Chapter 2: A Boring Life (2)
"Here. It's what I have."
Manaka accepted the plain glass of tap water - housed in an equally plain plastic cup - with a raised eyebrow, Nanashi feeling a trace defensive as he quickly looked elsewhere, muttering, "What? I don't have a lot of the nice things a rich girl like you probably does."
Manaka seemingly ignored his comment, taking a polite sip from the glass with clear relish as her eyes bored into the boy's before he once again turned away.
"Look, I don't want to be your friend. We don't have anything in common and for whatever strange reason my eyes hurt when I look at you for too long."
"Oh? And you do not want to know more about magic? I don't think you're telling me the truth, silly boy~."
Scowling at the admittedly pretty girl's words Nanashi stalked over to the sink, wishing he had thought to buy painkillers instead of frozen vegetables...one of those would have actually been useful.
"And do not worry overmuch about your eyes, little boy...they will grow acclimated to my presence soon enough."
"Yeah? And how do you know that?"
An amused giggle from the girl.
"Because I know everything~!"
Having had enough with their little verbal dance Nanashi rounded on the smiling doll, growling, "Then what is this...this magecraft? And what are my eyes, exactly? Why are they different from everyone else's?"
Ignoring the ache that yet again seemed somewhat lessened the youth was treated to a petulant glower from the girl, tone affronted as she responded, "I see manners are in short supply today. Are all boys as rude as you?"
Resisting the urge to shout at her he held fast to their shared animosity, almost blinking as a puffed cheek seamlessly shifted to a bright smile, Manaka cheerily stating, "Oh, this is quite fun~! I think I really do want to be your friend even more, Nanashi!"
Beginning to think that the girl before him was mentally damaged Nanashi missed her suddenly appearing directly in front of him, fingertip glowing with some kind of ethereal light.
"To answer your first question magecraft is a type of power that allows one to affect the world around them in a variety of ways without the aid of tools or technology...or even cause effects outside the realm of science, if one advances far along enough the path of a magus. Magecraft is enacted through use of one's magic circuits, which I shall now show to you."
Before he could tell her to back off the girl tapped his chest with her glowing digit, the boy doubling over and wheezing in agony as his body began to burn, eyes widening as light sprang up along his flesh in uneven and oddly shaped patterns, seemingly no rhyme or reason to the design as even Manaka lost a great amount of superior smugness, whispering, "You just become more and more interesting, Nanashi…"
Tenderly raising an arm the pale-haired boy found that all across his skin were shining veins, some as thin and dim as a spiderweb in sunlight while others were as thick as a ruler and shone as bright as open flame.
"These are magic circuits? Why do they burn like that?"
"Generating mana to enact magecraft, like any other process, produces heat. A prospective magus needs to take care not to destroy themselves through reckless overheating of their circuits."
The explanation was distracted and distant, Manaka running her eyes over the countless circuits dotting her new friend's body. They were...strange. Even to her.
Of wildly varying quality and power the lowest tier circuits had such pitiful output they would barely be able to gather water from the air or combust a patch of oxygen to produce flame...while the strongest were on par with the damned Barthomeloi clan, a magus line famed for the absurd potential of their circuits.
What's more, each different circuit seemed elementally attuned to some random alignment, whether it be fire, air, water, earth, aether and some even carried multiple alignments.
"Stranger and stranger…"
Delighted at such a strange and unique boy to have crossed her path Manaka continued her explanation with, "Yours are especially strange because they are not uniform, or at least mostly uniform. Nanashi, who were your parents, if you would be such a kind boy and tell me~?"
Her tone brooked no argument but yet again to her surprise he shrugged, still examining his body before idly responding, "Dead. I've been on my own for a couple years now."
With the mystery deepening even further Manaka allowed the boy's circuits to quiet down, a heated breath leaving the youth as he grimaced, sweating profusely as he grumbled, "So damn weird...hold on, I need to use the restroom."
Letting him do so the pale-blonde allowed herself a radiant smile, an expression she couldn't remember using over the course of her entire life as much as she had in the past few days.
"Now where to look, where to look…"
Allowing whimsy and instinct to guide her the doll-like female wandered around the sparse and messy house, examining what personal effects she could find before, much to her delight, she came across a photo frame haphazardly placed on a crowded windowsill.
"Now let's see who your parents were, Nanashi…"
Angling the frame so that she could properly look at it the girl grinned in anticipation...and blinked as she found nothing, only a blank photo of some trees and other greenery, angled so that it looked as if there should be individuals within the shot.
