Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XLII. CHIRO ❆ ❆

Chiro thinks that he rather really dislikes parties.

Because when what he can only assume is the boss of Qiluca's mafia announces his presence, (never mind Kumari's! That's even worse, she's a runaway princess...) he knows he's screwed for certain.

"Please, please!" The man continues from all the way up in his throne. "Come to the front!"

A light shines on them, and as they walk forward slowly — what else could they do? It follows them, until they stand right in front of him, looking far far up, barely able to make out his face.

"We're truly honored to have you two here," he says, and the scary part is, it sounds genuine.

"The honor is all mine!" Kumari jumps straight to formalities, bowing politely, nudging Chiro to do the same, and so he does.

"And so well-mannered, too!" He laughs, airily. "Well now, Kumari. We'll keep the spotlight on you two for your couples' dance, shall we?"

"I love being in the spotlight!"

"Perfect!"

"Kumari! I'm bad at being in the spotlight..." Chiro grabs her arm and lowers his voice to a whisper, "And you're making friends with the boss of the mafia."

"But Chiro!" The man whines. "I had such a great favor to ask of you."

"Wh-what's that, s-sir?"

"Don't be nervous! I'm sure it's nothing you and this fine lady can't handle. See, it's very rare to get a magician in these parts — especially one that's sun-based, like you."

How does he know that...

"So you want me to," he gulps. "Put on an illusion?"

"Yes! I would like you to put on a show. For my guests. Please...? We'll all be so disappointed if you don't."

"I can't..."

"Don't be shy," and at last his voice darkens. "It's not as if you have a choice."

Kumari nudges him again, "Go ahead. He'll probably have you hurt or something if you don't..."

Chiro gulps, "O-okay. I'll do it."

The man brightens in an instant, "Wonderful! Band, turn up the music! Please everyone, go on with your partying. And get ready for a light show. It'll be great! Or at least, it'd better be."

As the music starts up again, Chiro mutters, "What have we gotten ourselves into...?"

"It'll be fine," Kumari smiles so happily Chiro almost makes the mistake of believing her. "What're you going to do? Make it snow?"

"I don't know if that'll be good enough."

"It's so pretty though!"

Chiro scratches his head, "Kumari. Do you think you could dance with me?"

"Haven't we been doing that?"

"I mean... The fire dance."

"Oh. OH! Grandmother taught me, but I don't know if..."

"Please," he takes her hands once more.

"...Yes. Yes of course."

And so they chant the beginning of the spell in unison...

"Oy! Na! Od! Un!"

Chiro raises his arms and Kumari brings hers up to meet them. One foot forward, one foot back...

And so begin their graceful walk, turning to the time of the music, kicking up legs and it's almost as if they're sparring, but at the same time... Kumari falls squarely into Chiro's arms, he lifts her up, throwing her in the air then catching her by the legs, spinning her around before gently setting her down, she flicks her wrists, moves her hips, gently moving her feet then raising them up for another kick, and he catches her foot, sets it down, before throwing up his own, she catches it too...

They're back to back, now, and Chiro can feel the sparks starting at the soles of his feet. He quickly stops dancing to take off his shoes, and now his feet too, are bare, just as Kumari's are. They walk away from each other, and he turns around, seeing that Kumari's feet too, are covered in little flames, crawling up her legs...

He reaches out to her, with his left arm, and she too takes his hand, they walk around each other in a circle... Their fingertips touch as they circle each other, eyes level, faces expressionless. It's strange to see Kumari without a smile on her face...

They bend at the elbows, coming closer and closer, noses almost touching... He puts his other hand against hers, and then he grabs her by the waist promptly, lifting her up for another spin, before she launches herself out of his grip and lands right behind him, and they stay still.

They stay still, and the fire rises up, covering their arms and faces, flickering all around them. The pain is intense, but both their faces stay expressionless. Sparks rise up and fly around the room, almost in the shape of fireflies, flitting through the crowd, and everybody's voices hush, murmured oohs and aahs sound in the room.

And now at last they dance without separating, holding hands and moving as fast as they can — they notice the spotlight follows them as Chiro leads her all through the hall, they twist their feet and leap and he dips her and she dips him in turn. Their feet match each other's movements and the false fireflies match their bodies, following them all around the room.

Then, just as they reach the center once more, all the fireflies converge, the flame blazes brighter around them, and flickers, changing colors, from red to blue. Chiro spins Kumari around once more, then lifts her up in the finale — all the fire explodes across the room at once in many different colors, like untouchable fireworks.

They pant. The room is silent, except for maybe three instruments still playing, as even the band members are staring in awe.

And once more there is applause, louder than it was before, than when they were first introduced. And Kumari's smiling like an idiot and Chiro suspects that he's doing the same, except he also feels very tired and drained. He's never actually done this in full before...

He sees, at the front of the crowd, that somebody's pushing into view. It's a boy, with blue eyes...

"Jae!" Kumari calls to him. "Did you see our show?"

But before Jae answers, it's the boss who speaks first.

"What a stellar performance!" He applauds — he too, is clapping his hands. "I feel it's almost a shame we have to give you to Sho."