Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 73: Accident

Three months, several tests and an uneventful field exercise later, Koko was trying her best to not sleep in class before the bell finally rang and she gained the temporary freedom that the lunch hour provided.

"Be prepared to study desert survival when you all get back!" Austin told his students as they all began to get up in order to leave. "And also, you should all start think about what you're going to do for the upcoming graduation festival."

"Festival?!" Koko asked, suddenly excited as this was the first interesting news she'd heard in quite some time.

"It's apparently being held in celebration of every academy's graduation." Christina explained. "A day after the second years graduate, everyone from each academy is allowed to participate in the festivities being held in Goldgate. Although I've never gone to one, apparently there's hundreds of food stalls, games with prizes, a talent competition and then a grand dance afterwards in the city's central square."

"That sounds amazing!" Koko exclaimed excitedly as she followed Christina out of the room and Richard fell in behind her.

"So Koko, do you have any plans for the festival?" Richard asked, and Koko turned her head and gave him an even look as she could have sworn that they'd spoken about this already. "Not for that! I was just wondering if you were going to enter the talent competition is all!"

"Oh... You know what, that actually does sound like fun!" Koko replied with a smile.

"What are you going to do?" Richard asked, and Koko smiled smugly as she turned away from him.

"That's a secret." Koko declared with amusement. "Are you going to participate?"

"Probably not." Richard sighed in reply. "The only thing I really have as a talent is my high MP..."

"What about you Christina?" Koko asked.

"I think that I'm going to try to avoid attention as much as possible." Christina answered with a sad smile, though her answer was understandable as not all of the people in Goldgate had forgiven her yet.

"Then it's just me then." Koko confirmed. "Alright! Then I'll put on an act that will blow you guys away with the performance of the century! Look forward to it!"

"Kind of hard to look forward to it if we have no idea what you're doing..." Richard grumbled behind her, though Koko didn't pay him any mind as her thoughts were already racing about what she would do at the talent competition. Though seeing as she really didn't know to do anything that would be considered talent in this world other than turning trees into usable lumber by punching and kicking them, she was left with only music as an option. And while she obviously wanted to play one of the openings to the Ninja Clash series, that was currently impossible due to her having only one Acoustic Substitute. Though seeing as Goldgate was nearby, Koko was hoping that she would be able to afford one or two more of the devices from the music store there. Plus, she also needed to send another letter home to ask for her violin...

"A-are you in a hurry?" Mark Hilden, Richard's friend that had started sitting with them at lunch recently, asked as Koko inhaled her meal as soon as she'd sat down in the cafeteria.

"Yeah! I'm going to Goldgate to check on a few things before class starts again!" Koko explained quickly as she jumped up from her seat before moving to put her tray away.

"Classes start again in forty minutes though!" Christina called out behind her, obviously considering that a normal trip to the city took hours to go there and get back.

"I can make it if I run at full speed!" Koko assured them before she turned around and quickly maneuvered around the students that were still attempted to get their food before she left the both the cafeteria and then the academy. And once she was sure that she wouldn't run into anyone, Koko started sprinting as quickly as she could, infusing her legs with focus in order to gain every ounce of speed that she could muster as the dorms and the fields surrounding them almost sped past her. And while Koko knew that she had to hurry in order to get to the music store and quickly check the prices for Acoustic Substitutes if she wanted to make it back to class on time, she couldn't help but smile while holding her arms out to her sides, reveling in the fact that she could run freely now as she had very few opportunities to do so while in the academy.

-     -     -     -     -

"So that was one of Koko's famous outbursts that I've been hearing about all throughout the academy..." Mark stated thoughtfully as the rest of their small group watched the small blue-haired girl leave the cafeteria in silence.  "She must be really fast if she's confident about making what's normally a four-hour trip in under forty minutes..."

"Yeah, but I won't really be surprised if she makes it." Richard sighed beside him. "If there's one thing you can be sure of about Koko, it's that you can't be sure of anything."

"I second that." Christina agreed before she started eating her own meal. "Though I am curious as to just what she's planning to do..."

"Probably something crazy, like smashing a  boulder into bricks with just her hands and building a small house with them." Richard suggested.

"She's agile enough, so she could preform some kind of dance." Mark thought out loud.

"Oh! That would be good!" Richard seemed to like the idea.

"She has incredible balance, so she could try stacking logs on top of each other and roll across the stage on them without falling." Christina joined in. "Though she might preform something entirely unexpected. Seeing as she was raised in a noble house, she may even do something elegant like sculpting or music."

"That doesn't sound like something Koko would do at all." Richard waved away her guess. "Knowing her, she might just bring a monster to the talent show and beat it up in front of everyone."

"I'm not sure if she'd go that far..." Christina replied. However, as their conversation continued, the lunch hour slowly progressed and the group started looking towards the doors for any sign of Koko. Though when the bell rang and they all started going back to class, the group shrugged to themselves, knowing that there was nothing they could do to get Koko out of trouble if she was late. And that now seemed to be the case as the last student in the room closed the doors behind them and Austin walked to the front of the classroom, immediately adopting a look of anger as he saw that Koko's seat was empty.

"And just where is Koko?" Austin asked as he directed his question towards Christina.

"She... said that she was going to Goldgate." Christina sighed as she had no choice but to answer the man truthfully. "Though she said that she would be back in time for class!"

"Well, she obviously isn't, is she?" Austin glared at Koko's seat before beginning to walk towards it. "I suppose she might learn her lesson from this if I confiscate her books, and no one in this room is allowed to share theirs with her!"

"Made it!" A voice suddenly yelled from outside, and everyone was surprised as a blue blur shot through an open window at the side of the room before crashing inside. And while they were all shocked from the sudden event, the people closest to Koko were horrified as the girl had aimed to land directly at her seat where Austin had unfortunately been standing.

"K-Koko..." Christina whispered as Koko still had a smug expression while holding her hands above her head in victory.

"Hmm? Was I late?" Koko asked, suddenly losing her smug look as she turned around. "Sorry Austin, I just ran into a problem when I... Wait, where's Austin?"

"Koko..." Richard said in a trembling voice from in front of her while Mark pointed downwards.

"What? Did I step... in... something?" Koko wondered as she looked down before she visibly started sweating at as she only now realized that she was standing on top of their instructor. "Okay everyone, I'm going to be in my room for the rest of the week, so have fun with class!"

"Why go to your room when I can send you to a coffin permanently?!" Austin yelled as he grabbed hold of Koko's ankle. And all throughout the academy, classes stopped and people shrank down in their seats as a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the hallways.