Hey, sorry for the long delay on this latest chapter! I got caught up with doing chapters for another fanfic I haven't worked on in a long time called Super Crown Crisis. Plus I was stuck trying to figure out how I wanted this game between Hikari and Kokkuri-san to play out. I'm going to try my best to wrap up Haru's first year at Mahoutokoro soon, but I can't believe it's taken me this long to do that! Thank you for your patience and enjoy!
Ninety-First Spell: Standstill
"Can't you choose to end the round like I did?" Haru whispered to Hikari.
"You can only do that if both players are tied for points," Hikari responded quietly. "Otherwise, you have to keep going until one player runs out of cards in their hand or a player has just used 'Ten-Ten' to double their points and it's the other player's turn."
"Very true, Hikari," Kokkuri-san said tauntingly. "So what are you going to do?"
Hikari looked down at the remaining five cards in her hand, and back at the board which had one spring monkey, one autumn dog, a spring pig, and a winter tiger.
"I will take the spring monkey, autumn dog, and winter tiger cards," Hikari said taking three of the four remaining cards from the board. "Then, I will combine them with my autumn rat, summer dragon, and winter horse to create a Yang combo for six points, which gets doubled to 12, giving me a total of 26 points!"
Behind Hikari a matching black Yang symbol appeared and hovered over Kokkuri.
"All right, I will discard one of my cards and take another," Kokkuri said as she put one of her two remaining cards at the bottom of the draw pile. She looked at the new card she drew and smiled. "I shall use my newly drawn Cat Card to disrupt your Yang combo, Hikari, and then use my last card, the spring rat, and combine it with the spring pig on the board for a Water combo of four points, which is doubled to eight, giving me 30 points in total! And with no cards left in my hand, I win the first round."
The Yang symbol swung down toward Hikari, piercing her in the left shoulder. Haru wanted to get up and help her, but his body was glued to the seat and his finger couldn't move from the Sei coin no matter how much he wanted it to.
"You are good, Hikari," Kokkuri remarked as she reshuffled the cards. "But are you truly good enough to beat me?"
"We've…only just started," Hikari said as she flinched from her bleeding shoulder wound as the Yang symbol that penetrated it vanished. "I'll beat you in the next round."
Kokkuri sounded intrigued. "We'll see about that."
After Kokkuri finished shuffling the Tenbutsu cards, the second round began in earnest. This time, Hikari became more aggressive with her combinations trying to get more points before either her or Kokkuri could use 'Ten-Ten'.
"Do your points stay doubled once 'Ten-Ten' has been used by a player?" Haru asked Hikari while she was concentrating.
"Shouldn't you be using your wand to heal me?" Hikari said irritably. "You can use your other hand that's not on the coin, right?"
Haru looked back towards the wall Kokkuri slammed him against earlier, where his plum tree wand lay. "I dropped my wand over there, and I can't move from this chair."
"Ugh, great!" Hikari winced, noticing her left shoulder was bleeding. "Can you at least give me something to cover this wound with?"
Haru tried to take his blue raincoat jacket off, but couldn't because his other hand was glued to the coin. Then he reached inside his jean pocket and pulled out a handkerchief he had forgotten was there. It was white with a hand-sewn embroidery of a blue dragonfly on the corner.
"Where did you get that?" Hikari asked.
"My mother gave it to me," Haru said somberly. "And by that, I mean my Manai mother."
"I don't want to get my blood all over that," Hikari objected.
"But it's the only thing I have, and you need it more than I do," Haru insisted and reached across the table.
Reluctantly, Hikari took the handkerchief and placed it under her black top to stop the bleeding from her shoulder wound.
"Such a nice boy," Kokkuri said mockingly. "Are you two a couple?"
"NO!" Haru and Hikari responded together.
"That's disgusting!" Hikari remarked. "I would never date this idiot!"
"And I wouldn't go out with someone as mean as you!" Haru answered.
"You sure do bicker like a couple, though," Kokkuri said with a bemused smile. "Now let's continue with the game. I have a Four Dragons combo of dragons from spring, summer, fall, and winter, which gives me eight points, and a Wood Combo of a winter tiger and a spring rabbit, giving me four points, and so I have 12 points in total and two cards left in my hand."
"Uh-huh," Hikari said nonchalantly and pointed to the cards she had laid out. "I have a Yin combo of the winter ox, the summer rabbit, and autumn snake I took from the board and combined them with my own winter goat, spring rooster, and autumn pig for six points. Then I have a First Palace combo of an autumn rat, a winter dragon, and a summer monkey from my hand for six points which gives me 12 points and two cards in my hand as well."
"Then we seem to be at a standstill," Kokkuri remarked. "So how do you wish to proceed?"
Hikari looked down at her two remaining cards and smirked. "I will use my two remaining cards to form a Fire combo of an autumn snake and spring horse, giving me four points and a total of 16 points meaning I win this round since I have no more cards in my hand."
As Hikari spoke, the white Yin symbol hanging over Kokkuri sliced her right shoulder.
To be continued…