Something big

Jesse’s fingers fumbled with the tab of the can he was holding, nails not hooking under like he wanted them to. It wasn’t even what he had wanted to drink, often preferring bottles of imported Belgian-style wheat ale his dad favored, but Shintaro had sworn this time that this one guy in his chemistry class’s best friend’s buddy’s girlfriend’s father said this beer was superior to all other alcohols on the market. And that guy never lied according to Shintaro. 

Jesse was on his third can of five Shintaro had thrown into Jesse’s convenience store basket, if he could get the tab open, and he already wanted to water the bushes with the remaining cans. The first can had tasted like cat piss, and the second had done nothing to change his mind about the flavor. Maybe the third would?

“I got it,” Shintaro said. There was a crooked smile across his face, the kind Shintaro often had when he was enjoying Jesse drunk and suffering but had enough mercy to put him out of his misery. He reached over and flicked the tab like an expert, the can cracking open with a satisfying snap.

“How long were you watching me struggle?” Jesse asked, taking a sip. Yeah. Still cat piss.

“The whole time,” Shintaro shrugged. He crushed his fourth can in his hand before going for the last he had purchased.

“Asshole,” Jesse muttered, but it only elicited a grin from Shintaro and Jesse found himself grinning in return.

Jesse had known Shintaro for forever. The two of them had been paired together for an activity in elementary school on the first day, and they had just clicked. It was like a match made in heaven as their humor complimented each other. No matter what their teacher did, it was impossible to separate them. Jesse and Shintaro came together as a packaged deal, and their teachers had struggled to find ways to keep them apart even when they were placed in different homeroom classes over the years. 

Hell, even when they were applying to high schools, they had strategized the best ways to stay together. Shintaro had even given up on his dream school in order to stick closer to Jesse, a fact that Jesse still found astounding to this day. The choice only reinforced their bond in his mind when they walked through the front gate together on their first day of high school. Then again, they were like two halves of the same coin, even if Shintaro was often influenced by other outside sources to consume mediocre alcohol as the clock drifted closer and closer to midnight. Being apart didn’t suit them.

Though they were together more often than separate, it wasn’t every Sunday evening they went drinking in a random neighborhood park. Jesse wasn’t the kind of university student. His parents had instilled good values in him from a young age and to always put his education first. Even with all of his laughter and jokes, often driving his teachers and professors insane, he would always buckle down and study to pass his exams. He had grown up wanting to make his parents proud of him, and he felt that warmth each time he scored well on tests and exams he had been expecting to fail.

Though he was enjoying himself, sitting on a park bench and drinking the worst beer of his life, there was still something clawing at Jesse’s stomach as he crushed his third can.

“Hey.” Shintaro nudged Jesse’s side. “It’s gonna be fine. Your mom isn’t gonna hate you for missing one dinner.”

It was family tradition at this point. Every autumn, especially since Jesse had moved out to attend university, he had come home for a special family dinner. His mom cooked all of her family’s traditional Japanese recipes, and she would tell him and his father stories from her childhood of her brother and grandparents. Jesse oddly looked forward to it even though he had heard the story of how Uncle Hiiro stole his mother’s glasses for the twentieth time. It made his mom happy, so it made him happy as well. 

Jesse had always thought it was strange, only hearing stories of these people but never meeting them. Hell, his father’s family lived in the U.S., and he had still met them a handful of times over his life. He had no idea if he had any Japanese cousins from his mother’s side of the family or not. He had tried pressing her to meet them a few years ago, but his mother’s lips had only been drawn into a straight line the more he asked. In the end, her only response being they were now “unreachable,” and Jesse had never pressed the issue further. He didn’t want to cause her any pain from whatever had happened.

The dinner was supposed to be that evening. He would have been sitting at home, hearing the same stories then spending the night and commuting to classes the next morning, but Shintaro had reached out to him in a panic as Jesse had been gathering an overnight bag. Jesse hadn’t quite understood every word out of Shintaro’s mouth. Something about how his older brother had been arrested, and his parents were at the station trying to convince the police officers to let his brother out on bail. Shintaro hadn’t wanted to wait for more news alone and had begged Jesse to drink with him to take away the nerves. And, well, Jesse was nothing but a good friend. 

Jesse hadn’t checked his phone since he sent off a text to his mother letting her know he had to be there for his friend. He already knew how she would have responded, a subtle disappointment hidden behind her kind words, but reading the exact phrasing was something Jesse wanted to avoid. He would handle apologizing in the morning.

Shintaro’s phone buzzed, and Jesse heard him scramble to check it. There was a small shout, Jesse hushing him as he managed to crack open his fourth can, and the sounds of Shintaro’s iPhone hitting the dirt beneath him. Jesse just waited, trying to enjoy what some people deemed as “beer,” until a sigh of relief came from his friend. 

“Ryutaro is fine,” Shintaro said, sinking further down on the bench in relief. “They found the guy who actually set fire to that preschool.”

What Shintaro said took a moment to connect with Jesse’s alcohol clouded brain. “Wait. Your brother was accused of arson?” Jesse’s words came out a little too loud. “Shouldn’t you have led with that when you asked me to hang out?” 

“Jesse. My buddy. My man. My dude. My half-American bro. What have I always told you, my dearest darlingest popsicle?” Shintaro said, slinging an arm around Jesse’s shoulder. His eyebrows were wiggling in a way that Jesse knew what he was about to say was incredibly stupid. “You never tell your drinking buddy your sibling is an alleged arsonist when asking them out, my dude. Mi amigo, you wait until you’re drunk off your ass to do that.” 

Jesse just stared at Shintaro until the other man awkwardly laughed, picking up that his joke had not been in good taste. “Uh, you drinking your last can?” Shintaro asked.

“Take it,” Jesse said, passing it over the unopened can. After a beat he spoke again. “I should have known it would be something dumb your brother got arrested for.”

He still remembered back when Ryutaro was a high school student. He had gotten in with a questionable crowd and had been caught smoking underage. His school had a strict no drug policy, and he had gotten himself swiftly kicked out of the establishment within hours of the news dropping. Ryutaro had managed to find his way into a new school the next year, but strings of bad luck had followed him ever since. 

A bar across the street from the park caught Jesse’s attention at that moment, and it took all of his drunken power to not snort with laughter at the name of it. rocks? Who in their right mind would name their bar rocks? It felt like the biggest joke on the planet, and he knew instantly Shintaro would love it. 

“At least Ryu didn’t open a bar and name it something dumb like that one,” Jesse said, motioning in the direction of said establishment before downing the last of his fourth and now final can of shitty beer. 

“…Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?” Shintaro said once Jesse was done, can crushed in his hand. “There’s no bar there.”

But it was there. Jesse confirmed it with a second glance. The same all black exterior, frosted windows, and crisscrossing metal bars over the windows like Jesse had seen over apartment windows in New York City. The sign of the bar was classy, done in a cursive font that he was surprised that most Japanese people could read, but perhaps it was meant to be stylish instead of legible. There was a soft glow coming from the windows that hinted the bar was still open despite it being close to or even past midnight at this point. 

“But it's right there,” Jesse said, confusion spreading into every word he spoke.

Shintaro squinted, his eyes focusing hard on the street across from them before his gaze shifted back to Jesse. “I think you might have had a bit too much to drink,” he said. Shintaro started gathering the empty cans and stuffing them back into the plastic convenience store bag. “Come on. Let’s get back to my place, so you can sleep all of this off before school tomorrow.” 

An anger flared up in Jesse’s stomach, boiling its way up his throat and into his nose. There had been plenty of jokes between the two of them that had gone on for too long, even too long for Jesse himself, but Shintaro always knew when to cut him off before it became too much. Jesse had expected his friend to stop, to laugh and agree that rocks was a silly name. The fact that he hadn’t was becoming more infuriating by the second.

“Dude, stop pretending,” Jesse said. He grabbed onto Shintaro’s shoulder and used his free hand to point in the direction of the bar. “I’m telling you it’s right-”

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

Jesse blinked. “What?”

“Jesse, what kind of weirdo psychic magic did you just do?” Shintaro said. His gaze kept flicking back between the bar and Jesse.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”

“Stop playing with me.” Jesse could feel the fear seeping into Shintaro’s words. “I swear on my bro’s life that bar wasn’t there a second ago.”

He let go of Shintaro’s shoulder, taking a few steps back. What in the world was going on. He knew Shintaro, knew him better than the back of his own hand, and Shintaro didn’t play act like this. There was always this charm, this knowing smirk when he was pretending. This kind of fear wasn’t something Jesse experienced too often. His friend was legitimately frightened.

Shintaro blinked a few more times before he shot across the small distance between them, clinging to Jesse like a tree. “NOW IT'S GONE. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?”

“I didn’t do anything, you idiot. Get off of me,” Jesse growled. He tried to pry Shintaro’s arms and leg from around his midsection, but it only made Shintaro cling harder to him.

“I don’t wanna die,” Shintaro all but shrieked. “I’m too young! Ghost people, let me ask out that girl from sociology before you murder me. I need to know if she likes meeeeeeee.”

“Shin, calm down,” Jesse hissed. He cupped Shintaro’s face, forcing the other man to look him in the eyes and not in the direction of the bar. “You’re gonna wake up the neighborhood at this point and get the police called on us.” 

All at once, it was like the gears started working once more in Shintaro’s head, and he freed Jesse from his clutches. “Oh yeah. That wouldn’t be good.”

It felt like Jesse could breathe again, but with the alcohol clouding his system, his brain couldn’t keep up with all of the thoughts racing through it. There was a mystery floating around them that needed solving. There was a bar in a random Tokyo neighborhood that he could see but Shintaro could only sometimes see. As far as he was aware, they were both completely and utterly normal human beings. There was no logical difference that explained it at all.

Jesse was surprised that he noticed it, his thoughts distracting him to even Shintaro’s panicking circling around him, but it was a small flash of light that drew his attention. The door to the bar had opened, flooding a bit of the street with light as a figure stepped out and closed the door swiftly behind them. They didn’t move to go home or do whatever patrons of strange bars did after leaving its establishment. Just whipped out a phone and started texting.

“Shin,” Jesse hissed before smacking his friend’s arm to get his attention. “Shin, there’s someone there.”

“Huh?” 

“Someone’s there,” Jesse hissed once more. “They just came out of the weird bar.”

They had been friends for too long. Shintaro already knew how the wheels in Jesse’s brain were turning before he even spoke his plans. “Jesse, no. It’s a weird bar in a weird park in a weird part of Tokyo. You don’t know them. You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“I’m gonna go and talk to them.”

“Jesse, no!” Shintaro shouted in response, but Jesse was already halfway across the park. He heard Shintaro scrambling behind him, trying to gather all of their trash, before rushing after him.

The closer Jesse got to the strange figure, the more he realized how young they were. They couldn’t have been older than fourteen and hardly came up to Jesse’s chest. Not to mention it had to be after midnight at this point. Wasn’t there a curfew in place for middle school students? Where were this kid’s parents? So many questions were floating through Jesse’s brain, but his mind chose another to ask instead. 

“Aren’t you a little young to be going to a bar?” 

The kid jumped, and it was the first time Jesse got a good look at the kid’s face. He had a round face and big round honest eyes. He watched as fear consumed them before they quickly shifted to complete and utter confusion.

“How…how can you see me?” the kid asked. “You’re human, and I haven’t left the illusion yet.” 

There was an illusion on this place? But that was the stuff of fantasy. Things like that didn’t exist in the real world.

“You’re as clear as day, kid.” A thought passed through Jesse’s head. Maybe this kid was just a figment of his imagination, something he was making up. Maybe this was just a sign of his mental state completely breaking down due to shitty alcohol. Other people had lost all cognitive reason due to less, right? Maybe that’s why his mother never told him stories about the Japanese half of his family? They all suffered mental breakdowns, and he was next in line. But wasn’t that something you needed to medically disclose to your son?

But something clicked in his head at that moment. Something that the kid had pointed out that was incredibly odd to say. “Wait,” Jesse said, shaking his head. “What do you mean? Both of us are human beings.” 

“Jesse, who are you talking to?” Shintaro asked. In his hands clutched his and Jesse’s shopping bags of empty alcohol cans.

“Uh, there’s a kid here,” Jesse said, pointing at the smaller boy in front of him, but the kid just sighed.

“He can’t see nor hear me,” the kid said. “I’m invisible to him because he’s just a human.”

Jesse motioned to himself and the kid in front of the bar. “But we’re both humans.”

“No shit,” Shintaro said. “I’m human. You’re human. Everyone on this planet is human.”

There had to be a way to get Shintaro to see this kid. He had seen the bar. He had acknowledged that it existed, but what had Shintaro done in order to see it? They had sat in the park. Jesse had thought that Shintaro was joking with him. Jesse had gotten angry then reached out and grabbed Shintaro’s shoulder. Shintaro saw the bar and then-

Jesse reached out and grabbed Shintaro’s wrist, and he watched as the dawning realization hit him like a load of bricks that a teenager had appeared from thin air.

“What the fucking shit balls magic sorcery is going on here? Where the fuck did you come from you little-” Shintaro kept shouting obscenities from behind Jesse’s hand, and the kid looked at both of them with a strange expression on his face. 

“Who are you?” the kid asked. “I’ve never met a human like you before.”

“I’m just Jesse,” he said, taking back his hand from Shintaro’s mouth the second he felt his best friend lick it. Jesse wiped his hand on Shintaro’s pants.

“Well, Just Jesse, I have no idea how you can see me or rocks. I haven’t learned that much yet, but maybe the owner can help you?” The kid tapped twice on the door, and it opened for him. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.” 

Jesse looked over at Shintaro, the other man shaking his head no as if not to follow, but Jesse ignored him. He was going to learn what was happening to him or die trying. Shintaro followed not long after him, closing the door behind him. 

The inside of the bar was as classy as the exterior and was perhaps the fanciest establishment Jesse had ever seen. The interior furniture was all black with accents of gold detailing. There were a few chandeliers hanging from the ceiling with the lights burning low, giving the room a dark but moody atmosphere. Clusters of four stuffed armchairs were scattered across the floor with low tables in the center of each grouping for customers to place their drinks upon. The walls had half circle booths lining them and on the right side was a long bar, and Jesse spotted a staircase heading up to the second floor.

The strangest part was the man behind the bar, polishing tall crystal glasses. He had a small frame, but he was covered in jewelry. His neck had at least four chunky necklaces, his wrists weighed down with bracelets with at least three pairs of earrings dangling from his ears, and Jesse could hardly count the amount of rings the bartender had. His golden hair was styled into curtain bangs and cut a shorter length, and, despite the low lighting of the bar, he had sunglasses hanging halfway down his nose.

“Ren-chan, I told you your lesson was over for the day,” the man said, holding a glass up to the light to check for smudges. “Go home. Your parents are probably worried because I kept you out so late.” 

“But I think your illusion is malfunctioning, Juri,” the boy, Ren, said. He pointed at Jesse. “That human saw me through it. He can see your magic den, too.” 

Juri placed the glass down, his vision bearing down into Jesse. He whipped the towel he had been using over his shoulder as he came out from behind the bar. The closer Juri came over, the faster Jesse’s heart was beating in his chest. This was it. This had to be the moment where he would learn exactly what was going on. This Juri guy didn’t look like a doctor, at least any kind that Jesse had been to as a kid, but he had to know something.

Juri’s gaze was intense as he stood in front of Jesse, hardly a few feet in front of him. His eyes never lingered for too long on a part of Jesse’s tall frame, but Jesse had no idea what the bartender was even looking for. A mole? A scar? Some kind of abnormality on the little skin Jesse was showing? Maybe even if his posture was slightly off? He only hoped that this wouldn’t take too much more time.

“Hey, so, if you could not kill either of us, that would be great,” Shintaro said as Juri continued to appraise Jesse.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Juri said, pushing his sunglasses up to the top of his nose. “I’m not well versed in magic law, but I’m fairly certain there’s rules against killing humans. Besides,” his gaze shifted to Shintaro, “I’d get blood on the carpet. That’s bad for business.”

“Magic?” Jesse laughed. “Magic’s not real.”

“It’s not?” Juri asked.

Jesse felt someone tap him on the shoulder, and when he turned to look Juri was somehow behind him. He scrambled away. In his rush, Jesse tripped on one of the armchairs and went tumbling to the ground.

“How, you, but you were over, but, how?” the words kept flowing through Jesse’s mouth, but he could never complete a full sentence. 

“Magic is very much real, you silly human,” Juri said, stepping over Jesse’s gangly limbs so he could crouch next to him. “It’s why I’ve illusioned my bar so heavily, so I don’t have to be the one to explain how magic society can exist at the fringes of your little human one.” Juri’s long fingers grabbed Jesse by the collar, tugging him up so they were eye level. “Our stories, our history, are not little games for you to treat like novelties. Now get out-”

“I kind of like him, Juri,” Ren said, butting into Juri’s little speech and making the bartender stop. “You have to admit that he’s pretty unique for a human. No one from his kind has ever seen your magic den before.”

There was that word again. Magic den. Ren had said it earlier, but it was the first time it had really latched itself into Jesse’s brain.

Juri’s focus had shifted elsewhere, his grip on Jesse’s clothing lessening, so he took the time to free himself. He inched away from Juri’s clutches and wobbled his way back into a standing position thanks to one of the armchairs.

“But, Ren, I’m not going to be the one to explain everything to-” 

“Then don’t,” the kid said, the softest smile gracing his lips. “Don’t you have that lion line friend of yours that’s pretty powerful? You can always ask him to help. You know he would if you asked.”

Jesse watched as Juri sighed, his features softening with Ren’s words. There was a gentleness that hadn’t been there before, and there was almost the hint of a smile. Almost. It could have been a trick of the light or the angle of Juri’s face in Jesse’s vision. “But that means the two of them have to come back.”

“And?” Ren said, his expression only turning purer as he continued to speak. “Aren’t you always telling me to be nice to the humans at my school? You should practice the kindness that you tell me to have, too, Juri of the Fox Line.” 

Juri continued to crumble, the rough expression on his face melting away with every retort that Ren gave. He seemed to be fumbling for any bit of rational logic to continue to deny them but was failing at every turn within his mind. Every argument he gave, Ren had an answer for, and Jesse was cheering for the kid in his head. Luckily, Ren had an ace up his sleeve.

“If you don’t help, I’ll tell your mother you were being mean to humans,” Ren said.

Juri waved his hand and, within it, two dog tags appeared. “Do not,” he said, passing one to Jesse and the other to Shintaro, “under any circumstances bring any of your human friends here. These tags are for you and you only to get back into rocks. That’s it.” He eyes them both. “I’ll ask my friend why you can see my magic den and if he has an answer for it. After he finds the answer, I’m taking the tags back. Got it?” 

Jesse and Shintaro both nodded.

“Now get out. All three of you. I still have work to do.” Juri snapped his fingers, and the door to the bar-magic den?-opened, and Jesse wasted no time in exiting.

Once on the street, Jesse couldn’t help but ruffle Ren’s hair. “Nice going, little man. I don’t know why you did that, but I appreciate the help.” 

“That dude was so scary,” Shintaro said, and Jesse could hear the empty beer cans rattling around in the bags Shintaro was still clutching. “How do you put up with him?” 

Ren just laughed. “Juri isn’t that bad. He just likes to look scary. You’ll get used to him, don’t worry.” He gave a little wave. “It was nice meeting the two of you. Maybe we’ll see each other again one day.” 

Jesse gave the kid a wave before he blinked and suddenly the kid was gone.

“That was so weird,” Shintaro said. “I really hope this is all one big weird dream.” 

Jesse looked down to the dog tag he was still clutching, one side holding the cursive script design of rocks’ logo on it with a fox outline on the left side.

“Something tells me,” Jesse said slowly, his thumb swiping over the indented lettering, “that this is just the beginning of something big.”

Shintaro was still passed out when Jesse woke the next morning, mumbling something about flying cake when Jesse tried to wake him up. Jesse let him sleep and quickly got ready for his ten a.m. class. When he was halfway to class, Jesse would send Shintaro a text letting him know where he had disappeared to.

The walk from Shintaro’s apartment to the medicine and health sciences building wasn’t long, no more than fifteen minutes, and Jesse had enough time to pop into a convenience store for an orange juice and a package of fluffy pancakes from the bread aisle to tide himself over until lunch. Today would be fine. Everything was fine. 

Those words became his mantra as he weaved his way around his fellow university students, the events from the previous night replaying in his head. The mysterious appearance of that magic den, Ren’s confusion, and the display that magic was somehow real. He didn’t know how, but it was. When Jesse had awoken, the dog tag was still clutched in his hand, the swooping cursive writing still etched into the metal along with the fox. It was the one tangible bit of proof that everything that happened hadn’t been a dream.

The thought it could be a prank entered Jesse’s mind as he crossed the threshold of his major’s building. It had all of the makings of an incredible hoax. Shintaro could have hired both men as actors for one of his biggest pranks ever. He had done something similar in the past with much less success. Not to mention Jesse had been drinking the night before, so it could have been possible for Juri to switch positions without Jesse noticing in his drunken stupor.

But, even then, Jesse didn’t doubt his memory and the turn of events. Juri had been too far to make that leap behind Jesse. It was a blink of the eye kind of movement that even the world’s fastest human couldn’t achieve. Which meant-

Jesse shook the thought from his head as he entered his anatomy class. There was no way he could think about this right now. He needed to keep his mind sharp for today’s lecture. His professor had already hinted at a pop quiz in Friday’s class the week before, and the subject matter for today’s lecture would most definitely be on it. He needed to keep his grades up if he had any chance of getting into a good medical school. 

But a familiar hand on Jesse’s shoulder tugged his attention, the low voice of its owner sending a strange beat through his heart. 

“Jesse…are you okay?”

