Yer an Awakener, Kaori!

“I’m really, really sorry, sir,” Kaori said, hanging her head.

She sat at the kitchen table with her aunt, grandmother, and a man named Mitsuba from the government. He wasn’t young, but he wasn’t old either. Average height and an overall average appearance, wearing a black suit like the average civil servant.

“Why are you apologizing? I thought it was those other girls who’d turned the stove on,” Kaori’s aunt scolded. Her aunt slammed a hand on the table. “The school should be the one taking responsibility for the gas leak. Right, Mitsuba-san?”

“Well…” Mitsuba cleared his throat. “About that…”

Kaori clenched her fists and bit her lip.

“Are you implying it wasn’t an accident, Mitsuba-san!?” Kaori’s aunt asked, raising her voice.

A week had passed since the incident in the Home Ec room. Kaori couldn’t quite remember exactly what happened. She remembered everything up until the moment she’d realized the very girls she’d considered to be her friends were the ones burning her diary. Then nothing until she came to in the destroyed classroom.

The walls had been blown clean open, every table and chair in the room had been reduced to splinters, and the broken plumbing sprayed water into the air like a fountain. Strangely, there was no fire.

School had been cancelled for the remainder of the week as a result.

While the three girls from Kaori’s class had sustained some injuries in the blast, they were fortunately not life-threatening and no more severe than a broken bone. Even though Kaori was angry with them and could never forgive what they did, she was still thankful they were fine.

Kaori, however, walked away with no injuries other than a cut on her cheek from broken glass. Everyone said it was a miracle, but there was no way that was true. Miracles don’t happen twice.

“While we don’t have reason to believe it was intentional,” Mitsuba said, glancing at Kaori. She gulped. “The truth is that it wasn’t a gas leak.”

“What?! Then what happened?!” Kaori’s aunt shouted, slamming her hand on the table once more.

Kaori was in the epicenter of that blast. There was no way she could explain it, but she knew deep down it had something to do with her. So how much did he know? She eyed Mitsuba cautiously.

“Ma’am, please calm down,” Mitsuba said, holding up his hand. “I’m trying to explain why I’m here.”

Come to think of it, why was Mitsuba there? When he’d arrived at their house, he explained he was from the government and wanted to talk about the incident at school. But why would the government send someone unless they were investigating the incident?

Kaori’s mind spiraled. Were they going to label her a terrorist?! Was Mitsuba here to interrogate her and haul her off to prison?!

“Um, Mitsuba-san? What government branch did ya say you were from again?” Kaori’s grandmother asked, setting down the teacup she’d been drinking from.

“I’m from the Ministry of Harmony,” Mitsuba said, adjusting his tie.

“I’ve never heard of that. Just what exactly is my tax money going to these days…” Kaori’s aunt scoffed.

Kaori’s hands were trembling as she brought her own cup of tea to her mouth.

“The truth is that after a thorough investigation, we have reason to believe that your niece was the source of the explosion,” Mitsuba explained.

Kaori spat out her tea.

“She what?!” Kaori’s aunt jumped to her feet, knocking her chair over. She raised a hand at Kaori. “You! Explain immediately!”

Kaori flinched. “Aunt, I actually don’t under–”

“Ahem!” Mitsuba cleared his throat loudly, pulling the attention back to himself. “To make it short, your niece is what we call an ‘Awakener.’ That is to say, a person who has awakened the ability to use magic.”

What? Magic…? Kaori could hardly believe those words.

“Um, so what happened in the school…?” Kaori’s voice trailed off.

“We believe it was a rapid expulsion of magical energy from your body in response to external stimuli,” Mitsuba explained. He held his cup of tea and swirled it around before taking a sip of it. “The report we received said that you were being bullied at the time of the incident, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Kaori said, hanging her head in shame. She gritted her teeth. “So I will take full responsibility for this.”

Whether it was going to be community service, prison, or worse, Kaori was resigned to do what she needed to do.

“I-I don’t understand. M-magic!? Yall’re saying she can use m-magic!?” Kaori’s aunt stammered, holding her head in her hands. “Since when!?”

Grandmother stood up to comfort Kaori’s aunt. She looked to Mitsuba as she rubbed her daughter’s back. “Mitsuba-san, this is a lot for us to take in.”

“I know it’s sudden, but that’s how it is for Awakeners,” Mitsuba sighed. He pulled his briefcase into his lap, pulled out some paperwork, and set it down on the table. “The Ministry of Harmony is here to help.”