Tilting her head in confusion Manaka allowed the connection she shared with the primordial root of all things to strengthen and broaden, focusing hard on the thought of Nanashi, his parents and every other detail she could muster on what she sought.
Across all of time and space, countless realities and universes the girl was confidant there existed one that could provide her an answer, smiling as she felt the Swirl of the Root brush her thoughts…
...and nothing.
Bright blue eyes blinked.
...Nothing?
Frowning at the photo Manaka realized it wasn't so much 'nothing' that was given to her...but a 'void'. There used to be 'something' but now, among the Akashic Records, there existed only a gap. A missing chunk of reality that should be there.
A frown adorned the face of the girl, briefly stymied and even scared by this development.
How could something be missing from whence it all came?
Forcing the mental bridge as wide as possible Manaka threw every ounce of will and drive she possessed into piercing the veil of absence that existed where a pair of names should, her head throbbing and teeth grinding as she began to actually feel strained, as if the universe itself was fighting back.
"But...how is that possible? This has NEVER happened before!"
Terror and elation coursed through her body at the sheer novelty of this scenario, the girl throwing her entire being into ripping away the veil of absence that concealed her desired knowledge, the Swirl of the Root roaring back with the force of a hurricane as the girl felt herself slipping away, strain, heat and ache assailing her soul-
"-naka. Manaka!"
Sky-blue eyes blinked rapidly, clearing away a layer of dried salt and gunk, revealing the mildly concerned face of Nanashi as he leaned over her, wet rag in his hand.
"Did I...collapse?"
A trembling hand reached upwards to brush her face, fingers coming away sticky with red.
"...Is...that my blood?"
"Yeah, I found you collapsed on the floor, seizing out. What the fuck happened, are you alright?"
Manaka didn't reply, mind reeling and skull aching as she stared upwards without sight, lips curled in something halfway between a euphoric grin and frightened scowl.
She turned to face the boy, eyes gazing deeply into the others.
"Oh. You're just like me. Different."
Rising to her feet she stumbled out of the room, blood staining the front of her shirt and skirt as Nanashi just stared blandly after her.
"...What the hell is that girl?"
Ayaka Sajyou wasn't what most would call a particularly brave or stand-out individual. Meek by nature and not helped at all by constantly being compared to the shining star that was her sister the girl had developed a number of confidence issues, something that had come to hamper her magecraft studies for the past year.
The young lady fully believed that she would be forever doomed to languish in the shadow of her far more promising and proper sibling, a state of affairs that she was frustrated and tormented by through no fault of the one responsible for it.
...But at her core Ayaka was a caring and kind person, kind enough that when her seemingly insurmountable and invincible sister stumbled through the front door of their home, blood smearing her face and clothes while her limbs were shaky and failing it took only a second - maybe two - for the brown-haired girl to yelp and run forward in a mad dash to check on her more western-looking relative.
"M-Manaka?! Are you all right, were you attacked?! What happened?!"
Seemingly unaware of her weight being accepted by Ayaka as she was lead towards a chair the pale-blonde blearily responded, "Oh, hello, Ayaka...no, I did this to myself...I think?"
On the verge of panic at the clearly disoriented and confused words of her sister the younger sibling took a deep breath, forcing herself to breathe deeply before setting the teetering and dazed Manaka onto a chair.
A quick lighting of a nearby box of matches showed that Manaka's eyes narrowed and flexed fine, so she wasn't concussed. Of more immediate concern was the amount of blood that seemed to have spilled onto her lips, chin, neck and school uniform, turning her sister's already pale skin almost translucent.
Running to the kitchen Ayaka grabbed a glass of water and some leftover salad from dinner and rushed it back to Manaka, who was staring sightlessly ahead.
"Here, eat and drink these. I'll see if we have any lean meats that I can cook, that should help with the blood loss. Did an experiment with your magecraft go wrong?"
Still sightlessly staring into nothing the blonde blearily murmured, "Something along those lines, yes…"
Swallowing nervously Ayaka carefully asked, "Were...were you attacked? Assaulted?"
While it seemed absurd that her sister could ever be threatened by anything she was well aware that she was incredibly beautiful, enough so that boys and men alike found her enticing...had they done something to her?
Instead of answering Manaka took a sip of the water and carefully ate a leaf of lettuce, turning to Ayaka and confusedly inquiring, "What makes you think I was assaulted?"
