Chapter 15: Anchor

“At least you left me tea.” Shiori said she picked through the remaining snacks.

“Give your mother my compliments,” Tsubame said around the last sponge cake.

“How can something so small eat so much?”

“That’s just it: I eat but I don’t get bigger. Anywhere. I’d settle for growing wider. Nothing I eat goes to my chest or butt. It all gets lost on the way somehow.”

Shiori set The Last Word down on her desk.

“What gives?” Tsubame asked. “Normally if I talk about that kind of stuff you get awkward because you’re gifted at giving your food good directions.”

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

Tsubame laughed. “Bigger things. I bet Otonashi-senpai noticed how good you are at giving directions toward your bigger things.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s exactly the point. Otonashi-senpai genuinely likes you.”

“No.”

“You worry about being perfect and don’t pay attention to people. I’ve watched him.”

“Why are you so focused on this? Another Speaker has been casting spells at our school and Motohara-senpai told me Speakers wanted to kill me.” Even saying his name made Shiori wish she could open a portal to him.

“Is Otonashi-senpai here to kill you?”

“No, not exactly. He’s supposed to take me, the Princess, to his people to help with a war against monsters.”

“Exactly. He’s catching feelings for you.”

“Do you want me to manipulate him using his feelings?”

Tsubame’s face contorted in disgust. “No, I guess you could. But he wouldn’t develop feelings if he’s here to kill you. That’s not how guys work.”

Shiori removed the bookmark, the Reverse Mirror, from The Last Word. It had been tucked into the same page as Motohara's small note. “And you know how guys work?”

“Well enough. I’m not tall, curvy, or the top of the class. I can’t run or be artsy or cook. I’m good with people. You’re too flustered that he might like you to think straight. He’s strong, Shiori. Understanding his motivations is just smart.”

Shiori’s eyebrows rose. Tsubame was shrewd. “What should we do next?”

“We came to talk to Motohara-senpai about his plan but we can’t. The Mirror is black. He thinks Otonashi-senpai is dangerous, but I don’t.”

“I’d like to know what Motohara-senpai thinks.”

They both looked at the black Mirror.

Shiori picked up the Mirror. “Otonashi-senpai thinks he can open a portal with this. That would return Motohara-senpai, but then he’d take me away.”

Tsubame tilted her head. “Crafty girl. You’ve got one hottie on this planet drawing pretty pictures and another waiting in the next reality.”

“Haha.”

“Shio-chan,” Tsubame said slowly, “what do you want?”

“I,” Shiori started. The words were heavy stones, “want to be with Motohara-senpai.”

Tsubame smiled. “Good. Let’s make that happen.”

“What about Otonashi-senpai?” Shiori felt guilt, fear, or hunger because none of the best snack cakes were left.

“If you choose Motohara-senpai, let’s follow his plan to sabotage Otonashi-senpai.”

Shiori waved the Mirror in frustration. “It doesn’t work if we can’t talk to him.”

“We need the Mirror to connect. Are you good enough with magic to ask it?”

“No. I managed one lucky spell, which surprised Otonashi-senpai.”

“Which spell?”

“Uh, I knocked over a tree with a handful of sand.”

Tsubame’s eyes widened. “Maybe you can fight those shadow things.”

“I’m not sure I could even do it again.” Shiori thought for a moment, then closed her window blinds. “We should be careful that Otonashi-senpai doesn’t look in.”

“In your window?”

“Oh, ah, he guarded my house last night from the top of that utility pole.”

“He what?” Tsubame peeked through the blinds. “Wow, how’d he get up there?”

Shiori opened The Last Word. “If I only read the book until the present moment, perhaps nothing bad will happen.”

“Is that how this works?” Tsubame asked uncertainly.

“The Mirrors connected when I read the book before.” Shiori said. She had thought about it, and it seemed true.

Reading about the Emporia made her wince as she recalled the violence she had seen. She had never witnessed real fighting and death before. It had bothered her more than she’d realized. How did Otonashi manage?

She read The Last Word up until the present moment. The black Mirror swirled with color. There was a field outside a castle. How much time has passed for Motohara-senpai in that other world?

Shiori made sure not to read ahead.

