areixyn-en

[areixyn-en]

Interpretations

a sequel to Signs. please read that first before proceeding!

“Ophelia?”

She jumps. She laughs and says something, and Krishna puts on her hearing aid. “Hm?”

“Ah, right, um,” Ophelia stumbles on her words, “Your hearing aids were making noises? So I checked on them.”

“I forgot to turn them off, sorry.”

“Oh, so that’s what that was? It's alright.”

Ophelia shuffles around, seemingly having something on her mind. It's expected — Krishna didn't miss the way she was staring at her hearing aid in shock earlier.

“Have something to say?”

Ophelia blinks, then laughs nervously. “Ah, well, umm…”

She freezes, and her smile drops. Krishna recognizes the look — she’s having a flashback.

Krishna places her hand on Ophelia’s shoulder, just like back then, before remembering that people usually say something first. “Ophelia? Are you alright?”

Ophelia blinks, and the haze in her eyes lifts. She’s confused for a second, then smiles and looks away. “… Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”

Krishna retracts her hand. “If you were about to ask if I was a wizard, yes.”

“How—” she starts, then pauses. “Ok, I guess maybe that was obvious, but… You’re just telling me like that?”

“The fact that you recognized the symbol shows that you’re a wizard, too.” And also the fact that Krishna knew Ophelia was a wizard already. Not that the other remembers it, though.

“… I suppose that makes sense,” she says, “But you should still think twice before giving out information like that, you know!”

“Mm.”

A moment later, Krishna holds out her hand. “Can I have my hearing aid back now?”

“Oh! Right, sorry,” Ophelia hands it back to her. “I should also go back to drying my hair, and you can go back to your shower now, sorry.”

“It’s ok.” And with that, Krishna disappears into the bathroom once again. Ophelia gets the hairdryer and sits back down.

Oh, right. She forgot to ask if Krishna knows what Uyeno is.

[areixyn-en]

Signs

happy birthday to Krishna :D

also fun fact i originally planned to post this part later on in the story but it's Krishna's birthday so-

not directly connected, but I recommend you to read Fragrance of Evil and Meetings if you haven’t already to understand some things here!

The symbol on the necklace glows softly, the sign that mana has been fully restored. Ophelia puts on the necklace and looks at her right leg — the marking of magic has disappeared.

Every miuzhi has a marking of magic on their body. This was supposed to be a badge that symbolized their blessing, yet in today's society where sumizhis are brutally oppressed, the marking of magic became an undeniable piece of evidence for their identity.

Sumizhis have no choice but to learn to conceal their badge. Fortunately, the marking concealment spell is a common spell that can be used by sumizhis of any type and is also one of the first spells a sumizhi learns.

For the sake of convenience, marking concealment spells are usually used with an enchanting spell to enchant a certain object. Ophelia chose to enchant a necklace her grandma gave her as the item that conceals her marking. Every once in a while, she restores the mana in the symbol of the enchanting spell, ensuring that the spell is functioning.

Hiding the necklace under her shirt, Ophelia steps out of the bathroom. “Krishna, I’m done!”

“Oh,” Krishna puts her book away and enters the bathroom with her clothes. Ophelia sits down and dries her hair with a towel.

As she takes out her hairdryer, she notices a faint noise.

It sounds like a whistle, faint, but quite high-pitched. She looks towards the source of the noise — Krishna’s hearing aids?

Krishna always puts her hearing aids outside on the table, saying that they aren’t waterproof, but they’ve never made such noise before. Was there something wrong with them? Ophelia inspects the hearing aids, hoping to figure out what’s making the noise.

There's a faint glow on the bottom corner of the hearing aid. Maybe it's an indicator? Wait, no—

She stares at the hearing aid.

The symbol of an enchanting spell stares back at her.

“Ophelia?”

Sumisha (the language of magic) translations: miuzhi - the collective name of sorcerers and perceivers sumizhi - sorcerer

[areixyn-en]

Meetings

happy birthday to Charles :D

not directly connected, but I recommend you to read Fragrance of Evil if you haven't already to understand some things here!

“Take care, master.”

The driver bids farewell, and Charles steps out of the car.

The guard by the gate nods to him. “Mr. Chandler’s cousin, right? I’ll swipe the card for you.”

This is his cousin Felyx’s home. Charles enters the elevator and presses the B2 button — the floor to the parking lot. Following a familiar path, he walks to his cousin's car. Felyx is already sitting in the driver's seat waiting for him.

