Chapter 01
Fate/Eternity's Wind: -68d, 12h, 44m
Geography, Sendai Senior High School, Sendai, Japan
"Miss Kobayashi!" the teacher's voice snapped like a whip.
Masumi froze - she had been caught and that there would be no way she could wiggle her way out of this one.
"Miss Kobayashi, I'm sure whatever it is you have to talk about is very important, much more than my lessons."
"I just-"
"No, no, please, I was only trying to teach the class the fundamentals of your next exam topic. I do hope you'll forgive me for interrupting your chit-chat."
"It's-"
"Hush now, Miss Kobayashi. I completely understand. In fact, just to make sure my lessons don't interrupt your ever-so-important conversation again, please, why don't you take the buckets outside until the lesson is over."
Masumi held her head in her hands and groaned a little, catching the faint sound of stifled laughter from a few kids. She wasn't the only person in the conversation, why should she be singled out and punished?
"Now, Miss Kobayashi." The teacher's stern gaze bored through her.
Fate/Eternity's Wind: -68d, 12h, 36m
Halls, Sendai Senior High School, Sendai, Japan
Masumi's shoulders were on fire, burning almost as intensely as the rose of her cheeks. It was the first time she had been punished in such a way; she wasn't a weak girl, kendo club in her youth and tennis club had seen to that, but she had to wait for another fifteen minutes before the lesson finished. 'It's easy to underestimate how much a bucket of water weighs when you weren't holding one,' she thought to herself.
Footsteps echoed through the halls and someone rounded the corner, walking alone with a confident pace. The familiar, messy tussle of purple hair and self-assuredness couldn't be mistaken for anyone else - Masumi's face turned bright red and she looked away, hoping he would be too engrossed in his book to notice her.
"Masumi?"
It was hopeless - she'd been spotted. Flush with embarrassment, she looked over at him with the best smile she could come up with. "Hi Yuki."
Yuki grinned back at her. "I thought it was you. What'd you do to get sent out here?"
"It doesn't matter...hey, Yuki, aren't you supposed to be in class right now?"
He groaned and rolled his eyes at the prospect. Matou Yuki was the elder brother of two sent to Sendai to study; he was an exemplary student, and if Masumi dared say so, a very handsome one at that. Two months earlier he had asked her out, and they had been involved in a slow but steady relationship since - being seen like this in front of him was exceptionally embarrassing to say the least.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Well, I figured I've been doing so well, I can afford to take a break. Something important came up, I need to head home."
"Home?" Masumi asked.
"Yeah, don't worry, it's no big deal." He smiled at her and waved his hand.
She opened her mouth to say something, but it was quickly forgotten at the sight of his hand. It was wrapped in bandages quite tightly, extending up and into the sleeve of his shirt. It didn't take more than a moment for him to notice her stare, and he held the hand defensively. "Hey, don't look at me like that, jeez!"
"What happened?!" she blurted out in panic.
"Shh, do you want your teacher to hear you?" Yuki put a finger to his lips. "It's fine, I just dropped a book on my hand and bruised it. I need to get going now, see you later, okay?"
"Yeah, fine..." she muttered as he left.
The remaining minutes of her punishment were torture, and just as she thought her arms would give out, the bell finally rang indicating the end of class - and of the school day. The door of the classroom opened suddenly as students began to pour out, eager to make their way home. Sighing in relief, she set the buckets down the bucket inside the classroom. Mr. Suzuki was sitting at his desk, and hardly paid any attention to her as she returned the objects of her punishment. Taking her chance, she slipped out and rejoined the crowds of departing students.
Two flights of stairs and a few hallways later, she emerged into the warm afternoon sunshine just in time for two people to drape themselves over her. It only took a glance to recognize them as Takenaka Genki and Mori Ayane, the big strapping boy and his girlfriend. Together the three of them had been making trouble for years, but now everything was changing entirely.
"So?" Ayane hinted.
"You promised, Masumi. Today's the day." Genki grinned.
"I did, didn't I?" She sighed. "Well, okay...I guess there's no getting around it. Are you sure you're up to it?"
"Are you kidding me? I've been up for this my whole life. Come on, Masumi, I want to see magic! You said you would!" Genki pouted.
"Shhh!" she clapped a hand over his mouth, then looked sternly at the both of them. "No one is supposed to know, remember? It took me all year just to work up the courage to tell you, after I found out, and I get the feeling I'll be in trouble if someone finds out I blabbed."
It was Ayane's turn to pout. "We won't tell anyone, we promise, but let's go already!"
Fate/Eternity's Wind: -68d, 12h, 36m
Kobayashi Mansion, Sendai, Japan
Both stared expectantly at her, like puppies waiting for their well-deserved treats. After a bit of hesitation, she sighed and her shoulders sagged in resignation. The ride through the city was pleasant despite traffic - Masumi's house was hard to find if you didn't know exactly what you were looking for, something which she took a great deal of pride in. Genki and Ayane had been before, of course, but now they expected much more than just a simple weekend sleepover.
"Oooh, it's creepy now..." Genki laughed as they approached.
"I know, like a haunted mansion. Have you ever seen any ghosts, Masumi?"
"No, I've never seen any ghosts. They probably don't even exist." She sighed in exasperation. "This is going to be a very long weekend, isn't it?"
