Zero Rush Pt 6

“She calls this place home? Home is too much of an understatement. This is at least a mansion.”

Sitting on the couch, Tadashi took in every detail of Rush’s house — a real Hollywood-style mansion.

Is this the place she’s so desperate to escape from?

A flat-screen TV, a gorgeous kitchen, even a pool visible from the window. It was paradise… but a little messy. Clothes were draped over the lamps and chairs, a trash bag had been waiting to be taken out for at least a few days, and fur was everywhere.

The fur must’ve been from the cat glaring at us with a murderous look. As if we were here to rob the house… or worse, its owner.

"Are your eyes closed?" Rush asked.

Zero quickly shut his eyes again.

"Yeah, they are!"

She made us close our eyes so we wouldn't see the mess, but I must admit that curiosity was too strong to keep them closed.

She walked around with one arm scooping up clothes and another holding the trash. When she came back inside, the bag was still in her hand.

"Ahhh, I threw out my gym clothes…"

In the end, she decided to just leave it all in the trash rather than humiliate herself by digging them back out.

The cat kept staring.

A few minutes later, Rush stood in front of us, a little out of breath.

"Ta-da! You can open your eyes now."

The house was spotless, like new.

"I work really well under pressure! Don’t I, Mister Glockenspiel?" she said, hugging the purring cat. "Huh… what did you say?"

She held the cat close to her ear. After a few licks on her ear, it went:

"Mew mew mew… mew."

"What? Did you open your eyes, Zero?" Rush’s friendly look shifted to a serious one.

"Uhhh… well… maybe a little, but only because I was surprised by how nice the place is… Your cat talks?"

"Of course not, are you stupid?"

"Ehh… then how…"

Man, I think she tricked us... we should have said we didn't spy on the place.

"Hehehe… You really are stupid… Hehehe!" It was the first time I’d seen Rush laugh. She had a beautiful laugh

The cat wore a satisfied expression, watching Zero get humiliated.

"Come upstairs, I’ve prepared the room to show you some spells…" she said, heading up the stairs.

"Shi-nii… I’m not sure I want to go up…"

"What do you mean, champ? Don’t be scared, you won’t mess up the spell this time!" I answered, changing my clothes into a cheerleader outfit. “Hip hip hooray, Tadashi’s on the way!”

"You don’t get it… You don’t think she likes me, do you?"

"What kind of talk is that, man…"

"You know, I’m a hopeless romantic. I believe in true love… I’ve known her for such a short time to…"

"Hey, what are you waiting for? Come up already!"

"I was petting your cat. I’m coming…"

The cat looked at us reproachfully. It had just watched Zero talk to himself and now blame it for it. It was starting to get suspicious.

"Meow…" it said.

Climbing the stairs, Tadashi let out a relieved sigh. The first room in the hallway opened into a magical testing chamber — a room full of blast marks on cracked walls, practice dummies, and all sorts of technological gadgets none of us could even name.

Wow…She was really talking about spells.

"First, before we start on the spells, put your hand on that crystal ball."

"Huh… okay."

We placed our hand on a crystal ball mounted on a high-tech table.

"It’s a cutting-edge device — a fusion of some spells with the newest magical detection tech."

"Wait, so it…"

"It’s going to analyze your mana level."

Tadashi, take your hand off, she’s going to find out we’re ridiculously OP!

Too late. The results appeared:

"Four… average four…" she said, watching the numbers appear on the screen of the device.

"Four out of… ten?"

"Out of a hundred…"

"Ah… these machines roasting me again…"

"Maybe, if you raise your flow a little, it’ll measure properly…"

"No… no need."

I know we didn’t want to be discovered… but, Shi-nii, you didn’t need to humiliate me here in front of the girl!

I didn’t do anything, Tadashi.

What? Then why did this happen? I thought we were super strong…

I dug through my memories until I found something that explained it:

"Before sending our soul to the world, I thought it was too dense. So I… zipped the file," I said, scratching the wig decorating my skull-bone.

Zipped? Wait… like a computer file.

Yeah, more or less. I sealed our soul’s density so it would fit in the body. It wasn’t to mask our mana or anything… this effect was kind of accidental.

This means that whenever we are tested on this machine, we will appear to be weaklings…What a drag.

What do you want? If you think she can handle knowing our secret, go ahead — have your Superman moment with Lois Lane. I could just lift our mana to the heavens right now, and you can show her. Good luck explaining everything, though..

Yeah, maybe you’re right.

"Hey, honey, are you okay?"

"Oops… yeah, sorry, I was distracted."

"You need to focus more. Sometimes you go into these episodes where you just go quiet… it worries me."

"My bad… I’ll pay more attention."

Rush gave a wide smile.

"Let’s talk a bit about spells. Tell me your spell repertoire!"

"I can do that fireball… kind of badly."

"Ah yes… your famous fireball… And what else?"

