Chapter 38

Nearly a week had passed since we arrived at the new safehouse. Unlike our previous two, this safehouse was more like a traditional house. That is, if a traditional house was a multi-story mansion that had larger rooms than most families' houses. We each had our own rooms that each had large beds and a walk-in closet that was the size of our rooms in the bunker. Tsuki’s shrieks of excitement were so loud when we first got here that I could still hear the ringing in my ears from it. Tsuki ended up taking the largest of the rooms and the day after we arrived, she went out and filled up her entire closet with various types of clothing and accessories. Ichiro seemingly picked one at random and emptied his magic-storage inside it, and hasn’t come out since other than to grab energy drinks. Marie is the biggest surprise; she insisted on sharing a room with me. I had no issues with that, of course, but I have been nervous walking into it at night now.

Things were going smoothly right now, for the most part. I was concerned about Ichiro, but every time I asked if everything was alright, he assured me he was just focusing on his research. I assumed this was about my blood sample, but that only added to my concerns rather than alleviate them. I don’t know what he may have found, but if it kept him hyper focused to the point he couldn’t interact for more than a few moments, it must be something major. I decided to leave it to him to tell us once he finished his experimenting, but his absence has made an obvious impact. Despite only knowing him for close to a month, his unique mannerisms are endearing in their own way. That, and Tsuki won’t stop talking about how she said they’d be friends forever, and now he won’t even look at her. The other thing that is being impacted is our plan to lure out the Secular as Ichiro hadn’t joined us for planning sessions. He did ensure us that he would be ready to play no matter what, but him not practicing is making me worry.

Wait.

Why am I worrying?

It’s a fake concert that isn’t meant to be anything more than a show of magic to let the world know, or at least Shibuya know, that magic is real. I don’t even particularly like the music we’re playing that much either. So, why does Ichiro’s absence in sessions bother me? It shouldn’t.

As I stood in the hallway just outside my bedroom, lost in thought, I was interrupted by someone passing by and talking to me. I shook my head and looked at who it was; it was the silver-haired, pale blue-eyed beauty whom I shared this room with. Then, I realized why I was upset with Ichiro missing practice; Marie was excited for this and putting effort into it, so Ichiro messing it up was bothering me. I put on a small smile as I realized this and Marie just tilted her head quizzically at me.

“Do you just smile whenever you see me now?”

“No. Well, yes. But not in this case. Oh, I’m blocking the door, sorry.” I stepped back and opened the door for Marie and followed her in.

Marie was carrying a bag with the logo of a local bookstore on it. From that alone I could guess what was inside. When she placed the bag on the desk and started to pull out the contents, my guess was confirmed correct. She pulled out several volumes of manga, specifically Silver Bullet, and started to stack them.

“Bought a new collection of Silver Bullet?”

“Yes. I lost my collection when the bunker was destroyed. These are only the normal versions, though. I unfortunately lost the collector versions they did for a few volumes.” Marie stated, although not sounding too upset. She must have realized that chance at losing them came with the job.

“Guess I know what to do for a Christmas present, then.”

“It’s too much money. Don’t.” She rebuked me instantly but then placed a hand over her mouth and spoke in a hushed tone. “Although I wouldn’t be upset if you did find them.”

“I know you’d be ecstatic. Anyway, I was heading to the sound room to practice a bit more. That spell Ichiro made actually worked, I can’t believe he made that. Imagine if non-mages could use that?” I said as I started to exit.

“About that.” Marie said, and I turned back to look at her. “If you’re worrying about this, don’t think of it as anything more than just something Tsuki and I wanted to do. We of course recognize the true mission behind this concert.”

“Of course. Did I make it seem like I was worried about it?”

“You were staring up at the ceiling standing in front of the door when I got here. And it’s not the first time you’ve done it.” Marie said, crossing her arms.

“Oh. Always perceptive. I guess I was worried, but only because you truly seemed like you’re having fun with this. I don’t get to see that often. And your singing is pretty awesome.”

“I’m still nothing like the best bands. I must get stronger.” She said, flexing an arm.

“It’s just singing, haha. And I could listen to you sing all day. Anyway, I’m heading to practice. I think Tsuki is going to be there, too, if you want to join. I’ll try to force Ichiro there as well since he’s been shirking his duties.”

“He seems to be working on something important, though.”

“This concert is important. It’s more than just a fun rock event. We have to plan for when the Secular actually shows up, too.”

I left the room and headed downstairs to another long hallway and knocked on a door that had a handwritten ‘Ichiro’ on it. After a few moments, I knocked again. And again. Still no response. Annoyed, I started to shout at Ichiro, but then noticed that the door wasn’t locked.

“I’m coming in.”

I opened the door and saw Ichiro sitting awkwardly on a chair with his knees bent and feet on the chair as well. He was scribbling something and muttering to himself while constantly looking over at another piece of paper, as if he was comparing the two. Next to him was another long table but instead of papers, tablets and other notes, this one was covered in an exceptional amount of empty energy drink cans. I let out a sigh and walked up to Ichiro, tapping him on the back.

“Hey, Ichiro, you’re ignoring us now?”

Ichiro shot his head over to me with wicked speed, but his face was expressionless, clearly not startled from me touching him suddenly. He stared at me and the dark circles around his eyes were even darker than usual and his messy hair was even messier. He then opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but closed it before looking back at his paper then back up at me.

“Did you figure something out?” I said with a tinge of concern in my voice.

“I... think so.”

“Care to share?”

“I... don’t know.”

“How long are you going to be like this?”

“I... cannot say.”

“Alright, well, we’re going to practice. Come on, get up.”

“Wait. I will tell you. Sit, please.” He gestured to a chair.

I pulled the chair out, and the rattling of numerous cans echoed as they toppled off the chair. I pulled it over to him and sat down, leaning back as I waited for him to finally explain.

“I have something to tell you.”

“I know. So, say it.”

“It isn’t completely confirmed, but the more I look into it, it seems very, very, VERY likely that it is true.”

“What is it, Ichiro?” I said, sitting up straight, seeing the severity of the topic on his face.

“I looked at your blood. Like I said before, it has the same blood-mana levels as an Elder, maybe slightly more.”

“That’s good, isn’t it? Means I’m stronger than the typical one.”

“That part is good, yes, but this next part... isn’t good or bad, just... it depends on how you take it.”

My eyebrows narrowed and my face went stern. “What is it, Ichiro? Get to it.”

He gulped audibly and wiped his brow. I started to get nervous as I watched Ichiro struggle with just telling me what it was. Then, he finally spoke out about the terrifying discovery.

“I compared your blood to Tsuki’s. They’re the exact same in one principal area.”

My eyes went wide and I felt like my heart had stopped. The next words he said rang out as if he spoke in a slow motion. My head spun and I became nauseous as his words hit me.

“You’re a replica.”