Of unknown incantations

“So, knowing all this, what do you think about it?”

Nagai leant against the counter and brought a hand to his chin, pensive. “Controlling and shaping matter isn’t the hardest thing to do when you’re an elemental mage. We may as well say that it’s the very basic of magic.” As a demonstration, he extended a hand toward an ornate pot containing dead and dried-up flowers, and a trickle of water raised in the air from inside it: Nagai then twirled his fingers in a way that was equal parts elegant and fluid, moulding the liquid rivulet into various forms with ease before letting it return into the vase.

The kid squealed, delighted. “That was so cool!”

Nagai’s eyes widened a fraction, but then he smiled. It was one of the rare times he did that. “Thank you, I’ve had a lot of practice. However…” He frowned, getting pensive again. “Not even I can create something from water and control it when I’m not watching it. That’s something far above my level.”

Reisen felt something akin to a chill go down her spine. She gripped her arms, trying to camouflage her uneasiness by crossing them over her chest. “… You’re the most skilled water wizard I know. One of the best in the prefecture, too.”

“Wait, this means…”

“Either an unknown mage was looking inside the shop and controlling the serpent, or they managed to somehow dictate its movements from somewhere else. In any case, it’s nothing good.”

Reisen’s thoughts from the night before returned with doubled force. She groaned, lifting her gaze to the ceiling and bemoaning her situation. Why did she have to deal with that when her parents weren’t even there? She wasn’t cut out for dealing with magical problems. “Great, just. Great.”

“Have you already put up a barrier?”

At that, the kid seemed to come back to life. “I did!” they exclaimed, raising their hand as if they were at school.

Nagai nodded approvingly. “Good. I’ll look more into it anyway, I’ll call you if something new comes up.”

“Thank you.” At that, Reisen relaxed a bit.

“Your number is always the same?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, mine and the one of the landline at the shop.”

The vampire huffed. “One can never be too sure, things change so fast nowadays.”

They were on the point of saying goodbye, but the kid interrupted them, all focus and nervous energy. “Ah, wait, another thing before we go!”

“What is it?”

“Mister Nagai-”

The latter coughed in an undignified manner, putting up a hand in the universal sign to say “stop”. “Please drop the ‘Mister’, it makes me seem old.”

“You are old, Nagai” commented Reisen, deadpan.

“Way to kick a man while he’s down, Hagane” he grumbled, hiding his face in his hands. “I don’t wish to remember my condition.”

“You had to be a dramatic actor, not a shop owner. Have you ever thought about a career change?”

“No, but maybe I will in a few decades.”

The kid was looking puzzled at them, but then they evidently decided to ignore their antics and resume their question. “… So, uh, Mist- ah, Nagai, have you by chance ever heard of people losing their ability to use magic?”

The vampire frowned. “I can’t say I have. Why, did you see it happen?”

They nodded, their expression suddenly more sombre, clenching their fists. “First in my town, and then in other places too: some people became unable to use even the simplest spells, losing interest in magic at the same time, but I don’t know why.”

“Neither do I, to be honest. People shouldn’t be able to lose their magic, even if they wanted to.”

“It happened, though!”

Nagai put his palms up. “I’m not saying it didn’t, just that it shouldn’t be possible. Then again, if people are renouncing magic it’s one thing, but if something else is happening…” His gaze wandered to the side, the thoughts swimming behind it as dark as night, but then he shook his head. “I’ll look into it, even though I don’t know what I can find.”

“Thank you, Nagai.”

The latter smiled again. “Thank me when I’ll actually help, kid.”

“It’s Tsuchifuji!” they replied, without the irritation that underlined their words when it was Reisen calling them like that. Favouritism, they told her. “My name is Tsuchifuji Yukiya!”

Nagai nodded. “It was a pleasure to meet you, feel free to return whenever you want.”

“Really? Can I come back to talk about magic?”

“Of course. There aren’t as many mages as in the past, after all, so I don’t do that often anymore.”

The kid’s whole demeanour brightened. It was strange that Nagai didn’t get a sunburn just from that. “Okay then, I can’t wait!”

The vampire looked smug. “See, Hagane, it’s not true that I’m bad with people.”

“Tell that to all the customers you managed to scare in the past” she replied, putting her hands on her hips. Ultimately, however, she was glad those two could be friends and bond over magic. Maybe her problems would’ve disappeared too.

“Hey, that’s a low blow!”

Reisen laughed. “Anyway, see you around. Get out a bit more, okay? Otherwise granny Miyako and the others will get worried for you.”

Nagai made a face. “Maybe I’ll do, when it won’t be so sunny anymore.”

“Good.” She smiled and made a two-finger salute before going to the door. “See you then.”

“See you next time, Mister Nagai!” the kid exclaimed, waving happily.

“I told you, it’s just Nagai” he said, but they both had already exited the shop.

*

“That was so cool! I should’ve gone there as soon as I arrived in this town.”

“True, now that I think about it I should’ve redirected you to Nagai’s shop as soon as you started talking about magic so fervently.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“In this period Nagai basically never leaves his house, but in general he very rarely talks about wizardry.” She shrugged. “I guess I just forgot.”

“You forgot…?” The kid suddenly stopped, looking at her with a terrified expression. “Miss Hagane, don’t tell me you’re losing your magic too!”

A few startled people turned to them and she hurried to placate the kid. “Hey, no, I’m not losing my magic, I simply don’t spend much time here anymore, it happens-”

“Do a spell!” they exclaimed, interrupting her, their gaze more serious than ever before.

“I really don’t think this is the right time to-”

“Do it!” they insisted stubbornly. “It doesn’t have to be something grandiose, even a simple one will suffice, just- if you’re not losing your magic, do a spell now!”

