Faith
With its protective spells banished, another obstacle had been removed. Nino would now be able to touch the book without fearing the consequences. The problem now, had to do with how much he knew Eriol, and if he could fool him long enough to take the book without arousing suspicion. Never one to back down from a challenge, Nino formulated his plans in the span of one sleepless night...
The following day was spent secretly gathering blank pieces of parchment and stealthily avoiding Jun when he can, or keeping a fairly neutral demeanor when he was around the empath. Once the pages were sufficient, he then glued them together to look like a book, and used his talent for illusions to make it look exactly like the one he was about to take. The pages of the newly bound (and blank) book were made to appear aged and fragile enough to crumble at the slightest touch, its red leather binding appeared to be in tatters and just about to fall off its spine. As an added measure, he cast a protective spell around the book that would send a jolt of electricity to those that the spell didn't recognize. The next phase of his plan involved replacing the original with the decoy he created. With some amount of luck and Aiba's help, Nino was able to pull it off. All he needed to do was a little bit of acting to draw Eriol away from his study, while Aiba's furry friends carried on their plans without the household noticing anything.
That afternoon, it was Nino's turn to train under Eriol. For every session, he spent six full hours under the wizard: two hours were allotted to lectures, and four were equally divided into the usual practice drills in defensive magic and refining his illusions. For this session, he managed to talk Eriol into having their sessions outdoors under the pretense of boredom and a need to test how far his abilities have progressed. Ohno, Jun, and Yuki were invited to watch, and eagerly waited for the show to start. Sho was doing his own research in the temple while Aiba, (who requested a special performance from Nino,) spent the afternoon hidden in his bedroom, feigning a bad case of allergies while giving his animal friends instructions on how to replace the book with the imitation that Nino had worked on the prior night. Nino had given them specific orders to leave everything as it was in order to evade suspicion. Once the book was successfully retrieved, it was to be placed in Nino's room, in a secret compartment under his bed that only he and Aiba knew about.
******
After an intensive training session of conjuring mermaids, whales, and pink dolphins in a wide open meadow, spelled to look like a beach, Nino promptly collapsed from exhaustion on his big soft bed. He awoke after three hours of deep and undisturbed sleep to have a warm bath, a change of clothes and a leisurely dinner where the topic of conversation was centered around Nino's growing powers and the grand show that was staged in front of Jun, Yuki, Ohno and Eriol. Once dinner was over, Nino retreated to the safety of his room and retrieved the book from under his bed. He made sure to lock the door and secure all of the openings in his bedroom before he even started to read. So far, luck has worked out in his favor and nothing seemed amiss.
It was way past midnight and Nino was still poring over the book, meticulously taking down notes in a separate piece of paper. It turned out that Yuki was right in suspecting Eriol of withholding information. The book had exactly what they were looking for: notes from previous users who have crossed dimensions. It contained tips, precautions and specific instructions for those about to embark on a journey. More importantly, it gave an explanation for what happened to Yuki's cat: According to the book, only the holder of the Key can cross dimensions unharmed. Any other companions would not survive the trip because they Key would only shield its owner from the physical effects of crossing dimensions; their bodies won't be able to take the strain and will inevitably end up dying in a fit of uncontrollable seizures. Inanimate objects, like keys, plants, or books, however remained unchanged. In theory, if one were to freeze their companion, that person would make it through alive because their body won't have to react to the changes. Unfortunately, none of the Key's previous owners had ever toyed with the idea of freezing their companions. There were no guarantees that their companions would have come out alive, or if their bodies would not react the same way once they had been unfrozen. None of them have ever been brave or foolish enough to try and they did not want to risk killing anyone.
"Well that explains things..." Nino muttered to himself in the dead of the night.
With this information in hand, Nino used some of his magic to create a copy of the book. With the exception of two pages, a perfect copy of the book was handed to Yuki the following afternoon, right after her turn with Eriol. The original book was then returned to Eriol's study the same way it had been taken out.
