Archive of Our Own

Get up, make breakfast, knock on Hajime's bedroom door, get ignored, open the door anyway, leave a tray with some food on the nightstand, sit down at the foot of the bed, speak a few encouraging words, get ignored some more, leave. Return for lunch, then dinner. Sleep, rinse, repeat.

Those are the days that Arisu has gotten used to. He goes to town, spends his hard-earned money from a few summer breaks and that measly allowance his father leaves on the kitchen table on fresh groceries and things they need. Cooks, cleans, does the dishes. Meets his friends once in a blue moon when he feels he can allow himself to be less diligent, less worried.

On very bad days he runs into his father on accident and lets him yell at him for a bit, about how this is all his fault, about how without him, his brother wouldn't have turned out like that. Would still be the son he knew and loved and wanted. Lets him shout, eyes stoically fixed on that one picture they still keep of his mother, the one on the windowsill in the kitchen, the one he needs to remind himself why exactly he's doing all of this. Who it is that would really be disappointed in him, had he just up and left and decided not to give a damn.

Goes back to buying groceries, making food no one eats and finding a way to make his brother get out of bed at least a few hours a week. Doesn't think about the classes he misses, or the jokes he won't get to laugh at, the memories he won't be part of and the dreams he discarded.

And it's fine. It's good. Other people have it a lot worse. Don't have a brother they love, or a house they can call their own. Friends who still text him, even though he rarely gets to see them anymore. It could be so so much worse.

But he's also just so helpless. Doesn't know how to make Hajime listen to him, talk to him, doesn't know how to get that fog away from his brother’s mind. Doesn't know if this is something he will be able to keep doing, should his father ever decide that he's had enough of two sons that never amounted to anything. That took all the hopes and ambitions he had for them and discarded them while he had to watch on, angry and disappointed. Doesn't know how he would keep himself and Hajime afloat, should his father decide to just leave or cut them off.

Their healer isn't helpful at all. Not in the beginning, when Hajime breaks down in one of his classes, shaking and crying and dead to the world around him. Not later, when their father takes him home, after it becomes apparent that there's no use in keeping Hajime in college and in his dorm. Is no help after Arisu drops out of college to be there for Hajime and do all the things his father refuses to. Isn't of any help now either, almost three months later, with Hajime still mostly refusing eat or speak or leave the house. Just diagnoses him with malnourishment and hysterics, as if that is helpful in any way whatsoever.

It's Usagi who mentions Chishiya Shuntarō to him, in one of her texts. Says that he's recently received the college's permission to open his own healer's office even while he's still in the last year of his education. An office that isn't too far from where Arisu and his family live, just a few streets away, and maybe, just maybe, the shining beacon of Borderland College might know what to do about Hajime's current state of body and mind.

And, well, it's not like he has a lot of options left. Arisu doesn't exactly know Chishiya Shuntarō, but he certainly knows of him. Has heard about his outstanding magical abilities and of his unique understanding of how body and magic connect. So maybe, just maybe, he will know what to do about his brother. Or who to ask that isn't that charlatan their father swears on.

It's cold when Arisu leaves the house, bundled up in a thick parka, beanie and a scarf. He looks up at Hajime's window and wonders if he should have opened it, gotten some of that fresh air into his room and in Hajime's lungs. But it would have probably ended in Hajime lying in a freezing cold room for hours on end, not moving or caring, and eventually getting sick from it. Arisu will have to do it later when he's back. With help, hopefully, or at least a new direction of where to go and what to do.

On his way to the healer’s office Arisu passes Hinako, a round woman with a penchant for anything that grows. She laughs and waves before turning to the tendrils she grew around the door frame of her little flower shop. Arisu can see the small buds turn into bright yellow and pink blossoms and knows that it only took her a few coaxing words and the slightest spark from her talented fingertips.

He sighs and walks on, ignoring the jealousy that churns in his gut. Watching Hinako makes him think of Asahi who has a similar way with plants and also animals. Asahi, who he shared a desk with a few times back in college, and who grew a truly stunning lily of the valley out of the tabletop one spring morning, just to see him smile. Asahi, who’s still in college, learning and laughing and well on her way to become even more talented and the botanical witch and animal carer she always wanted to be when they were still in elementary school, years before any signs of magical ability was even on the horizon for either of them.

He turns the street and almost gets run over by Joe, who hollers an apology and speeds by on his bike, probably on his way to see his grandmother at the other end of town. Arisu shakes his head and watches him disappear behind a slope, carefree and with both hands off the handlebars. Joe didn't show even a fingertip of magical ability, and he's fine. He's happy. He's the perfect example that there's no better or worse between magic and non-magic users, that each has their place in society, and a reason to be happy.

And looking at his brother, the prodigal child who couldn't do wrong even if he tried, Arisu has the perfect example of magic being the primary source of incredible sorrow. So what if he never gets to finish his college education, never amounts to anything exciting? He'll have his brother, and his friends, and he'll watch from afar and enjoy whatever the people around him create. And that will be enough.

That has to be enough.

When he rounds another corner, he stops dead in his tracks. There are a lot of people crowding the entrance of the building that Arisu thought was Chishiya's healer's office. But now he isn't so sure anymore, because why the hell would so many people be there on a Wednesday morning? And, he takes another look, young people at that. People his age. People who he knows are students at the college, supposed to be in class right now, almost an hour away on foot and at least twenty minutes by bus. (Mere seconds by teleportation, but only graduates get to earn a license for that, so none of them should be able to do that.)

Arisu walks closer and finds one of his neighbors, Noriko Ino, balancing on her cane and watching the people with an irritated frown. "Good morning, Noriko-san", he greets her as he steps beside her. "’You wouldn't happen to know what's going on here?"

The old woman turns to him and her eyes light up. "Oh, Arisu-kun, my boy. It's good to see you!", she coos and grabs his arm. Not wanting her to stumble and fall, Arisu let's her. "I don't know anything about what is happening, but I have an appointment with that young handsome healer and I can't seem to find a way in with all the ruckus they've been causing. I must have tried for at least ten minutes now."

Arisu frowns. "That's not good", he says. "I don't have an appointment myself, but I was hoping I could speak with him as well. Do they all have appointments?"

"None of them have", a cheerful voice interrupts them. Arisu turns on his heels, mindful of the fact that he still has Noriko-san clinging to him and spots a tall woman with wild dreads and a wide grin leaning against one of the trees that border the property.

He squints against the rising sun before he finally recognizes her. "You're Kuina, right?", he asks. "The one who bested basically anybody in martial arts and went on to win national championships?" Without an ounce of magical ability, he doesn't add, even if it's true. The woman is one of the few non-magical people at the college, one who got in because she's got drive and potential, an unmistakable and unmovable force among countless of peers that were blessed with magical abilities during puberty. Arisu knows she made herself into who she is today, more than anybody else, and doesn't want to take away from that by reducing her to being "the non-magical martial arts master".

Instead, he focuses on her statement. "What do you mean?", he asks. "What are they doing here if they don't have an appointment?" He turns and looks at the excited crowd. "Is there something for free here?"

Kuina laughs. "Something like that", she says before motioning in the direction of the entrance. "Come on, I get you in there."

She doesn't wait for a reaction or an affirmation by either of them and just takes a few steps, head held high, and for some reason, the crowd parts and lets her pass. She doesn't even have to say a word.

Charisma, Arisu thinks and envies her a bit for that. No magic ability, no use of force or coercion, just respect and plain old charisma.

The people let them pass as well, reluctant at first, but finally understanding when they see the old woman who's been leaning way more heavily onto his arm, as if he was her grandson or something like that. He’s probably using this a bit too much to his own advantage, Arisu thinks guiltily, his grip on her strong and tight. But that poor woman must have been so exhausted, standing there for that long, not knowing what to do.

While they get closer to the entrance, Arisu recognizes even more people in the crowd. Nagisa and Momoka, Mikasa and Hayato, ... They're all (or at least mostly) students his age, so what the hell are they all doing here?

Kuina holds the door open for them. They get in and Arisu turns around once more, looking at the faces that are peeking in, clearly searching for something in the office but for some reason not daring to get any closer. Then, the door shuts closed.

Arisu steps a bit further into the room and looks around. Three doors lead away from the entrance area, all of them closed. There are also a few chairs against the white wall with a handful of carefully picked art pieces, and a few plants dotting the area close to a small front desk with no one behind it. Arisu decides to lead Noriko-san to one of the chairs and sits down next to her. She keeps her fingers wrapped tightly around his arm.

"Chi?", Kuina calls into the empty room. "I got some patients here for you. They couldn't get in because people are behaving like crazy lunatics out there. Really bad for building up a network of regulars, I would say."

"Yes", calls a voice from one of the doors. Its only ajar, Arisu realizes. "And just so I don't forget: Who's fault is that, exactly?"

The door opens and out steps Chishiya Shuntarō, wearing a grey healer's coat with the college's emblem stitched on its front. He looks exactly like Arisu remembers: Short, blonde, and with an unreadable expression on his face. Arisu never spoke to the man when he was still in college, but he always thought he looked rather condescending and maybe even a little unnerving at times.

Kuina doesn't seem to think so because she only grins brightly. "Definitely your fault", she says. "This wouldn't be happening if you just agreed to go on a date with one of the people I suggested."

Well, that's definitely not an answer Arisu expected. At all. But before he can ask, Chishiya steps closer and looks at the old woman next to Arisu, his eyebrows raised. "Has your balance gotten worse, Noriko-san? Are you experiencing dizziness again? Do we need another acupuncture session? I received a new batch of magically charged needles just two days ago."

