... using this place to post novel.

[therealkaichan]

Chapter one


Two months had gone by since that day, and there was still no explanation to the incident.

Today, like every Monday since it had happened, Lieutenant General Kael Bystrom would try to explain to the media that everything was moving smoothly with the investigation, and that as soon as he had any results that could be shared with the civilians he would share them.

He was a little annoyed. It was easy for Kana to tell, because of how his hand was fiddling with that coin in his pocket and how his tone changed just a little bit when he explained once more that whatever happened was not a war declaration from any of the neighboring countries, and that it was most likely an internal conflict.

Kana knew him better than anyone, after all.


The meeting was over as soon as it began, and Kana had to run back to avoid being seen. She would so get her ass kicked if they caught her skipping class again, even if it was totally pointless for her to go to class now that Evie was dead.

She just couldn’t wait until Kael found everything out, just so they would get that asshole, whoever that person was, court-martialed. Why had they killed her anyway? Out of the fifty students that died that day, she was the only one without her partner present...
Then again, Evie was a good girl. The kind of person that would’ve gotten into trouble to help others, so maybe she just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, a teacher had died too, right?

Kana couldn’t lie. She just wanted someone to place the blame on. A face to hate, and maybe if she got lucky to kick a little. As much as this was a military academy, killing students for no reason at all was simply wrong.

“Katherine Ahlgren.” That voice spelt problems as usual. Kana turned to meet the owner of the voice, a smile plastered over her face.
“Hey miss Freeman. When did you grow shorter than me anyway?”
“Miss Ahlgren, you should be in class at this time.” Miss Freeman sighed. Why was this girl so problematic? And just why didn’t the Lieutenant General take some serious disciplinary actions so as to restrain her behavior?
“Oh. I didn’t notice.”
“You understand that I must notify the Lieutenant General about this, correct?”
“Doesn’t he have enough trouble as it is? Why bother him over this crap anyway?”
“You know full well why. I will meet you later.”

Now it was Kana’s turn to sigh. This meant another day of late classes. Oh and probably another lecture, though those less annoying. She tried to behave a little better lately, mostly to avoid getting Kael in trouble, but what was the point? Kana had no partner, so magic was absolutely out of her reach, why would she even go to the practical classes? Watching others do ‘okay’ while she could do so much better with a partner was so stupid.

At least the next class she could sleep trough.

Who cared about theory when it came to magic? It was so much easier to just smash things and stop it with how the magic currents where invisible, and how nobody could channel them alone because people could explode... Everyone knew those things already!

“Kana...? Kana!”

Oh. Kana grinned, that voice wasn’t bad news, after all. That was Aileen. They had met the second year, and they were pretty used to hanging out. Kana though it kinda sucked that Aileen already had a partner, because they would’ve been an awesome combo, but it was okay anyway.

“Hey. I didn’t notice you there.”
“You skipped class again...” Worry was all over Aileen’s pretty face, but Kana just dismissed it.
“Yeah. What’s the point of practical classes anyway?”
“You've said that many times, but you still aren’t looking for a new partner...”
“That’s because everyone is leaving okay. Half the school ran away to the outer quarters, and everyone else already has a partner or is a complete idiot. I’d rather get kicked out before partnering with those.”
“But still...”
“Just don’t worry about me. I’ll manage, okay?”
“You’ve been saying that for two months now.”
“And I’m still here, am I not?”

And that was when he chose to come in. Kana could SWEAR he had sparkles flying around, and that a bunch of girls were fainting in the corridors of the Academy... That was probably the one guy that really got on her nerves without being a bully, stupid Hans seemed to have some kind of privilege that she couldn’t understand.
His partner had run away to the Eastern Quarters right after the incident, and he had been partnerless for as long as Kana, yet he never got any lectures about it. What the hell, really! She got told she needed a new companion every single day, and that guy didn’t?

It was completely unfair and it pissed her off.

“Good morning Ivers, Ahlgren.” He smiled, walking to his seat.
“Go die.” Was Kana’s very very mature answer. Aileen sighed.
“Good morning, please don’t mind her...”

And he didn’t. As he usually did. And that didn’t help Kana’s bad mood.




It was late in the afternoon when she finally managed to get out of her endless detention. Kana bought an orange juice at the food court, and was planning to stay until she saw Hans there. If he even said “hi” to her, she would throw his privileged ass out of a window.

It had been a pretty crappy day, and man, she only wanted to have some juice and do nothing. So she just idled around for a few hours, the juice left for later.
Having a while until curfew, Kana made her way to the training grounds. Other than some normal training, that is hitting some dummies or some idiots, she really didn’t have much to do. On top of that, having skipped most of her classes today she was blissfully unaware of any homework.

Maybe she could stop by the market and get some snacks for later in the night? The thought of going back to the food court for dinner was getting less and less interesting the more she thought about it.
After a shower, she started her way to the market. Food and some television would surely get her in a better mood, or so she was thinking when a familiar voice reached her once more.

