Part III. The Director's Return Chapter 1

I stood behind Koji, enthusiastically picking at the floor with the toe of my slipper. Tsumi knows why, but it seemed to have become a habit of mine. There was one silver lining: the teachers were getting a bigger dressing-down than I was. But everything else...

I had managed to faint. As soon as I woke up in the infirmary, Izamu smiled at me like a gentle, hungry crocodile and told me to report to the director, and fast. No, not just fast… very fast. This time, I couldn't count on the healer's protection.

On my way there, a sudden realization came to me: the director had returned, and I had perfectly missed the moment. And now here I was, standing and listening... to unpleasant things.

Koji was taking the hit for me.

I covertly examined the newly arrived director. He was tall, broad-shouldered—I wouldn't be surprised if he was a former warrior who, for some reason, was now in charge of the school. Black hair was streaked with silver, and webs of wrinkles had settled around his mouth and on his forehead, but his black eyes seemed capable of piercing flesh and stone. He wore dark clothes with no distinguishing marks, only a few black crystals hanging from his wide belt.

The director made no sudden movements; each was filled with the grace of a confident predator. It was as if he knew perfectly well that his prey wouldn't escape. He also reminded me of someone, in a way I couldn't quite place...

"How did that come to you, Aska?"

I flinched at his voice. The voice, by the way, was low and slightly rustling. If it were possible to draw it...

Lines of kanji instantly began to form before my eyes, reaching for each other, weaving together.

Darkness.

I felt a little uneasy. Something had changed after the display in the auditorium. The kanji now formed with ease, without even requiring effort.

But the question remained unanswered.

Koji turned slightly toward me. He was giving me an unmistakable sign that I couldn't stay silent. I had to speak.

"Well..." I started hoarsely. "I thought that if you could draw one word, why not draw several?"

Koji seemed to be trying hard not to cover his face with his hand and groan, "O Weaver and all the other gods! " I pretended not to understand what was so wrong with that. A passage from the chronicles was just "a few words." Okay, several words of several, for that matter. But what could you expect from me? I was just a simple student at the Gozen School; how could I know the details?

I also realized that there was... amusement in the director's eyes. It was a strange, not-quite-understandable kind of amusement that gave me goosebumps, but it wasn't anger.

"So, you just thought of it?" he asked softly.

"Director Tetsuya," Koji began, "Aska has shown great potential, only..."

"She didn't think about the consequences," the director said with irony.

And he said it in a tone that seemed to tell Koji: Be quiet, we'll talk later.

I tried to merge with the wall. Keep quiet, Aska, keep quiet. Don't act up. Who knows what these directors are like?

He looked at me again, assessing and studying me as if I were something unusual. But there was no threat from him yet. Or was Tetsuya just very good at hiding his feelings and misleading those around him?

"Alright, working for the good of the school has never hurt anyone," Director Tetsuya began. "Aska, you don't mind a little free manual labor, do you? Especially after what happened to the auditorium and the fact that it now needs repairs? You don't have to answer, I can see that you don't mind."

Well, hello, cleanup duty. It wouldn't be the first time. If it was just repairs, it meant something was left of the auditorium.

"No calligraphy for you for a while," he continued.

I barely managed to keep my face impassive. This was worse.

But the director wasn't looking at me anymore; all his attention was on Koji. For a while, the office was silent. It felt as if they didn't need words to understand each other. Maybe it was a secret communication technique so that students with big ears wouldn't hear what they weren't supposed to?

"Aska, you're free to go," Koji said coldly. "Please be so kind as to not get into any more trouble."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I had a strong urge to stick my tongue out at him, but at that moment, Director Tetsuya looked at me, and amusement flashed in his eyes again, as if the feelings overwhelming me were an open book to him.

I bit the inside of my lower lip, quickly bowed, and darted out of the office.

A strange, very strange director!

As soon as I had walked a short distance, Haruka and Misaki appeared in the corridor. They deftly took me by the arms and pulled me out into the courtyard.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, bewildered.

"Quiet," Haruka hissed. "It's the director! Do you have any idea what kind of punishment he could come up with?"

"Throw me into the forest with the tsumi?"

"You goat!" Misaki snapped.

Okay, that was new; she had never used that word before.

But when we got to the courtyard, I realized that "goat" was a pretty mild description.

Because standing in front of us were about... seven people. All tall girls in black keikogi. Among them — who could have doubted it? — were Satu and Kyoko. All of their faces were very unfriendly, with some resting their hands on their hips and others with their arms crossed. And they were looking at me as if they were about to beat me. With their feet, presumably.

I quickly glanced around the courtyard and noted that everything was in place. That was a good sign; it meant there was no major damage after my performance.