********
So why, exactly did you tear those two pages out? Afraid I'd have some messiah complex?
Well you did, at the time, didn't you? I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be handling the guilt if that experiment failed. We still don't know if we did the right thing...
Yuki remained in contemplation for a few moments...
I see... We, meaning you and Sho, right?
Yup.
********
A few days after Nino handed Yuki her copy, he asked Sho if he could come to the temple to research on some spells.
"Doesn't your library have it?"
"Not the specific one I was looking for..." Nino replied
"I see." Sho replied, and raised and inquiring eyebrow, ”I guess you can come with me tomorrow; I'll be making the rounds again. Plenty of people are getting really sick these days."
"I know. Things seem to be slowly getting worse. People getting sick for no reason, harvests getting fewer, rivers drying up...We're headed there, one step at a time... It sucks even more that we're the only ones who know"
"And the Ohnos..."
"Yeah, them too...We're not even sure we can do anything about it" Nino sighed.
"Well, I'm glad we finally have some time to catch up. You seem to have been quite busy lately."
"I guess so..."
"Just meet me at the gates tomorrow morning. Does your dad know that you plan to come with me?"
"No, but I can make him believe I'm here."
"What about the others?"
"They'll all believe I'm here. I just made Jun and Ohno believe they were in a beach though we were sitting right smack in the middle of our garden. I could easily make myself look like one of your monk friends when we sneak out, and leave a copy of me here. Trust me; you'll be the only one who knows who I am."
"Okay then..." Sho agreed, albeit hesitantly. He had also been doing his part in trying to find more information about the Key, but like the others, had made no significant progress...
The following morning found Nino sneaking out of the castle with Sho, who was waiting for him at the gates. Nino cast glamour on himself to look like one of the monks from the monastery, and if anyone asked, he was a novice monk assigned to pick up Sho and accompany him on his usual trips to the city. Things went smoothly from there and they were able to reach the monastery before noon. By then, Nino changed his disguise and assumed Aiba's form...
"Stop doing that, it's creepy." Said Sho who felt unsettled by the image of Aiba standing in front of him with his shoulders hunched, both hands in the pockets of his robes, and wearing a knowing smirk on his face.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm perfectly capable of acting like Aiba" Nino replied, and as if to demonstrate, immediately straightened his back, removed both hands from his pockets and wore Aiba's trademark grin while placing an arm around Sho's shoulders.
Sho shuddered and swatted Nino's arm away. Even though he knew that the person beside him was definitely not Aiba, Nino was able to copy Aiba perfectly, from his carefree, yet clumsy gait, down to his goofy grin and his breathy giggling. He could have fooled anyone into thinking that this was Sho's clumsy, but sweet and well-meaning 'best friend.'
"Hmm... Something’s missing" Nino said, tilting his head and pressing a forefinger against his lower lip, "Oh, I know!" he exclaimed, a few moments later, a small squirrel materialized, perched on his shoulders.
"Oh god." Sho muttered, horrified. "Are you sure you aren't hiding a forked tail under all those robes?"
"Oh, no, but I think I left my trident at home!" Nino laughed in Aiba's breathy, high-pitched giggle.
"You're scary;" Sho replied "Anyway, I'll be showing you the library after lunch. I'll have to prepare for my trip to the city. We'll talk more when I get back, okay?"
"Sure, darling!" Nino replied as they both entered the monastery.
"Shut up, Nino."
Once lunch was over, Sho showed Nino to the library and pointed him to the spell books while he headed out to the city for a few hours to help the old and the ailing. The collection of books and scrolls in the library were not as extensive as those of the castle's, but there were quite a few rare ones in their small study which could not be found in any other library. There were tomes and scrolls written by the wandering monks of their order, and those donated by travelers who sometimes gave it as payment in exchange for a few nights lodgings in their temple. Nino immediately scoured the shelves, looking for a specific spell that would render its target immobile while still retaining its life.
