Chapter Text
Normally in a fantastical world like this one, you have to have talent. You have to be skilled. You need to have magic to survive. However, some have it lucky. Some are born into status, so much so that their skills don’t even matter. Tenma Tsukasa has it lucky. Tsukasa lacked the magic abilities that his peers had. He could DO magic, yes, but he lacked any real skill in that matter. The only magical things he can do are all natural, and things he did not have control over. The Tenma family is a family of Starborns, the most well regarded one. They are incredibly wealthy, and have very high status in this land. Their children, Tsukasa and Saki, were guaranteed to be able to join the Academia no matter what. While Saki had very strong healing abilities she had learned from many years of struggling with an incurable curse and trying to manage it, Tsukasa lacked in all departments. Starborns are known to be ethereal beings with skin that glows faintly like the night sky, adorned with constellations, tears that burn normal skin. Hell, some even have white, feathery wings. Tsukasa does, whether they’re very functionable or not. They can see glimpses of the future and sometimes can even astrally project to explore distant realms, typically with much more ease than the average magic user. Many often serve as prophets and oracles, offering cryptic guidance to those who seek their counsel. But he’s a damn legend! Why should he settle for less than a ruler? Prophet? Hell no!
The universe realllyyyy must want him to be a prophet though.
It all started that first time he saw the cat. A purple cat. Not a very usual cat color, but whatever, it was probably the work of a spellcaster. He was on his way to the night market, looking for the seller he’d been buying an elixir off of for some time. While it didn’t fix Saki’s problems, it did help with the ones she couldn’t solve. While this sort of sketchy business was way beneath Tsukasa, and how he would be disgraced for doing such shady things if it reached the public eye. So under the guise of a cloaking stone, he would visit the mysterious seller by the name of Amia. Definitely not a real name, but a very known one at that. The kinds of potions Amia made were far from regulated, but Tsukasa would do anything to help his dear sister. Even if there were definitely uh- some risks.
“Back again?” She smirked from beneath the hood that covered most of her face. Tsukasa groaned.
“I have the money. Amia can you PLEASE make this snappy, I have some business to attend to.” He sighed with exasperation. Amia always had a way of making sure the exchange took as long as humanly possible, whether that be out of pure enjoyment of seeing him riled up or just her striking up conversation a lot. He thinks it’s safe to assume it’s the former.
“Always in such a hurry, huh? Wowww you must hateee me.” She fakes a sniffle which he scoffs at.
“The crocodile tears aren’t fooling me Amia.” He crosses his arms and frowns at the girl.
“Aw man…” She sneaks away to the back for a moment before returning with a bottle of a purple liquid with a faint glow, a pink ribbon tied to the neck of the bottle.
“Added my own little signature this time~” She grins.
“Fantastic.” Tsukasa says in an most unamused tone as he forked over the money he owed her. Before he can even put the bottle into his bag, a blur of purple jumps in front of him, stealing the bottle in its mouth. He swears he can hear a giggle as what he realizes is a cat runs down the alley.
“Hey!” He chases after the mischievous feline, maneuvering around passerby with such ease that it would make any player in a magic sport insecure. He sees the cat heading towards an alley between a blacksmith's shop and a shop boasting its large stock of rare spell ingredients. He hones in on the cat and has it against the wall. It doesn’t run. The feline sits down with a stupidly cute little smile as the potion bottle lays at its paws. Tsukasa cautiously takes a step forward. The cat doesn’t move. As he gets close enough to grab the bottle, the cat suddenly vanishes, all Tsukasa can hear is the same faint little giggle from earlier. How odd.
He turns the bottle over in his hands to make sure there’s no cracks in the concoction that basically cost him an arm and a leg to get his hands on. Surprisingly, the bottle is perfect. Not even a speck of dirt on it. That cat sure was careful with it!
Was it really a cat though?
Ever since that night, Tsukasa had been bombarded with dreams. Oftentimes they had the purple cat in it. Most of the time. Actually pretty much every time. He would get closer and closer to finding out the true identity of what he’s deemed to be a shapeshifter or familiar of some kind, but then he would be jolted awake with a burning sensation in his palms. It was unsettling to say the least. Who was this cat? Who did it belong to? Why is it suddenly in every single dream Tsukasa has? He knows who he has to consult about this.