Quickly, Noriko-san lets go of Arisu's arm and shakes her head. "No, no, nothing like that. But I do have some other matter I need to discuss with you, and I do have an appointment, if you haven't forgotten."

"Of course I haven't", Chishiya says and holds out a hand to her, but she gets up with a surprising amount of agility and marches into one of the rooms without any need for help whatsoever. Chishiya seems to sigh almost inaudibly but then he follows her, and the door closes behind them.

Arisu stares. "What?", he finally asks, more to himself than anybody else. Kuina answers, nonetheless.

"Yeah, I hear she does that a lot. She likes having strapping young lads to cling to, so she feigns helplessness. But other than that, she’s a total sweetheart."

Arisu shakes his head, not sure if he should feel complimented or slightly annoyed, before turning and looking out the window. There are still people mingling outside and from time to time, he can see somebody pressing their nose against the window. "And them?"

Kuina laughs. "You haven't heard? It's the talk of the college, actually. People are seriously invested."

Arisu looks down at his lap, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. Here he has the perfect example of him missing something vital, something everybody's talking about. But he only shrugs.

"Ah, well, it's a funny story." She plops down into a chair next to him. "It's kind of my fault, actually. I dared Chishiya to finally accept a Valentine's date this year, because he's been stressing over finals and opening this office and many other things as well and going out and meeting new people would probably do him some good." She grins even brighter. "He typically hates Valentine's Day, but he finally agreed to it after, like, hours of me annoying him almost to death. I can be very persistent if I want to be. Anyway, so he finally agreed to it, but because he's a grouch who hates people, he said to only do it under his own conditions."

Arisu frowns. "And those are... people who ambush him in front of his office?"

Kuina giggles. "It does look a bit like that, doesn't it? But no, his condition was that only the person who gets the key to his heart gets to go on a date with him."

Arisu raises an eyebrow. That sounds like it came right out of a fairytale and somehow, he doubts Chishiya is the kind of person who reads a lot of fairytales.

His assumption proves correct mere moments later when Chishiya steps out of the room, Noriko-san in tow. He throws Kuina a dirty look. "You're telling it wrong."

Kuina waves his words away. "Semantics", she says. "Key on a collar, collar on a cat, cat somewhere out there where people might be able to find it and take the key, yadda yadda. The point is people are now out looking for that key and for some reason they decided you would hide it in here."

Chishiya only shakes his head, looking slightly pained like too much stupidity hurts him physically, before stepping behind the counter and focusing on the old woman again.

Arisu is still confused. "So, there's a cat out there with a key on a collar, and whoever gets the key from that collar gets to go on a date with him?"

Kuina nods. "Basically, yeah."

"But isn't that dangerous for the cat? If they decide they need to hunt it down or something like that?" He looks over at Chishiya and catches his gaze for a second, something almost calculating in his eyes, but then the other man turns back to his patient and the moment is gone.

"I wouldn't worry about that", Kuina says. "The little guy is smart as a whip and won't let himself get caught that easily." But she looks at him, with an expression he can't exactly decipher, before slapping her hands on her thighs and jumping up, full of energy all of a sudden. "Anyway, I have my own date with my very own and very perfect girlfriend to attend to now. Still don't really know how I managed to score her, honestly, so I'll make absolutely sure that I won't be late." She steps to the door and opens it. "It was nice meeting you, Arisu."

Arisu looks up, surprised. He hadn't even known that she knew who he was, much less know him by name. He decides to smile and wave, gratitude pouring in his heart.

"Give our very own necromancer my thanks for diverting your attention from me at least for a few hours every week", Chishiya calls from his counter. It earns him a middle finger.

When she's gone, Chishiya finishes his talk with Noriko-san. She seems satisfied and waves happily before disappearing through the door as well, the people outside not bothering her in the slightest anymore.

"Now, how can I help you, Arisu?"

Again, Arisu looks astonished. "You know who I am?", he can't help but ask. It earns him a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, I do", the healer says, but doesn't seem to want to elaborate on that.

"Oh", Arisu answers before asking the first thing that pops up in his mind. "Necromancer?" He isn't aware of any people of that sort living in the area, and he can't imagine that Kuina would willingly date one.

"Ah", Chishiya says. "It's a joke, albeit one that could be seen as a bit tasteless, I suppose. Ann, Kuina's partner, specialized in magical medicine just like me, but while I took the route of healer, she chose to focus on forensics, which means that while I try to find ways to heal the human body of all illnesses, she, among other things, focuses on looking at the effects those illnesses had on the bodies of those that died and tries to learn from that. She isn't a real necromancer. But anyway, I'm sure that's not the actual reason you are here."

"Oh, yeah", Arisu mumbles sheepishly. "Sorry. I don't want to keep you from your work."

Chishiya shakes his head and nods in the direction of the room he'd previously used for his consultation with Noriko-san. "I don't have a lot of appointments today, so you should be fine. Should we go somewhere more private in case someone actually makes it through the crowd?"

He doesn't wait for an answer - something he seems to have in common with Kuina, so maybe that's just a thing seniors do? - and Arisu hastens to follow him through the door.

They end up in what seems to be Chishiya's office. Bookshelves line the walls, filled with all kinds of spell tomes but also regular books on medicine. It eases Arisu's mind a little to know that the man doesn't solely rely on one or the other but knows about the benefits of combining knowledge of both fields to achieve the best results. That healer of theirs could learn a thing or two from him.

Chishiya motions for Arisu to take one of two comfortable looking chairs while he himself sits down behind his desk. "Now, what can I help you with today?"

Arisu sits down and starts wringing his hands almost immediately, not quite sure how to begin. "It's about my brother", he finally says. "Do you... know him as well? And do you know what happened to him, a few months ago?"

Chishiya folds his hands together on the tabletop in front of him. "Yes, I know of him. He was in his first year of college, was he not?"

Arisu nods. Technically, Hajime would be in his second year now, and as such about to choose a core area to focus his studies on, but he'd never made it that far.

"As for what happened to him... I don't know the details. Only what word-of-mouth spread around, I'm afraid. But from what I've gathered, he suffered a nervous breakdown in one of his classes and is on medical leave indefinitely."

Nervous breakdown. Well, that sounds already a lot more professional than hysterics, so maybe this has been a good idea, Arisu thinks, hope pooling in his stomach. Maybe he would-

"It is also rather unusual to speak about a patient who isn't in attendance. Is there a reason he isn't here with you?"

Ah.

"He can't", Arisu murmurs quietly. "He won't."

"Because he is physically unable to?"

"I'm... honestly not sure", Arisu says slowly. Hajime is malnourished, sure, but he’s still visiting the bathroom and taking showers sometimes, so walking shouldn't be a problem, at least in theory. Leaving the house, though, is a whole different matter.

"So why didn't you order a home visit?"

"We did."

Chishiya raises an eyebrow. "And?"

"Our father... he holds magic wielder in very high regard", Arisu says slowly, unsure how much he is allowed to reveal about their current family healer.

"That is not a bad thing per se."

"Hajime has been diagnosed with hysterics and has been having magicka-scans every week that reveal that he is malnourished and that his magic is drained."

Chishiya nods, looking expectantly at Arisu. When Arisu doesn't say anything else, he frowns.

"That was the preliminary diagnosis, I presume, and the scan is to go along with his treatment. I will admit that calling it "hysterics" is very outdated, but as long as the treatment is targeting the right aspects, it should be fine. And a scan is recommended during most of the treatments I am aware of. I'm not really sure what the problem-"

"Hajime isn’t getting any treatment", Arisu interrupts him before he can say anything more. "Our healer is coming once a week on the request of our father and does the scan. He leaves. That's all."

Chishiya stares at him. He does so for a concerningly long time before finally asking for the healer’s name. When Arisu tells him, he closes his eyes for a moment and Arisu gets momentarily distracted by how impossibly long his eyelashes are.

"That man sells 'healing stones' and 'healing potions' in his back rooms", Chishiya finally says. "He doesn't have a license and he certainly shouldn't be called a healer."

Arisu swallows. He hadn't known that.

"He's friends with our father", he finally says. "He's been our healer for as long as I can remember."

"Then I'm surprised you survived this long", Chishiya answers bluntly and now it's Arisu's turn to close his eyes, the smiling face of his mother suddenly at the forefront of his mind. Could she have been saved, by the right healer? Would she still be alive today, had she been treated in the hospital from the very beginning and not by that man?

"I'm assuming your father doesn't know you're here?"

Arisu nods.

"And I'm also assuming that your brother isn't of age yet and that's why you haven't asked me to come see him in person, because I would need your father's permission to do so, and you don't believe I would get it."

Arisu nods again. "Hajime turns twenty in a few months, but until then, there's nothing I can do."

Chishiya nods as well before staying quiet for a long time, his hands still folded together. Finally, he looks up.

"Alright. I will try to help you as best as I can, because the wellbeing of a patient overrides the necessity for patients’ confidence in this particular case. Tell me anything you can about your brother's current situation. Even if you think it's not important, it might help my diagnosis, so don't leave anything out."

Arisu sags into his chair and feels himself relax and a weight lift from his shoulders he hadn't even known was there in the first place. "Thank you", he mutters before trying to collect his thoughts. "Really, thank you so much!"

Chishiya doesn't smile, but Arisu thinks he can see something encouraging in his eyes. And so he begins to talk.

♡

"Well, from what I can tell by the limited information you could give me, I would say that your brother has a form of burnout or adjustment disorder that affects his magic, coupled with a frankly very concerning and very severe case of depression", Chishiya finally says. "Everything he is experiencing seems to trace back to one of those two causes."

