A Little Ordinary Magic (Ryo/Maru, Subaru/Yasu)

Apr. 8th, 2011 03:51 pm
digitalized: lost in the world (lost in the world)
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A Little Ordinary Magic
Kanjani8; light Ryo/Maru with a side of Subaru/Yasu.

Credit: Thanks to [profile] yey_yey for the super-speedy beta! I was already late for the deadline and she totally managed to check everything within a day. Seriously, AMAZING. I totally messed up and all mistakes are the result of my horrible editing skillz.

Notes:

This stemmed from wanting to include the line 'can you turn off the lights' from Utaban, and it has absolutely nothing to do with that. I panicked when I received the assignment since it's so different from what I'm used to writing (which isn't much, but...), and I ended up experimenting a lot. Totally chickened out on the romance too because I just couldn't write this pair. :p I had a lot of fun with the AU setting though, turned out more cracky than my recipient probably would have liked. Eeeek.

written for [personal profile] travelingpsycho / [profile] je_holiday , original post here (part two here).




    A Little Ordinary Magic
    Kanjani8; light Ryo/Maru with a side of Subaru/Yasu.


Ryo's roommates are weird. Not that he knows his roommates all that well. He's not really the outgoing type, nor does he reach out to befriend people on a general basis. But when you live in the same house, you can't help meeting the same people day after day and next you're greeting each other and sharing living space without worrying about which stuff is yours.

There's Yokoyama, who carries a scythe in broad daylight. Ryo nearly shot out of his own skin when he first saw Yokoyama, but his landlord (an old man who goes by the suspicious name of Johnny) had patiently explained that it's just an accessory -- Yokoyama's never hurt anyone, and he doesn't actually know how to wield one. Ryo had reluctantly accepted it, only because the rent is really cheap. The other one's Murakami, a guy who talks really loud, and apparently doesn't mind when other people hear his phone calls. Murakami's always carrying a teacher's stick, so Ryo assumes he's a teacher, but there isn't a school around and Murakami just points it at people randomly. Ryo doesn't know if either of them actually works for a living.

So, weird roommates. It's mostly alright, though. Yoko keeps to himself, and Murakami (nicknamed Hina, after a flower) has his own group of friends. As long as Ryo doesn't get associated to these guys when he's out with his own friends, he can accept rooming with them. They also let him play his guitar indoors, which is always a plus.

Ryo is a street musician. (Not magician. He hates it when children confuses the two and asks him to play a trick for them. Even if Ryo knows any tricks, he certainly wouldn't be wasting them on children. In fact, Ryo hates magic. It always needlessly complicated things.) Playing his guitar and singing for random strangers brings in money when there's a decent crowd, but not nearly enough, so this is practically the only apartment he can afford.

Life's alright. Not particularly exciting, but then, it's hard to bring the excitement level up when you're just trying to make end's meet. Unless you're a gnome -- even dirty poor (which is always the case), gnomes have all the fun.


---


"When you said you sent me a birthday gift, I didn't realize it was a prank," Ryo says into the phone.

And he had sent Uchi a proper gift, too. Ryo had gone all the way and had it wrapped up properly with a ridiculously sentimental note attached, because Uchi likes that sort of stuff. What's the point of giving birthday gifts if you don't receive an appropriate one in return?

"It's a book," Uchi replies, "I thought you liked books?"

"How to Bewitch a Witch," Ryo reads from the cover before flinging the book against the wall. "Because you know how I love magic and girls." The sarcastic tone in his voice could probably set some witches burning somewhere. "A combination of the two? Even better. Except not. That is so not fair."

Uchi replies something into the phone, but there's an oddly timed sound of explosion from the living room and it covers the voice. Ryo barely raises an eyebrow at it -- things happen when his roommates are around. He's learned not to question it.

"What was that?" Uchi asks, conveniently ignoring Ryo's complaint about his birthday present.

"My roommates have a friend of theirs over. Things happen."

Magical things, because their friend -- Maruyama Ryuuhei, Ryo's just that excellent at memorizing names -- is a wizard. And magical things usually includes destruction on various levels, explosions of all kinds, and the occasional alligators in the bathtub. Is it really any wonder that Ryo doesn't like magic?

"Like explosions," Uchi says, not bothering to hide the doubt in his voice.

Ryo sighs. Now he likely has to wait until they figure out how to restore the living room, if it's still intact. If it's not, then he has to wait for Maruyama to figure out something while Ryo plays the role of bitchy roommate (with reason). Admittedly, it's quite a sight to see magic being worked, and Maruyama isn't half bad of a sight either. Which Ryo would only admit to himself.

"I need to go see what happened," Ryo says into the receiver, "I'll talk to you later. Don't think you can cheat yourself out of it."

"It's a date," Uchi laughs before hanging up promptly.

Ryo lets out a string of curses. Then he walks towards the wall and picks up the book, brushes the cover and checks if it's damaged because it's still a present from Uchi. After making sure the book is unharmed, he casually flips a few pages, only to nearly drop the book in shock when he realizes that there's something extremely wrong with the book.

The words are melting. And Ryo is pretty certain it can't be because he threw it against a wall.

Staring at the melting ink, Ryo wonders if he should call for help. There's a wizard in his house after all, albeit one that causes copious amounts of explosions.

Then the ink start forming words, and Ryo doesn't know what to think anymore. Slowly, black ink gather and swirl until they solidify and stop moving. Congratulations, Ryo reads, you are now officially a witch. License No. 6281. Ryo then proceeds to glare at the page, because seriously, what the hell? Even as a prank, it's far too boring and pointless. A real prank would have snakes slithering out of the book or bears climbing their way out.

He looks up, and finds Yoko and Hina staring at him through the doorway. Ryo slams the book shut, feeling uncomfortable at the absurdity of it.

"What?" he growls towards his roommates.

"We came here to tell you that the living room's still standing," Yoko says, "Maru's new way of greeting includes an explosion, and he says we should be polite and warn you since you live here too, but then we came to your door, and Hina here says, well," Yoko points at Hina, indicating for the other to finish for him.

"Since when were you a witch?" Hina questions, jabbing his teacher's stick at Ryo's direction. "I would have noticed, except I didn't, so you couldn't have been. When did this happen?"

Ryo thinks he's two steps away from freaking out. This must be one of Uchi's elaborate plans, then. Probably had Tegoshi's help too. That young boy is both devious and persuasive enough to rope Uchi into a joke like this one, and Yoko and Hina never needs persuading when it comes to tricking people.

"Stop that," Ryo says, waving away the stick pointing towards him, "it's annoying. And stop spouting nonsense and spill, who's the mastermind?"

"What mastermind?" Yoko says, without the telltale grin on his face that gives him away every time.

Ryo feels himself freaking out completely, because you never know with magic, and he doesn't know a thing about magic and what's he supposed to do now? Keep yelling till they let him off? But he's already in full freak out mode and Yoko still has that serious expression on his face, and this prank really has to stop.

"License number six thousand two hundred and eighty...one?" Hina reads off his cellphone. "Wait, eighty just appeared yesterday, which means...he just became one today?"

"I don't know!" Ryo finds himself shouting, "If this is a prank, it really isn't funny!"

He expects Yoko and Hina to start laughing their asses off, but instead Hina's studying him with a sober expression. Ryo takes a step backwards and tries to brace himself for whatever comes next.

"I think it's an accident," a voice appears from behind Hina and Yoko. Yoko steps sideways, revealing Maruyama standing behind the two. "It happens, right?"

"What, people become witches by accident?" Ryo exclaims. "And aren't witches are supposed to be girls?"

"I think we should discuss this in the living room,&" Hina says calmly, always the one in charge of the situation. "Maru, can you go get some hot cocoa? From the kitchen, not from midair."

Ryo nods wordlessly, still trying to figure out if the joke's on him. It seems like a better option than the alternative.


---


Ryo immediately learns two things.

The first is that not all witches are female. The term is generally associated with female magic users by common misconception and the majority of witches are female, but it is a classification of magic that has nothing to do with actual gender at all.

The second is that Hina is a witchfinder, and that the stick he carries around is a witch detector instead of a tool meant for teachers. Ryo was highly suspicious when he first hears this, but Hina reminds Ryo that he never paid any attention to what exactly does Yoko and Hina do for a living, guilting Ryo into accepting anything Hina says. Ryo's next worry is that Hina would report him to whomever witchfinders work for, because he knows about witch hunts and it doesn't matter if real witches are involved when death is wanted. Hina quickly explains that witchfinders have nothing to do with witch hunts, and witchhunters died out after all the witches they hunted turned out to be posers.

However, it's beyond Ryo's grasp of reality to believe that he became a witch because a book lured him into realizing his witching powers. Even as Maru explains passionately that certain events may provoke concealed magical powers to revelation, Ryo simply refuses to believe that he could possibly have any sort of connection with anything as undignified as a witch.

"So, Ryo-chan's who we were waiting for?" Yoko asks.

"I'm not," Ryo protests feebly, eyeing the mug of over-sweetened cocoa in his hands with distaste. So far, his comments were being mostly ignored by the other three, the only exceptions being when they felt like explaining a few things. He still feels left out.

"Well, there has to be some reason why Johnny-san led him here," Hina says.

"Led me?" Ryo asks, trying to inject some control over the conversation. The way things are going, it's like his whole life just sprung out of control.

