Confessions of the Magpie Wizard Book 3: Dissolution (Chapters 26 & 27) (Patreon)

Art of Kiyo by Image Inks 

I couldn't sleep much last night just due to stress, so I figured I'd put it to work and post this week's chapters a few days early. I don't think anyone will complain too much...

Chapter 26

“You can’t tell me that was normal,” I said to Kiyo as we made our way to the sewing club room. Kiyo was still in her uniform, while I was in a blue polo shirt I had finally saved up enough credits for. I had to use the school’s black pants, though. My casual wardrobe was rather paltry. “If that wasn’t blood on her arm, what was it?”

“She’s pretty much fine,” replied Kiyo as I guided her through the library. She was buried in a video game, so I was leading her by the shoulders. “She was right about that.”

I was interrupted as we nearly barreled into one of the librarians, an older gentleman with an almost convincing toupee. I gave him a hasty apology and turned my attention back to the oblivious Kiyo. “That must be quite a game! You’re usually not so dead to the world.”

“The world sucks,” she replied. “I want to forget it exists occasionally. ‘Sides, you’re there to deal with it for me.”

“I don’t know that I like your attitude,” I said. “It doesn’t seem healthy.” And it was a tad annoying. Maybe I wanted to do something when we were together besides dote on her?

“Healthy, shmealthy. I appreciate that you take such good care of me.”

The weak side of me decided it was just fine doting on her. I decided to get back on the real topic. “What did you mean, ‘pretty much fine?’”

“There’s things that happened before you got here that we don’t talk about,” replied Kiyo. “It happened, it was painful and awful, and we all kinda agreed to not bring it up. What you might have seen is one of those things. Not that I’m saying that’s what you saw, for sure.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You know that’s going to make me more curious, don’t you?”

She paused her game and looked me dead in the eye. “Yeah, but don’t bring it up. I mean it. You’re only going to make everyone feel bad and it’s not like knowing about it will help anyone.”

I weighed her words. If the ever-blunt Kiyo was advising me to stay quiet about something, it must have been a serious fault line in their relationships. “This wouldn’t be what happened in Taiwan, would it?”

I took her annoyed grunt as a yes. “What’d I say, dude? Leave it alone. It’s dealt with, it sucks, and Mariko would be embarrassed if she knew you were asking about it.”

I’ll admit being a tad nosy at times, and Kiyo’s words were like waving a ribeye steak in front of a dog and telling it not to sniff. Still, I do have some social graces, so I agreed to drop it. For the time being, at least.

Mrs. Perera was, as usual, napping away in her rocking chair. Paul and Hiro had also beat us there and diligently worked on their projects. Paul sat at the table, while a distracted looking Hiro was sat in the beanbag chair in the corner. Hiro had tried his hand at knitting a scarf, where Paul had advanced to making a bright pink sweater.

I sat down next to him, leaving a space for Kiyo on my other side, of course. I wouldn’t hear the end of it otherwise. “That’s a fetching color, but it looks a tad small for you.”

He chuckled. “It’s for my lady friend, you dingus.”

I studied it again. “Might be a tad small for her, too.”

He gave me a wink. “That’s the way I like it,” he whispered.

“You’re a man after my own heart.” I considered whether or not to mention the magical accident to Paul. I decided I wouldn’t, directly. “Speaking of Ms. Yamada, she seemed a little distressed earlier.”

“She’s a little high strung, once you get under the surface,” replied Paul.

“High strung? Her?” That description surprised me, since I had always thought of her as having a calming presence, until you pressed one of her buttons. It made me wonder what she and Paul talked about. Then I remembered what he had said when we went bowling. If he were trying to press his case, I could see it being stressful for the modest woman.

“Yeah, man. Between you and me, the girl’s got some baggage. Thanks for the heads up, though. I’ll be ready.”

We were interrupted when Kiyo dropped off my own project in front of me. Paul and I agreed to change topics with a knowing look and a nod. I had decided that Kiyo and I had enough scarves for a lifetime, so I had followed Paul’s path of making her a sweater. His looked better than mine, I’ll admit, but the former football player had a knack for the craft I couldn’t match.

