Further critique is always welcome
Also for easier reference I added a chapter list:
Chapter One – A Girl Worth Fighting For
Chapter Two – A Whole New World
Chapter Three – Something There
Chapter Four – The Gospel Truth
Chapter Five – Poor Unfortunate Souls
Chapter Six – Snuff Out The Light
Chapter Seven – Trashin' The Camp
Chapter Eight – Let's Go Fly A Kite
Chapter Nine – Beauty And The Beast
Chapter Ten - Colours of the Wind
Chapter Eleven - God Help The Outcasts
Chapter Twelve - True To Your Heart
Chapter Thirteen - Zero To Hero
Chapter Fourteen - Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Chapter Fifteen - Supercalifragilisticexpialigocious
Chapter Sixteen - Circle Of Life
Chapter Seventeen - A Spoonful Of Sugar
Chapter Eighteen - Hellfire
Chapter Nineteen - One Jump Ahead
Chapter Twenty - Friend Like Me
Epilogue - Perfect World
Chapter One – A Girl Worth Fighting For
Tiredly I slap my hand on the alarm clock and turn around to lie on my back. In my head, fuzzy images of a moonlit night on the roof and soft lips kissing mine slowly fade away, to be replaced with the actual images of yesterday.
The school festival I spent together with Misha and Shizune - the plush cat, the roof, the fireworks... Well, no kissing yet but I have a good feeling regarding the future. It had been quite late when we finally retired to our rooms, so I'm not surprised to still feel sleepy. I turn my head to look at the alarm clock. Six-fifteen? Why the heck did I set my alarm to six-fifteen...
Abruptly I sit straight up. Of course. My morning runs! I better get ready, or Emi will have my head...
Twenty minutes later I arrive at the track, to find Emi already doing her laps. She cheerily waves to me and jogs over.
“Morning Hisao! I didn't think you'd be down here today. Most people stayed up quite late yesterday. Did you retire early?”
“Not exactly, but didn't you tell me it was important to stick to a routine, no matter what? Besides, I was afraid you'd rip my head off, if I skipped.”
Emi smiles sweetly. “I should tell you that I'd never do such a thing, but that kind of fear could come in useful in the future, so I won't.”
“By the way, what did you do yesterday? I didn't run into you once all day.”
“Oh, I had to help out with my class project. It was located in our classroom. Didn't get many visitors, because most attractions were outside. When my shift was over, I hung out with Rin at her mural for a while. What about you?”
“I was mostly walking all over the place with Shizune and Misha.” A frown from Emi. “Don't look at me like that. They're really not that bad once you get to know them. Anyway, we tried out most of the attractions...”
My mood darkens as I recall my less then glorious episode at the ball throwing stand. It just won't do to wimp out every time I have to do something as cheesy as that. One more reason to take those morning jogs more seriously.
With fresh determination I start on my first lap. Emi seems to have noticed something. Her smile disappears as she falls in beside me. “Did something happen? You seem to have something on your mind...”
I jog along in silence, while I try to decide whether or not to tell her. Well, she already knows about my heart, and she's in charge of my training schedule, so she should probably know. I take a deep breath – well as deep as me being out of breath from running will allow – and recount the events that led to me winning not two but only one plush cat.
When I finish, there's still the feeling of shame for being such a loser, but Emi doesn't seem to mind. She just smiles and keeps on running.
After two more laps, I start to breathe more heavily and Emi declares my training session over for today. I head back to the dorms to take a shower and get ready for school.
***
As I walk to the main building, the remains of yesterday's festival are still clearly visible. The skeletons of the festival stalls still line the walkways and there's litter everywhere. In a way, I feel sad that all the stalls we spent so much time to build will now be simply scrapped.
I enter the school building and go up to my classroom on the third floor. About half the class is already here, including Misha and Shizune. Shizune is apparently reading her notes from last week's lessons, while Misha is cuddling the cat I gave her. As I close the door behind me, she looks up and notices me.
“Hey, Hicchan!” she waves at me cheerily, then tugs at Shizune's sleeve. “Shicchan, Hicchan is here!”