"What do I owe this pleasure?" I asked, looking directly at Satu.

It would be foolish to think she wasn't the ringleader. Of course, the two girls next to her were glaring unpleasantly, but I hadn't forgotten that Satu had lost her tessen because of our scuffle. So I couldn't count on her favor, or even neutrality.

"You're not short on nerve," she said.

"Neither are you," I replied, carefully freeing myself from Haruka and Misaki's grasp.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that they exchanged glances but didn't say anything. Either they thought I should deal with my own problems now, or they didn't want to get involved after what they had seen in the auditorium.

Even though I wasn't allowed to finish what I had started, I remembered the faces of those around me perfectly. And also the flows of ryoku that had moved through my entire body and filled me with such power that it seemed I could defeat all the resurrected on the battlefield.

And even now, I could feel something thick and heavy stirring inside, ready to spill out.

"Because of you, our trip to the city was canceled," a girl standing to Satu's right said sullenly. "It only happens once a month."

To the city? That was news to me.

"Well, how would Aska know such details?" Satu snickered. "Only the best get to go to the city. She's never been among them. And she probably never will be."

"Of course," Director Tetsuya's icy voice suddenly rang out from behind us, making all of us flinch. How had he managed to approach so silently? "Who are you, student Ikeda, to judge those who write kanji not only on paper?"

Anger flashed in Satu's eyes, but her lips remained a tight line. Only a flush of indignation spread across her cheeks.

Yeah, that was a real burn. It wasn't us who shoved her face in the mud; it was the school director.

"Disperse," he said curtly.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Aska! Follow me."

Well, I had relaxed too soon.

We all exchanged bewildered glances. Even if Satu had imagined counting my bones, the fact that the director had summoned me again was not a pleasant thought.

"Good luck," Misaki whispered.

Haruka just gave me a short nod.

I had no choice but to trot after him. I swear, he was just here a moment ago, and now he was way over there. And he didn't even turn around—he knew perfectly well that I would scamper after him. Only when I was at a relatively decent distance (not running like a little tail, but not out of sight) could I catch my breath.

I was tempted to ask where we were going, of course, but I decided to keep quiet. The director wasn't my roommates, or healer Izamu, or even Teacher Ayu, who was happy to have a conversation. Tsumi knows what to expect here.

I got a better look at Tetsuya now. While I didn't find anything new about his appearance, I felt the ryoku coming from him like I had never before. Tetsuya was clearly holding back his power, but it wasn't enough. Next to him, I felt an urge to be on the ground. I just wanted to kneel and touch my forehead to the dirt, acknowledging his authority. But the authority of... what?

After a while, I realized that we had reached the riverbank.

Tetsuya was silently staring at the water. I was starting to get nervous. Was he going to drown me? There were a bunch of witnesses who saw us leave together. Although... maybe that's how they got rid of negligent students here?

I still cleared my throat.

"Director Tetsuya?"

He was looking at the water's surface.

"Miya says you saved her. Pulled her out of the river."

I held my breath. So that was it... The little girl had told him about her... our adventures.

"And then you ordered a tsumi to leave. And it obeyed."

Tetsuya turned his head. His black eyes were blazing with living darkness, breaking my will, crushing it in an instant, crumpling it like a house of cards. The air disappeared from my lungs, and red circles danced before my eyes. I gasped, and a shiver ran through my body.

"What did you do, Aska of the Shenghai Clan, to make her believe what she saw?" his question boomed.

My lungs burned; it was impossible to stand.

I gathered my ryoku with great difficulty; a wave of heat ran through my hand, and the kumihimo tore my skin, releasing tendrils of darkness. They shot toward Tetsuya, who instantly threw up a shield of black glass.

CRACK! The ground trembled.

Air rushed into my lungs. So sweet, so delicious, oh, Weaver.

The inky-violet tendrils reached for the director again, and then a thick darkness came pouring out. I threw up my free hand and drew the hieroglyph for "Protection." It flared with ryoku, but then immediately crumbled into ashes at my feet.

The darkness dissipated.

Director Tetsuya thoughtfully looked at me, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Not bad," he finally said. "But you need to react faster and learn how to put a shield on a kanji immediately. Otherwise, anyone who understands even a little calligraphy will be able to erase them."

"Was that a test?" I said indignantly.

"Does this look like a date?" he said, unbothered.

I glanced at the river, then at the forest. Considering the tsumi wandering around, this was clearly not the best place for a date.

"Miya never makes things up," Tetsuya added nonetheless. "But I had to see everything with my own eyes."

He had seen it.

But it was only now that I realized I had seen something, too. The little girl I had saved and Director Tetsuya looked like a true father and daughter.