Chapter 3: The First Day

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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