“I’m Fujino Chitose from the Kendo Club. I have confidence in my sword,” the black-haired girl said.

“I”m her partner for each practical class. My name is Carmina Elvera. You can call me Carmina to make it simple.”

“My name is Kudo Ayaka. You can call me Ayaka,” Ayaka said before pointing her finger at Kai. “He’s Kai, Kai Carter. You might already know that he’s my partner.”

“And your boyfriend, right?” Fujino Chitose suddenly added.

“Wha-!” When Ayaka heard that, her face instantly became red. “Wha-what are you saying-!”

“Chitose, you can’t say that in front of her. It’s rude. I mean, she’s a Kudo,” Carmina immediately corrected her.

“Eh-?” Ayaka froze when she heard that. She explained hurriedly with a weird smile, “Please don’t be like that. I’m just class 1-A’s Kudo Ayaka, your classmate. There is nothing beyond that point.”

“…” Both Fujino Chitose and Carmina Elvera were dumbfounded when they heard that. Although they felt Ayaka was approachable, they never dared to approach her because of her family’s status. In fact, Ayaka looked approachable because of Kai. Every time she talked to Kai, she looked like she was having fun.

So, when they heard this, they were astonished.

“I’m just an ordinary student in this place, so I hope that you won’t treat me like I’m someone special,” Ayaka sincerely said.

“Eh…” Fujino Chitose and Carmina looked at each other. The situation was filled with awkwardness.

“I’m a fire magician, I think, attacking is my strongest strength,” Ayaka said, trying to change the topic.

“Sound magician, I’m good at scouting,” Kai introduced himself while giving a slight nod.

“I’m a wind magician. I can use the wind to roughly feel the enemy. In a fight, I can also use the wind to help me move. Because of this, I can be the vanguard,” Fujino Chitose replied hurriedly, trying to get rid of the previous awkwardness.

“Plant magician. I can grow or manipulate plants nearby. My plants can restrict the enemy’s movement.”

“Eh… Can Miss Carmina grow plants strong enough to handle an attack from a magical beast?” Kai suddenly asked.

“Hehe… you don’t need to call me Miss. Just call me by my name. I mean, it will be awkward to say ‘Miss Carmina, please restrict that beast’ in battle when you can just say ‘Carmina, restrict that beast.’ No need to be polite. Well, Chitose is the one who taught me that,” Carmina said with a chuckle.

Kai nodded his head. “You can call me Kai too. Anyway, can you do something like that?”

“Yes, I can,” Carmina nodded while looking at Kai. She asked, “How about you? I mean, I haven’t met a sound magician before, so I’m a bit curious.”

However, before Kai could even answer her, Ayaka already started explaining. “Ah, he’s a powerful magician. He has extraordinary hearing, so it’ll be unlikely for us to get ambushed. He can make a Sound Insulation Room so we can ambush without getting noticed. And, and, we can…”

Ayaka suddenly stopped when she noticed everyone’s look around her. She then looked down with her face red as a tomato. She realized she was too excited.

“I see. You two must be dating,” Chitose suddenly said.

“Wha-! No no no!” Ayaka tried to deny it. However, her face said otherwise. Even when she was trying to deny it, she couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t know why, but she felt happy when people said that.

“You’re too excited when you talk about him. And your expression when denying it is not convincing at all,” Chitose said with a poker face. She then looked at Kai who was still expressionless. “You’re not dating?”

Kai shook his head without any expressions. Ayaka somehow felt uneasy when she saw that. She screamed inwardly, ‘Hmph. I don’t like you either. We’re just partners! That’s right, this must be the case. I just felt that they will steal my partner since Kai is very reliable. Wait! This is bad. How could I praise him again?!’

“Tch, boring. Oh, then, can I come to your house? No, at least let me meet your sister. I’ve been idolizing her for a few years. Ah, she’s my inspiration, and I chose to enroll in this school because of her,” Chitose requested.

“Well… you probably can. I’ll try to contact her later,” Kai said uninterestedly.

“Ah! Thank you so much!” Chitose was so happy when she heard she could meet Tasha face-to-face. She even bowed to him while pumping her fist.

