Beyond the Horizon

14. Normal

Over the next few days, Shion and Nezumi trained. After the carton incident, Shion caught on to lifting and throwing various objects quickly, and he could do so now with relative ease, if not consistent accuracy. He only had trouble with the very large things and small, delicate tasks.

          Despite Shion's willingness to improve, his doubt continued to be his greatest obstacle. If he thought the metal barrels were too heavy to lift with his arms, he struggled to imagine lifting them with his mind, no matter how many times Nezumi explained that the two were not related. For the delicate tasks, like unlocking a door, the problem seemed to lie in the fact that he couldn't see the mechanisms with his eyes, and so he became hung up on how to act on them in his mind.

          "You don't need to know what the inside of the door looks like!" Nezumi snapped after the third time Shion had mumbled his insecurities. "Just focus on the lock opening and your mind should do the rest."

          "I don't know exactly how your power works," Shion said, turning his attention from the door he was working on, "but that's not how mine works."

          "And how does your power work, Shion? Because right now, it looks like it doesn't at all."

          Shion scowled at him. The papers littering the floor skittered over to his feet and whirled around them. "They work just fine," he said. A newspaper sheet crumpled mid-air and sailed at Nezumi.

          It wasn't fast and Nezumi easily caught it. He supposed that was the point; it was Shion's proof that he had his power under control and he wasn't launching projectiles willy-nilly.

          Shion faced the door again and sighed. "Why do I need to practice opening locks anyway?"

          Nezumi approached. "As further training in control and finesse. So no exits are blocked from us if we're being chased, and so we can lock the door behind us as we escape." He hopped up onto the barrel across from Shion and crossed his legs. "So we can break into the liquor cabinet when the 'rents aren't home."

          Shion snorted and Nezumi's mouth twitched up into a brief smile.

          "Take your pick," he finished. "Any way you look at it, you're opening doors for us."

          "Was that a pun? Nezumi." Shion pretended to recoil. "I didn't think you capable of such lowbrow humor."

          "I speak to fit my audience."

          "And I laugh only to indulge you."

          Nezumi smiled. "You're getting quicker."

          Shion grinned back, exceedingly pleased.

          "Now if only you could pick that lock quicker," Nezumi said.

          Shion pursed his lips and glared at the lock. A minute passed with no discernable change. The door appeared to be winning this staring contest.

          Nezumi leaned back on his hands and shook his head. Shion's face reflected a mix of uncertainty and focus whenever he tried to use his powers. The kind of look someone might wear as they stared down the spider in their bathtub, trying to decide whether to smash it or wash it down the drain. A single furrow formed in Shion's brow and his dark eyes glazed with determination, even as his mouth pulled taut in a grim line of fear.

          Sometimes Nezumi felt like laughing when he watched Shion work. So serious! But other times, his chest ached. He had laid such a heavy burden on Shion's shoulders—he had laid his burden on him. Wasn't sharing the load supposed to make the weight easier to bear? But the pressure was worse—for the both of them.