Shuffle. Draw. Shuffle. Draw. Shuffle. Draw.

Ace of Spades. In her little microcosm of the world, that constituted a good sign. An encouraging one, actually, though she didn't really need it. The teacher had barely finished giving his instructions before she had tucked her cards into the pocket of her uniform and begun moving. The thought of a testing ground excited her. A chance to see what all the other magician students could do. And show what she could do, but that was a lot less interesting. Unsurprisingly, the other magician that had gathered near the exit was headed in the same direction.

Odd decorations on his uniform made him impossible to miss, and certainly something of an oddity. But he was the only other magician she'd seen so far, aside from the teacher. Even if she didn't feel like talking to him personally, having enough of a working relationship to be able to ask about his magic would be helpful. After a moment's more thought, she decided on a simple greeting.

"Morning."

Sotoe watched as everyone went into their respectable lines and he followed the others in the yellow line. He made sure he had everything: his guitar which he hoped he didn’t need and the two packs of playing cards. Sotoe looked at one of the people directing everyone in line and asked, “So is it just a scan and we’re done or is it a little more detailed then that?” the thought of fighting another student filled his head. hopefully that isn’t how they test us. Sotoe thought.

“I just hope it’s nothing to stressful,” Sotoe said before an idea popped in his head and he added, “Maybe it’s some sort of field test where we need to maneuver around obstacles. Oh that would be awesome. Do a little bit more parkour before I call it a day.” Sotoe smiled as he imagined the obstacles he would have to face.

While heading towards center stage, Ali' noticed something that really started to make him uncomfortable. There were a very small amount of magicians compared to how many he thought there was going to be. However, maybe that was because Ali had tried to be in the lead, so it would make sense more were behind him then before him. However, while looking around he caught sight of gal who for some reason, stood out from the others. Maybe it was because of her shuffling cards. However, he paid her no mind as they drew closer.

Then there was a small twist of fate that he did not see coming, she talked to him. It was a simple comment, morning, and that was it. But it certainly did its job, or at least, Ali' think it did what its job was. Got his attention, made him turn back towards her, and then made him speak back towards her. Nothing too interesting in response. However it certainly was more poetic then when he had spoken with the girl from earlier, Ali' was already started to forget her name. Well, whatever, he was about to meet someone knew so he should get anyone else out of his mind anyway.

"Good morning to you too, are you nervous?"

"No. More curious." Rebekah answered simply, though as they arrived at the stage, it occurred to her that her response had been a little terse. Elaboration couldn't hurt, in a situation like this. So as she flipped the Ace between her fingers she paused for a breath, and expanded upon her thoughts a little. "I don't have a metric for how my abilities stack up, but I'm not worried about where I place. Even if it turns out my abilities were abysmal, it wouldn't change my goals."

"Seeing other people's abilities teaches me more about how other people use magic, and how I can refine my own skills. And I will still be refining and learning whether I'm in the bottom ten percent or the top."

"You know, sounds like this school was meant exactly for people like you."

Ali' was sure there was a slightly better way to phrase that, but that only bothered him for a second. After talking, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open. Now, Ali' wasn't the most perceptive man around but with the way she flashed her cards around he thought it would be safe to assume thats how she used her magic. That, or she was just really enthusiastic about cardgames. He really hoped it was not the latter of the two. Because that seemed like a dumb quirk to have, even compared to what some of the other students seemed to have.

Alistair's motives were nowhere near as great or 'noble'. He just wanted to enjoy the schoollife and hopefully become popular. Having good grades would be cool, but wasn't exactly his first priority. Hell, what would your grades hear even let you do once you left? Was there some magician college that he should apply for after this was all over? Before he could ask himself anymore questions, the sounds of some random students from the esper line brought him back to reality. He snapped his phone shut as he asked,

"Tell me, how did you get into this place? I'm a bit curious about they brought in their magic users."