Book after book Nino searched the library. Though he found numerous spells for freezing people, all of them had been written by magicians who used it as a defensive spell, some of which ended their target's life, or wore off after a few moments. After four hours of searching, Nino was at his wits end and had come quite close to throwing a tantrum and pulling his hair, until he spotted a small book sitting neglected on one of the furthest shelves, beside volumes of history books and healing spells. In his dusty robes, Nino left the tall stack of the spell books and crawled toward the little black book that strangely beckoned to him. The slim volume was covered with dust and cobwebs, and like the book in Eriol's study, its pages were also yellowed with age. The thick threads that held its pages together were already frayed at the edges and could easily be cut by even the dullest of knives. Blowing the dust off of the covers, Nino opened the flap to discover a small volume on potions by an unnamed magician (most likely, a monk who used to live in this temple,) who had experimented with the idea of surgery. As he leafed through the pages he found recipes of various brews for medicinal and medical purposes. Of all the useful potions he had read about, one particular potion caught his eye...
"Putting your patient in a paralyzed state to reduce blood loss from surgery ... Nino, just what are you looking for?" Sho asked, looking over Nino's shoulder and snapping him out of his reverie. He had been so absorbed in what he was reading that he didn't notice the young monk's entry into the library.
"Isn't it time you let me into your plans, Nino?" Sho urged, pulling Nino from his crouched position at the corner of the library and leading him on to the table with the tall stack of spell books. "Oh, and you're going to help me re-shelve these books."
Nino sighed. Desperation clearly painted on his face as he pondered on the possible consequences for telling Sho of his plans. Sho could be trusted, of that much he was sure, but he had second thoughts. There was a big chance that Sho, in his kindness, would insist on sharing the guilt with him and that was something that he just could not allow to happen. Sho continued to look at Nino, his gaze patient and unwavering while he waited for Nino to speak.
"Sho, listen... I think you're better off not knowing--" Nino began
"Nino, even if you didn't tell me, I would come to the same conclusion anyway." Sho insisted, "We all agreed to help Yuki. I know that you found something, and you didn't exactly bother telling us. Aiba may, or may not have been part of that plan because it was out of character for him to miss one of your displays and he isn't any good at feigning his allergies, at least he didn't fool me. There's also the little flaw in your scheming today because you didn't have a readymade excuse for why you didn't tell your dad that you were coming here, nor did you notice that I agreed too easily to let you come. Apart from that you have really dark circles under your eyes that you didn't bother to hide with one of your usual glamours. You were careful, but you were too tired to be that careful... So, Nino, am I right?"
"Yes, you're right. I found something" Nino replied in defeat, slightly disappointed with himself for having underestimated Sho's cleverness.
"And you didn't tell us, because?"
"It was a book stored in Eriol's room and Yuki knows about it and insisted on keeping it a secret. Yuki already has a copy of the book."
"So why isn't she with you, looking for whatever it is that you're looking for?"
"Eriol doesn't know. He's been withholding information for some reason and I don't think it would be a good idea to let him know. We're supposed to act normally, and this means that Yuki is supposed to trust Eriol completely. Although she's been pestering him constantly about when she'd actually be given the chance to try out the Key's powers, Eriol manages to evade the question or give her the age-old excuse that she's still 'too inexperienced' to use they Key."
Sho kept silent for a few minutes while he pondered the implications of Nino's confession, and slowly added up the facts in his head: he had walked into the young prince, absorbed in a particular potion that would have a patient paralyzed and under a coma...
"You've found a way around the problem, haven't you?" Sho's eyes lit up, and a smile slowly started to form on his lips.
"Well... I've yet to see if this works..."
******
Another thing that Nino had underestimated, apart from his deductive prowess, was Sho's ability to disarm with his kindness. It was just as he feared: He ended up telling Sho everything, and now Sho was only too willing to share the burden with him. Sho was right; perhaps it was the lack of sleep coupled with information overload which led him to be a little careless. It was Sho's sweet and affable demeanor, coupled with his sharp mind that got Sho what he wanted. Years of dealing with difficult people had taught him the skills needed to settle minor feuds, to get an errant child to obey, and to put people's minds at rest. Despite his begging and pleading, he was unable to dissuade the monk and he had even insisted on creating the potion together.
