“MATHIAS, why aren’t you at the entrance ceremony? You’re a new student by all accounts,” Felix muttered, annoyed, as he gazed up at the Royal Academy dorm from the front quad.
Felix had done a rather good job escaping to enjoy his freedom, but he’d been caught in the end. He was outmaneuvered despite his excellent athleticism, which was the one thing he had confidence in. His frustration doubled at being cut off before he had the chance to make good use of it.
A towering man stood before him, an impenetrable mountain glowering sharply at him with red eyes, disregarding his complaints. Mathias, Felix’s childhood friend who he hadn’t seen in three years, had somehow forced his bulging muscles tempered by his military service into the Royal Academy’s student uniform, and looked wholly uncomfortable in it. The material pulled taut, threatening to burst at the intricate seams. Even if you scoured the entire Academy, you couldn’t find someone who looked worse in the Magic Department’s red tie—or rather—the entire uniform under the tie.
Catching wind of his friend’s thoughts, Mathias irritably straightened out his tie, his brow creasing with his displeasure. “I handled the required paperwork. That’s good enough. Besides, I’m here because a certain spoiled kid won’t attend the entrance ceremony. Speaking of which, I wouldn’t be after you in the first place if you’d moved on to the next grade like normal! If you hate being watched like a hawk, curse your own weak, worthless self for needing a babysitter at this age!”
Mathias’ anger mounted and his true personality slipped out, ruining the respectful conduct he was supposed to treat Felix with. He should’ve at least laid off calling him a spoiled kid—it’d be off with his head if anybody had overheard him.
“Chill out. I never asked you to take care of me.”
“Of course not. You think I would listen to a request from you? Your father summoned me. I’m just as clueless why I’m stuck babysitting you. Probably because I’m the only person you can’t fool. You’re otherwise capable of protecting yourself. That’s about the only thing you’re capable of.”
“Then get off my back if that’s what you think.”
“This is my job now. You can complain all you want, but I will not quit until your father orders me to. What a freakin’ pain in the butt. Why do I have to blend in with a buncha squirts and enroll here too? I can’t believe I’m wearing this gaudy uniform at my age!”
“You look pretty goo—” Felix couldn’t finish without cracking up at the sight of Mathias’ shirt buttons ready to explode with the slightest flex.
Mathias shot him a furious glare. “I dare you to finish that sentence! I’m so cramped in this thing I’m gonna tear it off!”
The fact Mathias complained so much when he was a man of few words proved how much he hated it. Of course he did. He had wanted to join the military since they’d been kids. Three years had passed since he had shaken off multiple attempts at forcing him into the role of a mage. They had finally noticed his potential in joining a normal squad. His long-awaited future had been right in front of him when he’d suddenly been summoned back to the capital, then forced to masquerade as a magic student. Felix’s overprotective dad had gone out of his way to ensure he would graduate from school.
Do I look that sick to him? I’ve recovered a lot since then though. Or is he just trying to rehabilitate his letdown son into something more acceptable? It’s the latter, no doubt. Even now, all his dad did was scold him. Felix smiled bitterly and pushed his bangs up.
Gloom erupted from the surge of weakness the memories brought, clouding his usually perfectly controlled emotions. A dark, fiendish lump gathered in the blink of an eye, seeping in from the cracks in his shield, accompanied by ringing in his ears. No, it wasn’t ringing. It was the curse; a litany, “You must be perfect at all times.” Whenever those words echoed in his ears, oppressive pain shot through him, suffocating him like a trained response.
This is bad. I need to take my medicine. Even if it’s nothing more than a placebo. Felix rummaged through his chest pocket for the medicated potion prescribed to him.
Suddenly, the accursed litany gave way to the sound of footsteps. The suffocating feeling retreated, as if it were being sucked away. Relieved for the interruption, Felix hid behind a tree. He figured it’d be inconvenient if anyone spotted him being buddy-buddy with Mathias.
The owner of the footsteps was a girl with red hair, who was dragging her large trunk behind her while groaning. She proceeded in the opposite direction of the frazzled students rushing to the auditorium, leisurely taking her time to take in the scenery around her. She seemed out of place. Her starched uniform looked as fresh as the other new students’, but without her tie on, it was impossible to tell which department she was from.
