The next morning, the classroom of Arcane Academy buzzed with low whispers.
Yesterday's duels still lingered in everyone's minds — and one name kept surfacing:
Show.
The boy with no surname.
The fire mage who melted Drake's ice.
The loud, reckless, unpredictable storm of energy who shocked even Raelyn.
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🧠 Eyes on Show
Many of the students — even those who didn't say it aloud — were inspired.
Lyra, sweet and quiet, whispered to Lily during a break:
"He's kind of... cool, right? I mean, loud, but passionate."
"He's like a firework that doesn't know when to stop exploding," Lily chuckled.
Even Akito, pretending not to care, had started to watch Show more closely.
"He's annoying," he muttered to himself, "but there's power under that mess."
But not everyone was impressed.
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❌ Karen's Hatred
Karen, stylish, sharp, and prideful, sat in the back row, arms folded, eyes full of disdain.
"Ugh. He has no manners, no elegance, no self-control. Just yelling and burning things. Tch."
Whenever Show cracked a joke or interrupted a lecture — she rolled her eyes.
When others laughed, she scoffed.
"It's disgusting that people find him interesting. There's nothing refined about him."
To Karen, Show was everything she despised — chaotic, wild, and without discipline.
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🌌 The Night That Changed Her
But everything changed one night.
The dorm had quieted. Karen had gone out to the garden balcony for some air — frustrated after another day of seeing people gather around Show.
That's when she heard voices down below.
Hibiki and Show were talking under the moonlight. They hadn't noticed her.
She was about to walk away — until she heard something she didn't expect.
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🔥 The Real Show
> Hibiki: "Man, people really like you now. You're like, the hero of day one."
> Show: "They like the magic. Not me."
> Hibiki: "Huh?"
> Show: "They don't know anything, Hibiki. I don't know my family. I don't even know where I got this magic. I've spent my whole life alone, waiting for something to make sense. And all I have is this fire..."
> Hibiki: "…Dang."
> Show: "I act loud so people don't ask questions. I smile so I don't have to explain why it hurts."
Karen froze.
The fire idiot… was carrying pain?
She stepped back into the shadows before they noticed her, heart pounding.
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🌹 Something Stirs
That night, Karen couldn't sleep.
She stared at the ceiling in silence.
"…He hides it well. All that pain."
For the first time, she saw not the loudmouth... but the boy behind the flame.
And for the first time in her life, her heart did something it had never done.
It skipped.
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🕯️ The Next Morning
Karen sat quietly in class, her usual glare softened slightly.
When Show walked in late, joking with Hibiki again, she looked away — cheeks faintly pink.
"Still mannerless…" she muttered.
But now it sounded less like hatred… and more like something she wasn't ready to admit.
From that day on, Karen began watching Show more — not with contempt…
but with curiosity.
And slowly, something was awakening inside her.
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