Chapter CIV (104) - Dance Competition
When Kizu rejoined Anata and Ione, he found Ione engaged in a confrontation with another one of the full-masked students. This one had colored swirls over his mask.
“Sod off,” Ione said. “You’re annoying.”
“What’s going on here?” Kizu asked.
“I was just asking some questions, that’s all,” the boy said defensively. “I wanted to know what’s going on with the little girl. Thought it might be some sort of curse.”
“She’s not cursed,” Kizu said coldly. “But you’re about to be if you don’t get lost.”
“Fine, fine.” The boy lifted his arms in defeat. “You’re Kaga Kizu, right? I hardly want to get on your bad side. Heard what happened to Ulric.”
Once the boy left, Kizu turned to Ione.
“What’s his deal?”
“I’m not certain,” Jak said instead. “Bunch of them have been going around asking questions to people who stand out. I was asked about my heritage over a dozen times in just the last hour.”
“Annoying pricks,” Ione said. “Leave people alone to enjoy the night.”
“I’m pretty used to being questioned,” Jak continued. “But it’s strange how all the questioners have been wearing similar masks. It’s as if they’re hiding who they are.”
“That’s suspicious,” Kizu agreed. “But not our problem. I just spoke to Sene. It likely has to do with political posturing.”
He considered finding Aoi and Basil and warning them, but thought better of it. Aoi had more experience with political maneuvering than any other student he knew. Well, except maybe for Emilia.
“The competition is about to begin,” Kizu said.
“Ready to fail?” Ione asked.
“See you in the loser’s bracket.”
“There aren’t brackets,” Jak said, confused. “We just get eliminated.”
Sene’s voice cut them off, the music ending while her instructions boomed over the ballroom. Everyone with a partner interested in the competition entered into the center of the dance floor.
“Alright,” Kizu whispered to Anata. “I have a strategy. Stand on my feet and I think we can get through this painlessly.”
Anata did as he instructed. As the music began, Kizu started dancing. Unfortunately, his idea had one single massive defect. It relied on him knowing what he was doing. He ended up trying and failing to copy what other people were doing around him until eventually he reverted to the four step basic waltz Sene had done with him.
Still, if Anata noticed their lack of skill, she didn’t show it. She beamed as they danced in a square formation. And Mort, riding on Kizu’s shoulder, twisted around, hopping from shoulder to shoulder.
Three of the judges were going around the dancefloor, tapping people on the shoulder who were eliminated while the others sat above, watching them. To his surprise, the song ended and nobody approached them. Their numbers had thinned to a mere third of what they had before.
“Looks like we survived,” Kizu said to Anata. “Let’s see how much longer we can make it.”
She grinned up at him, her Blood Lord canine a protruding snaggletooth.
Only two of his friends had also survived the culling. Aoi and Basil off to the side, unsurprised at their advancement. And two other people Kizu would rather see less of. Emilia and Ulric also stood in the center of the dance floor, Emilia looking very pleased with herself. Despite his limp, Emilia’s skill had carried her partner.
For the next round the judges would call out the top twenty pairs at the end of the dance, with Sene there to supply them with their names. One of the judges said something inaudible and the musicians started playing a new song, cuing them to begin.
Kizu did his best mostly just to stay out of everyone else’s way as they stumbled around. Anata laughed in delight.
While they danced, Kizu noticed Sene quickly looking back and forth from her scrying orb to the participants, obviously trying to memorize everyone’s names as quickly as possible. Which would be extremely difficult as there were well over a hundred students on the floor.
Meanwhile the judges chatted amongst themselves, pointing down at the students from their floating thrones. One of them pointed exactly at Kizu and Anata.
When the music ended, Sene started listing off names of those who moved on to the next group. Kizu started looking over at the banquet tables on the sides, wondering what food they should grab next.
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“-and finally, Kaga Kizu and his partner.”
Kizu’s head spun around to look at Sene so fast it made him dizzy. And he wasn’t the only one shocked, many of the eliminated dancers grumpily glared at him and Anata before clearing the dance floor. Not the least of which was Emilia, who looked baffled by the decision. Kizu felt a bit of satisfaction watching Ulric stumble off to the side.
It left Kizu suspecting that maybe his parents might have some dealings with one of the judges. He saw no other reason why he and Anata remained alongside the likes of Aoi and Basil. He hoped not. The last thing he needed was someone chatting to his mother about Anata’s presence at the ball.
In the next dance, Kizu accidentally tripped over Anata, both of them ending up sprawled across the floor. Their fall caused Mort to angrily dart off into the crowd. Apparently, even his parents’ influence couldn’t excuse that blunder and they were finally eliminated.
“Well done,” Ione said as a greeting as they joined her on the ballroom’s perimeter. “I don’t really get it, but they must have seen something in your performance that is invisible to a plebian like myself.”
