Chapter IV.X (4.10) - Finn’s Social Call

  The door burst open, causing Kizu’s quill to scratch across his notes, tearing a line in the parchment. He looked up to see a panting, furious Finn standing in the doorway.

  Kizu had taken a break in assembling the bookshelf portal to write down a few notes about the spatial runes he’d used. He planned to reference back to Owl’s Respite’s portal to make certain he was assembling each piece of the portal properly in the matching order. Otherwise he risked the gate spell malfunctioning.

  “Finn?” he said, annoyed. “Why are you here?”

  “Don’t…don’t give me that!” Finn said between panting gasps for air. “You…you are the absolute…worst!”

  Kizu fought the urge to roll his eyes. He leaned back and waited for his brother to continue. He’d get it out eventually.

  “That stupid, idiot shapeshifter friend of yours showed up at the villa. He…he demanded that I allow him in to set up for a party for next weekend. A party! In my villa!”

  “Why is Basil preparing for a party at our villa?” Kizu asked, completely confused.

  “He said it was your party! You tell me!” Finn ground his teeth. “I already contacted Father.”

  “And?”

  Finn hesitated. “Father…well, he said you arranging a party was…an excellent use of the villa as a resource for networking. But he also insisted that absolutely no damage be done to the property!” Finn added that last sentence in a rush.

  That sounded like their father. Kizu had been regranted access to all of his family’s resources again when they met back at the Emperor’s Coronation. He supposed that also meant the family villa.

  Kizu sighed. “I’ll go talk to Basil. How’d you even find me here?”

  “I’m not an idiot, Kizu. I know basic divination spells. And we are related by blood. I can track you just fine with minimal effort.”

  That made sense. Kizu had given Anata his anti-tracking necklace just as a minor precaution so he didn’t have it on at the moment.

  “What’s your divination rank?” Kizu asked conversationally.

  “201.”

  “Oh. Interesting. We should be in Divination B together in that case.”

  “What?” Finn scowled.

  “I mean, technically my rank is high enough to be in Divination A, but because the class schedules were designed at the start of last semester, I’ll be in a lower class.”

  Those extra details did not improve Finn’s mood. Kizu watched with a bit of amusement as his younger brother stormed out of the bedroom with one final curt remark about Kizu fetching his friend from the villa.

  Kizu looked back at the pieces of bookshelf and his notes. He was a bit surprised Finn didn’t comment on the fact that he had their Enchanting C final project. But he supposed Finn didn’t care now that the project was completed. His brother seemed to prioritize what was in front of him, not really bothering looking back. Honestly, it was probably one of his brother’s more endearing qualities.

  After a few more minutes of quickly sketching out the locations of different bookshelf pieces in an effort not to track of everything, Kizu made his way out of the house and down into the town.

  The Kaga family villa was less than a ten minute walk away. Kizu slowed his walk a bit as he passed by Emilia’s villa. That was the location of the last beach party he’d attended. It was dark and looked empty. His heart lurched slightly at the sight of it so he averted his gaze and resumed at a faster pace.

  Basil was standing in front of the Kaga villa, with Ione, of all people, lounging on the porch beside him. Basil was gesturing wildly while Finn pointed a shaky finger at his chest, the younger student literally trembling in rage.

  “Hey, Basil,” Kizu called out as he approached. He raised a hand in greeting and Basil beamed at him. “Stop torturing my baby brother. What are you doing here?”

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  “Kizu!” Basil slapped a hand over his heart and gasped dramatically. “Oh, you wound me! I would never do anything to purposely upset your kin.”

  “You purposefully upset me all the time,” Kizu replied dryly.

  “Slander! Name one example!”

  “You told the Aoi’s family golems that my favorite color is pink and convinced them to switch out my entire wardrobe for a day.”

  Basil rolled his eyes so hard they threatened to pop out of his head and he signed, exasperated. “A simple prank. Nothing more. And besides, pink matched the lovely cherry blossoms.”

  “You convinced Sasaki to name his horse ‘Kizu.’”

  “That is but a great honor! Do you not feel honored?”

  Kizu raised an eyebrow. “And what about-”

  “Whatever you’re about to say, it is irrelevant,” Basil cut him off. “You act as though you’ve never retaliated with your own slights on my character.”

