"Shinto!" A mature lady with long brown hair yelled upstairs. There was a short moment of silence. "Shinto!!" The woman yelled again.

A door opened near the top of the stairs, revealing a boy with short, brown, spikey hair. He was wearing a black jacket with a white tee shirt and blue jeans. "Yeah?" The boy took a few steps out of the door and stood at the top of the stairs. "What's up?"

"I forgot to buy some ingredients from the store today." She said as she was looking through the cabinets. "Could you be a dear and buy them for me?" She headed for the counter, picked up her purple purse, and took out a $50 bill.

"Sure, I guess." Shinto replied reluctantly. "I can't promise I'll remember everything." He took the money from his mom's hands.

"Don't worry, I'll text you everything I need." She said, picking up her phone. "If there's any money left, feel free to buy yourself something." She added.

"Okay." He nodded, headed for the front door, and put his black shoes on. "I'll be back in a bit, mom." Shinto said as he opened the front door.

"Be careful!" His mother smiled and waved as he walked out the door and closed it behind him. The nearest store is 15 minutes away by foot, even in a pretty populated town such as this one. Houses lined up the sides of the streets and had walls along the edges on them. The houses themselves were all two stories and had very little room for a yard, both front and back. There were many turns you'd have to take to make it out of the neighborhood, which is where Shinto had to go.

He began his walk down to the store. A few minutes after he left the front of his house, he felt his phone vibrate. He received a text from his mother. Shinto pulled out his phone and skimmed over the contents of the message. He was looking at his phone while he neared a turn, and BONK accidentally bumped into a girl, making her tumble to the ground. "Huh? Oh! Sorry!" He extended a hand to help her get back up.

The girl was rubbing the side of her head that Shinto had hit, "It's fine..." the girl said softly. She turned to look at Shinto. "Oh? Shinto!" The girls face lit up. She took Shinto's hand and got back up on her feet.

"Kaori?" Shinto said, surprised.

"What are you doing out at this hour?" Kaori asked.

"I could ask the same to you." Shinto replied. "Isn't it a bit dangerous for a girl like you to be walking home alone at this hour?"

"I was just on my way home from a friends house. What about you?" She held her hands behind her.

"My mother forgot to pick up some groceries, so I have to go buy them from the store while she prepares." Shinto sighed.

"Oh! I actually have to go that way! How about we walk there together!"

"You say that like I have much of a choice." Shinto laughed.

Kaori pouted, "Well, you said it yourself, It's dangerous for a pretty girl like me to be walking around at this hour." She said, latching onto one of his arms. "So how about you escort me back home?" She smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just get moving." They both started walking down the sidewalk towards the store. They took a few steps forward. "So, are you going to let go of my arm now?"

"I don't feel like it." She said, bringing her body closer to his. She proceeded to giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"It's nothing." She said. "It's just that you're just as clumsy as ever."

"Am I? I thought I was getting better." He whimpered.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that you haven't changed much from middle school, and I like that about you." Kaori comforted Shinto.

"Thanks, I guess?" Shinto laughed nervously. "Though it's not like you're any better. I'd say you've changed even less than I have. You're just as assertive and popular as ever."

"I guess you're right..." Kaori said, still latching onto Shinto's arm. "I wish you'd be a bit more assertive yourself, though."

"Why do you say that?" Shinto tilted his head.

"It's just that... I don't see you hang out with anyone, is all. I kind of get worried about you. I don't want you to get lonely. Besides..." she trailed off.

"Besides...?"

"Oh... it's nothing..." She placed her hand over her heart and blushed.

"I see... well, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine, promise." He smiled. "I have you as a friend after all, don't I? That's more than enough for now."

"Oh..." she blushed again. "I uh..." she whispered, "have something to tell you..."

Shinto only heard her mumbling. "What'd you say?"

"N-nothing! Haha..." Her cheeks turned pink, and she pouted. "Oh, this-this is my turn." She let go of Shinto's arm and ran ahead and turned around. "Thanks for accompanying me, Shinto." She put her left hand on her heart again and spoke softly.

