My plan was to make sure I had written at least one scene from every character's POV before repeating a character's POV, but the way the story flowed that ended up...not really being possible. So you get an introductory POV-scene for one character today, but there's still one more character that you all have left to meet. Hopefully that will happen in the next chapter.
Anyway, I am very glad to get this out. I've had a busy past couple of weeks, and this week in particular has had a lot of stresses. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
The silence following the slap was deafening.
Atsuya almost couldn't believe his eyes, but no matter how many times he blinked, the sight in front of him remained the same. Fukiko's hand raised, Hanayo's hand resting against her cheek as she stared on, stunned. Rei, Kotone, Haru and one other girl standing just behind Hanayo, looking stunned.
"Onee-san," Atsuya began.
"Shut up, Atsuya." Fukiko hissed. "I'm doing this for your own good."
"Oooooooooh!"
The jeer rose up from somewhere in the middle of the gathering crowd, and that triggered a new wave of taunts as student:
"Fight, fight, fight!"
"What do you want, Inoue-san?" Hanayo asked slowly.
"What I want is for you to release my brother." Fukiko said. "There might not be much I can do about any of you, but there's no way you're corrupting my brother with your evil."
This triggered more jeers and calls from the crowd, and Hanayo narrowed her eyes at both Fukiko and Atsuya:
"Your brother joined us of his own free will."
"I said that!" Atsuya protested. "I did say-"
"No, there's no way!" Fukiko said. "I warned him over and over that you're all no good and yet somehow, here he is. How dare…how dare you all?"
Fukiko reached under her school shirt and pulled out a necklace, which Atsuya knew was one of her favourite amulets. Holding onto the moon-shaped pendant tightly, she transformed in a swirl of bright blue light and then pulled out her curved sword, eliciting gasps from the crowds. Hanayo, who was already transformed, responded in kind, holding her sword straight out. But neither of them made a move. The breeze picked up, playing with Hanayo's white cloak and Fukiko's longer silver-studded black cloak.
"I don't want to resort to violence-"
Fukiko was abruptly interrupted by a jeer that said:
"Perhaps you're just jealous because you'd never be accepted into Niðavellir."
A few seemed to agree with this sentiment, and Atsuya whipped around to say:
"Don't say that about my sister-"
But he, too, was cut off by cries and he spun back around to see that Fukiko had charging at Hanayo, and Hanayo was fighting back. Of course she was. For a few ghastly seconds, Atsuya was frozen to the spot as their swords clashed against each other, sending sparks of black and white flashing everywhere. They were both knights, but Hanayo moved fluidly, with grace, while Fukiko moved so fast that she looked as if someone was scrawling in black ink in the spaces she occupied. From what Atsuya could hear from the chattering of the crowd, it seemed as if most of them assumed that Hanayo would win. She was Niðavellir, a mahou shoujo, more powerful by definition. She was defending her honour. And all of that was true, but Fukiko was fierce and relentless, making up for not attaining that top level of power. And though Atsuya did not need it, she was defending him. He was Niðavellir now, but Fukiko was still his sister.
Though their swords clashed over and over, and sometimes met each other's shields, it seemed as if neither of them wanted to truly hit each other. But then Fukiko faltered and dropped her shield, and Hanayo seemed to see an opening. Her eyes glinted as her sword swung once more. Fukiko readied her own, but Atsuya just knew she wouldn't be fast enough to fend off the blow. Before he could truly think about it, Atsuya transformed and skidded between them, crouching slightly and holding out his shield at an angle, charging it with a deflecting spell. Both the swords that hit it immediately flew out of their owner's hands and towards the crowd, causing some of them to yell and jump back as the swords clattered to the ground. The force also made him drop the shield, and he cried out as it grazed the side of his head before it too fell, but he was more worried about Fukiko and Hanayo, and he straightened to first see that Hanayo now had Naoko by her side, while Fukiko was being restrained by Chika and Rei, each of them holding one of her arms as she twisted and kicked, trying to get free.
Standing before them was Arisa, who crossed her arms, usually cheerful face completely clouded over. By her side, but slightly behind her, was Kenjiro. Kou had joined Haru, Kotone and the other girl where they stood.
"What?" Arisa asked slowly. "Is going on here?"
"Let me go!" Fukiko screeched. "This is abuse! Assault! Let me go!"
"Inoue-san attacked me first," Hanayo said stiffly. "I was simply defending myself."
Arisa studied them, and Atsuya felt a prickling of fear. With her long ponytails-adorned with hot pink bows today-he hadn't imagined it was possible for her to look formidable. Yet, there was no trace of the sunny smile she'd bestowed upon him the day before.
"Onee-san didn't mean it!" Atsuya blurted it out. "I swear, she didn't mean to cause trouble, she's just looking out for me!"
"Don't tell me what I don't mean to-"
"Onee-san, please, can you shut up instead?" Atsuya yelled.
"Alright, alright, easy now," Kenjiro said, holding his hands up appeasingly. "How about we take this inside somewhere and talk it out? How about it, Hiyama-chan?"
Arisa turned to Kenjiro and gave him a smile, before then turning to Chika:
"Chi-chan, what do you think? This is Inoue-kun's sister, after all."
"Awwww, I don't get to waterboard her?" Chika pouted.
This, of course, made Fukiko renew her efforts to escape, and when Chika looked down at her with a disappointed glance, she managed to break free. However, though she did try to run, she immediately skidded to a halt as Naoko approached them, pushing through what remained of the crowds. She stopped where the swords had fallen, and looked down at them curiously before slowly bending down and picking both up.
"Put that down!" Fukiko screeched. "That's not yours to touch! You don't have the right!"
"Odin's eye, doesn't she ever shut up?" Atsuya heard Chika mutter.
"Oh, she was like this yesterday lunchtime, coming to try and scare him off. It didn't work, though." Haru muttered back.
"Fukiko, I was just giving this back to you…" Naoko sighed wearily. "But what's happened? What did you do?"
"Me? What I did? What about what you all did?" Fukiko demanded. "Actually, was it you? Was this some kind of petty revenge? You didn't like me calling you out, so you've decided to turn my own brother against me?"
"I didn't even realise he was your brother until after meeting him," Naoko said. "Besides, he has a mind of his own, doesn't he? Is it so hard for you to accept that?"
Fukiko glowered, but thankfully she didn't say anything this time, instead stomping up to Naoko and yanking her sword out of Naoko's hand before un-transforming. She bit her lip as she looked at Atsuya:
"You aren't going to quit, are you?"
Atsuya shook his head.
"And after all I've told you." She said. "Gods, it's like banging my head on a wall. Nonetheless, you…the rest of you, you're going to regret all of this."
"If that's a threat against us-" Arisa began.
"Oh, no. I'm not going to make the mistake of actually starting a fight with you again. But that doesn't mean I'm going to just sit quietly and just take this. And if you do anything to Atsuya…well, then, you'll all regret you were ever born. And Atsuya, you'd better see sense soon, got it?"
With that, Fukiko stomped off, swallowed up into the crowd, which seemed to realise that the drama was over. Immediately, Atsuya started to apologise:
"I'm so sorry about my sister. She's not the biggest fan of Niðavellir, and on top of that she's rather overprotective."
"Overbearing, more like." Haru muttered.
"No, that's alright," Arisa said. "Of course, I think we'll need to keep an eye on her…but family is important. I'm glad you've got a sister who cares so deeply about you."
"Inoue-kun…" Kou began. "Did you not tell your sister about the stars?"
"Oh, I tried." Atsuya groaned. "But she only stopped when my parents stepped in and told her to eat in her room if she was going to keep taking over the dinner table like that. Besides, she'd just get angry at you and you don't really deserve that."
Kou looked as if he was going to protest, and then abruptly closed his mouth. Atsuya didn't blame him.
"I'll let it go for now," Hanayo said. "But only because it's not as important as what happened before she decided to charge at me. Somebody tried to get past Suzuki-san's barrier this morning, and they almost succeeded."
"Show me." Arisa said immediately.
Hanayo, Haru, Kotone, Rei and the other girl immediately led the way to the edge of the school grounds, where the railings separated them from a wooded stretch of land. Atsuya wasn't entirely sure whether it qualified as a forest, though he knew that before Asgard Academy had been built, there had been a forest here.
"Just through there," Rei said. "They were there, and Nakahara-kun and Suzuki-san gave chase, but failed."
Arisa knelt, peering through the railings. Then, she turned to Kenjiro and said:
"You're better at illumination, right? I can see it, but…"
"Oh yeah, sure."
Kenjiro held out his hand and it started to glow white. After a few minutes, the glowing seemed to lift off his hand and fold in on itself, before then swelling to form a ball before Kenjiro directed it away from him with a quick furling and unfurling of his fingers. The glowing-for it wasn't quite intense enough to call it a light-bobbed gently in the air through the railing until it hit an invisible surface, whereupon it became flat again and unfurled across what Atsuya realised was the cause of the faint shimmering he had noticed around him but had largely put down to the large amounts of magic being used and exhibited at this school. Though, he supposed this too was just another example of that anyway. The large dome stretched right across the school building's highest rooves, its centre appearing to be right above the roof of the building that Niðavellir convened in, and it was almost flawlessly smooth.
Almost.
For right in front of them all, a section of the barrier had had small holes tearing in them. They formed an odd, intricate pattern and the fragments of dome in between wavered as though there was a breeze, making Atsuya think of spiderwebs.