Yoko shifts from his position on the couch to face Ryo directly. Hina and Maru do the same, and Ryo gulps as all three set of eyes look straightly at him. Sure, he wanted them to pay him some attention, but this isn't quite what he meant. And why is his landlord involved in this?

Yoko speaks up first. "We need your help hunting down a dragon."

Ryo's eyes widen. Now that's definitely out of his league. "That's ridiculous," he says. "It'll burn me down in a second. Why don't you do it yourself?"

"You think I don't want to?" Yoko snaps.

Ryo blinks suddenly at Yoko's outburst. Yoko doesn't lose his temper much, and it usually involves his food being stolen. Especially pudding -- Yoko has a huge fixation on pudding, and no one gets between him and his pudding unless you want to risk Yoko's eternal grudge.

"Yoko! You're not helping," Hina says. He turns to Ryo. "You see, he can't go anywhere near the dragon."

Ryo doesn't see anything, and he promptly says so. "And, why not?"

"See this?" Yoko picks up his scythe, which was laid against the couch, "I died. By complete accident, but I can't go anywhere near Death's realm, where the dragon lives."

Ryo tries to process what Yoko said. He's long since come to terms with the fact that his roommates are abnormal, and by keeping his distance from all things magical, he's managed to keep to his relatively unexciting lifestyle. Really, Ryo's an open-minded guy, and he doesn't mind it when people have their own quirks and habits, but claiming to be dead might be pushing it.

"You're a..zombie?"

"No," Yoko says. "I died, but I'm not dead. I'm dying, except I've been dying for a long time and Death hasn't claimed me yet. This thing-" Yoko fondles the handle of his scythe with affection, "-is a duplicate of Death's scythe, and the only reason why I'm still here. So goddamn it, I want to go, but I can't."

Ryo finds his eyes stuck to Yoko'shands, and he wonders if it's just him or Yoko's caressing is starting to look rather erotic. He watches as fingers slide along the black paint, tightening and loosening as they continue to move against the wooden handle, and Ryo tears his eyes away before his mind starts conjuring images of what Yoko usually does with his scythe.

"And you want me to go to Death's realm?" Ryo asks, because that sounds rather freakish, and Ryo's really not into danger.

"Death has no secret agenda against anyone," Yoko says. "It's not like he's going to off you if you go near him. It's just that the dragon happens to be near his place."

"And why the fixation with this dragon? There are plenty of dragons everywhere."

"We can't say, alright?" Yoko lets out a dramatic sigh. "Common magic footnote, bloody annoying one at that."

"And Hina?"

"I can't do a thing against dragons." Hina shrugs offhandedly. "Now, if it's anything non-magical, things would have been a lot easier."

"I don't know a thing about magic either!" Ryo complains.

"Maru here can help you with that," Yoko says, gesturing towards Maruyama's direction.

Ryo realizes that Maruyama hasn't spoken much at all, in contrary to how loud he often is. Ryo wonders what Maru thinks about all this. From the silence, Ryo assumes Maru knew about this dragon, and is willing to go hunt it down. Although unlike Ryo, Maruyama actually knows a thing about magic and is a certified wizard.

"Why should I do this?" Ryo asks.

Hina's the one to answer this time. Which makes sense, considering how often Yoko exaggerates facts and fuels his answers with way too much emotion. "Ryo," Hina says. "This is important. The dragon is hurting people, and we need to reach it before someone else does. Please."

"Please," Yoko adds.

Maru looks at Ryo earnestly as well. "Please?"

It's really hard to resist when such innocent eyes are looking straight at you. Not to mention the two other set of staring eyes.

"...Oh alright. I better not get killed," Ryo grumbles. "When are we leaving?"

"Um. Maybe you need to learn, you know, that witch stuff first?" Maru asks.

So they're still going on the witch thing. And his cocoa is cold by now, too. His day really is heading towards a downright bizarre direction. Ryo wonders whether he would get to go out on the streets for the next few days, dreading the decline in his income if he doesn't.

"Right," he sighs. "How do you presume I do that?"

"Maybe we should go to my master, but he doesn't talk much. He's kind of famous, his name's Ohno...maybe you've heard of him?"

"Why would I know anything about wizards?" Ryo exclaims. "And if he's a wizard, what does he know about witches?"

"Well," Maru ponders. "There's also a witch's cat..."

Ryo really shouldn't expect these people to ever make sense. Now that Ryo's agreed to do their dirty work, both Yoko and Hina are grinning widely. Much to Ryo's uneasiness, Yoko's still fondling his scythe, but he thinks about Yoko letting go and suddenly dropping dead, and figures that maybe he can endure caressing of inanimate objects. Until Yoko wraps his fingers around the handle.

"You'll need Yasu either way," Hina says.

Ryo feels the need to remind these people that he's still normal. Comparatively. "Right. How am I supposed to talk to a cat?"

"That won't be a problem. He's, uh, not actually a cat," Maru says.

Ryo decides that he might as well just do whatever they say. It takes too much effort to try understanding this, and they aren't giving him much of a chance to disagree anyway. The sooner this is over, the sooner he gets to return to his standard everyday life.


---


Their destination isn't far, and since Ryo doesn't own a car and Maru doesn't even know how to drive, they're going there by foot. Ryo wonders if there isn't some sort of secret ways wizards travel, but then realizes that even if there were, he wouldn't trust it.

But walking alongside someone takes skills Ryo doesn't have. At first, he walks too close and keeps bumping into Maru, constantly disrupting their walking pace. His arm burns each time it accidentally brushes against Maru's, prompting him to jump back every time. Not to mention the warning sign of being too close to someone Ryo doesn't know that well yet, his instincts telling him to hide back into his room (which isn't all that safe if he thinks about it).

And yet, being too far apart feels awkward as well. With the distance between them, Maru has to turn around to check that Ryo's still following every few seconds. This gets even more awkward when Maru's expression starts showing levels of discomfort as if the air between them is physically hurting him, and Ryo is left wondering at each step whether he should catch up.

When Maru announces that they've arrived, Ryo's not the only one who looks relieved. He's also slightly surprised, because the house they're in front of looks much more normal than he expected, nothing suggesting that anything beyond the rules of normalcy could be going on behind the white picket fence and lively green lawn.

Maru walks up to the doorway naturally, Ryo nervously following. He still doesn't know what to expect.

On the porch, Maru suddenly turns around. "Yoko says I should warn you. Uh, he says you've met Subaru? He also lives here." Maru looks uncomfortable as he says, "He and Yasu, they're...together. You don't mind, right?"

Subaru was Yoko and Hina's roommate before Ryo moved in. Ryo doesn't know the details, but from what he can gather, the three were friends from way back, practically knowing each other since childhood. Ryo's impression of Subaru is a withdrawn man with dark hair and soul-sucking black eyes that make Ryo uncomfortable when he looks into them. Their interactions has always been stiff, mainly because it seems like Subaru either plainly dislike Ryo or thinks that Ryo stole his place, despite Subaru being the one who moved out. (Subaru would come in, glare at Ryo, and move on to where Yoko or Hina was while Ryo throws imaginary daggers at Subaru's back, and that was pretty much the extent of their nonexistent relationship.)

Ryo unconsciously plays with his fingers, fidgeting as he thinks about meeting Subaru outside of Ryo's territory.

"I don't mind, I think," Ryo replies. "But he doesn't seem to like me much."

"A Child of War doesn't like you much," Maru mutters while shaking his head, as if Ryo has done something unthinkable. Ryo shrugs -- he hadn't known that detail, but it's not as if it matters. Although it does explain Subaru's unpleasant presence and bleak gaze.

"He was kind of rude," Ryo points out.

Maru looks startled. "Child of War," Maru says. "War's child dislikes you. What did you do?"

"What child of war?" Ryo asks, feeling dumb. The standard for the past two days. "There hasn't been a war in our realm for decades. Having a past doesn't excuse him from being polite."

"You didn't know?" Maru gapes, backing up from the door and nearly knocking Ryo down the stairs. "The personification of war? Her child?"

"You're kidding." Ryo looks at Maru, but Maru's expression shows no humor.

Maru shrugs as he raises his hand to knock. Ryo almost stops him, still flustered at the thought that Subaru is War's kid, child of the sole woman in the world who could let war descend wherever she wanted. Though, if she's had children, that would explain why there hasn't been war in their realm for years, as frightening as War raising children sounds. And, if Ryo's glared at Subaru all those times and he's still standing, entering Subaru's house doesn't seem much worse.

"So what, is he immortal?" Ryo asks, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Only if he wants to be," Maru says, glancing at Ryo even with his attention on the door. "But Yasu's not really, so he's probably mostly human right now."

From Maru's description, you would think that Subaru wasn't human, or that he could bend reality to his will. Or, that Subaru's simply anything he wants to be. Ryo blames the ambiguity of his comprehension on Maru's vague way of not really describing things -- and the guy's inability at distinguishing common knowledge and, well, wizard related ones.

Just as Ryo's about to come up with a decent retort, the door opens. Ryo tenses slightly until he realizes that the man at the door is decidedly not Subaru.

"Ah, Maru! You must be Ryo, then. Maru told me about you," the guy says with a wide open smile. "I'm Yasuda Shota, Yasu for short."

