"You know, I only spared you yesterday because my fiancee insisted I talk things over with people before stabbing them. So why are you back here today? Do you think I have the patience of Buddha?" Isao Oono sighed, tapping his spear across the back of his shoulders in time with his words. He should have known listening to Shiori would just get him into trouble. What was the point of invisibility if he couldn't kill with it? He was terrible at giving speeches anyway. What did she expect him to say? "Today the weather sure is nice?" He was talking to a wyrd contracted Dead Ender, humans handpicked for being the most nefarious evildoers on Earth. What does she expect from me, miracles?
"It won't go like last time, Choice Giver." The Dead Ender smirked cockily, a werewolf with red eyes and slavering jaws that could no doubt bite through trucks and were poisonous besides. He could probably regenerate too. Magic was good about matching people's inner expectations. "Now that you've stopped skulking around, it's all over. Say your prayers!"
Isao Oono held up his free hand, willing him not to move, still tapping his spear haft on his opposite shoulder. "The weather sure is fine today, isn't it?" There. He had tried to convert the Dead Ender just like she wanted. He'd given it his all this time.
"RAWRRR!" The werewolf growled one last time in disgust and lunged across the open park grounds. He was fast, far faster than an ordinary human. Of course, Isao wasn't an ordinary human anymore. He was a Choice Giver. It was time he let this lupine understand what that meant.
"Split form!" Isao announced to Black, whose light created a black bubble around him. Isao Oonos dashed out of the bubble in every direction, some even jumping into the air.
"You can't fool me. There's only one real body!" The wolf yelled, jumping and biting from one Isao to the other, his claws and teeth harmlessly passing through them.
"Grappling hook!" Isao announced, and a thousand pronged ropes shot out from all of his separate illusionary replicas. The werewolf looked with dismay for any place to dodge, but the ropes were spinning in from everywhere. In that moment of hesitation the singular true Isao's singular true rope hit perfectly, winding and winding around his arms and torso so fast that the Dead Ender lost his balance and toppled over sideways.
"Flash Move!" Isao blinked from his location which had been directly behind his starting location, appearing in a single instant right in front of his opponent's fallen form. And in that instant Isao sank his spear deep into the Earth an inch from the werewolf's protruding snout.
"Strike two." Isao said over his opponent, breathing hard as he leaned menacingly on his spear. "Yesterday was strike one. Strike three and you're out. Go and sin no more."
The Dead Ender gave out a howl of frustration, fury and despair.
* * *
Shiori Rin heard the howl and despite herself jumped to her feet in worry. "Awesome." Shiori half-asked.
"Don't worry. I can still scry his presence." Awesome paused a moment. "He's heading this way now."
"And the Dead Ender?" Shiori asked, still worried. Just because he was alive didn't mean he wasn't injured. A Dead Ender just would have to interrupt her picnic with her fiance and friends. They never cared about timing, or common courtesy. It was so like evil doers.
"He's alive. . .but his wavelength. . .is somehow muted. Like a steak knife becoming a butter knife." Awesome blinked confusedly.
"As expected from my love." Shiori beamed brightly. "He converted him! I knew he could do it if he would just try! I wonder what he said! I bet it was the most brilliant speech ever. Don't you think so too, Awesome?"
"I . . . no comment." Awesome passed, knowing it was impossible to contradict Shiori once she was on a roll.
"Isaooooo!" Shiori shouted, jumping and waving at him as he appeared over the horizon, still draped in his ninja clothes with a distinctly non-bloody spear trapped by his arms behind the back of his head. She couldn't tell if he smiled behind his masked face. Only his eyes were exposed behind all his black leather and cloth, and she was too far away to see what they were saying.
Isao gave a nonchalant wave, lifting one hand to acknowledge her presence, then continued walking back to their spread out picnic blanket
"What is that? He could act a little more excited." Shiori pouted, biting her lower lip.
"You know him better than that." Masanori cajoled.
"Boo." Shiori kept her face in a pout for a few more seconds, then got tired of it and rushed up the hill to meet him 3/4ths of the way with a brilliant proud smile.
"You did it! You're amazing! I want to have your kids! Marry me!" Shiori said, hugging him tight.
Isao folded out of his ninja gear and back into his street clothes, a proud grin on his face. "Silly. You believed all that already."
