Fifty-Ninth Spell: Quidditch Tryouts
"Basically, they're little people that lived alongside the Ainu people long ago," the platinum-haired boy explained. "They would help each other out on the condition that no Ainu person was to lay eyes on a Korpokkur. One day, though, an Ainu man got curious and beheld a Korpokkur which caused them all to vanish. Except they're still around, walking among us like invisible angels that guide us. You can only see them if you truly believe they're real."
As the platinum-haired boy seemed to be lost in thought, Haru was left feeling more confused.
"That's Muni Māru," Otoma explained. "Ever since he joined us Spring Semester, he's been spouting all kinds of nonsensical things. Yet he's also quite blunt and gets straight to the point without pussyfooting around the issue at hand, which makes him surprisingly helpful when you least expect him to be."
Haru took one look at Muni and found it hard to believe that someone as strange as him would be as helpful as Otoma claimed. Then from the curtain emerged a girl with a solemn-looking face wearing a red sash that matched Hikari's, meaning she was in the Suzaku Clan.
"Need something, Kishi-Chan?" Otoma asked the solemn-faced girl.
"I'm fine," the solemn-faced girl said. "Just thought I'd take a quick break from rehearsal."
"Same," Hikari said, following behind Kishi. Then she noticed the puppets and Haru. "Any luck moving those?"
"Your friend has the worst female voice I've heard in a long time," Akaji joked.
"Shut up, Akaji!" Otoma hit Akaji's head with the harisen fan. "You can't do a female voice to save your life!"
"Well, yeah. But I think as an actor, you should be well-versed in different kinds of voices," Akaji argued. "But I guess Māru-Kun has a point: since this kid's not going to be doing a lot of speaking lines, it doesn't matter whether he's good at voices or not."
Following that pointless argument, Otoma decided to call it day on rehearsal for the play. But in the coming weeks, she became a drill sergeant in the director's chair ordering everyone to constantly repeat their lines even if they were slightly off and criticizing every minute detail on the backgrounds and lighting arrangements. In spite of this, it kept Haru busy as he tried to get better at moving the puppets to make Otoma happy.
Then a week prior the first show for the play, he noticed scrolls on the walls of the school that weren't there before. Each one depicted a group of kids his age flying on broomsticks trying to catch a small golden ball with wings and the words 'Tryouts for the Youngest Quidditch Team in the World' written in striking black-and-red ink.
"I wonder what this is about," Haru muttered.
"You haven't read the latest Maichi Yosoku? How uneducated are you?"
Haru looked down the hallway he was in and saw three blue sashes emerge from the morning shadows. It was Daizō and his friends Koi and Gumo.
"No, I obviously haven't, Maki," Haru answered, standing his ground as the three Seiryu boys surrounded him. "I'm not sure why you're making a big deal out of it."
"Your ignorance as an Osozaki will only take you so far, Ryuji," Daizō said threateningly. "It's time you fully let go of your life as a pathetic Manai and embraced your heritage as the son of a traitorous witch and a follower of Warumo-Uragi."
"Easy for you to say," Haru retorted. "You didn't lose your family right in front of you."
"That may be, but your ignorance will be the death of you if you don't take matters in the Wizarding World seriously," Daizō argued and thrust a copy of the Maichi Yosoku in Haru's face. "Now read it!"
So Haru did as Daizō insisted and was surprised to see a moving picture of a boy his age with coke-bottle glasses and a scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt. The headline for the paper read:
HARRY POTTER BECOMES THE YOUNGEST QUIDDITCH PLAYER IN A CENTURY!
"Is that the Boy Who Lived?" Haru said.
"No duh!" Koi responded sarcastically.
"And what's Quidditch?" Haru asked. "I've never heard of it."
Gumo's eyes widened. "Didn't Gōgu-Dono talk about—oh, right! You and those two losers got dropped from Flying Class in Spring Semester."
"Nayu and Seita are not losers!" Haru reached for his wand inside his kimono sleeve. "You take that back, Gumo!"
Just as Gumo reached for his wand, Daizō stayed Gumo's hand.
"We didn't come here to fight you," Daizō claimed. "In fact, we wanted to make a proposition."
"Of what kind?" Haru didn't like the sound of this.
Daizō ripped a Quidditch Tryout scroll from the wall and threw it toward Haru, who caught it.
"Since you got Koi in detention and ruined our Clan's reputation, I thought we could settle this issue with the Quidditch tryouts this Friday, which is two days from now," Daizō explained. "If you manage to pass the tryout and Koi doesn't, we'll publicly admit that Koi was in the wrong. But if you fail and Koi succeeds, you have to say you were responsible for what happened between the two of you in Charms."
"What if we both succeed or fail?"
"Then we'll let bygones be bygones. Sound fair?"
"Hey, what are you kids doing?" shouted Ako, who came barreling down the hallway. "You should get to class!"
"Sorry, Ako-San," Daizō said to the shitanaga uba caretaker. "We were just heading there. Right, Ryuji?"
"Y-Yeah, sure," Haru said, hoping he sounded truthful enough.
"I don't trust you one bit, Ryuji," Ako said bluntly. "Now get moving before I call Bambō. The same goes for you Seiryu brats!"
Daizō was insulted, but he hid that with a charismatic smile. "We hear you loud and clear, Ako-San. Let's go, boys."
Koi and Gumo nodded as they pushed past Haru while Daizō followed after them. Haru sighed and put the scroll back on the wall before heading to Class 201A for Charms where Daizō and his friends were already seated.
To be continued…
