20 Preparations

"W-what do you mean?"

Belian's eyes sharpened as he analyzed the perplexed Mika.

"You… You're stronger than that, right?" he deducted indifferently.

Mika was taken aback that Belian was able to find out the truth just from looking at him.

"Haha…"

He laughed wryly.

"T-that's a funny joke! You think I'm hiding something? Sorry to disappoint you but I'm a certified E rank."

Mika tried to play it off.

"…"

Belian stared at him unfazed by Mika's bad acting.

"I see…" he remarked silently.

"I apologize for my behavior."

Thus, Belian and his companions left them alone.

Following their leave, Mika heaved a sigh of relief.

[How interesting. I did not expect that someone like that boy was in the academy.]

Mika shared the same thoughts as the system.

He looked in the direction, the three were heading to.

"It felt unsettling, am I right?" Sylvia commented.

"Yeah…"

It was as if he was interrogating Mika.

"I guess, this is one of the reasons why he is considered the number one student in our year."

"He is the number one student?"

"Yes, I also heard that he was the sole examinee who passed the first entrance exam in the north."

His eyes widened.

"What the…"

Then, the bell rang.

It was time for the lessons to start.

"See you later at lunch, then."

"Yeah, see- Wait, wh-"

Sylvia already vanished from her spot after appointing a lunch meeting.

Lily also trailed behind her while taking a quick and seemingly uncomfortable glance at Mika.

"…"

He had no choice but to go to his class.

"Today, we will practice on these shooting targets! Form lines and try to hit the target with magic!"

The black class assembled again on the training grounds.

While Ophelia announced today's training regime, the students checked out the shooting targets.

Everyone expected to shoot at discs, but instead of those, there were floating crystal balls.

"You'll aim at those crystal balls. If you hit it, then it will glow indicating the power of your attack. It is regulated to your ranks, so don't think too highly of yourselves if it glows brightly."

After her instructions, the students did as they were told.

They formed lines and practiced their magic.

Some students shot a fireball of the size of a potato, some created a handful of finger-sized icicles and some gushed out a fresh breeze.

Mika was no exception and also just performed low-level magic.

When his turn was over, he felt a certain person staring daggers at him.

He did not need to turn around to identify said person.

After a couple of rounds, the students were allowed to take a short break.

While most of his classmates chatted amongst themselves, Mika approached Ophelia.

"What's with this display of magic?"

Ophelia was certainly not happy seeing Mika showing off magic fitting an E-rank.

"Maybe I ate something wrong this morning…" Mika lied as he scratched the back of his head cheekily.

"Huh? Don't play with m-"

Before she could give him a lecture, he pulled out a paper sheet from his pocket.

"Hm?"

Still in a foul mood, she read the contents of the paper he held in front of her face.

Then, a smirk full of smug formed on her face.

"So the rumors were true. You sure are a weird student, you know?"

"Are you allowed to talk like that about your students…"

"Shut it. Anyways, I've joked about it in the beginning, but I didn't expect that you would really go so far and team up with an S-rank student."

"…"

"And? What do you want from me?"

She pretended to be curious.

"I want you to be supervising this team."

Ophelia heaved a sigh as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I suppose I can do that when you're asking me like that."

He did not know why, but he felt a little bit annoyed by her response.

"Do you already have in mind when you want to depart for the quest?"

"No, not yet…"

"Is that so? Hmm… Considering the distance and everything else…" she started to murmur to herself.

"I would recommend going on a weekend." she said.

"I will keep that in mind."

"Good. Now go back. Break is over."

Thus, the students did a couple more rounds with Ophelia guiding them sometimes.

After the lesson ended, Mika and his classmates headed to the cafeteria.

"Ehm, guys… Why are surrounding me like this…?" Mika asked awkwardly.

He was currently surrounded by everyone. A few classmates walked in front of him, behind him, right and left of him.

It was like they were his personal guards.

"We are protecting you."

"Yes, don't you know that you're currently the main target of the other classes?"

"But no need to worry! As long as we keep this formation nothing will happen to you!"

With everyone talking all over the place, Mika gave in and did not argue back.

And as he expected, when they entered the cafeteria, they earned the stares from everyone, even from the cafeteria staff.

They may not be all hostile, but they were for sure weirded out.

In the midst of all that, Mika, who was red as a tomato, died in embarrassment as he covered his face with his hands.

"G-guys, I appreciate what you're doing, but I have to meet some friends now…" Mika said sheepishly.

"Oh, you have friends in other classes? That's nice!"

They started to shout happily.

His face warmed up so much that it would be no exaggeration to say that smoke was coming from his head.

Shortly after that, Mika managed to free himself.

He proceeded to get his food and then he walked ashamed to Sylvia and Lily.

The two of them naturally were witnesses.

Lily, who was feeling down, was looking down with a reddened face, and Sylvia turned her face away when she saw Mika looking at them.

"…"

Trying his best to play it off, he took a seat at their table.

"Please, don't say anything…" he pleaded as he tried to rein his anger in.

"Sure…"

In silence and with all stares focused on him, Mika ate his lunch.

However, even he had difficulties focusing on his food in such a situation.

He cleared his throat.

"I managed to get Ms.Ross as our supervisor for our team." Mika said.

"Good job."

Lily's eyes were sparkling a little in joy, but she still did not say anything.

"She told me that it would be best to go on a weekend for the quest."

"…"

Sylvia put her fingers on her chin as she pondered.

"How about going this weekend?"

"This weekend? Isn't that too soon?"

"The sooner the better, right?"

"But we could still use most of the month to train ourselves!"

"I think we're strong enough." she said casually while still eating.

Mika hesitated.

If it was just him and Sylvia, it would be possible, but there was still Lily.

She was a B-rank.

On top of that, her current mental state could prove to be a burden, too.

It was far too dangerous for her.

"I see. I understand your worry." Sylvia pointed out as she looked at Mika, who unconsciously directed his gaze at Lily.

She put her cutlery on her plate.

"Lily."

"Y-yes…?"

Lily's tone was weak and full of shyness.

"Is something bothering you?" Sylvia asked straightforwardly.

"N-no, I'm perfectly fine, hehe…" she laughed wryly.

[She is as bad at acting as you.]

"…"

Mika did not comment on that.

"I see."

Sylvia sighed.

"Can you spare me some time after today's lessons ended?"

"Sure, I can but what do you want to do…?"

"Meet me at the training grounds. You should come as well, Mika."

"Hm? Why the training grounds?"

Her gaze shifted to Lily.

"Let's fight, Lily."