A Journey Unwanted

The classroom was grand and spacious, occupying a great deal of space and exuding a sense of grandeur and majesty that just seemed passive. The walls were adorned with intricate carvings in dark, rich wood, lending the room an air of antiquity and refinement. The ceiling was vaulted and painted with a colorful mural, featuring mystical creatures and other fantastical imagery. The wide, arched windows that line the walls allow ample natural light to flood the room, adding to its already impressive splendor.

The centerpiece of the room was a massive desk, made of solid oak and polished to a rich, deep shine. The desk takes up a sizable portion of the room and is adorned with an array of mystical carvings. Behind the desk was a tall, ornate chair, intricately carved and adorned with symbols of great plowers. The chair was flanked by two smaller chairs, also ornately decorated and crafted in the same rich oak. There was also a large black board ingrained into the wall close to the desk.

There were twenty standard, fine wooden desks spread throughout the large room, with most being occupied while the other students' were busy conversing with each other and whatnot. Mikoto sat at the far back of the class next to a window overlooking the academy's vast and beautiful garden; it was quite a view to have.

William was currently not with him; that fact could maybe be attributed to his seatmate. Behind his mask, he glanced at her long, flowing golden hair with a pale complexion and brilliantly bright green eyes that seemed dull, like much of her face, which seemed to be in a permanent frown. She looked like a female version of William—a twin, maybe. But he remembered how his expression had stifled and dropped once he had taken note of her. Every seat was already assigned someone, so unfortunately, you could not just sit where you wanted.

Hence, he had her as his neighbor now; she did not seem too keen on engaging in any type of conversation. But if they were going to be classmates, then he might as well introduce himself.

"Mikoto Yukio. A pleasure." A simple, short, but sweet introduction

The William look alike merely glanced his way, not even fully turning her head to him before she went right back to blankly staring at her desk. Yup, she definitely was no extrovert.

("Whelp, I tried.") With a mental shrug, he turned back to the front of the class, his gleaming red eyes scanning over the faces of his classmates. Barring William and another familiar face, there was really no one else of note in the classroom. There were only really three impressive mana signatures in the classroom, but other than that, everything was painfully ordinary.

("How do I want to play it?") He asked himself as he leaned back into his seat. ("I don't really want to draw much attention to myself, so I'll mostly be holding back. But I don't want to appear too weak, at least not so weak that any professor in this school would see me as worthless.") But with such an ordinary class, he would have to go the extra mile to appear just as ordinary. It would have been much better if this class had a few outstanding students, or maybe spawns. ("But enough about that; I'm curious as to what the thoughts of my dear classmates are.") As he was straining his ear's it was an easy task to pick up on the chatter of the students around him.

"What's with the guy in the mask?"

"I dunno, but it's pretty creepy."

Mikoto frowned; of course he had expected some distress due to the mask. But still, it might be more troublesome to deal with than he originally thought, he shrugged to himself as he honed in on a conversation between two girls.

"Think he looks hot underneath?"

"Maybe, he's kind of mysterious."

"Those mysterious types are always hot." One stated it matter-of-factly.

"Think he's pac-"

("Yup, not what I want to hear. Let's see...") Focusing in on another pair of boys', he listened away.

"That blonde... that's *her*, isn't it?" One questioned as he threw a sneaky glance at his neighbor.

"Yeah, 'ice gaze' and all. Damn, a shame; she's so damn beautiful too, but scary." One boy spoke with an almost dreamy look in his eyes as he continued. "And she's the spawn of Goddess Isadora to boot."

"Yeah, that's a whole family thing, right?"

"Yeah, some families as a whole are blessed by God's; the Gregory's are lucky to have the Goddess of Creation and Prosperity favoring them."

("Huh, it seems my neighbor has a reputation. And to think she's a spawn too, but from what they were saying, William might be one as well.") He noted as he focused his attention on another pair of boys'.

"Who do you think our class's personal professor will be?" One questioned as the other suddenly got a dreamy look on his face.

"I dare say that I hope it will be Mistress Elizabeth." He said blissfully.

