Chapter Two – Pointless
"Miyamoto-kun? Hirokoshi-kun?"
Kaze and I stood up, myself with somewhat more difficulty. "Yes, Akio-senpai?"
"Minami-sensei will see you now," she said.
"Thank you, senpai," I replied, and we walked through the open door to Ritsu-sensei's office.
Inside, it was airy and spacious, with an array of potted plants. Through the eight-foot windows in the far wall, I could see the starts glittering in a sky of blue velvet. Could it really be the same sky under which we had fought and lost? It seemed impossible, and yet, here we were.
Ritsu-sensei swiveled in his desk chair to face us. He regarded me and Kaze with a cool, appraising gaze, and his eyes narrowed slightly when he took in our injuries. Kaze's head was swathed in a strip of bandages, and I had more squares of gauze taped to my skin than I cared to count. Already, bruises were beginning their dark spread over both of our skins.
"From the evident lack of a third party, I would venture to assume that you did not succeed in your assignment." His voice was humourless and cutting, and his mouth was a straight, hard line of disapproval.
I tore my eyes away and looked at the floor. "No, sensei."
He sighed. "I suppose you ought to explain yourselves." He shook his head slightly. "'Limitless'. My elite team. And yet, you've failed."
I felt Kaze flinch; I knew the word 'failed' stung her like a whip, and I felt no better.
"It was as you thought, sensei," I said. "The Fighter…she travels alone, and she is indeed powerful."
"She sings her attacks," Kaze jumped in. "She fights in songspell, not wordspell."
Ritsu-sensei nodded, with a glimmer of intrigue in his eye. "Continue."
"Her spells contain a strength of which we have never seen an equal," I elaborated. "It would appear that her ability to sing her attacks not only increases their power, but also their velocity, effectiveness, and variety. She can sing thirty syllables without any apparent effort, and most of her stacks rhyme, which would appear to be beneficial as well."
"Interesting…and what of her bond? Does she have a Sacrifice?"
"We were unable to detect a bond of any sort – not even a broken one."
"Interesting," said Ritsu-sensei again. "Knowing all of this only increases the necessity of having this stranger under the wing of Seven Voices."
"She calls herself 'Shadowless'," I blurted, on an impulse.
"'Shadowless'? What a ridiculous name…but it doesn't matter what she calls herself; she is untamed and dangerous. I will not rest until I have her contained within the walls of this Academy." Until this point, he had been talking more to himself than us, staring out the window, with his chin resting on his fingertips. Now, he addressed us directly. "I shall require some time to consider our next move. In the meantime, take a day or two to recover, then recommence your intensive training, and be prepared to be called upon at any time."
My heart leapt, and Kaze cried, "You mean you're keeping us on the mission, sensei?"
"Of course." He seemed amused at out surprise. "Now that you've fought this 'Shadowless' once, you'll be prepared for the next time, and there will be no excuse for a loss." His words held both encouragement and warning. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, sensei," we both responded.
"Thank you, sensei," Kaze added.
Ritsu-sensei accepted this, nodding, and we were thus dismissed.
-----
Aside from the fact that our dormitory was larger than all the other team's rooms, it was more or less the same – boxy, with a low ceiling, and sparsely furnished. The only other difference was that there were two futons, not just one.
At sixteen, out of all the partnerships, Kaze and I were probably the oldest pair to still have our ears. It wasn't unusual to encounter an earless team who had had their ears only the night before, not around here. No one made a big deal about, not even the adults. There was no discrimination against a pair of two members of the same gender, not like in the outside world. Two guys, two girls, or one of each; it didn't matter; sex was just a way of strengthening a team's bond. This explained the apathy of the senpais and senseis… actually, I suspected that they encouraged it.
Kaze and I – well – I thought about it, sometimes, and I know she did, too. But we never spoke of it. Kaze was my partner, and I couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her. But, from when I'd talked to some of my fellow students, they'd described a feeling of constant need to be further connected to their partners.
I didn't think I felt that need. Kaze was everything to me. But neither of us was in any hurry to lose their ears to the other.
-----
We were summoned back to Ritsu-sensei before a week had passed.
"The stray Fighter has been detected a few more times. We know she is in the city, as opposed to circling the outskirts, and she is active both nights and days now. You are to go into the city and stay there, keeping tabs on her. At the first opportunity, bring her back here."
