Fifty-Eighth Spell: Puppet Mastery
Thinking about Daichi made Haru decide not to ask Higa about his stepparents' deaths and leave the cottage without saying anything further. He also realized Hikari was right in that it might be good to get his mind off things by participating in something relatively light such as the Mabuki Theater Club. So he told Hikari to tell Otoma Wan that he was onboard the following day, and Otoma was so happy that she immediately sent a written message to Haru asking him to come to the theater after classes.
"Where's everyone else?" Haru asked, noticing the theater was empty when he came in.
"Rehearsing backstage," Otoma said as she stood onstage.
Not only was she wearing her gold school kimono, but Haru also noticed her sash was white indicating she was a member of the Byakko Clan.
"And the backstage crew?"
"Making the final touches on the backgrounds backstage."
"So why are we the only ones out here?"
"Because I want you to get used to the stage alone before bringing other people out."
"Even though I'm not actually part of the cast."
"Yes, you are! Everyone here is part of the cast regardless of their role."
"Okay, but I still don't understand why you want me onstage."
"As our puppeteer, you'll be moving the puppets across the stage with your magic and speaking lines for them."
Haru blinked in surprise. "Lines? What lines?"
"Look, just get up here and I'll explain!"
Reluctantly, Haru got up onstage. Even though it was familiar from when he did the Ceremony of Kimonos, it still felt strange to be up there looking down at the empty seats with the lights shining down from above.
"While you're not going to be speaking your lines in front of the curtain, you need to visualize the space that the puppets will be moving around," Otoma said as she used her harisen fan to gesture toward the seats. "All the people there will be looking at those puppets, watching their every movement. They need to be captivated and believe to some extent that the puppets are what they claim they are and not just a bundle of wood and wires."
"Have you got the puppets that I'll be moving?" Haru asked.
Otoma shook her head. "They're not ready yet. But we have some smaller puppets for you to practice with."
Then Otoma went to a trunk that was on the stage and opened it. From inside the trunk, she pulled out a wooden doll that was finely carved with a woman's face and wearing a beautiful-looking kimono. After she laid it down, another similar puppet was taken from the trunk only this one resembled a male samurai with blond hair.
"Are those…Bunraku puppets?" Haru guessed.
"You got it!" Otoma confirmed. "If you can control these, you can pretty much control any puppet no matter what size it is."
"So how do I do that?"
"Using these two spells." Taking out her wand, Otoma waved them toward the puppets. "For moving the puppets, you use the Puppetmaster Spell. And to make the puppets talk, use the Ventriloquist Spell."
To demonstrate, Otoma pointed her wand at the samurai puppet and said, "Kurushēng, Kintaro!"
From the floor, the blond-haired samurai sat up like a person much to Haru's amazement.
"And to make him talk, you say, 'Kintaro, Lushuō!' and hold the wand like a microphone to speak through the puppet."
Otoma waved her wand a second time and held her wand close to her mouth. As she spoke in a fake masculine voice, the Kintaro puppet mimicked her words perfectly as his wooden mouth moved up and down.
"Now you try," Otoma said after she moved her wand in a slicing manner, which made the Kintaro puppet fall into a lifeless pile. "The samurai puppet is Kintaro, named after the warrior wizard of the same name, and the courtesan puppet's name is Tokuko."
Haru was surprised to hear the latter name. "Tokuko? As in Taira no Tokuko, from the epic poem The Tale of the Heike?"
"Yep, that's her!" Otoma exclaimed. "I take it you're familiar with The Tale of the Heike."
"My elementary school did a shortened version of the poem for a play, which my stepsister Daichi participated in. She played Tokuko, but she wasn't very good. I still cheered her on anyway."
"Well, aren't you a good brother! I'd like to see you bring Tokuko to life."
Looking at the courtesan puppet with the beautiful kimono, Haru was reminded of Daichi. But he pushed his remorseful feelings aside, concentrating on Tokuko instead.
"Kurushēng, Tokuko!" Haru announced.
For a minute, Tokuko didn't move. But then she rose as if some invisible strings were pulling her up.
"Very good," Otoma complimented. "Now use the Ventriloquist Spell to make Tokuko talk."
"Tokuko, Lushuō!" After Haru waved his wand at Tokuko a second time, he held his wand like a microphone. He cleared his throat and raised his voice to a higher pitch like a girl's. "Hello, I'm Taira no Tokuko."
As Tokuko's wooden lips moved, a few students emerged from behind the curtain onstage.
"Is that your best female voice?" said an older boy with a white Byakko sash on his school kimono. "You could do better than that."
"Cut it out, Akaji!" Otoma scolded. "He's just trying this spell for the first time."
"But it's not like he's going to be doing many speaking lines for the puppets, so I don't see the point of doing this," another boy said.
When Haru looked at the second boy, he noticed the boy's skin was smooth like a girl's and his hair was a shimmering platinum-blond color. And while he wore the pink kimono of a First-Year Secondary Student, his sash was black meaning he was a member of the Genbu Clan.
"You're not helping!" Otoma said to the platinum-haired boy after making an exasperated sigh.
"Sorry," the platinum-haired boy said apologetically. "The Korpokkur told me to say that."
Groaning, Akaji said, "Here we go again, going on about those Korpokkur that haven't been seen by Japanese wizards in centuries!"
"Korpokkur?" Haru said, not knowing what the platinum-haired boy was referring to.
To be continued…