Beginnings
First year.
With eleven, Shinichi finally got his long awaited letter from japans oldest magic school, the Yatagarasu Nesuto, or as most called it in a loving tone, the raven's nest. The letter in his shaking hands wasn‘t even signed with a name, but it was addressed at him personally and the red wax seal had the emblem of the school pressed deeply into it - a cawing raven.
He couldn't stop smiling while he read the words over and over again. The parchment seemed old and the black ink smelled like smoke. The letter did not tell him much, except on which day his school year would start, namely the 9th of September and a list of things he would need for learning to master his magic, but he never felt more exited in his entire life.
His parents went with him the next day to buy everything that was on the list and more. On the 8th of September, his parents told him, it was tradition, that every first grader found their way into the school on their own.
It was the first test. Every student had to pass it. If one did not find their way into the school, they never got another chance to attend again. That certainly was not a possibility for Shinichi, so he decided, he would do his best like usual. The only reference point he got, was a temple's name, the Fushimi Inari-taisha, which was a very popular temple in Kyoto.
He lived in Tokyo, so the first hurdle would be, to buy a train ticket all on his own and get to the train station. Luckily, he was not the only eleven-year-old wizard or witch in his neighbourhood that had gotten the letter.
His right-next-to neighbour Ai Haibara and his long time friend Ran Mōri were also born from wizard families and the same age as him. Together they already made a pact months ago, to help each other to get into the school.
The night before his first day, he hugged and kissed his parents goodbye, since they told him they had to go on a business trip and would not be there in the morning to see him leave. This happened occasionally, so he was not very sad or surprised.
In the morning, Shinichi got up early, so he would have enough time to check everything twice, before he grabbed his packed bento, a water bottle and his duffel bag and headed over to Ai's, where they agreed to meet. After a while the doorbell rang and he went to open the door, since Ai was still packing.
"Why are you here?", he asked annoyed after he opened the door. He had expected Ran. But right beside Ran stood Sonoko, Ran's other best friend beside Shinichi. She also had a bag with her that looked excessively big for her and threw him an angry look.
"Shinichi, don't be mean!", Ran chided.
"Don't tell me you're a witch, too. You know they don't just let anybody in, right?", he drawled and turned to let them in.
He already knew she was a witch of course, she always boasted about her capabilities, whenever she talked to Ran. The comment was just to spite her. Also, Ran hadn't told him she would bring her too, probably because of this exact reaction. Sonoko blew up her cheeks like a sting fish and Shinichi smirked.
"Listen to me, you arrogant, little-"
"Sonoko please, no fighting anymore. Shinichi! You promised too, the last time you two got in a fight." She threw him a pleading look. Her big grey eyes were even prettier like that. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine... Come on in already. We need to get going."
Together they took the first train to the Inari Station. From there it was supposedly just a short walk to the temple.
Half an hour before they would arrive at the station, Shinichi wondered if his parents pulled his leg about this whole thing. He stared aimlessly out the window and watched the beautiful autumn landscape wash by in a blur of colors.
That was it? They just had to ride the train by themselves and then walk up the steps to the temple? That was just plain boring... A bit miffed, he began to read one of his favourite books again, to keep himself occupied. It was about a character called Sherlock Holmes, who despite being fictional and a muggle was really smart and even solved crimes.
Ran and Sonoko decided to play cards instead and chattered away, while Ai was sitting opposite from him, also reading a book, minding her own business like usual.
"Why is it even called the raven's nest? Aren't ravens somewhat creepy? Also, my uncle once said, it's an omen of bad luck", Sonoko said in a stuck-up tone, that Shinichi disliked. He rolled his eyes at her comment, but kept quiet. Ai smirked behind her book.
"The raven symbolizes wisdom, affection, healing powers, longevity, death, and fertility. Its jet-black color represents the night, the great void and even the earth. Some say the raven was born of the primordial darkness, others believe that it brought light. Therefore, it is the perfect animal to represent the school. Simply put, magic can be both, black and white. It's what people make out of it...", she said in a bored tone, while not even looking up from her book about forbidden and deadly curses, like it was the most normal thing for an eleven year old girl to read.
Shinichi repressed a smile. She always was weird like that, but that was, what he liked about her the most. She was also the only one of his friends who liked to read as much as he did. And she at least, showed some interest, when he was solving riddles as a pastime activity, while Ran always groaned annoyed and called him a terrible bore. Sonoko hummed in thought about her comment and they kept playing.
"Excuse me...", a girl‘s voice said and they all looked up. They hadn't even noticed that someone had opened up their wagon door. "Could we maybe sit with you?", the brown haired girl with a ponytail asked politely. Shinichi looked at Ai, who shrugged and before anyone else could say something, Sonoko answered.
"Sure, come in. There is enough room for two more." A boy with darker skin and short brown hair followed her in.
"Thank you", the boy said and smiled friendly. They both had duffel bags with them, although the boy was carrying them for both of them. Shinichi had a suspicion, but kept quiet. The boy sat down beside him, while the girl sat down next to Ran.
Only a few minutes went by and Shinichi noticed that the boy kept glancing over at him. After the third time, Shinichi gave up and laid his book aside, smiling lopsided.
"Everything alright?"
The boy blushed a little bit.
"Ah, sorry, it's just... is that 'The sign of four'?"
Shinichi beamed.
"Yeah, it's my favourite book. Do you like to read Sherlock too?"
The other boy grinned about his enthusiasm, but before he could answer, Sonoko made a displeased sound.
"Oh no, don't encourage him, please. The nerd won't stop talking for hours...", she whined and Shinichi pouted at her with a sour expression. The boy laughed good-humouredly.
"It's alright, I like crime stories too. Although I prefer Ellery Queen to Sherlock. But I've read almost all of Conan Doyle first, of course."
Shinichi smiled. He instantly decided that he liked this boy.
"That's cool, do you know the Detective Samonji books too?", he asked excited.
"Not yet, but I get the feeling I should", the other boy smiled and then cleared his throat, looking around the compartment. "So... you guys are wizards and witches too, right?"
Everyone froze and stared at him. The brown haired girl face palmed and sighed.
"Heiji! You can't just come out and say stuff like that! What if you are wrong?!", she complained loudly. The boy, who was apparently called Heiji, huffed.
"But I'm not! Look, we are all seemingly eleven, we all travel without an adult, which is very unconventional. Everyone has a big bag and-", he looked at Ai and pointed his finger at her. She raised her eyebrow completely unimpressed.
"Look at the book she's reading, Kazuha. 'Forbidden and deadly curses' by Hotoke Chi... Come on. Do you think Muggles read books like that? By the way... How did you get that one anyway? Isn't this advanced literature?" He narrowed his eyes at her. She glared at him, as if he had said something really stupid, then slowly put it away in her bag.
"My grandfather gave it to me for my birthday", she said flatly and smiled in a chilly way at him.
"Riight...", Heiji answered uneasy. Shinichi coughed to hide his laugh.
"You are right by the way. We are on our way to Yatagarasu Nesuto too. Where are you from? Your accent sounds different."
Heiji smirked.
"We're from Osaka. I'm Heiji Hattori and this is my best friend Kazuha Toyama."
"It's nice to meet you", Ran said politely and smiled. "Do you want to play with us?", she asked Kazuha and the girl nodded.
"Yeah, thanks."
They all chatted away and became friends quickly.
"Do you think we will all get sorted into the same cardinal house?", Ran asked excited and Ai shook her head.
"That‘s very unlikely."
"Yeah, I agree... I hope so though", Shinichi said and smiled at Ran, who blushed a little bit. Ai rolled her eyes at that and looked out the window.
"Well I think, Kazuha and I will get a blue robe. The house of the dragon is the house of the east, so it would fit. Also, the attributes luck, kindness and intelligence sound right. What do you think Kazuha?"
She smiled.
"Yeah, I think so too."
