"By the way, what happened to the guy that we were fighting elder brother with"?
Hoshimi smiled.
Not warm, not bright, just a small, practised expression that fitted his face like a mask.
"I killed him".
Lucy's eyes widened. Not dramatically, slowly. Pupils dilating first, breath catching next, her fingers freezing mid-swing of her dress. The corners of her mouth twitched ever so slightly.
Hoshimi watched that micro-expression with calculated calm.
[I should just say it outright. Reina probably has everything on video.
If I lie and she finds footage online later, she'll start doubting me.]
His eyes softened, his voice lowering into something fragile and human as he lied through his teeth.
"I couldn't help it," he murmured.
"After we split up… he started chasing me. I kept telling him I had no points but he didn't believe me. I really thought he'd kill me. So I…" His gaze dropped to the floor. "I didn't really have a choice, did I"?
His hand came up to hold his opposite arm, the fingers shaking ever so slightly, just enough to sell it.
[I was hiding in the trees right before I shot him.
If she sees that angle, she'll assume I was hiding from him.
Not waiting to ambush.]
Lucy let out a long breath, shoulders slumping. Relief washed over her expression like a warm tide.
"Oh." She shook her head, almost smiling. "Then it wasn't your fault at all. It was self-defense. Anyone would've done the same. I can telli. You're a good person."
[Holy shit, she's unbelievably gullible.
And her ability? A once-in-a-millennia prodigy.
If I treat her right, she'll become some that I can eventually push my problems on if something ever does come up in the future]
[I'll push her to observe the others, then have her memorize their magic
Piece by piece, I can build someone useful out of her.
All I need is patience.]
They walked.
A long hallway stretched out ahead of him, cold and metallic; no windows, no breeze, no ambient noises, just a long tunnel of artificial light that didn't hum, didn't flicker, didn't breathe.
The silence pooled thickly between them.
Only the sharp, rhythmic click-click-click of Lucy's heels broke the void.
Hoshimi's footsteps yielded no sounds whatsoever.
He moved beside her like a shadow with a pulse; still, straight-backed, eyes fixed ahead. His expression held nothing. His gaze was unreadable, almost too dark to reflect the lights of the hallway.
She could feel the emptiness between them stretch thin…like a sheet of glass ready to crack.
[I have no idea how to start a conversation]
Hoshimi's head was empty, and the eerie feeling still gnawed away at the back of his head. Each second of silence just made the air more suffocating, and even the echo of her heels felt too loud—like the hallway was amplifying every click just to emphasize how incredibly silent he was.
Lucy cleared her throat.
The sound exploded in the silence like a detonation.
"Awk… waaaarrrd~," she sang under her breath, stretching the word out like a balloon about to pop.
Hoshimi glanced over his shoulder, a small, practiced smile touching his lips – an expression that never quite reached his violet eyes. "What do you want me to do about it?" he asked, his tone flat.
Lucy let out a small, almost apologetic laugh, running a hand through her long, dark blue hair. "Nothing, really! I was just... pointing something out." She searched his face, a hint of awe in her crimson eyes. "It's just, you're really something, Hoshimi. During the exam, you were so calm, so… effective." She paused, her split tongue briefly flicking out. "Speaking of that, was that invisibility a mutation type? I've never seen anything quite like it".
Hoshimi's gaze drifted ahead, unfocused. "I don't actually have a natural mana technique of my own. My... caretaker, she's a mutation type, but it isn't really something a person can pass onto another". He paused, his expression unreadable. "It's my reincarnation ability."
"Oh, really?" Lucy's eyes widened. A genuine smile brightened her face. "You're so lucky, then! Reincarnations are so rare, and having another soul with you... it must be wonderful, never being alone. I think about a third of the class has a reincarnation. It must be fun to have someone else."
"Hm," Hoshimi replied, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his shoulder. "Nothing in this world is truly a gift, after all. It's more like two souls being crammed into a single body. If one becomes too weak, the other can dominate… and sometimes, even take over permanently."
Lucy's smile faltered for a moment, a flicker of something distant in her eyes, before she quickly brightened again. "Well, at least you'll never truly be alone, and you get stronger, right? That's still a good thing." She nodded, trying to convince herself as much as him. "Sometimes I wish... I wish I wasn't so alone sometimes, everyone around me usually goes away some way or another, I just want someone… someone to hold onto".
