Chapter 4.2 (1/2)

PART 2

Behind her obsidian eyes there was a light of strong conviction. Mikoto knew that she had a seemingly strong sense of justice, but for it to be actually so strong?

(The spirit of self-sacrifice and the urge to help…… huh?)

Mikoto could feel that Masumi’s string sense of justice was beginning to slowly seep into her.

***

After school, both Mikoto and Masumi went to the roof of the main school building and stood at its west end, overlooking the pool.

“Someplace…… like…… this……?”

Masumi clings to Mikoto’s arm, averting her gaze from the roof’s edge and shivering all over. It seems that she wasn’t good with high places. The wind suddenly blows and her long black hair dance on it.

“It’s so dangerous…… Did we really had to come here?”

“Well, yes. It’s to prevent youmas from hurting you.”

Mikoto leans back to the roof and smiles bitterly. Last night she failed to notice it, but this building was pretty high. This was also the place where she separated from Takeru, and that decision cost her her dear little sister’s health. She couldn’t forgive herself for that.

(No matter how I look at it, it was stupid of me……)

She needed to calm herself down. Otherwise, if she won’t do that, Takeru’s life is going to get in even more danger.

“So, umm…… Those demons, they are called youma……?”

“Yes, and they managed to defeat Takeru. Frostbites, aqua bullets…… Umm, this means that the element of that youma was ‘Water’ while Takeru uses ‘Wind’….. Wait a minute, no, Fujisawa-san doesn’t need to know this much for now.”

“No, please, we don’t know whether we might find some clue. Please, tell me everything you know.”

Said Masumi with an innocent look on her face. She was surprisingly diligent. She wanted to learn new things, and every time she learned something new she would have tons of questions. Hoping that Takeru wouldn’t get mad at her afterwards, Mikoto began speaking, producing a torrent of words from her mouth.

“Let’s see, there are five basic elements theory. It says that everything in this world can be derived from one of the five basic elements: fire, wind, earth, water and lightning. These elements can be combined with each other, but some of them are compatible, while som others are not……”

She was also going to teach her about other instruments helpful in performing a successful exorcism, like salt, ofudas and chopsticks, however, she had to give up on the idea seeing in Masumi’s eyes that she was already having trouble in keeping up with all that new information.

(Right, but from here on out I must work extra hard……)

She took Masumi with her, but it was as far as she would let her help –– without proper specialist knowledge it would be impossible for Masumi to perform even the shred of work that Takeru normally did.

They went back into the school building, while Mikoto was talking about basic concepts of magic used in performing exorcisms.

“So, I guess magic was your little sister’s specialty?”

Masumi was asking Mikoto question after question. Her curiosity knew no bounds.

“Oh, yeah, about that…… Ah, that’s right. Take a look at this.”

Mikoto stopped at the landing in between the flight of stairs, and took a small pieces of paper out of her pocket, the like of which were placed all over the walls here and there. These Shinoto charms would stand out in this Academy way too much, that is why Takeru placed aspell on them, one that would hide them from the eyes of normal students.

And since Masumi had no clue about magic, in her eyes, the paper slip appeared mostly out of thin air. She looked at the paper with utmost curiosity, and then back at Mikoto.