“Good afternoon, Ahlgren, hope you had a good training.”

That was. Oh no. It was him. The bastard!! He just passed by, all smiles and... Agh!

“Go die!” She screamed at his back, but he didn’t react. Didn’t he notice that she was angry at him?! He always had to go around, saying hello to everyone and being so polite, with no shame at all about getting special treatment. Those were the people she hated the most!

She drank her juice in one sip, and stormed into the market, where the people just went on with their lives. Kana storming into places was pretty normal after two years, so nobody really minded as long as it didn’t end with property damage (which was sadly a little normal too).

She was a little surprised to find Aileen in the market, since usually it was her sister who did the shopping, and her bad mood faded out just like that.

“Kana! Hello!” Aileen greeted her, as chipper as ever. Did that girl never run out of smiles?
“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Alyssa is running some errands, so I’m doing the shopping today!”
“She’s going to murder you if you take only that back.” Kana sighed. Really, there was more chocolate in that basket than anything else.
“Chocolate is an important part of my diet.”
“I just don’t how you manage to eat all of that and not explode.”
“I have a great metabolism!”
“That’s... A terrible excuse.” Though it did explain where all the smiles came from. She was probably in a sugar high all the time.
“It’s okay. I’ll take a few vegetables and things, and sister will be happy.”
“So you say.”
“You know what? I’ll treat you to some choco if you stop worrying.”

Free chocolate? That was totally her thing.

As they came out from the market, one with instant food and the other with four and a half kilograms of chocolate (and an onion and two carrots), Aileen was quick to fulfill her promise.

As she munched on her newly acquired chocolate bar, Kana started walking on the way to the dorms, all while listening to Aileen’s incessant chatter.
“Do you remember Naomi from Second Year?”
“Nope.”
“The one that was after Brent.”
“Still, nope.”
“Okay. She had moved out to the Northern Quarter, but she’s coming back next year.”
“How do you even find these things out?”
“I have contacts.”
“Contacts is just not a valid answer. You should just move on to the investigation division.”
“But that would mean going to the Eastern Quarter, and I’m not leaving you until you graduate!” Aileen smiled, answering in a sing song voice.
“I guess we ‘re stuck together then. Maybe I can kick you to that division once I climb some ranks.”
“I’ll be waiting for that day.”

A little before reaching the dorms, Aileen stopped.

“Ah, I forgot to deliver this to the Director’s office!” She was panicking now, reaching to her pocket to take out a letter. Kana couldn’t make out the recipient, but it wasn’t really important. “Sister will kill me!”
“You have fifteen minutes before the office closes. I’d go right now.”
“Yes! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And off she went. Aileen could run surprisingly fast for a girl with such a unhealthy diet. Kana was really careful about her diet, whenever free chocolate wasn’t involved, so it was a little weird.

She was just steps away from the dorms, and that meant that the crappiest day of this week would be over soon. It was nine minutes until curfew and taking any longer would end up with unnecessary detention, which meant that walking a little faster was a good idea.


She dropped her instant dinner on the counter with exactly one and a half minutes of leftover time, took off her shoes, and opened the window to have a look outside. The sun had gone down while she was in the market, and it was a nice spring night. It was in these moments that it was really easy to forget the kind of things they were doing, that the whole Academy was just another military training ground.

Still, Kana knew what she wanted. And to get to those goals she needed power, and not just normal power or money... No, she needed magic. So she would put up with this silly training for as long as they wanted to. She was fine with this, right?



Another hour passed before Kana got up to heat her dinner, and went back to sitting by the window. The food was probably one of the better things of this place. Unlike mom, these people could cook recipes that required more than two ingredients. It kinda sucked that they weren’t willing to give cooking classes, because they were good.

Her deep thoughts were interrupted by a figure moving. Before she even knew it, her body had already reacted, getting up to get a better view of who was moving. Saying she was shocked was probably understating her surprise, when she noticed it was none other than Hans Essen-Brandt himself.

It was almost an hour past curfew, this wasn’t normal even for him and his special treatment. And of course, for someone who spent more time in detention than in her room, for Kana there was no need think about this twice. She put on her shoes and made quick way to the lower floors. Was he in any class of trouble? Hey, maybe he was a spy? Or maybe he was running secret errands for the teachers? It would explain why he got out with the things he did. Kana would take anything at this point and her imagination ran twice as fast as her common sense.


Hans stopped near the library.

The place had been closed ever since that massacre happened, and it seemed like the investigations were still going, so why the hell would he even be here? Kana climbed a tree in perfect silence, with the ease that came with years of practice, and sat there waiting for the next step.

The next ‘step’ never came. Hans just took a moment to search for something in his pocket and left it in the door before walking away. Before following, Kana caught sight of what it was. An unlit half consumed candle. Wasn’t that a religious thing? She remembered mother saying something about that...

