Unity I / Festering Malignance

“Mnghhhhhhh…” Shina moaned, stretching her arms above her head. She had been hard at work for a while now, so I was sure she was exhausted.

“Need something?” I asked. “I still have leftover tea leaves from the last batch I had Professor Seris buy. I can head to the kitchen and brew a pot, if you’d like.”

She tilted her head toward me and stuck her tongue out. “Ewwww. That stuff was gross.”

“Why do you think I still have so much left? I’ve managed to trick Akio into drinking it twice and Kerne once, but Mara’s never fallen for it, and I can’t find anyone who’ll take it willingly. At this rate, I’ll never run out.”

“Why not just throw it out, then?” As she offered her suggestion, she leaned back in her chair, angling it onto its hind legs while holding the desk to maintain balance.

“It was kinda expensive. That feels like a waste.” I snapped my textbook shut and strolled up to her, pushing the chair down onto all four legs. “And don’t do that. You’ll fall.”

“I wasn’t gonna fall. I’m not that clumsy.”

“Shina, you just tripped over a pile of books like an hour ago.”

“That wasn’t my fault! Th-there’s just a lot of them in here.”

“And how is that not your fault, exactly?” I countered, punctuating my question with a sigh. “I can’t believe you actually lived in this room before today. It was a nightmare to even reach your desk.”

“It used to be more organized,” she replied, seeming a little embarrassed. “But I’ve barely spent any time in here the last couple of months. I’m out on campus during the day, and I go to your room in the evenings, so up until we had our fight, sleeping was pretty much all I did in this place.”

I surveyed the room that I had spent the better part of two hours tidying up. “Well, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore. No need to thank me, by the way.”

“Oh, don’t worry; I wasn’t planning on it. Now that you rearranged all my stuff, I’ll never be able to find anything when I need it.”

“Ngh. Sorry.” I didn’t even think of that…

“I’m kidding, obviously. Thanks for cleaning up my room; I appreciate it. And I’m sorry I was too absorbed in this to help out.”

I smiled at her sincerity. “It’s not like you asked me to do it or anything, and I know what you’re working on is important. Don’t worry about it.”

Shina smiled in turn, before yawning. A second later, she pushed her seat back and took to her feet. “I’m gonna go use the bathroom. And I know you won’t do it, but I’ll remind you again: you’re free to sit on my bed if you get tired of standing, weirdo.”

As she wandered out and shut the door behind her, my gaze shifted over to the furniture in question.

“My legs are kinda tired, but…” I shook my head to eject the notion.

That’s way too embarrassing! I don’t know how she does it!

Eager to ignore the beckoning call of the soft bedding, I skimmed over the things spread across Shina’s desk. A number of books on sigils and esoteric magical practices encircled her work, and even more were stacked in a corner for whenever she needed them. Her notes were practically a book in their own right at this point, with an uncountable quantity of pages separated into a handful of organized stacks. I had no idea what any of it meant, but I was impressed, nonetheless.

Though her research had stalled in the days following our altercation, she returned with renewed vigor once we’d made up. Neither of us had any leads on the illusion matter, so we came to the mutual agreement that this would be a more valuable use of her time.

When I was released from the infirmary this morning, she’d excitedly told me about how close she was to a breakthrough, and, since everything was already set up in her room, I suggested we hang out there instead of my place to make things easier on her.

And it’s no wonder she pushed back at first; this place was a mess.

As I scanned the room again, something familiar caught my eye, stacked on top of one of the many book piles neatly arranged along the wall. Its dark green binding ignited a sense of nostalgia in my brain, but I couldn’t place what class I must’ve used it in.

I strode toward it to get a better look at the cover. I couldn’t identify all of the vocabulary in its title from a glance, so I tried to decode it character by character.

Those two together mean… um, “physical”, I think. And that’s “magic” in the genitive, obviously. What’s that word in the middle? “Lie”? No, that feels wrong. But I think it’s something similar. Something like…

“Ah,” I said aloud, snapping my fingers as I came to the realization. “Illusion magic. ‘Physical illusion magic’. She probably picked this up right after our fight.”

Something was still bothering me, though. As I stared at the full title again, a string of words popped into my brain from the depths of my memory. “‘The Theory and Craft of Tactile Illusory Magic’,” I muttered, confused as to where I would’ve encountered such a tome before.

