133rd Spell: The Polymorph Kampo
After classes were over for the day, Rui, Hikari, and Haru went to the library to continue working on their extra assignments. While Hikari looked around for a kampo recipe that could remove the blonde dye from her hair, Nayu and Gyoku showed up with the latter looking unusually pale.
"Are you okay, Gyoku?" Rui said when she noticed her little brother.
"Oh, I'm just tired," Gyoku admitted. "I stayed up late in the dorms looking up information."
"Information on what?" asked Rui.
Gyoku glanced at Haru, which Haru took to mean that he was referring to the strange ivory scepter that fell out of Haru's jacket the night of their trip to Tateroji.
"Is there something you know that you're not telling me?" Rui said, noticing Haru making eye-contact with Gyoku.
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Gyoku told Rui, Nayu, and Hikari about the ivory scepter as well as the words carved onto it.
"Tashiwa Rumono does sound like a name for someone," Rui said. "And it even sounds familiar to me…."
"Same here," Hikari said. "But I can't place where I've heard the name before."
From there, the rest of the library session was silent. But while Nayu and Gyoku went back to their dorms, Hikari insisted on having Rui and Haru stay for a little longer.
"What is it?" Haru asked Hikari.
Hikari checked to see if Inku was nearby. But seeing he wasn't, she reached under her kimono robe and pulled out an old-looking book titled Zuì Qiáng Kampo by Fen Ming.
"I overheard you two talking about the Seiryu students and how they might be hiding something," Hikari explained. "So I used the excuse of looking for a kampo to fix my hair to get permission from Inku to go into the Inner Library and I found this."
Flipping to a dog eared page, Hikari showed Haru and Rui a kampo recipe inside.
"'The Polymorph Kampo,'" Rui recited. "'When made correctly, the Polymorph Kampo allows a witch or wizard to change into any non-human creature. This includes animals, which saves time on having to go through the painstakingly long process of becoming an Animagus, and magical creatures such as yokai and kami.'"
"What's an Animagus?" Haru said, never having heard anyone mentioning it.
Hikari rolled her eyes. "It's a witch or wizard that can transform into an animal, though it's not one of their choice."
This made Haru confused.
"Basically, it's like becoming your own familiar," Rui said. "The animal you transform into represents yourself, which can only be revealed if you go through the process of becoming an Animagus. Now the children of Animagus can inherit this power, but that doesn't mean they'll transform into the same animal as their Animagus parent."
"So this kampo bypasses the Animagus ritual, which involves holding a Mandrake leaf under your tongue for a month and drinking a potion made from dew during a lightning storm, and allows one to transform into an animal of their choosing in half the time," Hikari said.
"Okay," Haru remarked. "But how is this going to help us learn what the Seiryu Clan knows about the Well of Mysteries and Seiryu's Heir?"
"Use your head!" Hikari said as she smacked Haru.
"Ow!" Haru cried, touching the sensitive part of his forehead that Hikari smacked. "What did you do that for?"
"Hey, no physical violence in my library!" Inku the Yokai Librarian said as he hovered his serpentine paper body over to Haru, Rui, and Hikari's table.
Immediately, Hikari hid the kampo book under her robe again.
"Sorry about that, Inku-san," Hikari apologized. "I didn't mean to hit Ryuji too hard."
"Why did you hit him?" Inku asked.
"It's because she was getting irritated with him," Rui answered. "Always happens when they're together, but I'm not sure why."
"Maybe you two should settle your differences outside the library then," Inku suggested. "Unless you two promise to behave while you're in here."
Looking at the water clock nearby, Hikari said, "I think we were just about to head back to the dorms for the night."
"Yeah, it is getting pretty late," Rui noticed.
"All right, then go," Inku said crankily. "But if I catch you being violent again, Genma-chan, then you are banned from the library for the rest of the school year!"
"Understood, Inku-san," Hikari said, bowing respectfully to Inku.
The three then left the library with Hikari still holding onto the kampo book.
"I was trying to say that we can use this Polymorph Kampo to transform into something that can get us inside the Seiryu Wing so we can gain information from them without being noticed," Hikari said to Rui and Haru as they ascended the stairs to their dorms.
"But what kind of creature did you have in mind?" Rui asked. "Were you thinking of a supernatural creature, or regular animal?"
Hikari frowned. "I haven't thought that far ahead! But give me time and I'll know what we should turn into."
"We?" Haru couldn't believe Hikari's words. "But who's going to make the kampo?"
"Since I had the best grades in Kampo last year, I will do it," Hikari decided. "Also, when I looked at the recipe earlier, this kampo won't be easy to make."
"And how long will it take to produce the Polymorph Kampo?" Rui asked.
"Two weeks," Hikari answered. "But the catch is if the kampo's user stays transformed for over an hour, the change is permanent."
Rui didn't like the sound of this. "You mean…if we remain in our transformed self for too long, we'll stay transformed."
"Exactly," replied Hikari.
"If that's the case, maybe we should just use the Illusion Spell to disguise ourselves as Koi and Gumo," Haru suggested.
"Sure, but once Daizō physically touches one of you the spell will lose its effect," Hikari pointed out. "And when you're trapped in a room full of Seiryu students, that could be a major problem if you're caught."
"Is there a way to undo the Polymorph Kampo so we don't stay transformed for over an hour?" Haru said after a pause.
To be continued…