A Noticeable Difference In Ability

"Object teleportation," She starts. "like imagine you have cards that get thrown out into the air, and they are all over the place, flying everywhere at different speeds and then you use a spell that I'll show you in a bit to send one of those card flying into the air and as it flies right past them it then lands right in the palm of your hand."

"Oh I get it now! Like a magician but I'm actually better because I'll be using a higher power instead of misdirection!" He gasps excitedly.

"Exactly! But always bear in mind, it's the execution of the spells that ties everything together, which is why we need to find a big enough book, cause we've got so much more spell theory to do!" Izumi says all pumped up.

"Alright! I like that!" Keizo says.

"Yeah! So, you wanna get started or what?" Izumi says, swaying back and forth out of excitement.

"Sure. First though, I gotta get something to eat, I haven't eaten anything since lunch.

"Ok, you go ahead, I'll be here still... not much else to do." Izumi says.

Keizo made his way downstairs and began preparations for a slightly early dinner. It wasn't much, but a small bowl of miso soup and a few snacks was just enough for now.

"I humbly receive." Keizo whispered, expressing gratitude for the meal that awaited him.

"Mhm... Better not keep her waiting too long..." Keizo said in between mouthfuls.

✧ ✧ ✧

"The first step in becoming a highly skilled mage," Izumi starts proudly, pacing like a captain or an officer about to give orders to their troops, "is learning to manipulate a single 'solitaire-y' object, like say, a playing card."

"Funny joke." Keizo says, amused by Izumi's wordplay.

"I dabble from time to time!" Izumi turns to face Keizo.

Eager to try out his new skill, Keizo hurries away to find a deck of cards. He returns after a while shuffling them in anticipation.

"Aha! I new I had them lying around somewhere." Keizo exclaims holding them out.

"Oh. You actually went and got a deck of playing cards, I guess that works." Izumi says with a giggle.

Looking to pick out a card, he draws the ace of clubs. He holds the card up and flicks it in the air with his fingers.

Keizo quickly stretches out his hands in a rushed attempt to control the card from midair. To no avail, the card gracefully lands on the floor, leaving Keizo frozen with his hands out like a doofus.

"Woo! A complete failure!" He jumps up doing an ironic celebration.

Izumi laughs quietly at Keizo's reaction. "Well you've got the card throwing down. How about trying to move it while it's stationary?"

"Hmm, let's see." He mumbles to himself, then slowly begins to shuffle the deck again, getting used to doing so once more.

He draws another card, the 3 of hearts, and sets it aside.

"Try again, but really focus this time. Say the spell if you need to!" Izumi encourages him.

With all his focus put into the one card, Keizo lifts a hand up and says the spell.

"Hear me now with grand diction I control this entity!"

Just as he finishes speaking, the card begins to float, he rotates his hand and the card follows suit, hovering above the bathroom counter. Keizo stares at the card intently, as if it were alive. Keizo's eyes lit up and he began to flail his arms wildly observing how fast the card flew through the air, like a tiny tornado. He couldn't believe what he had just seen! He didn't have to say anything else after that because he watched in awe how the card flew around the bathroom with such incredible speed, it almost seemed as if the card itself wanted to fly away.

"Easy now, slow it down! Any more speed and a big boom might happen!"

Keizo stopped the card, raising an eyebrow at Izumi. "Big boom?"

"Yeah, this one time we had class outside and one of the students took a big rock from the ground and it sent it zooming through the air so fast we heard an insanely loud boom!" Izumi said, imitating a loud boom.

"I think you've described a sonic boom, which is basically what happens when an object breaks the sound barrier by travelling faster than the speed of sound." Keizo offers.

"Woah, hold on a sec, how'd you know all that?" Izumi interrupts him mid sentence, her head is spinning but she's nonetheless amazed.

"It's been sitting in the back of my mind ever since my science teacher casually mentioned it in class. I never thought I'd ever have to define sonic booms until now."

"Woah. I didn't even think that something like that could have a name!" Izumi smiles.

"Both our worlds have got some obvious differences, but some similarities in a funny way." Keizo grins.

