Private/Closed Ambrose Academia

[kageyama]

@OmnipotentOnion it hath been many a day since we’ve privately rped, so don’t make fun of me if i’m rustier than something that’s rusty

X​

In a popular and bustling city, a sorcerous academy is set. Quite famous for its promising reputation of alumni, many long to be accepted in such a prestigious school. See, in being accepted to Ambrose Academy, you are almost guaranteed to have complete control over your power; with the right teaching, much more is possible. This ‘magical’ school is located in a rather metropolitan city by the name of Bristlecone.

X​

Areum Cricket woke at 6:15 in the morning. It was the beginning of her second week at Ambrose Academy, and she was beyond ready for the next few years she’d be attending said school.

With tired eyes, she blinked slowly as she slid out of bed before adjusting her consciousness via her ability, and she quickly became awake and alert. Now fully aware, she turned on her bedroom lights and dressed in her typical attire, which was practically a uniform. Then, she breezed through the rest of her morning, consisting of brushing and tying her hair into a half-ponytail, eating a small bowl of breakfast, grabbing her bag, and heading downstairs to leave.

Greeted with a post-it note on the counter, Areum was greeted with the conclusion that she’d be walking to school. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she huffed before slipping her shoes on and stepped outside.

The walk to school was calm and uneventful, albeit that Areum nearly had to raise the alertness of a reckless man who was boasting about his abilities on the side of the street. When Areum stepped into the tall, modern school, she smiled securely and began her route to her homeroom. The layout of the building was somewhat twisted, But Areum had made a point of memorizing it within the first two days of school. The pretty girl soon arrived in her classroom - a comfortable and monotonous room. There were a few other students scattered quietly among desks that paid attention to their phones. Areum glanced at the clock before setting her bag down on a desk in the very front. She, too, pulled her phone out from her bag quickly to check the time. 7:36. School would begin in 24 minutes. Promptly, Areum put her phone away and instead pulled a book out, raising her own awareness with a few blinks in order to pay attention to the words she read.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

(haha don't be sayin that to me, the literal embodiment of iron oxidization)

5:30 AM

Kenji sat in the center of his room, eyes closed as he meditated in an attempt to harness his aura. He slowly inhaled through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth, and after a few more slow breaths, a bronze colored fog slowly began to emanate around him, coming off of his body like wisps of smoke. The alarm he had set on his phone last night abruptly cut through the silence of his room, signaling that it was now 6 o'clock, but Kenji paid no heed. Long after the alarm had turned off, Kenji finally stood up as his aura dissipated into the air. Throwing on his school uniform, the teen stepped into the bathroom to wash up for the upcoming day. After that was finished, he walked out into the living room, where Kenji grabbed an apple from the fridge, rinsed it briefly in some cold water from the faucet, held it in his mouth while slinging his backpack over his shoulder, and left his home, locking the door behind him.

The walk to school took about an hour, which gave Kenji more than enough peace and quiet. Of course, he could just use his aura to reach the campus within minutes, but one could say he just wasn't feeling it at the moment. At about 7:30, the teen finally reached the school, navigated his way through the interior, and arrived at his homeroom. Upon entering, Kenji noticed that most of his classmates were preoccupied with their cellular devices, and thus decided not to try and befriend any of them. He set down his backpack near a vacant desk and polished off the rest of his apple before tossing it into the trash can nearby. He checked his watch and saw that the time was 7:49, inferring that class would be starting in about 11 minutes.

 

[kageyama]

With her familiarity peaking, Areum closed the book due to several small distractions, such as shuffling of footsteps, or the tossing of an apple into a waste basket. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling more relaxed as she paid less attention to her surroundings. Within a few minutes, the class slowly filled up and the teacher stepped in. He was rather eccentric, with a cool and comfortable personality. “Gooood morning, students. It is officially your second week here, and I congratulate you all. Because it’s Monday, today we’ll be running through the history and origin of abilities, and the first known abilities that have been recorded,” he drawled with pep. Swiftly, he snapped his fingers and a pile of textbooks on his desk each drifted to a desk, then gently set themselves down. “Please open to page 107 - and take your notes out as well.”

