Article 13: Trophy Case
MSF High has sports teams, debate teams, science teams, and pretty much any sort of team you could dream up, but what it does not have is contemporaries. As near as we can tell, there are no other transdimensional subspace rift-based educational facilities with both students and teachers plucked from disparate parts of the spacetime continuum. When students play championship matches, it's generally against magically-constructed doppelgangers of the last year's winning team. It's for that reason that it may seem a little odd that the school has a trophy case, yet against all common sense, there it is, near the end of the center hallway, proudly displaying a number of items.
I suppose, though, it's for that very reason that the trophy case isn't full of little statuettes or plaques. Instead, its contents vary from week to week, but cycle through swords, shields, arcane books, devices, strange glowing pendants, helmets, gloves, boots, or any number of items, generally pieces of equipment used by one or more of the students presently attending. While it would certainly seem strange to a layperson that a trophy case would be filled with such an eclectic selection of things, when one understands the school itself and its purpose, the case begins to make much more sense.
MSF High is, at its core, a place where students are taught to be heroes. While this entails becoming stronger in various areas of physical, mental, social, and magical training, some of the core components of heroism can't really be taught. However, none of the students would be there if they didn't have the potential within them, and it's a somewhat common occurrence that a student will show this through an act of extreme heroism. Usually, a teacher or other staff member will reward these acts by giving out tokens of appreciation (which are literal coins but have a myriad of potential uses), but when they feel that that's not enough, they will ask for a single item carried during whatever it was they did to be displayed in the trophy case for two weeks. Generally, what goes in is determined by the student in question, though suggestions are offered by the staff members as to what contributed the most during the feat of bravery.
Once in the case, anyone who visits the school will be able to view it. Moreover, the staff member that submitted it to the case will have also added information about how it got there, on a holographically-projected description accessible by touching the trophy case glass in front of the item. If video, audio, or still image evidence of the event exists, it will often play with the description. Having an item in the trophy case can be a source of pride for anyone who manages to get something in there, but there's a better reason than that to want to earn the honor.
While all items offered by students remain in the case for a period of exactly two weeks, there is one thing in there that has remained there almost perpetually through the school's lifetime. That item is Lady Sakura's Fuku. At first glance, it appears to be simply a teenage human's school uniform in an early 90s altearthean Japanese style, but anyone with the ability to measure or observe magical auras can easily see why it's considered so important that the school itself--and to a degree, the surrounding Mahou City, takes its name from the Magical Sailor Fuku. It absolutely exudes magical energy, and it was allegedly worn by Sakura during her own time as a hero, having saved her homeworld countless time from unthinkable evils. Among a number of other abilities, the Fuku possesses the power to unlock its wearer's true potential. It's rumored that research of this ability has led to the creation of the magical clothing most students at MSF High utilize.
Of course, there's an obvious question one would ask upon learning of this. If we have such a ridiculously powerful artifact, why don't we use it? Shadow attacks have become more frequent, and a senior student or teacher wearing this could be a considerable help in fighting them off. As usual, it's not that simple. Removing the Fuku from the case is strictly against the school's rules, and while we've never gotten a complete answer why, some suspect that whatever it is Sakura's doing in her office, she needs her Fuku to be nearby so that she can utilize its power. Moreover, it has a more obvious and helpful use being inside the case, specifically because of the other items around it.
I've not studied it long enough, but it seems that the ability to unlock potential that the Fuku possesses isn't limited to a person that wears it while they're wearing it. It's not out of the question that all students in the school are benefiting from a passive effect that helps them to learn faster, and the items within the magically-shielded trophy case seem to get an extra dose of could-be energy. Students report that the items they've left in the case are stronger after they get them out. Swords cut better, spellbooks are easier to read and may have a couple of previously-unknown spells in them, and technological devices seem more efficient. The nature of the improvements always seem related to the feat accomplished with it, as well. The armor worn while jumping through flames to save a basket of kittens might take on a more permanently scorched look, but it will maintain a permanent resistance to fire and a slight smell of catnip that will lead nekos to treat you more favorably. The changes are often so subtle as to be unnoticeable on cursory inspection, but again, magical analysis before and after its stay in the case bears out the numbers showing its improvement. In addition, the effect seems to be more pronounced the sooner after being used it's put in the case. It's for this reason that I believe it's fair to assume that the item needs something that I wouldn't call a spark of heroism, but rather the magical ember of a heroic act. Simply putting in a new, unused item would likely not result in any changes.
If you want to see what even the earlier-year students are capable of doing and regain some hope for the future of the galaxy, it would be in your best interest to check out this case. Every item will have its own story, and there's more of them than I could possibly list off in such a short article. Sometimes, you simply have to see it to fully appreciate it, and this is one of those times.