He whipped his head around, his jaw dropping. “Hokuto, what are you doing here?”

Hokuto had been a part of Jesse’s life since his first day at university. Jesse, Shintaro, and their high school friend, Kochi, had all moved into the same dorm building, and Hokuto had just kind of…appeared out of nowhere. He clung to Jesse’s side as if he had always been there, and Jesse didn’t see a reason to turn Hokuto away. The handsome, bookish Japanese kid seemed sweet, and, when he let his personality out, was ridiculously funny as well. No one else seemed to reject the new addition, so their trio swiftly turned into a foursome, spending lunch together more often than not. 

Hokuto settled into the seat next to Jesse on the back row, shedding his backpack and depositing it on the floor next to him. He was dressed in his signature checkerboard bomber jacket and had accessorized with magenta loafers that day. His pants had slits at the knee, so Jesse could see how they bent. “You didn’t hear me call after you? You looked a bit out of it, so I was worried.” 

Hokuto had been trying to call out to him? Jesse racked his brain, trying to pull a memory, anything, from his brain but came up with nothing. He had always prided himself on being able to pick Hokuto’s voice out from a crowd of people and not being able to remember this hurt him more than he imagined.

“Something crazy happened last night,” Jesse said. He opened his own backpack, getting out his notebook and pencil case as Hokuto got out his own supplies. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” Hokuto said as he stifled a yawn.

Jesse raised his eyebrow. “Are you okay? You usually go to bed so early.”

“Late night phone call,” was Hokuto’s response, and he didn’t offer any more information than that.

The statement made Jesse pause. Outside of their group of four, it didn’t seem like Hokuto had many friends. Jesse had seen his fair share of women, and a few men, approach Hokuto with the intention of asking his friend out. Even in his quirkiness, there was a beauty and elegance to Hokuto that Jesse couldn’t help but admire. But there was a firm wall that Hokuto had erected between himself and those around him, and his social circle remained small and compact. It begged the question, who had he been talking to?

A thought hit Jesse over the head as his professor came into the room, voice loud and commanding as they brought order to their classroom. 

“Wait,” Jesse hissed between his teeth. “What are you doing here? You’re a political science major, and you’re not signed up for this class.”

Hokuto only shushed him as the professor started the lecture on muscles pertaining to the leg.

The two hour class passed excruciatingly slowly, the words Jesse’s professor said floating in one ear, traveling the course of his body to his hand to be written down on the page in front of him. His brain couldn’t process the information with Hokuto sitting at the desk next to him. Jesse risked a few glances over throughout the lecture, seeing how intrigued Hokuto looked throughout the class, scribbling a word here or there in his notebook. 

The past twenty-four hours was starting to feel more and more as if Jesse had entered an alternate dimension. Ever since high school, he had known that his calling in life was to be a doctor. Jesse wanted to help people in any way that he could. His father had been thrilled, his mother not so much, but she still expressed her joy at him deciding what he wanted to do with his life.

It meant long hours of studying and more tests a month than Jesse had fingers and toes. Hokuto had often been the one helping Jesse study for his exams, Kochi and Shintaro hardly able to pronounce the complicated words on Jesse’s notecards. Not that Jesse could read them either. His textbooks were littered with his cramped hiragana above each difficult kanji. It was his process to help him learn and remember the readings of the complicated characters.

His life had been so by the textbook that these little anomalies popping up concerned him to his very soul. He would have never imagined Hokuto studying muscles next to him nor learning that magic was real. The only logical explanation to this all was he had slid into a different multiverse once the clock hit midnight, and Jesse was now living the life of another one of his counterparts. That was what had happened, and he would roll with it…somehow. 

When his professor dismissed them at noon, Jesse stuffed his belongings back in his bag before grabbing Hokuto’s hand as his friend stood up to leave.

“Now, now, dear Hokuto,” he said, lacing his fingers with his friend’s. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Hokuto smiled, giving Jesse’s hand a tight squeeze before letting it go. “I knew your major was interesting, but I hadn’t realized how fascinating it was until now. I can see why you love it so much,” he said as he melted in with the other students leaving to go to their next class or lunch. 

Jesse stood stunned for a moment before collecting himself and hurrying after Hokuto. Under any normal circumstances, what Hokuto said would be fine. There were plenty of Jesse’s classmates who would bring partners or underclassmen friends in to get a taste of what the upper level professors were like. Jesse’s anatomy teacher was the one outlier. Jesse had never known them to accept a student not on the class list. 

“How did you do that?” he asked once he had caught up to Hokuto.

“Do what?”

“Sit in on that class,” Jesse said.

“Jesse Lewis, you would be surprised at the opportunities you get when you show kindness to the people around you,” Hokuto said as he opened the door to the dining hall.

Shintaro and Kochi were already at their usual table in the corner, lunches half consumed in front of them. They were bickering about something, he didn’t care to listen to what exactly. Jesse dropped off his bag at their table before going to join the lunch line with Hokuto. They spent the better part of the wait cracking jokes if the new “stamina yakiniku rice bowl” on the menu would instantly inflate their muscles or if it still required gym time. In the end, Jesse ordered his usual fried chicken, rice, miso soup, and sides with Hokuto copying his exact order. 

The table was oddly quiet when they returned. Too quiet. Hokuto didn’t say a thing. He only pulled out a small novel from his backpack. Hokuto had always preferred to read during lunch, his books always covered by the same nondescript paper covering bookstores offered with each book purchase, and chimed into the conversation when necessary. Jesse didn’t mind. He liked imagining what sort of dirty romance novels Hokuto enjoyed while chaos surrounded him on all sides. But the lack of boisterous energy from the other two at the table was concerning to Jesse.

“Everything alright?” Jesse asked, eyeing the two across the table from him.

Shintaro spoke first. “Tell him I’m not lying!”

“Oh, come on, grow up!” Kochi snapped. “You had a drunken dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream!” Shintaro said, his voice rising in pitch with every word. “I know what I saw, and Jesse was there, too. Right, Jesse?” 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jesse saw Hokuto do a little spiral with his chopsticks, his eyes concentrating on the food in front of him. His tongue darted out, licking his lips, before settling on which piece of chicken he wanted to eat next. 

“I need a little more context before I agree with either of you,” Jesse said. 

Shintaro leaned forward, his voice barely hissing from between his teeth. “It’s about the magic.”

“Dude, stop acting so childish for once in your life,” Kochi huffed. “Magic isn’t real. It’s the stuff of fairytales.”

Shintaro’s eyes were pleading, desperate almost, and Jesse couldn’t bear to let his best friend look like a complete and utter fool. “But Shin is right,” Jesse said. “Magic is real. We both experienced it last night.”

Kochi sighed and pushed his lunch tray forward, it bumping into Hokuto’s and sending his soup sloshing around the tiny bowl. “You’re both drunk! Or on the tail end of a bad trip or something.”

“I don’t do drugs. I’m perfectly sane,” Shintaro muttered.

“Sorry, I forgot about that,” Kochi apologized, wincing at Shintaro’s words before continuing his rant. “I know we’re all hardly considered real adults by society’s standards, but you have to learn to separate dreams from the reality of the situation,” Kochi said. “You both got drunk last night. You both obviously had some kind of weird connected dream, and you woke up convinced that magic is real.”

“But it is real!” Shintaro whined, but Jesse only saw Kochi’s annoyance continue to flare.

“It. Is. Not!” Kochi’s hand slapped the table, and Jesse felt himself jolt up from the sudden sound. Kochi turned to face Hokuto who was across from him. “Hokuto, you’re logical and a decent human being. Tell them magic isn’t real.” 

Hokuto paused in his chewing, a half-eaten piece of chicken perched between his chopsticks. If he was invested in any part of the argument, his face didn’t show it. He took his time chewing then swallowing, Jesse’s eyes following the movement of Hokuto’s neck as he swallowed before returning to Hokuto’s face.

“But it is real,” Hokuto said before plopping the other half of his fried chicken in his mouth.

For a moment, just a moment, no one said a thing. If there hadn’t been a symphony of noise around them, their fellow students talking and shouting their conversations at surrounding tables, you could have heard a pin drop amongst the four of them. Three sets of eyes glued to Hokuto as he stayed engaged with his novel until things descended into a chaotic swirl of voices all speaking at once.

“I FUCKING TOLD YOU IT WAS REAL, YOU LITTLE-”

“Hokuto, come on, not you, too! You can’t keep playing into their-” 

“Wait, why are you agreeing with us? This doesn’t make any-” 

Hokuto turned the page of his book. Jesse saw how he read a few lines, his lips mouthing the words, and at the end Hokuto gave another little wave of his chopsticks. When the movement was complete, Jesse felt something within his throat change, and, no matter how he tried to speak, not a single word would fall from his lips.

Hokuto sighed, a serene smile gracing his lips. “Much better.”

Jesse looked across the table, Kochi gripping his own throat as fear clung to his eyes. Shintaro’s gaze kept flicking between the other three at the table.

“Now, if the three of you promise to not make utter fools of yourselves, I’ll release the spell on your voice boxes, so you can speak,” Hokuto said. “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions. There’s a barrier spell around us all, so we can speak freely without being listened in on.”

When he received a nod from each of them, Hokuto waved his chopsticks once more. Jesse felt his throat release, and he could speak once more.

“What kind of weird and twisted world did I just enter?” Jesse heard Kochi mutter under his breath. 

“A magical one,” Shintaro said, earning a glare from Kochi. 

“Hokuto,” Jesse said, his voice oddly soft, “what in the world are you?”

“The same as you,” Hokuto said.

“Yeah, you’re human. We’re all human,” Kochi said, elbows on the table with his face in his hands. He groaned loudly. “When did all of my friends turn into drunken idiots? I wasn’t made for this!”

Hokuto’s voice was firm when he spoke, a fire burning in his eyes that Jesse had never seen before. His words were like flames when he spoke, each one catching onto Kochi and making the oldest of the group jump in order to avoid getting burned. “I am not human. I’m magic.” Hokuto discarded his chopsticks, the wood clattering to the tray as he continued to speak. “I come from powerful lines with seats in Shizuoka and Tokyo. The idea that my family could be anything but magic is a disrespect to all those who came before me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kochi said, his hands clasped together. “I didn’t mean that at all.” 

Shintaro’s eyes were practically sparkling. “So you’re, like, super powerful or something?”

“I…I am.” Hokuto’s voice sounded unsure as he spoke. “If magic lines are to be believed, I’m powerful. Compared to a squirrel or a rabbit, of course.”

The more Jesse’s friends spoke around him, the more his world continued to crumble. Hokuto had been magic since the day they met? Had he seen these pitiful people around him and only saw them as a joke? Something to pass the time? Jesse knew in his heart this wasn’t the truth. Hokuto was their friend. He had proved it time and time again over the years, but why hold onto this big of a secret after so long? 

“Jesse.” The way Hokuto said his name was so soft, so gentle. It was caressed as if it was the most precious thing in the world, and Jesse couldn’t ignore its call to him. “This doesn’t change anything. You’re still the same person we all became friends with.”

Hokuto’s words weren’t connecting to his brain. What did that mean? Of course Jesse was the same person that he was. Nothing had changed about him except the mysterious circumstances from last night. 

“I’ve been waiting years for you to realize your capabilities, and, now that it’s finally leaking out, I’m sure that there’s a lot of confusion bouncing around in your head,” Hokuto continued to ramble, but Jesse cut him off.

“Hokuto, what do you mean?” he asked.

“Jesse…you’re magic.”

The world around him seemed to fracture into a thousand pieces. Magic? Wouldn’t he have known if he was magic? From the few magic individuals that Jesse had met, they all seemed to be able to do these incredible things. Juri could teleport around a room and was training that Ren kid. So that Ren could probably do something incredible. Jesse wasn’t sure what that was, but it definitely existed. And Hokuto? Hokuto could do spells with a flick of his wrist. All Jesse could do was see strange bars at midnight in Tokyo. That couldn’t make him magic. It just made him an anomaly.

“Not every magic being can sense your power,” Hokuto said, taking Jesse’s hand in his. His light touch traced the knuckles of Jesse’s hand. “My lineage has been trained since the dawn of the ten brothers to sense the power in magic beings. Your magic has always been there, hidden behind a block, but it’s been there.” The skin of Jesse’s hand began to tingle until a red light lit up beneath his fingertips, spreading across the veins of his hands and following them through his whole body. With a wave of Hokuto’s hand, the red light died out as quickly as it had appeared. “Your magic exists deep within you, but the block bars access to you being able to use it. I sensed it the first day I met you, and I knew you would have questions the moment the block started to fade. Someone needed to explain what you were, and I knew I had to be the person to do it.”

“This is crazy!” Kochi butted in.

“It is kind of insane, not gonna lie,” Shintaro said.

“But it’s true,” Hokuto said, brows furrowed. “I’ve been waiting for Jesse to start exhibiting some kind of magical ability. Now that his magic is starting to seep out, it’s time.”

When Jesse’s voice came out, it was hardly an audible whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Hokuto bit his lip, his gaze drifting before he met Jesse’s eyes once more. “Sometimes…sometimes it’s better to spend time away from this world. It is a cruel and difficult place to grow up. I wouldn’t blame your family for not wanting to be a part of it. If I hadn’t been born into my line, I would have completely left a long time ago.” He sighed. “But now that your magic is being released, we have to move fast. If you’ll let me, I would love to teach you the side of magic society that I love and adore.”

The sentiment in Hokuto’s words made Jesse’s heart flutter though he wasn’t quite sure why.

“Let’s talk more after our classes today,” Hokuto said. “All four of us. I know a place we can go where we won’t be disturbed by humans.”

“I thought I warned you,” Juri said the moment Jesse walked into rocks, Kochi right at his heels, “no more humans besides the two of you.” Juri was dressed up compared to the last time Jesse had come into the magic den, an all black attire of slacks, button up dress shirt, and suit jacket on. He even had a tie, but his accessories still remained. He was still weighed down with enough bracelets, necklaces, rings and earrings to fund a small nation’s economy. 

“At least we didn’t double the number of us,” Shintaro said, stepping through the threshold after Kochi. “You know what they say in America! ‘Double entendre, double the fun!’”

“They don’t say that in the U.S. Don’t listen to him,” Jesse stage whispered behind his hand, earning a loud “HEY!” from Shintaro.

Jesse watched as the annoyance flared up on Juri’s features, collecting at his nose, mouth ready to form more cutting remarks, but everything faded the moment Hokuto followed Shintaro through the front door. “You’re early!”

“Early?” Shintaro asked, sliding sideways into one of the armchairs closest to the bar, legs dangling off of the arms. Jesse watched as Kochi wandered around the inside of the magic den, mouth agape at the décor. “You two know each other or something?” 

“We went to school together,” Hokuto began before Juri jumped in.

“Hokuto moved here from Shizuoka when we were young,” Juri said, and Jesse saw something—admiration?— shining in Juri’s eyes. “We studied at the same schools until Hokuto left to study at a human high school.” His nose crinkled at the word ‘human.’ “If anyone can find out why there are three stinky humans in my-”

“Excuse!” Shintaro said, hand over his heart is fake aghast. “There are only two normal smelling humans in this bar-”

“Magic den,” Juri cut in, earning a roll of the eyes from Shintaro. 

“Sorry. Two normal humans in this magic den,” Shintaro finished.

“You mean to tell me that he’s magic?” Juri asked, gesturing over to Kochi who had gotten up onto one of the low tables and was prodding at a chandelier.

Jesse raised his hand. “That would be me apparently.”

Juri stared at Jesse. He stared at him as if Jesse had spouted three heads and an additional five eyeballs scattered around his forehead. It was as if Juri had been given a thousand piece puzzle and was told to solve it only by bouncing the pieces together. The sight before him appeared to be such a confusing conundrum that, no matter how he attacked the problem in his head, there was no possible solution. 

“But-”

“Trust me, Juri. He’s just like us,” Hokuto said, coming farther into the den. He took a seat at one of the barstools, and he dropped his backpack on the floor next to him. “Jesse only lacks access to his magic.”

Juri’s rough and stern exterior cracked for just a moment and he sighed with such sweet relief. “I was worried there was something wrong with my magic,” Juri said. He raised one of his hands, stretching it up to the lighting and his gaze followed the movement. “I thought I was broken.” He sighed once more, his hand returning to the bar. “This does make things easier since you know Hokuto of the Lion Line."

“Uh, don’t you mean Matsumura Hokuto of the Lion Line?” Kochi asked. A mass of tiny light bulbs was clutched in one of his hands, the other in the middle of unscrewing another to add to his growing collection.

Juri’s mouth opened, a scornful word ready to launch in the air, but Hokuto beat him to it once more. “In magic society, we don’t have last names. It’s something we choose in order to blend in with humans.” He tapped on the counter. “Juri, my usual, please,” Hokuto said.

Juri grumbled but began to fill whatever Hokuto ordered.

“My family chose the last name ‘Matsumura’ in order to appear normal to humans, and, when I came of age, I decided to follow in their footsteps and keep that last name. Juri on the other hand,” Hokuto gestured to the bartender concocting a drink that appeared to be the blackest night sky riddled with stars, “and his family have chosen the human last name ‘Tanaka’ throughout their generations. In magic society, we are addressed by our given names at birth and which magic line we were born into.”

“Isn’t that needlessly….confusing?” Jesse asked, inching closer to the bar as Juri added a blue syrup to the drink that sent a swirl of purple galaxies through the glass. “I mean what if there are two Hokutos in the lion line or wherever you’re from. Wouldn’t a last name help distinguish one from the other?”

“These ideals and practices began when our society was small,” Hokuto explained. Juri finished up the drink with a sprinkling of red powder that, when swirled in, added the sweetest aroma Jesse had ever smelled. “It’s the tradition families continue to cling to despite the magic community growing larger each year.”

The drink was placed upon the bar, and Hokuto picked it up. He breathed in the scent of it before offering it to Jesse. “I’ve gone to countless other dens in the city, but nothing compares to the concoctions Juri creates here.” 

Jesse took the glass from Hokuto, their fingers brushing ever so slightly, before taking the smallest sip. The flavor was unlike anything he had ever tasted, a sweetness so mild but a flavor that consumed his very being. It felt as if Jesse had been ripped from his body and thrown thousands of miles in the air, his body caressed and held by a hundred stars as the planets slowly turned before his eyes.

He felt Hokuto take his drink back as starlight continued to twinkle before Jesse’s eyes. “Incredible, isn’t it?” Hokuto asked, taking his own sip. “No human drink can ever compare to one made in a magic den.” 

“Can I try one, too?” Shintaro asked, but Juri’s response was swift and cutting. 

“When you start exhibiting magical abilities, you can try my drinks,” he said, and Shintaro deflated on the armchair.

“How about me?” Kochi had claimed the low table in front of Shintaro and looked as if he was setting up some kind of checkers game, just missing the standard play mat. He threw one of the ten light bulbs he had collected, hitting Shintaro in the thigh, before motioning for Shintaro to join him on the floor.

“I feel like I’m babysitting a kindergarten full of children.” Juri rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Hokuto, how have you survived so long in the human world? I would go insane having to deal with all of these people.” 

Jesse felt himself slowly return to his body, a gentle downward rocking motion as he blinked the stars from his lashes. “Hey, we’re not that bad!” he said. “Sometimes Shin does a cartwheel and almost doesn’t kick Kochi in the face.”

“I had to see a doctor twice about the damage!” Kochi shouted. Whatever strange checkers game had started, and Kochi had claimed one of Shintaro’s light bulbs. He tossed it at Shintaro, hitting him in the shoulder.

“I said I was sorry,” Shintaro pouted, rubbing the opposite shoulder that had been hit by the light bulb. Kochi rolled his eyes at him. 

It was hard not to crack a smile at the memory, even if it had been the most stressful five hours of their lives. Jesse had been the one to dial for the ambulance, fingers trembling over each number on the touchpad of his phone as Shintaro scrambled to stop the bleeding. Only one of them had been allowed in the ambulance with Kochi, and Shintaro had taken the spot since he had been the one to injure him in the first place. They had been lucky Kochi hadn’t required any surgery. The second time it had happened a few weeks later, the doctor had stared Shintaro down, warning him to be careful of where he kicked his legs. 

Juri did a sweeping gesture at the three men not seated at the counter. “I rest my case, Hokuto. You need more magic friends. You’ve only got like two.”

Jesse perked up where he stood. He had been eyeing Hokuto’s drink, trying to make eye contact with his friend to ask for another sip, but Hokuto’s gaze never left the rim of his glass. “And one of those magic friends is me, right?” he asked, nudging Hokuto’s arm with his elbow.

“….he’s got like three magic friends,” Juri said. “And I am his friend from the fox line, so you better not end up from there. Also,” Juri flicked his wrist, and one of the light bulbs from the checkers game smacked Kochi in the chest., “that’s enough of that.” 

“But we’re almost done,” Kochi said, gesturing to the game in front of them. Kochi had two pieces left while Shintaro was doing his best to claim victory with just a single light bulb. “Give us like five more minutes and two more rounds, and we’ll put stuff back in place.” 

“Yeah, chillax a bit!” Shintaro said. He moved his light bulb to a single place, and Kochi moved his to be diagonal from it. Shintaro moved swiftly to claim it. “It’s just a bit of harmless fun.” 

“I said put those back!” Juri snapped. One of his glasses was in his hand, cocked back and ready to be thrown across the den.

“Hey, hey, relax.” Jesse threw up his hands as Kochi began scrambling to collect and put all of the light bulbs in their proper places. Shintaro helped with a few before he returned to his arm chair, flopping on it sideways once more. “I won’t be a fox if you’ll stop threatening my friends. I’ll choose something else, like a zebra, so we won’t overlap.”