Kizu looked back up at the judges. Now that he was closer, he could better examine the one that wore a black oval mask who had pointed him out earlier. Kizu noticed a scar stretched from his larynx up across the length of his neck and ending at his ear. Inari. Suddenly, he thought his family might not have as much to do with his competition advancements.
Kizu repositioned himself in the crowd, strongly considering heading home. But instead they watched the end of Aoi’s and Basil’s performance. After another round ended, they remained the finalists against Weston, the second best combat fighter and Ulric’s friend, and his partner, a Tross girl with purple hair.
Basil and Aoi thoroughly trounced their competitors. Basil finished his performance with a bit of magical flair as he dipped Aoi, his exposed skin sparkling like diamonds and illuminating her.
The entire ballroom erupted into applause. Illusionary bursts of flames erupted from either side of the ballroom. An enchantment Kizu and Jak had set up the previous week. Sene had been against the idea, since she thought it clashed with the theming, but Kizu noted with some satisfaction that the student body didn’t care about that. They just cheered even harder as the flames roared.
“Kaga Kizu,” someone said behind him, jolting him out of his silent revelry.
With a glance over his shoulder, he identified the speaker as Professor Kateshi.
“Professor,” he acknowledged.
“I spoke to my contacts. One was viewing your display just now, evaluating how your leg performed under pressure and taking notes. She asked that I perform some tests on your leg brace. Do you mind allowing me to take a look?”
Kizu blinked. That made a lot more sense than unknown politics.
“Okay,” Kizu said slowly. “But I’ll need to sit down to remove it.”
At that moment, Basil swaggered his way up to Kizu and wrapped a feminine arm over his shoulders. He appeared completely oblivious to Professor Kateshi. Mort leaped over to the changeling and perched on his still-sparkling shoulder, attempting to grab at the sparkles.
“Kizu! An easy victory, you saw it, right? We’re spectacular, aren’t we?”
“Unfortunately,” Kateshi continued, sparing Basil none of her attention. “The tests will require me to break the enchantment down and reconstruct it. I’ll need more than a few minutes. However, I have a spare prototype in my classroom.”
“That’s fine.” Kizu considered it. He looked down at Anata who yawned. “Would now be okay?”
“There’s no issue with it. My duties tonight are finished. I believe the ball is winding down.”
“Basil,” Kizu said, turning his head to the shapeshifter. Aoi had walked up and linked her arm to his. “Is it safe to assume you’re heading to the ship?”
“You know it.” Basil winked.
“Can you and Aoi bring Anata back with you?”
Aoi grimaced. But Basil agreed readily. Though he didn’t say it, Kizu knew he had been wanting to spend more time with his cousin.
“You can bring your ward with you,” Kateshi said. “It’s no trouble. She was assigned to you by Gizrim, correct?”
Kizu waved away the offer. It was past Anata’s bedtime and she wasn’t used to this much exertion. He let her load up on sweets before they went their separate ways. He was starting to think that indulging her sweet tooth might not be responsible. But those were thoughts for another day.
Kateshi’s classroom was pretty far from the ballroom. The corridors were bleakly empty, the majority of the student body at the dance. To break the silence, Kizu asked about the process to fix his leg.
“First, she will examine the leg in depth. Part of that will come from my notes on your leg brace to help evaluate which parts of your body pressure what parts of the muscle and bone. But there’s also a special enchanted object of great value designed to see the skeletal structure of bones. It not only identifies the bone, but is enchanted with temporal divination to see how things used to be as well. Through it, she should be able to identify the locations of different breaks. Between that tool and a diviner analyzing your good leg, they should be able to identify what your bone is supposed to look like.”
The object she described reminded Kizu of the enchanted spyglass Aoi used to see through different layers of people’s skin. They’d discovered it on the necromancer’s ship. He decided to keep silent about its existence though and continued to listen.
“It’s going to require the bones to be completely shattered again, almost exactly as they were in your fight. She will then shave down pieces of the broken bone to discard the excess bone growth before fusing it back together. You’ll be numbed for that, of course. Otherwise she would risk you dying from the pain. And then she and her assistants will reconstruct your leg. It’s not an easy task with a mangled healing of such an extensive break, but it is hypothetically possible. ”
They entered into the painting of her classroom.
“Okay, take a seat and let’s see that leg brace.”
Kizu sat in the front row and rolled up his pant leg, showing the leg brace she’d been working on for the last few months. It was mostly made of cloth tightly wrapped around his calf, though metal wires stretched out lengthwise down his leg, enchanted with an added support.
Professor Kateshi knelt and laid a hand on the brace.
“I’m sorry about this, Kaga Kizu. But the risk is too great. She can’t be allowed to live.”
Kizu opened his mouth to ask what she was talking about, then pain sheared through his leg, garbling any words. The leg brace, the object of his utter dependance these last few months, came to life and tore apart his flesh.