She jumps up and runs up to me. A picture of her hugging me in front of the whole class comes unbidden to my mind, but she simply grabs my arm and drags me to my seat. “Thanks again for the kitty. It's just SO adorable!”
I feel half a dozen gazes converging on us. Great, now there are going to be rumours, before even I know whether or not they are justified.
I smile back at Misha. “You're welcome. I'm glad you like it so much.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice Shizune glaring at us. I hope she's not still mad at me for giving the cat to Misha.
It seems Misha has followed my gaze. “Don't worry, Hicchan! Shicchan is feeling all better today. Too bad she had to retire so early yesterday, though – she missed the whole fireworks.”
It's not like I was glad Shizune excused herself so early, but somehow I think that evening would not have been half as romantic if she had been around...
To be honest, I had my doubts regarding that 'headache', but I suspect bringing it up might cause a relapse. “Please tell her, I'm glad she's okay now.”
Shizune doesn't reply, but at least she stops glaring and turns back to her notes again. I'm not sure whether this is a good sign or a bad one.
While I'm still pondering this, Mutou enters the classroom and everyone gets seated.
“Good morning class. I hope you all had a good time yesterday and the projects you participated in were successful. You may have noticed the school-yard is still quite a mess, which is why for the next two hours you'll all pitch in to make it presentable again... Yes? What is it Mikado?”
“The student council has to complete the statements of revenues and expenditures by Wednesday. We have to collect the reports of the separate projects.”
“Of course, Mikado. You and Miss Hakamichi please tend to your duties.”
“But Hicchan is also a member of the student council.”
Mutou looks at me quizzically. “Well, in that case, he's free to join you, of course.”
In fact, he looks a bit relieved. He was probably worried about putting me to manual labour. I leave my bag at the desk and leave together with Shizune and Misha, while Mutou is handing out work assignments to the others. Student council work is not so bad after all, if it can be done during class...
Once in the office, Shizune hands me a list written in her distinctive, neat handwriting. Misha translates her gestures. “Hicchan, this is a list of all the projects of the middle school. Would you go and collect their reports? Misha will collect the reports of the high schoolers' projects. I'll stay here and prepare the forms – that is, Shicchan will, not me. WAHAHAHA~”
I take the list and look it over. “Could I do the high school projects instead? I know where their classrooms are. I'd have to search for the others.”
My objection seems to displease her, but she concedes the logic, and Misha and I switch lists. Inwardly I congratulate me on my quick thinking. This way I can probably prevent another confrontation between those two and Lilly...
***
I head straight to class 3-2's classroom and knock on the door. A female voice bids me to enter, and I do so.
“Good morning. I'm Hisao Nakai from the student council. I'm here to collect the finance reports from your project.”
The teacher - a tall and lean woman, maybe in her late twenties - smiles. “Ah, yes. I'm Miss Miyagi, the homeroom teacher of class 3-2. You'll want to talk to Miss Satou. She's the class representative of this class.”
“Yes, I know her, thank you.”
Lilly has already risen and is now coming towards me. Together we leave the room so as not to disturb the lecture.
“So Hakamichi did not come in person today and sent her lackey instead?”
Oops, seems she is still a bit mad about last week. I still don't feel like I have anything to apologize for, but maybe a bit of rebuilding bridges is in order...
“No, actually she was going to send Misha. Coming here was my idea.” She tilts her head quizzically. “Look...” I hesitate at the faux-pas, but decide to continue. “I know that filling out forms that are not in Braille is something that is not easy for you and your class. We still need to have all the paperwork ready by Wednesday, so I thought I'd come by and tell you first. I still have to collect from all the other High School classes, and that will take some time, as most classes are outside cleaning the school-yard. So I'll come back here once I'm done, and if you have the numbers by then, I'll help you put them in the form, okay?”
Lilly seems surprised by the offer, but quickly recovers and smiles at me. “Thank you, Hisao. That would be a big help. I will have the numbers ready in about an hour.”
“Okay, I'll see you then. Goodbye, Lilly.” She takes a small bow and returns to her classroom.
