“I’m fine.”

The sudden sound of the girl speaking startled Yu Ge. He hurriedly waved his hands. If someone caught him staring at her on the very first day of school, they’d probably think he was a creep.

“But your nose is bleeding.”

The blue-haired girl pointed at Yu Ge’s nose with an adorably dazed look.

“Ah!”

Only then did Yu Ge realize his nosebleed was about to reach his mouth. He scrambled to wipe it away, only to discover he didn’t have any tissues or anything like that.

“Here, use this.”

The blue-haired girl quickly took a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed away Yu Ge’s nosebleed.

“Th-thank you.”

As Yu Ge watched the girl earnestly wipe his nose, his cheeks suddenly grew warm. He was such a shameless guy, yet somehow he’d actually blushed.

“You should hurry to the infirmary.”

Seeing Yu Ge clutching his mouth in such a sorry state, the blue-haired girl gave him a sweet smile. To Yu Ge, it felt like a warm spring breeze.

“M-Miss, what’s your name?”

Even with his nose covered, Yu Ge didn’t forget to ask the girl her name.

“L-Luna.”

“I’m Yu Ge.”

With his nose covered, Yu Ge left the crowd and rinsed it at a sink. Then he looked at the handkerchief, now stained with blood. It carried a refreshing, delicate fragrance, but even that couldn’t mask the metallic smell of his bright red blood.

“What a nice person.”

Yu Ge sighed, then hurried back to the hall to look for the girl named Luna. But he couldn’t find her. With that distinctive blue hair, she should’ve stood out in the crowd.

Yu Ge followed the corridor to a circular room that looked like the Roman Colosseum. There were stands above and a broad arena below. As he wondered where Luna had gone, his gaze suddenly fell on the arena. Luna was holding a magic card and chanting, facing something that looked like a puppet.

So she was taking the entrance exam. That meant Luna was a new student too, right? It’d be great if they ended up in the same class.

Thinking this, Yu Ge ran down to the lowest part of the stands, right up against the edge of the arena. He leaned on the railing with his chin in his hands, eager to watch Luna’s fight up close.

“Magic, activate—Piercing Ice Spike!”

Luna swept a blue magic card through the air with both hands. A magic circle appeared in front of her, and blue shards of ice formed within it before shooting toward the training dummy some distance away.

A training dummy meant for entrance-exam-level tests should’ve lost the ability to fight after being hit by Luna’s C-rank spell. But instead of falling, the dummy was struck by the ice spike and became wreathed in red light. In the blink of an eye, it charged at Luna.

Luna had never seen anything like this before. She froze, forgetting to defend herself or run. In an instant, the training dummy had closed in on her.

The training dummy swung a heavy punch at Luna. The magic it radiated was far beyond what a new student could withstand. If that punch landed, she’d probably be badly injured—or worse.

Luna couldn’t think what to do. She just stood there, watching the dummy’s fist draw closer and closer.

But just then, a golden magic card flew in and unfurled a golden barrier in front of Luna. The training dummy’s fist struck the barrier, sending ripples across it. The dummy’s whole body seemed to take a heavy blow; it flew straight back and shattered into pieces.

“Way to go, Luna!”

“She really is the Goddess of Ice and Snow. She’s so strong!”

“Luna’s amazing!”

Once the training dummy was sent flying, cheers rang out from the stands around the arena. Many spectators, drawn to Luna by her beauty just like Yu Ge, didn’t notice that Yu Ge had thrown a magic card in front of her at the critical moment. They all thought Luna had cast the defensive spell herself.

Amid the crowd’s cheers, Luna came out of her daze and picked up the golden magic card lying beside her, looking utterly confused. When she turned it over to see the front, her face filled with disbelief.

Magic Card—Mirror of Reflection: Creates a shield immune to all damage and returns that damage to the attacker in full.

Holding the magic card, Luna looked around, trying to see who had saved her. But aside from the cheering students, there was no one else around.

“Is this blood?”

Luna examined the magic card again and again. Then she noticed a small red stain in one corner of its back. It smelled faintly of blood. It must’ve been fresh—the blood hadn’t dried yet.

Luna blinked. She wasn’t bleeding. Wait... speaking of blood...

A figure appeared in Luna’s mind.

“Could it have been him?”