The Stamp Duty Write-Off

Koki was absorbed with a new spell he was learning from his Taxation Apparatus Almanac or Taa as he called it. It was the best birthday present he had ever received from his stingy parents who typically handed down business regifts.

This time they gifted him a magic spellbook wet dream, ever since he saw it in the Harajuku Tome Store shop window.  To physically hold it in his hands was a dream come true.

Unfortunately, it was a gift from his wealthy parents. His excitement dwindled when his stylish and model looking mother had seized some of his mana using a DAC3.1 clause from the book as an exchange. 

Depreciating Write-Off Clause DAC3.1: using the Claim Spell to revitalize a depreciating asset... recommended to cast a Claim Spell at a deduction level... extract a portion of the receivers mana for personal use.  He hissed and tossed his pillow to the floor as he continued to read the spell-clause that was used on him.

Seriously! She gave him a gift, which he still had to pay in the form of his magic energy.  That stingy kickback giver! And the gall to view him as an depreciating asset. He was only 21 years old, hardly near the old man stage of his life. Although this gift did have him bedridden like a geriatric for two days to recover his losses. 

"You're young with ample mana. You'll bounce back in no time." She had flippantly brushed off his complaints, while ensuring he had all he needed to get himself better.  The spell-clause ensured that she got back 10 years of youth: she could be mistaken for his older sister.

"Whatever, at least I got what I wanted. Mana can be replenished with rest and potions anyway."

In Tokyo 2077, everything was an asset, especially names. The more exotic and foreign the name, the higher the value.  Alas, his tycoon family had no shame in viewing him as a devaluing surplus, since their name was Yamaguchi—ordinary.  Despite it all, his parents' ways around spells made certain they could not only prosper, but control a large chunk of peoples' lives. He was grateful they had taught him the tricks to gaining and holding on to money.

"Tax write-off is a tax write-off I guess."  He brushed off his experience, and couldn't fault his mother for being an opportunist. If situations were reversed, he would've done the same thing. 

He shook his head clear from the thoughts and closed his spellbook, glimpsing at the time on his floating and neon-blue digital clock hovering near his beechwood headboard.

"9:00AM already?" He gasped as he scrambled out of bed to get ready for school. 

After a few minutes of dashing and puttering about his simplistic and modern room, he was dressed and ready. He observed his image in the freestanding mirror on his plain white door. 

"If it didn't cost ¥5,000 for a hair cut, I'd get his black mop trimmed." He grumbled to himself as he ruffled his short, wavy fringe so it rested softly against his delicate and pale forehead. Tips touched his naturally shaped dark brows over wide brown eyes—"Since it's still floppy." He mumbled a spell to activate his mana to his fingers, making them glow white, "Coiffure:Quiff."

He ran his glowing fingers to style a decent wavy quiff. At least he didn't look like a shaggy dog. To be honest, there was nothing exciting about his features: long jawline, pale cheeks and small nose. Even his spindly body in loose fitting checker sweater vest, white short-sleeved business shirt and dark jeans over gray sneakers was dweeby. 

His wimpy image made it easier to hide his magic prowess: most times no one saw him coming with killer moves or a threat to their fortunes.

"And I'll make sure people remain clueless." He smirked as he grabbed his leather satchel from the nearby coat stand and left his room.

The jarring slam of his door caused a bundle of scrolls to tumble off his metal book shelf near his computer desk. 

Koki's fingerprint was depressed into a scroll's blue wax seal, which had cracked open upon the impact with the desk's sharp corner. The spell-scroll unraveled as it rolled across the floorboards, releasing multicolored magic lights all over the room, especially, over the mirror Koki had recently used, recalling his image briefly with the cast magic. 

Inside the scroll parchment was a devious spell-clause.

Stamp Duty Transfer. 10% of Mana to claim a transfer of a target's nugatory spell.  Caveat of use. The Caster shall bear all karmic consequences the target's spell causes during the spell-transfer process. 

In a teeny tiny footnote was the mitigation term: wearing a cloak of Body Mana Insurance is recommended. Otherwise absorbing the Target's misfortune is a high-chance encounter.

The inauspicious spell locked onto a target it saw through Koki's unsuspecting eyes, making his crown briefly ache like his hair had been yanked. He paused his walk through his university's gates when he realized he had activated a scroll. But how and where he was clueless. He was panicky when the sensation of being punched in the chest made him keel over with pain. Shit, the scroll's magic had been cast.

"Are you alright?" A clueless woman approached with him with concern.

He looked up and saw a magical symbol of golden scales on her forehead.

"Craaaap! Stamp Duty." Internally panicking and praying she was the luckiest magic user on the planet.