Spirit 》Black Clover

Seven

That very morning before the crack of dawn, Tina, Asta, and Yuno left Hage. It was hard for Tina to say goodbye to her family. She cried and hugged everyone before she followed Asta and Yuno. Tina promised to write every chance she gets. Now they were on their way to the royal capital to take the Magic Knights Entrance Exam.

Asta had a big smile on his face as they continued their long journey. "The capital, eh? What do you think it's gonna be like? Wonder if we'll meet the Wizard King."

Tina's eyes started to sparkle at the thought. "I sure hope so." She let out a huge squeal. "That would be an amazing story to tell everyone! I can't wait 'til we get to the capital. What do you guys think the Wizard King will be like? Is he crazy? Is he nice? What if he's the kind of king that doesn't come out of his castle? Just talking about this is getting me all pumped up!"

"First we have to pass the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. And then, who knows?" Yuno told the pair.

"Aw, man, I can't wait!" Asta said.

"You can't? Aren't you nervous, though?"

"Huh? About what?"

Yuno chuckled. "How very Asta."

Tina groaned. "Well, I'm kinda freaking out," she said. "I know you guys are going to pass no problem. But what about me? I don't know if I'm good enough to be accepted by any of the Magic Knights." Tina went into panic mode. "And if I don't become a Magic Knight then I won't become a Magic Knight Captain, then I won't be able to help you guys when one of you become the Wizard King! It would just be Asta and Yuno working hard while I stay back at the village and -"

Tina stopped when Yuno grabbed her hand. He gave her a comforting squeeze as he looked into her eyes. "If you panic like that, then you're gonna fail because you make yourself believe you are. You've been training for months. Asta and I have seen what you can do. You're going to make it, I know you can."

Tina's eyes widened a bit as her cheeks started to warm up. She doesn't know if it's because she's not his rival but she just finds it odd that Yuno treats her a bit better than Asta. And she couldn't help her heart hammering in her chest the more Yuno holds her hand.

Asta nodded. "Yeah, Tina. With your Moon Magic, you'll make it into the Magic Knights no problem."

Yeah, with my Moon Magic, Tina thought with a bit of worry. It's like she could hear her grimoire thumping in her bag. Those pages of Nightmare Magic were basically asking to be let out. As long as I don't use the Nightmare Magic then everything is going to be ok. I haven't used it since that day, so maybe I don't need it at all.

Asta's grin snapped Tina out of her thoughts. "Let's get a move on, huh?" Then he started to run. "Come on, lovebirds. We got a long way to go!"

"Hey," Yuno called after him, making sure Tina didn't see his flushed cheeks.

"I gotta be the Wizard King, like yesterday."

"It doesn't matter when you get there. It won't make you the Wizard King any sooner."

Asta didn't listen and kept running. "And once I am the Wizard King," Asta imagined himself on a flying broom wearing the outfit of the Wizard King. He returned for Sister Lily, but in his imagination, she was fascinated with him. She was in love with him. Asta's fantasy ended when he and Sister Lily rode off into the clear skies. "It'll be great!"

"Either that or Sister Lily would just hit you again," Tina deadpanned.

Yuno gave Asta a blank look. "Can you even fly a broom, without any magic?"

Asta, finally realizing the small flaw in his plan, yelped as he dropped the stick he picked up. "Yeah, sure, I'll make it work."

"Will you, now?"

"Totally! I'm sure my trusty grimoire will help me. As long as you don't give up, you can do anything." He grinned at Tina. "And even if it doesn't, I'm sure Tina could use her disk to fly us away."

"You know that means I would have to fly with you," Tina stated.

Asta nodded as he walked ahead again. "That's fine. I mean, it's gonna happen the same time Yuno proposes to you. So it's a win-win when our ladies say yes."

Tina's eyes widened. "Our what?!"

Asta gave Tina a teasing wink before running ahead again. "C'mon, let's move! Do you wanna get left behind? We'll keep training till we reach the capital!"

Tina realized that she was still holding Yuno's hand and let's go. "Wait, Asta!" she shouted before running after him.

"Betcha neither of you can't catch me! Ha, ha!"

Yuno sighed, missing the warmth of Tina's hand and chased after them. They ran up the steep hill and stopped to take a quick break. All three of them were panting, quickly trying to catch their breath.

"No, not done yet!" Asta shouted before he started running again. Yuno and Tina were right next to him as Asta yelled while going up another steep hill.

The trio stopped at a clearing. Tina couldn't run much longer. She had the metallic taste in her mouth, her legs were shaking. She was going to be worn out before they reached the capital.

"Stop this," Yuno said. "So much further to go."

Asta got up and picked up his bag again. "Not yet. Still going."

Tina groaned as was about to get up but Yuno reached over and grabbed Asta by the back of his shirt before throwing him aside.

"Thank you," Tina panted as she laid back down.

》》》》

So after walking for days through the crazy weather and putting their grimoires to use, the three friends finally made it to the capital. Tina's eyes widened in amazement as she looked around. There were houses at every street corner. Concession stands with weird-looking foods. People were setting off small fireworks to get everyone else piped up for the Magic Knights Entrance Exam.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Tina beamed as she looked around.

Asta got close to a fruit stand. "Whoa! Amazing!" The merchant was levitating an apple while the knife was slowly peeling it.

"Nice and fresh!" he said.

"Won't be long now," they heard a butcher in the next one. He was roasting a boar. Tina's stomach started to grumble as the smell of cooked meat filled her nostrils. "Just a minute and you can get it while it's hot."

"That smells so good," Tina said. She ran over to get a closer look as the fire died down.

"Wow. Check out all these swords and stuff," she heard Asta. Then he gasped at the price. "How much?!"

"This place is a far cry from the village, huh?" Yuno asked as Tina turned around.

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be like this," Tina said as she ran back. She gasped when she saw the big castle that was more north. "Wow, look at that castle! Do you think that's where the Wizard King lives?"

"Probably the country's king, too."

"Pretty nice," Asta beamed. "Especially since it's gonna be my castle someday."

"My castle, you mean." Yuno glanced at the back of Tina's head. Our castle.

Asta shook his head. "Nah. I might let you live there, though."

Yuno grinned. "If you're lucky, I'll let you live there."

Tina let out a pfft sound. "As if. That castle looks so nice, I might try to be the Wizard King," she joked. She saw the look Asta and Yuno were giving her and she shook her hands in defense. "You guys, I was kidding! Seriously." She wrapped her arm around Asta. "Though, if one of you guys become the Wizard King, you better let me stay here."

"What kind of question is that? That's the second thing on my list," Asta said. "After marrying Sister Lily, of course." Yuno walked up to Asta and pushed him away from Tina, not liking how her arm is around him and his around her. "What the hell, Yuno?"

"You had a bug," he lied before he grabbed Tina's hand and walked away from him.

Asta scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Geez, jealous much."