"Hmm, I think the tiger suits me best. It stands for willpower, personal strength and courage. But it figures... I come from a very well situated family and my parents were tigers as well. Also the white color suits me", Sonoko said proudly.
"What house do you want to be in, Ai?", Shinichi asked to get her back into the conversation, which made her smile softly.
"I always thought the black tortoise would be the best house for me. People from this house are down to earth, they act deliberately and it is said the tortoise stands for wisdom and longevity. I find that admirable. What about you?"
Shinichi smiled brightly.
"Well, since nobody else mentioned it yet... The red bird of course. My mother was a red bird as well, my father a dragon. But I think, my personality tends to be more to her side. Dedication, passion... She is also very bold and persistent. So, yeah... fits. What about you, Ran?"
"The same. Although, dragon could fit too. I'm not sure yet... My father was a dragon, whereas my mother was a tiger. We'll see, I guess... Whatever it will be, it's just a direction anyway. We all will learn the same subject matters and will have the same teachers. To be honest, all that differentiates us, are the colors and where we will sleep. Maybe we're a bit different in attributes and strengths, but no house is better than the other and in the end, we can all be friends, whatever house we get sorted in, don't you think?" Everyone agreed.
"Well said, Ran", Shinichi smiled proudly at her and she blushed once again.
"We should pack up and get ready, the train will be at the station in two minutes", Ai broke up the atmosphere in a chiding manner, almost like a teacher.
Everybody packed their bags in a hurry. Shinichi smiled to himself. They already made new friends. He couldn‘t wait to start his first year and learn all kinds of new things.
After they exited the train, another group of children ran by them in a very loud and conspicuous way. Well, two of them at least. The other two kids were following a little behind them, like long suffering parents, it seemed, with a resigned, unhappy look on their faces.
"Bakaito! I told you not to pull any stupid pranks today! Get back here, so I can hit you properly, you idiot!"
A brown haired boy snickered wickedly and pushed past him, hitting his shoulder.
"Hey-", Shinichi called out and frowned.
"Oops, sorry", the boy yelled back and laughed some more. Shortly he was followed by the very noisy, infuriated girl, who groaned in frustration, as she ran by them. Shinichi could see some of her brown hair strands were colored in pink. It didn't seem like she intended to look like that.
Shinichi lifted an eyebrow and couldn't help but smile a bit amused by their antics, even if they were very loud and did get quite a few looks thrown their way from people who were walking by them. The girl chased the grinning boy around a sitting bench, until he jumped up on it easily.
From there he jumped onto a mailbox nearby and then he climbed up a scoreboard, like a monkey. He sat on it as if it was completely normal to sit cross-legged on a scoreboard in a train station and grinned down on her. She balled her fists.
"Change it back, Kaito, or the kami help me-", she spat angrily.
The boy chuckled.
"Why? You said you wanted to look pretty on your first day, didn‘t you? Don't you think pink suits you?"
"Argh, no- not like this! And come down already, you idiot! People are already looking..."
The boy shrugged carelessly.
"So what?"
"Kaito...", she warned darkly. The two other two kids came to stand by the group and watched the spectacle too. A pretty girl with long red hair and a passive face and a boy with blonde hair and intelligent, soft eyes stood beside him. The blonde boy sighed annoyed, looked at his pocket watch and then took a quick look around the group.
"I'm guessing you're trying to find your way to the temple too?", he asked matter-of-factly, like he already knew the answer and Shinichi nodded.
"Yeah... Shinichi Kudō", he held out his hand and the boy shook it.
"Saguru Hakuba. This is-", he turned to the girl beside him.
"Akako Koizumi", the girl said confidently, before the blonde could introduce her. She was waving her long hair back over her shoulder. Then it hit him. It was like a little dizzy feeling he got while looking at her and he had to avert his eyes and shake his head to clear it. What was that? Shinichi shook her hand as well and she held onto it, for longer than necessary.
"You have very intense eyes and a strong energy, Shinichi Kudō."
Shinichi's lips twitched and he tried to get his hand back.
"Uh, thanks..?", he answered, unsure how to take that.
"It's true though", Ai quipped beside him and he couldn't tell if she meant it, or wanted to mock him. Knowing her, it was probably both. Ai smirked smug and he threw her a sarcastic look, before he looked back at the other girl.
"You're part veela, right?"
She looked surprised, as did everyone else and she let his hand go. For a moment she looked unsure but then she smirked.
"Yeah. That's right. You are very perceptive... Although I didn't inherit all the genes. My hair is red, like my father's instead of blonde."
He nodded smiling.
"Interesting."
The others exchanged their names as well and Shinichi turned around to the two bickering children again.
"So uh- what's going on with these two? Are they siblings or something?", he asked. Saguru nodded.
"Something like that. Aoko told us before, they live together, but they aren't related. They sure fight like siblings though... a lot. And very loud too. Kaito is an absolute menace."
He winced and Shinichi laughed.
"I can see that...", he agreed amused.
"Kaito, come down this instant, or I swear to all gods, I will tell your mother about this. I don't want to get expelled on my first day because of you!" That seemed to help and he jumped back down on his feet, like it was nothing.
"You are no fun, Ahoko~", he complained sulking like a small child. She hit him with her knuckles on his head and he ducked away.
"I will change it back later, now stop it already." He then looked around, like he was searching for something in the sky. He whistled with his fingers at his lips and waited. Then, everybody except Aoko was surprised as a little white bird came flying, only to land on his shoulder. He smiled gently and gave her a treat out of his pocket. As the two came back to the group, Kaito grinned and waved.
"Hello everyone. I see you already made friends, Haku-chan. That's good, now you can bore someone else with your stuck-up attitude." The blonde boy narrowed his eyes at him.
"I already told you to stop calling me that...", he hissed. Kaito just grinned wider. Heiji tried to hide a laugh behind a cough. Saguru threw him a suspicious look.
"Shut up idiot and try to act normal for once. Saguru and Akako are very nice. Um, hello, my name is Aoko and this idiot is Kaito. I'm very sorry for his behaviour." Aoko apologized to everyone and bowed. Kaito grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"Is that a familiar?", Sonoko asked interested and stepped beside Kaito, who smiled at the dove on his shoulder.
"Nah. Or I guess... I don't know? She is my pet, since I don‘t like owls very much. We had her since I was little. She was my father's before, but- well, now she's mine. She's very intelligent and well trained. Her name is Lucky. You can pet her, if you want." Sonoko made an awed noise and petted her head.
"Can I pet her too?", Ran asked eagerly and Kazuha stepped beside him too.
"Yeah, me too."
Kaito seemed to enjoy the attention.
"Hehehe, sure. She always liked pretty girls", Kaito grinned in a charming way and the girls giggled. Shinichi narrowed his eyes at that comment and snorted, hands in his pockets. That guy...
Ai smirked beside him and gave him a knowing look. Heiji grumbled a bit and sighed impatiently.
"Kazuha... shouldn't we get going?", he asked, shouldering her bag again, as well as his own.
"He is right", Saguru said in a clipped tone and again, put his very old looking pocket watch back in the breast pocket of his long coat.
"We already wasted way too much time, because of... some people", he said, but his eyes fell clearly on Kaito, who looked up sharply and smirked at Saguru with a calculating look in his eyes, like he was planning to color his hair next. Shinichi was sure of it.
They all got their bags and started to walk in the direction of the temple. It wasn‘t even hard to find... They followed other tourists and signs that showed them the way. When they were standing right before the first red Shinto torii, flanked by the two komainu, the guardians of the shrine, they all came to a halt.
"So that‘s it, huh? Seriously. How boring is that?", Kaito groaned in a petulant way, arms behind his head. Shinichi couldn‘t help but think the same. He sighed.
"Baka, you shouldn‘t wish for bad things to happen...“, Aoko said and elbowed him in the side. The boy huffed.
