Magika - Chapter 31 (New)
Nino understood immediately what happened to Ohno when his boyfriend looked around in confusion. Kimura sensei had cast an illusion on Ohno. However, before he could do anything to help his boyfriend, the scenery in front of him changed. He was in darkness alone, no one was with him. It was too dark, he didn't know where he was.
This is an illusion, he told himself. Find the flaw, he instructed himself.
"Hi, little Kazu," a female voice. He knew the voice. It belonged to Naomi. Slowly, the person himself appeared in front of him and the surrounding became brighter. She was young once again, just like the woman he saw in the forest with Nakai. They were in a room but he didn't recognized the room.
"Why do you look confused?" Naomi asked him sweetly. "Don't you remember this room?"
He stayed quiet. In return, Naomi smiled sweetly at him before she approached him. He tried to push her away but she was stronger than him.
"Shall we walk around? Maybe your memory will return," she told him. The scenery in front of him changed once again. He was in a village now. Of course, he didn't recognize the village but he understood what Naomi was doing. She wanted him to believe that he was indeed Founder Ninomiya. Too bad that it wasn't going to work.
"I'm not him," he told Naomi firmly, pulling his hand away from her. The woman glared at him before the scenery changed again.
He was in the classroom again. But, he knew it was an illusion. In front of him, there were two Ohno.
"If you really love me..." The first Ohno started then the second Ohno continued. "Which one is the real me?"
Then, he was shifted to a jungle. Both Ohno looked at him with a wicked smile.
"Find me!" Both of them said together. Then, they started running away from him. He ignored them, knowing that neither was the true Ohno. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate so that he can break free from the teacher's illusion. As he closed his eyes, he could hear his friends screaming. They were in pain. He knew the sound was just a trick but he couldn't help but worrying about them, especially because they didn't show up as planned.
"You could save them, Kazu," he heard Naomi's voice echoing in his mind. "You just have to leave them and stay with me. I promise. I won't touch them if you agree,"
Don't give up, he told himself. Maybe the teacher was trying to drive him crazy with all these illusions. As if it was a distant memory, he remembered that the teacher said he will be exhausted if he used too much magic. If he just let the teacher continued with the illusion, maybe there was a chance to defeat him.
"NINO!" He heard Ohno's voice screaming this time.
He was tempted to open his eyes this time. The voice sounded like a genuine Ohno and it seemed like something bad had happened. But, he was worried that he will be fooled by Kimura sensei.
"Aren't you worried about your little boyfriend?" Kimura sensei whispered behind him. Against his better judgement, he opened his eyes to see Ohno who was crying as he cradled a chair in his arm. He kept calling Nino's name. Nino wanted to go to his boyfriend to tell him that he was okay. However, Kimura sensei was faster in stopping him.
"I made him think that he had killed you. He's going to be crazy soon," the teacher told him. Nino glared at him furiously. "You are better in handling the illusion. But, he isn't used to it. So, I decided to trick him. If you want to save him, be with me,"
"NO!" He told the teacher. He pushed the teacher away from him and ran towards Ohno. However, before he could get near, the ground started to shake again and a few objects in the room flew from every direction towards him. He immediately kneeled down to avoid getting hit. He wondered where it came from but he had his answer when Ohno stood in front of him, eyes glowing once again.
"You're gonna pay for this!" Ohno screamed before Nino was lifted from the ground.
Sho silently prayed that everything will go as planned as he watched both Ohno and Nino left.
"Okay, let's do it now," he told Aiba and Jun ten minutes after Nino and Ohno left. He could see that both Aiba and Jun were nervous. He was nervous too. But, he had to be calm. If not, Aiba will definitely panic and they couldn't carry out their plan.
Aiba and Jun nodded their head and then proceeded to open the door. Sho stayed at their hiding spot. The plan was for Aiba and Jun to lure Nakai away from the room while he went to get the adults. He knew it would be impossible for Aiba and Jun to defeat Nakai but he hoped that they will give him enough time to undo the spell on the adults.
Not long after that, he heard running footsteps down the hallway. Aiba and Jun ran away from the room with Nakai following behind. Without waiting, Sho immediately went to the room. Before he entered, he checked for protection spells on the door and undo the spell. Then, he entered the room.
The adults were just like what he saw before. They were in a dreamy state, as if they didn't know they were prisoners. He approached them but none of them gave any reactions. He wondered if they were like this because of a spell or because of an illusion made by Kimura sensei. He hoped it will be the former because it will be easier to undo the spell than breaking a person free from an illusion. However, as he looked at them properly, it was obvious that they were not under a spell. Instead, this was the result of Kimura sensei's illusion.
Sho tried to think of a spell that could undo the illusion. He knew he had told his friends that he had a backup plan if Nakai captured them. However, he didn't tell them that the backup plan depended on whether he could free the adults.
