A groggy Reito awoke to an empty dorm. Although, surprisingly, it was a lot cleaner than usual. The weights and controllers that usually littered his floor had been organized, bedside. Even the dirty pots and pans had been put way, leaving a kitchen that sparkled so much, he found it hard to look at. It smelled of citrus, as well. He seemed like he was used to it, though. So much so, that he matched the handiwork to a face, easily.

She always says to stop lazin’ around and clean, then she takes care of it, anyway... He found himself smirking some as he thought so. Guess I should thank her... Although, now, it smells like some newlywed’s place or somethin’.

Stretching his arms over his head, he leaned to the side, if a bit too much, and ended up on the floor. Sunlight flare into his face. reito squinted to see past it, only to give up and cover his face as the chatter of students making their way to school entered his dorm, which he clicked his tongue to.

Ugh...not the best start. Please don’t let this be an omen for things to come, he prayed while taking his cellphone out to read a message from Shizuka. “Let’s see..., ‘Mornin’, Rei! I woke up a bit late, so I can’t hang out on the way to school. Not too worried though, I doubt Evie will let you keep on with the whole “NEET” thing, so chances are, you’ll be at Kita today for sure! Later!’. Oh yeah...her. Just throw me to the wolves, why don’tcha...”

Reluctantly getting dressed, Reito made his way outside and down the stairs with his arms behind his head.

Still, Shion really knows her stuff; even a simple mild curry dish seems like a five-star meal when she makes it, he praised Shizuka in his head, heading onto the streetway in front of the complex accompanied only by the rustle of trees and the smell of fresh greenery and morning dew. He was almost running late, so everyone living in the dorms had already made their way to Kita.

A small silhouette appeared in one of the tree’s branches, staring at Reito through the leaves behind him. When he walked a bit further, it jumped out towards him.

“TOOOOCHIIIIIIIIII!”

Reito sighed with closed eyes. Havin’ to deal with her this early... What did I do, kick puppies in a past life ...? As he turned to address her, he opened his eyes. “That’s me, I guess... WhaddyYEEEEESH!”

“DYNAMIC ENTRRRRYYYY!”

His eyes sprung open to a flying kick, imbued with electricity. He leaned back to dodge it and would have barely just kept his balance if not for the gust that the attack generated knocking him to the ground.

The silhouette—now revealed to be the ninja-like Student Council member Reito’d met yesterday, landed on the ground in perfect form, skidding on the pavement. “Nicely done! Considering those are your reflexes from having just woken up, not too shabby!”

“Y’know, for a kunoichi, you’re not quiet at all! And what ever happened to a normal “good mornin’, anyway?! Are ya tryna kill me?!”

“You say that, but you didn’t notice my presence until I called your name. And relax, will ya? It's a pretty normal greeting. A kick like that wouldn't kill you in the first place... Although, it could've maybe, possibly... Oh, well. You did dodge it, so it’s fine!” She merely waved his concern off with a hand.

And what if I didn’t dodge it?! I’d be rammed through a wall right now! “...What exactly is your definition of' ‘normal’...? Bah, forget it. Unfortunately, I got somewhere to be.”

“Oh, yeah! Hold up a sec! We were having so much fun last night; I forgot to give you this,” Evie reached into her dogi to retrieve a small, circular object the size of a flash drive.

“What's this? It's not gonna shock me when I take it...will it?” Reito slowly stuck a hand out to accept her gift, his eyes darting to hers and then to the object every split second.

Evie quickly dismissed the notion. “No, no! Nothing like that. This is your Status Projector—or S.P. for short. Courtesy of Meichi Inc.! Since you didn’t stay for the full orientation, you missed out on getting one. Should anyone do that, it's a Student Council member's job to give ‘em out.”

He took it and examined it closely while prodding at it. Eventually, he hit a button by accident that made a projection shoot out from the base.

Reito jumped back. “That's instant!”

A blue holographic screen appeared in front of his eyes; the interface was sleek and futuristic, reminding him of a manga he’d read. It displayed a multitude of things, such as his full name and a section that contained “Battle Stats”. The thing that grabbed Reito's attention the most, however, was his ranking.

“Gold rank number four?!” He went completely slack-jawed.

“You’re not the brightest, are you, Tochi? That's hardly surprising, considering what you've just been through. The bigger the win, the more you rank up, obviously. Although, it gets harder the higher up in the Academies you are.”

I’m gonna choose to ignore that first little comment of yours...! “Woah, I'm almost at Azuma with Shion! The way things are goin’, I'll be king in no time!” Reito proclaimed with a confident grin.

