Hey, sorry I haven't been updating this fanfic lately. Been having technical problems with the app not displaying my latest chapters, making me debate about whether to create a separate fanfic that continues this fanfic or not. I was also extremely sick last week and had to be hospitalized for several days. And though I'm back in my home now, I still have a ways to recover physically and mentally from what I just experienced. This isn't an excuse by any means, but I just thought you should know what happened is all. Anyway, hope you're still enjoying my fanfic!
144th Spell: Accusations
Just as Daizō Maki was about to cast another Firecracker Charm, Hikari suddenly swooped down in her owl form and carried off the two mice that were Haru and Rui. She soon arrived at the school courtyard and dropped them in one of the koi ponds. But in the process, she crash-landed into the pond as well.
In a matter of seconds, the three started retching. And as they were experiencing this, their bodies changed from animal back to human form. Fortunately, the koi ponds were shallow enough for them all to get out and lie on the floor of the gazebo for a solid few minutes before quietly making their way back to their Clan dormitories. The next morning, all three groggily made their way to the Student Dining Hall and didn't eat much of their breakfast.
"You don't look so good, Ryuji," Daizō said as he approached the Byakko Table with Koi by his side. "Neither do you, Wataka-chan."
"Leave us alone," Haru said bluntly.
"Says the guy who's the no. 1 suspect in these recent attacks," Koi talked back. "Gumo's description of the thing which attacked him sounded a lot like your snake familiar."
"How can you be sure?" Rui's older sister Peri said doubtfully.
"Because Ryuji's the only one in our class who has a snake familiar, and Ryuji was close to the places where each attack occurred," Daizō argued. "Therefore he's a suspect in my eyes, even if Dōmeki-sama seems to think he's innocent."
"Then it's not your place to decide!" Peri said firmly. "If Dōmeki-sama believes Haru did not cause the attacks, then you have no right to question her decision!"
"Fine," Daizō responded grumpily. "But if someone else gets attacked and Ryuji is near that person, you need to seriously reconsider Ryuji's innocence!"
Daizō and Koi then walked back to the Seiryu Table where they whispered to Riniri, who snickered in turn.
A month passed and no further attacks occurred. In that time, Hikari's hair had changed from its dyed blonde color back to its normal auburn color. Also the Mabuki Theater Club was well under way in terms of casting and doing pre-production work for The War of the Dragons play. Akaji Juro had decided to make: Otoma Wan 'The Storyteller', which was the same role she had during the Jiraiya the Gallant play, Muni Māru the child version of Saya Rumono, as he didn't mind playing a female role in contrast to playing the young boy version of Jiraiya, while Hikari Genma would play the adult version of Saya, Reika Kishi was cast as Tama Rumono, Phāph and Phlang Prasert as the brothers Shige and Kenshi Ryuji, with Riniri Ushū being cast as Kiri Gumo, Rēki Bau as Kume Ryuji, and Haru Ryuji as Tentou Ryuji.
"You sure Dōmeki-sama is okay with me doing a named role in the play?" Haru asked Akaji during rehearsals one day.
"I double-checked with her, and she thinks you playing an ancestor of your father's family is less problematic than playing Orochimaru during the Jiraiya play—even though I personally didn't see an issue with the latter performance," Akaji responded. "But it's because of how well you did as Orochimaru that I thought you should have a named role in this play."
This made Haru feel awkward about how the theater club members viewed his performance as Orochimaru. Because while they clearly thought his 'convincing' performance was a sign of a good actor, he knew it was really Warumo using Kotodama to control him. Though Warumo's reason for doing it was still a mystery to Haru, even when he was directly confronted by one of Warumo's host bodies not too long ago.
Still, he chose not to contradict Akaji's feelings and continued the rehearsals as planned. Fortunately, Haru's role as Tentou wasn't as involved compared to Orochimaru. Because due to the complicated history of the War of the Dragons event, the play was split into two parts: while the first-half would cover the events that led up to the actual war and the deaths of Shige and Kenshi, the second-half would focus on the aftermath with Saya and Tentou forming a romantic relationship that resulted in tragedy. And so Haru would only appear during the second-half of the play with half as many lines to remember compared to Jiraiya the Gallant.
"So I heard that Daizō accused your snake familiar of being responsible for the recent attacks on Bambō and Gumo," Reika said to Haru after rehearsals were done for the day. "Is there any truth to that rumor?"
"Not at all," Haru said firmly. "My snake familiar wouldn't hurt either of those two, and she was nowhere near the scenes of those attacks."
"Did she tell you that herself?" Riniri joked.
Knowing Riniri was just trying to get him to confirm Heshi wasn't a normal snake, Haru chose not to say anything. And then back in the Byakko Sitting Room, he, Nayu, and Rui quietly continued their extra-credit assignments while being harassed by Rui's older twin sisters Gaane and Fuyou.
"Mom's not going to like it when we tell her you're ignoring her requests to stop spending time with the Boy Who Vanished," Gaane teased.
"She already knows," Rui said. "And I told her how I felt."
"Even though everyone's saying he's causing all these attacks as he might be the Heir of Seiryu," added Fuyou.
"No, I'm not!" Haru snapped. "There's no way I could be this so-called Heir! Now will you stop pestering us and go away!"
Once again, Haru heard the rattling sound in his head. He found himself holding up his own plum tree wand without thinking and pointed it at Rui's twin sisters. A spell was forming on his lips, but realizing the spell he was about to cast in his head he dropped his wand, closed his mouth with his hands, and ran back into his room slamming the screen door behind him.
To be continued…