Areum obediently opened the history book, then reached in her bag and pulled out her notebook. Flipping open to a blank page in her notebook, she took her pen and neatly wrote the date. Taking in a silent breath, she closed her eyes and lifted her perception to a fairly high point and paid close attention as the teacher read the text aloud.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Taking out the aforementioned textbook out of his backpack with a reluctant sigh, Kenji set it down on his desk and flipped to page 107 before opening a college ruled spiral and flipping to an empty page. Letting the teacher's boring voice-over of the text drown out, the teen focused his aura into his eyes, and wrist, beginning to annotate and take notes on the excerpt the class was reading. His pencil moved like a blur as words were scratched onto the lined paper with breakneck speed. Once Kenji had finished taking notes and looking over the reading, he set down his pencil and kicked up his feet onto the top of the desk and leaning back in his seat, as the student had now lost interest in the lecture. He didn't care if the teacher saw; if he tried to quiz Kenji on the material, the teen would be ready.

 

[kageyama]

As the teacher, Mr. Alder, finished up the last section of reading, he quickly transition his last sentence into an unrelated topic. “Now, Mr. Miura, I am fully aware that this might be uneventful and ‘lame’ for you, but all I ask is that you remove your feet from the desk. It is your decision on whether or not you wish to listen any further, so that I will not press you on,” he said rather sharply. Areum glanced back at the male and his relaxed form, then turned back and slightly scrunched up her nose. She swiftly closed her book and neatly pushed it to the corner of her desk.

Mr. Alder, from behind his desk, snapped his fingers once again and a stack of graded papers floated over to their specific student. He turned his back to the classroom, flipping through a notebook. “Handed out to you are each of your completed assignments from the previous week.”

As the papers ceased floating and settled into their spots, Areum looked down with approval at the sheets. Thought it had only been one week of school, the class was given a couple sheets nearly every day. Areum took her stack, and flipped through it. 100% on every paper, she mentally murmured with satisfaction.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji, upon hearing the teacher's rather sharp request, shrugged and slowly dragged his feet off the desk and flat onto the floor, though he remained leaning back in his chair in a laid-back manner. As the stack of graded assignments made its way to Kenji's desk, he casually flipped through the papers, unfazed by the top marks-- a 100 on every assignment. He audibly yawned as he once again leaned back after looking through his papers and ran a hand through his hair. Hopefully the next class, Ability Training (if that's alright with you?), wouldn't be as boring.

 

[kageyama]

( )

Several quiet minutes passed by before the bell chimes and signaled past-time before the next class began. Mr. Alder uttered a ‘dismissed’ as students stood up and grabbed their bags. Areum was the first to exit the room, with her bag neatly draped over her arm. As quickly as possible, she navigated down the halls and entered the next classroom, which would be hosting the class of Ability Training. This room was wider with more sunlight, and tables instead of desks. Once again, Areum claimed a seat at the front.

She took her graded assignments from the previous class and stood up to recycle them. Gently tossing them into the bin, she brushed her hair behind her shoulders and sat back down. Her head ached for a moment before she adjusted to a lesser level of awareness. Now feeling a bit tense, she waited for the migraine to pass as she somewhat blankly gazed around the room.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji headed out of the classroom, backpack slung over his shoulder as he made his way to Ability Training. The stack of graded papers still in his hand, he tore them up before crumpling up the scraps and dropping it into the recycling bin near the entrance to his next class. He took a seat near the back and quietly whistled a tune as he got his things set up, waiting for the class to begin. Most of the time, class consisted of sparring matches between students, but today, there was a message wrote boldly on the whiteboard at the front: SPARRING TOURNAMENT. A large array of rubber mats was laid out in the front of the classroom; probably the arena in which the students would be fighting.

 

[kageyama]

Within several seconds, the teacher, Ms. Spruce, bustled in the classroom and shortly clapped her hands once. She started, “Now, the board is quite self explanatory if you can’t tell. Today, we’ll be hosting a tournament instead of scattered matches. There will be four pairs fighting at a time - you all know the rules. The battle will end when a user taps out, or is unable to pursue any further in the 8 minutes you receive.” Areum drew in a breath as she awaited the pairs.

“In corner number one: Areum Cricket against Yanas Gregorien. Corner number two: Luca Spritsfeld against Kenji Miura.” Ms. Spruce read several other pairs that would spar as well, but Areum’s attention span was fairly low at the moment. When she noticed her fellow students dispersing, she stood up and strode to her assigned corner where she met eyes with Yanas, a lanky male with spunk in his eyes and the ability to temporarily receive animal-like skills. Ms. Spruce clapped loudly to signal the beginning of the sparring. Areum exhaled through her nose and let her eyes drift down, concentration rising in her mind. When she opened them, her eyes were sharp and flickering with attention. Yanas had already arched back, receiving some sort of feline’s strength. Before he was about to lash at her, he halted with sudden dimwittedness and simply stood still.

