The Magician of Sound

The silver-haired transfer student introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Katsuragi Takaki. Pleased to meet you all."

The innocent girls were charmed by either his look or his wealth. After all, if they were talking about the Katsuragi Family, it was obviously the most powerful family in the north that controlled magic medicine. Ayaka was frowning this entire time. She felt like she had met him before, but she didn't remember this guy.

She finally noticed that this guy's name was 'Katsuragi.' She immediately remembered when her father said that she got engaged with Katsuragi whatsoever. Well, in the end, the engagement was broken.

She became even more hostile to this guy. She remembered that she had gone to the Katsuragi family back when she was a kid. Her father was invited to their banquet, so she followed him back then.

Because she was the only heiress of Kudo Group, the number of people she met was countless. She didn't remember this Katsuragi thing even a little bit. She tried recalling it, but no one came to her mind.

"You can sit wherever you want since we have so many empty seats."

"Yes. Thank you, Teacher." Katsuragi Takaki thanked her. The girls wanted him to sit beside them, but all of them already had a seatmate.

The only empty seats were with the guys. But this Katsuragi Takaki didn't go to the empty seats. Instead, he walked toward Kai's seat.

Kai looked at him with a poker face. Katsuragi Takaki also looked at Kai in silence.

Because of his silence, the girls misunderstood the situation.

"Wait. Is this the legendary BL?"

"Ah... these two men..."

"Damn, my nose is bleeding."

"Kya-!"

Because of the declining population, they banned gay things because they wanted the males to help with repopulation. But all of their imagination shattered after they listened to what Katsuragi Takaki said.

"Hello, I'm Katsuragi Takaki. I'm a fan of your sister, nice to meet you."

Kai narrowed his eyes. Usually, no one would recognize his identity as the light of his sister shadowed him completely. Even his sister's fans wouldn't know about him.

Kai was surprised to see that someone recognized him. It was such a rare occasion that he couldn't help but feel something wrong about it.

"Kai Carter, nice to meet you." Kai decided to ignore his feelings at the moment and introduced himself.

"All right, I don't care if you're a fan of his sister or not just sit down now. I still need to do my job."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Teacher. I couldn't help but say my feelings after seeing the brother of my idol." Katsuragi Takaki said playfully. He then went to an empty seat. He didn't express his feelings to Ayaka because Kai might feel suspicious about it.

His mission in this school was to get Tasha Carter to his bed. And for that to happen, he would need to make a connection with Kai. Sadly, they didn't research the bottom of their relationship.

If he knew that Tasha was a bro-con, what kind of face would he make? After all, Tasha's identity as a bro-con was only known to a few close people, not to the public.

Only people like their parents and her friends in the student council knew about it, including Ayaka, who just realized the hard truth yesterday.

The class finally started after Katsuragi sat.

"We will continue yesterday's class about magical beasts. Because of the appearance of the magical beasts, our civilization was overturned. They killed the majority of the human race and forced us to band together and finally make three super bases in three countries: US, Europe, and this place, United Asia."

"Teacher, are there any humans left in the outside world?" One of the students asked.

"Well, a good question. There are indeed various small groups outside. They stayed in places that are hard to reach for the magical beasts, such as mountains. We got their positions with the satellite." Shirotsuka Sanae replied.

"Then, have we rescued them?"

"We can't rescue them."

"Why?"

"The answer is simple. It's not possible. Those places are surrounded by too many monsters. If we send our magicians just like that, it will be the same as sending them to their deaths. It might sound harsh, but that is the reality.

"But as a part of the younger generation, you can't lose hope. You might be able to save them, but you need to know about the monsters first. Knowing the magical beasts' characteristics will help you in battling those monsters that overturned our civilization.

"Do you know how magical beasts were created?"

"They were exposed by magic energy and evolved." One of the students answered.

"Indeed. We humans also evolved because of magic energy. But have you ever thought of why we humans could use magic, but the magical beast couldn't?"