"Umm, well...you're shaking. You haven't stopped."
Slowly raising her visibly trembling hand to eye level Manaka observed it like one would a fascinating alien creature, mumbling, "Oh...so it would seem."
Finally seeming to stare at the Ayaka for the first time since coming home the blonde abruptly smiled, dreamily stating, "I don't think I've ever thanked you for always being such a good sister, Ayaka. I know it can't be easy having to live in my shadow but even now you care for me without reservation."
…
The brown-haired girl would have been less shocked if a Dragon had suddenly manifested in their living room.
A shock that only grew as she was suddenly engulfed in a tight embrace from the shivering blonde, a squeak of surprise slipping past her lips at the affectionate embrace...as well as the transferring of blood from article to article.
"Could I ask you to be a dear and put these in the wash? I do believe I'm in dire need of a shower…"
"O-of course! Umm, don't be afraid to call for help if you need...it…"
On slightly more firm legs Manaka ascended the stairs of their home, chucking aside her clothes with zero reservation, Ayaka sighing at the slovenly habit.
And then tried to suss out what had suddenly caused such a change in her sibling's behavior. For as long as she could remember Manaka had always been...reserved. Almost like a doll, treating everything with a calm and composure that bordered on apathy. But where had this come from? This sudden rush of emotion and assumed injury...the smile?
Ayaka sighed, gathering the bloodied articles of clothing and taking them to the laundry, wondering if there was a magecraft that could help with bloodstain removal. She needed to speak with her father once he got back.
The world swam in and out of focus, the interior of the depressingly familiar house now strange and alien with its shifting edges and hazy contours, the feel of the cool air on her bare skin not enough to drive away the heat consuming her from the inside, from the inferno that turned her head into a charred husk.
"Pain...what a strange thing for me to experience to such a degree...I have hardly even been hurt and now it feels as if I am to die from such agony...it's delicious~!"
Giggling hysterically to herself Manaka stumbled into the shower, automatically turning on the water to some arbitrary temperature as freezing streams pounded her flesh with massaging pressure, cerulean eyes rolling in their sockets as she hugged herself tight, unsure if she was freezing to death or slowly melting with the sheer, rampant, confused joy coursing through her veins.
That boy...he was strange. So strange. So very very strange, so strange that things he could do weren't knowable by even the Akashic Records, seemingly erased from existence.
Nanashi...Nanashi was the one who caused her such pain, such euphoric joy that she could at last feel something other than dull, resigned boredom with the world and its predetermined fate. At last she was confronted with something she didn't know and could not understand.
"That boy...I'm going to show him to be a magus...and then he will be mine."
As if she was going to let a treasure like that slip from her grasp, a novelty among infinite dullness. In less than three hours of interaction he had awoken in her emotion, Manaka finally able to comprehend her feelings towards her sister and express them, the blonde feeling like she was going crazy with the whirlpool of pain, excitement and fever blazing within her heart.
With still trembling limbs the doll-like girl traced her body, delighting in the newfound pleasure such attentions brought as physical bliss mixed with brain-scorching pain from her migraine, a breathless mewl of happiness escaping her lips as she sank to her knees.
It was as if some cosmic switch had been switched, life suddenly worth living as she could find a reason other than destined courses of time and fate to pursue.
As slim and dainty fingers drifted towards her nether lips the face of a scrawny, dirty and weak-looking boy dominated her mind's eye, Manaka not leaving the shower for some time as her newfound and maidenly fantasies finally allowed her to feel and act on lust.
"What a giant damn nightmare I have to deal with now…"
Grumpily walking towards school with bagged eyes and a sour disposition Nanashi tried to forget about last night's events with a laughable lack of success, the entire conversation and series of events Manaka had put him through leaving an impression, to say the least.
"Maybe she'll leave me alone now?"
The hopeful - and surprisingly melancholy - thought from the teenager was abruptly scattered as he noticed a great deal of whispering and pointing occurring around the gate of the school.
Most of it centered on him and a familiar face, flush with malicious glee as it approached his position at a brisk pace, soft skin brushing up against his as Manaka Sajyou linker her arm with his, beaming at his gobsmacked expression as she stated, "You'll be coming with me to my house after school in order to play, Nanashi~."
There was a collective gasp and outcry from the surrounding student body as Nanashi could only think one thing in particular.
"...Shit."