Areum took advantage of the momentary stillness he was possessed by and quickly walked up next to him. Knowing her ability on him would fade quickly, she took a breath in and smiled calmly. Then, pulling her fist back, she swiftly delivered a sucker punch to his temple, causing him to wobble back and ultimately groan and slip into a short state of unconsciousness. Shaking her hand at the pain of her knuckles, Areum helped Yanas back up when their spar was completed. Her next spar would be in a few rounds, so she stood to the side and watched other fights.

A bit of guilt crept upon Areum as she pondered. “You only won because his vulnerability was high. It’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll encounter somebody that way and be able to edit their awareness.” With a bit of disappointment, she shifted her own awareness as thoughts conflicted with each other in her mind.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Luca, huh? Kenji stood up and made his way to their respective sparring corner. While Luca assumed quite a dynamic battle stance, Kenji simply put his hands in his pockets and waited, his bronze aura beginning to dimly emanate around him. Luca, from what Kenji had inferred from the first week of school, had the ability to manipulate ice and water. He had received decent marks in his classes, and it was clear that he knew how to apply his skill well.

It was a shame, really.

One strike was all it took. Luca conjured a slab of ice to stand on, and having then summoned a long strip of thin ice in front of him, propelled himself toward Kenji. The aura manipulator took a deep breath, and counted to three. With a fist outstretched, Luca hurtled toward his opponent, aiming to knock Kenji out with a swift punch to the jaw. In the split second before it seemed that his fist would make contact, Kenji flared up his aura, bronze fire dancing in his eyes, and lunged forward, ducking under the punch with ease and stopping right behind Luca as time seemed to freeze. Kenji sighed, focused his aura into his right hand, and landed a single chop to the neck. In that single instant, which took less than a second, time resumed normally, and Luca, his eyes empty, fell off of his ice slab, hitting the floor unconscious. Kenji looked back over his shoulder at the fallen student and shrugged. "Unfortunate; you went against me in the first round."

 

[kageyama]

As minutes and rounds quickly sped by, Areum found herself standing before a male by the name of Kenji Miura. All of the students gathered around them. Both had exceeded their spars with flying colors, which flared a spark of tension within Areum. Her head was aching from overstimulation of her ability to the point of it distracting her slightly no matter how alert she was. Before Ms. Spruce clapped her hands to signal the beginning, Areum pinched the bridge of her nose tightly while squeezing her eyes shut. When the teacher’s hands hit each other, Areum’s eyes slowly flipped open with a hawk-like gaze. Silent noises and whispers filled her head as she gazed ahead at Kenji.

What she knew about him was that he was undeniably strong, and she wasn’t in a great state to fight him at the moment. In all honesty, she doubted the fact that her ability could affect him for more than ten seconds. Nonetheless, she sharply exhaled through her nose and used all of her willpower to lower his awareness. On seeing that he was momentarily distracted, she took advantage and hurried before him to set herself. With a pulsing head and gritted teeth, she swung at his jaw to the best of her ability at that time. Areum wasn’t positive that the blow had landed in the intended way as she stumbled backwards. She was angry at herself for that malnutrition that she had a hard time controlling, and furthermore jealous of her opponent and his breeze in sparring.

Areum planted her feet to ensure that she wouldn’t topple over if somebody simply blew on her, and awaited the inevitable strike from Kenji.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

That actually hit. Kenji wasn't hurt by the punch, but he was pretty surprised. From what he could infer about Areum, she had an ability to enhance her awareness, or in cases like this, lower that of others. He stumbled back a few steps, easily regaining his footing afterward and readying his response as he flared up his aura, which danced around him like raging fire. However, something stopped him. Focusing his aura into his eyes, Kenji scanned Areum's life energy and noticed that she was as good as unconscious. It could have been malnutrition or some other kind of hindrance, but all he knew was he could probably knock her over with a mere flick to the forehead. He sighed, massaged his temple, and dissipated his aura as he muttered, "I'm not gonna win the tournament fighting her. She's far too weak; it wouldn't even be a fight." He put his hands in his pockets and walked off the arena, thus giving Areum the win by default.

