Twenty-Ninth Spell: The Tale of Jiraiya

The next day, Haru, Seita, and Nayu went to Astronomy instead of Flying Class in the evening. It was surprisingly boring as the class consisted of looking at the night sky and mapping out constellations using the celestial globes while a wrinkled old man named Aringu Seiza guided them. What kept Haru awake was the hope of seeing Daichi again to prove he wasn't just imagining her. Yet as the night wore on, he never saw her again.

"Maybe I am going crazy, like Hikari said," Haru mumbled to himself the next morning before Remedial History of Magic.

"Did you say something, Haru?" Nayu asked.

"Nothing," Haru replied.

Ishi-Sensei then came in and began the class with another lecture. He told the story of Jiraiya the Gallant, whose mother was a witch and his father was a Manai lord. But Jiraiya's father was killed by a rival Manai lord, so the young Jiraiya was taken away by one of his father's faithful samurai. Then after the samurai was killed by bandits, Jiraiya wandered the land robbing Manai out of spite.

One snowy night, though, Jiraiya took shelter in a house. A woman lived there all alone. So Jiraiya attempted to kill her, only for the woman to reveal herself as an old man named Senso Dojin. He told Jiraiya he was a master of Toad Magic, and he was willing to teach Jiraiya if he only used this power to protect the Manai instead of hurting them. Jiraiya agreed to Senso's terms and he became a champion of the common people as he robbed from the rich regardless if they were Manai or wizards.

"How does this tie into Orochi's story?" Seita asked, interrupting Ishi's lecture. "You said he wasn't completely dead, right?"

"I'M GETTING TO THAT, FUMITO!" Ishi snapped. After a pause, he continued, "WHILE JIRAIYA WAS BUSY BEING A HERO, A YOUNG WITCH NAMED TSUNADE MET SENSO'S TWIN BROTHER IYÈ, WHO TAUGHT HER SLUG MAGIC AND SENT HER TO HELP JIRAYA. THE TWO OF THEM EVENTUALLY FELL IN LOVE AND GOT MARRIED. BUT THEIR GREATEST FOE CAME IN THE FORM OF A DANGEROUSLY POWERFUL WIZARD NAMED OROCHIMARU, WHO HAD MASTERED SNAKE MAGIC.

"HOW OROCHIMARU CAME TO BE IS THE SOURCE OF MUCH DEBATE AMONG WIZARD SCHOLARS! SOME SAY HE WAS THE PRODUCT OF AN UNHOLY UNION BETWEEN A MANAI HUMAN AND A NURE-ONNA, A SNAKE YOKAI WITH THE HEAD OF A WOMAN AND THE BODY OF A SERPENT! BUT THE MOST POPULAR THEORY IS THAT HE WAS A BANDIT NAMED MADENO WHO GOT POSSESSED BY YAMATA NO OROCHI UNDER THE PROMISE OF POWER! OROCHI EVEN PROMISED A BRIDE TO MADENO NAMED PRINCESS TAGOTO, A WITCH BORN WITH THE POWER TO REPEL SNAKE MAGIC."

Tagoto…Tago…that's my birth mother's surname! Haru realized. Could she have been descended from this princess?

On Friday in Remedial Charms, Fuwa-Sensei had everyone demonstrate one Fire Spell each. While Haru did the basic Firelighting Charm, Seita impressed the class with a Foxfire Spell, which created transparent flames similar to the kind that kitsune yokai made to fool humans. He got ten points for Genbu, which annoyed Haru. Then Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts was mostly taken up by Ryosei's quiz on the different yokai he had covered throughout the week.

During the weekend, Haru spent his free time in the library looking up information on his birth parents and found their pictures in one of the school's yearbook scrolls. The pictures moved like the ones in the Maichi Yosoku newspaper, which enchanted Haru yet freaked him out at the same time. While his mother Kiku was a small young woman with long black hair and an innocent face, his father Taka was tall and had a foreboding look. Yet Kiku seemed happy in every picture of them sitting together, when Haru noticed a third person standing just out of focus. It was a young boy with disheveled air and amber eyes that seemed to reflect light in an unnatural way.

That's the inugami guy I saw at the Kyoto Zoo! Haru realized.

He looked at the description for the picture and read three names: Kiku Tago, Taka Ryuji, and Shinjiro 'Jiro' Tanai. Looking up Jiro, Haru found an article in a Maichi Yosoku issue dated 11 years ago that claimed Jiro killed Kiku to punish her for taking away the infant Haru and ruining Warumo's plans for him. So Jiro was sentenced for life at Azkaban Prison where all criminal wizards and witches were sent. But earlier this year, he escaped using the inugami spirit that had been possessing him and every male in his family for multiple generations.

So Jiro was a follower of Warumo, and he killed my mother because she tried to save me. Haru felt an inner rage boiling inside him. When I find that guy, he's going to pay for what he did! Not just to my birth mom, but also for putting Daichi in danger!

"Hey, Haru!"

Nearly jumping out of his skin, Haru looked up and saw Higa standing behind him.

"I heard you were taken into custody by the Kōsen," Haru said.

"Yeah, I was," Higa admitted guiltily. "They didn't like the answers I gave regarding my reason for visiting the Gaikin Bank, so they grilled me about it for several days. Dōmeki-Sama then made a formal complaint to the Kōsen Chief, saying I was being questioned against my will. And so I was released today. So how was your first week of school?"

"Crazy, to say the least," Haru answered.

"Well, tell me all about it!"

Not wanting to keep anything from the man who had been his 'uncle' for many years, Haru told Higa about Ryosei's strange behavior on the first day of Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts, his fainting spells, and the giant toad in the storage house.

"Sounds like you've been through a lot," Higa remarked. "But I wouldn't tell too many people about the Ōgama."

"Ōgama? You mean the giant toad?"

Higa looked around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation, then he whispered, "Yes, I'm referring to the giant toad. It's a yokai that belongs to your Aunt Gen, and her name is Nuru."

"Nuru!" Haru exclaimed. "What kind of a name is that for a freakin' monster?"

"Quiet!" shouted a bitter voice.

From between two rows of shelves emerged a floating dragon-like creature that was made entirely of paper scrolls with tassel-like horns, stretchy paper arms with wooden handles for hands, and a tail made from paper wads.

To be continued…