"Holy crap." Chika said, simply.
"I'll give it another try today," Kotone said pleadingly. "I don't know what happened."
"I think we're going to need more than your barrier, though," Naoko pointed out. "If somebody managed to break through this much, whose to say that they won't try again and succeed next time."
"Right," Arisa said, standing up. "I need somebody to take a photograph of this, then Jeff-kun, I'll use your illumination to try and patch up the holes. It's strong enough for that, right?"
"Yeah, just about."
"Then, when we get back in, I'll try and sketch their face." Hanayo offered.
"You saw their face?" Arisa gasped.
"No, not as such-I'll explain upstairs." Hanayo said.
"Hey, Ari, I'll fly up and over and see if I can find any traces of the person. Suzuki, you'd better come with me too, since you'll know if anything is likely to be from them as opposed to…well, whoever hangs around here." Chika said, gesturing to the expanse of forest.
"Should we have people looking on the ground, too?" the other girl offered tentatively. "It might be…hard to see some things up close from above."
"I'll have you know that I have top-notch eyesight but also I reckon that's right. However, it shouldn't be you, you're literally the newbie, right? Either Nishimori or our not-so-new grumpy newbie can comb the ground instead." Chika replied.
"I'll stay!" Rei offered eagerly, standing to attention so enthusiastically Atsuya wondered if he was going to salute them. Still feeling like he had been an inconvenience thanks to Fukiko, Atsuya blurted out:
"I'll take the photographs. My phone has a pretty good camera, actually."
"Alright, so you and Kawamura-sempai, you look on the ground, Chi-chan and Suzuki-san from above. Once Inoue-kun's taken pictures and I've patched up the hole and removed the illumination, the rest of you come up. We'll get Chiba-san acquaintance with our rooms and everything, and then Hamasaki-sempai and Nakahara-kun can tell us about what happened. Is that alright with everyone?"
Everyone nodded or voiced their assent. All, that was, except for Haru. He just stood there, glowering slightly. When Kou elbowed him, the glower deepened but he did at least nod. He also, unexpectedly, threw Kotone the gold ball of wire he'd been fiddling with on and off during this time.
"You'll need this to get up there. Those aren't easy to climb."
"Um…kid, we're flying, remember?" Chika said, putting a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow at him.
"That's kind of you, Nakahara-kun," Kotone said. "I'm sure it'll help Nishimori-kun and Kawamura-sempai a lot. I'm sure they'll take good care of it."
Haru shrugged and scoffed and started walking off.
"Hey, where are you going?" Kou called out.
When Haru ignored him, Kou turned to Atsuya and asked:
"What's with him?"
"Not a clue." Atsuya admitted.
"Inoue-kun, we need the pictures!" Arisa called.
"Coming!"
He crouched down, taking his phone out, and quickly snapped as many pictures as he could. Then, once Arisa had drawn the illumination and pushed it out into the holes that had been formed in the barrier, they all waited to make sure the barrier faded from sight, until all that was left to perceive were the traces of magic it produced. Then, Chika and Kotone flew off, while Rei and Naoko began their climb over the fence. The rest of them headed off, and Atsuya and Kou both jogged ahead to join Haru, who hadn't actually gotten all that far.
"You alright? Did the intruder like, scare you or something?" Kou asked earnestly.
"Why would it?" Haru asked gruffly.
"Well, any normal person would be unsettled, right?" Kou persisted.
"I'm not normal people." Haru rolled his eyes. "Normal is boring."
"Well…that's…okay, I guess?"
Kou looked befuddled, and quite honestly, Atsuya felt quite befuddled too. This feeling only intensified when Haru took to staring at him quite intensely before suddenly reaching out and poking his cheek. Atsuya yelped at the sharp stab of pain this caused, before Haru abruptly shoved his finger in front of Atsuya's face. Though there wasn't very much of it, there was very clearly blood on the finger.
"Clearly that hurts," Haru said. "So get it patched up. Someone amongst us has to be a healer."
"Couldn't you have just told me that like a-" Atsuya stopped and re-evaluated his words. "Like a more reasonable person, maybe?"
Haru scoffed, and then he looked down at himself as if only just realising he was still transformed. Come to think of it, so am I. Still, he continued walking as he un-transformed and so did Haru. Kou seemed to think for a moment, and then immediately launched into a tale of woe relating to trying to get his little sisters out of the house.
"You take care of your sisters by yourself?" the new girl asked, as the rest of the group caught up with them.
Kou laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head:
"Well, my parents died, so there isn't anyone else. I mean, we have a neighbour who pops in to make sure we're okay, and the care system's been looking in on us for a while too, but it's all down to me."
"Oh. That's…that's unusual."
"Yeah, I guess it is," Kou sighed. "But my parents were sick for a long time first. For a while, I was looking after them. So I've proved myself capable. Truthfully, it's more my sisters I'm worried about. I don't want them in an orphanage."
"That's why I've moved into school dorms," the new girl said. "So I don't have to go to an orphanage. I'd rather die than go to an orphanage."
For some reason, this made both Arisa and Kenjiro wince, but before Atsuya could ask what the matter was, Hanayo spoke up:
"Don't blame you. As kind as they are, it's still the point of no return. If I had a choice, I wouldn't be there either."
Kou's eyes widened, and the new girl reddened and started frantically apologising, but Hanayo cut her off:
"Don't. "
The new girl opened her mouth to say something, but then sighed and lowered her eyes. Her face was still red, though. Kenjiro patted the new girl on the shoulder briefly, then followed suit with Kou.
"I think we all need a drink when we get back up before we do anything else."
"Alcoholic?" Haru asked.
"Unfortunately, no." Kenjiro apologised. "I don't our privileges as Niðavellir extend quite that far…oh, hold on, that's Sakai-kun."
Kenjiro pointed at a boy with long leaf-green hair tied in a ponytail who was jogging towards them. He gave them a little salute and stopped right in front of them. Atsuya immediately recognised him as Tsuyoshi Sakai, a kid who had sat with the three of them during the entrance ceremony the morning before. He was in a different homeroom to them though, so they hadn't seen each other for the rest of the day, except to say hello to. Tsuyoshi didn't seem particularly put off by this though, grinning ear to ear as he greeted them:
"Hey, I'd heard that you three had joined! When did that happen? I didn't see your names on the interest list."
"Well…that…"
Atsuya, Haru and Kou all exchanged looks, and then almost in unison shrugged.
"Did you put your name down, then?" Atsuya asked politely.
"Yeah, I did," Tsuyoshi declared. "That's why I came. Someone said you were all here, and I was wondering…well, what do I need to do? There's some kind of application process, right?"
"In a manner of speaking, I suppose." Haru said cryptically.
Tsuyoshi didn't seem particularly perturbed by Haru's manner, just continuing to grin as he said:
"Well, I'll hope that I am found worthy of joining your ranks! When can I come up to give it a try?"
"We'd love to talk to you now," Arisa said. "But there's a few matters that we have been dealing with so we can't right now. Perhaps you'd like to come up at lunchtime?"
Tsuyoshi's enthusiasm flagged slightly, and he gawped at them for a moment. But then, he visibly shook himself and grinned again:
"Sure thing!"
"We could come and get you, if you like?" Atsuya offered.
"Sure thing. We'll be in normal lessons before lunch, right? So it won't be too difficult to meet up."
Atsuya, Kou and Haru all compared timetables with Tsuyoshi and eventually decided to meet outside of Tsuyoshi's classroom. This seemed to please him immensely and he saluted them all before eagerly pronouncing that he couldn't wait to start working with them. He then left, this time walking rather than jogging, but undeniably with a spring in his step.
They then continued into the building and up towards their rooms. Naturally, many of the other students stared and whispered thanks to the debacle with Fukiko. Atsuya felt his ears grow hot with all the attention, but he just looked straight ahead and tried his best to ignore them. Still, it was hard to completely block out the insinuations that Fukiko was bitter and jealous, that she was inferior. Even harder to block out the rumours that she was a hero for standing up to Niðavellir, that such a confrontation was long overdue.
Because which one was right? Which one was wrong? Atsuya had a feeling it was a lot more complicated than that.
They opened the first door, and walked down the short length of corridor to the second door. The Huginn and Muninn doorstops were not holding the doors open, instead propped up against one of the walls and looking a little forlorn. Atsuya hadn't known doorstops could look forlorn, but he supposed there was a first time for things like that, too. But he didn't ponder that for very long, because just as they reached that second door, it swung open and Principal Asakura stepped out. He was wearing a dark blue suit today, and it gleamed like a dark mirror. It emphasised the paleness of his complexion, but somehow managed to make his bland features seem a lot more distinguished. He stood in the doorway surveying them cooly, and immediately Atsuya scrambled to bow to him, the way the others were.
"Oh! Principal Asakura! Good morning!" Arisa exclaimed.
"Good morning, Niðavellir." Asakura said smoothly, though unsmiling. "I've heard you have had quite an eventful morning."
"Yes, but don't worry, we've got it all under control!" Arisa said.
Asakura nodded thoughtfully, fingers tapping against his chin as he surveyed them all. Then, he said:
"I'm glad that you have managed to find some new members, but it is still not enough. You know this, don't you, Hiyama-san."
"I-yes, I do! You know about Chiba-san already, I think, and then there's Sakai-kun who is coming up at lunchtime. Then there's one more person we're going to try and get a hold of afterwards." Arisa babbled. "But we'll keep asking and looking around for suitable candidates!"
