Sureiyazu

Episode 43: The Exchange of Secrets

"I don't know. I don't pay much attention. Why?" she asked.

"Er . . . Aha! I found my spellbook," Taichi said randomly.

"It was there the whole time," Mizuki pointed out. "Spill the beans."

"It . . . it doesn't matter much," Taichi waved it off. "Nothing. I was only wondering."

"Yeah, right. Nothing. Spill."

"And I suppose you hate magic for no reason at all?"

Mizuki looked away, sensing the point he was trying to make. "You betcha."

Taichi pulled up a stool from across the room. "Please. A secret for a secret. I'll tell mine, if you'll tell yours."

"What if I don't feel like it?"

"I've already told the others not to come unless I specifically tell them they can. This is a wing of the castle hardly anyone uses for anything. They don't even know you're awake yet. What's not to agree to?"

Mizuki laughed. "I was talking about listening to your secret. Not telling mine."

~~~

It was tireless work, rebuilding the castle.

Of course, with the Sobi-sha it was less tireless than it might have been without them. But then again, Akuma reminded herself, they had started the fire that had caused all the damage. So in the end it wasn't what she would consider worth it. 

"Where are the bricks for over there?" Aya demanded. 

It seemed odd to Akuma, still, that they should be using the large grey stones someone had brought for them to fix the castle, but it was one of the many additions to old building. It would now have a stone wall and gate, with barriers to ward against demons all around.

It also seemed odd to her that there were so many people, just in general, helping them to rebuild or offering them help slaying demons or guarding them while they slept. 

Akuma hadn't thought there were that many people who truly depended on them - and the other demonslayers around the world - to keep Sekai safe from the demons until she saw so many, there in one place, on the hill that the Sureiyazu castle stood on. It was amazing to her, in a way, but also made her feel under a sudden pressure. All the people in Sekai, looking up to only four people as their saviors, and she as one of them? Should she be standing here overlooking the work being done at the castle? What if there was a demon that was plotting against them as they celebrated, as the news that the Sureiyazu had defeated even the Sobi-sha traveled around? 

She pushed it to the back of her head, as far from her current thoughts as it would go. She would enjoy herself now. While there was still a world left. 

If the world ends tomorrow, I should have been happy on my last day.

It was a thought she would learn to live by, and benefit from. Because the future held a lot more in store than even Akuma could imagine.

~~~

"You first," said Mizuki. "I want to make sure you aren't lying."

"Gladly," Taichi said. "So long as you uphold your part as well."

***

Taichi is alone in his house as a child, and is very bored. He decides to read something, and goes over to the bookshelf in the main room. 

It is then that he sees the book. It is odd - he has never seen it before. There is no title, so he opens it and finds it to be something about Summoning. Odd, because no one in his family is a Summoner or knows any magic at all.