Hum Your Troubles Away

It was Monday morning, around 6 AM.

Keizo awoke to the sound of his alarm on his phone. 

It let out a chime signaling it was time to get up and greet the day.

"Ughh... Morning already?" Keizo groaned, rubbing his eyes while getting out of bed, stretching out his arms above him before making his way towards the bathroom. A half awake Keizo is greeted by a chipper Izumi who'd been awake for the past hour, probably just waiting for him to wake up.

"Good morning sleepyhead! How did you sleep?" She says cheerfully.

"I slept well, thank you for asking." He replies, giving her a tired smile.

"Didn't get a chance to show you my uniform yesterday, we'll get to that in a bit, but first... oh right... no toothbrush..." He sighs remembering that little situation with Mika.

"As gross as this is right now, I'll have to make do with some breath mints and stop by the store on my way back..." He says, thinking out loud.

Keizo goes through his routine with Izumi watching him intently. He washes his face and steps out momentarily to throw on his uniform.

"Check me out now!" Keizo says attempting to strike a confident pose, but ends up looking like a flustered idiot.

"Wow~! So dashing and gallant!" Izumi says, clapping excitedly. "And you wear all that on a daily basis?"

"Pretty much." Keizo says adjusting his tie out of habit. "Do they not have uniforms like these in your homeworld?" He asks.

"It's a bit different, we have these things called mage garments which are basically semi-long navy blue cloaks, boots to go with it, and gloves usually for extra protection." Izumi explains, her hands moving around animatedly while explaining the various features of her clothes.

"I'm sure you rocked the look." Keizo said, nodding his head to agree.

The conversation trails off, but neither minded all too much.

"There's a question that's been dawning on me Keizo..." Izumi says, twidling her thumbs awkwardly.

"Ask away." Keizo smiles.

"Where are your parents? Are they here or are they at work?" She asked concerned.

"My mom works on an airplane as a stewardess, and, to simplify what my dad does, he makes computers work the way they do and fixes them if something goes wrong. My mom's always travelling to different countries always, and my dad just needs a solid connection to the internet to do his job, so he just travels with her." Keizo tells her.

"I see, sounds very important." Izumi says.

Keizo gives a few quick nods in reply.

"They trust me enough to let me look after myself and the house on my own." He explains. "They also pay their bills online, which lets me deal with small things like dusting and whatnot."

"Is there anything the internet can't do?" Izumi says with an impressed tone.

"Interesting question, lots I'd say, a lot of stuff can be done." Keizo says with a smirk. "How do you feel about technology?" He asks.

"Well I mean, I've had my fair share of gadgets since childhood, I've built my own bicycle from scratch and, uh, don't tell anybody, but I was secretly working on a suit with these extra limbs you could control with magic, so I suppose I'm rather knowledgeable with that sort of stuff."

"That's actually super cool! Keizo exclaims. "Can you teach me more about that sometime?"

"The sooner I'm out of here, the better!" she giggles wistfully. Keizo nods. "Yeah, me too." He says softly.

He was sad to leave Izumi all alone by herself for such a long time especially since she'd probably gotten so used to his company in the short time they were together. But, unfortunately, there really is no choice. At least the weather wasn't so drab and overcast today.

Keizo grabs his bag off of its usual spot and prepares to make his way downstairs. He gives the bathroom door one more look before exiting.

✧ ✧ ✧

Keizo slipped on his indoor shoes and made his way to his first class. He took his seat and flipped through his math book, in between his equations were the spells he and Izumi had worked on mastering together. He couldn't help but smile, it was amazing how good of a teacher she was. Although, she would probably deny that fact.

It suddenly dawned on him that his homework was now unable to be turned because of the writing on it, he quickly began to redo his homework on a separate sheet of paper. He had ample time to get it redone; there was only 20 minutes left. But, Keizo knew how important handing in assignment was, and how easily the teachers could take one look at the written assignment and figure out you didn't bother doing it

At least, it would seem that way to him.

Keizo looks over at the clock, it's getting dangerously close to when the teacher normally comes in and gets everybody started. If he hurried he should be able to finish off copying the last few equations down.

A familiar hand makes its way onto where Keizo is writing vehemently.