"Mistress Elizabeth! Now that would be heaven to have such beauty in front of my eyes every day." The other seemed to quickly join his blissful state.

"But...by the God's, let it not be Professor Gregory." Of course, that caught his attention, as William had the same family name—another would-be relative of his, maybe.

"Oh God, no." The other shuddered with his friend.

("Do all new students just have basic knowledge of Academy staff?") Mikoto mused as he turned away from the conversation. ("But anyway, it seems like this Professor Gregory is quite the character, hmm.")

"Agatha Gregory." Mikoto blinked rapidly beneath his mask as he turned to his side.

"Huh?"

"Tis my name." The blank-faced girl beside him clarified before she went back to blankly staring at her desk.

"Ah, a pleasure then, Agatha-sa-." He quickly shook his head. It might be best to just drop honorifics. It would probably only serve to confuse people not familiar with his culture.

("I wish I could meet someone from the 'East'; everyone until now assumed I was from there based on my name. But what lies to the east is a small country called Doma. From what I read, they're basically the same as me, as in they're Japanese. Culture and everything, though I find it more interesting how they use magic. It's not that they use it; they use a different power all together. But that's neither here nor there.") Mikoto's thoughts came to a halt as he took note of the door to the classroom opening with someone stepping inside.

Most students immediately made their way to their desks, while others scrambled to theirs.

"Ten seconds is too long. Much too long." The man spoke as his footsteps came to a halt in front of the class before he turned his heel to face everyone. He was a rather tall man, dressed in a pitch black three-piece suit with a black robe thrown over. He had a clean-shaven face with two intense green eyes that sat on his face with a scrutinizing gaze that swepped through the class. His hair was blonde and slicked back, giving him an overall sophisticated appearance.

"This is the first day, so you shall be excused." The man continued with a serious and icy tone. "If I step into this class again, I expect silence in five seconds or less. Is that understood?"

""...""

"I said, is that understood?" He repeated it in an extra-icy tone.

""Yes sir!"" The class quickly banned together to affirm that they did indeed understand.

"Good." The man stated as he snapped his fingers. On the black board behind him, a name was suddenly ingrained into the board. "I am Professor Gregory. I am to be your personal professor for the year." Mikoto could tell that groans sat within each and every student, but they were much too intimidated to let their displeasure be known.

("I wonder how classes will function.") Mikoto was not intimidated, as he was more curious as to how classes would function. ("Will the teacher come to us or do we have to move from class to class?") While he was pondering his question, the professor's gaze seemed to be drawn to him.

"You there at the back." He spoke as Mikoto snapped out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the side to see most of the student's glancing.

"Uh me?" He questioned.

"Yes you. What do you think you're doing?" The man asked in his ever-icy voice. Mikoto could only raise an eyebrow beneath his mask.

"Minding my own business?" He answered naturally, eliciting a few snickers around the classroom. But everyone was quickly silenced as Professor Gregory's cold gaze swepped through the class once more.

"Remove your mask, boy." He ordered as Mikoto frowned.

"I can't do that, Professor. You see, I'm wearing this-"

"I did not ask you for a story, boy. I gave you an order you're obligated to follow." The man stated with a steady tone. "Refuse, and you will be facing immediate consequences."

Mikoto's brows furrowed as he stared dead into the man's eyes. To think he would be running into such a strict teacher on his first day.

("Fiona I am going to slap you. You told me no one would bother me.") Of course, he was not actually going to slap the girl. But that was neither here nor there; on to the current problem at hand. Professor Gregory, the man, was as strict as they come.

He could already tell so much from just a glance; he would probably not let up with this. But there was no way he was going to just reveal himself as a spawn of Octavia on his first day. Initially, he underestimated just how important he would be; in fact, a full-on war was almost held just for the other spawn. The kingdom's wanted a rare spawn of Octavia for themselves and were willing to fight for it. He was not looking for that kind of attention, but what to do? Oh well, he was going to get punished anyway for refusing to remove his mask. But he might as well try to be nice one last time.