  “You mean me complaining to people that you abandoned me twice in life or death scenarios and telling people you were unreliable at finishing your part of our final project? That’s not slander. It’s just the truth.”

  “Okay. That second time in the jungle village was clearly not my fault! I apologize for believing in love! Is that what you want to hear?”

  “I was very obviously spiked by a love potion.”

  “I held off that necromancer’s simulacrum, didn’t I? Reliable!”

  He had done that, Kizu had to admit that Basil had helped save Hon by standing off against the simulacrum. But Basil helping him in some situations didn’t erase the times he didn’t help.

  “What are you talking about?” Finn glared at both of them. “Brother, get your friend off our family’s property.”

  “Basil, why are you here?” Kizu asked.

  “I do recall you stating that I could throw a welcome party here to kick off the semester!”

  “I definitely did not say that.”

  “Well, you did in spirit! I was about to propose the idea then you got distracted and I thought to myself, well, that’s as good as a ‘yes’ and got to starting on the plans. All sorts of people will be here! I pulled in all my party favors! Next weekend will be an absolute smash hit! People will speak about the Kaga’s party for decades to come!”

  “No!” Finn growled.

  “Well…” Kizu glanced at his brother. Thinking about his gripes with Basil brought back an old memory of Finn as well. “You know, Finn. I never paid you back for that arrest.”

  “What! That was ages ago!”

  “You got me tossed in prison.” Kizu made up his mind. “Fine, Basil. You do all the work to arrange this party and I’ll let you use the villa as a venue. And it’s already been cleared with my parents. Just make sure to invite some influential people.”

  “Kizu!” Finn protested. “You can’t do this! They’ll destroy the entire house!”

  “Good thing you have all that extra pocket change you stole from my allowance the first semester. You can pay for someone to come by and clean up after.”

  Kizu knew he shouldn’t push Finn, but he was getting so much satisfaction in watching his little brother pull his hair out in frustration. There was nothing Finn could do to stop this. Father had already approved of the party. Besides, it might actually be good for his brother to finally socialize with some of his peers. Literally no one Kizu had talked to had a positive opinion of Finn. He was widely disliked and seen as a social pariah with no friends.

  Finn stormed off and Basil started with all his preparations. He pulled out streamers from a bag and immediately got to work setting them up.

  Kizu took the time to wander through the villa. It felt so nostalgic to be back.

  Most overt signs of his sister were missing. Paintings of his family members all cut Anna from them. Sometimes rather obviously, as was the case with a family painting in a forest with him as a toddler, his parents behind him, and Finn a baby held in his mother’s arms. To the side of his father, where his sister had been, had been covered by a very blatantly new addition of a tree. Instead of his father’s hand resting on her shoulder, it disappeared into the trunk of a tree. Sloppy.

  “With money and magic you would think they could do better,” Kizu muttered. But he supposed that just showed how little their parents cared about Anna. It wasn’t as if they really spent time in the villa here anyway. They just wanted her out of sight. Kizu wondered if he could remove the new layer of paint from the image and uncover Anna.

  “Oh! This is perfect!” Basil declared behind him. “I bet I could hang the pinata off of this loft. I won’t even need to spend the extra funds on a floating enchantment!”

  Finn tried desperately to talk Basil out of it. But he undercut his pleas by slipping in insults at Basil. ‘A nincompoop with the hand-eye coordination of a three-year-old and the brain power of a two-day old cow’ did not appear to endear Basil to Finn’s cause.

  “Two pinatas!” Basil decided. “That’s a great idea, Finn! You Kaga brothers always have the best ideas.”

  “Don’t drag me into this,” Kizu said over his shoulder. “I can still call your party off.”

  “Kizu!” Basil cried out, once again sounding wounded. “You threaten to break my heart so! Hanging an ax over my neck in a time of glee and revelry.”

  Kizu decided to exit the villa before Basil sabotaged his own party by annoying him. He went down to the beach and followed the coastline over towards the town docks.

  Others lounged about, soaking up the sun or splashing around in the breaking waves.

  Next week, it would be consumed by the sounds of drunk students, but for now, there was peace.

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