 

[kageyama]

Areum relaxed her stance as Kenji simply walked off out of the arena, causing a hush to fall upon the students around them. Areum narrowed her eyes and was about to splutter out an objection, but the bell chimed and Ms. Spruce guided her out of her position and over to a table. Areum was then provided with the effects of Ms. Spruce’s power: a healing ability that cooled the nerves and replenished any lost energy. Students filed out the door as Areum thanked her and slipped away to huffily grab her bag and toss it over her shoulder.

She strode to her next class, which was merely calculus, with an annoyed glint in her eyes. As she entered the room, she dropped her bag on the floor near a chair in the front, foot gently tapping on the ground. I’ll confront him at lunch. God - I’m aggravated, wow. This sucks, she mentally hissed as she awaited the teacher to enter the room.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

(I'm guessing lunch is after calculus?)

Kenji entered the calculus classroom and sat at his assigned seat, which was coincidentally located in front of Areum's. He caught her in the corner of his eye looking quite miffed about something, though he couldn't place his finger on the reason. The student mentally shrugged and took out his calculus binder, flipping to the page in his notebook that had his completed homework in it, ready for the teacher to check it like she usually did at the beginning of the period. In the passing time before class actually began, he whistled a casual tune and read a novel stored away in his backpack. (sorry for short post xd)

 

[kageyama]

(nyes)

Areum spent a good 20 percent of calculus staring saggers into the back of Kenji’s head. She was offended, in a way, that he had given the battle to her. Flicking herself in the forehead, she stared down at her notebook and scribbled equations for the remaining duration of class. Then, the bell let out its usual noise.

Areum was quick to stand up with her stuff, and practically stormed out of the room as quickly as possible to grab her lunch from her locker that was down the winded hallway. When she reached it, she halted as stood before the open door and sharply exhaled before hanging her bag on a hook. Then, she reached back and pulled her lunchbox out, which took a moment seeing that the lockers each had an enlargement enchantment on them. Closing the door, she navigated her way downstairs and into the cafeteria, where she set her lunch down by a few people she knew from previous classes. Sitting next to them with sharpness to her mood, she rest her head on her hand as she waited for Kenji to come into her eyesight.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

As anger radiated off of the girl behind him in a wild frenzy, Kenji disregarded the bombardment of heat as the class progressed with a boring lecture on limits and derivatives. Once the bell rang, he watched Areum stomp off towards the cafeteria, shrugged, and headed over to eat his lunch as well. After retrieving his lunchbox from his locker, he arrived at the cafeteria and headed towards an empty table, though something seemed... off. It felt like Kenji was being watched, but he shrugged off the strange feeling as he continued to walk toward the table.

 

[kageyama]

Areum perked up a bit when she saw Kenji seat himself. However, it was not a very positive type of perk, as she excused herself from the table and marched over to him with her fists lightly clenching and unclenching.

“Can I speak with you for a moment?” Areum asked him, using all of her willpower not to grit her teeth. Without waiting for a reply, she sat down across from him and narrowed her eyes sharply at him. “Concerning our spar; why did you forfeit? I’m well aware that I was on the brink of unconsciousness, but that matter really had no concern with you. You could have easily won. Instead, I received the win when I. Should. Not. Have.” She made sure to keep her voice soft enough as not to draw attention, all while sounding pretty passive aggressive.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Upon hearing Areum approach him and ask her question-- with quiet ferocity, might he point out-- Kenji sighed and opened his lunch box, revealing a plastic container of spaghetti and meatballs. Taking a large bite of food and chewing for quite a duration of time, he then swallowed and wiped his mouth clean before speaking. "It was mainly out of pity," he said, rather matter-of-factly. "Not to mention, there's no glory in defeating a push-over to win a tournament." He turned to face her, eyes dull as he spoke every word bluntly.

 

[kageyama]

Taking offense in nearly every word he spoke to her, Areum promptly let a “hmph” escape from her lips. “Well,” she hissed and stood up. “I’ll point out that if you ever find yourself in an advantageous battle in the future, you should claim what’s rightfully yours, even if they are a push-over.” With that, she turned around with unsatisfaction and flipped her hair over her shoulder, then returning to her table in a different seat as to avoid eye contact with Kenji. She didn’t even bother opening her lunch as she dimmed her alertness, pretending to pay attention to whatever gossip the students around her were speaking of.

