寤寐思服 第24章 Draft 8 - 11

Chapter Eight

A Glimpse (Hitome) 一目

Kagami’s plan for saving toward making jewellery started with applying to the cafeteria to be a kitchen helper. Back in her previous life, Hitomi was notorious for wasting too much time on cooking. Once during her first year at university, instead of writing her English paper that was due the next morning at nine am, Hitomi spent her entire day, from 8 am to 4 pm, braising meat. Her mother was furious.

Hitomi had bought a particularly well-trimmed pork hock at the butcher’s, and she charred the skin to remove any possible odour during cooking. After rubbing the pork skin clean, she parboiled it, and removed the stock, pouring it into a pot on the back burner. Hitomi poured sweet cooking wine and soy sauce over the pork hock, along with a couple of sticks of cinnamon, and proceeded to watch the pot after turning down the heat to a simmer.

Whenever the pot was at the risk of burning dry, Hitomi poured a cup of hot stock back in, and she did this for the rest of the day, until all of the previously removed stock was used up.

The result was beautiful, but Hitomi had to type her paper from 8 pm to 3 am the next morning. Miraculously, she managed an A-.

[The second time it happened, when Hitomi was writing a physics lab report for her second year course, she got an F on the assignment.]

“Cooking is meditative” was Hitomi’s philosophy.

“Watching the pot for six hours is autistic stubbornness” was Hitomi’s mother’s response to that.

Rin had always been more understanding. One of Rin’s cousins would make dessert to ease her anxiety. The roommate would come back from outside, and upon seeing three pies cooling on the counter, along with a mousse cake in the fridge and two sponge cakes in the oven, ask “midterm tomorrow?”

“Yeah, two.” was the reply.

Kagami applied to help with baking, since kneading large batches would count as a form of physical exercise. She also asked whether she could make things on the side with her own recipe. The manager agreed to that, provided that it would not impede the usual flow of work, and that Kagami would clean up after herself.

Kagami made bread and pastries with her old recipes that she remembered.

She made savoury dill loaves, cinnamon apple loaves, and sweet soft biscuits with filling composed of powdered tea, starch and sugar. But her favourite is a special soft peanut butter cookie with brown sugar.

Hitomi had once tasted it while traveling, and tried her best to recreate it once she was back at home. Heated oil was mixed with peanut butter, brown sugar and flour, and the result was a very thin mixture. Warm water was then poured into it in installments. As water encountered microscopic particles of nut and flour, it was absorbed and caused the nut and flour particles to expand.

Once the solids of the mixture had increased in volume, what was once a very thin liquid became thickened, then became soft lumps. This was done to avoid activating any gluten in the flour. The soft mixture was spread over a very soft risen dough, and instead of kneading it in for a uniform distribution, the two-layered dough got cut in half, and then one piece was placed on top of the other.

The dough then was pressed flat with a spatula, cut and stacked again. The process would be repeated five times to achieve a 32-layer product. The dough was then shaped into thick cookies, and baked at a low temperature for a very long time. (approximately 170 degrees Celsius)

After baking, the very crusty and hard cookies would be cooled and stored in a tight wooden box overnight, where they would regain some moisture, strangely, and the softened cookies would be ready for consumption the next day.

This recipe was laborious and time consuming, but was remarkably delicious, and Kagami found it to be well-received at Kageyama.

Kagami offered her pastry recipes to the manager, who by now understood their value, and Kagami got her first gold coin as payment.

Since regular work only paid a silver coin per month, and Kagami could only qualify for one copper coin per hour with her limited availability and low hours, it seemed that the more efficient way to increase her savings would be writing down recipes.

(“Three baking recipes gave me the equivalent of ten months of full time kitchen work, and with my low availability, I would have to work two hundred hours to match a month of full time pay. Wow...”)

Between working in the cafeteria, and trying to recreate recipes for Japanese style Sponge cake (kasutera 長崎カステラ), Chinese water chestnut tapioca cake, Japanese chestnut dessert roll (yamatzuto 山土産), pine nut cake roll (oimatsu 老松), steamed cake (ukishima 浮島) and tea pudding (awa yuki kan 淡雪羹), Kagami slowly increased her savings by investigating which desserts did not exist in this world, making them from scratch, and finalizing them into recipes.

