It also has no negative impact to refer to someone as 'Mr' or 'Miss' since it shows maturity from their formalities and whatnot.

We then stopped shaking hands as she asked me a question that I wasn't entirely expecting, since it is usually a question one would ask themselves.

"Do you think the class arrangements are a bit weird?"

Considering the classes are arranged in alphabetical order, the usual ABC class system would only use A through D to arrange the classes rather than the entire alphabet, if you live in the Asian region of the world of course. So I guess this establishment is taking some inspiration from them.

"I don't believe so, since they probably arrange our class placement for a reason, after all this is a worldwide elite school. If it were an average school it could come across as weird though."

I gave my honest answer, I am sure she had a similar answer in her mind before asking me that question, she probably wanted to know if she wasn't the only one who thought the same.

And since her expression softened a bit makes me believe she was satisfied with my answer. "I also had a similar thought as well." She smiled at me warmly.

Could this imply that we are friends now?

I mean, I did have friends before, however, I haven't seen them In a long time due to some complicated issues in the past.

"Say, Miss. Louise, are we friends now?" 

She nodded quickly after I asked her that question. "Of course! And you don't have to refer to me as my last name, you know? I am fine with you calling me Aurélie as long as I can call you Isaac." She proposed.

I started to contemplate this simplistic request that I would without a doubt agree to, but I just knew it would be a bother if people started to see the both of us referring to each other by our first name, some might ask how close we are and assume we are close friends and perhaps ask if we are dating.

Anyways, it just might be me overthinking things.

"Alright then, Aurélie." I smiled back at her.

Smiles are truly magical in my eyes, they bring ease to those no matter what, even in tough situations, a smile is just another way of reassuring others and making sure they know that you are grateful for them…..

As long as they believe in it, then it becomes true….

We then parted ways and we went to our class. However, I do find it strange we didn't have an entrance ceremony considering this is their first opening to their students.

Whatever the case may be, this new school life should be interesting, since it gets me to step out of my usual territory.

I eventually found the Class H room and made it in as I was the first one, and since all the desks were labeled with our names I found mine in the very back row but in the half area.

As I sat down in my seat waiting for the class to fill up, my eyes couldn't help but wander off to the seats on my left and right due to being curious about who my seatmates were;

So my seatmates will be Leonid Novikov and Milicia Milosevic huh…

I'm sure they'll get along, and I hope I get along with them as well, after all, making connections is important in today's society since people usually use others to make their way to the top, of course, I personally never seen it happen first hand. Although I have heard of others who have done it before, which is commendable since once your social status has been finalized, that is where you are placed in this society. It's a sad reality for those on the bottom, after all, I am part of that demographic of being in the lowest parts of society.

That is why people with low social status cheat their way through society to become like those with a higher social status. The more you move up, the more you gain special privileges and advantages to be successful.

Why would one cheat their way through our system when all you have to do is work hard to move up? 

That is a question many people ask those who cheat their way to move up. 

Those types of people who ask that question failed to understand the real nature of our modern society, they truly are under the belief that we live under a meritocracy when in reality, it is nothing but a caste system.

So no matter how hard you try to play it the fairway, you always stay where you are. And those people are tired of it, so they have to try what society deems 'unorthodox' or 'undesirable' to make their way to the top. 

It wouldn't be too far off to assume that a handful of the students that are trying to enroll here because they want to move up in the social hierarchy since they said after graduating from this school, you'll get the benefits that could help your social status and determine how you live.

"How unbefitting of a student here to be zoning out."

I looked to my left to see a boy who looked like someone who could take on the position of a military commander. I could tell this guy was intimidating just by his voice alone so looking at his sharp red eye gaze was not needed from me.

As expected, his black hair is slick back which suits his pierce red iris and his lean physique does make him befitting to be a military commander.

"You must be Mr. Novikov, I'm Isaac Mahoka." I introduced myself to him despite his insult to me.