"It's possible we might get more once you've completed the year-start mahou shoujo tests, Principal." Kenjiro intervened. "It's possible that some of the people who pass there are ones you, Shiho-san or the previous leader had to turn down because they weren't mahou shoujo back then. That is, if I have understood that correctly?"
Asakura nodded slowly:
"Indeed. We'll be running those at the week's end. Speaking of which, my longhouse student hasn't found you yet, has he?"
"Your….no…?"
Arisa looked questioningly at Atsuya, Haru and Kou. Atsuya shook his head, as did Kou. Haru, however, opted to ask:
"Do I look like I live in a longhouse?"
"Oh."
Arisa frowned, and then turned to Asakura and asked:
"Is that Tsuyoshi Sakai-kun, then? He seemed really excited at the chance to join us."
Asakura sighed heavily and shook his head, looking pained:
"Unfortunately not. I am not so blessed as to have my latest longhouse student develop such an attitude."
"I mean, we can't force anyone to joi-"
Asakura started to talk over Arisa, his expression stony and voice icy:
"I did tell him he has a week, but don't allow him to wriggle out of obligation using that. He's what you might call a 'smart arse' and on top of this he is an attention seeker. Nonetheless, he is an incredibly adept runecaster and he'll be an asset to you all. I have told him what the consequences are if he does not join, but I suggest you try and find a way of getting through to him. He is of the Asakura Longhouse now, no matter how he whines about it. I will not have him letting this school down, and I won't have you letting this school down either."
"I…understood, sir." Arisa stammered, eyes wide.
"Good."
Suddenly, he smiled, but that too carried a distinct chill:
"I knew I could count on you. Carry on with your stellar work, Niðavellir."
Asakura nodded to them all, and then strode off. Atsuya stared after him, feeling mildly discombobulated. Indeed, they all seemed to feel it from the way they stood by the door, making no move to get inside. When Atsuya looked to Arisa, he noticed she was blinking rapidly, opening her mouth as if to say something but then stopping again. Kenjiro also seemed to notice, because he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up asked softly:
"Is everything alright, Hiyama-chan?"
"I didn't like that." She said.
"Didn't like what?" Kou asked.
"What he said about the longhouse student."
"Why?" Hanayo asked. "Do you know him?"
"Well, no, not at all…it's just…I didn't like that, how he described him." Arisa said.
"I think Principal Asakura would know, wouldn't you? It's his longhouse this boy lives in, after all."
"Well, sure, but…"
Kenjiro patted Arisa's shoulder, and she looked up at him again and sighed. Her hand covered his for a brief moment before she returned her attention to the rest of them. Specifically, Atsuya, Kou and Haru.
"This longhouse student, he's a first year like you, right?" she asked insistently. "Did any of you meet or see him? Do any of you know what he's like at all?"
Atsuya tried to think. He did remember people talking about someone being from the Asakura Longhouse, and how apparently that was a big deal. But he was having trouble putting a face to the rumours. Although…
"I think his name might have been Thor? Or Týr?" he offered.
"Týr, I think," Kou said. "I think it's Týr. He might actually have one hand like Tyr, too. Or so I heard."
"He does." Haru said. "He does have one hand. It didn't stop him in the Carving With Intent workshop we shared, though. Though that was probably something to do with him being a runecaster and all."
"But what was he like, then?" Kenjiro asked.
"Well, Principal Asakura's description definitely stinks, that's for sure. Won't deny there's stuff wrong with him, but I think somehow that what he wanted was the opposite of attention. If he could physically fold himself up and disappear, I think he would have. He didn't even notice people pointing at him when he was sitting there rocking."
"Yeah, our First Year Divination Techniques was right after that and he didn't turn up." Kou said.
Arisa opened her mouth to presumably ask them more about that, but then the door opened a touch, and they all looked down to see Shiho peering around from near the bottom of the gap, scowling:
"So, are you going to yabber on out there all morning, or are you actually coming in?"
…
Tsuyoshi Sakai had to do everything he could to not start bouncing in his seat with excitement as the hands of the clock slowly got closer to the time that meant it was lunchtime. couldn't keep his eyes off the clock though, and when their lesson was finally dismissed, this did not go un-noticed.
"Have you got yourself a hot date already, Sakai?" a classmate who was already trying to play matchmaker asked.
"Nope, I've got something better."
"Something better?" another classmate asked.
"Yep. I'm joining Niðavellir. Or I'm going to try to, anyway."
"You are? Wow, I could never." This classmate said.
"Yeah, same," a third said. "I mean, I was thinking about it, but I'm not mahou shoujo yet. You are though, right?"
Tsuyoshi scoffed. Of course he was mahou shoujo. Otherwise, even with his heritage, he wouldn't have even considered joining Niðavellir. It would have been a disgrace if not. His classmate looked a little downcast, though, and Tsuyoshi realised that he was veering onto being rude, which would also be a disgrace if he continued.
"Don't worry," he said cheerily. "I'm sure that if you keep practicing, you'll attain mahou shoujo soon enough. What's your specialism?"
"Summoner." The classmate said.
"I'm an alchemist." His matchmaking classmate added. "But the high school years are meant to be your last carefree ones. That's why I signed up to the Theater Club instead. Speaking of which, we're meeting to discuss what our first production is, so toodle-do!"
The matchmaking classmate swanned off, leaving Tsuyoshi and his other classmates blinking after her.
"So, Sakai-kun, are you going up there or…?"
"There's some guys in our year, in Class 1A or B, I think, they've already joined Niðavellir. I'm meeting up with them and they're going to take me up there and then…then we'll see."
Tsuyoshi grinned gleefully and his classmates stared at him.
"Woah, I'm actually kinda jealous. You'll have to tell me if they're really as cool as they seem." His summoner classmate said.
"Cool? I've heard they're a bit…" another classmate bit his lip. "A bit scary."
"Only if you're on the wrong side of them," Tsuyoshi corrected. "Having Niðavellir around means that the rest of you guys can have a carefree school life if you want to, like Hori-san."
His classmates gave Tsuyoshi an odd look.
"You're a big fan of them, huh?" one asked.
"Well, my parents were a part of Niðavellir."
His classmates' eyes widened at that, but then he heard his name being called and he turned to see Atsuya, Kou and Haru approach him. He waved, and then told his classmates he had to go. Good timing, he thought as they approached, it's almost as if they knew. It would have been awkward explaining about mother and father to people who aren't part of Niðavellir. But Niðavellir themselves will understand, I'm sure of it.
"You alright?" Kou asked him.
"Yeah, I am." Tsuyoshi replied as they started walking. "Quite excited, actually. I really hope I'm good enough for you all."
"I'm sure you will be." Kou assured him.
"I mean, unless you're spectacularly incompetent I don't see you being turned away," Haru put in. "You know they're desperate for members?"
Tsuyoshi stopped in his tracks and gawped at them:
"Desperate for members? Why? How can that possibly be?"
Atsuya shrugged, seeming to be trying to think of an answer. Tsuyoshi idly noticed that he had a small, neat dressing on his cheek-presumably because of the way he'd bleeding when they'd encountered each other in the morning.
"People haven't been as excited about joining as you have been." Atsuya explained. "Or even that interested, for that matter. I mean, in all fairness, school armies have a bit of a mixed reputation, don't they? Especially this one. There was last year's incident as well, which shook people up a lot."
"The attack?" Tsuyoshi asked. "But Niðavellir helped! They saved lives!"
Tsuyoshi remembered watching the news and how he'd played the footage of Niðavellir taking down the attackers over, and over, and over. He hadn't been able to find that much footage of his parents' heroic exploits, only written articles and some photographs, so with each replay he had imagined his parents there with last year's Niðavellir, saving lives and restoring order. He only hoped he'd have the opportunity to prove himself in the same way.
"I mean, from what I've heard, another part of it is because a lot of last year's members actually graduated, and some transferred schools." Kou offered. "So, it's not all…well, not all due to reluctance."
"You certainly seem to be a champion of Niðavellir." Haru remarked.
"Oh, definitely! My parents were once part of Niðavellir." Tsuyoshi told them grandly. "And our family have always joined school armies if they were able to, whatever school they went to."
"I'm sure your parents must be proud of you, then." Atsuya said after a moment.
"I hope they would be, yes." Tsuyoshi said. "If they are watching from Valhalla, then I'd hope so."
"Valhalla…" Atsuya mouthed the words a few times, and then his eyes went wide. "I'm so sorry, Sakai."
"Don't be, it was a long time ago." Tsuyoshi said.
"Still, I know how you feel," Kou said. "Though for me, my loss is…more recent."
"It certainly seems to be going around, doesn't it? The loss."
Tsuyoshi wasn't entirely sure what Haru was getting at, but Atsuya and Kou both looked appalled.
"Nakahara, come on." Atsuya scolded. "That's really cold!"
"You don't need me to say it's horrible, do you? It's your loss, not mine. You know what it is or isn't. It's not for me to decide your feelings. "Haru said, apparently not hearing Atsuya at all. "And who said I didn't have pity for these losses? Doesn't mean I've not noticed that there's a lot of that going around in Niðavellir."
"But still-"Atsuya protested.
Now, Haru seemed to be paying attention, and he didn't look particularly impressed. Tsuyoshi was, though, by both of them. Atsuya seemed so honourable in that straightforward way, so classically heroic. Haru was a contrast, someone who cut straight through to the heart of things, whose different perspective could make all the difference in battle. Tsuyoshi wasn't sure what Kou was yet, but clearly if he'd allied himself with these two he was made of strong stuff too. And if these three were anything to go by, what would the rest of Niðavellir be like? Perhaps though they were supposedly small, they would still be mighty.
