We ended up doing it five more times last night. But the worst part is that while we were walking to the study today, he acted as if nothing had happened. I mean, how can he walk so normally when every step that I make feels as if my leg muscles are going to explode.
Now, I'm sitting at my desk with Takeshi and Jiro staring me down. The tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a dull knife. We've all been sitting in silence for five minutes, and I feel as though there is no end in sight.
"What are we going to learn today, Mr. Sasaki?" I cave and break the silence.
His face lights up with a smile, and he walks over to me. "I love how eager you are to learn things today, Mako." I really just want you both to stop looking at me so intently. He places his hand on my shoulder.
My eyes dart over to Jiro, who looks as if he wants to murder his brother.
"You're a great teacher, so of course, I want to learn." It's probably not the best thing to say, but it's the only thing I could think of on the spot. However, now that I've said it, I think Jiro actually will murder Takeshi.
"At least someone thinks that." He says in a condescending tone while looking over at Jiro. "Anyway." His hands clap together, and he walks back over to his table. "I wanted to introduce you to protection spells."
My hand reaches into my bag and grabs a book on important spells. I remember briefly reading it, and I'm sure that having it out will be helpful. Flipping the book's pages, I hear Jiro's desk screeching against the floor. My eyes jerk over to him, only to see him dragging his desk and chair over to me. Takeshi rolls his eyes at him but doesn't say anything.
"What are you doing?" I whisper at him as he connects our two desks together and sits down next to me.
"Sitting next to you. What does it look like?" He says sarcastically.
I sigh and ignore him. Jiro lightly grabs the top of my hand and pulls it to his lap. I instantly look over to Takeshi to see if he's watching. Thankfully, he focused on the books in front of him.
Jiro's lips press against my ear. "Don't look over to him." His voice tickles my back. "I thought you wanted to be in a relationship with me?"
It's clear that he's teasing me. "I do, but last time I checked, we're not in a relationship because you don't know what you want." Might as well make him shut up, so Takeshi doesn't hear.
As Takeshi turns around to face us, I try to pull my hand away from Jiro's. However, his grip strength is too much to fight against.
"Now, the most important thing you need to know about protection spells is that they are different from the spell that you have learned before." He pulls out his wand and proceeds to draw into the air. "Almost every magic user has a protection spell on them at all times."
"Wouldn't that drain their magical energy and be a waste?" I interrupt.
"That's what it would seem like, but most protection spells stay dormant until something threatening happens to the user. For instance, I have a protection spell on me right now. If you were to cast a stabbing spell, it would be deflected by my protection spell." He continues to write letters into the air as he talks. "Users do this because most attacks come unwarranted, and casting a protection spell in the middle of a fight wastes precious time."
That makes enough sense, I suppose. But, when I go to ask another question, I feel the tight squeeze of Jiro's hand. When I look over at him, his expression looks pained.
"Are you—"
"You shouldn't neglect to mention that those spells can also be used against you." Jiro interrupts me. His voice sounds annoyed.
Takeshi sighs and softly places his wand on the desk. The message in the air is not finished, but it doesn't look like that matters to him. "Yes, it's also important to note that experienced users can twist the spell to work against you."
"How?" I quickly respond.
"Protection spells are deals." Jiro butts in.
Deals? What is he talking about?
"Protection spells are on the border of being dark magic. When a magical user casts the spell, they have to make a deal with a guide. This process can take time, which is while it is impractical to do in a fight."
They keep throwing new terms at me that I don't understand. Not only that, but I can tell that Jiro is just trying to take his anger out on his brother.
"What's a guide?" my voice rings out.
"Guides are pure magical beings that live in a different physical realm than ours. You can think about it as if they were demons or angels. They can travel to our world and interact with us, but we can't do the same." Takeshi walks over to one of the bookshelves and traces his fingers along the spine of each book. He looks focused as if looking for something specific. "There hundreds of different guides that offer their own type of protection." His hand stops on a large book.
"I'll get to the point because you won't." Jiro furrows his eyebrows at him, but Takeshi pays no attention. Instead, all his focus is on the book resting in his hands. "Guides create a, sometimes, mutually beneficial relationship with the magic user. In exchange for the guide's protection, a guide will feed off the user's magical energy. Most of these guides are fine, but some of them dip into dark magic."