“You’re here, Charlie,” Felyx starts the car. “Let's go, then.”

Although on Charles’s schedule, it's currently the time to “go to cousin’s and study,” this isn’t his real destination, nor is studying his real goal —

Right now, he’s going to Knot For Bookworms to practice magic.

Knot For Bookworms is a branch of Uyeno. Charles doesn't know much about the organization Uyeno itself other than it's an international organization founded by sorcerers. The organization aims to provide a place for sorcerers to communicate with each other and practice magic. Uyeno, the name of the organization, also means knot in the language of magic.

Despite sorcerers being able to use magic since birth, practicing can refine their skills and allow them to learn more advanced spells. An unpracticed sorcerer may need to chant a long incantation to cast a spell, but an experienced sorcerer can do so with just a thought.

Knot For Bookworms is a book club on the surface, but actually one of Uyeno’s many branches underneath. The meeting is held in Ophelia’s house today. She and her grandmother are both sorcerers, and her grandfather also welcomes members of the book club, so meetings are often held in their house.

As they drive, they arrive at Ophelia’s house. Ophelia’s grandmother opens the door. She has an eye patch on her left eye, as usual. It is said that she doesn't really have eye problems and just prefers it on, though Charles can’t understand why someone would willingly blind one of their eyes — his own blind right eye has caused him quite a few issues.

“You're here! Come on in, the meeting is about to start,” Ophelia’s grandmother greets passionately.

Charles and Felyx enter the house. The living room is filled with chattering and laughter. Felyx joins the conversation naturally, while Charles finds an empty seat to sit down.

“Everyone! It's about time. Let's begin,” Ophelia’s grandmother says, turning to Arashi who’s standing beside her. “Right, Anaka is busy today, so you can practice with me today instead, Lamis.”

Lamis is Arashi’s name in the language of magic. Ophelia’s grandmother has a habit of referring to both people and things with the language of magic. Sorcerers are called sumizhis, perceivers aymizhis, and together the two are referred to as miuzhis…

Ophelia seems to have grown accustomed to this way of mixing English with the language of magic, but even after joining Knot For Bookclubs for so long, Charles still hasn't gotten used to getting called Imiyu.

“Ah, ok,” Arashi answers. Everyone scatters to group up by their type and starts practicing magic.

Charles gets up, heading towards the group of wind sorcerers.

[areixyn-en]

two birthday celebrants for December!

wonder what awaits them…

[areixyn-en]

Fragrance of Evil

The fragrance of hyacinths abruptly filled her nostrils. Water type, coming from number 4.

Aimee marks the answer on her answer sheet quietly. This is the Test of Perceptual Abilities, the test for measuring a perceiver’s acuity given by the government.

Legend has it that god gave some humans the magic to manipulate elements of the world. However, they instead use their powerful abilities to do evil — even now, incidents of wizards wreaking havoc are still being reported on the news.

Aimee doesn't know what kind of god lets people they chose abuse the power they gave them, but at least god doesn't completely favor wizards — god also created perceivers. Perceivers can’t use magic, but they can sense traces of magic. Whenever magic is used, traces of magic are created, and perceivers can thus identify the wizard that used magic.

Therefore, perceivers took on the responsibility of maintaining social order. Since a perceiver’s abilities are discovered, they are sent to designated kindergartens to receive training and improve their acuity of sensing traces of magic. The second a perceiver senses a trace of magic, they should be able to identify the user and the type of magic used. This is the ability every qualified perceiver should have. After leaving kindergarten, perceivers should also attend regular Tests of Perceptual Abilities to ensure that their abilities are in the best condition.

This time, it’s the scent of jasmines from wind-type magic. It’s from wizard number 7. Aimee colors in the corresponding blank. The sound of pencils scrubbing against paper can be heard across the room.

A light aroma of roses from number 5. Fire magic.

A cool scent of mint. Earth magic.

Wind again, but number 3 this time. There are only 4 types of magic, after all. There isn’t much to be tested.

Before she knew it, the last question ended. The bell signifying the end of the test rings, and the supervisors take away the answer sheets.

Aimee takes a deep breath to relax her overused nose. After packing her belongings, Aimee stands up to leave.

Before leaving the exam room, Aimee glances at the wizards standing by the wall. They surround the room, wearing clothes with the original color barely recognizable and a number card hanging from their neck.