“Good for you, Chitose,” Carmina said with a hollow smile. “Can I tag along too? I’m a bit curious to see what kind of mansion an S-rank magician has.”

“Ahem, maybe not in our house?” Kai said while scratching his cheek. After all, it would be a bit awkward to let a stranger just come to his house as this was the first time they met.

“Well… fine. Just meeting my idol is enough for me. I’ve never dreamt of setting my foot upon an S-rank magician’s house. Ah, it must be a huge mansion or even a castle,” Chitose said, imagining a huge western castle.

“… It’s not even a mansion. It’s just a normal family house,” Kai shook his head and replied.

“I… I’ll also come with you!” Ayaka suddenly said with an embarrassed face. It took her all courage just to say that.

Kai only nodded at her. “Anyway, let’s go back to the topic. We need to discuss our plan for a little. First, we need a leader. Well, let’s just have Ayaka be the leader since she’s an A-rank magician.”

“Yeah. I don’t have any objections,” Chitose nodded.

“Fufu… Chitose and I are the reckless types. Even in our practice classes, we only went around and killed the magical beasts without any plan or whatsoever. So, having a leader would be a good idea,” Carmina explained.

Kai was astonished to hear that. He thought he would need to convince them a bit more before they agreed to have Ayaka as their leader, but to think it would be this easy. He immediately calmed himself down, “Cough… Well, since there are no objections, Ayaka will be the leader for this group.”

“Secondly, I need to confirm our position in this group first. My ability is useful for scouting, so I’ll be the scout. Ayaka’s fire magic is powerful, so she’ll be our main attacker. Carmina will be our support to restrict the magical beasts or block an enemy attack. And Chitose will be our vanguard.”

“I don’t have any objections,” Carmina nodded.

“Umu, I won’t let any single magical beast get past me,” Chitose nodded and pumped her fist on her chest.

“Do you have any words for us, Leader?” Kai turned to Ayaka and said with a teasing tone.

“Wha-! You…” Ayaka was startled by that. She quickly calmed down and said, “Anyway. There’s no requirement for us in this mission other than to survive, so we don’t need to take any risks.”

“Oh, by the way, how will we get to that place?” Kai suddenly asked a question that no one could answer.

Since no one could answer, Ayaka raised her hand and asked Shirotsuka Sanae, “Teacher, How will we get there?”

“Good question. We will go there by military aircraft and land at Changjin Aircraft base. After that, the military will send us to the Kanggye region with a helicopter. As for your group’s mission, such as the area you need to search and so on, I’ll hand it to you at a later date,” Shirotsuka Sanae explained.

After that, Ayaka then said, “Each of us should research the area first. With that, at least we’ll have a basic idea about the region. We need to be careful, but not too tense. After all, this isn’t like the practical class. If we die, then we”ll die for real. I don’t mean to pressure you, but please take note of that.”

Chitose and Carmina nodded. Chitose suddenly remembered something. “Kai… I’ve been wanting to ask this, but since we didn’t even know each other previously, I refrained myself. Teacher Shirotsuka Sanae told us that you wear noise-canceling headphones for medical reasons, may I know why?”

Kai immediately looked at her. He tried to see whether this girl had some ulterior motives.

“What?” Chitose was confused when Kai just stared at her without saying anything.

Kai only shook his head. He was trying to pressure her to see if she had any ulterior motives, but it seemed that she was just curious. However, Kai still didn’t have any intention to answer it. After all, he was still confused by the Katsuragi family. He didn’t know whether the one in front of him was a friend or an enemy.

Ayaka was different, as Kai had known her before everything happened. He decided to lie, “Nothing. My ears can pick electromagnetic waves and that makes my ears hurt a lot. The headphones protect me from that.”

Ayaka was dumbfounded when she heard Kai’s explanation. She wanted to ask why Kai lied to them. However, if they found out that Kai was lying, he would be scrutinized. She decided to ask him in private.

Soon after, the school bell rang.

When they heard that, Shirotsuka Sanae said without delay, “All right, you’re free to go home.”

Chitose and Carmina looked at Kai with expectant looks, especially Chitose. Kai knew what they wanted, he said, “I’ll call her first.”