Lesson Ten: Japan - The Land That Breathes Magic

The second week of teaching drifted by in a magical blur.

Mutsuki had begun to understand each student’s patterns, their mischief, their sensitivities, their bursts of power. Though yokai would always be unpredictable, he found he could usually tell when Mon’s hat would burp, when Akashi’s ears would pop out, when Meow’s bad luck was about to roll like a storm cloud.

And every time chaos began to swirl out of Mutsuki’s control, Youchan appeared with impeccable timing and steady hands. Always ready with a soft voice and a steady aura that Mutsuki could depend on before he spiralled emotionally.

After confirming the children could safely be amongst humans, Maria approved the next stage: relocating the class above ground into the newly restored shrine building. Brighter, warmer, less dungeon-like and more “conducive to learning”, in Mutsuki’s words.

*****

Third week rolled by more easily.

The day started with the morning sun filtering through the paper screens, painting soft amber onto polished cedar floors. A faint thread of the latest incense aroma frenzy drifted from the main hall. The parents had been giving plenty offerings for the shrine, which Youchan do use around on the daily.

Youchan had just finished sweeping before the children arrived. She stood by the door with a smile as Mutsuki flipped through Maria’s syllabus with an unimpressed sigh.

‘Week three… ‘’geographical magic sources and ley line theory’’…’ he muttered. ‘Right. Because six-year-olds definitely need geomancy.’

‘Six,’ Sumire corrected primly as she floated in. ‘I turned six last month, Sensei.’

He bowed dramatically. ‘My apologies, Your Highness.’

The arriving class giggled. They all did their personalized greetings and sat down on their seats contentedly.

He rolled up his sleeves and fluffed up his skirt.

‘Well then,’ he started, ‘let’s talk about magic places. Places where even humans can feel magic. Well, if they stop staring at their phones long enough.’

He flicked a spark of magic across the board. The chalk lifted and began drawing on its own with glowing lines spreading into a bright map of Japan.

‘These are called power spots, or ley lines. Imagine veins of magic under the ground. When they meet, the energy builds up. So naturally,’ he tapped the map, ‘humans built shrines there to keep the energy calm. Or maybe to borrow a little.’

‘Like this one here?’ Meow asked, ears and tail twitching.

‘Exactly. This shrine sits on one of the oldest ley lines in the Kanto region,’ Mutsuki said proudly. ‘But there are others too. Kashima Jingu in Ibaraki, said to house a god who keeps earthquakes in check. Haruna Shrine, nestled in Gunma, where wind and water twist together so powerfully, your hair stands on end.’

Youchan watched in amazement. She fully expected him to ask her, the representative of the country’s strongest shrine-protector lineage. But he already knew his stuff.

To her surprise, the children leaned forward with equally bright eyes. Mutsuki now knew how to shape his lessons so even the smallest attention spans stayed hooked using colorful illusions, animated glyphs, playful dramatics. Being a magical performer went a very long way.

And here,’ he pointed to a glowing spot on the board, ’the Tatetsuki Stone Circle in Okayama. Ancient magic is so strong there that you can hear it humming. People say if you listen closely, the stones whisper.’

‘Do they really?’ Kishin whispered while clutching his bat like a security blanket.

‘Only to those with kind hearts,’ Mutsuki winked. Kishin was starstruck.

‘How do we get stronger there?’ Akashi asked, already flexing a little.

‘Well,’ Mutsuki paced with his hands behind his back, ‘every yokai draws power differently. For example…’ He scanned the room. ‘Sumire, where would you feel the strongest?’

‘In a river,’ Sumire automatically said. ‘Preferably clean water. And if there’s cucumber, even better.’

‘Duly noted,’ Mutsuki chuckled. ‘Kojiro?’

‘High peaks,’ the tengu answered. ‘Where the wind sings. The higher, the better.’

‘Honey?’

‘Forest! Trees! Big trees with honey smell!’

‘Understandable,’ said Mutsuki as he wrote on the board. ‘Meow?’

‘A store with shiny coins!’ she said hopefully. The class burst out laughing. Even Youchan covered her smile.

‘Not technically magical,’ Mutsuki said, ‘but… true enough. Money does move people. It’s a different kind of power.’