"It is possible to have more than one thought in your head, Inoue. But perhaps we should get going?"
Atsuya blinked rapidly, and then groaned before giving his agreement. As they carried on walking, Tsuyoshi asked:
"Wait, does that include you two?" he asked.
"Not us, no," Atsuya said. "But Kurosawa-kun…well, Kurosawa-kun, do you want to talk about it?"
"I mean, there's not that much to say really," Kou shrugged. "My parents were both sick for a long time. I knew it was coming, or at least likely to be coming for a while. They died within like a week of each other so that was…that was hard, for me and my sisters."
"I am sure they are at peace now." Tsuyoshi said. "And I am sure that they would be proud of you, too, for doing something as honourable as joining Niðavellir."
"Oh, that, well…."
Kou rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. Perhaps he was just modest, but before Tsuyoshi could try to persuade him to be prouder, Kou asked:
"Not that you have to tell me anything just because I did, but what happened with your parents, then?"
Well, here it is, then. But Tsuyoshi looked at the door they were approaching and realised that he knew this door. He had only read about it in his mother's handwriting, but this was the door. So, he smiled and, fizzing with anticipation, he declared:
"You'll see soon enough!"
Still, the grandiosity of his statement wasn't enough to smother the butterflies that were starting to flutter in his stomach. To see the place he had been hearing about all his life, the place his parents had spent the last few years of the life in, the place they had died for…I wonder, will their pictures now also be on those walls? Despite his connections, it would have been terribly rude for him to go in ahead of the ones who were already members, so he let Atsuya open the door and usher them through, and then follow suit to the second door. Tsuyoshi paused momentarily to look at the doorstops holding this door open. These, too, were probably the same ones that his father had carved and his mother had painted.
He was taken straight to the main room, and though he had really wanted to take in all the details of it, his eyes were drawn to the table where what he assumed were most (if not all) of the current members of Niðavellir were sitting. He recognised the green-eyed third year girl who had taken down his name sitting with a severe-looking dark-haired girl. The severe one was saying something about a 'Kimura-san' that apparently baffled her, and the green-eyed one was apparently commiserating, but it was hard to hear just what they were saying over the loud laughter of three sitting close to the head of the table. They were all eating lunch out of separate bento boxes, but they were all sharing things out of their boxes with each other. There was also another trio, also of two girls and a boy, but although Tsuyoshi recognised one of these girls as a celebrity, they didn't shine quite as brightly as the first trio.
"Hiyama-sempai, we're here."
Atsuya's greeting shook Tsuyoshi out of his trance. Immediately, the girl at the centre of the first trio stood up and came over. This was the same girl who had told him to meet them at lunchtime when he'd tried to approach them in the morning. Her purple eyes sparkled and she smiled in a way that made him think more of 'carefree' classmate Hori than of a steely Niðavellir member. Still, when she held out her hand, he accepted it and shook her hand.
"Sakai-kun, right?" she asked. "I'm Arisa Hiyama, the current Niðavellir leader."
"The current-"
Tsuyoshi gave her a bug-eyed look, and Arisa tilted her head in confusion. Then, the girl who had been sitting next to her also got up and came to join them at the other side of the table.
"You seem very surprised by that." This other girl commented. "Are you doubting her, maybe?"
Is she a Valkyrie? Tsuyoshi wondered. She too had bright green eyes, but there was something dark behind the sparkle of them, something a little too dangerous in her smile.
"No, but close enough, considering I'm a reaper. But yes, you would do well to step carefully with me. And that includes anything to do with Ari here. Oh, and him."
This other girl pointed casually at the boy she and Arisa had been sitting with, but Tsuyoshi didn't pay much heed to him as he clapped his hand over his mouth all while trying to string together some sort of apology. But then, to his surprise, the girl tipped her head back and laughed, and when she straightened to look at him again, she grinned ear to ear.
"Sorry, sorry, Ari keeps telling me to not scare people unless it's necessary. Anyway, I'm Chika Kato and I'm the deputy. Yes, even though we're both second years. I'm assuming that's why you're surprised?"
Tsuyoshi decided it would be best to agree with that, so he just nodded along. Thankfully, they all moved on to introducing everybody else, though they didn't really explain why it was Arisa and Chika had leadership roles rather than Naoko and Hanayo, whom he understood to be the only third year students present.
"Alright then, that just leaves Shiho-san for you to meet," Arisa declared. "She'll probably have the final say, really, as to whether you join us or not, though we get most of the say, as well. Anyway, am I right in thinking your specialism is combat-based?"
"Yes, that's right. I'm a gunslinger."
"Oh, hey, that means we can put him up against her in the Green Room!"
Chika pointed to Naoko grandly, and Tsuyoshi glanced at her. She, for her part, just nodded and stood up and said:
"Alright then, we might as well. It'll be good to see some of his skills in practice."
"The Green Room. I'm really going to get to fight in The Green Room?"
"And how, young man, would you know about that?"
It took Tsuyoshi a moment to realise the voice was coming from much lower than he had expected, but then he looked down and saw a short woman looking up at him. A small dog stood by her, looking very alert and though he knew he should answer her question, he couldn't help but exclaim:
"You're Shiho-san! And that must be your dog…Hati?"
"No, this is Fen." Shiho said cooly. "But how would a boy who was merely an infant when I had Hati know of him?"
"Yeah, now I'm thinking of it, you really do seem to know a lot," Kou said. "Did your parents really tell you about Niðavellir before they died?"
"His parents?" one of the others asked.
"Yeah, apparently they were members of Niðavellir in the past." Kou explained. "And they died, like mine."
"What, really?" Chika asked.
"Ah, well, I know I have to prove myself to you all first…"
I belong here. I know I belong here. But Tsuyoshi knew he had to make himself as humble as possible. He could not be seen to be arrogant. Be proud, but never above yourself. In the end, this is about serving.
"…but may I go to the memorial room? It will be easier to explain if I have that as a starting point."
Shiho made a motion to Arisa, who went to pick up Fen, cooing over the little creature as she scooped him up in her arms and petted his fur. It did not seem particularly leader-like of her, but Tsuyoshi swallowed his scepticism down. Shiho circled him once, twice, three times and never took her eyes off of him. The air didn't crackle around her, not that Tsuyoshi could detect, but it felt as if she were using something more than just her eyes to look at him, all the same.
Eventually, Shiho came to a stop in front of him, and asked:
"Marin Tákáshidottir and Leif Sakai?"
Tsuyoshi hadn't expected a lump to form in his throat at the mere sound of his parents names being spoken. It was all he could do to swallow it down, at least a little, and simply said:
"Yes."
"I had wondered what became of their child." Shiho nodded to herself. "It was quite a scandal at the time, but both of them seemed nothing but proud. It did not lessen their spark, either, so I had no problem with it. "
"I…thank you. I'm honoured."
"Let me see you transform." Shiho said. "I'm in no doubt you at least have the basic levels of competence needed to get this far, but I would like to see it for myself."
"Ah…right. Hold on, I have a couple of amulets on me. I should put them away, right?"
Shiho gave a slight smile and immediately inclined her head. Tsuyoshi patted down his pockets, and pulled out first his keyrings, which had a small charm shaped like a torii gate, and then the button carved with runes that had once been part of a cardigan his grandfather had knitted for him when he was seven years old and had just started elementary school. He handed both of these to Arisa who nodded solemnly and then nodded to the boy who had been sitting with her and who now stood on her other side.
"Jeff-kun, could you do an illumination on these?"
"Yeah, sure."
Jeff? I thought his name was Kenjiro? Oh well.
"Wait, I want to know more-" the other boy-Rei, that's it-said curiously. "Like, what are you all on about? Who are Leif Sakai and-"
"Do you really think some gossip is important now?" Naoko asked.
"Well, no, but-"
As Rei and Naoko continued debating, with Kotone and Emiko joining in, Tsuyoshi watched as the air crackled around Kenjiro's hands as he produced the light that was part of the illumination spell, and floated it over his amulets, nodding as they lit up in rainbow hues. Then, Kenjiro directed more of the light at him and Tsuyoshi gasped as the light unfurled from its ball shape and became more like a sheet that engulfed him, pulsing gently until suddenly, a point in the middle flared up, but this time in shades of red, pink and purple.
"That's not an amulet," Kenjiro said as he withdrew the glowing. "But what is it?"
"It's…it's a keepsake…."
He drew out the necklace, thick black cord that held a single pendant carved out of ash wood-the characters 強志 -the characters of his given name-Strength and Ambition-twined together. The first character 強 had been varnished with a slightly silver gaze, the second character 志 varnished with a slight gold glaze to distinguish them from each other. The fizzing it made, even as he held it tightly between his fingers to show it to the others, was mild at best. Nonetheless, it was comforting and he knew despite its small size, it was not a weak thing. After all…
"They made this for you." Shiho said. "Didn't they?"
"That's right. It's just a protective charm, but I deliberately made sure to not use it as an amulet, so that I would always be able to wear it." Tsuyoshi said.
"Yes, I can see its protective. I assume that tallies with your sense, Takenaka-kun." Shiho replied.
"Well, really I should defer to you, Shiho-san, but yes. That's not an amulet. He's not cheating." Kenjiro confirmed.
