Magic had been part of the world for generations. Not hidden, not fantasy — just a system, like science or law. It was real, tested, and controlled.
Still, only a tiny fraction of people could use it. About one in every thousand. And even then, you didn't just "have" magic. It awakened sometime between the ages of thirteen to fifteen. When it did, you were legally required to register and enroll in one of the thirteen magic academies around the world.
Aizawa Kaito was one of this year's newly awakened. But his reason for being here wasn't the same as the rest.
He walked through the front gate of the academy just before the first bell. His steps were quiet but firm, like someone with a destination, but no interest in being noticed.
Most students had arrived the day before, dragging luggage and shouting names across the dorm courtyards. Kaito arrived without noise. No one came to meet him. He preferred it that way.
His student ID was clipped to his belt. He was assigned Class O. There were twenty-six classes for first-years, A to Z. Placement was based on entrance scores and magical strength. The high performers landed in A or B. The weak ones were dumped into V, W, X, or worse.
Kaito's position was average — intentionally. A low enough score to avoid attention, but not so low that anyone questioned how he passed. It was his cover.
Officially, he was just another student. Unremarkable. Quiet. Freshly awakened.
In truth, he was Japan's embedded agent from Division Zero — a secret government program that placed one operative into the academy each year to monitor internal threats. Sabotage, espionage, foreign interference. If something started to rot the academy from within, Kaito was expected to notice and neutralize it. Not that anyone knew that.
According to school documents, Aizawa Kaito was an orphan from a middle-tier prep school with decent grades and a weak affinity for elemental magic.
The first-year class was held in the north academic wing. He arrived early, picked a seat in the third row — close enough to see the board, far enough from the front to avoid direct questions. He placed his notebook on the desk, kept his bag closed, and listened as the room filled.
Students chattered. Some were nervous and some were excited. It was only their second day at school after all. First day if you didn't count the ceremony. After the Entrance exam a month ago, Kaito didn't come to the academy until today. Even now, he hadn't yet seen his dorm room. Kaito looked around, casually scanning. Forty-nine classmates, each with a different posture, tone, energy.
The bell rang and the door opened. Their instructor stepped in — a tall man in his forties with gray hair, sharp shoulders, and a clipboard under one arm.
"Welcome to your first day. I'll be covering theoretical application and safety principles for the next several weeks," the instructor said plainly. "Your schedules will update each week. Your first evaluations start after your Type assessments."
No one spoke.
"Until then, no magic-enhanced devices are to be used. No spell training outside designated hours. You break those rules, you won't be expelled — you'll be held back. Maybe two years. Maybe five. Depends how stupid the mistake is."
Some students shifted in their seats.
"Lastly, remember that while most of you are beginners, accidents are not an excuse. Magic doesn't care if you meant it or not."
The lecture about magic types began. Magic users were divided into types: Elemental, Umbra, Soul, Bio, Psycho, and Andro Types. Elemental Types were the most common. While all magic users were able to use every kind of magic, their power, efficiency, effectiveness, and usability depended on their type.
Elemental users were best at fire, water, electric, ice, air, earth magic, etc.
Umbra types excelled at curse-based magic or binding magic.
Soul Type was all about one's willpower. It gave so much power and control of other magic to oneself that it was even called the "selfish magic" type. Powerful as it was, it drained one's body and soul pretty quickly.
Bio magic was probably the second best, thanks to its ability to heal and strengthen. It also worked as necromancy magic if you were willing to overlook ethics.
Psycho types had an easier time with mind control, intent detection, manipulation, and similar abilities.
Andro types were best at Mechanism magic, and they were the most sought-after magic users by the government and academy — all thanks to their ability to make the best use of magical devices.
Officially, Kaito's type was registered as Elemental. Efficient but inaccurate and with limited range. However, that was a lie.
Kaito didn't know what his true Type was. The Division had suppressed his registry before it could finalize. For cover reasons, they gave him the most average classification available. The assumption was that anyone smart and quiet with average output would be ignored. So far, it was working like a charm.
Lunch came quickly. He ate in the cafeteria alone, taking a corner seat by the wall. No one approached him. Some students were already grouping up by class or dorm section. It didn't matter.
After lunch came Device Fundamentals — a general-use class where students were shown basic external casting tools. Most of them didn't know how to use one yet. They weren't allowed to until their second semester.
After that came the final session of the day: Situational Magic Ethics. Basically, a long lecture about how not to use magic in public, around civilians, or in non-combat zones.
By the time he returned to the dorm, the sun was beginning to set. He shared his room with two others. One hadn't arrived yet. The other — a lean boy with short red hair and a portable speaker on his desk — nodded when Kaito entered.
"Yo. You must be Aizawa," he said. "I'm Toji Nakashima. Class P."
Kaito nodded.
"Yeah, Kaito Aizawa. Class O."
"Quiet type?"
"No, Not really. Just a little tired."
Toji grinned.
"No worries. I talk enough for both of us. Oh, and the other guy's name is Lawz. He ain't the talkative type, but he's my friend. If you need anything, tell us." He tossed his jacket on his bed and pulled out a gamepad from his bag.
"Sure. Thanks." Kaito replied. He went to his own desk and began arranging his materials — textbooks, notebook, tablet.
He opened his bag and pulled out his phone. Kaito checked Division Zero's message.
'Monitor internal behavior. Observe changes in first-year population. Do not act unless necessary. We will not contact you through this means again. Any other order or mission will be assigned to you through second-year spy, Sachi Inamori.'
Kaito read it once, then deleted it.
There were no confirmed threats yet. No targets to investigate or enemies to get rid of.
"Yo, did you hear the news? Some first-year girls lost their IDs. Talk about carelessness, huh?"
As simple as it sounded, Kaito had to suspect it. It was his entire reason for being here after all. So, Kaito had decided he would be finding out the reason behind it.
If it was a simple lost-and-found case, then good. If not, he had to find who was behind it and why.