"I'm sure the two are bound to mix up eventually." Izumi replies.

"I guess we will see, but I am so looking forward to that day."

"Me too." Izumi's tone turns serious suddenly. "That said! Back to business! Good on you for nailing that second attempt of yours!"

"Thanks! It looks like these types of specials require an insane amount of concentration."

Izumi nods along as she continues to listen to Keizo ramble about his skills.

He was making somewhat exponential progress and would surely become a skilled mage if he literally played his cards right.

For the next few days Keizo juggled school, spellcasting and never-ending rivers of homework. He was practically exhausted by the end of it but he pushed himself every morning and night to practice the spell until it was

perfected. Sure he was far from it now, but, as the process for any skill goes; it's important to start somewhere.

His ultimate goal was to learn as much magic as possible and get as strong as possible to break Izumi free from her prison of emptiness, so that they may meet and connect physically. Hopefully their powers can combine rendering them a true force to be reckoned with. He's got to be one thousand percent sure of himself though.

So for now, before Keizo can even walk, he must learn to crawl.

✧ ✧ ✧

It's deep into nighttime. The sky is clear and dark, save for a few stars twinkling overhead while Keizo sits under the covers in bed, thinking about what tomorrow will offer him. He can't really seem to fall asleep but tries his best anyway.

"Tomorrow's pretty much happening right now, I need to go to bed quickly." He thought out loud.

✧ ✧ ✧

Izumi lay on the floor with her limbs spread out, like a little kid getting ready to make a snow angel. Her black and white hair was sprawled out and splayed across the floor beneath her. As one would expect from someone in her position, she had no concept of time and her circadian rhythm was completely altered. She looked up at the lifeless and uninspiring ceiling above her, her eyes reflecting nothing but emptiness. She stared blankly at the dark ceiling, her body unmoving. She sat there staring blankly at nothing for hours, waiting for something to happen to her.

Nothing ever did happen though.

She felt defeated even though she knew Keizo was trying his best to learn, she wanted out of this place now. The more she thought about it, the more she felt tears swelling in her eyes. In this mirror realm, she could feel the hopelessness wash over her body, taking over her, and leaving no room for any other sort of emotion.

She began to cry softly to herself, letting out a small whimper here and there. She couldn't help it; this place just seemed to bring forth her deepest emotions, and being alone in the midst of her prison

world only made things harder.

"Get me out of here, I put all my trust in you Keizo..." Izumi murmured as she turned her head to look up at the mirror.

✧ ✧ ✧

Bright rays of light gently peak through the blinds which shielded Keizo's bedroom windows, but it's not the light that wakes Keizo from his dreamless sleep. Instead it was the incessant chiming of the alarm on his phone. Keizo blinks groggily and rubs at his droopy eyes. Once fully awake and standing up, he stretches his arms and checks the date. Presentation day already. Keizo might have to wing this one.

"Argh! I barely got a wink of sleep in last night..." He thought to himself quietly.

He takes another deep breath, and slowly pulls the door to the bathroom open.

"I could use a shower, maybe that'll do something for me." Keizo says with a yawn.

He looks into the mirror and sees a snoring Izumi lying awkwardly on the floor. She looks comfortable enough.

Keizo shook his head, laughing quietly to himself as he stripped off and made his way into the shower. He lets the hot water pour down onto his body and relaxes a bit. He closes his eyes allowing the warm stream of water to soak his skin and drain away some of his pre-presentation tension.

✧ ✧ ✧

Izumi wakes herself up and the sound of the rushing water makes this even quicker.

"Raindrops..." She mumbles still half asleep.

Izumi sits up and looks around the room; it's still the same as the previous day and the day before that. Her attention shifts to the mirror as she hears the water stop.

✧ ✧ ✧

Once finished washing away the soap, Keizo shuts off the water. He steps out of the shower, towel in hand. He makes his way towards the half steamed up mirror to begin the rest of his routine when he unexpectedly notices Izumi who also notices him in return.

Izumi shields her eyes quickly to avoid seeing any more than what she already saw.

