Cote: Magic [Exams break]

Prologue

Power.

Frankly, no one wants less of it; if power is offered to a person, the non-foolish ones will always accept it without hesitation. However, power always comes with sacrifice, and this is where one would hesitate.

Questions like 'Is it worth it?' would be asked. Nowadays, people might be reluctant to seek power, perhaps due to the ideas projected onto us, or maybe it's the responsibility that comes with power.

Who knows?

I, for one, didn't hesitate, not because I had a thriving personality, but because I had no other choice.

In my life, I've always sought power to survive, and I wondered how I would behave if that weren't the case, would I still seek power?

I pondered this question as I rode the bus to school, bobbing and weaving in my seat. As I idly looked out of the window and watched the city change, the bus picked up more and more passengers.

Most of them were young, wearing high school uniforms with the duel function emblazoned on their chests.

The duel function is one of the systems this school has in place to ensure the safety of its students. It creates a separate space. One where magic does not cause physical harm and the duel is settled inside that separate space.

I continued to scan the passengers. There was a frustrated salary worker who looked like the type to have once mistakenly groped someone aboard a crowded bus.

Even with magic, there are still jobs such as office workers, simply because an unorganised society that relied solely on magic would be fated to doom.

Anyway, I was fortunate to have found a seat, but it was still crowded. The weather was especially fine today, not a single cloud in the sky. It was so refreshing that I nearly fell asleep then and there.

However, my gentle respite was promptly obliterated.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't you offer up your seat?"

My eyes, which were about to close, snapped back open.

A young, well-built blond man of high school age had sat down in one of the priority seats. The elderly woman stood right next to him, and another woman stood beside her. This second, younger lady appeared to be an officeworker.

"Hey, you there. Can't you see that this elderly woman is having trouble?" the office lady said.

Realising the situation, I sighed before activating a sound barrier to block outside noises.

Just as I was about to close my eyes again, a girl with long black hair tied in a pink ribbon and bright red eyes gave me a quizzical look.

"How troublesome." I muttered under my breath, it seemed she had noticed that I was using magic in public.

'She is sharp.' I thought to myself.

As I stared at her, our eyes locked for a moment. The girl gave me one last look before returning to her book.

Horikita Suzune's POV:

I looked back at the book I was reading. "Crime and Punishment, how ironic is that? You may be wondering what I am talking about. Just now, a brown-haired boy, who seemed tall even when he was sitting, committed a crime and it went unpunished.

I don't really care if he used magic in public, but there is something that makes the situation bizarre.

Just to give you some context, I'm enrolled at ANHS, one of the most prestigious magic academies in Japan, and the destination of this bus is none other than that school, so naturally most of the passengers would be ANHS students.