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Kageyama Shigeo finally got his wish granted, and it felt good. In exchange for being a magical boy, he fought for justice at night like a shounen manga character and granted his crush’s biggest desire. Tsubomi, the only person he greatly admired, looked happier now. Gone was her awful arm injury and she’s back to being the star tennis player she was meant to be. She looked giddy, being able to hold a racket again.
He smiled wryly to himself. He could be like Hanazawa. No, he would be like Hanazawa, a hero who lived his whole life crushing Witches for the sake of everyone’s hopes and dreams. Ever so selfless, a martyr to Shigeo and Ritsu’s lives.
This was what Hanazawa would want, right?
Shigeo stared at the starless night sky as he walked on his way to Tsubomi’s house. They used to hang out at her family’s huge manor, playing tag and hiding from her caretakers. It was nice. Maybe, just maybe, he could bring back those times. And maybe he could even finally confess his feelings for her.
He blushed at the thought. Now that he’s a warrior, someone who actively fought evil, wouldn’t Tsubomi think that’s the righteous thing to do?
The familiar gates of Tsubomi’s home came into view and Shigeo’s nerves finally caught up with him. His palms tingled with sweat. He didn’t even think of what he was going to tell his crush.
So there he stood in the middle of the sidewalk, sparsely lit by the warm streetlights, shaking in his gakuran. He raised a tentative hand to press the doorbell. Just do it. Everything would work out eventually. Just talk to her. Then Tsubomi’s laugh resounded from beyond the tall fences. She must have been playing a small tennis match with her friends.
Shigeo gnawed at his lips and hung his head. No. This was fine. Tsubomi was happy now, and that’s all that mattered.
He could always look from afar. It’s not like she would be gone. With a contented smile, he turned on his heels.
A familiar shock of red hair greeted him before he could even take a single step.
It was Suzuki Shou, that magical boy who came over from another city.
“What, not even gonna muster up the courage to talk to her?” Shou said with his hands lazily folded on the back of his head. “You’re so lame.”
Shigeo could have sworn his heart jumped out of his throat. “Y-You know?” He had never told anyone of his crush on Tsubomi, save for Ritsu, his little brother.
Shou scoffed. “It’s so obvious. She’s that school idol y’all never shut up about.” He took a heavy step forward, leering at Shigeo. For some reason, everything he did was so intimidating to Shigeo. “The one you made a contract with Kyubei for.”
It was no use denying that. “Yes.”
The spiky-haired boy’s laugh was sharp and cut through the cold night air. "You wasted your once-in-a lifetime miracle, the only miracle you could get, on granting someone else’s wish?” he gasped in between bouts of cackling. “That’s fucking hilarious!”
Shigeo thought back on the first time he met Shou. So disillusioned by greed, Shou stopped Shigeo from destroying a Witch’s Familiar. Anger pricked at Shigeo’s chest. “It’s just the right thing to do,” Shigeo said, clenching his fists on his sides.
Shou tilted his head to the side with an intense look on his face. “You see, Shigeo, the right thing to do is to use that wish for yourself.” What does he know about ‘right’? “Using that wish for others? That always ends up in shit. Didn’t Hanazawa Teruki even tell you that much?”
Shigeo clenched his fists harder, making sure they stung. Bringing up someone dead was going too far. He didn’t want to hear anything from this boy anymore, but he kept on talking.
Like a vulture circling his prey, Shou stepped closer to Shigeo with an evil grin. “You know what you should do to get that Tsubomi girl?”
Shigeo stayed silent, knowing that this question wasn’t meant for him to answer. And he was right.
Shou’s grin grew wider, his blue eyes seemingly glowing in the dark. “Break her arms. Break her legs. Make her so helpless that she could only look at you, and only you. All of her, both body and heart.”
How? How could he say those awful things like it’s nothing?
Shigeo glared at Shou. “Shou, I don’t think we should talk anymore,” he said, voice trembling in agitation. He remembered what his parents told him, something about leaving situations that actively harmed you. So, he started briskly walking away.
Unfortunately, Shou was quick to follow. “No, c’mon. Hear me out here, as a fellow magical boy.” Shou jogged up to block the way. What does being a magical boy have to do with anything he was saying? Shigeo immediately rounded him and continued on.
“I could do that for you instead, lover boy,” Shou offered, keeping up pace with him. Shigeo barely heard the other with the cars zooming past beside them. “It would be so easy. Just rough her up a little, make her bleed, make her call your name like a little—”
That was the last straw. Shigeo stopped on his tracks and turned to Shou. “You won’t do that,” he warned, narrowing his eyes. “I won’t let you.”
Shou shoved his hands into his pockets with a Cheshire smile. “Then stop me.”
*
Kageyama Ritsu has already read this passage in his science textbook a hundred times, but nothing was absorbing in his brain. He knew he should be doing his homework, like the good student he was but how could he? For the past few weeks, he had discovered that magical boys, young people who fought evil creatures called Witches, exist.
