***
When she got to the gym, she noticed Mizuki, of course, but also Mirage and Hotaru. They were all at the same bench press. Astrid, curious, approached them.
"Mizu, what's going on?"
He turned around, breathing restlessly.
"Oh, Astrid, we were just challenging each other."
Behind him, Hotaru was on the bench, preparing to lift.
Astrid whispered, "Oi, aren't you getting a bit to close to Hotaru? She is a teacher y'know? You guys act like best friends."
This made him giggle, the sweat flying off him.
"Astrid, are you jealous?"
"Quit it." Astrid called over to the two women. "Hey, i'm just gonna borrow Mizu for a while, is that alright?"
The pair at the bench gave a nod. "When you come back Mizuki, we'll be far ahead of you!"
***
Mizuki, wiping his face with a towel, followed Astrid.
"What's so important this time?"
"It's the Flaremores. I told you something was up. They were using elixirs." They reached the outside of the school. "And I want you to tail them."
"Me? Why me?"
She pointed at the weights on his ankles. "You're fast enough to do so."
"So then what if I don't want to?"
Astrid, this time, pointed at her ring.
"Aren't you my wonderful and trustworthy companion?"
Mizuki gulped, before sighing: understanding he had no choice.
"Just remember to come back before the academy's assembly."
"Of course I will. The Flaremores will return, won't they?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted both Mesh and Lilith, getting into a black carriage on kins.
"There! That's them! Quickly, follo-"
But the boy was already gone. He dropped his towel, but managed to dash towards the vehicle in no time. He put on his cloak to conceal his presence then hopped onto the carriage. The boy made peace signs to Astrid, and wrote something in his notebook.
{I'll be back soon! ^_^}
The vehicle began to zoom off, towards a different part of Block A. The Noble Zone. The section where only people with contact to Baron get to live. They live very wealthy and respected lives.
Astrid had walked back to the forest yet again, for another training session. She hadn't even started the year, and she was already getting impatient. But there was something that she hadn't even thought about: Where does Baron even live?
On top of the carriage, Mizuki was laying down, trying to get some sleep in. It was getting dark, and it seemed that this was an overnight trip. He looked up in the night sky. The stars were looking especially bright. But one in particular, was dimmer than the rest. In fact, was that even a star to begin with? Mizuki closed his eyes, hoping for an interesting day tomorrow. His only mission was to gather information.
"This'll be no sweat" He said to himself. "After all, my father trained me for tasks like these."
Back in the forest, the woman finally found herself on the page on soul magic. The page was covered in controversial writings and the casts were hard to see. She narrowed her eyes, and she found the first spell. It was called Hope. The description of the cast was too vandalised to read, so Astrid just went for it.
She stretched out her arm and cultivated her mana. They reached the tip of her fingers and...nothing happened. Once again, closing her eyes this time, she breathed in and out then exerted her mana. Nothing happened.
"Ugh, that sucks. What does this magic type even do? It's useless."
She kicked at the ground in frustration, but sighed before returning to the nearest hotel. It was dark, thus picking up her pace with her head hung low.
At this hour of the night, outside the academy, a person walked a stood before the building. There was a towel on the ground. They strutted towards it and picked it up. In a swift manner, they stuffed the sweaty towel in their pocket. In the fashion they got here, the same fashion they left: quickly and quietly. But they hooded figure didn't realise they had a spy on their trail.