Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

We Are the Imarizu

Mana threw a stone allowing it to splash further away, as far as her normal strength allowed her to throw it. Kiyomi followed Mana's example but hers flew beyond view, far away into the distance to where neither of the girls could pick up the stone anymore.

"You could've done better than that..." Kiyomi teased Mana.

"I didn't throw it to fly, I threw it to disturb the water," Mana replied observing the uneasy waves washing away at the resort's sandy beach surface.

"This may not have been the best time to visit the beach," Kiyomi admitted and in a way she was right – the beach was closed and it even if it wasn't there'd be absolutely no allure in swimming around in such cold waters.

"Depends on what you are seeking to gain out of it. A beach is a great place for reflection any time of the day." Mana calmly replied.

"Still, we should visit some warmer time, take that third teammate with us too." Kiyomi shrugged and tossed another stone, trying to make it skip but the stone sunk like a brick after hitting the wavy surface.

"Yeah, Meiko would love the beach, she's a lover in general, loves most things actually..." Mana nodded her head with a restrained smile before picking up another stone, tossing it around in her hand and then letting it fall back down as she didn't want to throw it. The magician turned around and just began to walk across the beachside.

"You still haven't spoken to me about what you wanted to speak with me yesterday. We'll be heading home whenever we get news that this whole bounty business is over and we'll be absorbed into our training and missions and all that stuff so... What are you waiting for?" Kiyomi asked following after Mana.

"It's just... I'm not sure I need that question answered anymore." Mana shrugged.

"Did you find out the answer yourself?" Kiyomi didn't let it go, strutting behind Mana.

"Well... Kind of. I figured out I don't need that question answered." Mana looked down uneasily, remembering her talk with Eiju after she came back.

"So it was just about hanging out with me, training and all that? You won't ask what you wanted to ask me?" Kiyomi looked up at Mana curiously.

"Well... I just met this young man, Kouta, in the mission I was in. We like each other but now that I've got my chakra control back I just... I don't know where things fit in anymore. I do stage magic, I'm a ninja... Can I really be a girlfriend too?" Mana finally admitted what she wanted to talk to Kiyomi about originally. Talking to Eiju sort of cleared it up for Mana but Kiyomi was in a much closer position to Mana's so it sort of made more sense to talk to her about it.

After all the blonde was a future possible clan heiress, a bride of another elite clan member, a ninja as well. It was quite possible that she had more on her plate to deal with than Mana. Eiju's answer was inspiring but Eiju was well... Eiju. He did things without thinking, future consequences may as well have been a tale to scare kids away from drinking. He couldn't have cared that much about balancing the many things he was, he acted out of pure impulse, all he was looking for was the pleasure and feeling happy. It didn't matter if such desires were within his grasp or if what he was doing would even grant those goals, doing, moving ahead was what mattered with him.

"Yeah, that sounds like something that'd trouble you..." Kiyomi lowered her own eyes, she was probably hoping for another question which intrigued Mana a bit more than what she herself was going through.

"What's wrong?" Mana asked turning around at Kiyomi.

"It's just..." Kiyomi began speaking but then cut it off.