"Nope! Only now! I was just teasing before!" Shiori drew back to show she was just teasing now with her smile, then kissed him on the lips. The kiss lingered for a few seconds as they both relaxed with another near-death experience behind them. Shiori Rin was twenty years old and Isao Oono was twenty-two, and their lives were already set in stone. Isao was Shiori's first, last, and only. In love, intimacy, and everything else. She didn't need to know who else was out there or how happy they'd make her. She was already the happiest she'd ever been. There was no point asking for more.
Isao took her arm between his and held her waiting hand at the bottom, all their fingers interlocked instead of just their palms, and the two walked back down the hill to their spread out resting spot. It was another hot summer in southerly Inazumu, Japan, but the breeze, shade, and the river flowing nearby all helped to keep it cool. It was the start of their year together, before he flew abroad assassinating bad guys for their year apart. She wished he would never leave, but that had been his deal. She wasn't ever going to ask him to change it. That would be fundamentally dishonest. It would be despicable.
"Awesome says you rendered the Dead Ender harmless. He says he's too dull to cut a single branch of possibility anymore." Shiori gushed.
"That's good to hear." Isao laughed.
"What did you say to him to change his mind?" Shiori asked.
"Oh, you know. This and that." Isao replied vaguely.
"I'm really curious!" Shiori leaned into him.
"Oh, just boy talk. You wouldn't understand." Isao said, shooing it away dismissively. "What's important is he's agreed to stop, right?"
"I suppose." Shiori pouted disappointedly. What had he said?
"Welcome back, Isao, Shiori." Kotone Miyamoto smiled brightly. Kotone had the most beautiful smile in the world. But currently she was a little short of perfection due to being heavily pregnant. Standing watchfully by her side, still in his samurai garb, was her older husband and Choice Giver number 4 at the picnic, Masanori Miyamoto. Shiori had been so anxious about the fight, she was actually surprised to see them sitting there on the spread out blanket. She had forgotten them completely.
"So can we spread the good news? Our final Choice Giver has finally talked a Dead Ender into coming back to the good side?" Kotone asked merrily.
"Yep!" Shiori stepped away from her fiance and showed him off proudly. "He's a second stage Choice Giver now, just like everyone here! He won't lose to anyone!"
Isao gave an embarrassed bow, and Kotone and Masanori clapped with congratulations.
"So where were we, before the interruption?" Kotone asked, always the social expert and the flawless moderator of any party.
"Wedding invitations." Shiori sat down, already wearing the diamond ring they had gone shopping together for a week ago on the fourth finger of her left hand. It was expensive without being enormous, in a subtle but beautiful way she could look at all day. The diamond was black, because it reminded her of him, and the entire band had an inset of precious gems in a small dip surrounded by a rise of gold on either side. The two of them could afford anything, since they were both earning 100 million yen a year as 'consultants' to Angle Corporation -- which consisted exactly of one person, the owner, who just so happened to be Masanori, their best friend. She didn't feel guilty at all for splurging on the wedding ring. Marriage was special, and so the symbol of it should be special too.
"That's right." Kotone put on a compassionate face. "I never asked before. What happened to your family, Isao?"
"Hmm? Oh, I left a note." Isao said casually, leaning over to pick up a handmade onigiri by a very unexpert wife-in-training. He only realized he'd said something wrong when the entire picnic fell into dead silence. For a moment even the crickets stopped chirping.
"You did what?" Shiori started dangerously.
"You know. When I was 15 and Black told me I was Chosen. Obviously I couldn't stay any longer. . .so I left a note. . ." Isao trailed off, looking at Shiori's and Kotone's disapproving glares.
"Obviously, huh? So I suppose I've been quite the idiot for living with my parents up until now, huh?" Shiori said.
"More importantly, how much do you think your Mother's been worried about you?" Kotone said in a high pitched squeal.
"It's not like that at all. We're all really easygoing, as a family. Not like yours. I'm sure they took it well." Isao said, waving his hand.
"So my family isn't easygoing enough, huh?" Shiori asked even more angrily.
"There's no Mother on Earth who would just accept a note and stop worrying about a son who hasn't contacted her again in seven years!" Kotone squealed at a nigh supersonic pitch.
Isao looked desperately to Masanori for help, who shivered in fear and fled nearly to the other side of his tree out of sight.
"Isaooooooo." Shiori said, placing her face directly in front of his.
"Yes dear?" Isao said sweetly.
"We're writing another 'note,' right now! You'll tell them that you're marrying a sweet, sweet young girl and ask them to attend our wedding, right?" Shiori asked.
"Right. Of course. That was my intention to begin with." Isao kept his eyes closed to avoid seeing her angry face any more.
"And that you want them to meet me as soon as possible, right?" Shiori continued.