Arisu doesn't know how long he's been here, doesn't know how long he talked about everything that happened in the last three months. But he expects it must have been at least half an hour of him speaking non-stop, and his throat feels suddenly very dry, like sandpaper, maybe, or very old parchment. He takes the glass of water Chishiya conjured with the wave of his hand with a grateful smile.

"Thank you", he finally says. "This is... Thank you. This is more than we had these last three months."

Chishiya holds up his hand. "However", he says and Arisu's stomach sinks, "I want you to understand that the focus of my studies, - and the focus of this healer's office -, has always been on the physical aspects of the human body, not the mind, so anything I could do, even if your brother were my patient, is very limited."

"What you're saying is that you can't help him?", Arisu says quietly, his eyes downcast.

"There isn't much I can do for him, not like this", the man answers. "Not while he isn't my patient. I can't refer him to a specialist, which is what he needs. My hands are tied."

Arisu bites his lips, thinking. Chishiya isn't saying that he doesn't want to help, but that he can't, not as long as Hajime is legally under their father's care.

"What could you realistically do without referring him to a specialist?", he finally asks slowly. "If Hajime were your patient and couldn't for whatever reason be seen by somebody who focuses on the mind, at least for a while, would you be able to help him in any way whatsoever?"

Chishiya looks down at the notes he started to take as soon as Arisu began talking about Hajime, a slight frown on his face. "Nothing long-term", he finally says. "What he needs is somebody who helps him find the source of his burnout and depression and supports him in figuring out a way to handle them in his day-to-day life. That is not something I am equipped to do." He taps his finger on something, some words Arisu can't read from a distance. "I could, however, help with the immediate symptoms of his depression by prescribing him some form of anti-depressant, but that would need to be short-term only because those can be harmful if taken over a longer period of time. But he would need to be a patient of mine, which he isn't, so I'm afraid I can't even do that."

Arisu nods and bites his lip. He supposes he should be thankful to have gotten a proper diagnosis for Hajime's situation at all, even if there's nothing he can do about it now.

"What... what could happen to him, if he doesn't get any help?", he finally asks, and he dreads the answer as much as he needs it. "If we continue on like this?"

Chishiya looks at him. "I think you know what could happen, Arisu."

Arisu swallows. He doesn't want to lose another person he holds dear. He doesn't think he can.

"However", Chishiya continues, "if a relative of his were to become my patient - an older brother for example, who is already of age and as such no longer in his father's legal custody -, I would not only be able to prescribe him the necessary medication, but I could also contact a few colleagues of mine and get them to place said relative onto a waiting list for a first consultation."

Arisu's head jerks up, his eyes wide. "You would do that?"

Chishiya nods and opens a desk drawer. He gets out a sheet of paper and a pen and begins to write. "Now, Arisu, when exactly would you say you experienced the first symptoms of depression?"

♡

"I don't know how to thank you", Arisu mumbles when they leave Chishiya's office and relocate to the front desk. "Seriously, tell me something, I'll do anything."

Chishiya sighs. "That's really not something you should promise to anybody, ever. Can get you into a lot of trouble, even with friends." He peers out of the window and quickly takes a step back when three faces stare back at him. "Trust me, I should know."

Arisu can't help but grin. He feels elated, and thankful, and giddy, and a little disbelieving, but most of all hopeful. "I could try to lure them away", he offers.

"Doesn't really work. They always come back after some time. Like I would hide a cat in my healer's office. Do they really expect me to have my office closed due to health violations not even a month after I first opened it?" He shakes his head and steps back, retreating behind the safety of the front desk where he begins to fill out a prescription form. His handwriting is neat and steady, and Arisu catches himself being mesmerized by the green sparks that fly from Chishiya's fingers when he authenticates the form with his very own magical signature.

"Have him take one every single day for the next two weeks, then go down to one every two days after. Come back once a week to report so we can adjust the dosage if necessary."

Arisu nods and takes the prescription in both of his hands, carefully, like it's something priceless. And it kind of is.

"I'd also recommend making use of the library at the college. I have a feeling that having him rely on anti-depressants until he comes of age won't be enough to ease your mind, and there's a lot of literature you can find on the mental aspects of medicine, if you know where to look for it."

"Oh." Arisu can feel his cheeks redden. He had thought about doing some research himself on the topic, now that he finally has a basic understanding of what they are dealing with. There is, however, one issue that makes this pretty much impossible for him. "I'm no longer enrolled at Borderland College, so I think can't access the library anymore."

He knows dropping out was a knee-jerk reaction of him, mostly done out of spite and because he knew it would anger his father, and it's not like he misses his classes all too much, but having access to one of the biggest collections of knowledge did have its perks. "And I can't leave my brother alone for that long, so even if I could study there, I don't think I would. It would take too much time just to get there and back again, much less spend hours sitting and reading." He shrugs, willing his thoughts to go into a more positive direction, and sends the other man a small smile. "Anyway, I won't take up any more of your time. I’ll do as you said with these", he waves with the prescription in his hand, "and I'll be back next week. Thank you, for everything."  

He turns but adds with a small smirk: "And good luck with those cat-crazy people. I have a feeling you’ll need it."

He’s already at the door when he hears his name being called again. He turns around and sees Chishiya staring at him with those unreadable eyes of his. "Yes?"

"Come back tomorrow", the man says. "I have a few books on the topic, and I can get you more, if you need them and if you promise to keep quiet about it. You won't be able to borrow them, as most of them are the college's property, but you're welcome to read them in my office during consultation hours, if you want."

Arisu stares at him with wide eyes. "Really?", he eventually asks. "But won't you need your office during it?"

Chishiya shakes his head. "I can do them in one of the examination rooms. It's fine."

Arisu hesitates. Reading here would mean leaving Hajime alone, but he's already doing that whenever he gets groceries or has other appointments like this one. So maybe, dedicating an hour or two every day for research could be feasible, he thinks.

"If you're really serious", he finally says, "then I'm going to take you up on that offer. I’ll be back tomorrow, around nine."

Chishiya nods, and Arisu thinks he can see something pleased flashing in those dark eyes of his.

As he makes his way out of the office and passes through a handful of people that are stubbornly holding out in front of the building, he takes a few seconds to adjust the image he had in his head of the healer.

Chishiya Shuntarō is quite a bit different from how he had initially thought him to be.

♡

Arisu thinks about just not telling Hajime about the pills he got from the apothecary. Thinks about crushing them and mixing them into his food without his brother’s knowledge. He doesn't know how Hajime will react to Arisu talking to another person about his issues and he fears that he might mention it to their father.

But the thought of lying to his brother, of treating him like a little boy you had to keep in the dark for his own good, just doesn’t sit right with him. Their father is already ignoring Hajime and acting like he’s worthless now, like somebody you can’t take seriously anymore, and he doesn’t want to add to that.

He also doesn’t know if Hajime would even eat the food he provides him with – most days it really is a coin toss - so he feels that if maybe, he can convince his brother to at least take the pills, he can give him back a little control at least.

Arisu isn’t sure if Hajime is actually listening to him when he sits down at the foot of his bed and starts talking about everything Chishiya told him, doesn’t know if Hajime understands or even notices that Arisu is in the room with him, but the next morning when Arisu comes to bring him breakfast and to open Hajime’s window, the glass of water he left on his nightstand is empty and the single green pill is gone.

It takes a few days for the effects to really show. At first, it seems like nothing changes. Hajime still stays in bed, dead to the world and unresponsive to anything Arisu says. But after the fourth day of disappearing pills and empty water glasses, Hajime’s window is already open when Arisu enters the room, and on the seventh day, he finds his brother out of bed.

At first, Arisu wants to chide him for not wearing any socks when it’s clearly freezing in the room, but then he notices his brother’s eyes, sees them focused intently on something outside of his window and only gets the fluffy green blanket from his brother’s closet and puts it around him before joining him in looking out the window.

They don’t say a word. Arisu breathes in the fresh morning air, feels it coursing through his lungs and mix with the elation of seeing Hajime up and out of bed for the first time in months. He wants to ask him how he feels, wants to tell him how proud he is of him, but he holds himself back. Just stands there, shoulder to shoulder with his brother, content to watch the sun rise in the sky.

“There’s a cat”, Hajime finally says.

Arisu turns to look at him. “What?”

Hajime doesn’t look back. Instead, his eyes seem to roam the outside world, in search of something, or maybe just enjoying seeing more than the underside of his blanket for a change.

“A cat”, he finally repeats. “It’s been coming here for a few days, I think. I’ve never seen it before, but it’s there. It was here just a few minutes ago, but it disappeared into the bushes right before you came in.”

He sounds careful, guarded even, as if he doesn’t quite believe his own words. Or as if he fears Arisu won’t believe him. But Arisu only smiles and turns to look into their garden again. “Then let’s wait and see if it shows up again.”

They do, standing there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, before finally, Hajime lets out a relieved breath. “There”, he murmurs, raising his hand and motioning to the old cherry tree close to his window.

And true to his word, there it is. A small cat, slender and with short white fur weaves through the branches of the azalea bushes their mother had planted there before her death. It comes to a stop at the foot of the cherry tree trunk where the first beams of sunlight meet the ground. When it stretches its body before sitting down and starting to lick its paws, Arisu can see a thin red collar around its neck and something golden dangling from it, twinkling in the sunlight.

“Huh, they weren’t joking”, Arisu murmurs and follows the cat’s movements with interest. Out of the corner of his eyes he can see Hajime looking at him.

“What?”

