Granny’s aforementioned “full programme” that day turned out to be miles apart from the dull miscellany of chores they had been faced with for the past week. Not really surprising, either. With four of them working around the clock, there was barely a hint of dirt left anywhere. Every crevice in the entire house had been dusted, cleaned and scoured to within an inch of its life, all the surfaces were spotless, and even the roof had been rendered sparkling. Armed with a particularly vicious pressure washer, Juusei had taken great joy in that particular task—the standout highlight of her week—with Rin being permitted tentative use of Framework to build platforms to stop the small girl from blasting herself into the next week with the water pressure.
Today was different—most likely because there was nothing left to clean. After breakfast had been wolfed down and cleared away, Granny had herded them all into the garden, wielding her walking stick over the shoulder like a kendo sword. The past few days had been cursed with a biting, frosty wind. A gloomy cloud cover preventing any kindness from the sun, up until today. The winds continued lifted, but at least they had been blessed with a light warmth.
“Listen well—” Granny never raised her voice, but her tone carried with an edge of “or else”— “You may attempt to excuse yourselves all you want, but the reason you were all immediately attacked on Sunday is that none of you have bothered to learn to properly suppress your psychic signatures yet!”
“Or—and hear me out now—because JPRO have someone who literally specialises in detection!” Rin grumbled. He awaited the inevitable excruciating twisting of his arm until apology, but nothing came. The boy had his shoulders coiled up underneath his ears, having swaddled himself in several layers and an overcoat to the point he resembled a grouchy little mobster henchman. The only thing he was missing were a bowler hat and cigar.
“The reason JPRO haven’t found you here,” Granny continued, “is because of my House Rules. The moment you stepped across the threshold, and put yourselves under my care, you agreed to my conditions. While under my roof, your psychic energy output is significantly reduced. Beyond the bounds of this property, it is untraceable. Any use of your psychic abilities over the past week has been only temporary, and with my express permission. This has all been to acclimatise you all to keeping tight control over your psychic energy, such that you can one day move around by yourselves without becoming a walking beacon.”
“So, what is this: our training arc?” Rin sighed. “Is this going to cut to a montage soon? Or—”
“Don’t get smart with me, Rinkaku,” she barked. “You have the largest reserves of psychic energy out of the entire group, yet your natural control is by some measure the worst. If left alone, you waste most of your psychic energy just by slouching there in a strop all day.”
The scene abruptly cut away to Rin, shrouded in all his coats, perching on the low garden wall in a deep sulk. Juusei, somehow getting away with wearing a cropped t-shirt and leggings in the dead of winter without even a shiver, pointed and cackled. Granny, however, was taking no prisoners. “And don’t let me get started on you, you hyperactive little demon.”
Juusei’s face dropped like a stone. Perching beside Rin on the low garden wall, the girl started sulking too.
Kinuka, in a beautifully self-fashioned woollen overcoat and hat, pursed her lips and folded her arms. “None of us have had the opportunity to properly learn how to control our psychic energy output, Granny. It’s only been two weeks, and we’ve spent most of it fighting for our lives. Please understand.”
“That’s why I’m taking this opportunity to drill into you all some discipline. The best at this is dear Tegata, so perhaps I should get him to tutor you all.” They waited, but no response. “Tegata, dear?”
The boy was stood off to one side, arms folded tight with pink hair tied back into a high ponytail. He continued staring blankly until Ruri placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. A slight spark of invigoration flashed across his face, and he made a hasty apology.
“Your discipline may already be beyond what I can teach you,” Granny reprimanded, “but I will not tolerate such disrespect. Your attitude needs work, Tegata. Not listening when I’m talking to you, I can excuse once, but throwing your life away so casually will not be tolerated. You nearly made an old woman sick to death. I hope I make myself clear.”
An automatic response came without feeling. “Sorry for worrying you.”
She sighed. “That’s not the part you should be concerned about, boy.” She shook her head, and called to the back of the garden. “Rinkaku! Juusei! Bring your sorry behinds back over here. No-one has the patience to feel sorry for you, not even your enemy. I will not let you back inside until we are finished, so you will either learn to control your psychic energy, or you will freeze to death; your call!”
And so began the final stage of Shibaru Harigane’s gruelling training regimen. If they all thought the chores were bad, it was nothing in comparison to what she put them through that day.
For the hours that followed, the winter garden hummed with power, shimmering the frostbitten air. Granny’s silent gaze bore down on them like the midday sun, though it was hardly morning, and the chill pricked through every layer of clothing. Imposing another command with her House Rules, she had stripped away every semblance of control they once had, forcing each of them to relearn from scratch. The instant this command had been enforced, all five were instantly engulfed in an agonising, self-perpetuating storm, screaming as their own psychic energy tore up their skin and electrified them from within. The pain had continued, until they had each been able to wrestle back a semblance of control.
