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Enjoy!
Chapter 12
Creating Ice Magic
…
The remainder of lunch went along normally, but no matter how much Kise tried to get to close to Tetsuya to strike up a conversation, Taiga and Shigehiro repelled him by brandishing their weapons. Ryouma and Ryouji tried to encourage him that there will be numerous chances for him to strike, but his hopes were dashed when Tetsuya said that she didn't think of him that way.
"Don't worry, Ryouta." Ryouji said, soothing the crying blond. "You have the Kise gene. And as such, you're bound to be irresistible."
"That's right," Ryouma piped in. "Tetsuya-san can be stubborn for so long and no more. As long as you're persistent, she will be yours."
Kise didn't know whether or not his brothers were being encouraging or slightly threatening. But being persistent was something Ryouma didn't need to tell him. Kise had made up his mind to stop at nothing to win her over. After all, this was the female version to Kurokocchi. He'd have to die first before she lands in someone else's hands. Thank God Taiga was a female in this world.
After lunch, Kise had Lightning class with Shigehiro, much to his relief that he was away from Kaito. There wasn't anything wrong the boy at the moment, he seemed pretty normal. Still, there was a nagging feeling and Kise didn't like it. Being in this world, he wasn't going to blow it off as paranoia.
Pushing that aside, his Lightning Class actually went smoothly for the hour that it was scheduled. It was a theory class since the entire time before the one week's break they had been practicing their magic. And as such, this was another class that Kise endured without any mishap.
Luckily, after his magic class, he was free for one (Sekai) hour. Of course, he didn't know what to do or where to go, so Shigehiro decided to give him a tour of the school. He wished she hadn't.
Saying the school was gigantic would have been an understatement. It was massive.
Apart from his form-room building and weapon classrooms, there were also 'Elemental Classrooms'. These were located on a huge five-storey building, one floor for each element. These were specially designed to accommodate the different elements of the students, in case their magic got out of control. This was where Kise had his Lightning class, and the walls were cushioned with rubber. The classroom had one sole window, which was made out of a special glass that Lightning refracted off of.
The next set of buildings they toured was the simulation rooms. These were a group of buildings that were located across a gigantic and dusty field which was surrounded by shielded spectator seats. The simulation rooms were just like the adjacent classroom of his Spear class, gridlines covering the floor and walls, seeming to be ceiling-less.
"These classrooms are used to let us experience what fighting the Bakemono is like and other wild animals. Of course, we aren't harmed in these rooms, but depending on the mood of the teacher, we can have the pain factor." Shigehiro explained. "So, if in the simulation we lose an arm, be sure to brace yourself for some pain. But, there are some teachers who are nice enough to not use the pain factor or limit it to a sting or something."
"I don't want to experience that." Kise said with a shiver.
Shigehiro laughed. "You have the class Thursday, first session!"
"How fantastic." Kise said with sarcasm.
…
His last class for the day was Magic Spell Creation. As its name states, students learn about how magic spells are created. Sadly (but a relief for Kise), first year students don't start putting into practice these theories until second year. Once again, Kise went through his class smoothly without incident. Despite his chatty nature, Kise knew when to keep his mouth shut from when not to. Unlike a certain Prince.
Finally, it was time for club activities. Kise had been itching to know what the "Seirin" club of this world did, being that basketball didn't exist. But he could have a vague idea since there was a mixture of blazer colours present today.
When Kise, Shigehiro and Kaito entered, there were the majority of the club members present, only a few were missing ―Kouki, Koichi, Hiroshi, Taiga, Tetsuya and Shinya.
"So what do we do for club activities?" Kaito asked as he went over to Riko. Kise's ears immediately perked up and he internally sighed a relief. He had been curious as well.
"Well, you should already know that at the end of the second semester, clubs will be assessed, right?" Riko answered. Kise's eyebrows furrowed at that statement.
Kaito nodded. "And this assessment takes the form of battle simulations against Bakemono, right?" At that moment, Kise wanted to disappear. He didn't even know what a Bakemono looked like in the flesh, and he sure didn't want to.
Riko nodded. "So, in order to prepare ourselves for these simulations, we can create our own weapons, magic spells and stratagems."