Her annoyance was strikingly high for her outer appearance, which looked slightly bothered. I’m a push-over? She mentally questioned and bit the inside of her cheek.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

What's rightfully mine is victory; there's none in winning against someone you know you're going to beat, Kenji muttered under his breath as Areum walked off. As he polished off the rest of his lunch, he closed up his lunchbox and tossed out any trash as he left the cafeteria to go to his normal meditating spot. On the way, however, while passing Areum's table, he was stopped by none other than Luca Spritsfeld. The kid seemed to have a posse of friends behind him, and he glared at Kenji with a mean scowl. "So, you humiliate me in the first round with a single hit, but then go up against an easy win and just throw? Who do you think you are?! You don't have a right to just.. decide who's worthy of fighting you!" Kenji sighed and looked up at Luca, who was a few inches taller than him, before retorting calmly, "Who do I think I am? Someone better than you who doesn't have to waste his time fighting sorry excuses of students. All these people who gun for the top spot here think it's all about the effort. They keep saying, 'Oh, if you just try hard enough,' but here, everyone tries, and it’s an eyesore. In the end, the only way you come out on top is if you're already in another level to begin with before you come here. That's just how it is; sorry you weren't one of them." Luca's face contorted into one of sheer rage, and he lunged at Kenji with a right hook. Kenji sighed and lunged forward as well, making his counter attack. Instead of a chop like he did last time he faced off with Luca, he went for a straight lunge, which struck Luca’s stomach with powerful force. Luca stopped mid-lunge, groaned with pain, and crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Kenji glances at the posse that had previously gathered behind Luca, and their faces quickly changed to an expression of fear. They quickly dispersed, and Kenji continued in his way out of the cafeteria.

 

[kageyama]

When Areum finally noticed that a fight had broken out, she turned her head to see Luca crumple to the floor and Kenji calmly walking away. Students among the fight fled from the scene quickly, leaving behind the knocked-out Luca. Stumbling from her table, Areum quickly hustled over to him while sharpening her attention to her surroundings. She kneeled down next to him and waved her hand over his fluttering eyes. When he finally awoke, Areum helped him back up and glared at the back of Kenji before letting Luca lean on her for support. With the help of another student, she took him to Ms. Spruce for a quick recovery.

Areum dusted her hands off as she returned into the cafeteria. The bell would ring in a few minutes, and would announce the beginning of an hour-long study period. The cafeteria began emptying, and Areum joined in after grabbing her untouched lunchbox.

Within minutes, the bell chirped and Areum paced to her homeroom to mindlessly read.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

After a few minutes of meditation, Kenji went back to his home room class, taking out the Japanese novel he had been reading earlier in the day. Sitting at his desk, he noticed Areum reading as well, but he paid no heed. Study hall was basically a do-nothing class, so Kenji was free to read as long as he wanted to. Leaning back in his chair, he relaxed with a small yawn as he continued to read his novel. Occasionally he would reach in his backpack to grab a few chips from a ziploc bag and ate quietly.

 

[kageyama]

The rest of the day blurred by fairly quickly - likely because Areum just wanted it to end so she stayed pretty un-alert the entire time. However, at the end of study period, Mr. Alder made a quick announcement about a three-day long class field trip in a city known as Catalpa that would begin on Wednesday and end on Friday. That bit of information was hard not to perk up to, in Areum’s opinion.

Unfortunately for her, Areum’s mood was still a bit sour and wasn’t too affected by the announcement. At the end of the day, she was still rather bitter and slammed her locker door shut after putting her finished homework within it. As she was preparing to exit school, she halted with the remembrance of Kenji’s words to Luca at lunch. At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it due to her obliviousness. But now, it made her huff and totally change her afternoon plans. Cranking up her alertness, she gripped onto her back and ran down to the entry way of the school, shoved the door open, and looked around outside. Down the sidewalk, she scanned a long way down before picking out Kenji on his route to his home.

