7. Parallel Butterflies
Rudy [pov]
Then there was fucking Paul.
“Ow,” I winced in pain.
Man is a practitioner from the school of hard knox. Much like someone I know.
“Jeez, I tell your daddy not to hit you so hard, but can he control himself? Nooo.” Zenith complains performing Healing Touch while she does so.
Ah, so good~ Best technique ever.
Healing touch; in essence it's just a healing spell, but with a… you know, touch. It helps from healing from beatings and even invigorates the muscles to boot. It also feels very good. Like Reeeeally good. Being healed through massages, it's a slice of heaven.
Thank you Lilia.
It's a little extra, and apparently holding a healing spell for the duration of a massage is a little unusual, but damn you can't deny the results. Needless to say, I abused it indubitably. Working dutifully, along with a little help from Zenith, I brought it into reality.
Only took me 6 months.
And several massages...
“What does ‘real man learn through experience,’ even mean? Does he forget you're still a child? Hmph! Honestly.” Zenith says, shaking her head in displeasure.
I know right! Also that was kinda cute. Please do it again. Just add a little tilt, and maybe a wisk of your head and I'd get a perfect tsundere meme.
I needed this. I’m not really sure how I’m doing it, but I’m still standing. My schedule having been thrown to hell and back, and I could use a good recovering.
‘Why not teach him swordsmanship in the morning, and Magic in the afternoon?’ she says. Yeah yeah, I get it, except…
WHO THE HELL CALLS THAT TEACHING?!
Boom, wham, kablaming. Da-hell is Ka-blaming! Is that some sort of explosion technique?! Can I use it?! Please tell me I can blow you up with it!
“Ara, is that a white hair?” She questioned.
White? No, that doesn't sound-then again... maybe-ah whatever, nothing a good old healing can't fix. And... scalp massage? Questions for later.
“Yosh, all done. All healed up Rudy. Now onto your magical lessons young man, any longer and you'll keep Roxy waiting.”
Will do!
Also you run a tight ship huh?
“Hai~ see you later~” I still sped out the door anyway.
The secondary effects of rejuvenation can't be denied. Almost makes me feel sad for putting Zenith through them, but… it just felt too good to pass up. Stronger muscles, better health, and an energy boost to boot, what’s not to like. It's the little things I live for. Literally.
I might die without them.
But really, I’ll have to make it up to her. Somehow...
I guess I could start by dodging.
Anyhow, there were three large mistakes I made around Paul that day, you know, besides the obvious one. The first being I underestimated his liveliness. Paul being Paul, was more then a little excited when I showed signs of sword handling upon my hands. Twirling me about, dancing about, arguing with Zenith.... he got really into it as he tried to 'jump start,' my swordsman career. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how yo look at it, Lilia and Roxy were their to navigate the conversation.
All that amounted to though was keeping swordplay to a minimum with them only being at the mornings. He somehow got the idea that he should fit in twice as much training...
Idiot.
Following that, the second mistake I made was underestimating my own body. My body is three, technically, but thanks to Lilia's Sparring and my own self-training, I am probably closer to that of four or five. Don't ask me, it's hard to judge. And if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't be able to judge either. The difference between 4 and 5 being superficial. But if you're Paul...
'If you're old enough to swing a stick, you're old enough to swing a sword.'
You notice easily.
I don't think that's how it works though.
The final mistake though... the final mistake was somehow more troublesome if you could believe, and that was... him finding out about Zenith's healings.
Yeah... I know... I brought this on myself, but damn.
Using healing magic whenever possible, preferably after Lilia has kicked my ass, I would patch myself up with a little healing magic. My reserves being on the lower end though, I had to go to my mother more often than not and, and using the forbidden technique; puppy dog eyes, get her to heal me. Asking for the pretty lights, I would learn a little more while experiencing all the benefits.
Can’t deny them.
Unfortunately, when my dad found out about it, I paid for it in advance. Since he didn’t have the luxury of healing magic when he was a kid, he never got to see the full benefits of using it mid-exercise. So when he found out that I was getting healed by Zenith, and getting stronger for it, it was... a phiasco.
