Chapter V.I (5.1) - An Unanticipated Party

  Kizu flopped down in a soft chair. His family villa had changed little since he lived here as a child. And yet, it no longer felt like home or filled him with excitement as it once had. Now it was a place he went whenever he had familial duties. Not that the family he actually liked was permitted on the premises. In place of Anna and Anata, his sister and niece, Kizu had his father and brother in the room with him.

  “At least one of my parents got through to Hon before the border closure,” Kizu muttered to himself. That had been a stroke of good fortune. His mother had decided to leave the academy earlier than her husband, directly after the Dragon attack. That actually worked heavily in their family’s company’s favor. While the border closure was still disastrous for trade, they had someone on both sides of the closed off nation. One to keep the business functioning in Hon and prepare for the eventual reopening of borders, and one to act as damage control to their contacts across the rest of the world.

  Kizu personally would have preferred both parents to be on the sealed off continent, far away from him.

  “Fortunately a large swathe of Tross remains active,” his father was saying. “We can connect to anyone on the south-western side of Kiretsu Gulch. The river that runs through it acts as the border.”

  Kizu had heard of this gulch before. His spatial mentor, Wakino, was currently there studying the phenomenon. Anyone who attempted to cross the river at the center of the gulch found themselves turned around and stepping back on the bank they’d come from. And the magical barrier applied to physical objects as well. A stone thrown through it would rebound back at the thrower. Thankfully, divinations and messages could still be sent back and forth through magical means. So they would still be able to plan and communicate.

  At first, everyone had panicked, thinking all of Tross had been cut off and while that was mostly true, a good third of the continent remained intact. Kizu had discussed it with Basil and Taroe and they theorized that the section of land was actually a separate plate of the World Dungeon. Which meant it either belonged to the Dragon territory or Blood Lord territory. And since the Dragons had yet to encroach on the area, it was likely it belonged under Otochi’s control.

  “Tomorrow I will depart for Port Kallis,” his father announced, breaking Kizu from his thoughts. “From there, I will be better disposed to coordinate with contacts in Tross as well as the few remaining connections we maintain in Edgeland. Remember this, boys, tragedy needs not only be consumed by disaster, but also fresh potential and opportunity for those strong enough to rise to the occasion.”

  Finn nodded along dutifully but Kizu just frowned. That seemed like a really callous outlook on life. At least coming from his father.

  “I will be checking in on you periodically,” their father continued. “I am especially interested to see how you both rank in the upcoming tournament.” Then he hesitated, clearly debating whether or not to mention something. “Your mother wouldn’t want me to say this… however, she is not currently present and I believe it will be good material to motivate your success further. In Anna’s final full year at Shinzou Academy, she ranked second in the academy’s tournament. And she wasn’t yet even a fifth year student. And the first place student went on to be the youngest general of Edgeland. So keep that in mind going forward. I expect you both to rise to the occasion and exceed our expectations.”

  And with those final words, their father dismissed them from his presence.

  Kizu went his separate ways from his brother. Finn had been even more silent than usual since their father moved into the villa. But that at least meant he was also less overtly hostile on a day-to-day basis.

  As he walked through the town’s streets, Kizu passed the battle’s wreckage. While the headmaster had halted the Dragon’s assault before it could reach the academy, the town was buried in collateral damage. Not only from the Dragon’s flames or hurricane gusts, though those could certainly be seen, but the fall of the green Dragon had left a crater in the center of town.

  As Kizu passed by, he noticed the dead Dragon in question being picked apart by crafters and hunters. Piles of cut up intestines filled wheelbarrows and enchanted carts. Over to the side, the town’s butcher was hard at work slicing bits of meat into smaller chunks. The entire street would have been bathed in blood, except some elementalists had absorbed it with waves of water before separating the liquids in massive vats. Every bit of the Dragon’s body would be put to use in some way.

  The spoils earned from the Dragon’s corpse would first be used to help the town recover from the damage, but after that anyone who assisted in its removal would be allotted a bit for their own purposes. So mages from across the known world had arrived in an effort to help rid the town of the Dragon’s body.

  Kizu, without needing to help with corpse disposal, still received more than enough materials to satisfy any potion brewing curiosities. The headmaster had seen that one of the other dead Dragons be dissected by his faculty and divided between those who might find it useful who had participated in the battle. And Kizu sincerely appreciated Headmaster Ballarfulur’s generosity. He’d be putting the materials to good use as soon as he had a spare moment for experimentation.

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  In fact, as Kizu considered it, he wondered if he might be able to sneak off to Owl’s Respite now. Classes were meant to resume again tomorrow so this might be his last chance with an open schedule before being swamped in schoolwork again.