"Of course. Naturally." Isao gritted.
"And you'll apologize for not saying anything until now, right?" Kotone put her fists on her hips.
"An apology. . . but it was completely sensible. . ." Isao protested.
"ISAO!" Both his current and ex-girlfriend shouted in unison.
"Right, an apology, of course. That was my intention already." Isao wished he was back on the battlefield fighting werewolves.
"And as for you, Mr. Quiet. Come to think of it, I don't know what happened to your family either." Kotone turned like a hurricane towards her disappearing lover. "Surely you didn't 'leave a note' too, did you?"
"If I had, I certainly wouldn't admit it now." Masanori laughed.
"What was that?" Both girls chimed in unison.
"I didn't! I didn't! It was nothing like that. Both my parents died of lung cancer when I was in my 20's. They smoked over a pack a day. They wouldn't stop even when their doctors begged them to and showed X-rays of their tumors. Of course they didn't qualify for any organ transplants, so it was all over from the beginning. And before you ask, I was an only child. They spent all their spare money on more cigarettes. I was probably an accident they resented for cutting into their smoking budget in the first place. There's no way they were going to allow a younger sibling through that gauntlet. Mother didn't even stop smoking while she was pregnant." Masanori said, his face growing harder and harder the longer he thought about the subject. "I don't like talking about it so I never do, that's all."
"That's terrible." Kotone was instantly back to her empathetic self. She struggled to stand up to go over and comfort him, but she sat back down in frustration and just ended up patting her baby through her stomach instead. "I'm so sorry, Masanori. Why do Japanese love smoking so much?" Kotone asked herself. It was the curse of their country. One quarter of the population of Japan smoked even though science had proven it to be a dirty deadly habit long ago. "Sometimes they smoke right in front of me, never mind the baby in my womb."
"Tell them to put their cigarettes out." Masanori ordered urgently.
"I do, but it's a free country. The teenagers especially just roll their eyes and laugh. Such obnoxious good for nothing. . ." Kotone closed her mouth before she let out any curse words.
Shiori laughed. "Kotone, we were teenagers just a few months ago ourselves, isn't it a little soon to talk about the 'darn youths?'"
Kotone blinked, lifting a finger to her lips and tapping them. "You know, you're right. I'd forgotten."
"What is that? You forgot your own age?" Shiori laughed disbelievingly.
"You'll understand soon enough, Shiori. I'm a mother now. That means I'm an adult. And everyone around me is still just a bunch of bratty children. In this world there are mothers, children, and threats to our children. That's all." Kotone said, cupping her stomach protectively.
"Do you know the baby's sex?" Shiori asked.
"It's a girl." Kotone smiled. "Her name is Kotori, after both of us." She nearly sung the name instead of saying it, she loved her daughter so much already.
"Kotori Miyamoto." Shiori breathed. "It's beautiful, Kotone."
"Isn't it?" Kotone sighed. "But Aiko went and stole Bubbles away for herself."
"There's always Capri." Shiori said encouragingly. The new wyrd who had come down to say the etheric plane was saved thanks to Shiori's good advice was living with Kotone at her voluminous mansion alongside their pet mad scientist Cho Kai. She was still a baby in wyrd terms, just a ten year old girl in human form.
"It's hopeless. Capri's already Saki's playmate." Kotone sighed. "It's just a matter of time before Chiharu grabs our new wyrd for her remaining little sister."
"Aiko says that was an accident." Shiori held out hope.
"Chiharu? Accident? I'll never believe it." Kotone scorned the very idea. Kotone's magic was acid and poison for a reason. "No, when we get back from our picnic, I'm sure we'll be hearing the news. Saki 'accidentally' through a strange slip of the tongue said "Via tu lusches, Capri" and poof, it couldn't be helped, they were bound!"
Shiori laughed. "Impossible!"
Isao sighed as he wondered what to write to his parents. He'd stopped composing in his head in frustration after the first sentence:
"Dear folks,
The weather sure is good today, isn't it?"
What on Earth else was there to say?
* * *
"Sakai?" The teacher asked in an efficient drone as she took attendance for the day.