"It's no problem." He said.

She giggled. "You're sweet. See you in class!" Shinto stood at the intersection and waited for her to enter her house before proceeding. The grocery store was only a few minutes away from where he currently was, so he walked the rest of the way back with a big smile. Shinto approached the automatic sliding glass doors while pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Let's see eggs, milk, lettuce, peppers, cheese, and ground beef. Simple enough." Shinto entered the store and grabbed the items he needed and a soda to drink. He paid for the items, got them bagged, and headed for the door. The door slid right open, and he took a step out.

"Huh?" Shinto felt something wet touch his shoulder. He held out his hand and looked to the sky. "Rain? But... I didn't see any rain clouds." Shinto was confused. No forecast predicted rain today, and the sky was clear as ever when he entered the store. "Guess I've just got to hurry home then before it gets too harsh." He pulled up his hood and began briskly walking back home as the rain beat down on him. In mere seconds, the rain picked up, turning into a massive downpour. The clouds darkened the area. Even though it was technically the afternoon, it looked like it was nighttime. Shinto turned on his phone and used his flashlight since the streetlights hadn't turned on yet.

Shinto traversed through the pitch black streets with nothing but his phones lights to guide the way. Suddenly, Shinto's nose sniffled. "What's this smell?" He sniffed a couple more times. "Fire?" Shinto looks up. In the distance, there was a house flooded in a sea of flames. You could barely see the house underneath the engulfing flames. "That street and house are..." He checked the addresses of the houses near him and counted the streets. "No... it can't be!!" Shinto went from a small jog to a desperate sprint. As he approached the house that went up in flames. He turned right onto the street and took a look at the mailbox numbers. "NOOOO!!" He stood in front of the house. Tormented screams louder than a tornado alarm stabbed through Shinto's ears. "No..." Shinto fell on his knees. Light left his eyes as the screams terrorized him. "It... can't be..." Tears began to swell up in his eyes and began to pour out of his eyes. "Mom... Dad... Kagari..." he mustered a small amount of strength to get up off the ground. "Why?!" His voice was shaking. "I've... gotta do something... right?" He tried to recompose himself, holding on to some shred of hope, but it was no use, whatever screaming there once was dissipated into the flames. The sound of wood tore through as the house collapsed in on itself. Tears started flooding out of his eyes. He watched as his house turned into ashes with no way to stop it. "What do I even do now? I've got nowhere left to go... DAMN IT!!!"

Shinto looked around frantically. He tried to call 911, but any attempted call only led him to static. With nowhere left to go, he headed towards the city across from the bridge while it was still pouring out. Any energy he had left was exhausted from him. While he was walking on the sidewalk on the bridge, he slipped on a puddle and fell face-first into the ground. He made no attempt to try to get back up. He just laid there, accepting his fate. "(I guess... this is how it ends...)" his body goes limp. "(I'm sorry, Mom... dad... I can't do this...)"

Within the reflection of the puddle, there was a human-like figure that stood above Shinto. Their deep Sapphire eyes gleamed in the darkness. "Not yet." The girl said as she stood above him.

Shinto groaned, "Who... are... you...?" As he began to lose consciousness.

"I can't let you die here. Not yet." The voice said, as Shinto's world fell to darkness...

End of chapter 1...

"Urgh..." Shinto's eyes slowly begin to open again. He blinks multiple times before his eyes properly adjust to his current environment. He slowly sat up and analyzed his surroundings. "Wait... where am I?" His head moved rapidly back and forth. The room was fairly small and was painted a pink color with white flower patterns splattered about and stuffed animals sprawled out on the floor. He was lying in a bed with pink sheets and a blue bear plushie next to him."This... isn't my room... right?" He sat up and crossed his arms. "Urgh! My memory is fuzzy. I can't really remember anything." Then pictures of a fire flashed in Shinto's eyes. "Ah! I remember..." he sobbed. "My family... They're... gone..." Shinto shook his head. "No! that can't be! This has to be a nightmare!" Determined to prove that wrong, he lifted the covers off of him and jumped out of bed. He approached the door in the room and opened it.

