Twenty-Second Spell: Kotodama
"Am I going to expect to see you frequently for the rest of the year?" Popuri-Dono said jokingly to Haru.
The two of them were in the Healers' Wing, and Haru had been brought lunch by Rui before she headed back to the Student Dining Hall.
"I hope not, Popuri," Haru responded, taking large sips from his bowl of udon soup. "There was this voice in my head before I passed out, and it said something."
"What did it say?" Popuri asked.
Haru's mind drew a blank. "I don't remember, just like the time when Warumo attacked me."
"In what way?"
"After Warumo burned down the house with my adopted parents, he transported to me and my adopted sister. He then said a name, and I passed out after feeling a strong pain in my chest."
Popuri looked thoughtful for a moment. "This might be the work of kotodama."
"Kotodama?" Haru had never heard of such a thing.
"It's a magical art that concerns itself with the power of words. And I don't mean spells, I mean actual words."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"Every living thing has a true name, and that name contains power. So if you know the true name of something, you can control it and that is the art of kotodama."
"Does the same thing apply to people?"
"Yes, it is the person's secret name which only they know and no one else. But if someone were to find that name out, they could force the person to do their bidding."
The thought of being controlled by someone else horrified Haru. "So why don't I remember my secret name?"
"Only your unconscious remembers the name."
Haru looked down at his soup, seeing his reflection in the broth. "Then you think…someone knows my true name, and is trying to control me?"
"Maybe, but your mother's seal is protecting you," Popuri claimed. "It's designed to ward off evil and warn you when it's nearby."
"That might explain the recent chest pains I've been having," Haru realized. "My mother's seal is reacting to something evil, which causes the pain and makes me pass out."
"It would make the most sense. But if our assumptions are correct, you might not be safe here in Mahoutokoro after all."
After Haru was released from the Healers' Wing, he went back to Room 110B. Nayu, Seita, and Gyoku were already present, thought the teacher wasn't.
"I didn't see you at lunch, Haru," Nayu said. "Are you doing okay?"
"For now," Haru responded vaguely.
Popuri made him promise to not tell anyone about their speculations on kotodama magic until Dōmeki-Sama was informed.
"Doesn't sound promising," Seita interjected, being half-asleep. "If you keep passing out and making a big scene in every class, I might not get enough sleep because of you."
"Will you shut up about your sleep?" Gyoku said irritably. "It's getting annoying!"
Seita raised an eyebrow. "And you think you're better than me? Rumor has it you're the heir to the Wataka family business. Yet here you are slumming in remedial classes with us slackers."
"I'm not a slacker!" Gyoku got up to charge at Seita, but Haru and Nayu held him back.
"Calm down, Gyoku," Nayu insisted.
"He's not worth getting in trouble," Haru said.
"Oh, my!" said a bubbly female voice. "Quite the rowdy bunch, are we?"
Haru looked behind him and saw a woman that was slightly taller than he was. She had short bleach-blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and wore a low-cut red kimono with wisteria flower embroidery and one-toed heeled sandals.
"Fuwa-Sensei," Nayu said. "Seita was insulting Gyoku, which got him mad. So Haru and I stopped Gyoku from hurting Seita."
The blonde-haired woman glanced at Seita. "Is this true?"
"I wasn't insulting Gyoku," Seita claimed. "He just couldn't take the truth."
As Seita spoke, white lines appeared on the edges of his kimono sleeves.
"You must be lying, Fumito-Kun, so five points will be taken from Genbu," Fuwa guessed, and wrote something down on a scroll she was carrying under her armpit. "Now let's get started on Remedial Charms!"
Setting down her scroll, Fuwa then used her wand to tap the backdrop with the Magic Circle painted on. While the room itself didn't change, the desks rearranged themselves to being in a circle instead of in rows with a pile of books and a few random objects inside the circle.
"Please take your seats around the circle," Fuwa instructed before leaping into the center of the desk circle while the students sat down.
"Here are copies of The Five Elements of Magic by Aisuru Waka and Spells and Charms, Level 1 by Miyoko Genji," Fuwa stated. "Be sure to take them as they are necessary reading materials for this class."
"Shouldn't we be using Spells and Charms, Level 5?" Seita said as he picked up one copy of each book. "This is baby stuff."
"But to learn where you all went wrong in your final exams, we must start from the beginning!" Fuwa stated before turning her attention to Haru. "This also serves to educate our young Osozaki on the basics of spell-casting, which he's certainly not familiar with."
"Actually, I did learn a few basic spells before coming here," Haru brought up.
"Oh? And who taught you them?" Fuwa asked.
"Rakurai Higa," answered Haru.
"Interesting…." Fuwa tapped the side of her mouth with her wand, then she twirled it in her hand. "Well, that'll make your remedial education go a lot faster then!"
From there, the class turned into a combination of a lecture on the five elements of nature, which was basically a longer version of what Higa explained to Haru in the Tateroji inn, and demonstrations of different elemental spells. While most of the kids demonstrated their spells quite well, a couple of them struggled.
"You need to be less nervous when you cast a spell, Rakkashi-Chan," Fuwa said to Nayu as she failed to remove rust from a gold Ryōki coin. "It'll be all right."
Nayu nodded as if she understood, though the anxiety on her face betrayed her. As Haru and the others watched, she waved her wand down at the rusted Ryōki coin again.
"Saxiāo!" Nayu said loudly.
To everyone's surprise, the coin was cleared of rust but it broke into multiple fragments that went flying around the room. A couple of younger kids got pinched in the face by the flying coin fragments and cried in pain.
"Oh, dear," Fuwa sighed. "I guess I'll have to take these two to the Healers' Wing."
It was then that the familiar crowing noise was heard.
"Make sure to read the chapter on Fire Spells," Fuwa said as she escorted the two crying kids out of the classroom. "We'll be studying them throughout the week, and I want you all to demonstrate at least one Fire Spell by Friday."
To be continued…
