Fuwa Aika might be dead, but that doesn't stop her from meddling. Takigawa Yoshino might not be the Magician of Exodus, but in the absence of a proper magician, even a reluctant con artist will do.
-.-.-
Takigawa Yoshino
-.-.-
The summer heat is thick, nearing the point of it being absolutely unbearable. Few things are farther from Yoshino's mind though, because Aika is on top of him and she's wearing a summer dress. She had been wearing a wide-brimmed summer hat as well, but that lies on the ground now, and right next to it is‒
Aika leans forward, her long hair forming a curtain that obscures the rest of the world from him. In the moment that follows, time slows to a halt. Everything there is in that sunflower field beyond the two of them momentarily cease to exist; the heat, the overturned bike, the sunflowers, and the decapitated serpent immediately to his left.
The coppery smell of blood in his nostrils remains, but his mind is quiet now, silenced by a pair of lips that are softer than he would ever have dared to imagine. Occupied with that, he hardly even notices as the bloodied dagger buried in the ground dissolves into thin air, from which Aika had called it forth.
The moment ends far too quickly though.
She withdraws, the nearing calls of Mahiro reaching them both.
No words are exchanged; Aika just puts her index finger to his lips and smiles.
-.-.-
Even now, there are times when he startles awake, having slipped off into a daze. It happens only when he is alone though, left alone with his thoughts; his regrets.
"People like him can lie with a straight face." Such had been Aika's words about him to Mahiro.
"You and Aika didn't even like each other." Such had been Mahiro's words to him, conveying his impression of the situation.
And Yoshino, Yoshino had smiled, a tad sheepishly perhaps, but smile he had, because even now, the tears would not come. Even now, he keeps his secrets; their secret, to be exact. Perhaps it is due to cowardice on his part? It really depends on how one sees it. However, fact remains that it changes nothing; he has already lost Aika, and telling Mahiro now won't do him any favours either.
"It is not nor can it come to good, but break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue," he mumbles under his breath, bending down to put on his shoes.
Aika used to quote Shakespeare as well, Hamlet in particular. Yoshino used to disapprove of it, yet now he is the one doing it. He even leaves school early; his mind is much too far gone to deal with coursework today. His grades might end up suffering, yes, but at least Yoshino is spared from suffering yet another afternoon keeping himself occupied now that Mahiro is no longer around to distract him.
There won't be anyone at home anyway. As usual, his parents are in the next town over, working, so there is no immediate problem on that front. Of course, that is not to say that there isn't any. In regards to problems however, Yoshino finds himself facing another, decidedly more immediate one.
Those delinquent upperclassmen are at it again. Now that Mahiro isn't around to have his back, Yoshino counts as easy prey in their eyes. Granted, though Yoshino certainly has no habit of instigating fights, he is by no means a pushover. However, fact remains that he is outnumbered. With Mahiro there, he could certainly have done it, but Mahiro is‒
"Not so cocky without Fuwa here, are ya?!"
Truth to be told, Yoshino is seldom cocky; that had been more of Mahiro's territory, to be completely honest.
"That's a nice necklace you've got there, huh? Did your girlfriend give it to you?"
Reflexively, Yoshino finds his hand enclosing around it. "And if it is?"
"Fork it over, dweeb. It looks sellable."
"We're running out of pocket money, you see," another added with a leer, moving so that they were effectively caging him in. "You wouldn't mind making a contribution, would you?"
Had they aimed for his wallet, then Yoshino might have backed down to save himself from unwarranted injury. If they want the necklace however, then they would have to pry it from him. It is highly illogical to be willing to go so far for a mere piece of jewellery. It is however also illogical to at one moment clutch the pendant harbouring such an intense wish to protect it and find it protecting him in the next.
"What the Hell?!" Stuttering voices of disbelief, feet stumbling. "What the heck is this?!"
Yoshino looks up. A semi-transparent shield glowing a soft blue stands between him and the delinquents.
-.-.-
"How?"
He has since long recovered his breath, but remains strangely breathless even so. Aika braids her fingers behind her back, balancing precociously on the railing. "How?" she repeats, almost mockingly. "Are you so feebleminded that you cannot even recognise magic when you see it?"
"Magic?"
