Malicious laughter filled the classroom, the kind that made your skin crawl. Not exactly pleasant to listen to, but I couldn't waste time dealing with every single one of them.
And that would probably last only a few seconds.
I reached toward the quality measurement device, then hesitated. I already knew from experience what would happen if I let my mana flow through it. But there was no point in worrying about it now.
I didn't know how to fix this problem. And I couldn't think of any solutions either.
I had to bite the bullet. quietly let out a breath and, as a last-ditch effort, let just the tiniest amount of mana flow through.
But of course, that desperate attempt was meaningless—the quality measurement device let out a sharp whine, blazed with light so intense it felt like it would burn my retinas, and shattered into pieces.
The classroom went dead silent. Nobody said a word. The mocking laughter vanished, replaced by total quiet. You couldn't even hear anyone shifting in their seats. Eve just stared in shock at what was left of the pulverized measurement device, and all I could do was grimace. From the vibe in the room, I could tell my red-haired friend was probably clutching his stomach, silently cracking up like I'd never seen before.
What the hell was I supposed to do about this mess? I felt completely lost and wanted to bury my head in my hands. But somehow, I had to break this awkward atmosphere.
What came out of my mouth was completely trivial.
"...Do I have to pay for this?"
My totally inappropriate comment for the situation made the atmosphere lighten up a bit.
"...No, it's fine. Still, that's incredible. Definitely S-rank."
Those words, indicating the highest possible quality level, brought the classroom chatter back to life. I gave a slight smile.
"You've got low mana volume, but high quality to make up for it."
Eve nodded like that made perfect sense. There were people like that sometimes—low quantity but high quality. It wouldn't be weird for me to be one of them. Plus, people would probably just assume this was another reason I'd been transferred into S-class.
"I see... But we can't continue the measurements like this."
Eve's words made my shoulders slump. The broken quality measurement device was clearly my fault. I'd known from experience this would happen.
"Oh, my bad. I mean there's a backup in the faculty office, so don't worry about it."
"...I'm really sorry."
"Don't sweat it! I'll go grab the replacement right now, so just sit tight and wait."
Eve left those words with the apologetic me and headed out of the classroom. I couldn't even lift my head from the shame. While feeling everyone's intense stares—now with a completely different quality to them— I returned to his seat.
Once I sat down, Gaia gave my head a single pat, like he was comforting me. That was probably his way of being supportive.
After a while, Eve came back and the measurements resumed. Things went smoothly after that, with no other problems, and the assessments finished up.
"Alright, that's it for today. Classes start tomorrow. Don't be late."
Eve left the classroom along with the sound of the bell that had just rung. Students got up from their seats and scattered in small groups.
I stood up with Gaia. I needed Gaia to show me the dorms. But then a male student with blue eyes, blue hair, and droopy eyes approached, along with the two female students who'd been called Lilith and Naoma.
"Gaia, let's head back. And... Sakika, right? Want to walk back with us?"
The blue-haired, droopy-eyed guy addressed both me and Gaia. He seemed to be one of Gaia's friends.
Apparently, they didn't care whether I was a dropout or whatever else. —Otherwise, there's no way they'd be friends with Lilith, that girl in the black cloak who was also called a dropout.
"Yeah. ...You guys introduce yourselves to my bro."
Gaia was as blunt as always. Apparently his attitude didn't change even around them.
"Oh, right, my bad. I'm—"
"I'm Naoma Suzukata, honor student. Just so you know, my grandfather's from the eastern nation, but I was born and raised in the central nation. B-rank, light attribute. But I suck at magic, so I always fight with a bow. Call me Naoma. Nice to meet you."
Naoma cut off the blue-haired guy and introduced herself. But for some reason, nobody said anything.
"Isn't this cruel?!"
The blue-haired student shouted, but everyone just ignored him. Still, there wasn't any real malice to it—somehow it actually looked kind of sweet. It was probably just friendly teasing because they were close.
I'm jealous.
My face almost twisted at that honest thought leaking out, but he forcibly suppressed it. I could become close with them from now on. What was the point of being jealous of them?
"Ugh... I-I'm—"
"I'm Lilith Krone. Wind attribute, rank E. ...I think you've probably noticed, but I'm a dropout. I don't have the skills to be in this class, but the academy director put me in the same class as Naoma and the others. If you don't mind someone like me, I'd like us to be friends. Just call me Lilith—nice to meet you."
Lilith also cut off the male student. Under her hood, her face showed just a hint of a smile.
"Bro really!! Twice..."
The guy looked ready to cry, but my attention had shifted to something else.
I was surprised by the mana he sensed from Lilith. Earlier, during the mana measurement, I have been too focused on the mocking laughter around me to notice, but that slightly different quality was definitely….
When I glanced at Gaia, it seemed I was right.
"As expected of Saki. To notice just from the mana."
Gaia's words made Naoma's eyes widen. Rate either didn't understand what Gaia meant, or maybe thought it was obvious—he just tilted his head with a puzzled look.
Lilith spoke up.
"...You noticed that well. Even Gaia didn't pick up on it."
The mana she was giving off wasn't human, but from the beastfolk—a tribe with animal ears and tails.
Beastfolk were often targets of discrimination. Probably that cloak and hood were meant to hide the distinctive ears and tail of the beastfolk, so people wouldn't know what she was.
But that wasn't the only reason my attention had been drawn to her.
The mana I sensed from Lilith was indeed small, and the quality was just slightly below average.
But— something was off about it.
Quality was basically the density of mana and the individual goodness of each particle of mana. And when mana quality was good, magic power increased too. In other words, the denser the mana, the better the quality.
But there was something weird about Lilith's mana. It felt like something was creating resistance to artificially lower the density, like the gaps between each particle of mana were being forcibly widened to make the quality worse.
And I had a gut feeling—Lilith's mana quality was sealed.
"...Sakika?"
I got back from my deep thinking when someone called my name. When I looked up, Lilith was staring at me curiously after I'd gone quiet.
"...Sorry, I was spacing out."
I smiled to cover it up and looked toward the blue-haired guy. He still hadn't introduced himself.
"Um... what's your name?"
For nearly ten years, I had barely talked to anyone my age besides Gaia. The only other people my age I'd spoken to were people I'd met on missions who didn't know my real identity. That's why I was nervous. I didn't really know how to talk to them. I couldn't figure out the right distance to keep, so he could only smile vaguely as he spoke.
"Oh, Sakika, you're the only one on my side!"
The blue-haired student didn't seem to notice my nervousness at all, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. But the guy had started crying for some reason, and I didn't know how to handle it, so I hesitantly spoke up.
"Um... your name..."
"A-ah!"
When I smiled awkwardly, the guy wiped his tears and looked up.
"I'm Rate, Lucifa Reitnaal. I hate being called by my first name, so please call me Rate. Water attribute, rank C. Nice to meet you, Sakika!"
His cheerful smile was so bright it made me squint.
Somehow, I felt like I could become good friends with them.
Maybe it was because they were friends of Gaia, my best friend, or maybe it was because I could sense genuine happiness in their smiles.
"...Let me introduce myself properly too. I'm Sakika Foras, rank E, fire and light attributes. Gaia and I are... childhood friends, I guess. ...You might think my name sounds like someone from the eastern nation, but it's not really relevant, so don't worry about it. ...Looking forward to getting to know you all."
Mixing lies with the truth in my introduction, I smiled softly while feeling hopeful about my upcoming academy life.