"Here here." Saki Sakai replied, raising her hand. It was a couple months into the 2nd trimester of her 5th year of elementary school. In Japan, school years had three parts punctuated by three long breaks. The school year started in April, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It then continued until a long midsummer break, after which point it picked up again for the second trimester. This lasted until around Christmas, when schools got out again for their winter break. The third trimester started up again in January and went until spring break, at which point you'd move up a year and start all over. Elementary school had six grades, including children from six to twelve years old. Middle school had three grades, from twelve to fifteen years old. High school finished up with three more grades, from fifteen to eighteen years old. It depended on your entrance examinations which high schools, if any, you could attend, because Japan believed in tracking. But that wouldn’t be a problem for Saki, who was smart enough to always be near the top of her class. She assumed that if she worked at it she could have been at the top of the class, but she didn’t see the point. The sky wouldn’t fall if she wasn’t the valedictorian of elementary school after all. She was ten years old, but would turn eleven next week. She ached for that extra year. Eleven was one year closer to twelve, which was one year closer to thirteen, which was one year closer to fourteen, which was just a hair's breadth away from fifteen, which was her older sister Aiko's age. Once she was fifteen she would be a full adult like Aiko. Everyone would respect her, she could have a boyfriend of her own, she could go anywhere she pleased without having to tell anyone, and even fly on planes all around the world like her sister had. And she was just one week from turning eleven. She was infinitely close to being fifteen years old, but in exchange each day seemed to take an infinite length to pass. The waiting was torture.
"One 'here' is enough.” The teacher corrected Saki peremptorily, and the class laughed. Saki put her forehead on her desk to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes.
“Sato?” The teacher continued calling attendance over her unruly class.
“Here.” The boy raised his hand.
“Takahashi?” The teacher continued.
“Here.” The girl replied quietly.
“Uemeda?” The teacher gave one last query.
“Here.” The boy replied.
“Great,” The teacher finished ticking off her boxes. “Everyone’s present then. I know it’s a little late in the trimester, but a new friend is joining us today. I want everyone to get along with her and help her when she has any questions, okay?”
“Yes, teacher.” The class responded cheerfully, excited at the prospect of this new mystery girl.
“Kouno? You can come in now.” The teacher made a dramatic gesture towards the door.
The door slid open, revealing a short girl with long black hair held out of her eyes by a bright red ribbon that stood up like bunny ears over her head. Other than that she wore a long white shirt with lacy ruffled frills at the bottom, creating the effect of a dress without actually being a dress, and blue jeans underneath that stopped before reaching her ankles. After that came tiny socks that didn’t reach up to her ankles and tiny laceless white tennis shoes that shined to perfection without a single scrape or scuff. She stood shoulders braced with her arms folded behind her, her left hand casually clasped around her right wrist, with an easy and practiced smile for her new classmates. Other than a basic dress code for decency, elementary schoolers didn’t have a school uniform. That privilege was reserved for middle schoolers on up, and was a way of recognizing the growth of students who had reached that level of maturity. Everyone in elementary school wished they could be wearing the school uniform of middle schoolers, and middle schoolers spent all their time wishing they could wear the school uniform of high schoolers. No one envied the freedom of elementary schoolers to dress as they pleased. It just meant no one cared how they dressed because no adult would look at them twice anyway. Having to wear a school uniform meant you were no longer invisible, and thus what you wore mattered. It was a compliment that you’d finally arrived at an age where your decisions had an impact on those around you. With power came responsibility, but the inverse of that was equally true: Irresponsibility was only reserved for the powerless. No one would seriously accept such a bargain if they had a choice. No one ever did.
“Kouno, please write your name on the chalkboard and introduce yourself to the class,” the teacher smiled encouragingly. The transfer student walked confidently to the blackboard and turned her back to the class, hiding her name until the last instant, where she turned around and revealed it with a flourish.
“My name is Eri Kouno, it’s nice to meet you. I’ll be under your care from here on.” Eri Kouno gave a polite bow to the class, which was replied to with polite applause from her audience.
“My parents moved to Inazumu because they heard it was the safest, nicest, prettiest place on Earth, so I already know everyone in this town is amazing. I can’t wait to make friends with all of you, and I’ll strive to not bring your city’s reputation down by joining it.” Eri bowed again, and this time the applause was thunderous, with the entire class saying it was “nice to meet you too.” Saki found herself smiling and clapping despite herself, realizing for the first time just how pretty Kouno was. She liked the girl immediately, and wondered if she could make a real friend in school for the first time. At home she had her family, and Capri would come over to play, or she would go to Kotone’s mansion with Chiharu to play with Capri, but that was different. Saki hadn’t made any of those friends herself, they had just fallen into her lap. If she could make a new friend under her own power, she could be more like Aiko, who had Sayuri and Mizuki, or Chiharu, who had Kotone and Shiori. It would be her first step to matching them deed for deed. But then again, from the reaction of her classmates, they were all thinking the same thing, so Saki’s chances of stealing Kouno for herself were statistically unrealistic. Saki sighed to herself. If Kouno were going to make any friends, it would definitely be the popular girls in the upper right corner of the classroom. They shared the same fashion sense and magnetic personalities after all. All Saki had was her brains and up-to-date knowledge about all currently airing television dramas. Not much to win over a cool girl like Kouno in conversation.