He was greeted by a small hallway that led to a living room that had one door on both sides. Shinto stumbled through the hallway, barely able to keep his balance and was greeted by a sweet voice. "Good morning!" The girlish voice said.

"Morning..." Shinto replied, still half asleep. Shinto slowly turned his gaze to where the voice came from. "Wait..." his gaze met hers. "What?!" He screamed. After finally realizing what was going on. He took a long time to actually look at the girl. She had long light blue hair and sapphire eyes that seemed to sparkle, and she had a warm smile on her face. She was wearing an apron and some casual clothes as she cooked what smelt like pancakes. She looked at Shinto innocently.

"Morning!" She closed her eyes and smiled. "How'd you sleep?"

"Hold on, who are you? What am I doing here?" Shinto began to look around frantically. He still doesn't fully understand what happened last night.

She was staying completely calm about the situation. "I'm Sakuya Hiyori. Nice to meet you!"

Shinto stared into Sakuya's eyes as he thought of what to say next. "Those eyes..." he thought for a second. "You're the girl I saw last night, right?"

"Mhm!" She smiled, "And what's your name?"

"I'm..." Shinto hesitated, "Shinto Shirama. What happened? Why am I here?"

"Last night at 5PM, there was a heavy thunderstorm that caused the city to go pitch black. I happened to see you stumble by the bridge not far from here, unconscious and soaking wet from the storm, so, using my wind powers, brought you here." She explained.

"Thank you." His voice was shaking. "I wasn't in my right mind back there. And... a lot has happened..." his eyes shook wildly, and his pupils shrunk in fear.

She placed both hands on Shinto's right hand. "You look bothered." She said sympathetically. "Would talking about it help?"

Shinto shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just can't." Sakuya let go of Shinto's hand. There was a moment of silence as they both glanced at each other. "You mentioned using wind powers, right? were you joking?"

"Huh? Oh, right, that. That's my magic element." She took a few steps back. "Come forth, Fafnir!" A gust of wind swirled at the palm of her hand and formed a sleek katana with a greenish-blue handle and a dragon design engraved on the hilt. She grasped the katana and held it up for Shinto to look at.

"That's cool!" He studied the blade and looked back up at Sakuya. He suddenly remembered something important. "That reminds me, where exactly are we?"

"We're currently in Shinshetsu academy. A school made for people with Soul Skills like me." She puffed her chest out like she looked proud.

"What are Soul Skills?"

"You don't know?" She sounded offended. "Things like my katana, Fafnir. They're magical weapons that grant the user power and magic that's specific to that user. Almost everyone has them."

"Really?" Shinto thought to himself for a second. "Does that mean I have on, too?" Shinto said, interested.

"I wish I could say, but unfortunately, I'm not too sure." She shook her head. "Even if we wanted to take an aptitude test, I doubt it'd be worthwhile." Sakuya said reluctantly

"How so?"

"As I said, almost everyone has a Soul Skill, but that doesn't mean everyone." She explained. "Most people end up developing their Soul Skills at an early age, but for the people that don't, they usually don't have Soul Skills."

Shinto thought for a few seconds, "I'd still just like to check regardless, if that's okay? I'm intrigued."

She sighed, "Fine~. But I want to eat first. I ended up making enough pancakes for both of us, so help yourself." She brought out a few plates from the cabinets and put 3 pancakes on each plate. She set the plates on the table with forks and knives. She brought out the butter and the syrup and put them in the middle of the table. They both picked up their forks and knives. Shinto ate all of his pancakes with the ferocity of a boar. His pancakes were gone in the blink of an eye.

"Those were some of the best pancakes I've ever had." He said as he laid back in his chair.

Sakuya burst into laughter, "You must have been starving! I've never seen someone eat as fast as you have." She blushed. "Thank you for the compliment." They cleaned off their plates and put it in the sink, then decided headed out of the dorm.