Ryo takes in the sight of short brown hair styled wildly around the ends, a tank top, casual capri pants and oddly enough, blue socks. He also gleefully notes that the man is shorter than him, something that unfortunately doesn't happen often enough.

"You're not a cat," Ryo spouts, both a statement and a question.

Thankfully, the guy looks more amused than offended, lips tilted into a grin. "Nope, I'm not."

"Why do they call you a cat?"

"It's a general term. You can think of me as a magic stabilizer or harmonizer, which is what witch's cats also do," Yasu explains sincerely, and Ryo wonders if he's supposed to understand a word of what he says. Yasu's smile turns mischievous, "Also, Subaru likes the sound of it. Anyway, where are my manners? Come on in."

Yasu turns around and calls out Subaru's name, reminding Ryo that they're living together. Maru immediately follows Yasu inside while Ryo hesitantly steps in.

"Slippers on the shelf," Yasu says. "Pick any one you like, except the red one on the far left. And don't touch the sneakers, most of them are Subaru's."

Ryo is greeted with the sight of what must be at least a hundred shoes. Most of them are sneakers, but there are also plenty of other forms of shoes, and are those high heels? It doesn't disappear after Ryo blinks a few times, and Ryo hopes for the sake of his sanity that the shoe is a leftover by some girl nearby. On the bottom row are, by Ryo's estimate, at least twenty slippers from blue to pink and rubber to fur. Why do two people need so many footwear?

"Nishikido Ryo," a stoic voice says, and Ryo freezes. It's not fair that Maru just went on about all that War's child stuff just moments before, making Ryo all nervous.

"I would say sorry to intrude, but I'm not really here by choice," Ryo says.

Subaru shrugs in return, and before Ryo tries to say anything else, Maru cuts in and starts talking animatedly. Baffled by being put down, Ryo moves towards Maru in attempt to get back into the conversation, but finds it difficult to do so when he realizes that Maru's practically talking in another language with the animal noises he's making.

"Never mind them," Yasu says, grabbing Ryo's arms, "we have other things to do."

Before being dragged away, Ryo looks towards Maru and Subaru and discovers a rather awkward sight. From Ryo's line of sight, they're way too closer than they have to be for a casual conversation, Subaru practically draping over Maru. Subaru's looking straight into Maru's eyes, and from the way Maru hardly seems bothered, it seems like this is a normal occurrence. Except Ryo's pretty sure Maru just told him that Yasu and Subaru were an item.

"Shouldn't you stop them?" Ryo asks uncomfortably. He's really not looking forward to being caught in some bizarre love triangle.

"No. Why, should I?" Yasu asks.

Ryo takes a careful look at Yasu, wondering if the guy's being sarcastic. But no, Yasu looks genuinely confused, head tilted as he looks unwaveringly at Ryo.

"But he's your..." Ryo stops abruptly, not sure how to continue. Maru never explicitly said they were a couple. They could be just platonic partners. Besides, using the word 'boyfriend' for two grown men just sounds stupid.

"And I'm his," Yasu replies, smiling. His eyes are glinting as though he realized what Ryo's talking about. "It helps to keep us on edge too, knowing there are other possibilities. You might be right though, I am due for some jealousy. I remember Subaru liking that."

When Ryo doesn't reply to that, Yasu grabs Ryo once more and starts dragging him away. Ryo steals one more glance towards Maru and Subaru's direction and sees Maru looking at them -- specifically Yasu, because it's one more second before Ryo locks eyes with Maru. Ryo shudders as he allows Yasu to pull him away.


---


"You must have resisted a long time, huh?" Yasu says, sitting on the lone stool in the kitchen. "Most people come to their powers earlier."

Ryo glares at the stool Yasu's sitting on, hoping Yasu would catch on to the meaning. Yasu appears either oblivious or is purposely ignoring Ryo, swinging his legs back and forth innocently.

"If witches sing on the streets with their guitars and have nothing to do with magic, that would be me," Ryo says, because he does have proper job and even though it doesn't pay well and definitely doesn't warrant respect, he does have a proper license to stay on that part of the streets and he's proud of it. And, if he wants to pay next month's rent, he really needs to get back to his job, but Ryo's not telling that to a complete stranger.

"My job sure is cut out for me," Yasu says, still grinning. "I'm supposed to coax your magic out, according to Yoko. What do you think?"

"Aren't you supposed to do the thinking?"

"Guess so," Yasu pipes, not affected by Ryo at all. "So, I thought we should start with water. It's a solid, safe choice that isn't too dull. Try turning the faucet on without your hands."

Ryo raises an eyebrow. "That's your teaching method? No instructions?"

"Witches start from the fundamentals. Like turning that faucet on without your hands," Yasu says, like he's finding Ryo a difficult child. Ryo thinks he remembers seeing the same expression on his elementary school teachers, before middle school started and his teachers just ignored him in hope that he would skip school to avoid contaminating the studious ones.

"It's not like I volunteered for this," Ryo mumbles, purposely loud enough for Yasu to hear.

Yasu's cheerful grin fades at that, and Ryo takes in the brief satisfaction of Yasu finally reacting to something he said. As with all his small achievements in the last two days, it doesn't stay long.

"We're really grateful. The dragon, it's...important," Yasu says, looking at Ryo with discomforting seriousness.

Questions of this mysterious dragon pop into Ryo's mind, but Ryo swallows the questions down. He wants to ask, he hates mysteries, but Yoko had said that a magic footnote's preventing them from talking. It's so common in magic spells that even Ryo knows about it, extra bindings to stop people from being able to reveal details of an enchantment. It just makes Ryo all the more annoyingly curious.

Ryo tries to count the number of people included in this. Both his roommates, Maru, Yasu, and possibly Subaru. It's peculiar how they're determined to go after this dragon. Humans don't mix well with dragons, mostly because dragons are intellectual, much more so than the common cats or dogs. There are even rumors of rare breeds being as smart as humans. You would think that means dragons are tame (like fairies, or elves), but they're not -- they don't understand the concept of fair trade, and it's impossible to keep them away from princesses. Luckily, true-blooded princesses are pretty much extinct these days, so damage usually only goes to farms or food storages.

The only possible explanation Ryo can think of is that a common friend or relative has been attacked by this dragon. As a pest, dragons are of the highest brand, since they don't listen to human reasoning and if you piss them off, they will attack, likely bringing down a house or two with one breath of fire and a wing flap.

Property damage could be important, but the tone from Yasu's voice suggests something deeper than superficial possessions. Dragons can be incredibly irritating, but they're not important. And Ryo reminds himself that magic is involved in this, though he can't imagine how. Ryo wants the answers already, impatience one of his worst traits. But he understands what magic footnote means and it's unbreakable, which means all he can do is guess around. He believes he's on the right track, though.

He sighs. If he goes along with this plan, then it's likely he'll find out. And seeing all these people going after a common goal makes him want to be involved and included. Ryo blames his own tendencies for feeling lonely even when he's not.

"So how am I supposed to do this?" Ryo asks, meaning business this time.

"I can't really show you how," Yasu says, settling himself on the stool once more, both hands grabbing onto the sides as he rocks back and forth, "I stabilize magic, I can't actually do magic myself. But witch magic is generally simple, you should be able to figure it out just by thinking it."

"Are you saying I'm simple-minded?" Ryo retorts. It's hard not to be suspicious when the person who's supposed to teach him can't even do it himself.

"No, you're just practical. All witches are, else you would have been a wizard or mage or sorcerer or warlock or, um. That's why your magic starts with household appliances."

"Great," Ryo sighs. "In addition to being a witch, I'm officially a housewife."

Yasu narrows his eyes, which would have looked almost intimidating if he wasn't still crouched on a kitchen stool.

"That's gender discrimination," Yasu says with a frown, then swiftly brightens up. Ryo thinks he really needs to learn how to keep up with Yasu's mood swings if he's to stay in the same room with the other.

"And anyway, you'll start finding magic useful soon enough. Witches are straightforward and practical, your magic works the same way. Now wizards, they're the complete opposite. Wizards go for complexity -- how many stars and how they affect the magical flow, things like that." Yasu cocks his head to the left, towards the living room. "You know about Maru's explosions, right? They occur because of calculation errors. He ended up liking the explosions and made them his specialty, but that's just Maru. You don't need all that though, just think about what should happen and let it get to your magic core."

It still sounds pretty complex to Ryo, who uses most of his brain power remembering lyrics and tunes he wrote himself. Just by slapping a label on him doesn't mean he's magically able to understand what witches are, irony fully intended.

"Core?" he asks cautiously. It's tiring to ask questions all the time.

"Something like your soul. But not really," Yasu says, not explaining a thing. "Think about the possible dirty dishes and how you need the water."

Ryo looks at the faucet, the quiet piece of stainless steel in plain sight that's with no doubt not turned on. He started believing in this fishy witch business only because it sounded too elaborate to be a prank, but he doesn't feel any different. You would think having magic means you'll feel some sort of power or electricity inside him, but Ryo feels as plain as ever.

But, he did say he'll try, so as silly as he thinks it is, Ryo tries. He thinks about water, conjures an image of magic flowing out of him since that's how he's always imagined magic to be like. Naturally, the faucet stays silent, just as he envisioned.

"Not working," Ryo says, feeling ridiculous.

