Tempest Kingdom, June 31st, 2032

  In an university courtyard, a group of boys and girls was gathered around, discussing what to do. Their association had just been shut down and they weren’t sure if they should make a new one or to just give it all up

  “So, what do we do now? This was our third attempt at spreading our word, and all three times the king and his minions shut us down” A guy, with brown, short, curly hair, 180 centimeters tall, said, his arms crossed as he sighed

  “Yeah, we should just give up and maybe tolerate it” Another girl added, with a shaky voice, not wanting to accept the fact it happened again.

  As they were muttering with each other about what to do, a new face passed by. The new person got curious about what they were discussing and turned his head to a woman next to him

  “Hey mom, mind if I see what they’re talking about? You take Yui home” the taller figure, a guy with blond hair, green hair tips, yellow eyes, daunting a red, sleeveless jacket, a black t-shirt and black denim asked, clearly interested in their discussion

  “Of course you can. You’re almost 19, you don’t need to ask me, honey. Just be home before 9, okay?” the mom, a petite woman with blonde, short hair and yellow eyes, wearing a white dress, replied as she walked away, while the taller figure walked towards the group of people

  “Sorry you guys” the tall man said, alerting the group, who quickly assumed a stance, ready to attack. One of the men walked towards him and spoke up: “Are you with the king? One of his minions who came to deliver the finishing blow?” the approaching man said, his red eyes full of anger and resentment, his eyes never leaving his

  “What? No. Why would I decide to serve the same bastard who had my father killed? In fact, I don’t want nothing for him but to suffer” the newcomer said, angered by his statement, but maintaining a calm demeanor, his blond hair with green bangs moved by the wind as his yellow eyes never left the man’s gaze

  “Oh, then allow me to introduce myself. I’m Tom Peeters, former founder of the Shout of freedom association” the man said, extending his hand, his curly, brown hair moved by the wind, his gaze softening and his mood shifting from the earlier interaction: “The ones behind me are Manuela Saavedra, Rosalba Ranpu, Evelyn Nicholson and Justin De Leeuw, former co-founders of our association”

  “Nice to meet you, Tom. I’m Kettei Izawami” the blond, tall male replied, shaking his hand, smiling, before pausing: “And nice to meet you guys as well. Also, what do you mean by former?”

  “Well you see” Justin, a man daunting a crimson pair of trousers and a sleeveless, light brown shirt interjected, upset at what happened, his dark blue eyes full of fury, and his black hair swayed by the hair, his fist clenched: “The one who rules above us decided to shut us up and close our association, not before vandalizing it. For the third time!”

  “I understand. Then why not remaking it again, just somewhere unseen?” Kettei asked, as he points at something: “Close to the university camp border, there’s an abandoned command base. We can rebuild it during the summer. How does that sound?”

  “Well no one will bother us, so I guess it’s worth a shot…” Tom thought out loud, placing his hand on his chin, before exclaiming: “Alright, let’s do this. Kettei, lead us there!”

  Kettei nodded and the six of them headed thru the forest and towards the abandoned command base. During their walk there, Evelyn tried to strike some conversation with Kettei:

  “So” Evelyn, a 158 cm tall girl with short, purple hair, blue eyes, who was wearing some oversized denim trousers and a pink shirt said, patting his back, before noticing his height: “Holy shit, you’re huge! How tall are you?”

  “I’m 203 cm tall, why is that?” Kettei replied, with a colder tone

  “My goodness. I’m just impressed you came out from that tiny woman, that’s all” she said giggling, before assuming a more serious tone: “But back to our topic, do you think this will work in our favour?”

  “No doubt about it. I hang out there rather often and no one comes to bother, so yeah, you should be okay” he said with a serious tone, as they arrived to the command base and opened the door of it, before turning on the lights: “Here it is, the command base 4016. Although, in six it’ll take us a while to finish this. Let me just contact someone” as he said that, kettei approached the television

  “Wow, look at all this cool stuff!” Evelyn, Manuela and Rosalba exclaimed in awe, as Tom and Justin approached Kettei, who was doing something at the television

  “Well, this is a nice place alright, how did you know about this anyway?” Tom asked, rather intrigued and also a bit suspicious of Kettei still

  “My father used to work here with his comrades. It has been shut down since 2024, which is when he died and left me this and some other stuff from the will” Kettei replied, as he started the television and contacted someone: “Queen Victoria, can you hear me?”