Can I punch him? I can punch him right?
…not that I have the ability, but still! Let me dream!
That was the beginning of my troubles.
Do you think I’m Goku? I don’t get Zenkai boosts from this shit!
In any event, my sword training persisted. Followed by healing and eating at noon, magic training soon after, and lastly to finish of, some late night reviewing with little blue. It's a very productive dawn-to-moon. That said... my precious Lilia time had to be removed. Their wasn't much room...
…I’m sad.
Hmm. Really glad I got that massage now.
A light body equals a light heart.
I think.
Funny enough, I do have the ability to do minor heals now, but if I did that then, than I wouldn’t have the energy to perform magic later on.
Fucking Paul, I really, really hate… that I can’t hate him.
It's a kerfuffle. I've been thinking this for a while now, but hatred is complicated. I have been avoiding the man like the plague, keeping in contact with Zenith and Lilia whenever possible, for obvious reasons, but I couldn’t push it away forever. Eventually me and him were going to have to interact in some capacity. It just happened earlier then I wanted. And it has been... alright.
Can’t say it was particularly fun, because you know; OW!
But the lessons are useful, and I... can’t completely hate that guy.
It would make my life easier if I could.
Dammit.
It is at this moment that I am reminded of stories where you hear about murderers, or people of similar level of heinousness, who get defended by their family members, because they are unable to associate their family member with the crimes they committed.
I am aware of what he did, and the type of person he is. He is by no means a good person, and I SHOULD hate him, but… I’ve never seen it.
I am aware he’s scum, but I have a… disconnect from it.
Without a doubt a scumbag, and as far as I know he never apologized to Lilia, but when it comes to his everyday life… he is… fine. A bit on the dim side, but besides that, he is a loving husband, perhaps too much at times(let me sleep), but he is a good knight, and a good father.
…or at least tries to be.
And that makes it harder to hate then it should be.
Combine that with the fact that the common sense of this world would see his actions as more of a misdemeanor, than a crime, and it gets harder to view him at the same level of scum as I would someone from my old world. Because this warped world doesn’t see it the same way I do.
That doesn’t absolve him of his actions. I don’t forgive him for his actions in any way.
But it does get harder to hate him, when the only Paul I see, is the one before me.
It doesn’t help that I have the meta knowledge that he does get better, and that Zenith loves him.
It’s not that I think he can be better. It’s that I KNOW that he will be better.
And that's the hard part.
Unlike people that defended their criminal others, I actually have the gift of foresight (meta knowledge) to see things differently. I can see the possibility the author wrote before me, and it is... vexing.
I don’t know what kind of relationship will develop between me and him, but for the time being I decided to simply judge him based on his present than anything else. So I suppose my feelings for him are now neutral.
Maybe hitting him in the face would work out my feelings a bit?
"Sounds like a plan, but-" I pump my fist to the sky. "Time to get magical up in here!”
///
“If you activate Water Fall, Heat Island, and Icicle Field, in that order what will happen?” My teacher questioned.
“You will create Fog.”
“Then how will you dispel the fog?”
“Reheat the earth again.”
“Correct. Now once more, and then we can practice the ‘other,’ magic.”
The ship keeps sailing.
We have moved on to Melded magic recently. Melded magic, being exactly as the name implies, is a series of spells combining in one way or another to create a differentiating effect. Fog, steam, etc. You name it.
You just gotta dream for it.
In pursuit of magic, and to quell my restless soul, we have been going over the series of magics that brought us here in the first place. Earth, water, fire, wind, you know, the basics, but with the basics being, well... basic, I was able to zoom right through them quicker then expected. And that in turn moved everything up a bit.
Arithmetic was soon added to the lessons.
It's funny, but before I could be a man, I had to be a boy again. Specifically, a four year old boy that is learning for the first time what 4 plus 4 even is, or what's the difference between four and for, or even why four-four-four-four is such a bad term when it comes to adventuring. For those wondering it means death. I had to learn many esoteric things. Because as far as she knows...
