Ichiryu no Maho Academy one of the top magic high schools in the country. There Magician in training honed their skills through the vigorous training programs. All so they can better learn to utilize their own magical abilities. Graduates from an academy such as Ichiryu no maho would have their pick of colleges or high level jobs. Of course that honor is typically bestowed upon the top tier students.

Currently classes at this prestigious academy were underway. Students were now opening a door way to their future. Or in Yuuto’s case he was sitting at his desk still a little peeved about his clumsy mistake. He had arrived at school a full hour early thanks to the fact that he hadn’t properly checked his alarm clock. If he hadn’t decided to look around a bit, he would have been able to return home.

But instead Yuuto was lured into a series of conversations with a number of faculty members. Each conversation was short but it ate up more and more of his time. Until the time before classes started was too short for it to even matter anymore.

“Ok everyone. I’m handing out a personality quiz for you all to take. Once you finish them. Pass em up and introduce yourself to the class. After that it should be about time to leave. So you can just go or stick around till the bell rings I really don’t care.”

The man speaking was Mr. Hazaki, who had a sort of punk rock vibe going for him. He wore a black suit and had shoulder length crimson hair which fell along his right side. The left side was shaved showing off the multiply piercings on his left ear.

Mr. Hazaki passed out six small piles of paper. One to each of the six students in front. Each of the students passed the papers back. Yuuto was one of the last to receive his quiz since he was seated in the back by the window.

“Ok. Personality quiz. Question one. Do you feel superior to other people? Neither agree or disagree.”

Yuuto read through the questioned while tapping his pencil against the paper. Being organized is more important than being adaptable. Nope. Highly motivate or energetic. Depends. You don’t mind being the center of attention. Strongly disagree. Are you hiding a dark secret?

Yuuto paused at the question and looked around the room. Is this a joke? Who would actually answer this truthfully? Strongly disagree. Wait, neither.

“Wait how am I supposed to answer this?”

Yuuto’s voice was louder than he intend it to be, so some of the other students were staring at him. He looked around for a moment scratched the back of his head and grinned.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

After a few minutes the students began passing up their papers. Mr. Hazaki instructed those in the back to introduce themselves starting with Yuuto.

“My name is Yuuto Mamoru. I’m here to study magic. And that’s about it.”

Yuuto’s classmate stared at him then laughed while Yuuto sat down. The person to his right rose from their seat and introduced himself. A low growl escaped from Yuuto’s stomach. Not only did he skip breakfast but he forgotten his wallet so he ended up skipping lunch as well. Since he was so hunger he couldn’t be bother to listen to everyone’s introduction. Beside it wasn’t like he was too concerned about learning everyone’s name.

“Senji Yatsu!” A thin boy with short mop like brown hair and large round glasses shouted in a sort of high-pitched wail. Yuuto’s attention turned toward him since it was sort of hard to ignore. Senji stood there shivering as if it was a cold winter.

“I…um…want to. BECOME…a great magician. Thank you for listening.”

At the end of Senji’s introduction he bowed nearly smacking his head against his desk. Yuuto stifled back a laugh which was more than the rest of his classmates could muster. Afterwards the rest of the introductions came and went and then it was time to leave. Each of the students left one by one while Yuuto sat in his seat with his stomach grumbling.

“Getting home’s gonna take forrrrever. I’m sooooo hungry.”

With a pout he stood up grabbed his bag and slumped down with his head hanging low. Today hunger was winning the battle but if Yuuto could preserver it wouldn’t win the war. Mr. Hazaki barely noticed Yuuto slinking passed the door he could hear the sound of Yuuto’s stomach growl as he sighed aloud.

“Hungry.”

Seeing Yuuto like that prompted Mr. Hazaki to flip through the stack of papers in front of him until he reached Yuuto’s. Reading through Yuuto’s answers gave Mr. Hazaki a small insight into the type of person he was.

Firstly Yuuto Mamoru seemed like an introvert not likely to seek out friends or attention. The other answers he gave were mostly neutral when it came to the secret question. Mr. Hazaki could see Yuuto had circled multiply choices and erased them eventually settling on saying he strongly agreed. While adding the line. But it’s my secret so don’t bother asking about it.