"But it‘s true. Jii-chan said there would be like... a test, or something. I thought it would at least be a little exiting."
"My parents said so as well", Shinichi piped up and everyone looked at him. "He has a point, it‘s a little-anti-climatic at least." Shinichi shrugged.
"Heh, see? He thinks so too, Aoko. I like you already- uh, what‘s your name again?", Kaito said, suddenly beside him. Shinichi snorted.
"Shinichi Kudō."
"Right, well my new friend. I‘d say, this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship, Shin-chan." He grinned and put his arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer. Shinichi already regretted saying anything at all. He rolled his eyes and pushed him away, clearly embarrassed, blushing a bit.
"Let‘s go already...", he mumbled.
"Shin-chan wait for meee~", Kaito called, running after him like an over exited puppy on a sugar rush. Aoko face palmed and groaned, while the others just laughed, following them.
They all stepped through the red torii, but as soon as they had entered it, all the noise around them disappeared. Suddenly it was dead silent, like all the life got sucked out from their surroundings with a plopping sound. Shinichi froze and looked around, immediately tense. Instantly he regretted his comment before. What had happened?
The temple grounds and buildings all looked the same, but it seemed like all other people but them had vanished in an instant. In one of the small booths that served food beside the stone way, the frying pan was still on the stove, burning the food.
However, no cook was there anymore to put it away... it was the same with all the other booths as well. Shinichi frowned and looked around, as if he was expecting an attack. Even Kaito was silent and seemed suddenly tense. But luckily, nothing happened, it was just eerie.
"That‘s creepy...", Ran said, stepping nearer to his side and looked around anxiously. "Where have they gone?"
"I don‘t know. But I think, this is the test, my parents mentioned... we should go on. Come on." She took the hand he offered her and then he walked confidently in front of the group in the direction of the stone steps, which lead up into the forest.
Around them, the forest looked old and dark, full of fir trees, oaks, japanese cherry and maple trees, while the ground was covered in grass and moss. But since the sun was high up and the sky clear of clouds, the stone path was clearly visible, if a bit in the shadows from all the trees. No sounds were coming out of it though, not even animal sounds.
Green moss also covered the steps in front of them and old looking tôrôs, traditional stone lanterns, framed them at both sides. Under their little roofs were small gifts for the kodama, the forest spirits that were said to haunt old forests, if one believed these kinds of stories. Shinichi came to a halt in front of them, as he read the little wood badges that were hanging down from the first tôrôs, written in hiragana.
"Beware wanderer, as this path is as long as your feet will uphold you. A wise wanderer does lose his way, a brave wanderer does not fear. The sky will change it's blue color and will be tainted black. But in darkness, fear not, as light will save you and water will guide you home", Kaito read aloud in a serious voice, hands in his pockets.
He stood beside him, his demeanour suddenly completely changed. So he can be serious too, good to know, Shinichi wondered. Then he pondered about the words.
"What a strange message...", Sonoko mumbled bewildered and Shinichi shook his head.
"It‘s a riddle", he said, but Akako stepped forward and touched the badges in a soft way, like the wood was calling out to her and only she could hear it sing. Shinichi wondered if she maybe really did feel something they didn't, since Veelas had their own kind of magic. The girl frowned.
"No... it‘s a warning", she contradicted, deep in thoughts.
"We should memorize the words, maybe there are clues in it, that can help us later", Heiji suggested.
Shinichi nodded.
"Yeah, I think so too."
"You are saying that like you expect something bad to happen", Kazuha said, clearly uncomfortable, looking at Heiji.
"Well, it doesn‘t sound very positive, does it? The sky will be tainted black. What else could it mean than something bad happening? It also sounds, like we have a very long way ahead of us...", he answered darkly and Kazuha rubbed her arms, as she looked up at the steps.
"We should go", Saguru decided and went ahead, without little hesitance. He clearly didn‘t believe in superstition and ghost stories. Shinichi looked up at the sky and wondered what would await them, but he also finally felt a little excitement, to be honest. He made sure to memorize the words again, then he exchanged a look with Kaito beside him, who smirked at him with gleaming eyes, clearly thinking the same, before the other boy started walking up the steps too, his dove Lucky still on his shoulder.
"Kaito, wait for me...", Aoko called and ran after him.
"Come on, let‘s go", he smiled assuring at Ran, who took his hand again and nodded in determination.
They were walking up the steps for hours... Shinichi thought of himself as athletic, but after so many steps, even he was beginning to feel exhausted.
At first, he had tried to count the steps and watch their surroundings, just in case something came at them from out of the forest. But after many hours, he lost track of the number and his nervousness. The forest was eerie, but completely lifeless, as it seemed.
Overall, it was just very tiring and they never seemed to come to an end. Further on, the ground began to rise, as they were walking up a mountain, but they never reached the top of it. While they were walking, they had begun to talk about all kinds of things, getting to know each other, even laughing together and making jokes. But for the last hour, they became more and more quiet and the general spirit grew dimmer. All of them were tired and their feet hurt. Sonoko was the first to break down.
"Argh, I can‘t take it anymore... If I have to walk one more step, I‘ll cry... Can we please take a break?", she whined and Ran agreed.
"Yeah, I‘m tired too..."
"Me too", Ai said, a bit out of breath. Shinichi nodded in agreement.
"Let‘s take a break then." They all settled down on different steps and began to eat and drink the food they had brought with them. Unfortunately, not everybody had brought food, or even water with them, but they shared comradely.
"Baka, did you only pack sweets?", Aoko chided Kaito like a child. He looked up innocently from rummaging through his bag.
"What? I like them and I didn't think it would take this long...", he answered, his mouth full with a chocolate cookie. Some crumbs fell on his shirt. She grimaced.
"Actually sugar isn't so bad for long hiking‘s. But we should ration it", Shinichi advised, chiming in. Kaito stuffed enthusiastically one more cookie into his mouth, before he packed the box back into his bag. Then he gave Lucky another treat from one of his pockets. Shinichi smiled at that, before he cleared his throat to get everyone‘s attention.
"By the way, has anyone noticed anything strange about our hike?", he asked and looked around. The thought had bugged him for the last hour.
"I tried to track the movement of the sun, but it seems the light doesn‘t wander, even though we were walking what feels like for hours now. Or am I wrong?", he wondered aloud, hand on his chin. The others looked around.
"No, you‘re right. I‘ve noticed it too", Ai said.
"Me too. I‘ve counted the same tree already six times, by now. I think something is up...“, Kaito agreed darkly.
"What? Why didn‘t you mention that sooner?", Heiji exclaimed, clearly upset. Kaito shrugged unfazed.
"Nobody else said anything, so I waited. And to be honest, I really hoped I was wrong..."
"I‘ve noticed it too. Also, my watch has stopped", Saguru announced gravely and Shinichi looked up, a bit alarmed.
"On what time did your watch stop?"
Saguru looked down to check it.
"At 10 hours, 44 minutes and 17 seconds am, Japan Standard Time. Our train arrived at precisely 10:31 am, which means, given the time it took to get out of the station-"
"-it's very likely it stopped, as soon as we walked through the first torii gate, yeah", Shinichi completed his thought. Saguru nodded in agreement, looking just as concerned.
"That‘s weirdly precise...", Heiji mumbled sarcastic under his breath and Kaito snickered.
"Haku-chan is weird like that, isn‘t he?", he whispered back and smirked. Saguru rolled his eyes.
"Shut up...", Saguru grumbled in Kaito‘s direction, who just grinned at him.
"What does that mean?", Ran asked worried, ignoring their bickering.
"It is possible we are in an enchantment", Akako answered calmly.
"I also felt something when we walked through it, but wasn't sure..."
"And it's a strong one, it seems. Spells that are weaved into time are very complicated and the most dangerous ones that exist. They are of the highest category", Saguru thought out loud. Aoko seemed distressed by this news.
"But how do we get there then? Should we go all the way back?", she asked in a desperate tone.