I am only four. A talented four year old, but a four year old nonetheless. And that does tend to throw a wrench into things.
(Read: 3 and 10 months)
Still... I abided.
Arithmetic, geography, spelling, history, and even random trivia about daily life, I learned them all. Because if I'm to ever grow into a proper gentleman, a little common sense would be necessary, or at least that's what Roxy keeps telling me. So I didn't mind abiding. It's the least I could do, and... if I'm to be perfectly honest, it did well to quell her too.
I might have pushed her a little.
Kuudeere beauty she might be, but even I could see her facade tearing.
It's not my fault I'm an Isekai protagonist! Blame Physics!
But yeah... she looked kinda happier.
Somehow, she always had that crooked look about her when I stopped to ask a question.
Sometimes it was easy(Arithmetic).
Sometimes it was hard(History).
And sometimes... sometimes it was like recalling an old memory from a faded image.
No thank you physics (elemental magic).
But most of the time... most of the time she looked like she was having fun. Like I wasn't driving her crazy, and actually enjoying herself. And this is just a hypothetical, hypothetical I tell you, but I might have enjoyed myself too. Taciturn beauties, and doting parents, I'd have very little excuses to be myself. With Roxy? It felt like I was hanging with an old friend. And her? I don't think I'm reading to much into things, but I think she had very little excuses to be herself too. It was... a breath of fresh air.
Success?
Overall, I say yes.
A childish mix of fun and adventure. It was honestly just what I needed.
And if I'm to be completely honest... the loneliness was getting to me.
...
...
Oh! But there is one particular thing I'm actually excited with.
“Roxy sensei, almost out of mana, can we start our other lessons now?”
“Fine, let’s go,” she abided.
But let's forget about all that.
Funny matters of the heart were never important.
Anyway-
“Trace on!”
It's time for a little counterfeiting.
Eh? Eh?~
See what I did there?
Patush-tush~
(...)
...someday someone will laugh at my jokes.
Anyway! I'm shouting at the top of my lungs, permeating my energies through the rock as I-
Crack-
-break it.
“See, it can be done!” I hollered.
“All I see is a boy pouring his mana to a stone. Make the rock as strong as a rock bullet, and then I’ll be impressed.”
An adventure...
I was never much of a physics student. Unlike certain protagonist I didn't pay enough attention in physics to be an A-class student. I was perfectly average. I remembered things like H2O being water, and H being Hydrogen and O being Oxygen, as well as other minor trivial things. Like the basics of the atomic structure, heat is friction, or even gravity affecting all things equally. But as for minerology, compounds, or whatever else their is, well... I was a C-plus student. I had no shame admitting I had no idea how fog was made.
So of course this was inevitable.
I became the bone of my Sword.
...
Just kidding.
But I am shamelessly ripping off a certain fate franchise character as I figure my way of things.
“…well then, how did your ‘analysis’ go?”
Right... review time. Structural analysis has been...
“...Nothing… again... but I did get a feel of things,” I confess.
“Sigh, that’s to be expected, your mana is an extension of you. But, how did it feel?”
“Hmm... That was...” I struggled to reply, “it bounces? Like it hits something hard, and then makes an echo within me. It means there's Iron there, I know that now, but... that's all I'm getting.”
“Hmm, that's progress... Not the intended result, but you've certainly advanced in metallurgy,” she nods to herself sagely.
"Yeah..."
Progress.
Shirou Emiya’s magics have been my obsession as of late. I didn't think their was anything particularly wrong with them, but if you're Roxy you'd disagree. I thought I'd bridge the gap from fact with fiction, relying on the back of my favorite character, but in Roxy's view, these were all just childish ideas. Childish ideas, having no place with fancy.
And boy was that a loaded statement if I ever heard one...
The fictional character just told me to hold back on my 'fancy,' because they simply weren't realistic.
I'd say she was picking a fight with me, if it wasn't for my circumstances.
Needless to say, that was a no from me.
I wasn't ready to give up.