‘What about you, Sensei?’ Gon asked suddenly. ‘Where do you feel strongest?’

Mutsuki paused for a moment. The room fell quiet.

‘On stage,’ he said with a reminiscent look, which he quickly tried to follow with a reassurance. ‘But these days, the classroom will do.’

From the back of the room, Youchan’s gaze lingered on him. Mmm… I’ll ask him later.

‘Alright!’ Mutsuki clapped his hands with some cheering magic, changing the mood. ‘We’re going to make our own power spot cards! You can pick a real place or invent one. Think of what kind of energy it has. Fire, wind, water, earth, or heart.’

He passed out paper and colored pencils. The kids immediately dove in.

‘No magic ok?’

Sumire drew a glittering river shrine, complete with cucumber offerings. Kojiro’s card showed a lonely mountaintop where feathers blew like confetti. Honey’s paper was full of trees and sticky yellow circles labeled “HONEY ENERGY!!”. Kishin’s card had a big crying face in the middle, which he explained was “a mountain that cries rain for people”.

Meow’s one had just coins everywhere. ‘This is what the shrine will look like when I’m rich!’ she said proudly.

Mon pulled out a handful of glittering dust from his magician hat. ‘I’m drawing this!’ he declared.

‘Mon!’ Mutsuki groaned. ‘No magic! Who knows what else you could’ve grabbed in the name of art!’

‘But… it looks pretty,’ Mon said innocently.

‘He’s not wrong,’ Youchan said as she patted poor Mon’s head.

When everyone was done, Mutsuki gathered them into a circle.

‘Now tell me one thing. What kind of power do you like the most? Not what you have, but what you admire.’

‘I want to fly!’ Honey said immediately.

‘I want to control the sea!’ said Sumire.

‘I want to make everyone do what I say!’ said Gon boldly.

Mutsuki raised an eyebrow. ‘Careful, that one comes with paperwork and lawsuits from your own family.’

Bright laughter filled the room and echoed off the walls. Even Youchan’s soft laugh joined theirs. To wrap it up, Mutsuki tapped the map once more.

‘Remember, magic isn’t just in places. It’s in people, too. The more you believe in something good, the stronger that spot becomes.’

The children looked proudly at their cards. Some started talking about visiting shrines together one day. Mutsuki watched them with admiration. Their energy is infectious, their wonder is genuine… When did I ever lose sight of mine...

He dismissed them for lunch while the room still buzzed with pride and excitement.

‘Next time, we’ll talk about the yokai who protect these places. So study well. And don’t summon anything dangerous.’

‘Hai, Sensei!’ they chorused and bowed.

As they slowly filed out to wash hands and prepare for lunch, Youchan whispered at his side. ‘They really like you, you know.’

Mutsuki looked at the colorful cards scattered across tables, some of which he secretly pinned to the board, imagining future lessons inspired by them.

‘They’re good kids,’ he smiled. ‘I just hope they never lose that light..’

Kishin raised his hand. ‘Se..Sensei. How do you know so much about magic places? Even the secret ones?’

Gon added, ‘Yeah! Even the textbook forgot that underwater one!’

‘Even I didn’t know about the one under the sea!’ Sumire said.

Their curious and sparkling eyes were all on him.

‘Ah… well…’ Mutsuki smiled. ‘Let’s just say… that I had a strange childhood.’

‘How strange?’ Meow said.

‘Hmm. Strange enough that my family’s house was built on one of those hotspots,’ Mutsuki said with a small laugh. ‘My grandmother used to say it was like living on the roof of a sleeping dragon. Every once in a while, the ground would vibrate, or the tea would ripple on its own.’

Sumire tilted her head. ‘Wasn’t that scary?’

‘It was,’ he admitted, ‘but also… kind of beautiful. I could feel the magic under my feet every day. It felt like the earth was breathing.’

He turned back to the map and traced the glowing lines with his finger. ‘When I got older, I wanted to see how far those lines reached, so I travelled from shrine to shrine, mountain to mountain. I was looking for music, actually.’

‘Music?’ Kojiro asked.

