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"Good morning, everyone." Noir greeted his students—members of the Foundation Intermediate Class.

As expected, they were plenty excited to see him in class.

Ever since his stunt a week ago, the students were always excited to see Noir—whether for homeroom, or for his lessons on Runes. This time, it was the former.

"There\'s an important announcement to be made. I would have done so much later, but it seems I\'ll need to move up the schedule."

Noir\'s face seemed paler than usual to the students, but it was still plenty charming enough for his fans to adore.

Half of the class, which consisted of girls, found themselves more enthralled by their Homeroom teacher as the days went by… though many were still dedicated fans of Trevor Netherlore.

"What\'s the matter, sir? Ciara told us you wanted to carry out a survey today." One of the students asked from the back of the class.

"Indeed, Fabian. It\'s related to the announcement I\'m about to make." Noir allowed a few moments of silence to permeate the room before continuing.

"The Institute\'s Foundation Stage Magic Competition is going to be held about two months from now. Since it spans across the Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert levels, you guys will be participating."

The moment he said this, the class erupted in murmurs. Students began talking to one another—some in excitement, but most in dread.

"Ugh! I almost forgot about the competition."

"Is it that time of the year already?"

"Is there a point? Do I really need to participate?"

"Come on, dude. If we win, we get to take an Advancement Exam!"

"So? Do I strike you as the type that is talented enough to even pass? And so what if I pass? I\'d be a flunkie in the Expert class."

"Ah, that\'s true…"

"Damn… the Experts are sure to win this around again, though."

Noir listened to the voices of his students, and he couldn\'t blame them for their reservations regarding the Foundation Magic Competition.

The United Southern Empire\'s Magic Institute was divided into three main stages: The Foundation Stage, The Advanced Stage, and the Final Stage—each stage having three subclasses.

Everyone in the lecture hall was still in the Foundation Stage, and they were in the Intermediate Class—in essence, at the very center of the food chain. One could hardly call them experienced, but they weren\'t newbies either.

The Foundation Magic Competition was the first in the Magic Festival Trilogy in the Magic Institute—and Noir\'s students were going to be among the key players in the contest.

Every year, this competition occurred, and this was no exception.

"Not all of you will be privileged to participate in the competition. This survey is to thin out the herd… separate those who are uninterested in participating from those who are." With a snap of his fingers, Noir caused sheets to appear on the desk of the respective students.

At this point, none of them was surprised by Noir\'s display.

"Fill out the form honestly. The Class Representative will gather them after Homeroom and bring them to my office." Noir gave a short glance at Ciara\'s scowling face before moving it in the direction of another—a girl who seemed to be covering her face with a book.

"Just so you know, participation isn\'t compulsory. Still… I have high expectations from this class. I hope you haven\'t forgotten all I have been telling you." Noir\'s eyes narrowed as he began staring at each student.

Left to him, he didn\'t want any of the students to participate. The fact that two members of H.E.L.I.X. were present made matters worse. Still, he chose to be calm and unfettered.

\'I have to perform my role as an educator and encourage their participation. If I don\'t Denzel could consider me incompetent, and problems might arise. That could be the goal of those two. Maybe they want me to quit… or be fired.\'

Either way, he understood that even if he withdrew his students from the competition, there were still plenty of ways they could wreak havoc on the Institute. Besides…

\'Isn\'t this the perfect opportunity? The perfect excuse to train everyone!\'

Noir had learned something during his brief time as an educator… and that was the pleasure of teaching. He remembered how proud he was to see Lorna, Galand, and Ciara grow after teaching them Magic for a few months.

He somewhat missed the feeling.

After a week with these children, Noir felt the inclination to impart knowledge and power to them. He knew his actions had very little to do with the grand scheme of things, but…

\'... Even if it\'s just a little power… they should reach certain heights with it.\'

He knew humans had their limits. He understood that a majority of these students would never reach the highest level humanity could explore, and none of them was going to break past that level cap.

Still, he hoped they could try their best and reach greater heights than they would have without his help.

\'There are certain students who aren\'t talented…\' He thought to himself with a smile.

Wouldn\'t it be nice if they too could attain some level of power that they could only dream of?

"In any case, make up your mind. Choose wisely." Upon finalizing his statement, Noir left the lecture hall and returned to his office, making sure his guard was up and his senses were sharp.

These were dangerous times, after all.

*

*

*

"What are you gonna do? Will you register?"

"Well… I just might."

"I mean, Mr. Noir is our Homeroom Teacher, right? I\'m sure he\'ll help us out."

"The Expert Class have Mr. Netherlore training them. You think we stand a chance?"

"I… I don\'t know. But I want to put my faith in Mr. Noir!"

"Look, even if all of us register, we\'ll still be sifted out. There are only limited slots, after all. Isn\'t it better to quit now?"

"Exactly. We know we won\'t qualify to represent the class, right?"

"I know, right…"

The class was in an uproar after Noir left, and the students couldn\'t seem to make up their minds.

In contrast, Ciara was busy filling out her survey.

"Guess you\'ll be participating, huh?" Serah asked Ciara with a knowing look plastered on her face.

"Of course. You?" Ciara returned the question.

"Of course! Hehehe. What of you, Sam?"

The two girls glanced in their friend\'s direction, but were somewhat disappointed by the uncertainty he expressed.

"I-I\'m not sure yet. I\'m still thinking about it…"

"What\'s there to think about, though?"

"I\'m not sure I\'m strong enough to stand by your side in the competition, okay? We\'ve been training all this while, but… I know I\'m the least talented, so…"

The girls gave a sort of sympathetic look at their friend. It was no secret that Sam had esteem issues, but even then…

"Well, make up your mind."

"We won\'t force it upon you."

"... Eh?" Sam was somewhat surprised by the reaction of the girls.

Their cold shoulder and nonchalance puzzled him greatly. Usually, they would try to raise his spirits, or even do their best to remind him of his strong points—which was hard considering the kind of person he was.

However, this time, they did nothing of the sort.

Both girls simply left it up to him.

\'Why do I have the feeling that I should just join the competition?\' Sam thought to himself.

After a serious round of internal deliberation, he finally made his choice.

"F-fine… I\'ll join." Sam began filling out his survey as well.

"Hehehe. That\'s more like it!"

"Good choice!"

Watching as both girls gave him a thumbs up, Sam was relieved he made the right decision by choosing to compete.

\'What would have happened if I refused, though…?\' Something within him dreaded the events that would have occurred if the wrong choice had been made.

\'GULP!\'

*

*

*

\'S-should I do it…?\'

Mia was struggling between joining the competition and refraining from it.

She knew it was going to be a team effort contest, and that was what she dreaded the most. Everyone in class hated her, and she knew it well.

\'Should I just stay away from it? I really want to participate, though…\'

Mia didn\'t really understand why, but after her loss to Ciara, she had gained a new perspective on everything. That was perhaps why per personality changed so much. However, there was one thing that remained the same.

Boredom.

She remained ever-consumed by boredom—which was why she kept reading books from the library, trying her best to learn more.

The thing was, the Magic Books of her level were not as engaging or interesting as she would like, so Mia eventually had to reach for the ones that the Expert Class used. Unfortunately, since they were ahead of her curriculum, she had to resort to self-reading and had to teach herself a lot of things on the topics.

Inevitably, she got stuck.

\'But Noir helped me… he helped me make sense of everything.\' Mia smiled to herself.

She instantly knew what choice she would make after thinking about her Homeroom teacher, and the constant encouragement he gave her.

To Mia, as long as Noir was there to help her… she felt like she could do anything.