Nagoya, Japan

Friday, August 19th, 2050

I felt like I was in the grip of something awful. My slip of the tongue with Paul constantly weighed on me in my free moments. I had danced around the L-word in my mind many times, but then I’d had to go and say it. That gave it more power, somehow.

Being worried for Kiyo was a terrible feeling. I could tell myself to stay away from Rose and the rest, but Kiyo had begun calling me on the phone every night, and I hadn’t the heart to tell her no. We didn’t have much to discuss, besides goings-on in class and her newest game. Sometimes I’d even join her. It seemed to do wonders for her mood.

At least it helped one of us. It just rubbed my wounds raw. I didn’t want to leave her, but it was inevitable. I also knew I’d gut her emotionally no matter what happened. Was the kinder thing to break things off with her? I couldn’t stand the idea. I could face danger, but the image of her eyes brimming with tears filled me with a dread I couldn’t begin to describe.

I told myself that an abrupt break at the last possible moment was for the best. After all, if Kiyo were so distraught, she was bound to sneak around while invisible, and she might give away the whole game then and there. It was the only reasonable course of action.

I knew I was only being a coward, but that’s the benefit of demonic philosophy. We don’t demand obedience to the truth; a comfortable lie will do the job.

Mariko waved her hand before my eyes, snapping me out of my musing. “Earth to Magpie, are you in there?”

“Oh, dreadfully sorry, ma’am,” I said, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. “I suppose I got caught up memorizing that formula.”

“You really must have!” She giggled musically. “Come on, you need to take this seriously!”

“I am, my dear, I am,” I said.

“Then why haven’t you been studying with us? You’ve been worrying us all, especially Kiyo.” She let out a sigh. “She’s been working so hard. The poor girl seems to have gotten it into her head that you’re going to be in the same class together. I can’t imagine them doing that in a million years.”

“Yes, I can’t imagine where she got that idea,” I replied. I reread the raw spell for Persephone’s Thumb for what felt like the millionth time. I could cast the damn thing just fine with the True Spell, but they’d want us to be able to write it and a small mountain other spells from memory. “I don’t know why they are even testing us on a spell that stimulates plant growth! When would that ever be helpful in a fight?”

“It’s related to healing magic, since it’s all about growing tissue,” she replied. “Besides, there’s more to magic than fighting, as much as the school pretends that’s the end all and be all. Utility spells can have alternate uses.”

I forced my eyes back on the page. An impromptu study session in the lunchroom hadn’t been my first choice, but Mariko had insisted. It was hard going, with so much else on my mind. There was a level where my performance on the tests wouldn’t matter one whit. But, there were appearances to keep up, after all.

Speaking of, if Paul thought I was a poser, maybe a little verbal sparring with Mariko was in order? Just to feel like my old self. As much as she tried to be dowdy with her thick rimmed glasses and single braid carelessly tossed over the shoulder, she was easy on the eyes, even ignoring her impressive endowments.

Which gave me my angle of attack. “Growing tissue? Oh, that explains it all.”

She blinked twice. “Hm?”

I leaned in, whispering. “Your secret is safe with me, my dear. Though, perhaps you should share your special technique with Kiyo? She’s so self-conscious about her looks, and you’re hogging enough for the both of you.”

She pursed her lips for a moment. She glanced down at her chest before covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh my! Did you just… No, of course not!”

I waved her off. “Of course, of course. Naturally.” I gave her an exaggerated wink.

Her nose curled as she looked at me crossly. “That isn’t funny at all.”

I frowned. My little bon mot had gone over like a lead balloon. “It’s a little funny.”

“No, it isn’t.” She looked down at herself and sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could be slim and adorable like Kiyo. I’ve always gotten the wrong sort of attention. My… endowments are always the first thing everybody notices when they meet me! Even you can’t keep your eyes away!”

“I… yes, I suppose that’s true,” I said, leaning back in the chair, surprised by her reaction. I had joked with her about her figure before without that sort of blowup. What had changed?

An image flashed through my mind. When I had stumbled across her and Paul in the clearing, Paul had told her something along the lines of, ‘the only reason anybody puts up with you is because you’re stacked.’

I winced. That was certainly enough. “I am sorry, my… I’m sorry, Mariko. That was insensitive.”

“It’s alright.” Her expression softened an instant before she started giggling.

“What, my jokes aren’t funny, but my apologies are?” I asked, indignantly.

She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t the apology. I was just thinking how much you’ve changed.” She reached out and squeezed my hand.

That tremble in her hand was still there. It always would be.

“I haven’t, though,” I said, almost desperate. “I’m the same as I always was.” I wanted to pull back, so I wouldn’t have to think about her plight, but it seemed wrong, somehow. I found I couldn’t even enjoy the softness of her skin, since her calluses from long hours with an artist’s pen only reminded me of what she had lost.

“If you say so,” she said. “Magpie… no, Soren. I know how much it irks you when we call you that. Why irritate you when our time together is so short?”

My heart raced. “How do you know that?” For a brief moment, my guilty conscience told me she had found me out, somehow.

She smiled at me sweetly. “The War Games and the exam are both worth the same. I’m going to sit out the games, of course, so the most I could earn is a fifty percent, even if I knew the combat spells.”

“Do you know what’s to become of you if you can’t advance?” Not that I was overly concerned, but it satisfied my intellectual curiosity. Naturally.

Naturally.

She let out a forlorn sigh. “No, it’s new territory for everybody involved. I’m the first conscientious objector they have ever had. Mr. Maki has asked me a few times if I might reconsider, just to get by. You aren’t the only one who’s become kinder. Now, stop interrupting me. I have a lot to get off my chest.”

I didn’t take her blatantly obvious bait. “I don’t see where I’m so special. Surely you could find another study partner.”

She pressed her fingers against my lips. “I said no interruptions. You changed things for us all, Soren. Before you showed up, Yukiko, Kiyo and I were chasing Hiro and recovering from Taiwan. We had our fun, and they were good times, but we were stuck in our patterns. I was wallowing, worried that Hiro and the others would learn about my secret, trying not to stand out. And then you showed up, stared at my chest, and got so flustered when I called you out on it. It was almost cute.”

Cute? Cute? What nonsense.

“I thought I took you under my wing, since you had just lost your home, but that isn’t how things worked out. You always were there to look out for me,” she continued. “You saved me from giving myself to Paul, you helped me work up my courage with Hiro, and you listened and kept my secret. You’ve become one of my dearest friends. We don’t have many days left together, and I’d hate to have you go off to the second year without telling you that.”

By the Dark Lord, I wanted to storm out of there after so many insults in such quick succession.

Instead, I found myself saying, “I’ll miss you, too. I’ll miss you all.”

She cocked her head, looking at me quizzically. “Pardon? Miss us all?”

Blast it all, another slip of the tongue! “My first year, I mean. Who’s to say I’ll be in the same class as Hiro, Rose, and the rest?”

“I’m to say,” she said. “That’s why we’re studying, silly. They won’t keep you with Kiyo, but I think we can get you out of remedial classes.”

“I’m not worried about ending up there,” I replied. And with that, I went back to memorizing the spell. It seemed like the safest thing I could do.

“And you’ll join us on Sunday,” she added. It was a command, not a question. “We both know there’s nothing you could be doing then, and you’ll make Kiyo happy.”

“I can’t see what else could come up,” I replied. After that sustained assault on my demonic pride, I didn’t have it in me to object. I prayed that something would come up, so I could keep some emotional distance.