137th Spell: Of Serpents and Mice

"I'm fine, Sis," Gyoku insisted. "By the way, I don't need this any more."

Reaching into his kimono, Gyoku gave Haru the ivory scepter with the cloudy jade bead.

"Did you find out what it could be?" Haru asked.

"No, but I did find out who Tashiwa Rumono was," answered Gyoku. "He was a former student at Mahoutokoro who was expelled for being a suspect in a student murder."

"Murder?" Nayu's eyes widened. "There was a murder at this school?"

"Yeah, it happened about 50 years ago," Gyoku said. "But there weren't too many details about it in the school records. At least, of the ones I found in the main library."

Haru eyed the door to the Inner Library, but he quickly dismissed the idea of going in there again considering he got caught. So he and the others continued doing their extra homework in silence. Thankfully, Haru didn't hear that chilling voice again.

Back at the dorm, though, Haru had to feed his Uwabami familiar Heshi some mice carcasses. She was still in her snake form since Haru had yet to get an official Uwabami License. Though as Haru looked at the dead mice he fed to Heshi, an idea suddenly struck him.

"Mice?" Hikari blinked.

"Yeah," Haru said, after explaining his idea to Hikari and Rui in the girls' bathroom on the first floor during Lunch Period the next day. "Rui and I should use the Polymorph Kampo to turn into mice. That way, we can sneak into the Seiryu Wing and listen to the Seiryu students without getting spotted by them."

"Are you crazy?" Rui said. "There are so many things that could kill us if we were mice, like cats, birds, Ako, or even Higa-san!"

"But as long as you're both cautious, you should be able to avoid most of those obstacles," Hikari pointed out. "All right, let's do that."

Rui couldn't believe what Hikari said. "You're agreeing with Haru?"

This made Hikari frown. "I'm not agreeing with him! But since we're running out of time before Inku starts seriously looking for the Kampo recipe book, Haru's plan will have to do for now. So you'll have to get mice skulls."

"From where?" asked Haru.

"Your Uwabami snake gets fed mice, right?" Hikari said. "So all you need to do is give me two mice carcasses and I'll remove the skulls from their bodies."

"Eww!" Rui flinched. "Do you know how to do that?"

"My dad teaches Biology at Kyoto University and dissects mice for his classes, which I got to watch a few times," Hikari said, twirling her still dyed-blonde hair out of embarrassment. "He would occasionally take me to work with him when I was sick at home during Primary School."

"Oh, I see," replied Rui. "Your dad sounds like a nice guy, based on how he acted when we met him in Tateroji."

"Yeah, but he can sometimes be too nice to the point of being smothering. And my mom just agrees with him no matter what he says."

"Still, it's better than our situations," Rui said. "I lost my dad when I was too young to remember him, and Haru's parents are dead including his adopted ones."

From there, the three remained silent as Hikari started putting together the ingredients for the Polymorph Kampo. She crushed the Sakaki Tree Leaves, Camphor Berries, and Blood Grass into small pieces, placed them in a clay pot, and poured hot water from a kettle before covering the clay pot.

"Now I'm supposed to let the mixture sit for two weeks while preparing the other ingredients," Hikari said as she used a carving knife to shave the hairs off the dried up Tanuki sacks. "Plus this is a very delicate procedure that must be done carefully."

"Wouldn't want anyone to interrupt you while you're doing that," Aka Manto teased as he peaked his head from the fourth bathroom stall.

"Shut up, Aka!" Hikari snapped, but stopped before she could accidentally cut herself with the knife. "Would you two mind keeping him occupied?"

Realizing she was referring to her and Haru, Rui said, "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Just talk to him about anything," Hikari said. "Except needing paper."

Out of reluctance, Haru stepped around Hikari and faced Aka while Rui did the same.

"Do you remember anything about yourself, when you were alive?" Rui asked Aka.

"Not much," replied Aka. "When you die and become a ghost, a lot of memories from your life become fuzzy. And if you come back as something like me, you only remember the bad things."

"Like what?"

"From an early age, my family put a lot of pressure on me to do great things. And so I was ostracized by my peers with my only companions being my sister and the friend who lured me to my death."

"But weren't you in a friend group?"

"Eventually I was in a friend group, but not at first."

"I see. How old was your sister when you died?"

"She was younger than me, but I can't remember how old she was exactly."

Being reminded of his stepsister Daichi, Haru said, "If we found your sister, would that bring you peace?"

"You mean pass on to the afterlife?" Aka waved his hand dismissively. "No way I'm doing that anytime soon!"

"And why not?" Rui said. "Do you like haunting a bathroom stall that nobody uses?"

"Whether I like it or not isn't the issue here," Aka insisted. "I just…want to be close to my sister is all."

This peaked Haru's interest. "So your sister is here? Who is she?"

Instead of answering, Aka slammed the door to his stall and said nothing further. Not satisfied, Haru opened the door to Aka's stall. What he found was an empty toilet caked in rust with mold growing around it. He thought he saw something else on the floor, but didn't linger long enough to get a good look before Rui dragged him away.

To be continued…