  Resolving to use the time for his experiments, Kizu stepped into Taroe’s home, intending to head to the gate connected to Owl’s Respite.

  “SURPRISE!”

  The cry came from all around him at the same moment as an explosion of color. Kizu likely would have tripped and fallen back in shock, except his monster leg tore through the soles of his boot and gripped into the floorboard, steadying his balance.

  “What—” Kizu whirled around, swatting at the strands of colored paper that surrounded him.

  “You did it!” Aoi declared.

  “Survived another year!” Ione added.

  “And there’s another one to come!” Basil said.

  “Happy birthday!” they all cheered in unison.

  “Birth…..day?” Kizu repeated.

  “You’re seventeen now,”” Taroe stoically responded from the back of the group. Someone had subjected him to a colored cone paper hat with a fuzzy ball at its apex. “The age of manhood in many cultures across the world. Hon included. Congratulations on achieving adulthood.”

  ”This. Can’t be right,” Kizu replied. “I just met with my father earlier today and he didn’t mention it.”

  “I think we’ve proven more reliable than your parents on several occasions,” Ione pointed out. “While this is a surprise party, that fact shouldn’t be one.”

  Kizu looked across the room at the gathered members. His friends at the academy. Ione, Aoi, and Basil were of course up front. But he spotted several other classmates and pals. Even Harvey was present, the Tainted boy flashing him a grin and a thumbs up.

  Throughout the next half an hour, everyone approached Kizu eventually, wishing him a happy birthday. He numbly thanked them all, still bewildered by their sudden appearance in Taroe’s home. It took a bit of questioning before he located the organizer. In hindsight, it should have been obvious Basil would be the one to set this up.

  He spotted Evie, his friend from Combat F, in the corner with her hood drawn, talking with a fellow first-year, Harumi. Over to their left was a student from his Illusions A class who’d attempted to rope him into the Art Club a few months ago, she was showing one of his Music F classmates a roll of parchment that undulated with a spectrum of colors. He overheard Sene and Faible bickering about the uses of historical library books. Unbeknownst to those two, one of the Tainted partiers he met was currently trying to snort a magical alcohol directly behind them. There were so many faces of people he’d met over the last year. From classes and parties and clubs and Student Council.

  Anata was already stuffing their faces with cake at the dinner table with her friend Rui. Upon spotting Kizu’s approach, Anata hopped off her seat and hugged him tight, resulting in a smear of frosting staining his shirt as she buried her face into his chest. He patted her head.

  “My sister,” Kon growled from under the table. The Kitsune boy had also been given a slice of cake. Chunks of which now hung from his whiskers as he looked up at Kizu. “When does she return?”

  “I don’t know, Kon.” Kizu sighed. “I’ve told you before. I’ll let you know immediately once Stina contacts me again. Last I heard they’d just entered the wilderness the coven gathers at for the solstice. We’re lucky it was on the border and not cut off alongside Hon.”

  That response did not placate the Kitsune boy. He grumbled and slinked back under the table, out of sight.

  Someone shoved a plate of cake into his hands as Kizu took a seat next to Anata.

  “As a proper adult now, you’re officially emancipated from your parents’ control,” Aoi commented, sitting across from him. “This was around the age your sister disappeared, correct? She reached adulthood and split from your family.”

  Kizu blinked. “I…I suppose so.”

  “So what will you do? Plans to leave the academy and chase after her?”

  Kizu looked around himself at all the friends and family gathered in the home. The idea that he’d need to leave it all behind to pursue his sister tore something in his heart. And leaving behind Shinzou Academy felt wrong. “No. Not yet. Maybe if I had enough information. But…I like it here. If I can confirm she’s safe, I’ll finish my studies first.”

  Aoi nodded, understanding. “Good. You know a lot of fourth and fifth years drop out after they hit adulthood. Glad you won’t be among that number when the semester ends. The academy wouldn’t be the same without you.”

  “What was your coming of age party like?” Basil asked, slipping into the seat beside his girlfriend. “Big celebration?”

  Aoi tugged on her braid. “Nothing like this. A lot of nobility sucking up to me. And everyone dressed in official clothing drinking wine and sake. One few nice things about Hon cutting off access is that I don’t have to deal with those snobs for a while.”

  “I suppose that’s one pro to everything happening,” Kizu said, taking a bite of cake. “It feels like the world is shrinking more and more. It all opened up to me when I left Hon Basin last year, but piece by piece it’s closing off.”

  Kizu paused. The cake was delicious. A sweet white frosting layered the top while the moist bread of the cake’s flavor popped. Absolutely delectable.

  “Nevermind,” he amended. “I’ll be fine staying on Shinzou Island for as long as more of this cake is supplied. Outside world be damned.”

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