Twenty-Eighth Spell: Inugami

Apart from Haru, the only other students who were dropped from Flying were Seita and Nayu.

"I couldn't jump off because I'm deathly afraid of heights," Nayu explained to Haru as they walked to the main castle. "And Seita just slept instead of getting on his broom."

"Flying Class is overrated," Seita said. "Especially when there are spells you can use to fly instead of riding an uncomfortable broom. So what are we supposed to do now?"

"Well, Gōgu-Dono said we can use this class slot as a free period to do whatever we want until lunchtime," Nayu recalled. "By tomorrow, Dōmeki-Sama will have another class lined up for us to take instead of Flying."

"Aw!" Seita yawned. "I wish we had free period every day. But maybe I'll use today to take a much-needed nap."

Then Seita walked ahead of Haru and Nayu back into the castle.

"I guess I'll go to the library," Haru figured. "What about you, Nayu?"

"Maybe I'll join you," Nayu offered. "I like the library better than anywhere else in this school."

So the two of them went down the center corridor on the first floor the school's main castle and reached a large room at the end of a hallway. Inside it was full of scrolls on shelves and comfortable-looking cushions for seats. There was even a tea kettle on a stand with a wooden ladle and various tea flavors in powdered form next to stacks of handleless clay tea cups.

"What is this?" Haru asked.

"That's the Bunbuku Chagama," Nayu explained. "It's an enchanted tea kettle that stays hot indefinitely and always has enough water for tea."

"Cool! My mom would have loved something like this."

"Which mom?"

Haru felt sad thinking about Nayu's question. Papurika may have been his adopted mom, but she was the best mom he ever had. But as for his real mom Kiku, he didn't know what to think of her. Everyone who mentioned Kiku seemed to both respect her and shame her simultaneously.

"Sorry," Nayu said, noticing Haru's distressed look. "I didn't mean to bring up—

"No, it's fine," Haru insisted. "I was talking about…my adopted mom."

"I see."

The two of them each grabbed a cup of tea and sat down near a table next to one of the library's circular windows. For a while, they said nothing as the library's silence blanketed them like a warm pillow.

"So, hypothetically, if someone were to break a rule here in Mahoutokoro…would their robe change white as soon as the rule was broken?" Haru asked, being extra cautious about his phrasing.

"From what I've heard, your robe only changes white if you get caught breaking a rule or if you try lying about it," Nayu said.

Reflecting on this information, Haru made a realization. "That might explain why my birth father Taka was able to get away with the things he did as Warumo's follower without having his robe change white to reflect his misdeeds."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean anyone should follow his example and break the rules regardless of their reasons. Don't you agree, Haru?"

"Uh, yeah!"

After lunch in the Student Dining Hall, Haru checked his robe again. To his surprise, there were still no white marks.

"I guess as long as I answer truthfully or tell half-truths, it won't trigger the robe's enchantment," Haru muttered to himself.

During Charms, Fuwa reviewed Fire Spells and their many uses from lighting up hearths to destructive burning.

"How would you categorize the Inferno Curse?" Haru sporadically asked.

Fuwa was taken aback. "Why would ask about that, Ryuji-Kun?"

"Could it be used in a positive way, or is it always used for evil?"

"Nothing good ever comes from using the Inferno Curse, even for constructive purposes."

Then following a brief lecture on the different kinds of magical plants in Remedial Herbology from Sabe-Sensei, it was time for Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts which no one in Class 110B was looking forward to.

"Before I begin the lesson, I wanted to sincerely apologize for my behavior yesterday," Ryosei apologized, bowing low. "I had no right to end the life of a yokai, even if it was attacking one of our students. There were other spells I could have used to incapacitate it, like the Falling-Stone Jinx I demonstrated, so I have no excuse for my actions. Because no matter how dangerous a yokai is, they are still part of nature like the Kami."

"The Kami?" Haru heard someone smack their forehead behind him.

"Kami are supernatural creatures that are embodiments of nature, but like the yokai they are hard to categorize and are considered their own class of creature with the Department of Magical Creatures. And that is what we are going to discuss today, because you should all know how to tell the difference between a kami and a yokai. Because if you harm a kami, it's considered punishable by law."

Instead of taking the class back to the school torture room, Ryosei changed the classroom into something like a barn with hay on the floor and stables of various sizes containing different creatures. He then brought out two dogs. One was mint-blue with occasional streaks of light emanating from its fur, while the other had mangy hair and piercing eyes that reminded Haru of the human-turned-dog he saw at the Kyoto Zoo.

"This one is a Raijū," Ryosei said, pointing to the mint-blue dog. "It's a dog-like kami that manifests from lightning and is swifter than any natural creature on the planet. While the other is an Inugami, a dog yokai that can possess people and cause them to behave erratically."

"Just like the kitsune-tsuki?" Seita guessed.

"Exactly, Fumito-Kun!" Ryosei complemented. "Because of this, people often get the kitsune-tsuki and inugami mixed up."

"Are kitsune-tsuki similar to the kitsune yokai?" Haru asked.

"More or less," replied Ryosei. "A regular kitsune is a fox yokai that has multiple tails and is capable of shapeshifting into different forms. But a kitsune-tsuki is a person who's possessed by a kitsune and takes on fox-like behaviors."

Nayu raised her hand. "Does this apply to inugami as well?"

Ryosei nodded. "Yes, only they behave more like dogs instead of foxes."

Haru paused before asking his next question. "Would you be able to tell if someone was possessed by an inugami?"

"Usually their eyes are a dead giveaway, as they look like a dog's eyes," Ryosei said. "And they tend to look unclean like they haven't bathed in a while."

Then that means the guy who turned into a dog at the zoo was actually an inugami, Haru thought. Maybe he caused the Ferris wheel to malfunction. But why did he do that? Was he working for Warumo?

To be continued…