The next day soon forced my eyes open with the luminous presence of the early morning moon, the silver light it cast began to illuminate my dorm room and quickly drew me from my slumber.

  I could feel the fluffy figure of Akemi bundled tightly against my chest, her breaths let out soft purrs like that of a kitten while she slumbered. Slowly, I took in a deep breath in order to fill my chest with fresh air. I was almost relieved to know I’d be returning to the same schedule once again—Even if that return to form meant waking up so early once more.

  A soft groan reached my ears, one which originated from Tulip as she sat up. Turning my head over to her my eyes widened at the sight. Her hair was a tangled mess framing her face, her white locks knotted together around her head like a bird's nest. I had to blink several times as I beheld this sight, almost not believing it. Her hair, something she always had kept immaculate, looked almost as poorly kept as mine!

  “What… happened to you?” I dared to ask in a groggy tone. Tulip didn’t answer immediately, giving me enough time to push myself up right before she spoke.

  “Levi… was given deadlines?…” Tulip offered weakly, her tone sounded utterly exhausted. And, those few words, alongside Tulip’s tone left absolutely dread to rush into my body. If even Tulip was that exhausted, then I had no excitement in mind whatsoever to join her in that.

  “Oh no…” I whimpered out. Even Akemi lowered her ears, feeling preemptive misery on my own behalf. I didn’t even want to imagine what him having Deadlines could mean.

  But, something else filled the air other than my own dread. It was like a heavy pressure was blanketed over the entire school, as if the weight of multiple powerful auras were colliding with one another. This almighty weight left an uncomfortable pressure in my ears that refused to fade even as I got ready for whatever the morning would behold.

  The cold morning air buffeted my clothing relentlessly in the courtyard used for our morning lessons. The howling wind still refused to let up on this section of the school, frankly, I was starting to think that the wind found joy in my displeasures. My arms were crossed together, hugging my frame to hold in whatever warmth they could while my jaw was clenched down tight—It took almost every part of my being working together just to prevent myself from audibly shivering.

  “I… hate… the… cold…” I groaned out through shuddering breaths. Tulip cast her gaze slowly over to me, her hair was now far nicer looking. The individual locks were well combed, laying in pristinely straightened lines across her back. It was leaps and bounds better than the tangled mess of this morning, and still miles further than my own.

  “Where is Levi?…” Tulip wondered aloud, trailing off as she spoke. It was over half an hour past when we were supposed to start our morning routine, and Levi was nowhere to be found.

  “Did he forget?” I offered, knowing full well how absurd it was to say. Even if I didn’t know much, if anything about Levi, I knew that he wasn’t the type to be late. He had meticulously been on time for every morning lesson, but now, he was late… and it was worrying. What could have possibly kept Levi so busy that even he was late for something?

  Tulip opened her mouth to retort, but after a moment's hesitation she let her jaw slowly clamp shut. Even Tulip was clearly starting to wonder that same thing, no matter how absurd it was.

  “It doesn’t make sense…” Tulip muttered under her breath, casting an anxious gaze around. “He should be here, and something can’t have happened to him without it being a scene.” But finally, as if summoned by Tulip’s words—Someone began approaching from the open doorway.

  “Sorry I’m late, girls,” Levi spoke as he approached with crossed arms. His face as stoic as ever refused to show the faintest sign of emotion, other than his eyes at least. Underneath his emerald eyes were heavy bags. “Tulip, I will need to speak with you privately after the morning drills are finished. Kirin, Miss Carmine wanted me to tell you to head to her as early as possible, so go there immediately after our drills are finished.” Levi added with a grim tone to his voice.

  “What?” Tulip and I both sounded at the same time, wondering what in the world it could possibly mean.

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Levi sighed out, gesturing to the field before him. “Kirin, we’re changing your morning routine. Your exercises will be more focused on strength and stamina.”

  “What about my classes?” I quickly asked.

  “Skip them if you must, Carmine wants you as soon as possible,” Levi answered courtly. He raised one arm to the side, gesturing to the field. With only a slight, barely palpable flex of his mana the grass began changing. The earth itself moved like water to obey his command, swelling and shifting over itself to flatten into a circular track once more. “Start running, don’t worry about speed, just focus on endurance.” Levi commanded in an almost gentle voice.

  “A-Alright…” I answered, quickly shedding my jacket before starting to jog around the track.

  “Tulip, begin your own training as we discussed yesterday, start with as much as you can physically move.” Levi commanded before falling silent. He took a small, half step backwards while crossing his arms. The motion made him seem as large as ever in the corners of my vision—But I kept jogging.

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  My pace was far from impressive, each soft slap of my boots into the ground only guided me so far. It would have been easy for me to run much faster, longer too if I was allowed to use my magic. But, Levi would almost certainly belittle me the instant I tried to use my abilities to assist myself.

  “If… Carmine needs to see me… why don’t I go see her now?” I huffed out between breaths. I wasn’t breathing particularly hard yet, but the cold air mixed with the mild exertion made breathing all the harder.

