Outside the Bird Cage

The brisk air of the early morning dashed Toyo with a breath of nostalgia, harkening back to the days in early autumn where she’d relish in the quiet walk to school. Nothing but her music to keep er company. The Sun had barely risen over the surrounding mountain top as she and Sina were greeted by Zida and, unexpectedly, Daku as they approached the gate of the Royal Manor.

“This’ll be your first time out of the Adikos Empire’s Central Region,” Zida mentioned to Toyo, “the less you’re involved with the world out there, the safer you’ll be.”

Toyo wasn’t alarmed by his words, as she’d lived by that rule ever since the day she found herself staring up at the manor ceiling. But Zida’s apprehension to being outside of the manor began to pique her interest. From the day he dragged her to the Village of Plastos, she couldn’t help but feel that he, for some reason, hated his own relationship with the world. “Is that why you made me dye my hair blue?” Toyo noted, her distaste as obvious as ever.

Zida continued towards the carriage without even so much as peeking in her direction. Daku however, quickly jumped at the first opportunity to place her wayward hands on any part of Toyo that she could.

“This color looks stunning on you!” she cheered with shimmering eyes, her fingers fondling through Toyo’s ice blue hair. Sina on the other hand, feigned ignorance as she casually passed by Toyo, despite her suffering, marching straight to the carriage.

Making steady use of the old Scytale tunnel network to move rapidly across the land, the group of four headed to the nation’s Mid-Western Region. Their goal was to gather as much information they could on the previous incident, with hearsay pointing to an old relic possibly being held by a shop owner within the region. Zida, however, knew that with this supposed relic being his only lead, their chances of walking away with meaningful answers were slim at best.

Toyo soon found herself, yet again, becoming a victim of drowsiness, and resorted to picking everyone’s brain about the incident to hopefully stimulate her mind.

“Were there any witnesses that know anything about what happened in Plastos?” she asked.

“We questioned the residents from the neighboring village just up the hill from Plastos,” Zida answered, “but despite it happening at around dusk, nobody could tell me anything about it. Only that they witnessed the aftermath. It’s as if it both happened and already happened at the same time.”

Toyo’s face turning lopsided, she struggled to make much sense of his explanation. Nothing she considered would properly explain why not a single person knew anything. Except for one possible answer. “Could someone just be wiping their memory?”

Zida bobbed his head from side to side, not confident enough to completely deny her theory, but still finding it too farfetched. Daku, on the other hand, quickly probed her idea.

“It’s possible, but to do so to so many people is a massive undertaking. Wiping a few moments from a single person’s memory uses an enormous amount of chakra and risks the memory getting printed on the user’s own mind.”

“But that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible, right? I mean if someone is good enough at using magic...”

“You mean scripts?” Daku countered, “You think there’s a script user who’s good enough to pull off a mass memory wipe?”

Toyo winced in defiance, “It doesn’t have to be a whole village worth of people, just the few that may have saw something,” then latching on to a particular point, “Also, that word, scripts, you said that at the gallery yesterday. Is that what you call all of this stuff?”

“Well, we sure as hell don’t call it magic,” Daku teased with a pretentious look on her face. Toyo then dipped her head out of the carriage towards the ground. “Is this some sort of a flying script?”

“Nope! It’s a mild possession script.”

An unfamiliar voice cut through the carriage. Toyo naturally assumed that the guide had finally spoken, but when the others turned towards the opposite end of the carriage, a dread crept in.

A strange boy had suddenly appeared in the vehicle. Seemingly out of nowhere.

“Halt the carriage,” Zida commanded, his eyes locked onto the errant child. The boy, donning a pastel-colored attire of soft yellows, white, and red, had the appearance of a 8-year-old. But what struck Toyo the most were his eyes. His emerald-colored eyes.

“Nertu for god’s sake!” Daku roared. The boy looked at her with his face as stiff as cement. “Am I in trouble, big sis?”

Daku’s bore an aggressive posture, her expression the likes of a lion prepping to pounce onto its prey. All the while, Zida’s body melted into his seat, with stress boiling through his skin.

Seeing Daku apologize so formally was the last thing Toyo had expected to witness, considering how she, nor Sina, ever seemed to pay Zida’s obvious position of authority much mind.