Arisu chuckles. “Oh, I think you will like this, actually”, he says before explaining everything he had learned from Kuina and from Chishiya as well. When he’s done, he can see a small smile dancing around the corners of Hajime’s mouth and counts it as a huge win.

“It’s stupid”, Hajime finally says. “They’ll never catch it. Chishiya’s way too talented for that. I don’t think anyone will be able to even get close to that cat, if he doesn’t want them to. He’s probably just doing it to get his friend off his back.”

Arisu nods, amused. “Yeah, I thought so, too.” He turns and looks at his brother. “Do you know Chishiya well?”

His brother shakes his head. “No, not really. But I know what he’s capable of. I used to watch him sometimes, during class, whenever I got bored and he was in the courtyard, practicing…” He trails off, and a shadow suddenly travels over his face, a memory maybe, of better days.

He turns and trots back to his bed.

Arisu watches him with a sinking feeling in his stomach, but contrary to what he expects, Hajime doesn’t turn his back to him, and he doesn’t hide his face under his blanket again. He just lays down but keeps looking at Arisu, sadness and exhaustion plain on his face, but he’s alert and responsive and he looks more like the little brother Arisu remembers than he has in months.

“Can you leave the window open when you go to the market?”, Hajime finally asks.  Arisu smiles and nods, thinking he should probably take that as dismissal, but when he turns to leave, he hears his brother softly call his name. He turns around again and sees Hajime angling for something in his nightstand. It’s a book, he comes to realize, one his brother holds out for him to take.

“Are you visiting the college soon?”, Hajime asks, and Arisu doesn’t really know what to say because yes, he had planned to make the hike up the mountain soon to meet his friends, but he doesn’t know how well his brother will take that information. Anything college related seems to be a trigger these days. So he only nods.

“Can you give this to Asahi?”, Hajime asks. “She sent it to me after …  well, after everything. I didn’t get to reading it before now, but I finished it yesterday. Can you tell her thank you and that I really enjoyed it?”

Arisu might be wrong, but he thinks he sees a faint blush cover his brother’s cheeks and bites back a smile. “Yeah, I can totally do that. Do you want me to meet anybody else?”, he adds, thinking about the friends Hajime made and who surely miss him a lot, but Hajime shakes his head.

“No, I… no. Later, maybe. But not…”.

“Sure”, Arisu says lightly, hoping to convey that it’s fine, that it’s good, that this is so much more than he'd ever hoped, without coming across as overbearing. It feels a bit like tiptoeing on that frozen lake in the forest, like he and Hajime used to do during winter when they were younger, crossing it while being careful to evade the cracks that could make them fall in and sink to the ground. (It hadn’t been deep, and their mother had made sure that they wouldn’t get hurt, but it had felt dangerous and exhilarating back then, and it feels dangerous and exhilarating now, and he really doesn’t want to make a mistake and hurt his brother even more than he already is.)

“Treating your brother like he is fragile could be the worst thing you can do in his eyes”, Chishiya says later when Arisu tells him about it. “Not doing that might be the reason he started talking now, actually. Because you treat him like a person instead of just a problem you have to solve. You told him about the anti-depressants and left the choice of taking them to him instead of patronizing him like your father has done all these months. It gave him agency, and the feeling of being taken seriously in this situation.”

“So you think it’s not the anti-depressants?”, Arisu asks from his place on the spacey windowsill. He chose it on the first day he came to do some research, because from here he has a breathtaking view over the forest and the small stream that borders the property. It helps him clear his mind of all his worries and to focus on the task at hand.

Chishiya, who relocated to the other side of his desk when Arisu started coming more and more often, presumably because he doesn’t like having somebody sitting behind him, looks up from some paperwork he’s doing. It’s something he does whenever Arisu is there, just quietly joining him in his office and doing whatever needs to be done until Arisu leaves again or a patient arrives for an appointment.

“No, they do help”, he says. “But recovery is usually a mix of different factors that play into it. That goes for mental illnesses as well as physical ones. And encouragement, the feeling of being supported and taken seriously, are often the first steps in the right direction.” He stops and begins writing again, before he adds: “You’re doing well, Arisu. You’re his support during these trying times, and even though he might not be able to express it right now doesn’t mean he isn’t well aware of that. You’re a good brother to him.”

Arisu blushes and hides his face in the book he’s currently reading, something on the different kinds of psychotherapies, some aided by the use of magic, some entirely reliant on non-magical methods. It's fascinating to him, actually, all the ways to decode the human mind, to understand the issues a person might be facing, and to find a way to overcome them, or to live with them if overcoming is not an option.

It’s also incredible to him how much he was already able to learn just by reading books on the topic for no more than two hours a day. He doesn’t allow himself more than that, afraid of what might happen if he isn’t home to check in on Hajime, and only takes a small detour every few days to go get groceries before hurrying home.

Today, though, he stays away a bit longer. Because the sun is shining, and he doesn’t feel like going home just yet. Hajime seemed good, so Arisu allows himself half an hour of sitting underneath the majestic willow next to the marketplace. There, he happily munches on a really tasty bun that was offered to him by the pretty baker’s daughter when he bought a loaf of bread from them.

Kuina finds him there twenty minutes later. He still doesn’t know why she feels like talking to him, older and much more popular than he ever will be, but he doesn’t question it and tries to not look intimidated when she plops down next to him.

“Hi”, she says, grinning brightly at him, the colorful beads in her dreads clacking against each other.

He sends a tentative smile her way and waves with the last piece of bun in his hand, before promptly turning bright red. God, how awkward. He doesn’t want to know what she’s thinking of him.

“I hear you’re a frequent visitor of Chishiya’s now”, she says, but he can’t for the life of him read her voice, or her facial expression, or her body language. Is that a good thing? Does she think he’s taking up too much of his time and space? Shouldn’t he be there?

“Yeah”, he finally says. “He offered me access to some of his books and I just …  really need that right now.”

“Oh hey, don’t worry about it”, Kuina assures him. “And you don’t have to tell me the reason. I’m just happy he’s finally talking to somebody who isn’t me, you know.”

“Oh.” Arisu feels like he should be relieved, but now there’s a different kind of pressure on his shoulders. What if he isn’t the right person for that? Surely, there must be people out there who are a much better fit for Chishiya to … befriend? Is that what they’re doing?

Arisu doesn’t know, doesn’t really understand what kind of relationship they have with each other now. Sometimes, when Chishiya tells him all those really nice and supportive things like he did that morning, he feels like they could be friends. But then there’s Kuina, Chishiya’s real friend, who is strong and beautiful and funny, and surely there are people out there who are more like her and less like him.

“Well, it’s not the kind of getting to know other people I had in mind, but you know, I’m taking anything I can get. That man is a hard nut to crack.”

“How did you guys become friends?”, Arisu asks, curious and grasping for something to say.

“Ohhh, that’s a fun story actually.” She laughs and leans back against the tree trunk, her legs stretched out in front of her. “People were making fun of me on our first day. Thought they could push me around because I don’t have any magical abilities. I'd have probably punched somebody if given the chance, but Chishiya strolled in, looked at them all in that really infuriating way of his where you feel like he’s looking down on you even though he’s the shortest one in the room, said something about how none of them would survive even a single day out there without any magic. Then he decided that I was going to be his desk mate from that day on and just …  never left. We’ve been best friends ever since, even though he’d probably never call us that.” She laughs again. “He says he wants me around less, but he doesn’t actually mean it. Because he loves me, and I love him, and honestly, he wouldn’t know what to do without me.”

Arisu smiles. It reminds him of his friendship with his best friends. Karube always moans about how saving Chota’s and Arisu’s butts back in middle school has gotten him nothing but trouble, but he's always the first one to defend either of them, and the last one who’d ever make them leave.

God, he misses them so much.

“Oh, look, there he is”, Kuina says suddenly and pulls Arisu out of his thoughts. He follows the hand she raised and finds the cat from earlier that morning strolling across the marketplace, seemingly not caring in the slightest about the murmurs and the looks it earns itself just by being there. Arisu observes how it sits down on the fountain just a few feet away from them and begins to groom itself, pink tongue licking across its soft-looking white fur.

Kuina giggles next to him and when he looks at her, she motions to a group of young women cowering behind one of the stalls offering different kinds of vegetables. They seem to be arguing amongst themselves and uncertain of how to proceed.

“They’ve been hunting Janus for the last half hour. Or better: Janus has been leading them on. He’s toying with them, letting them get closer until they think they have a chance, before disappearing into the bushes or up a tree.”

Arisu cocks his head. “Janus?”, he asks.

“Yeah, that’s his name. Courtesy of yours truly, actually. I don’t think Chishiya liked it all too much, to be honest, but as I said: I can be very persuasive.”

Arisu does not know that name, has never even heard of it before, but he doesn't want to sound too uncultured, so he only nods and continues watching how the women creep closer and closer, one of them carrying something that looks like some sort of fishing net. 'Probably enchanted’, Arisu thinks and feels uneasiness rise up his spine.

But he shouldn’t have worried. Because just when it looks like they might actually throw the net onto the unsuspecting cat, it jumps down from the fountain, the snowy tail raised high into the air, and stalks away, getting closer to him and Kuina in the process. Kuina raises her fingers and wriggles them in greeting when the cat passes them, but it just struts on without dignifying them with so much as a single glance. It makes Kuina giggle again, especially when she sees the expressions on the women's faces.

"Do you actually think anybody will get that key?", Arisu asks her skeptically.

Kuina shrugs. "I hope somebody will. Because Chishiya really deserves to have somebody in his life. But it definitely won't be one of them. They're going about it all wrong, honestly."

Arisu frowns. "What do you mean?"

But Kuina only grins.

