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Aoyagi Toya’s magic came back on an otherwise perfectly normal day at The School. It was mid-morning, and he was sitting in the back of his classroom sketching diagrams of magical theory to see if it was possible for Kohane to break her own curse, and then he felt something hot and wild and young bubble up under his skin, and he managed to excuse himself and stumble to the bathroom and lock himself in before his magic burst out of his restraints, shoved through a spell meant to, of all things, repair broken weaponry—and he focused on and through it until he could almost see them, Akito and An together, sitting on the shore of some hidden cove—was An a mermaid now, what the fuck? He and Kohane had thought she’d only jumped into the ocean to escape The School’s gaze, why had she elected to stay in that form now? No way to find out; Toya could not speak through the spell. He could only use it to fix things, so he did just that, moving past repairing the bow to knitting up the remaining injuries from the fight Kohane had told him about, where she and An had lost against The School.
Holy shit, Akito said, on the other side of the magic, as if he hadn’t expected Toya to literally do whatever he could to protect them now that his magic was back. He had to know by now that Toya was alive—there was no way in hell An wouldn’t have told him immediately, no way in hell, especially since this was proof that he and Kohane were right, and An and Akito really were working together for a rescue mission—
I wonder if it’ll make the bow waterproof, too, said An, because, right, she was a mermaid now, and Toya gladly did so, keeping as tight a grip on the magic as possible so that it wouldn’t dissipate now that its purpose was technically complete. Toya put a lot of effort into these spells back then, didn’t he? she added, and Toya thought, I am putting a lot of effort in right now, you know.
Yeah. Let’s pay him back by making sure our suicide attack gets as much vengeance for him as possible, Akito said, and Toya froze.
“What the fuck, Akito,” he said, out loud, to the empty bathroom; there was no response, since he could not speak through his magic, but it was the thought that counted. The shock had been as sharp as a needle, and Toya realized suddenly that he had loosened his grip on his spell in reaction—he grabbed at it again, but it was already too late, the spell was dissipating now, finished and used up.
Ow, shit! I guess maybe it’s acting up since you guys didn’t touch it for six years, An.
This from the guy who didn’t even keep his bracelet on for that entire time? You have literally no room to talk.
Oh, fuck off.
The spell was vanishing faster now, despite Toya’s best efforts to get it to somehow tell them no to try any sort of suicide anything; he dug his fingernails into his thighs and squeezed his eyes shut and focused—
I could use a new weapon that works with my bum kn…
The spell ended. Toya hissed out a curse, a very literal one, and watched as the stall door in front of him began to rot. His mistake. He cut off the curse, repaired the door, hoped that nobody noticed the magic, and then finished with the bathroom and returned to class, tamping down his magic as much as he could and hoping that nobody noticed its return. Nobody said anything to him, at any rate, which was a hell of a relief, and when class was over he shoved his magical theory diagrams to Haruka to give to Minori now that he no longer needed them for Kohane and then made his way straight to Kohane’s cell. She wasn’t in it, which was fair. During classes was her best chance of escape, in theory; in practice, it hadn’t worked out all that well, but she was getting a good sense of how The School was laid out, how its rooms moved and changed in a truly deranged security spell that Toya had not even sensed until he fell into its trap and killed his own father. Usually this was a good thing; right now, it was eminently frustrating, because he could not break her curse and could not tell her the good news of his magic’s return until she got back.
This would only happen once she was dragged back by the teachers, which meant that Toya absolutely could not be around when that happened. It was an unnecessary risk on any day—and today was especially dangerous. The teachers were more likely than anyone else in the school to realize that Toya’s magic had been freed, and they might do something about it. —Do what, Toya didn’t know, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. If they simply sealed his magic away again, then it could technically be freed in the same way—but the collection of spells he’d left behind for the rest of Vivid Bad Squad was limited, and the amount of times his magic could be sealed away wasn’t. If a stronger binding was used, too, then the magic items might not be able to break the binding—and, in a worst case scenario, might not be able to be used at all. And if they couldn’t be used…
…our suicide attack…
Fuck. Fuck. Toya’s magic might have been back, but he was still powerless as ever. If Akito and An were planning to run blindly into their own deaths, then they must have given up hope of ever saving Kohane, of ever seeing Toya again. They must have given up hope of Kohane even being alive, of Toya still being on their side rather than The School’s. They hadn’t even realized he was personally casting his magic when they used his old spell.