One of them looks at her. She can’t tell what emotion the other has behind the emotionless front. Hatred, perhaps? These are the heroes who caused their downfall, after all. Wizards here most likely got reported by a perceiver.

She looks away. In the end, after getting reported and imprisoned in Tarus — the prison for wizards, how the wizards are treated in there…

Has nothing to do with her.

[areixyn-en]

“Do you really not recognize me?”

“Umm… Sorry, should I…?”

“… Nevermind. Forget it.”

[areixyn-en]

Sweet Afternoons

4 o'clock on Fridays is sweet in flavor. The sweet aroma of freshly baked desserts, the eager chattering of students, and the warm air of afternoon sunshine make up a culinary classroom filled with warmth.

“Lili!” Beside her, a familiar voice calls out. It's Ophelia’s friend, Aimee. She walks up to Ophelia, gazing at her madeleine. “Woah, well done! As expected of you, Lili!”

Ophelia chuckles and looks at the other’s handiwork. “You did great too, Mimi! They look delicious.”

“Haha, I know, right?” Aimee says, “Time to record this moment, then — Lili, can I borrow yours to post a story? It's too good not to take a photo of it.”

“Ah, of course!”

Holding both of their plates, Aimee walks to the window by the counter. “Today’s sunlight looks great. Let’s take the photo here!”

She carefully places the desserts. Under the sunlight, the freshly baked goods glisten as if covered in glitter, looking even tastier than before. After searching for the perfect angle, Aimee took a flawless picture.

“You’re really good at taking pictures, Mimi,” Ophelia compliments, “If it were me, I would��ve never thought of taking it beside the window.”

“It’s nothing. I just saw a pretty scene and took a photo of it,” Aimee returns the sweets to Ophelia and starts working on the photo. Ophelia watches in interest as Aimee skillfully chooses a suitable filter, adds lovely stickers and elements for decoration, and puts text on the picture. The simple photo is now much more elaborate, but still not too over the top.

Ophelia has seen Aimee posting stories a few times. She always meticulously decorates every picture, and her feed is also carefully designed. Aimee manages her account with care, and she has gained quite some followers.

“Done!” Aimee presses “post” and pockets her phone.

“Your stories are as elaborate as always,” Ophelia says with a smile.

Aimee returns the smile. “You gotta capture the tastiness properly, y’know?”

“Alright, let’s dig in, then! They don't taste as good cooled down, after all.”

“Yeah!” Aimee grabs a madeleine for herself.

[areixyn-en]

for Charles’s introduction, have this basically unrelated drawing of Charles and Cyrus because i want to draw them in uniforms instead of sportswear :D

[areixyn-en]

Schedule

“God, it's been so long since we’ve played basketball together,” Cyrus says to Charles, and the other hums in agreement.

The two slowly walk out of the basketball court. Cyrus would have stayed longer, but Charles had to study by 5 pm, according to his schedule.

“Sigh, such a shame that we can’t play longer. For once, you’re free from extra classes in the math-gifted class and doing experiments, and guess what? Nobody else’s free, and even you have to go studying so early, too,” Cyrus says, “I mean, you already study all day every day anyway! Breaking away from your schedule once in a while won’t hurt, right?”

Seeing as the other doesn't reply, Cyrus continues the conversation. “You also gotta loosen up sometimes, y’know?”

“…I do,” Charles says.

Cyrus pauses for a second, then remembers the one hour of free time he has every day. “No, you don't! That one hour doesn't count!”

Not in the mood for a rebuttal, Charles just walks in silence.

“When you’re free, let’s play basketball together again,” Cyrus suggests, “We can also work on your passing. You’re not bad at shooting; not getting the ball would be a shame, you know?”

Charles has always struggled with passing the ball. If he remembers correctly, he’s been like this ever since Cyrus knew him — which was in elementary school.

“Oh.”

“Though we’ll have to wait until you’re free,” Cyrus complains, “Seriously, do you really have to live by your schedule every day?”

He’s said the same words countless times, yet the answer never changed.

“Mm.”

[areixyn-en]

Waiting For Other Players

Holding a box of cookies, Daisy knocks on the door to Arashi's room. Seeing as the other doesn't respond, she carefully opens the door.

Arashi sits in front of her desk, laptop open to a game. She has headphones on, which probably explains why she didn't answer. Oh, is Daisy interrupting something?

Arashi turns to look at her and removes one side of her headphones. "Oh, Daisy! Don't worry, my mic isn't on. What's up?"