Yasu jumps off the stool and walks towards the faucet, looking thoughtful. Ryo feels stiff standing there waiting while Yasu's looking at the sink, but it isn't long before Yasu turns back to Ryo.

"Close your eyes," Yasu says.

Ryo humphs, but does as he's instructed. Then he hears the screech of metal scratching against metal, followed by the sound of the water running, physically switched on by Yasu like normal.

"Water's running," Yasu says. Ryo snorts in reply -- as if the sound of splashing water isn't enough.

Then, the water stops running, which Yasu states as well. Yasu repeats this several times as Ryo stands in the middle of the kitchen listening to the faucet being turned on and off with Yasu's running commentary. After repeating the process several times, Ryo almost finds a rhythm to it, on and off and on and off, and to hell with this he's bored and this is pointless.

Ryo opens his eyes, fully ready to tell Yasu that he's quitting if this is all they're doing, when he sees Yasu sitting on the stool grinning at him.

"What the-?" Ryo snaps his attention back onto the still-running faucet. When did Yasu move away from the faucet, and why hasn't he noticed? If Yasu truly wasn't touching the faucet, then...Ryo tries not to think about it, because he hates magic, a bundle of laziness and delusions for the weak to rely on. A shortcut to life that shouldn't exist, coming from being a witch for god's sake, and what the hell was that magic? Can he seriously use magic now, however limited the power is?

"You've been doing it all on your own for a while," Yasu says, smiling. "See? You just had to believe in it first. Convenient, huh? Try again!"

Yasu's enthusiasm must be contagious. Ryo doesn't hesitate to think about the faucet, not sure what he's supposed to do exactly, but if he's learned anything it's that he's not going to feel or see anything except the results regardless.

And then, the water does stop running. Just slightly. So, it's not completely turned off, but that's a minor detail that Ryo can easily ignore.

Holy shit, magic.

"You better not be the one doing that," Ryo says, pointing to the sink.

"Told you, I can't do magic," Yasu says, but for the person who suggested Ryo do this, he's looking unsatisfied. Okay, the faucet's still dripping, but who cares? For the first time, Ryo's no longer hoping this is a joke, instead wishing for the opposite. What could Yasu possibly be concerned about?

Yasu's fiddling with his fingers, and Ryo wonders if he's imagining the rhythm he's seeing. "You should be more powerful than that," Yasu says.

"Why would you think so?" Ryo asks. Is there some kind of magical meter he doesn't know about? Not for the first time, he wonders if there truly isn't the existence of some sort of handbook for all this, not in the form of a empty book with melting ink titled like a joke.

"You live with Hina and Yoko, right? Can't be there for no reason," Yasu says.

Ryo snorts at that. Sure, he has the perfect reason, and it makes a lot more sense than this day has been so far.

"Yeah, the cheap rent."

Yasu shakes his head, then stands up to survey the kitchen. Then Yasu turns on the stove, bringing a faint smell of gas and the unmistakable instant heat of fire. A bright smile appears on Yasu's face, contrasting with the flickering light for an unsettling sight as the fire cackles against nothing. The stove's then turned off, but Ryo doesn't have to guess to know what Yasu's going to say next.

"Try lighting the fire," Yasu says, and Ryo only sighs mentally this time.

Then the stove pretty much exploded, even though all Ryo did was think, fire. Thankfully there weren't gas in the kitchen, otherwise it might have really exploded. Instead, the fire's blazing at full heat while Yasu approaches it carefully.

"Sorry!" Ryo says, though he's not feeling very apologetic. He's feeling too giddy to worry about someone else's kitchen and anyway, if anything happened, he can blame it all on Yasu. All he did was follow Yasu's instructions, after all. Not his fault it worked so well. Forget the stove, Ryo wants an outdoor barbecue because imagine, all he needs is the wood and wham, instant fire.

"Look this way," Yasu says, twisting the switch back and forth to no avail. Ryo briefly wonders if switch's broken, but then he takes another look and Yasu successfully turns the stove off.

Yasu then, much to Ryo's confusion, turns the stove back on, grabs a piece of rag from one of the cabinets and puts it above the fire and what the hell, Ryo doesn't remember promising anything about spending time with insane people. Ryo watches in horror as the rag goes on fire, and when Yasu lets it go the rag drops to the floor. The kitchenware may be fireproof, but the walls are made of wood and oh god, they're all going to burn to death.

"I think you need that put out," Yasu points out.

"No shit," Ryo glares. "We're all going to die. No one taught you not to play with fire?"

"You're rather into theatrics, aren't you?" Yasu says, still grinning. Anyone would stomp on the rag or pour water over it and easily put out the fire, but of course they couldn't do that -- they're doing things the magical way.

Since he really doesn't want to burn to death, Ryo closes his eyes to concentrate better. Squeezing his eyes shut, he repeats there's no fire in his mind and wishes not for the first time that his life is back to normal. When he opens his eyes, he finds that first wish came true because there's no sign that there ever was a burning rag anywhere. His second wish obviously unanswered as he's still in this house of madness.

Ryo's just about to warn Yasu never to do anything like that again, or he'll threaten with a heart attack when Yasu shouts, "Shibuyan! Maru-chan! I think I found it! His magic's definitely fire-based, as we thought."

Yasu moves out the kitchen, and Ryo follows him out to the living room, where Subaru and Maru's on the couch...cuddling. They're not really hugging, but Ryo think pressing that close against each other while speaking to one another counts. Ryo sneaks a glance at Yasu while Subaru and Maru separates, but Yasu shows no sign of anger. Instead, Yasu's just staring intently at Subaru while Subaru looks nonchalantly back at him. Ryo gaze sweeps past Maru, as he looks around, and all of a sudden he thinks he gets it. More than he wants to.

Maru's been looking only at Yasu since they reentered the room. It oddly makes sense, and Ryo would really like to leave now.

Maru gets up to join Ryo, while Yasu's slowly but surely making his way towards the couch. Yasu smiles at them as he says, "Are you leaving together? Make yourself comfortable. Maru?"

"Yeah, okay," Maru says, which doesn't express anything at all.

From the way Maru's moving away though, Ryo thinks it's pretty clear that Maru wants to leave as well. Since it suits him, he comes up with the excuse that he needs to work on a new song, and Maru offers to join him. They say their goodbyes, and the moment Ryo bids Yasu farewell, Yasu appears to forget about Ryo completely as he turns around to Subaru. Ryo's almost offended by how fast he's being dismissed, but he finds the wicked glint in Yasu's eyes slightly alarming.

"Hello," Yasu says, aligning himself to be accommodate the space next to Subaru. "I noticed you cuddling with Maru."

Ryo very much wanted to complain that he was the one who noticed. Yasu merely let it go by without even bothering to comment. Therefore, Yasu should credit him for giving him the chance to use such a sentence as a come-on, except Ryo's not staying long enough to complain.

"Huh?" Subaru says in surprise, taking the words in. Then he grins devilishly, black eyes shining bright. "Oh."

The way Subaru's looking reminds Ryo of War, somewhat dangerous, his body language similar to an attack pose. Or, maybe it's just the awareness of Subaru's origins that's making Ryo think like that. Yasu seems to lighten up at Subaru's response though, pouncing onto Subaru and wrapping his arms around Subaru's neck.

"Yep," Yasu pipes.

Before Ryo can react, Maru's dragging him away by the arm. Ryo notes that this is the second time this is happening this day, but he hasn't learned to stop it yet. They're halfway through the door when Ryo thinks he hears something. He's not quite sure, because it can't be, but it sounds like Subaru's voice going, "Yasu, can you turn the lights off?"

Ryo thinks his mind had a seizure just hearing that. Which he wants to believe he didn't hear, but he did (oh god, it's echoing in his brain now), and all he wants is to unhear it now. "Why is he saying things like, like, what are they doing?"

"Each other?" Maru says, somehow managing to look like he's genuinely asking a legitimate question.

"What?!" Ryo sputters.

Maru takes the chance to pull Ryo out the door and lock it behind them. "Like I said, Yasu's taken. Or he's taken Subaru, same thing," Maru says. "They're each other's, and you can't interfere."


---


Ryo wakes up the next morning feeling like he's in the wrong bed. The ceiling is familiar, but there's something about moving his limbs that doesn't feel right. For the first time in years, he thinks about the suburbs, about how he could wake up in a different bed each day and still feel like himself. He'll never fit back into that life again, but this one isn't fitting him too well right now either.

He thinks about sleeping in, but then remembers that being a street musician means he's dirty poor and in need of that tiny income all the time. Getting up with a swing, he staggers towards the door, wondering if Hina's up, which would correspond with whether he gets breakfast before he heads out. Ryo's on auto-pilot as he habitually avoids all the piles on the floor, affectionately nicknamed Ryo's personal heaps of fashion; most people call him messy, but Ryo considers it his style. He's still not quite functioning when he turns the doorknob, his sole thought focusing on his morning coffee.

He hears the voices first, then he looks up and sees Hina and Maru in the living room.

"Hell no," Ryo says, taking another step so that he's barricaded inside his room. "I'm going to work today and no one's stopping me, unless you really want a new roommate next month."

Maru turns around first, greeting Ryo with a smile. "Oh hey, Ryo! Good morning."

Hina skips over the standard morning exchanges, one of the perks of living together being that you get sick of saying hello pretty fast. "There's still food in the fridge," Hina says. "Why would you want to move away?"