Call me stubborn, call me Ishmael, call me whatever, but my heart still speaks to me. This world, this logic, it follows a similar route to that of fate. Down to the summoning magic, down to this deadman reincarnating. So if you could believe that deadman can breathe again, why not believe in the fantastic? If parallel lives can cross, then why not believe somewhere in the middle we can find some peace. In this fate of mine, where blue haired beauties exist, and maroon hair babes won't give you the time of day, why settle for what's at bay, when the skies are calling for me. If you're going to be an Isekai protagonist, being out of this world is almost respectable.
Patush?
In this world where magic is ordinary, why settle at all.
Afterall, if I had done that once, maybe I'd still be-
...
...I suppose it doesn't matter...
If parallel butterflies can meet, then please don't clip my wings.
Call me weaboo, call me loser, call me broken... but my heart still speaks to me.
It's just... speaks foreignly... at times.
So Let's Listen.
It wasn't the intended effect... or maybe it was? But after massaging rounds with Lilia, thank you very much, I hit some unexpected discoveries. Apparently, and this was a surprise to me, internal magic reacts differently across people. Including, and not limited to, Structural analysis. I wasn't sure what I was doing at first, the magic not the massages, but as I got further and further along, practicing, learning, massaging... I started seeing things differently.
Cheat protagonist are something else.
I was already aware of that. Theirs a reason I was trying so hard to work with Fate magic to begin with.
But theirs a difference between knowing, and 'knowing,' as I knelt down and learned that difference, it all became keenly obvious. The cheat that is magic circuits could not be underestimated. To have a cheat level understanding beyond the ordinary, to say nothing of it's history, involves having that cheat piece of biology.
Reality hits like a ton of bricks.
Roxy's funny looks were enough for me, thank-you-very-much.
In conclusion; I needed work.
“So, have you tired of your game-experiments yet?” Roxy asked.
I heard that.
“Nope.”
“I see... And the rest?”
Riiight~ the other two. Structural analysis: dud. Nothing's going to change that. Reinforcement though...
“Reinforcement is… interesting, but…”
“Still, not as good as Toki?”
If you know what I'm going to say, why say it?
She is unfortunately right.
For a moment I had though Toki was just mana but used internally, and I still haven’t given that up, I refuse to believe ordinary bones and muscles could cleave through boulders-
Are you a super-soldier?
But it might be... might be... a little more complicated.
Toki is... primal.
It is a technique done without thinking, and in that sense it might be the technique closest to my childish aspirations. But it's also quite... finicky. Afterall, how are you supposed to work with a technique you're literally not supposed to be thinking while performing it?
Swordsman really are bones for brains.
Anyway, I cheated.
I couldn't quite find the workaround I needed, but I didn't let that stop me. Instead, like I always do, I persisted. Again and again, pushing through imaginary barriers, and creating something new. It's not quite Toki, and it's not really Reinforcement, instead meeting somewhere in the middle, but in the end, I think people will still rather have my 'in-between,' magic, then no magic at all.
Eat your heart out Dumbledore.
Much like paddles on a water wheel, so long as the water keeps flowing, the wheel will keep spinning, and even if you were to suddenly stop, the wheel keep spinning all the same. After which, all you gotta ask is; how strong was your spin?
Questions for later.
As for Projection-
Yeah, no, that was a complete failure. I'm not even gonna sugarcoat it.
The other two I could cheat or copy, but projection, projection was the culmination of all three. And it's rather hard to reach the final step, when you tripped at the beginning. Which is a crazy to say, because I'm the one that making the steps in the first place.
Yeah...
It's ironic, but I'm apparently running on Harry Potter logic.
Go figure~
I didn't notice it at first, because I was too busy focusing, but once I stepped away and analyze everything for a bit, I started noticing the inconsistencies. Like; 'When did I even start ignoring it's shape?'
Questions like that started to take form.
It should have been obvious.
I wasn't analyzing, I wasn't reading, I wasn't reinforcing the gaps.
I simply did.
And I was.
