kscans

Chapter 131 - A Boy's Heart

Right then, I wonder what Hikaru wants to talk about.

Today was a training day. I was drilling the kids after work, and during a short break, he had whispered in my ear.

"…Could I have a moment of your time when we’re finished? There’s something I’d like to discuss."

He seemed serious, but not like it was anything grave. Still, I wonder what it is. I was waiting on the facility’s rooftop, sipping my coffee, when he arrived.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Don’t worry about it. Here, coffee."

I tossed him a can with low sugar. My favorite, the sickeningly sweet kind, is never a hit with the kids. Sarna-chan is the exception, she always gulps it down happily.

"…"

A moment of silence fell between us. I waited patiently for him to speak.

"It’s been a little while now, hasn’t it. Since I was dragged into the Supernatural World during Golden Week."

"That it has."

"It might sound presumptuous of me to say I’m used to it. But that initial tension is gone, and I feel like I’m handling things well now."

I think it’s fine to just say you’re used to it, though. Complacency is dangerous, of course, but this world is limitless. No amount of caution will ever be enough.

"I’m getting stronger, and I’m steadily saving up money for my sisters’ school fees. So, I’ve started to feel a bit more relaxed."

"That’s a good thing."

A person with breathing room versus one without. It’s obvious which one performs better. Having that margin, both materially and mentally, is truly important.

"Because of that, well… a personal desire with no real benefit has started to rear its head…"

"Oh?"

Well well, this is starting to sound interesting. The modest Hikaru, who always puts himself last, talking about his own desires. My inner busybody was intrigued, but as an adult, I was simply happy for him.

"…Satou-san, you might have already noticed, but I like cool things."

"I’d say so."

I’m pretty sure Rika-chan and Sarna-chan have noticed too. Saku-chan might not have yet, since she hasn’t known him long, but she probably will eventually.

"Gyoukou and Ushimitsu are cool, but they’re just not enough for me."

Gyoukou is his Light Saber. Ushimitsu is his jet black high-frequency blade. The fact that he gives them original names really shows you what a boy he is at heart. Honestly, how could he do things like that and think no one but me has noticed.

"I want to get my hands on all sorts of other cool things."

"I see. I get it, loud and clear. Hey, I’m a man too. I know that feeling all too well."

"Satou-san…!"

"You got it. I’ll see this through with you. On your quest for cool!!"

Now I’m getting fired up too!

"Thank you so much!!"

"Don’t thank me."

No need to be so formal.

"For starters… we should begin by putting your idea of ‘cool’ into words."

"Into words?"

"Yeah. We’ll try to outline your tendencies, to figure out what it is you’re drawn to."

There must be any number of things he finds cool. That’s precisely why we need to do this. Even if he can’t verbalize everything, just giving it some shape should help us understand his tastes.

"Alright, for now, let’s try thinking about what kind of situations or techniques you find cool."

"Right! …Ah, but now that you mention it, it’s hard to just list them off."

That’s true. A man has a universe of cool things sleeping inside him.

"Then I’ll start. Don’t you think a conductor’s movements are cool?"

"A conductor’s movements?"

"Yeah."

I hopped onto the rooftop railing, ton, and looked out over the city at night.

"Imagine the city spreading out below is a battlefield… like this."

Using an illusion, I created a fictitious battlefield and waved my arms like a conductor with slow, deliberate movements.

"That’s cool, like a charismatic villain!!"

"Right? Like a dark conductor manipulating the battlefield. It’s cool, isn’t it."

But a conductor’s moves have other applications. This time, I produced a flame. A brilliant, blazing fire that tore through the night’s darkness. With every wave of my arm, it darted about as if alive, its form changing freely.

"Hawawawa…!!"

"Hahaha, it seems I’ve truly lit a fire in your heart. Has anything come to mind?"

"Yes! It’s on the villainous side, a bit dark, but… don’t you think manipulating shadows is cool!?"

A man of culture. I nodded and jumped off the railing, returning to the rooftop.

"Satou-san, are there techniques for manipulating shadows…"

"Of course they exist."

Many people have an innate ability to manipulate shadows, but it’s also possible for anyone to learn the techniques to do so. They often fall short of innate abilities in terms of freedom and power, though. A masterfully polished technique can close that gap, and sometimes even surpass a natural power. But for better or worse, being born with it is a huge advantage.

"For you, Hikaru, something you could learn relatively easily would be… shadow manipulation through magic, I suppose?"

In a physical sense, a shadow is nothing more than a shadow. But in a spiritual or occult sense, it has various interpretations. It can be seen as another self, brought to light. To control your shadow is to control yourself, or so they say. Doppelgängers, for instance, are often discussed in connection with the concept of shadows.

"Whoa… whoaaaaaaaah!?"

My shadow on the rooftop, illuminated by the moonlight, began to ripple, topun, topun. It squirmed and writhed, une une, until it took on a human form. The birth of Dark Satou.

"The most well known use for shadow manipulation magic is storage."

I dispelled Dark Satou, returning him to a normal shadow. Then, from that shadow, I drew out a long sword I had secretly transferred there from my inventory.

"Pulling a weapon from a shadow! That’s it! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!!"

"Right?"

"And the fact that the weapon itself looks like it has some kind of sordid history gets extra points!!"

He really gets it.

"There’s also a way to use the shadow itself for an attack."

"Like changing its shape into a sword or something?"

"That’s one way, but I’m talking about a conceptual attack."

When light hits an object or a person, it creates a dark area. But if you look at it another way, you could say the shadow is blotting out the light. A spell is built upon that line of thinking, using the shadow to blot out the existence of light, which means destroying the physical matter.

"I’ve created a few techniques like that myself… Sun Eater and Moon Eater."

"Are they named after solar and lunar eclipses? The name alone is already cool… So, what kind of techniques are they?"

"Exactly what they sound like. Sun Eater devours sunlight to create a destructive shadow, and Moon Eater uses moonlight."

I activated Moon Eater. Instantly, the light illuminating the rooftop was sucked into me as if it were alive. I raised my hand, and a ball of light the size of a volleyball appeared. This was the moonlight that had just been shining on the rooftop. I had stolen it all and was still absorbing it, so even though the moon was out, the rooftop was dark.

"I’ll convert this into a shadow."

I transformed the ball of light into a slender longsword formed from shadow and lightly grazed the ground with it. I had only brushed the surface, but the part the tip touched was cleanly gouged out.

"Watch closely."

This time, I pointed the tip of the sword toward the moon.

"Whoa, oh… The power… it’s swelling up more and more…"

"There’s a cost to activate the spell, but once it’s running, the sky’s the limit."

Sunlight and moonlight are both inexhaustible, after all. It’s an easy way to get a lot of firepower.

"…This is crazy. The inspiration just keeps flowing."

"Don’t hold back. Let it all out. I told you I’d see this through to the end, right?"

"Hh… Yes!!"

In the end, we ended up talking passionately until nearly dawn, but we had no regrets.