Tahro Akagi shouldn't live in two worlds at once.
Yet, forced to spend his days studying by a no-nonsense mother, he longs for adventure. In a moment of desperation, Tahro's soul splits in two. While one of his selves remains in Japan, the other fi...
Beautiful, glorious outside air, complete with the scents of wildflowers, hit me. I sucked in deep breaths as though I was drowning. Unkempt grass scratched my calves as I ran to the house, trying to put as much distance between me and the stable. Tsubasa was walking toward me, a glass of water in his hand. He called out something with a frown, but I passed him by without a second glance.
Oh God, had he noticed something was off too? Yesterday in the maze-- It felt like that was aeons ago-- Tsubasa appeared confused while manipulating my life spirit. Of course, it could be nothing. Maybe he just needed more practice with his abilities. But my panicking heart refused to calm.
Once inside, I asked Mrs Sana directions to her library. I needed to be somewhere quiet and calm, where I could be left alone.
The little room she led me to was just perfect. It was cramped, with three tall cabinets of yellowing books and a couple of armchairs crowded together. It was filled with a musty smell. Daisuke was curled up on one of the chairs, scouring the fat book on his lap. I didn't think he noticed my arrival.
Grabbing the closest volume off the shelf, I flipped to a random page. I didn't actually feel like reading, but I didn't want to look suspicious in case anyone came in. Would anyone come in? Minister Fuyu's words of Minister Banji waiting for a good reason to arrest me echoed in my mind. My breathing quickened, and I began to tremble. Oh God, any moment now, swordsmen are going to knock down the door and arrest me!
Minutes passed and no one came. The birds outside chirped just like before, and Daisuke occasionally flipped the pages of his book like nothing was wrong with the world. Fear drifted out of my system, leaving me exhausted. Before I knew it, I nodded off to sleep, head falling between the pages of my book.
Daisuke shook me awake in time for dinner, and I placed the book back on the shelf, murmuring a sorry for wrinkling its pages. My bones were lead as I walked downstairs. Would he be there? But thankfully, Mr Cesar was nowhere to be seen. Throughout dinner, I tried to calm down, tried to not think about anyone barging in, Mr Cesar pointing me out to the swordsmen with angry eyes or Minister Banji sentencing me to a life in jail. Tomorrow was the new chapter, and I had to meditate in a few hours. It wouldn't do to be so shaken up.
But I still had to try a few times before I could see through my other self's eyes.
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June 8. Fourteen going on fifteen years old. Japan.
A man leaned over a table on which were papers splayed haphazardly. He twirled a pencil around his fingers as he ran his eyes, which shone like silver, over messy diagrams and words that were brought to sharp relief by the many candles around him. A pair of crutches were propped up against his chair. He tutted to himself while crossing out a few letters here and adding a few there on the papers.
I drew in a breath. Those were witching runes! The books I'd read had referred to about fifty of the most common ones, and I recognized a few from the picture. A semi-circle of radiating lines-- 'to release'-- a double line for 'to resonate' and the symbols for the four elements; fire, water, air and earth.