“Ah, Toya! I need to speak with you. I, a dazzling and bright star, wish to inquire about something!” Tsukasa bursts through the library door practically sparkling. His junior, and basically his younger brother, was busy organizing some books while listening to his boyfriend, Akito, speak about something with such interest that he kept getting a bit distracted with his current task. Thankfully, the books really liked Toya, so they listened to his commands well. If the boy told them to go somewhere, they listened. He barely had to do a thing. But at the sound of Tsukasa’s loud voice, Toya snapped out of his trance.
“Tsukasa-senpai? Is everything alright?” Toya’s eyes filled with worry as the dragon boy next to him rolled his eyes. Akito did not like Tsukasa, much to Tsukasa AND Toya’s obliviousness.
“No! I have been TORTURED and HAUNTED by dreams!” The sparkly boy flailed his arms about as he told this story like it was some kind of melodrama. Toya urged him to go on, the worried look still plastered on his face despite how incredibly unseriously his partner was taking this situation.
“Dreams of what???” The blue haired Fae’s eyes went wide. Toya was very well versed in the area of mind magic, which included dream magic. He knew way too much about the subject, but it always came in handy in times like this.
“Dreams of a mischievous purple feline!”
“...........”
There was a moment of silence before Akito roared with laughter. The dragon boy cackled so hard that he started uncontrollably hiccuping, small bursts of fire coming with it. Toya cast a quick protective spell on the books, as it probably wasn’t the first time his sacred place of solace had been at risk of going up in flames due to the ginger’s actions. He places a gentle hand on the talon clad one of his partners, still hiccuping and fighting back more laughter.
“Tsukasa-senpai…. I’m going to need you to elaborate.” Toya sighs.
“I was getting something from the store the other day-” He’s careful not to specify what store, after all, a Senpai has to be a good example!- “And this sneaky, EVIL purple cat stole my stuff and then when I approached it, it vanished! Ever since then it's been in my dreams every single night WITHOUT fail, and I never find out what or who it really is!” Tsukasa complains loudly.
Toya puts a hand to his chin for a moment before lifting it and retrieving a book off of a shelf with a wave of his wrist. He levitates a large book over and it slams onto the table, opening to a page. Akito jumps back before peering over it.
“Holy hell Tou….”
“It’s a pretty large book, but I’ve figured out how to get exactly what page I want without all the hassle of using the index.” Toya blushes shyly. “Lot’s of time to do that….”
Tsukasa squints at the words on the page.
“What the hell does this even say?” He frowns. The text appears to be in some other language.
“Oh, it’s just basic rune language. Let me read it for you.” Toya skims the page.
“You never fail to amaze me Toya…” Akito smiles softly at the other boy, who blushes again.
“I work in a library… of course I have to know how to read runes…” He mumbles, embarrassed by the praise from his partner. “A-Anyway! I think you’re most likely dealing with something else, Tsukasa-senpai. Not a shapeshifter, not a familiar, perhaps something different.”
“Huh?! So you don’t even know?” Tsukasa gasps, shocked that not even the genius Toya could figure it out.
“Well, I have a theory….” He thinks for a moment. “I think it might be an Anima of some kind with some very strong powers…. definitely not someone from the Academia… and if it is, well, I would like to meet them… Projecting yourself into someone’s mind repeatedly, especially while they’re sleeping, is no easy feat… especially not while maintaining your animal form…” Toya rambles, losing both Akito and Tsukasa in the process. “Ah… sorry… went off on a tangent…”
“So what do I do? Just let this strange cat invade my dreams forever?” Tsukasa scoffs.
“Well- there’s not much else you CAN do… you’d need to learn some pretty advanced mind magic if you really wanted to kick them out.” Toya frowns. “I think it’s best to just leave it be, maybe you can see what they look like eventually…”
Tsukasa groans before smiling once more. “Thank you for the help Toya… a star like me will surely solve this dilemma!”
Akito gives him a look before the blonde boy dashes out of the library.
“I don’t think he paid any attention to what you said.” Akito chuckles.
“Tsukasa-senpai’s got it figured out!” Toya says pridefully, earning another laugh from Akito. “At least I think he does..”