"Sho, why are you helping me with this? Things could go wrong"
"I already know that much and it is true, we could both end up killing them."
"Exactly, so, why?"
"... Maybe I believe in what you're doing more than you do... You missed out on one thing while you were telling me about Ohno's vision"
"Which is?"
"Ohno did not see me there. He saw you, Jun, Aiba, and Yuki, but he never mentioned me."
"Maybe he just missed out on the part where you're there. Not all his visions show the complete thing. You already know that."
"I don't know..." Sho shrugged, "Something tells me that I am where I need to be right now and that I should be doing this. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I let you shoulder the burden alone?"
Nino remained silent, unable to think of a retort that would make the young monk change his mind.
"Hmm..." Sho interrupted
"What's on your mind?"
"You never mentioned anything about the antidote. How are we going to 'unfreeze' them once Yuki has, in theory, successfully transported them?"
"Well..." Nino began awkwardly
"We can't administer the antidote and Yuki can't do it for us, because both the potion and the antidote require the magical signatures of the ones who created it. The antidote, especially, requires fresh blood, Nino. Even if we did freeze each other, there's no way we're going to get out of that comatose state. What do we do about that? "
"Actually, I... plan to stay behind."
"What?! What's the whole point if you're going to die? And what's this thing about 'I'? We're in this together. I'll be staying behind with you."
"Well, All I'm banking on is the idea of reincarnation, and being in that dimension where they're supposed to land next..."
"Do you really believe all of it, and do you think we'll be able to remember the antidote?"
"I don't know... but we'll have to, somehow..."
"I guess we do..." Sho smiled, patting Nino's back in a comforting gesture.
"I wish I had your faith."
"Sometimes, it's all I have, and right now I have a lot of it in you. "
"Sho..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you very much."
"Who knows, maybe it'll be fun to watch the world explode."
"Yeah, maybe..."
Previous: Omens Next: The End
The following day was spent secretly gathering blank pieces of parchment and stealthily avoiding Jun when he can, or keeping a fairly neutral demeanor when he was around the empath. Once the pages were sufficient, he then glued them together to look like a book, and used his talent for illusions to make it look exactly like the one he was about to take. The pages of the newly bound (and blank) book were made to appear aged and fragile enough to crumble at the slightest touch, its red leather binding appeared to be in tatters and just about to fall off its spine. As an added measure, he cast a protective spell around the book that would send a jolt of electricity to those that the spell didn't recognize. The next phase of his plan involved replacing the original with the decoy he created. With some amount of luck and Aiba's help, Nino was able to pull it off. All he needed to do was a little bit of acting to draw Eriol away from his study, while Aiba's furry friends carried on their plans without the household noticing anything.
That afternoon, it was Nino's turn to train under Eriol. For every session, he spent six full hours under the wizard: two hours were allotted to lectures, and four were equally divided into the usual practice drills in defensive magic and refining his illusions. For this session, he managed to talk Eriol into having their sessions outdoors under the pretense of boredom and a need to test how far his abilities have progressed. Ohno, Jun, and Yuki were invited to watch, and eagerly waited for the show to start. Sho was doing his own research in the temple while Aiba, (who requested a special performance from Nino,) spent the afternoon hidden in his bedroom, feigning a bad case of allergies while giving his animal friends instructions on how to replace the book with the imitation that Nino had worked on the prior night. Nino had given them specific orders to leave everything as it was in order to evade suspicion. Once the book was successfully retrieved, it was to be placed in Nino's room, in a secret compartment under his bed that only he and Aiba knew about.