"Yes, sensei."
"I've arranged an apartment for you to stay in. As well," he smiled slightly, "I've enrolled you both in high school."
"What?" blurted Kaze.
"Might we -- ask why, sensei?" I rephrased.
"I realize it's inconvenient, but two teenagers who roam the city, yet are never seen in any school are bound to attract attention. And the idea here is to stay hidden. You will be just in time to start the autumn semester of eleventh year. I'm sure, if something comes up, you'll know how to handle yourselves. Of course, your presence must be cloaked at all time. In this way, you can take your targets by surprise, Seven Voices will have itself this Fighting phenomenon."
"Shadowless," I reminded him. It just seemed important, somehow.
Ritsu-sensei raised one eyebrow. "It really doesn't matter what her name is -- whether that is her true name, or simply what she calls herself, it is irrelevant. I'll be changing it, either way."
Kaze gasped, and I couldn't suppress a shiver. The concept of one's name -- their identity, the representation f their souls -- being stripped away and altered against one's will -- it was terrifying.
"You would do that, sensei?" I managed to ask. "I mean, it's possible?"
His gaze held something I couldn't distinguish. "You would be surprised at what is possible, Hirokoshi-kun."
-------
Kaze and I stood, side by side, at the front entrance of Miramatsu Secondary School.
"So..." she said.
"So..." I said. "School."
--------
Walking down the hall alone, I ran my eyes down the rows of doors on either side of me.
Room 4b...4b...
To my surprise, when we'd consulted with the administrative staff, they'd separated me and Kaze, and sent us off to different classes -- gym for her, art for me -- arming us only with a printout of our schedule and a map of the school.
...4b...
I hadn't been separated from Kaze since we'd first met...
That's 2c! Where's 4b?
I could still sense her presence, though, just outside the school...on the field, I guessed.
Did I walk past it already?
The second I craned my neck to look back was the same second in which I walked into someone at full force.
I was knocked to the ground and had to roll to avoid falling books, pencil cases, and paint brushes. When the chaos was over, I looked up to see a girl of about my age, already picking herself up off the ground and gathering her things.
"I - I'm sorry," I said, getting up to help. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
She laughed. "That's okay. It was my fault, too. I have way too much stuff...I overbalanced!"
With both of us standing, I could see that she was only about six inches shorter than me, and slightly built. Her hair was cut into choppy black layers and streaked with brilliant shades of fuchsia, turquoise, and chartreuse. She wore a striped long-sleeved shirt under a vibrant yellow sundress, with a denim jacket over that, with the sleeves rolled up to show off the shirt's purple-and-white bands, the same colours as her close-toed slip-on shoes. A string of huge teal beads hung from her neck, and multicoloured feathered earring swung from her ears. She brushed her bangs off her forehead, revealing sparkling blue eyes.
The whole effect was so vivid, I had to blink. It reminded me a little of Kaze, only she didn't usually wear quite so many colours at once.
She wasn't staring at my ears. Was that because she still had hers, too? Or maybe it wasn't weird to have your ears when you were sixteen, when you were in high school.
We'd each gathered an armful of her belongings, and I hesitated. She was already carrying too many things, I was holding at least as much as she was.
I asked, "Do you want some help with these?"
"Aren't you late for class? You should go."
"It's fine. Really. I can't find the right room, anyway," I admitted. "I'm new here."
The girl brightened. "Me, too! I just started, so I don't know my way around very well yet, or I'd give you directions."
"That's okay." Readjusting my grip on the books, I asked, "What's your class?"
"4b…art."
"Mine, too!"
"Weird," replied the girl. "Well, if I know one thing, it's that you were going the wrong way. It's back down this hall, then a right, and a left, then it's the first door, on your left, again." She paused. 'I'm Hiwatari Sakura, by the way."
"Hirokoshi Jinsei."
"Well, it was a pleasure to bump into you, Hirokoshi-san," she said formally, but she was smiling.
"I can say the same for you, Hiwatari-san," I replied in kind. The words, though unlike any I was used to speaking, came easily. Something in me was set free by Sakura's presence, and I knew that some of the rules could afford to bend a little.
Sakura laughed again. It was a pleasant sound – warm and vibrant and alive with a myriad of colours.
I think – I think I've just made a friend.
