Small Acts of Kindness

“Fern…Greenwood…?” The name seemed like a mouthful to Kaori as she repeated it back.

Senpai solemnly nodded, confirming she had said it correctly. They stood silently in the hallway while students in high spirits passed them by. After a moment, his posture relaxed and he cleared his throat.

“But if you happen to run into any trouble, then come find me,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling weakly. “I’ll always help.”

Kaori’s heart skipped a beat.

This was it! Her opening to get his name!

“S-senpai!” Kaori said it much louder than intended. The boy’s pointed ears twitched with alertness.

“...Yes?” He seemed slightly startled. Kaori clenched her fists and swallowed hard.

“Y-your name!” she said, meeting his eyes. “I never got your name!”

Suddenly, he started laughing. Kaori felt her face flush.

Oh no…was that too weird…?

“It’s Kentaro Shiba,” he said through his laughter. “And your name?”

“K-Kaori Tachibana! It’s nice to formally meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Kentaro held out his hand to Kaori and smiled. “Now, shall I walk you to class?”

Kaori thought that if she took his hand then and there, her heart might explode. But as she hesitated, she remembered which class she belonged to, and a wave of shame washed over her.

Sure, the remedial class sounded like a certain rite-of-passage for a lot of students, perhaps nothing to be really ashamed of, but she couldn’t fight the embarrassment welling up inside her.

Kaori pulled her own hand to her side and looked down at her feet.

“It’s fine…I can find my own way back…” she mumbled.

“I get it,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. His hand lingered for a moment before he finally pulled it away. “Well, I’d better head back myself.”

Kentaro walked past Kaori and filtered into the sea of students heading up the stairs. As the hallway emptied out, Kaori realized she still had no way of finding her way back to the classroom and sighed.

As she looked around for some kind of map of the school building that might help her figure out how to get back, she heard slow and heavy footsteps echoing down the now-empty stairwell. Kaori tensed up at the sound, remembering Kentaro’s warning.

“Ah? What’re you doin’ here?” a familiar, lazy voice called out.

Kaori watched Haruto Akaboshi descend the stairs. Whatever fear she felt instantly vanished and was replaced by agitation.

“I got lost cuz of you,” she said, glaring at him.

“Howzzat my problem?” he replied, sticking a finger in his ear as he approached her.

“I had to eat alone because of you,” was what Kaori really wanted to say, but admitting something like that would just be too pitiful.

Instead, she settled on, “You never told me how to get back!”

“Huh?” Haruto said, bending over to bring himself eye level with Kaori. “Is your sense of direction terrible or somethin’? You just go back the way you came, dummy.”

He punctuated “dummy” with a poke to her forehead. Something in Kaori snapped.

“Shut…up…!” She pushed on his shoulders, only intending to nudge him out of her personal space, but Haruto flew backwards down the hallway. He landed on his ass a few meters away.

They were both too stunned to even speak. Kaori looked down at her hands in shock, flipping them over to examine her palms and the back of her hands repeatedly.

What the heck was that?!

“Are…are you okay?!” she called out to Haruto.

“Uh…yeah,” he said, getting up and brushing himself off. “I’ll…show you the way back.”

The two of them walked to the classroom in complete silence, making it there right when the bell marking the end of lunch rang out.

***

Illusions & Incantations was the name of the textbook for this afternoon class. Kaori opened it to take a peek, but couldn’t even begin to process the contents. Almost the entire class was spent on a type of call-and-repeat session for unpronounceable and foreign-sounding words, making it difficult for her to even take notes properly.

Krei Fajron…Krei Akvon…Krei Fulmon…

She focused instead on Doumeki-sensei, watching and listening carefully. The teacher was pacing back and forth at the front of the class. With each phrase, Doumeki-sensei flicked her wrist, opening and closing her palms.

Krei Fajron…

A small flame appeared in her open hand, extinguishing when she clenched her fist.

Krei Akvon…

A large bead of water that appeared held together through surface tension was present when Doumeki-sensei opened her hand once more. She closed her hand around it, squishing it between her fingers.

Krei Fulmon…

As Doumeki-sensei opened her palm, electrical sparks manifested before being immediately snuffed out at the closure of her fist.

Through this demonstration, Kaori was able to deduce the meaning behind the words. “Krei,” being the root word, with the second part corresponding to each element. She muttered the phrases under her breath, trying to commit them to memory, unsure if she was even pronouncing them correctly.

