Training Manuals

Books were strewn across the entirety of the hut now, but for the first time in maybe their entire time there, they were being organized. Tomita was pleasantly surprised that Izhari had accepted his proposal with relative ease. After a few moments of explaining his intentions and plans, Izhari cautiously agreed.

“I won’t touch your core areas or structure. I’m just going to organize the books and scrolls and whatnots,” Tomita explained.

Izhari’s eyebrows had subtly lifted in moderate concern, but she still agreed. Thus, for the next several days, Tomita skimmed through every book to grasp a general understanding of their contents. Izhari’s Share Voice spell had an impressive side effect- it had allowed Tomita to read the text that each book held and actually understand, as though his mind was translating the ancient scripts into kanji and katakana as he scanned their tattered pages.

On the third day, he was six hours into organizing when Izhari finally patted his shoulder and pulled him back into reality.

“Hmm?” Tomita asked.

“You need to rest. You’ve gone at it for hours and haven’t eaten today. Please, pause,” she explained.

Tomita stretched and felt his stomach growling in empty protest. She was correct. Without fully realizing it, Tomita had thrown himself into the task as a distraction and a way of integrating into his new reality. He didn’t feel happy, per se, nor did he feel sorrow. He was drifting. Perhaps he was not ready to acknowledge that his new life was true and real, and these tasks were a way to avoid confronting that fact. Izhari seemed to sense his ponderous thoughts.

“Do… do you hate me?” she asked in a sincere pause.

Tomita glanced at her and saw that her expression was blank as though she was shielding herself from the answer.

“I understand if you do. I was just wanting to know where you stood, so that I can prepare,” she added.

“Prepare?” he asked as he sensed a tinge of fear in his chest.

“For you to betray me. Kill yourself and me. Kill me in my sleep. Adandon me one night…” she said softly.

Her statements were direct. She wasn’t seeking sympathy or being coy. These were her genuine concerns.

“I… I just imagined, after reading all these books, you’ll go sell them to memory merchants, tell them about me, and once they kill me, you’ll be free. I… at this point, I think I’m okay with it all being over…” she sighed as she closed her eyes.

Tomita realized she was still quite frail, with a gauntness taking in her cheeks even more over the week since he’d met her. Without realizing it, his hand had extended to her, but he quickly caught himself.

“Master, no, that’s not what I’m doing…” he answered.

She tilted her head towards him.

“I was doing this so that we could get a better grasp of what you have stored here as you recover. Maybe something in these books could help you. Help us.”

Since their essences had joined, Izhari could sense that he was being sincere, and for a brief moment, she felt something unfamiliar overwhelm her heart.

“But why? Why would you help me? I ripped you into this world when you wanted to die. Now you’re stuck here with me. Doesn’t that make you despise me?” she asked.

Tomita shook his head.

“No. You didn’t mean to. It was an accident in a moment of desperation. I can’t be mad at you for something you couldn’t control,” he said softly.

She sighed in relief, and the unfamiliar sensation washed over her with a strange, calming feeling that was utterly foreign to her. Once more, her tears returned.

“You’re not going to abandon me?” she whispered.

“No…” Tomita said calmly.

True, he had no intention to leave her. It was strange- he knew nothing of this world other than the small moments he had experienced with Izhari. History was abstract. Races were unknown. Truth was shrouded in mystery. Maybe he was making the wrong decision, but he felt that this being had recruited him for some reason, and in the void of purpose or meaning, his heart had decided to attach itself to her goals. Her ambitions would be his, whatever that meant. It wasn’t a very healthy way to live, but he hadn’t had a healthy reason to live in a very long time.

Tomita took a sip of etherdrop to depress the spiraling thoughts and dodged the mental strain by forcing a chuckle as he patted her shoulder.

“Now, master, let me explain my f-f-indings and organization strategy as we eat.”

She shook her head with a smile. Beneath her fur, she felt her face turn warm.

“Please don’t call me master. I thought I wanted to be that, but I thought you would be a mindless beast for me to command. You’re a hume, with thoughts, feelings, memories. I do not desire a slave, just support,” she explained as her fingers fumbled with a knot on her staff.

Tomita nodded in acceptance.

