Impasse

Noa hadn't really realized that Miyori was in the room when he'd made the deal he had—not until he was walking out of the hospital and Miyori dashed out the door after him. 

"I told everyone we were going back," she said. "Dad said to update everyone at the house" 

"Cool." Noa didn't look at her, but gestured to his shoulder. After a moment, he felt her settle there. "You didn't tell them about—that conversation, right?" 

"No." The word was stiff. Disapproving, maybe. 

Noa's leg still felt a little odd, like a neck slept on wrong. He walked through it. "It's this way, right? I wasn't really paying attention."

"Yes, that's right. And then a left up ahead, I think." 

"Thanks."

They walked in silence for a moment. 

"Noa-kun…" Miyori said after a while. 

"Yes?" 

"Thank you." 

The words weren't happy, but they did sound sincere. 

"I just want to help," Noa said quietly. 

"You are. You have. But…" She stood, fluttering till she was in his line of sight. Flying backwards like that seemed like it should be difficult, but she did it with ease. "But…I don't understand how you did it. Or how you can do what you're doing now." 

Noa shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. He'd washed them in the hospital bathroom before he'd left, and they were cold from all the scrubbing he'd done to get the drying blood off. 

"I get the blood magic," Miyori said, coming closer and saying the words very quietly. "I mean, I don't, but it worked, so…but…paying for...." 

Noa smiled, though he thought it came out more like a grimace. "It's fine, Miyori-san. It's not really my money, anyway." 

Miyori stopped short then, and Noa put his head down and kept walking. 

She caught up a moment later. "I…I'm sorry for asking when you're just trying to help. But are you in some kind of trouble, Noa-kun?" 

Noa quickened his pace, head still down. "If you don't know, you can't be blamed if everything goes wrong," he said. "That's why I didn't want Daisuke-san and Yuko-san hearing about this, either." 

"But if we don't know what's going on, we can't really help you either. Can we?" 

"You're already helping me," Noa said. "Which way?" 

Miyori took the lead. "We could help you more," she said helplessly. "Like you're helping us." 

"What you're doing is already enough." More than I deserve, Noa didn't add.

He didn't like thinking about this, much less talking about it. He hadn't told any lies, but that didn't make him feel like any less of a liar. 

The Matsuda house was shut and the windows off when they returned. Miyori flew in through the upstairs window and unlocked the front door, and Noa walked in to retrieve his bag. "We're going to have our work cut out for us once Daisuke-san recovers," he said. His eyes landed on the bloodstain on the table. "We should clean that up before it sets. Is there a sink upstairs?" 

"Yes, but I'm not sure it's in one piece," Miyori said. "There's a spigot in the back yard, though. I'll get a towel." 

They picked through the debris on the ground floor to reach the back of the house. Noa's magic circle from the first day sat partially disassembled in the backyard, having been cannibalized for parts of other projects. 

"It's around the corner, I think," Miyori said, leading the way. She disappeared around the corner. "Watch out for the—Oh." 

"What is it?" Noa rounded the corner himself, just as Miyori raised a hand and conjured a ball of light in midair. He threw a hand up to shade his eyes. 

"Sorry," Miyori said, sounding distracted. "It's just—look at this." 

Above and to the side of the water spigot was an iridescent drawing—scrawled on like graffiti. An odd, sinuous shape that turned back on itself, slowly expanding upwards. 

Noa stared. He recognized that symbol. "Don't touch it," he warned, as Miyori leaned closer. 

She looked back at him. "Why?" 

"It was on the library—that day its spells weren't working right."

Noa tapped the building, a careful few inches away from the design. "There must be spellwork underneath this." 

"I'm…not sure? Probably." 

Noa wasn't about to take down the siding to check—the Matsudas were going to have enough work to do already—but for now, he shrugged his shoulders and turned the handle of the water spigot. 

The water stuttered a bit, but came flowing out regardless. Noa wetted the rag, wrung it out slightly, and then said, "Stand back."

Miyori did so, and he experimentally swiped the rag over the symbol. 

No good—it didn't budge. 

"I wish I knew how to get rid of it," he said. "I bet this is what caused all that damage." 

Miyori stared at it. "But…how?" 

"I don't know." 

Magic circles didn't work like this, after all—or at least, they weren't supposed to. They were meant to be carefully contained, the target and effect carefully inscribed so the magic didn't lose focus…or worse, affect something it was never intended to. 

But that was just how magic was supposed to work. And the gap between supposed to and the full range of possibilities was one that Noa had already exploited once tonight. He doubted he was the only one who could do things like that. 

"We should leave it for now," he said. "Maybe your aunt can make a report to somebody in the morning. Get it looked at." 

"Maybe," Miyori said. "But yes. Let's go back inside." 

They returned and Noa cleaned off the table, heaving his bag over his shoulder. It had avoided the worst of the blood stains, fortunately, though Noa had to scrub away at part of the strap before hanging the dirty rag up out of the way.

"I need to go home and tell everyone what's happened," Miyori said. "Are you coming, or…?" 

"No, I'm heading back to the hospital," Noa said. "I want to pay that doctor before she changes her mind." 

"…Okay. Be careful."

Noa couldn't have said why she'd added a warning, but somehow he understood the sentiment. "You too."