Within the white room, it was completely impossible to tell the exact time, nor was it possible to keep accurate track of how much time elapsed. The grandfather and granddaughter pair had taken my phone when I was still unconscious from the Bestowal. 

Taking a deep breath in, I forced as much air as I could into my body. Following the exact steps that Mr. Book taught me, I extracted the mana and began to control the flow to enter my heart. After completely releasing the breath, I followed up with a series of quick breaths and hand gestures. The result was the mana in my heart stirring and becoming more refined.

As the last wisp of mana in my heart was refined, I exhaled slowly in a controlled fashion. The stored mana began to flow out, resembling a light mist as it lightly coated the inside of my veins. By the time the mist reached my toes and fingertips, there was almost nothing left.

Breaking my concentration, I stretched my arms up and laid down on my back. Having complete control over my body again felt weird. When Mr. Book took over, I had thought I would have slipped into a mental coma. Instead, it was like watching a movie from a first person perspective.

SCHWEEK

The metal door rose back into the ceiling, revealing Ms. Suzuki who was dressed in her high school uniform. Wait… Uniform? School! While I am otaku, I took pride in the fact that I had perfect attendance since my middle school years. While it was silly to worry over, I hoped that they were letting me out before the first bell rang.

Looking as haughty as usual, she walked into the room with head held high. However, I could make out the faint alarm that showed in her eyes. 

“I must say, I am impressed with your improvement. You actually managed to grasp the technique with no problems. Even if it was a trash technique.”

“What makes you so confident I succeeded?” I asked while one of my eyebrows arched up slightly.

Glancing down at her watch, she nonchalantly said, “Because of the lack of mana in here. As one of grandpa’s labs, the amount of mana that is allowed in this room is fixed; without letting any more mana to flow in. Based on the amount missing, I would have had to scrape the pieces of you from the walls if you had failed to understand the proper way to execute the breathing technique.”

If it was so dangerous, why the hell would you let me do it by myself? I screamed internally as beads of sweat poured down my back. That is it, I am so done with this crazy family. I mean who locks a teenager in room with a ticking time bomb in their body?

“Am I free to go? I have school today.” I mumbled under my breath. It was a long shot, but hopefully they would let me leave. 

“Sure, feel free to go” she said, stepping to the side and gesturing towards the exit. “Just remember to come straight back here after school so that I can explain more things to you.”

Without even so much as a nod in recognition, I strutted out of the room and saw a flight of stairs not too far away that went up to the ground floor. Looking around, the house had a feudalistic era vibe and the interior resembled a traditional manor. Judging from the wood, the place was as ancient as its design. What I had found truly odd was that there were no windows.

Looking up, I saw that something that made my jaw drop, it was the sky. Not a picture or a painting, but the actual sky with moving clouds and radiant sun. At first, the rational side of my brain argued that there was no way that the Suzuki residence lacked a roof, and the clarity of the view ruled ou the possibility of a skylight. Looking toward where the ceiling met the wall, I found nothing to indicate a screen either.

“What a weird house,” I said as I found a door that appeared to be the way out. Rummaging through the shoe rack, I found the pair that belonged to me and hastily put them on. “I hope that I won’t be late.”

Opening the door, I was greeted with the sight of a familiar street. Odd I don't remember there being any Japanese style homes in this part of town.

Before beginning the treck to my school, Kensai High, I glanced over my shoulder out of curiosity for what the home looked like on the outside. My jaw dropped for the second time today as I saw an outdated three story apartment complex. A fadded foreclosure sign ung on the dilapidated front door.

Following the faint tracks made on the baren front yard, I saw the door that I came out from. There was no doubt, that was defenitly the way I had come. Struggling to formulate a thought, I was suddenly tapped on the shoulder.

“Hehe, morning Yuta. Hm? What’s wrong, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Turning my neck back, I saw my closest friend friend from school, Inaba Rin. She had shoulder length brown hair, and large hazel eyes. In terms of height, she came about to about my chin if she was standing on her toes.

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“Morning, Rin. Whar are you doing here? Don’t you normally try to get in some early morning kendo practice before a match?”

Pouting at me in disapproval, she and I began our march towards the school campus which was about three blocks away. “Didn’t i already tell you? The match was canceled.”

“Oops, I totally forgot.”

Sighing in helplessness, Rin shook her head in resignation. “ Geez, you really can be airheaded sometimes. I even waited outside your apartment door for ten minutes so that we could walk to school together.”

“I am really sorry about that,I-uh-I was in a hurry because I thought I was on classroom duty.” I lied, since I couldn’t very well tell her the truth.

Suddenly her eyes because sharp as blades as she stared daggers into me. “Sure you did liar, it’s not like I just saw you coming out of that apartment.”

Damn she saw that?