"Who says I want to?" Ryo says, leaning against the door. "You try to come up with rent with the job I have."

Hina looks confused. Ryo wonders if he doesn't understand the concept of money, but quickly remembers that this is Hina he's thinking about, who rants about money three times a day and considers saving up his life's calling.

"You pay rent?" Hina asks.

"You mean you don't?" Ryo scoffs. When Hina doesn't reply, Ryo's jaw drops. "Wait a minute, seriously? You're freeloading?"

"I'm pretty sure you never had to pay any as well," Hina says. "Just ask Johnny-san. We're here cause he needs us here, not because he needs the money."

Hina hands Ryo the phone. Ryo reaches for it, really hoping it's not true because just think about it, how many months worth of rent had he already paid? Sure, he's be ecstatic if he doesn't have to pay any more rent, but just thinking about all the months he'll already paid for makes him feel stupid and angry. And it makes him want to punch Hina in the face (or stomach, Ryo's not picky).

The phone connects successfully, and Ryo hears the familiar voice of his eccentric landlord. "You're a witch now? That's great! Would you like duck tonight? I'm having one right now and it's wonderful, I'll send one over for you to enjoy. Ah, rent? Check your contract, clause twenty-one. No rent required if the tenant is special enough. Witches are certainly quite special. Goodbye, and have a nice day!"

Ryo puts the phone back wordlessly. He's trying to think, but nothing's coming to mind. Hina and Maru doesn't seem to be paying attention to him anyway.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Hina asks.

"I don't think guns will help," Maru replies.

Ryo's ears perks up. Guns? He looks towards the living room table and finds that yes, there's a shotgun on it, along with what looks like a cannon and a sword and all sorts of amazing equipment.

"Can I try that?" Ryo says, pointing towards the rifle. The cannon and bombs are tempting as well, but it's probably not a good idea to try those. Then again, Maru's around, and his explosives are much worse than what a miniature sized cannon can do. "Where did these come from?"

"I'm a part-time merchant," Hina says. "Do you think I get rich by finding witches?"

"Wouldn't you be a part-time witch-finder?"

"That's insane," Hina points out. "I only sell merchandise when people buy them, but I'm always finding witches."

Some fights aren't worth getting into, and Ryo's not interested in arguing with Hina's logic. Other fights, however, are worth a struggle. "You two aren't going to let me off today, huh? Any breakfast?"

"There's coffee," Maru says, bouncing off the sofa. Ryo thinks he's going to start associating Maru with sofas if this goes on -- it's really quite a wonder how Maru gets acquainted with unfamiliar sofas so fast. Even Ryo doesn't fit that sofa as well as Maru does, it's like they came with a set. Hina probably came with the table.

"Can I at least try the shotgun?" Ryo asks, pointing at the splendid firearm on the table.

"We're riding the bus," Maru says. "And we don't need weapons where we're going."

Ryo jumps when smoke burst out his fingers, a second later followed by a cup. He only manages to steady the cup after spilling nearly half of the containment, and then remembers, oh yeah, Maru's a wizard. Not a very smart one, if he stuffs liquid-filled containers into other people's hands without telling them all the time, but at least a competent one. Better than what could be said for Ryo.

"I need one," Ryo murmurs, but Maru appears not to have heard him.

"Maru! You know better than to do that," Hina scolds, preaching as always. "I know cups are your specialty, but cleaning's not, and I already spent the whole morning loading all these stuff inside."

Which you won't even let me touch, Ryo grumbles, taking a sip of his coffee and forgetting about everything in front of him.

"Oh, wow, that was fast," Hina says.

Ryo wonders what he's talking about. Some sort of plan or another? What were they doing before he came out, anyway? Really, though, he should have just dropped back to sleep. If he's going to spend the day doing nothing for his income, the least he could do is get enough sleep.

"Wasn't me!" Maru says, "That traces back to Ryo."

"I what?" Ryo asks. The coffee's clogging his mind, but to Ryo's defense, it's really good coffee. In Ryo's cheap definition anyway.

"The coffee!" Maru points out, "Yasu said you mastered it, but I didn't know it went that well! That's incredible!"

Ryo's still not sure what he did, but Maru's praise is warm, and Ryo basks in the glow. It goes extremely well with the coffee (and for some reason makes him crave for a muffin, even though Ryo hates sweets). He takes a look around and suddenly realizes that the stain on the rug a few moments before is gone.

"Uh, thanks?" Ryo says. He's not all that keen to take credit when it's not due, especially since he still doesn't know how magic's supposed to work. Guns are much easier and straightforward.

"We should really get going, we need to catch the bus!" Maru says.

Ryo's quite used to the sudden change of mood to be affected. He sips his coffee, deems it cool enough, and gulps the rest of it down. "What about Yoko?"

"Huh? It's just the two of us." Maru suddenly looks uncertain. "You don't mind, right? I can be quiet if you think I'm noisy. Or, um."

"Wait, Hina's not coming? What about Yasu? No knights or princes or--" Ryo's about to say wizard, but stops his sentence midway as he once again reminds himself that Maru's a wizard. Not a very impressive one, but a wizard regardless.

"Where would we find a knight?" Hina asks, clearly amused.

"But, we're dragon hunting!" Ryo retorts. "Knights always get the magical armor and princes have all the luck. What have we got?"

"People," Maru says. "Just people are enough."

Ryo would complain, but the expression on Maru's face stops him cold. He remembers his confusion about the dragon once more, wondering about its connection with Maru and everyone else. Perhaps they once befriended this dragon? It's not entirely unheard of, there are rumours that there are certain breeds of extremely rare dragons that are as intelligent as humans. The emotions Maru's showing (and Hina, but Ryo's not really paying attention that way) suggest a lot more than pest control. Friendship gone awry?

"Just let me get a jacket," Ryo says, sending one last longing look at the weapons on the table. Magic, huh? Maybe he could get the hang of it if he tries. After all, he's been doing it while he wasn't trying, right?


---


"What about Yasu and Subaru?"

Ryo hasn't completely given up on getting more help yet. Sitting in the back rows of the bus, there isn't much else to do but pester Maru for every bit of information he can get out of the guy. And, while Ryo believes that Maru isn't insane enough to jump in front of a dragon unarmed, he's still not entirely convinced that Maru knows that Ryo doesn't actually have a way of defending himself.

"Yasu's following us. Sort of," Maru says, picking at his knees. "Subaru doesn't like going home. He lives near the area, and it reminds him of his old days."

"Yasu's driving?" Ryo asks. That's not fair, they could have sat in the back of the car then. It's been a while since Ryo's enjoyed the comfort of a car.

"No, he's...traveling. I don't understand it, but he'll be there." Maru looks past Ryo and out the window, and Ryo sees that glint in Maru's eyes again. "He travels through the fifth dimension. I think he lives in the fifth dimension, but he says it's not like that."

Ryo narrows his eyes. "He said he didn't know magic," Ryo says, suspicious.

"It's not magic. It's more like science, you know about it and it works for you," Maru says, his useful cheerful tone seriously lacking. Ryo fidgets in his seat, brushing against Maru. They both jerk away. "It's impossible for me to comprehend though. Yasu learned it from Subaru, you can ask them if you're interested."

"Why is he with Subaru?" Ryo says. "They don't seem all that close, and Subaru sounds more like an evil stepmother."

He's not sure why he's saying this. He doesn't like Subaru, but it's not like he hates the guy either. And Yasu and Subaru seem like a healthy couple, judging from Ryo's short view on their interaction. From the way Yasu easily lured Subaru close, it's clear that they're attracted to each other. But, after seeing that wistful look on Maru's face, the words just slipped out of Ryo's tongue.

"You don't know a thing," Maru says, eyes refusing to meet Ryo's, and Ryo gulps awkwardly. It doesn't take a genius to know that Ryo said the wrong thing.

Ryo's not one to take it lying down though. Needing to get in the last word where it doesn't belong has always been one of Ryo's worst traits.

"Yeah well, I'm not interested in war," Ryo shoots back.

Maru doesn't reply, and Ryo leans against his seat, feeling terrible. Not enough to apologize, but Maru's the one with the ridiculous longing looks on his face. At least Ryo's not commenting on how stupid Maru looks.

Ryo's going far beyond the duty of a roommate just by being here. He doesn't even consider Hina and Yoko his close friends, although it's cruel if he says they're not. He just never cared much about getting to know them, and he's pretty sure the sentiment is returned. And then, here's Maru, messing everything up. Ryo could have easily refused going after the stupid dragon if its just Hina and Yoko asking, no matter how being a witch and saving rent effects things. But with Maru at the side, being all friendly and supportive and practically begging with his pleading and acting like his friend, Ryo ends up on a stupid bus in the middle of nowhere heading towards where Death lives.

"What do you like?" Ryo asks.

Maru looks confused. Ryo glares -- Maru's the amicable one, he should appreciate Ryo's action. Ryo may not be good at making friends, but he's not antisocial, and he'll have people know that he does know how to be considerate. If just a little.

"I don't know much about you. What do you like?" Ryo repeats impatiently. Maru should just answer already.

"I like the color orange," Maru slowly says, hesitating every few words. "...And the number eight?"