Maybe we briefly read from it in Professor Seris’s class? Or…

Finally, the pieces clicked together, and a complete scene formed in my head. “Professor Seris had this when he first warned me about Fleur.” I chuckled to myself as I recalled the encounter. “Man, everything was so different then. Mara was still being cold to me, and I’d barely spoken to Akio. Shina and I were just getting to know each other, and I hadn’t even met Fleur. Professor Seris really scared me into thinking she was dangerous, but I’m glad that didn’t turn out to be true. Though I can’t really blame him; she loves giving the guy a hard time.”

I smiled as I reminisced about the past. All things considered, it wasn’t all that long ago, but I’d made so many memories since arriving in Aeresi that it felt like I’d lived here for a lifetime.

…

Huh. That’s odd.

As my eyes brushed over the cover again, I couldn’t help but sense a discrepancy in the memory.

“Tactile Illusory Magic”. Why would Professor Seris choose to read this book when Fleur doesn’t even use physical illusions? There had to have been a more relevant resource available if he wanted to learn about her abilities.

I lifted the book off the stack and flipped to the table of contents. From a quick skim, it looked like it probably contained useful information about illusion magic in general, but it still seemed like an odd pick.

Professor Seris was a smart man, and I knew he was a scholar at the top of his field. If anything, teaching was his hobby, and advancing the study of magic was his true calling. So I couldn’t understand why he of all people would select this book instead of a more suitable one.

Unless he wasn’t honest when he said it was because of Fleur, and he was really reading it for another reason.

I shook my head in anger, frustrated at myself for even considering such a possibility. Yet as I tried to move on from that nonsensical train of thought, a more recent memory surfaced in my consciousness.

“The one lead I can give you is that whoever’s behind it probably doesn’t specialize in illusion magic.”

I slammed the book shut and tossed it back onto the pile, turning around.

God, I wish my stupid brain would stop trying to find connections where there are none. There’s nothing suspicious about a mage teaching themselves a new type of magic!

I stepped away and took a deep breath, hoping to think about something more productive.

I did find it strange how accurate that Shina was.

“Shut up…” I grated my teeth together, hoping the noise would overpower my uncontrollable thoughts.

Most people would assume she’s always shy and untalkative. Only a few people know her well enough to understand how she behaves around her friends.

Who else would know she drops by my room every day? Who else would know where my room is in the first place? It has to either be one of the other Inheritors, or…

“Shut up!” A sense of guilt was impaling my lungs, making it hard to breathe. I knew my thoughts were cruel and unjustified, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop them.

It would make sense.

Akio and Mara aren’t good enough with magic to do something like that. Kerne wouldn’t be able to pull off a convincing trick, no matter how hard he tried. Fleur’s illusions aren’t physical. And obviously it wasn’t Shina herself.

But there is one person, well-acquainted with the two of us, who ticks all of the boxes.

“No. No.” I bit down on my lip, and a trickle of blood leaked into my mouth. “There’s no way. He’d have no reason to do that. It’s too random. Too personal. What the hell would putting a rift between me and Shina accomplish? It had to have been some kind of personal grudge a student had with us, like that guy in the cafeteria. There’s no practical reason to—”

My eyes drifted to Shina’s desk, covered in its entirety by her secret research.

I asked the illusion if it was still studying the sigil.

“Yep. It’s taken weeks, but I think I’m finally getting close to making a breakthrough.”

No hesitation. No vague comment or simple affirmative. It knew what I was talking about. The caster knew.

What would putting a rift between us accomplish?

Well, that’s one thing.

“I’m just raving like a crazy conspiracy theorist… This is insane. I’m acting insane.”

I felt like I wasn’t in control of my body as I reached for Shina’s writing stylus and scribbled a short message onto a blank piece of paper: “Sorry, something urgent came up. Went to speak with Professor Seris. Be back soon.”

“I know he’s innocent.” My shortness of breath left me lightheaded as I stumbled toward the door. “So I just have to talk to him. Just to ease my anxiety. Just to reassure my stupid brain that everything is okay.”

The moment her door shut with a click, I broke out into a sprint toward the outer tower where Professor Seris’s office rested.