Tuners of the World
"Do you know why I was so startled when I first saw you?"
Bayul had been curious about that for a long time, but no chance to ask had ever come.
"...Why were you startled?"
"Because I felt the essence of water in you. Something I had never once sensed in a human being."
"The essence of water...?"
"Yes — a water spirit. It's only my guess, but I'd say the child you saw today was a water spirit."
"A water spirit?"
"Think back carefully. What did that child remind you of?"
A reminder, was it? The child had blue hair, blue eyes, a blue dress — everything about her had been bathed in blue. Yes, like water itself. Like cold! Only now did Bayul remember the touch against his forehead that he had briefly mistaken for a raindrop.
"I think you're right. She was blue all over. And the feel of her skin against mine was cold, like water..."
"Whoa, really? You could actually feel that?"
While everyone else was gravely absorbed, Aidan piped up, giddy with excitement.
"Bayul, that's amazing! What's the next spirit going to be? Earth? Fire? Wind? I can't wait, I can't!"
"Aidan, I don't think this is exactly the situation to get worked up about."
"Why not? Come on, Rai, aren't you curious?"
"Of course I am, but..."
"More importantly, I'm just glad Bayul isn't sick. He heard a spirit's voice, right? Bayul, no other symptoms besides hearing things — right?"
"...Uh, yeah."
When Bayul nodded reflexively, Aidan broke into a beaming grin and threw his arms around him.
"That's a relief! What a relief!"
Still hugging him, the boy bounced up and down on the spot. Bayul's head was pounding with confusion, but the delighted laughter of a friend who cared granted him, for a little while at least, a measure of peace.
He could only pray that the peace would hold. But Bayul already knew it wouldn't.
Spirits.
Chapter 10 — First Summoning
He had no idea how the past week had slipped by. Bayul hadn't caught so much as a shadow of the spirit since that day — almost insultingly anticlimactic, considering how anxiously he'd braced himself for her to appear in the middle of class.
Logan, too, had proved impossible to meet. According to Eli, he seemed to be deliberately avoiding the classes he shared with Bayul. Thanks to that, Eli had warned, Logan's demerits were bound to be astronomical — he might even be held back a year. The news left Bayul with a persistent, gnawing unease.
Just the afternoon before, Jared had come by, feigning concern for Bayul's health while laughing himself half-sick, then sauntered off. He seemed genuinely regretful that he hadn't been there to witness Bayul's collapse with his own eyes.
The saving grace was that Bayul's head was already so hopelessly tangled with worry over Logan and anxiety about the spirit that he'd had no room left to spare for Jared.
"There's the carriage!"
The moment Aidan waved, the carriage just cresting the hill quickened its pace and came rolling toward them.
"Bayul, the note!"
Aidan handed the note to the driver on Bayul's behalf, since Bayul was still off in a daze.
"Please take us here."
"All four of you, is it?"
"Yes, four of— wait, no... Quinn?"
Until a moment ago, their party had numbered three: Bayul, Aidan, and Eli. Yet somehow, without any of them noticing, Quinn had approached and was standing beside them. It was such an unusual combination that the passing students, streaming out for the weekend, turned to stare with burning curiosity.
"You're coming too?"
"Aren't you headed home? It's his place we're going to."
"That's right. We're holding a strategy meeting."
The note bore the address of the residence Bayul would be staying at from now on — sent the previous afternoon by Ian, through an errand boy.
"You insisted this morning you weren't coming. What changed your mind all of a sudden?"
"I felt uneasy."
"Uneasy? You, Quinn?"
His surprise lasted only a heartbeat before Aidan's eyes curved into knowing crescents. For all his feigned calm, the word embarrassed was practically written across Quinn's face as he looked away.
"Either way, glad to have you. Let's go. Extra muscle is never a bad thing!"
"Good thinking."
Eli, welcoming Quinn's addition, was the first to climb aboard. Aidan, Quinn, and Bayul followed in turn, and with a hearty clatter of hooves the carriage went racing down the hill.
"Oh, Quinn — there was something I wanted to ask you!"
Aidan had his fedora pulled low, just as he had on the day he first met Bayul. Ingrid was napping, which meant no proper greeting from her — a shame, really.
Keeping his balance so as not to wake the sleeping owl, Aidan pressed on.
"What does it mean that the world became barren? I've been thinking it over, and did the world really change that much between when spirits were alive and now?"
"Beyond all comparison."
"Like what?"
"Ever heard of the Age of Plenty?"
"No."
Even though Aidan was hardly negligent in his history studies, this was news to him.
"An era when, though the gap between rich and poor remained, no one went hungry. At least in those days, you never saw people abandoning their lifelong homes because the rivers had run dry, wandering foreign lands, and dying of thirst and drought."
"That's the story of the Mermaid Kingdom, isn't it."
"...!"
As if struck squarely at a tender spot, the corners of Quinn's eyes trembled faintly. Eli added his part with an air of understanding.
"The absence of spirits. Or more precisely, the absence of the water spirit."