A year later, Kagami was ready to head into town. She skipped down the mountain path by herself, since asking Akishi to accompany her would divulge her secret; the gifts should be a surprise.

After climbing down the mountain, Kagami stood by a road and saw the outline of a town near the horizon.

“Twenty minute walk, max.”

One of Hitomi’s pastimes when she went on road trips with Rin was to locate an object exactly one kilometre away; Rin always allowed Hitomi to indulge in this repetitive little hobby, and would let her know whether the odometer agreed.

Kagami walked past farmland and ranches, noticing that there were large pieces of equipment likely powered by magic crystals, and smaller equipment drawn by horses.

“Typical isekai mix. Just like in a manga.”

It was pleasant to be able to speak out loud, and not having to worry about what others would think.

Soon, Kagami went into town, and found a jewellery shop.

“Welcome, how may I be of assistance?”

“Good day, dear lady, I would like to purchase some material to make my own jewellery.”

“My, a little girl like you? You must really like what you want to make.”

“Yes, it will be a very special gift. I will buy uncut obsidian and sapphire, as big as a chestnut, and some gold and silver settings, threads, and thin chains.”

“I look forward to seeing what you will be making. It will take some time to source the uncut stones, especially since you have specific size requirements. If you pay a deposit of two gold coins, I will help you find them. Do you have the necessary tools?”

“Unfortunately no, so I’ll have to pay to borrow your workshop. In the meantime, where may I obtain some rocks of similar hardness and shear, so I can practice cutting the stone before handling real ones?”

“There’s an abandoned open quarry to the east of Kageyama, where you can find ample flint. Once you become proficient at fracturing flint, I can help you source low grade sapphire to practice. The colour and clarity might be extremely poor, but the hardness and way of cutting is of course identical.”

“Thank you so much for your help! Here is my deposit, and I will come back in a week with some flint, as well as rent for using the workshop. Without you my project would be impossible.”

“You are very welcome. Consider becoming my apprentice when you are twelve, okay? Have a nice day!”

Kagami felt uplifted, (“it’s a nice, friendly town indeed.”)

Kagami then went to the tailor shop.

“Hi, welcome, how may I help?”

“Dear mister, I would like some clothes that’s made just for me.”

“Do you, ah. Do you have a drawing of what you want?”

“No, but I can draw one right now, and you can help me draw it right, if that’s not too much trouble.”

“Sure. Here.”

Pencil in hand, Kagami thought of all the uniforms she had seen in manga books. (“A broad sun hat with flowery decorations, plus a textured ribbon. A short cape, make it red. A corset, no, I’ll wait until I’m older. A white blouse with puffy sleeves and wrist cuffs. A long skirt with lots of lace, and more ribbons!”)

“Ah, it’s very cute! Just adorable for a small girl like you to wear something like this.”

“Thank you for thinking well of it. I think I’ll need three blouses and two skirts. That should be enough until I outgrow them and need new ones.”

“Sure. I will measure you and add a bit to the size, so there’s room for you to grow. Come back next week and I will tell you the price. Choice of fabric?”

“Ordinary is fine. I will need new ones every year.”

“All good. See you in a week.”

“Thank you. Bye~”

Having completed her list of tasks, Kagami still had hours to spend before heading back for dinner. After asking about the abandoned quarry, she went to gather some flint there.

“Gathering flint is fun. I never know what could be held right now in my hand. It might be chalk, or crust of flint, or a regular flint stone, or some weirdly looking flint that’s more mind-boggling than modern sculptures!” Kagami whispered to herself.

Standing up to straighten her back, she saw a large rock in the distance with holes and grooves on it.

“Ooooh, a rare piece of water eroded limestone... There must have been a stream here in the past.”

Kagami walked over to take a closer look, and she thought she heard people conversing.

“... Arashi’s threat is minimal at the moment...”

Kagami peeked through a crack on the rock, and saw some people talking to each other; the one who just spoke was a girl wearing a white kimono with light ruby trim.

(*Gasp* Himeyama!)

Chapter Nine

Scheme (Inbou) 陰謀

Kagami squinted and tried to better focus her eyes, looking through the crack in the rock. There were five people, all wearing white swinging sleeve kimonos with different coloured trim. They were the Five of Himeyama.