Hokuto’s laugh was magic to Jesse’s ears, so low and smooth like melting chocolate. “There’s no zebra line. Your line is determined by which ones your parents belonged to. The ten magic lines are lion, wolf, hawk, snake, fox, monkey, rabbit, chameleon, cow, and squirrel.” 

Out of all of the animals, Jesse really hoped that he wasn’t a squirrel. Just from the sound of it, it felt as if that one was the weakest. He wouldn’t have minded being a chameleon or even a monkey, at least those sounded somewhat interesting. He couldn’t imagine what good a squirrel could do.

“Each line has their own special brand of magic. As a fox, Juri specializes in illusion magic,” Hokuto continued. Jesse leaned in as Hokuto spoke, wanting to soak in every word from his friend’s lips. “Lions are leaders and the most powerful casters. They say that some lion lines are well versed in blood control magic.”

A crashing sound came behind them, but it was only Shintaro falling to the floor, scrambling to get as far away from Hokuto as he could.

“YOU BETTER NOT DO THAT SPELL ON ME!” Shintaro shouted, and for a second, just a second, Jesse saw Juri contemplate throwing another glass he was cleaning at his friend. At the last moment, Juri put it down amongst the others. 

“That’s not my family’s specialty,” Hokuto said, but Jesse could see Shintaro didn’t quite believe Hokuto’s words. “Ever since I was young, I’ve been raised with the intention of taking over my mother’s family’s seat in magic society.” He gripped his glass just a bit tighter. “Once my grandfather abdicates his position, I’ll be in charge of creating spell books for magical youth.” 

Spell books seemed…a little crazy to Jesse. Not that he couldn’t believe in their existence, but it felt a little too scripted, a little too by the book for his taste. He was already having to accept that magic existed faster than he could comprehend, not to mention many of Hokuto and Juri’s words weren’t clinging to his brain the way that he wanted them to, but spell books? He wasn’t sure why, but this was the one thing Jesse couldn’t believe. 

Hokuto dug into his backpack, depositing the little novel he had been reading at lunch on the bar counter. It rested perfectly between himself and Jesse. “Juri,” he said, motioning to the magic den owner. 

Juri sighed, pushing back his suit jacket so he could lift up his dress shirt just enough to reach for a small notepad that was tucked between his pants and his stomach. He slapped the little notebook on the table across from Hokuto’s.

“These books are the physical representation of our magic. Their form is dependent on the choice of the user,” Hokuto said, motioning for Kochi and Shintaro to come closer and look. Both did so almost begrudgingly. “In order for a magic being to cast, we must touch our spell books. To maintain that kind of connection, they’re often hidden beneath our clothes, so we have constant access to our abilities when among humans.”

Memories clicked firmly into place as Hokuto spoke. Throughout the years they had known each other, Jesse had seen Hokuto read countless novels during their time together. But the more he thought about it, the more he noticed the brown paper-covered novels had never changed size or shape. The books in Hokuto’s hand had always been roughly the size of his hand, hardly three hundred pages, and Jesse was kicking himself for never noticing it was the same book the whole time. More importantly, he couldn’t believe his theory of Hokuto being a dirty romance connoisseur was wrong . 

“Can I…?” Jesse gestured towards Hokuto’s spell book. There was a second of hesitation, Hokuto freezing for just a moment, before he gave the smallest of nods. 

Hokuto’s spell book felt like any other novel from a bookstore in Jesse’s hands. It was wrapped in the standard paper cover stores would wrap around their books to keep nosy patrons on trains from seeing exactly what novel was being consumed. Even then, the pages felt soft under Jesse’s hands as if they had been read time and time again, showing the love from its owner.

The inside was completely different from any novel Jesse had picked up in his life. Each page had the words of a spell written upon it along with a small illustration hinting at its intention. There were spells for creating barriers, cleaning, and swiftly changing clothes. There was even one that took up three pages with the illustration appearing as if a book was being expelled from someone’s chest. Each page held a new discovery for Jesse to find, and he devoured each one.

He felt himself grow more and more excited as he mouthed along the words to a spell he thought involved levitation. If this was the kind of knowledge Hokuto had, he couldn’t wait to expand his own magical knowledge. There was a lot to learn, and Jesse wished that he could start studying right away.

“Just…be careful whose spell book you ask to look through, Jesse.” Jesse looked up from the page, and Hokuto’s face looked a little more red than normal. “Reading another person’s spell book is the most intimate thing you could do. It shows a deep level of trust you have for the other person because you’re letting down your defenses against them.” 

“Oh,” Jesse said simply. He could feel a blush starting to spread across his cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t know.” He closed Hokuto’s spell book and put it back at its place on the counter.

“You’re fine.” Hokuto waved him off. “I’m sure there are plenty of people who share their spell books with their friends.”

“Not me,” Jesse heard Juri mumble. There was an odd expression on Juri’s face. He kept glancing back and forth between Hokuto and Jesse, but, if he had any qualms or worries, he didn’t say anything. He kept restocking the area behind the bar. 

“In regards to your spell book, we can’t go to my grandfather and his colleagues to make yours. It will invite too many questions.” Hokuto took a large gulp of his drink, and Jesse saw the way the stars danced across Hokuto’s pupils. How could he drink so much and yet remain so present? “But if we don’t conduct the ceremony soon, your magic will break free of the block encasing it, overwhelm you, and kill you.”

Jesse felt as if he had been shocked. His limbs tingled as his heartbeat picked up. This had all felt like fun and games since this morning. A little ridiculous adventure, a few magic lessons here and there, and Jesse would become an expert spellcaster in no time, or whatever these magic people said. The fear built in his body like a lightning strike, and Jesse lashed out.

“Excuse me?” Jesse said, pushing himself back from the bar. The stool he was sitting in went clattering to the floor. “How are there consequences to all of this now?” His blood was rushing through his veins the more he spoke, and he clutched onto the edge of the bar to keep himself standing. “You should have told me earlier, so I could mentally prepare for my impending death!”

“Calm down,” Juri snapped. “And stop talking to my friend like that.”

“He’s my friend, too!”

“And he was my friend first, you hulking excuse for magic.” Juri slammed his hands down on the bar. “We all go through this ceremony as teenagers. We all get our magic bound into a spell book because if we don’t, it’ll grow exponentially and kill us. It’s not Hokuto’s fault your parents excluded you. Now apologize or I’m kicking you out of rocks and making it so you can never return.”

Jesse couldn’t breathe. His lungs wouldn’t work like he wanted them to. He felt as if no matter how much air he took in, it wasn’t enough for his body to function like normal. How did Juri expect him to move forward when Jesse had just been told if they didn’t act quick enough, he would expire and be gone from this world just like that? It wasn’t news that anyone could properly process in minutes.

But then he looked to Hokuto, and every bit of air was expelled from Jesse’s body. The other boy was clutching onto his glass as if it was the one thing grounding him in this world. There was fear in his eyes, all consuming fear, and Jesse couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed how much Hokuto was shaking. Every emotion that had passed through Jesse, his own fear and panic, anger, and annoyance, evaporated, and he pulled Hokuto into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” Jesse whispered, squeezing Hokuto tight before releasing him.

“It’s fine,” Hokuto said, wiping the side of his face that Jesse couldn’t see. “Don’t worry about it.”

Jesse felt a hand be placed on his shoulder. “Jess, you’ll be fine,” Kochi said, squeezing Jesse’s shoulder. “These magic people probably know what they’re doing.”

“I do.” Hokuto took another sip of his drink. “The spell is usually cast with ten people, but I believe we can do it if there’s only three of us.” Hokuto paused for a moment. “Juri and I will of course take part. I’ll also be teaching our snake line-”

“No,” Juri said. He snatched his spell book from the countertop and slid it back into the waistband of his pants. “I’m out. If you’re inviting him, I’m not doing it.” 

Hokuto looked absolutely flabbergasted. “Juri, the two of you are friends-” 

“And you know how I feel about his kind of magic,” Juri snapped. “You know I don’t, I can’t, be around him when he does that. I can’t, Hokuto, I can’t.” Juri’s words lost their edge the more he spoke until they were hardly a murmur in his throat.

There was something there, some kind of past event, that Jesse couldn’t put his finger on nor find the courage to ask about. Juri’s walls were firmly up, and, having only met the guy once before, Jesse wasn’t sure he even had the right to know. If he was barely alluding to whatever had happened, there was no way he would let three strangers into his world.

“Hey, so, I don’t really know you or anything,” Shintaro said from his place at the bar, “and you’re one of now three magic people that I know now, but you got this, my magic fox bro.” Shintaro reached over and nudged Juri’s shoulder with this fist. “Besides, if anything goes wrong, Jesse will be there to save your ass.”

That sentiment made Juri snort. “Oh, please. If anything, I’m going to save him.”

“Got him!” Shintaro said, slapping Hokuto’s shoulder, making the lion almost spill his drink. “So we’re all good! Operation save Jesse’s life is a go! You guys learn the fancy spell thing, Jesse, Kochi and I relax, and Juri gives Kochi one of those dog tags so he can come here, too.” 

Juri coughed.

Shintaro’s eyes were glittering in anticipation.

“You probably should give him a pass, Juri,” Hokuto said. “Whether he has an invitation or not, you know these two will keep bringing him regardless of your wishes.”

Juri waved his hand, another one of his dog tags appearing from thin air. “I hate it here,” he grumbled, passing the tag to Kochi, and Jesse let out the largest laugh.

The days passed slowly as September bled into October. The air grew cooler, humid fall bleeding into a more cool and temperate weather. Jesse’s professors pushed their classes farther into the textbooks, demanding more work from their students. Quizzes became an almost daily occurrence in order to pound the material in Jesse and his fellow classmates’ heads. It was all in the name of preparing them for their final year of undergrad, but it felt more like torture. 

Though his school days were spent pouring over textbooks in the school library, there was a new scent burrowing its way into Jesse’s nose. It was the most delicate smell, fragile but it coyly crawled amongst all of Jesse’s senses. It begged for his attention, sneaking into Jesse’s lungs with every breath he took until his head was spinning from the smallest hint of it. He racked through his brain, trying to pull at any memory of why this scent felt so familiar to his soul but came up with nothing. It wasn’t until one evening Hokuto was helping Jesse study, the pair sitting next to each other on the couch, did Jesse get the courage to ask Hokuto about it. 

“That,” Hokuto said, thighs brushing against Jesse’s as reached for the next set of flashcards on Jesse’s coffee table, “is the scent of magic. Isn’t it incredible?”

Of course magic had a smell! Jesse should have known, especially the way it enticed all of his senses. Walking down the streets of Tokyo from his apartment to his university, magic floated all around him, and Jesse couldn’t believe he had never noticed it before. The city thrummed with magical energy no matter where he went. Now that he was paying attention to the world around him, he saw people’s clothes changing with the blink of an eye as well as others disappearing into thin air. Magic was all around them and yet every day humans passed it by without so much as a second glance.

There were a few magic dens in the neighborhood surrounding Jesse’s apartment in buildings that had appeared long ago abandoned to his non magical eye. Jesse had gone into one after a particularly rough test, the music bumping from the speakers and bleeding onto the streets intriguing him far too much to ignore. It had more of a club atmosphere, the complete opposite of the more classy image Juri had built for rocks. Jesse had thought the name was a bit on the odd side— Kiss Me? Really?—with its logo having some kind of hand character on it but elected to try it on his own anyways. 

The owner had been an eccentric and incredibly airheaded blond man who Jesse had to repeat his drink order three times before it clicked and he filled the order. The drink that had caught his attention on the menu had a ridiculous name, Sha la la Summer Time, but was cool and refreshing on his tongue. Jesse was transported to a tropical paradise, a warm summer breeze brushing against his skin until the final drop in the glass was gone.

When it came time to pay, Jesse panicked. How did he pay for a drink in a magic den? Did they accept Japanese yen? Did magic people have their own currency? Did he have to give some part of his own magic in exchange for the beverage? He shot off a text to Hokuto and hoped he didn’t look too suspicious as he anxiously waited for a response. He had half expected Hokuto to tease him at his lack of knowledge, but the response was sweet.

Yen is fine to use! Magic society doesn’t have its own money system, so don’t worry!

A series of texts quickly followed the first.

Sorry I should have explained that earlier!

Let me know the next time you go to a magic den!

I’d love to join you and explore other hangouts!!!

The thought of trying out other dens around the university with Hokuto had Jesse smiling. His cheeks felt toasty as he kept rereading Hokuto’s texts, sending off his own reply with his availability.

Now that his magic was seeping out, Jesse found himself spending more and more time with Hokuto in his free time. When they weren’t helping each other study and cram for upcoming quizzes and tests, Hokuto had been trying to teach Jesse easy spells from his spell book. Jesse had been cautious the first few times Hokuto had laid the little novel between them on Jesse’s coffee table, not wanting to cross any boundaries or make his friend uncomfortable, but Hokuto waved Jesse’s worries away.

“You’re someone I trust,” Hokuto said, eyes drifting off. He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. “I know you wouldn’t use my knowledge against me. Besides, it’s easier to study from my spell book than trying to have you memorize the words audibly.” 

They always sat side by side in these magic lessons, shoulders brushing as they leaned in to study the words on the pages. Hokuto’s finger would gracefully dance across the page, pointing out words and rhythms Jesse needed to be cautious of when speaking the spell. When he turned to make sure Jesse was paying attention, Hokuto’s breath was warm on Jesse’s face. It was only when Hokuto stiffened, turning back to his book to lecture on some other minute detail, that Jesse realized how close their faces had been. 

Jesse found himself craving Hokuto’s presence the further into October the days went. Though it wasn’t often that they could meet, a few evenings outside of their usual lunches as a group, Hokuto was opening up more and more now that the secret of his magic had been exposed. There were a few late nights, the hours ticking past when the trains stopped running, when Hokuto would sink into Jesse’s couch, and his lips would wander with worries.

“Sometimes I wonder if I can do what my family is asking of me,” Hokuto said one night, the consonants of his words so soft Jesse strained to hear him speak. “I wonder if I should wait and let my mother take over before it’s my time.” It was a long time before Hokuto spoke again, so long Jesse had thought his friend had fallen asleep. “Will I be good enough?” 

He laid back on the couch next to Hokuto, pulling his friend onto a tight hug against him. Hokuto’s nose was smushed against his chest, his hair so perfectly messy that Jesse’s fingers ached to thread their way through every strand. He craved knowing how soft it would be to the touch. “You will,” Jesse said. Hokuto sunk into the hug, wrapping his arms around Jesse’s chest to reciprocate. His light touch felt as if it was being burned into Jesse’s skin so he would always remember the sensation. “I believe that you will.”

Hokuto had been too exhausted to teleport home that night, and Jesse had offered his bed for him to sleep in. Jesse planned to take the couch, but Hokuto had clutched onto the end of Jesse’s shirt.

“Please,” Hokuto said. “Stay.” 

Jesse got under the covers, trying to give Hokuto as much space as he could without the risk of falling out of the bed in the night. In the morning, Jesse woke up with Hokuto in his arms, the hair at the top of his head tickling Jesse’s nose. The sound of Hokuto’s breathing was so gentle and warm, and he found himself wishing he could stay in that moment forever. 

They rarely made progress during those late evenings with Jesse’s magic. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t tap into the power flowing through him. The lack of spellcasting had baffled Hokuto, for he believed there should have been enough magic seeping out to warrant a small levitation spell or two.

“This is a first for me,” Juri said one day when Hokuto had dragged Jesse to rocks after classes had ended, seeking another opinion on the conundrum plaguing him. “You know as well as I do that magic without spell books just…don’t exist. It’s a wonder that guy is even alive.”

Juri had taken to calling Jesse “that guy,” even when he was in the room. Part of him had wanted to retaliate, to make up some kind of ridiculous nickname for Juri in return, but a swift glare from Hokuto snuffed out that idea quickly.

“Give Juri a little grace,” Hokuto said when Ren had come bursting into the den, joyfully shouting how happy he was that ‘Just Jesse’ was back. Juri’s attention swiftly changed to the young magic kid, leaving Hokuto and Jesse to talk. “Juri is a bit closed off when you first meet him, but he would do anything to help his friends.”

Jesse found that hard to believe. They had all but worn down the magic den owner until he had agreed to helping Hokuto create Jesse’s spell book. Every request to Juri was like pulling teeth, clenching his jaw and refusing to open his mouth when asked. The image of Juri willingly agreeing to help someone was the farthest thing from Jesse’s mind.

Ren’s voice broke through Jesse’s thoughts. “I can’t do it,” Ren said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. “I can’t. I tried it at home. I tried it with you, but my magic won’t pick up the spell.” The young boy wiped away the tears that began to fall with the sleeve of his sweater. 

Juri’s voice was soft when he spoke. “Hey, now, that’s no way to talk.” He guided Ren to one of the arm chairs to sit down, Juri crouching down beside him. “This spell is a lot more complicated than the previous ones we worked on. Using illusion magic on a living object takes a lot more concentration than a nonliving one. You know how long it took me to pick up that spell?”

Ren shook his head, a few stray tears still escaping his eyes.

“A whole year! And look at how good I am now!” Juri said, the biggest grin on his face.

“That’s so long,” Ren giggled. 

“It is, right? The point is,” Juri patted Ren on the shoulder, “is that you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Foxes are crafty and smart, so, even if it takes you three weeks or three months or three years, I’ll be here to help guide you.”

In the blink of an eye, Ren launched himself at Juri and pulled the older fox into a big hug. “Thank you, Juri,” Ren said, smiling up at Juri with the biggest grin on his face. Juri picked the teen up, spinning Ren around so fast and quickly his legs were floating in the air. It wasn’t until Ren was screaming with laughter, demanding that he be put back down, that Juri complied, and the lesson picked up once more.

“Fox lines are more common in the prefectures surrounding Tokyo,” Hokuto said, drawing Jesse’s attention from Juri explaining the concept of the illusion spell once more. “The magic schools in the area are trying to recruit teachers but no one wants to make the move. Ren’s school doesn’t have someone from his line to instruct him in the illusions. Juri is from a well-respected line, and a powerful caster in his own right. Since Ren and his family live so close to here, his parents asked Juri to teach him a few times a week.”

It was sweet, Jesse had to admit, for Juri to step up and fulfill the role of an instructor. He had a way with speaking to children that was heartwarming and kind, but Jesse would continue to wait for the day that kindness was turned upon him.

Though Kochi and Shintaro didn’t have much to do in terms of preparation for Jesse’s new life of magic, they still latched onto Hokuto every time the four of them met at lunch. They poured out their questions about the magical community every day, digging deeper into this mysterious world. No question was too ridiculous, and Jesse had even laughed when Shintaro asked if magic people wore underwear. It was times like these, when Hokuto was more focused on Shintaro and Kochi, that Jesse missed having a little bit of Hokuto’s attention, but he pushed those desires down. They spent plenty of time together outside of school. This was fine.

When those lunches were done, Jesse would return his tray and bowls to the cafeteria staff, backpack hanging off one shoulder as he tried to remember which class he had next. Hokuto would appear at his side, placing his tray next to Jesse’s on the counter.

“I don’t mind answering questions from you, too,” Hokuto said one time, the hem of his jacket seeming quite interesting as they left the cafeteria together. He looked up at Jesse, his eyes so wide and sweet. He pouted his lips, making Hokuto’s cheeks look so fluffy. Jesse wanted to reach over and poke them to see if they were as soft as they looked.

Jesse linked their arms together as they continued walking, and he let the first question that came to mind fall from his lips. “How much can a magic person burp after consuming a soda?”

Hokuto’s laughter was loud despite him hiding it behind his hand, making Jesse’s heart beat even faster. He did everything he could to make Hokuto continue laughing until they needed to part or risk being late to class.

On one particularly warm Thursday just before lunch, Jesse’s biochemistry professor sent an email announcing their class as well as the test for that day had been canceled. Something about his daughter being sick and his wife being out of town for a conference but Jesse had skimmed the rest. He had a free period!

Jesse often ran off to class in the middle of conversations because he lost track of time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Meanwhile Shintaro, Kochi, and Hokuto hadn’t scheduled classes for themselves after lunch on those days. He had kicked himself when he selected that particular biochem class, but it was the only decent time with a professor he had heard good things about through the rumor mill. He hadn’t wanted to miss out on the best teacher just because his friends were free.

Shintaro had been ecstatic, saying how they should claim a spot on the quad before it filled up with other students. Hokuto magically pulled a blanket out of his crammed backpack full of books for all of them to use, and they took turns running off to buy lunch at the convenience store around the corner. When Jesse returned from his turn, he heard Kochi ask a question that piqued his interest.

“Squirrels are such a random animal to include in your magic thing,” Kochi said. He was laid on his side, snacking on a bag of black pepper chips that Shintaro kept sneaking his hand into. “I would have chosen something much cooler. Like a hedgehog.”

“No way! A bear is so much better than that tiny thing!” Shintaro said. He reached out for another chip, but Kochi smacked his hand before it could enter the bag.

“Apologize and you can have more,” Kochi said. Shintaro muttered a half-hearted apology to which Kochi turned the bag in his direction, giving him free reign access to continue munching.

“It’s based on a story from our history.” Hokuto was laid on his back, his head resting on his backpack as his pillow. His hands were folded over his chest with his spell book resting underneath them. “Long ago there were ten villages founded by ten brothers, and-” 

“They were all animals!” Shintaro interjected. 

“Shin,” Jesse hissed out as a warning, and his friend quickly apologized once more for the interruption.

“As I was saying,” Hokuto said, his features a little flustered. “The villages were founded by ten brothers. Each village was plagued by various disasters that no one, not even the brothers, were able to solve. In order to protect their homes and ensure the longevity of their people, the brothers sought out the ten sacred animals.”

Jesse leaned forward the more Hokuto spoke, wanting to cling onto every word Hokuto said. He had never thought to ask about legends within the magic community when the two of them were alone, and this history, his history, was absolutely fascinating. He would have to buy Kochi a snack as a random thank you for instigating this tale. 