“I wonder if she’s a medical or pharmacology student,” Felix mumbled, on a hunch.
Mathias snorted. “Trying to say she’s poor?”
Felix huffed in return. But then he reflected on why he had even come to that conclusion. Someone once told him that people usually thought through things opposite of how he did—you’re supposed to come to a conclusion based on evidence. But the bases for Felix’s guesses were almost always a hunch, and he didn’t understand how he had reached his conclusion. He wasn’t suited for thinking through things logically.
“She doesn’t have red eyes and isn’t wearing haute couture like the law students… Hey, Mathias, did you just call her poor? Man, you’re rude.”
As the boys began to argue, the girl came to a halt and exclaimed, “Wow, incredible! The flowering season should be over, yet they’re still in bloom!” She crouched down, becoming engrossed in picking some sort of weeds at her feet.
The adorable white flowers with yellow piths were pretty, but Felix didn’t think now was the best time for her to be picking flowers. He knitted his brow at her overly carefree behavior. There was something unreliable about her that he couldn’t stand to watch.
“What is she doing? Is she planning to skip the entrance ceremony?”
“Unlikely. She’s not you.”
Felix ignored Mathias’ provoking and continued observing the girl, when he noticed someone else. “…What’s with him?”
Another new student staggered out of the Boys’ Dorm. He had the same red tie as Mathias on. When he stumbled past her, the girl stopped picking flowers and spoke to him.
“Hey, are you okay?”
The deathly pale boy ignored her, hobbling toward the auditorium like he was drunk. He stared vacantly into the air. Trembles racked his entire body. Then he suddenly started scratching and clawing at his skin. Felix immediately recognized that reaction.
“…Chris,” Felix muttered. A sharp glint in Mathias’ red eyes flashed.
Chris was the name of their other childhood friend who had sat through the tedious entrance ceremony with Felix last year. He was an angelic young man with soft chestnut-brown hair and glimmering hazel eyes, who idolized Felix and followed him wherever he went. In spite of the fact that there was no reward for sticking around Felix, who constantly told him that he didn’t need a bodyguard, Chris had enrolled in the Royal Academy for no other reason than that they were childhood friends—no one had forced him to.
“Since we’re gonna enroll anyways, I’ll become a master mage and protect you with my first-class skills. You can count on me for anything!”
“It was an accident. Let it go,” his father, the doctors, and everyone around him repeated over and over. But even after a year had passed, Chris’ delirious expression was burnt into Felix’s mind and the image wouldn’t go away. Felix had never doubted his self-worth as much as he had in that very moment.
Felix barely managed to suppress the pain quickly constricting his chest before it consumed him. Instantly, his throat went dry, a lump formed, and his head spun. This is bad, he thought. Fear rose in him in anticipation of what he knew was to come. But he couldn’t just watch from the sidelines.
He vehemently shook away the fog closing in on him and warned Mathias, “…He’s infected with Angel Tears!”
He had seen these symptoms before. When the symptoms abated, his friend had cackled madly. “Hey, Felix, guess what? I can fly. Watch me.”
Chris’ smile brimmed with utter confidence. He had been truly convinced that he could fly. But what had followed was a limp heap with crooked limbs, and a dark-red pool of blood. The gruesome scene resurfaced in Felix’s mind, and he covered his mouth; nausea bubbled in the pit of his stomach. He never wanted to see that scene again.
“He’s infected?!” Just as Mathias blanched, the redhead placed her large trunk on the ground.
“Are you all right? You look sick. Why don’t we go to the med room—” She put her hand on the student’s shoulder. He instantly snapped.
“AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! DIE! DIE! DIE!” He shrieked, yanked a knife from his pocket, and swung it wildly. The girl jerked back and stumbled, falling awkwardly onto her butt. But her reflexes had saved her life.
Losing track of the girl, the boy turned his vacant eyes toward the smoggy skies. Laughing maniacally, he darted off toward the auditorium.