Keizo quickly wraps the towel around himself, embarrassed. "Where'd you come from? You were on the floor out cold just a minute ago!"

"I thought it was raining." Izumi answers earnestly, still shielding her face.

Keizo laughs nervously before replying.

"Really? Raining?" He starts. "Anyways, I'm all covered up now."

Izumi sighs with relief and finally peeks through her fingers to see if he's joking. But he isn't. He also looks like he just saw his life flash before his eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better, I couldn't see much through the steam." She lies.

"Thanks, I guess." Keizo replies, running both of his hands through his hair.

"Now you know how I feel, it's not that easy being stark like this all the time. Also, it's worth noting that my circadian rhythm has been so out of whack lately it's been causing me to have these super messed up sleep patterns..." 

She stops as soon as she realizes she's rambling. "Back to the point... I miss the warmth of fabric and I would kill to be in a nice warm bed again..." Izumi says with a not-so-subtle hint of longing.

Keizo chuckles quietly and continues brushing his hair. "Well, I promise that when we find a way to get you out of there, I'll wrap you in the fuzziest blanket I have."

"Really~!?" Izumi gushes excitedly.

"The fuzziest." Keizo repeats.

The pair spent the next little while chatting, a great deal of which was Izumi pithily telling Keizo all about the spells he could work on as well as some tips and tricks. She told him all sorts of things that any good mage's apprentice should take notes on. In turn, he listened to everything she said attentively, occasionally adding his own commentary whenever he felt like it. By the end of their conversation, he was feeling more sure of himself.

Feeling confident was the only thing he had to feel because succeeding would only propel him further into becoming someone well-rounded in the Magnarian art of magic.

Keizo did some thinking. Well, it was more of a reflection actually.

Ever since he crossed eyesight with Izumi through the mirror for the first time, he couldn't help but ask himself why it had to be him in the first place. Why his mirror? Why does he get a barrage of magical powers he has yet to control and master? Are there others out there like him? Is this really a prime example of fate, destiny, or some sort of cosmic joke?

It's not like he could just voice his concerns to anybody either, they'd all think something's off about him.

"Maybe they're right." Something has changed.

"Right about what, Keizo?" Asked Izumi, her eyes glancing over at him.

"About me, I suppose. About my whole future, about being a 'Master' of Magic" He responded, "Do you think I'm cut out for a change like this? What happens when I lose my temper or focus, or what if somebody crosses my path that bothers me?"

"That's hard to say." She replies. "I mean... I've seen people fail before, especially those without the proper guidance to manage their power properly. That's why I'm trying my best to show you the ways of the Magnarian mage, and as my apprentice, that just means your chances are even higher." She adds.

Keizo nods.

"As for your future... Sometimes things happen and we don't know why it happened or how we're ever gonna recover from it. The only thing left to do when you've got nothing is to face your adversity head on." Izumi starts.

"It's incredulously hard sometimes, I don't know what my family back home is doing or even if they're still..." She takes a breath.

 "The last time I ever saw them was at the trial. My mom's last words to me were 'we're always watching over you,' but sometimes I wonder if they remember me... They surely must remember."

Izumi spoke softly, looking down at the ground.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes things happen and you just have to take advantage of any good opportunity to make the most of an awful situation. You're that good opportunity. I could've ended up in any other mirror in any other world yet somehow I ended up here. Moreover, you're willing to go the extra mile and show a great deal of compassion to a complete stranger despite the burden that comes with it. That's the mark of a true Omnimage. The one thing that can't be taught."

Keizo stands in front of his mirror in silence, processing all of what Izumi said. The only sound that could be heard was the slow yet steady drip of the shower faucet. His expression changes slightly after a moment, and he reaches up to run his his fingers through his hair. He stares deeply into his own eyes. A small grin forms at the sight of his reflection.

"I don't think I'll doubt myself or my situation anymore. I'm fully in it now and I've gotta take what's been given to me." Keizo says, trying to convince himself.

He steps out for a moment and takes a look at the time in the other room. He's running late to school.