‘Mm. It was not just an excuse to get space from my family. It was also something I did enjoy. The feeling of being connected to the earth. The rhythm only nature can make.’ Mutsuki explained.

‘You can hear them too, you know. The ley lines. They hum in certain frequencies. It’s like the world’s heartbeat. If you stand still enough, you can almost tell where the energy wants to flow next.’ He continued.

‘So that’s how you knew lots of secret places!’ Honey said with wide eyes.

‘Exactly.’

Mutsuki tightened his ponytails and dusted his skirt as he walked around the classroom.

‘It became a habit. Whenever I sang or performed, I could feel which spots carried power best. Sometimes I didn’t even need a microphone. The earth would carry my voice.’

The class gasped in awe.

Meow squinted suspiciously. ‘So… you were cheating?’

Mutsuki choked. ‘N-no! Not cheating! Just… natural amplification!’

Youchan let out a soft laugh from the corner. ‘That’s one way to put it.’

He threw her a helpless look, then sighed in defeat as the children laughed.

‘Alright, alright,’ he said with a dramatic hand wave, ‘yes, maybe I got a little help from the world. But you know what that means?’

‘What?’ the kids chorused.

‘It means,’ he elaborated, ‘that the world listens back. If you treat it kindly. If you walk where you’re meant to. Magic isn’t about power, it’s about connection.’

The children went quiet while thinking it over.

Meow raised her paw again. ‘Sensei,’ she said seriously. ‘If the earth can hear us… does that mean it knows when I drop my lunch on purpose? Cause I don’t like leftovers?’

‘…Yes,’ Mutsuki said gravely. ‘And it is very disappointed in you.’

The class burst into giggles. Some rolled even over their desks. Youchan also tried not to laugh.

The children eventually quieted down. Their laughter was replaced by the rustle of lunchboxes and the soft clatter of chopsticks. The classroom was full of warmth from the sunlight and children chattering.

Mutsuki watched Gon trying to feed Honey rice balls while Meow sneakily traded pickles for sweets. It was the kind of peace Mutsuki had grown to love in the a past month. Youchan, who’d only been watching from the back, walked over quietly and knelt beside his desk.

‘You know a lot about these places, Sensei. I am surprised,’ she whispered.

Mutsuki was taken aback by the sudden closeness. ‘Umm… I suppose I do.’

‘Have you ever gone back to any of those places?’

He thought about his answer. Youchan took this opportunity to admire him from up close. The light from the window caught in his lashes as he looked toward the map still drawn on the board. Mmm… Pretty…

‘No,’ he said finally. ‘It would be nice if I could. I’ve met some friendly people and yokai alike in my adventures. I sometimes wonder where they are now and what they’re doing.’

‘I’ve never left this shrine,’ she murmured. ‘I wonder what it’s like to see the world and still decide ‘’yes. This is where I want to stay’’.

‘Mmm,’ he nodded slowly. ‘But being too travelled also means you have a lot of “home”. Or no home at all.’

‘I hope your heart finds its home, Sensei.’ Youchan chirped.

He chuckled. ‘And you, shrine maiden who never leaves her mountain.’

They fell into a warm silence. Children chattered, laughed, and swapped pickles for sweets. Mon argued with Gon about who could build a better origami castle, Sumire reminding everyone to wash their hands properly. Everything was at peace.

Mutsuki looked at them and sighed. ‘They make me want to stay,’ he said. ‘And not go searching for a wild source of happiness out there anymore.’

‘I feel that I am building something important here.’ He added. ‘Not just for the kids. Also for myself.’

‘So, stay…’ Youchan replied simply.

‘Ho ~ ho!’ He was startled by the sincerity and softness. Stay for you? ;p Mutsuki could only giggle on the inside.

And you?’ he whispered close to her ears. ‘Will you continue to stay because you want to, or because you must?’

Youchan tried to hide her flustered reaction. He smells so nice…

‘At first, because I must,’ she said. ‘Now… I think that is beginning to change.’

Mutsuki’s heart fluttered. He didn’t say anything more. Their warm smiles said plenty.

Outside, the earth hummed faintly beneath the shrine with a pulse they both could feel. It’s saying “I ship these two”.