It would have felt so unreal if he didn’t just witness Hanazawa Teruki’s awful death from one himself. Tears stung Ritsu’s eyes. Hanazawa was all alone all this time. He let his heart lay bare to Ritsu, that he was just happy to have friends who would understand him. All the pains and pleasures of being a magical boy.
It all would have felt so unreal if his brother, his only precious brother, wasn’t now a magical boy, throwing himself to danger at every twist and turn. Ritsu couldn’t do anything to stop him, only adding salt to his heart’s gaping wound.
He gripped his pen tight. If he’s going to be honest, he was afraid. So, so afraid. He had already decided to be a magical boy when he talked with Hanazawa before…the incident. Now he wasn’t so sure anymore. What was a wish, no matter how life-changing, worth a lifelong fight no one would even acknowledge you for? Was it worth a life so easily extinguished, no matter how valiant you are, like Hanazawa?
“Ritsu!”
He flinched at the sudden voice. He whipped his head to the source. A black foxlike creature quietly perched by his window, round eyes boring into him. He stood up from his desk and stared back, not letting the creature inside.
“Kyubei,” Ritsu said with narrowed eyes. “Why are you here?”
Kyubei sounded frantic, compared to his unchanging expression. “Come with me immediately. Shigeo is in danger!”
That rang a thousand alarms in Ritsu’s head. “Take me to him.”
*
The complicated concrete bridges suspended above the highway were unnecessarily vast and empty, so it was easy to spot Shigeo and Shou from far away.
Ritsu was already feeling the unpleasant burn on his legs as he sprinted with Kyubei. Brother, please be okay, please be okay, he chanted in his head like a prayer. His brother was never one to pick fights with anyone, so it could only be Shou’s fault. The greedy bastard, now he’s also killing off competition one by one.
Spurred by anger and frustration, Ritsu bounded up the overpass stairs haphazardly.
He heard the blood rushing to his ears when he saw Shou already transformed into his magical boy armor. Then his gaze landed on Shigeo, arm stretched out, brandishing his Soul Gem, ready to transform himself. Shit.
“Brother!” he yelled out, stopping meters behind Shigeo to catch his breath. “Don’t do it!”
Shigeo jerked back to look at him, still clutching his Soul Gem. “Ritsu,” he murmured, his mouth hanging open in shock. Then he snapped them shut, jaw tensing. “You have to stay back. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Ritsu was about to retort but Shou beat him to it. “Yeah, that’s right, Ritsu,” he taunted, spitting the name in full mockery. He slammed his great sword on the ground. “We don’t want your pathetic ass hurt.”
“Leave Brother alone!” Ritsu shouted with as much venom as he could. He stood rigid, wanting to go in for a punch so bad. But he’s powerless, too powerless in the face of real magic. He hates the fact so much.
Shou clicked his tongue. “Shut up. You’re annoying.” He pointed his giant sword with one hand and glowered at Shigeo. The sword glowed red as magic surged into it. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess.”
Was he going to attack while Shigeo was still in his normal form? Ritsu tensed.
Then there was a shift in the wind.
A fancy purple-clad boy stood by Shou’s hairsbreadth, like he had been there all along. “You guess, huh?” the boy said with an arch of his brow.
It was Takenaka Momozou, the odd transfer student who Ritsu also discovered to be a magical boy. Ritsu decided that he didn’t like him at all. The uncaring, empty gaze the boy always held, as if he was above everything… It pissed him off.
“Takenaka,” Shou said as he looked back, the walls of intimidation suddenly crumbling down.
“I thought we saw eye-to-eye,” Takenaka chided in a monotone voice. The chilling breeze swept the bangs framing his forehead. “We agreed that you’ll stay away from Kageyama Shigeo.”
Shou scoffed at that. “You’re too fucking soft on him.”
Without moving, Takenaka was already on his way to Shigeo. “Then I’ll take him on. Don’t get in my way.” He had this odd grace as he moved, like a panther leisurely trodding.
Shit. Takenaka was much more powerful than Shou. He couldn’t let his brother fight this… this abomination!
Adrenaline burst through Ritsu’s veins. This was for his brother’s good. “I’m sorry!” While Shigeo was distracted, he snatched the glowing blue Soul Gem from his brother and threw it down the bridge with full strength.
“R-Ritsu!” He heard Shigeo gasp as he watched the small trinket fall onto the back of a speeding truck. “Why did you do that?”
“I-I had to.” Breathing hard, Ritsu glanced back at Shigeo. His brother was fumbling to his direction with a worried look. Ritsu swallowed. Truthfully, it was impulsive of him, but the situation called for it. “I mean, if I didn’t—!”
In an instant, Shigeo fell down into Ritsu’s arms, his eyes lifeless and body limp like a doll.
“Brother?” Ritsu muttered in shock as he caught Shigeo.
Kyubei jumped onto the railing beside them without effort. He trotted and gingerly sat down. “Ritsu, that wasn’t good, you know?”
Sweat beaded down Ritsu’s forehead. “Huh?”
“No matter how angry you could be, you shouldn’t throw out your brother like that!” Kyubei said in a matter-of-fact tone, his tail waving around like a pleased cat.
Ritsu gritted his teeth, clutching his brother tight. “What do you mean?” he spat. There was a small stretch of silence. “Kyubei!”