"I don't think we would reach the end either way...", Saguru answered resigned.
"Oh no... what if we die here?", Sonoko cried out, white as a sheet and began to cry.
"Sonoko... don't think like that. Our parents would rescue us, before that happens", Ran murmured and hugged her to her side. Aoko grabbed Kaito's arm and looked anxious too.
"What should we do now?", Kazuha asked.
"Well, there is only one way, we didn't try yet..." Heiji looked grimly into the forest to the side.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? You know what the forest around the school is called, right?", Ai asked in a dry voice.
"The forest of a thousand faces", Kaito answered darkly for her.
"What!? That's creepy", Sonoko sniffed.
"Why is it called like that?", Ran asked frowning, still rubbing Sonoko‘s arms in a calming manner.
"Probably because of them", Saguru said and nodded in the direction of the stones covered in moss that lurked everywhere out of the ground. Shinichi had noticed them too, right at the beginning of their hike.
But since they were just stone statues, he had dismissed them as not dangerous. Now he took a calculating look at them again. Some of them even had engraved faces. None of them looked friendly...
"It is said, they are the fallen warriors who once guarded the temple, before it was made into a school, a few hundred years ago. There was a war and after they died, instead of gravestones, they got statues. So each stone inherits a warrior soul... I also read about the school safety measures once. The forest guards the school now. If someone that means harm to anyone in the school enters it, the guardian spirits will attack them. Provided the other magical creatures that live in this forest don't get to them first...", Ai declared and Shinichi looked over the forest and stones, deep in thought.
"But we are children. This means, the stones should recognize we don't mean any harm. So it should be safe to enter it, right?", he asked. Ai nodded.
"Probably...", she replied. She didn‘t sound sure, which concerned him.
Heiji frowned.
"Remember the first passage of the badges? ‚Beware wanderer, as this path is as long as your feet will uphold you‘, this could mean, the way is actually spelled to be endless. We would never reach the end of it. And then ‚A wise wanderer does lose his way, a brave wanderer does not fear‘. To me, this sounds like we should leave the trail and be brave... don‘t you think?", Heiji asked Shinichi.
"I think you‘re right, but what about ‚The sky will change it's blue color and will be tainted black...‘? What if something charges at us, as soon as we leave it? Are we prepared to fight something?", Shinichi asked back warily and the other boy contemplated this.
Ai sighed.
"On the other hand, if we don‘t leave, I think it‘s clear we won‘t get to the school. We have no choice, Shinichi...“, she said and they exchanged a look. He knew she was right, it still worried him.
"It's settled then", Kaito smirked in a combative way and stood up. "I will go first."
"Kaito, wait!", Aoko pleaded and tried to hold him back.
"What? No. We shouldn't split up, that would be a very bad idea", Shinichi said warningly and got up too.
Kaito stopped, just before he took his first step into the forest. He turned around again.
"But someone should test it, right?" Shinichi frowned and crossed his arms.
"I guess... Why you though?"
Kaito grinned an almost arrogant shark grin.
"Because I have by far the fastest reflexes of all of us and I already mastered a few spells above category one. If the need arises, I can at least fight back." Shinichi raised his eyebrows at that.
"But won't you get expelled before you even get there? You know that above category one spells are forbidden for children, right?" Kaito huffed, but smirked.
"Yeah, I know... But I came prepared-" He held up a few little glass balls between his long fingers, like they were toys. Dangerous looking toys. Shinichi narrowed his eyes at them. They were beautiful little marbles, but clearly spelled with something. The smoke in some of them, moved like it was alive. One even had lightning in them, as if a miniature rain cloud and storm were trapped in it.
As fast as they had appeared in his hands, they were already gone. This guy didn't lie about his reflexes then, Shinichi thought, admittedly, a little impressed. He raised an eyebrow.
"Hm... I'm pretty sure these aren't allowed in school, where did you get them?", Shinichi asked suspicious.
Kaito grinned wickedly.
"I'm pretty sure I don't care and that's none of your business. So-" He stepped in front of Shinichi and got Lucky gently out of his cloak, before he put her instead on his shoulder.
Despite his cocky words just now, he looked Shinichi directly into his eyes. Indigo blue, Shinichi thought, as he noticed the others eye color.
"Keep her safe for me please", he said in a soft-spoken tone. Shinichi looked surprised, but nodded.
"Okay..."
"Kaito be careful", Aoko pleaded. He just grinned over his shoulder and stepped into the forest, his wand drawn.
"Show-off...", Heiji muttered under his breath, but everyone else just stared. Ran drew closer to him then and whispered in his ear.
"Don't worry Shinichi, if something comes near you, I will beat it up for you." Ai who had clearly heard her, curled her lips in a mocking way, but didn't say anything.
"I can fight for myself, thank you very much", he whispered back tensely. She held onto his arm anyway. The first few steps in, nothing happened, but everybody still held their breaths. Kaito wandered even further and almost passed two of the first stones.
Lucky on his shoulder cooed softly, it sounded like she was concerned too and Shinichi put a hand up, to comfort her little head.
"It's alright", he muttered absentmindedly, but kept watching Kaito's every movements with tension. Just to be sure, he got his wand out too, even if he learned only two European spells the summer before. One of them was Lumos, which he used mostly to keep reading his books under his covers and the other was Tergeo, a cleaning spell, to clean up his room... Both not very useful in a fight for sure.
But children from seven to eleven years, weren't allowed to learn spells from their parents above category one. Shinichi wondered who would actually violate a magical law that important and teach a child something dangerous, like Kaito had said. When he passed the first two stones and looked around for any threats to come but nothing seemed to happen, everyone sighed in relief.
"I think it's okay", Kaito yelled and everybody gathered up their things to follow him.
"Is your watch still dead?", Shinichi asked and turned around to Saguru, who glanced at his watch.
"It started ticking again", he answered surprised. Shinichi smiled and felt a lot lighter.
"That's a relief. I think we're good then." After they reached Kaito, Shinichi went to give him back his dove, but Kaito just smiled and shook his head.
"She can stay with you a little longer, if you want. I think she likes you", he said, winking at him and Shinichi looked at the dove, who was cuddled up against his neck. He smiled lopsided as she ruffled her feathers, making herself seemingly at home.
"She is very cute", he admitted. Kaito smiled and together they began walking through the forest.
"Before we get too far in... Shouldn't we mark our way? Or at least the spot from which we came in? Just in case we get lost and need to find our way back", Heiji asked and looked around.
"Yeah, that's a very good idea, does anyone have something, we could use? A ribbon maybe or-"
"I think I can help out. Here." Akako got some ofuda out of her bag, talismans made out of paper, to keep away ghosts. They even had red, thin little ribbons on it. As Shinichi raised his eyebrows, she smiled.
"I lived in a Shinto-shrine in Ekoda with my grandfather all my life. He is a priest. He never would let me leave unprepared."
"Thank you. We should put one beside these stones and one beside the way, from which we came in. Heiji, maybe put it on a tree?", he suggested.
"On it."
"I'm so relieved nothing bad happened. Kaito-sama you were so brave", Sonoko beamed beside Kaito and grabbed his arm, to hold onto it like a lifeline. He seemed embarrassed by it, but let her.
"Ah, it was nothing." He grimaced.
"I'm still a little frightened. Can I keep holding onto your arm?" She looked up at him with big, round eyes and even batted her eyelashes at him.
"Ehehe... um, sure." Shinichi rolled his eyes at Sonoko's behaviour. It was clear she liked him. It was awkward to watch.
"Shinichi?" Ran asked beside him.
"Huh?" He turned to her surprised.
"Where are we going now? There is still nothing but endless forest and we're already going a while now..."
"Yeah, I know. You can see nothing but trees- wait a minute!" He froze. How hadn't he thought about that sooner?
"We could use Lucky!", he exclaimed.
