Chapter 5: A Boring Life (5)
"I'm afraid the news isn't favorable, Nanashi."
The youth grimaced at Haruki's cautious words, grumbling, "Tell me something I don't know. What's happening to me?"
He tried not to look at Ayaka and Manaka's frightened expressions as they stared at a bit of paper they'd been taking notes on as they examined his body...especially not Manaka's, a look of such bewildered apprehension dotting the strange and eternally confidant girl that he felt himself growing more and more nervous as time passed.
"Nanashi, do you remember anything about your parents? Or perhaps your birth or previous medical conditions?"
"Why would I? My parents are gone and dead and I've been a bit too busy with staying alive and attending school to worry about anything else."
A strange look was sent his way by the older man but he pushed on regardless, stating, "Well, I don't know of any way to sugar coat this...but your body is failing you."
"Yeah, I figured that out when the miracle potion brewed by the magus genius over there worked for about all of five minutes. Apparently that shouldn't happen?"
Ayaka fiercely shook her head, brown hair flinging wildly as she stated, "An alchemical potion, brewed by sister? It should have worked on even the most notorious and lethal of sicknesses."
Nanashi felt the ball of unease coalesce into a boulder, Haruki glancing between his worried daughters and the teen before he huffed out a breath.
"Nanashi...everything about your body is falling apart. When people die of old age it's because their cells grow weaker and slower, the body not able to fight off infections, diseases or other maladies. Your case is a bit more extreme than even that, although it's a factor. Your own magic circuits and mystic eyes, for whatever reason, seem to be straining your soul alongside some other vector that I cannot identify, even with my darling daughter's aid."
The teen blinked, trying to fight back his panic.
"And that means…"
Haruki gently set a hand on his shoulder, quietly stating, "I would wager you have maybe eight months to live. Longer if we wish to keep providing you with elixirs or potions but like with more mundane medicines those are only so effective. The base problem cannot be so easily rectified."
Ayaka swallowed, shakily stating, "If it was just your body perhaps sister could create a means of extending or even fixing it...but inbetween your strange circuits, fraying soul and a multitude of other factors we aren't sure if there even exists a means of saving you, not within the amount of time you're talking about."
The teen let his eyes wander to the ceiling, lost in thought.
He'd always wondered why he was so weak compared to others, why he was so bad at gym and couldn't even keep pace with the girls who barely even tried...why he was so short, scrawny and sickly. Turns out it's because he was old before his time, practically on his deathbed when he hadn't even graduated junior high.
Sudden rage and aimless indignation coursed through the boy, jaw clenched so tight it hurt.
"Why me? Why the kid that didn't have any friends, didn't have any money, had to eat shit food in a shit house and JUST A FEW DAYS AGO discovered the one thing that made him special outside of how much lunch money he was carrying!?"
Wanting nothing more than to scream and shout at the sheer, bloody unfairness of it all the boy could do was lay there and stew over how pointless and useless his life had been.
Something Haruki and Ayaka seemed to recognize, the pair quietly leaving to begin making dinner as Manaka listlessly sat at his side, seemingly lost in thought as her expression remained as bland as possible.
"...Guess I'm a bit more crippled than we thought, huh?"
"Do not joke about that."
Raising an eyebrow at the girl's utterly neutral words Nanashi bitterly asked, "What, not even allowed to joke about my own death? Where-"
"Let's make a deal, Nanashi. One where I can save my friend."
The boy stilled, gazing into the cerulean orbs of the strange magus that had turned his world upside down in the span of just a few days.
"...What kind of deal?"
She bent low over him, faces close enough that her silky blonde hair tickled his skin as his view became dominated by those mesmerizing eyes.
"The kind where you discover two things for me, one of the few mysteries I've ever known in my life. What your mystic eyes are...and why the portrait in your living room, when I gazed upon it and wished to know what it once held, caused me pain such as I've never felt before. Do these things for me, Nanashi…"
Noses brushed against another, Manaka's words a perfect blend of command and plea that the boy found himself succumbing to without so much as a lick of resistance.
"And I promise that you will survive. I will help build a new body for you, one that need not fear disease, weakness or listlessness. One that will grant you all the power you hold now while not collapsing beneath it."
The boy didn't dare blink as he was struck by an epiphany, her breath smelling of vanilla and arctic breeze as he whispered back, "So that's what you are...someone who wants excitement, something new. You've been bored all your life, haven't you?"
He didn't need to see her lips to know she was smiling, words almost sensual as she fiercely hissed, "More than you can imagine...say yes, Nanashi. Say yes, as my first friend and one who breathed pain, excitement and frustration into my gray life. Say yes, and let me continue to live a life just recently discovered."
"..."
"..."
"...Like you even need to ask. Yes, Manaka...I accept your deal."
Such rapturous glee appeared on the young woman's features that for a moment she seemed to shine like an angel, a fit of happiness causing her to kiss Nanashi's head-
-and both promptly flushed, averting their eyes at the action.
The boy set his own muddled thoughts aside in favor of concentrating on the deal he'd just made, one he knew most would have been upset or indignant about. After all, he'd been dying and his professed 'friend' had told him he had to give something up for the right to live, something he might fail at...but Manaka wasn't normal, a realization that only really sunk in now.
But he didn't care. She wanted him to succeed and he wanted to know more about these mysterious powers himself...so what was the harm in agreeing to his savior's terms? If she hadn't come along he would have died anyway, if anything he was the lucky one of this deal.
"Your sister and father talked about how a normal body and stuff wouldn't work, wouldn't fix the underlying issue. How are you going to work around that?"
Switching positions so that she was now leaning on the side of his impromptu bed, arms supporting her chin Manaka eagerly explained, "They were right, but neglected to consider a rather obvious solution...at least by my most impressive of standards~! You see, mundane materials for a new body to house a soul and abilities like yours would indeed be subpar, worse than useless...but what about things that are not normal in the slightest?"
A frighteningly beautiful grin appeared on Manaka's doll-like features, tone bloodthirsty and eager as she continued with, "There exists a realm where beasts and monsters of legend reside, a place most magi and humans could not hope to survive or thrive...but you and I are not most magi or humans, now are we?"
Unable to stop the upwards twitch of his lips Nanashi mused, "No, I guess we aren't. Not that I've met many magi."
The blonde shrugged, explaining, "You and I shall travel to that realm and retrieve the proper building blocks of this new body of yours, Nanashi. And when you fulfill our agreement you will inhabit it."
He met her sparkling eyes...and this time his grin was open and obvious.
"I like the sound of that. Friend."
Squirming in joy at the title Manaka poked his skinny arms, musing, "But there still exist a few things we need to work on...I believe reinforcement will be a good discipline to teach you. For a time you will be able to strengthen your body and move around as a normal person would, not to mention it's an excellent primer for the technique that will ensure the world of our quarry doesn't cause you to explode upon entry."
"...Sorry, what was that last part?"
The delighted giggle that escaped Manaka at Nanashi's deadpan expression had him rolling his eyes in good humor.