His apathetic face changed for a moment to confusion. "Why are you addressing me by 'Mr.'?"

"It's obvious is it not?" A girl on my right sat down.

This girl had long black hair with light blue eyes, and going off by her physique, aura, and stature. I could just tell she'd be energetic.

This girl must be Miss. Milosevic then. "He's formally addressing you, however, I guess by your upbringing, you wouldn't know about being formal." she chuckled and was unfazed by Mr. Novikov's glare despite his face not changing.

It seems my comment was right that they'll get along, well kinda anyway.

In all seriousness, they appear to know each other before coming to this school. If I were to guess from how they are interacting with each other, they have an intense rivalry of sorts. Most likely from a generational family rivalry.

"As expected of you vile woman." He sneered at her as she chuckled at his response.

These two are gonna be lovely seatmates, that is for certain.

"So you must be Isaac then according to your desk label. I'm Milicia, heir to the Milosevic Eastern European Marksmanship company. You may call me Milicia if you want~" She winked at me.

I thought her last name was familiar, who would've thought that the daughter and next heir of the biggest company in the weapons field would come to such a school, I can already guess the reason why she enrolled at this school. But I decided to refrain from myself and turn my direction to Mr. Novikov. "Am I right to assume that your family also owns a marksmanship company as well?"

"You're right on the money! Leonid the coward here's family is only the second best and is borderline unknown to the industry that our family affiliates with." She said in a taunting tone that was towards Mr. Novikov, and also was it needed for her to interrupt a question that I directed to Mr. Novikov.

"Quit calling me that nickname. Anyways uh, Isaac, you can drop the formalities with me, I don't care for them. And to answer your question. Yes, my family does own a company that works in that field.."

He doesn't seem to like to talk about it that much, it could be related to the nickname she gave him.

"If you're wondering why I call him that is because he ran away from a competition against me despite him being the one to challenge me in the first place," Milicia whispered in my ear which did go unnoticed by Leonid.

In all honesty, I thanked her internally for whispering and not saying it out loud since it would be bothersome to listen to them banter any further.

"Enough about Leonid and I," She sat down at her desk. "What about your origin?"

My origin huh…

I can also sense Leonid's interest, despite me only looking at Milicia. "For the most part, my life is just below average and I only lived with my mother for most of my life since I didn't know my father that much. And my mother is a magician who loves to entertain people."

"…you said magician, right?" To my slightest possibility, Leonid questioned my mother's career.

"Yes, she was a magician and a rather wonderful one as well."

"When you mean by magician…do you mean like magic tricks or—"

Before I allowed Milicia to misunderstand what I meant, I cleared it up immediately before she began to finish what she was going to say.

"In magic tricks. She's made a lot of money from doing so to provide for me. And I am quite thankful for her."

"And I assume you want to follow that path?" Milicia asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, after all, me and my mother are similar in that route."

"You're quite bold to say that you want to become a magician, I find it quite brave. A better resolution than the coward route like Leonid the coward here."

"Must you insult me in everything that doesn't correlate with me?

"Well, it's true though."

Leonid sighed at her comment as he declared defeat. "You're so insufferable you vile woman.." He rubs his temple.

Milicia turned her attention back to me as she brushed off Leonid's existence. "So could you also do magic as well? You know with the cards and stuff."

"I do."

According to my mother, she did commend my magic card tricks to the point she said that I could fool all the professional gamblers with them. I was skeptical about her comment at first, but I realized she was genuinely sincere about it.

"Perhaps you could teach me some of those magic tricks then." She jokingly said as she chuckled.

However, I did notice that she was rather interested in it, which I don't mind teaching. Of course, to pull off such tricks, you would have to believe in it as well, or else it would never succeed.

That is what my mother always said when she showed me the tricks.

I wonder if she would be ecstatic about me getting accepted to this school. After all the entrance exam acceptance score requirements were an overall 98 to even pass the entrance exam, and the school required anyone who wants to enroll here to know English, which didn't surprise me because it was officially declared a universal language a few years back.

