I'm the Bad Guy

by Kenneth Arant

  I walked through several cars until I spotted the princess through one of the private cabin's glass door. She was sitting amongst four other girls, Shana and Carla were obviously two of them, but I didn't recognize the other two.

  One was a tall girl in her late teens with platinum blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a lithe frame. She wore the academy's robe like we did, though hers had a blue trim which meant she was most likely a fifth year. The other was a dark-skinned girl around our age with frizzy black hair that hung down to her shoulders and gray eyes. She wore a plain white robe like we did, so she was definitely a first year.

  After getting a good look at the two girls, I turned on my heel and walked until I found an empty cabin to sit in. I had very little interest in being stuck in there with three girls, never mind five of them. I shut the door behind me and sat down on the plush bench on the left side of the cabin. I took my robe off and threw it over the back of the bench, then laid on my back with my feet propped on the armrest.

  I summoned a gate above my head and pulled out my journal, so I would have something to do to pass the time. I'd thought multiple times about using the gate to hold our bags or to smuggle on snacks, but... I was still too embarrassed to show off my magic like that.

  I'd unintentionally seen the princess practicing her Arcana magic, nothing serious as she had yet to acquire a contracted spirit, but even so... It was mesmerizing. Even without a spirit, she could move around small objects like it was nothing. The practice I happened to see involved her basically juggling four steel balls with nothing but her mana... Meanwhile, I can't even move one without sending the damn thing crashing through a door...

  I sighed in annoyance and refocused on my journal. I'd already written down everything I could remember about the anime, dates, events, wars. Everything that could possibly lead to that future was written down and I had every intention of changing the events in this book... Hopefully for the better.

  After approximately fifteen minutes an obnoxiously loud horn sounded from the front of the train three times, then we jerked into motion.

  I tossed my journal into a gate, then sat up to watch as we pulled out of the station. What started out as a slow, jerky motion soon smoothed out as we picked up speed and the trains entering the station become mere blurs by my window.

  As its appearance would suggest. When the train finally hit its stride after two or three minutes, we were traveling at a speed of about twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. Incredibly slow compared to modern cars, but it was a decent speed when compared to the carriages most people used to get around the empire.

  Minutes turned into hours as I watched the scenery change outside my window. The sprawling metropolis of Zilren gave way to desolate country sides and dense forests crawling with wildlife. At one point, we went around a massive freshwater lake that very well could have been an inland sea if not for the large fruit trees, and the colorful flowers I saw growing from the water.

  ...

  I also saw a massive snake, easily forty or fifty feet long swimming through the water, but I'm doing my best not to think about that... I've been terrified of large bodies of water since I was a kid the first time around and seeing that only cemented my desire to never swim in there.

  The very idea of it sent chills down my spine.

  A knock pulled me out of my reverie and caused me to look at the door.

  I saw an older lady in a staff uniform standing beside a silver cart waving at me, so I stood up and opened the door for her.

  "Good evening, deary." She said cheerfully. "Hungry?"

  "Yes ma'am."

  She looked at me oddly for a moment, then lifted the top of the cart for my perusal.

  I eagerly handed her five Kad, an orange coin that would have equaled about a dollar back home, and took a few boxes of fruit-flavored candy as well as a small canister of black tea and waved her goodbye as I sat down and tore open the first box of candy labeled 'Milton's fruity surprise'... I had no idea what the surprise was going to be, but once again, I was eager to find out.

  Inside the box, I saw round pieces of candy that came in a wide variety of colors ranging from plain red to an odd yellow-green.

  I tossed a red piece into my mouth and bit down on it... And immediately wanted to spit it back out. The hard shell of the candy, when broken, exploded into a disgustingly bitter taste... That soon mellowed out and tasted like strawberries. I popped a green piece into my mouth and wanted to gag at the extremely bitter taste, though it tasted like green apples after a few seconds.

  Hours later, after the sun had set for the day and the moon was shining brightly in the night sky, the train finally began to slow as we approached our destination.

  Coming around the last turn before we pulled into the Colsir station, we were given our first glimpse of the academy. With the dark forest surrounding it and the monster-filled Sukon mountains serving as an imposing backdrop to the massive castle that served as the imperial academy. It truly was like looking at a painting from the middle ages.

  The Castle was built with incredibly dark stone and easily over twenty stories tall if you included the eight towers that formed a half-circle at its back. Seeing the castle through a television screen in the Anime simply did not do it justice.

  I stood up just as the train's whistle began to blow and had to plant my hands onto the bench because the train's brakes began to slow us down and the initial jerk almost sent me flying into the wall.

  Note to self, don't stand up before we come to a complete stop...

  I waited for us to finally come to a safe and complete stop before I slid open the door and moved to join up with the other first-year students already waiting to exit the train.

  I wondered for a brief moment if the princess would come to find me since we hadn't seen each other since before boarding the train, but I somehow doubted she'd bother. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that she enjoyed not seeing me for a few hours...