“Lion, wolf, hawk, snake, fox, monkey, rabbit, chameleon, cow, and squirrel. Each animal gifted one brother their special brand of magic in order to combat the problems surrounding the villages,” Hokuto continued. “The legend says magic was passed down through each generation, mingling and mixing with each other until our modern day magic was created. But,” Hokuto paused, brows furrowing a tad before he continued, “they say that within each line there is a family who can trace themselves back to the brothers.” 

That sentiment sent a wave of shock through their little group. Jesse sat up straighter, and he saw both Shintaro and Kochi sit up.

“Wait, so there’s people out there that are just…like legendaries? Like in Pokémon?” Kochi said. He had completely abandoned his snack.

Hokuto nodded. “I’ve never met one before, but supposedly they’re incredibly powerful. I mentioned before that a specialty of the lion line is blood control magic. That kind of spell is incredibly complex, so someone of my caliber could control only a single person,” Hokuto said. “The rumor is that the descendent of the brother who received his magic from the sacred lion could control hundreds if they chose to.” 

Jesse’s heart stopped. Hundreds? There was someone so powerful that they could control the actions of so many people with a single spell? 

“I hope that I never get the chance to meet them,” Jesse said.

“Avoid any and all Nakamuras that you meet,’ Hokuto said. “From what I’ve heard, that’s the last name they chose to blend into the human world.”

It was easier said than done. Jesse had three of them in his anatomy class. It didn’t count for the thousands of them in Tokyo. He was beginning to see the appeal of choosing last names to blend in with human society. Picking one Tanaka or one Nakamura out of a crowd would be near impossible to do.

“Not gonna lie, it would be kind of cool to meet one of them.” Shintaro laid back on the blanket. He snatched up Kochi’s chip bag once more to polish off the last few remaining ones. “We could make some kind of superhero team to save the city.” He grinned. “Just imagine it! Jesse uses his doctor degree to heal and take care of anyone injured and then our three magic bros and this super powered person fight them off. It’s foolproof!”

Kochi sighed, flopping back down on the blanket with a loud sigh. “And how do you propose we even find someone like that?” 

“We put up a flyer, dumbass.”

“Most people don’t know about magic, dumbass.”

Jesse scooted over next to Hokuto, laying down next to him. Their shoulders brushed as Jesse’s back connected with the blanket, but neither of them moved to give the other more space. Shintaro and Kochi continued to bicker and argue, each of their sentences punctuated with an insult to the other. “Never a dull moment with them, right?” 

“It’s what made university so much fun for me,” Hokuto said. His head turned to look at Jesse, and the soft expression on Hokuto’s face made his heart skip a beat. The world around them melted for a moment, Shintaro and Kochi’s words fading into obscurity, and the only thing Jesse could focus on was Hokuto’s smile. “Though I do have to admit, sometimes I like our quieter chaos a bit more.” 

His heart was flying in his chest, though Jesse couldn’t quite figure out why. He appreciated Hokuto’s energy and rationality compared to the blind pandemonium that came from the dynamic he had with Shintaro and Kochi. He liked looking over and catching Hokuto mid laugh at one of Shintaro’s dumb jokes or the thoughtful way he would explain something happening in the news that Jesse didn’t understand. Or the way Hokuto would ignore them all, getting lost in his book, and the gentle way he would bite his lower lip when he was concentrating on the words on the page. That was a normal way to appreciate your friend…right?

It had to be. But Jesse couldn’t help comparing Hokuto to Shintaro and Kochi. Of course he liked the two of them. He liked all of his classmates, too. Hell, he even liked the lunch lady who would sneak him an extra piece of chicken despite the portion size being six pieces per order. But he didn’t wish for more hours in the day to spend with Shintaro and Kochi. Their time together came, it passed, and Jesse left feeling content. With Hokuto, he never wanted those moments to end. He would glance at the clock and wish for it to slow down. Give him a few more minutes.

Maybe…maybe it meant he treasured their friendship more than he thought. Maybe he-

“Uh, guys!” came a hiss from Shintaro, and Jesse shot up from his place on the blanket. Shintaro’s words had snapped his attention, and he felt dazed and confused until he could follow where Shintaro’s finger was pointing to.

Kochi’s chip bag was floating through the air. Kochi hadn’t moved from his spot and was staring blankly as the empty bag floated around the sky as if it was being carried by the breeze. Hokuto was the first one to properly react. With a quick wave of his hand, the bag gracefully fell back to the blanket.

“Hokuto, I know I shouldn’t be the one to warn you about this considering you’re magic and all, but you have to be more careful with what spells you cast,” Kochi said. His hands grasped onto the blanket, eyes darting around to the surrounding area. “What if someone else had seen it?”

“That…that wasn’t me.” Hokuto pushed himself into a sitting position, his spell book sliding down his chest until it rested lower on his stomach. His attention turned to Jesse, a small thought blooming behind Hokuto’s eyes until it consumed his features. “That means…Jesse? Jesse, I think you cast your first spell.”

He cast a spell? He had cast a spell! It took all of Jesse’s energy to not yell out in glee, to let the whole campus know his joy. Finally, after so many long nights of study and practice he was able to cast a levitation spell! He hadn’t known how he did it, he definitely hadn’t said the words that Hokuto had taught him, but perhaps it was a latent casting? Maybe the words from the previous day had caught up to him finally. Jesse didn’t know. Magic was still a strange and foreign concept to him. He longed to pull Hokuto into a hug, to share his joy with his friend, but he held back. Perhaps Hokuto would celebrate with him during their next lesson together.

“Oh hell, yeah!” Shintaro shouted before the trio of them shushed him. “You know what that means?” A manic grin spread across Shintaro’s features.

The joy in Jesse’s heart was ripped from him in a moment, memories of his younger self flashing through his brain. “Shin, no!” It was one secret he had been clinging to and didn’t want Hokuto to know. Jesse launched himself across the blanket. He curled his arm around Shintaro’s neck to obstruct his airways while the other covered Shintaro’s mouth from speaking. But Shintaro was big and strong, not as strong as Jesse, so the two rolled off of the blanket, turning into a mess of limbs and cursing.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Jesse heard Hokuto say as Shintaro was attempting to shout through the hand Jesse had covering his mouth. He attempted to lick and bite at Jesse’s fingers, but Jesse refused to remove them.

“It was before my time, but years ago Jesse wanted to be an amateur magician in elementary school,” Kochi explained.

“Kochi, don’t you dare!” Jesse shouted. He could feel Shintaro getting the upper hand. He knew all of Jesse’s weak spots, the ones where he was most ticklish from years of rough housing, and it was taking all of Jesse’s energy to not let go and fall into a fit of laughter. 

“He had the most ridiculous stage name, too,” Kochi continued. “Jesse gets so embarrassed the second Shin brings it up.”

Shintaro’s fingers reached Jesse’s weakest point, a small place in his side just above his hip. It was a small brush of his finger, but it was enough. Jesse released Shintaro, rolling away to avoid further attacks. Being tickled to death wasn’t worth trying to hold in an embarrassing secret any longer.

“It’s the return of Mr. Zudon!” Shintaro gleefully shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. “Come one and come all to his fantastic and enlightening magic show!”

Jesse could feel his cheeks burning. He hadn’t even been able to do that many tricks back then. He knew a few sleight of hand things on top of a few card maneuvers that had amazed his classmates, but, when he showed off his skills to his mother after school one day, she quickly ordered him to stop. He tried to ask why. It was only a bit of harmless fun, but her decision had been final. He hadn’t practiced since. Shintaro continued to tell people about Jesse’s old stage name because he thought it was funny and that the whole world should know it.

Hokuto’s laughter cut through Jesse’s embarrassment, the tone of it not biting or cruel like others Shintaro had told in the past. “That’s so cute,” Hokuto said in between giggles, and Jesse felt his face turn red from the compliment. “We should choose stage names to match.”

The conversation changed to discussing what each of them should be called and their role in Jesse’s magic show. As the conversation drifted on and on, he found himself liking the silly name he had chosen so many years ago more.

“Hey, Juri, my buddy, my pal,” Shintaro called out from across rocks. The last few times Shintaro and Jesse had come to the magic den, Juri had finally consented to serving Shintaro a regular Coke (Shintaro had broken the glass roughly fifteen seconds after receiving his drink and hadn’t been allowed glassware since). Since coming into the magic den, he had snatched a container of plastic cups from behind the bar and went to his usual spot, the armchair where he and Kochi had first played their checkers game. Juri learned through trial and error the more space that existed between him and Shintaro, the better. Shintaro had used the cups to build a tower on the table in front of him, but a tiny mistake had sent the tower tumbling down. He collapsed onto the armchair, sighing then popped his head up, worries forgotten. “What’s your deal, my bro?”

Jesse was seated at the bar, drinking his own Coke out of a tall glass. He had tried to order something extravagant off of Juri’s menu, Strawberry Breakfast sounding quite interesting, but Juri had ignored his order in favor of a normal soda. Not that he could entirely blame Juri for the choice. Jesse and Shintaro were so closely linked it felt like a blessing Jesse hadn’t been relegated to using plasticware as well. 

Classes had been cancelled at the university the second Jesse had stepped onto campus that day, something about an electrical outage and the back-up generator not functioning like it was supposed to. The admins hoped an electrician could get the whole campus back up and running by the next day, but it hadn’t looked likely. Jesse had been oddly relieved at the news. He had spent the previous evening with Hokuto trying to replicate the levitation spell the other day to no avail. He should have been more concerned over his magic not working as expected, but it made him feel so thankful. It meant another night with Hokuto, another chance to spend time with him. That grateful energy continued to build. Jesse didn’t think he could focus on his schoolwork with his head spinning the way it was.

The four of them had met, trying to figure out how to spend their unexpected free day. Kochi had already made plans to play soccer with a few other friends since the weather was still nice despite it being almost November. Going to rocks to hang out seemed like the safest option with campus crawling with students relaxing in the sun. Hokuto wanted to join them but had received a message spell right before they walked in from his family requesting his presence. Not able to say no, he had apologized profusely for needing to step away. 

“Remember, be nice,” Hokuto said, nudging Jesse in the side with his elbow. The small touch made Jesse’s stomach flip, his heart leaping up to his throat. It always felt nice when Hokuto playfully teased him, and he wished it happened more and more. “I don’t want to come back here tomorrow to find that the three of you got into a fight and destroyed the whole place.”

They hadn’t done anything physically destructive since Kochi had unscrewed the light bulbs to play checkers. Though there was the concern that Juri would make a snide comment over Jesse’s existence or something stupid Shintaro would say, Hokuto was always the one to smooth things over if tensions threatened to bubble over. Without him there, there certainly was the concern of tentative treaties between the two sides being torn to shreds. 

“If I’m good, do I get a prize?” Jesse asked, nudging Hokuto back with his own elbow. Hokuto wobbled a bit from the sudden gesture. He reached out, his hand landing on Jesse’s bicep for support until he regained his balance. Jesse’s muscles felt like they had been electrocuted from the touch.

“We’ll see,” Hokuto said, and Jesse could have sworn he felt Hokuto squeeze just a little before letting go. “I’ll need a full report of the evening before I make any decisions.” Jesse still felt the imprint of Hokuto’s hand when him and Shintaro had entered rocks.

Juri was restocking ingredients for that night’s business, sleeves rolled up to keep them from hanging into the various sauces he was bottling. Something flashed behind Juri’s eyes, too quick of an emotion for Jesse to catch. They had been in a tentative but awkward peace since they had settled in the magic den, Juri groaning when they announced Hokuto wasn’t with them. Jesse knew he had the same question as Shintaro floating around in his brain for weeks, but now it didn't seem appropriate.

Jesse kept a hand on the edge of the bar, the other grasping onto the back of his chair as he twisted to look at his friend. “Hey, Shin, maybe now’s not the time-”

“What do you mean?”

Jesse stopped. Juri’s voice wasn’t angry. It wasn’t cutting. It was a completely different tone than Jesse had ever heard the fox speak in. He sounded mildly interested in whatever Shintaro had to say and as if that interest could grow depending on the meaning of the question. 

“I mean, we know about Hokuto and his whole story. His family is training him to be that spell book dude. Jesse and his magic are a whole mystery that I don’t even think a therapist could crack,” Shintaro rambled on and on. He picked up all of the plastic cups he had snatched from behind the bar and stacked them into one line. “We don’t know anything about you. So what’s your deal, mister foxy magic man?” 

He risked a look back at Juri. Both of his hands were resting on the edge of his work counter, his fingers drumming on the metal surface. If he was plotting murder or Jesse and Shintaro’s mutual self-destruction, Juri was hiding it well in his features. 

Time ticked by slowly, each second lasting a year before Juri spoke. “There’s not much to say,” he said. “I grew up in a well-respected fox line in Chiba with my four brothers. I didn’t want to go the university path and enter the human world and blend in for the rest of my life, so I constructed rocks with my own two hands. It’s been thriving ever since its doors opened a few years ago.”

“That can’t be it,” Jesse interjected. “It doesn't explain why you’re so-” He cut himself off. He didn’t want to complete the sentence and risk angering Juri when he seemed so normal compared to their previous interactions. Jesse let the word ‘grumpy’ hang in the air around them, and Juri fill in the blank with whatever word he wanted. 

“I’ve hardly known either of you for a month.” Juri snatched up a rag off the counter, crossing the area behind the bar to where a few dirty glasses from the night before still sat in the sink. “You’ll have to forgive me for not trusting strangers with my past so quickly.”

Jesse didn’t know if Juri’s words weren’t so biting as usual or if it was their increased contact or maybe male intuition, if that even existed, but a part of him understood what Juri had meant. All of his life, Jesse had been an open book. He met people through shared homerooms or club activities growing up. At the end of an hour, he had a new friend and a new contact in his phone. He saw someone interesting, and he wanted to get to know them. It’s how he, as well as Shintaro, had befriended Kochi so many years ago. 

But to open up and trust people with your worries? The things that made you tick? To put the full force of your anxieties and emotions into someone? Jesse didn’t think he had many people he trusted on that level. Outside of his family, it was only Shintaro, Kochi, and Hokuto who Jesse felt like he could talk to without feeling as if he was burdening them with his emotional problems.

“You don’t have to tell us,” Jesse said. Juri stopped his furious scrubbing with Jesse’s words.

“Yeah, mi compadre! No worries!” Shintaro’s tower of cups was five rows high, and he was working on adding a sixth. “We’re all in this crazy boat, and you know what they say in America! ‘We’re all in this together once we know we’re all in this together…unless we’re leagues apart!’”

“We don’t say that in the U.S.,” Jesse fake whispered behind his hand.

Shintaro shouted loudly, “Jesse! You told me they said that there!” He slammed his palms down on the low table, and the plastic cups went tumbling to the floor once more. He paused for a second, brain whirling. “Or maybe you told me that in a dream. I don’t remember.” And for the first time since Jesse and Shintaro had stumbled into rocks a month ago, Jesse heard Juri laugh.

It was a loud boisterous one, the kind where Juri’s arms were wrapped around his sides, his shirt getting wet from the soapy water he had been washing the glassware with. The laugh came deep within Juri’s belly, and he wiped away forming tears with the edge of his hand. 

“I can see why you keep that human around,” Juri said, a few fits of laughter slipping through.

“I have a name!” Shintaro shouted. “And Jesse doesn’t keep me around. He needs me! Who knows what wild shenanigans are going to happen when we learn what Jesse’s true power is!”

“He’s not gonna be that special,” Juri said. “He’s a giant for a man who walks around dressed in stupid hats and tracksuits with a doofy smile on his face half the time.” 

“But I like my hats!”

“Just imagine it!” Shintaro said, barreling through Jesse’s interjection and increasing with fervor as the words vomited from his mouth. “What if he can run through the forest super fast! Or climb buildings like it’s nothing! Oh, oh, oh! Or what if he’s not like other guys and his blood is so powerful that a single drop can heal nations and they want to kidnap him and experiment on his body-”

“Oh god, not this again,” Jesse said, rolling his eyes. “He’s been doing this every day.”

“The two of you are idiots. I have half a mind to throw both of you out of here and keep the door permanently locked behind you.” Though his words were insulting, there was a teasing edge to it that Jesse had only heard Juri use in his lesson with Ren. “That guy? Special? A ridiculous concept. It’s like saying Asahi beer is top shelf liquor.”

Things felt easy when the three of them were joking together, like one of Juri’s many walls had come down the more that they talked. There was humor and goodwill that Jesse hadn’t experienced before, and it felt good. Maybe, just maybe, he could confidently call Juri a friend sooner than expected.

It wasn’t the door opening that had caught Jesse’s attention first. No, it had been the sound of singing growing louder and louder from down the street. It was the sweetest voice Jesse had ever heard, the kind you expected on an evening music program or crooning from the lips of a pretty idol rather than from a random passerby on the streets of Tokyo. The words were muffled just enough that Jesse couldn’t hear exactly what song the person was singing, but the tone and musicality of the voice danced through the air as if it belonged in the sky. The voice picked up in volume the second the door was opened, and Jesse finally made out a few words of a popular pop tune on the radio.

Juri grabbed a glass from the sink and threw it. It slammed into the wall next to the singer’s head, shattering into sparkling little shards. The sound of the impact made both Shintaro and Jesse freeze. The singer jumped and screamed, collapsing to the floor in a pile of limbs. 

“YOU KNOW THE RULES!” Juri shouted. He reached for another glass in the sink, and Jesse jumped onto the counter to try and grasp onto Juri’s arm. Anything to get him from throwing another. “NO SONG MAGIC IN MY DEN!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” the singer shouted. A book was clutched in his hand, some kind of manga, and he held it close to his chest as if it was the most precious thing in the world. “I swear I forgot! But I wasn’t doing song magic, I swear! I was only singing a pretty song. I would never do song magic around you, Juri.” He thrust his book out in front of him as if offering it in compensation for his actions. “Please forgive me!” 

Juri’s grip on the second glass in his hand went lax, and Jesse let go of Juri’s arm in return, sliding off of the bar counter and back to his seat. Jesse hoped that Juri didn’t change his mind with whatever happened next. He wasn’t sure if he could react fast enough the next time.

“Fine,” Juri said. He grabbed a rag next to the sink to dry his hands. With a wave of his hand, the shattered glass disappeared from the floor. “Don’t do it again or I’m kicking you out.”

Jesse fought the roll of his eyes. He was starting to learn that kicking people out of rocks was Juri’s preferred threat of punishment. 

The singer picked himself up off the ground, and Jesse got his first good look at him. The man was, perhaps, the most ethereally beautiful person that Jesse had ever seen with features carved by the gods. His hair was dyed blond, a mid-length styled into gentle waves. His bangs were parted over his eye showing a little bit of his forehead. He had on the fluffiest sweater that looked as if Jesse could sink his hand into it and never reach the bottom. The singer’s face had softened, melting with Juri’s acceptance of his apology, and he approached the bar with a twirl and a bounce in his step.

“You’re not going to believe what happened in this week’s episode of Conan,” he said, swaying to a rhythm that only he could hear with every word he spoke. He placed his manga on the counter, a volume of Conan from what Jesse could make of it. The singer swung his arm around Jesse, fingers drumming on the top of Jesse’s shoulder. He stayed in motion as he continued speaking, dragging Jesse along in his swaying. “The mystery is finally coming to a close, and it was so tense! I can hardly wait for the next episode.” He paused for a moment to look Jesse up and down. “Wait, you’re not Hokuto. Who are you?”

Juri let out a loud groan. “Introduce yourself first!”

“Oh…right.” The singer stiffened next to Jesse before hopping back and giving a slight bow from his hips. “I’m Taiga of the Snake Line. Nice to meet you.” His gaze drifted to the seating area of the den and settled on Shintaro. He gasped, hands slapping his cheeks. “Wait, you’re human!” 

Shintaro blinked. “I…am?”

Taiga snatched his manga off the counter and in the blink of an eye was crouched next to where Shintaro was sitting. “You have no idea how much I’ve been dying to talk to another human! I never find the right ones. Please tell me you like Conan! Or that Pokémon game that everyone is playing! The one on the phones that make them appear in real life.” Taiga wrapped his arms around Shintaro’s calf, yanking it close to his chest causing Shintaro to slide forward against his will. His eyes were shining so brightly. “I tried to get a phone but each one I took from the store didn’t work when I tried to use it. How do humans use phones? I need to know.”

Jesse rarely saw Shintaro speechless and unable to respond to people, and the more Taiga spoke, the more Shintaro’s jaw dropped. “Uh, well, did you talk to a staff member and start a contract?” 

“A contouract?” Taiga said, repeating the word a few times and changing the pronunciation each time as if he was tasting it. He whipped his head around. “Juri, why didn’t you tell me I needed a contouract?” Taiga pouted, his bottom sticking out. “No wonder the fifty phones I took never worked like the other humans’ did!”

“What did you want me to tell you? I know even less about the human world than you do!” Juri’s words snapped from his mouth, snipping at Taiga with every consonant he enunciated. “You’re the one obsessed with all of those silly cartoons.” 

“You would like them if you tried,” Taiga said. He teleported into the chair next to Shintaro, crossing one leg over the other. He flicked open his manga, flipping through the contents of the book. “You’re limiting yourself by being so anti-human.” He snapped the manga shut when he couldn’t find what he was looking for and jumped back to his feet. “Just think of all of the things we could watch together if you opened your mind, Juri! Come on, please! Let me introduce you to Conan at the very least! It’s the best human thing in the world.” 

Jesse had known his fair share of chaotic individuals, he was as well, but none like Taiga. From this small interaction, the snake was incapable of staying in the same place for longer than thirty seconds. There was a joy and life to him that radiated through his entire body. His smile was infectious, and Jesse found himself doing the same watching Taiga.

