1 Departure

Sunday, 5 P.M., and it was the night in which the young man, Nakayama Tadashii, was to travel by bus to get to his new school. As a high school freshman, he often wondered what horrors awaited him at his final destination, but, as a man, he figured he'd suck it up and deal with whatever may be thrown at him when he got there.

Socks, shirts, long pants, short pants, toiletries. Whatever basic living necessity he thought of would end up in one of the three suitcases he was packing.

Why did he need to pack clothes to go to school?

That was due to the fact that the school to which he would be transferred was located in one of the most prominent magic cities in current existence, The City of Edgar Brauss. Students from the first all the way to the eighth grade were just normal students. At least, that's the way it worked for families of the middle and lower classes, of course. There were no required magic courses to develop their skills as magic fighters, and for children whose abilities had been developed through extracurricular influence, they were denied permission to use them within school territory (Pre-developed students were often born into wealthier families who could afford such a luxury). It was only natural. Imagine putting two, muscular, fully grown men in a classroom full of six-year-old girls. Now, say those grown men didn't hesitate to put their hands on anyone who got on their bad side.

Who, pray tell, would hold dominance within that classroom?

His bus was in about thirty minutes and he couldn't afford to be late. After all, the trip there would take about 12 hours, and if he didn't show up on his first day of school, then his position within the all-boys academy would be filled.

Yes, his school was an all-boys academy. That was, according to a little bit of research of his, how the Edgar Brauss system constructed its educational facilities. The schools were usually, for underage students at least, made up of a singular gender so that romance and intimate relationships between students would come closer to a minimum, and their abilities as magic fighters would be one of, if not their top, priority. Though, that same thing did not strictly apply to adult schools.

"Okay, okay, okay," Nakayama mumbled to himself, pacing around his room looking for anything to fill the gaps in his suitcases. There was no need to take more than one or two pairs of shoes considering most of his time would be dedicated to being in a classroom and in a uniform that, obviously, comes with the required shoewear.

"Now, let's see," he said as he stared back at his three suitcases, which all laid open on the floor next to one another. They were all fairly large, and he knew he'd have some trouble getting them all on and off the bus when the time came. Nevertheless, he examined the contents inside of the brown, leather suitcases.

The one on the left was mostly filled with shirts, maybe 15 of them. And the rest of the small spaces were filled in with a couple of toothbrushes and three or four tubes of teeth-whitening toothpaste. He walked over to it and shut it, finally zipping it up and moving onto the next.

The middle suitcase was the biggest of them all, although, not by much. It was filled with about 5 pairs of long pants, a couple of pairs of jeans and some sweatpants, and about 5 pairs of shorts. Squeezed next to the pants were three unopened packs of white socks. Nakayama figured he'd go ahead and try to squeeze as much as he possibly could in the biggest suitcase, so he traveled over to his bookshelf and fished out the third and fourth volumes of 'A Certain Magical Index.' He had just previously finished the second volume, so there was no need to bring that one nor the first. After grabbing the two light novel volumes, he tightly packed them within the suitcase before finally closing that one too.

And finally, came the right suitcase. On the suitcase, itself was a shoe compartment where he stored a singular pair of shoes, and another pair he just stuck in the leather vanity case itself. What also lied within it was just basic insurance. He had thrown his cell phone along with two chargers in, a wristwatch, earbuds, a wallet which only carried a single card, a silver necklace, several packs of lead pencils, a spell textbook, a pack of white tank tops, a couple of packs of underwear and a few other things that would make his life a whole lot easier.

"Hm...I think that should do it, then." Nakayama said as he swiftly crouched down, his sharp, black hair following in his body's wake. He finally closed the last suitcase before standing back up again and exhaling.

"Alright, I've still got about thirty minutes until I've got to be at the bus stop."

He took the left bag and put it on his back. Fortunately, each of them came with straps so the option to carry them was there. He then grabbed, with each hand, the handles on the remaining two suitcases and began to make his way out his bedroom door. When he met the hallway, his eyes met the stairs and he tumbled his way over there, the weight of the bags getting to him.

Thoomp. Thoomp. Thoomp.

The sound of the rolling suitcases hitting each and every stair as he made his way down echoed throughout the house as if someone were beating on the front door with a sledgehammer. Finally, he made it to the bottom of the stairs and his family was there in the living room, which was next to the front door, waiting for him. His mother, father, and little sister.

"Okay...I think I'm about done packing up." Nakayama announced with a smile, bringing his suitcases closer and closer to the door as he talked.

"Good." his father said, holding out his hands and gesturing for Nakayama to hand him the two rolling suitcases, and the black-haired freshman obliged. "You remembered to pack those socks and tank tops I bought you, right?"

"And your shoes, your shirts, and pants?" his mother added.

"Yeah, I remembered clearly."

"And your underwear?"

"Yes, mom...that too."

She wore a distinct look of worry on her face as she held her hand up to her chest. Suddenly, she began to walk forward and reached out her hand towards the suitcase on Nakayama's back.

"W-well, let me just check-!!" she said before her hand was suddenly caught by her son.

Nakayama then took her other hand and held them both up, smiling and laughing.

"Mom, I promise I'll be okay."

There was a slight pause as Nakayama slightly looked down at his mother who was 2 inches shorter than him as she stood at 5'6. She then began to tear up and quickly buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed in worry at her son's departure. She wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him.

"Promise us you'll come to visit every once in a while…?" she requested, her words barely escaping her sobbing throat.

Nakayama giggled slightly in response. "Yeah, I promise. I'll probably visit a little more often than you think."

Suddenly, his little sister, who was only about eight, came up and hugged him from the side, wrapping her short arms as far as she could around his stomach. She looked up and smiled widely.

"Good luck, big brother!"

He removed one arm from his mother and used it to pat his little sister's back, essentially hugging her back.

"Thank you," he said, staring down back at her.

Suddenly, his tall dad, at around 6'1, came up from behind him and placed a hand on his head. Nakayama grunted a little in response, but not violently.

"Take care, little man." his father said, smiling slightly.

"Geez, I'm not that little of a man," Nakayama responded with a grin.

Finally, the family slowly dispersed from their group hug. The young tenderness from his mother left his shoulder, the brotherly support from his father left the top of his head, and the warm butterflies in his stomach that originated from his cute little sister's hug left him as each of them let him go.

"Alright, I'm off," he said, grabbing the two suitcases that his dad had previously sat next to the open front door. When they entered his hands, he and the leather bags left the house and he made his way out to the front yard where his family gathered at the front door to see him off.

With the three suitcases, he made it about 10 meters ahead of the front of the house when he heard voices from behind him.

"Please be safe!!" his mother yelled.

"Bring me something the next time you visiiitt!" his little sister yelled as hard as her little lungs could bear.

And, right after the women of the house, his father began to shout.

"Hey, boy! Just so you know, it doesn't matter what class you get, it doesn't define your worth as a person! Got it!?"

Nakayama stopped and slowly turned his head back to see his mother and sister waving, and his dad standing there with a smile.

That made his lips turn upward and a slight grin appeared on his face at the sight of his family and his father's words. He waved and returned on his path to the bus stop.

"Yeah, I guess he's right." he thought to himself. "Although…"

"Sometimes, I think being a level 1 at my age will make it difficult to keep up with some of my peers."