"Alright then. Sakai-kun, show us your transformation."
Arisa opened a drawer set in the side of the table and put the amulets in, slamming it shut. She stood in front of the drawer, and everyone else stepped back to give him space. Tsuyoshi let go of his necklace and closed his eyes, wondering which amulet to picture in his head. One of those he had handed over, or one of the others? In the end, it was easier to picture his torii gate keyring charm, and so that was what he did. Electricity crackled around him, and he didn't need to open his eyes to know that it was circling him in blue thunderbolts, sparking everywhere and circling him as they rose up from the ground, transforming him from the feet up. When he felt the magic reaching his head, making his hair stand up on end, he opened his eyes and grinned triumphantly.
Still, he looked down at himself, just to be sure.
Instead of his school shoes, he had long black boots, into which wine-red leggings were tucked into. Over these leggings, he wore a slim-fitting tunic that was the same colour but embroidered with gold curlicue designs on the sleeves and around the neckline. Over this tunic, he wore a long hooded cloak, with the hood down. The outside of the cloak was black, but the inner lining was gold with defensive runes printed in them that would only become visible when he needed to use them. Attached to a brown leather holster around his waist were his two main guns, and he had two smaller pistols attached to his boots, that looked merely like extra buckles. He knelt down and demonstrated the unlocking of one of those, before standing up and taking out one of his main guns, and holding them up.
He also knew that he had gained a couple of extra inches in height, that his ponytail was neater and a little longer, tied with a gold ribbon instead of the simple black elastic he used while untransformed. His glasses, too, had acquired thicker gold frames with small wings either side of them and a chain attached to the arms so that he would not lose them were they knocked off his face. And of course, his late parents' protective charm, their only gift to him, nestled safely beneath his tunic, right next to his skin.
"Ooooh, fancy." Chika said appreciatively.
"I've not seen guns quite like that," Naoko said. "Where did you get them from?"
"He probably got them specially crafted," Haru said idly. "From somebody, whether an edgesmith or a craftsman, who specialises in transformation-only weaponry."
"I, yes, that's right. But, um, may I show you all now? My parents on the memorial wall?"
…
There were more photographs than he had realised. Of course, some of these were students who had come after his parents as well as those from before. It wrong-footed him for a moment, though, the sheer volume of youthful faces that stared out. For all he'd read about in his mother's diaries and all his grandparents had told him, he hadn't realised that so many people had sacrificed their lives for the sake of others. It was quite the legacy to be a part of, and he realised its weight might be heavier than he'd anticipated. But the feeling lasted only for a moment, because it did not take him very long at all to find his parents faces.
As they themselves had been in those final years of their lives, their photos were side by side, hung up directly on a wall rather than placed on the many shelves. Marin Tákáshidottir, from whom he had gotten his green hair and green eyes and height from. Leif Sakai, from whom he'd gotten his short-sightedness and quick reflexes and smile from. Marin and Leif, teenage lovers whose relationship had ended up under so much scrutiny because Tsuyoshi had ended up existing, but who hadn't let any of that stop them from stepping up when they had been needed to. Even when it had ended up taking both of them away from him.
Tsuyoshi only hoped that he'd also inherited that bravery, that honour, that strength in the same way as his colouring and his height and his short-sightedness and his smile.
"Here they are," Tsuyoshi said, turning to the rest of Niðavellir. "My parents, Leif and Marin. Yes, they had me while they were still in school. Yes, they died soon after I was born, just over fifteen years ago. I'm not ashamed of the fact they were teenage parents, just so you know."
"Oh, Sakai-kun…" Arisa said. "That is horrible."
Horrible? Tsuyoshi thought. It was sad, of course it was sad. But horrible? Even if life was precious, what better death was there than one that earnt them a place in Valhalla and their pictures on this wall? There wasn't. So, he couldn't think of it as horrible.
Still, they're being kind. I should appreciate that, at least.
"It's so sad that you never got a chance to really know them." Kotone added. "And of course you shouldn't be ashamed. But what happened?"
"Well…"
Tsuyoshi told the story, as best as he knew it, with Shiho adding a few details here and there. He made sure to keep smiling through it, though, even in the face of all their concern. It was not that he didn't appreciate it. Of course he did. Their caring was something admirable too, he knew, a strength of its own. What point was there in fighting if one did not care, after all? He just didn't quite see why they were concerned.
It wasn't just because of the honour of their deaths, though. It was also because, though he hadn't known them, he knew that his mother hand been able to hold him more than a few times. He knew his father had dangled toys above his crib and watched him learn to sit up for the first time. His hands had once been small, and had once gripped both their fingers tightly. His sadness was there and he could have it, sure, but he couldn't ever give into it. That would insult all they had been and all they had done. He could never do that.
"In any case," Tsuyoshi said. "I am honouring their memory by joining just as they did, but of course, I want to deserve my place here just as they did. So, sempai, I'll place myself in your hands."
He directed this to Naoko, who nodded stiffly at him. She swiftly transformed, and he noted her outfit was a lot less fussy than his, in a clean, stark black-and-white scheme. Nonetheless, she managed to look very grand, and her short blond hair had a sheen to it that it hadn't had before. Her green eyes remained still and calm though, almost severe, in sharp contrast to Chika who was still brimming with mischief even as she just watched them.
"Very well then, let's head to the Green Room."
After taking one last look at his parents' photographs, Tsuyoshi stepped out of the Memorial Room (he didn't know if that was what it was actually called, but he thought it made sense to think of it that way) and followed Naoko down to the Green Room.
"Woah."
He couldn't help himself, he went straight to the middle of the room and spun around in a slow circle to take it all in. The green walls, the mats, the weapons stands and practice dummies, the shelves packed with different pieces of equipment needed for combat practice or, even more likely, actual combat. There were also a few sleeping bags rolled up and left in a corner.
"We'll start with some still target practice, and then moving targets."
"Hiyama-san and I will observe," Shiho said. "The rest of you can go back and finish your lunches."
"I'll stay as well," Kenjiro offered. "Help put up the targets and so on."
"No, it's alright, we're fine really," Arisa insisted. "Once you're done, you all can go over what protective charms we need to renew. Chi-chan, you can take the lead on that, right?"
"Sure thing!"
"If you need any help, Hiyama-chan, come and get me." Kenjiro insisted.
The other members of Niðavellir left, and it was just him, Naoko, Shiho and Arisa. Once they got started, he wasn't entirely sure how much time passed, but it all passed in a blur. First still targets that varied in size, with clever illusion spells attached to them to make them seem as if they were at varying distances. Then, the moving targets, before moving onto the practice dummies. These, Arisa made move by summoning a wind spirit that lifted its limbs. It looked terrifyingly like a revenant, so much so that he blasted more holes in there than was strictly necessary. And of course, he was not as good as Naoko, given he was younger. But he gave as good as he got, and by the time they were finished, and they both sat down on the floor to catch their breath, he knew that he'd done it. He'd proved himself.
And he knew it for sure when, once he'd untransformed, still sitting, he looked up to see Arisa standing before him, crouching slightly as she held out her hand. In the doorway, Kenjiro had appeared, holding two cups.
"Well, officially now-welcome to Niðavellir."
Tsuyoshi was overcome, and so he did not reach for her hand immediately. Instead, he tugged his necklace out from beneath his tunic and rubbed the charm, first the 強 and then the 志. It was only then that he held out his hand and gripped Arisa's to both return the handshake and be helped up.
…
Kie was eating lunch in what she thought was peace when she heard people approaching her table. She looked up to see Fukiko, as well as a few other students, standing there.
"Hey, this is the only table free," one of the others said. "Could we join you?"
Kie wanted to object. Unfortunately, this was a canteen, so she couldn't really. Instead, she just shrugged, and tried not to look as flustered as she felt, sticking her head back into her book as she idly shovelled rice into her mouth. She was vaguely aware of the others talking, but she paid no attention until she heard Fukiko's voice say her name. With a heavy sigh, she put her book down and then looked at them:
"What?"
"I heard that you were going to be joining Niðavellir." Fukiko said disapprovingly. "Why?"
"However did you 'know' this?" Kie asked, trying her best to sound bored.
"I heard you just now, back in the corridor. Hanamura-san was saying something about it."
"As I told Hanamura-san, being interested doesn't mean I am definitely going to be joining." Kie said. "Which, if you were really listening, you would have known."
Fukiko just looked wrong-footed by this, but one of her companions-a brown-haired boy with a large facial scar-narrowed his eyes at her. He was an alchemist too, Kie thought, but only mage-level. He had a Norse name, she thought, not just Norse-style. It wasn't coming to her though, and it wasn't really important. What was important was how he said:
"Why on earth would you be interested in joining them?"
"Yes, why would you?" another companion, this one a girl, asked. "They don't really care about us, you know? It's just something to make Principal Asakura look good to the government."
Kie raised an eyebrow at this, considering this was just one of the components of her suspicions. Nobody could deny the Asakura family were very well connected, and that Sosuke Asakura was particularly politically-minded in this regard. Still, it wasn't something most people thought too deeply about. Both the scarred boy and Fukiko seemed to take that the wrong way, with the boy saying:
"What? You don't think so? She's right, you know. They talk about social responsibility, but do you really think that they're caring about society? No, they're not. Only the ones in power, who have real power."
"All they're actually doing is creating monsters," Fukiko said. "They're not doing anything to make this country a safer place to live, they're doing the opposite!"
