The ring of the bell signalled the end of another day. Like yesterday, Ayato, Emika and Retsuya walked home together.
"Ayato..."
Retsuya called out to him, glancing behind himself without turning.
"They're not with me."
He answered.
"Let's find out, shall we?"
Emika turned around. Nobody else was on the road. It was strange, especially since there were people earlier. It wasn't a secluded street either.
"Hercules!"
For a few seconds, Emika was shrouded in a yellow haze before she dashed. She drove her hand toward the ground and...
"Zephyr."
She released a huge wave of wind, pushing some things, that were in her way, back. With that, she found the people who were hiding.
Emika rushed after one of them—she punched them, driving her fist into their face. She slammed them into the ground.
'Nice use of Zephyr's detection.'
Ayato praised her.
Another person revealed themselves as their partner was knocked out.
"That one's mine."
Retsuya smiled while cracking his knuckles. The assassin looked over at Ayato, glaring knives.
The boy stuck his tongue out. It was a simple act of provocation.
"Why you—!"
It worked.
Before the assassin could react, Retsuya already had his elbow in the man's stomach. The assassin dropped to the floor as he rubbed his hands.
"Was that your Magic Seal?"
Ayato asked.
He saw what happened but just barely. Retsuya moved about 30 metres in a single leap. He elbowed the assassin and knocked him out.
It was none other than...
"Yup, passed down in the Narukami Family. Kamikaze, that's my Magic Seal."
'Utilising the power of the wind, is it?'
"Anyway, if you want to live, you should probably get out here."
The blue-haired boy shouted. He looked at the corner ahead of him. A boy timidly walked out with his hands up in the air.
Ayato furrowed his brow.
"That uniform... You're from our school."
"Y-yes..."
He replied with a whisper.
If the boy was from Auralia, then were the people who attacked truly assassins? Not that it made a difference to Ayato, but now he needed to know who would target him.
No one in the Kyouya Family, at least those attending Auralia, wouldn't use people as insecure as students. They weren't professionals and couldn't always get the job done. They may also leak information. The risks would be too high. It meant that these people were not hired by the Kyouya Family.
"Why did you attack us?"
Emika asked with a placid smile.
"Uh... Well... They said that..."
"Who?!"
Retsuya was very forceful. He frightened the boy. Ayato signalled him to back off slightly.
"What did they say?"
"Well... They said if I just scared you, then they would... they would give me money. My family is poor, you see..."
He nervously twiddled his fingers while explaining to them. There was a faint smile on his face but it was like he was smiling to get rid of his anxiety.
"Who did?"
The student's gaze toggled between his fingers and Ayato's face before he looked away.
"They were jesters."
"Jesters?"
"As in clowns?"
Ayato was the only one who understood. The jesters must've been the same ones from Ikebukuro. But what did they want with him? Bounty? Didn't seem like it. If what they wanted was money, they wouldn't have publicly destroyed Ikebukuro Station. No fame above ground makes underground work easier.
"Jesters..."
They were a unique pair. What did they want with Ayato?
·———·
The next day, Ayato came to school separate from his friends this time around. It was an experiment, one could call it.
The jesters wanted something from Ayato. Would they come to confront him if he was alone? Even with the number of detours, he took to reach the school, nobody appeared.
"Maybe I was mistaken..."
He whispered to himself as he entered the school.
It was around half an hour earlier than when he usually enters the school.
"I guess I'll go to the library for now."
Ayato went to the library to kill time. He entered the silent sanctuary. Ayato's interest was in all sorts of theses, no matter how boring they would seem to other people who read them.
As the boy searched around, he couldn't find anything that he hadn't read yet. In his spare time, he would often use Shic to read theses.
"Hm? Here's something."
He picked up a book from the top shelf. It was a dark purple book.
"The Thesis for the Vector Magic—Gravity Magic."
Gravity Magic was something theorized about but not discovered.
Spells are discovered, learnt rather, by reading incantations. Incantations are only necessary the first time someone casts a spell. Some incantations don't work for some people due to affinity.
Inside a magician's genetic code, within the sequence that determines whether someone is a magician or not, there are codons that determine affinity.
Affinity only applies to the primary and secondary elements, but anyone with enough capacity can learn tertiary magic, which includes magic like Strengthening and Reinforcement.
Gravity Magic was something different from elements and tertiary magic. It was something that could only be found as a Magic Seal.
"This book... It explains it all so clearly. I know a thesis is supposed to make others think that it makes sense but this could work..."
A smile of anticipation perked up Ayato's face. It was a type of excitement only those curious enough could experience.
"Excuse me, do you have a moment?"
A girl called out to Ayato. He closed his book.
"Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"It's about that book."
She pointed to the Gravity Magic thesis.
"My friend wants to read it, can she?"
'You could just wait until I finish...'
He mentally criticized.
'Or not.'
If Ayato were to continue, he would probably be absorbed enough to borrow it and finish it at home. If so, then the girl's friend would have no chance of reading it.
'Assuming that her friend is like me, an absolute fanatic when it comes to theses, they would want this more than anything.'
He could sympathize with the girl's friend. (His imagination was betraying him.)
"No... is what I want to say. How about we do this?"
"Hm?"
"I want to read this as well. So, for now, we can read it together."
The girl narrowed her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with Ayato's suggestion. She seemed to reconsider when she thought back to her friend.
"Yeah, that'll work."
She sighed.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No, I'm just wondering why people are interested in such boring theses anyways."
"If you think like that, you'll grow a century-old in an instant."
Ayato quipped. The girl let out a dry chuckle. She agreed with that.