The Hidden World

Yuki cautiously went back to sleep but wasn’t bothered by nightmares again. When he awoke, the world was bright and cheerful as if the troubles of the night had never existed.

 

Yawning, Yuki got up and did some stretches before changing into his usual outfit of jeans and sweater and went to leave his room.

 

When he opened the door to his bedroom, it hit a package that lied in front of it. Yuki saw the words “uniform” written on a paper stuck onto the box and brought it inside his room.

 

Inside the box were three sets of clothing. One set comprised of a unisex tracksuit and sneakers seemed to be for exercise. The other two were the same uniforms that Yuki saw the older students wearing during the Magic History class. But for whatever reason Yuki was given both the boy and girl set.

 

‘Great,’ he thought. ‘Even the establishment is questioning my gender.’

 

He considered wearing the girl’s uniform for a fleeting second. It would be entertaining to see the reactions of the others. But Yuki decided against it, not wanting to create any misunderstandings.

 

When he exited room, he was wearing the tracksuit and headed to the mess hall to grab his breakfast.

 

In the elevator he looked at the schedule that was being displayed by the Compendium for him to see. The first class for the day was Physical Training which was going to be held on the bottom floor, the floor that was full of equipment. The class after that was labeled Required Education. Yuki assumed that meant subjects such as math and the sciences. The last class of the day was Combat Training.

 

The elevator announced Yuki’s arrival to the mess hall and opened up. When Yuki walked out, he was relieved that the other students in the hall were occupied by their personal business and didn’t notice him.

 

He walked over to kitchens to pick up one of the prepared breakfasts. Grabbing a plastic container of pancakes and sausage, he went back to the elevator to return to his room to eat as always.

 

Like the day before, the waving hand of Sayuri caught his attention and Yuki paused. He wanted to eat in private but he had already blown off her previous invitation. Yuki didn’t want to be any bad terms with any of the first years since they would be living on the same floor for who knows how long.

 

Eventually Yuki decided to accept Sayuri’s invitation and went to sit at the table she was at. The four other first years looked up from their meals and gave him nods of acknowledgment that he returned while Sayuri scooted over to create room for him.

 

“Where were you? I couldn’t find you after Elemental Training,” Sayuri asked Yuki when he sat down.

 

“I went back to the living hall to eat,” Yuki said as he opened his food.

 

“Why didn’t you sit with us during dinner?” Sayuri asked with a pout. “I’m sure you saw me.”

 

“I’m sorry. I was very tired at that time and wanted to rest as soon as possible,” Yuki explained to her, pouring syrup onto his pancakes.

 

“Oh, okay!” she replied satisfied. “I was pretty tired too. Hey, what do you think we’ll do in Physical Training?”

 

They sat there like this chatting for some time, Sayuri asking questions and Yuki replying with short sentences. The others in the table later joined the conversation and Yuki was able to eat his breakfast in peace.

 

In his head, Yuki began to plan.

 

It was one thing to create a goal. It was an entirely different thing to follow through and achieve that goal. And it didn’t help that Yuki’s mission was a difficult one.

 

To begin with, Yuki had no information on who the Shikaku were except for the fact that they killed people and wore black. That could describe half of the murderers in the world. Yuki also lacked basic knowledge of magic, how to use it in combat, as well as normal physical combat.

 

Yuki was also very weak. He knew this and didn’t deny it. He wouldn’t be able to scratch those assassins much less kill them in the condition he was in right now.

 

So Yuki had to do two things: study and train. First he would need to see if there was a library or something similar where he can go to collect information. Next, Yuki would have to create a train regimen for himself. He needed to become stronger and to learn how to fight. For both of these things, Yuki was planning to ask Akira for her help as well. But she seemed to be busy right now as she wasn't replying to Yuki’s mental messages.

 

Looking at his bracelet, Yuki saw that it was time to attend the first class of the day. He gathered and dumped what little trash he had and began heading to his Physical Training class. The other first years, realizing what time it was, followed him.

 

A muscular Asian man was waiting for them on the bottom floor. From the athletic shorts he was wearing Yuki guessed that this man was their instructor.

 

“You’re all here, that’s good,” the instructor said when they got closer to him.

 

As Yuki got closer, Yuki realized that the man was extremely short.

 

“You can all call me David,” the man said. “I am your Physical Training teacher.”

 

“You’re short!” Sayuri blurted out suddenly. Yuki groaned to himself.

 

“Why thank you,” David replied through gritted teeth as he glared at Sayuri. “For that compliment I’m gonna make today’s class extra special. Just for you."

 

“Now follow me to the field and I’m going to take you to hell.”

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David was right, he did take them to hell. For the next hour, Yuki and the others were forced to do a circuit of various exercises. They would do told to do twenty push-ups in a minute, then twenty squats for another minute, and finally twenty sit-ups for the next minute. Each circuit would end with sprinting down the track as David chased after them with a wooden stick that he would use to hit them while screaming profanities about their baby legs and how his grandma would walk faster than them.

 

Fifteen circuits, four minutes each circuit. One minute break between cycles.¹That's 300 push-ups, 300 sit-ups, and 300 squats. As well as 15 sprints. That's a lot of exercise.