He was too busy rejoicing to see, but Evie wore an uncharacteristically worried frown for a split second before she snapped back into her usual cheery self. “That's the spirit! Now pick up the pace—Kita’s not gonna wait forever!” She grabbed his arm and started running ahead.

“H-Hey! Slow down, damn it! Just lemme walk!”

His question didn’t seem to reach Evie as she dragged him off, heading towards the sounds of horn honks and traffic lights coming from the more central part of the City.

***

Evie, with Reito in tow, walked through Kita academy’s gates while multiple death stares were being sent towards the boy.

“It's him again, some nerve he has coming back after he cheated the Glutton out of a win...”

“And the Fulgur Shade is hanging all over him; what the hell makes him so special?”

“Probably blackmailed her. Either way, dude's the worst.”

Reito narrowed his eyes, wishing he could opt out of being the topic of discussion.

Seriously. It's just like back home. Nothin’s changed... “Arrrrgh! Lemme go already!” He growled, tearing away from Evie’s grip.

She brought her hand to her mouth and donned a mischievous grin. “I see...~ This is the first time you've been so close to a girl other than Shizu, and now you’re getting embarrassed—how cute~” She teased.

“That's not it at all! Get real!”

Reito strode to class with sluggishness even molasses would envy, trying to move away from Evie’s company.

He didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t take a hint, she was off in the head, or some combination of the two. Either way, she stuck by his side like glue—his laid back, slightly slouched over walk being juxtaposed by her happy-go-lucky skipping. All while he was dreading what’s to come.

If it means dealin’ with people like her, on top of everyone hatin’ my guts, maybe this ain’t such a good idea after all. Man, what did I get myself into?

They trekked on amongst other students who, judging by their piercing gazes, weren’t too pleased with Reito either. Even so, the boy kept a guise of stoicism. He wondered if they could get there any faster, and like his wish was granted, they arrived at Class Three’s door.

“This is my stop. Sayonara, I guess.”

“Sayonara! I’m in Class Five, but when lunch comes, I’ll be sure to stop by, so don’t run off!” Evie charmingly asked of him before fading into a crowd of students.

“Yeah, yeah.” She acts like I’ve got a say in that matter. Either way, I’d probably just get dragged into it whether I want to or not, Reito figured, almost accepting that things would turn out that way.

There had been conversations going on before he’d set foot arrived in the class, but when he did, every voice went silent. Reito found it rather unnerving. Still, he took the spot that he'd made his own last week. Alright, let's get this over with. Hmm? Wait a sec, what's...?

The faint scent of smoke caused his nostrils to flare, and he began to feel hot all of a sudden. Thinking it strange, Reito looked around, finally noticing dim flames at his feet.

They swelled up along the floor, growing fiercer and fiercer, slowly wrapping around the perimeter of the room.

Reito got up from his seat. Understandably shocked, he flew into a panic. “OI! THE BUILDIN'S CATCHIN’ ON FIRE, SOMEONE DO SOMETHIN’!”

What was odd was that the other students around him didn’t seem to be alarmed at all by what was happening. Some put their phones away and sat up straight as if they were expecting something.

“Hey, pipe down. A little fire should be the least of your worries, cheater.”

“Yeah, you didn’t get to see him your first time here, so you’d better get ready.”

Reito, still freaking out, although a bit less so, raised an eyebrow at the statements. “What the hell are ya talkin’ about? You guys wanna sit here and die?! No way in hell! Not me! Later!” He exclaimed, making a beeline to the door.

Upon reaching the door, a pillar of flames rose up, making him fall onto his back from his sudden stop.

What’s with these people, so calm when somethin’ like this is goin’ on?! Reito wondered, covering his face, trying to shield himself from the flames.

A few seconds after that, an opening formed in the pillar that blocked the door. An unfamiliar man strolled through it casually.

There he stood, rather tall with blond hair that was oddly tipped with splashes of red. He wore an unbuttoned lab coat.

“As usual, my entrance is flawless! Whaddya guys think? Pretty cool, huh?” The man brazenly said, running a hand through his hair like a model preparing for a shoot. The other, holding onto a body pillow with an illustration of a green-haired wizard-like girl on it.

The room became silent; if this had been outside, there’s no doubt that a tumbleweed would roll by. The students all gave him uninterested looks.

“Soooo laaaame!”