Nevertheless, I hope she is proud of me…

Minutes by minute students came finding their seats as Leonid, Milicia, and I were just minding our own business as a girl with light purple eyes and long blonde hair clapped her hands grabbing all of our attention.

My eyes narrowed at her due to my recognizing her as—

"Isn't that the famous Idol Naomi Jun?" One of the girls said out loud.

Ah, so it is her after all. I remember going to her concert eight months ago, her music is quite complex despite it being part of the pop genre since her voice carries an emotional impact other pop stars would. 

If I recall correctly, that concert I went to, broke her record for an audience which was 300,000.

I suppose it could be because she has more of an emotional impact in her music that drives people to like her music and gain a rather huge following base.

I guess Miss. Naomi is a lot smarter than she lets on, considering most idols aren't that entirely intelligent and don't attend regular school due to their busy schedule, but it looks like she breaks that Idol troupe.

"Whoa, that is her!"

"I love her music! It's like she is speaking to me."

As expected of her, she had already gained a following of her fans at this school in a rather quick manner.

She already surpassed me— no that's wrong, I was never an opponent to her to begin with.

She didn't even need to say a word and I could see some of the guys and a lot of girls already looking like they were ready to follow her command.

"Yep, that is me! And since we all are gonna be classmates~ I was hoping that we could all introduce ourselves since we'll be classmates and all."

What an amazing idea to propose, she will be one of if not the most popular girls at this school to get such a huge influence just from her charms alone.

"Who is she?" Leonid quietly asked me.

As expected, Milicia would interject and insult Leonid. 

"You do live under a rock after all. She's one of the best pop idols out there. But to expect her here of all places is surprising, to say the least."

"Is it necessary to insult me?"

"Yes, yes it is."

I find their bantering amusing, it makes me feel nostalgic for an early time in my life.

Eventually, everyone nodded, including myself since I didn't want to approach the others and initiate the conversation.

"As most of you know, but for the ones who don't, I am Naomi Jun! And I am an idol of sorts! And I hope we get along and become friends in our journey at this school!"

She ended it with a slight bow which got claps, except from Leonid and Milicia since they seemed to be just mindlessly observing their environment.

I don't entirely blame them, since it feels like a vulture is watching us from afar but at the same time close…

Although I am a bit surprised that Miss. Naomi didn't mention why she came here, of course, it isn't like she is obligated to say why. But still, some people do mention their dreams and goals. So it is a bit surprising to see a pop idol like her not mention her ambitions.

As the introductions continued after the other, everyone was unique in their talent. Which makes me a bit nervous for myself, even if I am hiding it with a smile.

It just seems like I am just an outsider in this school.

"Now then watch how an introduction is made, Isaac Houdini and Leonid the coward," Milicia said to both of us with a smirk.

I guess I have fallen victim to her nickname tyranny.

I now understand your pain, Leonid.

As Milicia emitted an aura of utmost confidence that one would think they were seeing a lion, she began her grandeur of an introduction.

"Allow me to grant you all the privilege of my introduction. I am Milicia Milosevic, the next heir to the Milosevic Eastern European Marksmanship Company. And my ambition is to dominate the weapons market!" She exclaims with flames in her eyes fueled with determination.

So her goal is to reign on top of the weapons market globally? Well with that ambitious spirit she was, I don't have any doubts that she could pull that off.

Now going into my thoughts on Leonid and Millicia's rivalry, I can now tell this is a one-sided rivalry.

Considering the nature of Milicia. She took pride and had no reason to view someone as a rival if they posed no actual threat or were not above them.

This means the idea of a rivalry between them stems from Leonid instead.

And it probably has something to do with him being called a coward.

"This chick is a war fan huh.."

"More like a crazy girl…"

Those comments are expected from Milicia's introduction since she doesn't necessarily follow the usual standards of feminine social choices.

