Feast’s Discussion

 “Wow, this sushi tastes great!” Aya exclaimed as she used her fork to continue eating the chicken laid out on the plate that resided in front of her.

“I know, right?” After she spoke her opinion, Sora concurred with said statement soon after.

The feast on the table was composed of a variety of different dishes. Not only did the dinner include many pieces of different types of sushi, but it also included a plate containing different vegetables, one containing grilled fish alongside smaller components, a salad, a bowl filled with a variety of different vegetables, and everyone had their own main dish accompanied by a small bowl of rice, soup, and a yunomi filled with hot, green tea.

It’d been a few minutes (10 or so) since they all began eating, and so far, nothing of major interest had really occurred. Sora glanced at his father a few times, but he didn’t have a serious expression on him or anything of the sort. In fact, it was quite the opposite; it seemed as if he was simply savoring the feast in front of him.

It doesn’t look as if he’s going to say anything yet… Sora said as he took a sip of his green tea.

“I really like this one type of sushi! It tastes amazing!” Ken commented, interrupting Sora’s thoughts.

“I’m glad you like it, honey.” His mother said afterwards.

15 more minutes pass, and around half of the entire dinner had been finished.

Sora noticed that Rikuto was cleaning his face and, in that moment, he felt a change in the surrounding atmosphere.

“Now that we’re all almost done with this dinner…I believe it’s time that we begin the true reason as to why I gathered all of you here.”

Everyone was quiet. After making sure no one had anything to say, he continued:

“As we all know, Sora will become the next heir of the Yukisaki in 2 days’ time, and as I mentioned a few minutes ago, I decided to gather all of you here because there’re a few things I need to mention before you become heir, as I said before we began eating.” He said whilst he looked at Sora.

“Huh? Haven’t you already told him everything I need to know about this position?” Ayako questioned her husband.

“I’ve told him a good portion of it, but there’s still a lot he must know. But before we get into the unknown”, he said, changing from talking to his wife to talking to Sora, “I want to repeat to you everything I’ve told you before. After all, repetition is the mother of retention.”

Admittedly, albeit only in his head, Sora felt slightly annoyed at the fact that his father would repeat to him everything he’d said to him before. He’d already heard it millions of times, not to mention more than once, so why did he need to do so again?

“I apologize for repeating myself, but haven’t you already repeated what you’re going to tell me millions of times? And besides, why haven’t you told me this “new stuff” before?” Crossing his arms as he said it, Sora’s face turned to that of a slightly annoyed person.

“Because I wanted everyone to be here to hear everything that’s missing at once. Since we’re all usually busy with our own things, having a dinner as a family was the easiest and most convenient way to bring us all together.”

“Oh, that explains a lot.” Aya and Ken said at the same time.

“Regardless, I think it’s time we officially begin.”

And so, Rikuto began talking to Sora.

“As you obviously know, Sora, you will be the next heir of the Yukisaki family, one of the strongest magical families in the world of magic, in just 2 days. Which means that you will have a responsibility that will not only outweigh the regular magical family heir, but also the ones of even some government officials, because not only will you be our heir, but you also possess a very rare ability in the realm of the supernatural: not only can you use our signature magic, Dark Magic, already a very rare type of magic that we’re some of the very few families that can fully utilize it, you can also utilize it’s opposing counterpart: White Magic, the defensive magic that can repel most magical abilities in the world.

Pausing to take a sip of his tea, Rikuto, once finishing, put his tea down and continued:

“As we all know, usually, magic users can only use the more common types of magic, and not only that, but possessing the ability to use any type of magic in its purest form is a gift in and of itself. But you can use the pure form of 2 extremely rare branches of magic. That alone makes you the strongest Yukisaki heir in many years.”

Sora, his arms still crossed, and his legs having joined in on that action, as well, became more annoyed and slightly embarrassed as he heard his father talk about him in such a manner from across the long table.

“Of course, you already know about all that I just repeated, so after all this time, let’s finally move on to what I haven’t discussed with any of you about Sora’s ascension to head of the family.”