It's Mika, who is trying hard to hold back a laugh. "Hey hey~! I didn't know you were capable of taking notes, Keizo!" She jokes with her usual jovial nature.

"I can assure you, these are not notes, I'm just rewriting my equations from the most recent assignment. You're looking much better since last time, how're you holding up?"

"I'm doing alright Keizo~!" She starts. "Rewriting equations? Now why would someone like you do something like that?" She asks playfully, as if she knew the answer.

"Heh, I didn't like the way that they looked." He lies.

"Right, didn't like the way that they looked." She repeats unconvinced.

"What's not to get? They're just simple equations, but they looked wrong the first time around." He states defensively.

"I'm sure they weren't that bad." Mika says with a smirk, practically pouncing on him to get to the original paper.

"Woah, hey!" Keizo says hastily, reaching over to snatch Mika's hand away. It fails. Mika takes a quick look through the equations but notices the writing between them. She'd never seen anything like it before and Keizo knew that too.

"Spells to learn..." She begins reading, "Stagnant Flame? Iridescent Glow? Ignis Inagi-what? Lux Iridis-a-what-now? What am I reading?" She reads, letting out a confused laugh.

"What are you some kind of chuunibyou sorcerer now?" Mika jokes.

"N...No... I'm not a chuunibyou." Keizo looks away in embarrassment.

"I dunno Keizo, this looks like some serious stuff!" Mika says with a playful grin.

"...Just give it back." Keizo grumbles, holding out his hand for his paper back.

"Sure~." She says teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him as she places the paper within his grasp.

"I'll let it slide, you must've gotten really bored this weekend." Mika laughs.

"Bored?" Keizo frowns. "I think you might be overestimating my level of boredom."

"Hmm... maybe, but to come up with a whole barrage of, quote unquote, 'spells' drawn in between your math homework? A bit sus don'tcha think?" She giggles.

Keizo spends the rest of break with Mika laughing, talking and getting the last few equations written down until the sound of the teacher opening the door interrupted them. The bell rings signaling first period has begun.

"Good morning everyone, take your seats." His teacher says with a calm voice. "I trust everyone has completed their homework?"

All students replied affirmatively.

"Very well then, let's move on to today's lesson. So, today we'll be going over certain types of..."

'Great, a lesson I already know how to do.' Keizo thought sarcastically. 'This isn't going to be an easy day.'

✧ ✧ ✧

Keizo finished changing shoes at his shoe cubby. He looked around for a quick second, Mika was nowhere near him. Not entirely strange, but considering Friday night's situation, he was slightly surprised. He shrugged it off though, it was a possibility that she had her own stuff to cater to. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, it was a text from Mika.

"Won't be able to hang later today, had to go help my mom." He reads.

"Alright then, keep in touch." He speaks his message as he types.

'She's got to be busy at some point, I understand.' Keizo thought. 'Welp, good thing that leaves more time for me then.' He thought happily as he turned to head home.

As he got closer to home, he could hear a pretty sound of someone humming faintly along with the birds. As soon as he got to the gate outside his home, he could really hear it. It came out of the open window on the second floor, the bathroom. Soon, the humming turned into song.

"As I wait, all my worries seem to drift away. I'm free to dream my dream, my lovely dream of yesterday..."

It must be Izumi, but where on earth did she learn to sing so beautifully? He thought curiously to himself as he continued to walk the path and through the gate. He opened the front door, dropped his bag in it's usual place, and headed upstairs.

"My lovely dream of yesterday..."

He walked into the room where he could hear Izumi singing, she looked extremely calm and composed. Her hair fell over her face partially as she swayed inside of the mirror, as she fixed it, she got startled to see Keizo observing her, causing her to lose her balance and almost fall backwards, but luckily caught herself before that could happen. She laughed nervously while fixing the rest of her hair.

"Oh! Uh, hi Keizo! Good afternoon!" She said as she adjusted herself.

"Hi," he responded shyly, still feeling somewhat awkward for startling her. "Hey, uh, you're singing, it's-"

"Sorry! Was it too much?" She asked anxiously.

"No, it's quite nice. I like it." He says reassuring her.

"Really?! Well, thank you, you have no idea how happy that makes me. It's the first time I've been able to sing like that in a long time. You know, when you sing to yourself it really helps clear your thoughts." She says, giving Keizo a look of pure bliss.