***
Two hours later, I am a bit closer to understanding why Shizune is in a foul mood so often. Badgering others to do their work is not something that will win you friends easily. But after much pleading, bargaining and being sent from one person to the next, I finally managed to collect all the forms and return to the student council office. Misha and Shizune are already busy transcribing the other forms.
Misha looks up as I enter. “Hey, Hicchan, you're back~! Did you get all the forms?”
I let myself fall on a chair at their desk and put the forms on the table. “Yes, but I feel like I had to run around the campus ten times to get them.”
“WAHAHAHA! Of course you do. It's always like that. I only got back ten minutes ago as well, so we haven't gotten very far... What? Yes, Shicchan, of course we'll help you.”
Shizune's glare could freeze water, and this time her foul mood certainly isn't from having to badger others. It's probably best to simply get to work, or it will get even worse...
Sighing, I grab a pen. “Okay, what do I have to do?”
***
After two more hours of tedious paperwork, Shizune has Misha call for a break and we return to the classroom. Funny how I consider going back to class a 'break'.
As we enter, I am surprised to see that the room is empty – empty except for Mr. Mutou, that is. He is sitting at his desk, reading a journal or something.
Shizune walks up to him, Misha and me in tow.
“...”
“Hello Mr. Mutou! Are the others still outside cleaning? I thought they'd be done by now.”
Mutou looks up, evidently confused to see us. “Mikado? Hakamichi? Nakai? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in your rooms?”
I look at my watch. “Well, it's still half an hour until lunch-break, and we have classes after that. Why should we be in our rooms? Where is everybody else?”
Realization seems to hit him. “Oh, you weren't here for the announcement... I'm sorry. I completely forgot to tell you.” He shakes his head and puts down his journal. “Well, afternoon classes are cancelled. If you followed the newspapers, I'm sure you read about the flu epidemic that is going around in Japan right now. Nothing serious for a healthy person, but we have many here who are not so healthy, and yesterday, there were a few cases not far from here. So the head nurse decided to have some doctors come in this afternoon to check everyone up and give them a flu shot, just to be safe. We've asked all students to return to their rooms for today to wait for the doctors.“
“Aww! Do we have to?” Misha's pouting is quite adorable. “I hate getting shots. It's like being in the hospital all over again!”
Mutou looks almost sympathetic. He probably knows something about Misha that I don't. “I know, Mikado, but this is for your safety and for that of your fellow students. Please bear with it, okay?”
Misha continues to pout but falls silent. I would really like to know more about that hospital stay, but I don't think Misha would appreciate me prying. I get the feeling she doesn't want to think about it too much, and I can relate to that. Instead I ask another question, that is probably 'safe'.
“Why don't we simply go to the nurse office to get our shots?”
“Several reasons. Mainly because this way we can get it all done in one afternoon, and if someone actually has the flu, they won't infect all the others waiting in line with them.”
Sounds logical. Shizune starts signing again.
“So the doctors are already here? Should we go to our rooms now as well?” Misha translates.
Mutou also glances at his watch. “ I think you still have time to grab something to eat at the cafeteria. That's why I dismissed class a bit early. But try to be in your rooms in about half an hour. I don't know where they're going to start.”
Well, that's a relief. The thought of going without lunch until the doctors are through is not a pleasant one. Misha seems to think the same way, as she hastily bids goodbye to Mutou and all but drags Shizune and me towards the cafeteria.
Chapter Two – A Whole New World
Half an hour later we are standing in front of the dorms, packed with sandwiches. The time was a bit too short to eat and make it in time, so we decided to take our lunch with us and eat it in our rooms.
In front of the dorms, the nurse is talking to half a dozen men and women in white coats, apparently giving instructions and handing out medical files. He notices us, smiles and waves for us to enter. Apparently we are not too late yet.
I say goodbye to Misha and Shizune and head to my room.
Kenji's door is closed as usual. From inside I can hear some muffled sounds that I don't care to identify. For a moment I consider knocking. Kenji probably hasn't left his room today at all, so he won't know about the examination. In the end, I decide against it, though. I'm hungry, and the doctors will manage to handle him somehow...
In my room, I wolf down my sandwiches and settle down on my bed with one of my books. There's no homework to do and no tests this week, so I can read without even having a bad conscience. The book is a fairly interesting one about aliens, time travellers and espers, so I don't even notice time flying by until I am startled by a knock on my door.