“The two of you are a cute couple.” Shintaro rested his elbows on his knees, cradling his face in his hands. “When did the two of you start dating?” 

Juri appeared before Shintaro, grasping onto Shintaro’s shirt and twisting the fabric in his fists. Juri’s hands glowed as he lifted Shintaro in the air, whose legs dangled underneath him. “We,” Juri growled, fire swallowing all of his words, “are not dating. We will never date. Get that idea out of your head.”

It was only from Jesse’s place at the bar that he could see how Taiga’s features fell for just a moment, gaze drifting down to his book to thumb the edge of the pages. But Taiga blinked, and a confusion spread across his features, his lips forming a single word that drifted off into the air. “How…”

“Dude, chill,” Shintaro huffed. His hands clawed at Juri’s hands, but the magic fueling Juri’s grip stayed strong. “It’s not that serious! Just say you’re not dating! That’s what normal people do.”

Juri kept a firm grip and refused to release the current object of his ire. “You should know by now that I’m not what you humans consider ‘normal.’”

Taiga teleported the small distance to stand next to Juri. He reached a tentative hand out but winced before he made contact with Juri’s shoulder. He withdrew his hand as he spoke. “It’s okay, Juri. He knows. That’s the most important thing…right?” The hand curled itself around the hem of his sweater. “You have all of the space that you desire, and no one but you can dictate where your boundaries are.” His next words were quiet, so quiet, and Jesse’s ears strained to hear them. “It’s my fault that he misunderstood. He didn’t mean to offend you. Let’s just let it go. I’m sure he won’t make that assumption again.” 

Juri faltered for a moment, a little color coming to his cheeks. Then he was gone. Shintaro went crashing down to the armchair he had been sitting in before, yelping when he made contact with the edge of it. A quick glance around the den found that Juri was nowhere to be found.

“Sorry,” Taiga said. His energy was less boisterous and chaotic than when he had initially walked into rocks. “This is all my fault.”

“I don’t really understand what happened, but that wasn’t you,” Jesse said. He slipped from his chair at the bar and took a few steps towards where Taiga and Shintaro were before stopping. What was he going to do? Hug the guy? Did Taiga even like hugs? Did he want to be comforted by whatever the hell had just happened?

“Seriously, blame all of that on me,” Shintaro said. He stood up and rubbed the part of his ass that had collided roughly with the edging of the armchair. “Should have known Juri would be a prick about a stupid joke. I legitimately thought the two of you were dating from that ‘bit a banter’,” he said, switching to a brief British accent. “How was I supposed to know that was his trigger word?”

If Taiga found any comfort in their words, his face didn’t show it. There was only a tight smile across his features, the emotion not reaching his eyes like before.

They had just made so much progress with Juri, and Taiga was so terribly airheaded that Jesse already liked him. But the shift of the room’s energy was awkward, almost painful, and Jesse felt responsible to lighten the mood. They were all brought together because of him and his stupid blocked magic, so it fell to him to fix things.

And he had the perfect idea.

Jesse crossed to the group of armchairs where Shintaro and Taiga were and sat in the chair opposite of his best friend. He put on his most warm expression and tried to keep his tone light. “You said that you do song magic? What’s that like?”

Rather immediately, Taiga’s face lit up. Jesse hadn’t been expecting such a sudden mood shift, a more gradual shift more reasonable, but this was something? “It’s the most incredible magic in the world!” Taiga was suddenly sitting on the arm of Jesse’s chair. He threw his arm around Jesse’s neck, pulling Jesse so his head was nestled under Taiga’s chin. One of his hands was petting the top of Jesse’s hair. “And the most interesting. I sing…and things happen!”

…Jesse was already regretting his choice of topic. Hokuto always explained spells with illuminating details and various ways it could be useful that Jesse understood without needing further examples. He had hoped Taiga would talk more about what he could do, be willing to show them a spell or two. His description lacked in every detail Jesse thought possible.  

“Uh, can you be a little more specific?” Shintaro asked. He yelped when Taiga appeared behind him, perched on the backend of Shintaro’s armrest like a bird. Shintaro fell out of the chair to avoid Taiga’s arms swooping to capture Shintaro just as he had done to Jesse. He crab walked backwards to further escape from Taiga’s clutches. “N-Neither of us are well versed in this whole magic thing.”

“Oh, uh.” Taiga opened up his manga, though Jesse didn’t quite understand why. What could the twenty-eighth volume of Conan tell them about song magic? “It’s hard to explain. My magic is song magic. And song magic is…my magic!” 

Shintaro covered his face in his hands. “I’m losing brain cells.”

A familiar crackling energy filled the air before Juri’s voice floated in from the bar. “Taiga’s magic line is incapable of casting magic like the other nine,” Juri said, and Taiga had reappeared back in his own chair, sitting properly in it. Juri’s hair was sopping wet. He didn’t seem to care if water was dripping down and slowly soaking his clothes. “He can cast simple spells by either speaking or doing them nonverbally, but anything more complicated than that must be done through song.”

Taiga seemed to sparkle under the weight of Juri’s explanation. He gave Juri finger guns. “Yes! That’s how you say it! My family has a specialty in emotion magic, so we make people feel things.”

Jesse and Shintaro sat there for a moment in pure silence, exchanging a look between themselves, before Jesse called out. “Juri!” He whined the fox’s name. “Translation please!”

Juri sighed, raking a hand through his soaked hair to push his bangs up from his forehead. “Snake magic is based around music, but it is also influential. Some snake lines are able to predict the future while others can burrow in and implant ideas into the brains of others. Taiga’s family is able to change the emotions of those who listen to their songs.”

“Oh oh oh!!” Shintaro said. He raised his hand and waved it back and forth as if they were back in school, and he was trying to get a teacher’s attention. “Do that to Jesse! Make him laugh so hard he starts crying. Oh wait! Or cry so hard he starts laughing. Either one! No preference.”

Neither of those options appealed to Jesse nor did he want to be under the effects of this type of magic. Regardless of the deeper reason for Juri not allowing it in his magic den, Jesse agreed with the sentiment of not being comfortable with it. One single song could completely change his entire emotional structure, and it felt a bit invasive without seeking prior consent first.

“I can’t.” Taiga looked over at Juri. “Not without his permission first. It’s the agreement between us.” Taiga blinked and his eyes turned pleading once more, his bottom lip pouting. “Please,” he begged. “One song. I’ll only make the magic one,” he gestured to Jesse, “laugh, and then I’m done.” 

“Shouldn’t you guys ask me if I’m okay with this first-” Jesse interjected, sitting up in his armchair, but Juri cut him off.

“One song. Anything else but a laughing spell, and the next time you walk through those doors will be a month from now,” Juri said, and a wild grin spread itself across Taiga’s mouth.

Shintaro let out a loud cheer, and Jesse shot him a glare. Jesse should have campaigned for Shintaro to be the one experiencing snake magic. But maybe it wouldn’t affect him that much…since he was human and all.

Taiga pushed himself off of his chair, teleporting in front of Jesse, his arms caging him from running off and escaping. Jesse had half a mind to try and push past Taiga to get out of rocks as fast as he could, but a quick look at Juri told him everything he needed to know. Juri had relented and given Taiga permission, therefore the fox would glue Jesse to his chair to make sure the spell happened. “Relax,” Taiga said. “And prepare to enjoy the best branch of magic there is.” He closed his eyes, face so serene as he cradled his manga close to his chest, and began to sing.

If Jesse had thought Taiga’s usual singing was beautiful, it was nothing compared to when he infused it with magic. The tone of it sounded heavenly, the notes soaring up high into the furthest reaches, far higher than Jesse had thought was possible for a male singer. Taiga’s voice infused with magic was as ethereal as his looks, and Jesse felt himself fall under its power. 

The lyrics poured themselves into Jesse’s ears, the words of the spell flowing into his brain and surrounding it with this light and airy feeling. The main room of rocks melted away in Jesse’s vision only to be replaced with an endless sky and fluffy clouds. Though Jesse knew the words Taiga was singing, for they were lyrics constructed in Japanese, he couldn’t comprehend the meaning of them. They burrowed into his brain, attaching themselves to his nervous system, and his muscles melted under their influence. All of the tension in Jesse’s body released itself. He had never felt calmer in his life.

Taiga’s song abruptly ended, and the world that had been constructed in his brain evaporated in an instant. Taiga stood before him, half turned away from Jesse. His arms were crossed, manga hanging from his fingertips, and glaring from the corner of his eyes as if trying to intimidate. But to Jesse he looked more like a disgruntled Pomeranian who didn’t get its belly rubbed.

“You can’t do that.” Taiga huffed. Despite being angry, it was too sweet to Jesse’s ears. “You can’t interfere with the spell when I’m casting it. Stop it. Let me make you laugh.”

What did Taiga mean? He could have sworn he had completely fallen under whatever Taiga was doing. If snake magic was all about influencing another person, the calmness he experienced should have been an indicator that Taiga could ask anything of him.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jesse said, and he saw Juri perk up at his words. Juri looked like he was calculating, his eyes darting around as if he was reading invisible words in the air. “Maybe you were casting it wrong? I don’t have a spell book yet, so I couldn’t have stopped you if I tried.” 

Taiga looked baffled at Jesse’s words, like he had struck an invisible nerve somewhere along the lines. Jesse knew that Taiga didn’t believe him, the disbelief was painted across his face, but it was the truth. He felt like Taiga’s song had done something to him, but he had no clear reason for why he hadn’t laughed as he was expected to.

“He’s a monkey.” Juri flicked his wrist, and the water from his hair dried in an instant. Whatever lingering hostility from before had evaporated as the puzzle pieces came together in his head. “I should have known it from the second he didn’t start laughing while you sang. No matter how hard you tried, it was never going to work on that guy.”

Before anyone could express their confusion, Juri teleported, and he sat down in the final armchair of their group. “There are pairs scattered throughout the lines that work together. Wolves are drawn to lions as protectors of great magic, squirrel and rabbit magic compliment the other and they often seek each other out as lifelong friends, and so on. But,” he said, resting his forearms on his knees, so he could lean forward, “there are lines which also repel each other’s magic, and one of those pairs are snakes and monkeys.”

Jesse’s thoughts immediately started spiraling. Did that mean him and Taiga were natural enemies? Could they never develop a close emotional bond because their kinds of magic wouldn’t blend? Would Taiga never watch Conan with him? He needed to calm down. Everything was fine. He was an adult. Certainly that wouldn’t have any effect on the creation of Jesse’s spell book. Hokuto had said they needed at least three people to cast the spell, and, if Taiga couldn’t, who would step in? 

“What does that mean? Do they have to fight it out or something?” Shintaro did a little shadow boxing from his seat.

“No,” Juri barked out a laugh. “this is more in part to that guy’s magic line, and how their magic works. In order to cast, they can’t be influenced by outside forces. Monkeys need clear heads to do their spell work, so their internal magical structure rejects any and all snake magic. If the snake magic is too powerful, their minds will shut down in order to not face any outside influences.”

It explained the world Jesse’s consciousness had been transported to, but it didn’t explain his specialty. Hokuto, Juri, and Taiga all knew their specialties. They knew what they could do, and Juri was dangling his knowledge over Jesse’s head. The answer was there, at the tip of Jesse’s fingers, and he so desperately wanted to know. Could he grow a tail? Could he soar through the trees? Did he gain super strength in order to crush opponents in a fight? He couldn’t wait any longer to be filled in.

“Can we cut to the chase already?” Jesse asked. His annoyance was burning a pit in his stomach. “What does my magic line do?!”

“You,” Juri said, leaning back in his armchair. His arms were perched on the arms of it, and a little smirk played across his lips, “have healing magic.”

Jesse grumbled for the umpteenth time as someone bumped into him. He had been standing in the same spot in front of the FamilyMart when people had walked in, large backpacks hanging from their shoulders and Tokyo guide books clutched in their hands, and he certainly hadn’t moved into their path on their way out. He wished people would pay more attention to their surroundings. 

“How long does it take to buy a rice ball?” Jesse muttered, shoving his hands into his jean jacket’s pockets. Shintaro hadn’t had time to eat before their group had met up that Saturday morning, and it had been at least five minutes since he had shot into the first convenience store they passed. Kochi had followed him in to make sure Shintaro didn’t break anything. Was Shintaro eating inside the store?

“He’s probably calculating which one has the most filling in it by weight,” Hokuto offered. He had pulled the hood of his highlighter yellow hoodie up, pushing his bangs further over his eyes than normal. His own hands were stuffed in the center pocket to protect them from the cold.

“That doesn’t sound like Shintaro,” Jesse said. He frowned, but he could feel the corner of his mouth threatening to turn upwards. “You know he can’t do math.” Hokuto’s laugh sent Jesse’s heart spiraling in his chest, Hokuto’s eyes shining behind the curtain of bangs blocking them.

The plan for the day happened because Jesse had been scrolling on his phone during lunch that week. His feed was flooded with pictures of people going to this interactive museum in Odaiba. There were pools full of water, colorful reflections of fish swimming on the surface that would scatter with a single touch. There was also an exhibit where you entered a room full of flowers, the buds being lowered to the ground, and it looked like the people were surrounded in a world of greenery. It was the kind of thing that made for perfectly aesthetic photos on social media.

“That looks so beautiful.” Hokuto was leaning in to get a better look at Jesse’s phone. He had reached out and swiped back to a photo Jesse had already moved on from. It was of a woman standing on a structure that looked like it was supposed to be a rock, the background behind her a digitally animated waterfall. “I want to see this place in person. How do we go?”

Shintaro had butted in then, asking what the two of them were looking at. Him and Kochi had flipped through a few photos from Jesse’s phone and found the exhibit interesting as well. They purchased tickets for that weekend instantly, and Jesse knew he would do anything to make sure Hokuto had a nice time.

“About time,” Shintaro said. He bumped into Jesse, weaseling his way in between him and Hokuto. He tore into the packaging of his tuna mayo rice ball. “It was like they were auctioning off rice balls or something in there. It was insanity!”

“Shin couldn’t decide between rice balls or meat buns.” Kochi was kinder and took the open space across from the trio rather than worming his way into the line Shintaro had created. “It was a miracle he even made a choice.” 

“But this shop has a collaboration with Conan right now!” Taiga said, grabbing onto Shintaro’s shoulders and shaking them. “You should have bought the meat buns to try the special flavor, you fool!”

Shintaro screamed, understandably. Taiga had appeared out of nowhere. “How did you do that you mother fucking bitch ass-”

Jesse covered Shintaro’s mouth, cradling his friend’s head in his other hand. They really needed to work on Shintaro’s habit of screaming expletives whenever magic happened suddenly. The shout had drawn the attention of the people surrounding them, and he didn’t want anyone remembering their group had only been four a few seconds before. 

“I think I’m having a heart attack,” Kochi said, clutching his heart.

Taiga released one of Shintaro’s shoulders, so he could turn and look at Kochi, head cocking to the side. “Healing is sadly not my specialty, Human Number Two. If you are concerned about your health, you should ask the monkey to take a look and cast-”

“Kochi, you’re fine. It would take a lot more for you to have a heart attack,” Jesse said. He felt Shintaro lick his hand once again, and Jesse let go of him to wipe it on Shintaro’s jeans. He also really needed to talk to Shintaro about not doing that. “And Taiga, ixnay on and the agicmay.”

Taiga popped up next to Hokuto. He was pouting, his cheeks puffing up as he spoke. “Hokuto, do you understand what he’s saying? Your monkey is speaking in tongues. Is this a side effect of his magic?”

“He’s fine, don’t worry.” Hokuto patted Taiga on the shoulder. He pushed his hood off his head and shook his hair to restyle his bangs. To the other three in the group he said, “Taiga doesn’t spend much time around people like you all. He often forgets most human beings are a little less…knowledgeable.”

A thought seemed to flash in Taiga’s head, and he nodded his head fiercely. “Oh yeah!”

“So we’re just going to have to learn to get used to this now that we know this kind of thing exists?” Kochi asked, gesturing at the pair of them. 

“Yup,” was Hokuto’s short answer the same time Taiga answered, “That’s right!”

Shintaro had finally gotten all of the plastic packaging off his rice ball. “So you guys can basically listen in and pop over whenever you feel like it?” he asked, folding the final bit of seaweed into place to cover the rice.

“Pretty much,” Juri said. He swiped Shintaro’s rice ball from over his shoulder and disappeared without a trace.

“Hey!” Shintaro shouted again before Kochi hushed him. “That was mine. I paid for that.”

Taiga appeared in the small space between Jesse and Shintaro, and Jesse sidestepped to give the pair more space. “There, there,” Taiga said, he gave Shintaro’s back a few hard pats. “Don’t feel bad. I haven’t had a tuna mayo rice ball in years. Juri keeps stealing mine.” Taiga was gone as quickly as he had appeared.

Shintaro’s face fell, dejected, and he tugged out another tuna mayo rice ball out of his plastic bag. He hushed the others in his group as he opened the package and proceeded to inhale it whole. He left no crumbs for Juri to claim. 

The walk to the exhibit wasn’t far, but Jesse’s mind drifted off as his friends chattered around him. He wasn’t sure why, but Taiga’s words were sticking to his brain and turning his thoughts into vicious poison. What if his magic wasn’t standard? What if it didn’t function like the rest of society’s because it had been locked up for so long? No matter how he tried, he couldn’t purposely cast any spells. Hokuto still pushed to see if Jesse could achieve any kind of results, but nothing worked. He was broken, and his magic would forever be full of horrible side effects. That was the only logical explanation for it. 

The spell book ceremony was looming over him as well. Hokuto swore it would happen by mid-November, and, as the days ticked past Halloween and into winter, Jesse’s heart started to ache more and more. Hokuto had already told him the basic structure of the ceremony, and it didn’t seem too horrible. The whole process wouldn’t take longer than ten minutes if things went according to plan, but the shortening timeline only increased the fear clawing at Jesse’s belly. It was the day of reckoning. The time he would learn how damaged he was, and he wasn’t sure he was prepared for the answer.

“If I turn into a monkey after I get my book made, swear you guys will still hang out with me,” Jesse said as they lined up to go into the exhibit. He was glad they had pre-booked, for the day of tickets line wrapped around the building. It made his heart feel a little less anxious. “I can’t promise I’ll remember any of you, but I’ll remain loyal to you all somehow.”

“Okay, but imagine if you turned into a dragon instead,” Shintaro said, slapping Jesse in the middle of his back. “Can I have permission to sit on your back? I swear I won’t make you destroy the city or anything!”

The inside of the exhibit was cool and dark when it was finally their turn to enter. All of the walls were pitch black with colorful changing displays mesmerizing people. The low lighting made it difficult to see where you could walk, but the forms of people disappearing and reappearing hinted at where there were hallways leading to new places to discover. 

Shintaro led the charge into the exhibit, saying how he was going to find the waterfall room with Kochi chasing after him to get Shintaro to stop running. Jesse followed at a slower pace, laughing at his best friend’s antics. They’d find their way to each exhibit in this world one way or another.

Jesse felt Hokuto’s hand slip into his, locking their fingers together. “It’s normal to be nervous, you know,” Hokuto said. He gave Jesse’s hand a tight squeeze. “I was before my own ceremony.”

That was surprising to him. Hokuto had this air of confidence to him when it came to magic. Except for a few things surrounding Jesse’s own, the knowledge Hokuto had about magic society was limitless. No matter the question, no matter the statement, Hokuto always had an answer ready. To imagine Hokuto just as another one of his friends felt like an insult. 

“Really?” Jesse asked, and Hokuto nodded.

“I woke up early that day and hid under my brother’s bed,” he said, and Jesse heard the smile in Hokuto’s voice. “My parents scoured the entire house for me, and it was sheer dumb luck they didn’t check under the bed. They had to ask a squirrel who was part of our household staff to cast the spell that found me in the end.” 

Jesse stopped, tugging Hokuto back when he tried to keep walking forward. “Your family has hired staff?”

“Most if not all of the lion line families do,” Hokuto said. He tugged on Jesse’s arm, leading him into the room they had seen Shintaro and Kochi slip into. It was the same one from the photos on social media, a tall towering wall with a waterfall flowing down it. So many people were crowded on the rock structure trying to take pictures, pressing their fingers into the wall and watching how the water display flowed around it. “I would say most of the wolf, hawk, snake, and fox lines do as well. The others…” he trailed off, biting his lip. “The other lines have been seen as lesser for so long. Even a few decades ago it would have been scandalous for a lion and monkey to be friends.”

It was hard to believe, but wasn’t that the same thing that happened in modern day Japan? Jesse had experienced his fair share of ‘othering’ growing up, full blooded Japanese kids not wanting to get close to him at first because he was half American. It was only because he was funny and made them laugh did kids start flocking around him. Who wasn’t to say that magic society acted similarly?

“I don’t believe what many in my line do,” Hokuto said. It felt like he was clinging onto Jesse’s hand for dear life, and Jesse rubbed the back of Hokuto’s hand with his thumb. “They believe the lower lines are weaker and should be treated as lesser because their animals aren’t ‘strong.’ But I think we all have our various strengths to uphold society. Strength isn’t the only factor in casting spells.”

“It’s because you’re a good person compared to others,” Jesse said, and he felt Hokuto’s hand soften its grip.

“I try to be,” Hokuto breathed out. “It’s the part I hate the most about the world I grew up in. Society’s rules shouldn’t dictate who we become friends with, who we spend time with, and who we choose to be with."

Jesse felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked around the room at the various people playing with the displays, touching the walls and watching how the falling water bent under their touch. He looked down at Hokuto and swore he caught Hokuto looking away. Hokuto coughed before continuing his story. “My mother was the one to bring me to my appointment, and my grandfather was the one to announce I had enough magic to create my spell book,” he said. “I should have been so excited, but I was scared.” 

