Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

From The Cage of Emotion, Into the White

"You're scaring the rats away." Erumo lamented after taking a seat on the bench that Mana pushed for her.

"I didn't try and force you out from the get-go, how about you give me the benefit of the doubt?" Mana shrugged. For some reason she imagined herself popping a cigarette at that moment but given how she neither had any cigarettes on her nor was a smoker her hands left dangling with the awkwardness that the magician tried to conceal by placing them neatly on her laps.

"Sure, just saying – no point to a trap that doesn't catch anything." Erumo rolled her eyes. Her appearance may have been a bit standoffish but her tone was friendly. The two girls had mended their differences a few years ago, differences that hailed from the time of the Chuunin Exams and, frankly, were well deserved from Mana's part, however, it seemed that whether it was for the general circumstances surrounding the meeting or the long period of time in which the friendship was not affirmed, things have chilled by a considerable leap between the two again.

"So you've failed to catch a boy who dressed in a rat suit so now you're catching every rat in the region? Hardly seems healthy." Mana observed. This was once again one of those observations that the magician imagined herself lighting up a smoke while delivering in her mind yet because the reality did not fit her imagination, probably came off significantly lamer than initially thought.

"You're hardly the one to lecture people about healthy ways of dealing with trauma. If I reply too rudely will you disappear for three years on one of your pilgrimage trips again?" Erumo looked away. Rats around these parts were hardly shy and to an aspiring vermin hunter, the very sight of their curious snouts must have invited thoughts of wasted time.

Mana sighed. It did not take a master psychologist to realize that she was wasting time with this approach.

"You know, my father was a pretty good trap specialist himself," Mana observed.

"You must have been gone for longer than I thought, forgot all about the part where he was one of the inspirations that drove me to choose this path." Erumo finally looked at Mana straight. Her eyes weren't sharp but her tongue still thrust for the available openings.

"What you may not have known is that he helps me design the death traps and gadgets I use on stage. He comes up with the ideas for them, I build them under his guidance and careful observation." Mana said.

"Okay, you've made me jealous, to what end though?" Erumo raised an eyebrow.

"We don't have to just sit and talk. This isn't an interrogation. I'm just worried about you and Kouta and if building traps helps you relax, I can try it out, maybe it will help me too." Mana shrugged. Deep down she knew she was playing dirty – the first way to successfully interrogate someone was to convince them that they weren't being interrogated.

"You're worried about both of us and yet it's me you've come to talk to?" Erumo said in surprise. The young woman stood on her feet and moved back to the lumbering and dusty oak table where she had a handful of contraptions and metal parts that were yet to make something coherent and of purpose.

"Kouta doesn't quite talk to me. I don't think I have the strength to try and get to him regardless. Who knows, maybe your method of dealing with baggage will help me better than mine." Mana shrugged, approaching the crafting table herself.

"No offense but moping is not a method of dealing with baggage. It's a sign of drowning in baggage." Erumo grinned, whether it was because she found something to smile about in this reply of hers or because of the rotating buzzsaw mechanism that she's completed and prepared to install onto a tiny box was unclear.

Mana failed to humor that with a response. With skillful movements of her arm, she collected small cylinders and screwed them onto a metal stand. The magician flipped and rolled the half-done piece about in her hands, she didn't care to look up and face the respectful surprise in Erumo's face. Mana sighed before placing her project back on the table and moving to a nearby rack filled with jars and little barrels. The young woman looked at one she opened and liked the color of before walking up to Erumo and moving the open jar to her friend's face.