When Doumeki-sensei introduced a new word, “detrui,” to the mix, she began demonstrating these conjuring spells in reverse. What Kaori took away from this was the fact that magic could be manipulated to one’s own will. It was a force that could be controlled.

She let her mind wander. Her thoughts jumped from the incident at her old school to what had transpired between her and Haruto Akaboshi right before class. None of that was within her control…was it?

Kaori’s hand shot up with a pressing question.

Doumeki-sensei stopped her pacing, and a small flame was left dancing in her open palm. Not used to her students actively participating in class, she seemed startled by the suddenly raised hand.“Y-yes, Tachibana-san? Do you have a question?”

Kaori stood up from her seat. Nearly all eyes were on her now.

“Yes, um…” Kaori cleared her throat. She couldn’t be shy now. She needed the answer. “Is it possible to cast a spell without meaning to? Like accidentally?”

The teacher’s hand snapped shut.

“Say, for example, you went to lightly touch someone but instead sent them flying across the room,” Kaori continued. Haruto flinched at her statement, but stayed quiet. Doumeki-sensei crossed her arms and leaned on the podium. “Is that a spell? Even if you didn’t say anything? Even if you didn’t mean to do it?”

Noticing the teacher’s eyes flick back and forth between Haruto and herself, Kaori quickly added, “Hypothetically, of course.”

“Of course…hypothetically,” Doumeki-sensei mumbled while nodding. She straightened up and put her hand over her mouth, a gesture that might look pensive in nature but was really just an attempt at hiding a smirk. “It is possible to cast a spell without speaking. That is the essence of concentration magic after all…”

Kaori sat down again, ready to take notes.

“However…” Doumeki-sensei interjected. Kaori’s pen hovered over the paper while she looked up once more at the teacher. “To answer your question more directly–no. It’s not possible to cast a spell without intent.”

The teacher began snapping her fingers, creating small sparks that would fizzle out immediately. Kaori watched, mesmerized.

“I’m able to do this because I’m manipulating the mana in my body to create the reaction that I want.” Doumeki-sensei continued. She snapped once more, creating enough sparks to form what looked like a very tiny firework. “Anything else is simply losing control.”

Kaori’s heart was racing. She couldn’t tell if it was out of excitement or fear. Mitsuba’s words came to her mind.

“...it was a rapid expulsion of magical energy from your body in response to external stimuli…”

***

The last period of the day was a study hall. Kaori took the opportunity to pore over all of the magic books lent to her by her seat neighbor. Though the information in each book was far from introductory, she was able to piece together the basics.

Mana was a force that accumulated and flowed through the body. The utilization and manipulation of mana was, in essence, how one practiced magic. It seemed that there were a variety of ways to use magic, from drawing magic circles to reciting spells.

With almost childish impatience, she wanted to learn how to harness her own power as soon as possible. If she was able to release enough mana to blow up a classroom, that had to mean she was really strong, right?

It was all still so overwhelming. Kaori put her head down and groaned.

Even if she wanted to try practicing immediately, her concentration was waning. Not only was fatigue and her lack of nourishment setting in, Kaori also kept thinking about Senpai’s warning from earlier. Just what kind of person was this Fern Greenwood? She forgot to ask.

Her head was pounding, and her stomach was growling loudly.

Head still down and eyes closed, Kaori heard something quiet rustling next to her. Lifting her head towards the sound, she was met with a plump onigiri when she opened her eyes. Seeing everyone else in class still settled in place, Kaori’s attention was quickly drawn to her seatmate.

“Your stomach has been growling like crazy all afternoon. It’s distracting,” Haruto said, leaning back in his seat as he lazily scrolled through his phone. “Take it.”

“Are you sure?” Kaori asked, staring at it like a predator eyeing up its prey.

“I ain’t bringin’ it home with me,” he scoffed. Kaori noticed he was sneaking sidelong glances at her while he kept his face toward his phone.

“Thanks,” she said, pulling off the plastic wrap. “It looks good.”

When Kaori sank her teeth into it, the onigiri nearly brought a tear to her eyes. It wasn’t anything particularly special, just filled with canned tuna, but it was something she desperately needed. She savored it like it was the last drop of water in a desert.

It settled both her stomach and her heart.

KAORI’S DIARY ENTRY

Dear Mom and Dad,

My first day at school was tough. I feel like I’m already in over my head. Between these new classes and trying to find my place, I’m having a hard time. It’s times like these that I miss you two so, so much. But something that has kept me grounded today has been the small acts of kindness from my seatmate. It reminds me of the friend I made after you two died.