The morning started like most others. Sakura packed a bento box with military precision. Ragna tried to sneak ghost chili sauce into Lily's lunch. Lily made sure her hair ribbons matched the phase of the moon—because you never knew when magical aura alignment would be graded by her kindergarten homeroom teacher.
But today, something in the air was... different.
At school, the teacher introduced a new student.
"Class, say hello to Nero."
He was calm. Polite. Had eyes like polished obsidian and an unnerving smile that looked too mature for a six-year-old. His school shoes didn't even squeak.
Lily narrowed her eyes immediately.
He sat next to her. "You smell like stardust and wildfire. Are you mixed-blood?"
Lily blinked. "Are you a villain in disguise?"
He tilted his head innocently. "Maybe."
Over the next few days, Nero charmed nearly everyone. He aced his math quiz, wrote a haiku that made the teacher cry, and summoned a rose out of thin air during arts and crafts.
Lily watched him like a hawk. And he watched her back.
They were friendly. They laughed. They traded lunch snacks.
But beneath the politeness was tension—a quiet, invisible line drawn between children who both knew what they were.
One day during recess, as sakura petals floated lazily across the yard, Nero approached Lily under the jungle gym.
"Your power," he said, eyes glowing faintly, "it's waking up. Like mine."
Lily stood. "Are you here to test me?"
He smiled. "No. I'm here to see if you're strong enough."
And without warning, a shimmer of dark light surrounded them, folding the space around into a shadowed pocket realm.
It wasn't hostile. It was... elegant.
A magic-built battlefield, designed for children of two worlds.
Lily gasped. "You made a dueling circle?! Inside a sandbox?!"
Nero bowed slightly. "Care to dance?"
The duel began.
Lily summoned light threads, weaving protective barriers while launching sparks of phoenix flame. Nero countered with dark crystal spears, precise and unrelenting. Each step he took made the realm warp slightly, like reality bending around his lineage.
Lily's hair whipped in the magical wind. Her hands trembled.
He wasn't just strong.
He understood magic in a way most kids didn't.
She flung a spiraling sunbolt. He shattered it mid-air, flicked his wrist, and vines of void shot from the ground.
They wrapped around her legs, trapping her. She fell.
Nero stood over her, hand raised, a respectful frown on his face.
"You're not ready."
Lily looked up at him. And smiled.
"Maybe not. But I have something you don't."
She pulled a small box from her pocket and opened it.
A beam of scent—roasted pork, rice with magical mushrooms, and a tamagoyaki smiley face—wafted out like a spell.
"Lunch made by my dad."
Nero stared.
Lily twisted her fingers in a seal behind the box. The warmth of her father's magic, infused in the meal, flared.
A flare of light burst from her chest, exploding the bindings. She flipped backward, landed in a crouch, and pointed at him.
"Let's call it a draw. I'm hungry."
Nero tilted his head… and laughed.
"Very well. You win recess."
Back in the real playground, the teachers hadn't noticed a thing. Other kids played as if nothing happened.
Lily sat beside Nero on the swing set, sharing her pork bun.
"You're different from the other Nine Rings kids," she said.
He didn't look at her. "I was told to observe you. To test. But I wanted to know... what it felt like to be normal. Even for a moment."
Lily swung lightly. "We're not normal. But we can still be kind."
Nero said nothing.
But when he left school that day, he bowed politely to the teacher, smiled at Lily, and disappeared into a silver portal behind the gym.
Lily watched him go, eyes narrowing slightly.
Then she looked down at her half-eaten lunch.
"I better ask Dad to pack extra tomorrow."
Far away, in a chamber of the Nine Rings, a glowing sigil flared. A voice echoed:
"The hybrid girl is stronger than expected. Shall we proceed?"
Another voice replied:
"Let them bond. The closer they grow, the deeper the cut when the blade falls."