  “Wait, queen Victoria Von Haltz?!” everyone exclaimed, their eyes widening in surprise

  “Yes, Kettei, I receive you. What would be the matter, son of Shanyuan Izawami?” queen Victoria, a grey-haired, blue-eyed lady wearing a royal, purple dress and a tiara asked, appearing on the screen.

  “Well, we found my dad’s old command base and we were planning on using it to make an university association in here” Kettei answered, his tone becoming serious

  “I see. Then why would you seek my help, youngsters?” Queen Victoria asked again, her tone serious yet welcoming

  “Because your husband keeps tearing down our bases every 6 months and since this is an hidden place Kettei here showed us, we thought we could use some help. Us six alone just won’t do” Rosalba, a 184 cm tall girl wearing a floreal crown, green hoodie and sweatpants explained, her curly, light brown hair tied into a low ponytail, her hazelnut-colored eyes locked at the screen

  “Ugh, I have to talk to him he can’t just go and tear down people who have different opinions” Queen Victoria replied, looking down, as if she felt guilty: “But in any case, Kettei, I can send you some helpers. I still owe one to your father so hopefully, this will even the score”

  “And the materials. I can ask them to find us painters, plumbers and electricians. Be seeing you soon, your Highness” Kettei said, as he bowed alongside the others

  “I’ll see you all soon” Queen Victoria said, before hanging up. Once the call was over Manuela, a 172 cm tall girl with tanned skin, white hair, redeyes, glasses, blue t-shirt and skirt, white jacket spoke up

  “So, how do we handle all this space anyway? It’s a lot!” She asked, looking at Kettei with her pink eyes

  “And what about the name?” Evelyn doubled down, looking at Tom and Justin

  “And the merchandise?” Rosalba tripled down

  “One thing at a time, girls. Rosalba, you can work on making the logos and merchandise if you want. Evelyn, think about looking for sponsors as well as creating our social medias. Justin, you and Kettei will help with the physical work. If you have any ideas for the name, suggest it” Tom said, trying to put order as he pointed at them while mentioning them

  “May I suggest a name?” Kettei asked, raising his hand

  “Sure Kettei” Tom responded, turning his glance to him

  “How about Kamome? It’s seagull in sakurian, and seagulls are known as the embodiment of freedom. So we can transmit our message of overthrowing the government and have a nice name that can be useful for marketing” He said, before yawning: “Alright, I’m off. I’ll see you in a couple of months, when my courses start”

  “Wait, we almost forgot. How old are you?” Manuela asked

  “I’ll be 19 on December 27th” Kettei responded, as he started to walk away

  “Ok. See ya, Ket” Manuela said, as everyone waved at him and Kettei waved back and headed back to his home

  “I’m home” Kettei says, coming back to his home with some mangas and groceries

  “Welcome back, big brother!” Yui, a 13 year-old girl with blonde hair and yellow eyes exclaimed in excitement, running at him and hugging him

  “Hey, welcome home, Kettei” His mother, Hotaru, added, waving at him but too distracted by making dinner

  Kettei proceeded to ruffle Yui’s hair, before turning to his mother: “Hey mom” Kettei said, walking towards her: “How do you feel? I know you still think about dad”

  “I do” Hotaru replied, turning off the stove and looking towards him, sighing: “He was my first love, kiss and saved me countless times. And even though it’s been almost 9 years, I just can’t help it. Sometimes I wish he’d be here to see you all grown-up and almost at university, but I made peace about that not happening. Yui, sit down, dinner’s ready. Kettei, I have work until 2 am, so take care of your sister” She added, before heading out

  “Yes ma’am!” Kettei exclaimed, as he made himself a sandwich with chicken, lettuce, apples and mayo, eating it

  “You know, big brother, I don’t know how you can eat that. It looks odd” Yui said, with a disgusted face

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  “Yeah, I know you think that, but it’s actually good. Besides, everything’s better between two slices of bread!” He replied chuckling and letting out a soft laugh, before finishing his meal and turning to Yui: “Moreover, I heard you’re having a sleepover tonight. Don’t be too noisy and be asleep before 1 am, okay?”