"I applied. I was looking for somewhere to go to school, somewhere that I might be able to learn about magic, and I found this place along the way. My father found the paperwork for me, and I submitted it. And waited." She returned the Ace to her deck, and her deck to her pocket. Then she crossed her arms across her chest and leaned on the stage behind her. It had been a good question; clearly the Academy hadn't succeeded in gathering too many magicians, or else their group would have been considerably larger. Rebekah had to wonder if it was because they hadn't tried hard enough, most had refused, or there simply weren't many for them to find. "I don't have any links to the general community, so it was largely by luck that I found Hybrid Academy."

"When I received the letter stating I could come, it was decided. I don't know how much more useful it will be than simply researching on my own, but it will be more interesting, at least." The British teen paused, glancing over at the much larger crowd of espers. "I haven't met an esper before, either. So that will be a learning experience."

"That actually sounds a little bit like what I expected to hear from an esper. My story is a little more mozzarella filled, but I don't want to really go through all of it. Basically, this priest who helped me figure the rituals for my magic knew about this academy before it opened and got me inside. He knew this place would probably help me out, help me experience the world a little."

He felt a little pushy for explaining his situation to someone when she didn't ask, however he felt it was necessary. After all, he asked her first! So it was only a courtesy that he explained back. He also felt he did her a courtesy by not explaining everything in depth and by just giving her the summary. Putting in too much effort to explain his life-story would have been a waste of both of their time.

"I got to know a couple espers before today, but I honestly don't understand any of the mechanics behind their abilities. I probably couldn't tell most espers and magicians apart unless one of them started praying while fighting."

Well, maybe that was a little bit exaggerated, but for the most part it was true. It was difficult to tell who did what unless he had any big hints or was able to look a little deeper at their abilities. That, or if any of them had tools. If there was one thing he noticed, magicians were often more object-heavy when it came to casting. Not all of them needed tools, but Ali' felt it would be easier for most if they did have some to use.

Somewhere in the middle of the speech, Anderson decided to slip into the herd of uniformed students. He caught something of a tail end of a speech. Blah blah blah, espers, blah blah blah Magicians, blah blah blah cooperation and harmony, blah blah blah IN MY FUCKING EYE. The last part wasn't actually said, or implied, or even thought, Anderson just inserted it in to amuse himself. Its not that school speeches where anything important or unique. Well, there was the instructions at the end, but whoops.

Once again, Anderson phased into the line of students lined up at the magician scan line; Anderson had a magic watch, he could use said magic watch, he could control said magic watch, he could be the crap out of someone with said watch, yup, good chance of him being a magician. Learn something new everyday. Anderson snarked in his mind as he plugged into his headphones, debating on what he'd listen to to pass the time.

Heavy screamo deathmetal, 80's disco funk, Frank Sinatra dubstep remix, smooth baritone wombat jazz, yodeling sheep choir, greatest pop hits (which sounded more like yodeling sheeps than the actual thing). Yup, lots of choices, just how Anderson like it. Putting the entire thing on shuffle, Anderson began to quietly wait his turn in line, drawing as little attention to himself as he could, seemed to be working just fine for him for the moment, although once his mind relaxed, it immediately went to "business deals". Oh the joys of running a criminal syndicate, bless.

"Full prayers would be terribly inefficient. Though that seems to be magic's greatest flaw. In my experience, that is. Our set of abilities is theoretically infinite but they require preparation." The British sorceress directed her gaze towards the espers on the other side of the room, regarding them intently. She kept talking, but she was definitely thinking about their non-magical counterparts. "So we generally have a relatively small pool of abilities to pull from, abilities that we prepared ahead of time."

"Their powers are a part of them. Ours are something we learned." Rebekah paused a moment, just long enough to surreptitiously check her phone. Nothing out of place at home. The dog toys were keeping him occupied, no messes to worry about. Back to the conversation. "Interesting that you learned from someone, though. I was wondering how magicians learned. Thought there might be some kind of school tucked away somewhere, but I never found it."