The one with light ruby trim was analyzing the situation. That must be Kasumi.

“Kageyama has no ambition at the moment, which hasn’t changed for years. On one hand, that is their correct place, yet on the other hand, they are betraying the mighty arts by objectifying them into mere academic subjects. The supreme arts of sword, magic and alchemy are to be companions to royalty and nobility, and Kageyama has appropriated them and forsaken them.”

“Arashi doesn’t fit in at Kageyama. She should be brought to the noble court of Himeyama, and serving Your Highness would be her rightful place.” Now the one with emerald trim was talking. She must be Midori, addressing Yukari, their leader.

(“Even with her leader, Midori doesn’t shy away from using her words to espouse greed and vanity in order to further her purpose. Does Yukari know that she is being manipulated? Akishi told me that Yukari tends to hold them back, I’ll see if that’s what would happen.”)

“No. She’s weak.” Yukari casually commented, but no one said anything afterward on that subject. No comment, no argument, no debate. Yukari’s words seemed final.

“Your Highness,” a girl with rose quartz trim on her clothes spoke up, “if Kageyama doesn’t submit to the extent of an unconditional surrender, they might provide a reckless model for others to imitate. If Your Highness makes an example out of Kageyama right at the start of the unstoppable conquest, the rest of the world might have a chance to witness the power wielded by Your Highness, acknowledge Your Highness’s supremacy out of their own hearts, and voluntarily kneel and bow down before Your Highness’s presence. Whereas if Kageyama is left to exist with its current wanton autonomy, maniacs who rebel against Your Highness would possibly join them, increasing their numbers. Being weak minded as Kageyama already is, it probably would be swayed by the ill-conceived ideas of those lunatics and decide to defy Your Highness’s reign.”

“Possibly, probably, might and would.” Yukari gave her cold reply to Ryō. “You should speak plainly, and be honest: ‘they must all die for a more orderly world, so just let me do the killing’. Ryō, don’t try to imitate Midori or Kasumi.”

“Kageyama will, without any doubt, kneel down before me and submit itself to my reign. I alone will decide when to inform them on the deadline.”

With these words, Yukari cast a spell in mid air with her left hand, and vanished into thin air. The rest followed suit and were gone in the blink of an eye.

Kagami let out a long breath.

(“I survived. I survived an encounter with the Five. I’m still here, and I’m still alive. What a relief!”)

Kagami thought of what Akishi had said, (“it’s very accurate. Midori with her words, Kasumi with her analysis, Ryō with her thirst for carnage, and restraining them all, Yukari with her contempt for everyone. Too bad I didn’t hear what Yayoi’s voice sounds like.”)

Kagami wanted to walk around the rock to where the Five had been. They vanished into space, so did they leave anything behind? A burnt mark on the grass or maybe some scent of herbs used for witchcraft?

She walked for a few steps, but her body didn’t move. She was still pressing her face against the rock to look through a crack.

She lifted her hands and shook her head, and the view didn’t change.

(“Am I looking at a mirage? Am I suddenly experiencing some visual deception? How could I be able to walk with my feet, hold my hands behind my back, nod my head up and down, and yet still see that I have my face pressed on a rock and squinting at a crack? Am I in a dream within a dream? Did I fall asleep? Or am I still in my dorm room, and the day hasn’t even actually started?”)

Hitomi always had bad experiences with dreams, even on top of the ones in which she had to chew on dry, stale sandwiches.

Often she had to write an exam in a dream. Somehow every pen stroke landed wrongly on paper and each letter would end up badly written beyond any chance of recognition. And don’t even get her started on how hard it was to use an eraser in a dream.

Hitomi also had a scary dream a few weeks before becoming Kagami. She had annoyed a classmate of hers who was a self-proclaimed witch. Hitomi dreamed that the classmate cast a spell on her, and an invisible steamroller began crushing Hitomi’s body starting with her feet. Having to endure excruciating pain, Hitomi soon was unable to breathe, as the roller was flattening her chest. Hitomi tried saying prayers and hadith and sutras and, really, anything that came to mind, but nothing came to her rescue. Eventually Hitomi gave up, surrendering her life to the witch in that dream, and right at that instance, the weight lifted, and pain disappeared.

