"So… Did the throne ritual make me go back grades or…?"
Mirian shakes her head and responds, "No, you've been repeating some subjects for a while, mainly the ones that require you to complete outside missions to get credits or do certain exercises to prove you are fit to pass. As long as you don't complete all subjects from a year and a half, you can't pass to the next one."
"Oh no… That is rough. Do you think I can make it this time?"
"Ha, you should be the one telling me that! Hopefully you can, or you might as well try to do something else; at least from what we checked, you should be able to get your metrics to fit with some practice."
[Do something else…? I want to at least try to figure out more about this sorcery thing; if it was not for that, maybe I might have never gotten my memories back. I know this is something I deeply wanted before…]
[Besides… magic? super powers? Finally I can do something cool with my life!]
[@#%*(%¨&@!$%]
The doctor claps twice, grabbing Louis' attention again. "You've been zoning out a lot since yesterday. Are you sure you don't need some more rest? I can sign you up for a few days off."
"No, thanks, I am actually pretty excited to take classes again! Also, can you tell me the way to the gym?"
"That's great then. You probably need to be going in a bit anyway. To the left of the auditorium, there is a corridor that takes you to the back building. You will find the gym there and the mess hall in case you want to eat something."
"Thanks, I'll come back later. Bye!"
"See you in a bit, Louis!" "See you after class!" Doctor Evans and Nurse Mirian respond.
Louis bids farewell to the people in the infirmary in a positive mood. This time he takes his time walking the corridors of the school and gets more accustomed to the place.
The inner areas of the school resemble a mix of the modern architecture he was accustomed to and wooden spaces with walls that appear to be made of marble; I guess those areas must be some sort of lab.
As he goes outside, making his way to the back building, he smells the fresh air coming from the grass. He spent most of his last life in urban areas, so this feels like a welcome change of pace. In the distance he sees some soccer fields… Or so he thought initially; the layout is slightly different, maybe from some other local sport.
[I should try to get some of the other studants to play later, will be good to socialize and try to get to know the people arround here.]
The place is totally empty; he definitely got here too early. Looking at the back building, he finds his way to the mess hall by seeing a sign that shows a circle with a knife and fork crossed.
[Ha, the only way to miss it would be to be blind; the other sign next to it should be the gym…]
After staring at the gym sign for a moment, he crosses his arms in thought; his mind is telling him it is obvious that it says "gym," but he comes to the realization that the entire word is a single symbol.
[I know there were some languages like this, if I remember right chinese and japanese have those kind of letters, but they were more square-like some how, the lines here are very curvy, if it wasn't like this on the books too, It could be a caligraphy style, but seems like this is not the case.]
"HEY LOUIS! I SEE YOU OUTSIDE; FEEL FREE TO COME IN!"
The sudden shout from inside the gym startles him, but right after, he opens the gym's doors and goes in.
"Good morning!"
"Morning' Louis!" Teacher Fuyuko greets him as he enters. He notices that the gym seems pretty big; there are some of the usual weights he used before in his past, but there are plenty of other tools he doesn't recognize initially, but even so, everything here somehow gives this intense feeling of familiarity.
"Good that you came by early. Were you able to recover your memories well with rest?"
He thinks for a moment; if he said he had an easy time, he would be lying. He felt Laura could have helped out better, but inside he feels like he shouldn't get her in trouble.
"Eh, it was so-so. To be honest, I am having trouble doing some basic stuff; I didn't even know how to get the lights to turn on in my room, but by the time I figured that would have been a problem, I already had said bye to Laura."
"…? Ah, yes, Miss Yamashita, I understand. It's not like we can just let her enter the boys' side of the dormitory even if she is class president for the first years. I had informed the boys' dorm administrator to have a chat with you this morning. Did you have a chat with him?"
"No… I had heard this loud noise at the start of the day, and I figured I should come, and then… uh… does he have anything to do with chickens?"
"What?"
"This, uh, big chicken lizard gave me a scare earlier."
"What is a chicken? Ah, he rides a kalango; maybe that is the issue? Damn, kid, you really forgot everything, huh?"