"Ok people look alive we shall be doing this a bit different than most schools and you guys get to try a new experimental procedure aren't we lucky my dear dear test subjects." Sakuya said as a large smile spread across her face. "Remember my dear dear test subjects today we are testing just how strong you guys are in terms of rank. Aren't we just lucky? Either way I want you guys one at time to step up to the white line to begin your system scan we have a basic outline of your powers as due to the application so each test gets to be specially made to match your unique circumstances. No which one of you pretties wishes to be my first subject?" Sakuya asked as she smiled wider which was seemed to be a perfect face for a mad scientist.


Sachiko watched in silent awe at had to be one of the most unhinged scientists she has ever met. All things considered she suppose that it should be interesting to see how this new "system" will be played since most of the time her system scans dealt with shooting fire at a target while it rained on her.

"Well that was different." the purple haired Esper muttered. He gazed around him, looking back and forth over the mildly-intimidated, or in some cases, outright wigged out crowd, finding only a pair of familiar faces.

Tachibana, for one. Good Ol' Twintails-Half-a-Dye-Job certainly look too thrilled at volunteering, being part of the sizable crowd that was openly unnerved by how unhinged the scientist had just came across as. He didn't blame her. If a legitimately mad scientist decided to have fun with a Level 5 during testing...

Well, that shit certainly don't have a good track record, all I'm sayin' there.

As for the other esper who'd tailed him and Hat-chan, he couldn't get a solid read or even a solid look at yet.

But everything remained the same. Nobody wanted to take her up on her offer.

He smirked. Somebody'd have to bite the bullet eventually.

Can't wait around forever, y'know.

See, he was different. When the adrenaline got pumping, his fight-or-flight instincts rarely ever told him to fly, when he could fight.

The slight crowd in front of him parting before his advance, his eyes were as two purple lanterns, already firing up before the man himself even got started. As if the wake of a boat, ripples of murmured, hushed conversation followed him as all eyes fixated upon one grape-flavored mass of hair.

Two feet planted themselves upon the white line, as he looked straight back up at Kawashiro-sensei, thin line of the mouth splitting as his smirk evolved into a full-blown smile.

It might have almost been better, though, to describe it as showing his teeth.

"You're on, sensei."

Hat-chan ~ ハットちゃん

As a perfectly normal human being in a city full of the strangest and most unique adolescents in the entirety of East Asia, the teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" had imagined this semi-legendary "System Scan" to be something along the lines of an extrasensory arm-wrestling contest, full of honourable duels and drama that drove various Espers to surpass one another in search of that elusive "level-up". The reality however, was probably what she should have expected, yet the entrance of a big-breasted (and oh-so-very emphasised), silver-haired woman in revealing clothing and a labcoat only brought a sense of mild disappointment.

But that mad scientist laugh though! It was as if that woman was a villain from last year's anniversary sentai show brought to life to torment the students of this school! If the teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" had been disappointed by the relatively mundanity of a mad scientist in the city of mad scientists, then she wasn't showing it, instead leaning over the railings of the observation platform she (and any other normals) had occupied to watch the proceedings. Her body was revealed her obvious interest in what was going on; this was going to be the first time she would see this side of Academy City.

And Karasawa Shinjiro was already stepping up to the plate to play ball.

Underneath her aviator cap, the teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" allowed her eyes to sparkle as she gripped the cold steel railings tightly.

"Go get 'er, Kawahara-han!" she shouted, her Kansai-ben reverberating across the building.

And to her future disappointment, she had already forgotten the name of her first acquaintance.

A very distinct Kansai accent reverbed loudly and clearly above the errant chatter that had filled the air with what could have either been a worried hum of trepidation, or a buzz of excitement. Cutting through it either way, the girl known as Hat-chan had made her support of her newly-made friend loud and clear, quieting down the others in response.

With one very distinct slip-up.