Aika turns her head, regarding him out of the corner of her eye. "That's right."
"How?"
Jumping down onto solid ground, she turns to face him. "I was born like this."
"Are there more people like you?"
She looks positively offended at that. "There's no one like me," she snorts, adjusting her sunhat. "There are other magicians, a few, but there's no one like me. I am a proud singularity."
"That's a decidedly strange way of putting it, Aika-chan."
She regards him coolly in return. "I won't teach you."
He hadn't been asking. Still‒ "Why not?"
"Normal humans cannot learn magic," Aika states. "Which is not to say that they cannot use it," she remedies, looking a tad annoyed at herself. "Some magicians can imbue an object with power, making a talisman that can be used for casting spells."
Yoshino finds himself frowning. "How does that work?"
"Who knows?" She shrugs. "My magic is inherently destructive, so I have no need for them."
No need, huh?
"But‒" she remedies after a while, looking skywards. "In my experience‒"
-.-.-
When Yoshino arrives back home, he is out of breath. It takes him a while to unlock the front door; his hands are simply shaking too much. Once inside however, the trembles gradually subside, and after removing his shoes, Yoshino simply sits there on the steps, staring down at the pendant in his hands.
The shock of Aika's death had made him forget a whole lot of things. Well, truth to be told, he had not forgotten them as much as he had come to disregard them; come to disregard them for fear of widening the screaming void within him. After all, the Aika he knew was not only irreplaceable but also strong; she had had magic and‒
-.-.-
"Aika-chan? Wasn't it tomorrow?"
Aika is standing on his doorstep, her cheeks somewhat rosy; she had been running. "I couldn't wait that long," she declares, and before Yoshino can even react, she has captured one of his wrists, dragging it towards her. She places a pendant attached to a thin chain in his palm, curling his fingers around it.
"Aika-chan, what is‒?"
She silences him with a peck on the lips. "Think of it as a good luck charm." She is already halfway out the door by then, when she pauses and turns. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow," she says. "If you stand me up again, then I'll never forgive you," she says.
Her smile, genuine yet strangely off, haunts him for the months to come, both the starting and the ending point of a dozen reoccurring nightmares.
-.-.-
‒It really doesn't make any sense. Aika had said so herself, hadn't she? Her magic was inherently destructive; Aika had said so. Besides, Yoshino would never forget the feel and the colour of it, and it was far cry from the earlier blue; it was decidedly closer to hot crimson. It really couldn't be Aika's, but if so, then whose magic had Yoshino just‒?
No. He aborts the thought, because it doesn't matter. Aika is long dead; that is fact, and there is nothing that Yoshino could ever do to change it, right?
Yoshino swiftly banishes the thought, stepping farther into the house. As he enters the kitchen, he notices his parents have graciously left behind some salad for him. It may not be the tastiest thing Yoshino knows, but as Yoshino is in no mood to cook for himself, he will simply have to make do with it. He also puts on the news channel, feebly hoping it will serve as a proper distraction from earlier thoughts.
"‒The Defence Force's recent large-scale drill simulated the protection of remote islands‒" is all Yoshino catches before he is distracted by the sound of an incoming text message. Holding the fork in one hand, he takes the phone in the other, looking at the display. A moment thereafter, the fork is sent clattering down onto the plate. Yoshino scarcely even notices, completely enraptured by the seeming identity of the sender.
Of course, in the next moment, his more rational self snatches back control from the part of him that has stubbornly been clinging to hopes of the impossible. Yoshino brings the message up onto the screen, narrowing his eyes slightly as he makes out the text. "But, that's‒"
Impossible. Someone else had to be using her phone. If so, then why now and why text him of all people though? It couldn't very well be Mahiro after all, because if Mahiro had known, then he would've‒ Besides, with Aika being Aika, she had no doubt been meticulous about erasing all traces of their‒
The phone buzzes anew. Yoshino's mind goes blank. Instantly forgetting all about his lunch, he frantically presses the buttons in order to bring up the newest text message on screen, reading it with no slight amount of disbelief.
Then, before he knows it, he is already on his feet. His rational self knows it's impossible. Still‒
-.-.-
"How long do you intend to keep me waiting, Yoshino-san?"
-.-.-