All their Specialties remained sealed on purpose, giving them no convenient outlet for their power. All against one another, battle-royale style, they fought hand-to-hand while maintaining their flow. Any failure to maintain control was met by swift reprimand from the matriarch. Between each round, they had time to recover, to internalise the neurological paths the exertion was carving into their minds, while the old woman ironed out the kinks in their approach. Exhalation plumed into fog. They stood still and loose, letting the current flow free yet contained, until the lapse ended, and they went at one another once more.
At the centre of the garden, Ruri towered above the rest. Shoulders lowered, they had their arms held ready at waist-level, palms outward to catch and counter. To begin with, no-one had even been able to approach, lest they were burned by the arcs of static that jumped off the coil. With time, Ruri had taken everything inwards, a progressive calm like a river after storm. Now, the giant’s flow was imperceptible: the current had smoothed itself into a waveform so muted, any fluctuations were imperceptible. They threw no punches of their own, but caught and deflected all blows, reinforcing the body into a resonant wall which led to a monstrous bodycheck without any warning.
Juusei ran jagged circles in amongst them, a flash of lightning that carved up the ground. Her fingers twitched, and a flicker of purple sparked along her forearm, crawling over her skin in tiny crests. She grimaced, clenching her fists tighter. Stray arcs of purple jittered over her arms. At the start, she had been engulfed in an agonising, surging torrent, before she had learned to coil her psychic energy into a spiral, preserving her momentum by twisting it through her nerves the moment before impact into an explosive force. No longer able to use her guns, swift blows cracked across the frigid expanse, coiled fists executing any unprotected blindspots to wind and incapacitate.
Kinuka, by contrast, moved like silk in the wind. Composed as marble one moment, and somewhere else the next: in any moment of stillness, she clasped her hands together, lightly touching together the pads of her fingers. Her psychic energy flickered beneath her skin in faint pulses, almost invisible to the eye. She allowed only the smallest flow to escape her mind and move down her spine, easing the psychic energy down her arm like a tranquil stream, threads pulled tight across a loom. She moved between each opponent with an almost serpentine grace, striking at the face and throat. The arcs of purple were barely visible, flashes faint as moonlight on water.
The trick, as Granny had explained, was a dynamic maintenance of a potential gradient, symmetrically aligning the extremities of flow. As each psychic directed energy from their pineal gland down to their extremities, maintaining this constant dynamism was paramount. Visualising the way water sat perfectly still, they learned to emulate a similar surface tension on their skin, which redoubled the flow within.
Rin still moved with a weight on his shoulders. His movements had started out rigid and square. It took all he had just restraining the surges, meaning no concentration remained to consider any kind of swift movement. His neck and back strained with each twist as he avoided incoming blows and retaliated in kind. Psychic energy danced across his skin in raw, purple arcs, crackling through his knuckles and curling around his wrists, brimming beneath his skin like an ocean straining against thin glass. Even the smallest movement released ripples that fanned outward. Tendons and blood vessels twitched in a face so knotted in frustration, you could almost hear the nerves bunching in his back.
He, however, had already experienced true Flow. Recalling those fluid sensations from Kawarajima, the surging energy began to align itself towards the magnetic poles of his will. Rounding on Ruri, he leapt from the ground and released a sharp palm strike that connected with the giant’s shoulder. Landing with a stumble, Rin's breath came out heavy from the bottom of his lungs. His flow fractured, dissipating in a visible shudder along his arms. A thin wisp of purple smoke rose, slipping from his fingertips. He muttered curses under his breath, glaring down at his uncooperative hands.
Granny’s stick rapped once on the ground, another warning. Reinvigorated, Rin took a deep breath, shivering as he manually aligned the locii of his flow to every joint. Unfortunately, this brought a lapse in awareness, resulting in Juusei getting a cheap shot in on his jaw. The girl let out a triumphant cheer.
All the while, Tegata had been utterly untouchable. They had all come to fear him for it. A silent epitome of focus, his arms had coiled to strike like a viper. His hair tied back so tight tugged slightly on his skin of his face. His expression was absent, eyes closed. His psychic energy moved seamlessly, threading through branching nerves with nothing above a gentle hum. There were no cracks, no flickers, no errant arcs of purple skittering over his skin. Even with his previous control stripped away, he had spent far too long in the cells to ever forget.
He, too, had already achieved Flow. Not a ripple disturbed the air around him, as though he were merely a reflection in the still water. The sheer calm was haunting.