A vein bulged in the former New-Yorker's forehead as he rounded in an almost comically whiplash manner in her direction, tense atmosphere in the building all but lost as his smile turned into an irate, frowny glare

"It's Karasawa!" he screamed back, clenching his fists and holding his arms as if he had two suitcases because you know the pose I'm talking about it's an anime. And so, even in following of a mad scientist met with a stiff challenge, wide-eyed excitement was met with an irate snarl.

As if all that cool stuff before hadn't happened.

Nakami

"Well, I suppose that's everybody then." Nakami said, rubbing the back of his head. He levered himself off the stage with a soft grunt and turned toward the nearest exit. "Everybody follow me then," He muttered, barely loud enough for his students to hear clearly, "Your testing grounds are this way."

He lead the way through the school's hallways in silence, eventually making his way to a large open field behind the school. Off in the distance, the sounds of the Esper System Scan could just be made out. Stopping at a random spot in the field, Nakami tapped his toe on the ground and nodded.

"Yeah, this is fine." He turned to his three students. "Since this is the first ever magic oriented System Scan, the school has left the details entirely up to me. I was hoping to have a little more to work with, but I'll make due." He pointed to Alistair. "You, boy. You utilize digitized versions of ancient spelltomes, correct? I understand the basics behind the tablets, what I want to see is how well you use them. Choose any spell you want and cast it away from the school. I want your full power, don't hold back."

Rebecca stood behind the grape, staring rather intently at his hair. She was the second in line for the system scan, and waited eagerly for them to finally begin. That, and to see how they would deal with an ability that, as far as Rebecca knew, only she had. There were others - Crystal, Orihime and Hare among others. Then there was Emmi, an esper with an ability called Oxy Climb, which allowed the users to climb any surface they touching with ease, almost like they were magnetised to it. They were best friends during Bleeding Star, and now she was gone; killed by Rebecca herself. A tear rolled down her cheek slightly as the memory came back for a third time this morning. Stupid! She couldn't let her emotions get the better of her, though now she did smell something burning. She tapped the grape on the shoulder and looked at him.
"Hello grapejuice. Eager to get the system scan over?" she asked, now suddenly confused why the grape felt so warm. Pyrokinesis? No, that couldn't be it. The AIM of Pyrokinetisists wasn't noticeable most of the time. So what? A new ability?!

Before the guy could answer her question or even introduce himself, Rebecca pulled out her phone - brushing past the gun - and dialling in the number for Sunless. If anyone knew what kind of ability this was, Sunless would know; she had a memory containing a detailed list of everything all esper abilities could do. She had even memorised some magical texts in case they would come in handy for later use. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. nothing. Sunless always answered her phone unless it was an emergency. It can't have been a gang attack because they would handle it easily unless... There were two reasons she could think of. 1) A Level 5 more powerful had attacked the base, or 2) Kakine had created another dragon in his sleep. Realising it was probably the latter, she returned to reality, dropped the phone in her bag next to the gun and continued to speak to Grapejuice.

"Yes sir, thats basically how it works. And ok, casting away."

So full power? If his math was right that'd be an overcharge spell that uses 98% of his battery all at once. It was a good thing he had stopped listening to the others and wasting his battery earlier, would have been embarrassing if he had to ask to wait for a bit to recharge. Ali' then walked a couple steps farther away from the school and took out his phone. He didn't want to spend too much time doting on what spell to cast so he just pressed a random one and maxed it out. He then stretched out his arm and pointed his arm directly towards the sky.

His phone let off some sparks and the screen cracked. He was never really meant to waste all of his battery in one go, and he never actually really experimented with his level casts. So he was actually a bit excited to what happened himself. So, as the sparks flew out the phone started to glow a bright yellow and suddenly, a great, thick, white thunderbolt flew into the sky. It branched off into multiple regular sized bolts, and each of the bolts branched off into smaller ones. However, it only lasted a flash. So those who weren't looking already would have missed out on the sight. Ali's phone then let off a low-power warning and shut itself off. He wouldn't be casting for a while.

