Of renewed decisiveness

Reisen was sitting cross-legged on the ground outside the gymnasium, but the sounds of the hustle and bustle around her were muffled and tuned out, for her mind was focused solely on the two halves of her beloved épée lying uselessly in her hands. Her tears had long since dried up and were sticky on her face, but she felt… hollowed out, devoid of all energies.

Some part of her felt stupid, to be honest, because at the end of the day Corinne was just a weapon, and it could happen that a fencing sword broke, and she still had Juniper, that was there expressly for that reason, but another part of her knew that was the last, emotional drop in a vase whose brewing contents hadn’t already overflowed just due to surface tension.

After some time, Yukiya got closer and silently joined her on the ground, sitting right next to her and hugging their legs to their chest. They didn’t speak for a while, the silence between them filled by the firefighters and civil servants going back and forth through the gymnasium door, but then the kid broke the stillness. “… how are you feeling, Reisen?” they inquired in a soft, soft voice.

“I’m fine” she answered listlessly, without believing it one bit. “The medic patched me up, remember?” It was a good thing that there had been one among the public, so that Yukiya hadn’t had to use their healing magic and exhaust themselves again. The bandages itched a bit from under the travel clothes she wore again, but it was just a minor inconvenience.

“That wasn’t what I asked, though.”

Reisen smiled without really meaning to, but it was a brief, pitiful thing, more of a displacement of air than anything else, that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Bright kid.”

They huffed. “I’m serious, Reisen.”

She let go of the obvious joke. It wasn’t the time, and she didn’t even feel like it. “I’m just… tired” she said instead, shaking her head, exhaling a sigh. “I’ll bounce back.” She always did, anyway.

Yukiya stayed silent for a few seconds, as though they didn’t know how to reply, but then they slowly put their head on her shoulder and hugged her sideways. “… I’m sorry for your sword” they murmured. “And for your tournament. I know how much you cared for them.”

“I still have Juniper.” She put her cheek on their head. “And there will be other competitions.”

“Then I hope I’ll be there to cheer on you, you were very cool today.”

At those words, her smile became a touch truer. “I’m glad you think that. I hope you’ll be there too.” She was surprised to realise that she actually meant it.

They hugged her tighter in response, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to let go of the lingering sadness. They stayed like that for another small while, until the shadow projected by Nagai’s presence loomed over them.

Reisen lifted her head and looked at him, who seemed somehow even paler than usual. Granted, they were under the afternoon sun, but that couldn't be normal. “Nagai, are you… alright?” He had fainted after Oshibi disappeared, at the sight of the blood on Reisen’s clothes, but as soon as he’d regained consciousness he had helped the firefighters and civil servants with their work, giving them a rundown of what had happened, using his magic to repair some of the damages and generally behaving like the responsible adult he actually was. Reisen was grateful to the vampire for that and for being there, even though none of them, Nagai in primis, was happy he’d been right in his previous worry about the tournament.

He waved a hand in the air as if that meant something, being very careful not to leave the safety of his sun umbrella. “I simply can’t anymore with all this light, but there’s no need to worry about my suffering, I’m fine” he answered, with the tone of someone who was dead inside. “What about you, Reisen?”

“I’m… better” she said, smiling a little. “Did you discover something?”

Nagai shrugged helplessly. “That girl you fought against was Oshibi Mutsumi, according to the list of participants in the tournament, and we can be pretty sure about that, at least, since she told us her name herself, but…”

“But?” asked Yukiya, who had straightened up too, curious about the possible information.

Nagai shook his head. “But all other data about her seems to have been wiped out. On paper, she doesn’t exist.”

Reisen frowned. The picture that was being painted was becoming darker and darker with each new brushstroke, if they proceeded with the assumption that everything was connected, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“And all this was done with magic?” the kid questioned.

“Probably not, but Oshibi’s own abilities could’ve helped.” Before one of them could ask, he added: “She’s probably a kitsune, or part-kitsune. Simple human beings can’t use spells that don’t have anything to do with the five elements, after all, nor can they do magic from nothing.”

