"May I ask why?" I asked my challenger.
I had a feeling the space we were in was sanctioned for fights between students. If you couldn't stop students from using their abilities to harm each other, the best you can do is control where it should happen.
I was fully expecting an educational spar with my summoner, but this… where is this coming from?
"I heard from Alicia how you headbutted her during lunch. I didn't say anything after you dueled her, since Emilie sounded more concerned about you and our friend after class, but was it necessary to humiliate her further?!" His voice rose with an unmistakable fury.
I'm guessing others noticed how I trapped her under a box with balls and chains. That was simply a precaution I had taken to ensure she couldn't kill me after I fled, though that misunderstanding had been cleared… I think.
I'll have to talk to her about that to clear things up.
"Is there room to talk? I'm more than capable of having a proper conversation now."
Right now, I am hoping to resolve this matter without turning to violence. Of course, if I end up fighting regardless, I at least want an idea of why I'm getting attacked.
My hopes of a peaceful resolution were shattered when I had to deflect a small boulder that was launched at me, visualizing its trajectory being steered away from Kiori and me.
"People like you don't deserve to be mages." Richter raised his arms in what I assumed was his combat stance.
"There's no getting out of this for me, right, Kiori?" I whispered.
"No." He walked toward one of the 4 gaps and stood behind the protection of the invisible barrier.
Now it was just Richter and me in the arena, standing a few paces apart as we stared down each other.
"I, Richter Bjedier, challenge the disgrace of a mage, Nolval, to a duel. If I win, Nolval must formally apologize to Alicia for his disgressions."
"I, Nolval, accept this challenge and these terms," I spoke automatically, not really caring for the formalities of a fight.
"You didn't specify a condition for if you win. Do you plan on not taking me seriously?"
"I'm taking the fact that we're fighting seriously. As for the conditions, I believe we already talked about me headbutting her in private. She accepted my apology, but if you can only be convinced if you witness me apologizing to her yourself, then so be it."
I prepared a few visualizations as Richter stood idly. Focusing on different points of his body and pushing them telekinetically, erecting a large wall between the two of us using the ground we stood on, making him sink into the dirt he stood on, stopping around the knees, basically a nonviolent, non-lethal attempt to get him to stop.
"You talked to her?"
"She took me out on a date. It was of her own volition, of course; I was merely following her instructions."
My eyes darted across different parts of his form. Arms, torso, legs, shoulders, any one of these could be telekinetically pushed on, sending him either into the invisible barrier or the door he came through.
His form shifted, making quick movements as more rocks were launched at me. Since they were small, I turned my body to dodge them reflexively, before making a large wall between the two of us.
That was a mistake.
The wall instantly split into multiple cubes, levitating in the air of their own will. Those same cubes sped toward me, and in a panic, I imagine them disappearing. No special visual or sound effects. They just vanished. I didn't get all of the cubes either, just the ones I thought would hit me in that split second. The rest simply scattered behind me.
"What the hell did you just do!?" I heard Richter shout from his spot in the arena.
"Why the hell did you attack me!? I didn't want to fight you!" I retorted.
"I thought you were an Earth attunement, like me, but clearly something else is going on." He walked up to me, shouting his suspicions. He was already annoyingly loud, and now he's standing close. Wonderful.
"Richter, stop!" I heard Kiori run into the arena, putting himself between us. He put a hand on my chest and raised his other one in front of Richter. I was honestly too pissed off at Richter trying to kill me to register him trying to de-escalate things.
"And you!" He turned to Kiori, raising his voice. "Why have you been spending so much time with another student you barely know!?"
"Relationships start somewhere, Richter. Maybe we hit it off when we first met."
"'Hit?' What were you hitting?"
Note to self, stop using slang from Earth in conversation. Especially in tense situations like this.
"Never mind. It's just a turn of phrase where I'm from."
"Stop it, Richter. I was just helping Nolval get a better understanding of magic. Mr. Draco asked me to tutor him, since I'm a top scorer on the written exam."
Huh. Not technically a lie. Kiori is helping me, but I don't recall Mr. Draco outright saying it. Still, we should talk to him later so that Mr. Blonde can corroborate the statement.
Richter stood down, merely glaring at me.
"Whatever is going on between you two, I will find out."
"Nosey, aren't you? Have you considered not doing that?"
His glare didn't change.
I held off on making any verbal thoughts on the off chance he'd hear them, watching his back as he left through the door.
"Kiori, was he always like that?"
"No, but whatever you just did proved your abilities don't follow magic principles. I've been watching your exchange, and there was no trace of Proa being utilized."
"Does every mage have the ability to sense Proa?"
"It's a fundamental requirement for enrollment that even Novice-tiers need to grasp. Sensing how that energy flows in a body, and how it manifests in the world, is key to predicting how your enemy can respond."
"How skilled would you say you are at predicting a mage's attack from sensing Proa alone?"
"High-intermediate to low-advanced."
"Which means?"
"In ideal conditions, I could flee from a majority of students in a one-on-one confrontation for a while."
"What's the name of that water mage bully?"
"Salil?"
"Was that how you were able to injure Salil? Predicting and responding accordingly?"
"If he were more composed, I probably wouldn't be standing."
There was a silence that followed. I guessed he wanted to continue speaking, but stopped himself.
Ah.
He doesn't want to admit that Salil could've killed him. Just thinking about him pisses me off.
"I heard from Mr. Draco that Salil had been expelled."
"Huh?"
"Yeah," he turned to me, noticing my confusion. "This wasn't the first time Salil bullied me, but it was the first time he was caught. I don't know what exactly changed, but ever since you entered my life, things have been looking up for me."
"Huh," My eyes landed on the door. "That's good to know."
"Did that make sense? That wasn't a weird phrase, right?"
"No. That's also a phrase used in my world when you realize things are getting better."
There was a pause. Kiori looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't know what. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth.
All of a sudden, there was the sound of growling. It was Kiori's stomach.
He walked away for a moment, with a bit of awkwardness and embarrassment in his steps.
"Well, it's lunch time. The cafeteria isn't open during school breaks. Wanna try eating out for the first time?"
The idea of having my first meal outside of the school sounded enticing. Unfortunately, that already happened with the cyan-haired attack whose name starts with K.
"Second time, but it would be the first that didn't happen after an attack on the town."
"Huh? Oh!" He chuckled a bit. "Right, forgot about that. Let me introduce you to some spots I've grown fond of when I'm not craving cafeteria food."
I recalled the conversation I had with Alicia over dessert. "What would you call these places anyway? I've heard from Alicia that places to eat take on different names depending on your mood."
He put a finger to his chin. "Calcofenso."
"The sad one, right?"
"Yeah. Usually, I head to these places when I just want to be alone, and also do not want to be in school."
He headed toward the door, not wanting to explain that further. I caught up to him, reminding Kiori we needed to report the incident with Richter before going into town.