With a clenched fist, she ran behind him to catch up. When she was a few steps away, she noticed a fairly empty and condensed lot near them. In all honesty, she chased after him without a plan, but she had one now. “Hey,” Areum announced loudly behind him, quickly breathing. “You may be able to read people’s auras, but you’re rotten at reading their intentions - which is why I’m challenging you to a rematch.” The girl pointed at the lot. “Tomorrow, after school, I expect to see you in this space, ready to actually spar me,” the pretty teen blew a strand of hair from her face as she crossed her arms, awaiting his reply. She could hear all sorts of tiny noises - scratching, light footsteps, and the light pounding of her heart in her head.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji had been walking home until he was stopped by none other than Areum, who looked a bit winded, implying that she had ran all the way here to challenge him. "A rematch?" He asked, rather surprised by the sudden challenge, but nonetheless, he shrugged. "Sure. But it had better be worth my time." Kenji walked over to a large clearing nearby that he had deemed a satisfactory sparring arena. Placing a finger on a patch of grass in the clearing, he summoned a thin column of bronze energy, only visible to himself and Areum. "We'll meet here, then." He turned to face her, with an unwavering but neutral gaze despite the anger clear as day on her face. "Best of luck to you." Kenji turned around and continued on his way home.

After a few more minutes of walking, he finally arrived at his humble abode, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. He changed into a white tee and black athletic shorts and took out all of his assigned homework, finishing it rather quickly. Kenji then spent the rest of his time eating leftovers from last night's dinner and playing games on his computer before going to bed.

 

[kageyama]

As Kenji, laid-back as ever, accepted the challenge and continued on his path to his home, Areum’s nose scrunched up in a somewhat childish form of mockery. Then, she swiftly turned around and confidently walked back home. Her afternoon consisted of her training her endurance of alertness as long as she could, all while improving her physical strength in her father’s “workout room.”

When she woke up the next morning, she was full of determination, and semi-bruised knuckles. Her parents were once again working incredibly early, so she took it upon herself to hustle to school after dressing, nimbly eating, and tying her hair into her regular half ponytail. With her bag on her back, she quickly made her way to Ambrose, pushed open the doors, and jogged to her homeroom. The entirety of the day was mainly Areum subtly testing her power - all while being cautious, of course.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji woke up the next morning at the same time as he did yesterday, meditated, got ready, and walked to school. He passed by Areum occasionally, and she seemed rather focused about something-- probably their sparring rematch after school. The day passed by rather quickly, and soon, Kenji found himself waiting at the same place he had summoned the light pillar the day before. He stood there, reading his novel while he flared up and relaxed his aura in preparation. All he could hope was that Areum would bring at least something to the match other than just a plucky attitude and a few rudimentary attacks. After all, she was the one who issued the challenge; Kenji trusted her to play all of her cards.

 

[kageyama]

Areum, in comparison to the previous day, much more calmly navigated her way to the sparring location after exiting the school. Kenji was there waiting, with his typical lulled expression. The very sight of his “chillness” made Areum ticked off as she approached him, but also kept distance. A bit unsure of what to say, Areum simply narrowed her eyes, relaxing into a ready stance. Assuming that the match had begun, she cranked her own awareness up a notch, also persisting to take Kenji’s down. She knew he’d be bored of the same routine, and was probably expecting it, so she used as little amount of time to conjure up something with the side ability she was attempting to learn. Focusing and taking a deep breath, Areum squeezed her eyes shut.

When she opened them, to her delight, she found herself gazing at an illusion of herself that looked ready to take Kenji on. Please work, she inwardly begged, yearning for the new power to work correctly. The illusion of herself acted as if she were ready to swing at Kenji, while the physical form of the girl swiftly and highly unnoticeably stepped behind him. She inhaled before snapping a quick punch behind Kenji’s ear.

Aware of her lack in “attacking” magic, she did her best to raise her own physical strength when she could. The hit she attempted wasn’t as strong as she could’ve gone, but her knuckles were indeed bruised and she wished to see how the match would pan out anyways.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Not aware the match had begun-- as he had been too invested in his novel-- Kenji looked up to see Areum taking a swing at his jaw, and lunged forward swiftly, aiming a solid straight at her stomach. However, his fist went through air as "Areum" dissipated behind him, revealing the real Areum, who had tried to aim a punch near the back of his head. Kenji turned to face her, and what looked life a grin appeared on his face. "Interesting. Looks like you've found yourself a new ability. Unfortunately, you'll have to do better than that." Bronze fire lit up in his chocolate brown eyes as he got into a relaxed position. Suddenly, he jumped, spun around, and did a wide hook kick aimed at nothing with an aura imbued foot. The motion made a large circle of bronze energy that materialized on the grass around the two, sparks coming off of it wildly. "First one to step out of the circle loses. Now," He continued, getting into a semi-battle stance. "Let's get this started."

