Editing Mahou Sensou:Volume 2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 1===
It was already October, and the whole academy looked very lively, as the so-called "Magic Festival" was about to take place.  This festival was very similar to the typical "Cultural Festivals" that took place in the normal academies, but unlike those, the magic festival -just as its name says- involved activities performed by students using magic. It was held over two days and all the students of the academy without exception were allowed to participate. All classes that had already entered their second semester were fully dedicated to the preparation of the festival and both students and teachers were eager to succeed in their activities. In Takeshi's class C, there were only the students who were bad at controlling their magic, so they had no choice but to set up a Café. Class B would make a haunted house and Class A would make a kind of 3D movie with the help of systematic magic. The special class, which Mui belonged to, would not participate in most of the events so they would not be seen appearing, which Takeshi thought was a pity. It so happened that most of the students of special classes were already working as part of the wizard staff of their respective communities and therefore had to be absent from the academy very often. It was well known to all that they used to be very busy.

At the café set up by the C class, Takeshi and Kurumi had been assigned to act as waiters while Mui and Ida, had been assigned to serve in the kitchen. Kurumi had been chosen as a waitress because like Takeshi, she didn't have a chance to help cook or make the uniforms since she had had to practice her systematic magic "Biological Magic" every day since the second semester began. Takeshi and Ida had also been doing the same. However, Kurumi was the one who was showing the best results. Up to that point, she could already transform at will just by holding her lipstick in her hand. Quite on the contrary, Ida was the one who had made the least progress. He had already been told that the type of "Destructive Magic" he had was of a very difficult type to control, but since that summer vacation when they arrived at the academy, until October, Ida continued to explode in different places leaving great damage. The second time he did it, (after the first time his magic manifested) was in the gym. He was unable to stop his flames and ended up exploding and completely destroying the ceiling. The fifth time it did it, it happened in the courtyard leaving a hole with a diameter of about a hundred meters in the ground. Obviously that damage was immediately repaired using magic. The good thing is that no one was injured because the teachers who were training the students protected them with powerful barriers. Ida wanted to throw in the towel several times, but for some reason he continued training.

Takeshi had a different situation than the other two, for what was affecting him, was that he had not yet been able to get used to his Aspect, the sword Twilight. Evasive Magic was the second most difficult magic to control only below the aforementioned destructive magic, and aside from that, Twilight was making the job more complicated. Takeshi had decided to use Twilight but he was still very used to bamboo swords and it could be the case that he was depositing his magic improperly. Even as late as October, Takeshi had barely managed to use 40% to 50% of his magic. Under such conditions, he learned that in November, he had a magical aptitude test coming up that would assess the students' affinity magic abilities. That had Takeshi and Ida more overwhelmed than the festival itself. By the way, also coming up in October were the semester exams for the regular classes. So, they had a lot to do.

It was said that this special examination of magical aptitudes, which would take place at the beginning of November, would be carried out in separate groups by magical affinity, regardless of the year they were studying, since the exam was about overcoming a test set by the teacher in charge of each affinity. The students of the most basic level would be the only ones who would not take the exam, but there were three sections in the intermediate course and five sections in the advanced course, so there would be many students taking the exam. Takeshi didn't want to dwell on a certain matter, but after seeing what destructive magic was capable of, if he were Ida, he would be afraid to be in that group. As much as Ida appeared to be motivated, every time he heard about the exam, a nervous smile escaped him.

In Takeshi's case, since the only one he had seen use evasive magic besides him was the Trailer, Oigami Takao, he was excited to meet more users of his affinity. Although come to think of it, he had already met one other person besides Oigami who was an evasive magic user. That person, was the teacher in charge of class C, Hitouji-sensei.Hitouji Makoto, had an evasive magic ability called: "Mindside" which allowed him to read the mind of a person near him, just by touching his Aspect, which was a gun similar to Mui. Its effect was instantaneous. That's why, while Hitouji-sensei was in the classroom, it was difficult for students to fall asleep or idly wander. That is, because often Hitouji-sensei used to touch his gun to use his ability on the students to check if they were paying attention.

"I don't like the idea of being grouped with guys who have this kind of ability," Takeshi thought.

The only two subjects Takeshi knew with his same affinity had somewhat peculiar personalities. Takeshi's evasive magic ability was called "Strike Vision". It was an intuitive ability that allowed him to detect future dangers that were seconds or minutes away from happening. It was very strange that at first, he had been told that there was no one in the school who had evasive magic skills, yet now there were two in one classroom.  It so happened that, Biological Magic was the most recurring of all affinities, followed by Illusionary Magic, then Acceleration Magic and lastly, Black Magic. Kurumi was affinity to Biological Magic which was not very suitable for combat. Takeshi thought it would have been better if he could have chosen. Despite practicing Kendo fervently, he was never attracted to fighting outside the sporting arena. It was horrible to have to get involved in a meaningless war just because he had the affinity of Evasive Magic.

