I didn't see Inego again until he was getting ready to walk into the Donner Memorial Cafeteria. Unsurprisingly, he was surrounded by a group of girls who'd taken to his British charm and dimpled smile.
"You'll have to excuse me girls, but I have a lunch date with a dragon," he said as I approached.
I chuckled to myself. "Funny. I thought Azuki was supposed to be my hype-raccoon. Listen, Inego, there's something serious I wanted to talk to you about."
He nodded and we moved to stand at the side of the cafeteria, beside one of the tall, vaulted pillars.
I leaned against the cool stone pillar, lowering my voice so the cafeteria noise wouldn't swallow my words. "I need your help. After school, I want to go to the tunnel."
Inego's usual smirk dimmed. "The tunnel? You mean the bus tunnel for getting off the island?"
I nodded. "I need to see if I can leave. And I need you to use magic to help me get closer. There's something stopping me. A barrier, or something like it. I straight out ran at the tunnel, but I couldn't get a single step closer to it no matter how hard I tried."
For a second, he just stared at me.
Then he let out a sharp laugh, like I'd just told him the sky was plaid. "Oh, you're serious? You think I can just 'magic' you near the tunnel?"
I crossed my arms. "Yeah, I'm serious."
He sighed, rubbing his temple like he was dealing with a particularly slow student. "Ryu, mate, no."
"No? Why not?"
"No," he repeated, shaking his head. "Bloody hell, you really don't get it, eh? Magic doesn't work like that."
I frowned. "You're literally casting spells every day."
"Yeah, and I don't use them to warp reality whenever I feel like it. In fact, Hibana'd probably kick my teeth in if I tried something like that." He gave me a flat look. "Listen, this is the very first thing they teach you before you even touch an incantation—magic doesn't solve problems."
I raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"Magic is a tool. A hammer doesn't build a house for you, and magic doesn't just 'fix' things." He gestured vaguely. "It can create opportunities, shift the odds, influence outcomes—but it doesn't just make things better."
I thought about that.
Oh my god… What Inego said was so depressing and mundane it made too much sense. "So, you're saying you can't help me?"
He sighed. "No, you're not listening. I am helping you. I'm saying you're thinking about magic like it's some cheat code instead of an actual force of nature." His tone wasn't mocking—it was dead serious. "And magic, just like anything else, has rules. And you? You're thinking that magic exists as a cheat code around rules instead of a tool that comes with its own set of rules. Ryu, you're setting yourself up for disappointment."
I clenched my jaw. "Then what's the point of even learning magic?"
Inego smirked, but there was an edge to it. "That is the real question, isn't it? Oi, suppose some people just think magic is so damn cool."
He clapped his hands together and a thousand glittery sparkles appeared. I whistled, impressed.
He scoffed and opened his hands.
Tiny fragments of dust and glitter remained. "Flash-powder," he explained. "It costs about fifteen pence at the local gag shop."
I raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't real magic?"
Inego grinned. "Look at it like this. Why use real magic when sleight of hand and some cheap tricks work just as well? Maybe even better than 'real' magic. My point is this: real magic, if you want to call it that, is hard. It takes work to cast a spell. You're asking the universe to ignore the laws it likes to go by for a little bit."
He rubbed his fingers together, letting the last bits of flash-powder drift away.
"And why the hell should it listen to you?"
I shook my head, realizing how little I understood about magic.
Then Inego smiled at me, showing off his dimples, and I instantly understood why so many high school girls liked him. "But here's the thing: the universe isn't unwilling. It just needs to be persuaded."
He smiled even more. "And I'm damn good at getting what I want."
The bastard winked at me and suddenly I felt like I'd just gained a best friend.
A few moments after Inego and I sat down at a table, Azuki showed up with her bento box.
"What's up Ryu-sama, Yuki-kun, and Inego-kun?" asked Azuki as she took her seat.
Yuki spun in a happy circle. "It's so good to see you, Azuki."
Inego looked around. "I swear, I keep meaning to do something so I can actually see this 'Yuki' character."
I nodded. "Yeah, that'd be really nice of you. She's delightful."
I heard Yuki gasp. "Wha- delightful? You really think so?"
She clutched her hands together, her faded photograph form beaming.
