Reunited

"3?!" Nagisa punched the wall in the hallway leading to the entrance, letting an echoing sound out.

"How can this be?! I successfully managed to both hide and use my Arcane abilities! My Arcane Awakening told me how to sever its magical bounds perfectly, yet it completely failed in an utmost miserable fashion!" Nagisa cussed.

Nagisa felt hot-headed while exiting the academy. On his way to the dormitory he passed by the front garden, and followed a rubble path leftwards which felt as if he was walking on glass to the dormitory house. Still dismissive of his surroundings, after a few couple of minutes the dormitory was finally within sight, and there, a much familiar face stood waiting for him.

"Nagisa!" Emi's cheeks lit up and waved.

Emi ran towards him and leaped with her arms wide open, and embraced Nagisa with a sweet and gentle hugging gesture.

"There… there… told you I would be back, did I not?" Nagisa's anger softened.

And Nagisa was brought back to reality, all thanks to Emi.

He gently put on a smile, "Did I make you worry?" Nagisa patted her head slowly.

Emi tightened her grip then shook her head reluctantly. Her actions were clearly contradictory. It made Nagisa laugh. The girl who took care of his belongings and Emi in his absence emerged behind her.

"Nagisa, congratulations on your successful entry, I take it that you can manage from here?" The front desk lady hinted and shortly glanced at Emi.

"Friendly tip, keep her around dormitory grounds. Not too close to the school grounds… else students might attempt things…" she suggested.

A final tip was given and she bowed slightly with a neutral smile on her end prior to leaving.

"Let's head inside, shall we?" Nagisa grinned.

Emi nodded in response. The dormitory was a large building, it was clear the wooden structured building appeared ancient, yet somehow fresh. Nagisa knew it was somehow enchanted wood that managed to keep the essence of time at bay.

The lobby was empty and there were multiple floors. However there were no elevators, in spite of Nagisa's surprise when he noticed that there was a blackboard with everyone's name and key by the entrance.

The surprise came to him when he read "11th floor, room 6". He sighed and looked at Emi who kept her smile towards him. No point complaining as he grabbed the only key hanging and they began ascending the stairs.

Once they had reached their room, Nagisa unlocked the front door to his new home. A pressing and nostalgic matter was instantly realized and Nagisa could not help but facepalm himself. "Not again…" was his only thoughts at this endeavour.

Apart from the apartment being normal, with quite the luxurious space, a kitchen, a balcony and a bathroom, the problem at hand remained. There was only but one bed. He let out a slight worrying laughter which alerted Emi to respond by giving a frightened glance at him when Nagisa had stared on their bed stationed on the left side of the room.

"Guess we are sharing a bed tonight?" Nagisa sighed and made a stuttered and cracked laughter.

In the meantime, Emi shyly looked away just thinking about it. Nagisa was informed during his lunch hour that classes would commence early morning in two days' time; they had today off and tomorrow to familiarize themselves with the dormitory.

Therefore they could relax in their new homes and settle in. If need be, there was also the mention of a small cafeteria in the dormitory lounge on the main floor, in case one got hungry for food or smaller snacks.

Nagisa unpacked his things and then turned to look at Emi. It had just hit him this time around when he noticed how incredibly cute she was. Now that she was completely cleaned up, her silver hair was almost glistening with its clear velvet and mesmerizing beauty.

Emi's small frame and timid behaviour was endearing and her new outfit of a white summer dress was nothing short of adorable. And to top it all off, her clear blue sapphire-like eyes appeared to be sparkling, as if they were carved out of a gem or part of an ancient ocean scenery.

Nagisa immediately looked away in slight embarrassment. The cuteness had overwhelmed Nagisa. In the meantime, Emi tugged away at the bottom of his white shirt to gain his full attention, then brought out a bag she had kept behind her. It was filled with clothes and a receipt on top with a note attached to it.

"Huh?" Was his only reaction as he scanned briefly through the contents and looked at the receipt and note at hand.