Shintaro had climbed the rocky face across from them, weaving his way in and around the other museum goers so he could be close to the waterfall. Kochi wasn’t far behind him, Shintaro’s phone in his hand to play photographer for him. 

“But you said everything is fairly standard?” Jesse said, feeling the fear creep up his neck. “Right? So everything went normal?”

Hokuto nudged Jesse with his elbow. “Don’t jump ahead,” he teased. He led Jesse to another display in the room of falling flowers. A few people were nearly flush against the wall, fingers grazing the flowers and watching them bloom under their touch. “But, yes, everything went the way it was supposed to, but I was trembling while I waited for it to begin. Even in a room full of people, I felt so alone. I thought they were all lying to me, and I wasn’t ready. I felt like I was being rushed into a decision I didn’t choose to make and didn’t consent to. I was just a kid, and the world was bearing down on me, telling me that I needed to be a man. I hated it.”

Jesse could sympathize with Hokuto and his story. Such little time had passed, and Jesse already felt the crushing weight of expectations upon his shoulders. There were parts of him that clung to his life before that fateful night outside of rocks, but he couldn’t go back. The world had decided Jesse’s path for him, and he couldn’t stray from it.

“But then I saw it,” Hokuto said, his voice so soft that Jesse couldn’t help but look down at Hokuto next to him. His eyes were glazed over, lost in a memory, and his lips were parted ever so slightly. “My magic. It was one of the most beautiful things that I’ve ever seen, and I wanted to look at it forever. I almost missed the opportunity to form it into my book because it was the only thing I could think of.” He sighed, and Jesse saw the way Hokuto’s eyes closed and lips curved into a wistful smile. “There were still days I wished I could go back and change things, to make another decision, but…But I’m glad I can’t. I’m glad I made my book because that choice led me here to this moment with you.”

Hokuto’s eyes blinked open. Jesse’s eyes locked onto his, which were now unwavering and full of certainty. Hokuto captivated his attention. His story was the only thing Jesse could focus on, and it soothed the internal chaos of his mind, bringing him a sense of needed relief. 

“It may not feel like it right now, but everything will be okay,” Hokuto promised. “Even if your magic is next to nothing or doesn’t react like it’s supposed to, I will always be by your side. We’ll tackle whatever problems arise together.” Hokuto gave Jesse’s hand another firm squeeze, and Jesse’s heart felt as if it was floating in his chest. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Jesse.”

“Guys! Get over here!” Shintaro shouted, waving at Hokuto and Jesse. “Let’s take a group picture!”

Hokuto let go of Jesse’s hand, drifting over to where Shintaro and Kochi were with Jesse following at his heels. They all grouped up together, Jesse throwing an arm around Hokuto’s shoulder to pull him close. Shintaro held the camera and snapped a few selfies. He complained that Kochi’s face didn’t look right, earning another scornful remark from him. There was chaos and joy surrounding him, but Jesse’s head felt like it had been hit by a train.

He was in love with Hokuto. And he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.

Jesse had been in relationships before. He had dated his fair share of people, and he thought what he felt in his heart was love. He knew now that those feelings were nothing in comparison to how he felt about Hokuto. 

Jesse knew how to draw people to himself. He knew how to make them laugh. He had developed those skills over his life, fine tuning them until he could walk up to a stranger on the street and be comfortable striking up a conversation with them. There were plenty of people that Jesse liked and was willing to spend time with, but the way Hokuto made Jesse feel was so unique. Even Shintaro, who he had spent his entire life with, didn’t come close.

Hokuto made him feel seen. He made Jesse feel heard. He matched the chaos that Jesse brought to the table while being a place of quiet and comfort that Jesse craved at the end of a long day. Hokuto never made him feel less than nor stomped over Jesse’s wishes, crashing into boundaries Jesse had erected to protect the fragile parts of himself while they healed. He accepted Jesse for the person that he was just as Jesse accepted Hokuto. Jesse knew if he needed to choose someone to catch him, Hokuto would never drop him, and Jesse would never let him go in return. 

The love that he had for Hokuto was so strong, burning brightly in his chest, and it was so obvious to him now. Ever since Hokuto had stumbled into his life, Jesse had been building his love until it stood strong and solid before him, an unmovable force that couldn’t be broken. His mind and heart had been carved so that there would always be a piece of Hokuto in him.

Jesse’s hand on Hokuto’s shoulder felt like it would be scorched if he kept it there a second longer, but he couldn’t let Hokuto go. His mind raced with negativity that he couldn’t control. What if he never got the opportunity to hold him again? What if Hokuto didn’t feel the same? 

He needed to get Hokuto alone. Just the two of them far away from Shintaro and Kochi. Jesse didn’t know if he would confess, or even if he had the strength to so suddenly after realizing his own feelings, but he needed to figure out if Hokuto was even interested. As much as he adored Shintaro and Kochi, he didn’t want to make any kind of move in front of either of them. Jesse didn’t think he could handle the eternal teasing. 

When Shintaro was satisfied with their pictures, Jesse slipped his hand from Hokuto’s shoulder and returned it back to his hand. He leaned in close to Hokuto’s ear, whispering, “Come with me,” before leading them into one of the many darkened hallways connecting the various exhibit rooms of the museum.

Jesse’s heart was beating in his chest as they wandered through the different rooms, weaving in and around people who were walking a bit too slow for Jesse’s liking. He wanted a quiet place, as far away from other people as he could, to talk. It would be difficult in a packed museum, more and more people funneling in every few minutes, but there had to be somewhere. Jesse just had to locate it.

No matter where they went, no matter how out of line of sight they were, Shintaro always managed to find them not even thirty seconds after Jesse had found a place he thought could work for a quiet chat. Shintaro would come barging into the room, squeezing his way in between Hokuto and Jesse, looping his arms around them and loudly barking about how cool this display was or the kind of photo he wanted to take. Kochi would always volunteer to take the photos, and it gave Jesse the chance to slip away with Hokuto while Shintaro was distracted.

If Hokuto was confused or annoyed at Jesse’s constant run around, he didn’t show it. He only clung tightly to Jesse’s hand and followed his lead. Through rooms of hanging lanterns and a domed room with flowers flowing through space, he stayed by Jesse’s side, never letting him go. It only made Jesse’s heart beat faster in his chest. Was this a sign?

But after the sixth failed attempt, Jesse was beginning to feel as if he needed to leave the building entirely. No matter where Jesse tried to hide, Shintaro managed to find them before Jesse started the conversation he was desperate to have. Part of him wanted to strangle his best friend, the other was more understanding. They had agreed to hang out together, and now it seemed like Jesse didn’t want to spend time with him. Shintaro had to be feeling excluded, and Jesse couldn’t do it to his best friend any longer. One more chance. One more shot. If it didn’t work out this time, the plan would be abandoned. 

Jesse had wandered into the last exhibit with Hokuto, a room of hanging beaded lights that changed patterns and brightness based on the music playing. There were two paths to choose from through the exhibit space, one going right while the other went left. Jesse started to head through the right hand pathway before Hokuto tugged Jesse’s hand to go the opposite direction. Without so much as a second thought, he followed Hokuto around a gentle curve and into a dark triangular shaped room. There was a control panel closest to where the lights were hanging, a little box that allowed them to change the ambiance of the exhibit. It wasn’t long before Jesse saw Shintaro and Kochi in the distance following the path Jesse and Hokuto had not taken. 

“Jesse…is everything alright?” Hokuto’s voice was quiet, so quiet Jesse could barely hear it over the music that was playing.

“I…yes…maybe? I don’t know?” Jesse said, dropping Hokuto’s hand. He could feel his heart beating in his throat. They were finally alone.

Hokuto walked the small distance to the wall and leaned against it, patting the spot next to him, and Jesse couldn’t ignore the summoning. The lights glowed in front of them, the designs dazzling, and they watched them change to the swirling tone of the music. They stood in silence until Hokuto spoke. “Did I say something wrong?”

Jesse froze. Had Hokuto been talking to him as Jesse had been trying to escape Shintaro’s bloodhound senses? His silence must have distressed Hokuto since he sighed next to Jesse. 

“I should have known this was my fault. I shouldn’t have told you about the spell book ceremony so far in advance.” Hokuto’s voice sounded so sad. “If I had kept that information to myself, you wouldn’t be so nervous right now.” 

“What? No, that’s not what’s going on at all,” Jesse said. He pushed himself off the wall, so he could stand in front of Hokuto. “I-” love you. But no matter how he tried, Jesse couldn’t say the words out loud. He had just come to this realization an hour ago.

Hokuto cocked his head to the side, and Jesse’s eyes went to his throat, following the gentle curve down then back up. His gaze lingered on Hokuto’s cheeks, that perfect nose, before reaching Hokuto’s eyes. “You…?” Hokuto trailed off. 

He took a deep breath, trying to calm how fast his heart was beating. “Hokuto, even if you hadn’t told me about what’s happening in a few weeks, I would have been anxious about it. So please don’t blame yourself.” There was a strand of hair that had fallen out of Hokuto’s hairstyle, and Jesse longed to brush it back but couldn’t make his body move. “I…this is about something completely different.”

Though he had intended to ease Hokuto’s worries, his friend only stiffened in front of Jesse. Hokuto’s gaze drifted downward, and he refused to look Jesse in the eye.

“If I’m honest, I’m incredibly nervous,” Jesse said. He felt the words falling from his lips before his brain could process what he was saying. “But I’m also scared that I’m about to make a fool out of myself.”

“I’ve never known you to make a complete fool of yourself when you’re not meaning to,” Hokuto said. His fingers were fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. “You always hold yourself so well, and, even if you make a mistake, you own when you were wrong. It’s something that I’ve always admired about you.”

Jesse felt like he couldn’t breathe. “You admire me?”

“I do.” Hokuto’s gaze dropped to where his hands were, and Jesse watched the way he bit his lip. He had never noticed before how full and plump Hokuto’s lips were, the desire to kiss them growing in his stomach. “I…I admire you more than you know.” Hokuto took a shaky breath in. “I admire that you always put others first, even when others tell you that you’re supposed to look out for yourself. You would do anything for your friends and are always there to defend them.” Hokuto’s voice was shaking, and Jesse wanted to reach out and pull him into a hug. “I feel lucky to have you in my life because I feel like I don’t deserve to have you.” 

A single step closed the meager distance between them. Jesse reached out to grab hold of Hokuto’s chin, tugging it up until Hokuto’s eyes met his. He could see how Hokuto expressed all of his worries and doubts about himself through a single look. And he saw the confusion blossoming in Hokuto’s eyes, questioning what Jesse was doing the longer Jesse held onto his chin. Jesse felt Hokuto’s warm breath on his skin, and he wanted to know how those luscious lips felt on his.

“Don’t steal my line,” Jesse said, earning a small puff of laughter from Hokuto. “I’m the one who is lucky to have you after everything you’ve done for me.”

There was something else in Hokuto’s eyes, something that Jesse hadn’t seen before. It twinkled, dancing around the dark depths of his pupils before racing across Hokuto’s features. He saw the way Hokuto’s lips pulled back into the happiest smile and how his hands reached out, grasping onto the edge of Jesse’s jacket to pull Jesse closer; he noticed it all. Jesse’s body followed, comprehending the signs faster than his mind could process.  

Jesse leaned in ever so slightly, breath hitching in his throat until Hokuto slowly closed his eyes. His head tilted up, and it took all of Jesse’s restraint not to crush their lips together. He didn’t want a kiss so rushed he couldn’t remember every single nanosecond of. He breathed out, closing his own eyes, and started to close the distance.

“THERE YOU GUYS ARE!” Shintaro shouted. “KOCHI, I FOUND THEM! You said it couldn’t be done, but I FOUND THEM!”

Before their lips could touch, Jesse heard Shintaro’s hurried footsteps coming around the bend they had walked through not long before. It sounded like Kochi wasn’t too far behind him. Jesse felt Hokuto slip from his grasp, and Jesse’s heart started to ache.

Just a little bit longer. Just a few seconds more and he could have been kissing Hokuto. He could have been cradling that beautiful face in his hands, noses brushing. He would have known what Hokuto tasted like on his tongue and how they would have stood there after, foreheads pressed together and laughing at how wonderful they felt. He’d trace those plump lips with his thumb, memorizing every detail until he swooped in for a second. He had been close, so close, and his heart burned over what Jesse had missed. 

“Why did you guys keep running off?” Jesse heard Shintaro ask, his tone so light and carefree.

“Jesse had some questions he wanted to ask,” Hokuto answered, his voice calm as if they hadn’t been moments from sharing a secret kiss. “Boring magic stuff he didn’t want to worry either of you guys about.” 

His heart was stinging with every beat, the pain increasing tenfold with every breath. He couldn’t focus on anything, anyone. He only felt that horrible, terrible pain mixing with the love he felt, combining into a mess in his chest. The sensation started to spread, flowing from his veins into the other parts of his body. 

“Dude, none of this magic stuff is boring! You could read magical law books to me, and I would eat this stuff up.” Shintaro laughed.

“Still, I wanted to respect Jesse’s wishes,” Hokuto said. “Though it wasn’t too personal, I promise. I’m sure Jesse will share our conversation with you in no time.”

This…this wasn’t normal. He wanted to scream, to yell, but his mouth wouldn’t open. Where was this feeling coming from? Jesse shouldn’t want to tear his skin off from a single missed kiss. An ache, yes. Anger of being interrupted, yes, but this burning fire was too out of control. He wanted to get someone’s attention, but the conversation was flowing around him as if he was a rock stuck at the side of the stream.

“Jess,” he heard Kochi say, and the chatter between Shintaro and Hokuto stopped as they finally noticed him. “Are you okay?”

The lights in the exhibit went haywire, the beautiful patterns and rhythms of its design crackling. He heard the music screech and grind itself to a halt, and the chattering sound of other guests wandering through the room replaced it, wondering what was happening. He couldn’t make out what they were saying nor even process the words. It all felt like a distant hum. His entire focus was pulled inwards towards the blazing ache that was consuming him. It had subsided a bit, enough to give him room to breathe, but it coursed through his veins like death. 

“What the fuck is happening?” he heard Shintaro ask, and he felt himself be pulled into someone’s lap. He had fallen? When did that happen?”

“I-I think it’s his magic,” Hokuto said, and Jesse felt how Hokuto’s hands shook as he tried to pull Jesse into a sitting position. “I think the block on it is fading faster than I expected, and it’s starting to become too much for his body to handle.”

“What do we do?” Kochi asked, and Jesse could hear him pacing around. “We can’t exactly walk out of here with him like this!” 

“Don’t panic,” Hokuto said, his voice trembling. “I’ll get him to Juri’s. You two leave the way we came in and meet me there. I’ll figure out a way to temporarily stop all of this, and before the weekend is over, we’ll make his spell book.” 

“Hokuto. Look at me.” Shintaro’s voice cut through, and Jesse felt Hokuto stop shaking. There was a beat of silence before Shintaro spoke again. “Lock in.”

If Hokuto responded, Jesse didn’t hear it. He had been clawing to stay conscious, but he felt his grip slipping more and more as time passed. He felt Hokuto’s arms wrap firmly around his midsection, one hand cradling his head. Hokuto held him close as a swirling sensation filled his vision, and then all Jesse knew was darkness.

Jesse woke up to sunlight streaming through the window, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He was in his bed in his one room apartment, covers pulled up to his shoulders. He could see his couch and coffee table from where he was laying and the little area that barely qualified as a kitchen, not that Jesse cooked that often. The door leading to the front door, as well as where his bathroom and shower were, was closed. Jesse was home. He was safe, but he couldn’t remember how he had gotten there.

The last thing he had remembered was being in the museum, Hokuto tugging him closer by the edge of his jacket. Jesse’s heart had been beating so quickly, his body reacting to the signals Hokuto had been giving, and it felt unreal to be so close to the object of his newfound affection. He had been leaning down to kiss Hokuto when Shintaro's voice called out to them. He felt Hokuto slip from his grasp, there was a little pain, and then…he had woken up. Anything after the pain didn’t exist in his memory.

The bed shifted as someone sat down by Jesse’s feet, making him jump. A hand rested on Jesse’s covered knee, but Jesse relaxed when he heard who it was. “How are you feeling?” Hokuto’s voice was soft and gentle. He was dressed in a sweater overflowing with lightning bolts and bright blue sweatpants. Hokuto’s expression was neutral, but Jesse sensed a worry hidden deep in Hokuto’s eyes.

“Good,” Jesse said. He started to push himself to a sitting position but winced when a shock of pain flashed through him. Hokuto appeared by the head of the bed, a hand on Jesse’s lower back to help him fully sit up. “Maybe. Hokuto, what happened?” 

Hokuto’s words were tentative, each one hanging in the air before he said another. “Your…your magic went haywire at the museum.” Hokuto rubbed gentle circles into Jesse’s back, and Jesse leaned back into the touch. Hokuto’s massage was firm, and the tension sitting in Jesse’s muscles slowly evaporated. “I managed to cast another block on your magic, but it’s only temporary. I can already feel it starting to fade. If we don’t act quickly…” Hokuto trailed off, but Jesse didn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence. He knew the consequences.

“Are Shin and Kochi-”

“Your human friends are fine,” Juri said. He was standing in a doorway that shouldn’t have existed. Normally it would have been the connecting wall between Jesse’s apartment and his neighbor’s. Juri was half done up for the day. His black dress shirt had a few buttons undone, his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He had foregone his usual tie and jacket. He had only accessorized with a few rings compared to the mountain of jewelry he usually wore. Juri waved his hand, and the illusion of Jesse’s bedroom dissolved, the room transforming before his very eyes. The new layout was small, about half the size of his apartment, but had a small closet, bed and nightstand as simple furnishings. There were a few decorations on the walls but nothing that drew Jesse’s attention. “I kicked them out of rocks this morning to get some sleep. They hadn’t left your side all night.”

Jesse felt horrible. He had caused his friends to worry enough that they had felt the need to stand vigil over him. He knew he would need to find some kind of way to thank them for their service, but his mind couldn’t formulate a proper idea. Even if it hadn’t been his fault entirely, his leaking magic was beyond his control, he still had a sinking feeling in his chest that he was to blame.

“I wanted to stay by your side to make sure you made it through the night, but Shin forced me to bed,” Hokuto said. He took Jesse’s hand, weaving their fingers together and sandwiching it with his other. “Taiga gave them both a megaphone to wake us up if things took a turn for the worst. They took their jobs so seriously. I’ve never seen Shin that quiet.” Hokuto rested his head on Jesse’s shoulder. “I feel so responsible. If only I had been paying more attention to your magic. We wouldn’t be in this-” 

“Both of you stop it,” Juri snapped. “It’s written on both of your pitiful faces. This is no one’s gods damned fault. Now,” he said, standing up straighter and crossing his arms over his chest. “This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to go into the next room and get Taiga. Hokuto, you’re going to get that guy ready for his spell book ceremony, and then we’re getting this mess done before I have a dead man in my magic den. Got it?”

Jesse nodded, and he felt Hokuto do the same against his shoulder. Satisfied with their understanding, Juri turned to leave, but he stopped. He turned slightly to half face Jesse. “I’m not going to let you die,” Juri said before slipping back into the hallway. 

“I need to get you ready for the spell,” Hokuto said, and Jesse saw Hokuto sneakily wipe his eyes. “I’ll help you lay back down. You should be comfortable for what’s about to happen.” 

Hokuto’s hand was firm on his back, helping Jesse to lay back down in case there was any more sudden pain from his leaking magic. When he was safely nestled on the pillow, Hokuto threw the covers off entirely. Someone had changed Jesse’s clothes while he had been passed out, replacing them with a pajama set, unlike the usual t-shirt and shorts he usually slept in. He hoped someone had kept the clothes he had been wearing the previous day. He liked that jacket.

With a snap of his fingers, Hokuto made three wide leather straps appear that were snug across Jesse’s chest, hips, and knees. Hokuto checked the buckles, making sure he had magically secured them, and Jesse flexed, testing the bonds against his own brute strength. He couldn’t move an inch. There was no way he could get out of them.

Hokuto had already explained he needed to make a few concessions due to the location of Jesse's own ceremony. Usually the spell required extreme precision when it came to the position of Jesse’s body, Jesse’s arms and legs needed to be in a specific placement to best encourage his magic to leave his body. He also needed to be chained down to discourage movement. Given the limitations of Juri’s magic den and lack of stone structure to the building, Hokuto had deemed it necessary to skip this part. There were also runes that needed to be freshly painted onto stone flooring, but the specific paint was created and mixed on site, not to mention it was only made when a ceremony was scheduled to take place. Hokuto wouldn’t be in charge of making it once he ascended to his grandfather’s seat and had no way of swiping a batch, so he had chosen to forgo it as well. 

The preparation reminded him of a twisted surgery. He wanted to make a joke, to ask if Hokuto needed to leave and wash his hands before they got started, but Jesse’s words remained stuck in his belly, his throat refusing to speak. That kind of easy atmosphere would ease the anxiety clawing at Jesse’s heart momentarily, but it would have the opposite effect on Hokuto. Jesse could see from the way Hokuto was moving, his body rigid and robotic, his gaze avoiding Jesse at every turn, and knew that it would only stress him out. It wasn’t an appropriate time. Not when so much hung in the balance.

He went another route instead, his memory tugging at moments from yesterday in the hanging lights room.

“Hokuto,” Jesse called out. He saw the lion freeze, his eyes finally meeting Jesse’s. He saw the fear clinging to Hokuto’s eyes, the stress painted across his features with broad strokes. “When this is all over today, do you want to go to a magic den by my apartment? Just the two of us?” 

