118th Spell: Maza
"Good morning, everyone!" shouted a wrinkled old man in a gray robe that emerged from the Kiyokusuri Apothecary.
"Who is that?" Haru asked Rui.
"That's Oka Taku," Rui answered. "He's the owner of the Kiyokusuri Apothecary."
"It is time for the Gimu Rikyan book-signing event!" announced Taku. "Please form a line and wait your turn as Rikyan-san will sign each of your books as quickly as he can. Should you wish to place any orders for Rikyan's products that I have in stock, I strongly encourage you to take only what you need. It's not polite to hog all the products for yourselves as there's plenty of stuff to go around. But since Rikyan-san has later engagements today, this event will be held for two hours only!"
A lot of witches in the crowd groaned in annoyance when they heard that. But the crowd did as Taku asked and formed a line outside the apothecary which trailed further down the street almost to the Zen garden. Haru and the Wataka family found themselves in the middle part of the line with Hikari, the two adults she was with, and the Makis just behind them.
"You must be Manai," Nyoko said, addressing the two adults who were with Hikari.
"H-How did you guess?" said the woman with the short brunette hair.
"Based on your wide-eyed expressions, I assume you've never been to Tateroji before," answered Nyoko. "Are you and the foreign man Hikari's parents, by chance?"
"We are," said the blond-haired man with the glasses. "I'm Wallaby Wilder, but you can call me Wally for short. This is me wife Mikai Genma, who I took the surname of when we got married."
"Ah, I see," Ryosei said. "Now what country are you from, Sir?"
"I'm from Australia," said Wally. "Born and raised there until about twenty years ago when I met Mikai at Sydney University."
"You mean…a Manai University?" Nyoko seemed interested. "I didn't know such things existed. Did you both graduate from there?"
"Sure did," Wally replied proudly. "We then became academic biologists and often travel abroad to study various animals around the world. But I tell ya! These magical creatures you wizard-types have put regular animals to shame for how bloody beautiful they are!"
"Yes, they are quite remarkable," Mikai added fondly. "I would love to study them up-close…."
"Perhaps I could arrange something," Ryosei offered. "But where are my manners? I'm Ryosei Maki, Hikari's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This is Nyoko, my wife, and my son, Daizō, who's in Hikari's class."
"Nice to meet you," Nyoko said as she shook Wally and Mikai's hands. "I've never met a Manai before, let alone two."
"Then that means you're Manai-born," Daizō realized as he looked at Hikari. "Why didn't you say anything when we introduced ourselves in Primary School?"
Hikari had remained silent while her parents were talking to Daizō's with a look of extreme embarrassment on her face.
"Maybe you didn't want to be ostracized by our class, is that it?" Daizō figured. "Were you worried the kids at school might start calling you 'Tanai' behind your back?"
Ryosei looked shocked and smacked his son on the back of the head.
"Don't you dare say that word in front of a classmate's parents!" Ryosei scolded. When he noticed Hikari's parents looked confused, he explained, "Tanai is a slur for Manai-born, implying they are filthy and unfit to be part of the Wizarding World. But we do not tolerate people who say this word, so I greatly apologize for the actions of my son. I will make sure he doesn't say this to your daughter ever again."
"We appreciate the effort, Maki-san," Mikai said as she bowed respectfully to Ryosei.
"But I don't think you needed to hit your son to prove a point," Wally pointed out. "The little ankle biter probably didn't mean it, right?"
"No, I didn't," Daizō claimed.
Haru then noticed Daizō made a slight smirk as he bowed to Hikari's mother and father, which Haru took to mean he wasn't actually sorry for what he said. But he kept this information to himself as the line to the Kiyokusuri Apothecary moved slightly forward. Meanwhile, Hikari continued to remain silent which concerned Rui.
"You don't need to feel ashamed for being Manai-born," Rui said. "We still think of you as our friend. Right, Haru?"
"Definitely," Haru said, trying to repress his frustration at Hikari for not believing his story about getting lost in the Zen Network. "I mean, I was raised by Manai parents for most of my life before I found out about my true magical heritage."
"That doesn't change the fact that Manai-borns are generally looked down upon by the Japanese Wizarding Community, along with Maza," Hikari said.
"Maza?" Haru had heard this word being tossed around by classmates at Mahoutokoro, but he didn't bother to ask them what it meant to not make himself look weak for his ignorance of the Wizarding World in general.
"It refers to children with mixed blood, typically where one parent is magical and the other isn't," Rui explained. "But the term can also apply to children who have one non-human parent, like a Yokai with human traits."
"Does that apply to people who are possessed by Yokai, like Inugami and Kitsune-tsuki?" Haru asked, thinking about Jiro.
"No, they're classified as just Yokai," Rui said. "Because even though there are wizard families that have Inugami and Kitsune Yokai in their bloodlines, regular people can also be possessed by Inugami and Kitsune at any given moment."
"I see."
Rui glanced at Hikari, who was still frowning with embarrassment.
"To tell you guys the truth, my siblings and I are actually Maza," Rui claimed, which caused Hikari to glance at her with surprise.
"But how can that be?" Hikari asked. "You told me the Watakas are one of Japan's greatest Wizarding Families and never intermingled with Manai or non-human beings."
"Yes, that was the case…until my mom broke that unspoken rule when she married my father Ata Peru, who was a Manai she met not long after graduating from Mahoutokoro," said Rui.
To be continued…