Ryo decides to ignore Maru's questioning tone at the end. Ryo would have snapped back if it were anyone else, but this is Maru, and Ryo still feels somewhat apologetic for prying. "You have a favorite number?"

"It's my default number. For calculations," Maru explains. Ryo gleefully notes that Maru's successfully distracted by the topic. "It's my default number when I have to make a guess for a calculation, all wizards have one. Eight works at least half the time for me."

Ryo also notices that unlike the beginning, Maru actually explains things when they're talking. Maybe the fact that Ryo knows nothing about magic finally registered in Maru's thick head, or maybe Maru just got tired of Ryo's blank look after every curt explanation.

"How did you become a wizard?"

Maru chuckles lightly. "I showed signs of magic and my parents begged my master to take me in as his apprentice. Being a wizard's apprentice pretty much guarantees a job, even if I don't become a master. They think I'm too stupid to get a job otherwise, but it's been okay. I like it."

Maru raises his hands and starts muttering incomprehensible words while twisting his fingers. Ryo looks around to check if anyone think he's traveling with the crazy, but everyone's busy paying attention to themselves in the rumbling bus. He also wonders if craziness is contagious, and how long it takes to catch it.

Then the tips of Maru's fingers light up, showing tiny fireworks. There's no sound, so there's no chance of attracting unwanted attention, and Ryo stares unabashedly at the silent cackle of light and color.

"That's actually pretty impressive," Ryo says without thinking, wincing afterward.

Maru smiles as he moves his fingers so that there's a small light circling his index finger, and Ryo regrets nothing. Ryo tries to think of more questions to ask, feeling a sudden urge to know more about the mystifying man (who happens to be a wizard, which is also quite mysterious).

He doesn't get a chance though, as the bus driver announces the next stop and Maru stops his magical display. Ryo tells himself it's nervousness that makes him want the bus ride to be longer; it's reluctance to face the danger of a dragon that makes him want to stay on the vehicle. The bus pulls to a stop, and they get off the bus without hassle.

Ryo gulps as he takes a look around, seeing only grass around them. Not even a tree in sight, just a huge grass field and where could the dragon be? No way a dragon can hide in plain view.

He's about to ask Maru, when a person appears from midair about three meters away. Ryo raises his arms his alert, trying to guard himself even fully knowing that he could very well be blasted into pieces in a second and urgh, two days ago he didn't have to encounter people appearing out of nowhere.

"Hello!"

"Yasu?" Ryo shrieks rather embarrassingly.

Maru seems much less surprised at Yasu's sudden appearance. Ryo recalls Maru explaining about Yasu and something about dimensions, but Ryo also recalls caring more about Maru's odd expressions than technical details he'd never understand. And anyway, teleporting isn't that special. Probably.

Now that Ryo is calm, he notices that Yasu's clothes are stranger than his arrival. Ryo had thought blue socks with a tank-top were weird enough, but that's nothing compared to the neon green shirt and orange pants Yasu currently dons.

It kind of hurts Ryo's eyes. Someone should outlaw this set of coordination, Ryo absently thinks.

"He's here?" Maru asks steadily.

"Yes," Yasu says. In contrast to his bright clothing, Yasu's posture is completely rigid, staring into the distance with his lips in a thin line.

Maru reaches into his pockets. Ryo wonders what he's expected to do. Yasu and Maru look like they have a strategy planned, but they certainly hadn't included Ryo in it. Maru moves proficiently, placing what Ryo sees as colored stones in a circle on the ground.

"You have to touch the dragon," Yasu says from the side.

"And get burnt to crisp?"

"Fire's your element. You shouldn't be afraid of it," Yasu says, the smile on his face familiar by now. Ryo finds it much less joyful than he initially thought.

"Say I do get close enough to touch it," Ryo says. "What good would it do?"

"I can't say that, remember?" Yasu says. Of course, the magic footnote that prevents people who know about it from spilling the spell's contents out to the others. "Someone will explain everything later, promise."

Ryo wonders not for the first time if he's going to die today, thinks it's a great loss for the world and the Universe should stop rotating for a day to mourn him. His room's rented, but Hina and Yoko should still set up a shrine in his room in remembrance of his in-pending sacrifice. Maru gets up and announces that he's done, standing on one corner of the circle. Ryo sees that the stone Maru's standing in front of is orange, and he counts seven stones in total. One is missing from an edge, and Maru smiles.

"The eighth is the dragon," Maru says.

They share a look, and Ryo smiles back. Yasu's looking at them curiously, but Ryo's just glad that he's not totally out of the loop anymore.

Then, Maru says a word Ryo can't catch, and there is a dragon in the field.

Ryo bites his lips to prevent himself from shrieking -- it's embarrassingly enough the first time. This dragon isn't just a garden pest, that's for sure. It's about the size of a small house, around three times the size of his (admittedly small) room. And the wings, they're bended for now but Ryo doesn't even want to imagine the wings expending over his head and engulfing him entirely.

"Ryo, go! He won't attack!" Yasu shouts, the same time the dragon raises its head and lets out a string of fire into the sky. "Maru, help him!"

Maru looks like he's debating whether to grab Ryo and throw him against the dragon. Ryo decides that if he's going to die, he would much prefer dying with his pride intact. He's never considered himself courageous, but he hate backing away from a challenge, and let's do this.

The dragon moves, its claws clicking against one another as smoke comes out of its nostrils. The dragon's thick skin is a deep shade of forest green, its sharp and alert eyes a hint of gold. Even in fear, Ryo realizes that this isn't just any normal dragon. It's so much more magnificent, dangerous and real and beautiful. If Ryo believed myths, he would think this is one of the great dragons in the stories, the ones that spoke with humans and wielded their own magic.

When Ryo spots the dragon wings flexing, he recognizes his last chance. Before Maru could reach him, Ryo lunges forward, sliding under the dragon and thinking grass stains, and it feels pointless but he reaches out a hand towards the dragon's stomach and his palm comes in contact.

A swirl of smoke blasts him backward. Ryo braces himself for the dragon's claws, but nothing comes close. He opens his eyes, and instead of seeing a dragon, he sees another man laying next to him.

"You did it!" Maru says.

Ryo doesn't know what he did, unless he somehow turned a dragon into a man. But Yasu stated clearly that Ryo's magic is practical, and Ryo fails to see how he would find a dragon turned man beneficial to himself in any way.

Yasu doesn't say a word, and for a moment Ryo thinks Yasu must have forgotten about them, but Yasu's already heading towards the three of them (including the man on the ground) in a flash of neon green. Yasu takes out a bag and empties its contents, spilling some sort of dust into the air that Ryo desperately hopes isn't pixie dust, and before Ryo can cough, the four of them touch, and everything shines white.


---


Ryo wakes up back home. He feels disoriented and his stomach is somewhat upset, but for the most part he thinks he's still in one piece.

"Hot cocoa?" Hina asks, handing out a mug.

Ryo wonders when it would register in his roommate's mind that he doesn't like anything sweet. But his stomach threatens to lurch, and maybe warm liquid could keep it down. He also thinks he should demand answers -- they've tugged him around for way too long already. What the hell just happened?

"Maru will explain everything," Hina says. "Before that, meet Ohkura."

"Who?"

Ryo follows the direction of Hina's finger, and sees a tall man with a timid smile. Ryo recognizes the man as the one he saw lying on the ground after the dragon disappears -- and it doesn't exactly take much thought to link everything together, but it still doesn't explain why this guy's standing in front of him.

"Hello," Ohkura says in a weak voice, wavering like he's unused to speaking.

"You're the dragon?" Ryo asks straightly.

Instead of Ohkura, Yasu answers. "Yes. We needed someone to break the spell, and only a witch could." In a change of tone, Yasu chirps, "And wow, that was quite a burst of magic!"

"But-" Ryo starts uncertainly. Powerful magic can turn human into other animals, but he's never heard of people being transformed into magical creatures. Yet it could just be that Ryo doesn't know enough about magic. After all, most people would turn their enemies into disgraceful beasts such as toads. Who would turn their enemy into such grand creatures such as dragons?

"He's a dragon-human hybrid," Yoko says, emerging from his room. "Maru, you explain. Yasu, secure Ohkura. Hina, let's check the lawn. Where's Subaru?"

"Here," a voice pops out, Subaru solidifying into the room after.

"Good, come with us," Yoko says, and everyone starts moving in a flurry.

Yasu leads Ohkura towards Hina's room, arguably the most secure room in the neighborhood. Ryo catches sight of Maru moving towards him, and he heaves a deep sigh and walks towards the couch. Might as well make himself comfortable if he's going to ask what exactly has Yoko so riled up.

Yoko also said dragon-human hybrid. Ryo's positive he didn't mishear that, but how does a dragon and human, well, mate? Ryo cringes just thinking about it. In fact, he's not thinking about it. Very purposely not thinking about it. Not thinking about humans possibly fitting together with dragons and oh god, gross, still not thinking it.

"You know about the great dragons, right?" Maru begins. "The ones that moved to the other side of the world to get away from humans. Aside from talking, they can do magic as well. His mother's one of them, but...long story short, she chose to become a human. Stuck in human shape, she married his father without thinking much of it. Only, Ohkura should be more human than dragon, but he's as much dragon as human and he can shift freely between his two forms. It didn't matter at first, because Ohkura grew up with humans, and he likes being human. But, once, he accidentally shifted into dragon shape in excitement and nearly hurt someone. Eventually it got to Nature that there's an abomination of nature's balance in existence, and Nature kidnapped him to his realm."