I glance at my watch. Almost two hours. They probably started at the lower floor. “Come in please!”
The door opens and two men in white lab-coats enter the room. One is a bear of a man – a good five centimetres taller than me and with shoulders twice as wide. He must be approaching 50 years, but his hair is still black, as is the beard that covers most of his face. I wonder if he dyes it.
The other man is younger – not much older than myself in fact. His right eye is covered by a black patch like in a pirate movie, and the end of a scar is just visible at its corner, but his mouth is constantly smiling.
I rise from the bed to greet the two. The older man reaches out his hand. “Hello Mr. Nakai. I am Dr. Kanzaki and this is my colleague Dr. Takakura. As I am sure you know, we are here to...”
He is interrupted by the younger doctor: “Come on, Kozo, I don't think we have to go the whole nine yards with this one. He has it. I could sense it as soon as we entered the corridor. Let me just...”
He is silenced by a glare from Kanzaki and his booming voice. “We WILL follow the procedure, Mr. Takakura. Please prepare the tests. False positives are nothing but endless paperwork.”
I'm a bit confused. How could he determine whether I have a flu from outside, without even having met me?
Takakura shrugs, then turns to me, still smiling. “Okay then, Mr. Nakai... Do you mind if I call you Hisao?” He doesn't even wait for an answer before continuing. “We will perform some simple tests, so just relax, Hisao.” He glances at the clipboard he is carrying in his hand. “So, you have a chronic heart disease... Ar... Arrhythmia? Sounds serious all right. Well don't worry, what we're going to do is not going to interfere with any medication you are receiving.”
Something is not quite right with these two. I've met my share of doctors in the past few months, and they are not behaving like doctors at all. He doesn't even know what Arrhythmia is? What are they...
Takakura turns to Kanzaki again grinning. “Oops, it seems he doesn't believe we're doctors. What do we do now?”
Kanzaki heaves an exaggerated sigh. “Okay Takeshi, you win. But if this turns out to be a false alarm, all the paperwork is on you.”
My confusion is rapidly reaching critical levels. I don't think these two are out to harm me, but what do they want?
Kanzaki motions to the bed. “Please sit down.” He himself sits down on the chair in front of my desk, while Takakura leans against the wardrobe. “You are right. We are not doctors... Well, I am a doctor, but not a medical doctor... And we are not here about the flu epidemic. We are here to scout Yamaku for students with... Special Talents. My young colleague here seems to be certain that you do possess these talents. If he is correct, we will offer to train you and help you refine them.”
Well, that explains some of the strange stuff about these two, but... “What exactly do you mean by 'Special Talents'?”
Kanzaki starts to reply, but is again interrupted by Takakura. “Interesting book you're reading there. I read it myself. Liked it. So what do you think about espers?”
I look at the both of them incredulously. They can't be serious. Is this an elaborate prank? If so, who put them up to it? The nurse? I wouldn't put something like that past his humour, but...
“I assure you that this is not a prank, and while I would not put such a prank past the head nurse either, he did not put us up to it... Well, he did organize this examination, but...” Takakura trails off.
My heart is starting to beat faster. Can that guy read my mind? How is he doing that?
“Yes, I can read your mind. Usually I refrain from doing so to respect other people's privacy, but I think this is the fastest way to convince you...”
He stops, his face tense. Like my chest. My heart is racing now and it hurts. My hand shoots up to massage the pain away.
“Uh, I think his heart is acting up. I called for the nurse. He should be here in a second.”
He hasn't finished speaking when the door opens and the nurse rushes in. How did he get here so fast? He shoots a venomous glance at Takakura. “Don't tell me. I don't need to be a Diviner to guess what happens here. Please stand back for a moment.” He motions for me to lie down and takes my pulse. “How are you feeling Hisao?”
His familiar face brings a semblance of normality back to the chaos of my thoughts. My heart starts to slow down gradually. “A bit better, I guess. What is...”
“Just lie back and relax for now. We will explain everything once you have calmed down.”