As Shinto walked out of the door, he was greeted by bright neon lights. "Huh?" Shinto placed his hand horizontally on his forehead as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. He looked around. "What is this place?!" The area around him looked like a city ripped out of a sci-fi movie. Lots of glowing neon lights, blue strings of neon lights scattered in the air, and ads flying across billboards.

"Have you been living under a rock?" Sakuya mocked. "This is Vesta city, known to common folk as 'the city from the future'"

"City from the future?" Shinto looked back at Sakuya as a gust of wind blew his hair to his left, covering his left eye. "Why's it called that?"

"Because this city stands out compared to other cities in the rest of the world." She leaned against the railing. "The technology here is incredible."

Shinto looked back at the tall skyscrapers piercing the skies. ("Something about this seems wrong...") he thought to himself as he gazed off into the distance. ("I don't remember a city like this existing.")

"Anyways," Sakuya tapped Shinto's shoulder, breaking his train of thought. "we need to head for the Vesta City Main Building."

"Yeah." Shinto looked at Sakuya for a second, then reverted his gaze to the skyscrapers. "Okay." They walked down the stairs leading to Sakuya's dorm. After walking down the stairs, they take a left and walk down a sidewalk that was near the skyscrapers. Walking along the sidewalks let them gaze at the different stores in the city. The first ones they saw were a clothes shop with a maniquen wearing a pink jacket, a light blue shirt, jeans, and a leather purse on display. This was followed by a bakery with many different styles of bread and pastries on display followed with a sweet scent.

They kept walking down the sidewalk for roughly ten minutes before they took another left and got to the biggest building in the city. "This is the Vesta City Main Building." Sakuya said as she pointed at the building. The front had a badge with a sigil of a Phoenix on it.

"It's huge." Shinto replied, tracing the height of the building with his eyes.

"Is something the matter?" Sakuya tilted her head at Shinto.

"Huh?" Shinto shook his head. "No, it's nothing. Let's just get this thing done."

"Alright!" Sakuya said as she grabbed Shinto's hand and began running towards the entrance.

"Hey! Wait!" She was running faster than an average human, and Shinto was having trouble keeping up. He kept tripping as she ran at mach speeds. They quickly neared the big black automatic doors and slipped right into the building. "Did you really have to go so fast?"

"Hehehe..." She laughed, scratching her cheek. Shinto wasn't amused. "A-anyways, we're here." She said, walking towards the big doors to the building.

"Woah..." Shinto gave the building a quick once over before entering. The entire building was a deep black color. The carpets were grayish, the walls were black, the leather chairs were black, and the tables were a smooth black color. The only things that weren't black or gray were the front desk and potted plants. The reception woman was wearing a tuxedo with a red tie and a black hairband. She had short brown hair and brown eyes.

They both walked up to the front desk. The woman was on call with someone, nodded, and put the phone down after muttering a few words. She looked up at the entrance and bowed. "Welcome! How may I help you today."

Sakuya walked up to her with her poker face. "Hello. We'd like to speak with the mayor, please. It's regarding an aptitude test."

The receptionist nodded. "You caught her at the best time. She just finished up her stack of paperwork for the afternoon. Let me just buzz you guys right in, and you'll be good to go." She pressed a button and talked into a small microphone. There was a muffled voice that came out of a speaker near it. The receptionist nodded and looked back at the duo. Just stepped into this elevator and headed to the 12th floor. Walk down the hallway and take a left at the big double doors."

"Thank you." She walked towards the elevator. "Come on, Shinto." He followed behind her into the elevator and pressed the button for the 12th floor. They proceeded to walk down the hallway and opened the double doors.

In the back of the room near the big windows was a black desk with a woman with long black hair and sharp black eyes in tuxedo with a black tie, black skirt, and white gloves. She was sitting with her head resting on her hands, and she had sunglasses that rested on the top of her head. She looked up from her desk. "Oh, hello, Sakuya." The lady said.

"Hello, Mrs. Shizuka. It's good to see you again." Sakuya replied, lifting her skirt and bowing.

"Indeed it is." She said as she took a quick smoke. "So, how can I help you today?"

Sakuya cleared her throat. "This boy here requested an aptitude test."

