Chapter 37 | PoV: Sanya
Mai arrived at the infirmary carrying a plate for Sanya's breakfast. Once again, Sanya would eat her meals here, and once again, she could only pick at it. In fact, in the past day, Sanya had not left the infirmary.
She wasn't allowed to.
Something something “house arrest.” Which, she guessed, was fair—it was better for the academy not to see her or to pretend she didn't exist anymore. Unfortunately, Mai could not share either of those niceties. She was burdened with Sanya.
At least she had chosen to? . . .
Sanya picked at her plate until she no longer felt like it—which came quick.
Mai frowned as she watched Sanya stare at the plate on her bed, but did not eat.
“You should eat more!” Mai crossed her arms.
“I don't feel like it,” Sanya muttered.
“Hmm.” Mai stepped forward and grabbed the fork.
“What are you doing?” Was Mai going to eat Sanya's food? That was her fork, did Mai really want to put that in her mouth? . . . Of course she would, wouldn't she? Even after everything that happened? . . . Ah, no, Sanya misread, Mai wasn't going to eat it.
Mai impaled various bits of food on the fork and then held it out towards Sanya with a smirk.
“Uh. Nope. Not happening. Absolutely not,” Sanya looked away. “This is not behavior fit for ex-girlfriends, especially not to one that made you bleed everywhere and hurt you. Not to mention . . . the, um . . . other things.”
Mai paused. She sighed.
“Maybe you should find someone else to do that with. Go find someone else to tease and play around with.”
Mai put the fork down and withdrew. She was awfully silent this morning . . .
Sanya's staff and the two metal rods still leaned against the bookshelf on the left. Dima sat in a chair reading a book by the door. She seemed like a nurse-turned-prison-guard. Always there. Always keeping a watchful eye over Sanya.
Mai picked up Sanya's staff and glanced her way. After what looked like very little deliberation, Mai tossed it towards Sanya.
Wha—?
Sanya didn't react in time. Her staff hit her in the chest. “Oof!”
Sanya felt the air get knocked out of her lungs. Her chest ached a bit where the staff had hit her. It fell onto her lap.
Mai's face contorted, as if she didn't know whether to giggle in amusement or shout an apology in guilt.
“Mai . . .” Dima glanced up from her book. “Treat staves with respect—and don't be so harsh on Sanya.”
“But she deserved it,” Mai held up her own metal rod.
“Uh . . . sure.” Dima went back to her book, not pressing the scolding. Sanya did think she deserved it, too . . . she deserved dea—
H-hey! The book in Dima's hands was one of the ones that Mai had checked out of the library and brought here yesterday.
“Teach me magic,” Mai ordered.
Sanya blinked, then swallowed. With a shaking hand, she picked up her staff.
Um . . . What spell should she cast? On what?
A mischievous grin crossed Sanya's face.
“Sanya? . . .”
“Let me show you a spell.”
Sanya aimed her staff at Dima's book. Sanya really wanted to teleport the book out of Dima's hands . . . Sanya hesitated.
Argh. It was fun and harmless, but . . . maybe she shouldn't?
She sighed.
“Hmm?” Mai asked.
“Nevermind, I'm not doing what I was going to do.”
Instead Sanya pointed to a book on the shelf. “[Material Displacement].” She made sure to urge her mana to reveal itself.
The mana orbs locked into place.
She pointed her staff at her empty hand, her intent made manifest.
The book disappeared from the shelf and found itself in her hand.
Mai's jaw dropped. “Y-you teleported a thing!”
Dima looked up from her book again.
“W-wait. What does teleporting things have to do with ‘abyss?’” Mai glanced up and to the side, thinking.
“Someone was lying for some dumb reason. We're not abyssal mages, that term is incorrect.”
“Ah . . . What are you—we—then?”
“Spatial mages!” Sanya grinned.
“Huh,” Mai pointed her metal rod at a book. Sanya watched Mai's mana fall into place. She scratched her head. “Um . . . Can you show me again?”
Sanya manually put the orbs into place this time. She did not need to, now that she internalized the spell—but it was useful for teaching purposes.
Mai copied the spell. “[Material Displacement]?”
She pointed her staff above Sanya's head. H-hey! Wait!
She scowled at Mai. Was she about to try to dump the book on Sanya's head? Truly devious. Whatever, it was just a book.
The book disappeared . . . Sanya braced herself for a book to hit her on the head.
Something scraped against the cavern wall and landed on Sanya's pillow. Without looking back, she knew that it was the book. Mai had missed Sanya.
Mai's shoulders sagged.
This girl! She had wanted it to land on Sanya and was disappointed when it missed. Hmph.
Mai's face lit up with glee after only a moment. “I did it! I cast a spell! I'm an abyss—spatial mage!”
Sanya pointed at the book behind her without even looking. “[Material Displacement].”
She pointed above Mai.
The book fell against her head and then onto the floor.
“Ow!” Mai said, rubbing her head. “Unfair!”