(“Is this another one of those scary dreams? Should I again surrender to a witch or something? But I don’t even know... This is so frustrating! What on earth, or whatever is the name of this planet, is going on!”)

“*giggles*”

Suddenly there was sound coming from behind. Kagami turned around to look, but her view still didn’t change.

“That. Was. Fun! I think this little girl is a bit slow, mentally speaking...”

Kagami froze, but evidently her body did not. Kagami’s body rotated on its own, and she could see who was standing behind her.

The Five. They had been standing right behind Kagami, for who knows how long.

“We knew you were here before you even heard us talking.” Said the girl who had been giggling. With peridot trim on her clothes, she must be Yayoi. “I was going to wait and see how long it would take before you realize that you had become my doll, but I failed to contain my laughter. What a pity. I can hear the thoughts of any of my dolls if I choose to. Yours was just too hilarious: wondering if your entire day had been a dream and maybe you were still sleeping in your dorm. You are the one new student that Kageyama received last year, are you not?”

“Still wearing plain beige clothes, and looks seven years old in appearance. Cannot be anyone else.” Midori agreed.

“Your highness,” Ryō offered her horrifying proposal, “I think this cute little girl is simply dying to play with me. May I? She looks so soft and tender, and she would be definitely enlightened and fulfilled by the skillfulness of my art. My whips and blades, my machines and devices, my magic and my hand, my teeth and my tongue, my ropes and chains... They can hardly wait to make this adorable girl their newest friend.”

“Don’t you yearn for that, my lovely new toy?” Ryō looked at Kagami with a sinister smile, and her eyes were glowing with gleeful anticipation as well as eager desire.

“That should be a great idea.” Said Yayoi. “When light shimmers in an eye filled with tears that's almost ready to flow, my heart is filled with song at the sight. With your calculated technique, she should be able to enjoy days and days of unceasing play...”

“You have scared her enough.” Yukari ordered the two to stop, “loathsome habits unbecoming of royalty.”

“She is small. Being inexperienced due to her age and not yet advanced in her studies is perfect for drawing less attention. She could be useful.” Kasumi gave her thoughts.

“If I place a spell in her eyes, we can monitor Kageyama through her sight whenever we find it necessary.” Yayoi suggested.

“From what I have gathered, this girl has already shown good potential. She might not be the perfectly unnoticeable background that you had imagined. I can impede her, though. Slowing her down gradually should be easily manageable.” Midori continued, “if Your Highness could add an extra handicap to her mind, then neither herself nor others would have the ability to detect the slightest evidence that something had been done to her.”

Yukari seemed satisfied with everyone’s proposed course of action and nodded to give her consent.

Kagami could only watch in horror as her fate was decided right in front of her. She had not imagined that Yayoi would have placed a spell on her, and now she was being made into a spying doll!

Kagami had hoped to catch up to Arashi, and she also promised Akishi that she would become strong, and now everything was being taken away from her, right before her own eyes! What about her happy ending?!

Kagami’s thoughts didn’t get very far before Midori reached out her left hand. Grasping Kagami by the top of her head, Midori’s magic flowed in like a torrent and invaded Kagami’s consciousness.

Kagami tried to scream out of horror, but still being unable to control the movements of her body, she only managed to have a terrified look in her eyes. Kagami tensed up as a chill went down her spine, and then she started to feel dizzy and nauseous -- waves of heat were raging inside her. The pressure inside her skull grew painful, and she was expecting her eyes, ears and nose to start bleeding any moment. Her body started hurting, as if acidic needles were stabbing her at every joint. Then she wondered if there were ants all over her body, biting and stinging, making every inch of her skin itchy and painful.

Just when Kagami thought she would die from the pressure and the pain, Midori withdrew her hand, and the ordeal was over. Midori had finished casting her spell.

Midori, Kasumi, Yayoi and Ryō each took a step back, then bowed their heads, and Yukari slowly walked to the front of Kagami.

Extending her left hand until her middle finger was only an inch from Kagami’s forehead, Yukari cast her spell.

In an instance, Kagami lost consciousness, a barrier was set in her head to prevent detection, and the entire memory of the encounter was erased. Since Kagami was so young, and her brain so malleable, not even the chancellor of Kageyama herself could notice, let alone restore anything.

