The faint morning light filtered through emerald leaves and the window glass, scattering warm spots of sunlight across Chiba Yeyou's face as he lay in bed, still asleep.
Chiba Yeyou rubbed his eyes, got up and washed, then made breakfast. After eating and tidying up, he left home and headed toward school.
As magic became increasingly widespread, vehicles had begun to grow fewer and fewer. Those vehicles were not even as convenient or fast as magical self-acceleration formulas.
However, not everyone could afford the luxury of using magic to travel, so a new type of small, single-person car had been developed. Its fast, convenient self-driving mode made it easy for both magicians and ordinary people to operate, making it extremely popular.
Among the little cars coming and going along the road, a figure sped along. With every leap, cyan magical runes flashed beneath his feet.
"You!"
Chiba Yeyou had just reached the vicinity of the school when he heard a familiar voice calling him.
Chiba Yeyou turned toward the voice and saw Mayumi Saegusa jogging toward him, waving. Her long hair fluttered over her shoulders as she ran, adding to her youthful beauty.
"My dear student council president, you're full of energy so early in the morning. You really are lively!"
Chiba Yeyou helplessly reached out to take the handbag she was carrying.
"Hee-hee!"
"How considerate!"
"Thank you, junior!"
Mayumi Saegusa gave a playful smile and handed her bag to Chiba Yeyou.
Mayumi Saegusa and Chiba Yeyou walked side by side again. Suddenly, she quickened her pace and stepped in front of him, then twirled. Her orange-yellow skirt floated gently with the motion, and Chiba Yeyou could not help staring blankly.
"Do I look good?"
Mayumi Saegusa brushed the hair beside her earlobe with a little hand, smoothing that unruly lock into place and adding a touch of allure to her face.
"You do. You're just too short."
Chiba Yeyou spoke somewhat absently.
"Junior!"
"Hmph!"
Of course Mayumi Saegusa knew he was doing it on purpose. With an almost coquettish snort, she pretended to be angry and strode ahead toward school.
Mayumi Saegusa had felt rather pleased when she saw Chiba Yeyou staring blankly. Her smile had grown even brighter at the first half of his answer, only to freeze afterward.
For the stunningly beautiful Mayumi Saegusa, height was absolutely a fatal flaw. Still, he did not really mind it much, provided no one said it so openly to his face.
Seeing this, Chiba Yeyou chuckled and quickened his steps to catch up.
"Tatsuya!"
Before they had gone more than a few steps, Chiba Yeyou saw the student council president waving and greeting the Shiba siblings in the distance.
"This scene looks awfully familiar!"
Chiba Yeyou silently glanced at the handbags he was holding and decisively followed the president.
"Tatsuya, Miyuki, good morning!"
"Good morning, you two."
Chiba Yeyou greeted Tatsuya Shiba and her younger sister Miyuki.
"Good morning, you two."
The Shiba siblings replied in unison.
"Did you two come together?"
Miyuki Shiba looked strangely at the handbags in Chiba Yeyou's hands.
Yes, two of them.
Then her gaze grew increasingly excited.
"We ran into each other on the way!"
Chiba Yeyou raised the handbags in his hands to indicate them, hesitating over whether to shove them straight into Tatsuya Shiba's hands.
After thinking it over, he decided against it. That would be too unethical.
"Ohh~"
Miyuki Shiba nodded with an expression of understanding, realizing what was going on between the two. She had thought there would be some juicy gossip.
The student council president began using the same old trick, giving Tatsuya Shiba a performance too before asking whether she looked good.
Oh no, she's acting up again!
This girl is beyond saving!
Chiba Yeyou covered his face. He simply could not bear to watch.
Mayumi Saegusa had failed to tease Chiba Yeyou, so she had switched targets to get back into her groove.
However...
Tatsuya Shiba looked utterly bewildered and turned to Chiba Yeyou, questioning him with his eyes.
Tatsuya Shiba: What's wrong with him?
Chiba Yeyou: Acting up!
Tatsuya Shiba: *?*
Tatsuya Shiba: Mental issues?
Chiba Yeyou: No, just nuts!
Tatsuya Shiba: *...*
Tatsuya Shiba was speechless.
"What are you two making faces at each other for?"
Miyuki Shiba looked at her brother and the annoying guy opposite him with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
Yes, this dirty-minded girl had gotten the wrong idea again.
*???*
Chiba Yeyou stared at Miyuki Shiba's darkened little face, dumbfounded.
Good grief!
Was she starting to guard against men now too?
Eww~
Sure enough, women were even fiercer than men when their minds went into the gutter.
"What do you think?"
"Tatsuya!"
Mayumi Saegusa's smiling face puffed up like a steamed bun.
"Uh, pretty good..."
Shiba Jungler answered perfunctorily.
Mayumi Saegusa raised her eyebrows at Chiba Yeyou.
Chiba Yeyou sighed. Couldn't she tell he was just humoring her?
Maybe she simply didn't want to tell!
"Um, I have something I'd like to discuss with you and Miyuki. May I ask what your plans are for lunch today?"