Now, it was not that Kie disagreed. Though she had no true side, in truth a lot of her feelings ran along similar tracks to the side Fukiko had placed herself on. But she was still thinking about what it would mean to her true goals to join Niðavellir, whether she joining really would help her to get any semblance of the truth. Whether it was Hanayo trying to get her to join, or Fukiko trying to get her to not join, she didn't need their pestering.
That, and she was trying to read and eat in peace, thanks very much.
So, she rested her chin on one hand, and said idly:
"So then, does that mean your brother has become a monster in your eyes?"
Fukiko's eyes widened, and then narrowed. Her voice became a few notes lower as she asked:
"Excuse me?"
"Niðavellir is an evil place, full of greedy and amoral people. Niðavellir is a symbol of all that's wrong in society. That's what you are always harping on about, yes? Yet, your brother has joined, and it's clear he has actually done so voluntarily. Does that mean he's a monster now?"
Despite her annoyance, Kie was genuinely asking. Still, she'd be a fool to assume that Fukiko would be just fine with such a question. Still, she was startled when Fukiko leapt up and lunged for her, not quite comprehending that that was what was happening until Fukiko had her by neck and had pushed her out of her seat and against the wall.
"Oooo, the older Inoue's fighting again!" somebody called out from another table.
Fukiko jumped back, releasing her, and Kie fought for breath. Half her instincts told her to run, but the others kept her rooted there. She slumped back into her seat, but kept her eyes on Fukiko as she said:
"For all these things you're saying, what are you going to do about it?"
"How is that any of your business?" The scarred boy snapped.
"Yeah, how is it?" another companion said. "You'll just go running to Niðavellir and, I don't know, get them to beat us up or something."
"Or even worse, provoke Fukiko-sempai into getting all mad at you so you can kill her or something. Because we know that Niðavellir kills!"
"They're justified!" someone yelled from another table. "You poxy first years weren't around when that terrorist maniac struck, you don't know what it's like!"
"Yeah, and I had family who were part of Niðavellir in both wars because they were too young to join the army proper! They saved so many civilian lives!"
"That's no justification for…look, that was then, this is now! Violence is never acceptable!" Fukiko yelled.
"And we're not all first years, anyway!" one of the girls added. "So perhaps check your facts first, yeah?"
"Shouldn't we table this before a Niðavellir member actually comes along?" Kie asked lightly. "I wouldn't want there to be an actual fight breaking out…"
Despite the fact she didn't yell, enough people heard her that they looked, and then started looking at each other uncomfortably. A few people made comments about not wanting to trouble Niðavellir with 'trivial problems', others about not wanting to get on the wrong side of them, and thankfully everyone returned to their own lunches and conversations. Ah, if only I could do the same, Kie thought. But as it was, she had to turn to Fukiko and say:
"We should talk about this where others can't hear us."
Fukiko frowned, and then nodded slowly:
"Alright then, let's go."
She gestured to her little group, but Kie shook her head and asserted:
"No. Not them. Just you. I'm not getting bombarded."
Fukiko narrowed her eyes, and Kie decided to toy with her, just a little more:
"Why? Are you afraid?"
From the way Fukiko went so pale, Kie realised that not only was she afraid, but the extent of that fear went way deeper than Kie had really realised. Of course, it's different now, isn't it? She must be worried about her brother. That wasn't really something that Kie could experience, since it wasn't exactly possible to just randomly acquire a sibling and the lifetime of feelings that came with having one.
"Let them watch through a window or something." Kie said. "I don't care about that. I just want the chance to actually speak. Please tell me you have some self-awareness to realise why I'm not optimistic about getting a word in edgeways."
Fukiko glowered, but nodded.
They all got up, packing away their lunches, and looked for a quiet place. Eventually, they found a spot outside, where the rest of Fukiko's group could watch them from the window of an empty classroom. Fukiko crossed her arms and glowered at Kie, and said:
"Well then? Spit it out."
"Niðavellir is only part of the problem, don't you think?"
Fukiko's glower took on a confused edge, and Kie pushed:
"Principal Asakura is ingratiating himself with the government more than any other Principal has. He has inherited this school, but he has nobody to pass it onto, and despite his apparently advanced age he has made no official provision for his death. If you look at all the data, other schools with school armies will put in qualified, adult intervention far, far earlier than Asgard Academy ever has in comparable incidents. Our death count is larger too, and most of those funerals were hurried affairs, with families encouraged to let the school deal with the bodies and only have memorials afterwards. The staff advisor for Niðavellir is someone whose identity most of us don't even know, and who has apparently remained the same for the entire 105 years-and Principal Asakura apparently listens to this person more than any other teaching colleague. Indeed, we don't even have a school governor's board. Which I'd argue is worse than not having a student council-and that's pretty bad too."
"I…that's…what? What's all that? Why are you telling me that? I know most of that!" Fukiko spluttered.
"Do you, really?" Kie wondered.
"Well, I mean, the data…do other school armies really call in adults earlier?"
"Not to say that they're a good thing, sure," Kie shrugged. "And some are definitely worse than Niðavellir, such as the armies in Thornlundr Technical High School and The Kissen Academy. Especially Thornlundr with how they were stealing from and assaulting students instead of protecting them. But yes."
"Oh…right…but what are you getting at?"
"What have you actually been doing, apart from complaining and yelling at people?" Kie asked. "Oh, and starting fights when you claim to be against violence."
"Why, you-"
"I've been watching, and researching, and making notes. But I've realised that simply being on the sidelines isn't really enough. There is something very, very wrong with Asgard Academy as a whole and not just Niðavellir. But, it cannot be denied that Niðavellir is at the heart of it-and they hide their secrets close, I'm sure of it. Now, I know that you're intelligent enough, so…what do you think needs to be done?"
"I could never join Niðavellir!" Fukiko said. "Not even for…not even for that."
Kie rolled her eyes.
"I'm not asking you to join, am I?"
"Wait…so you are?"
"I am, yes."
"Oh. That's…well, why are you telling me?"
"Because, as I said, you need to do something other than just screaming and yelling. As long as you don't pester me about it, I could be persuaded to help you."
Kie stared Fukiko down, and Fukiko continued to glare at her with her arms crossed. But the more time stretched out, the more Kie was sure that Fukiko was chewing over what she had just said, and that her defences were weakening. And sure enough, her shoulders slumped, and her arms began to fall back to their sides. But then, she held out her hand. Kie looked at that hand for a long moment, and then nodded, before holding out her own hand. They shook hands, firmly, and then let go.
"I suppose we should exchange phone numbers, huh?"
"Yes, let's do that."
They exchanged numbers and social media handles, and then Fukiko went back to her friends and Kie looked for somewhere else to finish out the rest of her lunch in peace. She wouldn't have time to finish her book though.
Because once she had eaten, she'd be joining Niðavellir.
…
Arisa double-checked the list in her hand as she walked down the corridor, reading out the items as she did so:
"Get Suzuki-san to restrengthen spell-song barrier, done. Draw wards around the reception area and check the alarm will blare, done. Charms in the reception area, making sure the receptionists are equipped with basic weapons and defence, done. Dorm building wards and charms, done. Classroom wards and charms, that's what I'm doing now…"
And as she did this, if somebody caught her eye she made a point of smiling and saying good morning. Sometimes, they stopped, though never for long enough to say more than 'how are you', 'oh, I'm fine, thank you', but most often they smiled and said good morning back before continuing on their way. A few people, however, looked startled at her greetings, and some of them even flinched. She knew why, but she tried not to let it show on her face. Still, each time she wanted to call out after them.
But, what is it I would say? After all, she knew that some of their fears and contempt were not entirely unjustified.
She went into Class 2C and made sure their wards were updated using Shiho's alchemical formula, as well as hanging up the charms in the hollows in the protection posts. This classroom's posts had runes carved, and she'd noticed that in some of the other classes, but she wasn't as good with the runes as she'd like to be, so she left those for the time being. I'll have to get one of the others onto it, she thought, but for the time being this will do. Once she had hung up the last of the allocated charms for 2C, she exited the classroom and caught sight of a familiar face and called out:
"Good morning, Chiba-san!"
Emiko turned and blushed:
"O-oh, good morning. I just realised I might have been going the wrong way to the Niðavellir rooms."
"It's alright, it's easy to get turned around on the way there if you're not used to going there," Arisa said. "Believe me, both me and Chi-chan used to get terribly lost. Were you looking for me?"
"Well…I suppose. I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help with…anything. Such as…?"
"Oh, this?" Arisa gestured to her box and list. "Well, actually…how are you with protective charms and wards? And runes?"
"Where I used to live had a lot of thefts. Not that there was ever very much to steal, but, you know. So I used to ward our windows every week. I think I'm okay with charms too."
"Well, I still have the non-classroom areas and around the outside of the building itself to do, so do you think you could help me with the rest of the classrooms? I've got…"
After peering at her list again, and with some back and forth, they eventually decided that Emiko would do the rest of the classrooms, the club rooms in the building they were currently in and the assembly hall. Arisa would then go on to do the library, the cafeteria and the remaining rooms before then doing the outside of the building. Once Arisa had handed over the charms and bottles that she needed (luckily, Emiko had a bag she could use to carry them), then Arisa decided that her next port of call was the cafeteria, and then the library.