 

[kageyama]

“Damn, that would’ve been pretty neat,” she inaudibly sighed. Her sharp eyes followed the outlining of the circle until it closed, to which she looked ahead at Kenji. She was already feeling frustrated at the fact that her abilities could perform no physical harm, and was even planning ahead on how she’d have to pick up another type of magic in her future. Shaking her hand, she blew out air before heightening her senses to an incredible peak. Her eyes darted around her opponent and predicted any outcome of his attack.

Areum concentrated intensely to make several duplicates of herself. A couple were fuzzy and inevitably going to be ruled out, but the others were solid enough to seem.. well, solid. Areum, herself, kept her eyes on Kenji as she snuck around the duplicates, feeling a bit frantic. She was disappointed in herself for countless reasons, but did her best to force each thought out of her head as she hesitantly studied Kenji for his next movement.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

As Kenji watched Areum clone herself, he lunged at them with quick ferocity, reducing almost every clone to mist with one hit. After his flurry of attacks, only 3 Areums remained. He studied all of them, aura still dancing around him like raging flames. Simply pointing three fingers at the three duplicates, he conjured small but dense, bronze spheres of energy at the tips of his fingers, letting them fly with breakneck speed. Which ever one either dodged the quickest or looked the most flustered was the one Kenji had to target. How are you gonna avoid this?

 

[kageyama]

Areum, in the middle of the other two imposters, was in a bit of a sticky situation.

Time seemed to stop as the energy bullets sped at the “triplets.” Areum was well aware of the problem she was facing - and only had time to avoid the spheres. So, with intense might, she caused her left duplicate to flinch and duck early, and her right duplicate to be an exact replica of her actions. Areum subtly inhaled before jumping to the side, her right clone replicating her. Not completely positive the spiel would work, she had to try. Without skipping a beat after avoiding the bullet, she forced an illusion of herself to creep behind Kenji. The real Areum, with as much speed as possible, sidestepped around him and examined an opening to attack, while the other two duplicates hopped into fighting stances.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji watched as the clones avoided his attack, and seeing an opportunity to end the fight, lunged at the duplicates. Dissipating every single one of them into mist, he finally reached the real Areum by process of elimination and grabbed her by the wrist and shoulder, flipping her over and pinning her to the ground with a choke hold. He dissipated his aura while keeping his hand around her neck (not hard enough to choke her, but hard enough to keep her on the ground) and casually dusted himself off. "So, are we done here?" (Permission granted by @kageyama to auto for this post)

 

[kageyama]

The next few events that took place were unfortunately expected by Areum. As the wind was knocked out of her, she squeaked and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. When she opened them, she was greeted with Kenji’s gaze staring directly down at her, with his hand softly pinning her neck down. She searched in his eyes for a moment before looking to the side with slight embarrassment. Areum pulled lifted her hands, which had dried blood on their knuckles from scraping them on the ground, and practically clawed at Kenji’s one hand. Quickly, she yanked his grip off of her throat, stumbling while still sitting back. Gaze still directed to the side, she sighed with obvious disappointment. “Good match,” she spat, standing up wobbly.

Areum dusted her skirt off as she sharply turned around and paused. “Next time, it’ll be different,” she said with furrowed eyebrows and clenched fists. Then she walked ahead to return home.

At her house, she crumpled with shame onto her bed, blankly staring ahead of her before lifting herself back up and packing for the next three days. Areum then spent the rest of her evening with a shower, bandages to her knuckles, and dimming her awareness to a level that relieved her from her headache. With that, she went to bed.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji sighed and watched Areum hobble off to.. wherever she lived, he supposed. As she disappeared from view, he turned and made his way home, the energy barrier he had previously set disappearing into bronze colored fog. Once he arrived, he flopped onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. That fight did a solid number on me. I probably shouldn't use my aura for that long. Finding himself pretty fatigued, he climbed out reluctantly and began packing for the trip he had tomorrow, placing folded clothes inside an athletic bag along with other necessities. Once he was finished, he then washed up and changed into a more comfortable outfit before once again crawling into bed and falling asleep. Areum isn't as bad as I previously took her for, He thought as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Maybe she's a different case than the ones I usually find at school.