“Okay, okay, damn…” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and then looking around. “Let’s see…” What could she have used? She wasn’t good with magic, so she needed some sort of material as a conductor for it, but she barely knew how to control most of the elements… She was wracking her brain trying to find something easy to do, when she remembered the most obvious thing. “Ah, of course!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. Under the kid’s expectant gaze, she retrieved her keys from her skirt pocket and put them on her open palm: she would’ve never done magic on the keys themselves – with her abysmal skills, she would’ve just risked ruining them forever –, but among them there was a crooked keychain that had been the object of a few of her experiments before, so it was simply perfect. She focused on it, willing the metal to change form, and it did, albeit painstakingly slowly, until it assumed the form of a small sword – or, well, a sword that had been through countless battles and barely survived, more like, but a sword nonetheless –. Not that it mattered what it was, of course. “See? I didn’t lose my magic, you of little faith!”

The kid was staring at the keychain. “That’s true…” He smiled, looking at her again. “You weren’t joking when you said that you don’t use magic much.”

Her eyebrow ticked. “You little-” Before she could grab them by the scruff of their neck and shake them, however, they diverted her attention.

“Anyway!” They looked at her more seriously. “I’m sorry for… kinda jumping at shadows, I’m just… on hedge, I think.”

Reisen sighed, putting her keys back in her pocket. “It’s… fine. Let’s just get back now.”

“Okay.”

They resumed their walk, and were near the magic shop when she felt a raindrop fall exactly between her eye and the lens of her glasses. She lifted her gaze to the sky and saw that the sun and azure sky were quickly getting covered by grey clouds. “Uh, good thing that we’re going home.” More and more raindrops started falling lightly and she glanced at the kid. “Your… uh… The place you’re staying at isn’t far from here, is it? If you need an umbrella I can-”

She’d not even finished her sentence, however, that the cheeky little troublemaker smiled proudly and lifted a finger, making the raindrops curve enough not to touch their figure. “Thank you, Miss Hagane, but I believe I don’t need it.”

Reisen’s shoulders slumped. “Right. Of course. How could I not think about it, silly me.”

“I told you, magic is wonder-” Their whole being was so bright with joy that when they abruptly stopped in the middle of their lauds to magic and their gaze went through all the stages between absent and worried and downright terrified, it felt like the day had suddenly turned to night.

“Kid?” she called, worried, but they seemed caught in a haze. “Tsuchifuji?” she tried, but they didn’t answer; at that point she decided to shake their shoulder, and that finally got a response in the form of a startled return to reality. “Hey, you with me? What happened?”

Their eyes found hers, but they still seemed far, far away. “Didn’t you feel that?”

She frowned, even more concerned, not letting go just yet. “Feel what?”

“Something- something’s getting closer, and I-” They shook their head, looking more and more frantic. “Don’t you feel it?”

“I don’t feel anything, kid, are you sure that-”

“I am!” they shouted, getting free from her hold with a forceful shrug. They clenched their fists, determined. For what, though, she didn’t know. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll just check it alone!”

“No, wait a second-” she tried, but they had already started running who knows where.

She stared dumbfounded at their quickly-retreating figure for a few seconds, her hand suspended in the air as if it could stop them, but then she clenched her teeth and, against her best judgement, began to follow them.

How was that her life? Why did she have to find herself in that situation? A few more metres, just a few more damn metres and she could’ve been home, safe and dry in the warmth of her parents’ house, instead she was running under the rain without an umbrella or a trench coat, just because some strange kid had decided to be a problem. But that was it, wasn’t it? They were a kid and, although they weren’t her responsibility, per se, she was still way older than them. If the… thing they were talking about didn’t exist she would’ve just read the riot act to them, but if it was real she couldn’t simply let them go alone: after all, if they got hurt because she wasn’t there she would’ve never forgiven herself.

And so she ran, despite herself, despite the growing intensity of the rain, her sneakers making squeaky sounds and creating little splashes of water with every step she took.

She ran in the emptying streets at a decent speed, high but not enough to risk slipping and ending up sprawled on the road, but she didn’t quite manage to catch up to the kid, as though the earth itself was moulding under their feet and accommodating to their steps in order to make them go faster, so she actually reached them only when they stopped well outside of town.

Reisen panted a bit, silently thanking every single sports course she’d ever taken in her life, and got closer to the kid. “Did you really have to start sprinting like that without an explanation?” she asked, remembering she should’ve been at least a bit annoyed.

The kid had the gall to seem surprised. Did they really think she would’ve let them go just like that? Sure, she bemoaned the simple customer-employee relationship they could’ve had – which, admittedly, threw itself out of the window somewhere around the first week of their acquaintance, or maybe even the first day –, but still. They were on the point of saying something in response, but a horrifying and deafening screech, similar to multiple jagged rocks scratching discordantly on a piece of metal, made itself heard, catching all of their attention.

In front of them there was a beast, or at least something with the vague form of a beast, because that couldn’t have been an actual animal: it had four paws and the appearance of a wolf, but it wasn’t a living, intelligent creature, for it was made of wood, rocks and metal, all mashed together to create something that shouldn’t have otherwise existed. It was growling, each new sound more unnatural than the last, and it was staring at the both of them with the glowing stones it possessed in the place of eyes.

“An elemental chimaera…?! But why?” the kid murmured, taking a step back, their gaze filled with panic.

Reisen wanted to kick herself for letting them even leave town, but she was glad that at least they weren’t alone. Not that she knew what she could’ve done against a beast with her bare hands, but she guessed that it was the spirit of things that counted. “I don’t think it’s the right time to ponder the whys and the hows” she said, managing to be surprisingly calm despite the situation. “Let’s get away from here, kid.”

“But-”

Suddenly, however, they were out of time.

“Careful!”

The creature chose that moment to lose its patience, and jumped at them.