In a flash, Shou made his weapon disappear as he bounded for Shigeo, pushing Ritsu aside. He grabbed Shigeo by the throat and held him up in the air. There was no reaction. Shigeo’s head just bobbed down, his eyes still wide open.
“The hell are you doing!” Ritsu tried to pry Shou’s hand from his brother’s neck, but it was too strong of a grip. “Let my brother—”
“He’s dead,” Shou breathed, dropping Shigeo to the ground like a ragdoll. He turned to glare at Kyubei. “He’s fucking dead.”
Ritsu felt his stomach drop. No. No, that couldn’t be. He fell to his knees by Shigeo, panic surging in his chest. “Brother, wake up,” he cried as he shook the body. “Wake up, please!” Shigeo’s body was oddly cold. Ritsu quickly checked the pulse on the neck, still trying to cling onto hope. There was none of it. Shigeo’s heart had stopped beating.
“Kyubei, what the fuck is going on here?” Shou barked out, violently grabbing Kyubei this time. He held Kyubei far beyond the railing, dozens of feet high from the highway, a seemingly empty threat to the creature.
“Ah, you humans are always like this,” Kyubei said, his tail still dancing behind him even if the cuff of his neck was clenched in Shou’s hand in an iron grip. “Human bodies are complicated. That’s why magical boys can only control their body in a 100 meter radius.”
“100 meter—” Shou sputtered. If he didn’t look angry before, he definitely was now. The veins on his neck were visible as he shook Kyubei. “What the fuck do you mean?”
The creature continued explaining, as if all of this was normal. Just another textbook paragraph to spew on about. “It’s very rare to have this kind of incident, since you carry it with you all the time.”
Ritsu couldn’t take it anymore. “You monster,” he shrieked, tears already streaming down his cheeks. Tear drops fell on his brother’s gakuran. “Tell me how to save my Brother! Tell me! I won’t—I can’t let him die like this!”
“Ritsu,” Kyubei tilted his head, “that empty shell isn’t Shigeo.”
Ritsu sucked in a breath. No. Is that what it was? His own body shook as he turned his gaze down to his brother. Then the Soul Gem was…
“Clever as always, Ritsu,” Kyubei declared, punctuating it with a blink of his red eyes. “The one you just threw down the bridge was your brother.”
That thing…was his brother. What the hell.
In a fit of rage, Shou hurled Kyubei onto the ground with a deafening thump.
Kyubei skidded to a stop as it reached the other end’s railing. He still continued his explanation like before. “Did you guys really think fragile human bodies could take the brunt of fighting Witches? It’s unthinkable.” Kyubei slowly stood on all fours and licked at his paws. “To you magical boys, your so-called ‘bodies’ are just external hardware. Your real bodies are your souls, and so that you could use magic more efficiently, we put them in easy to protect, compact forms instead.”
“To complete the contract of a magical boy, what I do is rip out your souls out of your bodies and turn them into Soul Gems.”
Shou snarled. “You piece of shit!” He took a shaky step forward. “What did you do to us! You fucking turned us into fucking zombies!”
“But is it not more convenient this way? Even if your heart gets crushed or your body bleeds out every single drop of blood, you can just heal your bodies and get right back up like new. You’re basically invincible!”
“You...!” Shou grabbed Kyubei again, with two hands this time. A threat to strangle.
Ritsu couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe anything he was hearing. He just stared at his brother’s, no, this body’s face as he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. So this is what it was. Another ugly consequence so fucking inhumane compared to his brother’s purehearted wish.
Despair filled his heart. He broke out into an ugly sob, clenching his brother’s gakuran. “How dare you…” he said hoarsely. “Brother was doing his best and you…!”
Kyubei sighed. “You humans always inevitably react like this. I don’t get it. Why are you so touchy about where your soul is?”
The essence of their beings in something so small, so easy to lose and destroy, was a concept so hard to grasp onto. And Ritsu, he just had to throw it away, never to be seen again. He just… killed his brother by his own hands. It was funny. Laughter bubbled up his throat as he couldn’t choke back the tears spilling from his eyes. He really fucked up.
“Brother,” he wept, “brother…!”
Without warning, Takenaka appeared beside Shigeo, making Ritsu startle. He didn’t even notice the teleporter’s disappearance.
Ritsu watched with wide eyes as Takenaka slowly placed Shigeo’s blue Soul Gem on his body’s palm, the light thrumming like the beat of a heart.
Then Takenaka straightened up, ran his fingers through his brown hair aloofly, and turned away from them.
All at once, Shigeo loudly gasped, life going back to his eyes.
Everyone whipped their head to look at him as he sluggishly pulled himself up to sit.
Shigeo looked around, clearly confused. Soon his eyes met Ritsu’s, who only gulped. The sudden silence made the cars rushing beneath them louder than before. The artificial lights illuminating all of them cast a harsh shadow against Shigeo’s face. Shigeo blinked when he saw his younger brother’s tear-streaked face.
“What? What’s wrong, Ritsu?” he asked, his voice so quiet it hurt.