Hoshimi's voice softened, though his eyes remained calculating. "Audrey is the prime example of the troubles. Do you know how much turmoil she's in because of her forced reincarnation? She feels like she's going to disappear, that her very identity is being eroded. She's strong, though. Stronger than most realize, I think."
As Hoshimi spoke, he subtly adjusted his stance, angling himself slightly towards a nearby window, almost imperceptibly. He felt the sun's warmth on his jawline as he peered through the glass, noting a faint, almost shimmering disturbance on the distant rooftop.
Lucy's brow furrowed at his words about Audrey, a flash of genuine concern crossing her face. "Turmoil? Oh, that sounds awful. But… you seem really close to her, Hoshimi," she said, a playful, knowing glint entering her crimson eyes. "Maybe there's something up with you two, hmm?"
Hoshimi blinked, his gaze still fixed on the distant figure on the roof. "Speaking of Audrey… there's actually somewhere I have to be. Now".
Lucy's playful pout deepened. "Avoiding the question and running off to see your 'girlfriend,' are we? How rude," she teased, but her voice held a hint of genuine disappointment. "You're just going to leave me here?" She watched, expectantly, as Hoshimi simply turned and walked towards a discreet service door.
Her eyes darted around the empty hallway, a growing sense of abandonment washing over her as Hoshimi's silent figure vanished through the door without a backward glance.
"He ditched me," she murmured to the empty air, her voice a mix of indignation and exasperation. "How utterly rude of him"!
She then softly smiled, as she stared down and slowly began to chuckle. "You're so interesting".
The sky hung low, gray and breathless. There's a faint scorch in the air, cigarette burn, old asphalt, cold iron. Under it, a trace of something cheaper synthetic body spray, mint gum long since swallowed.
A girl dressed up in a large fancy gown leaned back against the wall, one leg bent, her heel pressed to concrete, the other scuffed along the gravel. She exhaled slowly, dragging the cigarette from her lips with two fingers that shook slightly.
"What do you want"?
The wind kicked her, ruffling her large white gown, tugging strands of her golden hair into her face. Her black eyes staring into the bright blue sky with an empty gaze.
"You're smoking in Audrey's body, she's a minor you know? You could mess up her lungs". Hoshimi faded in from thin air, reappearing in front of him.
"What the hell are you? My mom? Why the hell are you even criticizing me"?
She drags from the cigarette again, the ember glowing a soft orange in the cold. Then she exhales slowly, smoke filling up the skies.
"Unless you came here just to piss me off, in that case, congratulations".
"What's up with this edginess? Even if you share the same body, you're not very similar to Audrey, what's up with you"?
She took a long drag, holding the smoke in her lungs before exhaling it slowly through her mouth. Her fingers tapped against the cigarette.
"Life is shit, people are worse and pretending otherwise just makes you look stupid". A small pause. "If you want a sob story, go find someone who still gives a fuck".
"Even the patriarch isn't allowed to smoke here".
She barks out a laugh, sharp and jagged, while already pulling out another cigarette from behind her. "Fuck dad, he wasn't there for me even before I died, then he suddenly brings me back from the grave, now he suddenly wants to get up in Audrey's life".
"Hey, give me one".
Her smirk falters for half a second, genuine surprise flickering across her face before she schools it back into indifference. She exhales smoke sideways, considering him with narrowed eyes.
"Didn't consider that you were the self-destruction type, suit yourself then", she mutters, fishing out a crumpled pack from her pocket, a pack that she clearly stole from one of the servants. She tossed it at his chest with deliberate roughness.
"Don't choke, at least try not to, or do, whatever, it isn't my problem".
She watches him, her arms crossed, shoulders tense. "Are you going to keep staring at it like a freak or are you going to light it? If you aren't then give it back".
"I don't really smoke, I just can't stand the smell".
"Then why the hell did you even ask for it in the first place"!?
"I wanted to see why you were smoking". Hoshimi raised his free hand towards the end of the cigarette, snapping his fingers as a small burst of mana lit it up.
She snorted, shaking her head as she watched him fumble with the cigarette. Her voice dripped with dry amusement. "Wow, real rebel move, you're wasting my smokes just for your little experiment". She leaned back against the cold wall, arms crossed, her heel propped against the wall behind her. "You know, if you want my attention, there are way easier ways to do it". Another pause, her smirk fades slightly, her eyes flicking to the discarded cigarette on the ground. "But hey, at least you didn't cough right"?
Hoshimi leaned up against the wall and started coughing violently, smoke erupting from his lips.