I noticed that Kiyo had gotten out some white fabric and a crochet hook. “Another hot pad, eh?” I asked.

“They’re easy to make,” said Kiyo, a little defensively. “‘Sides, we use them all the time,” she added, pointing to the steaming tea kettle at the middle of the table. It rested on her first effort, which was decorated with a lacy trim pattern that had taken her a week to master.

“Fair enough. Ah, good of you to join us, Takehara.”

His hangdog expression hadn’t changed since the incident in class, but he tried a weak smile as he sat opposite me at the round table. “Figured moping in the corner wouldn’t help anything. I keep thinking about Mariko. Paul, do you know what’s keeping her?”

The American boy shrugged. “I sent her a SatoChat earlier, but she didn’t reply. We’re going out after club time, so I bet she’s getting ready.”

“I hope that’s all it is,” Hiro replied.

“What’s the matter?” asked Paul.

“Nothing we need to talk about,” said Hiro. “No need to burden you with it.”

Paul, showing much less curiosity than I, shrugged and mumbled his agreement. “If you say so. Hey, did you catch that baseball game last night?”

Hiro rolled his eyes. “The Tigers got robbed. That was not a ball! That ref needs to get his eyes checked.”

“You always say that when the Hanshin Tigers lose,” I said. I pulled some knowledge from my conversations with Hiro on SatoChat. He had a shockingly large part of his brain dedicated to useless sports statistics.  “When was the last time they won a championship? 2035, was it?”

“Because all the refs in the league are blind,” he replied, a smirk on his face. “My Tigers are perfect.”

“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt,” said Paul playfully.

“Huh?”

Paul rolled his eyes. “I guess that pun doesn’t translate.”

“It means your team sucks and you need to stop covering for them,” said Kiyo. “The Chunichi Dragons are where it’s at.”

Before Hiro could defend the Tigers’ honor, Mariko swept in from behind and embraced Paul around the shoulders.

“Hi there, Paulkins,” she said, rubbing her cheek against his. She wore a white, ribbed sweater and a red jumper skirt that showed off her hose-clad legs. That was a nearly unheard of, since in my experience she preferred her skirts to nearly reach her ankles. She was never much given to heavy makeup, but I noticed her face looked paler than normal, making her bright red lips stand out all the more. She was out to draw eyes, and I couldn’t resist. Even Hiro spared a glance. I didn’t look too intently, though, since I know how Kiyo got.

“Hey, baby,” replied Paul. He checked that Mrs. Perera was still asleep before giving Mariko a brief kiss on the lips. She turned red at the public display, while Hiro and Kiyo pointedly looked away. Paul didn’t seem to notice. Or care, most likely. “Heard you had a bad day.”

“Oh, did you?” She looked positively betrayed. “What did you hear?”

“Didn’t get any details,” he replied, putting down his needles. “Don’t need them, either, if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Mariko sighed with relief, and I think Paul was just as happy not to hear her complaints. They were a good match that way. “Sorry I’m late. I was getting ready for our night out.”

Paul turned in his chair and whistled appreciatively. “You’re looking banging tonight.”

“I’ll take ‘banging’ as a compliment,” she said, doubt in her voice. “Soren, I’m sorry about earlier. I’m busy tonight, but please bring me your uniform tomorrow so I can mend it for you.”

I was about to be gracious and reject the offer, but I realized I couldn’t be wasting uniforms like that. After they had given me the first set, they were damned expensive. “You look like you’re ready for a night on the town! Don’t tell me you get to leave the Tower.”

Kiyo hopped up from her seat. “You do? Not fair! Hey, can me and Magpie come along? We could do a double date!”

Mariko put up her hands. “No, no.”

“No, we can’t come along, or no you aren’t leaving the grounds?” I asked.

“Both, I suppose,” replied Mariko. “Paulkins reserved a table for us at the restaurant on the top floor, and we wanted to make it a special occasion.”

“Ooh, very nice,” said Hiro. “Yukiko’s taken me there a few times. The view’s gorgeous.”

“I bet Ms. Moneybags has,” replied Paul. “We had to pool a month’s worth of public service credits to afford it.”

“A month’s worth?” I asked. “What’s the point of having somewhere so expensive at a school?”