…suicide attack…
They couldn’t be too far. They couldn’t be far at all. Toya had no time to waste in convincing them to stop this point of action, so he took one last frustrated look at Kohane’s empty cell and then left the dungeons, making a beeline back to where the classrooms ought to be, at this time of day. He waited outside the bathrooms until the period ended and then wove his way through the throne of students until he found the woman he was looking for.
“Kiritani,” he said. “I need a favor.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. There’s been a development, and I need to get to the town as soon as possible.”
“Why?”
Toya took a breath. “My magic has returned, and I learned that Akito and An are planning on launching a suicide attack on The School. I think they may be in the area already, and I need to dissuade them from suicide as soon as possible. I would like you to get me into the town as soon as possible, and let Kohane know about this as soon as you can—she’s not in her cell right now.”
Kiritani’s eyes widened. “Goodness. Alright. Let’s see…Shizuku’s sister and her friends are in town. Apparently there’s been some sort of bereavement, but they’re having trouble getting the guy declared legally dead without a corpse and apparently a mermaid was spotted in the area, so they aren’t allowed to try and collect it alone. They’re all noble ladies, after all… So you can accompany Shizuku to find the body.”
“Thank you,” said Toya. “If—if it’s a mermaid, that might be An. When my magic returned, I was able to catch a glimpse of them. She’s a mermaid right now, and…”
“…And the Akito you’ve mentioned is Shinonome Akito, yes? The Lady Ena’s younger brother.”
“Yes.”
Kiritani smirked. “Excellent. That’s the name of the supposedly-dead man you and Shizuku will be looking for. Oh—but Aoyagi.”
“Yes?”
“You owe me for this.”
“I know I do,” said Toya. “I owe you a great deal.”
Kiritani nodded. “I’m calling a piece in now. Don’t approach An and Shinonome when you find them—or at least, don’t approach them as yourself, ” she said. “An is cursed, and I have not heard good things about Shinonome over the past few years. Leave them to Shizuku and the girls.”
“They’re planning a suicide—”
“Attack, I know.” Kiritani smiled at him like a wolf. “We can use that. You and Kohane will do whatever it takes to protect them and fight alongside them when they attack, right? I’ve heard truly incredible things about the Vivid Bad Squad.”
“If they die, I will never forgive you.”
“I know,” said Kiritani, still smiling. “I feel the same way about Minori, Shizuku, and Airi. But you have nowhere else to go, don’t you? You could only come to me.”
Which was true. Toya was trapped and helpless, and now his people’s lives were on the line. Kiritani had far greater movement and status than he did; any offer she made him was an offer he could not refuse.
He gritted his teeth and nodded.
“Good,” said Kiritani. “And don’t worry about the release of your magic. I’ll clear it with the teachers. As far as anyone asks, you are now the fourth member of More More Jump. Nobody will suspect a thing.”
“But—what about Minori?” said Toya.
Kiritani smirked. “You’re going to be Minori’s shield,” she said. “As long as they think you’re with us, they won’t suspect her. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Does that work for you?”
“Like you said, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go,” said Toya. “I look forward to working with you.”
“It’s a pleasure to have you onboard.”
Kiritani put out her hand, and Toya shook it. There was no spark of magic, no enchanted bond of alliance being formed. Toya was not and wouldn’t be a member of More More Jump; that was a relief. The only connections that bound them were those of utility—Kiritani needed to shield Minori from the teachers’ eyes. Toya needed protection for Akito and An. Each of them had dirt on the other—though the power weighed quite heavily in Kiritani Haruka’s favor.
“Time to get to our next ‘class’, then,” Kiritani said. “You and Shizuku will leave this evening.” She smiled at him. “Good luck…and don’t forget your role.”