Nertu later introduced himself to Toyo, her finding him somewhat adorable. She couldn’t help but see him as a child playing dress-up in his little shinobi outfit. It was then that Toyo had come to realize just how much Daku’s attire also incorporated elements of Japanese culture. Although subdued, the influence unmistakable once she noticed it, making her wonder how many more small elements were hidden around her.

Nertu, meanwhile, buzzed with energy, bouncing around like he might launch into the sky at at any moment. Despite his age, he made no effort to downplay his supposed combat prowess. Brandishing his spear with rapid jabs at invisible foes while chanting, “Yip! Yip, yip, yip!”

Despite his wayward character, it was clear to Toyo that the siblings, Daku and Nertu, were perhaps not so offhand as they often appeared, with her almost feeling the ferocity lurking within them.

Finally, back on the road, Nertu became a ball of unstoppable chaos. He acted as though death might catch him had he stood still for more than two seconds. It was only a matter of time before Toyo would find him staring into her face looking to pick her apart. “Do you know any cool scripts?” he energetically asked, only to receive a deflating, “No.

“Hmmm. That’s weird.”

Nertu crept up closer to her as Toyo to inadvertently pulled away. There was an overzealous pet quality to him that she questioned how long everyone would be able to put up. “Maybe you’re just dumb?” he then openly stated, his sensitivity level set to absolute zero.

“Huh?!” Toyo decried, every trace of adorability having evaporated from his image.

“Most people don’t use scripts, idiot,” Daku mocked, “Don’t confuse the world with the bullshit teaching our clan feeds you.” Crossing one leg over the other, Daku turned her gaze towards the outside of the carriage. “Besides, it’s rude to question a person about their ability to use scripts.”

“Okaaay!” Nertu sarcastically whined as he returned to his seat.

With the rest of the ride proceeding largely without incident, the group managed to arrive at their location faster than expected. They had finally made it to the Mid-Western Region, in a small town called Uru’s Path.

The group continued on foot, as the carriage guide remained at the town lay-by. Zida had a rough idea of the location he was in search of and looked to get in and out of the area as quickly as possible.

“I think they realized who I am,” Toyo confided in Sina, feeling pressed by the side eyes aimed her way. Sina shook her head, “Don’t worry about them,” she reassured, “those glares have nothing to do with you.” But Toyo couldn’t shake the feeling, lowering her voice as she insisted, “Then what is it?”

“Probably me.”

Toyo and Daku’s eyes met with a sip of acrimony having fallen off the tip of her words. Shifting her eyes to Nertu, Toyo found him busy returning a glare of his own towards the townsfolk. She couldn’t tell if he was being defensive or incitive, but his presence was certainly being felt.

Finally arriving at the entrance to an old shack, an aged man stood making peculiar gestures. In a weird way, it sort of reminded Toyo of the radio taiso exercises from her elementary school mornings. Though he appeared more controlled, with every move almost ritualistic. Despite his eyes being nearly hidden beneath folds of sagging skin, he somehow still radiated a sense of youth. Is he the owner of this shop?

Zida moved quickly, inquiring about the writing on Toyo’s ID. The man took his time easing his body into a standing position, ensuring that his moments were always as steady as possible. He then held the ID in his hand, analyzing it diligently, barely moving a muscle as the seconds ticked by. Daku leaned in towards Sina, wondering if the man might’ve fallen asleep. Meanwhile, Nertu cupped his hands around his mouth as he vacuumed in a deep breath, only for a quick punch to the head by Daku forcing him to pull the brakes on whatever chaos he intended to cause.

“It’s not much,” the man finally responded, “but my grandfather did own a relic that had something like this on it.”

The man briefly disappeared into the back of his shack, later emerging with a single piece of ripped paper. Zida and Sina both looked at it first, neither one of them saying a word. Their faces, however, were swirling with thought. As Toyo glanced over at the item, she found herself quickly reaching for it.

Zida grabbed her hand, stopping her abruptly. The man shook his head silently, his gesture conveying to Zida that he need not to worry. “She can’t damage the relic,” he stated, “Even I couldn’t do much if I wanted to.”

With her hand free, Toyo swiped the piece of paper from the counter, staring at it prudently. “This is a death certificate,” she revealed. Her face turned ghastly as she faced everyone, her eyes bouncing from face to face as she continued.

“It’s my mother’s death certificate.”