Scheme

Chapter Nine

Scheme (Inbou)　陰謀

Kagami squinted and tried to better focus her eyes, looking through the crack in the rock. There were five people, all wearing white swinging sleeve kimonos with different coloured trim. They were the Five of Himeyama.

The one with light ruby trim was analyzing the situation. That must be Kasumi.

“Kageyama has no ambition at the moment, which hasn’t changed for years. On one hand, that is their correct place, yet on the other hand, they are betraying the mighty arts by objectifying them into mere academic subjects. The supreme arts of sword, magic and alchemy are to be companions to royalty and nobility, and Kageyama has appropriated them and forsaken them.”

“Arashi doesn’t fit in at Kageyama. She should be brought to the noble court of Himeyama, and serving Your Highness would be her rightful place.” Now the one with emerald trim was talking. She must be Midori, addressing Yukari, their leader.

(“Even with her leader, Midori doesn’t shy away from using her words to espouse greed and vanity in order to further her purpose. Does Yukari know that she is being manipulated? Akishi told me that Yukari tends to hold them back, I’ll see if that’s what would happen.”)

“No. She’s weak.” Yukari casually commented, but no one said anything afterward on that subject. No comment, no argument, no debate. Yukari’s words seemed final.

“Your Highness,” a girl with rose quartz trim on her clothes spoke up, “if Kageyama doesn’t submit to the extent of an unconditional surrender, they might provide a reckless model for others to imitate. If Your Highness makes an example out of Kageyama right at the start of the unstoppable conquest, the rest of the world might have a chance to witness the power wielded by Your Highness, acknowledge Your Highness’s supremacy out of their own hearts, and voluntarily kneel and bow down before Your Highness’s presence. Whereas if Kageyama is left to exist with its current wanton autonomy, maniacs who rebel against Your Highness would possibly join them, increasing their numbers. Being weak minded as Kageyama already is, it probably would be swayed by the ill-conceived ideas of those lunatics and decide to defy Your Highness’s reign.”

“Possibly, probably, might and would.” Yukari gave her cold reply to Ryō. “You should speak plainly, and be honest: ‘they must all die for a more orderly world, so just let me do the killing’. Ryō, don’t try to imitate Midori or Kasumi.”

“Kageyama will, without any doubt, kneel down before me and submit itself to my reign. I alone will decide when to inform them on the deadline.”

With these words, Yukari cast a spell in mid air with her left hand, and vanished into thin air. The rest followed suit and were gone in the blink of an eye.

Kagami let out a long breath.

(“I survived. I survived an encounter with the Five. I’m still here, and I’m still alive. What a relief!”)

Kagami thought of what Akishi had said, (“it’s very accurate. Midori with her words, Kasumi with her analysis, Ryō with her thirst for carnage, and restraining them all, Yukari with her contempt for everyone. Too bad I didn’t hear what Yayoi’s voice sounds like.”)

Kagami wanted to walk around the rock to where the Five had been. They vanished into space, so did they leave anything behind? A burnt mark on the grass or maybe some scent of herbs used for witchcraft?

She walked for a few steps, but her body didn’t move. She was still pressing her face against the rock to look through a crack.

She lifted her hands and shook her head, and the view didn’t change.

(“Am I looking at a mirage? Am I suddenly experiencing some visual deception? How could I be able to walk with my feet, hold my hands behind my back, nod my head up and down, and yet still see that I have my face pressed on a rock and squinting at a crack? Am I in a dream within a dream? Did I fall asleep? Or am I still in my dorm room, and the day hasn’t even actually started?”)

Hitomi always had bad experiences with dreams, even on top of the ones in which she had to chew on dry, stale sandwiches.

Often she had to write an exam in a dream. Somehow every pen stroke landed wrongly on paper and each letter would end up badly written beyond any chance of recognition. And don’t even get her started on how hard it was to use an eraser in a dream.

Hitomi also had a scary dream a few weeks before becoming Kagami. She had annoyed a classmate of hers who was a self-proclaimed witch. Hitomi dreamed that the classmate cast a spell on her, and an invisible steamroller began crushing Hitomi’s body starting with her feet. Having to endure excruciating pain, Hitomi soon was unable to breathe, as the roller was flattening her chest. Hitomi tried saying prayers and hadith and sutras and, really, anything that came to mind, but nothing came to her rescue. Eventually Hitomi gave up, surrendering her life to the witch in that dream, and right at that instance, the weight lifted, and pain disappeared.

(“Is this another one of those scary dreams? Should I again surrender to a witch or something? But I don’t even know... This is so frustrating! What on earth, or whatever is the name of this planet, is going on!”)

“*giggles*”

Suddenly there was sound coming from behind. Kagami turned around to look, but her view still didn’t change.

“That. Was. Fun! I think this little girl is a bit slow, mentally speaking...”