  “She deemed your morning exercises to be important enough for what she needs,” Levi answered plainly as his eyes fell upon me. The pressure of his gaze was akin to being crushed under the weight of a boulder, making it all the more palpable when his gaze turned away. “More pressure Tulip, do not hesitate to exert yourself.”

  “Mmf… I’m trying!” Tulip answered with an agitated tone.

  Marginally slowing my pace, I cast my gaze to the side in order to see what Tulip was doing—She was standing directly across from two boulders in the center of the clearing, her face was contorted in concentration, veins were even popping out of her head!

  The boulders immediately before her began moving with that unbelievable concentration on Tulip’s face, was she… lifting them? I couldn’t be sure, nor could I keep watching to find out when Levi’s words rang out.

  “Then try harder!” Levi barked out. His sudden outburst nearly sent me sprawling on the ground, my foremost foot barely shot out with enough speed to catch myself, sending me into a tripping tumble that only just allowed me to keep moving.

  “Keep yourself moving Kirin!” This time I was ready for Levi’s words, so when they did come I didn’t stumble at all.

  This pattern continued for the rest of the morning until the tinges of moonlight were drowned out by the sun. Tulip and I would work as hard as we could: Myself with running, and Tulip… with whatever her task was. Levi would yell at us over any minor mistake while withholding any semblance of praise, it was frankly made all the worse by the fact that his face never changed any time I spared a glance at him.

  “That’s enough!” Levi called, bringing Tulip and I to an immediate stop. “Tulip, over here. Kirin, Carmine should be in your normal training grounds.”

  “Do… I need to say… anything to my other… teachers?” huffed out between desperate breaths. Even with the lowered speed of my jog, keeping that pace up continuously for over an hour was utterly exhausting.

  “You’ll have time enough tomorrow, now go.” Levi commanded. As he turned he flicked his head in a sort of “follow me” motion, Tulip spared me a confused glance before walking off to join with him.

  “What’s going on?…” I wondered to myself as I turned. The only mild reassurance I felt was from Akemi, the small Kitsune padding her way over to me with a sort of anxious look in her eyes.

  “I’m fine, Akemi,” I offered to the Kitsune, extending a hand to scratch her while we walked. “Just… confused I guess.” I added with a sigh, granting me another anxious glance from Akemi.

  With only enough time wasted to grab my overcoat and slowly pull it back on I began through the school. The walk itself was far easier than it typically was, the halls at this time of day were utterly barren—With all of the other students either enjoying breakfast, or trying to sleep in just a little longer, it left the halls rather vacant.

  It also helped that I was speed walking. I was hungry and anxious, on top of all of that I was somewhat excited to see what Carmine had in stock for me today. However, when I made my way out of the halls, stepping into the back court of the school, I was left frozen in my tracks.

  I wasn’t all that surprised to see Carmine sitting out in the field, no, what had me frozen was what was around her.

  She had what looked like an entire office, including a large desk, a cabinet, several books and quills all together around her. In the middle of the open field, and she was writing.

  “Uhm…. Miss Carmine?” I asked hesitantly, raising my voice enough to be heard on my approach.

  “Oh! Kirin!” Carmine responded with a clap of her hands. Despite the grin on her face I could see the sleep deprivation in her eyes, furthermore I could also see tension in her posture.

  “What’s… this?” I asked, gesturing to the outdoor office. There weren’t many things of interest that caught my eyes, other than the small book Carmine had been writing in at least. It was a well used leather tome, a recycled rope acting as a string to keep its contents wrapped inside. But before I could really focus on it Carmine snapped her fingers, drawing my attention to her.

  “I’m terribly behind on work suddenly, thanks to Daedrik, so I have to multitask in my mornings now.” Without further explanation Carmine snapped her fingers again, the entire office disappearing in a flash of light.

  “First, before we do anything, how are you feeling Kirin?” Carmine asked, her voice suddenly intense. Her gaze bore holes straight into me, focusing on my very being while I did my best to meet it.

  “Hungry?… Sore? I… feel otherwise fine I think?” I offered the best answers I could think of, drawing a faint nod from Carmine’s face.

  “The first trial is beginning in two weeks. You now have two weeks to build yourself up to fight the Elemental and win, otherwise Daedrik is going to disqualify any representatives who cannot do it this year.” Carmine stated bluntly.

  “Two weeks?! How am I supposed to beat that thing in two weeks?!” I exclaimed. I knew that Golem was leaps and bounds stronger than me still—The fiery Ghoul hadn’t even been a quarter as fast as the Golem. Yet despite that, I was barely able to outpace that Ghoul.

  “Don’t put yourself so far down Kirin, you’ve got a chance,” Carmine insisted as she took a few steps back into the dirt clearing. “So, we’re going to relentlessly train you for these two weeks to get you there.”

  “How… relentlessly?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Until you either can’t stand, or drop unconscious. Frankly, whichever comes first.” Carmine answered with a horrifying grin on her face. That simple contortion of her face changed every part of her being, like a switch was flipped.

  “First, you’re going to learn how to dance.” Carmine started with a horrifying tone.

  “Wait, what?”

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