Granny, eyes narrowed, observed them all with unwavering gaze. Her walking stick tapping softly against the frozen ground.
“Stop.” Her command cut through the fighting.
All five froze in their tracks. With the tension released, several collapsed to the ground, twitching and shuddering. Granny’s blade-like voice severed the shivering air. “Round nine is now over. Five minutes rest, starting now. Lie as still as you can, and rejuvenate yourselves. Your control has improved exponentially. You should now feel lighter, more energised. With every single iteration, you are etching your unique flow into the back of your mind. Soon, it will become second nature.”
Tegata, the only one left standing, stepped off to one side. Shoulders dropping, he sighed into his hands. Ruri lowered themselves to one knee, regulating breath with an expression chiselled from rock. Juusei sat with her knees curled up to her chest, flexing her fingers, eyes focused ahead and staring. She rocked back and forth on the ground, a rhythmic ritual. Kinuka lay supine, splayed out across the grass. She clenched and relaxed her fists, drawing the energy back to her core, whispering to herself a breathless half-prayer. The residual arcs slowed to faint pulses against her fingertips. Sat dejectedly between his heels, Rin tilted his head back and let it hang for a moment between his shoulder blades. Lifting his spine from its slump, he straightened his back and took a deep breath.
“Hate to admit it,” Rin said, idly examining the backs of his hands, “as in, no joke, this betrays all the pride I have left to say, but this really is working. I’ve genuinely never felt so in control. My psychic energy has always felt like it’s aching to leave. I’ve always had better luck externalising it through Framework than I have with reinforcement.” He looked to his grandmother. “How long have we been going at this now?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
She checked her watch. “Almost six hours.”
His jaw dropped. Sure enough, the afternoon was dragging on. The sun had grown bored and wandered off some time ago, leaving the winter sky shrouded and darkened once more, but all five were still steaming from the sheer exertion such that the cold had long since stopped mattering. A mist of evaporated sweat now hugged the ground.
“The time started going a lot quicker once you stopped complaining,” Kinuka gratefully received the metal flask of sports drink offered by Ruri, took a long swig and grimaced. “Can’t tell you how much I hate this stuff.” She raked her nails across her tongue. “Our volleyball coach always insisted on it. It’s been working, I guess, but still. Eurgh.”
“Yeah, sorry, my bad,” Rin rolled his eyes. “Next time I’ll be sure to ignore the convenience store and buy some fresh and homemade Yuzu Spritz from the local farmer’s market instead if that’s more to your tastes, madam.”
Kinuka was inches away from lobbing the flask at his forehead when Ruri’s gentle hand on her shoulder reminded her that it probably wasn’t worth it. She’d kill him for that later when she wasn’t so tired.
The five minutes elapsed far too soon, and on Granny’s command they were up on their feet, arranged all facing one another. “This is the final round,” she barked. “You’ve all done extremely well, so I don’t want to see any let up now!”
Each closed their eyes, breathing deep and synchronous. With the channels in their minds and bodies etched a little deeper still, the arcs diminished as psychic energy moved in steady undulating currents through their nerves. The waves retreated beneath the surface, subsumed into the intrinsic harmony. The disturbances in the ether faded, ripples smoothing, their presence hidden from the outside world. And in the stillness, the last purple arcs faded, leaving nothing but the faint shimmer of their breath in the icy afternoon air.
The chant, the plea, the command from all five heralded the final onslaught of battle.
“Font of all knowledge, check my flow!”
* * *
“I don’t think there’s a bone in my body that doesn’t hurt anymore,” warbled Rinkaku Harigane into an uncaring ether. “Yeah, this is the end. Nice knowing you all.” The boy lay on what he was sure would be his deathbed. For shame, too; he had hoped his final resting place would be a somewhere a little less lame than his grandmother’s sofa.
That last round of training had sapped all of them of any remaining strength, as none of them had held back. That final rest had awoken in each of them an overwhelming second wind. With each of their flows the most refined they had ever been, their final round of battle turned the garden into a veritable lights show of purple neon flashes and forked lightning. Before long, the air—singed and ionized by such condensed action—began to reek of ozone.
They were in the home stretch—no excuse to not give it their all.
The living room of the Harigane Household was a comfortable sight. The room’s low ceiling bore a number of thick wooden beams spanning its width. To best fit the feng shui, a western-style hearth was carefully set into a polished stone mantelpiece on the south side, adorned with postcards, handwritten invitations to dinners and suchlike. December’s relentless cruelty meant the fire was nearly always lit. Fortunately, Granny had an undercover store at the foot of the garden already stockpiled high, so there was no need for any of them to venture any further—not that they’d be allowed to.