Kagami fell to the ground and lay there as if she was asleep.

Yayoi closed her eyes, and a lime green spell floated before her forehead. The spell emitted one eerie glow and became a single dot, before disappearing into Kagami’s right eye.

Ryō took out a hollow sphere made of golden thread and silver lace, inside which was a spider’s web crystallized with magic. Ryō summoned Kagami’s soul, which came out of her mouth and nose like wisps of smoke. Ryō trapped a small fragment inside the sphere. “I will weave for you a realm of fantasy furnished with the most realistic details, and you can be my precious little toy. We will have so much fun, and you will be imprisoned here, for the rest of eternity.”

Before vanishing, Yayoi gave her comment. “I thought Your Highness would plant a spell into her heart, so she could be detonated and self-explode if necessary.”

“Is that how you dare to think of me.”

“Please do not cast me down for my tasteless joke, Your Highness. I deserve to be punished for my rudeness...” and the Five disappeared from sight.

Chapter Ten

Forgotten things (wasuremono) 忘れ物

“*Yawn* My, I fell asleep.” Kagami stretched her body and got up from the ground. “I must have had poor posture while I slept; my body is sore and achy.” She said to herself.

There she was, beside an interestingly shaped piece of limestone that had been eroded by water. It was getting late, so Kagami took the handful of pieces of flint that she had picked earlier in the day, and headed back to Kageyama.

“Akishi Oneechan!”

“Kagami-chan, how was your trip to town?”

“The townspeople were friendly and helpful. I will get my own tailor-made clothes in about two weeks’ time.”

“And for the rest of your day?”

“I looked around and had a lovely time.”

......

Kagami’s life resumed its normal pace, and she kept herself fairly busy with recipes, kitchen duty, picking flint, and practicing fracturing stones.

A couple of months later, just around the time when Kagami was getting ready to practice cutting low grade sapphire, her training with the sword had to be halted.

As soon as Kagami broke a sweat, usually near the end of warm ups, she would get an allergic reaction to, as it seemed, her own sweat. Every inch of her skin was red and swollen, and felt itchy and painful, as if there were ants all over her body, biting and stinging.

[Author’s note: This actually happened to Hitomi when she was in England, and continued for about a year afterwards, which is partially responsible for the fact that Hitomi is terrible at sports. If you haven’t noticed, much of this novel references real life. Chapter 8 and 9, for example, draw some of their source from history and politics.]

Akishi asked every instructor to help find a cure or some way of providing relief, but neither the department of magic, nor the department of alchemy and potions, or even the chancellor herself, could find the cause, much less a solution.

After much agonizing, Kagami and the chancellor met in the office and reached a conclusion:

Kagami could not possibly continue her study in swordsmanship, despite her earlier display of talent and potential, until after the situation improved.

Furthermore, due to her mysterious skin condition, it would not be safe for her to continue in the capacity of kitchen staff, in case it was somehow a contagious disease. For sanitary reasons, Kagami should refrain from entering the kitchen until further assessment.

Kagami lost her income.

The heat of summer days didn’t seem conducive to mental peace, and Kagami cried herself to sleep every night.

(“Yes, Akishi Oneechan assured me that magician or gardener, we are all part of Kageyama, but it’s still painful to suddenly fail at everything.”)

Kagami buried her face in the pillow. (“I was planning on having a great life, and making jewellery for Arashi and Akishi. What is even the point of jewellery making now? I don’t know when I can pick up the sword again, and I don’t feel the call to magic or alchemy. I haven’t had a spiritual experience since I went to town that day for the first time.”)

Kagami flipped onto her back.

(“Did I eat something bad that day? Everything started going downhill afterwards. Did I forget something? What COULD have happened to me?... Do mosquitoes and ticks in this world carry special diseases? Poisonous spiders or scorpions? Did I react to some grass I was lying on? Or maybe it’s fungal or mites? What could it be?...)

It took a few more days, but in the end Kagami wrote to the lady of the jewellery store that, due to the loss of her income, she could not possibly continue with her project. She would consider becoming her apprentice in the future if she was still open to the idea then.

That day after dinner, Kagami knocked on Arashi’s door.

“Arashi Oneesama, I am very depressed. Could you please help me somehow?”