With regular classes, magic classes and the magic festival on top of it, Takeshi was up to his neck in work. However, he still had one more problem. That problem, was Kurumi who had been a bit strange since the second semester started. But, currently she seemed to be acting even stranger. Takeshi was aware that something was wrong with her and it was that day after one of the classes, that he finally checked it out.  It was time for recess after third period was over. Kurumi approached Takeshi's seat as usual and placed an open book on the table.

-Hey Takeshi...

-What's wrong?

-Do you understand this problem?

Without getting up from his seat, Takeshi leaned a little towards Kurumi to look at the book she was showing him, causing their arms to touch a little. Kurumi placed her finger a part of the book, indicating something she wanted to know. But, unexpectedly when Takeshi saw what she was showing him, he laughed and said:

-I see you're still bad at math, Isoshima.

Kurumi pursed her lips and replied:

-Shut up! Just tell me if you understand how it goes...
-Of course I understand. In fact, I solved that very problem today. Let me see...

Takeshi turned the book toward him. Kurumi, at that moment, sat down on the edge of the table. The edge of her skirt was lifted a little and her legs were considerably exposed.

-Isoshima, don't be indiscreet, get down.....

Takeshi frowned as he saw that Kurumi had her thighs quite uncovered. And, even though absolutely no one was looking their way, Takeshi was trying not to look at her.

-What does it matter, they all do the same thing. -Kurumi answered.

-Yes... but ....

Her recklessness, might cause her underwear to be exposed. So Takeshi pushed her from her waist to make her get off the table.

-Do you want to keep me standing?  -Kurumi asked annoyed.

She might as well have dragged a chair from next to him to sit next to him, but she didn't seem to feel like it.

-Of course not. If you want, sit here, I'll stand up.

Takeshi tried to get up from his chair, but Kurumi prevented him by pushing his shoulder down with her hand and said:

-Forget that! Better tell me how to solve that problem and that's it....

Takeshi just let out a sigh. Kurumi could never be beaten in an argument.

-That's fine...

Takeshi set to work concentrating on the math problem she wanted to solve and in the meantime, for some reason Kurmi stared at him with some concern.

After finishing all the regular classes, Takeshi had arranged to meet Ida and Kurumi to go to the gym and train their magical affinities as they always did. But Ida was called to the teacher's room, and Kurumi was still in the locker room changing her clothes, so Takeshi was the first to arrive at the gym. There were already several students training. So Takeshi started to walk along the walls of the place looking for a place, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice over there.

-Look, it's Nanase-kun...

-Hey...

-What?
There were three girls in P.E. uniforms chattering among the crowd of boys training. And one of them, it was Mui. Realizing that his name had been mentioned in a very energetic way, Takeshi stopped and turned to look. But it was quite difficult to make out what they were saying about him and he was trying to push his way through the crowd to get closer.

-Have the courage to speak to him.

-Yes, drop that barrier of yours and be more assertive.

-Barrier? -Mui asked.

Takeshi thought something very similar, but she didn't know what they meant by barrier.

-Hey...

-It's because of Isoshima-san... Right?

-What about Kurumi? -Mui exclaimed.

When Takeshi heard Mui exclaim in surprise, he stopped his gait and froze completely. The girls continued talking to Mui:

-I heard over there, that it bothers him a lot when you talk to Nanase-kun?

-Yes, I heard it too

-Really?

The two girls were talking confidently but Mui and Takeshi were surprised.

-Mui, you're pretty slow to pick up on things... -Said one of the girls.

Mui nodded.

-Well, it seems like the two of them are dating or something, I don't quite know.

-But that's a little weird, don't you think?

-Yeah, sometimes I don't even know where to look.

-That's why the atmosphere in the living room is quite heavy.

The more Takeshi listened to that conversation, the paler he started to get.

-Really? So the two of you are dating? -Mui asked.

After hearing Mui's question, Takeshi finally decided to move and left.

"This is bad."

Takeshi finally came out of the gym, he started jogging.

-I figured something like this was going on.....

Takeshi had been pretending to be Kurumi's boyfriend since high school, but the feeling that it was time for that affair was getting stronger and stronger. The problem was that every time he tried to talk to her to come to an agreement to end the affair, he never could because somehow some so-called guy would come out and suddenly want to win her over. To Takeshi, Kurumi was just his neighbor and childhood friend who needed to be protected. But the matter had gotten to such a point that it was starting to become toxic.

Takeshi stopped and looked up at the sky.

The academy was located inside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, so he had to walk outside to get to the gym.

The courtyard and the gymnasium were all inside the same building. The sky was blue and clear. Takeshi had stopped to admire a sky landscape that was fake.