"That's brilliant! Can she do that, Kaito?", Aoko asked excited.
"Of course. It's a shame I didn't think of that myself...", he smirked and came up to Shinichi. He held his hand up to his shoulder and Lucky instantly flew over to his hand. Shinichi kind of missed her warmth, but this was much more important.
"Hey girl, you heard him. Fly up and show us the way, please. I promise there will be some sunflower seeds for you afterwards" , he told the bird and smiled. With that, the dove startled away with a soft rustling sound from her wings and flew up over their heads.
They all looked up and waited. After awhile, Kaito grew nervous. He whistled, but she didn't come back. He narrowed his eyes at the treetops above them and took out his wand.
"She should be back by now... She always comes when I whistle, something is wrong", he murmured. Then they heard crows cawing in the distance. They sounded angry and agitated. Shinichi frowned and tensed up. The cawing got louder, like a whole flock was coming their way.
"Something is coming. I can feel bad energy", Akako said warningly. Everybody tensed and looked anxiously around. Above them, the cawing of crows got even louder and suddenly they broke through the trees and were everywhere. There were so many, it looked like a big, black cloud full of crows.
Then they saw Lucky. She was desperately trying to get away, while the flock of crows was following her and were picking on her with their beaks and claws.
"Lucky, noo!", Kaito yelled. "Get away from her or I swear I will make ugly pillows out of all of you!" He held his wand up and already wanted to hex them, but Shinichi held down his hand.
"Wait, you could hit her instead, they are flying around too much! And then you'll get expelled..." Kaito growled and followed their movement with his eyes. He balled his fists.
"But how-"
"Call her", Heiji yelled and quickly bent down to his bag, where he picked out a wooden Kendo sword.
"Kazuha...", he beckoned and then she nodded and did the same, getting in position.
"You aren't the only one who can do stuff. Call her and we will hit the crows", Heiji smirked, ready to fight. Kaito nodded tensely, and then whistled in a high tone with his fingers. Lucky followed instantly and the crows flew in their direction.
"Everyone, get ready...", Shinichi warned and took out his wand, even though he didn't know any useful spells. The first crows started to attack them too and Sonoko screamed, hitting them viciously with her bag.
"Take this, you stupid bird!" Then Ran got in front of her and hit another one aside with an impressive Karate kick. When Lucky flew by and Kaito caught her, he smashed one of his balls on a crow that cawed angrily at him, as it was hit by a smoke bomb from the looks of it.
Another one attacked and Shinichi tried to shield his face by holding up his arms. Kaito threw a ball at the crow in front of him, it looked like the stormy one. But as soon as more of them came near them, Heiji and Kazuha got into action. One by one was hit very effectively and clearly hurt and scared, they cawed angrily but flew away.
"Is everyone alright?", Ran asked and looked around breathing heavily.
"A bit battered, but I think we‘re all okay...", Ai answered, rubbing over an angry red scratch on her cheek, where a crow had used it‘s claws on her. Most of them nodded in agreement.
"‚The sky will change it's blue color and will be tainted black...‘", Akako mumbled in thought and looked up at the sky.
"So they really are warnings", Shinichi mused and frowned.
"Lucky...", Kaito whined. He sounded so pained, Shinichi thought at first it was him who was hurt. Kaito was crouching down on the ground, holding the small bird in his hands. She was clearly hurt, there was even blood on her white wing. Kaito looked like he was about to cry. Shinichi cowered beside him. Saguru surprisingly did the same.
"I'm so sorry... if it wasn't for my idea...", Shinichi muttered, feeling terribly guilty. Kaito shook his head.
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't know there were evil crows here... I hate crows", he spat and stroke her head softly.
"I didn't learn any healing spells though. Jii-chan or mum always did them for me..." He bit his lip so hard, it looked like it must hurt.
"Can I try? I learned some basic European healing spell from my oba-san...", Saguru asked softly. Kaito looked up in surprise at him.
"Please." He held her in front of him. Saguru nodded and held his wand over her wing.
"Episkey", he mumbled and all of them watched, as a soft light, came out of his wand. The wound on her wing began to close, but the light in his wand flickered, before it went out completely again.
"I'm sorry, it didn't heal completely", Saguru muttered a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry, healing spells are very complicated spells. My mother told me once they are an entire different kind of magic. It's amazing you could even perform it in the first place", Shinichi said and patted his shoulder.
"Thank you", Kaito beamed at Saguru and the blonde boy blushed a bit.
"Maybe we could put a bandage around her wing?", Shinichi wondered out loud and grabbed his bag, to search through it. Ai walked up to them.
"Here", she said and gave them her first aid-kit. Shinichi got to work and bandaged the wing carefully.
"There you go", he said. Kaito smiled and held her near to his face, before he gently put her back inside one of his cloak pockets, which seemed big enough for her. Kaito looked around, a sincere look on his face.
"Thank you, all of you." Shinichi sighed relieved and smiled a little.
"Now that that's settled... What should we do now?" He looked around the group.
"Can we take a break? I'm dying for something to drink...", Heiji groaned exhausted and everybody agreed. They camped out under a fallen tree, that was still hanging half in the air, like it was held only by it's roots, mid-fall, covered in green moss, like almost everything else on the ground. After awhile, Saguru stood up and looked at his watch.
"We should get going. It's five now. The sun will go down soon and I don't know about all of you, but I don't want to spend the night here...", he said. "Especially, as we know now, that the third warning is still yet to come and it talks about darkness."
"Very much agreed", Sonoko said and rubbed her arms, looking around anxiously.
"First, I think, we should put our luggage away. Can anyone do a Reducio spell?", Heiji asked the group and Akako held up her hand.
"I can do it." Heiji and Kazuha kept their swords out, just in case, but everyone else got their luggage shrunk, except for their wands. Then they kept going. After a while, they were so deep into the forest, everything seemed to look the same.
The trees were becoming so thick, it seemed the sun was already going down, since they couldn't even see it anymore. Shinichi was becoming antsier by the minute. And then, they came to a crossroads. Everyone halted and looked around.
"Any idea which way we should take?", Heiji asked Shinichi and he shook his head.
"None. I tried to determine the direction we were going before, but since I'm not very familiar with Kyoto's landscape, it wouldn't help much anyway, I guess."
"Yeah, me neither. Your guess is as good as mine. I say, we take the right side, what do you say?"
"I think we should take the left side", Saguru spoke up a bit tense and everyone turned around to him.
"And why is that?", Heiji countered, crossing his arms.
"Well, for one, the left side seems to go up. Since none of us really knows where we're going, we should keep the high ground. If we wander up high enough, maybe we can look around the landscape and find out where we are, instead of running around aimlessly through the forest, just because we feel like it. It's important to act on logic, instead of irrational feelings."
Shinichi thought about that, but Heiji seemed annoyed. Maybe it was the posh tone in which Saguru had spoken, but since Heiji didn't seem to like the blonde very much from the beginning, this certainly didn't help. But Shinichi had noticed for a while now, that all of them were tired and had grown more anxious, the darker it had gotten.
They had no idea when they would find the school or even if and time was running out like sand through their hands. Shinichi did feel the same frustration. There was nothing he wanted more than to attend the famous Yatagarasu Nesuto and if they didn't make it by midnight, they weren't allowed to get in. His parents would school him at home, sure.
But it wasn't the same... He looked around the group and pondered about what Saguru had suggested. They were all already tired and they hadn't many provisions left. As far as he knew, there was only one full water bottle left. If they hiked up and exhausted themselves even more, it was more likely, they needed the water to sustain.
In addition, it got darker by the minute... In September, the sun most likely set around 7 pm. Which did give them about one hour of enough light tops, before it would get too dark, to find their way and one of them could get hurt, because they stumbled over their own feet. Even with the Lumos spell, it was just not very practical or ideal.
