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The new school year starts and we become third year students. Damuel is our homeroom teacher again. Everyone is excited about our first lesson of the year, including me. Though I’ll have to tell Chris and Ryuka to teach me later.

During lunch break we all go to the cafeteria as usual, but I feel like it’s noisier than during the previous years. And I also feel like there’s a crowd that keeps looking at me.

“Did something happen?”
“Well, it seems like the freshmen are pretty excited about something.”
“Ahh, it’s probably that…”
“?”

Ryuka also seems confused by it, and Amy and Chris seem to know something. I have absolutely no clue about it though.

“A lot of kids watching the festival last year became students here. It seems there’s a student they saw fighting in the tournament and fending off the Rufus that caught their eye.”
“Ohh.”
“Apparently they’re calling that student the Black-Haired Flash.”
“Black-Haired…”

Students with black hair…

“…”
“…”

I look at Ryuka, and she looks at me.

I knew she got impressive grades after transferring here, and I guess they were so good that she even got a nickname.

“Umm…Olivia? I think you’re getting the wrong idea.”
“Could it be that you lack so much self-awareness?”
“Knowing how empty her brain is she probably just forgot what her own hair looks like.”

What are these three saying? Was there another black haired student in the festival I didn’t see?

“Olivia, I didn’t participate in the tournament last year.”
“Huh? Then was there someone else?”
“Do you need a mirror?”
“…Wait, could that Black-Haired Flash be me?”
“Do you even have to wonder?”
“I never thought that would happen. I was just doing what I felt like doing.”

I only participated in the tournament because I wanted to fight strong people. And I fought the Rufus because I wanted to protect myself and my friends. I wasn’t trying to show off to the guests.

Though I’m a bit happy that I got a nickname that references a dark color just like my mother.

“Excuse me, are you Olivia?”

I hear someone ask behind me, so I turn around and find a group of freshmen have gathered there.

“Yes, that’s me. Do you need something?”
“We actually came to the festival, and you saved us when the Rufus attacked. We wanted to thank you for that.”
“You’re welco-”
“She looked at me!”
“She’s so cool!”

Before I can finish, another of the students shouts loudly, and then even more people gather around me. I can hear them praising me in different ways, but I’ve never been in a situation like this so I’m not sure what to do.

“It seems you’ve become popular.”
“I mean, she did quite a lot.”
“I-I guess…umm…thanks?”

I thank them just in case, but I’m not the only one they should be praising, right?

“!”

While many of them are praising me, I feel a cold stare amongst them. I turn that way as soon as I can, but sadly whoever looked at me that way is no longer there.

“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
I probably just imagined it.

I would only find out the identity of that later in the day.

After school I mention that I want to workout again, so Amy, Chris, and Ryuka end up coming with me to the training grounds.

It turns out that someone went there before us, and is using magic against the practice targets. It’s a girl with gray hair that has a hint of blue, tied into a ponytail.

Second and third year students have longer classes, so she’s probably a first year student if she got here before us. She must be really dedicated if she’s already training on her first day of classes.

“Tornado of lightning, Thunderstorm.”

Yellow sparks appear and begin to spiral. I’ve used that middle level spell many times, but her’s quickly loses power and the sparks dissipate. She failed the spell.

“Tornado of lightning, Thunderstorm.”

She tries to cast it again, but this time the spell barely manifests. She scowls painfully and tries again, but the result is the same.

“Huh, did she run out of mana?”
“No, I can still feel plenty of mana around her.”

Amy guesses that watching her, but Ryuka, who has really sharp senses, denies it.

“That’s likely something else.”
“She’s trying to shorten the chant too much, right?”

It’s common sense, but most spells need a chant, and trying to shorten it isn’t easy.

Magic usually needs to be cast with a chant or a magic circle, and more advanced spells often need both, or even some sort of catalyst or medium. If someone tries to shorten a chant more than their skill allows, the spell will fail. That’s why only advanced magicians can manage to cast basic spells without uttering a word, and only a handful of magicians like my mother can launch middle level spells with the name alone, or high level skills with a short chant.

Natalia had also compared it to trying to find a shortcut by jumping across a cliff; it’s only possible if someone already has the strength to jump long distances.

“Thunder…Storm!”

The girl breathes heavily as she tries one more time, but all she gets are a few sparks that don’t even start spiraling.

Trying to abbreviate chants also places a strong mental burden on the magician, so she’s probably about to reach her limit. Maybe I can give her some pointers though.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to shorten it so much right away. You’ll have a way better time if you only omit one sentence at a time.”

I approach her and try to be a good senior coaching her.

“…”

But she turns around and glares at me with annoyance. Maybe I should’ve been a bit more tactful? Maybe I was rude without noticing? I guess I’ll try introducing myself first, just in case.

“I’m actually a third year student, Oli-”
“I know who you are, Olivia Eto Gardeland.”

She ends up saying my name before I even get to introduce myself.

“You’re the only daughter of the Ebony Witch Ophelia, and the Deadly Shadow Shuma.”

She actually knows my mother and father’s names too.

“Oh, you actually know a lot.”

It’s a bit rare for someone to know my father’s nickname. My mother was a famous sorceress, and this is a Magic Academy, so she’s pretty well-known around here, but my father was a swordsman so I almost never hear someone mention him.

Somehow I feel slightly proud of my family hearing someone talk about them.

“You seem really cheerful for a girl with no parents.”

But her next words felt like I was being impaled by an icicle, and it took me a moment to really understand what I had just heard.

“What did you just say?! Don’t go making accusations without knowing anything!”
“I just feel bad for the parents of a girl who doesn’t even miss or mourn them after they die, and just goes playing around like nothing happened.”

Before I fully comprehend what’s going on, Amy steps forward and shouts angrily. That’s when I finally understand that she’s insulting me.

“Anyway, I’m done training now, so feel free to use the training grounds. Good bye.”

Saying that, she walks away like it’s none of her business.

I feel like her insults were unwarranted, but I don’t feel like stopping her or trying to insult her back. She just wanted to insult me, that’s it. Somehow I can’t stop this weird feeling though.

All I can do is stop Amy from causing too much trouble while trying to understand what this feeling is.