He saw an empty smile crack itself across Hokuto’s face. “You’ll more than likely be too tired to move when we’re finished.” And Jesse’s heart fell for a moment. “But…,” Hokuto said, and Jesse felt hope beat through his veins. “But maybe…when you’re feeling better…?” 

His heart leapt, and Jesse felt it bang around in his chest. “I would like that a lot, actually.”

Juri and Taiga walked into the room then, Taiga hugging his Conan manga to his chest so tightly. It was the most grave and serious Jesse had ever seen the snake, only giving a curt nod to Hokuto before taking his place near Jesse’s bedside. Juri stood beside him, and Jesse could see the faint outline of Juri’s spell book tucked in the waist of Juri’s pants. 

“Remember to stay as calm as you can, even if you start to feel pain. It’s important that you don’t panic,” Hokuto said. He took his place on the other side of Juri. “And don’t forget! When you feel your body start to become light, you need to imagine what your spell book is going to look like. You have a limited time to shape your magic into it.” Hokuto took a shaky breath in. “Okay. Let’s begin.” 

Juri’s voice was the first one to start, a low rumble of chanting that filled the air. The words he spoke were ancient, long ago forgotten. Taiga’s voice joined in swiftly, a mix between singing and speaking to match the rhythm of Juri’s voice. Their voices combined together, swirling in the air to create a beautiful harmony of sound.

Jesse kept himself relaxed as he listened to Juri and Taiga’s voices. He heard what he thought the end of the spell sounded like, and the pair started to repeat it for a second time. This wasn’t so bad. He didn’t know what Hokuto was talking about. Pain? Hah! He laughed at the thought of it. Maybe the fact that his magic had been blocked for so long was a good thing. Maybe it diminished the supposed side effects of having a spell book made. He had to be the luckiest person in the world if that was the case! 

“I’m going to fully remove the block on your magic now,” Jesse heard Hokuto say over Juri and Taiga’s chanting. “Remember, relax. This will be over before you know it.”

Between Juri and Taiga’s voices, Jesse picked out a few words here and there from Hokuto’s own. His hands were in front of him, palms facing down and fingers spread slightly. There were words like ’break’ and ‘set free’ that Jesse caught, but the sound and force of Juri and Taiga’s own spell were building in fervor. They swallowed the sound of Hokuto until Jesse strained to hear him. 

A pulse of magic burst through the air suddenly, shaking not only the bed but the entire building structure of rocks, but the trio of magic stayed firm in their spell casting. Jesse heard Hokuto switch his spell to the ancient sounding one on the fourth round, his voice joining in with Juri and Taiga’s. The chanting voices fell away from Jesse’s senses as a wave of pain came crashing down over him, knocking the breath from his lungs.

Jesse had known pain. He had experienced his fair share of injuries. He had even ended up in the hospital one time for attempting to do parkour as a teenager. Jesse was a boy, after all. He had engaged in his fair share of activities that ended in scrapes, cuts and mysterious bruises over the years. It was a part of growing up and exploring the world around him. But this? This was so much worse.

It felt as if every bit of muscle in his body was peeling itself away, separating itself and spreading underneath his skin. His bones moved and shifted, struggling to pull themselves out of their sockets. His lungs screamed for air, his heart burned in his chest, and he wanted nothing more than to shout and scream and beg for Hokuto to stop. This was too much. Death would be kinder than keeping him in this eternal pit of suffering.

How was this normal? How was this so accepted in magical society? Jesse couldn’t comprehend why anyone would put themselves through this torture to keep practicing magic. It wasn’t worth it, not by a long shot. His very soul felt as if it was being ripped from his body, and he wanted to cry. Something was being torn from him, strand by tiny strand, and it felt so unnatural, an absolute abomination. Jesse wanted to stay the way he was born, so whole and perfect, and his entire being screamed at him to fight against it.

A great strength came over him, and he fought against the straps binding him to the bed. Jesse felt them give ever so slightly but remained steadfast. He was stuck. He couldn’t get out, and that thought made him panic even more. He had been lied to. The lack of a spell book wasn’t what was going to kill him. It was the ceremony itself. He would never get to see Shintaro and Kochi again. He was never going to taste his mother’s cooking or spend time with his father anymore. He would never graduate from university or get the chance to apply for medical school. 

Jesse would never know what it was like to kiss Hokuto.

Jesse’s focus shifted in a moment, drifting from the pain tearing him apart, and Hokuto consumed his every thought. Hokuto’s smile. His laugh. The way that Hokuto’s hand felt in his. The teasing tone of his voice. The way Hokuto clung to Jesse’s side when they stood in line for lunch. The elegant way Hokuto held his chopsticks and how his eyes lit up when he tasted something delicious.

Everything was Hokuto, and that bit of relief, that bit of normalcy, allowed his mind to refocus on the lessons and words Hokuto had instilled in him prior to that day. He needed to calm down. Starting from his head and working his way down to his toes, Jesse slowly relaxed each and every one of his muscles. He took his time, feeling the tension unwind itself until his body felt like molten glue. The pain was still there, beating and burning under his skin, but it felt much more manageable. 

He kept his mind occupied as he worked on relaxing himself by thinking of Hokuto and their promised date, their first date. He thought of the insane combination of clothing Hokuto would choose, and yet the outfit would compliment him perfectly. They would go to Kiss Me and experience that eccentric owner’s drinks before going back to Jesse’s for a movie. And maybe, just maybe, if Jesse was lucky enough, he could kiss Hokuto goodnight. It would be the perfect evening.

A great sense of calm washed over Jesse, the pain washed away as if it had never existed at all. Jesse’s body felt so light, as if he was a cloud floating through the sky on a warm summer day. Everything he had experienced not even moments before, the urgency to escape, the hopeless despair, were distant memories in his mind. The only thing that existed was the sense of true peace.

From his chest rose a bright white light, and his breath was stolen once more from his lungs. Jesse had listened to Hokuto explain what it was like to gaze upon his magic in physical form, the indescribable beauty that had left Hokuto at a loss for words, but he hadn’t been able to comprehend. How could something exist in that kind of way? But seeing it for himself, it was nothing like Jesse had imagined. The feeling in his heart was of a connection full of a love of the purest kind. It was him and yet not him. A part of his being and yet separate, and yet Jesse knew he understood what true peace was. 

A memory shot through his mind like lightning. He couldn’t dawdle. Jesse needed to form his magic into his spell book or it would disappear. Jesse closed his eyes, focusing on the form he wanted his book to take. It wasn’t long before he felt a little book flopping onto his chest. When he opened his eyes, he bent his body as much as he could against the binds to see it: a joke book. Jesse had done it. He had made his spell book.

He couldn’t wait to get his hands on it, to see what magical knowledge existed behind its pages. Jesse knew that he didn’t know much, just the few spells he had been working with Hokuto to perfect, but there was an excitement bursting in his chest. As long as there were no horrible side effects and he was normal, the world was now open to him and the possibilities. Over time he would fill his little book with knowledge and spells, and, one day, he hoped to rival the knowledge that Hokuto had in his own. 

But something…something wasn’t right. He had expected to hear Hokuto’s joy at Jesse successfully creating his spell book. Taiga would have been teleporting around the room, joyfully shouting about how another magic had officially joined their group. Hell, Jesse even hoped the walls around Juri would break a bit and he would smile. Maybe even say how proud he was, but Jesse wasn’t holding his breath for a compliment lacking any bite to it. The entire bedroom was silent except for the sound of labored breathing, and, no matter how Jesse tried to move his head, he couldn’t see where it was coming from.

Jesse felt someone undo the buckle securing his chest to the bed before a loud thump followed. There was enough wiggle room for him to slip his hand out from the binding over his hips, and he quickly undid it before sitting up to undo the one over his knees as well. When he was free, Jesse twisted to look over the bed and froze at what he found.

Hokuto was on the floor next to him, crumpled into a ball. His arms were wrapped around him, but his entire body was trembling. Jesse’s first instinct had been to grab the comforter from the bed to try and warm Hokuto up, but then he saw how pale Hokuto was, his skin near translucent. Hokuto’s breath was ragged, and as Jesse sat frozen on the bed, there were a few times he thought he heard Hokuto stop breathing. 

He hadn’t wanted to look away, but Jesse had needed to confirm how Taiga and Juri were. Taiga was completely passed out, and Jesse could barely see the rise and fall of his chest. Juri was in a similar state, eyes glossed over as he clung to his sides. He let out a low groan that sent shivers down Jesse’s spine. Both looked as if they were barely clinging to life.

What happened? Hokuto had promised everything was standard. He had said his grandfather walked away from these ceremonies like it was nothing. Sometimes the elders did as many as three ceremonies in a day. With that kind of prior knowledge, conducting a single one hadn’t seemed that impossible. Something had changed.

“No, no, no!” Jesse jumped to the floor beside Hokuto, discarding his spell book on the edge of the bed, and pulled Hokuto’s head into Jesse’s lap. “Hey there, Hokuto. Stay with me. Talk to me.” 

Hokuto’s eyes were scrunched together, a grimace on his lips, and he barely cracked his eyes open to look at Jesse. “I…I think I gravely miscalculated.” Hokuto’s words were strained, a hollow laugh escaping from his lips that turned his grimace into one of pain. “Too much magic needed. Not enough...”

Jesse’s mind was racing. From his medical knowledge, the signs were all there. Hokuto was fading quickly, and Jesse didn’t know what to do. He was only a pre-med student whose magic line specialized in some kind of healing. He wasn’t even sure what that entailed. Was he supposed to heal someone through true love’s kiss? Was he supposed to give them his blood in a magical transfusion? The more he thought about it, the more Jesse realized wasn’t qualified to save a person’s life, even in the human world he wasn’t. He hadn’t even decided where he wanted to go to med school! Nor did he know any spells in order to heal people. Spells needed words, and those were things Jesse was severely lacking.

If only they knew another monkey line member. If only Jesse had been smart to seek one out while they waited for Juri and Taiga to learn the ceremony’s spell. He could have easily healed all three of them, and he wouldn’t be panicking on the floor. He wouldn’t be watching the metaphorical blood of three people be painted on his hands. Jesse was about to lose the person he loved.

He cradled Hokuto’s face in his hands, tears forming in his eyes and he closed them as they ran down his cheeks. He had only been magic for a short time, but Jesse already had so many regrets. He had thought that healing was a ridiculous form of magic when Juri first revealed his specialty. Healing was normal. It was something the body naturally did on its own, but doctors and nurses helped aid in that process. It had seemed like such a ridiculous concept to infuse into a magic line, but Jesse wanted to eat his past negativity. If only he hadn’t been so stupid.

“Fuck!” Jesse shouted, letting the bubbling stress escape from him in a burst. He looked down at Hokuto, pleading with him. “What do I do? Hokuto, how do I fix this?”

Hokuto didn’t answer. His lips formed words that Jesse couldn’t understand, and he watched as a single tear ran down Hokuto’s face. He closed his eyes once more, not wanting to see Hokuto suffering and in pain.

Jesse wanted to brush the tear away, to rub away the pain like his mother had whenever Jesse had gotten hurt as a kid. He had come home one time with a deep bruise on his shin after falling on the playground, the kind of bruise that hurt with even the slightest brush of skin. She had taken one look at it and beckoned Jesse over. She had sat him down on a stool, grabbing a cream from their medicine cabinet and her little book of remedies she always kept on her. She gently rubbed the cream into his skin. As she worked, she repeated the words she always said whenever she took care of Jesse’s bumps and scrapes. In the morning, the bruise had faded so that Jesse could barely see the outline of it anymore. 

His eyes flew open. What if…what if that was a spell? But that couldn’t be right. Was there a way his mother had been doing healing magic on him? He shifted slightly so he could grab his spell book from the side of the bed. His hands were shaking as he flipped through the early pages of the book. There were a few spells he didn’t recognize at the beginning, the words foreign to him, and there were the levitations spells he had been working on with Hokuto. Nestled between the two were the words from Jesse’s memory. 

What if his mother had been doing healing magic on Jesse for years, and he had never noticed it? It was possible. He hadn’t noticed the magic around him until his block had started to fade. He certainly wouldn’t have noticed spells being done in his childhood home if that was the case.

It was his one chance, his one opportunity, to fix all of this. If he was right, then he could save everyone, and they could move forward like nothing wrong had happened. After all, Jesse had a lot more to lose if he didn’t try. He crammed his spell book in his armpit to free up use of his hands. Jesse rubbed slow and small circles into Hokuto’s cheeks, so cold and clammy under his touch, and he began to speak the words he had heard so long ago.

At first, nothing happened. Jesse finished the possible spell, and Hokuto was the same. He could have sworn Hokuto’s cheeks were draining of color, and a panic flashed through him. He tried again, putting more force behind the words and infusing them with more energy. Jesse imagined Hokuto healthy again, life flowing through him. He thought of how he would embrace Hokuto afterwards, his tears soaking into the fabric of Hokuto’s shoulder, and how Hokuto’s arms would wrap around Jesse’s chest to never let him go.

When he was finished, Jesse heard the change in Hokuto’s breathing. It was less labored, steadier. His skin looked warm and tanned, and he could have sworn Hokuto’s cheeks felt softer and fluffier under his touch. For good measure, he repeated the spell a third time to be sure. It didn’t hurt to be careful. He placed Hokuto’s head gently on the floor when he was certain Hokuto was fine before Jesse moved on to casting the spell on Juri. He felt confident after repeating the spell twice that Juri would be okay, and, by the time Jesse finished casting over Taiga, he only needed to say it once.

Jesse collapsed into a sitting position on the floor, throwing his spell book to the floor next to him. He tucked his knees close to his body so he could rest his head there. He…he had done it. He had successfully cast his first purposeful spell. He had saved every single person in the room. He had healed them. 

He felt himself shaking as he clutched his knees tightly to his chest. Not from fear or anxiety but joy. Jesse had tasted magical drinks from rocks and Kiss Me. He had experienced what it felt like to cast magic without any intention, but this? This was the biggest rush Jesse had ever felt in his life. It was as if the blood coursing through his veins was singing, desperate to escape and replicate that healing magic over and over again. He wanted to yell, to scream, to shout and let everyone in Tokyo know how wonderful he felt. 

He grinned. He couldn’t wait to tell Shintaro and Kochi about it all. He already knew Shintaro would be so impressed at everything he had done. He would probably come up with some dumb nickname to call Jesse for the foreseeable future, like ‘Mr. Medical Magic Man,’ and Jesse would roll his eyes and accept it. Kochi would look at him with stars in his eyes and swear to go to him for every little health scare in the future, but Jesse didn’t mind. With magic at his disposal, anything was possible now.

When the others woke up, Jesse knew the first thing he would do. He’d ask Hokuto or Juri to help him find a proper magic teacher from the monkey line. He still wanted Hokuto to teach him the basics, he didn’t want that part of their routine to disappear entirely, but he needed a monkey to increase his healing knowledge. He also needed to ask Hokuto on a date. A real date where they would kiss. Jesse had no idea how he would do it, nor if he could even balance these lessons with his already strict school schedule, but he would find time. Hokuto was worth it.

A shifting across the room drew Jesse’s attention, and he perked up when he noticed it was Hokuto who had come to first. He opened his mouth to shout, to share his joy that Hokuto was okay, but Jesse stopped.

Hokuto…he looked frightened. His eyes were darting around the room between Jesse and then Juri and Taiga who were still passed out on the floor. His body was pressed against the wall, his feet digging into the floor as if he was trying to separate himself as far away from Jesse as he could.

“How are you still alive?” Hokuto asked. His hands were pressed onto the flooring as if he was preparing to jump up and run in a split second. Jesse wanted to go over, to sooth Hokuto as much as he could, but every little movement, every sound, made Hokuto flinch.

“What do you mean? The three of you made my spell book.” Jesse went to reach for it on the floor but thought better of it. Jesse stopped and sat criss crossed on the floor. “So I’m fine? Right?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Hokuto’s voice was strained. “Monkeys…monkeys heal by taking on the pain of others into their body.” Hokuto was shaking as he talked. “Things like broken limbs, organ failure, and cancer are too big for a single person to handle by themselves. Some are too big for even a group of people to balance among themselves. How did you…” Hokuto trailed off, but Jesse didn’t need him to fill in the blanks. 

There had been three people in this room at death’s door. Three people who had been clinging to consciousness, and Jesse had held Hokuto, watching him cling to life. Based on Hokuto’s explanation, Jesse shouldn’t have been able to bring one of them, let alone all three of them back to full health. The mere thought of it should have killed the inexperienced Jesse.

Hokuto’s gaze was unwavering on Jesse, his words laced with quiet disbelief. “What…what are you?”

Time hung around them as Jesse processed the words that had come out of Hokuto’s mouth, but his mind wouldn’t let him comprehend the meaning behind them. Four words, four simple words, but it was as if Hokuto had spoken another language to Jesse’s brain. It was a strange question to ask, a touch bizarre, but one Hokuto wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t have a reason. Jesse was sure of it, and his mind was racing to formulate an answer that would be good enough. His lips formed the words as his mind pieced together a sentence character by character.

“I’m just Jesse,” he said, fingers twitching. “I haven’t changed just because I gained healing magic. I’m still the same person that you know.”

“But this,” Hokuto said, gesturing to the room. His hand was shaking visibly until he pulled it close to his chest, “this shouldn’t have happened! None of it should have. I thought we were fully prepared. I thought we were doing everything right, but I was wrong. I vastly underestimated the magical power we needed.”

“Hokuto, it’s okay,” Jesse said. He tried to speak as calmly as he could, to get Hokuto to relax. “Everyone makes mistakes. You know I’ve made mountains of them before, and it all worked out in the end for me. This time is no different.” Jesse’s fingers twitched again. “We can move on and forget what almost happened. I healed you. There’s nothing to worry about anymore.” 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Hokuto said. He pulled himself into a little ball, hiding his face behind his knees, and held himself close. Jesse could barely make out his muffled voice from across the room. “You don’t get it, Jesse! You don’t know how that felt at all. Every breath I took…I didn’t…I didn’t know if it would be my last.” Hokuto’s voice was shaking, the sound of it radiating through his body, and Jesse ached to hold him. “The last thing I saw before it all went black was you. I thought that would be my final memory until I woke up again.” Hokuto’s voice was choking out the words he spoke. “I should have never been in that position!” 

Something was digging into Jesse’s brain, hooking its claws into him to yank him down into the muck slowly infiltrating his mind. It whispered in his brain how Hokuto was right. If Jesse had never discovered his magic, things would be fine. Hokuto would have never known what it was like to come face to face with death nor the feeling of his heart slowly stop beating. There would only be memories of happiness and life in Hokuto instead of an all consuming darkness dragging him closer and closer to a six foot deep grave.

“I would do anything to change what happened,” Jesse said. He tried to slowly scoot closer to Hokuto, to close the distance between them slowly, but Hokuto’s head snapped up at the sound of movement. His expression was so scared, so terrified, that Jesse didn’t have the heart to try again. They were meant to exist far apart for this conversation. “Hokuto, please understand. I never meant for any of this to happen. Please, forgive me. I’m so sorry-”

“No!” Hokuto barked, and Jesse froze where he sat. Hokuto had never snapped at him like that before. “This is your fault.” He looked off to the side, muttering to himself. “Should have known better.” 

“I-I wish I did,” Jesse stuttered. He could feel the insides of himself cracking and shattering, the shards falling down into the bottomless pit of his heart. “But I don’t know anything. I’m still trying to learn. I’ll try and do better in the future to help all of you.”

Jesse didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t physically comfort Hokuto, and his words were doing nothing to calm him down either. He was stuck in the center of a storm, a lonely ship getting thrown around by waves three times his size. Jesse was doing his best to weather the conditions, waiting for sunny skies to return once more, but the winds and rain continued to batter him the longer this conversation went on.

This wasn’t supposed to be how things went. It was the furthest thing from Jesse’s mind when he had been on such a high, but he was slowly losing steam and crashing back down to earth. He didn’t understand where any of this was coming from. Weren’t they all okay? Hadn’t he saved them? He had, Jesse was most certain of that, but Hokuto’s words and actions told another story, one where he had woken up to a room full of dead bodies instead of one where they were all alive.

Jesse wanted to reason with Hokuto, to make him see some sort of logic, but his brain wasn’t working fast enough. This was Hokuto’s forte. He was always the one in their friend group who saw scenarios from multiple perspectives in order to invoke an understanding of an opposing viewpoint. He was so damn clever, and Jesse had loved watching Hokuto’s mind work as he pieced together the parts needed for a compelling argument. Jesse, on the other hand, was the glue that kept all of them together, the moodmaker, and now it was as if his power had been diluted with an ocean of water.

Hokuto’s fingers were curled around the knee of his sweatpants, digging into them like talons as he spoke. “I saved you,” Hokuto said, his voice catching in his throat. “I taught you all about the world you were separated from. I convinced Juri to welcome you in with open arms, so that you would feel more at home here. And when you were nearly dead on the floor, I helped create your spell book, so you could live. I funneled so much of my magic into severing the bonds of yours, and instead of me helping you, you drained me of my magic. I saw Taiga and Juri dying next to me, and I knew deep down in my heart that I was going to be next. Do you know what that feels like?” Hokuto ran his hands through his hair, gripping onto the strands. “To watch your best friends dying and you can’t break the spell or risk everyone in the room dying? I had to continue. I had to keep letting myself have my magic be siphoned out of me. It was violating. How messed up is that?” 

“I didn’t know that I was doing that. I swear that I didn’t, Hokuto,” Jesse pleaded. “I felt my magic being ripped from my body, but I wasn’t aware that I was stealing your magic in order to form my book. I would have tried to calm myself faster to cause you less pain if I had known.” Jesse felt absolutely horrified seeing Hokuto so broken before him. He was hunched over, an absolute shell of himself, and Hokuto’s eyes were glazed over as Jesse spoke. “But I had to do something. I couldn’t be the reason that you died.”

