Fresh Air

The clock ticked away in the wall just above their futon. The futon itself was untouched and had remained in the same state as it was nine hours ago when Rin Tamura pushed it there. The room was now a mess again. Spare parts of tubing, tape, ropes, metal plates and ribbons sprinkle the counter tops, tables, and floors of the room. At the table, Huko was hunched over, gluing the final touches of tubing into a metallic ring he would put his wrist in. Across from him, sleeping, was Kenta. He had collapsed at sunrise despite his best attempts to stay awake.

"One hour and forty minutes," Huko said to himself, trying to stay awake.

The contraption was pretty much done by the time he had glued that tubing. All that was left to do was to let the glue dry. Once the tubing was set, Huko grabbed the contraption, really it was more of a rigging that attached itself to his body, and for the first time in eight hours, he stood up. He carefully laid the contraption on the floor, making doubly sure to not disturb the drying glue. He stood over his creation and looked on with satisfaction. This thing was going to be the key to their future. A rig that can make it look like you're doing fire magic. It doesn't matter that he can't do any other magic, he only needed to show that he can do any magic at all to be placed in a somewhat decent school. It would be a perfect plan really. He had to be good enough to be placed in a good school, but not too good to be assigned into one of the top schools. That would be bad, very bad. He had read in a magazine he had picked up from the trash the first night they came to the city that being enrolled in those top schools meant constant monitoring and high expectations on your magical skills. You were expected to develop your skills fast and master them in only a few years.

“No thank you,” he thought to himself. Huko grabbed the magazine from the futon. He continued reading where he had left a page marker. The magazine itself was all about the education system here in the capital. When he couldn’t fall asleep that first night, Huko went out to the hallway and under the moonlight, began to read. It was that magazine that taught him about the committee system, and had he not left that magazine open at the table, Kenta would have never known about it.

He opened the curtains slightly and slid open the glass doors. The bright lights stung his eyes. He had spent almost ten hours in the dark, this was expected. Gradually, he moved on from looking at the ground, to the railings, and finally once his eyes had adjusted enough, the city. It was still as beautiful as the day he first saw it. The city center itself was in the distance, yet its stack of glass covered office buildings still looks intimidating all the way from here. He could also see the train tracks that intertwined between the buildings and the shadowed valley in between those buildings. From the center, projecting itself outwards was an assortment of low office buildings and apartments. People, small and distant, were going about their morning routine. Some stretched in their rooms, some were hanging their laundry, others were sleeping at their desks in the offices, some were walking the streets below past the colorful market stalls that were selling fruits, strange looking potions, meats, old yellowed scrolls, dusty tomes, and charms.

Huko took a deep breath in. The air was still fresh. He picked up scents of grilled meats, no doubt from the markets below. Leaning on the railing, he fingered through to the last page he read. It was placed halfway at an article about how the committee system worked. He began to read it. "There will be three judges at each booth," the article started. "The students will be given ten minutes to display their skills which could include anything, as long as it is non-damaging and non-lethal. After the display, candidates are asked to wait as the judges evaluate them. After they are done, students will be called on one by one and assigned to a school that best caters to their skills.” A cool wind blows through, ruffling the pages of the magazine. Huko grabbed hold of the page and turned it. The article continued on the next page. “The lowest ranked schools in the city cater to those who only have partial or rudimentary control of magic. Those assigned to medium tier schools are those who show an average talent in handling magic or depending on the ranking of that school, above average skills in magic. Students placed here might possess the skills to do the more advanced spells, but not without careful preparation and a scroll or tome to aid them.” The wind chimes of the room next door began to twinkle in the breeze. Huko glances inside the room and passes a narrow slit in the curtains. His brother is still fast asleep and drooling on the table. He rolled his eyes and continued. “Finally, we have the highest tier. These are reserved for students showing exceptional skills in the magical arts. Students here will be given the best guidance when it comes to their magic development, and their growth will be monitored closely. Students classified for these schools are often fought over and are active targets for the top schools to increase their prestige and ranking.”

Huko closed the magazine.

"Medium tier," he said, "that's where I want to be."

He opened the magazine again, trying to find more information on what it takes for him to be enrolled in the medium tier schools. As he flipped through the pages, he felt somebody watching him. He tried to ignore it, he was too busy reading, but it persisted. Soon, the hair on the back of his neck started screaming danger. He closed his magazine, and looked to his right to where he could feel the gaze coming from. Two balconies away, a girl about his age was watching him intently. She was wearing a cream jacket and her long dark hair was covering most of her face. Through it, two gleaming white eyes were visible and staring at him. The girl did not move. She let the breeze blow her hair back, and she didn’t react, she just stared. Huko quickly looked away. Her gaze was too strong. He closed the magazine and shuffled slowly to the sliding doors. Once the handle was in reach, he slid the doors open, and lunged in.

The curtains, which were still closed when he jumped in, swung open, letting the full force of the sun light up the room. Huko hid on the wall next to the sliding doors. He tried to settle himself. The hair still stood up on the back of his neck, and that tingling feeling that warned him of danger was still there. Huko inched his head over the wall and into the glass doors to see if the girl was still there. She was, and she was still looking at him. He retreated fast, and closed the curtains shut.

"Is it morning already?" Kenta asked half asleep, awoken by the sound sunlight.

Kenta opened his eyes and saw his brother tensed, hiding from something.

"What are you doing?" He asked while rubbing his eyes.

"There’s a girl outside,” Huko said in a panic

Kenta's head sunk back into the table.

"Is she pretty?” Kenta said standing up and plopping himself down on the futon.

“She’s staring at me.”

“She wants you. Ask her out.”

“Kenta, I’m serious.”

His brother only replied with a snore, no help was coming from him. Useless as ever, he said to himself. He would have to solve this himself. Huko took a deep breath, and peered over the doors again.

She was gone.

He stuck his head out the sliding doors and scanned left to right, making sure nobody else was there.

“Just a weird neighbour,” he reminded himself over and over again as he went inside.

Once he had cooled down, he went over the contraption he had made and tested the adhesives. It had all dried and was holding everything firmly. He took off his shirt and pants and began clamping the metal rings on his arms, chest, and legs. He had not attached the gas canisters yet. He dug in his bag for something with long sleeves and put it on. Then, he went to the mirror in the bathroom that had no doors. The contraption was practically invisible under his clothes. He tested flicking the lighter on his wrist and it produced a little flame.

He nodded to his reflection, and his reflection nodded to him.

“This is going to work.”

Huko looked at the clock over his sleeping brother.

"One hour and fifteen minutes," he said.