Chapter 4: Kagamisekai Ward
Rin and Sora rose out of their seats and followed Yuzu, who was making for one door on one side of the room. Meeting up with her past the door, they found a wall on which hung a large portrait with… a… girl? So far, no girls that Sora had seen looked quite like this girl; she wore the same dress as the maids in the cafe, but her face didn't look truly human... her bubblegum pink hair was tied into two large ponytails that refused to flow down, there were large, pink, fluffy cat ears by the starting point of the pigtails, and she had a large wand with a five-pointed star on the end.
"This is Mon-chan," Yuzu supplied. "She is the result of many hard years of study in the Ministry of Magic's efforts on Heimin research. Rin-sama told me the Ministry here is researching a Heimin tradition called anime, involving people drawn in this style and made to walk and talk by means as yet unknown to us. We have, however, managed to recreate an anime-style character in a portrait, and the result, Mon-chan, guards the gateway to Kagamisekai."
"Nyaa, that's right!" squeaked the anime girl in the portrait. "Say, who's the new kid nyaa?"
"You mean Sora-sama? He's Rin-sama's younger brother and is due to start at Mahoutokoro."
"A new boarding wizard nyaa? So, he need to get some shopping done. How amazing, nyaa! Where do you want to go first, boya?"
"Wand," stated Sora immediately,
"Wand, nyaa. In that case, your first stop is the Tamashi no Yubi Wand Store, where all wands are hand-crafted on site and are guaranteed to bond you with your soulmate in magic! Have a good day nyaa!"
Mon-chan vanished, and her entire portrait had turned to show a line of shops on either side of the road. Rin walked up to the scene depicted and lifted her foot over the bottom frame, somehow stepping directly into the depicted scene itself. "How?" Sora began
"Mon-chan just opened the path to Kagamisekai," Yuzu informed. "Our maid cafe has been rendered unplottable and Heimin repellant, but on the off-chance that one got in, he would theoretically be scared right back out by the anime girl talking to him. Still, she has got quite a lot of knowledge on the district, and can direct wizards anywhere they need to go. The frame, now that she is absent, only frames the path into the ward. Go on."
Sora walked slowly up to the frame, and thrust his arm into where the picture would have been… and hit nothing. Now content that she told the truth, he stepped onto the golden frame and jumped into the stone street, followed by Yuzu. As soon as she was through, the frame returned to showing Mon-chan in her starry background instead of the maid cafe door.
"Listen, Yuzu-chan, can you take Sora-kun to Tamashi no Yubi? I've got to run by Gringotts to get some jade," asked Rin. "I'll deliver Sora's acceptance reply via the petrel office on my way back."
"As you wish. Come with me, Sora-sama, the wand shop is this way," said Yuzu, grabbing his arm and pulling him down one road as Rin ran along another. The two of them ran past many shops, never letting up speed, until a small shrine-type building came into view. The sign on the front read 'Tamashi no Yubi, handmade wands created on site', and the two ran into the shrine itself, encountering a small room divided by a long counter and featuring on one side a few chairs and a straw dummy, and on the other, rows upon rows of shelves, and a man with untidy black hair, who looked up immediately.
"Ryouta, this is Sugiyama Sora-sama. He's come to buy a wand," Yuzu informed.
"Come here, Sugiyama," Ryouta barked, seemingly frantic. Sora approached him, whereupon he looked straight into his small green eyes. "Wait here."
Ryouta ran to one of the shelves and pulled out a rectangular box. Opening it, he placed a wand on the counter in front of him. "10 inches, ash, dragon heartstring. We'll see if you match with the closest thing I have to your sister Rin's wand. It's not a 14 inch, ash phoenix feather, but it should work. Take it and wave it at the dummy!"
Grabbing the wand, Sora tried to get a good feel for it, but something didn't seem right. He made a slashing movement at the dummy, but it felt… heavy, and too hot.
"Back here!" barked Ryouta. Sora handed back the wand, while he ran back to the shelves, looked for a while, and pulled out another box. Placing the new wand onto the counter, he continued "15 inches, cherry and yuki-onna hair. Let's see if you're closer to Misaki."
Again, Sora slashed at the dummy, but the wand seemed to want to disobey, and Ryouta ordered it back, coming back with another cherry wand, this time with a unicorn tail hair core, seven inches. "Surprised you didn't ask for cherry when you got in here. All the little wizards want a cherry wand. Guarantees a lot of power, and if you don't own one, you're essentially a nobody."
For the third time, Sora slashed at the dummy, but again, nothing happened. After the seventh failed wand, Ryouta called his assistant, Sachi, to try and help. Looking at the new arrival, Sora could swear he recognised Sachi before: yellow slit-pupiled eyes, dark purple stripes descending from those eyes down her cheeks, seaweed green hair… and she raised a finger to her lips. "Quiet"
"You okay, Sachi?" Ryouta asked.