“What shall I call you then, besides Izhari?” he asked.

She shrugged as he led her away from the plates of dried meat and towards his book piles.

“...I don’t know…” she answered.

Tomita laughed to himself as an idea snapped into his mind.

“How about ‘manager’, then?” he asked.

Her ear twitched.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s like a leader. The one who supervises all of the employees, creates plans, that sort of thing. You are the manager. I am the employee. I like it!” Tomita laughed to himself.

“Manager. Imp loyee,” she grinned.

“Close enough!” he said as he helped sit her on the ground.

As she lowered herself to the floor, Tomita grunted beside her. In a strange cruelty of his new world, his back and knee pain had followed him into the next life. Years of sitting in cheap, overstuffed chairs meant his spinal discs had been ground into oblivion, leaving his vertebrae exposed and prone to grinding against one another. The occasional shooting sciatica pain reminded him that he was still very much human, even in this world.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Oh yeah, just a bad back. Happens to humans in my world,” he explained.

Crossing his feet beneath him, Tomita settled into his zone and held Izhari’s paw out towards the books.

“Now, I’ll be here to grab these for you at any time, and I still need to get them shelved, but this is my catalogue system so far,” he said as he pointed forward.

Her paw was pointed to the largest book pile.

“These are history books, actually. There are a total of seventy-seven of them. They’ll be grouped.”

Next, her paw was pointed to the right.

“These are magic-focused books. Spells, potions, incantations. There are nine of them.”

Next, another large pile.

“These are map books, trade documents, that sort of thing. Twenty-two.”

Lastly, there was another pile. Tomita found himself smirking.

“These are art, poetry, aaaaaaand... other things… Fourteen of them.”

Izhari seemed confused.

“Other things?” she asked.

Tomita had hoped she wouldn’t ask, but found himself laughing at the upcoming revelation. His skims of their pages the day before had left him flustered and blushing as he laughed to himself for several minutes.

“Ummmm, in my world it was called hentai… It’s… imagery about certain… physical acts…”

Izhari’s hand pulled back in embarrassment, and she let out a squeak.

“Body bonding tomes?! I! I didn’t mean to grab those! I just grabbed whatever I found any time I was out! I swear!” she said in embarrassment.

Tomita laughed.

“Oh, no worries! I figured so, but I didn’t want to throw them out in case they were important, but yes, just lots of stuff on species mingling, different positions-”

“I get it!” she shrieked as she waved her staff, and the pile of books burst backwards and slid as far from them as possible.

Tomita couldn’t help himself.

“Sooooo, keep them?”

She paused, and her ears drooped. The end of her staff pointed into his face without her even turning to him. Tomita laughed and held up his hands in surrender.

“Hey… Just making sure! But anyway, you’ve got a ton of great reading here. Once I get them shelved tonight, I’ll start scanning for things to read. I was thinking maybe one of the magic books? There might be training in there for you…” he offered.

Izhari seemed embarrassed.

“Thank you, but… I… I can’t read… There’s no magical trick to make the pages speak to sightless eyes…” she admitted.

Tomita realized he had misspoken.

“Oh… No, I meant I could read it to you. Your spell lets me understand all of it.”

“Really?” she asked in shock.

“Yeah! It’s actually pretty incredible, you should be proud! I can read every-”

Her paw touched his arm.

“No… I meant… You’d help me like that? You’d read for me?” she asked as the tears broke through her fortress of stoicism.

Tomita took a gamble and let his hand pat her shaking paw.

“Of course. The hell else am I going to do? Lay around after all this work? That was the next phase of this. Maybe one of these books will help us, and you weren’t just collecting them to save them from destruction. Maybe…”

He stopped as she closed her eyes and let herself cry. None of this was what she expected, but she was being helped regardless.

“I’ve never had anyone help me with anything…” she admitted as her cheeks dampened.

“Well, you never had me. Now, you do, manager…” he said with a smile.

He could feel her small fingers tense ever so slightly against his arm as she kept her eyes closed and nodded her head. After a moment, she exhaled and wiped her face.

“Thank you, imp loyee. Now, please, go eat. Don’t think I didn’t notice you not eating…” she said with what was almost a smile. 

Almost.