Keeping the fire stoked with fresh wood had been on the week’s rota of chores, keeping the heat constant while making sure they didn’t catch the house on fire. They had all taken turns, though Juusei had only been granted one half-hour stint near the fire for the entire week. As it turns out, it doesn’t take long to show why giving a manic teenage girl, bored out of her mind, open access to an open fire and a metal poker might be a bad idea. Rin still had the burns on his backside, having been chased around the house for a good hour by the inflamed devil herself. Mercifully, the girl was now far too zonked to even think about that. Juusei was currently curled up on the flagstones a few feet away from the comforting embers, basking in the heat. Her chest rose and fell reassuringly gently, her foot occasionally twitching like a dreaming dog.
The lamps were turned low, and the fireplace’s embers cast a comforting glow out over the room. Tasteful rugs decorated the wooden floor: geometric patterns resembling buddhist mandala. Cabinets and drawers containing all sorts of antiques and useful oddities were placed with purpose around the walls, with low doors leading to the dining room, studio, central foyer and outside to the garden. Two sofas lay perpendicular to the fire, parallel to one another, ten feet apart. Rin lay splayed across one. Despite refreshment throughout their training, Rin’s face was comically emaciated, as though someone had just exhumed his skeleton and forgot to set it up for display at the museum. His mouth hung grotesquely open, his lips were dry and cracked, and his floppy hands exuded utter defeat. The day had rendered him just a bag of skin and bones arranged haphazardly across the cushions.
Kinuka sat upright, knees tucked to her chest, reading a novel she had picked up off the side-table. The cover promised mystery and intrigue, a pretentious cloak-and-dagger political fantasy lifted from the Sengoku Era and wrapped in a thin shade of analogy. Despite this, the poor girl’s head kept nodding forward, eyes flitting shut, before she invariably jerked herself awake again, rinse and repeat; what that said about the contents of the book, Granny’s choice in literature, or the day’s gruelling exertion, you’d be hard-pressed to tell. It didn’t help she was leaning up against Ruri, who meditated cross-legged, head bowed. The fire cast a glow upside their face that cast their mop of thick blue hair into a beautiful gradient. The giant had proven such a formidable adversary in their final round, all the rest had walked away with more bruises from trying to even land blows on them!
The air hung so heavy with that woodburning smell, you could almost taste it. No-one had the energy to respond to Rinkaku Harigane’s final dirge, and so the words were consumed by the flames as they coiled and licked at the charcoal. Not even the rhythmical clacks of heels down the stairs was enough to rouse them, so Granny poked her head in through the door.
“I’m off, you lot,” she announced to the room. A few eyes opened drearily and looked her way. “You’ve all worked exceptionally hard today. You’ve made this old woman very proud.” She traipsed over to the sofa, leaned over and smacked Rin around the chops to get at least his attention. “Even you, my boy.”
Rin groaned and slapped away his grandmother’s hand, twisting and turning on the sofa as he tried burying himself underneath the cushions.
“You all get the evening off,” Granny continued. “There’s plenty in the fridge for you to make yourselves a nice something for supper. I’m sure at least one of you besides dear Tegata can cook. I suspect I’ll be back close to midnight. I had better not hear any of you still up that late, though.”
Juusei—still sunning herself by the hearth—switched from dog to cat mode, stretched out her limbs on the stone and yawned. “Where’re you off to anyway?”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m sure I must have mentioned it.” She batted away the notion with one hand. “You must have all been too focused on controlling your flows to notice, that’s all. I’m going to play some cards with my friends.”
The mention of card games, for whatever reason, sent a spark throughout the room. Rin sprung up from the sofa and quivered like a tuning fork. “You’re going to play some games?”
This roused even more attention. “Games!” Juusei jumped to her feet, scattering the newspapers she had coiled around herself into a makeshift blanket. Her eyes gleamed. “No fair! I wanna play games too!”
“Are you sure?” Granny raised an eyebrow. “I doubt it’ll be much fun sitting around a table playing card games with a bunch of old ladies.”
Kinuka shut her book. “I think everyone needs a change of scene. We all love your house, don’t get me wrong, but I think Rin and Juusei have gone a little stir-crazy at this point.”
Granny beamed. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with you all accompanying me. You have all proven yourselves capable of controlling your psychic energy by now, and it would be lovely to have your company, without question. And right you are, dear. I’m sure a breath of fresh air would do some of you a lot of good! But, are you sure you’re all not too tired? I had intended to let you have a long lie-in tomorrow as well.”