"Yes, just a bit of a bad throat today," Sachi replied.
"Well, I've got the third of the Sugiyama kids here today, and he doesn't seem compatible with either of his sisters. I've also tried out a whole bunch of other wands, but he seems to reject cherry altogether and, no matter what I can think of, nothing else seems to fit him."
"Hmmm… ash also not good?"
"No. Hazel is also a bad match. So far, he is also putting every core that I have to shame. No results with dragon heartstring, yuki-onna hair, unicorn tail hair, tengu feather, kelpie mane, jorougumo thread, kirin horn…"
"Hmmm… rejection of such a variety… maybe we will have better luck with that wand."
"You can't be serious. That's the only one of its type that I've been able to make! Besides, if it wouldn't sell with so many other people, why would it make an exception now?"
"For one thing, that wand and Sugiyama-san have evidently got that aspect in common. It's worth a try."
"Fine," Ryouta sighed, running off behind the shelves once more while Sachi winked at Sora. Later, the new wand was placed on the counter. As soon as Sora picked this one up, he felt something he hadn't felt with the others; he felt that he was faster, deadlier, more agile… he slashed at the dummy, and three massive gashes appeared in the fabric and straw.
"I believe we have a match."
"I-impossible."
"What was this wand?" Sora asked.
"Nine and a half inches, enigmatic, redwood and runespoor fang. My pride and joy until it mismatched with so many people I was almost ready to declare it defective and snap it."
"And the best part…" Sachi announced, having to fight back laughter, "...is that you constantly lowering the price to get it sold means that he only has to pay fifty Jade Ryō for it!"
"Jade Ryō?" asked Sora
"Huh? That's pocket money when it comes to wand prices. I can pay right now if you'd like, Sora-sama," Yuzu offered, and upon Sora's nod, she produced fifty jade-colored coins from a pocket in her outfit and handed them to Ryouta, who put the wand into a similar-looking box to the others, wrapped it up in kendo-themed wrapping paper and handed it to him, fuming all the while. "Anyway, Sora-sama, Jade Ryō is our currency, similar to the Ryō used in the past, but much more valuable due to the jade in making them as opposed to the traditional gold. Normally, wands go for about three to four hundred of those coins. The coins themselves have different values depending on their size and their jade composition, but I'll get into that later."
"And as a special added bonus," Sachi announced, handing another wrapped item to Sora, "...is with this wand, you get a free fortune. It only works if you are alone when you open it though, and in a closed room. It's rather picky for a fortune, but these ones are very rarely wrong, so it's well worth a look."
Walking out of the shop, Sora next made a request to get robes, causing Yuzu to guide him back down the street. until they came to a shop called The Spring Obi. As they entered, they were guided to a seat, and after a few minutes, a woman in a kimono approached them. "So, Yuzu, what are you looking for?"
"It's not me, ojou-sama, it is Sora-sama here. He's going to Mahoutokoro."
"Ah, his sister Rin told me he'd be coming today, I wasn't expecting him for a while though.." Turning to look at Sora, the attendant continued. "Do you have any experience putting on a kimono?"
"No," replied Sora.
"In that case, follow me." She grabbed Sora by the arm and pulled him past the other rows of kimonos, obis and other accessories to a room labelled 'First-time fitters'. Once inside, she had Sora strip until he was only wearing undergarments, placed a tape measure around his arm and waist, disappeared for a minute and came back with a nagajuban. After having him slip into the new undergarment, she walked him through each step of proper procedure in donning the rest of the kimono, having him carry out the instructions she gave and bringing in more parts as they became necessary. Finally, he finished with the black obi, and was taken back to the front desk, where he saw Rin. "You've never looked so cute, Sora-kun."
""Rin-nee-chan?"
"Just came from the post office; they are aware of your attendance at Mahoutokoro. Anyway, Tachibana-chan, can we throw in one more Mahoutokoro kimono for him? And also three other plain kimonos in… what color do you want, Sora-kun?"
"I'll take green,"
"Three greens then."
"It's going to be costly," warned the attendant. "I've still got to get the hanten, zori, tabi and hats to tally."
By the end of it, Sora was fully dressed in not only the kimono, but the wide hat, tabi socks and zori sandals, bringing tears of joy to Rin's eyes. Rin had taken his old clothes and supposedly vanished them to his room at the maid cafe.
"But isn't this going to be a little much, even considering Sora-sama's new school supplies?" Yuzu asked as they entered a different street.
"Well, yeah, and Misa-chan wants some jade left over, but I took out a little extra. Our secret revenge, and besides, Sora-kun looks quite good in a kimono."
"Where are we going now?"
"Well. what say we get the books and stock up on ingredients before we get back to Mahou no Mon?"
