The wet mud was soft and adhered to his soles when Hiroku walked through. Under the shadows cast by the lush leaves on the thick branches, the temperature was not as bad as directly beneath the summer sun. Meager drops of water from the last night's rain fell down the tree crowns. One landed on Hiroku's upper ponytail.

Despite the leaf-made awning, the moisture in the air still had the summer heat locked in the woods. Hiroku could feel sweat seeping from his skin under his purple crop top and white pullover. His two layers of cloth were never a plus in these scenarios, yet Hiroku just would not let go of his outfit.

Hiroku wandered in the forest. His upper ponytail bounced with every step as he caressed the lower one. Cicadas' sounds surrounded Hiroku, cleaning his mind with the tranquility of the forest.

Hiroku could feel a tangible contentment in his chest, yet a heavier sadness quickly followed. He was sad for this forest, for this sacred marvel to be owned by Tribe Kayama. Then, this grief became anger, a rage targeting his own bloodline.

Hiroku bit his tongue and grasped the branch beside him. This anger was a sudden storm. He kept inhaling and exhaling hurriedly to calm himself down, but every breath of air made him angrier.

This forest was Hiroku. They carried "Kayama" without a choice. Nothing could be done, and none of them could be free. For as long as Hiroku would be able to see, he would be a part of Tribe Kayama.

The branch snapped in his grip. The area contacted was cracked into small pieces. Staring into them, Hiroku recalled Loter and Ramiron's kindness and his confession in the limousine. Somehow, these memories were calming him down. However, a sense of guilt quickly itched him.

What was I doing? Why was I bothering them with my own problem? Fuck, who did I think I am?

"Cousin? Are you alright?" A childish and feminine voice emerged from behind. Hiroku subconsciously turned backward. As he spread his palm, a violet light flashed off. The lightning was nullified before it could be seen.

A girl in a jordy blue kimono stood before Hiroku. Her hime-cut hair was as black as Hiroku's, and her irises were exuberantly orange. A small, carefree smile hung on her face. She drew one hand from her back and waved softly.

"Hi," she said.

Pausing for another second, Hiroku lowered his holding arm and replied "hello" in English.

Wait, it's not right.

Hiroku realized the girl had been using heavily accented English since her first word. He quickly added, "You are speaking English?"

"I do," the girl answered in a playful tone, "I learned it because I was not allowed to learn our family magic." She did a fake crying expression.

"Sorry," Hiroku apologized as if he were the one denying female family members from learning their familial magic.

"It's okay." The girl leaned close to Hiroku and murmured, "I secretly learned it, anyway. That's how I nullified your attack." She bounced back and placed her hands back behind her hips, which was required when talking to a male Kayama.

Hiroku reconstructed his sentence several times before opening his mouth. He pitied, but some people hated being sympathized, so he deleted that part. He wanted to compliment her, yet it would feel weird, considering he was a part of this misogynistic system.

"I won't tell anyone." In the end, it was all Hiroku could get out of his mouth.

The girl giggled. She covered her mouth with her hands before it. "You are Hiroku from MU, right?"

"How do you know me?"

"Everyone heard of your story: the magicless shame of family with double ponytails and double shirts." The girl continued giggling and bounced around Hiroku, having him constantly spinning to face her. "Is it true you are banned from wearing your kimono because you can not learn a single trick?" Her arms were flailing lightly and freely.

"That's what my father told the main branch, and stop moving," Hiroku commended. He stopped turning around and locked onto a certain direction, clearly irritated by the girl's orbiting movement.

"What do you mean by 'that's what your father told the main branch'?" The girl halted before Hiroku's solemn face. Her curiosity was not scared off a bit.

"I chose not to study Kayama's magic." Normally, Hiroku would not tell this to a Kayama, yet he had already heard a secret of the girl. He had to return the favor.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"What?" the girl exclaimed while sticking her face forward. "I have to push my ears against the wall to steal some knowledge of it, and you chose not to learn it!" The genuine surprise had her gaping.

Hiroku stuttered, "I, I." He wanted to explain how the girl's effort was an attempt to fight against the patriarchy since she was denied the privilege of magic, while Hiroku's refusal to magic was the same since he was offered this privilege.

In the end, Hiroku could not think of a way to explain this. Even if he did, how could the girl understand the sin of Tribe Kayama and the idea of patriarchy?

"I have my connection to Bozumata." Hiroku reached out his clenching hand and spread it. A glowing violet dot ascended and floated above it. A thin layer of it quickly expanded into a beachball-sized, translucent, lavender sphere.