The lab coat wearer waved his hands, making his lab coat flare out and reveal a green graphic T-shirt that had the same character on it as on his body pillow. Beside the image, a white font was printed diagonally across the shirt that read “Mari-chan loves you.” Just like that, the flames wrapping around the room began to subside.

“Meh. Like always, you kids have no sense of flair. Although, I am ahead of my time. So, maybe in another ten or so years, you’ll understand,” he nodded, as if what he said was fact, a hand on his hip.”

“No disrespect, Mr. Banner, but it’s not so much the entrance itself; it’s what you're wearing, and for that matter, what you’re hauling.”

“Yeah, you’re always wearing merch from that weird show you like. It kills any sense of coolness you would’ve had once we see it.”

He stepped back, offended by the student’s comments. “How...how dare you all! Don’t you have any compassion?! I’m so sorry, Mari-chan, they just don’t understand how sensitive you are~!” He apologized to the pillow he was holding, affectionately rubbing his cheek on it. Stopping abruptly, he noticed Reito on the floor, blinking rapidly and shoved the pillow in front of him. “Hey, new kid, you don’t think that my love’s lame, do ya?”

Reito took a moment to answer, still calming himself from when the room was set ablaze. “Wha...? But you just, huh?” He tried to put together what was happening, looking every which way.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that, should’ve introduced myself. I’m Kita Academy’s Class Three Homeroom teacher—Neigh Atlus Banner! And this lovely lady accompanying me is Mari-chan~” He posed, holding the pillow up. “Isn’t she adorable~?”

Neigh Banner...? I think I’ve heard that name before. Yeah! When I flipped by the news channel one time! Reito took a closer look at the pillow; he could’ve sworn he’d seen the character on it somewhere before. Then it came to him, it was a character from a magical girl anime he remembered watching on T.V. “...Is that Mariko from Magical Crusaders? You watch that stuff?”

“Of course! The moment I first sat down to watch an episode, she caught my eye! After that, every piece of merch with her face on it had to be mine!” Neigh proclaimed.

Lame as hell! But he wears that stuff with pretty much no shame! No way in hell I’d even think of doin’ somethin’ like that. It attracts too much unwanted attention! Reito cringed, amazed at Neigh’s confidence.

“Just roll with it, Usodachi... This is just how Mr. Banner is...”

“Trust us, it’s a hassle to deal any other way...”

Reito found it wise to take his classmate’s advice. “Is that it...?” W-Well, I guess as long as you like it, then it’s cool, Teach,” he said, getting up to better greet Neigh. “Anyway, I’m-”

“Already aware! Reito Usodachi, right?”

Reito raised an eyebrow.

“Surprised? I wouldn’t be if I were you. From what I’ve heard, you’ve become pretty infamous while you’ve been here; and in such a short time, too. Odd—super odd, even,” Neigh stated while stroking his chin.

“That’s pretty on the nose.” Guess everyone really is against me at this school, huh? “...Now that I think about it, why weren’tcha teachin’ last week? I thought we were just gonna get taught by robots.”

“Hmm...? Oh! You mean V.E.T.! Stands for Versitle Education and Training bot! He’s a real help when I’m outta commission. Cool, right?

“Uh...huh...”

“As for why I’m absent so much, Ya see,” Neigh raised his hands in front of him to reveal blackened and burnt palms, “my Path that you got a demo of a second ago, Burnout, has a brutal effect on my body whenever I use it. I’ve gotta take a week off of my posts every week and a half to treat the burns that using it gives me. Guess you could say it’s like I overheat! Ba dum tss!” He joked, imitating a rimshot.

“..............”

Yet, he uses it to set up some pointless grandiose entrance... And was that a joke? Terrible! Reito thought. “So...you’re some kinda Flame-human.”

“Yepperoni! I’m like a modern-day Fire Fist Ace! ‘Cept I get charred from time to time. On top o’ that, besides being a teacher—I’m also the head of The Academy’s Science/Mechanical Division [SMD]!” Neigh threw up a victory sign.

Pretty sure Ace didn’t look like a loser otaku... “A Science Division?” Reito tilted his head.

Neigh sighed, shaking his head. “Come on, now. Put two and two together, kid. Haven’t you ever noticed a student carrying around a weird weapon or object that’s made specifically for them?”

Thinking back, Reito remembered the red hilt that Shizuka carried around, as well as Chikara’s compact, suitcase-like shorts.

He’s the one who made ‘em? He pointed towards Neigh. “Meat Tank said somethin’ about that... So, you’re...?”

(Continued in Part 2)