Plus, they needed to find water. The chances to find water, were higher on the ground, not up the mountain. He also remembered the last warning, but especially the last part of it... ‚In darkness, fear not, as light will save you and water will guide you home.‘ Home... he was sure that meant the school. They needed to find water and follow it, then they would find their way to the school, he was sure of it.
But as it were, while he was deep in his thoughts, Saguru and Heiji had started bickering and were fast at each other‘s throats.
"Well, if you think you know everything better, you arrogant posh snob, why don't we split up then? Nobody said we all have to take the same path. Fine with me!", Heiji yelled and Saguru scoffed.
"You really are a hothead... I don't think you will get into the school with such a temper. Maybe it's better this way though. They should reserve their spots for the more competent one's", Hakuba sniffed and Heiji was already on him.
"What did you just say-", he growled and attempted to hit him. They tumbled to the ground, fighting and hitting on each other. The others tried to get them to stop, but it wasn't much help.
"Heiji, don't-"
"Get away, Kazuha- that's between him and me-"
"Get off me, you rash fool-", Saguru sneered, which made Heiji even more angry.
"Stop it", Ran yelled.
"Heiji-", Shinichi tried, but Ai already pushed past him with determination.
"Stop it! Right now! Both of you idiots", she bellowed loudly and held her wand warningly in their faces. They stopped immediately and Heiji let Saguru go. The blonde narrowed his eyes at her.
"You wouldn't... that's against the rules." Ai smiled coldly, still holding her wand up.
"Try me...", she said and for a second, Shinichi shivered. He knew she would never actually do it and called her bluff, but sometimes... she really could be scary. He wanted the fighting to stop though, so he didn't say anything about her bluff.
"Fine...", Heiji grumbled and got to his feet. Kazuha helped him up and he stomped away a few feet, to clear his head, it seemed. Saguru got up on his own, dusting off his coat with distaste. Ai put her wand down and stepped back beside Shinichi. They exchanged a look. He couldn't help but mouth a little 'Thank you' and she tried to hide a smile. Shinichi looked around and sighed.
"Now... how about- we cool off a little? Let's just- stop for a few minutes and think through our options? In my opinion, we shouldn't split up. Our chances to make it into the school are much higher together instead of in splitter groups..." He threw Saguru a pointed look, who just snorted and looked away. Shinichi grimaced. Nobody said much more, but they all seemed to agree silently and wandered off a bit in groups.
"Wow Ai, that was awesome", Sonoko grinned and Ai really fought hard to contain her smile now.
"Yeah, you can be really scary, if you want to", Ran agreed awed.
"Thank you", she answered. "I just did what was necessary. It would be dangerous to split up and the fight was stupid. We should take the right path though. It's obviously the better choice..."
"I agree. We need to find water and follow it to the school. We lost enough time as it is-", Shinichi muttered and looked around the beginning darkness. Then an ear-splitting scream ripped through the dark and everyone turned around to see where it came from.
"AOKO!", Kaito yelled and dashed off into a direction down the hill. Shinichi followed and the others did the same. They crashed through some bushes and ferns, when they saw it.
"Kaito...", Aoko whimpered terrified. She was cowering on the ground, shaking like a leaf. Beside her stood Saguru, who stared in shock at something right before them. Kaito wasn't far behind the two, but he too froze as he saw it.
The beast in front of them resembled a big, black cat without fur. It's naked body was almost as black as its surroundings. If it weren't for the big, glowing light blue eyes shaped in an unnatural V-shape and which seemed way too big for it's head, it was almost impossible to see it in the dark. As soon as the beast noticed them crashing through the bushes, it made an angry sound and yapped in a threatening growl, baring it's many, very sharp teeth at them.
Everybody froze, completely terrified. Aoko made another panic-stricken noise on the ground. Kaito tried to get beside her, but as he slowly took another step in her direction, a twig snapped under his shoe and the beast yapped again, this time at him.
"Aoko... get up, slowly. And then get behind me", Kaito murmured tense, his eyes fixed on the beast, but his hands were already getting something out of his pockets. Shinichi suspected the magic marbles.
"I don't think I can...", she whimpered in a broken voice, like she was about to cry. Shinichi could feel and hear Heiji rustle behind him, getting his kendo sword ready. He and Ai already had their wands in their hands too.
"Kazuha, you and the others, try to get away. It didn't see all of you yet. Get behind those bushes and then, slowly, get back up the hill... But keep your sword out, just in case there are more of them", Heiji whispered and Kazuha nodded.
"Alright."
"But Shinichi-", Ran began whispering, but Shinichi shook his head sternly.
"No Ran. Go. Now." She looked hurt and scared at the same time, but Sonoko gripped her arm and already pulled her back. Kazuha and Akako followed.
"What about you?", Heiji asked Ai and she gave him a withering look.
"I'm staying."
"Ai...", Shinichi began and she whipped her head around, like he slapped her. He gave her a pleading look.
"Keep them safe please", he said and she looked like she was about to protest, but then ground her teeth.
"You better stay alive, Kudō", she hissed angrily and he grimaced. If they would survive, there would be hell to pay later.
"Aoko, just once in your live, do as I say and now... get up and get behind me, damnit", Kaito gritted out between his teeth. The cat beast growled again. But it was Saguru who dashed forward, gripped Aoko's hand and practically ripped her off the ground, to whirl her behind him.
The beast leaped a few feet forward at that and Kaito didn't hesitate to throw one of his marbles at it, stumbling back himself. It was a lighting one, as it seemed, since the marble exploded into a lighting bolt, right into it's face and the beast yipped, obviously hurt and irritated. But at least, it gave Saguru, Aoko and Kaito enough time to flee up the hill. But then, something strange happened...
"What the-", Heiji mumbled shocked.
"Did it just multiply itself?", Shinichi gasped and stared. The three caught up to them and then they all practically ran for their lives.
"What are these things?!", Saguru yelled and Heiji whipped his head around to his side.
"You want to know that NOW?! Run, god damnit!"
Think Shinichi, think, there must be something... Wait a minute- the last warning. That's it!, Shinichi's thoughts rushed through him.
"Don't attack it! If attacked, it multiplies for some reason. But the light blinds it! Think about the-" But then he stumbled on a log and crashed onto the ground hard. He groaned in pain, but he could hear the beasts behind him closing up to him fast and Heiji screamed his name in warning. He whipped around and held his wand up, as he cried out:
"Lumos Maxima!" Blinding light shot through his wand and illuminated the forest around them like an explosion. The two beasts yipped in a loud and pained tone and shook their heads, as if they wanted to throw off the light, but couldn't. Someone grabbed his arm and yanked him up forcefully.
"Lumos! Come on, move", Kaito snapped and Shinichi did exactly that. They ran and joined up with the others.
"RUN!", Kaito yelled and they all got moving. They tumbled through the dark wood, before Shinichi casted another Lumos behind them, just to be safe. Then they could hear it in front them... Water. The trickling sound of a small stream, right in front of them.
"Lumos!", he casted again and illuminated the ground before them. Shinichi laughed in excitement, as he could not only see a clearing and the wood thinning out, but something even better.
"Water! We did it! Let's follow the stream", he yelled, dashing forward. When they finally got out of the forest, they could hear the beasts howl in an eerie way, but it seemed, they didn't want to leave the safety and darkness of the forest.
They were safe for now it seemed. Everybody crashed in front of the stream, down into the grass, breathing heavily and trying to catch their breaths. Shinichi couldn't help but grin as he looked up at the silvery full moon and the stars in the sky, listening to their exhausted breaths and the trickling water, while his heart still pounded wildly in his chest. He had never felt more alive in his entire life.
"Oh god... I thought we would die for sure...", Sonoko groaned in exhaustion.
"Shinichi are you alright?", Ran asked worried, somewhere beside him in the grass.
"Yeah...", he smiled softly. "I'm fine."
"It's okay Heiji, it's not so bad..." Kazuha was arguing with Heiji a few meters away from them.