"But he wasn't meant to stay in one form. Your way of treating things as they are broke the spell in place." Maru looks sincerely into Ryo's eyes and says, "Thank you."

"I didn't even know what was going on," Ryo points out. There isn't a blush on his face when he says, "But before that, excuse me if I misunderstood -- are we going against the force of Nature?"

Maru nods. Before Ryo can begin to fear for his life (again), Maru places a hand on Ryo's shoulders. "It's not as bad as you think," Maru says. "Nature's powerful, but she isn't very smart, and her reaction time's slow. We can take advantage of that."

"So what are you guys planning to do?"

"We predict a hurricane coming our way. I've set up necessary spells so that the entire neighborhood is safe, and we don't think Nature would upset her own balance by expending its range. Yoko's going to attack her head on to lessen her force, and Hina will try to convince her that Ohkura's harmless."

Ryo looks thoughtfully at the closed door to Hina's room. "You're doing awfully a lot for this Ohkura guy," he says.

"He's our friend," Maru says.

Hearing that, Ryo's immensely glad that he's part of this. They were the ones that roped him into this, and Ryo has been confused for the most part. But if there's one concept Ryo wholeheartedly believes, it's friendship. Ryo believes in standing beside his friends regardless of the circumstances, and what they're doing for Ohkura genuinely touches him. It's almost irritating.

"What can I do?" Ryo asks, shifting a little towards Maru. Just because his side of the couch is getting uncomfortable, and he feels the need to move.

"I don't know really know," Maru confesses. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now, either. We're just waiting, I supposed. Maybe we should see what the others are doing on the lawn?"

Annoyed that there's no immediate action he can take, Ryo feels himself twitching. "I suppose, if there's nothing else. What about Yasu?"

Maru withdraws his hand and frowns at Ryo. "You know," Maru says, his voice tight, "Subaru views you as more of a threat than Ohkura and me put together. He says it's because your souls are alike."

Threat? Ryo blinks. He's not interested in threatening Subaru. He's more or less already gotten used to the idea that he and Subaru just don't mix. They're not enemies, but they're not friends either, and Ryo's perfectly fine with that. He has no intention to upset this balance.

Honestly, Maru's the one being oversensitive. Most of the time, Ryo isn't even thinking when he mentions Yasu. Ryo finds Yasu simple and easy to get along with -- that doesn't mean anything. Ryo's just about had it with this nonsense. If Maru's going to pine, it's fine by him, but Maru should at least own up to it.

"You were interested in Yasu?" Ryo asks deliberately.

"No!" Maru yelps. His expression says otherwise, "But we were partners, long before Yasu and Subaru even met. And with Ohkura, Yasu's the first one to reach out for him in dragon shape. I guess Subaru thinks you're more."

Ryo struggles to keep calm. It's not easy when he has to suffer through this stupidity. Are they talking about keeping a pet here? Even if Yasu is a witch's cat, Ryo thought that was in name only.

"Maybe Yasu's not the one I'm thinking about right now," Ryo snaps.

Before Maru has a chance to reply, Ryo gets up and walks away. Aware that he's nearly running, he strides out the door. Might as well see what the others are doing. Considering how they're just bunch of idiots, probably nothing constructive.


---


There's a tank on the lawn. It's very hard to ignore the fact that there's an armoured fighting vehicle on the lawn.

Spotting Hina, Ryo trots over. "Are you selling that?"

"Nah, not mine," Hina says. "Just thought I should be prepared, you know? Borrowed this one from Nino. Beautiful, isn't it? Nino says hi and warns you that he's visiting sometimes soon. So, Maru told you everything?"

In contrary to beauty, Ryo thinks clunky is perhaps the better word. He knows better than to say that out loud, though. Arguing with Hina never ends up well, unless you're looking to get chewed up and thrown over several times before you quit.

"Enough to understand the situation," Ryo answers to Hina's question.

"You can run if you want," Hina says with a grin.

Now the guy's just baiting Ryo. "When have you ever seen me run away?" he scoffs. "And running away from your cooking doesn't count."

"Knew you would say that."

They stand in comfortable silence for a while, Hina watching the sky for moment and Ryo just staring at the ludicrousness of a tank on the lawn.

After a while, Ryo decides to ask, "Say, can I get in that thing?"

"If Yoko and Subaru ever get out," Hina replies, laughing. "Yoko's treating it like a huge toy and refuses to leave. His excuse is he's planning his attack from there but, you know him. He's just having fun. Subaru's in there as well, so it's a tight squeeze already."

Ryo can imagine Yoko going over the gadgets inside the tank, his fingers twitching as he grazes over the buttons. It's amusing and very much Yoko and actually kind of endearing. It's the impending doom in their future, Ryo thinks -- it's making him strangely wistful. Maybe he should call his parents and tell them he loves them or something, but Hina would probably laugh at him, and Ryo prefers thinking they'll be fine.

He hears a distant rumble. The sound of a storm's on its way here, Ryo thinks. The top of the tank opens and Yoko's head pops out.

"Did you hear that?" Yoko asks, crawling out of the tank. Noticing Ryo, he adds, "Oh hey, Ryo."

"The clouds are gathering," Hina says, pointing upward in the general direction of where Ryo went this morning. Ryo looks towards the sky and sees the clouds moving in rapid motion, getting darker every second.

However, Ryo also find the sight of Yoko quite odd. He tries to decide what's making him think so, until he realizes the distinct lack of Yoko's scythe. Remembering Yoko's explanation on how the scythe's keeping him alive (sort of), Ryo finds himself uncomfortably nervous.

"Where's your scythe?" he asks, though he knows Yoko wouldn't needlessly kill himself. Probably.

"In my pocket," Yoko replies. He reaches into his pocket and between his fingers, Ryo sees a tiny version of the scythe Yoko normally carries. "I can't take the whole thing into the tank, you know how little space there is in there?"

"Wait a minute, you can shrink that thing?" Ryo says accusingly.

"You haven't noticed?" Yoko says with a giggle. Yoko's giggling really is quite distracting, and Ryo's understandably alerted when the scythe suddenly grows in Yoko's fingers till he's grasping the handle like he normally does. "How do you think I go shopping?"

"Then why do you carry it like that-" Ryo gestures at the full-sized scythe, "-most of the time?"

"It's fun. Wanna try? The look on some people's faces...priceless."

It's also just like Yoko to give the scythe a practiced twirl, letting the blade whirl around him expertly. Why Yoko never did it before Ryo doesn't know, but considering how long Yoko's been carrying the scythe, of course he's practiced wielding it (if just for fun). Must be because of Yoko's horrible balance and body coordination, and it's twice as frightening to see the action when you take that into account.

"So, um," Ryo begins, but he doesn't get the chance to finish because the sky turns dark in a blink.

Maru dashes out the door. "She's coming!"

Lightning cracks above them. "Yeah, no shit," Ryo mutters.

Above them, Ryo hears the wind catching up. There's pouring amounts of rain, but the raindrops slide aside silently. Nothing touches the ground, the spell protecting the area, and it feels like they're in a dome watching a storm above them. Despite knowing the danger, it's a sight to behold, and Ryo thinks he could watch this all day.

"Maru, get inside and make sure your spell stands. It's the only thing protecting us at the moment," Hina commands. "Whole neighborhood's depending on you. Ryo...see if you can help him."

"But-" Ryo begins, then stops. There's nothing he can do out here, and maybe he could figure out a way to help inside. It still feels like hiding, though if the storm really were to hit, hiding inside their wooden house wouldn't be exactly safe. Probably should have dug out a basement if he knew this was going to happen.

Without saying a word, Yoko runs out, heading towards the direction the storm's coming from. Ryo thinks of following, but whatever Yoko's going to do, Ryo thinks he's probably be a hindrance.

He says nothing when Maru drags him back inside the house.

It's infinitely awkward when they sit on the floor, looking at each other wordlessly. Maru looks miserable, crouching down so much that he barely looks his height.

"At least you're useful," Ryo says, not sure if he's trying to help or just to lessen his own awkwardness. "I don't even know how magic works, unless lighting a fire counts. Not very helpful here."

"More helpful than you think," Maru says, "My magic's only useful for situations like this. It's useless most of the time."

Ryo snorts. It's really kind of unattractive, but he's beginning not to care. "I hated magic," he says, catching Maru's attention. "Well, not hate, I just didn't care for it because it had nothing to do with me. I also thought magic's a shortcut for people to be lazy, but that's not true. You're helping people, and...you're dedicated to your magic."

Maru's eyes widen as he looks around them. Ryo follows his line of vision worryingly, wondering if the ceiling's going to fall, when Maru's eyes land back on him.

"You're supporting the spell," Maru says in wonder. "I suppose you don't know you're doing that?"

Ryo frowns. "No," he admits.

Maru smiles, warm and slow, "Does this mean you trust me? My spell, anyway?"

"God, you're sappy," Ryo says, shaking his head. Only Maru would think that immediately. Not that he has any other explanation to how his magic's working (he still never feels a thing, is that normal?).

"About earlier..." Maru says, but he doesn't continue. Ryo's not sure he wants Maru to.