"Sir, I assure you, I have a go-"

"I do not wish for your excuses, boy." The man cut him off again. "Remove your mask, or face the consequences. It is quite simple." Mikoto sighed heavily for all to hear. He was so going to get expelled for this, but oh, he could easily just force himself into the library and get what he wanted.

"Professor Gregory...." Mikoto's voice trailed off as the professor in question narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"If it is another excuse, then do not-" This time it was Mikoto who cut him off.

"By any chance, are you senile?" Each and every student within the classroom looked at him as if he had just done the most absurd thing imaginable; even his blank-faced neighbor looked at him in surprise.

"Detention for the year." The man stated bluntly without missing a beat, and Mikoto shrugged. It is what it is. And in his defense, it was a genuine question.

"Now hold on!" Surprisingly, someone came to his defense: William. "Fa-...Professor Gregory I'm sure if you allowed Mikoto to explain-"

"If you are content with defending this ruffian, then you may join him in detention for the year." The man gave his sentence without a blink, but Mikoto did not miss the hint of disdain and disapproval. Family drama, no doubt.

"Wha-..." William could only look on in disbelief; Mikoto would send him a sheepish smile if he could. But he quickly noticed a student raising their hands—a girl. A quite familiar girl.

"What is it?" Professor Gregory asked the blank-faced Ruby

"I must say this is all quite boring." The girl bluntly stated much to everyone's dismay, as they were looking at her as if she were crazier than Mikoto himself. It seemed that Professor Gregory was the type of teacher to rarely receive any kind of backtalk, and it seems he has built a reputation for that, as even first-year students are aware of his strict nature. "May I step out to play?" Ruby requested.

"Detention."

____________________

"Sorry about this; probably not the best of things to get a year's worth of detention for sticking up for me." Mikoto sheepishly apologized to William, who just shook his head.

"It's fine, really." Despite the situation, he did not seem that distraught. Even when the three of them were placed in this depressing small room with creaky wooden floors and dusty walls and three desks in the center, they occupied "My, uh, Professor Gregory is always like that; I'm surprised the punishment wasn't harsher." He said with a sheepish chuckle.

"A dick." Ruby's dull voice cut in as William looked at the small girl, flabbergasted.

"P-pardon."

"Professor Gregory is a dick." She announced it all too smugly, as if satisfied with her insult.

"O-oh, I guess so." William was not sure whether or not he should be insulting the man, but he was much too surprised.

"But I must say..." The girl started as she turned to him with a small smile. "I did not quite expect to see you here, Mikoto. Though it was a welcomed surprise."

"Oh, you two know each other?" William deduced as Mikoto nodded.

"Only vaguely, really." It was kind of hard to forget the creepy midget with blue hair.

"Last I recall, you did not wear such a foul mask." The girl spoke, her smile morphing into a small frown. "Why would you want to hide such pretty eyes?"

Mikoto heaved a deep sigh.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Mikoto asked. "It's quite...disturbing..." He said with a shudder.

"Wait, if it's a bad memory, then you shouldn't recall it." William advised with worry laced in his tone, surprising that he was showing so much for a stranger. But Ruby looked much, much too curious.

"No, no. It's fine. We'll be seeing each other for a year, so I might as well let you in on my secret." Though William himself seemed just as curious as to what this secret could be, "You see my face..."

They waited with baited breaths.

"It is much too beautiful to show to this world." He announced.

"Huh?"

"Meanie." Was all Ruby said with a sideways glance and pout? It seems she really got her hope's up for his supposed super secret. Mikoto just shrugged.

"It's the truth." William could just sheepishly chuckle. "But we'll probably be seeing each other a whole lot, so how about we hang out?"

"Hang out? You mean we should become friends?" William questioned as Mikoto nodded.

"Yeah, let's start with a basic introduction, like our full names. Seeing as you two don't know each other, Mikoto Yukio."

"William Gregory, yes, I am related to the professor." He admitted. "But I'm not nearly as much of a 'dick'." He chuckled.

"Ruby Leonora, a pleasure." The girl introduced with a smile.

At least his day's at the Academy might be interesting now.