celestial strings | h.js

one.

You raised your eyebrows at him in mild amusement. You saw him struggling to bring himself up the fence just a few seconds ago but if he was too embarrassed to admit that to you, you were perfectly fine with letting the matter go and head onto your own way. You had only stopped to help him because you thought it would be a quick ordeal, not because you got free time on your hands.

Shrugging, you nodded and continued to walk ahead. "Alright then. Have a great day at school."

A comical silence fell upon the two of you. Instead of the raven cawing thrice way too close above his head, the silence was counted in the form of your footsteps. Your boots hit against the brick ground, scraping against it with each step to remind him that his only help (potentially, at least) was slowly walking away from him.

Jisung raised his hand a little to do a small beckoning that went completely unnoticed as he turned his head down to the floor, bewildered that you left him alone.

What was more important? He asked himself. Was it impressing someone who knew you were lying your heads off or was it filling out the test paper he spent three nights studying for? What was more important, Jisung? A fish in the sea or your academic success?

He huffed with a pout and spun around to face your back. "Wait a second! I do need some help!"

You paused and turned to look over your shoulder at him. Your brows were furrowed in faint annoyance, and when you met Jisung's eyes, it was very likely he had caught onto the negativity you were expressing with your eyes since he immediately shrunk back with his shoulders and clamped his lips together.

He really should have just asked for help the first time; something about what he did felt a little pathetic in your opinion, and you were pretty sure he felt the extra embarrassment too.

Reaching your hand to your backpack, your hastily unzipped its front pocket and reached inside to pull out a small, rectangular-shaped plastic board. It has colored strings wrapped around it several times, all lined up in a row and some thicker in pile than the other. The strings gleamed under the sunlight, in a way that Jisung has never seen things reflect light before. It was like a turned-off screen, or the surface of jelly crystals. He could not deduce.

You tugged at the end of the red string row and pulled out an ample amount before you snapped it away from the plastic board.

"Turn around," you told Jisung once you approached him.

Jisung widened his eyes in confusion. "What–"

"I am going to hoist you up and you are going to climb over the fence, okay?" you said, linking and twisting the red string in your hands, creating a pattern unfamiliar to anything Jisung has ever seen before. Before you could chant a spell, your eyes glared up at Jisung and you paused your movements.

He was staring at the string in your hand. He recognized your action to be a game he played occasionally with his friends in school. It was a game of Ayatori, the game of strings. Except he has never been able to play it far enough to create the pattern you just did all with your own two hands.

"Hello? Do you want my help or not?" you asked to break the silence, waving your hands in front of his face while keeping it still in its position. "I don't have all day."

Jisung seemed to shake his head slightly. His hair waved along with the slight tremble of his head, then he blinked a few times to fully pull himself back from his thoughts. "Um, yes, yeah. Sorry about that." He nodded at you and quickly turned around when you gave him a sudden glare, a grimace forming on his face.

You pursed your lips as you watched his back, making sure he wasn't trying anything sneaky to peek behind you. Those curious eyes were what you knew all too well of, and one thing you knew for sure was that nothing ever goes well for you when you choose to entertain their owners, Especially when they realized you weren't just someone with magic tricks up your sleeves, like bunnies in top hats or pigeons hidden behind coats, but instead someone with magic–magic, like the classic fireballs and the inhumane strength.

None of which were the dominant aspect of magic, mind you. The human perception of magic users—also humans, but a distinction has to be made somehow—was highly skewed that your people may as well be funny wizards at this point. You used to find amusement in the matter until it started inconveniencing your life. But, granted, magic users usually stay within their cities. Your case was just different.

"Imperium Viribus," you muttered under your breath and let your fingers—which were supporting the glyphic pattern of the string—straighten themselves. But instead of falling limp around the gaps of your fingers, the red string floated in mid-air and levitated itself just above the tips of them.

The string shone a pure shade of white, outlining the ruby red color made out of crystalline and what felt like beads. The strings were a product of you family's mass business; you never did learn why they chose its materials to be so similar to friendship bracelets. The glyphic figure cut itself in half to move towards both of your hands, which were loosely extended with patience. The pattern it once was had faded out into a circle as it shifted its place, moving to a stop when the circle gap was big enough to go through your hands.

It moved downwards towards your wrist, the vibration of its pure magic raising goosebumps on your forearms, and it wrapped itself around your wrist perfectly. You looked at the red strings that adorned both of your wrists and you grimaced.

They were somewhat like bracelets, technically.

Jisung winced in surprise when he felt you place your hand on either side of his waist. He tensed up, his arms involuntarily raising to avoid your skin. Your fingers found their place along his slender figure, and your thumb pressed itself against his back with gentle pressure. He willed himself not to shiver at your fairy-like touch while the red blush on his cheek ran wild and spread to his ears.

"On three!" You gave his waist a firmer grip once as a signal to prepare before you moved your legs into a better stance. Looking upwards at the gate, thankfully gliding right past his red ears, you calculated the amount of strength needed with your squinted eyes before you exhaled. "One, two, three!"

You moved your arms up while Jisung jumped to aid your action. However, much to your wrongful calculations, you have overpowered the muscles in your arm and instead of hoisting the poor boy up so he could grab onto the ledge of the gate, you made the mistake of literally throwing him over to the other side.

Jisung let out a panicked shriek when he felt himself lung forward without any kind of momentum. Reaching his hand back in hopes to grab anything, all the could catch was air before his shoulder hit the dusty ground of the walking track, then his body and his legs. His body hit the ground with a thud, and for a split second, Jisung could not think of anything but the big question marks and exclamation marks roaming in his head.

Your mouth was hung open as you watched the terrible flip happen before your eyes, your hands pausing in an awkward position right under your chin. As Jisung groaned and withered slightly in pain on the ground, you took tentative steps toward the gate and wrapped your hands around the fence.

Leaning forward, you gave Jisung a concerning scan before asking, "Are you okay? I am so sorry about this!"

Your phone vibrated in your pocket and you knew right from the bat that it was your boss texting you for being late. Damn, time sure passed fast, you really thought you had a few more minutes to spare for this boy. You supposed you could find a space and cast a teleportation spell, though, so everything should be fine for you.

"Hey, look! I am sorry again, but I have to go now!" you exclaimed in between the fence at Jisung, who was shaking off the soreness of his body as he stood up. "Take care of yourself, alright! And head to class, you are late!"

"Yeah, I know that!" he exclaimed without looking at you, too busy dusting himself off and checking out the bleeding scrape on his arm.

A small rock must have scratched his skin when he fell, he didn't even feel it due to the overall impact of the fall. When he glanced back up at you, wanting to thank you for the help instead of hollering at you for throwing him over the gate, you were already gone.