 

By the time the class had ended, Yuki’s legs and arms were blocks of molten iron and his abdomen felt as if someone had rammed a spear into it. Behind him, Leo looked as if he was about to drop dead and Tracy was grimacing in pain, her legs cramping. Aaron and Sayuri, who were athletic, weren’t faring any better.

 

Thankfully Yuki’s next class didn’t try to kill him. The Required Education class was exactly how Yuki had predicted. He sat in a classroom with the other first years and took notes on subjects such as math, science, and normal history while a middle aged white man lectured. Today they were doing calculus which Yuki learned by himself when he was in middle school.

 

Already knowing everything that was being taught, Yuki spent most of the time bored or trying to contact Akira who still seemed to be occupied with something. Yuki suddenly recalled that she told him that she was going to research more on the Legend of Erik.

 

‘Ah, right,’ he thought. ‘I’ll just try again tomorrow then.’

 

The time for lunch came when the Required Education class ended. Yuki ate a sandwich. Sayuri had a bento.

 

The next class was Combat Training, something that Yuki was very much interested about. He knew that he would have to improve his fighting techniques if he wanted to carry out his plans.

 

“Hello again! I’m going to be your combat instructor,” Kaede said to them in a cheerful voice.

 

“Now get into pairs and I’ll get started,” she said, not giving them time to reply.

 

For the next two hours Kaede taught them the basic techniques for hand to hand combat. They practiced punches, kicks, and various basic blocks. This disappointed Yuki who was expecting much more advanced techniques to be taught before he remembered that this was a beginner level class.

 

‘Guess I’ll just have to asked Akira then,’ he sighed as he blocked Sayuri’s sloppy punches.

 

‘I wonder if she found anything yet,’ he wondered.

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While Yuki was attending his classes, Akira was sitting on a earthen chair that she had made in Yuki’s personal dimension. Her eyes were closed as she focused on the mental records of her ancestors in her head.

 

Before her mind’s eye was a small study filled with shelves stuffed with books. As Akira scanned through hundreds of titles, she picked out a few that caught her eye which she set aside to read later. What she was currently searching for was anything related to the human named Erik Olsen.

 

“Erik Olsen, Eeerik Oooolsen,” she muttered softly to herself. “Legend of Erik Olsen? Olsen. Olsen. No Olsen.”

 

Every time that she read a title or flipped through a book only to not find that name, her frustration increased.

 

After what seemed to be the billionth book, she chucked the journal she was holding at the floor. The book froze in the air before it hit the ground and slowly floated back to its place on one of the shelves in the room.

 

“God dammit, how hard is it to find one human?! I wish Ancestral Knowledge²This is the name of the skill Akira is using. had a search bar,” she growled, complaining. “He’s nowhere. I’m starting to think he doesn’t even exist.”

 

Akira scratched her head thoughtfully.

 

“Hold on,” she said.

 

She grabbed a textbook titled “Elementalists Throughout History.” Akira had initially grabbed the book because the title seemed relevant to what she wanted to know but put it aside when she discovered that it had no records of humans.

 

“Maybe this Erik isn’t a human. Erik could be a false name created by a being that wanted to pass as a human,” Akira hypothesized.

 

It would make sense. A human elementalist that had affinities to every element couldn’t be found anywhere in the records of her bloodline. If someone like this had existed, there was bound to be at least a mention of the human’s name. But none could be found. On top of that, a human shouldn’t be powerful enough to kill a demon by themselves. This all pointed to the idea that maybe this Erik Olsen was actually another species.

 

Excited, Akira began to read through the gigantic book before she realized just how much she would have to go through. The book was upwards to a thousand pages.

 

“Yeah, I’ll do this later,” she said to herself. “I have better things to do right now.”

 

Like preparing Yuki’s training for instance. Some of the books that Akira placed aside weren’t only for her research. She had found some texts related to elemental magic that she wanted to read over to see if there was anything that she could teach Yuki.

 

“But first let’s return to real world,” she decided. The study around her dissolved and she opened her eyes, back in the grassy fields of Yuki’s realm.

 

[Akira, are you still working?]

 

Akira’s furry ears flicked at the sound of Yuki’s voice in her mind.

 

“Ah, sorry. Were you trying to contact me?” she asked.

 

[Oh, you replied. Yes, I had some questions,] Yuki answered.

 

“Then ask away,” she replied. “I’ll try to answer them.”

 

[I want to talk to you personally actually,] Yuki said. [Do you know how I can go to that dimension I was in when I first saw you?]

 

‘He wants to see me!’ Akira thought to herself happily.

 

“Yes I do,” she said calmly out loud. “Since you’ve been here before, you just need to remember the sensations of this place and you should be able to return fairly easy. It might take you a while the first time, though.”

 

[Okay. Thank you, I’ll try tonight. If I can’t do it I’ll tell you to bring me there instead,] Yuki said. [See you later.]

 

The mental connection weakened and Yuki disconnected from Akira.

 

‘Tonight, huh? I still have some time then,’ Akira thought to herself. In her hand, a book materialized out of nowhere. ‘I’ll do some reading then~.’