Saito's Point:

"Are you sure you're not going to screw up again?" Guiche teased. "I mean, we wouldn't want you to blow up your own familiar the second it showed up."

"Oh come on," I complained, "I only blew up the desk, not the entire room."

"This time." Malicorne kept taunting, "Last week you blew up the tree you were supposed to make grow fruit."

"Fine, I'm not any good with earth magic, are you two happy?" I said, trying to get off the subject. Unfortunately, this only added fuel to the flame.

"Are you sure it's only earth magic? Remember that time we were supposed to make it rain over the flowerbeds? You ended up burning the flowers down with lightning!" Guiche reminded me.

"Or when we got to practice with fire magic, don't forget that he barely got a spark." Malicorne added.

"And then there was the time we had to assist the birds with the air current. The girls will never forgive you for that!" Guiche ended with both him and Malicorne laughing. I was bright red from rage, I could feel it.

"I'll show you two! I'll summon the most terrifying thing to ever have roamed Halkeginia! You two won't be laughing after I get it to listen to only me!" In all honesty, I didn't even know what I was saying anymore, it was all just rolling out. So before I could dig myself a deeper grave, I ran back to my room. How were those two my best friends again?

"We'll see you tomorrow at the summoning field then!" Guiche called after me.

"Saito the Zero!"

…

GAH! They were right! I wasn't skilled in any of the four elements. Every time I tried to make something, anything, work, it blew up right in my face. And the times I was supposed to be destructive, it petered out on me. It was infuriating!

Me, Saito Hiraga, third child of the Noble Hiraga Family, known for excellent warriors and mages, unable to be proficient at either. My older brother, Shin, had chosen to be of service to the crown, and was now a lead general of the army. My sister, Katra, had shown proficiency in fire, water, and earth magic, so she decided to dedicate her time to master air magic, on the side attending to any medical emergencies of nobles and commoners alike.

This was my second year here at the academy, but even this year was tentative. If I didn't show my parents any progress by the time this semester was over, my time here, and probably as a Hiraga, would be over.

I fretted all night over how my own incantation for the best familiar to be summoned would come forth from, but I couldn't decide. None of the things I tried in my head sounded right. Finally, I just gave up and threw myself into bed and fell asleep.

…

The next morning wasn't any better than last night. We were all supposed to have our summons done by noon so we could break for lunch. Many in my year got to the field and got it done right off the bat. Guiche summoned up a mole, and immediately fell in love with it. Malicorne summoned a decent looking owl, and given both of their rotund bodies, would make great friends. Heck, Tabitha, who never talked to anyone was able to summon a dragon. The Germanian Kirche Zerbst got a huge fire salamander for her efforts, and for the life of me, I wasn't surprised. Everyone was about done, except for me.

"All right, is everyone done with their summoning?" Mr. Colbert asked when creatures stopped popping up from everywhere.

"This guy still hasn't even attempted his summoning!" Guiche announced, throwing his arm around me.

"So that's why there isn't a crater in the middle of the field yet." Kirche said as she was playing with her salamander. This got everyone to start laughing at me.

"Shut up! I just wanted everyone to see what I summoned!" I said with more confidence than I was feeling. Everyone quieted down as I got into position for my summoning, and I had no idea what I was going to say, so I winged it.

"Oh forces of the stars, grant upon this humble servant the familiar that shall help guide him upon his path of life. So be said by Saito Hiraga!" I finished, and nothing happened. All was silent for a good five minutes. I sunk to my knees, this was it, this was the universe saying that I didn't belong here. Tears of rage started swelling in my eyes.

"Hey, Saito," Guiche said starting to step toward me, "this isn't the end of the world, maybe you can…"

But I wasn't listening anymore. My rage had built to a climax and I finally stabbed my wand into the soft ground.

That did it. As soon as my wand had sunk all the way down to the hilt, a circle with the five pointed star of magic transcribed within it sprang from it with the top point spreading from my wand. There was a loud whistling as a whirlwind built up inside the circle, and then the inevitable explosion happened.

I got a face full of smoke, but didn't move because I still held tightly onto my wand. After I had hacked enough smoke out of my face, I drew my wand out of the ground and tried to peer through the dense smoke to see what I had just summoned.

Or should I say who I summoned. I heard a small girl's coughing in front of me. She had to be what I had summoned, because the rest of the girls from my class were all behind me. I walked cautiously over to where I heard the coughing and found a small, pink haired girl in a weird sort of blue shirt that had a hood and long, slender sleeves. She was also wearing a black skirt that came down to her knees, while wearing some sort of shoe that I had never seen before.

Before I could ask her her name, she opened her eyes, and I stopped right where I was. Her eyes were just as pink as her hair, but that wasn't why I stopped. The expression they gave, gave me a sense of fear, anger, and pride, all at the same time. And it was all directed at me.

"H-Hi, my name's Saito Hiraga, what would yours be?" I asked as I approached her.

She looked a bit confused, but then said "Louise Vallere."

"Well, that is a very nice, and might I add beautiful name. But I am afraid I must apologize for what I am about to do." I said, and before Louise could react, I swooped in and kissed her.

I didn't think the first human I was going to kiss would be one I summoned, but there I was. Unfortunately, the smoke decided to clear away just then, showing me kissing a strange girl. I heard wolf whistles from many of the guys, and feel the searing heat of anger from the women. Or was it?

I pulled away from Louise and placed my hand on her head, she was burning up! Not only that, she seemed to be in pain. I then realized that she was gripping at her left hand, where a light was shining out of it. It was all over in a matter of seconds, but it must have really hurt, because by the time it was over, she slumped unconscious into me.

"Well I'll be," Guiche finally said, "Saito, the guy who couldn't perform a single spell correctly, summoned a cute girl as a familiar, way to go buddy!"

"Not now Guiche." I said, still preoccupied with the unconscious girl before me. She was so small compared to me, about a head and a half, she felt so light to lift. I saw a maid hurrying by with a basket of sheets, so I called out for her to come over. As she came over to me, I inquired "Can you bring a cot to my room please? It's in the leftmost tower, fourth floor, last door on the left."

"Of course sir, I'll bring it as soon as I can." She said as she was returning to the basket.

"Thank you Miss, um…"

"Siesta sir."

"Thank you very much Miss Siesta."

"What do you need a cot for?" Guiche asked as I started to head to my room.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm not going to let a woman sleep on a bed of hay, that would just be inhuman. No, she's taking the bed."