"Yeah… but like you said, I feel like deep down I still know…" Louis then proceeds to explain about how he has opened the door and his trouble reading.
"I see…? I am not sure if I believe Mirian's idea about soul twins, but soul fusions are pretty common; just in this batch there were 2 others like that. But to me at least, I have my way of checking for lies, and I am pretty sure you are Louis after all, even if you changed."
"Did I change a lot?"
"A bunch!" The teacher spreads her arms for effect. "You became a good boy! Come' ere, I'll pinch your cheeks!" Hearing this, Louis tries to dodge the teacher's hands, and in a split second, she speeds up significantly to get him!
The same as in the early morning when he got scared by the chicken, he feels adrenaline pumping hard and manages to jump back out of reach!
"Oh ho! Pretty good! It's the first time you've dodged me at this speed!"
"Hey! What was that for!"
"When I called you to the gym, what were you expecting? A tea party? Come on, I am sure you are itching to test the power you got from the throne; aren't you curious?"
As he hears this, he starts to get excited; he definitely feels he has never been this fit before, and he is pretty certain that when he ran earlier the wind was closer to when he drove bikes. Maybe he can finally do something cool!
"Sure, teacher! How do we start?"
"Let's play a simple game; I'll try to get you, and you try to dodge. If I get you, I'll give you a tip; if not, after a few minutes we pause, and I will raise the intensity!"
Louis' instincts told him this is not the first time he has done something like this, so he should get ready!
"Understood…"
"Boop, caught your nose!"
"…not fair… I thought we were going to that arena over there." This time he didn't even see her coming; out of nowhere she went and lightly tapped his nose.
Just like that, with a step that seemed soft, she jumps several feet back. "As this is your first time since the throne, I will give you two tips instead of one!"
Teacher Fuyuko stretches her right arm forward, pointing one finger. "One! The world isn't fair, especially for a sorcerer! Always be ready for an attack anytime, anywhere!"
Then with a small spin she raises her other hand with two upright fingers. "Two! You now can use your aura to boost your movements!"
"And how do I do that?"
"Hehe, that is going to cost a tip!"
"Uh…" That sounds like a bad idea somehow, so he braces himself with his eyes locked on the teacher; he prepares to dodge again somehow!
More akin to the first time she rushed, Fuyuko lightly taps her feet on the ground, doing leaps, covering in two paces the distance between the two, seeing that Louis turns around and starts running as fast as he can while dodging training equipment; somehow that feeling of fear of tripping one would have in this situation doesn't even touch his mind.
[This is awesome! It's like I can exactly control my muscles however I would want! Is this muscle memory or parkour…? Maybe…]
"OUCH!"
"BEEP, got you on the sides!" With 3 fingers, Fuyoko firmly pokes Louis on his left side and then jumps back. "Now, now! This time it was a bit sloppy, so two tips again!"
"One! DO NOT! LOSE SIGHT! OF YOUR FOE! If you need to turn away for any reason, either track with a spell or through your other senses. Getting lost in thought is also forbidden; it is losing sight of your enemy in your mind!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Good boy! Number 2, I think you figured it out by the way you ran, but you were already using aura! You just need to focus on this feeling!"
"Yes…"
"To be honest, that is not really my specialty. Even though I know enough about aura to guide you for a bit, this is more about getting you back into shape."
"Thank you!"
Hearing Louis, the corners of her mouth can't help but curl up into a smile. "Well, well, since you are being so nice, I will add in another tip; I was planning on telling you this one later."
"I am listening!" Louis says as he tries to somehow press a record button on his brain.
"This is at least my understanding. Another teacher will help you more with this later, but if this works as well for you as it does for me, engrave it in your heart! The basis of aura is about resonance! Do your actions with your soul as well as with your body, and you can leverage your strength many times over, depending on how skillful you are!"
"Hm…"
"Do you get it?"
"No"
"Ah well…" Fuyuko's mood sours a bit as she scratches her head.
"Well! Well, well, well! It's good you came early then; you will have some time to figure it out more before you have to spar with your teammates once they come!"
"…"
[Today is going to be a long day…]