Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Trypanophobia

Mana gently pressed on the shoulder of her friend's body, the young medical ninja was totally passed out on the table with his head pressed at a book he was reading. This was odd as the magician couldn't remember Kouta reading anything before she finally went to sleep last night. He must've either lingered for a bit longer than she did or woke up early to study.

"What time is it?" the young ninja smacked his lips before flipping the book closed and shoving it aside. A moment later he began feeling a little bit bad about passing out right on top of Mana's book.

"Wake up 'o clock. Really shouldn't have read that, they won't test us on books we've read or math. It won't be a basic knowledge quiz." Mana sighed in playful irritation over her boyfriend's refusal to listen to what she told him yesterday.

"Can't know that..." the boy objected after finding his shirt and quickly slipping into it and carelessly stroking his hair using his hand in front of the mirror in Mana's room.

"Yes I can. The Exams are not quiz shows, they are practical procedures meant to find out not our knowledge of certain subjects but to ensure that our thought process matches that needed. It'll be a psychological or a mental test more than a usual written test." Mana argued, she had woken up earlier and left the medical ninja asleep in his unflattering position so she could have a shower and comb her hair. She didn't want to be seen in the early morning and was quite glad she wasn't.

"Well... I just wanted to know, when I look at that test today, that I've done anything and everything I can to be ready for it. Just so that I don't blame myself if I fail." Mana was always impressed by how fast the guys got ready, even right now Kouta just jumped on his feet and was completely ready to go in just a couple of moments and elementary self-checks.

"Can I use the bathroom?" he wondered.

"Sure, don't worry, mother wakes up early for work and father's gone for herbs and medical check-ups. By the time they come back we'll be out." Mana explained. It's been that way for a long time with mother and father, at least in mother's case the café she managed was becoming somewhat of a famous spot for small-time dating activities and just simple coffee breaks. As far as father was concerned there was little to no hopes for improvement of his injuries, after multiple Mystic Palm sessions his hands were looking almost like they weren't almost completely incinerated but what looked normal hid agonizing pain that nothing was able to cure, just temporarily calm it down.

"Alright, give me ten, I'll be ready to go." Kouta nodded after his face betrayed the boy's relief that he didn't have to waltz around the house in fear of the awkwardness of bumping into the magician's parents.

Obviously the relationship between the young man and Mana's parents was nowhere near as toxic and complicated as that of Mana's with Kouta's father. Come to think of it, the magician hadn't even really met her boyfriend's mother, not to her memory or knowledge. It may have been possible that she met the woman in the hospital and simply didn't know it though...

Kusagoro Jugo was a terrible man, pushing and manipulating the events around his own son to have him make all the same choices he did. He wanted Kouta to become an ANBU captain or at the very least an operative. From the way Kouta sometimes looked at Mana it was clear that the young man was conflicted about it. He wanted the training and attention of his father, obviously, the two did have some sort of a bond and even Mana could see it every time the two spoke or the magician saw them training in the training grounds. Still, whenever he accepted the man's training or allowed himself the pleasure of interacting with his father figure he knew he's accepting the deal with the devil who wanted him to be mixing the pot of sinners with his own fork one way...