Mayumi Saegusa suddenly reined in her expressions and adopted a modest, businesslike manner, leaving all three of them somewhat unaccustomed to the change.
Miyuki Shiba did not answer immediately, instead looking at her brother, Tatsuya Shiba.
Tatsuya Shiba gave Miyuki an affirmative look.
"All right, President. My brother and I will be there!"
After seeing her brother's approval, Miyuki Shiba answered.
"Don't you forget to come either!"
Mayumi Saegusa looked at Chiba Yeyou and reminded him.
She was not really afraid he would forget. She was afraid he simply would not come.
"I have to go too?"
Chiba Yeyou pointed at his own nose in surprise.
"Aren't you a member of the student council?"
Mayumi Saegusa rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.
"I thought I only had things to do after school!"
Chiba Yeyou pursed his lips.
Hearing Chiba Yeyou's words, Mayumi Saegusa was glad she had added that reminder. Otherwise, she definitely would not have seen him at noon.
"Bye-bye!"
Mayumi Saegusa then turned and walked away. The third-years were not in the same building as the first-years, though they were not far away, merely in the building beside theirs.
"Oh!"
"Right, Tatsuya, please bring Erika Chiba from your class!"
"I have something to discuss with her too!"
Mayumi Saegusa suddenly remembered that someone was missing, so she turned and spoke to Tatsuya Shiba.
"All right."
Hearing Tatsuya Shiba's reply, Mayumi Saegusa gave a slight bow, then turned and left.
"I'm leaving too. I won't disturb you siblings. Bye-bye!"
Chiba Yeyou turned and left.
To be honest, he did not feel much of anything toward Miyuki Sishiba. Even with the student council president, he was merely fooling around, so he never expected anything either.
Chiba Yeyou knew very well what he currently needed and what he ought to be doing.
His starting point in magical technology was already very high compared with others his age, but it still was not enough!
He did not know what the future held.
But he could not remain unknown unless he was mediocre.
If even a little of what Chiba Yeyou was currently studying and creating leaked out, people would hail him as an elite. More often than not, it would go far beyond simply being considered an elite.
After all, Chiba Yeyou was not Tatsuya Shiba.
Strictly speaking, those siblings belonged to the Yotsuba Family Clan!
Tatsuya Shiba himself also had the military behind him.
So no matter how monstrous Tatsuya Shiba was, someone would have his back.
Even if the military was competing with the Yotsuba Family over ownership of Tatsuya Shiba, they definitely would not let anything happen to him.
But Chiba Yeyou was different. He did not have such powerful backing in Japan.
By then, his only remaining option would probably be to marry into one of the Ten Master Clans.
Becoming some wealthy family's live-in son-in-law was not what Chiba Yeyou wanted. Not only did it sound bad, it would be sickening in practice too.
Still, even if he followed the idea of joining them if he could not beat them, he could not create another of the Ten Master Clans out of thin air. After all, he had no people.
Thinking of this, Chiba Yeyou could not help getting a headache.
Forget it. I'll take things one step at a time!
Chiba Yeyou cleared all the jumbled thoughts from his mind and walked into the classroom.
"Ring, ring, ring..."
After the bell signaling the start of class rang, the students chatting in groups of two or three returned to their seats and waited for the teacher to begin the lesson.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Following the sound of high heels striking the corridor floor, a beautiful woman with long black hair walked in. She looked about twenty-four. Her fitted suit outlined her perfect curves, yet rather than making her look more glamorous, it lent her a measure of authority.
"A new teacher?"
"How strange!"
"Isn't this class supposed to be a detailed explanation of magic fundamentals?"
After the teacher entered, the entire class began discussing it. Since the courses were scheduled, each instructor's photograph and detailed personal information were listed and could easily be checked, but this teacher was not the original one.
"Chiba Yeyou, what's going on? Do you know?"
Miyuki Shiba turned her head toward Chiba Yeyou and asked.
Chiba Yeyou rolled his eyes at her in exasperation, then shook his head.
"All right!"
"Quiet, everyone!"
The black-haired woman frowned slightly at the increasingly noisy classroom, then spoke to stop them.
Once the classroom quieted down, she began introducing herself.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Senbon Ye, and I'll be your homeroom teacher from now on!"
With Senbon Ye's introduction, Chiba Yeyou also came to understand that she was a practical magic instructor who had been transferred over at short notice.
Good grief!
Just what you'd expect from the treatment Course 1 Students received!
No wonder Course 1 Students called themselves "Blooms" and called Course 2 Students "Weeds."
Compared with Course 1 Students, Course 2 Students were practically motherless children-the sort no one cared whether they lived or died.
The entire morning of new lessons once again let Chiba Yeyou experience the preferential treatment given to Course 1 Students.
Accelerated casting theory, photon theory, how psions altered matter, and so on and so forth-Course 2 Students had none of it!
Why was he so certain?
Because all these subjects had laboratories, and they had not seen a single Course 2 Student anywhere on the entire floor all morning!