Emblems

Chapter 5: Mukashi Mukashi

The boy made a frustrated gesture, sputtering, “We’re not attracted to each other! And I was correct! The original elementals didn’t give a shit about us at all. They—”

“Shut up,” the girl cut him off. “Daniel, back off. We’re multitasking, is that so wrong? And it isn’t even your class.”

Daniel slung an arm around both the girl and the boy, bringing their heads close to his, though he raised his voice so that everyone present could hear. “Listen, kouhai, debating is good, but at least be a real Adept before you start. And legends are legends; people get to interpret them however they want. You shouldn’t force your opinions on others. Now,” he said, releasing the pair and giving each a little push, “go work on your Fire powers, all of you!”

The Fire Adepts snapped into mocking salutes, or bows in some cases, startling Amber. “Hai, Daniel-senpai!” they yelled and dispersed.

Spotting her, Daniel strolled to her side, his hands in his pockets. “You seem popular,” she commented despite herself, as they watched the Fire Adepts train. The training grounds lit up with an orange tinge as they paired off and tossed fireballs back and forth.

“Yeah,” he said, “all of them have known me since they first entered Camp, and sometimes Calida—she’s one of the senior Fire Adept, by the way—let’s me teach the newbie classes.”

Amber found herself nodding. They had treated him like an older brother, using words that she didn't quite get, though they sounded familiar: kouhai, hai, senpai.

“Yeah, that was Japanese. Meaning ‘junior’, ‘yes’ and ‘senior’ respectively. You probably heard the words in an anime, maybe. It started when they found out that I’m half-Japanese, so they began to answer me in Japanese. Kind of weird, since I don't speak that much myself.” He chucked.

But she stiffened. “You read my mind again.”

“Oh, you think so? It’s kind of easy to guess what anyone would think when they heard what we said.” He shrugged, posture languid. She sensed that there was something else he wasn’t saying, but the issue wasn’t worth pressing, even though the idea of someone poking around her thoughts disconcerted her.

“Anyway, because newbies are kind of my unofficial responsibility, I get to scold them for stuff too,” he gave her a smile, but his expression darkened. “But we don’t have that many kouhais. Most new recruits don’t even reach Camp nowadays, ‘cause they get eaten by Demons before we can even get to them. If only we could just exterminate them, then less lives would be lost and there’d be more newbie Adepts.”

 

Exterminate all the Demons? I would like that to happen. After a sombre silence, Amber asked, “Why were they arguing?”

"Hm? Oh, it's a legend called The Elemental Legacy, talking about how creatures and magic came to be,” he explained. When he gave no sign of continuing, she gave him a raised eyebrow. “You really want to know?” She nodded. “I'll have to start from the beginning though. Is that okay?"