 

[kageyama]

Waking the next morning was somewhat difficult for Areum. Her shoulders ached as she got ready for the day. Due to the freshmen’s field trip, Areum didn’t wear her uniform for the day, knowing that their bus would be leaving early in the school day. Instead, she wore a white pullover and a black, high waisted skirt. She tied her hair into a ponytail before leaving her household with her packed bag, then walking to school. When she arrived, she noted that the busses were already waiting out front, and students were hanging out around them, all dressed casually. Areum joined a small group of friends, hardly paying attention to what they were saying. All she was looking to do was learn new abilities and improve her overall strength, and frankly, she was pissed that she had a ways to go.

The bus doors opened in advance, even though not every student had made their arrival. Areum had been quick to get on the bus and set her bag in a seat that was far in the back. Her intentions for the ride there were to lower her alertness, and possibly take a nap.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji stood up from his daily morning meditation and redid the same routine for every school morning before leaving for school, but this time he took the extra bag with him. Once the large charter buses came into his line of sight, he entered the closest one and took a seat in the back. Unbeknownst to him due to his fatigue from yesterday's match, Kenji obliviously sat next to Areum and set down his stuff under his seat. Once he had noticed who he was sitting next to, he sighed and chuckled softly to himself. "What a coincidence, stumbling upon you here, isn't it?"

 

[kageyama]

Leaning against the window, Areum lifted her head to view who was seated next to her. Upon seeing who it was, her face displayed an obvious deadpan. Oh, brother... she mentally muttered. Not wanting to put up with any exchange of words, Areum let her head lean against the window once more with fatigue. With the right amount of patience, this bus ride would be a breeze.

Soon, the doors closed as everyone was boarded on, and Areum absent-mindedly closed her eyes as the ride began. Catalpa was a few hours away, so she definitely had time to rest her eyes.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Kenji reacted monotonously to the lack of a reaction, as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, attempting to get some rest during the trip to Catalpa. It seemed she didn't feel like talking, so Kenji complied and sat silently as the buses made their way towards the camp. After a few more hours or driving-- and silence between Kenji and Areum-- the buses finally arrived at their destination, and Kenji got his things and exited the bus. The crowd of students had gathered in front, awaiting further direction, so he stood in place, waiting as well. At one point, he accidentally made eye contact with Luca, who flashed a menacing scowl toward him. Paying no heed, Kenji yawned as he waited for everyone to leave and for the teacher to explain what happened next.

 

[kageyama]

Areum woke slowly as the bus came to a halt. She rubbed her eyes sorely as students around her stood up, beginning to leave the bus. After Kenji stood up and walked down, Areum grabbed her things and followed, stretching out as she walked down. Once all of the students exited the bus, the teachers called attention and a hush fell over those who clamored. “Now, students, as you all know, this a three day trip that mainly revolves around growing with your abilities,” Mr. Alder said loudly. He went on to explain that, because of Catalpa’s rather isolated location, they were allowed to do several things that involved training. In a wide, hotel-like building, the girls would separate to the rooms on the left, and the boys on the right. For the rest of the day, the students would be allowed to explore the area.

The first thing Areum did was hustle to a room and claim it, along with allowing a random female to room with her. Then, she quickly grabbed a few guide books and exited the building. Because trees surrounded the area -similar to a campground of some sort - Areum swiftly entered the mass to find a quiet area to practice expanding her abilities. It was the one thing she had been wanting to do for the past several hours.

Finding a nice area to practice, Areum opened the book to a marked page entitled: Weapon Illusion. The purpose of the ability was to create weapons that didn’t physically harm, but cause the pain that would take place if you were to be harmed by that weapon normally. Striking up her alertness, Areum dove into the guide.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

After hearing Mr. Alder's explanation of the trip, Kenji went and claimed a vacant room, luckily without another student who wanted to share it. Once he had set his stuff down in a corner, he exited his room, locked the door, and ventured out into the dense forest to hone his ability. Suddenly, while he was walking, a sharp, rather familiar voice cut through. "Hey, punk!" Kenji turned to face a yet again angry Luca Spritsfeld, cold air emanating from him in a dense fog. "It's payback time. You humiliated me twice now; let me return the favor." Kenji stared at Luca for a couple seconds before breaking out into loud, hearty laughter. Once it had subsided, he turned to face him again. "Really? How has that worked for you the last two times?" "Shut up!" Luca barked, his deep blue eyes shining with cold hate. "This time, there aren't any teachers to break us up. And this time, Ms. Spruce won't be here to patch you up once we're finished here." Kenji shrugged and flared up his aura. "Alright, then. Come at me." He assumed a casual fighting stance as the duel began, coincidentally in a clearing near the place where Areum was studying her guide.