Beyond My Wings

We're All Sparrows Swallowed in Stone

Ishigami Senkū—a child of seven winters with a stubborn streak as wide as the galaxy—rolls up the window, eyeing the darkening skies and the beginnings of a drizzle settling over the city. His wings fluff up and flutter with excitement at the thought of what he's about to do.

He looks down at his watch and grins. The weather is on time, just as he calculated.

It won't take long for the winds to pick up speed, for the dark masses above to color charcoal black, and the faint traces of lightning coming from the east. He grins wider as buckets of water cascade and blur the clarity from the glass, but he doesn't care for that.

He puts on a water resistant coat and a hat for his hair. It would be pointless in a few minutes but it'll be easier to stave off hypothermia and even a cold. Byakuya told him he easily gets sick and a cold would keep him down for a week or more. The idea is ludicrous to him; he'd have very little time studying and furthering his research, but with a few early preventative measures he'll be back without getting sick. All it'll take is fifteen minutes—a hypothetical five minutes of dryness, and ten minutes of flying into the storm. He'll be back right after like nothing happened.

He can see the torrent falling onto some unlucky people who were unable to find shelter quickly enough. Birds scatter with the coming of thunder and the skies light up with roiling lightning, frightening all to its mighty roar.

All except him. Senkū tenses his wings and bursts forth, the window panel shutting closed to prevent rain from drenching his telescope. Soon he's soaring through the skies regardless if he's drenched or dry with a cry of exhilaration. His long white wings speckled in green take him higher into the sky, breaching through the black mass obscuring the bright blue from view. He hovers for a moment, taking in the gentle cradle within the barrier of clouds. None are more brave to enter the storm than him.

It feels much more exhilarating than the chase taking place after classes let out. His usual tormentors were much too slow to keep up with his speed, which clocks at 82 km/h. A new record for someone his size and age.

"Heh, idiots couldn't outspeed a squirrel," he scoffs, feeling smug. It's only natural. His wings are twice larger than any other at his age, and he is thrilled to know that they'll keep growing that way, larger and stronger than even most athletes without a sweat. He isn't expected home for another while but Byakuya is sure to hunt him down if he stays out too long.

"Kid, you're gonna make my hair grow even whiter than they should be if you keep recklessly flying in the rain!" Is what he'd told him months before, when another storm covered the sky completely.

"Oh, stop it Pops. At least I'm not graying!"

Senku scoffs. He can take care of himself. He's way smarter than most people in school; there's no need to confine him indoors when he really just wants to fly in peace. With the storm coming in it's more an opportunity to train his wings against heavy air currents and rainwater weighing him down. Already his flying is up with the best, the larger wingspan granting him additional speed with how small he is compared to his classmates. Less weight and smaller body equal less drag. With double the average wingspan his speed doubles over any child he knows. It's why he's becoming the winner of junior sky races taking place in Hakone, paying tribute to their bronze Buddha statue when they reach the halfway point.

But he can't pass this up. It's perfect to condition his wings for the advanced endurance sky races that universities all over the country host for the best of the best. Those ones are far more difficult when they take place in the snowy mountains on dangerous air currents and plummeting temperatures, or the stone stacks jutting from the sea for competitive stunt flying, or even the Great Troposphere Race where the competitors fly as high as they can flap until there's only one left flying. The last one may sound easy but the competitors have to combat thin oxygen levels, colder temperatures, air pressure, and gravity. Articles that focus on such races are astoundingly intriguing, enough that one day, when he's older, he'll partake in every Sky Race he can join and show the world that even smaller fliers can beat the best of them.