“You’ve said that before, but what exactly does the Ministry of Harmony do?” Kaori’s aunt said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Kaori shifted in her seat, and Mitsuba sensed her unease. He was used to situations like this with Awakeners and their families, but this situation was…unique. How to explain it all? It was taking 100% of his brain just to de-escalate this girl’s aunt.

“One of our purposes is to provide resources and assistance to Awakeners. In your case, that includes damage control.” Kaori winced at that last part. Mitsuba tapped the paperwork on the table. “Because Kaori’s power seems to be extremely volatile and destructive–”

“Destructive?!” Kaori’s aunt interrupted. “Does that mean we’re all in danger of that happening again?!”

Kaori’s heart sank. It was extremely lucky that no one had been hurt this time, but…

“What if that happens here in our home?!” Kaori’s aunt added, slamming her hands on the table.

“Ma’am, please just let me finish explaining,” Mitsuba sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m here today because the Ministry has decided to take Kaori into protective custody.”

So it’ll be government experiments then? Kaori clenched her fists hard enough to dig her nails into her palms.

Kaori’s aunt sighed, picked up her chair off the floor, and sat down again. She leaned on the kitchen table with her face in the palm of her hand. “What will our neighbors even think…”

“Please don’t punish Kaori-chan too harshly for this, sir,” Grandmother pleaded.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Mitsuba said, clearing his throat. He pushed the paperwork in front of Kaori’s aunt. “I’m not here to punish or arrest Kaori.”

The two women looked over the paperwork from Mitsuba. Kaori, giving it a sideways glance, happened to catch a certain name. 'The International Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies.'

“A private school?” Grandmother asked.

“Mitsuba-san, please understand that we cannot afford tuition for a private boarding school in Tokyo,” Kaori’s aunt sighed. She tossed the paperwork back at Mitsuba. “Besides, I don’t understand how this’ll help.”

He slid it back to her and took a pen out of his pocket. Clicking the pen, he extended it to Kaori’s aunt. “That’s nothing you have to worry about. The Ministry of Harmony is prepared to front the cost of this. It’s important for Kaori to learn how to control these powers, and this school exists for that sole purpose.”

Kaori’s aunt looked at the pen hesitantly.

“Think of it as a public safety service,” he added.

She took the pen and sighed. “Fine. I’ll leave her in your care.”

Kaori watched as her aunt filled out the enrollment form. Her grandmother left the room, presumably to retrieve the family stamps.

“So how do we explain this to everyone? And what about the old school?” Kaori’s aunt asked.

She didn’t even seem to care about how Kaori was feeling about this. Kaori felt that familiar pang in her chest and gritted her teeth. She jumped up and stormed out of the kitchen.

“You simply tell them that Kaori earned a scholarship to attend a prestigious international school in Tokyo,” Mitsuba said, watching Kaori leave the room. “It seems to me that you’ve earned bragging points, no?”

***

Kaori got as far as putting her shoes on in the genkan before she stopped herself. If she left the house right now, even if it was to get some fresh air, Mitsuba would probably think she was trying to run away. The last thing Kaori wanted was to have secret government agents chasing after her.

She put her head on her knees and took some deep breaths. It frustrated her beyond belief that she was causing so many problems for everyone around her. After a moment, Mitsuba approached from behind.

“Um, Mitsuba-san? Is it okay if we leave tonight?” Kaori asked.

“Step outside with me, kiddo. Let’s talk one-on-one,” he said.

On the front step, Mitsuba pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and lit one up. He took a long drag off the cigarette and then turned his head away from Kaori to exhale the smoke. “Sorry. I’m trying to quit, but dealing with people like your aunt makes it difficult.”

Caught off guard by his bluntness, Kaori couldn’t help but laugh.

“Feel better?” he asked, smiling while he took another drag off the cigarette. “You were starting to feel it again, weren’t you?”

“It?”

“That feeling you got before you exploded last time. You felt it here before, right?” he said, gesturing to his chest. His intuitiveness surprised Kaori.

“How did you…?”

“It was in your report,” he said, exhaling smoke. “You had told the doctors you were experiencing something like a panic attack before you blacked out.”

Kaori clenched a fist to her chest and looked at her feet. “I still don’t understand how this happened. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Kaori looked up at him. He probably knew way more than he let on. There was no point in hiding anything from him. He met her gaze as he smoked his cigarette, waiting for her to say it first.

“When the accident happened with my parents,” she started. Her mouth suddenly felt so dry that it made the words stick in her throat. “I was the only one who was completely uninjured.”