Motohara didn’t appear. Shiori read the book they had stolen from Otonashi, wincing as she thought that they really had stolen it. She wasn’t a thief, but the Outlander soldier was dangerous and wanted to take her away.

The book had more drawings, including a couple of Shiori. She decided they were for scouting his target. Tsubame was too romantic.

The book’s words were short, like names, written in a strange alphabet. Russian?

They waited, but Motohara-senpai didn’t appear.

A flashlight shone into the Mirror attracted no attention.

Tsubame tapped the Mirror in frustration. Oddly, it made no sound although it felt like hard glass. Tsubame tapped it against the desk. Still no sound. She tapped hard enough that Shiori was worried her desk would get dented. Still no sound.

“This thing doesn’t make sound,” Tsubame said.

Shiori frowned. “When the shadows attacked it fell. I expected it to shatter, but it didn’t even make any noise.”

Tsubame clapped above her head then right above the Mirror. The second clap near the Mirror was much quieter.

“It absorbs nearby sound?” Tsubame said in amazement.

The girls experimented. It did absorb sound. Shiori had wondered why she couldn’t hear Motohara through the Mirror.

“Okay,” Tsubame said, tapping her chin. “Why does it absorb sound?”

“I have no idea. These things aren’t in the books... unless.” Shiori backed away from the Mirror as if it was a spider.

“Shio-chan?”

“Otonashi called them reverse Mirrors. But centuries ago, long before his birth, there were weapons forged in the Deep, a place below all of Kryptopeda.”

“Weapons?”

Shiori swallowed. “An empire decided killing all Speakers would end the War of the Royals. They murdered a child Princess and developed weapons to fight Speakers. They made weapons called Anchors.”

“That thing can fight a Speaker? You said Otonashi-senpai threw around buildings.”

“With the right tools and enough people, normal people can fight a Speaker,” Shiori said. “But the way the Anchors were made is…” Shiori shivered.

“Horrific? Cruel?” Tsubame guessed.

“Sacrifices. Only the most depraved were tempted by the things found in the Deep.”

Shiori picked up the Mirror, sickened fascination on her face. “They tore a living person’s thoughts apart. The molten pieces of the victim’s mind formed Anchors.”

“Just to make a weapon?”

“A powerful one. I don’t remember the books mentioning the Anchors being black Mirrors. These Anchors could silence an entire battlefield.”

“How?”

“Placed on either side and powered correctly.”

Shiori thought furiously. The Mirror had vibrated at specific times when there was power in the air. She thought of each time it had vibrated.

Shiori’s headache as she fought the spell that made her forget Motohara made it vibrate. When Tsubame fought the same spell and its influence broke, it vibrated so hard it slipped from her fingers.

“The Mirrors are from the Deep. They’re greedy and hungry. The more they take, the hungrier they become.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Tsubame said, leaning away.

“Once, an entire city was silenced in the war against Speakers. It’s very hard for a silenced Speaker to use magic. The weapons, the Anchors, grew too hungry and pulled even light and heat from the city. When the darkness cleared it was frozen solid. Fountains of ice, people as frozen statues.”

Tsubame leaned away from the Mirror until she stepped back. “They’re only dangerous as a pair, right?”

“I think so. Remember when the spell broke that made you believe Otonashi-senpai was a student at our school?”

“I remember the headache,” Tsubame said. “I passed out.”

“Yeah, and you glowed. I think that was energy from the spell being released.”

“I glowed? Cool.”

“I think the spell on the school’s students was stronger on you, Tsu-chan.”

“Really?” Tsubame looked more worried.

“You glowed when it broke.”

“Good point.”

“Otonashi said the Mirrors could be used to travel between worlds. Energy from the collapsing spell powered the Mirror enough to let the shadows into our world.”

Tsubame stepped further away from the Mirror in Shiori’s hand. “So, don’t read that book near the Mirror.”

Shiori waved the Anchor, Mirror, bookmark weapon, “Otonashi-senpai felt this vibrate from across the schoolyard. If we make it vibrate here, Motohara-senpai may sense his Mirror vibrate if he’s learned enough magic. I’m going to read the book.”

Tsubame winced. “Maybe I’ll see if your mother has more snacks.”

Shiori glanced at Tsubame sideways. The two girls laughed.

Then Shiori picked up The Last Word and began to read aloud.