"And dark magic is bad?"
Takeshi slaps the spine of the book onto the border of Jiro and I's desk. "That's something to be argued. The Magical Council that we have today strictly forbids it, but the uprising of the Scarlet Eye says that to ignore certain aspects of magic is disrespectful. However, that argument is a topic for another day." His hands flip the pages as if they know where to go. It stops on a page with a tall, slender creature that has a skull of a kudu. "This is Chima. They are regarded as the most powerful guide out there."
"They're also the most dangerous." Jiro cuts in. "Guide deals can last a lifetime, and most contracts forbid users to make deals with other guides." He taps his finger at the picture of the guide. "This one specifically hates deals and only makes them when a user is at their lowest. They do this because, in a state of panic, they can manipulate the user to make a bad deal and basically give up their lives to serve them." Jiro scoffs at the picture.
My eyes are drawn to the charcoal drawing of the guide. Their horns spiral in a beautiful corkscrew shape. They're exceptionally long as well. While it's only a drawing, the horns look about as long as the torso of the guide's body.
"I thought guides were only used for protection spells?"
"Legal spells, that is. Magic is divided into two sections." Takeshi waves his hands to emphasize that it's two different things. "White magic is the use of spells that can be cast without the help of a guide. This is what you did yesterday with the lumination spell and at the academy with the creation spell. Dark magic is calling onto guides to draw more power and abilities. Most of these cause harm, which is why they are illegal outside of using them for protection spells."
"So white magic uses no guides, dark magic does, and protection spells are an exception because it doesn't cause harm to others?"
Takeshi nods his head. "Exactly."
"Yeah, but guides are pieces of shit that don't need to hold up their end of the deal, which is why you shouldn't use them." Jiro shouts out. He finally lets go of my hand and pulls them up to his chest, crossing them together.
Takeshi sighs annoyingly. "What he's trying to say is that guides are not forced to uphold their part of the contract. For example, if another magical user comes up to them offering a deal in which they need to terminate the one they're in, then the guide could do this. However, this rarely happens as it makes the guide look bad and get fewer people that want to make deals with them."
Essentially, It would have to be an extremely good deal for a guide to do such a thing. "So does this Chima guide do protection spells?"
"Eh, I mean… Technically they can, but most people don't call out to them for protection. They aren't the best at protecting people."
"What do they specialize in then?"
"Death." Jiro says coldly.
"Not exactly." Takeshi corrects him. "Those that have made a contract with him do it to gain power. Chima usually offers their overwhelming power, which allows the magic user to gain a high ranking position with ease."
This guide is smart. "Then they use the magic user as a puppet to control certain things, and when they're done—"
"They get rid of them." Takeshi finishes. "People are led into the false sense that Chima is there to help them when in fact, they don't care about them."
"Everyone calls them the Liege of Dark Magic." Jiro grabs the edge of the book and slams it shut. "If you ever come across him, don't make a deal with him. It will never be in your favor, and it will only end up with you being dead." He looks me straight in the eye.
Takeshi grabs the book from the desk and walks back to the shelf he found it on. His footsteps are quiet but swift at the same time. I had noticed it before, but he would make a good spy. He's calm, knowledgeable, and charming. Then again, for a person of his standing, being a spy would be a waste. As he slides the book back into its home, he grabs another one not far over.
"Well, we got a bit off track, but no matter. Mako, I want you to take this book with you and look over some of the different protection guides. I know that we mostly talked about how dangerous they can be, but many of them are kind. That being said, just get a feel for what they can offer you. You don't have to make a decision right now." He hands me the book.
The front cover looks old and worn out. The writing on it is barely legible, but from what I can see, it says 'The First Hundred Guides that are Best for Protection Spells.' It seems like an overly long title, but it looks like it's been well loved based on its condition.
"It's a tad early, but I feel safe leaving it off there. I'll see both of you tomorrow. Also, Mako, please don't use your wand too much. I don't want it to break, and you be out of a wand for two days."
I nod my head as I get up from the desk. When I look over to Jiro, I find that he has already grabbed my things and is walking out the door.