The night was calm, an unusual serenity hanging over the campus of the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College. Most of the students had gone to rest after their long day of training and lessons, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that something still lingered in the air.

You had been working late in the library, finishing up your assignments, when you noticed Utahime Iori, one of the teachers, walking quietly through the hallway. The usual warmth in her gaze was replaced with a contemplative, distant look. She rarely showed signs of weakness, but tonight there was something different about her—a hint of weariness, perhaps, or something deeper.

Curious, you decided to approach her, quietly slipping out of the library and into the dim hallway where she stood by a window, gazing out at the moonlit campus.