"You alright?"
I couldn't help but ask once I saw Bocchi-chan with a reddish face. It is the same as how I looked back when I got the fever. Could it be that she caught it too?
"N-n-no. I'm a-alright."
She said so, but her stuttering mess says otherwise. This is almost the same as when we talked in the first couple of weeks!
"Are you sure? I could bring you to your house right now."
"N-no! I'm f-fine. It's just the summer heat!"
I'm surprised she could finish what she's saying in under 2 seconds. She has the makings of a rap god.
When she sat down on the bench, I could see the redness of her face visibly going down—now that she was under the shade of this tree.
Thinking of the current temperature, I bought my beloved popsicles. Everything went as usual. Yamada-san still has that lazy look that got worse with the summer heat. Heck, I thought he became a corpse with this heat!
Thankfully, he woke up after placing the popsicles on top of his desk.
"Are you fine?"
"No. This heat is killing me." He said with a dull look. The small desk fan is pointed at him, somehow relieving him from the extreme heat.
"I want an air conditioner…"
"You'll earn it soon, Yamada-san."
"...I guess."
Maybe he should deal with his unkempt hair first. His blue hair looks refreshing to the eyes, but summer made it look like a glacier melting in the Atlantic Ocean. Drops of sweat appeared on it before dripping on his face.
"You should have a haircut." I said before going out. I did hear him say "You're right" which puts a smile on my face.
'With his looks, he should've gotten a girl already. I wonder why. These are the mysteries of life that I dare not guarantee knowing.
Just as I got out of the store, I saw a commotion appearing in the playground. A couple of students are shouting something while the rest seems shocked by what they are shouting.
"A g-ghost?!"
"This is bad! A ghost!"
"Eh?!"
"Ah?!"
I see.
'These brats…'
I strode into that place and flicked my finger towards one of the shouting kids' forehead.
"Ow!"
With my body strengthened by that occurrence from a few days ago, my strength surpassed that of a normal child. I don't know where it is, but it should match normal adults at best.
Simply put, this flick is the recreation of what they are accustomed to in their homes.
Flick-!
Flick-!
I did the same to the two other kids. I noticed that the surroundings went silent after that.
Under the teary eyes of three kids, I declared:
"This is rude. Just because you did not notice her all the time, you can bully her?"
That's right. I understand what's happening in their minds.
Granted, they can be surprised upon noticing Bocchi-chan's thin existence for the first time. But, they have been shouting more than three times already. It is evident that they just want to make this matter larger.
I looked at the kids amicably and asked:
"What should you do after committing a mistake?"
They were confused for a moment before realizing my underlying intent. Interestingly, the three kids acted first.
"I-I'm sorry!"
"I'm sorry!"
"I'm s-sorry!"
Then, the rest of the children followed.
"I'm sorry."
"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-"
I could see Bocchi-chan… turning into ashes. No, but she's trembling way too much. Her shocked expression says it all, yet it seems as if she's even deflating due to too much pressure.
'Crap.'
I made a mistake. I thought that she'll feel better once they apologize to her, however, she broke down instead. Left with no choice, I grasped her hand and… ran away—
The universal solution to all problems.
I pulled her in the direction where she came from. I could feel her cold hand, signifying her extreme tension back there. By the time we ran a sufficient distance, she looks like a dead fish. Her face is stoic and her eyes are dull. Her expression is a mix of ashen and pale as a sheet.
"Pff–"
I barely restrained my laughter at Bocchi-chan's expressiveness. She is the literal definition of "being an open book". Plus, there's also her monologue inside her head which I presume will be funny to hear.
'Telepathic magic… One more reason to develop magic, I guess.'
I focused back on fixing her situation.
"Hey. Hello~! Are you there~?"
Nope. No responses. She must be too caught up in processing the sequences of this event.
"Can you–nope." I stopped muttering as I knew that she was definitely not alright for now.
After thinking of no plausible solutions, I decided to walk with her–with me pulling her hand. She can still walk as of now, but I will carry her if she couldn't do so anymore.
"Bocchi-ch…Bocchi. Bocchi. Bocchi. Hitoribocchi. Hitorigotou (self-talk). Sabiishi (Lonely)..."
I blankly mumble while bringing forth my understanding of Bocchi all these days.
"You don't want to be a loner, right?" I asked. "You must hate to be like this. You know, being different from others."
"..."
Her expression is the same dead one as before, but I continued speaking.
"Fixing your problem is difficult, nay, very difficult for you. I can see your effort all these times. You might think that it is useless since it does not bear any fruit. But, not all efforts will be rewarded by fruits. Sometimes, you get the leaves." I said from the bottom of my heart.
I, myself, understood that things don't work out like this. Efforts are not necessarily rewarded. A few times, you get nothing but the leaves. I was lucky to have a fruit falling right in my lap last encounter, but I would not last if I keep doing this. I would die.
Still, doing efforts signify that you are moving forward.
"What I'm saying here is that… don't lose hope. Who knows, maybe you can find a friend one day. Though, in the event that you could not... remember that I'm still here. Akasaka Nobu, Gotou Hitori's friend!"
The next moment, I felt her movements freeze. She must have snapped out by now…
"Right, I forgot to say this… Thanks for that time."
After I said this, I saw her freeze once more. Then, she reacted too quickly. She ran off to the distance, leaving behind her gradually farther back.
"Eh..? What did just happen?"
*****
Mana Control.