The cafeteria was relatively easy, and in fact some of the kitchen staff showed her their charms, some of which were home-made and some of which were bought from various local shrines. They had them hanging lovingly from above their various workstations, and in the end Arisa thought they were better off there. She did, however, draw in an extra ward for them before distributing the rest of the kitchen-assigned charms around the student areas instead. The library, however, was a different story, with the staff librarian crossing her arms and refusing to let Arisa in:
"If you want to study or read, that's fine, as long as you don't cause a ruckus," she said. "However, I certainly don't need some overpowered hooligans to 'protect' this space."
"But, it's part of our duties…"
After a few rounds of this, Arisa gave up in her protests as she realised the librarian was probably completely immovable. A few students had also started to crowd around, wondering what was happening. So she pasted a big smile on her face as she handed over the assigned charms for the library.
"That's fine, but please make use of these. If you do need any help, please don't hesitate to ask."
Arisa pressed the pouch of charms into the librarian's hand, bowed quickly and then turned and walked away before she had the chance to see the librarian reject those, too. Once she was out of the building, she let her smile fall away and leant against the wall. She was in one of the smaller courtyards, facing the statue of the mahou shoujo girl who was holding a staff to the sky.
I wonder, was this girl once a Niðavellir member? Were people ever afraid of her, too?
"I have to fix that, too, don't I?" she thought to herself. "Don't I?"
There were a few students coming through the courtyard, none of them paying a blind bit of attention to her. One, however, caught her eye. The boy was white haired and holding a book strangely-holding it like a shield with only one hand, while he had the other shoved in a pocket. His gaze flitted from place to place to place, as if he was scared of something, but then his foot caught a rock on the ground and he almost went flying.
Arisa leapt forward to help, but at that moment Kenjiro arrived from a different direction and quickly caught the boy by the elbow, steadying him before bending down to get the book he had dropped. The boy blinked, startled, his shoulders hunching as he started to wrap his arms around himself before seeming to remember something and putting his hand in his pocket-but only that one hand.
"Are you alright?" she heard Kenjiro ask.
The boy simply stared, now unblinking, and then snatched his book with his free hand and ran off. Kenjiro watched the boy, then turned and noticed Arisa. His face lit up and he gave her a little wave as he came over.
"Good morning, Hiyama-chan. "
"Good morning…what was that about?"
"Oh, him?" Kenjiro looked pensive. "I'm not so sure, actually. I do think he might be the boy we're all looking for. You know, the longhouse one."
That was when it clicked for Arisa. The strange way the boy had been holding the book, how he'd put his other hand in his pocket. He wasn't actually putting his hand in his pocket, just trying to hide that he only had the one in the first place.
"Wait, really, then, we should go after-"
Arisa blinked when Kenjiro held up a hand to halt her, but he smiled so calmly that she didn't feel concerned. Just rather confused. Luckily, he wasted no time in explaining:
"I think he's a bit like a stray cat, or something of the like. We need to take it very slowly and very gently with him."
"I…why?"
"Well, I think that's anybody's guess," Kenjiro said. "But yesterday, I saw some other kids pushing him around, getting in his face, things like that. I went to intervene, but they all scattered when they saw me. I think Nakahara-kun's assessment is correct, in that he's a bit different to the rest of us. Honestly, he seems so fragile for a school like this."
"I wonder why he was sent here, then?" Arisa asked.
"Well, if I'm right and he is the longhouse student," Kenjiro speculated. "Then he wouldn't have had a choice."
"Which means we won't have much of a choice in getting him onboard with us," Arisa said. "But still, even if he wasn't like that, it wouldn't be fair to force somebody to join."
"You're right," Kenjiro said, looking concerned for a moment. "But we'll just have to wait and see if we can come across him again. Then we can take it from there."
"Hmmm, I suppose…"
Kenjiro then shook the paper bag he was holding, and asked:
"You haven't eaten yet, have you?"
Arisa was about to try and lie, but right on cue, her stomach rumbled. She blushed, and Kenjiro just laughed as he handed the bag to her. She looked inside and found three fresh pastries and three little cartons of juice. She took out one of the pastries and bit into it, the taste of spice-infused honey bursting into her mouth, alongside the layers of delicate pastry and the crushed nuts that topped it. Kenjiro grinned at her, then took his own pastry to eat. Standing there in companionable silence, they enjoyed their pastries together and then, when they were done and were sipping from their juice cartons, Kenjiro took his phone out and said:
"I was looking at air fryers last night and look, I found a couple that we could use. There's also this mini fridge-freezer that I think would be perfect…"
He showed her the web pages on his phone, and Arisa chuckled:
"You really are just setting up a mini-café in our rooms, aren't you?"
"Well, of course, "Kenjiro said. "You barely have anything there, we need to fix that."
"I mean, it's not like we ate there all that often…"
Arisa thought back to the previous year. There had been days, especially in the wake of the festival attacks, where they had skipped some meals, if not all the meals of each day. Clearly, Kenjiro had twigged this, because the look he gave her could best be described as 'I'm feeding you whether you like it or not' and sure enough:
"Isn't thinking and strategizing done better on a full stomach? So, too, is fighting then, I'd imagine." He said. "And if we're going to eat, we may as well eat well. Besides, Chiba-san can help me source some of the appliances. They won't take too much space either, see, this site? It sells appliances specifically for studio apartments or micro-apartments. Then there's this site that has some amazing things…"
He showed her a few more things he had been looking at. She wasn't really sure if they needed a milk frother, mini waffle maker or a stand mixer. They most definitely did not need an automatic edible food pearl former or a meat thermometer. it wasn't that difficult to feign excitement. In fact, she couldn't really say it was feigned. Truly, the 'barista' label fit him, and for more than his magic specialism.
"SURPRISE!"
Chika seemed to materialise from nowhere as she slung one arm around Arisa's shoulder and another around Kenjiro's, making them both jump.
"Chi-chan!"
Chika let go and grinned at the both of them as she quickly un-transformed from what had clearly been a busy early morning of reaping, judging by her heavy breathing and mussed hair. Despite that, the first thing Chika asked once untransformed was:
"Did you eat, Ari?"
Arisa rolled her eyes and said:
"Yes, yes, I've eaten. Did you two coordinate or something?"
Chika smirked and gave Kenjiro a side-eye as she said:
"Maaaaayyyybeeeeeee…. Speaking of which, give."
Kenjiro chuckled and handed over the paper bag that contained the third pastry and juice carton. Chika immediately pulled the pastry out and began chomping down on it, little flakes of pastry getting everywhere. Arisa resisted the urge to wipe them away for the time being, and instead watched with amusement as Kenjiro showed his phone to her and asked:
"Kato-chan, what do you think about this automatic edible food pearl former?"
"I'm sorry, the what now?"
…
Minoru would have skipped school completely, but he knew he couldn't do that. He had managed to mostly steer clear of Asakura both at the longhouse and here, but he wasn't lucky to completely avoid him. He could only count himself lucky that Asakura was so busy with what he assumed to be start-of-year things that all he had been able to do was confirm that Minoru had turned up for homeroom and to remind him that the clock was ticking on his deadline to join Niðavellir.
Though he dreaded the thought of having to do that, the thought of what would happen if he didn't was worse. Yet he couldn't. He just couldn't. Just being at this school was sapping away at him. It was still better than the longhouse, though, which was always buzzing even when the younger kids were being taken to their schools. Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with arriving early.
The classmates who seemed to have honed in on him as a target weren't around, so he thought he might take his chances somewhere on the grounds, perhaps close to the library, but he'd discarded that the moment he'd tripped over the rock and the kind boy had turned up to help him, the way he had turned up the day before. Like an omen of some sort. Yet, despite the fact that both times the kind boy had been, well, kind, Minoru knew that if he were an omen, he wasn't a good one.
After all, the kind boy was part of Niðavellir.
Minoru wasn't entirely sure how he knew this. If he had to guess, he'd say it was because he had seen the kind boy with a girl he recognised from the document Asakura had given him the night before his first day here. But most of it was probably just tonnes of information that had been thrown at him from every direction, things he'd assumed had just disappeared after hitting him but had apparently embedded somewhere in his subconscious. If he had time to really sit and think, maybe he'd be able to make some more sense of well…anything.
He looked at the book in his hands and shook his head in disgust. He would have been better off keeping that in his bag, then he could have kept both hands in his pockets. He was sure the kind boy had noticed, and most likely, the kind boy and that girl had realised who he was. Stupid, stupid of me….
In annoyance, he unzipped his school bag and shoved it back in, and then checked the time on the pocketwatch that his old friends had clubbed together to give him when they'd learnt he wasn't going to be going up to high school together. If I go to the library now, then I won't have long there before I have to go anyway, and then the corridors will be crowded…classroom it is. Part of him wanted to go to the library anyway, because the librarian had barred two of his classmates from following him into the library when he'd gone in there on the first day. But again, he had to be seen, and at least registered. That way, if he did need to escape later, it'd be safer to do so.
So with a heavy heart, he trudged to the classroom and sat at his table. He took out his book-not the sketchbook, this time, but a slim volume that was the required reading for one of his lessons. He laid it out flat against the desk, then flipped it open to the last page he had been reading and he fixed his gaze on the page and tried to block everything out as he read the words.
Nonetheless, as the time ticked away and more people came in, the classroom started to become noisier and hotter. The more of them came in, the smaller the room felt, too. And it was too small. Too, too small. He heard people calling out his name-his surname, at least, which was something-and giggling. Though what was so funny about his perfectly ordinary surname he didn't know. But he just kept ignoring them as best as he could, but that became harder when someone bumped into his table, making him jump.