Didn't have to think about structures, didn't have to think about compounds, didn't even have to think about the general shape of things. I simply did, and it was. Don't get me wrong, having the general knowhow of things certainly helps in forming an image inside your mind, but I've started to realize it's not really a requirement. It certainly helps making your spell stronger, but throw in some childish whimsy, and for the price of half the strength, you'd get a spell all the same.
In conclusion: Magic is bullshit.
Which is awesome! But still... my effort.
“Sensei… I’m pooped,” I muster out.
I really am... in more ways then one...
“To be expected. You have been training non-stop.”
Like you wouldn't believe.
“Even if you say that… I don’t really feel like I’m moving forward at all,” I confessed.
As tired as I was... I really did feel I could do more. Just a bit. Just… more. I feel if I ignore it, I could probably push for just a second longer. It might not be much, but, it's just...
All these setbacks... are starting to get to me.
No, it’s not even that. I’m just at a standstill. And I hate it. I feel like I should be running, moving anywhere with this, but I'm...
It’s all too slow.
I still have some time before night classes, maybe, after a meal I could probably sneak off and do some privat-
Drip.
Ah.
A nosebleed. Again.
It’s been happening more and more lately. If this continues, I might-
It doesn't matter.
“Rudy?”
Crap, distract. I don’t think she saw it.
I wipe the blood on my side of my slacks, and carry on.
“A-ah, it’s nothing, so now what sensei?”
“…”
She stares at me for a second, eyes narrowed.
“Sit,” she orders.
“Sensei-”
“Sit. Night classes are canceled today.”
“EH? Ah, sure…”
What is this about? We just started them. What is she-
She sits next to me in a seiza position, and starts patting her lap.
“Sensei, is there something-”
She grabs my head roughly, and drags me down into her.
“Eh?” I fell surprisingly gently.
"..."
I'm a little discombobulated.
“Sense-”
“Idiot... Stop. Just... stop. Pace yourself. It’s alright to slow down. To rest. Just... rest. Your sensei's here to cover for you. Just this once."
I mean I get that, I know what you're saying, but there's still so much to do. So many magics to explore, so many things to figure out, I still haven't figured out that rebounding effect, or Toki, and I'm sure I could-
Her fingers start running through my hair.
My thoughts adrift.
My eyes... inexplicably drawn to her, I look up.
Her eyes were surprisingly gentle.
“...sensei?”
"..."
She continues petting me.
Silently, gently, and without words, looking toward the horizon in gentle silence.
...
...
...
…it’s strangely pleasant.
“I…”
"I… guess I’ll allow it…"
I... didn't mind it... strangely enough... somehow it felt right...
...
Somehow... I found myself looking up at her one more time... her face still staring into the sunset.
...I don’t know what’s going through her head, but I suppose I'll abide... just... once.
...
///
...
...
"You better."
A boy slept contently in the middle of a prairie field on top the lap of a blue haired beauty. His internal and external voice temporary switched, if he had noticed, he might not have slept.
“To be called a master by such a boy. Idiot disciple, you worry me too much. And others. Just be a boy for once,” she said, all the while her hands never leaving his hair, his face surprisingly peaceful. "Hahh... teaching really is more about then academics isn’t it," she turns away, only to see two beautiful butterflies streaking across the sunset, their wings glimmering in the sunlight.
She looks back down at him.
"You better not fly of the handle, got it, I'll get mad..."
"..."
"...you're right I won't, but I will be peeved, so unless you wish me to tell your father about your 'Toki,' behave won't you?"
His face surprisingly peaceful, his lips slightly parted, and his breathing gentle.
"If only you could always be like this..." she goes back to gazing into the distance.
She didn't know how it came to this. She didn't know a lot of things. He was only ever supposed to be an assignment, something to pass the time before she headed west. He wasn't supposed to be... well, she's still figuring that out. Regardless, she still feels it will all work itself out. One step at a time, one disciple, her and that little boy that drives her crazy at times, will figure out how to grow. Even if her heart is muddled.
She honestly had lessons to learn.
In the end, she couldn't point to the feeling he inspired within her, but it didn't feel so bad not knowing for once. In silence, him and her, simply enjoyed the fading twilight. He did not wake once.