No students answered her because they didn't know.

"They can." Suddenly Katsuragi Takaki answered her. The students were surprised by it.

"Ho..." Even Sanae was a bit impressed. She narrowed her eyes and asked, "Could you elaborate your answer so your classmates can understand?"

"Because we have the ability to think," said Takaki while pointing his index finger at his head.

"Magical beasts have the ability to use magic. But low-level magical beasts can't because they only act based on their instincts." Takaki stopped talking.

Sanae nodded her head. "It is as he said. Magical beasts indeed have the ability, but they can't. This concept is only applied to low-level magical beasts. If you meet high-level magical beasts such as A-rank beasts or above...

"There is a possibility that they have unlocked their wisdom. They might even be able to talk in our languages and use elements. B and C-rank magical beasts might be able to unlock their wisdom. But it is a rare case, so you might not see that in your entire life.

"This is a knowledge that you will only learn after you enter high school, AKA magical academy. After all, you, as a student, might receive high prestige if you enrolled in a magical academy.

"But it also comes along with responsibilities. You will have a responsibility to fight in the front lines. I'm sure that you've signed the contract before entering this academy.

"Every month, you will get a practical test where you will need to go to the outside world. I'll explain this in detail later. But I need you to know that with great power, comes great responsibilities."

Sanae continued her class.

...

A few days later, the practical class finally arrived.

Katsuragi Takaki tried to become Kai's friend this entire time while sneaking some glances at Ayaka. Of course, Ayaka ignored all of it since she didn't remember him.

Even though Takaki was smiling when he was talking with Kai, he always clenched his fist inside his heart. Looking at Kai sitting beside Ayaka made him want to butcher him.

Fortunately, Ayaka seemed not to be close to Kai, and the rumor about her and Kai together slowly disappeared. Not because the rumor was just a shock for them, but because they had considered these two as one thing.

So, there was no need for another exaggerated reaction if something happened with them.

In the class, Sanae was explaining about the practical class.

"The practical test's only purpose is to let you gain experience in fighting magical beasts. We'll hold the practical class in the gym. We've prepared numerous simulation tubes there.

"I'll explain how it works. We used to fight magical beasts in a group of five: Scout, vanguard, support, and two attackers.

"But after countless discussions about it, we decided to only let the students make a group of two. This is not a rash decision or a baseless assumption.

"I'll have you answer this question. Which team do you think will have better teamwork? A team consisting of ordinary people that emphasize teamwork... or a team where all of its members have great abilities but do their own thing?

"Raise your hand if you think the former is right, I'll assume that you choose the latter if you don't."

When they heard Sanae's question, they were bewildered. They pondered for a while before raising their hands. The entire class raised their hand, including Ayaka and Takaki. All of them, except one person, Kai.

Ayaka was startled when she saw that Kai didn't raise his hand. She was wondering if Kai didn't hear her or he was confused by the question. After all, the answer was obvious.

A team that emphasized teamwork will have better teamwork than the other one even if they had a better quality.

Sanae frowned. She never expected to see that someone didn't raise their hand to this question. She asked this question every single year, but every single student raised their hand upon this question.

If they didn't, their reason was that they didn't understand the question or were confused by it. After she explained a little bit more, they immediately raised their hand. She wondered if this Kai was the same.

"You are the only one who didn't raise your hand. Did my question confuse you? Should I elaborate?"

"Hmm... Actually, I have a question to this question before I can answer it."

"Ho..." She was astonished as she didn't expect this. "Tell me your question."

"What kind of teamwork are you seeking? Is it teamwork so that the team can survive in the outside world?"

The students were bewildered upon hearing his question. They didn't understand his question at all. Ayaka and Takaki immediately pondered over what he meant.

On the other hand, Sanae was astonished to see that someone could perceive her true question. She didn't ask about teamwork in sports or whatsoever. In this damned world, who cares about sports.

"Yeah, you're right. This is about a team that's trying to survive in this damned world. So what's your answer?"