Magic...

Magic, magic, magic.

Where are all the books on magic?

Surely it exists. I heard stories about various creatures with miracle-like powers, Kitsune included.

I thought, perhaps there were books on the subject.

Now that I've become 4, I'm allowed into the village's... library. It was really just a room in the Village Cheif's home, with a few bookcases. It seems that a previous Village Chief collected various books, but it's still just a room in his house, so I had to ask for permission to enter.

What I have learned regarding magic is limited, however. For one thing, they don't have just one word for "magic". I guess it's similar to how in English, we have various words for it too...

—magic, sorcery, miracles, curses, voodoo, witchcraft...

In a similar vain, there are different words used for magic used by different creatures. Like on Earth, if you tell a Christian that their god uses "magic", then you may end up with an angry response (depending on the generation). Instead, they prefer to call the magic used by their god as miracles.

Of course, voodoo and witchcraft are more specific practices, rather than general "magic", but to a third-party, it's all the same—evil magic.

And there's this world. I can find various terms for magic, and they're always used with specific connotations regarding the user of said magic.

However, where words like "magic" and "sorcery" don't mean anything else in English, because we've borrowed those words from other languages—in Azurian (the language spoken in this country) most of the words are pretty self-explanatory.

"Life Force", "Divine Miracles", "Soul Power", "Evil Power", and so on.

Though, for simplicity, I'll probably refer to most of these terms as just "magic", and "Life Force" as just mana.

That's what they are anyways. "Life Force" seems to permeate the world, and exist in all living things—at least that's what I've deduced from reading the many tales that mention it.

A common point between all magics, is that they use this "Life Force". A force that beings with life use to impose their will on the world.

In other words, it's the fuel to all magic, that is commonly known as mana.

The rest—I don't know if there is any fundamental difference between "Divine Miracles" and any other form of magic. I just know that creatures that are put in high regard by humans, like gods, use Divine Miracles. Kitsune are included in this group, of course.

But the descriptions of these miracles are often vague. After all, I only have stories and retellings to go by. Something like a book to learn magic would probably cost as much as all of the assets in this village put together.

Thus, this has become a source of frustration, with my being unable to even learn the most basic of magic.

Actually, I did learn some bits of information that were... confusing.

Humans can't seem to use magic.

There are stories where they can, and then stories where it's said they can't.

I asked the village chief about this discrepancy, seeing as he probably knows what most of the books say, and likely even knows what's not quite written down. According to him, humans were not bestowed with the power to command nature. However, Magicians are humans who defy this, by using the power of trinkets and weapons with such powers.

I see, so that's how it is, huh?

But then, there are humans able to cut down mountains. Is that not a form of magic? Or are magic swords with mountain-cutting abilities just common?

Or maybe—physics as I understand it, simply does not apply?

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When I turned four, I told mother I no longer wanted to wear a dress.

I came up with various excuses about it, but only two of them are true.

The first, was of course I didn't like dressing like a girl. I got use to moving in a dress after 4 long years, but it still irritated me. Ultimately, I wanted to dress like a boy, because I was a boy.

Second, was that it slowed me down. Even if I was faster than my peers, there were a lot of times that my dress would get caught on twigs or even under my feet, causing me to trip and fall.

I didn't wear very fancy dresses or anything. They were plain, and showed the low income of the village. It wasn't overly girly or anything. But it bothered me.

My mother refused though, worried that others might find out I was a boy.

Still, I went around her back, and talked to one of the village tailors. A seamstress by the name of Ellen. No family name, seeing as it's only some families with those.

Anyways, she's the older sister of one of my playmates, so I figured coming to her would be perfect. After hearing my talk about my desire for a different type of clothes, besides dresses, we hashed out a "deal". It's a bizarre deal, really. She wanted my blessing, in exchange for clothes. I was a bit hesitant about that—what exactly did a blessing entail? Something like a wish for her happiness, is all I can understand. It seems she's getting ready to marry, so she figured a blessing from a Kitsune would surely bring a happy marriage.

I couldn't really refuse her though or I felt that I would just crush her mood, so I sort of played along.

I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

However, when we began talking, I realized that clothes like those in my old world would be... weird. Heck, I don't think the technique to weave such textiles even exists.