"And who might this be?" Mrs. Shizuka questioned, leaning forward.

"Oh. I'm Shinto Shirama. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mrs. Shizuka got up from her office chair and approached one of the file drawers that were categorized as in the first letter of their last names. As she flipped through the files, her face turned to a slightly shocked expression. ("That's odd. There's no record of this boy from any nation... hmm...") she thought to herself as she scanned through the files. She decided to go along with the request regardless and opened one of the drawers and took out a glass ball on a purple cloth. "This glass ball will be able to tell us your aptitude. Though it's no ordinary glass. It's a glass made from sand that's been sitting near Luminite for hundreds of years." She walked back to her desk and placed the glass ball on the desk in front of Shinto. "All you need to do is touch this ball, and we'll get enough information."

"Okay." Shinto nodded and walked towards the foot of the desk and placed his hand on the ball. "Like this?"

"Yes." Shizuka replied.

Shinto placed his hand on the glass ball. It took a couple of seconds, but a white mist began to swirl around in the glass ball. "You do have an aptitude!" Sakuya cheered. But that wasn't all that happened. Shortly after, many other colors began to swirl around in the ball. Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, etc.

"That is enough." Shizuka barked at Shinto. He quickly took his hand off of the ball. "That should be all for now. Looks like you're in, Mr. Shirama." She handed Shinto a badge. "I'll message you the details later on through the day."

"'I'm in'? In what?" Shinto questioned.

"Why, Shinshetsu academy, of course."

"Wait, Shinshetsu academy?! But- I never agreed to this!"

"Good job, Shinto! Let's get going now!" Sakuya cheered him on. She started dragging him out of the room.

"Hey- wait!" they walked out of the doors, and the doors slammed closed, muffling his voice.

Mrs. Shizuka sat back down at her desk and lit a cigarette. After a minute, she got back up and scanned through the documents once again. "How does a kid with this much elemental aptitude simply not exist in any of the records?" She unbuttoned one button from her that revealed a necklace with a key shaped as a sword. She took off the necklace and put it in a keyhole on another drawer, and searched through those files, too.

She pulled one of the files out. "There's only one thing I can think of..."

End of Chapter 2...

After Shinto and Sakuya left the Vesta City Main Building, Shinto's student badge that Mrs. Shizuka gave him vibrated like a phone. "Hmm? What's this?" He inspected the badge trying to stop the vibrating before he noticed a button on the bottom and clicked it. When he did, the badge opened up like a book and had an electronic display, just like a phone. It even had the touchscreen. It was a dual screened device. The left side screen displayed some sort of item, and the right main screen had the home screen with apps on it. The "messages" app had a white "1" in a red circle in the top left corner of it. Shinto tapped it with his finger and loomed at the message left.

It read, "If you receive this message, that means this is setup correctly. We have these all set up for each new student, and you just so happened to be the lucky winner of the last badge of the school year. Congrats! On the left screen, it will be an image of a key. Tap it twice and go to the room illustrated on the tag. That's the room you'll be living in on campus. There should also be a uniform for you to use. School classes start in 2 weeks, so get ready, Shinto.

Best of luck, Mrs. Shizuka"

"Huh. I already have my own room? but we just left the building." Shinto replied as he closed the badge and put it in his pocket.

Sakuya nodded. "Every student on this school gets a room. Think of it like college. The reason for this is that without Soul Skill users, the entirety of this nation would be crawling with dangerous monsters."

"Noted." Shinto nodded. "So wait, the students from this school get turned into mercenaries?"

"Not quite." Sakuya replied. "They have the choice to join the Adventerers Guild. There, they're given commissions/quests to slay monsters for money and other types of rewards. They have the choice when they're C rank or higher."

"The school uses a ranking system?"

"Yeah. S+ rank is the highest. Followed by S, then A, then B, then C, then D, then E, and finally F. The lowest, which no one has ever had before, that is, before you."

"You didn't have to add that." Shinto looked back at the screen and double tapped the keys icon. The keys suddenly appeared out of nowhere, almost like it was materialized in thin air. "Huh?!"