"You hurt your ankle!"
"But-"
"I'll carry you the rest of the way, no talking back", he said and she sighed in defeat.
"You saved us, Kudō", Akako said after a while and Shinichi sat up.
"That was quick thinking", Saguru agreed.
"Oi! I had something to do with that too, you know?", Kaito spoke up, on his other side. Shinichi grinned, but shook his head, before he remembered they couldn't see him that well.
"We all were brave... and you're right Kaito. Thank you for coming back and getting me up. I'm really glad now, you had these marble things with you. Whatever they are..." Kaito was sitting near enough, that he saw him grinning in the moonlight.
"Jii-chan got them for me as a birthday present, from the Chinese black market. You wouldn't believe the things they-" Heiji coughed and interrupted him.
"I really don't need to hear this- my father works at the ministry in law enforcement, you know? It's just better this way", he muttered in good humour.
"Yeah, mine too. He is an Auror", Saguru chimed in and Kaito whipped his head around in his direction.
"Ehehe..." He grinned sheepish.
"Let's just say, you had some very useful tricks up your sleeve", Shinichi agreed and smiled. Kaito snickered.
"What's that Lucky? She says thanks too." Shinichi chuckled. After a while, they followed the water stream, Shinichi leading the way and illuminating their path in the grass with his Lumos spells. It didn't take them long though and they could hear sounds from a village.
They even smelled freshly cooked food. Shinichi's stomach wasn't the only one, which grumbled loudly because of the wonderful smells. As soon as they actually saw the small village and colorful sparkling lights over the water, they began laughing cheerfully and ran down the last hill to a boat dock.
Heiji, who still carried Kazuha on his back, followed a lot slower, but eventually, they were all standing in front of a huge lake. Over the water, they could see the village, traditional lanterns and lights in the distance, shimmering and reflecting colorful in the lake.
"There are three boats. We should split up and each group takes a boat", Saguru suggested and stepped in front of the group, onto the boat dock. The boats were old and made out of dark wood. They were fastened to the dock with simple ropes and made soft wooden sounds, as the water ripples in the lake moved them. It seemed easy, but there was one problem.
"There are no paddles though...", Shinichi said contemplating and stepped beside Saguru, inspecting the boats and the dark lake water.
"Is it safe?", Kazuha asked and spoke out loud what everybody thought. "What if there are beasts in the water too?"
Someone made a sound and to his surprise, it was Kaito, who was white as a sheet.
"Isn't there another way? On land? I'm not a good swimmer and I... really don't like this idea", he muttered.
"I don't think it's likely. The warning said, the water would guide us home. This is it guys. We are almost there." He smiled and tried to encourage them. The others seemed persuaded, except Kaito, who still looked unsure.
"But how will we move them without paddles?", Heiji asked, stepping beside him, frowning.
"Maybe we don't need to...", Ai mumbled, looking into the water from the dock, as if she saw something.
"Maybe they are spelled to move us through the water?", Akako wondered out loud and Saguru nodded.
"I think so too."
"Well... let's try it then", Sonoko said, losing one of the ropes and stepped in front of a boat, her hands on her hips. Then she jumped forward into one of them. Nothing happened.
"That's disappointing...", she pouted. Saguru followed her.
"Ran, come on!", she called and Ran jumped into the boat too. Akako followed them too.
"And now?", Sonoko asked and looked around. As soon as she said that though, the boat started moving through the water on it's own.
"Whoa! It worked", Sonoko yelled and gripped Ran's arm in excitement. She whooped.
"Come on you guys, or you will be late!", she hollered laughing over the water.
"We'll take that one. Come on, I'll help you in", Heiji said to Kazuha and did as he said.
"We'll take the other one, then she can stretch out her leg", Shinichi suggested and Kazuha smiled thankfully.
"Come on boat. Move!", Heiji ordered grinning and it actually started moving. Shinichi grinned too, he felt excitement bubble up inside of him. He jumped into the last one, as did Ai, Aoko and Kaito, who still was very reserved and unsure. He kept near Aoko and tried not to look at the water.
"I really don't like this...", he mumbled and Aoko rolled her eyes and took his hand. Shinichi could hear splashing sounds and looked curious over the wooden frame into the water. Ai did the same. Were there shadows in the water, moving beside the boat? He stuck his hand out, trying to touch the water, but Ai slapped his hand away.
"Don't... look", Ai mumbled fascinated beside him in a hushed tone. The water splashed again and a head popped out of the water, for just a second, before it went back down into the dark water.
"Kappa. I wouldn't put your hand into the water. They could bite your finger right off... Or worse, suck your blood out until you're dry", Ai advised darkly and Kaito behind her, made an uneasy whiny sound.
"Don't be such a baby, Kaito. How can you be scared of these things, but not of that big cat creatures back there. Seriously", Aoko huffed.
"How can you ask me that, if you know exactly why I don't like the water...", he grumbled, almost insulted. She sighed.
"You're right. I'm sorry."
"I really don't think, they will hurt us. They seem helpful", Shinichi said and tried to sound calm. But then they all felt like they were driving through a wet, cold, curtain that dragged over their skin and gasped, since they hadn't seen anything in the dark. Shinichi guessed it was some sort of another barrier, because as they all looked up in surprise, they finally saw what they were hoping to see...
Finally, there it was. Yatagarasu Nesuto. It was even more imposing in real life than any pictures Shinichi had ever seen of it. The village and lake laid at the foot of the rock, a mighty, rugged dark grey giant, that build the foundation wherein the old temple was built into. It seemed at some places, like the rock and the temple where merged, almost as if most of the dark red and white building parts, balconies, pagodas and oriels had simply grown out of it.
Trees, grass and other greenery was growing on some plateaus and roofs, from which one could only imagine the view on a clear day. And small fires were lit in stone oki-gata lanterns at the entrance. Soft mist was caressing some of the ragged cliffs and red soft glowing chochin lanterns were hanging on at least a hundred threads taut from building to building.
In some rooms, there was still light seen and Shinichi already imagined himself settling into his room, falling into his new comfortable bed. Right before them in the water, there were also swimming yellow chochin lanterns everywhere and were welcoming them, with their warm, glowing lights. It was a truly beautiful sight.
"Wow...", he breathed out in complete awe. His heart was beating faster. Finally... They did it! He hoped they were still in time to enter. He couldn't await to jump out of the boat, as soon as it manoeuvred itself through a canal, through under a bridge and came near the docks. He wasn't the only one.
Kaito was fast behind him, only all too happy to leave the water behind him. As soon as Kaito stepped on hard ground again, he looked his normal, bouncy self again and Shinichi smiled a bit relieved about that. The others were waiting for them. Heiji was standing at a booth with Saguru, that sold fresh cooked food and water. While the girls were sitting on the steps of a nearby bridge, that led over one of the many canals of water from the lake. The smell that was lingering in the air was mouth watering.
"We already asked for the way. The villagers said, it's not far up the hill, if we follow this street", Saguru said, as they came close.
"That's great", Shinichi said and smiled pleased.
"Two Okonomiyakis please", Heiji ordered.
"And water, eight bottles please!", Saguru said.
"Should we really stay and eat something now?", the blonde asked a bit miffed, as he paid for the water, standing beside Heiji. The dark skinned boy narrowed his eyes at the other boy.
"You can go, we'll find the way. Nobody said you have to stay", Heiji answered in a grumpy tone. Shinichi grimaced.
"Uh guys..."
"Oh come on now you two!", Ran scolded loudly as she heard them and stood before them in seconds, like a mother who had just about enough. She even held up her index finger threateningly in their faces.
"Put your childish differences aside already! We came together, we fought together and we arrive together. We are a team now. Maybe even friends. At least... soon to be classmates for the next seven years. Do you really want to start your year with a stupid feud?"