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I considered just normal boy's clothes that's used in this village, but I somehow felt I would be... out of place?

Even though I'm a boy, my face looked extremely soft and delicate, and despite my young age, I already looked like a beauty. I have a sinking feeling that I won't really be growing to be very masculine.

Still, it feels deceptive to wear a dress, which is almost explicitly an article of clothes girls wear.

So the two of us ended up having a discussion about it. I started off the talk with the point of my coming to her in the first place.

"I don't like dresses; they get in the way and are too stuffy. Mother won't get me anything else, and wearing boy's clothes would be weird." She seemed to understand my reasoning, as she got to work taking my measurements. I ended up stripping down to just my underwear, and she started by writing down various numbers.

I was impressed that she could do math, in this remote poor village, so I figured I'd ask her to teach me numbers later. I know math intimately, but I'm unfamiliar with the digits used in this world, and what operations they use.

After the measurements, we talked about what might be good.

During the discussion, an idea popped into my head.

It was an idea from Earth. One that, while feminine by the standards of this world, isn't quite restricted to one gender. What's more, it's an image I often conjure up when thinking of the fox spirit, Kitsune. A kimono. Or was it Yukata? Pretty sure both are right?

Of course, Ellen wouldn't be able to perfectly reproduce it, and that's fine by me. I also added my own personal touches to the idea, considering I've never really wore one in my old life, so I felt it necessary to add some familiarity—not to mention, if I left it as is, it would basically just be a different style of dress that's hard to move in.

In the end, the design came out to be something that only vaguely resembled a kimono, and was more like a robe.

Thus, I came to wear a rather flexible robe, that came together with one side under the other, and a sash holding it closed. The dress actually only fell down to below my knees, just enough to hide the shorts I wore underneath. At the back, the robe had an opening to let room for my tail to not be stuffed with my legs. The sleeves were loose and baggy, and I even decided to add pockets to their interior, to hold items.

It cost quite a bit to make it, but oddly enough, when a peddler came by and saw the design, he immediately bought it from Ellen, and it apparently became a popular design among some of the aristocratic women in the kingdom—of course the dress was elongated and the hole removed, and ultimately they became much like the kimono's I remember in my old world.

I myself prefer the shorter dress, as it feels easier to run in.

Somehow, on top of my fox ears and tail, I came to be recognized by the not-kimono I always wore.

I still yearn for the day I can use magic though.

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Author Notes:

I thought it would be nice to have Toyaru in a yukata. They're gender ambiguous, but they're certainly more feminine for most people. I felt a dress or skirt wasn't quite right for him, so I went with a robe with shorts on underneath. It's kinda boyish in concept, but the design of the robe is close to a dress, so it would still give off a feminine appearance. I think.

I might end up drawing a sketch of what I had in mind.

When it comes to magic...

I guess I'll use a spoiler to explain, and people interested read ahead. If you don't want to be spoiled, you've been warned.

Spoiler :

So magic in this world exists as a force of energy that exists everywhere. It's like a sea of unused power, waiting to be tapped into.

All living things also naturally accumulate this force, and contain it within their bodies. Humans have no means to consciously use this force though. Magic items and such draw on their accumulated power to produce phenomena.

However, Humans also can use this magic like Chi, though only instinctively. So a swordsman who has trained his body, and become one with their blade can tap into this power, and guide it through their body, projecting it outwards to create an effect similar to telekinesis or super-strength. Of course, people don't really consider this magic, and just feel that it's the force of their own souls.

Most races also can't use magic outside of this Chi force, and instead just have some strange characteristics, or are long-lived. Some can actually feel magic. However, almost all magic in this world is specific to a certain race.

So, Kitsune like Toyaru, has both the ability to move his magic like an extension of his body, as well as a unique ability that comes from his tail. Uniquely, the powers of each tail varies by the individual.

So there's the Instinctual Force magic that most living things have but only some learn to control, or even use at all.

Racial magic specific to certain races (many magical beasts have Racial magic, like Dragons), and is the easiest to control (assuming you have one)

And there's also a third type, which I guess you could just say are item locked magics. Difficulty varies.