Arashi stood for a short while at her door, and put on her outdoor clothes. “Come.”

Arashi took Kagami to the west cliff. The scorching afternoon sun had become gentler. The glow took on a softer hue as the sun sank toward the horizon. Clouds became more visible and vibrant, first yellow, then deepened their colour to orange. Wind blew some of the clouds into fans of feather, casting shadows to the sky above. The greyish blue of the shadows contrasted with the reddish glow at the bottom of the cloud, and the sky behind caught a dye of indigo. Some of the shadows further away from the setting sun took on a hint of lavender, as the celestial dome celebrated with the tint of pink diamond.

The line of shadow, cast by the earth, slowly rose in the sky, and in front of Arashi and Kagami, the sun had bid them farewell. Kagami wanted to lie down, but did not want to speak. She leaned over lightly toward Arashi, yet kept her distance, in case Arashi was concerned by her health condition. Arashi did not seem to mind. Slowly, softly, but with no hesitation in her movement, Arashi placed her hand on Hitomi’s head, and guided it onto her lap. The universe went on changing its palette, and the two stayed together, in stillness, in silence.

At last, a thin band of light was all that remained of the day. Slightly yellow at the horizon, it quickly moved through the spectrum to the deep dark blue of the night. Lying there, with her head on Arashi’s lap, Kagami felt warmth in her heart; Kagami felt the chill that stung even to her bones; Kagami felt hope as she had not been left all alone, and she felt despair, seeing no future ahead of her.

Finally, Kagami looked down, shifting her focus from the horizon to her hands which had been resting on Arashi’s lap, “Arashi Oneesama...” she whispered.

“Kagami...” Arashi petted Kagami’s hair.

“Oneesama... I won’t be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Oneesama...”

“I am still your Arashi Oneesama.”

“I may have to quit all my studies someday”

“You are still my Kagami.”

Chapter Eleven

Words of Autumn (aki shi) 秋詩

Kagami slowly came to terms with her saddened state, and by autumn, she officially withdrew from all classes.

“Akishi Oneechan...”

Akishi sat beside Kagami at the lunch table, and held Kagami’s shoulder. She placed the side of her head against Kagami’s, and patiently waited for what Kagami had to say.

“Oneechan, I can feel it. Magic and alchemy are cold to me. Even when I watch Arashi Oneesama give demonstrations, my heart finds it incomprehensible...”

Akishi slowly swayed from side to side, rocking Kagami very lightly.

“Oneechan, I don’t want to leave Kageyama.”

“Then stay. I want you to stay. We all want you to stay.”

“How can I find work, though? I love cooking, and now I can’t even enter the kitchen.”

“You are very talented even if you don’t become a magician or an alchemist. You can try things out, and see what fits you. Would you like me to help you arrange it?”

“That’s alright. Oneechan, I will ask the librarian first.”

“That’s nice. Librarians always wear gloves, and you don’t have to be so self-conscious about your skin condition anymore. Ever since you stopped exercising, have you ever had another reaction, Kagami-chan?”

“I don’t think so, Oneesama.”

“Nobody at school has developed similar symptoms, so I’m not worried. Maybe in the future you can use the kitchen in the evening to develop your recipes again.”

“That would be nice. If I plan on creating anything, I will ask the kitchen manager.”

The next morning, brushing a leaf off her hair, Kagami stood for a moment in front of Phoenix Hall, and went into the library.

The library occupied five floors of the central tower, directly above the ground floor lecture theatre and the second floor offices. Kagami asked the head librarian if she could be a page, dusting shelves, airing out maps, arranging books, or helping people locate titles by slowly memorizing the topics of each section of the library.

The head librarian had heard about Kagami, as the stories of her depressing plight had been circulating for almost half of a year by that point. After some thought, the librarian suggested “You just turned eight, so it doesn’t... hmm... I guess dusting shelves and bringing requested titles to the reading room might serve as a suitable starting point. Familiarize yourself with this library, and spend some time everyday sampling a few titles from each section. Once you are thoroughly knowledgeable with every shelf, I will train you to become a librarian.”

Kagami was very pleased with this possible career path, and nodded. “Thank you. I would like to start as soon as possible.”

