Forty-Fourth Spell: Necromancy
As the Summer Semester started, Haru was surprised to find himself back in Class 110B with Seita and Nayu. But it was only the three of them undertaking the crash course in their regular First-Year Secondary classes, beginning with Necromancy since they didn't get assigned to it last semester. Though compared to the other class alterations caused by the Magic Circle on the classroom backdrop, Sayuri Shō's alteration was definitely the spookiest.
The black desks and gray cushioned seats were replaced by wooden coffins with viewing windows that were laid out on a floor made of dirt that felt cold. At the head of the class was a shrine with burning incense, which filled up the room with a heavy lair of smoke that trailed out of an opening to Shō's left carved from the rocky surface that made up the walls and ceiling.
"Um, Shō-Sensei, where are we?" Nayu asked nervously.
"We are inside a kofun burial mound on the island's south-facing side near the Cloud Forest," Shō answered calmly. "This is where all the people who've died at this school are buried including previous headmasters."
Nayu looked down at the coffin in front of her like she was going to faint.
"Don't even think about fainting in my class!" Shō said, glaring at Nayu. "If you can't handle what I have to teach, leave while you still can."
Gulping, Nayu shook her head. "I will not faint, Shō-Sensei."
Shō looked mildly surprised before shrugging. "Fine. It's your funeral."
Haru realized the irony of Shō's words and felt offended. "Does death mean nothing to you?"
"Of course it does, Ryuji-Kun!" Shō said angrily. "It's been part of my life since I was a little girl training to be an Itako like my mother, and her mother before her."
"An Itako?" Haru never heard of such a thing before.
"If you had bothered to read The Rituals of Death by Shigo Kōchoku before coming here, you would already know what an Itako is," replied Shō, folding her hands into the sleeves of her black robe. "They are witches who have the power to communicate with the dead and even send restless spirits to the afterlife. But not just anyone can learn their practices as they usually pass their secret spells and techniques from mother to daughter."
"Like the Ichijama of Okinawa?" Seita assumed.
"Sort of. Whereas an Ichijama Witch is compelled to pass the knowledge of her doll-based curses onto the nearest female member of her family because of the spirit-like yokai that possesses her, an Itako wants to preserve the sacredness of her death rituals by keeping it within the family line," Shō explained. "But Itakos will make exceptions for young girls who wish to become apprentice Itako, especially if she doesn't have any other female relatives. And I hope you're copying what I'm saying in your notebooks, because I'm not repeating myself!"
Quickly, Seita, Haru, and Nayu wrote down everything Shō said about Itakos.
"Now, death as a concept is interpreted differently by many cultures," Shō continued. "Some view it as something to be afraid of, while others see it as an unavoidable part of nature. I was taught to believe death is as sacred as life, making the two intertwined in a never-ending cycle."
"But wizards like Orochimaru and Warumo broke that cycle, right?" Haru said.
Gripping her arms tightly, Shō frowned. "What gave you that idea, Ryuji-Kun?"
"Well, Orochimaru was possessed by Yamata no Orochi, who had already been brought back from the dead," Haru said tepidly. "And if Warumo-Uragi has been around for 40 years, then he either must have found a way to cheat death…or is really old."
"This is not the place for speculations," insisted Shō. "Only the true fact of death remains here, and the rituals you will learn reflect that sacred truth."
"So why is your class called Necromancy?" asked Seita. "I thought we were going to learn how to resurrect the dead based on the name."
Irritated, Shō said, "My class used to be called 'Death Rituals.' But that name became controversial in the aftermath of the First Wizarding War. So I was forced to change it to 'Necromancy' to make the class sound less ominous."
"First Wizarding War?"
Haru didn't recall Ishi-Sensei talking about it during Remedial History of Magic.
"It was a bloody conflict that took place in Britain where a Dark Wizard named Voldemort and his followers, known as the Death Eaters, fought against the British Ministry of Magic and a secret group of wizards called the Order of the Phoenix," Shō stated.
"When did it happen?"
"Roughly, this conflict began twenty years ago and lasted ten."
"So it ended…the year I was born?"
"You could say that. The First Wizarding War stopped in 1981 when Voldemort failed to kill a baby named Harry Potter and vanished, causing everyone to assume he died."
For a moment, Shō looked nervous before shaking her head violently.
"But I digress! It's time to begin your first lesson. Open the viewing windows on the coffins, please."
After some hesitation, Seita, Nayu, and Haru did as Shō asked. Inside the coffins, they beheld the faces of three dead people that were well-preserved.
"These are cadavers loaned from Onmyō Prep to use for our class," said Shō. "Your task this week is to study them and figure out how they died."
"Why do we need to know that?" Nayu asked.
"In order to perform the rituals of death properly, you must first become familiar with death," Shō responded. "You may use the autopsy tools provided in this classroom, though be careful not to get any bodily fluids on you. I hope you brought an extra inner garment if that happens."
From there, Haru and the others opened the coffin lids and examined the corpses inside. Using a variety of scalpels and other equipment that were inside a pair of chests at the back of the room, they did their best to perform autopsies under Shō's firm instruction without throwing up no matter how much they wanted to.
To be continued…