"Ooops, sorry!"
Minoru stared at the person who'd bumped his table for a moment, then just looked back down at his book. But then another person bumped his table as they walked past, and then another. Each time, they gave a cheery apology and moved on as if nothing had happened. But each time, Minoru was startled, and by the fifth time his shoulders were up to his ears and the rest of his body was stiff with the tension of waiting for the next jolt, and there was more giggling.
Someone bumped the table again, and this time it sent his book flying off the table. Minoru scrambled to pick it up, but he didn't get up immediately. He hunched over his book, as if he could protect it (or even himself) by doing so. And the room kept getting smaller.
"Oh my gods, what is he doing? Is he going to hide under the table now?"
"What a freak."
"I know, right? What's he even doing in a school like this?"
I want to leave, Minoru thought. I want to be far, far away from here. But then he heard a new set of footsteps, those of his homeroom teacher, and he had to get up. He practically climbed back into his chair, sitting cross-legged and staring straight ahead.
"Endo-kun?"
A pause. Minoru realised that he had to say something, but the words seemed very remote. He had to physically pull at them. But the teacher asked again:
"Endo-kun, is Endo-kun here?"
"Sensei, he's right there, being a freak, that's all."
"Yes, oh my god, Endo, just say you're here! You're holding everything up."
"There's no point, he's a weirdo."
"Alright, that's enough of that!"
Minoru flinched when the teacher yelled, but was surprised when she simply looked at him and nodded, ticking against his name on the register and then just moving on. She didn't seem very happy with him, but he supposed it was better than nothing. But he couldn't even return to reading his book for the rest of homeroom. Though he was aware of more taunts and sniggers aimed at him, he just sat there, staring until the first lesson started. Mathematics wasn't something he liked, but it wasn't a complete ordeal either. He would probably get half the questions wrong, as he usually did, but at least the steps were logical, no hidden meanings or uncertain interpretations. Either he was right, or he was wrong. It was easy enough to see some sort of pattern he just needed to keep repeating, but with different numbers. Perhaps, most importantly, he was left alone to get on with it. Nobody laughed at him, or jolted him, or threw things at him.
Still, it was still too noisy and too hot. The room still got smaller and smaller.
When it was time to move to the next lesson, he felt stiff and achy from having held himself together so carefully, and the noise around him immediately crescendoed, flooding his mind with more than he could handle, all of it swirling into one chaotic mess. Released into the corridor, he was buffeted around as though he were a piece of paper in the wind, and he could barely reach into his bag to find his map of the school (the one concession that Asakura had granted him). When he finally got a little bit of breathing space, the first thing he did was, indeed, breathe before he tried to get his map. But just as he was drawing it out, somebody bumped into him, hard. He went flying, and so did the contents of his bag. Pain radiated through his body, but he ignored it as he desperately tried to grab his things, attempting to use his now-empty bag to try and 'sweep' some of the things closer to him. But then someone knelt in front of him and picked up some of his books.
"So, what kind of things does the freak read, then?"
"G-give it back!" Minoru tried to say.
"Ooooh, give it back!" the person mimicked, making their voice high-pitched.
Others crouched by this person, all of their faces twisted into sneers. Minoru stared at them, and their faces changed again.
"What are you staring at?" one of them demanded.
"You're right in front of me, and you're interacting with me. Aren't I meant to look at people when they talk to me?"
Again, their faces changed and they looked at each other. If Minoru had to hazard a guess, he'd say that they were confused. As he got himself in a sitting position, he was aware of them turning away from him and looking through his spilled belongings, mostly his books. As they discarded them, Minoru hurriedly tried to put some of them back in his bag, as well as the things they hadn't touched at all.
"Oh, get a load of this!"
There was something more electric in this person's voice as they said this which made Minoru look up, and when he did, his blood ran cold.
"That's…give that back!" he said. "Give that back! That's mine!"
"Why? We just want to have a look at your itty-bitty drawings!" one of them sneered.
Minoru lunged for his sketchbook, but the person holding it stood up, holding it high in the air and said:
"Hey, who wants to take a look at Endo the freak's drawings?"
"Are they naughty drawings?" another asked. "Oooh, dirty, dirty boy."
"They're not-"
Minoru lurched to his feet and tried to snatch it back, but the person laughed, continuing to hold it out of reach before passing it to the next person, who twisted away from Minoru to look for:
"Oh, these are boring, all plants and shit. Look, see!"
And just like that, the person passed it onto the next, and then onto the next, and no matter how hard Minoru tried, he couldn't get his sketchbook back. But it only got worse, because the people passing it around got bored with simply peering through his drawings and making fun of them, and started tossing the sketchbook around. More people started to gather around, whispering and jeering and laughing as Minoru tried and failed to get his sketchbook back.
I should transform, he thought, I should transform and get it back. But his mind had gone under the pressure of all it had been processing, and he couldn't picture a single one of his amulets. He couldn't even remember which amulets he had on him, or where he had kept them. His bag, his pockets? He didn't want to let go of his bag again either.
But he noticed his sketchbook getting more battered as people started to drop it when they tossed it from one person to another having to pick it up again before throwing it around. Pages were coming loose, and it felt like pages in him were coming loose too. I need to try something, I need this to stop.
Clumsily, he curled his left arm around his bag, and then used his hand to draw the rune Elhaz in the direction of his sketchbook, pushing it forward and hoping it would be enough. The rune, once drawn, glowed purple-black and then pulsed, and though it was wavily drawn it formed a barrier around the sketchbook that repelled it from their hands.
"What the hell? Did you just attack us?" someone yelled.
"Oh my gods, what did he do? Did he hurt you?!"
With the rune-barrier still around it, the sketchbook fell, but slower this time. Minoru swooped and grabbed the sketchbook just before it hit the ground-and then he ran. He ran, and ran, and ran. He didn't know what was happening behind him, if anybody came after him, but he just ran and ran until cool air hit his face and he stopped, catching his breath. Gradually, he was able to straighten, and look around him.
If there was anybody around, they were elsewhere. He didn't see a single soul in the area he'd ended up in. It was the quietest this school had ever been, but it wasn't enough to calm him. But…can I just walk through the gates? He decided against it, but his mind still scrambled for a way out. As he spun in slow circles, studying his surroundings, he took a look at the protective spell barrier that surrounded the school. It had been made with spell-songs, he knew, but he hadn't paid much attention to it until now. Now he was, he realised he could see it.
It was barely there, something akin to a heat-haze, shimmering with colours that seemed to disappear if he stared too closely, but all the same he saw it. This was strange, considering he'd never been someone who could see or hear or even smell magic. He had never particularly wanted to see or hear or even smell magic. Everyday life was enough of an assault on the senses, especially since moving to the longhouse. But this…this was beautiful.
And most importantly, there was a weakness.
This weakness pulsed a little brighter than the rest of it, this brightness looking as if it covered a hole of some sort. It reminded Minoru of a blanket patched up with a material that wasn't the same colour as the rest of it. Not a spell-song, then? But what is it? Curious, he walked towards that fence, but even as he knelt to examine it, he was taken by the forest that lay beyond it. Longing swept through him, as if gentle hands were beckoning him forward. He would be safe there, he was sure of it.
But how…? If I transform and fly, I'll get noticed for sure…
He threw a fearful look over his shoulder, but then looked at the weakness in the spell-song barrier in front of him once again. It was rippling in the wind, seeming even more fabric-like than usual. He stretched out his hand, and though he could only just fit it through the gap between the bars, the weakness sparked when his fingers made contact, and when he jumped back, his hand bashed against one of the bars. He jumped back and yelled, but when his brain caught up, there was no pain. It turned out that he had managed to push the bar to a side, bending it slightly and making the gap ever so slightly bigger.
"What on earth?" he muttered.
Minoru squinted at it, crouching and pushing his face right up to it. The magic that had been involved in patching up the weakness lapped up against the metal of the fence, and where it did so, when Minoru pushed at it, it felt a lot softer than a metal fence was supposed to do. Suddenly, all these curious facts that he had been collecting slotted together and gave him an idea. He'd have to transform for it, but if he was quick…
After looking around him one more time to be sure nobody was watching, he quickly transformed. He flexed his fingers and then reached through to draw the combinations of runes he thought would work against the weakness. The colours of the runes swirled in the centre of the weakness and then branched out, swallowing up the whiteness as surely as flames swallowed anything and everything. With a swipe of his hands, he gathered up the magical energy into a ball and left it there for later, and now concentrated on the fence. He used his hand to start bending the bar in the railings, and then as a little more space opened up, he squeezed through and used his body to force more space until finally, he could squeeze comfortably through.
Miscalculating the strength needed to push through, he stumbled and fell face-first into a pile of leaves. But even though he had to spit out some leaves and mud, he grinned through it. Getting up, eh didn't bother to dust himself down as he turned and straightened the railings again. After a moment's hesitation, he then searched in one of his pouches for one of his charmed chisels, and carved a series of runes of his own invention, a combination of the Old Norse and some kanji. Hopefully Niðavellir would notice the weakness in the railings the magic of the barriers had created and fix them, but for now this would help. He hoped. He also drew back the magic that he had balled up and spread it back across the hole in the spell-song barrier. Once he had, he sketched out Elhaz again, making a rune barrier but flat this time. He laid it across the weakness, and watched as the purple faded into the white, only a hint of it showing.
And once he had done that, he untransformed and turned his back from it all, and walked deeper into the forest.