In that moment, Sora began paying very close attention to what his father had to say.

“Sora, once you officially turn into the new head, you will inherit a number of responsibilities that every head must take care of during their so-called “reign” as family head. This includes overseeing the Magic Knight training that takes place within the monastery grounds. It also includes managing all communications between our family and outside sources such as other magic families and the Japanese government itself.”

Having taken this in soon after hearing it for the first time, Sora couldn’t lie: he was shocked at the fact that he’d soon have to partake in such duties.

“Those specific responsibilities are definitely new to me, Father.” He told him.

Ayako intervened. “Wait, you hadn’t told him that, honey? I think that should have been the first thing to tell him!”

“I had told him he had responsibilities, but I never entered the specifics. Besides, I think Sora can figure out that said position will include dozens of those, and I also didn’t want to give him any stress at that point, hence why I decided to never tell him what specific responsibilities he’d need to take care of until now.”

“I mean, I suppose that makes sense…?” Sora whispered to himself. “You should have still said it way earlier, though.”

After noticing his son was distracted by his thoughts, Rikudo coughed, returning him to Earth.

“Anyhow, let’s continue.”

And so, he continued.

“Second, and arguably more important than the aforementioned responsibilities…”

For some reason, Rikudo paused suddenly. Everyone, Sora obviously included, were all kept at the edge of their seats.

“You must keep the family’s public image in a positive light.”

“Huh?” Sora heard that comment as he sipped more of his now warm tea, and since he became shocked at the sudden “order”, his body did the automatic motion of almost spitting out his tea; he did all he could to not do that, however.

“Wha- are you saying that our public image is more important than actually maintaining order around this monastery and my soon-to-be responsibilities?”

His father’s response was…unexpected.

“Yes, Sora, I am.”

The other three sitting around the table, that of course being Aya, Ken, and Ayako, all looked at Rikudo with a face of either confusion or astonishment. Sora couldn’t make out which emotion suited their faces more.

“Father, with all due respect, that sounds a bit…peculiar…”

Once his sister spoke up, Ken continued, “I agree. I can understand that our public image is extremely important, but what about everything else?”

Then, Ayako intervened, “Yeah, honey. I mean, no one in the non-supernatural realm know about our secret, and besides, in the rare instances that we’ve been accused of something, it’s been extremely easy to convince everyone otherwise due to our status.”

“Yeah, Father, that sounds unorthodo-”

Sora was cut off.

“I understand what all of you mean. However, you must understand that even though nothing of the sort has occurred thus far within our family’s history, at least as of the last few hundred years, we must be very cautious of what happens around us. I know it might sound extremely strange, but please understand that something of the sort might happen someday.”

“But Dad-”

“Aya, please. I’ve said what I have to say, and that’s that.”

Noting Aya kept to herself whatever it was that she wanted to express, Rikudo continued.

“And finally…”

There’s still more?!

“What I think is truly the most important “responsibility” of being head…”

Everyone around him looked at their father (in Ayako’s case, her husband), with a face that seemed as if they were all thinking the exact same words that Sora did.

“Sora…as the next head of this all-powerful family, you must never, under any circumstances…”

In Sora’s head, the world moved in slow motion for less than 3 seconds, and then his father finally finished speaking:

“…show your weakness.”

“…what?”

“You must never show your weak side no matter where you are. Whether you’re in the public eye, or anywhere that anyone can see you, never let your guard down. Showing weakness as a leader is never an option, and when it comes to magic families, you must never show weakness when it comes to your magical abilities.”

“Father, with all due respect…” At this point, Sora felt annoyed. Even though it was extremely disrespectful to speak to either of his parents the way he wanted to do so, he did so anyway.

“…that’s probably the stupidest thing you’ve said so far.”

“Sora!” His mother exclaimed.

“I mean it’s true, Mother! Why the hell would I ever show weakness as a leader?! And besides, I’ve never shown it until now! Do you understand how strong I am?!”

“Sora, I suggest you calm down, ple-”

“Oh, Father, I think out of everyone here, you shouldn’t be saying that. I am the most powerful person in this family, and you know what I’m capable of.”