******
After an intensive training session of conjuring mermaids, whales, and pink dolphins in a wide open meadow, spelled to look like a beach, Nino promptly collapsed from exhaustion on his big soft bed. He awoke after three hours of deep and undisturbed sleep to have a warm bath, a change of clothes and a leisurely dinner where the topic of conversation was centered around Nino's growing powers and the grand show that was staged in front of Jun, Yuki, Ohno and Eriol. Once dinner was over, Nino retreated to the safety of his room and retrieved the book from under his bed. He made sure to lock the door and secure all of the openings in his bedroom before he even started to read. So far, luck has worked out in his favor and nothing seemed amiss.
It was way past midnight and Nino was still poring over the book, meticulously taking down notes in a separate piece of paper. It turned out that Yuki was right in suspecting Eriol of withholding information. The book had exactly what they were looking for: notes from previous users who have crossed dimensions. It contained tips, precautions and specific instructions for those about to embark on a journey. More importantly, it gave an explanation for what happened to Yuki's cat: According to the book, only the holder of the Key can cross dimensions unharmed. Any other companions would not survive the trip because they Key would only shield its owner from the physical effects of crossing dimensions; their bodies won't be able to take the strain and will inevitably end up dying in a fit of uncontrollable seizures. Inanimate objects, like keys, plants, or books, however remained unchanged. In theory, if one were to freeze their companion, that person would make it through alive because their body won't have to react to the changes. Unfortunately, none of the Key's previous owners had ever toyed with the idea of freezing their companions. There were no guarantees that their companions would have come out alive, or if their bodies would not react the same way once they had been unfrozen. None of them have ever been brave or foolish enough to try and they did not want to risk killing anyone.
"Well that explains things..." Nino muttered to himself in the dead of the night.
With this information in hand, Nino used some of his magic to create a copy of the book. With the exception of two pages, a perfect copy of the book was handed to Yuki the following afternoon, right after her turn with Eriol. The original book was then returned to Eriol's study the same way it had been taken out.
********
So why, exactly did you tear those two pages out? Afraid I'd have some messiah complex?
Well you did, at the time, didn't you? I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be handling the guilt if that experiment failed. We still don't know if we did the right thing...
Yuki remained in contemplation for a few moments...
I see... We, meaning you and Sho, right?
Yup.
********
A few days after Nino handed Yuki her copy, he asked Sho if he could come to the temple to research on some spells.
"Doesn't your library have it?"
"Not the specific one I was looking for..." Nino replied
"I see." Sho replied, and raised and inquiring eyebrow, ”I guess you can come with me tomorrow; I'll be making the rounds again. Plenty of people are getting really sick these days."
"I know. Things seem to be slowly getting worse. People getting sick for no reason, harvests getting fewer, rivers drying up...We're headed there, one step at a time... It sucks even more that we're the only ones who know"
"And the Ohnos..."
"Yeah, them too...We're not even sure we can do anything about it" Nino sighed.
"Well, I'm glad we finally have some time to catch up. You seem to have been quite busy lately."
"I guess so..."
"Just meet me at the gates tomorrow morning. Does your dad know that you plan to come with me?"
"No, but I can make him believe I'm here."
"What about the others?"
"They'll all believe I'm here. I just made Jun and Ohno believe they were in a beach though we were sitting right smack in the middle of our garden. I could easily make myself look like one of your monk friends when we sneak out, and leave a copy of me here. Trust me; you'll be the only one who knows who I am."
"Okay then..." Sho agreed, albeit hesitantly. He had also been doing his part in trying to find more information about the Key, but like the others, had made no significant progress...
The following morning found Nino sneaking out of the castle with Sho, who was waiting for him at the gates. Nino cast glamour on himself to look like one of the monks from the monastery, and if anyone asked, he was a novice monk assigned to pick up Sho and accompany him on his usual trips to the city. Things went smoothly from there and they were able to reach the monastery before noon. By then, Nino changed his disguise and assumed Aiba's form...