Paul rolled his eyes. “They want to keep us riffraff out.”

“It’s somewhere that the staff can get a private room,” said Mariko. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Besides, the rest of the restaurants are fine.”

“I don’t like being shut out,” said Paul.

“How are you still getting credits?” asked Kiyo, ignoring Paul’s annoyance. “We haven’t been able to do any charity work since they shut us in here.”

“We’ve been doing dishes for the dining hall, mostly,” said Paul.

“What do they call it?” I asked. “Restaurant?”

“The Top Floor Café,” replied Mariko cheerily.

“That’s a little more creativity than the school normally puts in,” I replied.

Hiro coughed into his hand. “I’m glad you’re doing alright after class. You’re sure everything is fine?”

“Of course, Hiro. You don’t need to worry about me. That’s Paul’s job.” She giggled and squeezed Paul’s shoulder, and the meaning was clear.

Shame nobody had told Paul that. He looked surprised for a moment, but covered it well. He didn’t want another heart to heart. I knew what he was after, and I wondered how long it would take Mariko to find out.

Hiro only nodded. He didn’t seem convinced, but he seemed to not want to press things. That was always his issue, wasn’t it? He had good intentions and knew when something was off, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t find a way to make people confide in me. Meanwhile, I was the one that everybody bared their souls too. Humans were such fools. They couldn’t spot a turncoat in their midst. I wondered when Mariko would inevitably come to me to confess her issues?

I threw myself back into my knitting. It seemed more productive than worrying about things I had just been told not to worry about, even if I did know better. Mariko wasn’t the only one with secrets, and I just wanted to put them aside for a night.

Shame that wouldn’t be an option.

Chapter 27

We went our separate ways after club got out for the night. Hiro had gotten into the habit of bowling with Leo on Fridays. Hiro had picked up the knack with shocking speed and was nearly on his level. Those two got rather intense when they competed, and Paul and I had agreed that we were only slowing them down. There were better ways to spend a Friday night than watching two men go all out in a bowling contest.

Speaking of, Paul and Mariko had their special night out. Whatever I had seen in class had shaken her, and she was leaning on Paul more throughout the club meeting, both literally and figuratively. A great shock like that was bound to have her feeling needier than normal. I suspected that if Paul couldn’t get a tumble with her that evening, he wasn’t ever going to.

Kiyo didn’t give me time to consider what the others might be up to. She clung to my arm like a limpet as we exited the library.

“I’m glad you’re eager!” Remembering how the staff disapproved of public displays, I decided to take the slow route out, and I guided us towards the rarely used stairwell. The overbuilt book repository took up an entire floor near the top of the Nagoya Tower, and only a masochist or a fitness nut (the same thing, really) would seriously consider taking them outside of an emergency.

“Eager, nothing. It’s been hell,” she muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. Good for her, since that was a scandalous word. If she was using it, she must have truly been miserable. “Try desperate. Classes still suck without you there. I feel like I did in High School. People look through me, even when I’m not invisible. You’re the only one who really cares about me in this whole stupid tower. Could I spend one night? Please?”

I tried to think of a clever line to defuse things, but I couldn’t think of anything. I could tell she wasn’t in a teasing mood. “You know what will happen if we get caught.”

“I don’t care,” she said, burying her face in my arm.

“Well, I do,” I said. It was convenient having her around less, but I was missing her dearly too. Still, I had a tightrope to walk whenever these topics came up. “I don’t want Tachibana to ban us from even associating, which I’m sure is the next step. We need to be clever.”

“Dang. I wish there was somewhere we could go and be alone. Like, alone alone.”

“The woods, perhaps? You can hide a lot of misdeeds out there. We know that Paul and Mariko won’t stumble on us tonight.” If I had read Mariko’s body language right, she was ready to take things to the next level. I wondered where Paul thought they could hide? I was almost tempted to text him and make him be my wingman for a change.

“Rose tried to get us along for a run tonight, remember? The woods are going to be crawling with people.” She let out a sigh. “I’m starting to go crazy. I want to feel your touch again. No, want isn’t enough. I need it.”

That got my attention, and my imagination was filled with randy ideas I’d suppressed since Tachibana had stumbled on our sleeping arrangements. “I’ve been just as miserable too, but we don’t exactly have an alternative.”

