Mei has always been lucky. She finds a 100円 coin in the vending machine coin return. She gets exactly what she was hoping for out of the gashapon machine. If a mal has a choice between her and another kid, it'll go for the other kid.

She's never been great at academics. She's not much one for math, and doesn't have the attention span for reading. She speaks native Japanese with an elegant Kyoto lilt, fluent Mandarin with an awkward Kyoto lilt, and fragmented English with a thick Kyoto lilt. But she is a top athlete - brilliant at acrobatics, solid at kendo and archery, good at combat casting. And she's lucky. So she gets to go to the Scholomance, and she'll be the bodyguard for the other Kyoto enclave kids.

She slings her bag over her shoulder, waves goodbye to her parents and tells them "Ittekimasu!" with firm conviction.

"Itterasshai!" they call to her in response, and then she's pulled out of reality. It feels like flying.