After walking for about an hour, our originally light backpacks had gradually become heavier and heavier until it felt like we had stuffed the canoes into them. We slowed so much we were barely making any progress.
Ever since we entered Sage Academy, we had relied on our canti to do a lot of work for us, and so probably neglected to train our bodies, but even above that, having our powers taken from us made us feel even more weak and helpless.
Once in a while Rijin would come down from his lotus seat and observe our turtle-like movements with an expression of disdain and irritation, but he never said a word. He probably thought it was useless to talk to us.
The lotus seat floated two meters off the ground; Rijin sat upon it cross-legged as if meditating. We lagged about thirty meters behind, looking up at him as if from the bottom of a pond.
"That's true levitation," Shun whispered, as if trying to suppress his emotions.
Even adults who had mastered all the classes in Sage Academy couldn't necessarily do it. And compared to us making the canoe speed through the water, this was on a completely different level.
"I get making something float while you're riding it, but exactly what image is he using to propel himself through the air?"
{In the beginning cantus courses, we first learn to move a stationary object.} In order to move yourself through the air, you have to focus on a fixed point around you, which is a lot more difficult. For people like Rijin who have trained extensively, their image probably uses themselves as a fixed point while the rest of the world flows around them.
"What image he's using doesn't even matter anymore, right?" Satoru said bitterly. "It's not like we'll ever get to use our cantus again."
We all fell silent. Mamoru, who had been on the verge of tears this whole time, finally broke down crying. Maria also let out a sob.
"That's not true. Don't say stuff like that!" I glared at Satoru. "We'll definitely be able to use it again."
"How do you know?" Satoru said, staring back with an unusual ferocity.
"We haven't lost our canti, it's just been temporarily sealed."
"Do you really think they're going to unseal it?" Satoru leaned in close to me, a note of menace in his voice. "You remember what the false minoshiro said, right? We're "rotten apples" that know too much. We'll be targeted for removal soon."
"That's..." I had nothing to say in return.
"Isn't it weird though, Saki?" Shun turned and whispered even more quietly than Satoru.
"What's weird?"
"That Rijin priest. He's been acting strangely for a while now."
I looked up at him carefully.
"I don't see anything strange. Wasn't he always like that?" Satoru muttered with barely a glance at Rijin.
"Wait...he does look weird."
Until now, I had only been paying attention to our own problems and hadn't noticed. But Rijin was indeed acting strangely. His body movements as he was sitting were abnormal. Since he was in a seated meditation pose, he should have been breathing with his abdomen, but his shoulders were heaving visibly as he breathed. There was also a sheen of sweat on the back of his head.
"Maybe he's sick?" Shun said.
"So, what's it to us? Why should we have to worry about him?" Satoru complained.