Kagami started three days later. “I need to remember my goal, and not to get carried away with dusting, or overzealous with carting books. My goal is to know the library and its contents by heart, so I can become a competent librarian. A good librarian is not made by dusting shelves.”

Everyday, Kagami focused on one particular shelf. Reading the titles on the spine, looking at the name of authors, or sometimes glancing through forewords and introduction, Kagami steadily added information to her mental depository. She would only spend one hour each day dusting shelves, and she got permission to cart books around only during the hours after dinner.

Days passed peacefully in the library, and when the flowers of spring dotted the campus, Kagami made her way to the third floor of the library -- Theory of Magic.

Some authors proposed resonance with the elements as the main reason for magic to exist; some older titles pointed to theology and suggested that magic was passively allowed divine intervention after the deities ceased their active presence; still others imagined that magic was materialized seeing: a person would ‘see’ the result that was still yet to come, and one who could materialize the seeing would be effective at using magic.

Kagami thought of herself. She certainly did not resonate with the magic elements, maybe slightly when she was six, but definitely not anymore, so if the resonance theory happened to be closer to the truth, then Kagami needed not try at all in the field of magic.

The other two theories that she had come across so far, on the other hand, could be interesting.

Hitomi certainly came from a world devoid of magic and lacking in miracles, but the further back one went in history, the more tales of supernatural phenomena existed.

(“Wasn’t there a European ship set out to sail around the world, and landed on an island that did not really take a liking to them? To distinguish time and direction with sextants, ships were equipped with as many astronomical charts and tables as possible. There happened to be a solar eclipse calculated to happen in two days, and the captain pretended to be God, and shouted angrily at the islanders. On the day of the eclipse, he again yelled at the inhabitants, and pointed at the sun, which readily went black. The residents didn’t know any better, and believed that the captain was indeed God, and offered all the food and drink that the captain could ever want. If I was an islander on that day, how would I know the difference between the captain of a ship, and God?”)

Kagami pondered further with the philosophical question of the Cartesian Theatre. (“How can I know about the things that I can’t possibly know about...”)

“Hmm...” Kagami sat down on the floor, and leaned her back against the side of the bookshelf. “The magic of this world certainly would cause people in my old world to think it is not different from divine miracle. Causing water to come out of rocks... Yes. Controlling water to divide to the sides... Yes. Summoning objects to appear out of the clear blue sky... Yes. Opening the ground to swallow a town... Yes. Causing dead branches to grow... Yes. Causing a healthy tree to wither... Yes. Controlling animals to jump off a cliff... Yes. Changing one substance into another... Yes...”

“Well, to someone who doesn’t know any better, a person with powerful magic could travel to my old world and pretend to be God with little difficulty.” Kagami softly concluded.

“Now the question is, can it be done in the other direction?” Kagami pondered deeper and deeper.

“My old world is rich in religion but lacking in magic, whereas this world is dominated by magic and I don’t see religion anywhere. Can the faith of my world take on the role of magic in this world?”

Hitomi was no stranger to religion. Learning Latin and Greek and immersing herself with chants and rites, she had a very rich religious life. There was even a time during her second year, in the middle of her fall semester, on the eve of one of her midterms, when Hitomi had an unbearable itch in her knee. She couldn’t sleep, and she prayed saying that God knew the situation with the exam, that God was able to help her, and she would trust God to help. And the itch did go away instantly.

When Hitomi was in England, once she had to walk a long stretch of a road between Rochester and Gillingham with no shade to shelter her from the heat of the sun, and there was no breeze to cool her, either. She looked up and saw no clouds anywhere. Hitomi prayed for help and within minutes a large piece of cloud gave her much needed respite. Upon arriving at a tree-lined street near Chatham, Hitomi gave thanks for the cloud and asked the cloud to move away, for the English were usually starving for some sunshine, and many families had come out that day to enjoy some time in the sun. Soon enough, the cloud disappeared from sight.

“If I were to somehow transform the power of faith of my old world into available magic here, what would be the key?...”

“The ultimate barrier is, what made the God of my old world, God.” was the final question that Kagami had to face, after almost five months of contemplation.

Kagami was turning nine, and on the inside, Hitomi was about to be twenty-three.

Outside the library window, wind played tag with the fallen leaves.