"Marielle, no... Amemiya Fujimoto-san. "
"?!..." Her shocked face confirms my suspicion.
That name on the paper, aside from the fact that it's a written out in a way like romaji which spells out the pronunciation of the name of another language, it's also a name that I know and have heard of, multiple times in fact. Why? That's because it's my classmate's name.
I could still remember those days as clear as yesterday. Those days on a world that is known as 'Earth'.
_____________
"Fujiwara-san. For the school trip would you like to join our team? We know that you wanted to partake in the trip but no one invited you yea? You can join out group if you would like to. "
I was sitting at my desk at the time, to the back most corner of the class. This seat was 'gifted' to me as the delinquent of the class. It's a seat close to no one at all, so I never get the chance to talk with anybody at all.
"Are you... serious?"
"Yes. We are inviting you to join our group of 3. "
"I... see... Thank you for inviting me."
That was in school, during lunch break and just two weeks before that bus incident. I was already in my fifth grade, the second last year of my school. For the school trip, I was invited by her, Amemiya-san. After that, she and her two of her friend would actually make an effort to talk to me, despite my notorious reputation.
Then, the day of the 2-day trip to Kyoto would soon arrive. We arrived at the school and got on the bus in the morning. All 4 of us are seated in pairs facing each other, in a large bus, and there's 17 of us.
She sat right next to me, who have a seat closest to the window.
The bus took the road away from the highway from Tokyo to Kyoto, it went on a mountain road. And on the mountain, that's when it happened.
When I was just reincarnated, I can't remember anything from the bus at all. After a while, I gradually remembered more and more of the incident but it was still kind of hazy and unclear.
At the time, I only remembered seeing a bright flash flying at me as I looked out the window towards the mountain scenery. And that was all I could remember before I wake up inside an ambulance, blinded and in extreme pain the next moment. After that, I was reincarnated here.
________________
I have a lot of questions for Marie... for Amemiya-san... but for now I'll introduce myself first, in Japanese of course.
"You understand exactly what I'm saying... Right?"
I said that... in Japanese. It is the first time I have said anything at all using that language with this body, so I have a weird westerner accent, but it still sounds like fluent Japanese.
"...Yes." She replied to me, in Japanese as well.
"This means you know what I'm about to say, right?"
Marie slowly nodded her head.
"You can be less tense, it's not like it's a sin to be someone from another world. It's nice to meet you again, Amemiya-san. I'm Taki. The Fujiwara Taki that you invited on to the school trip. "
"...What? The Taki Fujiwara that I knew was a boy.... You are a woman, and my big sister at that! "
"I don't know why as well. I was reincarnated as a girl in this world before I know it... "
"I see... Just to confirm, you didn't met anyone at all right? There is no God, no devil, or something like that right?"
"Whether there are god or not, I don't know, but I haven't seen one after I died."
"I see... Then that settles the one big question I have always had in my mind..."
She carefully looked at my face again, this time with a bit more relaxed look on her face.
"...there isn't even a sign of resemblance of your old body, that's why I would never know it's you, haha... How did you figured it out that I'm your classmate then?"
"The pope. He has a magic eye that can use a magic called "Appraisal" which sees the soul itself. He wrote that on this paper after he found out you were an other worlder like me, and then he passed the paper to me without you all noticing. "
"So there's a reason that the pope's eye glowed up and I suddenly had a panic attack... Still, if you haven't told me that, I wouldn't know that there were magic eyes in this world as well..."
She knows that there is magic in this world at least. Why? Well, I have always casted Ember around the house to use as light source or to burn things.
"Yea. For now, you can just read this. I'll explain more about magic later. "
I showed Marie the paper.
"...I can't read it yet... "
"...seriously?"
"...yep. "
It seems that she really doesn't know much about our language at all. I guess mom just don't have the time to teach her huh? But well, when I was 3, I was still studying about language though, so I can't blame her that much.
"...I'll teach you then, as well as everything about this world. You need to know one thing first though."