"Yeah, our student badges have an inventory system. It's almost like a video game. How it works, I'm not quite sure of, but it just does." Shinto was awestruck by this.

"That's so cool!" They began heading back to Sakuya's dorm with a bounce in their step. They went back the way they came and stopped in front of Sakuya's dorm.

"Well, I guess this is bye for now, Shinto." Sakuya said, standing in her doorframe. She turned around to look at Shinto.

"I guess so." Shinto put his hand on the back of his head. "Even if it was for a few hours, my experience with you has been very therapeutic and fun. Thank you." Shinto smiled.

Sakuya smiled back. "You should smile more. It suits you." She blushed. "See you in school."

Shinto nodded. "Yeah, seeya." Sakuya closed the door, leaving the outside in silence. Shinto looked at the tag attached to the keys. "Dorm M210." Shinto said aloud. Shinto looked at Sakuya's dorm number. "F201," it said. ("So that means the dorms are separated by gender.") Shinto thought to himself after looking at all the other dorm numbers. ("So where are the boy's dorms then?"). He asked himself, looking around for a map. At the entrance to the complex was a map of the entire school and their facilities. They had archery ranges, tournament stadiums, the school itself, and the dorm complexes. The boy's dorm complex was on the other side of the school. So Shinto walked all the way around the school to get to the boy's dorm.

After half an hour of walking, Shinto finally approached the boy's dorm complex. There were boys walking in and out of their rooms, but the complex was significantly smaller than the girl's dorm complex. There was only one building with dorms in it compared to the four the girls had.

"You're a new face around here." A blonde tall boy said as he waved to Shinto. "You new?" The guy said. He had short, blonde, spikey hair and gold eyes and had a very bright aura to him.

"Uh, yeah. And you are?" Shinto replied nervously.

"Didn't mean to get the jump on you." He said as he walked towards Shinto. "I'm Calibur Dharun. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand, looking for a handshake.

Shinto locked hands with him. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Shinto Shirama."

"It's nice to meet you, Shinto." Calibur said as they shook hands. After a second, they let go of each other. "I look forward to working with you in class."

Shinto nodded. "The feeling mutual." Shinto replied as Calibur walked away. Shinto proceeded to walk towards his dorm room. He took the keys out of his pocket, put it in the keyhole, and twisted to open it. It looked almost exactly like Sakuya's room but without stuffed animals and blue walls. On the living room table was a black and white school uniform. The shirt was mainly white, with black lines going up and down it. Near the waist of the shirt was some wavy design colored in black. There was also a shoulder pad for his left arm, which was fairly light, but not his right arm. The pants were black jeans and the shoes were white with an accent of black. ("This school has something with the colors black and white huh?") Shinto thought to himself.

He placed the clothes back on the table and noticed two white sheaths with the schools crest imprinted in black on it. On top of it was a note. When he opened it, $300 fell out of it. The note read:

"Since you're the only kid in this school without a Soul Skill, you'll be given two swords made from a fine metal for the time being. Carry these around with you everywhere you go. Attached is $300 dollars to spend on food and entertainment. Students get $300 a month if they aren't enlisted in the Adventurer's Guild. Enjoy your school life!

- Mrs. Shizuka"

("How'd she get this done do fast?") Shinto thought to himself. He took one of the sheaths and positioned it along his waist so his right hand could easily grab it when he needed it. ("$300, huh? I am pretty hungry. Guess I should get something to eat.") Shinto walked out of his dorm, walked down the stairs, and studied a map to see if there were any restaurants nearby. He decided on an Italian restaurant and headed towards that spot on the map. He sat down there, ate some spaghetti, paid at the front, and headed back to his dorm.

...

Nothing really happened in the 2 weeks that Shinto waited for the school year to start. The only other things he did was buy some ingredients for food for him to make and draw. He also practiced swinging around the sword, getting used to its weight. The sword was actually fairly light and didn't cause much of a burden with Shinto's 1 year of experience in Kendo.