  “Okay, big brother” She replied, before finishing her meal and heading to the door, welcoming her friends in, who had just arrived, and heading to her room. As she went there he started to wash the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. Then he walked to Yui’s room, handing them a few snacks he had hidden for a bit

  “Hey, Yui. I brought you snacks and drinks, I’ll go for a stroll, you take care. I’ll be back shortly” He said, going to his room and wearing an all-black tracksuit and going out

  “Alright Kettei, good night” She responded, watching as he walks out.

  The guy walked for a while, going to the graveyard and stopping at his father’s grave. He stops there for a while, placing a kiss at the grave, and changing the flowers from it, as a man with black hair and purple eyes, who was daunting black trousers and a tucked in purple jersey approached him.

  “I know you’re there, Rob Mihailoglu” Kettei announced, turning towards the newly arrived man, a cold, shivering glare on his face: “Sorry, but I can’t give you the rematch you wished for today”

  “No, I’m not here for that” Rob replied, still walking towards Kettei: “I’m here because queen Victoria may need your help soon. You see, the king is on the move. He wants to invade the neighbouring kingdom of Falkia”

  At that phrase, Kettei’s eyes widened, as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: “That son of a bitch! If he invades falkia, his army might strenghten, and the other kingdoms may suffer the same fate” He thought, before speaking: “How much time do we have before he’s on the move?” He asked to Rob

  “The queen will tell us. Furthermore, I know about your association. Let me say, it’s good some people still haven’t submitted to the king fully. Think you can have some of the queen’s soldiers join it, and maybe make a separate training ground?” Rob asked, looking at him in the eyes

  “I’ll bring it up on our next meeting, but thank you for letting me know. Anything else I should know?” Kettei asked

  “Oh yeah. You see, there’s this new law that he wants to emanate that would sentence everyone who protests against the king and his ways to the deah penalty. Little tip, try make a subtle campaign, or an anonymous one for that matter” Rob responded, before placing an hand on Kettei’s shoulder: “We at the Queen’s castle trust you”

  “Yeah. Also, I have a favour. Think you can join our association, Rob?” Kettei asked, moving his hand away from his shoulder

  “I’ll consider it, thank you for your disponibility. Have a good night” Rob said, walking away, as then Kettei headed back home and the day went on without an itch. The next day, Kettei met up with Justin, Manuela, Tom, Evelyn and Rosalba at 9 am

  “Morning guys” the blond guy said, scratching his head, dragging a bunch of stuff with him

  “Morning Kettei” Justin replied, looking at him, then at the stuff behind Kettei: “Whoa, where’d you get that stuff? And how much did you pay?”

  “Oh, I paid nothing. A family was demolishing their house and I swooped in to get at least the whole kitchen set. They were willing to give it to me” Kettei said, scratching his head: “I found the table and the biliards room at the junkyard”

  “Neat, let’s get to work now” Justin said, as the six of them started working. Three months came and went during which Kettei, Justin, Rosalba, Tom, Manuela and Evelyn rebuilt the former command base into a welcoming association base. Under Kettei and Rob’s influence, the royal call television wasn’t removed. The new Kamome association included a kitchen, a gaming space, a bathroom and, as asked by Rob, a training room. Now on October 1st, Kettei was getting ready to go to university, as he woke up at 6 am to leave the house, but before he could step foot out of the house, Yui walked in their kitchen and went on to hug him

  “I’m gonna miss you, big brother” Yui announced, hugging him tightly

  “Just take care of mom, I’ll come back once every two weeks. If something happens, call me. I’ll come as soon as possible” Kettei replied, hugging back: “Now go back to sleep, you have a busy day yourself, sis”

  “Will do” Yui said, walking back to her room, as Kettei grabbed his bags and went to the bus. After half an hour, he arrived at the university, and headed to the dorms. Once there, he noticed a guy, 185 cm tall, with black hair and purple eyes, wearing a kahki sweater and a black pair of trousers, standing by the door of his dorm

