While he has been enrolled since his birth in Darkeas, the school of supervillains, Uchiri Nanaya ends up by mistake in Aitori ... the school of the Magical Girls.
Kotaro had kept everything he had discussed with the two directors to himself, claiming he had simply been called in to cancel his hours of detention. He had however confirmed the couple to Mineko, without going into details, refusing to tell her more than: "They are together, but not married". The girl was satisfied with that, although she wished she knew why Kotaro had decided to ask them.
September passed quickly and on the first day of October the first graders from all three schools were taken by bus to a huge complex an hour from SDA. Angel Ferret, Blue Manta and Sutra were there to help, overseeing their classes, as well as the three principals, the nurse, and an unknown woman Starlight introduced as a former student. He then began to explain.
They had to train in more or less real conditions. The building they stood in front of was where the entrance exam to Saurity took place, separated into three parts. One for rescue and care, in a war setting, with a few new-looking buildings for hostage-taking scenarios. One to simulate fake natural disasters. And the last one that simply imitated a city, for fights between heroes and villains. A student from Saurity and one from Aitori were going to have to team up against one from Darkeas in the first section. When one of the future villains asked why they had to be two-on-one, Shadow explained to them that while it could sometimes happen, villains rarely teamed up, unlike heroes and magical girls. They were more in competition.
A fourth room was available, with huge screens showing the stage from all angles, for teachers and other students to follow the exercise while being sheltered. The former student, Otonari Haruko, then unveiled the reason for her presence: Her power was to create endless clones of herself. Her copies would therefore serve as hostages, which Darkeas's student had to keep alive. Those of Saurity and Aitori had to defeat the comrade, without putting the hostages in danger. Of course, no one was to be hurt. They had limited time to succeed. If the two rescuers managed to get the five clones out, immobilize their opponent, without injuring him, or push him away, then they would win. On the other hand, if Darkeas's student defended himself well and they failed to defeat him within the allotted time, or if more than two hostages were killed, the villain won the round. On the other hand, the villain absolutely had to keep at least one hostage alive or else be eliminated. Giving up was also possible in the event of an unresolvable situation. Their grades would then be thought out according to their behavior, their way of acting and the damage caused. Of course, the conditions were different depending on their school.
Bunny had taken over to explain the safety rules. Nanaya's gaze was caught by one of the screens. There was a man. But no one seemed to see him. With long red hair and cadaverous skin. His left eye was marked with numerous scars and his eyes were completely black, except for a white glow in the center. He wore a traditional kimono, in shades of black and gray. Nanaya glanced at all the students around him, then in the direction of the teachers. Some looked at the screens from time to time but did not seem intrigued by this stranger. He deduced that he was part of the exercise.
He focused again on what the adult was saying. She was just finishing the safety rules and allowed the three professors to step forward.
"For the first exercise." Said Sutra, looking at a piece of paper in her hand. "The first student of Darkeas will be Takai Haru."
The twins turn pale. Their powers complemented each other. They hated being apart. Haru wasn't sure that increasing the pressure of gravity would really help him.
"Saurity's student," Blue Manta called in turn. "Will be Uchikoshi Reiko. "
It was a plump young girl who stepped forward. She seemed not very confident and above all terrified of Haru, despite his equally worried look.
"As for Aitori," Angel Ferret announced in turn. "It's Taketa Inoue. "
The young girl shyly pushed aside her comrades. Her guardian, Norishige, a kind of miniature swan of unrealistic proportions, tried to reassure her by giving her some ideas for strategies.
Inoue and Reiko therefore had to team up. They quickly traded on their powers and discussed the best way to succeed, while the hostages moved into one of the buildings in the first section, along with Haru. Everyone else was watching through the screens.
Inoue could fly by spreading her wings, much like Angel Ferret. Reiko was able to change into a wolf of impressive size. At least three people could fit on her back. Saurity's young girl, like her classmates and those of Darkeas, was already wearing her costume. Inoue therefore quickly launched her transformation to be in better conditions. What worried them the most was not being sure which of the twins could increase or decrease gravity.
When the departure bell rang, Inoue, aka Black Swan, spread wings and soared. They had a plan. It was kinda wobbly, but they couldn't think of anything better. Reiko did not immediately change into a wolf and rather quietly walked towards the building.
"They choose to separate." Shadow remarked. "With so little offensive power, it's not bad technique."
"The stealthy approach isn't bad either." Starlight confirmed.
For his part, Haru was not failing in his duty. He watched the five clones for a moment, sitting on the ground, then walked over to touch their shoulders in turn, increasing the gravity of each copy of Haruko. They would thus appear heavier and would be more difficult to carry. He finally pulled away, proud of his idea, as Inoue slammed through a window. She had wanted to land on the edge and spy on her opponent's actions, but was not fully in control of her wings and failed to curb her momentum. Despite a few cuts from the shards of glass, she took advantage of the surprise effect to rush straight at Haru, hoping to fly with him and clear him away from the hostages in order to succeed.
When she got up to him, however, it was he who grabbed her arm and she collapsed a few yards. With her knees and elbows scratched by the fall, she wanted to fly away again, flapping her wings but was unable to take off.
"He increases gravity!" Growled Norishige. "Your wings cannot carry you if you are too heavy!"
"Exactly." Joked Haru. "You're pinned to the ground, Taketa-san."
The girl grimaced. She had bet on the wrong twin, believing Haru was the one to reduce gravity, not the other way around. She even had a hard time getting up, feeling so heavy. But the boy had forgotten Reiko's presence. The huge wolf smashed open the door and lunged straight at him. This time his own power turned against him. He couldn't cancel it without his brother's help, and when he touched the animal, it collapsed with all its weight on him.
"Aaah!" Cried Haru. "No, I can't lose that stupidly !!! I... I can't move. You are heavy, Uchikoshi-san!"
"It's not the kind of thing you say to a girl." Reiko muttered in a small voice.
"Ugh... sorry..."
An alarm sounded, signaling the end of the exercise, with the victory of the group of heroes. Jun had to join them to allow them to finally move. He stayed where he was, because the professor told him at that moment that it was his turn.
He would face off against Aitori's shy Soma Yuto, whose power to talk to animals wasn't going to be of much use in their absence, and Yanai Shuko, a boy from Saurity, who had the same cloning power as the former student.
While many thought he was going to fail like his brother, Jun proved more strategic and just sent them to the ceiling by reducing their gravity. No matter how many clones Shuko sent, they would eventually fly away.
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