-------
After a few still-life sketches in art, I had a spare class. I used the time to familiarize myself with the layout of the school, and I was able to make it to math on time.
Then it was lunchtime, and I reeled as I tried to push my way through the crowd as every student in the school flooded the hallways.
Reaching out with my mind, I found Kaze, sitting out under a tree by the field. I made my way out the doors and around the side of the school.
I sat down next to her, and she looked up. "Thank god you're here," she said. "This place is a freak show."
"It's not so bad," I replied, thinking of Sakura. We hadn't been allowed to talk in art class, but I'd marveled at the way her eyes were riveted on her paper, and the smooth, sure stroke of her hand as she guided the pencil to form the outline of the vase we'd had to sketch.
Kaze raised an eyebrow. "Are you crazy? The things they teach you here – it's pointless! What do you really need gym for, anyway? And I have to take sewing."
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's a waste of time. This whole 'school' thing is a waste of time. And there are so many people here." She lowered her voice. "It makes me nervous."
"Why? We have nothing to hide."
"'Nothing to—' have you lost your mind? We have everything to hide. Everything we are, everything we represent – it's not supposed to exist."
"I know." I paused for a moment. "But, it's not as though anyone's going to declare a wordspell battle against us here – anyone who could is at Seven Voices."
"Except for—"
"Shadowless. Yeah, I know."
And then the bell rang, summoning us back.
I had gym, then I went to chemistry – finally, a class with Kaze in it as well – and finished the day with world history.
I sat down, and the bell was just ringing when Sakura walked in. She met my eyes and smiled, then came to sit down next to me.
After class, we were walking back down the hall together, until we reached a branch in the passage.
"My locker's down here," she said, tilting her head in gesture – her arms were full again, this time with textbooks. "See you tomorrow, Hirokoshi-kun."
About three steps later, I met up with Kaze.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"She's in my history and art classes," I explained. "Her name is Hiwatari Sakura."
Kaze shook her head, and I knew she was angry – but why, that was a mystery. She turned and stalked away.
"Kaze, wait up!" I cried. I chased after her and stopped by her side, but she didn't acknowledge me, and walked faster. She was two steps ahead of me the whole way back to our apartment.
-----
Kaze didn't say a word until we were both inside the apartment and I had closed the door. Then she whirled on me and hissed, "You are an idiot, Jinsei!"
"I don't understand; what---?"
"You can't go making friends here," Kaze moaned, as though she had to explain something extremely obvious to someone particularly dense. "We will only be here until we find and capture Shadowless, and that will be, what, a few days? A couple of weeks, maybe? After that, we have to disappear; we have to back to the Academy, and friends will get impatient and ask questions and follow you around. They will interfere and poke and prod and meddle until all your secrets are out there in the open! Is that what you want?"
I sighed. "Of course not."
"Then you have to stay away from her."
"But it would be helpful to have someone to –"
"You'll still have me, Jinsei," said Kaze, sounding a little hurt. "Your partner. Your Fighter. Isn't that enough?"
I knew, in my heart, that it should be.
But it wasn't.
------
There was only one bedroom in the apartment, and it was tiny. So I slept on the couch in the living. The walls were deep grey in the absence of light, save that which came in, from the city lights, through the set of sliding glass doors. The doors, covered by pale, floating drapes, led out to a small wrought-iron balcony that overlooked a brush-covered ravine in the foreground, then further out, the heart of Tokyo.
I lay awake, unable to close my eyes. My thoughts were a blizzard of confusion.
Being here, away from the Academy – it felt so – so right. There was a kind of freedom I had never known. It was both beautiful – and terrifying.
Kaze – she wouldn't understand. I could tell from the way she'd acted today that her thoughts were absorbed with the mission, and nothing else. I knew that our success required the same from me.
Stay focused.
It was hard, though. Harder than I thought it should be.
Just then, from somewhere on the other side of the city, I detected a faint burst of energy. It lasted less than a quarter of a second, not even long enough for me to determine its precise location.
But I still recognized it as Shadowless.
The burst was exactly like the one that Ritsu-sensei had described to us – one of several that occurred randomly. It was likely a renewal of a presence-cloaking spell, where the old spell was completely lifted for a brief instant before the new one took effect.
But it was proof that she was here, and that was all I needed to re-affirm my resolve.
I fell asleep.