Kise seemed to sparkle when he heard Riko said 'create weapons' and 'magic spells'. He then leaned over to Yukio who was sitting beside Yoshitaka.
"Does that mean we can create any weapon?" He asked.
"Yeah, as long as it's within our club budget. After all, if our weapon is good enough, the Military will pay us for the blueprints." She deadpanned. "Don't tell me you're planning on creating something massive like a moving fortress?"
"No way!" He shook his head in denial. "I'm not crazy. But I thought that first years couldn't create magic spells in class. How are we able to in club?"
"Because a club is diverse. As you can see, we have people from the different departments and different year groups. It means that first years like yourself can learn from your Senpai. However, to be on the safe side, no club allows their first years to create a spell on their own without any guidance."
"I see. So what kind of magic spells have you created?"
"You'll soon see." Yoshitaka smirked.
"Come on, Yoshitaka-senpai," Kise whined. He felt a bit odd since he was used to calling Moriyama Yoshitaka as 'Moriyama-senpai'. However, to not confuse himself with his 'Moriyama-senpai' from Earth, he's calling this one 'Yoshitaka'. "Is it some form of Ice magic or something?"
"Ice magic? That doesn't exist." Yoshitaka and Yukio responded.
Kise let out a gasp of surprise. "You mean, in the entire continent, probably the entire world too, there is no Ice magic?"
"Of course not, there are only five elements and Ice is not one of them." Shinji had joined in with Rinnosuke beside her. Her tone was a-matter-of-factly. "This is basic knowledge."
Kise's shock led him to grin and rub his hands in a sinister way. "It's a combination. In Japan, hell, on Earth, there are fictions which with characters either have magic or superpowers. These abilities come in the form of anything really, but for the elemental ones, I've read numerous manga and watched numerous anime that had characters combining two or three elements to make another."
"But that's fiction." The three deadpanned. Rinnosuke nodded to show that he agreed.
"But your reality is my fiction." Kise grinned. "One famous combination is Water plus Air equals Ice/Snow. Couldn't you guys try it out?"
"Combining two magics to form another? First, what's the ratio of water to air?" Yoshitaka asked.
Kise stared blankly. "I don't know. But I do know that for Ice, the ratio of Air to Water is greater, while with Snow it's the reverse."
Yoshitaka then looked across to Rinnosuke. As if they could read each other's minds, with an index finger on the desk top, Rinnosuke placed a simple Water magic circle on the desk top. A small ball of water hovered in the air above the magic circle; afterwards Yoshitaka followed, and layered his Air magic circle on top Rinnosuke's. The five could see the Air forming a ball around the Water and watched with keen eyes.
"Remember, Air magic is supposed to be greater than Water magic to get the Ice. After all, you're solidifying the water with air." Kise said. Yoshitaka gave him a stank look as if saying 'who the hell are you telling that?'.
Soon, they could see the Water hardening as the Air disappeared. Yukio and Shinji were shocked; Yoshitaka looked like he's seen a ghost. Rinnosuke looked like he was about to faint any moment.
Just then, the ball of Ice fell onto the desk and the five were in silence for a while. Kise looked at them with a smug expression. But deep down inside, he was bursting with joy. As much as Sekai was boring, he found something that could satiate his boredom. And with his wide knowledge of the fictions in Japan, he's going to get pretty busy.
"Riko!" Yukio screeched. Riko and Kaito turned to look in her direction.
"Yes, Yukio-senpai?" Riko asked, wondering the reason for her outburst. Yukio was not a woman a scream if not necessary.
"We made Ice!" She took up the desk and showed it to the brown haired boy. Everyone present gaped. Riko touched the small ball of Ice and was appalled. Everyone knew the chemical process of ice forming, but it never crossed anyone's mind about using magic to do this. Junpei, Shun and the others crowded around in amazement.
"How did you?" He asked.
"Water and Air magic. It was Ryouta's idea."
Immediately, all eyes left off the ball of Ice and onto Kise. He made a smile to try and ease his nervousness but it didn't work. Instead, Riko came over to him. Holding onto his shoulder, he pulled Kise out of the clubroom and outside.
"Was that from your world?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's in fictions that have magic and superpowers as the main genre."