There was even a little pouty face as if he was being stubborn about his answer. Mr. Hazaki looked away from the paper and stared into the doorway.

“What an odd kid.”

Yuuto swayed back and forth on his feet as he mindlessly wandered the hallway. Unbeknownst to him drool ran down the left side of his mouth. His eyes were simple large white circle while the rest of his face lacked any detail.

“Hungry. So huuungry.”

It wasn’t like this was the first time Yuuto had gone most of the day without eating in fact far from it. While training with his master, a man Yuuto refused to mention or even think about he would end up going days at a time without eating. Ironically instead of developing a strong fortitude the exact opposite seemed to happen. Anytime he went without eating for a certain period of time he would end up like this.

“Hungry.”

Most of the people in the hall were completely oblivious to Yuuto. Students and teachers alike just shuffled on by. The sound of their footsteps against the shiny marble floor vaguely reminded Yuuto of the trotting of a four legged animal. He licked his lips then giggled to himself. Meat, rare, tender.

“I could eat a horse. Wonder if they’re any around? No, there probably aren’t any. Gotta get home so I can chow down ohhhhh.”

His stomach growled so he began rubbing it. With the way he was going he would make more of a chore out of the simply task of walking home. In the midst of all the footsteps there was one that stood out. It was quieter than the others and more infrequent.

“What the?” Yuuto’s head perked up just in time to see a young man with dark hair in a bun. The rest of his hair rested fell over both his shoulders. Yuuto’s eyes barely glimpsed the young man as he passed. A second or two later and he was lost in the crowd before vanishing completely from sight.

I wonder who that was…on second thought I’m too hungry to care.

Eventually Yuuto made his way to the eastern entrance of the school. Standing near the glass railing which ran along the white stone stairs.

“Hey, give it back.”

“Aw. The future Great Magician is giving us an order.”

“Oh no if we don’t listen to him he might hurt us. I’m so scared. What should we do Meiji?”

“I don’t know I’m trembling here. Hahaha.”

Four students were hanging around the courtyard. One of them was Senji who was desperately trying to retrieve a brown orb which appeared to have magic craving on it? The other students were tossing the orb around, playing keep away. Meiji, the leader wore his school uniform loose his tie barely hung around his neck while he scowled with a really “friendly” look on his face.

“Just give it back already it’s mine.”

“No, why should we?”

“Yeah. Jet’s right. Why should we give it back?”

“Don’t be like that guys. Sun give him back his little toy.”

Sun, the one currently holding the orb grinning at Meiji before he said. “Oh, ok if you say so boss.” He lifted his leg up setting himself for a baseball style pitch. Then with a gleam in his eye Sun threw the orb sending it hurtling through the air.

“No.”

Senji ran after the orb only to be tripped by Jet. He hit the ground not a second later his glasses fell off landing a few inches in front of him.

“Oh no. The Great Magician’s glasses fell. Jet make sure there not scratched or anything."

“Right O boss man.”

With a crunch sound the glasses snapped. Jet stepped back pressing his hands against his cheek feinting surprise.

“Oh man I think they’re broken boss.”

“Don’t sweat it. The Great Magician can fix em it’s not a problem for someone like him. Isn’t that right?”

Senji just laid on the ground silent as the three of them encircled him.

“I said isn’t that right Mr. Great and powerful Magician.”

“Yeah. It’s no problem…I can fix this.”

Meiji and his cronies started laughing then made there leave, not before Meiji kicked dirt at Senji. It took a while after they left for Senji to put on his now cracked glasses and head in the direction of the brown orb. While all that was going on Yuuto hadn’t moved from his position atop the stairs, he just stared silently thinking.

Wow those guys are a couple of grade A assholes. That kid should have tried to defend himself better. Then again there were three of them. He should probably go tell someone about what happened. Not that anything that just happened here was any of my business, but a scene like that definitely seemed like one where the hero would step in and save the day. Sucks for that kid though cause this is real life. And the only people calling themselves heroes are children that don’t know any better.

The dazed look on his face along with the hunger pangs had disappeared from him completely. No, instead there was a serious expression painted on his face. Yuuto clenched his left fist tightly. Then he simply slung his bag across his shoulder and headed home.

“Only stupid people try to be the hero. In the end no one saves the day.”