"Stop doing that, it's creepy." Said Sho who felt unsettled by the image of Aiba standing in front of him with his shoulders hunched, both hands in the pockets of his robes, and wearing a knowing smirk on his face.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm perfectly capable of acting like Aiba" Nino replied, and as if to demonstrate, immediately straightened his back, removed both hands from his pockets and wore Aiba's trademark grin while placing an arm around Sho's shoulders.
Sho shuddered and swatted Nino's arm away. Even though he knew that the person beside him was definitely not Aiba, Nino was able to copy Aiba perfectly, from his carefree, yet clumsy gait, down to his goofy grin and his breathy giggling. He could have fooled anyone into thinking that this was Sho's clumsy, but sweet and well-meaning 'best friend.'
"Hmm... Something’s missing" Nino said, tilting his head and pressing a forefinger against his lower lip, "Oh, I know!" he exclaimed, a few moments later, a small squirrel materialized, perched on his shoulders.
"Oh god." Sho muttered, horrified. "Are you sure you aren't hiding a forked tail under all those robes?"
"Oh, no, but I think I left my trident at home!" Nino laughed in Aiba's breathy, high-pitched giggle.
"You're scary;" Sho replied "Anyway, I'll be showing you the library after lunch. I'll have to prepare for my trip to the city. We'll talk more when I get back, okay?"
"Sure, darling!" Nino replied as they both entered the monastery.
"Shut up, Nino."
Once lunch was over, Sho showed Nino to the library and pointed him to the spell books while he headed out to the city for a few hours to help the old and the ailing. The collection of books and scrolls in the library were not as extensive as those of the castle's, but there were quite a few rare ones in their small study which could not be found in any other library. There were tomes and scrolls written by the wandering monks of their order, and those donated by travelers who sometimes gave it as payment in exchange for a few nights lodgings in their temple. Nino immediately scoured the shelves, looking for a specific spell that would render its target immobile while still retaining its life.
Book after book Nino searched the library. Though he found numerous spells for freezing people, all of them had been written by magicians who used it as a defensive spell, some of which ended their target's life, or wore off after a few moments. After four hours of searching, Nino was at his wits end and had come quite close to throwing a tantrum and pulling his hair, until he spotted a small book sitting neglected on one of the furthest shelves, beside volumes of history books and healing spells. In his dusty robes, Nino left the tall stack of the spell books and crawled toward the little black book that strangely beckoned to him. The slim volume was covered with dust and cobwebs, and like the book in Eriol's study, its pages were also yellowed with age. The thick threads that held its pages together were already frayed at the edges and could easily be cut by even the dullest of knives. Blowing the dust off of the covers, Nino opened the flap to discover a small volume on potions by an unnamed magician (most likely, a monk who used to live in this temple,) who had experimented with the idea of surgery. As he leafed through the pages he found recipes of various brews for medicinal and medical purposes. Of all the useful potions he had read about, one particular potion caught his eye...
"Putting your patient in a paralyzed state to reduce blood loss from surgery ... Nino, just what are you looking for?" Sho asked, looking over Nino's shoulder and snapping him out of his reverie. He had been so absorbed in what he was reading that he didn't notice the young monk's entry into the library.
"Isn't it time you let me into your plans, Nino?" Sho urged, pulling Nino from his crouched position at the corner of the library and leading him on to the table with the tall stack of spell books. "Oh, and you're going to help me re-shelve these books."
Nino sighed. Desperation clearly painted on his face as he pondered on the possible consequences for telling Sho of his plans. Sho could be trusted, of that much he was sure, but he had second thoughts. There was a big chance that Sho, in his kindness, would insist on sharing the guilt with him and that was something that he just could not allow to happen. Sho continued to look at Nino, his gaze patient and unwavering while he waited for Nino to speak.
