YM778.TV Chapter 6: First Magic
First off, I can walk on my own now. I can eat proper meals, and most importantly, I can use the toilet by myself!
What a transformation!
No more bothering my mother every time I need to "go."
And by the way, I also increased the frequency of \'Makui\' to expand my vessel. During that training, I realized that the bigger my vessel gets, the more magic power it can absorb. Thanks to that, I managed to fully expand my vessel right up until my third birthday.
In the final month of being two, I think I triggered \'Makui\' more than 20 times a day. It was truly a magnificent effort.
And now... just how many times bigger has my vessel become?
At least several tens to hundreds of times larger, I think.
Since I don\'t remember the size of my vessel when I was a newborn, this is just an estimation, but it\'s grown that much bigger. As I lay on the futon checking my magic power, my mother entered the room, sliding the door open.
"Itsuki, are you awake?"
"Mama! I\'m awake!!"
"Today is \'Shichi-Go-San,\' so you can go outside for the first time. You\'ve been looking forward to it!"
(\'Shichi-Go-San\' is a traditional Japanese festival held annually on November 15th to celebrate the growth and well-being of children aged three, five, and seven.)
Her words made my heart leap. Today, for the first time since I was born, I would step outside. The thought made me so excited I couldn\'t help but ask,
"Outside!? I can go outside!?"
"Yes, you can. Come on, let\'s get dressed."
"Okay!"
Due to the Kisaragi family\'s educational policy, I sleep in my own room.
I\'m three years old, right? Isn\'t that dangerous? But I heard somewhere that in Western countries, babies sleep alone from a very young age, so maybe it\'s not so strange here either.
However, despite sleeping alone, I\'ve never been allowed outside—a strange overprotectiveness. For vaccinations and regular check-ups, the doctor even comes to our house. Isn\'t that amazing?
When I once asked my father why, he said it was to avoid being attacked by \'demons,\' and I understood. Monsters attack humans for their magic power, and children, being weaker, are often targeted.
"Itsuki! Are you dressed yet?"
"Not yet! I\'m not dressed!"
Speak of the devil.
My father came in energetically.
He usually has a busy schedule, but today he took the day off for me. For exorcists, \'Shichi-Go-San\' holds that much significance.
After all, it\'s an event to measure a child\'s magic power. It\'s not an exaggeration to say that the future of the family depends on it. It\'s an enormous responsibility. Who would have thought that at three years old, I\'d be carrying the family\'s expectations?
In my previous life, my career path was decided when I got a job. The only thing I had to worry about was my own future, never having to bear the weight of my family\'s expectations. The pressure made me shiver.
But I suppressed my nervousness, finished getting dressed, and..
"Itsuki. Shall we go?"
"Yes!!"
I stretched out my hand. My stern father smiled.
"We\'ll have breakfast in the car."
"Car!"
"Yes, the car!"
"Vroom vroom!"
Seeing my father, a scarred man with an eyepatch, say "vroom vroom" was surreal, but it seemed to be the reality. Despite his appearance, he\'s saying "vroom vroom"...
While half-amused, I felt relieved that cars exist in this Japan.
In a world with magic, if people flew around on brooms or used pumpkin carriages, I wouldn\'t be able to call this Japan.
...I guess I\'m too influenced by picture books.
Holding my parents\' hands, I put on my shoes and headed to the front gate of our house for the first time.
As someone with the mind of an ordinary Japanese person, the gate was overwhelmingly impressive. How much did it cost?
Ah... thinking about money right away is a bad adult habit. But I\'m curious.
"Listen, Itsuki."
"What is it, Papa?"
Excited by the new outside view, I wanted to run out immediately, but my father held my hand and stopped me at the gate.
"We\'re going to the Kamiarizuki house. No matter what happens, don\'t let go of Papa\'s hand."
"Okay!"
"Good boy."
I already knew the reason without him explaining. If I let go and got attacked by a monster, it would be a disaster. I won\'t let go, ever.
As we left the gate, a black car was waiting.
An elderly man in a suit stood by the car, bowing deeply to us. What is going on here!?
"Thank you for today."
My father accepted it without any special comment.
Wait, we have a chauffeur? Are we that rich??
Ignoring my bewilderment, the back door opened.
"Itsuki, this is a car."
"Vroom..."
I knew that, but I pretended to be a child.
What I\'m curious about is the existence of the chauffeur, not the car.
But I couldn\'t put it into words, so I sat obediently in the child seat. My father sat next to me instead of my mother.
"Let\'s depart."
With a gentle acceleration, the car moved forward.
"Honey, give this to Itsuki."
"Yes."
My mother handed over a curry bread.
To tell the truth, I love curry bread. I never liked it in my previous life, but somehow, I started liking it after reincarnating. Reincarnation is strange.
I nibbled on the bread handed to me by my father and looked out the window.
It looked no different from the Japan I knew in my previous life.
I thought there would be medieval-style buildings or wizards flying on brooms in the sky, but there weren\'t.
It\'s an ordinary Japan.
Maybe magic isn\'t common knowledge.
As I pondered, the car turned onto a main road and then turned left.
\'Hey.\'
A raspy woman\'s voice.
I reflexively looked toward the car window, the direction of the voice.
\'You can see me, can\'t you?\'
There stood a creepy creature in tattered clothes with only a large mouth on its face.
"Gyahhh!!!"
As I screamed, the creature burst into flames.
\'Aahhhh!!!\'
The burning creature fell off the car.
It bounced on the ground several times, writhing in agony. But other cars didn\'t seem to notice.
...They can\'t see it?
But my concern wasn\'t that. I was curious about why the ghost suddenly caught fire.
It wasn\'t a mysterious spontaneous combustion.
Despite my surprise, I saw it all.
A semi-transparent thread extended from my father and enveloped the ghost, igniting it.
No doubt about it. It was magic.
Seeing it for the first time, I was captivated.
I forgot all about the ghost.
"Itsuki, are you okay?"
"Papa, amazing!!"
"Ha ha ha. Yes, Papa is a very strong exorcist..."
"Papa used threads to burn it!!"
"What!? You saw that?"
When I excitedly told him, my father\'s expression changed.
"Did you hear that, Kaede? Itsuki can see other people\'s \'Silveit\'! He has the \'True Eye\'!"
"Itsuki, did you really see it?"
\'Silveit\' must be the thread that extended from my father.
I wasn\'t mistaken, so I nodded firmly.
"Yes, I saw it!"
"A genius! Itsuki might be a genius!!"
My father got overly excited, as usual.
But why is seeing threads so amazing?
Not fully understanding, I asked my father.
"Papa, what is Silveit?"
"Itsuki, remember when the ghost suddenly caught fire?"
"Yes, it was burning."
"That was \'magic\'. Silveit is used to control that magic."
"Is it bad if I can see it?"
"Not at all! Many exorcists would love to have the \'True Eye\'. But..."
"But?"
"That eye cannot be obtained through effort. It\'s a natural talent. Itsuki, you\'re amazing!"
"Wow!!"
Though I pretended to be happy, I had a thought.
Is this eye really \'natural\'?
Because the exorcists\' common knowledge is that \'total magic power doesn\'t increase\'.
But that\'s wrong. It can be increased until age three. Maybe this \'True Eye\' also awakened during my training.
For example, I\'ve been thoroughly controlling my magic to intentionally trigger \'Makui\'. Maybe I gained the ability then... I\'m not sure.