It is the fundamental ability of a mage. It involves the will of the magician and the amount of mana 'converted' inside them. It doesn't emphasize mana capacity, but the willpower to control it.
That's what matters as a magician.
"Mana control is needed. So that's one."
I went to the next page of my diary.
"Anti-magic."
It is the capacity to nullify anything related to magic. Using mana, it would disperse mana. It is the literal definition of fighting fire with fire. But in this case, the other fire would put out the first fire successfully. Simply put, it can either collapse the magic or create effective fortifications against them.
As for why I would need this, it is self-explanatory. It can conceal the fluctuations in mana whenever a magician casts their magic. This avoids the possibility to be discovered by the Holy Inquisitors who wanted to rip off such magicians alive.
I went to the next page. There, the words "Kabbalah" is written. It is the magic that I deemed most suitable for me. It did not require any affinities whatsoever as it uses numerology and astrology to create their magic. It is the all-arounder magic system that dated way back to the 12th Century and is a core magic system for "wizardry", the most popular "collection" of magic systems.
Other than "wizardry", there are still other collections of magic systems such as Taoism, Buddhism, Witchcraft, and so on.
"These should be alright…" I muttered with slight tension that comes from excitement and anxiety.
If my anti-magic learnings do not work, I would be stuck with not learning magic. It's already been three days since I got these! It is hard for me to resist such temptation…
"Urgh… I'll go with anti-magic first."
I tried calling out that strange feeling. Soon, the itchiness appeared inside my chest.
'Modify the practice time of anti-magic system to ten years later?'
Practice time? Nice. It's just what I aimed for.
As I learned, there's a difference between practice and learning time. The former leaned more on practical experience while the latter leaned more on theoretical experience.
Of course, the other would still appear even if I choose one. Meaning, I would get my theoretical experience even if I chose 'Practice Time'. That's what happened when I tried my cheat with the guitar.
'Confirm.'
A wave of soothing feeling overcame my body once more. Chunks of knowledge appeared inside my head in an instant.
Anti-magic is the reverse side of magic. It aims to properly handle magic spells by destroying them with various means. It is the antithesis of magic as well as mana.
Surprisingly, it was made by magicians.
This irony was first ridiculed by the ancient magicians, but as time passed by, the modern magicians accepted its practical usage. It is used to deal with magicians who became evil.
"Fu…"
I calmed my active mind with a light breath. After that, I could not help but notice that these random thoughts are more controlled than before. If hundreds of jumbled sentences appeared before, it's now only a dozen. Using my cheat feels like sifting through a decade's worth of memories. It's just that, those memories are so vivid that you couldn't forget a single bit of it.
"Anti-magic. I wonder what came into those magicians' minds that they studied something like this."
In the first place, magicians are the ones who will be the most implicated in its existence. Though the same goes for other magic systems, wizardry is the collection that will be countered by it. After all, its fundamentals revolve around magic circles that use mana.
Sneakily, I left the bed and reached out for the black bag that I hid on my cabinet. It is somewhere between one of my jacket's pockets for extra security.
Opening the silver lace, I tried finding the materials with my hands. It is impossible to see through this bag without mana, hence I memorized the outlines of every object to get them with my hands.
"Got it."
I pulled back my hand from it. What I got is a black metallic box that has a small lock. When I touched it, a blue magic circle was reflected in my eyes. It illuminated the dark room, making it more mystical.
"This… This… That."
The magic circle has a total of five layers. It works like a safe where you need to put them in proper alignments to open them.
Click-!
Clank-!
As I opened it, I saw dozens of white chalks. I pulled out one of them and took a close look, but I didn't notice anything else.
"I need to finish this quick.."
The act of opening this lock produced fluctuations. I might be paranoid, but preventing any troublesome situations is what I like the most. I pushed my curious thoughts aside and began drawing below on the ground–below our bed, that is.
"Magic Chalk… It does sound ridiculous."
One of the items that show magic's progression alongside science. This chalk in my hands is processed using machinery.
It is a catalyst for beginner magicians or those who are looking to set up a large-scale spell without using a single bit of their mana. It probably has dozens of materials combined to form this chalk.
"Its smell is different from the regular ones."
While wondering how it could smell like herbs and flowers, I started drawing beneath our bed. It is currently 1 AM in the morning, which is why I chose this spot.
Soon, I began drawing geometry and arithmetic. The Kaballah numerology follows the thinking that every phenomenon can be explained by numbers. With modern arithmetic into the fray, it became even stronger than in the past.
One fine example of its mechanism is vectors.
Vectors are present in most forces available in this world. Thrust Force, Buoyant Force, and Applied Forces are some of their equivalents. There are also the Scalars that correspond to the Normal Forces (i.e., forces acted upon by gravity). These theories strengthened the effects of Kaballah.
'Numerology… Why don't I call it Magic Equations instead..?'
I continued writing down the magic circle. After a while, I got accustomed to it. I had to rethink the 'scope' equations for some time, but I soon solved it.
'Just this room is enough.'
Spreading out the effect will weaken it in turn. In case it isn't strong enough, I would screw up.
'Done.'
The moment I finished inputting the last equation, it lit up with blue light.
Hum-!
Buzz-!
A low humming sound resounded in my ears. What followed it is an invisible wave that I barely felt. Even so, I felt the mysticism and mysteriousness in it.
Ba-dump-!
Ba-dump-!
Magic… So this is what it is.
In this dark room, my blazing curiosity was ignited.