"Ah, nothing, I just wanted to tell you that Ophelia gave us some cookies," Daisy holds up the box of cookies in her hand. "She said the dessert club made too much, so she decided to give us some."

"Ooh! Can I have some?"

Daisy walks up to her and places the box on her desk. "What game are you playing? The characters look pretty cute."

“This is DBD, or Duel Before Dusk,” Arashi answers, “And yeah, for a shooting game, it does have quite a lot of customization options, including cuter ones.”

“Oh, so this is DBD?” Daisy recalls Arashi talking about the game. It was pretty popular, apparently. Daisy studies the game screen while they both grab some cookies.

As they chat, faint voices come out of Arashi’s headphones. “Are these other characters your friends?”

“One second,” Arashi says as she types quickly on the keyboard. She sends a message in a chatbox at the bottom right corner of her screen. Someone has asked her a question, probably.

“Why don't you just turn on your microphone?”

“Well… I just don't want to,” Arashi says. “Sometimes, people can get a bit… emotional.”

“Oh. That sounds scary,” Daisy comments, “Are these characters on the screen your friends?”

“Mm-hmm. This one in the middle is me,” Arashi points to the screen. “This one is Aqua, and this one is Maple.”

“You’re Nana?” Daisy reads the name under Arashi’s character.

Arashi laughs awkwardly, “Yeah.”

Before Daisy can answer, a voice yells through Arashi’s headphones. “I’m here! I’m here!”

Huh. That voice sounds a bit familiar. A girl appears on the screen, filling in the last spot.

“Finally, Akaoni! Took you long enough,” a high-pitched voice says, presumably Maple.

“I was practicing with the basketball team! How was I supposed to know our couch would take so long?” The person, Akaoni, retorts. Although the character is female, the voice sounds more like a boy…?

“Let's just start the game,” another calmer voice says. It's probably Aqua.

Arashi also types into the chatbox. She turns to Daisy, “Well, seems like the game is starting… Daisy?”

Daisy has her brows furrowed, “Why does Akaoni sound so…”

“Familiar? Yeah, because Akaoni is Cyrus,” Arashi says nonchalantly.

“Cyrus? The Cyrus in our class?” Arashi nods. It's hard not to remember Cyrus, being one of the troublemakers in the class. In Daisy’s memories, Cyrus was always loud and a bit arrogant, and Daisy had even fallen victim to one of his pranks before.

“Oh… Wait, but isn’t Cyrus a boy? How is he playing as a girl?”

“Yeah, many people do that,” Arashi shrugs.

“Okay…?” Daisy replies, still confused.

Scratching sounds of paper plays from Arashi’s headphones all of a sudden. A piece of paper appears on the screen with the word signature written on it and a line underneath, like a signing area for a document.

“Oh, the game’s starting!”

The two’s attention turned back to the screen. Arashi hands the mouse to Daisy. “Draw something!”

“Huh? What?” Daisy takes the mouse hastily.

“After you finish drawing, the game will start. You can draw anything, but you only have one stroke.”

Daisy, not knowing what to draw all of a sudden, wrote an “ouo.”

“Pfft…あなたらしいね。”

“…Huh?”

“Nothing… Hahaha…”

[areixyn-en]

didn't feel like drawing in the last post so have a drawing of Ophelia telling Krishna to eat proper meals :3

[areixyn-en]

About Hobbies

As the hairdryer's buzzing stops, the silence of the dorm room is restored. Krishna unplugs the hairdryer, preparing to return to her room with it and a textbook she brought.

Said to be "designed with students' privacy in mind," aside from being double rooms, the dormitory of Summermist also has individual rooms inside the rooms, isolating both beds from the outside. In other words, besides your own dorm room, you also have your own room inside of said dorm room. Krishna fails to see how this is better than simply designing single rooms, but she's not complaining.

Her dorm mate, Ophelia, prefers to stay outside since she finds the rooms suffocating, but Krishna is used to studying in front of the desk in her room. Ophelia even placed two bean bags outside, although Krishna never used them.

"Krishna, don't you ever get tired of studying all day?" Beside her, Ophelia's voice breaks the room's silence.

"No," Krishna answers emotionlessly while coiling the hairdryer's cord.

"Don't you have other hobbies?"

Speaking of which, she vaguely recalls someone else also telling her to find a hobby. "No."

"Huh? Not even one?"

"There's not much I can do."