♡

"I never see you use magic", Chishiya observes one day. "You nearly finished your second year, so you should have a considerable amount of magic and the ability to use it in your daily life. But you don't. Why?"

They've been engrossed in their respective research and only the occasional sound of pages turning had broken the comfortable silence. But now Chishiya is looking at Arisu, his gaze neutral, non-judgmental, as if this really is something he just realized.

Arisu carefully places a bookmark between the pages he'd been reading and closes the book. It is already past noon, and he needs to leave soon anyway, but he wants to make sure he knows where he stopped reading.

"Hajime...", he finally starts slowly, "he doesn't react all that well to magic being used nearby, so I decided against it."

"Did you talk to him about it?"

Arisu shakes his head. "No, but it was apparent from the very beginning and it still happens now, whenever our father is home and using magic. Hajime will go stiff and start to shake even if our father is on a different floor or using it outside of the house."

Chishiya is still looking at him. "You're very perceptive", he finally says, "and also quite empathetic. Those are good character traits to have. But restricting yourself for your brother's sake, especially if you haven't even talked to him about it might not be the best solution for the both of you in the long run. He might be reacting to your father's magic the way he does because he can sense that it's his magic and subconsciously feels threatened by it. It might be different if it's your magic he feels."

He closes his own book. "I feel you should talk to him about it. Figure out what he needs. Have him be the one who makes the decision. From what I know about him, I think he will appreciate it." He stops before adding: "And you miss it, don't you?"

Arisu wants to shake his head but stops before he can. Because he does. He misses the feeling of it coursing through his veins, the elation of creating something out of what nature gifted them with. But he also feels guilty for even thinking about it when it brings his brother so much pain.

"Don't turn your brother's pain into your own", Chishiya says, and his eyes feel like they can see right through Arisu's and straight into his soul. "He won't want that."

Arisu swallow against the lump in his throat and nods. It earns him a smile, small, barely even there, but it makes something in his stomach flutter sleepily, something that feels like it's only just starting to wake up from deep slumber.

He chooses to ignore it.

♡

"No, you fucking idiot, it won't work! And that's the reason no one wants to do their project with you, because you don't actually have any clue what you're fucking talking about."

Arisu sighs and watches from the safety of Tatta's bed how Niragi takes apart Chota's measuring tool with brutal efficiency. Tatta sits next to Arisu, his nose buried in a magazine, but with his eyes jumping from one man to the other in barely hidden amusement.

"Take your stupid claws off of my work", Chota exclaims and tries to drag the tool away from Niragi's hands. "Just because you only think in numbers and can't appreciate actual craftsmanship doesn't mean other people can't. I asked for Tatta's opinion, not yours."

"Do you want him to lose a fucking hand?", Niragi snarls and keeps his fingers around the box in his hands. "Because that's what will happen if you turn this thing on with too much humidity in the air."

"No, it won't. It's perfectly safe. You just enjoy making other people feel bad about themselves."

Arisu sees Niragi take a few deliberate breaths, his lips pressed together, before placing the thing in his hand on the desk in front of him. "Fine. You know what? Be delusional about it, I don't care. But don't fucking endanger other people just because you can't get your spell codes straight!" With that, he gets up and throws himself onto Tatta's couch on the other side of the room. There, he ignores them in favor of putting in his headphones and opening a video on his phone.

Chota rolls his eyes and turns to Tatta. "I don't get how you deal with him, honestly. Let's just do the assignment together. With your knack for magical mechanics and my tools and programs, we could do some really cool stuff together, you know? I'm thinking navigational systems, self-driving programs, safety sensors..."

Tatta smiles but shakes his head. "Sorry Chota, but I already told Niragi I'd do this one with him. Maybe next time."

"But isn't it boring?", Chota whines. "Who cares about the numbers? No one will try to get through the spell work. It's cars, not treasure rooms, so why would you need a spell breaker for it?"

Arisu can see Niragi roll his eyes, not as engrossed in that video as he wants to make it seem.

"I want my projects to be as safe and efficient as possible", Tatta explains. "Niragi is really good at doing the numbers for that. He's making sure the spells are as accurate as possible by trying to get through them and by finding all the flaws and weak points I would miss."

"So, he's hacking your projects? How is that good? I'd be so annoyed, honestly."

"It's pretty standard procedure with lots of things", Arisu chimes in. "Even in healing. They do it on spells that secure severed arteries and other procedures that require intricate spell work that has to hold up for a long time. But also on spells that are used in therapy. Those that dull the effect of specific memories, for example."

He sees Niragi raise an impressed eyebrow at him and hides a short laugh behind a cough.

Chota looks confused. "Since when do you know all that?", he asks.

Arisu just shrugs. He isn't going to tell them about what he's been doing in Chishiya's office, for numerous reasons really.

"Anyway, you're all boring", Chota sighs. "I wish Karube was here, he'd agree with me."

Privately, Arisu thinks he wouldn't, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut on that. "Where is he, anyway?", he asks to deviate Chota's attention away from his current topic, and also because he does miss his other best friend and had hoped to see him today.

"He's taking health classes", Chota explains. "He's pretty determined to become the first magical bartender who focuses on drinks with health benefits, so he needs to take all those introductory classes now. It's cute, he's sitting with all those first-years and learning about how the human body works."

"It's cool that he's taking this so seriously", Tatta says. "I thought he was joking at first, but now it's all about combining medicine with tasty things to make it easier on the eye and on the taste buds."

"Easier on your mind as well", Arisu mutters.

Tatta turns to look at him. "How do you mean?"

Arisu shrugs. "Think about it. If you had to take medicine for the rest of your life because of some chronical illness or for whatever reason, don't you think it would make it easier for you to take that medicine every day and to not forget about it if it's something you can actually look forward to?"

Tatta cocks his head. "I've never thought about it like that. But it does make sense." He closes his magazine and turns fully in Arisu's direction. "What makes you so interested in medicine all of a sudden? I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much about it. Are you planning on returning and taking classes again?"

Arisu bites his lip in thought. He doesn't know how much he should say about all of it. He trusts his friends, of course he does, but even if he leaves out Chishiya's help in his research, he doesn't think he'd feel comfortable revealing his brother’s current situation to all of them. Only Usagi knows about it at the moment, and that's only because they've known each other since they were toddlers and there was no hiding something from her, not if she wanted to know. But his other friends don't know more about it than what word-of-mouth had carried across the school yard, and he'd rather keep it that way.

Before he can find a proper excuse, however, Chota giggles. "I bet you're trying to impress that blonde healer guy into revealing where he's hiding that cat of his so you can score a date with him."

Arisu feels his cheeks go warm. He's very glad that Chota doesn't seem to care about his reaction, too interested in making fun of the people on the hunt for that snowy cat. And Arisu let's him, grinning fondly at his best friend’s antics and just happy to be where he is, surrounded by the people who always welcome him back, not matter how long he’s gone.

"Honestly, they're going about it all wrong", Tatta pipes up at some point during Chota's small rant and Arisu turns to look at him. He's suddenly reminded of Kuina saying the exact same thing.

"Yeah, obviously they do", Chota agrees. "None of them know how to catch a cat, evidently. They're much too slow and also-"

"That's not what I meant", Tatta interrupts him, looking amused.

"What do you mean?", Arisu asks. "How would you try to catch that cat?"

Tatta smiles. "I wouldn't."

"Yeah, but what if you wanted to?", Chota asks. "Hypothetically speaking."

Tatta shakes his head. "I still wouldn't. I don't think catching the cat is what this is all about."

Chota rolls his eyes. "See, this is why you're single."

Tatta ignores the jab at his romantic life. "Think about it", he says instead. "If you want to get close to somebody, you don't chase them, you don't hunt them down. You try to get to know them." He is looking at Niragi on his couch while he says it, fondness clear on his face.

"But it's just a cat, isn't it?", Arisu wonders.

"Are you sure about that?", Tatta asks in return. "Because I've seen it around as well, and honestly, it doesn't look like a normal cat to me."

"You’ve thought about this a lot", Chota chimes in, voice teasing and with a wide grin on his face. "Are you actually trying to get closer to it and to catch Chishiya Shuntarō's interest? Do you think you'd have a chance with that stuck-up prick?"

Arisu bites his tongue to keep himself from blurting out how Chishiya isn't like that at all. He wouldn't know how to explain that one to his friends. His eyes wander around the room and fall onto Niragi, who's gripping the throw pillow in his hands so tightly that his knuckles have turned white. The video on his phone is paused and his eyes seem to stare holes into the air in front of him.

Tatta is still laughing. "No, I'm all good, thanks." His eyes flicker across the room to Niragi again. Arisu watches Niragi's shoulders slowly relax at Tatta's words, can see his knuckles return to their normal color and his eyes focus on the video again.

Huh. Interesting.

Arisu wonders how long that has been going on, and how much of it he missed in the months he was away. Looking at Chota, though, it must be pretty fresh, or at least something they're keeping to themselves right now. So he doesn't ask, and when Karube finally bursts into the room and throws himself at Arisu, threatening him with noogies for not showing his face for so long, he shoves the thought at the back of his mind for a later date.

♡

Chishiya frowns and looks down at the sweet roll Arisu brought him from the bakery. "What is this?"

"Ah", Arisu scratches his head, trying not to let it show how unsure Chishiya's unreadable face is making him feel. "Kuina mentioned you liked them the other day, and I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to study here. I didn't really know how else..." He trails off, uncertain and worried that this has been a huge mistake, that he offended the other man somehow.

But then he sees the small, barely-there smile dancing across Chishiya's lips, and watches delicate fingers tear off a piece of the sweet dessert.