  “Hey. Is this dorm 42A?” Kettei demanded, arriving with his luggage

  “Yes, it is. You must be my dorm mate, right?” the guy responded, extending his hand: “Sora Urikita”

  “Kettei Izawami” the blond guy replied, shaking Sora’s hand: “Pleased to meet you. I hope we’ll get along”

  “Same. Now let’s go. We’re late” Sora said, walking inside and grabbing his bag, as Kettei left the luggage in his room, grabbing his skateboard and a pair of headphones, before walking out of the dorm

  “So, about you, tell me more, why don’t you?” Kettei asked, as he hopped in his skateboard and skated beside him

  “I’m a 19 year old boy who hopes to make a difference. I’m a member of crying angels who I heard is one of the closest associations to the king” Sora said, before asking: “What about you?”

  “I’m an 18 year old who wants to overthrow the kingdom, and kill the king” Kettei responded, with eyes full of anger

  “Woah, touched a nerve, buddy? Also, you’re younger than me?” Sora asked, curious

  “I was born on December 27th, 2013. You?” Kettei replied, his mood softening

  “I was born on April 22nd. I would call you little guy, but you’re a tall bastard” Sora said, giggling, which made Kettei smile. Ten minutes later, the two arrived at their course, in Aula Baccus

  “This is weird” Kettei said, looking around, as he stepped in: “This looks like a magic course. Are we sure we aren’t in the wrong class?”

  “Oh, haven’t you read? Every course has at least 4 hours of academic magic and battle lessons” Sora explained, before giving him a small book and walking to his desk: “Next time, make sure to read the program”

  “If there will be such next time” Kettei replied, before sitting at his desk, as the teacher, a tall, middle-aged man with elven traits such as pointy ears and long hair, introduced himself

  “Greetings, students. I’m your teacher, Saddai Al Kaibitari. For this year, I’ll be your applied magic and battle teacher. Now…” As the teacher began explaining how his lessons were to work, Kettei couldn’t help but have a feeling of uneasiness around him, like something was amiss. His worries were, however, quickly put to the side as the teacher called him for a question: “You, blond, tall one in the back, what’s your name?” the teacher asked

  “Kettei Izawami, sir” Kettei replied, as he stood up

  “Well, Kettei, we were talking about mixed magic. Do you know something about them?” the professor asked, waiting for Kettei’s response

  “Mixed magic are magics who can be generated through mixing two or more elements. Such magics can also be called tier two or three magics, for how difficult their mastery is. Examples can be meteor magic, magnet magic, apocalypse magic and-“ Kettei responded, calmly, before getting interrupted by a shout coming from the corridor. Without hesitation, Kettei and Rob headed outside, trailing the sound’s source

  “It shouldn’t be far. Think you can come up with something, Ket?” Rob asked, agitated

  “I can. Now silence” Kettei said, as he closed his eyes, before reopening them showing dark gray eyes, scanning the zone, before turning his eyes to his usual yellow: “There was an elemental fight, one of them lost and got dragged upwards. Right now they’re on floor six”

  “Wait, did you just see that thru the elements? You gotta teach me!” Rob exclaimed, as they headed to the sixth floor, and Kettei quickly blocked the aggressor from slamming a girl’s head to the wall with force

  “Calm down. What’s going on here?” Kettei asked, trying to defuse the situation

  “This orange-haired bitch was acting all high and mighty, I wanted to put her into her place” the aggressor, a black-haired, tanned girl said, still enraged, but slowly calming down

  “I don’t care whose fault it is. Just sit here, we’ll proceed on tending this one’s wounds” Kettei said, ripping a sleeve from his hoodie and starting to tend the orange haired’s wounds: “Rob, go look for a first aid kit or some hydrogen peroxide. Don’t just sit there!” Kettei yelled, as Rob quickly went looking for something in the infirmary, coming back ten minutes later with some oxygen peroxide and bandages