  * * *

  Chapter 12: Getting settled in

  * * *

  I stepped off the train without much fanfare. Which wasn't surprising since I hadn't bothered to talk to or even interact with anyone the entire time I was on board the train, so it wasn't like I'd made any friends... On the other hand, I also didn't make any enemies, so that was nice. I had enough problems to worry about without adding the stereotypical 'enemy' or 'rival' to the list.

  My second life was full of enough clichés already, thanks.

  "There you are!"

  I turned to see the princess— I mean Kami marching towards me with a scowl on her pretty face. Shana, Carla, and the two new girls were following not far behind.

  "Where the hell have you been!?" She growled as she drew close enough for me to smell her lavender scented shampoo.

  I pointedly ignored the stares and the whispers her yelling had caused and simply pointed to the back of the train.

  "Somewhere in that general area."

  Her scowl deepened and I could tell she wanted to hit me, but the presence of the other students would have made that... problematic.

  "Why didn't you sit with us?" She asked after taking a deep breath.

  "I was going to. But when I found your cabin it looked like it was full enough as it was, so I simply found another."

  ...

  "And you didn't think to pop in and ask?"

  "Was I supposed to?"

  She lightly bit her bottom lip and stared at me through narrowed eyes. I'd known her long enough at this point to know what that look meant.

  This conversation wasn't over and I was going to hear about this later, most likely when we were alone and away from the prying eyes and ears of our future classmates.

  "Veronica!" A deep, girlish voice called out.

  The fifth-year student standing behind Kami turned and looked at the extremely tall dark-skinned woman wading through the crowd towards us. She was easily over six and a half feet tall with dark eyes and short silver hair. Beneath her fi
fth-year robe, I could tell she was broad-shouldered and densely muscled.

  A common trait amongst the Tileans.

  That was the key difference between the Zilrans and the Tileans, while we far exceeded their ability to use magic and our technology was superior to theirs. Their massive size and raw physical might made battling them a dangerous gamble.

  The average Tilean soldier was around seven-feet tall and four-hundred pounds, making them a literal wrecking ball in close quarters. No other race could hope to match their sheer physical might... But they kinda sucked at being mages. Which is really the only reason we were able to hold them at bay in the enclosed Saalkad mine, the place said to house a hundred tons of mana infused crystal, as long as we did. Of course, the mana crystals were valuable enough that even if we lost control of the mine, we would just destroy the mine and all of its crystal... Yeah, when I said 'valuable', I meant obscenely dangerous in the hands of our enemies.

  Luckily, for all parties involved, it didn't come to that.

  "Veronica, we're ready for you."

  "Alright," The fifth-year sighed. "Let's get this over with. I'll talk to you guys later." She finished with a cheerful wave in our direction.

  "Who was that?" I asked a few moments after she left.

  "Well, if you'd bother to stick your head in and introduce yourself like a normal person. You would have known that, that was Veronica Gilfer. The—"

  "Fifth-year student in charge of getting us settled in. Yeah, I read the letter from the head-mage."

  "Then why'd you ask!?" she growled.

  ...

  "Because I'm not psychic and wouldn't know who she was on sight?"

  Kami huffed at my snarky response, then grabbed my arm and practically dragged me along behind her. I could hear the other three girls giggling quietly behind us, but I vowed to ignore them.

  I managed to eventually convince Kami that I wasn't going to make a run for it. She glared at me for a few seconds, but she did end up releasing my arm. I had a feeling it had more to do with the whispers of the other students getting to her, than my words actually having an effect, but I was going to take the victory anyway.

  The five of us followed along behind the mass of other students as we gathered our bags from the back of the train, then walked through the main gates of the castle. Up close, the walls and towers looked even larger and more imposing than they had from my window. But maybe that's because it was after dark?

  "Can I have everyone's attention, please!?" Veronica yelled from the front of the group.

  I was surprised her voice managed to pierce through the chatter of four-hundred eleven-year-olds and cause them all to go silent.

  Maybe she used some form of magic to amplify her voice?

  "The building behind me," she pointed over her shoulder at what I assumed was the castle's main building. "Is the castle proper. It's where you will be going to attend classes, eat your meals, and is where the teachers live. As you can see there are eight towers at the rear of the castle. Those are our dormitories. Going from left to right, you have the first through seventh-year dorms, with the largest tower in the center being the arch-mage's quarters."

  "Unless you are summoned by the arch-mage himself. Do not enter the arch-mage's quarters. Does everyone understand?"

  "Yes!" The entire group yelled.

  "Excellent! Now, if you'll follow me, I'll guide you to your temporary quarters."

  "We won't be living in the first-year dorm?" One of the students asked.

  "Unfortunately, not. At least, not for the time being. The first-year dorm is currently filled to capacity, so you'll have to live in the temporary dorms until the end of the school year in three-months time."

  "What!?"

  "That's stupid!"

  "Then why were we even brought here!?"

  The students began yelling.