She snorted derisively. “Yeah, right. Guys are gross. You just need the internet if you’re lonely.”

I cocked my head at her. “How would a bloody computer help?”

Kiyo’s dark eyes were full of confusion as she broke off her hug. “You’re kidding, right?”

I realized there was something blatantly obvious that I had missed. I decided being absurd would be a good mask. “The computer they gave me was, and I quote you, a ‘potato.’ If I had some sort of weird desktop fetish, I could do so much better.” I nudged her in the ribs, which required me to slightly kneel down. “How is your gaming rig doing? You named her Bernadette, right? Has Bernie said anything about me lately?”

Kiyo’s expression reminded me of an orc trying to understand trajectories. That was an hour I wasn’t getting back. I’d ended up calculating the angle for that siege equipment myself, as tedious as it had been.

Her laughter started as a genteel giggle before evolving into a full-blown guffah. She tackled me again, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You really had me going for a sec there.” She let out a breath as she tried to get control of herself again. “I really needed that. Nobody makes me laugh like you.”

“And nobody smiles quite like you,” I said, running my fingers through her hair. She had shoved me back, and I realized we were dangerously close to the top of the stairs. I pivoted us around, not wanting to repeat my feat from the last War Game by going down the stairwell. That was when I saw it.

“Angel?”

“Yeah, Magpie?”

“How serious is that ‘The Roof is Off Limits to Students’ sign?”

As it turned out, not serious at all. I saw signs that there had once been a lock on the door, but it looked like it had been smashed and never replaced. Kiyo went invisible to scout ahead and reported no security at all.

I rubbed my hands eagerly. “I think we found our hideaway.”

Kiyo’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! There’s a lot of wind up there, though. It’s dang cold.”

“Then we’ll have to keep each other warm,” I said.

Her face went red. “Did you practice that?”

“No, I can’t say I did. These ideas just pop into my head.”

“I’ll pretend you did,” she replied. “I like to imagine you spend all your time thinking about me and cool guy lines you could say.”

“You have it half right. You’re always on my mind,” I said, holding the door open for her. “After you, my dear?”

“Of course!” She giggled and practically skipped onto the rooftop. I followed behind, taking in my surroundings. The roof was dominated by electronic equipment. I knew what a satellite dish was, but I wasn’t sure why the school needed so many of them, or why they were taller than us. I noticed that some were made of wood and decorated with the telltale patterns of metal-printed runes. I wandered over to one and ran my hand over it. What I could make out of the miniaturized writing reminded me of Tachibana’s experiments with the Peace Bond Mark II. The one next to it looked to be related to the school’s translation magic.

I was drawn out of my thoughts as a gust of wind chilled me to the bone. Kiyo hadn’t been kidding about the breeze. Her uniform’s tie flapped in the wind, and her hair threatened to escape her pink scrunchie.

“I don’t think this is gonna work,” shouted Kiyo, patting down her arms. “We can’t hang out here! I’m freezing.”

“I’m on it!” I cast a few Svalinn’s Mercies, forming the overlapping shields into something like a tent. I made it just tall enough that I could stand up in it. I set up another that I was ready to move into place to plug the hole behind us.

Kiyo tested the air with her finger when was we walked in. “I getcha, you’re using Yukiko’s plan from when the Holy Brotherhood attacked.” A weather wizard who had impersonated Rose had nearly killed us with a tornado, and such a magic structure had saved us. I hadn’t put quite as many layers to fight off the breeze, naturally.

“Let’s not mention them,” I said.

“Yeah, they aren’t an issue right now.” Thankfully, I had developed a much better poker face since I’d arrived at the Tower. She sat down and shivered as her bare legs touched the concrete rooftop. With a yelp, she got up on her hands and feet in a sort of crab walk. “Doesn’t do anything for the ground, though.”

“Seems to me that if your skirt won’t do its job, it isn’t worth wearing,” I said.

“That line wasn’t as good,” she said.

“Everyone’s a critic.” I sat down with my legs crossed. “Still, it seems to me that you owe me after that picture I sent you the other night.”