After the 2 weeks passed, it was finally that day. The first day of school. Though Shinto nearly forgot about it. He accidentally slept through his alarm and only had 20 minutes to prepare for class. He took a very quick 5 minute shower, comb'd his hair, got his school uniform on, and tied the sword around the left side of his waist underneath his uniform. "Ready!" He made sure he had his keys and ran out of his dorm. While he was running, he opened up his student badge and checked what room number he was in. His class would be in the room "205A". Outside the dorm complex was all the other male students heading towards the school.

Thankfully, school was only a 3 minutes walk away, so Shinto wouldn't end up being late. He walked to the school and stood back for a second to admire the school's structure. It was white with black tinted windows and holograms flying all across the front windows and tons of students, both male and female, walking into the wide front doors. "Woaaahhh!!!" After a minute, Shinto walked into the school and found his way to the classroom.

Murmurs from the inside of the class spilled out of it. "Apparently, there's a new student in this school." Shinto heard some of the kids say. "Is he a transfer?", "Don't you think it's a little late for a new student?", "Do you think it's a guy or a girl?"

A lady with short brown hair brushed past him into the classroom. "Silence class." She said. She had a very soft voice and had a light aura to her. She was very calm and seemed really nice. "As you've been whispering about, we have a new student in this school." She looked out into the hallway. "Introduce yourself." She smiled at Shinto.

Shinto nodded and walked into the classroom. He turned to the class and bowed. "My name's Shinto Shirama." He looked back up and smiled. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Oh no, he's cute!" One of the girls in the class said as half the class burst into gossip.

Shinto scanned the classroom to see if Sakuya was there. Surely enough, she was, and Calibur was in too.

"Quiet!" the teacher demanded. "You'll be sitting in the corner of the room by the window." She said as she pointed to the seat.

("I always get a window seat. It's almost like I'm some sort of protagonist."). He chuckled and sat down at his seat.

The bell rang, and everyone else sat down and got quiet. "Alright, class. Just to get everyone reintroduced to each other, everyone will be doing a 1v1 mockduel with someone random from this class. That includes you, Shinto." Everyone in class seemed excited about this duel, but Shinto wasn't exactly thrilled. Everyone else had magical abilities, but Shinto had nothing but his 1 year of experience in Kendo.  "Once that bell rings, we head toward the duel arena, and we choose who will go against who."

("She must be talking about that large dome I saw.") Shinto thought to himself. The bell rang shortly after the teacher finished talking, and everyone rushed out the door towards the dueling arena except for Calibur, Sakuya, and the teacher. The teacher walked up to Shinto, and they began walking to the dueling arena.

"I haven't properly introduced myself yet. I'm Mrs. Izayoi, I'm gonna be your teacher for this year. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Shirama." She held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." Shinto shook her hand.

"It's good to know our new student is a very kind one. Best of luck in your duel!" She cheered.

"Yeah." Shinto laughed nervously as Mrs. Izayoi caught up with the rest of the class. ("I'm gonna get bodied!") Raced through his thoughts before Sakuya walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey!"

Shinto jolted back, "Huh?! What?!" He saw it was Sakuya and immediately settled down. "Oh. Uh, sorry."

"It's fine." She put her hands behind her back. "So it seems we're in the same class, huh?"

"Yeah! It's nice to have someone I'm familiar with in my class." Shinto replied, putting his hand on the back of his head.

"So you know Shinto, Sakuya?" Calibur interrupted.

"Yeah." She blushed. "It's a long story, but we know each other."

"Say, Shinto. Why are you carrying around that sword?" Calibur asked. They were nearing the entrance of the arena.

"I'm forced to. I dont have a Soul Skill or any magic powers, so I have to use this." Shinto replied, holding onto the sheathe

Calibur sighed, "Then this will be rough for you." He shrugged with his right eye closed. "Just do your best not to get killed."

"Are you trying to scare me away?"

"You can do it, Shinto!" Sakuya cheered.

After a few minutes of walking, they made it to the duel arena where all the other students were waiting in a big clump. "Listen up!" Mrs. Izayoi raised her voice. "Our first match has been decided. It will be Shinto versus Yoshimura."