"I heard about that part of the story, too." The girl stood still, cleared her throat, and verbally impersonated one of the million old guys in the tribe, "The shameful Hiroku's father begged the gods to make his son useful, and the god answered his request by connecting his son with Bozumata, a monster banished to another realm."

"That's not even close to what actually happened." Hiroku rolled his eyes and canceled the sphere he had just summoned. The story did not surprise him. He had already anticipated the right-on-the-edge insults carried in the passage.

"Really? What actually happened, then?"

"That's too long of a story. Anyway, what's your name, and why are you even here?" Hiroku deftly but conspicuously changed the topic.

"I'm Tori Kayama. I have two brothers." She held two fingers up from her right hand.

Hiroku did not respond. He just looked at her quietly with his usual listlessness.

"Hm?" Tori tilted her head sideways. She waved her palm before Hiroku as if he were a fainting patient.

"You haven't told me why you're here." Hiroku repeated his eye-rolling.

"Oh, that's right! I saw you flying in the sky, so I decided to follow."

"Don't you have classes or anything?"

"Not now." Tori paused to tap a finger on her chin. "Maybe later, I don't know, and I probably should go check out." She rubbed her hips as she said.

"They hit you as a punishment?" Hiroku spotted Tori's subconscious action, and the question just flew past his lips. He regretted asking instantly, but the words were already spoken.

"They do." Tori's voice dropped a few notes. She sighed and continued, "Great Uncle Yotan liked to hit me in the butt."

"With a board?" Hiroku immediately asked.

"Yeah, he uses boards when he is doing it himself."

"Right," Hiroku squeezed his response out of his numbed self. Tori's conditional confirmation had told Hiroku all he needed to know. It sent a bitter coldness down Hiroku's throat.

"I have to go. Bye," Tori turned around and rushed her way back toward Yotan's estate.

As the noise of cicadas took back the silent forest, Hiroku slammed his fist on the tree beside him. The punch was slow yet firm. The knuckles stayed on the cracked bark for several seconds. His breath hastened, and his scowl twitched. He held the tree's branch and struck the trunk again.

A low guttural groan came out of Hiroku's throat. It quivered and faded with the exhalation. Another punch landed, bursting the tree bark. He took another breath and punched again. His grunt went louder.

He battered the tree incessantly. The bark popped off bit by bit, every time more than the last. Following his final strike, Hiroku snapped off the branch in his grip. He knocked his forehead on the tree repeatedly as if it would help his aching morality.

Hiroku shouted. He yelled. He bashed his forehead into the tree. His lower ponytail billowed in the motion and crossed the shoulder. The upper one swung in the air and whipped on the trunk.

It was too much even for Hiroku. He thought he had already figured Tribe Kayama out, yet the real main branch was on another level.

Hiroku pressed his reddened fist onto the broken surface, rubbing it and feeling the rough wood scratch on his knuckles.

Out of nowhere, Hiroku heard Loter calling him from high above. He started away from the tree and headed up, looking through the empty sky.

"Hiro! Hiro!" Loter's voice kept coming and approaching.

"Hm?" Panting, Hiroku took a few steps backward, gazing into the sky just to find nothing.

Abruptly, Loter called him again. This time, the sound was made right in front of Hiroku.

"Ah!" Hiroku slumped on his hips, and Loter appeared right before him.

"I think I just discovered my flying power! I can fly while I'm in my invisible mode!" Loter explained while bouncing in excitement.

"How, how long have you been there?" Hiroku frantically asked. An obvious aggression radiated from his voice.

"Oh, I was roaming around in the sky. Then, I saw you hugging a tree, so I immediately came to tell you my finding!" Loter answered without noticing any emotion outside the question. He reached out a hand, offering to pull Hiroku up.

Closing his eyes, Hiroku took in several deep breaths to calm himself down. He was not irritated. He was too used to Loter's childish behavior to be bothered by it. Eventually, he took the hand and got back on his feet.

"Did you return the vacuum cleaner?" Hiroku asked in his casual tone.

"No, I was waiting for you." Loter lightly swayed their holding hands side to side.

"I think it's time for us to go back and deal with that. Also, it's alright. You can let go now. I can fly, too."

"Don't you want to hold hands while flying? It's going to be—"

"No. There's no point doing it."

"—so cool and unique! I don't think anybody has ever done something like this before!"

"Fine." Hiroku let out a huge sigh afterward.

"Yay!"

"But not now—"

"aww."

"—I'm not in the mood. We can try this after we are back to MU."