Summary

In the midst of the chaos of people being born with magic, a few towns emerged due to the efforts of freedom fighters - people determined to protect Gifted children from being conscripted like their predecessors, an oddity in a world where tensions between Gifted and Non-Gifted peoples were high. Normally, these towns were closely correlated with the acts of the Resistance and sometimes the Dragon's Fang, sometimes helping to hide their existence, or at least the existence of the Gifted that resided in them.

Kei belonged to one of these towns - a quaint town called Ivywood - but the people there could not protect him or his family from becoming conscripted. Born the youngest son to a family of Gifted shopkeepers, Kei lived a normal childhood, becoming particularly fast friends with Kura despite being the town prankster. However, his family's specialty was in disguising themselves in Non-Gifted cities to obtain goods, a dangerous task that eventually led to them being captured by Academy Officers when he was 12. Kei managed to escape unseen as his parents distracted the officers, but the damage had been done. Worried that the capture of his family meant the Academy could inch closer to their hidden town, some of the more vocal townspeople of Ivywood believed that they had led themselves to their own fates, making healing difficult for Kei, despite being taken in by Kura's adoptive family.

One year later, another misfortune struck Kei when he and Kura went into the outskirts of the forest on a dare. Kura had bumbled ahead of him, unaware of the Academy Officers patrolling. On instinct, Kei pushed her out of the way and let himself get captured ahead, which marked his conscription at the Academy. Worse still, Kei was not treated as one of their regular recruits - mistaken for having an ability in strength through his high win rate in single combat, the head commander of the organization, Elise, took specific interest in him. Though initially disobedient, Kei was forced to change quickly when he learned Elise was a Gifted with mind control abilities herself, and further still, that she had subjected his former family to this as one of her experiments. Powerless to do anything, Kei let the Academy shape him into the warrior they wanted him to be. In the matter of years, Kei’s cheerfulness dwindled. He grew as cold as any other soldier, forced to fight, and resigned himself to his fate.

Today, Kei remains one of the Academy's most treasured tools, having been promoted to the rank of Academy Officer: in other words, one of Elise's underlings. He has grown bitter about the world in his constant search for some kind of escape. At the same time, he has also realized a crucial fact: his Gift was never one of strength, but misfortune. Wherever he goes, trouble follows, and that is more than incentive enough to keep his mouth shut.