Rin and Juusei at this point had resorted to prancing around the central table, chanting “Card Games! Card Games! Card Games!” to each other, ever-faster. Kinuka and Ruri had both risen, both enthused yet sharing the sentiment a little more politely.
Granny clapped her hands together. “Then it’s settled. You’ll all be coming with me, then. Oh, you’re getting me excited now! Come, children. Get your coats on. Kinuka, dear, have you finished your Divine Garment Weaving yet?”
“Yes!” Kinuka’s face lit up and the girl vanished upstairs like that. She returned with half a dozen coats underarm, and tossed or gently handed around the room—according to recipient. “My skills with Threadwork have improved so much lately, so I thought about designing some custom jackets for all of you!” Joy wrung her face into a gleam brighter than the fireplace. “It was one of my projects this week; I hope you all like them!”
“For real?” Rin donned his black double-breasted peacoat jacket with awe and pride. Square silver buttons had been sewn into the front, with the hems and shoulders lined with a silver thread. “Christmas has come early!” He cut Kinuka a grin. “Hell, your last work on my gakuran was impressive. Now I feel like Gucci!” He constructed a pair of shades with and folded his arms; everyone cringed.
Juusei squealed with delight as she wrestled herself into a red sleeveless puffer jacket, embroided with sequins and a local flower thread pattern. “This is amazing!” She twirled on the spot, and gyrated her arms all around. “Full range of motion in this bad boy, too! Thanks!”
Ruri shifted their shoulders under the heft and crisp furred hood of their new white parker. Tearful eyes peeked out from under the mop of hair, as they gave Kinuka a wobbly smile and double thumbs-up. Granny’s long olive wool coat had been lovingly woven, embroided in gold with a chain pattern.
“Of course, I’ve been analysing each of your psychic signatures over the past week, and so the unique stitch in each of these should help mask your presences far better now.” Kinuka bowed. “I guess, this is also a thank you present for you, Granny, for looking after us all. And to the rest of you, for sticking by me.”
As a reward for her sincerity, Granny pulled her to one side and nearly killed her in a crushing hug. Patting her on the head with a wide smile, she waddled off and made for the door.
Rin jabbed Kinuka lightly in the side as he walked past, hands already snug in his pockets. “You think this is still about you, don’t you?” His wink was followed by a reluctant shake of the head. “Course we’re still here. Don’t think you need a reminder of who we’re up against. Will admit, though, it has been nice to get a chance to rest.” His eyes narrowed with a twinkle, and he and Juusei sauntered towards the front door, hyping each other up with more chants of “card games!”
Kinuka was still left with one more coat. “Hold on…” She looked around the room, slightly put out. “Where’s Tegata?”
Yellow eyes opened from the corner of the room unlit by the fire. Sat on another small chair by the window, scornful moonlight streaked across the boy’s face. Slowly, he rose, and rubbed the side of his face. “I’m here. Sorry.”
Kinuka gummed her bottom lip, and hesitated to approach. “You’re… coming with us, right?” She held out her offering. “Look, I even made this for you. The effectiveness of your Shadow Puppet is dependant on the area of shadow you’re able to create, right? So, I sewed extra folds into the material to let you splay out your arms like a cape, and—” Catching the mournful look in his face, her eyes lost their twinkle. “Tegata?”
The boy accepted the coat wordlessly. His thumbs rubbed along the smooth, dense material. A thin smile curled across his face as he looked down on Kinuka, eyes flatlining. “How thoughtful. You really shouldn’t have!”
Kinuka did her best to return the smile, but felt a chill arc along her shoulders. “Are you coming with us?”
“I…” He hesitated, and didn’t meet her gaze. “You should all go have fun without me. I’ll only get in the way.” He looked back and attempted another half-smile. “You know me enough, I’m not really much fun with that kind of thing.”
From across the room, Ruri’s face fell. They put their hands together in a pleading motion. Tegata let out a soft laugh. “Sorry, Ruri. Come on, I’m sure Granny won’t want to be kept waiting. Don’t worry!” He made an okay sign with one hand. “I’ll guard the fort.”
“Tegata…” Kinuka extended a hand, enclosing as softly as she could around the boy’s wrist. He flinched all the same, but didn’t try and break free. “We’re worried about you. Please don’t push us away.”
Tegata froze. His eyes glassed over. His next words came out tinny, glossy, refined, rehearsed. “Sorry! That was silly of me, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to make you worry. Of course I’ll come with you!”
Kinuka smiled. “Then let’s go, silly!” She folded her hand into his, and the remaining three headed for the door. And so, the six-strong party journeyed into the night. The force of joy drove the frosty edge of winter’s night into retreat.
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