“Sora-”

“And besides, the fact that that is the “most important responsibility” for you has got to be the worst-”

“Sora!”

Once he exclaimed his name, Rikudo abruptly stood up from his seat and, using both of his hands, slammed the table.

Everyone, Sora included, became quiet, as if someone had threatened their very lives if they either continued to speak or muttered close to a single sound.

Even though he seemed extremely confident mere seconds ago, Sora’s visage became one of…fear. When was the last time he felt this type of fear? He realized that maybe he did go slightly overboard with what he’d said.

“You don’t have any right to talk to your father that way! You are my child, and as only the heir, you’re to do what I say until 2 days from now, Just because it’s only days away, it doesn’t mean you can disregard my orders!”

Another pause. Only this time, compared to all the ones before it, it was a very ominous one at that. Something about the way Rikudo had stopped talking induced a very high feeling of anxiety.

However, Sora did realize what he did wrong, so he didn’t even try to fight his father.

“You’re…right. I’m sorry… I went too far there…”

Surprisingly to everyone else, Rikudo was shocked that his son had apologized so quickly. They’d had many arguments before, and in all of those cases, Sora would try to convince him otherwise.

That’s…odd… He didn’t try to refute me…

“Anyway, putting that aside… That’s all I wanted to say. This dinner is over. You can all leave.”

And so, Rikudo didn’t even sit back down. Instead, he walked out of the room without saying a single word again. As he did so, the other 4 inside the room watched as he left.

“I hope I didn’t make everything that bad…”

“It’s okay, Sora. At least you apologized.”

“Thanks, Mother.”

Admittedly, even though he’d apologized, Sora couldn’t shake off the lurking feeling of guilt within his system. Why couldn’t he, though?

He also realized that he’d…actually apologized to his father, instead of being the stubborn son that always attempts to prove his father wrong.

Something felt…wrong. There was something different between this conversation and the argument that occurred, albeit it didn’t last long.

“Well, I’m going to go to my room. The food was great.” He said as he stood up.

“Okay, then… In case I don’t see you again, goodnight!” His mother told him.

“Yeah! Sleep well! Goodnight!” Ken and Aya said in perfect unison after their mother spoke.

“Thanks. Goodnight to you, as well.”

Once he said “Goodnight” to the three of them, Sora began his way. His way back to his room. Walking through the many hallways and corridors of the monastery, he walked as he paid attention to his surroundings.

Hearing the grunts and shouts of the trainee Magic Knights that usually trained until very late at night a few days of the week, he brushed his hand through his hair, finally reaching his room’s door.

Turning the handle, he entered it, and immediately after closing the door, he jumped on his bed, now staring up at the ceiling.

A few hours had passed since the dinner. It was currently 9:30 pm, and all Sora had done was browse his phone, whether it was social media, seeing if he had any unread messages or emails, or maybe even playing games on it.

As he was going to put the phone on the nightstand next to his bed, he heard a notification sound on his phone. He recognized that sound perfectly.

It was the sound that he’d hear when someone sent him a message on LINE.

“Huh? Who’s sending me a message at this time?”

Opening his phone, he saw who it was. It was one of his best school friends, his classmate Aiko.

He saw the message she’d sent him, and it read as follows:

Hey, Sora. By any chance, do you have the 5th exercise of page 35 of the English textbook?

And so, he responded:

Page 35? Let me check.

Even though he was part of a magic family, he still attended high school like a normal boy his age. He still had homework like a regular person.

After going through the notebooks inside his school bag, he placed his English notebook on the table, opened it, and took a picture of the exercise he’d done his friend had asked for.

Here you go. Glad I actually did this one :)

Okay. Thank you, and sorry for texting you so late!

It’s okay. I don’t mind if it’s a close friend.

And so, Sora put away his notebook and laid down on his bed. After placing his phone on his nightstand, he turned off the light and got into a comfortable sleeping position.

Almost there… I can’t believe I’ll lead this family soon…

Not long after these thoughts flew in his head, he fell asleep.