The door to the house swung open as she approached it - a relatively simple charm, but one she had put in place to bypass her issue of frequently forgotten keys. It had been good practice, and since her Magic Circuits had been opened the rate at which she had picked up new Magecraft was impressive enough to her. The old mansion welcomed the trio in like a warm mother; its lights sparked with a blue glow as the magic she had infused into them activated, before the comforting orange warmth filled the house as expected. She could see the awe in her friends' faces as they watched, and the shock that came as the door closed behind them only pleased her.
"It's like I said, guys. Real magic, not just kids' stuff. Come on, I'll show you to the basement."
"What's in the basement?" Ayane looked curious.
Masumi waved her hand dismissively as she led them there. "You'll see."
The cellar was already well-lit for them as they entered it, filled with old wine racks and nothing of particular interest. Placing her hand on the brick behind an empty wine rack, she pressed in and focused her prana, forcing it to channel into the rock. A soft grinding noise echoed throughout the cellar as the secret passage opened up, revealing the treasure trove hiding within. Shelves filled with old books became illuminated by the faint glow spilling in from the cellar, along with sparkling finely-cut gems and a variety of dusty old boxes and strange objects.
"This looks totally freaky..." Genki grinned. "You're like a witch or something, hiding in your secret lair."
"Witches don't hide in secret lairs..." Masumi sniffed disdainfully. "But I guess this is what you could call secret, just not really a lair. It looks like my parents stored all of the magical knowledge they had here, passing it down to me. They probably intended to show it to me when I had grown up a little more..."
Neither friend replied to her as she trailed off, remembering the parents she had never gotten to know. She watched as they marvelled at the books and the collection of antiques, many of which defied anything modern science or industry had created with their complexity and defiance of physics. Atop the bookshelves sat an enormous skull, that of a enormous apelike creature whose head rivalled the size and weight of a normal man's torso. On the workdesk sat a crystal figurine of a unicorn, flowing and changing shape and colour from each angle it was observed. Dangling from the ceiling was a geometric shape so defiant to the mind that it could only be described as akin to the works of the artist Escher, due to its impossibility to create in the standard human four-dimensional worldview.
"This is...all...completely and totally awesome!" Genki gushed.
"Super awesome!" Ayane laughed, looking at all the oddities she could find. "Your parents really left all of this to you? Wow!"
"It seems so." Masumi smiled. "I'm glad you're having fun...I've been studying here for about a year now, and I think I've finally started to master the basics. It's a tricky business, using magic, but once you get used to it it comes kind of naturally, like riding a bike. Only..."
"Only...what?"
"Well, it doesn't really matter, just something I haven't been able to do yet. There's lots of cool things here, though. This is where I got my favourite hair stick."
They looked at her curiously, forcing her to point at the ornate, chopstick-sized metal bar holding her hair neatly behind her head. It was red and gold, slightly chipped along the edges but not a sign of faded paint in the world. She hadn't thought to put a value to it, but given the nature of everything in this room, she was sure it was probably priceless to some.
"That's great!" Ayane smiled and looked at her expectantly.
"...what?" Masumi asked.
"Well?"
"Well what? You have to be more descriptive."
"When are you going to teach us magic? I want to learn too!"
Masumi sighed; this was the question she was least looking forward to, and the answer she had rehearsed the most.
"It might not be that easy. You see, only people who were born with Magic Circuits can use magecraft, and I can't tell if you were or not."
"Magic...circuits?" Genki blinked at the strange words.
"Yes. Think of them as being like a second circulatory system tied to your soul. You're born with them, and the size and number of magic circuits dictate how much prana - that's magical energy - you can channel at any point in time."
"So if we weren't born with it..."
"Then you can't do it." Masumi frowned.
Ayane smiled. "Well, how do we tell if we were or not?"
"That's the thing, I don't know. Well, I could try getting you to do some spells, maybe exposure to magic could wake up dormant circuits you might have, but if that doesn't work..."
Genki sighed at her. "Then we're not magical?"
"If it doesn't work, then either you're not magical, or I'm incapable of granting you magic. Either way, there won't be much I can do for you here."
"We won't know until we try, will we?" Ayane opened a random book, peering at the pages curiously. "What kind of spells did you start with? I can't read any of these."
"Nothing very complicated. Well, I still can't do anything complicated. Come on, we'll start at the beginning..." She took the book from Ayane's hands and put it back on the shelf.
Before they could say anything else, Masumi closed her eyes and entered a deep state of focus. A single orb of bright light appeared between her cupped palms, golden as the sun and laced with blue sparks that flared outwards to dance between the creation and her own hands. It was small, but more than enough to catch the full and rapt attention of her friends.
"Wow..." Ayane said.
Genki just stared in disbelief. Masumi raised the orb over her head, took a deep breath, and then released it, allowing it to float idly through the room above them. She smiled and pulled out a couple of small bracelets, handing one to each of them. to wear. Genki could hardly fit it on, and stared disdainfully at it after slipping it on.
"This is just a basic flare, it's the first spell I really mastered, and it's supposed to be one of the easiest to draw from. We're going to see if you're ready to master it, okay?"
"Sure, but why the jewelry?" Genki asked.
"Jewel Magic is an ancient and powerful art, Genki. According to this library, my ancestors were masters of it, and they developed a lot of powerful tricks over the years to make use of it. This bracelet should passively draw from any prana your magic circuits produce, generating a stored charge. It's given to beginning apprentices to help them learn how to control their magic circuits and manipulate prana more safely."
He stared deeply at the bracelet, then looked up to Masumi and nodded. "Okay, whatever it takes. Teach us how to use it, please!"
Masumi closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Okay, where to begin..."