"Yes yes bless me with your comments, they fuel my destiny of what is rightfully mine." She said as she sat down with no care in the world.

Now then all eyes slowly went to me, it felt like my first time in middle school all over again…

Well, not like I spent a lot of time there anyway.

I put on an awkward smile and stood up. "I-I'm Isaac Mahoka. It's a pleasure to meet you all. And I am also pursuing to be a magician."

I could see some were chuckling while some thought I was trying to make a joke.

However, one person who stood out who didn't hold either reaction I mentioned, was Miss. Naomi. "It's great that you want to pursue a magician! After all, Idols and magicians are quite similar!"

The increase of pity on me was evident from the other classmates since they believed Miss. Naomi was probably acting nice out of pity for me.

However, it is different from my perspective since all I see from Miss. Naomi is sincere, while everyone else just sees the popular idol of Miss. Naomi and act under the assumption of how an idol would respond to a socially awkward guy like me.

Nevertheless, my expression didn't change but I was grateful for Miss. Naomi's comment.

I then sat down with satisfaction all over my face.

"You seem particularly happy, has the idol struck your heart with an arrow of love perhaps, Houdini Sucessor?" Milicia teased.

"No, just something else came inside my thoughts." I brushed off her comment.

Even if it was a love arrow that struck my heart. It really wouldn't be love since the idea of 'Love at first sight' really means that the person in question only loves the idea of dating the other person, not wanting to date them for who they are.

It would only be an emotionless 'love' since it is completely one-sided or not-sided at all. It ruins the magic within love if there is nothing to believe between each of the other partners.

So one could call it a deceptive lust no?

"How about you? I believe you're next!" Miss. Naomi motioned to Leonid to which he sighed.

I'm sure he won't ruin his ow—

"I'll refuse."

For someone who criticized me earlier for zoning out, you're refusing to simply say your name will drop you below loner status to just jerk status.

"Wow, Leonid the coward refusing to say his name? How pitiful could you be?"

I'm sure that is what Milicia here is thinking right now.

"Hey man, all you have to say is your name."

"Yeah, it isn't that hard."

"Maybe he is afraid of public speaking?"

I could hear Milicia struggle to contain her laughter from these comments.

Miss. Naomi sensing all these comments could be hurtful to Leonid, even though his face remains serious and stern, decided to speak up. "You all know it isn't nice to make a general assumption about someone, and sorry mister if you felt pressured into introducing yourself." She bowed and apologized to Leonid.

Leonid despite refusing initially sighed and decided to reluctantly introduce himself. "I'm… Leonid Novikov." He sat down after that.

After the last remaining introductions, a woman who seemed to be in her early thirties came in.

She had bleach-blonde long hair with a bright green iris and held a smug calm smile on her face.

She must be our homeroom teacher then.

"Everyone take your seats." She spoke calmly yet authoritatively it made my other classmates involuntarily go to their desks.

It even made me stay more attentive to her, as expected of a teacher at an elitist school.

"My name is Lexis Akkerman, I'll be your homeroom teacher for Class H." She said as she plopped some paper on her desk.

"Before I begin your orientation, allow me to congratulate you all for exceeding our schools' expectations on your entrance exams. Every single one of you, and the other students in other classes have scored above the 98 passing score to enter this school, despite all of the questions being above university level, and for that we congratulate you. We also find all of your interviews to be commendable. Hence why we give you the reward of the privileges of this fine institution by accepting you all in. So give yourselves a round of a clap."

We all clapped our hands, and even I was surprised by this revelation that all the questions on the entrance exam were above a university level, I guess it is logical enough that the students who had passed the entrance exam to rewarded with the privilege of coming here, and since one of the privileges coming here is individual freedom for us students, of course, it would make all of us excited.

"Now then, let's get started with orientation, shall we?"

Her calm and strict demeanor subtly changed to that of an ominous demeanor as her calm smile adopted a smirk that leaked something strange…

The presentation board then lightened up

End of Chapter 1.1