Chapter 31

“I don’t know how to explain it.” I said in an exasperated sigh.

I had been trying to get through to the three of them that I had no idea where that power came from. I started to explain that I nearly died, to which Marie glared at me like she was trying to kill me with just her vision, but I then lost all memory after that.

“I just remember... Kyosuke attacking me, losing consciousness, then coming back and just knowing to use this power.”

“You guys should have seen it; he was like a big red dragon! Oh! He also can grab manifestations and copy them.” Tsuki said while poking the still-bound Yukino with a stick.

Ichiro and Marie turned their heads to Tsuki before coming back to me; their faces filled with astonishment and confusion. They said nothing but just stared at me like children waiting for a magician to pull the rabbit out of his hat. I swallowed down my saliva before holding out my hand, and an orange light swirled in it before forming into the long bladed naginata that I had copied from Yukino. Marie’s eyes widened in surprise, but Ichiro had a much more obtuse reaction. His face went pale, and his mouth started to stutter as if he was trying to find the words to say.

“Ichiro, you alright there?” I asked him.

“N-no I don’t think I am...” He said as he was pointing at the naginata in my hand. He then kept looking back and forth from me and Yukino as if trying to calculate how this happened in his head. “This... this isn’t supposed to be possible. Unless...” He then trailed off and bit his thumb.

“Ichiro, what do you know about this?” Marie said, giving him a suspicious look.

Ichiro quickly glanced over at her before moving his eyes back on me. “Nothing. Not concrete, anyway. I’ve only just read about it. About the potential. More of a theory. Nothing real. At least I thought it was not real. It’s more-”

“Ichiro, stop it, calm down, speak fully. What are you talking about?” I spoke out, annoyed at his ramblings.

“Are you an Elder?” He said, biting his thumb hard enough to cause blood to spill.

“What? I’m not part of the Secular. You know that.”

“Are you sure?”

My eyes narrowed at the accusation. But before I could say anything, Marie’s hand gripped Ichiro’s throat, and she forced him into an upright posture. I could see the veins throbbing in Marie’s head as her eyes were bloodshot with rage. Ichiro, despite being almost lifted off the ground by the woman, continued to just stare at me. He coughed and sputtered as Marie’s grip tightened, but he didn’t flinch or react with panic.

“Marie, put him down.” Marie looked over her shoulder at me with a murderous gaze, before letting go of Ichiro and putting her hand on her sidearm as she stepped aside. “Why did you ask me that, Ichiro?”

Ichiro stared at me, his eyes darting over to Marie before going back to me. He raised his hand to the side of his face, as if trying to block his voice from reaching Marie. He then leaned in close and spoke in a hushed tone.

“I’ve only ever heard that Elders are able to replicate manifestations, as well as have different ones. So, I'm assuming.”

“Couldn’t it just be that my magical talent is now equal to that of an Elder?”

He stared at me and then bit his thumb again.

“Perhaps. Perhaps.” He then stopped biting his thumb and stared deep into my eyes. His dull eyes were like an empty void as he went over a thousand different thoughts. He then stood up properly. “Can I have some of your blood?”

Marie full on tackled Ichiro to the ground and started to strangle him again. I just rolled my eyes and sighed. Ichiro, meanwhile, just squeaked out asking if that was a yes or a no.

***

Marie was now crouching next to Tsuki and the two of them were poking Yukino with sticks. Marie every so often would look over her shoulder at Ichiro and I, but Tsuki would forcibly turn her head back. I was sitting at the far end of the alley way next to Ichiro, who was now speaking much more directly and calmly.

“I think if I can analyze your blood, I can understand the change that happened. And I can compare it to your blood from before.” Ichiro said, playing with his fingers.

“I’m not going to question how you got my blood before.”

“Tsuki helped me.”

“I didn’t want to know.” I shook my head. “Wait, does that mean you have my blood on you now? You didn’t take anything with you when you and Marie left the safehouse.”

“Oh, right, I never showed you guys.” Ichiro said, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a piece of paper; the same kind he wrote all his spells he created on. On it was calligraphic writing, not dissimilar to a spell, but had different characters than usual. Then, he put his hand on it and pulled out a vial with a red liquid in it. I widened my eyes in surprise and my mouth gaped.

“I thought you said you had no magical talent?” I exclaimed.

“I don’t.”

I said nothing and just stared at him through lidded eyes.

“It’s a spell I made. I needed a real mage to provide the mana for it, but it acts as a sort of ‘void storage.’ I can put almost anything in here. To take it out, I just have to picture something that I put in there before.”

“How long have you had this with you?”

“I always had it. Did you think I was wearing the same clothes this entire time?”

“...yea. That’s why I brought you to get new clothes.”

“I thought you were just trying to get the four of us to bond. It seemed to have worked for Tsuki and Marie.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Anyway, so you have a bunch of stuff in there?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s so hard to not punch you sometimes.”

Ichiro just tilted his head to the side quizzically.

“Whatever. You have everything you need in there to analyze my blood?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, well, when we get our foothold somewhere, I’ll let you tak- ow!” I felt a pinch in my arm, and I looked over to see that Ichiro had stuck a syringe into my arm and was withdrawing blood. “What the hell, man?!”

“I’m taking your blood.”

I just looked at him with a blank stare before letting out yet another exasperated sigh.

“Oh, we should also put this on Yukino.” He said, holding up the chain that was originally around Tsuki’s neck all that time ago, while still drawing my blood. I didn’t even question why he decided to keep it, but it was a rather good suggestion. I looked over my shoulder to see that Tsuki was now sitting on Yukino’s shoulders and rocking back and forth as if she was some child attraction you’d see outside of malls. Then, I remembered something crucial.

“Ichiro, are you okay with this? You said that Yukino and...” I clenched my teeth before continuing. “And Kyosuke were like family to you, in your loose version of it, but still.”

He just stared at the syringe, drawing blood as he spoke. “I told you; I hold no grudge against what you’re doing.”

“I know, but... I killed him. I killed Kyosuke.”

“That wasn’t Kyosuke. Not anymore.” He said coldly.

I said nothing and just nodded as I stared at the bound Yukino. Her eyes glared at me with a murderous, burning rage.

“We should get that chain on her soon.”

“Agreed.” Ichiro said, pulling the syringe out of my arm and staring at the red liquid.