Luckily for Ryo, Subaru rushes in. Ryo's beginning to see a convenient pattern here.

Subaru's hair hangs loose around him, giving him a wild look. Added with his frantic expression, and Subaru looks positively feral. "Where's Yasu?" Subaru grits out.

"Isn't he in there?" Ryo points to Hina's room, trying not to show how nervous Subaru's making him.

"Ohkura's in there. He's safely tucked between the second and third dimension just like we planned, but Yasu's not! I searched in fourth too and he's not there. Damn reptile, if anything happens-"

"Calm down," Hina says from behind Subaru. "He's Yasu, he'll be fine. I'm more worried about Yoko, we haven't heard from him for a while."

Subaru looks about to bite. Ryo involuntarily shudders a little. Ryo thinks of offering to search for Yasu, but he'll probably be turned down. They never take his ideas into consideration.

"I'm going to have a little chat with Nature," Subaru says before stalking out once more.

The door slams shut, and Ryo stares at the piece of wood. Much to his surprise, Hina starts laughing out loud. "Well, at least he finds that motivating. Yasu disappearing might actually be of help to us," Hina says.

"But what if something really happened?" Ryo points out.

"He's Yasu," Maru says, which seems like his standard explanation for everything involving Yasu. Maybe to Maru, it is. "He's a cat, remember? They're good at survival, and they have nine lives."

"I thought that wasn't literal," Ryo says.

Maru shrugs. Hina crashes onto the couch, and Ryo thinks about the state of Hina's room. Would being in two dimension mean being, well, flat? Ryo wonders what that would feel like, and if it's possible for him to try it. Not that he wants to. Being stuck between dimensions doesn't sound fun, and what if being in two dimensions meant being immovable? Ryo's not looking forward to needing rescuing.


---


Ryo's not sure how much time has passed when the door opens, revealing both Subaru and Yoko drenched in water.

Maru rushes over, then runs off in a hurry before deciding to run towards Subaru. "Are you two alright? Uh, Hina? Any towels?"

"I'll go get it," Hina replies, taking a brief look at the window.

"Storm's over," Subaru grunts.

Ryo looks outside and sure enough, the sky's slowly turning bright. From the sound of it, the wind's dying down as well. Yasu's still nowhere to seen though, but Subaru doesn't look too worried about it even though it's the reason why he rushed out in the first place.

Of course, right after Ryo thinks that, Yasu pops right into the middle of the room.

"Uh, wow," Yasu says, looking bewildered. "What happened to the storm?"

"Subaru happened," Yoko says. "Where were you, anyway? Subaru here went all crazy on us and you weren't even here to see it."

"Sorry," Subaru murmurs.

Yasu looks down, and Ryo sees the puddle on the floor as well. The floor boards are not going to be happy after they dry. "No, I'm sorry," Yasu says. "I just tripped and fell into the wrong space frame and it took a while to find the right one. So, Nature left? I thought we could treat her to tea!"

Yasu tripped. Somehow, Ryo's not surprised, though it does discourage him from wanting to try crossing dimensions.

"...Well, that's anti-climatic," Ryo comments.

Yoko raises an eyebrow at him. "What did you expect?"

This coming from the person playing around in a tank a while ago. Seriously, that never went into action. You would think that Hina borrowed the tank just to have it around as decoration, but...Okay, that's totally possible.

"I want to go home and change," Subaru whines. With Yasu back around, he's turned back into a dependent child once more. A huge one for his age.

"We should get Ohkura out first," Yasu says, and Subaru pouts.

Yasu leads Ohkura out of Hina's room, and Ryo finally gets the chance to take a good look at the guy. He's sad to note that the guy's taller than him, but Ryo's got the better hair, and the guy probably eats like a dragon because he's got meat on his bones.

"Hey," Ohkura says.

Yasu stands aside, and Maru takes the chance to hug Ohkura. More like choking, actually, because Ohkura looks like he's not getting enough air. When Maru finally lets go, he has to grab Ohkura by the arms because Ohkura would have otherwise tumbled over.

"I'm going to need a place to stay," Ohkura says, still sounding kind of weird. It'll be a while till he gets used to talking, Ryo supposes.

They all look at one another for a while. Logically, seeing as this house has turned into some sort of base, Ohkura would be staying here, but there's no room unless Ohkura wants to stay in the living room and sleep on the couch.

After more looks are exchanged, Subaru finally says, "He can stay with us."

"Eh, Shibuyan?" Yasu exclaims.

"Yasu here can take care of him," Subaru says, patting Yasu's shoulder and dripping water all over Yasu's back. "And Maru lives nearby. We have a guest room he can stay in."

Subaru doesn't bother to mention that it was actually Yasu's room until they decided that there's really no point in having separate bedrooms and merged their belongings into Subaru's room. They chose Subaru's because the paintjob in Yasu's room scares Subaru, and Subaru's room is slightly larger by a few square centimeters.

"I have a spare room, too," Maru says.

"You won't for long," Yoko says with a smirk.

Maru looks confused. Everyone beside Ryo snickers, and Ryo has a very ominous feeling about this. Especially when everyone turns around look at him, including a still confused Maru.

"Well, what should we do now?" Hina says. "Beside making eyes at each other."

"We have all that firepower," Yasu says, grinning wide. "Fireworks!"

Yasu runs out the door, half his clothes already wet by then. Subaru follows, screaming random words that's not of any language Ryo knows of.

"Come on, Ohkura," Hina says. "You'll want to see this. Let the two talk."

"But..." Ohkura utters.

Hina begins dragging Ohkura away. Ohkura looks at Ryo as he walks away, "Hi. We'll get to know each other later?"

"Maybe," Ryo shrugs. Ohkura smiles in return, and Ryo realizes that he's being left alone with Maru. It's awkward enough to first time, but now it's more than obvious that the others are deliberately doing this.

"About earlier," Maru begins once more. Ryo sighs. No way he's getting out of this one, is he? "What did you mean by that?"

"Nothing," Ryo replies automatically. Maru stares at him. "Okay, something. But it's nothing!" And keeps staring. "...Except it's not? What do you want?"

Maru looks like he's giving up, heaving a deep sigh. "I don't really think about Yasu much," he says. "But you should know that already. Unless you're missing all the looks I've been giving you, but Yoko says that's me being stupid because I'm being way too obvious, and even before you knew me you stared at me all the time, so maybe I thought-"

"-Shut up," Ryo cuts in. He can feels his own face burning. "Alright, whatever. You sure about Yasu?"

Maru looks unsure at first, and for a brief moment Ryo's beginning to feel the uncertainty creeping up on him, but then Maru shakes his head and he looks determined when he says, "It's a long time ago. I've had a lot of time to get over it, and he's with Subaru."

"Relationships aren't eternal," Ryo says.

Maru laughs. "One like theirs very well might be," he says.

Ryo guesses Maru might be right. Not that it matter much. Really, Yasu's not all that special, and Ryo's much better than the guy. He's hotter, has more talent, plays the guitar (though he does learn way later than Yasu does too, better than him, but that's another story), and he can keep the water hot any hour of the day. All in all, he's the much better catch.

Ryo hears -- then feels, because the house rocks along -- an explosion outside. Fireworks made out of gunpowder probably did that.

"Explosions?" Maru asks, eyes gleaming.

Right, Maru's specialty. Ryo nods, and sharing a smile, they both run outside, shouting gibberish with their arms raised.


---


"I just heard there's an opening in the local street performer lineup," Yamapi says through the phone.

Yamapi was Ryo's roommate back when he still lived near the city. They were good friends, almost best pals really, until Ryo had to move into the countryside to hide from some mobs that kept coming after him. (He might have accidentally punched one of them in a fit of anger but that was an accident.) He wanted to move back after the police finally interfered, but he needed a steady job to do that.

That was a while ago, though. Being in Maru's house -- well, theirs, kind of, even though Maru's parents are the ones who bought the house -- Ryo really can't imagine leaving.

"I won't be moving back anytime soon," he says.

Much to Ryo's surprise, Yamapi laughs. "Finally, huh? We all knew you were going to stay after the first month, though I'm sure there are calluses in my ear just from hearing you complain."

Ryo groans. It's just like Yamapi to guess what he's thinking, but Ryo's not admitting that so all he does say is, "Shut up."

They chat about nothing for a while, until Ryo hears Uchi in the background. Remembering the book, Ryo realizes that he has a score to settle. "Hey, put Uchi on the line." There's a rustle, and the telltale sign of someone handing a phone to someone else.

"Where the hell did you get that book?" Ryo demands.

Uchi, much to Ryo's dismay, laughs loudly as well. Now look who's the one getting stabbed in the ears. "So it's true that you're a-" Uchi has to stifle his laughter before continuing, "-witch now?"

Maru chooses that moment to walk out the bathroom. In a towel.

"Whatever," Ryo grumbles.

More burning laughter. "Aw, no witty comeback? You're mesmerized by something hot again, aren't you?" Uchi's annoying voice pipes.

"Fuck you," Ryo says into the phone. He grins at Maru, who grins back looking confused. Normalcy achieved. They're possibly the most confused pair in the history of the universe, but Ryo just thinks it's funny the way they just bumble around. Highest entertainment, right there.

"You wish," Uchi laughs, and Ryo decides to hang up. He has better things to attend to.



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