As he tried a few spells, he silently congratulated himself for being correct about Kimura sensei's motive for attacking Ohno. As he thought, Kimura sensei wasn't after Ohno. He wanted to destroy the relationship between Nino and Ohno. That's why there was no attack from him when Nino ignored Ohno. Maybe he thought that he had succeeded to make Nino hates Ohno. However, it didn't last long because the two of them reconcile after that. That's why he attacked them again. He didn't want them to be together.
He knew this wasn't a time to think about that. But, he couldn't stop himself. Shaking his head, he focused once again with the task in front of him. Aiba and Jun had been gone for a while so it won't be long before Nakai caught them.
As soon as he thought of that, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see both Jun and Aiba with Nakai trailing behind them. The older man smiled wickedly at him.
Sho cursed himself for being distracted. If only he didn't think about Ohno and Nino earlier, maybe he will notice Nakai coming to the room earlier and have time to hide himself.
"Think you're smarter than me?" Nakai told him. Jun and Aiba looked exhausted but Nakai seemed unaffected with the fight. "I think highly of you because you're the descendant of Sakurai. But, perhaps I overestimate you,"
He pushed Jun and Aiba towards him. He put them together before drawing a circle around them. Then, he started chanting a spell before a barrier appeared around them, following the shape of the circle.
"If you try to get out... Well.. You're smart enough to know what will happen, right?" Said Nakai before leaving them. Sho tried to hide his fear. He knew they couldn't get out of the barrier unless someone undo it from outside the circle.
"I'm sorry, guys. I couldn't free them," said Sho. Aiba and Jun shook their head, apologizing for not giving him enough time to free his father. But, it wasn't their fault. It was his fault for not being competent enough with his spell. He was ashamed of himself for causing trouble for his friends when they had put their trust in him.
Suddenly, he was surprised when he heard Aiba groaning in pain. He turned to look at the guy and was shocked to see Aiba tried to erase the circle from the inside. His hands were injured in return as he touched the barrier and that's why he was groaning.
"What are you doing, you idiot!" Said Sho, taking Aiba's hand from the barrier. His hand was in pain as it grazed the surface of the barrier.
"I'm trying to erase the circle," answered Aiba innocently. He tried to do the same thing once again but both Jun and Sho gripped both his hand tightly.
"It's not going to work," Sho explained. "You have to put down the barrier first and it has to be done from the outside,"
"But, we have to do something. If not, Nakai and Kimura sensei will hurt Nino chan and Ohchan. We have to save them,"
Hearing that, Sho smiled weakly at Aiba. One thing that he always loves about Aiba is he never gives up, especially if it involved his friends. He will do everything to save everyone, even if it means he will have to sacrifice himself. But, Sho wouldn't let him do that.
"Can I tell you something, Aiba?" Sho said, stopping Aiba from struggling to break free from both of them. He had been thinking about this for a while. But, he had no courage to tell Aiba the truth. He didn't know what's going to happen to them if Ohno and Nino also failed. So, maybe this was the only time he could do this.
"What is it?" Aiba asked innocently, as if he didn't have any idea of what Sho wanted to tell him. This made Sho smiled once again, thinking of how oblivious Aiba was sometimes.
"I want to tell you that... I... I... " the words won't come out easily from his mouth. He was shy to admit what he was feeling. Damn, how did Nino and Ohno express their feelings easily?
"I lo..." Okay, it's almost there. He just needed to say a bit more and then it will be done.
"Is this the right time for you to say that?" Jun interrupted before he could get the words out of his mouth. "We will survive this. I know that. Then, you can say it in an appropriate situation, with just the two of you. I don't want to be a third wheel here,"
Jun smirked at him. Sho's face turned red, feeling embarrassed with himself. Jun was right. This was not the right time. Instead of thinking of this as their last moment, he should think of something to save all of them.
"Ne, what is it that you want to tell me?" Aiba asked. But, Sho shook his head.
"I will tell you later. So, do you have any idea what we should do to get out from this thing?" Asked Sho. Jun gave him a smile as if he already had a way to get them out of this mess. Sho wondered what it was.
They heard footsteps outside of the room before the door was opened and Nakai strode in, looking frustrated. However, he was delighted to look at them.
"I have news to share with you," he began. Sho felt anxious, worried about what he might tell them. "My partner.. Your teacher... Had killed one of your friends,"
The three of them gasped to hear the news. Even though it was part of the plan, Sho couldn't help but worried. He was afraid if their plan didn't go accordingly and Kimura sensei had killed Ohno for real. He was a remarkable wizard after all. Logically speaking, Ohno didn’t stand a chance against him, just like Sho couldn’t undo the illusion on the adults.
"He killed Little Samii, robbing me the chance to torture him before he died," Nakai continued. "Well, I guess, I will quench my hunger for vengeance by torturing you,"
Nakai chanted a spell and the barrier holding them in the circle was vanished. Then, he approached them with a wicked smile.
"Don't worry. I will make this as slow as I can,"
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