"How come? Baking, writing, drawing… There's so much to do!"

Krishna finally turns to look at Ophelia. "Are you telling a completely colorblind person to go and learn drawing?"

The room goes silent for a brief while. "Oh. Sorry," Ophelia lowers her head in guilt, "Then… What about baking? Baking is pretty fun!"

"Loss of smell and taste," Krishna answers dismissively.

"S-sorry…"

Thus, Ophelia starts listing all the hobbies she can think of. However, Krishna can always come up with a reason to refuse.

"Why doesn't anything suit your liking…?" Ophelia frowns.

"Forget it," Krishna says, about to leave.

Ophelia furrows her brows, "Is writing really out of the question? It suits you so well, though…"

If she can't even feel emotions properly, how can she write anything? "My prose will probably end up being an essay."

"What about poetry?" Ophelia suggests, "Oh, have you heard of Spirits of the Air? It's the school's poetry club. I've attended one of their classes before, and it's pretty interesting—"

"How am I supposed to write poems if I can't even write normal articles…"

"It's fine if you're not good at it, anyone can attend their classes! Besides, isn't writing also a part of future exams? This can count as practice!"

"What's the correlation between poetry clubs and writing compositions…?"

"Come on, just accompany me this once?" Ophelia pleads, expectancy shimmering in her eyes.

Krishna sighs. "But I'm in the astronomy club."

"I'm not in the poetry club, either, but they have extra courses!" Ophelia explains, "So, you can still go to the astronomy club during normal classes, and then go to the poetry club during their extra classes! They have one this Thursday after school, shall we go together?"

Having known Ophelia for so long, it isn't often that she insists so strongly about something. The last time she did something similar was probably… when she insisted she eat proper meals?

Krishna sighs again.

"…Alright."

[areixyn-en]

Monday Brumes

It’s foggy again.

The morning sunlight is covered by the dense fog, making the dorm room unusually dim. Summermist Academy’s campus is often foggy. If Arashi remembers correctly, the mountain where Summermist Academy sits is also called Mt. Fogily. Seems like both the fog and the lilies that cover the whole mountain are features of this mountain.

Having just pressed the snooze button on her alarm, Arashi lies in her bed, trying to get some more shuteye. Ah, the foggy skies always make her so tired.

“Bang!” The sound of the door to her room opening feels extremely loud compared to the silence of her room. It successfully woke Arashi up.

“Arashi, you’re still sleeping?” A sweet voice chimes. It’s Daisy, Arashi’s roommate. She was also her classmate twice, both in elementary school and junior high. The two have always been best friends.

Arashi gets blinded by the light shining through the doorway. She whines, “Just let me sleep some more…”

“You told me to wake you up at 7,” Daisy mutters.

“But…” Arashi turns to face the other way.

Daisy sighs softly, “How late did you stay up playing games last night again?”

“Just half past 12, alright…”

“Just half past 12?” The other’s voice is filled with bewilderment. She walks into the room, stopping by Arashi’s bed. “Come on, time to wake up. You still have to change.”

Arashi glances at Daisy. The other has already put on her uniform and tied the ribbon in her hair.

“You have way too much energy…” Arashi yawns, having no choice but to get up from her bed.

“You sleep way too late.”

Arashi whines again.

[areixyn-en]

Despair

“Next up is…” The teacher looks at the documents in hand, “The class treasurer. Does anyone want to be the class treasurer?”

Arashi raises her hand. She’s always been good at calculating, to the point where her friends call her a “human calculator” as a joke. She’s the perfect fit for a class treasurer.

The teacher looks at the class. “Only two? If there’s no one else, then these two shall be the class treasurers.”

Arashi turns to see who she’s going to be partnered with. She sees a raised hand —

It's Krishna.

Now, she’s not familiar with Krishna or anything, but her sheer demeanor gives her the shivers. Her cold gaze, the eyepatch on her right eye, and her almost entirely black outfit, everything about her screams “stay away.”

Arashi has the sudden urge to put her hand down. But it's too late. Backing out now will surely seem weird, right? All she can do now is pray that someone else raises their hand so that Arashi can lose the round of rock-paper-scissors that follows.

“Is there no one else?”

Please, anyone is fine, someone raise their hand, please-

“Then, these two shall be chosen by acclamation!”

Thunderous applause sounded.

Arashi now understands what they call despair.

Art - Areixyn

The tiny Arashi on the top left corner (?) - Y