"That's true, and I'm sorry if I kept you waiting too long."

"Don't be, it's your house, I'm merely just visitor." She says with a small chuckle.

"Well, welcome nonetheless, I'm glad you ended up here." Keizo gives her a warm smile.

"Me too." She responds with a soft smile of her own.

"Anyway, how did school end up going today in your world? Learn anything interesting?" Izumi asks, a dash of curiosity lacing her words.

"It's just the same old stuff in Math class, not much else to do in Science class either." He replies casually. "Still don't know what to do for my literature assignment though there's nothing good to write a report about." He sighs.

"Do you have any ideas, or are you completely stuck?" Izumi questions concernedly. Keizo ponders silently to himself for a moment then speaks his thoughts. "If only I could talk about the fact that I can make literal fire appear from nowhere without sounding like a lunatic." He sighs.

"Speaking of, I almost got caught today... my classmate Mika saw the spells written out in between my math homework. I genuinely think I need a separate book for that kind of thing." He adds.

"Oh really! That sounds like a wonderful idea! It's best to get a big one too, like a really really big one!"

Izumi stretches her hands out and makes weird hand gestures as she explains her plans.

"Ooh! And as for your literature assignment, how about doing a report on magic tricks? I can teach you a way to manipulate playing cards but like, the fun way, not sleight of hand, like actual object teleportation!" She gushes, smiling at the prospect of teaching her apprentice new things.

"As much as I'd like it to be that way, I don't think that's how it works. I have to read a book from a list but I can't seem to get interested in any of them. Then I gotta do all this crazy convoluted stuff explaining it afterwards and it just... I dunno, I just prefer crunching numbers and playing around with formulae." He says, loosening his tie.

"I'll be fine doing this literature assignment," Keizo swats his hand a few times. "It's not like I'm terrible at any of those courses. They just don't pique my interest. You wanna know what does pique my interest though?" He says with a grin.

Izumi presses her lips together in thought.

"Learning. More. Magic." He continues, waving his hands about. "Because if there's a way to get you out of there, nothing else matters. The school year's almost over and to be perfectly honest. I may have brains and all, but I've got no real direction to go after high school." He laughs.

"What makes you say that?" Izumi asks, her curiosity getting the better of her. "You're smart enough to get a job with a lot of money aren't you? Why don't you try and find something?"

"Because doing that would result in me leaving you behind, and I don't wanna leave you behind. Not when I'm in this deep." He said plainly, placing his arms behind his head. "And to be fair, I am trying, but it's hard work." His brows furrowed slightly as he spoke.

"The way they did it in my homeland was, you'd go to the city centre and see job listings or small quests for commoners and special jobs for the masters, apprentices and those in guilds. You'd look in the list for the job that fit you the most and ran with that one, and if the person who contracted the odd job liked you, they offered you another job." Izumi said, trying her best to encourage him.

Keizo nodded slightly, trying to imagine all those places in his mind that Izumi mentioned.

Izumi explained how she used to be obsessed with applying for odd jobs long before she got banished and long before she became a skilled mage. She didn't like being confined to places and always sought out a new adventure, and for her to waste away in a strange box-like place like the Mirror Realm was a bit of a shock to her system. But she was determined to change things. To prove the people who took control of her life wrong, that she was strong and capable.

Strong enough to make a difference, and powerful enough to change the way they lived.

"That's exactly why I want to help you, but I can't do this on my own. We gotta do this, even if it means going into the unknown."

"You're gonna make me cry... You don't know how many times I've lied down, unable to move wondering when it is that I'm actually gonna get out of this place. I hate it here, I hate the people who put me here." Izumi says, her voice breaking as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.

Keizo was unsure of what to say in response to Izumi's cries. He had never heard of anyone weeping this deeply and so openly, let alone someone as young as her. He stood still for a moment, unsure what to do and waited until her crying died down before speaking again.

"I wish I could give you a hug, but this is the best I can do." He says, putting his hand up to the mirror, pressing it on the glass.

Izumi dries her tears, looking back up at Keizo. She smiles lightly to show him she is alright, but her eyes betray the emotions underneath their surface. She closes her eyes and presses her forehead against the mirror resting it there for a long time.