Shinichi's lips twitched. Yep, that was his Ran alright. She looked sternly between them both, her hands on her thighs and an intense look in her eyes. Heiji gulped audibly and Shinichi was happy not to be at the receiving end of her scolding for once.
"Um... no?", Heiji answered clearly unsure and threw Shinichi a pleading look, who just shrugged helplessly and nodded in Saguru's direction meaningfully. Saguru sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine", he said defeated and held out his hand for Heiji to shake.
"Whatever... yeah okay", Heiji said and shook it, not very into it, but it was enough for her. Ran smiled and nodded proudly and Shinichi grinned at them.
"Let's go then and finally start our first year!", Ran said enthusiastically. Saguru handed out the water bottles, while Kaito shared his leftover double-chocolate cookies with everyone, Kazuha jumped up on Heiji's back again, who was feeding him pieces of Okonomiyaki and together they wandered through the streets.
Shinichi kept looking left and right and was excited to see some magical store fronts, even if they were closed and dark now, since it was already late in the evening. The only light was coming from countless hung up conchin lanterns in the street and as they crossed over another bridge, over one of the lake arms, Shinichi could see magical glowing water lilies in the water. In one store, the owner had hung up placards that praised the new arrivals of potions ingredients, like salamander blood, horclump juice, lethe river water and draught of piece.
In another shop, which was called 'Momoko's Sweetheart', the color pink was omnipresent and since Kaito was at the glass front in an instant and already deciding out loud which sweets he needed to buy once the shop was open, he knew it was a sweets shop.
The next one sold books, another brooms and one exquisite, new quills from raven's feathers, inks, brushes with different hairs and the finest parchment rolls of rice paper one could buy with money.
The last one got especially the attention of the girls, since it sold traditional umbrellas, silk and bamboo fans, as well as kimonos and yukatas and other stuff, Shinichi wasn't very interested in, like hair brushes that styled your hair magically or spelled hand mirrors, that gave you styling tips.
But then, they all groaned in frustration as the street came to a stop in front of steps though. Many, many stone steps.
"Oh gods, nooo... please no more steps...", Sonoko wailed loudly. Ran turned her to her side and gripped her shoulders.
"Come on Sonoko. We can do this. This time, there is no enchantment. See up there? Do you see the temple? There is the end. Then we are finally there... You want to be a tiger, right?", Ran asked with a stern, but motivating look on her face and Sonoko wiped over glassy eyes with her arms. She sniffled. They nodded at each other and smiled.
"Yes. You are right. Tigers don't give up." With that, she started to practically run up the stairs.
"Oi, oi, oi...", Shinichi said and could feel his mouth twitch. He couldn't let Sonoko be the first at the gates. He started after her.
"Shinichi, wait for me!", Ran cried out and ran after him too. The others followed. After a while, all of them slowed down though, thanks to exhaustion. The way up was longer than they thought, but eventually, they did reach it.
Even if they practically crawled over the last steps, their legs feeling like gummy worms. They stumbled over each other at the end, groaning and kept lying spread-eagled on the ground, completely exhausted.
"I literally never want to see any steps, whatsoever, ever again...", Shinichi moaned.
"We made it. Finally. I can't believe it... What lunatic would put children through something like that?!", Heiji exclaimed beside him.
"Well... This lunatic, for example", an amused voice said in good humour from the entrance nearby. All of them looked up, completely surprised. As he saw who exactly was standing there in a long black robe, Shinichi sprung up.
"Agasa-hakase!?", he exclaimed and did a double take, his mouth hanging open. It can't be! His next-to-neighbour was their headmaster... For years, he had known the friendly, if a little bit eccentric man. How could he have missed this?! The older man smiled warmly at them.
"Welcome everyone. I congratulate you all! You all passed your first test with flying colors. Exceptional!", he praised. "And good afternoon, Shinichi." The professor winked at him. "I'm very happy you made it. I take it, you took good care of my granddaughter?", he asked friendly.
"Hello ojii-san", Ai said tiredly after she stood up too and came up to hug him.
"Are you alright?", Agasa asked in a more private tone and looked her up and down, especially at her cheek.
"I'm fine. Just a scraped knee and a scratch, it can wait. But Kazuha over there tripped and hurt her ankle badly and Kaito here has a dove, that needs a healed wing", she said matter-of-factly. Shinichi just stared at her, his mouth still hanging open.
He couldn‘t help but feel a little betrayed. She didn‘t knew about any of this, did she? Headmaster Agasa nodded.
"Good, good. Everybody who needs medical help, come to me right away. The others can go in and settle in. The teachers will show you around and explain everything." As Ai turned to walk inside, Shinichi caught up to her, holding her back by her elbow.
"Did you know about any of this?", he asked. Ai turned to him, her face blank and raised her eyebrow, as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"It offends me a little, that you think so little of me, Shinichi...", she answered flatly. He narrowed his eyes.
"Well?"
She rolled her eyes.
"No. I didn't. I knew of course, he is the headmaster of this school. I live with him, after all. But that's about it. He asked me to keep it a secret. I got my letter like everyone else and even though I did ask many times about the test, he wouldn't tell me a word about it. Satisfied?" He sighed.
"Yes, actually. I'm sorry..." She sighed too. They obviously were too tired to keep on discussing. She smiled her typical little smile. He smiled back and nudged her friendly with his elbow and she snorted.
"It's okay. Come one, let‘s go in." As they went inside the first hallway, Shinichi looked around with pure awe on his face. Right at the centre of the first hallway, one couldn‘t help but stare at a very old magical relic, a giant clockwork planet circle made out of brass in the main entry with a round window above it, through which, Shinichi could see the sky, stars and the full moon.
Beautiful glass works filled the windows beside him and magical energy flowed palpable through the dark stone walls like electricity, coming from the power lines that permeated the earth under the temple, originating from the nexus point, on which the temple was build upon. Magical, floating chochin lanterns were glowing above their heads and showed them the way through the hallway.
They came by a Butsuden, a hall of Buddha, with a giant Buddha statue carved in stone, decorated with flowers, lanterns and candles. The closer they came to the main hall though, the more the structure of the temple changed from the black stone to red colored wood, every available space was heavily decorated and ornamented traditionally, red wooden columns and lintels supported a gently curved roof, while the walls were paper-thin and movable .
The temple in general had a characteristic dimness, which contributed to the atmosphere. Shinichi loved everything about it. He couldn't wait to explore the huge temple by daylight on his own. However, the next shock was just waiting for him, once he walked inside the moya, the main hall.
"Otō-san?", Ran called out in an unbelieving tone behind him and ran up to her father before them.
"Kogorō Mōri? Don't tell me, this guy is a teacher here too?", he mumbled under his breath. And then, he saw them, standing a little beside Kogorō...
"Okaa-san? Otō-san? What are you doing here!?" He walked up to his parents with disbelieve, his mother hugged him fiercely. They both were wearing black long robes too and he had a growing suspicion.
"Oh my Shin-chan! We are so proud of you! Of course we knew you would make it, but still-" His mother kept hugging him.
"Ugh, Okaa-san... not in front of everyone else, please..." But his mother just chuckled and held him even closer. His father beside him smiled proudly.
"Well done, son." Shinichi smiled back.
"Thanks, Otō-san... so this means..." He looked at them both, clearly still very confused, and overwhelmed. So all of their so-called business trips and them disappearing for 'work'... His mother chuckled amused.
"It‘s so rare to see you this dumbfounded. It‘s really cute. Yes, we are you're teachers. Well, two of them. You will meet the others tomorrow. You see, we had to keep this a secret from you, because if you knew, you never would have given up, until you knew every little detail about the school and the test and so... We wanted you to have a real experience, without us intervening."
She winked and the corner of his mouth twitched. What the hell... But then he looked around the room, saw other teachers and students, some of his new friends already settling in and he smiled in anticipation. They did it. Finally, he was were he belonged. And this was it, this was the moment he awaited for years... The beginning of his first year.