“There’s an open desk next to Sakai, Kouno.” The teacher gestured politely, pleased with Kouno’s speech as much as her students were, instantly taking a liking to her new pupil. “Why don’t you sit down there and we can begin our lessons?”
“Yes, teacher.” Kouno bowed politely and walked through the rows of desks to her new home. Saki almost held her breath as Kouno sat down beside her, her hair just centimeters away from Saki’s hand, and then started even more nervously when Kouno immediately turned to look her in the face and smiled.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Kouno said in a whisper. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any books or materials yet. Can I share with you for today?”
“Of course!” Saki smiled, wondering what goddess had blessed her this day. Kouno was stuck with her, like it or not! Now she had to become Saki’s friend!
“You know my name, but I don’t know yours.” Kouno smiled appreciatively and readjusted her desk halfway closer so they could look at Saki’s open book together. It also meant they could talk even more quietly without disturbing the class.
“I’m Saki. Saki Sakai. It has a pretty ring to it, don’t you think?” Saki asked hopefully.
“You almost rhyme!” Kouno laughed. “Your parents are so mean to not let you rhyme perfectly!”
Saki laughed with her, covering her mouth with her hand to keep her voice down. “I don’t mind at all. Saki’s a special name for our family. I’m the third child, the full blossom of our family’s love. My parents loved what they’d made so far too much to not have a third.”
“But then they stopped at you.” Kouno pointed out teasingly. “So I guess you weren’t good enough to merit a fourth.”
“I wasn’t to blame for that!” Saki blushed. “I’m already piled up in the same room as my sister. I’m sure they just didn’t have any more space for another baby!”
“I’m sorry, I said too much.” Kouno bowed, abashed. “I just suddenly felt like we were friends and said the first thing that came to mind.”
“It’s okay, I wasn’t angry.” Saki smiled, the warmth of being ‘felt like’ a friend flowing through her. “I felt like we were friends too.”
“For the record, my name doesn’t rhyme at all and I’m an only child, so my parents must hate me way more.” Kouno continued apologetically.
“I’m sure it’s because there’s no point adding to perfection.” Saki replied encouragingly, suddenly in the reverse position of having to defend Kouno from Kouno instead of defending herself from Kouno.
“I’m trying my hardest.” Kouno replied with sincere longing, which put a pause to both girls’ chatter.
“Sakai, could you answer the problem on the board?” The teacher asked, patiently letting their conversation slide because every transfer student deserved a chance to fit in at the beginning.
“Yes, teacher.” Saki stood up and pushed her chair away from her desk. She only saw the math problem in front of her for the first time, but she solved it instantly in her head as she approached the blackboard, and fired the answer out with confident strokes of chalk. When she got back to her seat, Kouno was waiting with a congratulatory, conspiratorial smile.
“You’re good!” Kouno praised her in a whisper.
“That’s nothing. I’m a Sakai, like my sisters before me.” Saki preened under Kouno’s attention.
“Hmmm?” Kouno smiled mysteriously. “But I think your reign ends here. After all, I’m a Kouno. From here on I’m going to be number one.”
“Oh, I wasn’t number one in the first place. That belongs to Kisida in Peach class.” Saki dispelled the illusion quickly.
“Seriously? What rank are you then?” Kouno pouted.
“I think I was fifth on the last round of tests.” Saki tried to remember.
“That’s no fun.” Kouno slouched. “I wanted to compete with you.”
“If you want, I’ll win first on the next test.” Saki grinned cockily.
“Really?” Kouno held up her hand with one pinky outstretched. “On the next test, let’s stake our family honor then. The loser. . .hmm. . .the loser has to come over to the winner’s house and meet her parents, so they can see how great they are. Do you promise to try this time?”
“I promise.” Saki said excitedly, realizing that the stakes were a prize worth winning or losing for. She held out her pinky and the two intertwined their fingers and shook on it.
“Kouno? Can you solve this next problem?” The teacher asked her next. Kouno stood up, her red ribbon bouncing well above her head, and solved it in a flash. Saki gulped. She might have to study for this one.