“Not that it matters, you are a terrible liar to begin with. You always pick at your left earlobe when you lie. And there is no way you wouldn't be at school if you thought were on duty,” Rin proudly proclaimed.

“More like you just know me too well. “ I muttered as I embarrassingly turned my face away.

“Anyways, I won’t pry any further for now, but you had me all worried too mister perfect attendance. I even had to check if you were still in bed,” said Rin as she pointed her finger at me.

Now it was my turn to let out a helpless sigh. When I first moved here for school, Rin and I both lived in the same apartment complex. She lived one floor higher than me, and since we both commuted to school at similar times, we got to know each other pretty well from talking with each other too and from school. Not to mention we were in the same class. One could say that it was only natural that we became close.

If there was one thing off about Rin, it was her love for prepping. It is sort of a kind of lifestyle, where a person prepares for the unexpected. For example, if a great disaster were to strike tomorrow, Rin would be capable of adapting to the situation and figure out how to best survive until help arrived. I once saw an entire box of emergency rations under her bed. 

That being said, she had a very wide variety of skills. One of which, is lock picking, and if I must say so myself, is one of her best skills. In the past year, I’ve changed my lock three times in order to keep her out. Yet, despite my great effort, she just can’t seem to take a hint. 

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you stop with that nasty habit of yours. You just admitted to committing to a crime you know. I could press charges.”

Flashing a wicked smile at me, Rin took out her cell phone from her school bag and showed me a picture. “Hehe I would like to see you try. I must say, I think your parents might have an interest in what their dearest son searches on the internet.”

Looking at the photo, I nearly had a mini heart attack. To any healthy teenage boy, their browsing history was a forbidden place that no one should ever see. Damn, she clearly has been practicing her hacking skills.

“Hehe, so what were you saying about committing a crime, Yuta?”

“Remind me, why I am even friends with you?” I asked in an exaggerated manner.”If only you would pour all your efforts and become an occult otaku instead.”

“No thanks, the last time I agreed to your demands, I ended up dressed like an AV idol with a bunch of creepy uncles taking pictures of me,” grunted Rin while shivering a bit.

Massaging my temples I felt a giant headache forming. “How many times did I have to tell you? That was an anime convention, and I wanted you to cosplay as the Beach Witch, not Beach Bitch…”

“Still, I have no desire to hang out with people that address me as Rin-tan. Geez do you see that? Goosebumps!” Shoving her arm in my face Rin pointed to a patch of lumpy skin.

“Whatever Rin-tan, I feel like we got way off topic. Anyways, why didn’t you just call me on my cell phone instead of breaking and entering?”

Wrinkling her nose at me, Rin gave me a serious look before saying, “I didn’t break anything! Don’t falsely accuse me.”

“Last time I checked, a lock pick isn’t exactly a key.”

“Shut up, I wouldn’t even had to unlock your door if you just picked up your damn phone. I called you at least four times. I have the call history to prove it. Therefore I was completely justified in my actions. What if you were in mortal danger? What if you had fallen and couldn’t get up?”

“This isn’t a Life-Alert commercial. Also ----”

I stopped talking, as it felt like all the words I wanted to say was in a traffic jam within my throat. Checking all my pockets in a hasty manner, I realized that I did not have my phone on me.

“Damn!” I cursed under my breath while subconsciously clenching my fists so hard my knuckles turned white.

 I had been planning to never go back to the Suzuki residence. There was too much I did not know about true magic, but I knew plenty about that damn family. While my time with them was short, it felt like I was some kind of human lab rat, at the whims of two individuals that had more than just a few screws loose.

In fact, I didn’t even need to go back there to learn how to control my powers. That is because I had Mr. Book to guide me. From the looks of it, neither Rurika or her grandfather knew about Mr. Book-san surviving the Bestowal. When he was showing me how to do the breathing technique, he informed me of many things.The main one being that I was possibly in grave danger if I stayed in that house for too long. Well, I guess I should call it an apartment?

Mr. Book did not tell me much, but he did promise to help me learn the fundamentals and a couple of spells. Granted, he was not doing this all for free. Long story short, I promised him that I would keep his existence a secret. The reason that he provided was that he was designed to be a one-time use object. Meaning that after fusing with me, his consciousness was supposed to be destroyed.If the one he called Old Freak discovered this, we would be lucky if he killed us in order to dissect us.

“The world of magic is a lot scarier than I thought. Oh well, I guess I should just forget about the phone and get a new one.” I muttered quietly while I held my chin deep in thought.

Even if I wanted to quickly rush in and out of that mysterious apartment, Rin and I have come pretty far, the school was only a half a block away. Plus I also had to take into account that I was running late as it was.

“Screw it, I’ve decided that I will never get involved with the Suzuki’s from now on.”