Beast [Irregular at Magic High School fanfic] (Boyxboy)

Chapter 26

It was two monotonous months before anything of any further note happened.

At least, in my own opinion. Someone else would say the past two months have been one thing after another in both the technological and political realms of society and things-to-know by people-to-know. Three new exalting theories on space-time magic, each holding their own in numerous debates. Two open meetings between high-ranking clans, one of which two master clans were present at. A wedding between two members of minor clans previously at odds, ending a century old rivalry.

These were not trivial things to me. They practically didn't even exist to be considered trivial at all. I was too busy to pay attention to magic theories for sequences I'll never be able to cast myself, or the usual political scrabbling of news. Too busy with a project of my own.

Not quite a building project, at that.

Shortly after arriving home from the hotel in which I met my old friend in, I'd noticed the walls were especially barren. Unlike the rest of my family, I'm not a fan of pictures of the rest of my bloodline, and I've never been too overly fond of pictures of myself.

But barren walls feel too much like a box, so I'd decided to do something about it. That something being picking up a pencil and just trying to capture the life of something.

It's a difficult task. Though I draw often to sketch out designs of many devices and inner workings of projects, it's always mechanical. Even if it mirrors a living creature, it is still a machine in the end. There's no need for expression, or as I was once told by senior engineer, passion. My drawings lack life, even being of life. Which must be a skill in and of itself, certainly, that anything living I put to paper somehow looks dead. A butterfly on a flower, even.

Impressive, if I say so myself.

It's not what I want, though. I want life on my walls, not empty scenes. Maybe out of a form of desperation, I decided to pick a very different subject.

Myself. Or at least, the self I'm able to capture so often in different forms of life. This canine half of mine has no expression regardless, so it's easier. My guardian has other opinions, however. He suggested perhaps the reason my drawings somehow better and ease out with this subject is purely because it's something I naturally want to capture. That I want to hold the part of me that was once only a familiar in my memory.

I did not respond at the time. Only because I was aware that there is indeed a deep sentiment towards the part of me that is familiar. That familiar gave me the ability to live without the agony of illness. He gave me health, and mobility, and a sense of existence. Without that, I could not have ever been here now. There would be no Minoru, no third Shiba sibling, no Yotsuba nephew with a knack for weaponry.

Regardless, my project continues. Very few of my drawings have made it to even the consideration of improving them to reach the walls. That would be my goal, but this isn't a project I feel the need to rush so urgently. Only once I get it perfect.

However, being busy with a project can only make so much of the world fall away. Today, in the warmth of the sun, a pencil in my hand carefully marking out the sight of my other half lounging in the grass, Hiromoto brings me more than just tea.

"Minoru, there was point of correspondence while I was away to the kitchen."

I like the way he phrases things sometimes. A 'point of correspondence' usually meant he had received a message in verbal or written form. I set down my pencil in a holder clipped to the arm of my chair, so I can shift my attention towards him. He extends an ivory envelope for me to grasp with my left hand, before setting the tea down on the table beside me.