…

…..

"Alright… this is going to take longer than I thought."

— — —

Zero extended his hand, and a multi-layered magic circle appeared, preparing the ground for the spell.

"Under my command, let the drums of the sky sound: Sonic Thunder!"

A wave shot from our hand, sending the training dummy flying.

"That’s it! Perfect, honey. Didn’t I tell you? Having a low amount of mana doesn’t mean anything!"

"Thanks…"

I wasn’t sure whether to feel happy or sad.

For hours, Rush explained absolutely everything about spells, as if we were complete beginners — which, honestly, we were.

Spells are based on a triad: Brain, Soul, and Universe.

The soul powers the spell. The brain handles the algorithm — the actual thinking behind the spell. And the universe accounts for all the other variables we hadn’t considered — whether we were using a staff or wand, whether the moon was full, or even if our shoelace was untied.

Spells are magic tested thousands of times, to the point where the most important variables are known. The words we speak act as anchors for the brain, and the timing and rhythm in which they’re said matter. Magic circles are also symbolic designs, extracted from the human subconscious by great mages, guiding the mind more effectively in execution.

All of this combined and trained makes a great mage.

Seeing her explain all of this with such energy, her eyes sparkling — it was even more inspiring than the information itself.

“Well... I think that's it for today. If you work hard, you'll be able to cast spells like this in no time.” She pointed her hand forward without saying a word, casting the spell.

A rupture in space appeared before us.

“It's a portal!”

On the other side of the portal, we could see a room full of paintings and art, a huge telescope sticking out of the window, and a neatly made bed.

“This room... are you taking us to another house?”

“Hey! It's my room!”

“Oh... I thought it would be... more... you know, messy.”

Tadashi couldn't find a better word to use.

“You should know that even though I'm not the most organized person, I like to sleep in a comfortable and clean place.”

“Okay... That telescope is cool! Do you like to look at the stars?”

"No... I prefer the moons... I'd like to show it to you, but I need to finish my work for tomorrow. I'm going to make my coffee and stay up all night.“ Rush sighed. ”I made up the sofa in the living room for you. Feel free to go there, there's juice in the fridge if you want something to drink... Well, I have to go to work..."

She walked to the other side of the door, closing it behind her.

— — —

Lying on that huge sofa, Tadashi and I looked around in awe at the beautiful house.

“It's a big house... bigger than ours. And about eight people live there.”

“Yeah, capitalism follows us even in another world...” I said, lying down in blue pajamas with a hat. I was a sleepy skeleton.

“Huh?”

“Sorry, trying to sound human...”

The sofa was so big that it was more comfortable and larger than our bed. At least four people could lie down there.

The cat watched us, a plush fish in its mouth.

It was pissed. Throughout the entire last hour, with its cute little eyes, it had been asking Rush to play with it, but she only gave a tiny pat before returning her attention to Zero.

Tadashi approached the cat.

“Want to play? I know you do... maybe not with me, but you do.”

“Me...ow...” The cat turned, as if sadly agreeing.

"Here, let me take your plush fish, Mr. Glockenspiel. I'll do some magic."

Tadashi grabbed the plush, the cat showing a bit of resistance, but eventually letting go.

“Here. Now you see your toy...” With a flick of his hands, Tadashi made the toy disappear.

“Now you don't see it anymore.”

The cat's expression turned to surprise. It shook its head, searching all around Zero for its plush, starting to panic.

Silly thing, it's in my sleeve.

The cat got nervous, gripping us by the collar:

“Meow, meow, meow meowoooo,” it said, some sort of animal threat.

“Calm down, it's right here. Just let me — HEY!!”

The cat, no joke, came at Zero with its claws straight to his face.

One step. We heard a step, and the cat that had been scratching us disappeared, running away from the responsibility of its actions.

Coming down the stairs, he initially conveyed a certain regret, but quickly, others began to emerge. Until:

Rush hit Zero with a pillow.

Zero pretended to be dead, lying on the sofa.

You didn't say you thought my telescope was cool just to please me... did you?

“Of course not, I swear!”

Rush wore casual pajamas: a large T-shirt that covered her completely and shorts.

She took her pillow and placed it on the other side of the sofa, lying down. It was such a big sofa that even with both of them lying down, only their feet touched.

“No one is interested in that. So, I can't just miss the chance to talk about something I like!” she said excitedly.

“But what about your work?”

“I realized that it has already taken so long. What difference will one more day make?”

The two smiled at each other:

“Okay, but I only have conditions to continue the conversation...”

“Conditions?”

“Yes, I want you to teach me how to use that portal spell!”

“It's a difficult spell...”

“Then when I'm in the bathroom...”

Rush's pillow went straight to Zero's face.

“I don't want to see anything you do in the bathroom!”

“Hey, I was just going to say that when you forgot to get a towel, I would make a portal and get it without leaving the hot water...”