"Alright everyone... Let's just enjoy the fireworks and the dance afterwards..." Art could only say weakly.

A chorus of cold humphs sounded out.

Art shook his head and went to stand next to Soran, not too close, but not too far, leaving an ambiguous note to the intimacy of their relationship...

Soran smiled helplessly at Art's behavior, knowing he meant to punish him for having taken liberties with his person when he licked the chocolate off his lip earlier.

With advances in technology, in conjunction with the use of a small amount of magic, fireworks no longer produced the typical large booming sounds nor the smoke they used to. Instead, bursts of dazzling color exploded throughout the sky with only a small amount of noise, setting the backdrop of the mountains afire with vivid colors... Red... Blue... Green... Gold... And of course, a great deal of silver... The academy had spared no expense in their opening celebration.

The students in the valley watched the spectacular show of colors in the sky entranced, bursts of color reflecting in their glossy eyes. A few scattered exclamations were made in appreciation of the fireworks.

Finally, the spectacle drew to a close with a breathtaking volley of fireworks in quick succession, sometimes more than 5 shooting up into the sky at once. The very last volley reached over ten fireworks shot up at once, forming the crude outline of a dragon in flight with shimmering silver light, similar to the one Art had shot up at the beginning.

Resounding cheers rang out from the crowd of students, stopping only when a burst of music suddenly sounded. Hidden speakers had been placed around the valley, and the headmaster had added an amplification spell, allowing the sound to clearly reach the whole valley. Attendants suddenly appeared, setting up tables with refreshments in various corners. Art returned to the platform, and during a lull in the music shouted out, "Everyone, please enjoy the dance for as long as you wish! Refreshments have been set up around the valley, so let's enjoy this night as one that marks the start of one of the greatest times of our lives!"

The music sprang back up, playing a lively pop tune that had most students unable to resist from moving along with it, no matter how shy they were. Art pushed his way back towards Soran, avoiding the majority of the hands reaching out to grasp his own to dance. Those he couldn't, he would briefly dance with before excusing himself. An almost mob-like situation was created as men and women alike chased after his fluttering robes.

Soran eyes darkened as he noticed his Art smiling politely as he danced with other students. At times, his melodious laughter sounded out when one of his partners said something amusing.

In this age, homosexuality had become widely accepted. Although still not as common as heterosexuality, society had no qualms about the sexual orientations of people, with many people having at least experimented with both sexes.

As such, Soran didn't hesitate to abandon the happily dancing Lydia and rush over to claim Art's tender hands in his own, a strong feeling of possessive jealousy rising up within him when he saw Art dancing with anyone else.

Art was reaching out to take the hands of a well-dressed, rather attractive male student with brown hair and brown eyes when suddenly a large form appeared in front him, and warm, strong hands gripped tightly onto his own. Art gasped as Soran pulled him into his embrace, hugging him close to his chest.

"You're only allowed to dance with me. You can't touch anyone else so closely" Soran quietly insisted.

Art turned away with a humph, trying vainly to break away from Soran's chest. Soran merely tightened his grip, his strong arms crushing Art's slender form to his muscular chest.

Pushing down the desire to simply nuzzle into that warm embrace for all eternity, Art decided it was time to teach Soran a lesson about what happened to those who tried to take advantage of him. Although he may be weaker physically, he had other ways of subduing Soran.

Soran suddenly felt a stream of cold energy enter his body. He couldn't resist it at all, even though it was in his own body, the strength of the mana entering his body was simply irresistible. Soren's muscles stiffened as he lost control of his limbs. Art pushed down Soran's arms and forced his leg in between Soran's thighs, pressing his whole into Soran's. Soran could only stumble back gracelessly, relying on Art's grip to keep his balance as he began to circulate fire essence inside his body to regain control.

And so Art and Soran's dance turned into a bizarre, extremely intimate, subtle battle for dominance that left the onlooking students dazed, many with drool running down their mouths as they watched the steamy scene of two peerlessly attractive yet polar opposite men closely dancing with each other.

Lydia and Kane looked on with hearts burning in jealousy, while Youran had somehow formed a cheering fan group with Jake and Martin and a number of other students.

Art and Soran continued their odd dance for a while, neither able to gain the complete upper hand. Although Soran managed to recover somewhat from Art's cold energy, he wasn't able to completely expel it from his body and subdue Art, who conversely was not quite strong enough physically to subdue Soran entirely.

After a long struggle, which left both their own, and the surrounding students' bodies tingling, Art and Soran finally separated, breathing deeply. Turbulent emotions swirled in both their eyes as they gazed passionately at each other.

Art suddenly noticed the surrounding audience when a soft thump sounded from a student falling to the ground, her trembling knees unable to bear the stimulation of the seductive scene of the two men dancing and gazing at each other with such emotion. Blushing, he looked away from Soran and cleared his throat awkwardly. Shooting a 'this isn't finished look at Soran,' he escaped the ring of students using blink once again. This time he returned to his cavern dwelling and slipped into the cold pool of water looking out over the school, hoping to calm his racing heart.

Soran sighed, and thought to himself that he really needed to find a way to stop Art's blink technique that he seemed to use to escape any unfavorable situation, before he too retired from the dance.