“Oh, that’s so cool-” Yukiya started automatically, their eyes sparkling, but then the realisation sunk in and they deflated, bummed out. “… Or, well, it would be, if she didn’t hurt and try to kill Reisen.”

Reisen closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath. “Great, just. Great.” This was definitely beyond her pay grade.

“The good side is that the Osakan prefecture will try and contact the Mages Association too.”

She’d never thought that she would’ve been there to witness the vampire, of all people, doing his best to lift the spirits, but they lived in a world of magic and miracles, after all. “Let’s hope they’ll be luckier than us” she said with a half-smile. “Do you have any more good news to give us?”

“Yes, actually.”

The kid perked up at that.

“Miss Kikuchi said she can accompany us to the train station with her car.”

*

That evening, Reisen took the house keys from the her pocket, noticing again how the once battered keychain seemed a mini-sword out of the forge, after granny Miyako and Nagai had transformed it back into a pendant just a few days prior. It was the only thing that, somehow, had come out of the whole ordeal with the chimaera better than how it had entered it, and she didn’t know what to think about that.

Her musings aside, she went in with the kid in tow and put down the sack with her fencing equipment as soon as she reached the living room, exhaling a relieved breath and relaxing her muscles: healing magic was wonderful and all, there was no reason to deny it, but it didn’t take away the tiredness – to be fair, Yukiya and even Nagai had volunteered to carry the sack for her, but she had refused; her épées were there, after all –. She dreamed of crashing face-first on her futon and sleeping for ten hours straight, especially after the day she’d had and the three to four more hours of travel they’d had to go through in order to return home, but it was never that easy.

She was already motioning for the kitchen, but Yukiya stopped her before she could take more than a few steps.

“Reisen” they called, grabbing her forearm. “Reisen, please sit down.”

Reisen frowned. “What?”

The kid completely ignored her and determinedly dragged her to the low table – or, rather, Reisen let them, because she highly doubted they could drag her anywhere if she planted her feet –: once there, they made her sit on one of the cushions and put their hands on their hips. “I’ll make some tea” they announced, with the same tone of a magical knight preparing to slay the big bad dragon of the moment.

Reisen watched with something akin to amused surprise how Yukiya got closer to the kitchen part of the room and looked around, hesitating. Reisen was reminded that, with the fact that they were still technically a guest – and she was the adult between them –, she hadn’t let them do much in the house, even though they had tried to help whenever they could.

She began to get up, but they whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at her. “You stay there!”

Reisen held her palms up in front of her in the universal show of innocence and sat back down with a small smile, while the kid returned to glare at the furniture as if that could convince it to spontaneously spit out everything that was needed. Sadly, even magic had its limits.

“The teapot and mugs are in the cupboard there” she said, indicating the exact spot, her head propped on her free hand. “While the different teas are in those boxes on the shelf.”

“… thank you.” They pouted a bit, but found everything and started actually making tea.

After fifteen minutes or so, they were both seated at the low table, two steaming mugs in their hands and some biscuits on the side.

Reisen’s mind began to wander while she was mixing the sugar, so she didn’t notice that Yukiya was ruminating on something. “… Reisen” they called after a bit, drawing her attention. Their fingers were clenched around their cup, and they were frowning. “Maybe it should be better… Yes, it should be better if you took it easy in the next few days.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I am taking it easy, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

They made such an unimpressed face that she didn’t know if she wanted to be proud or not. Maybe she’d influenced them too much already. “You got hurt again and now we have the confirmation that someone’s after you, specifically. Rest for once, and let me help.” Now they just sounded like her mother.

“Yukiya…”

“I’m worried, Reisen.” They pursed their lips. “Please.”

She looked at her tea, as if it could actually contain answers to her questions. The kid was right, and the worse was that, despite all of her years of training, her sole fighting abilities were useless in the face of someone that was also proficient in the use of magic. She had to do like in the gymnasium, when she had managed to change the course of Oshibi’s attack, learn how to do that consciously, and there was only one way to achieve that, even though in any other occasion it wouldn’t have been her first choice. She shifted her gaze, looking Yukiya in the eye, and said, with renewed decisiveness: “Yukiya. You wanted to help, right?” When they nodded confusedly, she smiled. “Then teach me some spells.”