"Touche". She rolled her eyes, grabbing the pack of cigarettes from his hand with precision. "You're going to watch me all day or what"?
Hoshimi leaned against the wall with one hand, his back bent over as he stared at Domino.
'What do you- you even want me to say"?
She lets out a sharp exhale through her nose, smoke curling around her face as she studies him. Her fingers tighten around the cigarette, knuckles whitening for a second before she forces them to relax.
"How the fuck should I know", she muttered, her voice still rough but quieter now. "You're the one that came up to me in the first place, this little investigation". She flicked the ash onto the ground, watching it slowly scatter. "If you're expecting some tragic backstory from me, I'm not telling you shit".
Her eyes flickered, black and empty. The cigarette burned close to her fingers, but she didn't seem to notice. "Say whatever you want to, doesn't change anything".
She whispered underneath her breath, quiet enough that Hoshimi couldn't notice. "I don't know how Audrey even likes someone like him".
"Why would I want to hear some sob story coming out of your mouth"? Hoshimi asked, pressing his back against the wall as he sat down, next to her.
"It's a fucking sob story now"? Her voice rose, thin and breaking a little. "I don't need your stupid sympathy or analysis, why do you care? You care about Audrey, not me so what's even the point"?
She looked away then, jaw tight and eyes stinging, her voice then dropped to a harsh whisper. "If you really must know, it's not a goddamn sob story, it's just my life".
"We're witches, the only way our magic manifests is through heavy trauma, quick of you to assume that there aren't people worse off than you". He stared blankly into his eyes, his eyes pulsed a shining violet.
Her head snaps back around at that, eyes wide and practically glowing with sudden rage. In a flash, she's in his face, cigarette dangling forgotten from her mouth as she raises her chin defiantly. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? You don't know shit about me". She sighed, running her fingers through her hair as she took another drag. "Maybe you're right".
Hoshimi walked up towards the edge of the rooftop, staring down at the ground below, the air brushed past him, rustling his hair. "The closest a person can titter on the border of death without feeling any pain is when they are on the edge of a tall cliff".
Domino rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I haven't heard that naively philosophical bullshit from a thousand other emo angst pups before." She crossed her arms, sighing as she stood up from the floor. "Rooftops are for policy accidents and cheap thrills, not for deep life insights. Especially not when the only thing you'll get out of that will be a faceful of asphalt and maybe some perverse sense of nihilist cool."
She threw the cigarette to the floor, crushing the smoke beneath her heel. "Look I get it. You want to make a statement, but the only thing you're statement-ing is that you're a dumbass that wants to sound smarter than you actually are".
"Isn't philosophy just thinking about our surroundings with fancier terms"?
She leans against the wall with a heavy sigh, lighting up yet another cigarette with shaky fingers. The smoke curls around her face as she watches him pace, arms crossed tight over her chest. "Yeah, it is. Fancy terms and no solutions. Just more ways to dress up feeling shitty".
She takes a long drag, holding the smoke in her lungs before releasing it in a thin stream. "But hey, if you want to romantically astray and go jump off, it's not my problem". She stared up at the sky. "I have a lot on my mind but I'm not the type of person to kill myself over my problems".
"I'm not jumping off".
"I mean". She barked out a humorless laugh. "You could've fooled me, I thought you were going to leap off that edge and go splat on the ground".
She stalks over to him, grabs his arm none too gently and starts yanking him away from the edge. "Come on. This is fucking stupid! We're leaving so I don't have to listen to your phony nihilist whining anymore"!
Hoshimi's eyes widened slightly. "I thought you said you couldn't care less about me".
Her fingers tighten around his arm, drawing blood through his skin. She spins him around to face her, her face inches away, grey eyes burning with a furious intensity. "What makes you think I do? Me and Audrey share the same body, if I was inhabiting anyone else, you would be on the bottom of my priority list".
"Is Audrey listening"? Hoshimi walked up to her and asked her. "I want to ask you something:.
"Her soul is far too weak for her to peer through my eyes, let's just say that she's asleep for now".
"Do you know that Elias framed the patriarch's death? What is your opinion on it? What would Audrey feel if she heard it herself"?
"Father is dead"?
"Yea, weren't you looking through Audrey's eyes"?
"Yea, I was, but it's not like I was paying attention the whole time, and I saw him yesterday, what do you mean when you say that the patriarch died"?
Hoshimi's eyes widened slightly. "He's alive"?
"Yea"?