Azuki giggled. "You're so cute, Yuki. Hey, do you guys know the movie with the kids looking for treasure with the dead guy and the ice cream?"
Inego and I shared a glance. "What?" I asked.
Azuki sighed. "You know! I can't think of the title. It's got these kids and they're looking for pirate treasure with the dead guy in the freezer… with the ice cream."
She adjusted the glasses on her nose. "I distinctly remember rocky road. That's gotta be important, right?"
Shion stormed out of the kitchen and casually tossed her apron across the closest table.
She didn't even glance to see if anyone was sitting there.
Behind her, head chef, Tito Albini's barely contained anger made his face turn the color of a cherry tomato.
"You didn't even slice the onion before putting it in the sauce!" he yelled.
"And I'm not going to either." Shion didn't turn around.
I saw a vein in Tito's head throb as his face twitched. His mustache bristled as he turned from red to purple.
He yelled something unintelligible before vanishing back into the kitchen.
"Tito's real angry at you now," said Azuki as Shion joined our table.
Shion shrugged. "What's he going to do? Kill me?"
Inego finished his salmon nigiri. "He could chop you up into little bitty pieces."
Yuki floated closer to my side. "Go Tito," she said under her frosty breath.
Shion rolled her eyes. "Ha. Like that'd do anything."
Azuki picked her head up. "Really? Wow. Like, what'd happen if I chopped up your fingers, Shion?"
Shion's waterless eyes darkened. "You'd never find out, Azuki, because I'd murder you."
Azuki dropped her bao bun.
"Well, I, for one, completely believe you," said Inego.
Azuki picked up her bao bun and smiled. "It's okay. Ryu-sama and I know Shion has a good heart."
Yuki scoffed. "She has a heart?"
Suddenly, I remembered something. "Azuki, that movie you were talking about earlier… is there a Chinese kid with a lot of cool inventions in it?"
Azuki blinked a couple of times. Then she nodded slowly. "Yeah! He had a computer name…"
Oh my gosh! I knew this movie! "Data?" I suggested.
"Yeah! You know the movie?" she asked excitedly.
I laughed. "Know it? I grew up watching it. It's The Goonies," I said.
Shion's mouth dropped open. "How'd you grow up watching The Goonies when it came out in 1980-something?"
I shrugged. "I used to rent it from the local video store," I said.
Shion's eyes narrowed. Suddenly, I remembered I was supposed to be fifteen and born in 2010, not 1980. I swallowed. Hard.
"Yeah," I said, trying to play cool and ignore the tension suddenly present at the table. "There was this old konbini down the street. They must've been retro or something, because they had this whole shelf of beat-up VHS tapes. My dad let me get The Goonies, along with Superman, and some old Warner Bros. cartoons."
Hopefully she bought that. I was making it up as I went.
Shion shrugged. Then she turned to Azuki. "And what do you know about my heart anyway?"
Azuki blinked. "Isn't that why you're going here? It's what you told your parents."
Now, Shion's curious gaze held daggers. "How do you know about that?"
Azuki adjusted her glasses nervously. She slowly looked up at Shion, wrinkles lining her brow.
"I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to peer, but sometimes I accidentally drift unanchored through time. And, uh, I see things that are important, like to whoever they're connected to."
Azuki shifted her attention to Inego. Her large, golden eyes unfocused for a moment. "Like, with you, I see this time you were left alone and there was this girl who was supposed to be watching you while your parents were out. You thought she was really cute, and—"
Inego coughed, interrupting her. "Azuki, stop! No one should see that!"
Shion smirked. "Why not? It was just getting interesting now that she stopped talking about my past."
I turned to Azuki. "What about Shion, though?" I asked.
Azuki blinked. "Well, I know she's a good person because she's told her parents she's going here to try to hold onto what she remembers of her humanity. She's starting to forget things, but she wants to hold on as long as she can. That's a really good thing!"
Azuki smiled at everyone around the table, completely oblivious to the shocked and crushed look on Shion's face.
I could see Shion tense, just slightly. The way a predator does right before it strikes.
Her lip curled into a sneer. "You despicable little gremlin."
Her chair scraped back and tipped, and in the same breath, she was gone—faster than any human could move.