"What is that?"
"It's that this world is almost like the fantasy world you see in light novels or animes. I think you haven't had your first experience, so here's this for example."
I snapped my fingers and a small ember burns mid air after a crest formed. Her face immediately livens up.
"So this is magic huh?... I have never seen you cast one so close to me because you are always afraid of hurting me.... It's cool, can I cast one as well?"
"I'll have to ask mom about that... Remember, you are now my sister, I have a responsibility to make sure I don't accidentally teach you something dangerous."
"Come on, you are probably only 3 years or so older than me anyway, we are a lot more closer in age!"
"Hmm.... I'll still have to ask mom. But! Before that, you need to answer my question. "
"Fine, what do you wanna ask?"
"Back at the bus... Did you see exactly what happened?"
"... I can't remember it clearly but... "
"But?"
"I think I saw lightning. It was a lightning strike that killed us. Probably. "
"...I see. Now that I think about it that's probably it, I remember walking up in an ambulance, blinded, with extreme pain all over my body. That sounds like the damage a lightning strike would do... I know that since I have read about it here in this world, about damage done with lightning magic. "
"Now you are just flexing me on magic! But... I feel sorry for you, to have to experience something like that, waking up in extreme pain and all unlike me who is instantly gone the moment it happened."
"Ah it's all good since it's 7 years already. Well, I'm done asking for now. "
I stopped talking mid way to gather my thoughts.
"For now, what shall I call you? And how do you want me to treat you? "
"Mmm... Calling me Marielle is fine but... I seriously don't know how to feel about you since you know, you were once a boy before right? And you are about the same age like me as well..."
"That... I don't blame you. But I have changed, not just physically speaking, but mentally as well. I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable as a woman... and sooner or later, I'll have completely cross the line from a boy into a girl.... It's a conflicting thing for me you know? "
"...I'm sorry for bringing up something that's heavy for you..."
"It's fine. You did nothing wrong, you apologize too much for twelve's sake. "
"Twelve's sake'? "
"It's just a way of saying 'for God's sake' in this world. Since you know, there are twelve gods in this world. "
"Right... If you aren't going to change your mind about completely becoming a girl, then I guess I have no problem with you treating me like a little sister, and like how a girl would treat another girl... But the moment I sense any lust from you I will never forgive you!"
"Don't worry, even if I am a boy I would never lust after another woman without their consent... "
"Right... Anything else I should know about this world?"
"Not really...we could just learn bit by bit as you grow up, since we have 3 months of free time in this winter. Oh, there's two news actually. A bad news and a good news, which would you like to hear first?"
"The bad news first then. "
"I... It won't be surprising to suddenly find out that I'm dead. Or not me anymore."
"What?... Don't tell me you have cancer or something, not when I finally found someone that shares similarity with me in this world!"
"Calm down, it's not cancer but it might be worse. Inside my body resides another soul, one of the strongest being of this world, an ancient evil dragon. "
"...an ancient evil dragon?"
"Yes. It's one of the dragon that was in this world since the dawn of time. Besides that, when it wakes up even I don't know what will happen to me. I might die, is what I'm saying. "
"I don't like how casually you make it sound... I don't want you to die, not when have already spent a year as sisters... "
"...I don't want to either... but I already have a second life, which is way more than anyone back on earth could even hope for. I got another chance to live out my life with the knowledge of our previous world... I got a second chance is what I'm saying, so it's only natural that I wouldn't be that afraid of death. "
"Yes... But still..."
"Don't worry, I won't just die suddenly. I'm just warning you before hand so that you can prepare for it when the day comes... You can rest assured that I'll be fine... for now..."
"I see... What's the good news then?"
"The Demon Lord is dead. I said that this world is 'almost' like the fanatsies that we read. The reason that it's 'almost' and not 'exactly' is because we aren't born here to kill a demon lord or someone like that. Rather, we are just here to live out our second life. "
"Then that means my life will get to be whatever I choose... Just like back on earth. "
"Yes, just like back on the world we used to live on..."
