The Mirror Girl - 鏡の少女

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

I'm Something of a Magician Myself

Sunday Afternoon, 1:00 PM, TEZUKA'S BATHROOM

The pair spent the whole Saturday and all of Sunday morning taking turns ranting to each other about their respective worlds and their lives.

There was nothing they couldn't agree with each other on as far as their knowledge went.

However, Keizo was rather surprised by the amount of content that was presented in Izumi's world. Sure his world was complex and almost entirely alien to her, but nothing could compare to Izumi's world. Her understanding of its history and current state had amazed him.

"Alright, I yield, you win!" Keizo chuckles, his hand resting on the back of his neck.

"I certainly don't feel like a winner, though." She says pouting. "I think we've each gone over everything there is to go over. It's getting monotonous. Maybe we should try something new!"

She then goes silent for a second before starting. "Hey, Keizo, Have you ever thought about learning magic?"

Keizo does that blank stare at her again.

"You mean like card tricks or the incantation magic you attempted earlier?"

"Incantation magic, exactly this!" She beams with excitement.

"I don't mean to shoot down your enthusiasm but to answer your question... I haven't." He tells her.

"Oh come on, you can't be serious, you must be able to cast spells." She says.

"I'm not so sure about that. Magic isn't like that, at least I don't think. Lemme give an example, if you asked me to recite a spell using words that don't have any meaning in my world, I'd definitely struggle, not just with pronunciation but with the actual words themselves." He points out.

"That makes sense." Izumi looks down, thinking.

He then sighs softly, leaning forward, resting his forehead against the mirror as he does so.

"Hey," Izumi says, resting her head against his through the glass.

He looks up at her, seeing the hopeful glint in her eyes.

"You never know until you try, Keizo."

With those words echoing in his ears, he finally lets himself give in. He sits there, silently pondering about Izumi's offer as she stares back.

"Okay..." He says hesitantly, "But how do we even know if I'm even capable of doing magic?" He asks curiously.

"It doesn't need to be complicated, I just want you to do it. Even if you're not, at least we both know that you gave it a shot." She says.

"True, you're right. Okay, let me try." He says, his expression turning serious as he steps back from the mirror.

Keizo starts extending his hands outward and swaying them around, feebly attempting to make magic happen.

"What's this?" Izumi says, trying not to burst out laughing.

"I dunno, you tell me..." Keizo says sheepishly. "I wanna be clear on this: I have no idea what I'm doing." He says with a chuckle.

"Obviously, you big goof. Hang on." Izumi says. "For starters, you gotta relax yourself, don't worry about any cool poses and things like that for now, currently we're just trying to get you in the right state of mind so you can channel elements, and things like that." Izumi says confidently.