"Actually, come to think of it, the Toyotomi Menagerie is close to where we are now, and I've been asked to buy a few more skylarks for the cafe. I'll have to split off here, so see you back by Mon-chan."
"Sayounara, Yuzu-chan!"
Rin and Sora continued walking, with the day blurring into a haze of crisscrossing street after street and shop after shop, until eventually they found themselves back at the portrait of Mon-chan, the gatekeeper. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over the sky, and all of Sora's equipment was taken up to his room while he and Rin walked to the fireplace in the maid cafe. "You are really going back?" Sora hissed as the fires within turned emerald-green.
"Don't look at me like that. Misa-chan is our sister, and I need to see if she is alright."
"I am not following you home."
"I'm not asking you to, or else I wouldn't have had Yuzu-chan set you up here."
"Acceptable."
"Not even a 'thank you'?"
"Fine. Thank you, Rin-nee-san, for your help today and for the pain yesterday."
"You... just aren't going to let that go, are you? I'll stay with Misa-chan for a few nights. If you want to see me again, ask Yuzu to contact me."
Rin stepped into the emerald fire without another word, but with a few tears streaking down her cheeks again. Once she was inside, she declared "Ishi no Keiro temple!" and vanished in a puff of more green flames before they returned to their usual orange color.
"That was a little harsh, goshujin-sama," Yuzu's voice sounded behind him.
"So I take it you would rather see her use a torture curse on me?" Sora stated, more as a declaration than a question.
"The Cruciatus Curse? No, goshujin-sama, Rin-sama wouldn't ever do that!"
"All it took was for Misaski-nee-chan to say Imperio before she happily obliged to cause me pain."
"That makes it clearer; Rin-sama wouldn't do such a thing if it was up to her!"
"Up to her or not, she still did it. I've spent too long receiving pain, having my feelings trampled over, being called a Kakushigo and being forced into doing their every whim without me getting a chance to be me."
"She's given you a chance to be yourself now! Can't you forgive her? Can't you and your family be friends again?"
"I've been forgiving her and Misaki-nee-chan for ten long years because I didn't know any better. I was continually forced to forgive them after they forbade me from asking questions, I had to forgive them when they continuously insulted me, I had to forgive them when they struck me on the bum with a hot pan for the crime of not preparing food fast enough for their liking and I had to forgive them for continuously pushing me down when I tried to stand up. I know what I am now: I am not a slave that forgives every man or woman who lashes him when he falls down."
"You… you don't even know what forgiveness is, do you, Sora-sama? I agree that you shouldn't take that abuse lying down, but I also know how Rin-sama feels. She just wants you to be a part of the family. A lot of that sounds like Misaki, and of course you shouldn't let her get away with harming you, but why does Rin-sama have to suffer as well?"
"Because she made me suffer 'as well', Yuzu-nee-chan."
"Nee...chan?"
"I've been trying to read up on Heimin family definitions in the past from what books Rin-nee-chan got back, and I read that a sister is someone who is blood-related and cares about you. Barring one other person, you're the only one who has been nice to me."
"T-thank you, Sora-sama, but I still think you should try sort things out with Rin-sama."
"Not tonight. I want to try and learn as much magic as possible. Can you take me to my room?"
"Sure, but are you sure you don't want to talk to Rin-sama?"
"Very sure."
"Talk to her. Please, Sora-kun, if not now, then later tonight! I can stay here if you want to contact-"
"I don't."
"Maybe not now, but later-"
"I won't."
"Okay... come this way, Sora-sama."
Yuzu led Sora up a flight of stairs to a long, pink corridor dotted with doors on either side. As he walked past, he saw that each door on one side of the corridor had a number on it. Room 3, 4, 5, and the other side's doors had nameplates attached instead. Before long, Yuzu stopped him at Room 8, handed him a key with the number '8' and beckoned him inside. The room was fairly large compared to his room at the temple, and looked much cleaner. There was a large futon laid out on the tatami floor, there was an open shoji on the opposite wall from the door, a hibachi brazier in each corner, a low table and a few cupboards. All of the supplies that they had bought were in a large pile situated between the table and futon.
"Page me if you need me, Sora-sama," said Yuzu as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him shortly after. Now, finally, he opened the package he received from the Sachi woman in the wand shop, and pulled out… a red envelope. As he opened this secondary envelope, a voice filled the room… a pleasantly familiar voice.
"Hello, Sora. After our meeting yesterday, I knew you'd soon make your way to Akihabara to buy your equipment. I therefore spent all of last night travelling to meet you. Tomorrow, at sundown, make your way to the Kuro no Hikari dojo in Kagamisekai. I need to teach you a few choice spells."
The next words seemed fairly… different, somehow, "Your hidden talent will be unleashed for the whole world to see." Now, this voice he definitely knew, and now knowing there was something more to look forward to the next day, Sora was unable to keep from being excited...