With our silence, sadness and nostalgia filled the room. This world is nice, better even, than Earth. But earth was still my original home. It's not something you could just forget and let go.
...I feel homesick. Talking in Japanese again brought up these hidden feelings of mine. However, I can't remain in this sulking mood forever, I should bring up something as well.
"...Thank you. Thank you for conversing in Japanese with me. " I thanked Marielle with the deepest sincerity.
"...I didn't do anything you know? "
"No, but you talked with me in Japanese. There's finally someone that I can share my feelings of nostalgia and homesickness with. Besides that, Japanese doesn't exist here, it's rather sad to know a language and not have people to use it on. I missed our home a lot... "
"I get you point... Especially when I have just barely learned to talk a little of this world's language. "
"Don't worry, I'll teach you. It's a rather straight forward language once you learn it's verbs. For now, what will you want to try out first?"
"Magic! I want to try magic!"
"Very well. Mom will allow you to cast magic with my supervision I think."
"I have been meaning to ask since you are knowledgeable about this world's magic... are you good with magic?"
I smiled in a smug way upon hearing her say that.
"I'm not the greatest at it like the Magic God Lynn, in fact if I'm compared to those big bads I'd say I'm rather average.... but outside of them, I'm actually rather good at it!"
"I see! How exciting, please show me magic then!... certainly not right now."
She says that as she pointed out the window where I can see strong and cold winds blowing, almost like we are in the Artic itself. This situation calls for a joke that only me and her would understand.
"...you like Hokkaido? "
"Ah... I see your 'cold' joke pun. "
(Cold joke : A joke that is funny in virtue of being unfunny)
"Hahaha...! I'm sorry, I just had to make that one. It's been too long since I used Japanese afterall, haha... "
" (Chuckles)... That's a nice one I'll give you that. "
"How nostalgic... I used to be able to crack jokes like this with my friends you know? Back before that incident, I think you may have heard of the rumours."
"I have, sadly... how would you like me to call you then? Of course not your Japanese name cause speaking in Japanese like now is out of the question. "
"...if possible... I'd like you to keep calling me 'nee-chan' in this world's language... it's a bit heart warming..."
It's a bit embarrassing to say it out loud but it's true... I had always wanted a little sister.
"Hehe... Of course, nee-chan!"
"Right! Let's go!"
"Ah- how feminine of you for a former boy! To want to be called a big sister! And to tie your hair into twin tails! You really are cute aren't you?"
"S-shut up! If you make fun of me anymore I'll not teach you anything at all! "
"Hahaha! Your reaction is priceless! "
"Come on, don't talk so loudly in Japanese! It's time for us to switch back to this world's language!"
"Oh you are right...! " She lowered her voice before trying to speak in the Human Language of this world again.
"Let's head out then. "
I headed out with my sister, this time knowing her secret identity. I went out of the room with her following me. Since she still has just learned how to walk properly again, she is slow.
"...shall I carry you? It's fine if you don't want to since you know... "
"Please don't talk so fast... "
That's right, she still isn't fluent with this language yet. So I spoke again, slowly and clearly.
"Oh, I see... Do you want to be carried?"
"...Okay!"
With her consent, I crouched down and hugged her, then held her up. She is about half my height and reaches up until my waist, but soon she'll grow to be about my size. She is surprisingly light but I guess this is the result of my workouts giving me more strength.
And so I walked down the stairs with her in hand and then we went to do our own things. For now, what I can do for fun is reading about this world as well as reading the King of the Rings, an original story of this world. Marielle has her tuition with mom. Someday I'll teach her magic as well, but for now I think she lacked the mana for it since either can't sense her mana at all.
(Few days later)
"Mom, Marie says she wants to learn magic. "
"Really?! That's a great news then! Can you teach her? "
"I can, I already agreed to it. I was just asking for your permission. "
"Of course you are allowed to. Just remember to take precautions, but I know that you are good and smart enough to prevent accidents, right?"