There was his new school uniform clothes, and a wide new range of clothes for Emi. The note read as following:

[Here is the receipt and add another twenty-silver coins for my services and time!]

The total cost consisted of one gold and eighty silver coins with the added service making it an even two gold coins.

"Hah-ha… So I am down to almost a couple of silver coins after deducting the costs of the meal with Emi earlier?" Nagisa began scratching his head.

He scrambled for different thoughts and expressed slight concern.

"Well… it cannot be helped! I will go and auction one of my three swords in the morning…" Nagisa let out a slight sigh.

Nagisa approached the door after browsing the fridge. There was a variety of ingredients stocked inside, at least the nice front desk lady had accommodated their room with the thought of Emi's need for food later on this evening.

"I will cook once I am back, stay here, okay?" Nagisa turned to look at Emi who almost so eagerly followed him out the door.

She nodded and decided to trust Nagisa that he would return once more and saw him off with a strong and brave smile to not dissuade him from staying.

Looking around the different floors around the dormitory, scouting its grounds, there appeared to be the lounge with the cafeteria at the main floor and a few training rooms on both the third and seventh floor. The remaining ones all appeared to be accommodations for other students.

"No blacksmith here, huh?" Nagisa spoke out loud after returning to the eleventh floor and walking down the corridor.

"There is one, but it is around the back. You may sign up to use it for your own repairs amongst other things," A girl suddenly appeared right behind him in the corridor on his way back.

"Thank you, and what about forging? I am Nagisa by the way," Nagisa politely replied and introduced himself with a friendly gesture and reached out for a handshake.

"Chisa. You can… but why? Are you not here to become a MK? You did well on most… of the exams," Chisa accepted the handshake and questioned Nagisa with a perplexed look in her eyes.

Primarily since Nagisa seemed confused at the term "MK" and then that it reminded him of his earlier exam performance.

"Magical Knight? Sure! However I forge my own swords, that is why I am looking for some place to do some light blacksmithing," Nagisa rapidly blurted out after realizing what "MK" was abbreviated for.

Moreover to also stop himself from spacing out and remembering the final exam, and how it had internally agonized him.

"A pity you do not have them on you. I could have appraised their worth for you," Chisa shook her head sideways and raised her arms.

"Some other time then?" She politely smiled.

"Sure, thanks for the offer and tip about the blacksmith!" Nagisa responded with a likewise gesture.

"I am calling it early today to explore tomorrow and prepare for the classes in two days. I will see you around, Nagisa," Chisa bid her farewell and cut their acquaintance short to take her leave.

Nagisa pondered to himself for a second. It appeared to him that Chisa was definitely belonging to someone that had a noble family upbringing. Her posture and confidence to appraise swords' quality, even her eyes analyzing him in a friendly unseen gesture had led Nagisa to firmly believe this.

More of a reason to stay clear and try to avoid her. The reason being Nagisa planned to remain anonymous in terms of his blacksmithing alias and the true nature of his capacity of enchanting swords successfully.

Nagisa quickly went downstairs to take a look at the blacksmith and found an enclosed space with all kinds of updated blacksmithing tools available to him on the inside. It was definitely something to behold, the toolset, the anvil, everything was top notch quality in there by the looks of it.

"Guess starting tomorrow, I will begin forging a sword here to be ready in roughly 3 months time. Right after I sell one of mine and purchase all of the materials," He fisted his right palm together with his left excitedly.

Nagisa was hyped up by the mere thought of forging his next masterpiece. It was about time for him to opt up and increase the quality of his work, he had a clear agenda in mind.

Nagisa signed up on the sheet outside with a magic pen hanging by it, to rent out the blacksmith each morning for the next entire three months. Once he had signed and scheduled it, the text began seeping into the signup sheet, magically coding it and making it binding. By a simple glance, one may only enter during the hours one signs.

After successfully signing up, Nagisa hoped that this would be the final time today to ascend the stairs leading to the eleventh floor, and then to conclude his evening.