("Oh no! I'm going first?!") Shinto started panicking. He never liked going first in any event. The pack of students headed for the stands while Shinto and Yoshimura prepared themselves for their practice duel.

"Remember, you must deploy your weapons in phantom mode! We dont want any bleeding!" Mrs. Izayoi said as she arrived in the commentator's booth. Shinto looked at his sheathe and saw a small button that switched the sword itself into Phantom and actual mode. "Shinto, Yoshimura, you may now step out!" They both left their respective sides and headed towards the middle of the arena.

"So you're the new guy? Looks like you can't use any magic. Makes my job easier." He spun his arms around, "Come forth, Earth Shaker!" Rocks began to farm around his right hand and began to morph into a giant axe made of some earthy material. It was very sharp and looked very dangerous.

Shinto drew his sword out of the sheathe with his right hand and rested it to his side. "I'll try not to disappoint."

The speaker in the arena came on again. "Fated paths clash together. Begin!" Mrs. Izayoi said, trying to sound cool.

Shinto walked on a wide circle around Yoshimura. Even though he had some teachings of the way of the sword, that'd be useless if he had no way to approach. ("The force of that axe will easily break my sword if I'm not careful enough.") He said in his head.

"I'm getting tired of waiting." Yoshimura growled. He lifted up the axe and slammed the ground with the axe. As he did that, sharp rocks began to puncture into the sky and explode. Shinto jumped to his left and dodged the rock but couldn't dodge its shrapnels.

("Should've guessed he used earth based magic. But that helps me out, actually."). The small shrapnels stayed on the field and didn't disintegrate like the rest of the rock did. The shrapnels themselves were still pretty long and sharp. Shinto ran over the shrapnels and grabbed the small rocks without Yoshimura noticing. They both began to run at each other. Yoshimura swung his axe horizontally, and Shinto slid right underneath him, seeped his leg, and tried to trip Yoshimura. Yoshimura used his earth powers to keep him up right. And swung horizontally again, Shinto reacted quickly enough to block his attack and was pushed back a few feet from the impact of the blow on his sword. ("Huh, this thing is more durable than I thought.") Shinto swung his sword diagonally down right and got back in a neutral stance.

"He's doing a good job managing Yoshimura's power." Calibur said from the bleachers. "But how much longer will he be able to go on for?"

Yoshimura wiped some of the sweat off of his forehead. "Heh, you're better than I give you credit for. Guess I've got to take you a little more seriously!" The aura around him seemed to increase in intensity, and his face was more menacing than before. He immediately shot a giant spiked rock directly at Shinto. Shinto had no choice but to try to deflect it with his sword. Shinto lost control of the sword and lost his balance as the big rock exploded into even bigger shrapnels. Yoshimura chucked more and more of these rock spears as Shinto was forced to run around to evade.

Shinto kept running around the arena, jumping over and ducking under all of the spears being thrown at him. As Shinto was running around, an idea sparked into his head. He quickly sheathed his sword as he was running and dashed for the shrapnels left by the first bit rock spear. He picked one of the shrapnels up that were the size of a sword.

"Heh, what good will that do for you!" Yoshimura said as Shinto picked up the rock shard and held it like a sword. Shinto struggled picking it up as it weighed a lot. Shinto then rushed in towards Yoshimura. He swung the rock sword vertically, and Yoshimura blocked the attack by holding his axe vertically. "You'll never be able to overpower me!" Yoshimura said as he began to put all of his strength into his axe to swing vertically.

"I know." Shinto replied as he was putting most of his weight into the rock sword. After a few seconds of fighting for control, the rock sword shattered in Shinto's hands. As it happened, Shinto ducked under the swing, grabbed his sword with his right hand, and used the shard of rock left by the collision and cut them in a cross into Yoshimura's stomach and ran past him. They both stood still for a second until Yoshimura eventually fell to the ground. Shinto stood straight up. "That's why I must outsmart you."

Shinto sheathed away his sword and, after taking one step forward, collapsed on the arena.

End of Chapter 3....

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