"Thank you", the man says. "Kuina was right, these are my favorite." He takes a bite before wiping his fingers on a napkin. "I also have something for you”, he then says. “It's not a gift, I'm afraid, as you can't exactly keep it, but I asked around and found a colleague of mine who was willing to lend me their copy of Beyond the Mind."

Arisu’s mouth falls open. "Wait, are you serious?"

Chishiya nods, gets up and steps over to his chest of drawers. He opens the first drawer and pulls out a heavy looking tome before motioning for Arisu to get closer.

"You didn't have to... Really, this is so expensive and now you're responsible and if something happens to it, it will go back to you, and..."

"Nothing is going to happen. There are a few spells on them, placed there by my colleague, and you'd have to really want to do significant damage to be able to vandalize this." He strokes his hand over the old cover of the book, before looking up at Arisu, his eyes dark and expressive. "Also, I trust you, and you've yet to do anything to prove me wrong."

Arisu's cheeks stay warm long after he has returned to his place on the windowsill.

♡

"His readings are showing some promising change. I told you it was just a matter of time until those hysterics would fade and he'd come to his senses."

Their father looks pleased with the words of his friend and Arisu feels acid rise in his throat. He wishes he was more like Niragi, with his sharp tongue and even sharper mind, but he knows it wouldn't do his brother any good. He doesn't want his father to take Hajime away from him, or kick Arisu out, so he bites his tongue and counts the days until he can finally get his brother some real help.

♡

"You are definitely way too smart to be a normal cat", Arisu murmurs while he observes how Janus weaves around the legs of market goers, a big fish between his teeth and his dark eyes searching the area, presumably for a good place to devour his tasty catch.

Arisu came here again after he was done at the healer's office, buying some fresh vegetables and sitting down for some lunch. Afterwards, he stayed there for a while, content to watch the people who pass him on their way to work or back home or wherever they usually go during this time of day.

After some time, he'd caught a sliver of white fur and spent the next minutes watching in utter amusement how the cat observed the comings and goings with keen eyes, only to strike once the unsuspecting fisherman tried to rather awkwardly flirt with the guy who helped out at the flower shop.

Arisu wonders if Janus is a familiar. Something summoned by powerful magic, a being in possession of intelligence far surpassing that of normal animals. Chishiya is certainly skilled enough to easily conjure up something like that.

Hajime weighs his head from side to side when Arisu tells him about his assumption later. "Maybe", he finally says. "Though they will normally stay closer to their creator. Having them wander off takes a lot of skill and drains your magic really fast, and from what you've told me about him, I don't think he’s the type to risk wasting his strength like that, not if it would make him less powerful during a real emergency."

Arisu has to agree with him. He also can't help feeling happy about how easily his brother seems to be able to talk about magic most days now, as long as it's not concerning his own future or his own shortcomings. And as long their father isn't around.

"Well, maybe I'm wrong and it really is just a really smart cat."

Hajime smiles and bumps his shoulder. "Maybe", he says again. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

♡

"Can I ask about something?"

Arisu looks up, surprised. "Of course", he says.

Chishiya lets the pen he had been using to sign some documents dance along his fingers and Arisu watches mesmerized and almost misses the next question.

"What was your focus, back when you were still enrolled at the college?"

Arisu puts down the notebook Chishiya had given him so he could write down his own notes. "I chose magical engineering with a focus on the intersection of magic and technology", he explains. "Creating tools that help non-magical people use magic to solve problems in their daily life, that sort of thing."

"That's a noble profession," Chishiya says.

Arisu nods but sighs internally. 'A noble profession' had been almost the exact same words his father had used.

He hears a chuckle and looks up again, surprised and even a little flustered, because it's a sound he's never heard before. Chishiya looks at him, amusement in his dark eyes. "Something tells me you don't feel the same about it."

Arisu shakes his head. "No, I do. I think it's an important part of our society, making sure we combine both worlds to support all kinds of people. It's just that..."

"It's not for you."

Arisu nods again. "Yeah, it's something my father wanted me to study, but I always found it too technical for my liking. My friends enjoy it, though. A few of them chose that path together with me and are actually quite happy with it, but I never was."

"Why didn't you switch your focus during your second year? There is always the option to do that."

Arisu begins picking at his current page in the notebook, ripping and tearing the paper between his fingers. "My father", he finally says. "He threatened to revoke the tuition payment if I ever went against his explicit wishes."

"Ah." Chishiya sounds surprisingly understanding. "Does that apply to your brother as well?"

Arisu shakes his head. "No, my brother was always the prodigal child, good at basically anything he put his mind to, so my father let him choose his own path. He was certain that Hajime would choose something that he approved of anyway. But I was the failure, the problem child, so he decided that I needed some pointers or else I would end up an utter disappointment and bring shame to our family name or something like that."

"That sounds eerily familiar", Chishiya mutters, almost to himself.

Arisu looks at him, surprised. "Really?"

Chishiya smiles, but it looks bitter. "Yes. My father always wanted me to pursue a career in the holy realms of the judiciary. I actually started out that way but decided before my second year to go against his explicit wishes. I had my mother's support, but I was still my father's biggest shame for a few months. Until it became clear to him that I could actually have a very successful career as a healer, if I wanted."

"So he's fine with what you have accomplished now?"

Chishiya chuckles again. Arisu ignores what that sound does to his heart.

"Oh no. He wants me to go big, work in a hospital or do some groundbreaking research, not waste away in some backwater town and treat the loneliness of old women and help people through their pregnancy."

"But it's important work, and the people love you!", Arisu protests. "I don't know where my brother would be today, had you not offered me your help", he adds more quietly.

There it is again, that smile, softer than Arisu had ever expected to see from a man like Chishiya, and directed at him of all people. "And your potential would be truly wasted in a field you have no interest in."

"I don't know if I have any potential at all, to be honest", Arisu says, a blush creeping along his cheeks. "I'm not particularly good at anything."

"I disagree. I think you have an exceptional ability to comprehend anything you put your mind to. You are a fast learner and a pretty decent conversational partner. But your biggest strength, I believe, lies in your empathy. I understand that your current position puts you under a lot of pressure and that your focus is on your brother's wellbeing, but I hope that you'll get the opportunity someday to follow your own wishes and interests."

Arisu looks at him, his mouth partially open. He doesn't think anybody has ever thought that highly of him or expressed those thoughts aloud. He doesn't really know how to feel about it, or how to react. "Thank you", he finally whispers.

But Chishiya has already returned to his paperwork, leaving Arisu alone with his confusing thoughts and feelings.

♡

"I swear, I've seen it around here somewhere!"

Arisu observes the newest group of young students with a sigh. They've gotten more and more determined the closer it got to Valentine's Day, and by now, more than a few of the town's people seem to be annoyed by the commotion the small cat is causing on a regular basis.

He watches the group snoop around the little park he had decided to spend the afternoon in, the sunny weather and the presence of his father enough to make him flee the house. He also likes the silence of that place, how he was able to read in peace, at least until the group had arrived, certain that Janus was around somewhere.

"Hey", he finally calls, catching the attention of one of them. "If you're looking for that cat, I think I saw it at the marketplace earlier, stealing some of the fisherman's catch."

To his immense relief they seem to believe his words and scurry away immediately. Arisu waits until he can't hear their excited chatter anymore before turning around and looking at the cat that is sitting a few feet behind him, licking its paws, and showing no interest in the commotion it caused.

"See, it does work", Arisu says, chuckling. "Chishiya was wrong, I'll have to tell him about that tomorrow. And you're welcome, by the way."

Janus raises his head and looks at Arisu with eerily intelligent eyes, almost as if he's able to understand every word Arisu is saying. And maybe he is. Arisu wouldn't be surprised.

Then he meows, saunters a little closer, stretches with his legs spread out in front of him and his backside in the air, before lowering himself to the ground until he's resting comfortably in a small patch of sunlight, his tail twitching.

"Aren't you trusting today?", Arisu muses. "Don't worry, though, I'm not interested in taking that key from your collar, so stay however long you want, okay?"

He doesn't think he'd be able to, even if he wanted to reach for it, thinks it'd probably earn him a few nasty scratches and Janus disappearing into the shrubbery of the park and out of sight. But he's also convinced that he dislikes the premise as a whole. Now that he got to know the man, really got to know him and the person he is in private, he doesn't think Chishiya should start something with anybody who's only interested in the key on that collar. If he got to date someone, it should be on his own terms, not because of a stupid promise he made to Kuina.

The cat meows again, its ears twitching now, but it stays close to Arisu and soon it begins to purr rather contently. Arisu can't help the smile that spreads on his face.

"Aww, that's almost cute. Didn't peg you for a cat person, Nerd."

Arisu looks up and sees Niragi standing in front of him, a bag slung across his shoulder and his eyebrow raised.

"Didn't peg you for someone who skipped class, Nerd", he shoots back and watches as Niragi steps closer and plops down on the ground next to him.

"Not skipping. Just... had an appointment." Niragi's eyes return to the cat. Its eyes follow every single one of his movements carefully. "Is that the one everybody keeps shouting about in the hallways?"

Arisu nods. "Yeah, the one and only. His name is Janus. See the key around the collar there? That's what they're all after."

Niragi stares. "Janus", he says flatly. Then he starts laughing. "I can't believe it. Fucking seriously? Jeez, he's a smart one, isn't he?"

Arisu frowns. "The cat?"

Niragi chuckles. "That one too, I suppose. Yeah, you're a really smart one, aren't ya?"