She had never pegged Hans for a religious kind of guy and much less for a guy who would pray for dead people he didn’t even know. Kana followed him on the way back, as quiet as she could, but this would prove to not be enough very soon.

“Good night, Ahlgren.” Kana stopped on her tracks. How long had the bastard know that she was there? Well, there was no point in hiding now, at least.
“Breaking the rules wasn’t something I expected from you of all people.”
“I believe there are many things you wouldn’t know about me.” He smiled. Pleasant.
“Look. It’s long past curfew and I’m pretty tired of you getting out of all your problems.”
“I’m getting the bully treatment, Ahlgren?”

She just didn’t get him. She didn’t expect Hans to be afraid or anything, he was top of the class for something, but she expected something. Yet, he didn’t react, almost as if he didn’t really care for whatever happened next. He didn’t look scared, he didn’t look eager, he didn’t look annoyed... He wasn’t even getting ready for the inevitable fight that Kana was pushing on him.
And it was then that she finally snapped.

“Man what’s WRONG with you?!”
“Screaming is a bad idea, isn’t it? You’ll be getting weekend detention again.”
“I don’t care!” She stormed up to him, poking him on the chest. “And why do you even care anyway?! You’ll probably get out of it as you always do!”
“Is that what has you angry?”
“Yes! You're the kind of people I hate the most!”
“That’s funny.” He couldn’t help a chuckle, and of course that only fueled Kana’s horrible mood.
“At least pretend to care!”
“Wouldn’t that be even worst? I’m a terrible actor.”
“Well you sure don’t look like it, with all your smiles and your pretending to be nice!”
“I’m not nice, Ahlgren. I’m just not horrible. And being polite makes things much smoother, don’t you think?” Hans smiled, shrugging a little.
“You... I can’t believe you.”
“So go ahead. It’s okay to tell on me, I guess we’ll just see if I get detention or not, I don't particularly care.”

At this, she frowned. There was something... Something kept on telling her that he wasn’t lying. Kana’s instinct was what had kept her alive in her crusade to kick every single asshole in the Academy, so she couldn’t find it in herself to mistrust it.

Was this guy really as uninteresting as he said? Was he really so plain, so boring... And trough all of this, he waited, until she raised her fists, her body easily dropping into a fighting position that was quite familiar.

“Fight me.”
“You’ll probably beat me up all over school. Then get detention. Why would I?”
“Because I want to see how you fight. You aren’t as weak as you say, so fight me.”
“If it makes you happy.”

And he complied. His body also fell into a battle stance, and Kana could tell that it was something that was drilled into him since he was young.


Kana liked fighting. She really did, even if she rarely got a chance to go all out. Most of the time, people just gave up after a while. Some of them just ran away, creeped out by the strength she had even if her body was tall and thin. Others fought until she smashed them against most of the Academy's walls... Hans however, was different.

His stance was a defensive one, mostly focusing on dodging, probably because he was well aware of the fact that she was much stronger than him... Thinking about it, he was a supporter, wasn’t he? Kana sometimes forgot that Supporters rarely raised their fists, since most of the time channeling the magic that a fighter would use took most of their concentration.

His movements were practiced but not restrained, and above all, he was unreadable. Even when he got hit a few times, or when he successfully countered and returned a strike, his expression wouldn’t change, his body language didn’t betray a thing.

Neither of them had any patterns. She didn’t because she had no strategy, and he didn’t because he simply didn’t care about what happened next.

Maybe there truly was nothing more to him...?


As she launched yet another punch he stepped aside, giving a quick glance to the clock in the central tower.

“It’s almost time for the night watch to come to this side of campus.”
“Do you know the time for the rounds too?”
“Yes.”
“That’s creepy.”
“I never said I was any normal.”
“I guess that’s okay.”
“Let’s get caught, Ahlgren.”
“What?!”
“Let’s get caught.” He repeated, with exactly the same tone.
“Do you want to check just how much more harsh they are on me than on you?”
“Wouldn’t I just have kept fighting if it were that?”
“I guess.”
“I left a candle in the Library. We can say we went to pray for the people there.”
“You’re horrible.”
“It’s a partial truth. Unless you want to say you got me into a fight.”
“Another partial truth?”
“Then let’s try telling them I got you into a fight. I wonder if they’ll believe us.”
“So much for a horrible liar, huh?”
“I never got detention. It sounds like something I should do before it’s too late and it starts going into my expedient.”
“Weirdo.”

She said that. But still didn’t walk away.

They both got detention, of course, it was three hours past curfew and letting any of them free would’ve set a terrible example for the rest. On his defense, Hans said that he had started the fight, while on her defense Kana said that Hans was an asshole and that she had to beat the crap out of him.
Miss Freeman was seen sobbing a little on the teacher’s lounge while she spoke to the Lieutenant General about that, wondering if Kana was being such a bad example that she had ruined even the best of their students.

The Lieutenant General was amused to say the least.




Notes: This plot is five years old. Somehow it still doesn't look anything like the original used to.

Hans you are a magnificent troll.