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“Has he been punished before?” Farah asked incredulously. “Why hasn’t he been stopped?” The more she questioned it, the more she felt herself becoming angry. Her fingers trembled as she shook her head to disperse the feelings. She couldn’t loose control. Not here. Not in the First World with no one to calm her down. Saul was the only one who could do that, and he was a dimension away.
"Yeah, he's been punished before, but they haven't stopped him yet. If he keeps doing this, he'll probably get expelled. There's only so much they can actually do." Aiki shrugged and Eiji helped them to their feet. "It'll be fine, really. I won't have to go again for this particular exercise, so whatever…"
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Farah took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Relax… Relax… Runaway emotions lead to runaway magic. She opened her eyes and quickly moved to help Aiki with Eiji. "Alright, if you say so," she relented, casting a final look over her shoulder at the bully. "But I still don't like it."
"I know… we don't like it either, but it's not our place to handle it. I'll probably just stay over here with you guys for now… I don't want to answer questions from my classmates." Aiki laughed weakly.
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Farah nodded. "Understandable." With her adrenaline gone, her abilities began to sense the waves of confusion rolling off the other students. She bit her lip softly. "I'm sorry for intervening if I shouldn't have," she murmured.
"It's fine… if you didn't, the teacher would've stepped jn soon after." Aiki shrugged and Eiji helped them over to the wall so they could sit down with Farah. "I should head back to my group in case someone else gets hurt. Keep an eye on him, will you?" Eiji smiled weakly and hurried off to return to his group of healers.
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"Of course," Farah replied with a fleeting smile. Her arm was wrapped protectively around Aiki's shoulders, and as Eiji left, she turned her full attention to him. "I don't understand it," she finally murmured.
Aiki sighed softly and glanced up at Farah when she spoke again. They were a bit confused, honestly, and he seemed uneasy. "Mm… what don't you understand?" They asked. "The system?"
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"Well, partially, but that's not what I'm talking about now. It's you, Aiki. You're incredibly powerful, I can feel it. But you never tap into that strength, and I don't understand why," Farah answered, speaking quietly. Her free hand toyed with the hem of her skirt as she spoke before she tugged on it again and placed her hand in her lap.
Aiki looked over, still seeming a bit confused. "W-Well… I dunno. I don't really know what my potential is, I guess, and… fire is dangerous. Not to mention how much of my energy gets drained when I use it a lot… it's dangerous for me and for my opponent. I don't wanna hurt my classmates."
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"You could practice against me," Farah suggested. "And fire is only dangerous when it's wild. When controlled, fire can be very powerful. Is there any way your energy doesn't get drained?"
Aiki shook his head a bit. "Not really that I've found, other than if I use someone else's energy, and I don't like to do that." They sighed softly and looked down at the ground.
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Farah pressed her lips together thoughtfully. "Is there any way you could use your powers without drawing energy from anyone? Or if you could minimize the amount of energy you use?"
"I have no idea. I don't think I'd be able to make fire without expending some sort of energy." Aiki shrugged. "It's possible I could… I dunno… hone my power enough to draw energy out of the air or grass or something. Since there's energy in atoms and all…"
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Farah nodded encouragingly. "Yes, that's perfect. We could practice with that. Have you ever tried it before?" As she spoke, she briefly glimpsed the memory of Aiki draining her energy with the use of their abilities which left her free prey for Rosalind. Farah shivered discreetly.
Aiki shook their head a bit, keeping their eyes on the ground. "No… I've only ever used my own energy. I think it would take a lot of practice and… I dunno… fine tuning, I guess. It'll be kinda hard to figure out how to do it."
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"Well… I'm currently stuck here for an undetermined amount of time, and quite frankly, I don't have anything better to do. I'm more than willing to help you practice."
"Alright… if you want to help me, you'll want to get pretty far away, though. I'm not familiar with using anyone's energy but my own, so it's hard to control what the energy is coming from if I turn it away from myself…"
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Farah pressed her lips together and nodded slowly. "Yes, I…" She shook her head. "Alright. Whatever is best. I promise I will figure out how to help you best."
Aiki nodded a bit. "I just… don't want to hurt you again. Obviously I know how it feels and it really sucks. I'm glad to practice with you, but we have to make sure we do it safely."
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Farah smiled gently. "Of course. Don't be worried about hurting me, I'm going to be completely fine. It's you that I'm worried about."
Aiki sighed softly and nodded. "I just… don't want to put you through that again. How should we start?" He asked, getting to their feet.
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"Well, you are currently in class," Farah remarked with a knowing chuckle as Aiki stood. "I'm the one that doesn't have to be here, remember?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm not going to be going again. I got knocked out of the bracket, so I might as well spend my spare time training, right? That's basically what we're supposed to do anyway." Aiki shrugged.
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Farah rose to stand beside them. "Alright then. Is there a particularly open, grassy area around? That would be ideal." She glanced around, surveying the surroundings.
"Yeah, most of the area around here should be fine for that." Aiki led Farah a little ways away from everyone else so they would have some more space. "Do you have any pointers? I-I don't really know how to do this…"
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Once they were away from the others, Farah took Aiki's hands in her own. "I know how fairy magic works. I'm not sure how yours does, but let me try this way." She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Alright. I want you to think of anything that will give you positive emotions, feelings, thoughts…"
"Um… okay…" Aiki closed his eyes and relaxed, trying to think of good things. They thought of fun times with Eiji, and talking with Oukami. Good performance in training, getting back home from the Otherworld… anything he could think of.
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Farah could feel the shifting of emotions inside Aiki. She nodded and turned Aiki's palms to face upwards. "Good. Now, use a small amount of your power… Spawn a flame in your palms." After she finished speaking, Farah slowly backed away, giving Aiki the space he needed.
"Alright…" Aiki obeyed, holding their palms upward and forming small flames in both. He kept his eyes closed, staying as relaxed as possible and trying to use very little energy. "Now what?"