"I see. Are there any more?"
"Tons." Kise grinned.
"Great." Riko's eyes looked a bit sinister.
"But I can't believe that Sekai doesn't have elemental combinations." Kise said. "Given how smart you all are, it's extremely surprising."
Riko shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. I really can't answer that question." He then returned to the clubroom with a sinister smile and said, "Guess what?"
"We're going to be doing that combination thing as of now, right?" Junpei sighed.
"That's right! We'll blow away those simulations and the teachers with Ryouta's ideas!"
And in all this, Kaito's red eyes sparkled as he looked at Kise. He walked over to the blond and stretched out his hand for a handshake.
"Please take care of me, Senpai."
"But I'm not your Senpai." Kise said. "We're the same age."
"You've been in this club far longer than I have. Thus, you're my Senpai."
"Oh, okay." Kise reluctantly said. "But I'll still feel uncomfortable. Just call me Kirishima-kun." He shook Kaito's hand and in the moment of contact, Kise felt something run through his entire body. It felt foreign, as though something had just invaded his system. Quickly retracting his hand, he looked at Kaito with fear. Every hair on Kise's body stood up, his brain was telling his feet to run but he couldn't move.
"What's wrong, Kirishima-kun?" Kaito asked feigning innocence.
"N-N-Nothing," Kise stammered out. He retreated and took out his phone to ask Ryouji and Ryouma where the hell they were. He couldn't bear this any longer. He had to keep himself away Kaito for as long as possible.
On the other hand, Kaito smirked while he looked at Kise with sparkling eyes. "How interesting."
…
King Ryouhei was swamped with work as usual. The investigation on his son's attack hasn't born any fruit apart from their previous discovery and Hikaru had found Ryouta's attendants innocent. That led the Chief of Police to start suspecting that it may be someone from the Royal Family. There were many who wanted to capture him to be used as leverage, but he couldn't decipher who in the Royal Family would want him dead.
It couldn't have been his wife or his other sons as they had more power and position than Ryouta. As the third child, he was entitled to command over the Self-Defence Force. That's it. Ryouma was the next King, Ryouji was the next Prime Minister, obviously none of them would want to kill their little brother. And if they did, they would have done so a long time ago.
It was then that he thought about his brother ―Prime Minister Kouhei's family. Kouhei was out of the question as they both were dealing with work together, his wife Kimiko was busy fighting Bakemono, and their sons ―Kousuke and Kousei were on errand for both him and their father, Kouen was…
King Ryouhei snapped up.
Kouen was the only one that they never knew what he was up to. He was the only one who returned home after the other boys came home from school, and his explanation was that 'he was busy' or 'he was meeting with a friend for assistance' or something like that.
Kouen wouldn't try to assassinate Ryouta, would he?
He knew his three boys and Kouen has some bad blood going on, but Kouen wouldn't go that far, right? The King was baffled. He didn't want to suspect Kouen on such a baseless whim, but he was the only one that he was unsure of. Although, the King knew that sometimes the culprits are the ones that he'd least expect.
Putting that on hold, he began to look through the other documents.
The first one was a report from the Fifth Army Division about successfully exterminating a wave of Bakemono that was heading to Nagano City. There were a few causalities but lucky, no deaths.
Satisfied with just that, the King moved onto the next thing, which had his eyebrows rising. This was a report from the special division ―The Blue Elites, about suspicious activity amongst a group of people located within the Kingdom. They operated close to the Stone Forest, and while they did nothing incriminating, it seemed as though they were scheming something.
At this, the King let out a deep sigh.
Anything with "suspicious group" and "Stone Forest" in the same sentence could only mean one thing. They were after the Earth Seirei that lived there. Since he was the one who created this entire continent, many sought after his power, hoping to create a perfect country in terms of land resources.
The biggest blunder on their part was that no one knew what the Seirei looked like. Hell, they don't even know his name. There was one thing that everyone called him and that was "White Canvas" due to his special ability.
The King was tired of this, he's experienced two wars over this very same Seirei and honestly, he wondered if "White Canvas's" pursuers didn't get the memo. He sighed yet again, as he'd have to send this information to the Earth Seirei, after all, they were on good terms. King Ryouhei was the only one who knew his identity.