He continues to take my pulse and blood pressure for a few minutes, then he sits back and smiles at me. “Well, I guess you're going to be okay for now. I want you to drop by in my office later to do an EKG, though. You should look at the bright side: if a revelation like that didn't kill you, you'll probably live to a ripe old age.”
“So what they were saying about espers and mind-reading is true?”
“Well, we don't really call them 'espers', but yes, our young friend Takeshi here is a very talented mind-reader.”
Kanzaki turns to the nurse. “You should have told us about the severity of his heart problem. If I had known...”
The nurse looks chagrined. “Yes, that was my fault, but I didn't really expect Hisao to show up positive. He's only been at Yamaku for one week today.”
Two pairs of eyebrows go up at this revelation. “Really?” Takeshi looks excited. “I think his potential is the greatest of the six candidates we've found today.”
“You know, Hisao, Yamaku is located in a place where several leylines – streams of magical energy – cross. That's very conductive to the development of magical talents. It usually takes at least several months for them to manifest, though. Most of the talented students we find are third year students who have been here for at least a year.”
“So, there are espers...”
“We prefer to be called mages.” I am interrupted by Mr. Kanzaki.
“So there are mages among the students?”
The nurse shakes his head. "No, the last ones graduated this spring, but as Takeshi said, we already found some talented students today. Including you there are now seven potential mages at Yamaku. That's a lot. Usually we don't find more than three or four per year. We might have to bring in more teachers for so many...”
“The teachers are mages, too?”
“Only four of them, including me, but as I said, we might need to bring in more...”
“Wait, you're telling me that there's magic, and you can use it, yet we are here at this school for disabled people. Why don't you just use that magic of yours to heal them?”
The nurse looks at me sadly. “I'm sorry, Hisao, but it is not that easy. Magic can do a lot of things, but healing injuries or illnesses is not among them. We have to rely on completely mundane means for that.”
I slump down on the bed. For just one moment I had allowed myself to hope. To hope that there might still be a cure for my condition. But it would have been too good to be true. Still, my curiosity prevents me from being too deeply depressed. It's not like I'm worse off than before, is it?
“So what can magic do? I know you can read minds...”
“That's not entirely correct.” Kanzaki interrupts me again. “Takeshi can read minds, because he is a Diviner. Neither of us can do that, but let me start at the beginning. There are seven schools of magic. No matter how talented you are, you will be able to use only one of them, depending on your affinity.”
“And what is my 'affinity'?”
“The next step would be finding that out.” He produces a small item from the pocket of his lab-coat, and hands it to me.
Fascinated, I examine the thing. It is a ring, a simple band of silver with a single socket holding a plain grey stone. I look at Kanzaki questioningly.
“This is yours. It serves as a token of recognition among mages and it shows the affinity of its wearer to those with magical talent.” He smiles. “Go on, put it on your finger!”
I stare at the ring for a moment, hesitating. Then I look at the nurse. “What if I don't want to become a mage? Will you lock me up somewhere or erase my memory?”
Takeshi actually laughs at that. “You've been reading too many novels, haven't you?”
The nurse is unusually serious as he answers. “You can't 'unbecome' a mage, Hisao. You've got the talent. You may refuse our training. Some people do just that and continue to lead normal lives. Some try to make money off their talent and do petty tricks as stage magicians, but without proper training, they rarely amount to much. As for erasing memories... That is done in extreme cases, but it's not usually necessary. Who would believe you if you said magic was real anyway? That said, I really hope you accept our help, but the choice is yours.”
I stare at each of the three mages in turn, but they just regard me with solemn gazes. Then I take a deep breath and slip the ring onto my finger.
Instantly the previously grey stone in the socket changes into a glittering diamond.
Takeshi grins and turns to Kanzaki. “It seems we have found an Abjurer. The first one in Japan in... four years?”
The nurse continues. “And I guess that decides one of the teachers who are going to come to Yamaku, right Kozo?”
I have no idea what they are talking about, and my perplexity probably shows. In response Kanzaki holds out his hand – almost twice the size of my own - so I can see the sparkling diamond set into his ring.
“Well met, Hisao, I would be honoured to have you as my student.”
Please look forward to chapter three:
"Something There"