  I sighed in annoyance and covered my ears with the palms of my hands. If the annoying brats had bothered to read the letter the head-mage sent to them, they would have already known this... Although, that did beg the question as to why the emperor pushed for us to be taken in by the academy so early. And I was completely certain that this was his fault.

  As far as I know. The three-way war between Ziral, the Xultes colonies, and the Beast nation doesn't begin for another year. So why... Unless... Is it possible that I was wrong?

  Granted, I didn't remember everything from the anime and I was bound to get some things wrong every now and then. But, I could have sworn the war didn't begin until the year after Kami joined the academy.

  ...

  Maybe that's it? Maybe the emperor already received information about a coming attack, but he's unsure of the when and wanted to ensure the mages-in-training would be well out of the line of fire before it happened?

  It's certainly possible.

  "Hey, have you heard a word I've said?"

  "Hmm?"

  I turned my head to see Kami staring at me and the rest of the students walking out the main gate and around the side of the castle.

  "Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?"

  "I said," she drawled. "Do you want to check out classes with us tomorrow?"

  "Oh, um, sure. I'd love to."

  "Great!"

  She jogged ahead to catch up with her friends and I scratched my head in confusion. After a few seconds of wondering about her odd behavior. I picked up my bag from where I'd dropped it, then followed after them.

  We walked around the side of the castle to what looked to be a recently cleared patch of forest behind the towers. Five rows of eight cabins sat in the clearing. Each cabin looked completely identical, save for the silver numbers beside the doors.

  "Okay! I want everyone to pick a cabin and get some rest. And don't worry, we have provided a bed and a locker for everyone. If the cabin you want is full, then simply keep looking until you find an empty bed. Once you have claimed a bed and locker, it is recommended that you write your name on the locker so everyone knows it is taken."

  I barely had time to comprehend her words before Kami grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the cabin directly in front of us. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed Shana, Carla, and the new girl following us.

  Guess my cabin has been decided for me...

  I sighed in annoyance but didn't protest. It's not like it actually mattered which cabin I stayed in.

  We arrived at the door to cabin four at the same time as another group of five people, four girls and one guy...

  What an incredible coincidence...Or obvious cliché.

  I sighed in annoyance.

  I barely glanced at them as I pushed my way in and dropped my bag on the leftmost bed, closest to the door.

  The cabin was incredibly spartan-like with ten beds, each large enough to barely fit a single person. Each bed had its own gray footlocker and a bedside table on the left side with a small oil lamp sitting on top.

  I pulled a black fountain pen out of my bag and wrote my name across the blank, ticket-sized parchment on the front of the medium-sized metal footlocker.

  "Hey! I wanted that bed!" The only other guy in the group yelled.

  "Too bad." I replied without looking at him.

  I felt someone standing directly behind me, so I turned around and looked into the taller boy's dark brown eyes. He was a good two or three inches taller than I was with stylish blonde hair and tanned skin.

  "Do you need something?"

  "Yeah, I want that bed."

  "Not happening. It's my bed, I claimed it first."

  "Only because you rushed ahead of everyone and stole it." The boy hissed.

  "Stole it?"

  ...

  "I believe we were told that it was first come, first serve. Did we not?"

  The muscles in his jaw clenched.

  By now, I was aware of the curious glances the girls were throwing our way and the look of indignation on Kami's face.

  Please don't start a fight...

  Sudde
nly, the boy gave me a friendly smile and I felt a pressure behind my eyes.

  "You want to give me the bed." The boy said in a completely friendly tone. His words seemed to echo in my ears and... I wanted to give him the bed.

  ...

  Actually, no... I don't.

  "No."

  His mouth slightly opened and his brows furrowed.

  "You want to give me the bed." He said again. This time his tone wasn't so friendly.

  "I really don't."

  "Markus?" A mousy brown-haired girl said from across the room. "The bed next to me is open." She finished while patting the bed directly across from me.

  He looked me up and down once, then turned on his heel and cheerfully bounded over to the other bed.

  "Thanks, Misha! You're the best!"

  The girl's face turned bright red and she busied herself by playing with the sheets on her own bed.

  ...

  I really don't like that guy.

  "Are you okay?"

  I turned away from my bag to see Kami sitting on the bed next to mine.

  "I'm fine. Just don't like guys like that." I nodded my head in Markus' direction.

  She snorted in a very unladylike fashion.

  "Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of guys like that either."

  And yet, Masato was exactly that kind of guy...

  "So are we still on for tomorrow?"

  "Of course. What time?"

  She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, causing her shirt to rise up and expose her flat stomach.

  "I dunno... How's eight sound?"

  "Sound fine to me." I agreed.

  "Great!"

  She stood up from her bed and walked over to her friends that had somehow managed to get every bed on this side of the cabin, while the group of five took the other side.

  I finished putting away my clothes and other belongings, well, at least the ones I'd bothered to bring with me, and took off my shoes. I climbed into bed without taking off anything else, turned off the lamp, then closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep. I wasn't exactly comfortable with whatever Markus had attempted to do to me. But since I couldn't prove a 'feeling', I began to think on ways to get back at him.