  “I found this. Will it do?” Rob asked, concerned and agitated

  “For now, yes. It should prevent the bleeding” Kettei replied, as he started pressing on the wounds with the ripped sleeve wetted with the hydrogen peroxide until the bleeding eventually stopped and the orange haired girl started to regain consciousness, much to everyone’s relief

  “Where am I?” The orange haired girl asked, looking around, her eyes settling on the girl who attacked her. In a fit of rage, she tried to attack, but quickly knelt down due to the injuries

  “It doesn’t matter. Just take it easy. Rob, please take her to our association. I’ve heard the queen made a portable X-Ray machine, and you have access to it due to you being her secretary” Kettei responded, helping the orange haired girl off the ground, as Rob took her to the Kamome base. Once they were gone, Kettei turned to the tanned girl: “Don’t do this again, okay? It’s not worth solving problems with violence” he said, before walking back to the classroom. However, as he came back, he noticed the class was already over and everyone was starting to leave. However, he heard a voice calling him out

  “Sorry Kettei. Do you have a moment? I would like to talk to you for a moment” the professor asked

  “Sure, professor Al Kaibitari” Kettei answered: “What’s the matter?” he asked, walking inside the classroom to grab his stuff

  “Well, I’ve been meaning to ask you this, but… How do you know this much about magic? I mean, much of the stuff you said earlier in the lesson shouldn’t be known if not by advanced level mages” the professor asked

  “Oh, I suppose there’s no harm telling you but my mother is indeed a mage. So you could say I learned that since I was a kid. As well as I can tell…” Kettei turned his glare towards the professor: “You’ve been using word magic to slip cryptic messages on the king’s behalf”

  At that remark, the professor’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe he had been read that easily. He quickly recollected himself: “We’re beside the point. I wanted to esent you from the magic lessons. It seems to me you know too much about magic, and it would make it boring for your classmates” he announced, looking at Kettei: “I hope you understand”

  “What I seem to understand is you want me out of your hair so you can operate your plans without much disturbance. And the fact you proposed such offer goes against the school’s policy as well” Kettei retorted, not wanting to hear any bullshit from the professor: “However, I’ll pretend you didn’t offer me such thing. See you next week” he added, grabbing his backpack and heading outside, where Sora was waiting for him, having seen him being pulled aside by the professor

  “Kettei, you okay? You seem annoyed” Sora asked, worried about his mood shift

  “Just forget about it. Let’s go get some pizza. On me” Kettei answered, trying really hard to change the subject

  “I’m really not in the mood for pizza, just take care, okay? I’ll see you at the dorm” Sora said, patting his back: “Luckily we have just this lesson for today. Tomorrow’s gonna be heavy so better get some rest, am I right?”

  “Yeah, you are. I’ll see you later, I’m going to my association” Kettei answered, walking towards the Kamome base. During the walk there, he looked very bothered by everything that happened. Once there, Manuela and Justin, who were drinking milkshakes, waved at him

  “Hello Kettei. Rob brought here an orange haired girl from Crying Angels. You know something?” Justin asked, turning his head towards the newly arrived boy

  “Yeah, I told him to. Speaking of, is that girl alright?” Kettei replied, concerned

  “She’s resting in the common room. She’s okay and should be fine by now” Manuela answered: “Gotta say, I didn’t expect that from you of all people”

  “I have my reasons” Kettei said, walking to the common room. Once there, he sat by the lady: “You okay, miss?” he asked, looking at her

  “Yeah. I’m good. Still some pain but it’s good. I should thank you for your help, mister…?” the orange haired girl replied, looking back at him

  “Izawami. Kettei Izawami” Kettei said: “And you are?”

  “Rosa Kruger. The king’s secretary and co-founder of Crying Angels. As a token of gratitude, you can have this” Rosa said, before handing him a card ID: “If you need anything, you can come to us. We’ll handle this”

  “Thanks. Feel free to stay until you recover. I would want to stay more but I have some stuff to handle so… I’ll see you around” Kettei said, walking away. Over the course of the next three weeks, the lessons went on as usual. Sora and Kettei became good friends over this period of time and, alongside Rosa, Rob and a few people, made a small friend group. However, all of that was bound to change. Starting on October 27th, 2032…