Chapter 1: I am a Familiar

I am a Familiar is the first chapter of the Zero No Tsukaima Manga and the first chapter of Volume 1. It was published on June 27th, 2009 in Monthly Comic Alive. It covers the events of Saito's summoning and his first meeting with Louise.

Synopsis
After a long day of school, Hiraga Saito heads to cram school while he drones about his boring life. Suddenly, he sees a magical circle appear in the middle of the road. Stoked, Saito carelessly touched it and got transported to a black void, circle closing behind him.

In the magical world of Halkeginia, the school prepares for the Springtime summoning ritual. The day begins and a scene plays of a student, Montmorency, summoning her familiar, Robin. Jean Colbert, the professor overseeing proceedings, calls the final student, Louise de la Vallière, or better known by the students as Louise the Zero. Louise chants the spell and one of her infamous explosions rears its ugly head. Instead of failure however, Louise summoned something, a boy.

Louise interrogates the boy, who calls himself Saito. Before they can communicate more though, the crowd starts to laugh. Louise claims the summon to be a mistake and says she will retry. Colbert denies the possibility on grounds of holiness. Louise then completes the contract with Saito by kissing him. This causes runes to form on his left hand. After Colbert inspects them, Kirche introduces herself to Saito.

The students then returned to their dorms for the day. In Louise's dorm though the pair have a conversation on magic and the summoning ritual, after that Louise undresses and tells Saito to wash her clothes, much to his embarrassment.