Survival

Earlier today, a localized earthquake struck the area surrounding Luminaria Park, sending visitors into panic and forcing an immediate evacuation. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the tremor registered at a mild magnitude, with shaking felt primarily within the park and nearby blocks.

Thankfully, no deaths were reported and injuries were minimal…

“We haven’t felt much impact at the park, it felt very far and insignificant. Were you truly underneath the park?” Seishiro asked as he changed his teacher’s bandages.

“The altars are a different realm; it affects the rest of the world only marginally, I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

“I’m not familiar with their newer methods, magic develops the more humans get into it, way faster than I can keep up with.”

“And the people down there were?”

“All Guards.”

Just like the village.

Inori recovered quickly, unlike Shouta who hadn’t woken up yet. Seishiro sat silently facing Akihiko, his head full of questions but not the words to pose them. Luckily the teacher did not need to be asked. For once, he was willing to speak.

He told them about Shouta and the reason he wanted to break the seals. He also reported everything that happened when he was on his own back at the park. While they trusted there is more to his story than he told, his reports had already raised enough puzzles in their minds for the time being. Of which the most important was: How much of Akihiko is himself anymore?

The boy sighed, “I take part of the responsibility as well, it was not the best plan. This is no reason to give up.”

“Shut up, dumbass,” Inori said then looked back at the teacher, “Sensei, what you did was wrong. We only wanted to break the seal, never kill people. But you? You didn’t even think twice.”

She walked up to Seishiro, “You said you casted a spell to save him, didn’t you?”

He nodded.

“Great,” she looked back at Akihiko, then at the rest. “Me and Seishiro will fight that guy Kuba.”

The teacher stood up, his expression a mixture of fear and anger. “I would sooner die than let any of you near him, do you have any idea how dangerous he is? Kuba knows spells that can finish armies; you stand no chance.”

“But he wouldn’t use them,” she answered. “Unlike you, he seems to care about his sanity; I don’t think he’ll go all out unless it’s a life-or-death situation.”

Himawari decided to stay in the apartment to take care of Shouta. Yuusuke suggested he should stay as well, but Akihiko insisted he accompany him; it seemed the teacher needed his “help” to break the seal. It took no time to come up with a new plan: Seishiro and Inori were to neutralise or at least distract Kuba, and the other two would creep into the altar room and break it. Only one important rule to follow—do not kill, but more importantly, do not die.

“So, you were dying all this time,” Himawari sat and started speaking to the unconscious Shouta, “I-I never noticed, not even once. How often were you in pain? How often did you force yourself to hide it?”

She looked up at the empty house around her; it looked darker than it was the night before. She felt lonely, left behind—who wouldn’t. But she did not cry, she couldn’t allow herself to shed a tear knowing what he hid behind his everlasting smile. She could not afford to have him wake up and see her eyes red.

It was their second night in the city of Yokohama,and without the family trip ambience or Shouta’s presence to dilute it, the neigh of the city was overwhelming. Traffic noise which knew no difference between day and night, the spirit of fear that camps following every earthquake—the city was beautiful yet intimidating by nature, even more so for mages readying themselves for a battle that could very well be their first and last. No, it won’t, it can’t be, we will live because we have each other to live for.

The four stood at the steel door which opened to them in invitation just like last time. As Kuba had expected, his prey always comes back. How could it not? The broken pride of having their every beloved spell negated like it were nothing was his poison that dragged every defeated challenger back to his hand—If they managed to escape, that is. This time, the students followed Akihiko with their eyes closed until he pointed out it’s a one-time thing, meaning Inori could open her eyes. It did not take long for Yuusuke to join after Akihiko casted the spell.

They descended the staircase, which was thankfully not infinite this time. Much of the damaged caused by the earlier rampage was fixed, but very few Guards actually came back. Those who did completely ignored the group of intruders.

Then at the end of the hallway, Kuba very conveniently stood as the seal’s last line of defence.

“Hayato, you have come back, I see. I respect it, dying by my hands suits you more than decaying slowly.”

Seeing that the main entrance was blocked by the foe, Akihiko turned back followed by Yuusuke.

The rigid face of the Guard made an expression so shocked, only the sight of it was priceless. Inori stepped forward, “Sorry old man, my master there is so scared of you that he asked us to take you out.”

He looked at her, even more surprised. He almost laughed, but an advantage of having lived for so long was the ability to keep his cool even in such situations. He next eyed the boy standing behind her, recognising him from the earlier battle. Kuba’s expression toughened, “Very well,” he said, “before we begin, I have a question for the boy there.”

“Me?” Seishiro said rather stupidly, as no other boy was there.

“I find it hard to believe that Hayato taught you any magic, did you learn on your own?”

Instead of telling his enemy that he used magic for the first time only a week before, Seishiro said nothing. Inori asked if he could give her something to fight with, “A magic sword would be fantastic, but a stick will do.”

To which he apologised, “I don’t know how to use magic yet.”

The girl looked at him, confused and worried, “… What?”

“I only ever used it twice, it seems like some sort of connection is needed.”

She kept staring at him, her confusion turning into anger, “You should’ve said that before I challenged this guy, how the hell are we supposed to beat him now?”

“You’re the one who assumed things and put us in this situation, don’t blame it all on me.”

“Forget it, I’ll beat your ass once we’re out of here,” she faced Kuba, “You better give me the prettiest, most sharp and powerful magical sword once this connection of yours is established.”

Inori accelerated towards the opponent. In losing matchups, it is important to focus on the things you can do best. We lose in magic, fistfights and experience, we don’t in stamina and speed… hopefully.

In a Kuba-like fashion, the Guard did not take a long breath preparing to cast a billion spells—his style was all about efficiency. He used his sense to observe attacks, body to avoid them and spells only to undo them. Inori and Seishiro could not have found a worse matchup.

The closer Inori got to him, the less openings she saw; every idea of an attack she hoped to land got decimated as the distance between them shrank. His defences were simply airtight.

“How am I supposed to gain time, he hasn’t even moved yet… yet… This man is a wall.”