The cat hisses, its ears flat against its small head now, but Niragi only raises both hands, still chuckling. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. And you can keep that key, I already got a boyfriend, I don't need another one." He promptly turns bright red, as if those words had fallen from his lips without his permission.

Arisu grins. "Yeah, and how did that happen, by the way? Not that you two aren't adorable. I'm just curious."

Niragi punches Arisu's shoulder. "Shut up", he mutters, his cheeks still red. Then: "I don't know. It just kind of... happened. I try not to question it too much. Tatta'll get tired of me eventually anyway."

Arisu hums. "I don't think he will", he says. "Chota might have thought you were just nagging him, but I know you were being serious. You take care of Tatta and make sure he stays safe, and I'm pretty sure Tatta knows this, too."

They're silent for a while, with Arisu watching Janus, who is snoozing lazily in the faint warmth of the sun, and Niragi picking away at the grass they're sitting on.

Finally, Niragi sighs. "He takes care of me, too", he says. "I'm ... he encouraged me to get help. For my anger issues."

Arisu looks at him. "I was wondering about that. You had yourself remarkably under control with Chota."

"Yeah, I've been doing some exercises and shit. With a therapist."

Arisu smiles. "That's really good. I'm happy for you."

Niragi actually smiles back tentatively. "You're one of the reasons I finally went and got help, you know?"

Now Arisu frowns. "Me? How? I haven't even been here these last few months."

Niragi goes back to picking grass from the lawn. "Yeah, that's kind of the reason. Not to make you feel guilty, but after you were gone, I realized that it always really helped to just... talk to you. And Tatta... he tries, he really does, but he also knows that he can't help me, not in the way you always did. So he proposed looking into therapy, and well... it really is like talking to you, most of the time. Just that it's a lady and not this scrawny guy with floppy hair and fucking puppy-dog eyes."

He stops, like he's waiting for Arisu to punch him in the shoulder or something, but Arisu is way too dumbfounded for that.

"You think talking to me was like therapy?", he finally manages to blurt out.

Niragi just shrugs. "Yeah, kinda. I mean, I also enjoy our discussions about video games and stuff but talking in general just always felt very easy with you. Like you just got me, and you wouldn't judge me for any of the fucked-up shit I said or thought."

"... I didn’t know that", Arisu finally murmurs.

"Well, know you do", Niragi says, getting up and clapping grass from his pant legs. "Anyway, gotta run or I'll miss my next class." He salutes him mock-seriously before turning around and swiftly walking away.

Arisu watches him until he sees him disappear out of the park gates and out of sight, the thoughts in his head a churning mess.

♡

"Aren’t going to that healer of yours today?"

Arisu looks up. He's sitting on the steps to their patio, a cup of steaming tea in his hands and a thick blanket around his shoulders.

"No", he shakes his head. "He's only doing house visits today. He offered to keep his office open for me, but I declined. Didn't want to give him any more trouble than he's likely already having today."

Hajime snorts. "House visits on Valentine's Day? How romantic."

"I think it's to evade all those people that are going to seize the opportunity one last time to try and get that key", Arisu says, shuddering when he remembers the amount of people that had been hanging around Chishiya's healer's office every day. He's kind of glad he doesn't have to see how many there are crowding it today.

"Aww, but aren't you going to miss him?", Hajime teases before sitting down on the steps next to Arisu.

"I have no idea what you're talking about", Arisu mutters, heat rising in his cheeks, but he still raises the blanket and makes some spaces under it.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while, Arisu sipping his tea and occasionally keeping it warm with a small spell, and Hajime with his head on Arisu's shoulder. 

Suddenly, Hajime chuckles. "There it is again." He motions to the bushes that border the path to their house and when Arisu follows his gaze, he finds Janus peeking out from between a few branches, his eyes seemingly fixed on the two of them. "It's been around a lot, especially in the evenings."

Arisu turns and looks at his brother. "Really?", he says. "I didn't notice that."

Hajime smirks. "Could be because your mind has been occupied by other things. And people." He shifts a little closer to Arisu. "You need to take a break sometimes, Ryo, or you'll forget to live in the here and now."

"Hmmm", Arisu hums noncommittally and watches Janus trot closer. The cat has a few leaves in its fur and Arisu's fingers twitch with the urge to comb through it and to find out how soft it really is.

"Hi Janus", he finally murmurs when the cat reaches them and hops up to join them on the stairs. "Did you leave Chishiya to fend for himself against all those crazy people that are after you?" He huffs out a laugh. "Well, I can't exactly fault you for that. Wouldn't want people to chase me all day either."

The cat meows, brushes past his legs and sits down in front of his brother. Hajime smiles and holds out his fingers for Janus to sniff at. He laughs, happy and carefree, when the pink tongue brushes gently against his skin and Arisu's heart sings. He doesn't remember the last time he heard his brother laugh like that.

"Janus, huh?", his brother asks softly, sounding amused. "Interesting." Unlike with Niragi's comment on its name, this time the cat doesn't respond with a hiss. Instead, it rubs its head against Hajime's hand, purring contently. Hajime chuckles again. "This is only a little bit weird."

Before Arisu can asks what exactly he means, Janus turns around, bushy tail brushing against their legs, and looks up at Arisu instead.

"What?", Arisu asks quizzically. "You want some petting from me as well?"

Next to him Hajime chokes. Arisu thinks he can hear him murmur something along the lines of "You're going to regret wording it like that", but he gets a bit distracted by the way the cat in front of him starts rubbing its neck against his outstretched hand.

"What?", he asks again when Janus evades the head scratches, twisting and turning in a way that makes Arisu's fingers collide with the collar around his neck and the small golden key that's dangling from it. "What do you want?"

It takes Janus meowing insistently for it to finally click. "You want me to take the key?", he asks surprised. When the cat meows again, he swallows. "But... but I don't want it", he stutters, his heart beating hard and fast in his chest.

"Doesn't really look like you have a choice", Hajime comments, sounding supremely amused. When he looks over, Arisu can see a small, very soft smile dancing across his brother’s lips.

That, above all else, finally makes him reach out for the collar and gently remove the key. He looks down at it, a small, plain gold thing with fine teeth and a tiny hole that would probably fit a thin chain. He tries not to think about how many people would probably kill to be in his position right now.

Janus jumps down from the stairs and onto the path leading away from the house before turning around, meowing insistently one more time.

Hajime laughs again. "Looks like he wants you to follow him", he says.

Arisu is still looking down at the key in his palm. His heart is racing, and so are his thoughts. What is he supposed to do now?

He wants Chishiya, obviously he does. He wants to keep seeing him every day, wants to curl up on his windowsill with a book in his lap and the other man working quietly at his desk. Wants that smile that he feels is reserved for him and only him, the soft one that makes Arisu wonder how anybody could ever think of Chishiya as condescending.

But he doesn't want the key. Doesn't want Chishiya to have to agree to a date with him just because he promised Kuina he would. Because he doesn't think it would make either of them happy.

"Arisu." He looks up and meets his brother’s gaze. "Stop over-thinking for once in your life. Just go. It's gonna be fine."

Arisu sighs and gets up slowly. He'll just have to explain to Chishiya that he didn't intend to take the key.

He turns around and looks at Hajime. "You're gonna be okay?"

Hajime sighs. "Yes, I'll be fine," he says, pulling the blanket closer around himself before adding: "Now leave, will you?"

Arisu does, following the snowy cat away from his home and through their small town. The key in his palm feels like it's burning, and Arisu looks around nervously, thinking that any moment, somebody will come and yell about how he stole it, or maybe attack him for daring to choose it for himself.

But no one does. In fact, no one seems to pay any attention to him, or Janus for that matter. He doesn't meet a lot of people on his way to wherever the cat is leading him, and the ones he meets smile at him and go about their day without once asking where he's headed or why he seems to be following the cat around that was the center of attention for the past couple of weeks.

They end up in front of an unassuming single-story building with a small garden plot and a tiny pond in front of it. Arisu remembers that back in the day, when his mother was still alive, this was the house of an old woman that frightened him and Hajime whenever they had to pass by. But she died many years ago, bitter and alone, and to his knowledge, no one has moved into it ever since.

He steps closer, hesitating and looking around for a possible owner, but Janus saunters right up to the front door which swings open as if guided by an invisible hand.

Arisu pockets the key before followong him, feeling the faint tremors of magic use in the air. Janus stops on the threshold, turning around again and watching Arisu with those expressive eyes of his.

"Yeah, I'm coming", Arisu says, hoping that whoever this house belongs to will forgive him for trespassing.

He steps through the door, looking around curiously as he does so. The entrance leads directly into what seems to be the living room, with a big, comfortable looking couch in front of a small fireplace, and a kitchenette in the back corner of the room. There are a handful of pictures hanging on the wall, and Arisu even sees a few hand-tied bouquets of wildflowers dotting the windowsills. It looks homey and lived in.

He closes the door behind him and when he turns back around, he finds that Janus has jumped on the backrest of the couch and is balancing on top of it. Arisu watches him amused before stepping closer. "Should you wander all over the furniture?", he asks, and he swears that the look Janus shoots him can only be described as deadpan. Then the cat turns in his direction completely, jumps from the headrest and straight towards Arisu, and Arisu reflexively holds out his arms.

Blinks.

Blinks again at the full-grown man who's suddenly clinging to him, trying and subsequently failing to keep his balance. "Really shouldn't have tried to impress you", Chishiya mutters, his fingers gripping Arisu's shoulders tightly.

Arisu stares.

Then: "Oh my god, you're a shapeshifter! That's so advanced, I can't believe you managed to become one so young! How long did it take you? God, you're not even finished with college, and you've already surpassed most seasoned magic users, what the hell?"