Kagami froze, but evidently her body did not. Kagami’s body rotated on its own, and she could see who was standing behind her.

The Five. They had been standing right behind Kagami, for who knows how long.

“We knew you were here before you even heard us talking.” Said the girl who had been giggling. With peridot trim on her clothes, she must be Yayoi. “I was going to wait and see how long it would take before you realize that you had become my doll, but I failed to contain my laughter. What a pity. I can hear the thoughts of any of my dolls if I choose to. Yours was just too hilarious: wondering if your entire day had been a dream and maybe you were still sleeping in your dorm. You are the one new student that Kageyama received last year, are you not?”

“Still wearing plain beige clothes, and looks seven years old in appearance. Cannot be anyone else.” Midori agreed.

“Your highness,” Ryō offered her horrifying proposal, “I think this cute little girl is simply dying to play with me. May I? She looks so soft and tender, and she would be definitely enlightened and fulfilled by the skillfulness of my art. My whips and blades, my machines and devices, my magic and my hand, my teeth and my tongue, my ropes and chains... They can hardly wait to make this adorable girl their newest friend.”

“Don’t you yearn for that, my lovely new toy?” Ryō looked at Kagami with a sinister smile, and her eyes were glowing with gleeful anticipation as well as eager desire.

“That should be a great idea.” Said Yayoi. “When light shimmers in an eye filled with tears that's almost ready to flow, my heart is filled with song at the sight. With your calculated technique, she should be able to enjoy days and days of unceasing play...”

“You have scared her enough.” Yukari ordered the two to stop, “loathsome habits unbecoming of royalty.”

“She is small. Being inexperienced due to her age and not yet advanced in her studies is perfect for drawing less attention. She could be useful.” Kasumi gave her thoughts.

“If I place a spell in her eyes, we can monitor Kageyama through her sight whenever we find it necessary.” Yayoi suggested.

“From what I have gathered, this girl has already shown good potential. She might not be the perfectly unnoticeable background that you had imagined. I can impede her, though. Slowing her down gradually should be easily manageable.” Midori continued, “if Your Highness could add an extra handicap to her mind, then neither herself nor others would have the ability to detect the slightest evidence that something had been done to her.”

Yukari seemed satisfied with everyone’s proposed course of action and nodded to give her consent.

Kagami could only watch in horror as her fate was decided right in front of her. She had not imagined that Yayoi would have placed a spell on her, and now she was being made into a spying doll!

Kagami had hoped to catch up to Arashi, and she also promised Akishi that she would become strong, and now everything was being taken away from her, right before her own eyes! What about her happy ending?!

Kagami’s thoughts didn’t get very far before Midori reached out her left hand. Grasping Kagami by the top of her head, Midori’s magic flowed in like a torrent and invaded Kagami’s consciousness.

Kagami tried to scream out of horror, but still being unable to control the movements of her body, she only managed to have a terrified look in her eyes. Kagami tensed up as a chill went down her spine, and then she started to feel dizzy and nauseous -- waves of heat were raging inside her. The pressure inside her skull grew painful, and she was expecting her eyes, ears and nose to start bleeding any moment. Her body started hurting, as if acidic needles were stabbing her at every joint. Then she wondered if there were ants all over her body, biting and stinging, making every inch of her skin itchy and painful.

Just when Kagami thought she would die from the pressure and the pain, Midori withdrew her hand, and the ordeal was over. Midori had finished casting her spell.

Midori, Kasumi, Yayoi and Ryō each took a step back, then bowed their heads, and Yukari slowly walked to the front of Kagami.

Extending her left hand until her middle finger was only an inch from Kagami’s forehead, Yukari cast her spell.

In an instance, Kagami lost consciousness, a barrier was set in her head to prevent detection, and the entire memory of the encounter was erased. Since Kagami was so young, and her brain so malleable, not even the chancellor of Kageyama herself could notice, let alone restore anything.

Kagami fell to the ground and lay there as if she was asleep.

Yayoi closed her eyes, and a lime green spell floated before her forehead. The spell emitted one eerie glow and became a single dot, before disappearing into Kagami’s right eye.

Ryō took out a hollow sphere made of golden thread and silver lace, inside which was a spider’s web crystallized with magic. Ryō summoned Kagami’s soul, which came out of her mouth and nose like wisps of smoke. Ryō trapped a small fragment inside the sphere. “I will weave for you a realm of fantasy furnished with the most realistic details, and you can be my precious little toy. We will have so much fun, and you will be imprisoned here, for the rest of eternity.”

Before vanishing, Yayoi gave her comment. “I thought Your Highness would plant a spell into her heart, so she could be detonated and self-explode if necessary.”

“Is that how you dare to think of me.”

“Please do not cast me down for my tasteless joke, Your Highness. I deserve to be punished for my rudeness...” and the Five disappeared from sight.