Crimson Phoenix Guardian- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage 4

Prologue: A New School Year

*Koukyuu*

"Here's some coffee," a blue-haired boy said, holding a cup out at me.

I smiled and took it. "Thanks, Nate." The boy was Hideo's little brother. Hideo, hopefully, he was doing fine. Last I'd heard about him; he was in southern Sera with my nephews. Eien, what was he thinking going to war? He was much too young! The only reason that Ren and the others went there was because of the crimes they had committed, meaning that they could be drafted to war if so needed. Not that they were. Ren and the others had volunteered.

"You're welcome," he said as he sat down next to me. "Nice view, huh?"

I looked out of the train at the rushing fields. "Yeah, it reminds me of your home."

He laughed. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking." The boy lowered his head and stared at his reflection in his cup of coffee. "It reminds me of home."

"Do you like coffee?" I asked.

He raised his head and shook his head.

I raised a brow at him. "Then why are you drinking it?"

"It makes me think of home. My brother would always make a cup of this stuff every morning."

A slight smile formed on my face. "I see."

"How long until we get to our destination?" a boy with a quasi-bowl cut asked.

"Getting impatient, Huo?" a cyan-haired girl in a suit said, laughing. I wasn't sure why she had decided to dress as if she were going to a job interview, but she did.

"What's so funny, Lidia?" Huo asked.

She giggled. "It's just that you always scold Scarlet for her impatience."

The boy's face turned red. "I-I was just curious, that's all."

"Sure, like I buy that!"

"Play nice, you two!" Nate hollered.

Huo turned away and stopped talking, leaning his head against his seat.

I took a deep breath. Something told me that one would be a difficult child. "We're almost there, so please hold on. We'll be taking a short drive once we exit the station."

"A drive, huh? Think that I'll stay back," Lidia said.

Huo gasped. "Why?"

"There are usually only five seats. So if you boys and Koukyuu go, there'll be only one spot left. That should be reserved for the new kid."

"True..." Huo glanced at the sleeping boy opposite us. "But that guy's done nothing but sleep."

Nate chuckled. "Reminds me of my big brother!"

I smiled. "Seems that a lot of things remind you of Hideo today."

"Must be a nice brother," Lidia said.

"At least better than Scarlet," Huo said.

"Huo, why do you feel the need to jab your sister every chance you get?"

He looked down. "I'm not sure."

"Think you miss her," Nate said, patting his shoulder.

Huo jumped back.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked.

"Don't mind him. He's just sensitive to touch. Seats have to be made of certain stuff and have a certain texture for him to feel comfortable," Lidia said.

Nate's eyes widened. "Wait, are you autistic?"

Huo turned to look at him but avoided making eye contact.

"Yeah, he is," Lidia said.

"Lidi!" Huo snapped.

"What? There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

I sighed. Now, I was the one who was being reminded of the father of my children. He liked to keep his condition a secret.

"I agree," I said, blowing on my coffee.

Nate nodded. "Yeah."

Huoyin clenched his knees. "Are you just saying that to be nice?"

"No, of course not! My brothers are the same way, so I understand." Nate scooted closer to me. "You need some space, right?"

Huoyin smiled slightly. "Yeah."

So, that's why he was anxious to get off the train. I stared at the crowd of people around us. The noise was likely not very good either. Thankfully, the masses would start to shrink the closer we got to our destination.

I glanced out at the city we were closing in on. We were almost there. It wouldn't take long to meet our prospective student from Trono. Why would someone from outside of the continent want to attend Nine Petal? It was a prestigious academy, but Trono had schools almost on par with Nine Petal, so why not attend those?

**Solar Note: Hello, everyone! Excited about this fourth book? These first couple chapters will be part of the New First Years Arc, the majority of which were part of Blade of Ruin at one point until I decided to save them for this book due to the change of focus. If you're among those who read the arc when it was part of BoR, I hope that you will reread it as I've made a decent amount of changes (which will be more notable the longer it goes on). The above song was chosen for this chapter not because of the chapter but because it is the 'book song', like 'A Beautiful Cruel World' was for NM and 'Nevereverland' was for DoD.**