Chishiya, who finally managed to regain his balance, only looks at him, an amused twinkle in his eyes, and Arisu's brain catches up with what exactly he just blurted out.

"Oh my god, you're Janus. Janus is you. That was you all along."

Chishiya smiles. "I seriously love how your brain works sometimes", he says, and his voice is so much softer than Arisu has ever heard it before.

He removes his hands from Arisu's shoulders and leans against the headrest of the couch, his head cocked to the side, continuing to watch Arisu like he's waiting for something.

Arisu's brain is still stuck on the shapeshifting part, however, his thoughts twisting and turning around in his mind. A shapeshifter. A real shapeshifter! That man is a genius, a genius who fooled all those people out there who thought they had a chance at getting that key from somebody who could turn into a cat and back at will.

Wait.

His eyes widen. "You wanted me to get that key", he breathes out.

Chishiya nods. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, and it feels defensive, or protecting, like he doesn't know what Arisu's reaction will be to all of it. "I never intended for anybody to actually get that key. It was supposed to be for Kuina's amusement only, because she’s been through some stuff and I also lost a bet to her, so I thought it would amuse her and also get her off my back about Valentine's Day. No one was supposed to get close to it."

"But you practically forced me to take it", Arisu says, hope blooming in his chest. Maybe they could... maybe they would...

"Yes, and I am sorry for that." Chishiya sighs and looks at him from underneath a few strands of hair that have fallen into his face. "Look, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I just needed you to know."

"Know what?", Arisu asks.

"That I found you interesting from the moment we met", Chishiya says, a small, almost wistful smile dancing across his lips. "Which, according to Kuina, is my equivalent of falling in love at first sight. And that doesn't normally happen. Me falling in love at first sight. Or me finding people interesting. Take your pick, because Kuina is right, it's usually one and the same to me. I get bored with most people so incredibly fast that I don't have the opportunity to fall in love. But it's different with you. Because everything you said and everything you did made me hope that you would just reach for the key on that collar."

He looks down at his feet, and he's in sneakers, Arisu realizes, in sneakers and jeans and in a light grey sweater that looks so very soft, and he itches to reach for him, but he keeps his hands to himself, curled to a fist at his sides, because the other isn't done talking.

"I know you don't want it", Chishiya continues. "That you don't want me. And I'm sorry for putting you into this position now. It's very selfish of me, I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that it might put a serious strain on the relationship we've formed over the past few weeks. This... companionship I really came to enjoy. But with how rare it is that I feel anything for a person at all, I just wanted you to know about it. About these feelings for you."

Arisu looks at him, tries to take in everything about this man, who, against everything he had thought and feared, seems to want him as well. Takes in the blond hair with the dark roots peeking out at the top, takes in those eyes that really should have tipped Arisu off sooner about who Janus really is, takes in the slight, barely-there blush on Chishiya's cheeks and wants to stroke his fingers over it, see if it's as warm as his own cheeks feel right now.

And even though he normally never does what he wants, always thinks of others first before he takes into consideration what he himself needs, he takes two steps forward, crowding Chishiya against the couch in the process. They’re chest to chest, and Chishiya looks up at him, still calm on the outside, but those eyes widen almost imperceptibly and his cheeks turn an even deeper red.

Arisu finally gives into that urge, raising a hand and letting his thumb stroke softly along the skin of Chishiya's cheek. He knows this is so much easier for him now than it must have been for Chishiya, but his heart is still pounding against the inside of his ribcage when he murmurs: "What makes you think I don't want you?"

"You never tried to take the key", Chishiya says, sounding a bit breathless, his eyes fixed on Arisu's. "You said you didn't want it. That you didn’t want me."

"Of course I want you", Arisu murmurs, stroking his thumb along Chishiya's lip now. Dimly he wonders where he takes the courage from, touching the other like this, a man who is a bit older and so much smarter and superior to him in any thinkable way. But Chishiya said he should follow his own dreams, and Hajime said to live in the here and now, and this is the here and now and it’s what he wants, and it feels so right.

Chishiya frowns. "Then why-"

"I didn’t want you to have to agree to a date with me because of that stupid agreement with Kuina ", Arisu says firmly. "Not when you found it so annoying. I didn't want to be one of those people that didn't stop to ask what you actually want."

Chishiya looks at him for a few seconds. "Then ask", he finally says and his breath brushes against Arisu's fingers. It makes a pleasant shudder run along his spine.

Arisu swallows. "What do you want, Chishiya?", he finally asks.

He feels Chishiya's eyes travel all across his face, sees how they come to rest on his lips. Finally, Chishiya raises both of his hands and grips Arisu's shoulders again, just like earlier when he tried to keep himself from falling. It feels much better, now that Arisu finally has the mind to really appreciate it.

"I think you already know", Chishiya says, his fingers wandering until they can furrow into Arisu's hair.

"You might have to spell it out for me", Arisu says, a small, teasing smile on his lips. "I'm not that smart, you know?"

"You're a brat", Chishiya murmurs. He doesn't give Arisu time to find an answer before he closes the small space still left between them and kisses him.

♡

"What's with the name?", Arisu asks, his head on Chishiya's chest and the small key securely on a thin chain around his neck.

They're lying on the couch now, huddled together under a blanket because Chishiya really is a cat in more ways than one and seems to crave warmth, even in his human form. Chishiya's fingers card over and over through Arisu's hair.

"It's all Kuina's fault", he grumbles, and Arisu loves how expressive he is, now that he allows himself to be.

"What do you mean?"

"Janus is the roman god of, among other things, beginnings and endings, but more importantly, he's also the god of duality. He’s usually depicted as having two faces, and Kuina thought it would be hilarious to name my animal form after him and to see how many people would guess it from just that."

"How many people have gotten it right so far?"

Chishiya shrugs. "Only a handful. Roman gods aren’t something most people here are knowledgeable about."

"Hajime guessed it, I think." Arisu stops, thinks for a moment, and buries his face a little deeper into Chishiya's chest, groaning. "Oh god, I really should have worded that petting-comment differently."

Chishiya chuckles. "I think it was charming", he says and strokes a finger along Arisu's earlobe. "But yes, your brother guessed. And so did your infuriatingly smart friend the other day."

"Niragi", Arisu answers. "Yeah, I'm honestly not that surprised. He's a lot smarter than he looks. I would have never guessed it in a million years though."

"Don't sell yourself short. You're probably just as smart as him. Not knowing roman deities doesn't make you less smart than another people."

Arisu sighs. "I think I might be people smart", he says, a bit distracted by how soft the fabric of Chishiya's sweater actually feels beneath his fingers.

"I think you're very well rounded, actually", Chishiya answers. "I meant what I said to you the other day, you are an incredibly fast learner, and you have a talent when it comes to understanding people's feelings. I know it, your friend knows it, and your brother knows it as well. You give people the feeling of being safe enough to open up about themselves."

"I wish I could study it", Arisu reveals. It's the first time he puts it into words, for others but also for himself. "I want to go back and take classes on it, I want to learn from people instead of only from books, and I want to help people. I think it's something that gets overlooked a lot, and I think a lot of people might actually benefit immensely from it."

Chishiya hums. "What's stopping you?", he finally asks, his fingers still combing through Arisu's hair.

Arisu sighs. "I can't", he explains. "Hajime needs me. He's doing okay now, but he won't be as soon as he stops taking the anti-depressants. It will be hard for him, and I honestly don't know how our father will react to everything. I can't leave him alone during that. I need to be there for him." He stops, before adding: "I want to be there for him."

"I don't see why you can't have both", Chishiya answers. "You don't have to live in the dorms. Sure, most students do, but there's always exceptions, like me for example."

"Yes, but you're almost finished anyway, and you have a good reason."

"Taking care of a loved one is a perfectly valid reason for deciding to live off-campus, Arisu. I will give you that in writing if I have to."

Arisu smiles. "Thank you. But I don't think it would be enough. I can't afford the hike up to the college, it takes way too much time to do that every day. I won't leave Hajime alone for that long."

"You won't have to walk. There are other ways of transportation, you know?"

"I can't afford a car, magic or otherwise. And I don't have a teleportation license, which you very well know. Not even you have one." He stops, frowning, and turns around so he can look up at Chishiya's face: "Do you have one?"

Chishiya snorts and taps his finger against the tip of Arisu’s nose. "No, not even I can bypass the law in that regard. Still very much license-less, I'm afraid. But I don't need one."

Arisu frowns. "What? Why wouldn't you need one? Even you have to go places sometimes, and I honestly can't imagine you not wanting the benefits of instant travel. And the only other way would be by portal, which would take you years to learn..." He trails off when he sees the smirk on Chishiya's face. It's amused, and a little proud, and one of the most attractive things Arisu has ever seen in his life.

Chishiya pulls one of his hands away from Arisu's hair and Arisu can feel the sizzle of magic travel through the air behind him. He turns around and finds a portal having opened in the middle of the living room, bright and pulsing faintly. Through the pale green surface of Chishiya’s magic he can see a small, empty room with a single bed and white walls, a room that looks a lot like his own dorm room looked when he'd started his first year in college.

"One instant travel opportunity, just for you", Chishiya says. "Go to class, come back, and you shouldn't be gone any longer than you were when you studied in my office." He grins smugly, before adding: "Problem solved. You're welcome."

Arisu shakes his head. "Being so insanely talented should be illegal", he murmurs.

"Don't fool yourself, Arisu. You think it's hot."

It is, but he's not going to tell Chishiya that. He only rolls his eyes, pushes himself up on his arms and finds a way to shut him up.