The only thing that would have made Rebekah look more attentive was a notebook. Her ears had perked up as soon as the teacher called the first magician forward, particularly at the reference to his magic. Digitized spelltomes, that was what he said. Given that the student pulled out his phone a second later, that had to be how he accessed the spells. It reminded her of when she started trying to digitally produce necessary runes by printing saved files. The results hadn't been bad, but she was going to have to revisit the concept. Digitizing an entire spellbook, and being able to cast straight from it, would make the process so much more efficient. Vastly increase the number of spells she could use at a moment's notice, too. With all of them bound to just one device she could keep so many more of them on her person.

She pushed her extrapolations to the back of her mind as soon as the spell started. A massive bolt straight up, splitting continuously (chain lightning maybe?) into smaller bolts headed back towards the ground until dissipation. Given the amount of energy contained in a single bolt normally, it was safe to say that his spell on full power was potent. But was it one and done on full power? She couldn't change up the power ratings on her own spells very much, but she could manage two Faces and three Numbers before she started running low. If full power was a one-use-before-replenish, how many times could a spell normally be used?

Things to experiment with later, she decided. After she found a way to make spells work digitally. That was going to be a project all its own. And she didn't have time to worry about it now. If they were going by line order, she was probably next. She took her deck from her pocket casually, but inside she was so, so much more excited. She didn't get to have feedback on her experiments very often, and her deck was her very best.

Still, only the faintest hints of a smile broke through her concentration as she looked through the cards fanned out in her hand. Some of them were difficult to showcase. She couldn't really heal someone, break defenses, or block an attack. Ace of Clubs and Ace of Hearts were both too internal to count for much. Ace of Spades looked good, but she couldn't showcase its abilities very well. Forcing single combat didn't work, either.

Queen or King of Clubs it was, then.

Shinjiro Karasawa

"Haah?!" the esper snarled, looking back over his shoulder at the hand that was so arrogant as to tap on his shoulder-- couldn't they see he was in the middle of something here? And they had the nerve to throw shade about his hair when there was somebody even more ridiculous in the crowd, hell, even worse shades of purple?

"You deaf?! I just sai--"

He stopped himself short in disbelief as the other Esper (who'd asked him about Twintails earlier, he realized) had apparently decided that she, too, was in the middle of something, whipping out her phone and attempting to call somebody, even as he spluttered.

She soon realized that you got basically no signal down here.

"You done?"

Dropping her phone back into her purse, her expectant look towards him was enough to confirm that she was indeed done.

"My name ain't Grape Juice, lady, it's Karasawa! Karasawa Shinjiro! It's not hard to say, people!" he declared to the crowd, in that Japanese family-name-first-given-name-last manner.

Nakami

Nakami closed his eyes for a moment after the demonstration, seeming deep in thought. When he opened them again, he nodded.

"Very well. You have power and versitility, but it seems you cannot display your full strength without sacrificing the medium. We'll have to work on your stability over the year. Also, a magician should have abackup, in case we're disarmed in the field. Overall, your ranking is 'wizard', the equivalent of level 3"

Turning back to the others, Nakami nodded at Rebekah. "You seem ready. Show me what you have."

Hat-chan ~ ハットちゃん

The headwear-adorned teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" could only shoot a sheepish grin at the other teenager, clearly feeling a bit embarrassed by her mistaken use of her purple-haired acquaintance's name. Despite having done her best to remember it correctly (by having repeated it as many times as she could realistically have done so during their short conversations), the wrong moniker had still emerged from her vocal cords during her attempt at cheering for Karasawa Shinjiro's success. She endeavoured to correct any further issues she possessed in the future.

"Sorry, Kara-han!" she called to the Esper known now to her as Karasawa Shinjiro apologetically. "I will endeavour to remember it in the future, Karasawa Shinjiro!"

She needed to ensure that there would be no future corrections.

Karasawa Shinjiro definitely wasn't somebody who liked people getting their name wrong.