"Yea. We'll be in the backyard then. "
"Okay. "
It was just after breakfast, near mid noon, the warmest time of the day. Today it wasn't snowing as bad so we could head out the backyard at least.
That being said... I needed to prepare a lamp and a textbook first. At first, I wanted to use the textbook that I had used for years but that one was given to Gerd as keepsake. As such this time I'll just use the First and Second Grade Grimoire our school borrowed to all of us first grades. It contains almost all elementary and intermediate leveled spells, perfect for a total beginner.
"So, nee-chan, what will I be doing first. "
"To be honest I'm not sure what's the best place to start, I'll guess I'll just start teaching you the basics. Before we start though, you must first know some general knowledge."
"Alright... I'm ready!"
"For starters, magic is divided into 5 sub-class, Elemental, Illusion, Enchanting, Miracles and Magic Techniques. For now, we will only focus on elemental magic. "
I took out the oil lamp.
"The spell that you will be learning, is a elementary leveled fire spell called 'Ember'. It's rather useful in this world without any electricity, I'm sure you know why. "
"Mmn. Without electricity, fire becomes the primary lighting source."
"Correct. To cast a spell, you need to chant a semtence, like reading a poem. I had forgotten the chant for ember actually haha... so I'll just look it up here in this book real quick."
"Wait... if you are using it so often then how come you forgot the chant?"
"Oh that? You see, somehow I can use fire based magic without chanting. I can't explain it clearly but it's like I can somehow understand how fire works and feels, and I can simply replicate it in my mind by picturing it. For now, it's not important."
"Okay...? "
"Now, pay attention. Oh Lord of the light, bring forth warm and light upon this one, Ember. "
As I finished the chant, a crest formed and produced a small ember that burns in front. Unlike casting it chantlessly or even just silently, chanting out loud is really slow.
"Woah! This is cool!"
"I know right? At first I was also dumbfounded by how cool magic is! Anyway, it's your turn now. "
"R-Right...! I'm a bit nervous..."
"Take a deep breath.... good. For now, just close your eyes. Now, extend your arm and open your palm. Now, repeat after me. "
"Oh lord of the light, bring forth warmth and light upon this one." (2x)
Strangely enough, no crests forms in front of her hand, while mine is already completed.
"Ember." (2) My ember fired off, while Marie fired off nothing.
"...Did I do it?"
"Nope. It's a failure. "
"Ah I see... "
"Did you feel any sense of heat flowing from your spine towards your arm?"
"Actually, I did. But it's faint and it barely reached halfway through my arm before it disappeared. "
Hmm... is this the lack of mana control? Or just a lack of Reserve Mana?
"Hm... strange...For now, let's just keep trying alright?"
"Right!"
I practised with Marielle for about an hour. After half an hour she could finally create the general shape of the crest when chanting. But then, the crest would simply fall apart mid way. Amidst all that practises, only 2 attempts produced fire.
"I'm sorry I can't teach better than this..."
"No it's fine, it's just that I had a lot of trouble picturing the fire forming...."
"I see... I can't help you much at all, because magic is actually an abstract thing. Repetitions should help you, for now we should just take a rest. "
"...Alright. "
"...I know you may be feeling down but like everything experimental, there's always trial and error. Keep practising and you will be closer to actually using magic!"
"...Yea, you're right! "
I'm sorry! I'm just not as good as Gondur at teaching! Besides, all of my magic that I can do is from natural talent, I don't know how to explain it all other than it just happened when I wanted it to.
"Marie, for now you should focus on trying to cast ember successfully at least one everyday. "
I snapped my finger and lighted Ember in the oil soaked knot of the lamp. This was the reason I brought the lamp here in the first place.
"Wow! You really are good at this aren't you?!"
"Yes, but with practice you will be able to do the same as well. "
"If you say so, then I'll continue to practice this until I can use it!"
"Mmn. Keep it up! "
We walked into the house again to take our rest for the day.
(Chapter 25 end)