“That line was pretty good. Alright, one sec.” She cast a Fireball, but I noticed that her thumb was bent differently than normal. The flame flew half a foot from her hand before stopping in place. “There, that’s much better.”

“That’s a new one,” I said. I could have used that on campaign back in Spain. Another trick to take back home.

I smacked my face to clear my thoughts. It wasn’t time for Captain Malthus or Holy Brother Mockingbird to be on my mind. This was a treat for Soren Marlowe, human wizard, and I wasn’t going to let my other worries ruin that.

Kiyo ignored my strange behavior, thankfully. “Dad taught me that variant,” she said, sitting down across from me. “It doesn’t explode when it hits something. It just lets out heat over time.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize he was a wizard.”

She shook her head, and her loosened scrunchie lost more control over her hair. With an annoyed grunt, she tore it off and threw it behind her. “You know how some parents really really wanted to be a sports star, but they never could, so they push their kids way too hard to do what they couldn’t? My dad would never say it, but he was kinda that way about magic. As soon as I got my Death of Light affinity, he was buying me books and doing research on it.”

“That sounds irritating.”

“Nah, it was fine. It gave us something to talk about besides shooting and me wasting my life on video games. And I came to the school with a few spells under my belt. It gave me more time for gaming when I got here.” She pointed at the hovering ball of flame. “That one was a hit when we went camping with his navy buddies.” She shook her head again. “Wait, I am not here to talk about my dad!”

“I was enjoying myself,” I said. “It does sound lovely that he wanted to do things with you.”

“You never make your parents sound great,” she said.

Father had sent me off when he was grieving for Mother, after she had been assassinated. “Not even when they were there,” I said. “You’re right, though. We aren’t here to talk about old times.”

“Definitely,” she said with an enthusiastic nod. “I think somebody mentioned a strip tease?”

“Absolutely.”

She looked at me expectantly for a long moment.

“Oh, alright, fine. I know it’s your turn,” she muttered to herself as she unbuttoned her black jacket. “You don’t let me catch a break, do you?”

“Fair’s fair, Angel,” I replied, leaning back against the wall. That proved to be a mistake, since Svalinn’s Mercy was many things, but comfortable was not one of them.

I shut up and watched the show, though. If she had longed for me, I’d missed her nearly as badly. I had it easier, since I had my schemes to occupy me, but I was a red-blooded young devil with what I assured myself were ordinary desires and drives. I almost wanted to spoil things and pounce on her as she tossed her jacket aside and went to work on her white blouse.

Patience, I told myself. I’d waited for weeks since our trip to the movie theater, I could wait another thirty seconds.

It wasn’t easy, though. For as much as Kiyo hated her slim figure, she was a beauty. Her skin was still as pale as fresh snow, which made her raven black hair and full lips stand out all the more. The striking effect that Mariko had used makeup to achieve came to Kiyo naturally. When I had first met her, I’d declared her a cute mess due to her poor hygiene and self-care, but the young woman in front of me was nothing but ravishing.

I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to spoil this moment with the wrong phrase or an unwelcome joke. I was going to absorb her every movement. After she got over the initial embarrassment, I could tell that she was into it as well.

I finally couldn’t hold back anymore. I pounced on her while she was still half-clothed, and she let out a surprised shriek. It didn’t take her long to roll with the punches, though. I could feel her desperation as our lips met and we embraced each other. Hell, I’m sure she could feel it from me as well.

I’d almost forgotten what our intimacy felt like. There was nothing else in the world just then. No plots, no divided loyalties. Just me and my lady. Only Our Father Below knew how much time we had left, so we were going to make the most of it.

Which is why we both were caught completely off guard when there was a loud knock at the wall of our impromptu tent. Kiyo let out a panicked shriek and did her best to cover herself with her discarded clothes. I spun around, my hands already in combat casting positions.

The runes died before I could shape them properly. It wasn’t good form to threaten the headmaster, after all.

*************

Thank you for reading and your continued support. I'd like to ask that if you have anyone in your life you think would enjoy Magpie Wizard, drop them a link to the Kindle page for book 1. It's going to be on sale for a dollar next week, and I really want to help Book 2 get as much traction as I can. 

Next Chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/confessions-of-3-43810349