Taking a break from this, he got up and looked through his window. In the faint distance, he could see the high rise buildings of his sons' school, and wondered how Kise was faring. In the King's eyes, he wasn't half as good as the original Ryouta, but he managed to get his skills to a passable level. His Spearmanship however, was on another level. It was frighteningly comparable to his original son's, and he wasn't even using the other spears as yet.
King Ryouhei was actually eager to see how much more will that monster evolve.
Just then, the telephone rang. He walked over to the desk and pressed the button. A holographic picture of a well dressed man standing outside the door came up, followed by a voice:
"Your Majesty, Hakase Mashiro-san wishes to seek an audience with you."
King Ryouhei let out a sigh and pushed the button. He really should do something about this. Soon, the doors swung open and the raven-haired male entered.
"Your Majesty," he greeted with a bow.
"Hakase-san." King Ryouhei did likewise. When he straightened, he said, "No one's here, we can drop the formalities."
"Much appreciated." Mashiro said with a smile. "On regards to the regulator, I can say that it's completely safe."
"It won't have any adverse effect on him after?"
"Nope! It isn't made up of anything organic or metallic so he can't get allergic." Mashiro said with confidence. "Plus, we have ten people who have been living with it for fifty years now. It's more than "tried" and "tested"."
"I see." The King said as he nodded. "Can I have him get it done once he gets home from school? Or tomorrow?"
"Consider it done." Mashiro smiled.
xxxx
"Ryouta, are you alright?" Hakase asked as he took a seat on the chair. They had arrived at Kise's house not too long ago, and without even changing his clothes, the Prince headed into his room and curled up underneath the sheets. Hakase has never seen the Prince like this in his short time together and he felt it was somewhat refreshing.
Prior, he thought the Prince was dangerous, hard to handle and like a tempest sometimes. In reality, it was just that he had been severely traumatized and over the years it manifested in such a form. He then wondered if Ryouta had never been captured, would he have been like Kise?
"I'm fine." Came the muffled answer. Hakase rolled his eyes. This was like standard procedure. It's clear that the person wasn't "alright", yet still, they answer in the positive.
"What's wrong?" Hakase asked, taking a seat beside him on the bed.
"I said I'm fine." He said, almost in a deadpan.
Hakase got up and headed to the door. "Okay, if you say so." He replied. But he knew the Prince was far from all right. "I'll be going ―"
Hakase broke off as he felt something tight latch around his waist and wrists. Looking down at it, he saw that it was shiny, thick and rope-like. Touching it, Hakase couldn't tell what it was made out of. It was smooth and soft, but there was a lingering hardness to it. When he looked up to spot the source, he immediately had an idea of what was entangling him.
A whip.
Ryouta held onto a handle that was like a katana's hilt, while smooth whip-like things swirled about like silky golden ribbons. However, that didn't stun him. It was the pleading look on the Prince's face.
"Don't leave me." He whispered, his golden hair bangs were covering his face.
"But aren't you hungry? I was going to cook."
Ryouta shook his head.
"Okay, I'll stay."
The instant Hakase said so; he felt a strong pulling force and his body immediately flew forwards into the Prince's grip. The whip had disappeared into his spatial ring, and Ryouta placed his face into Hakase's chest. This was an awkward position, but Hakase knew that just this once he'll have to endure it.
"Don't go." Ryouta said once again. "Please,"
"I won't." Hakase rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him. Ryouta placed his head in Hakase's lap and closed his eyes. Not knowing what to do, Hakase rubbed the Prince's hair with gentleness, hoping that he'll soon fall asleep. But, the Prince wasn't going to.
"How did you manage to get kidnapped anyway?" Hakase then asked. He was actually curious, as with a psychotic father such as the King, how did his kidnappers succeed?
"Shutoku and Kaijou are good friends," Ryouta started with a yawn. "So many times we have student exchanges and information exchanges and friendly things like that. I was in my first year of Chuugakkō at the time, and was selected as an exchange student to go to Shutoku. The reason being was that my spearmanship was top-notch."
"Before you continue, what's Chuugakkō?" Hakase asked.
"In Japan, you'd read it as Middle School." He said with an eye roll. Hakase twitched. Even though he was in such a state, the Prince is still his same feisty self.