The merfolk were a race that could only survive with water. They could set foot on land and live as humans did, but not for long. Once a certain span of time passed, they had no choice but to return to the water and replenish their strength and moisture. Such was the fate of the merfolk, born half human and half fish.
"For a people who lived in harmony with the water, the blow must have been devastating. The rapid decline of the Mermaid Kingdom's power was probably because of that too."
"Good grief, is that what happened?"
"Humans didn't escape unscathed either. Not to the degree of the Mermaid Kingdom, but they suffered plenty. The droughts shrank the farmland and cut the harvests. Rivers and lakes grew drier and more polluted by the year. You've heard of desertification, haven't you?"
"And that was connected to the spirits?"
"That's not all. The endless succession of natural disasters — typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires — every last one of them comes from the spirits' absence."
"Oh, come on! Rai, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? The way you tell it, the world should just collapse without the spirits."
"It's true. That's why spirits are also called Tuners."
"Tuners...?"
"Yes. Tuners of the natural world. Keeping the balance of this world we live in — that was the spirits' work."
"W-wait, the more I hear, the more incredible this gets."
Bayul could almost have believed the spirits were gods themselves. So how had such beings vanished without warning? No matter how he turned it over, Aidan couldn't arrive at an answer.
"What on earth happened to them? What could drive them to extinction? Was there a war or something?"
"That... I don't know either."
Eli's voice dropped sharply.
"Quinn, you don't know either?"
"..."
"Guess not."
Aidan took Quinn's silence for ignorance.
"Then what about the dragons? If I remember right, they were also born to make the world better. Am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong. But their nature is a little different."
"Different how?"
"Hmm. You could call them bystanders."
"Bystanders?"
When Aidan frowned, Eli went on with the explanation.
"Exactly what it sounds like — ones who watch. It means they don't involve themselves deeply in the mortal world the way spirits do."
"What's that supposed to mean? Weren't they supposed to make the world better? Is it just me, or is none of this adding up?"
"Hear me out to the end. Day to day, they don't care how the world changes or what disasters break out. But it's different when the Demon Realm gets involved. Everyone knows it, right? Every so often some demented demons turn the mortal world into a scorched wasteland."
Bayul had never witnessed it himself, but he'd heard the stories often enough — from books, from word of mouth.
"The dragons were god's masterwork, created to throw down exactly those creatures. A kind of guardian deity? Something like that."
"So they split the duties between them with the spirits? Huh, I didn't know that either."
Aidan resolved to look at dragons with new eyes from then on.
"Anyway — spirits that were wiped out and came back to life. That really is a blessing. It's a sign this world might get a little better, isn't it? Hey, Bayul! If things go well, you might just become this world's first Spirit User. Looking forward to working with you!"
"...Working with me on what, exactly?"
"Weren't you listening? The spirits are the Tuners of this world. And you're a Spirit User — someone who can command those very spirits. Sounds to me like you've got one heck of a job ahead of you."
"No, come on, how could I possibly—"
"You'll do great. I believe in you, no question!"
"Um, Aidan, I..."
"Oh, right — Rai! Isn't today your work day?"
While Bayul was still spluttering, the topic took a sharp turn. Aidan jerked his chin toward the mouth of an alley.
"Get off now if you're getting off."
"I'm not going today."
"Playing hooky?"
"I happen to be a man of impeccable principles. I already sent word, so don't you worry."
"Oh, quick as ever, aren't you?"
Aidan raised his thumb in exaggerated admiration.
"What about you, then? Not going home today? I thought your sister's face was haunting you."
"It is. Oh, it absolutely is! Ah, I miss my little Clara. Those adorable cheeks of hers — I just have to give them one good bite!"
"He's got a little sister named Clara, five years old, the baby of the family. That's the reason he runs home every single weekend. Just think of him as a 'sister idiot.' A hopeless case."
Eli clicked his tongue and shook his head, the way one might regard a patient beyond saving.
"So you have a little sister. She must be pretty."
"Obviously! She'll grow up to be the most beautiful girl in the Empire!"
"I'm sure she will."
And he gave up seeing that beloved little sister — to help me?
Aidan's heart moved Bayul anew.
"What about you, Quinn? It's the weekend — no special plans? If you cleared your schedule just because you're worried about me, you really don't have to. I'm fine with Aidan and Rai here. You seemed busy, so if you have things to do, go do them."
"...Were you not listening earlier?"
"Hm?"
"It's not worry. It's unease. What if the spirit shows up again? Are you so confident you won't collapse this time?"
"That's..."
"Just look after yourself. I can manage mine."
A cold wind blew suddenly from Quinn's direction.
Did I do something wrong?
They hadn't been warm with each other, exactly, but the past few days between them had gone fairly smoothly. Bayul had thought they were getting close — had it all been his own misunderstanding?
He almost looks angry, somehow...
Bayul wanted desperately to say something — anything — but he had the feeling that whatever he said would only make the atmosphere uglier. Until they reached their destination, all he could do was sit in silence, carefully watching Quinn's mood.