Hokuto let out a weak laugh. “Yeah, you had to do something. You used that unnatural power of yours to save me. Don’t you get it? If you weren’t such a freak of nature, we’d all be dead!”

Jesse’s heart stopped in his chest. He…he couldn’t have heard that right. Hokuto would never insult him. He had never done that before. Jesse had his fair share of ridiculous and utter stupid moments in their years together, and Hokuto had never so much as called him an idiot in jest. Hokuto was kind. He was smart. He was the most rational and logical person that Jesse knew. It had to be a mistake, a slip of the tongue, Jesse told himself, but Hokuto’s words continued to strike him.

“Do you see how absolutely crazy this is?” Hokuto said, but Jesse couldn’t move his head, couldn’t avert his gaze. The only thing Jesse’s mind could process was the flooring in front of him, the wood grain swirling in his vision. “If you had tried to heal us and were a normal monkey, all four of us would be dead right now. In the past, you would be collected and studied in a laboratory to understand what was wrong with you. You would be an abomination to the monkey line! How absolutely terrifying would that be?”

His mind was spiraling, swinging round and round its designated path to the depths of despair, and Jesse couldn’t control his thoughts any longer. It had all been a lie. Everything had been one big practical joke. Hokuto had never cared for him. Hokuto had probably secretly thought it was hilarious that an eighteen year old kid didn’t know that he was magic. He had been biding his time to see how long it took until Jesse realized what he was. Jesse wouldn’t doubt if there was some kind of bet going on between Hokuto, Juri and Taiga about how long it would take poor, pitiful Jesse to learn his first spell. They had to be laughing at him behind his back!

His thoughts continued to unravel the more Jesse sat there, listening to Hokuto talk, and Jesse was kicking himself for not coming to this realization sooner. Jesse had always prided himself on being a decent judge of character, but it was a testament to how good of an actor Hokuto was. He had Jesse fooled for three long years, but it had only been a matter of time before the facade fell and the true Hokuto remained. 

“I should have seen it before,” Hokuto said. Jesse heard Hokuto shift his seating position, but he didn’t know how. The only thing he saw were past memories of him and Hokuto flicking through his head, and he felt broken. All of those smiles, those fond moments, were lies. “I should have known you would be super powered. I mean, what kind of parent would lock their kid’s magic power away behind a block?” Jesse felt the shards of himself continue to fall with every word Hokuto said, his happiness breaking until he was grasping at the final pieces. “They had to have known the power you possessed when you were younger! How could they not? That’s why they had to lock it away, so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of a monster.”

There was nothing left inside of Jesse. Nothing contained within his body. He felt like a shell of a person unable to experience any kind of joy, a void that was only meant to consume and not create. Three words cycled around in his brain, repeating themselves over and over.

Freak. Abomination. Monster. 

That’s what Jesse was. That’s how Hokuto saw him. That’s how Juri and Taiga would see him when they woke up and after Hokuto shared what Jesse had done. That story would pass to Shintaro and Kochi, his closest friends, and Jesse knew their minds would change. This dawning realization would hit them that they were friends with a monstrosity, one that needed to be chained in the darkest depths of the deepest prison on Earth.  

There was no saving Jesse. There was no helping him. Hokuto was right. Jesse was a monster unleashed. He shouldn’t have let Hokuto try to save his life. He should have accepted the fate that the universe had deemed him worthy of. Jesse wasn’t worth it, and this power that he possessed should have been destroyed the second he learned of its existence. 

The air in the room was stifling, Jesse’s lungs not taking in the air his body craved. The walls were closing in on him, and Jesse knew that he had to get out of there. He had to free himself before he was captured and locked away for the rest of eternity. If he ran, at least he could control his own fate. He could write his story to have a better ending. Anything was better than staying in a room where not even ten minutes before, he had experienced such elation and excitement for the future. Now, it only reminded him of the abomination he had become.

Hokuto thought he was a monster. Hokuto thought Jesse was the worst kind of person imaginable, and Jesse would never change his mind. He didn’t have it in him to fight, so Jesse would remove himself from the picture. He’d erase himself from the narrative so that way Hokuto would never have to see his face again. He would have to move on, to forget how his heart beat in time with Hokuto’s, but he could do it. Jesse would slowly cram all of the love he had in his heart into a box deep in his chest. He’d forget over time that he had fallen in love with Hokuto of the Lion Line.

Jesse snatched up his spell book, pushing himself off the floor, and he ran. He ran past the doorway into a little living room and kitchen. He ran down the stairs, into rocks, and onto the streets. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, weaving in and out of people on the streets. He ignored red lights and blinking crosswalk signs. He ran and ran and ran until his lungs were begging for air, desperate for oxygen, but even then he kept running. 

He ran until he got the door to his apartment, fumbling with the key until he managed to unlock the door. He stepped inside and slammed it behind him, clicking the lock closed with one movement of his wrist. It was only then he collapsed on the floor and allowed the world around him to fully unravel. 

A knock echoed through Jesse’s apartment, slipping through the cracks from the front door to burrow its way into his ears. He knew he should get up to answer it, but Jesse couldn’t make his body move. He stayed on his bed, clutching his pillow tightly to his chest. His fingers dug into the fluff, and Jesse tried his hardest to keep pushing out the words floating around in his mind.

“What…what are you?”

No matter how he tried, no matter how Jesse distracted himself, his mind kept going back to those four words. They echoed around his head, becoming louder and louder until Jesse couldn’t even feel his heart beat in his chest. He wanted to claw at his ears, to silence them somehow, but no matter what Jesse did, the tone in which Hokuto spoke turned crueler and crueler until he couldn’t remember how they had been originally said. There were times he finally silenced the voice in his head, allowing himself to have a good hour where he forgot all of the troubles plaguing him, but, like a rocket, that phrase would shoot through his mind, destroying every semblance of peace he had cobbled together.

He hadn’t left his apartment in five days. Not since he had fled rocks without so much as a backwards glance. Hokuto had made himself perfectly clear with everything that he said, not leaving any room for a different translation. Hokuto hated him, plain and simple, and had made it perfectly clear what kind of person he thought Jesse was. It pained him deeply to throw away a precious friendship, but Jesse had to accept his new reality. Jesse would do everything in his power to make sure they never saw each other again. 

There was the chance of running into Hokuto between classes or at lunch, their daily school lives so intertwined, so Jesse had emailed his professors to claim he was sick, at least for a week or two while the wounds were still fresh. He had asked permission to do his classwork from the comfort of his apartment, and every single one of his professors had relented in the end, wishing him a speedy recovery. Getting groceries was also too much of a risk of running into someone he knew, so Jesse ordered take out far more than he normally would have. But his spell book, the thing he should have been the most proud of, he couldn’t look at it after the things Hokuto had said. He didn’t dare to. He crammed under his mattress, so he wouldn’t be reminded of everything that had happened at rocks. 

Jesse’s self-imposed isolation was the only way to protect his friends from what he had become, but, in doing so, had cut himself fully off from what occurred after he had fled. He didn’t know if Juri or Taiga were okay. He didn’t know what Hokuto had told them after the ceremony had been completed. Jesse’s phone had been blowing up with text messages from Shintaro and Kochi as well as his mother, wondering where he was and if he was okay, but he swiped away the notifications before he could read the full messages. They all had to know what Jesse was, and he didn’t need their text messages to confirm what he already knew. 

He was an absolute monster.

Hokuto had managed to validate every single worry Jesse had about himself, and that singular thought broke his heart more than he could ever imagine. There had always been a closeness to them since Jesse had noticed Hokuto clinging to his side. They had a mutual love and respect for each other. They cared for each other. They were friends! And yet when Jesse had looked at Hokuto after his spell book had been made, there was a distance between them that transcended the physical plane. Jesse was so certain that if the two of them had been separated by an entire ocean, Hokuto would have still been desperate for more space between them. He could still see that in the way Hokuto’s feet had dug into the floor, pushing himself farther and farther away from Jesse.

Jesse’s mind flooded with ‘should have’ when he thought about the moment before his world came crumbling down. He should have done something, anything, to try and comfort Hokuto. He should have crossed the room despite how Hokuto had flinched at any movement. He should have pulled Hokuto into his arms, smushed his face into Jesse’s shoulder, and held him until he stopped shaking. He should have done anything besides sit there and maybe, just maybe, Hokuto wouldn’t have gone on that tirade that ended with Jesse feeling this horrible, awful way. 

But he hadn’t. Jesse hadn’t done a single thing. How could he when Hokuto had addressed him as if he was a stranger, putting so much distance between them with only a few words? Hokuto had called him vicious and vile things. A freak of nature. An abomination. A monster. Whatever goodness Jesse had perceived in Hokuto had been destroyed in less than five minutes. This was how Hokuto truly saw him, and it tore at Jesse so violently. 

Those simple vile words Hokuto had called him dug a dagger into Jesse’s heart. Even before they had become friends, before Jesse had learned Hokuto’s little quirks and things that made him tick. Before he learned what Hokuto’s smile looked like when it was turned to him. Even before he remembered what Hokuto’s voice sounded like, Jesse was so certain Hokuto had never talked to him like that, even in a joking manner. 

There had always been a warmth to Hokuto, a belief in Jesse that Jesse had always accepted as truth and fact. Hokuto had become his sunshine, his rock, over the last month. He was the person who had kept Jesse sane, and Jesse was forever grateful to his friend for supporting him. They were the perfect combination outside of the chaos of their friend group, and Jesse would have done anything to return back to that bond they had cultivated.  

If only Hokuto didn’t hate him.

There was another knock at the door. This time louder, more insistent, but Jesse just rolled over and clutched his pillow tighter to his chest. It had to be Shintaro or Kochi. Hokuto never wanted to see him again. He had made that perfectly clear, but, even if it was two of Jesse’s best friends wanting to talk to him, Jesse couldn’t imagine what they had to say. By this point, Hokuto had to have relayed the monstrous nature of Jesse’s magic, and he couldn’t foresee a future where either Shintaro or Kochi wanted to maintain a friendship with him. Jesse wanted to believe in his friends, he truly did. The other part of him knew that, if he told them about his unnatural power, there was no way they could remain on his side. 

Freak. Abomination. Monster. The words cycled through Jesse’s mind over and over, turning into a tornado of noise that he tried his best to shut out, but the sound was too powerful. He tried to breathe them out, expelling every inch of negativity from his body, but they snuck back in with every intake. They rattled around in his lungs, desperate to climb their way up to infect every cell of his body. 

Why couldn’t the block on his magic have held forever? Why couldn’t he have been a human for the rest of his life? Things were so much simpler before he had gone drinking with Shintaro in that park. Jesse had his friends. He knew his future path. He was working every day so that he could apply to medical school in a year. But, more than anything, Hokuto would still be at his side. Hokuto’s hand would still be in his, looking up and smiling at Jesse with the biggest grin on his face. Jesse’s heart would flutter in joy knowing that Hokuto’s attention was on him and only him.

But that’s not how things would go. They never would. Hokuto would forever live in a world where he had befriended a monster. If only Hokuto had never met Jesse. He would have never experienced such a horrifying beast.

The door separating Jesse’s room and his front entrance exploded into shards of wood, showering the room in a cloud of sawdust. Jesse jumped at the sound, heart racing as he searched for what could possibly cause this sort of destruction, but came face to face with a furious Juri instead. A sense of relief flowed through Jesse, for he was fine. Jesse hadn’t been killed in the blast, and Juri was perfectly healed from his injuries. Those thoughts dissipated in a flash when Juri curled his hands around Jesse’s loose t-shirt and lifted him off of the bed. 

“How absolutely dare you,” Juri snarled. His face was so close to Jesse’s that he could barely make out Juri’s features. “After all this time, I never thought you’d actually be this kind of person.”

This was it. This was how Jesse died.

“However you’re going to do it, just make it quick,” Jesse said. He scrunched his eyes. He didn’t want to see death coming for him. “At least give me that final request.”

There was a beat of silence then two and three and four. Jesse’s lungs were burning as he held in his final breath. He hoped for a swift and painless death, one where he didn’t feel it happening. He would float into the depths of the underworld and live out his afterlife in eternal servitude for the hell he had caused on earth. It’s what he deserved. But when he thought he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, Juri finally spoke, his grip relaxing on Jesse’s shirt. “You…you’re just as miserable as him.”

Jesse cracked open one of his eyes, and he tried to steady himself with what he saw. Juri was dressed far more casually than he had ever seen him before with a plain white long sleeve shirt and jeans that were patch worked together. He still had a mountain of jewelry on, but it was his expression that caught Jesse. There wasn’t much that had ever shocked Juri, at least from what Jesse had seen, but his face was positively perplexed at whatever he saw on Jesse’s face.

“I’m not here to kill you, you idiot.” Juri released his hold on Jesse’s shirt, and Jesse sank back down onto his bed. A sweet relief melted through Jesse’s veins with Juri’s words. He wasn’t going to die. That was good. He could continue to live out the rest of his life in solitude without fear of divine retribution from the fox.

“Then leave.” Jesse rolled over so his back was to Juri. He went to grab his pillow again, but it was ripped from his hands and tossed aside. “Hey!”

“I’m not going anywhere until you get out of this ridiculous pity party you’re throwing for yourself and apologize to Hokuto for what you’ve put him through this week,” Juri snapped, and confusion flashed through Jesse’s mind. “So get your ass up and get dressed. You’re going to rocks, and you’re working out this little spat today with him even if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming.”

“I’m not going,” Jesse said, wrapping his arms around himself the best he could. He rubbed his biceps to try and keep himself calm, his emotions starting to bubble up with every word he spoke. “You didn’t hear how he spoke to me after everything that happened. Hokuto thinks I’m a monster.” Freak. Abomination. The words stung, and he did everything in his power to reign in his emotions. He didn’t want Juri to hear him cry. “How the hell did you even find my apartment? Get out and leave me alone!”

“You’re not a monster, my bro.”

The new voice made Jesse jolt up, and he found Shintaro with Kochi hovering behind him in the doorway among the wreckage of the shattered door. He hadn’t heard them walk in, but it explained how Juri had found his apartment. The two of them must have led Juri here. 

“You’d have to do some pretty messed up things for me to think you’re a monster,” Shintaro continued. “Like drown a whole village with a river or establish a cult that worshiped the ground you walk on or suddenly like eating bitter gourds.”

“You don’t understand-” Jesse began, but Kochi cut him off.

“No, you don’t understand,” Kochi snapped, pushing past Shintaro to go farther into Jesse’s apartment. Each step he took echoed into the silence. “Do you know the hell you put us through the past five days? The last me and Shintaro heard,” he gestured between the two of them, “you either had that spell book ceremony or you died. Do you know how worried we were all of Sunday? No messages. No calls. We thought you died, and no one had the guts to tell either of us.”

Shintaro closed the distance between him and Kochi, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, maybe we should be a little nicer to-”

“Fuck that.” Kochi shrugged off Shintaro’s hand. “Jesse’s going to hear all of this if he wants to treat us like shit.” He turned his attention back to Jesse. “Hokuto told us what happened. He told us how you saved not only his life but Juri and Taiga’s, too. He said you achieved this huge feat of magic and then you ran away. He refused to say why, but that doesn’t even matter at this point.” Kochi’s eyes were full of righteous fury as he spoke. “Instead of letting us know what was going on, you kicked us out. You locked yourself away and didn’t communicate with anyone at all, and you let us imagine the absolute worst happened to you. Do you know how fucked up that is?” 

Kochi’s words were digging into Jesse’s heart, and he felt nail upon nail being hammered into it with every word. All of Jesse’s decisions were being laid before him in their bluntest form, and Jesse couldn’t ignore that, in what he had imagined was kindness, was, in actuality, cruelty. 

“Do you know how many times Shintaro and I came over after school to check on you this week? Every single day,” Kochi snarled. “We knocked on your door every day. We messaged you every day. We called you every day, and you didn’t even give us a second of your time. You’re the one who decided how we felt without even asking us. That’s not how friends treat each other, Jesse, especially ones who have known each other for years. That’s not how you treat your best friend since elementary school,” Kochi wildly gestured to Shintaro before turning his fury back to Jesse. “You’re being an absolute shit friend, you asshole.” 

Kochi’s breathing was ragged when he finished his rant, but he was right. Jesse had been a horrible friend. There had been no denying it. He had thought he was protecting his friends, but, instead, he was only dragging them down to the depths along with him. They cared for Jesse. Loved him. Appreciated him, but it didn’t erase how Hokuto felt about him.

“I’m sorry,” Jesse said. He shifted on the bed, so he was sitting on it, his feet planted on the floor. His hands were resting on his knees. “I should have reacted differently. I should have let both of you in and trusted in our friendship. That was wrong of me, and I will find some way to make it up to you both. But,” he took a deep breath in before looking at Juri, “there’s no way that I can ever meet Hokuto again. He hates me, and I want to respect his wishes to-”

“Shut the fuck up, Jesse,” Juri snapped. In all the time that Jesse had ever known Juri, the fox had never used his name. He had always been at the end of a disparaging nickname or simply been called ‘that guy’ when around others. Jesse snapped his jaw closed and listened. “You have no idea the torture you’ve inflicted on Hokuto and don’t you dare pretend as if you’re an expert on what he’s gone through this week,” he said when Jesse opened his mouth to try and defend himself once more. “I’ve been the one at his side. I’ve been the one trying to raise him up and calm him down because you ran away. Fucking hell.” Juri threw up his hands. “Do you know most days I couldn’t even coax Hokuto out of bed? I had to move him from his apartment to rocks to make sure he even ate a meal a day. He keeps saying this is all his fault, but I know it’s not. It’s yours.”

There was so much power in Juri’s words, the consonants cutting in every phrase to Jesse’s ears. “I’ve known Hokuto since he moved here from Shizuoka, and even when he was at his lowest point, I have never seen him in this kind of state before. Taiga has been watching over him when I’ve had to work because he breaks down more when he’s alone. One of my closest friends is a mess because of you.” Juri curled his hands into fists, and Jesse flinched. He was so sure Juri would teleport and punch him across the face. “If you do not fix this, I will rain down hellfire until your bones are nothing but sludge on the floor,” Juri threatened, and Jesse knew with every being of his soul that Juri meant it. “I never want to see Hokuto cry like that again, and I will not let a sorry excuse for magic get away with causing that kind of pain.”

Hokuto had been crying? Because of Jesse? But that…that didn’t make sense. Hokuto thought Jesse was a monster, an untamable beast. In fairy tales and legends, the hero of the story wasn’t supposed to empathize nor cry over their adversary. The commoners didn’t mourn the creature who was the cause of all of their strife. They were supposed to rejoice in their freedom, and yet Hokuto was reacting differently to how he had been scripted. It wasn’t possible, right? Jesse was the villain in all of their tales. 

The bed beside Jesse shifted, Shintaro sitting down next to him. His voice was quiet and oddly serious when he spoke. “I can’t speak for Kochi or Hokuto or even Juri, but I don’t think you’re a bad guy, Jesse.” Shintaro was fiddling with his hands as he spoke, massaging and cracking his knuckles. “I…I was honestly so worried for you, and then you wouldn’t answer any of my texts. It…it made me feel like you didn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

Shintaro took a shaky breath in. “I have no idea what you’re going through, and I’m not going to pretend to. You know me. I’m not that good at this serious kind of stuff.” Shintaro’s hand came up to rub the back of his neck. “But whatever happened on Sunday with Hokuto, I don’t care. You’re my best friend in the whole world and nothing is going to change that.”

For the first time in days, Jesse could breathe again. As long as Jesse had one person in his corner, somehow things would be okay. Jesse looked at the three people occupying his room: the anger melting off Kochi, Juri still full of righteous fury, and Shintaro calmer than Jesse ever remembered him being. There was peace flowing through him that he hadn’t experienced in days. Regardless of how these three people felt about his magic, they were fighting for the bonds that had connected them all together. Jesse had tried to escape, to slip through their fingertips like water, but it hadn’t worked. At least things were a little okay.

Jesse was still absolutely terrified of what would happen when he met Hokuto. What if Juri was lying to him? What if this was one big hoax and was meant to humiliate him further? Juri hadn’t been around to hear what Hokuto had said to him, and the story could have easily been twisted in Hokuto’s favor. After all, Juri had known Hokuto a lot longer than Jesse, and he was predisposed to believing whatever Hokuto said. Their bonds had years longer to form and build over time, and Jesse was some random guy who had stumbled into his life. Jesse felt absolutely sick to his stomach when he imagined confronting Hokuto face to face, and he wasn’t sure he had the confidence to do it.

At the same time, Jesse wanted to see Hokuto. He needed to learn for himself if what Juri had said was true. It was the only way Jesse would learn why Hokuto had called him a freak of nature, an abomination, and a monster, and, if they had any chance of moving forward, he needed to take the first step. No matter how crushed and broken he felt under the weight of what had happened, Jesse still loved Hokuto, and, in his heart of hearts, he couldn’t give up on that love that easily. He had to fight for it. If he failed, at least he gave it his best shot.

“You’ll always be my best friend, too,” Jesse said, nudging Shintaro’s side with his elbow. He saw Shintaro perk up at his words. He looked at Juri. “I don’t know if I can do anything to help Hokuto, but I’ll go with you. I should at least talk with him.” And Jesse saw the fury on Juri’s features shift, peeling away so there was less anger spread across his face.

Jesse stood up from his bed, Shintaro following after him. “Just fix my door first? Please? And then we can go,” he said. Jesse looked down at his clothes, seeing the holes in the shorts he usually slept in, and he cringed. “And, uh, let me shower and change, too.”

Jesse could have sworn he saw Juri’s face crack into the tiniest smile, but he didn’t point it out. He needed to fix things with Hokuto first before he risked teasing the fox.