"Oh." He wasn't going to inquire about why they start Middle school at age ten and not thirteen like the Japanese, because he knew that it will probably lead to another set of questions.
"Since Shutoku is primarily an Archery country, they often time have exchanges to improve their close range weapon skills and with Kaijou, it'll improve our Archery."
"I see."
"So, when I was actually leaving for Shutoku, I was led to the Teleportation terminal with my father. He came along with me to meet the King of Shutoku, and after I was led to my room. Well, I was supposed to have been led to my room."
"Is that where you were taken?"
"Yup." Ryouta said, with yet another disgraceful yawn. For a Prince, his current behaviour would have been deemed unsightly. "I've never been to Shutoku before, so I didn't even think that I was being kidnapped. It was when I saw that we were leaving Tokyo and heading into some strange place that I started up a ruckus. Without even caring, I released my most destructive magic at the time, which alerted my father and well, destroying anything within a five mile radius."
"Wow," Hakase said, "That must have been one hell of a spell."
Ryouta scoffed. "Looking back, that spell is nothing compared to the ones I know now."
"I wouldn't want to witness it for myself." Hakase shivered. "What are you? An overpowered character?"
"Yes I am." Ryouta grinned. "Anyway, I managed to flee the scene, but as a ten year-old, I was inexperienced and such, I was quickly caught and knocked out. By the time I woke up, I was surrounded by water."
"It's that the water dungeon you were telling me about?"
"Yeah. In Sekai, when you catch someone or imprison them for crimes, in order for them to not escape, you'd have to place them in a cell or dungeon that negates their magic. For example, with me, I won't be able to use my lightning if I'm surrounded by water."
"Because your lightning will charge the water and you could end up getting electrocuted right?"
"Exactly. Just as if someone's element is Air, you'll lock them up in a Lightning cell."
"That's pretty cool."
Ryouta gave him a repulsed look. "It's not. But anyway, I was locked in there for ten days and tortured. In essence, I was pushed to the brink of death so many times that at one point I thought I didn't know if it was reality or my subconscious making me hallucinate."
Hakase nearly choked on air. "I'm-I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, I know."
"So, umm," Hakase didn't even know what to say. He wanted to cheer up the Prince, but there was nothing that he could say to alleviate him. This was out of his league; he wasn't a counsellor or a psychiatrist. Add to that, the Prince couldn't go to any counselling sessions because he wasn't of this world. There was nothing to be done.
"I know that after what happened today, I doubt that we'd have basketball practice tomorrow." He then managed to say. "So, you want to go to an amusement park or something?"
"What's an amusement park?" Ryouta asked, cracking an eye open. "Is it a place where we're amused?"
Hakase stifled down his laughter. "It's somewhere we go to have fun. Although some rides are scary, it's the thrill and excitement that people enjoy."
Ryouta rose up. "The rides are scary but people love it? How does that make sense? Scary and love don't go hand in hand. If you're afraid of something, there isn't going to be love."
"That's Sekai's philosophy." Hakase grinned. "Remember, this is Japan."
"Oh, alright." Ryouta stretched. He then curled up beside Hakase, attempting to sleep. Hakase got up but as soon as he did so, Ryouta wrapped his hands around Hakase's waist and viciously yanked him down onto the bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, placing his chin onto Hakase's shoulder.
"To the kitchen." Hakase said. "And your face is too close. It's too close!" Hakase shrieked. The Prince's face was extremely close; the two could feel the heat from each other.
"No. Stay." Ryouta replied, totally ignoring the other sentence. "I need comfort. Daddy always comforts me when I'm sad."
"Comfort? And I'm not your parent! I can't ―"
Ryouta glared at him. "If you ever move, I'll destroy Japan."
"But then you won't have any mangas to read."
"I can read Korean manhwas, or even Chinese Manhuas, hell, even American Comics. Don't test me."
"Yes Sir." Not wanting to prove whether or not the Prince was actually serious, Hakase got comfortable beside Ryouta and had no choice but to watch him sleep. There were many times when the raven-haired teen wanted to slip away, but the Prince's grip was like iron.
Giving up, Hakase resigned to his fate.
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