"Sho, listen... I think you're better off not knowing--" Nino began
"Nino, even if you didn't tell me, I would come to the same conclusion anyway." Sho insisted, "We all agreed to help Yuki. I know that you found something, and you didn't exactly bother telling us. Aiba may, or may not have been part of that plan because it was out of character for him to miss one of your displays and he isn't any good at feigning his allergies, at least he didn't fool me. There's also the little flaw in your scheming today because you didn't have a readymade excuse for why you didn't tell your dad that you were coming here, nor did you notice that I agreed too easily to let you come. Apart from that you have really dark circles under your eyes that you didn't bother to hide with one of your usual glamours. You were careful, but you were too tired to be that careful... So, Nino, am I right?"
"Yes, you're right. I found something" Nino replied in defeat, slightly disappointed with himself for having underestimated Sho's cleverness.
"And you didn't tell us, because?"
"It was a book stored in Eriol's room and Yuki knows about it and insisted on keeping it a secret. Yuki already has a copy of the book."
"So why isn't she with you, looking for whatever it is that you're looking for?"
"Eriol doesn't know. He's been withholding information for some reason and I don't think it would be a good idea to let him know. We're supposed to act normally, and this means that Yuki is supposed to trust Eriol completely. Although she's been pestering him constantly about when she'd actually be given the chance to try out the Key's powers, Eriol manages to evade the question or give her the age-old excuse that she's still 'too inexperienced' to use they Key."
Sho kept silent for a few minutes while he pondered the implications of Nino's confession, and slowly added up the facts in his head: he had walked into the young prince, absorbed in a particular potion that would have a patient paralyzed and under a coma...
"You've found a way around the problem, haven't you?" Sho's eyes lit up, and a smile slowly started to form on his lips.
"Well... I've yet to see if this works..."
******
Another thing that Nino had underestimated, apart from his deductive prowess, was Sho's ability to disarm with his kindness. It was just as he feared: He ended up telling Sho everything, and now Sho was only too willing to share the burden with him. Sho was right; perhaps it was the lack of sleep coupled with information overload which led him to be a little careless. It was Sho's sweet and affable demeanor, coupled with his sharp mind that got Sho what he wanted. Years of dealing with difficult people had taught him the skills needed to settle minor feuds, to get an errant child to obey, and to put people's minds at rest. Despite his begging and pleading, he was unable to dissuade the monk and he had even insisted on creating the potion together.
"Sho, why are you helping me with this? Things could go wrong"
"I already know that much and it is true, we could both end up killing them."
"Exactly, so, why?"
"... Maybe I believe in what you're doing more than you do... You missed out on one thing while you were telling me about Ohno's vision"
"Which is?"
"Ohno did not see me there. He saw you, Jun, Aiba, and Yuki, but he never mentioned me."
"Maybe he just missed out on the part where you're there. Not all his visions show the complete thing. You already know that."
"I don't know..." Sho shrugged, "Something tells me that I am where I need to be right now and that I should be doing this. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I let you shoulder the burden alone?"
Nino remained silent, unable to think of a retort that would make the young monk change his mind.
"Hmm..." Sho interrupted
"What's on your mind?"
"You never mentioned anything about the antidote. How are we going to 'unfreeze' them once Yuki has, in theory, successfully transported them?"
"Well..." Nino began awkwardly
"We can't administer the antidote and Yuki can't do it for us, because both the potion and the antidote require the magical signatures of the ones who created it. The antidote, especially, requires fresh blood, Nino. Even if we did freeze each other, there's no way we're going to get out of that comatose state. What do we do about that? "
"Actually, I... plan to stay behind."
"What?! What's the whole point if you're going to die? And what's this thing about 'I'? We're in this together. I'll be staying behind with you."
"Well, All I'm banking on is the idea of reincarnation, and being in that dimension where they're supposed to land next..."
"Do you really believe all of it, and do you think we'll be able to remember the antidote?"
"I don't know... but we'll have to, somehow..."
"I guess we do..." Sho smiled, patting Nino's back in a comforting gesture.
"I wish I had your faith."
"Sometimes, it's all I have, and right now I have a lot of it in you. "
"Sho..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you very much."
"Who knows, maybe it'll be fun to watch the world explode."
"Yeah, maybe..."
Previous: Omens Next: The End