Sanya thought that getting back at Mai would make her feel better than it actually did. She didn't even feel like smirking. She just felt guilty.
“Girls,” Dima said. “Play nice?”
Sanya felt all warm and fuzzy inside at being included in the “girls.” It washed away some of her guilt. Some of it.
Mai turned around to grin at her. “We are!”
“Toss me the book,” Sanya said with a sly smile.
Mai crouched down to retrieve the book, stood back up, and . . . held it out. It was out of Sanya's reach. Mai matched Sanya's mischievous face. Great, what did she want to do now?
Sanya sighed. She stood up from her bed and went to take the book from Mai's hand.
“[Material Displacement]!” Mai exclaimed quickly. She swung her staff from the book to Sanya in a swift and fluid motion.
Something pressed against Sanya's chest. She grunted.
The book fell to her feet. A couple of her toes throbbed with pain.
Sanya looked at Mai, then down at the book. Sanya picked it up. She held it out for Mai to see. Sanya may or may not have wanted to show off a particularly fun spell to Mai.
As she held out the book, the door to the infirmary swung open.
“[Pocket Space],” Sanya incantated.
The book disappeared.
A recognizable individual stepped into the infirmary, carrying three books stacked in her arms.
“How is my favorite lesbian couple!?” The newcomer stopped in the doorway. Her face which moments ago was lit up, was now a mix of surprise, blinking. “I'm . . . It warms me to see that a book is so valuable you'd place it in your [Pocket Space]. Lesbian literature, nonetheless,” the librarian sniffed, regaining her composure from her surprise and instead pretending to be on the verge of tears.
“. . . ‘So valuable?’ Nur put flowers in his,” Sanya blinked.
Sanya retrieved the book out of the black tear in reality and dismissed the [Pocket Space]. Anything could be thrown into and retrieved from the Space. Should she have been using it for less mundane things? Was she being blasphemous to mana and the spirit of magic by tossing whatever she wanted into it?
“Hmm. Still only [Pocket Space]? Would've thought you found the upgrade by now,” The librarian said.
“So there are bigger spaces? Does Nur know them?” Sanya asked, eyes aglow.
Mai had been frozen the whole time. “D-did you just casually summon your own pocket dimension? Sanya!?”
Sanya smirked.
Mai's mouth gaped. She got over it a little bit too quickly and turned her head around.
“Hey librarian!” Mai chirped.
“Hello Mai—oh. I still haven't introduced myself yet . . .” The librarian trailed off. She did not, in fact, follow up with her name.
Mai returned to her metal rod. The mana orbs aligned into a familiar shape. “[Pocket Space]!”
The mana broke apart.
“Aww.” Mai was close to it. Why had the spell failed? How had Sanya cast all the spells on her first tries?
Sanya remembered something from earlier. They had all been so wrapped up in the spell shenanigans that they had glossed over something very dire. “Um. Librarian?”
“Yes?”
“We're not a couple.”
“O-oh. I thought that—Oh. I'm sorry!”
“I will rejoin her in partnership on the condition that she stops wanting to end her life, heals my fingers, and brings back Thamina! I will remain free until then!”
Dima dropped her book.
“So you're vowing to be single for the rest of your life, and will partner with me never again?” Sanya muttered.
Ah. Sanya's victim had a name—Thamina . . . Once again she was reminded of the fact that she had killed someone. Guilt stabbed her.
“I . . .” Mai tried, but she trailed off after the first syllable.
The librarian used the empty space to get Sanya's and Mai's attention. She cleared her throat. “I bring books!”
The librarian walked over and slid the books in the bookshelves next to the remaining fiction book. The second being on the floor in front of Dima, and the third in Sanya's hand.
“I decided that since you're bed-ridden under house arrest, and Mai spending so much time watching over you, that you two might as well have some fun!” The librarian continued.
“What book could be more entertaining than what we already have?” Mai asked.
The librarian grinned. She took one of the books and handed it to Mai.
The books the librarian had brought looked old, and this was no exception. The cover was worn, the pages fraying and broken. If someone so much as touched it wrong it looked like it would disappear.
Mai blinked at the book.
The librarian put her newly freed hand to her lips as Mai took the book. “Don't tell Nur I snuck into his stash of confiscated books.”
“N-Nur’s stash? ‘Confiscated?’” Mai swallowed.
Dima put a hand to her head and let out a great sigh.
The librarian winked.
Mai opened the book. “‘A Guide to . . . Fleshweaving?’ Librarian?”
“We can read it despite the book being that old?” Sanya asked. Sanya processed the words Mai had just uttered. “I'm sorry—it says what?”
“What on Heliux's forsaken hellscape is this?” Mai, cursed, holding up the book towards the librarian.
She merely smiled. She took the next book and held it out for Sanya.
Sanya put the fiction onto the bed and reached for the librarian's offering. “‘Celestial Summoning: How to Optimize Violence with Style?’”
The librarian put a hand to her mouth, as if watching a scandal. “Oops. I swapped your grimoires. Silly me!”