/jp/ - Otaku Culture

But more interesting than the people involved was what they were involved with. Spread out on the ground below the veranda was a massive network of rippling lines of magic. They crossed over each other, linked together, split apart and reconnected seemingly at random. Some lines were bigger and some were smaller, and as she watched, the man knelt down and pushed his hand against one of the strands, which pushed outward, away from the mass. "Good. Hold it there." Patchouli told him. "Now, just..." She turned, a ball of fire growing in her free hand, and then she spotted Meiling. "Oh. Meiling." Feeling a little awkward, Meiling waved hesitantly.

"Um, hello, Lady Patchouli." She said, slowly shifting her gaze between Patchouli and the man on his knees.

"Hi." The man said, sounding slightly strained. "I'd greet you properly, but..." With his free hand, he gestured to the tangle of magic surrounding him. "I'm Anon, by the way."

"H-Hi, Anon." Meiling mumbled.

"What are you doing here?" Patchouli asked Meiling, who opened her mouth. "No, actually. Don't answer that. Just move slightly to the side." After a moment, she gave Meiling a pointed stare, and Meiling moved. "Okay, watch the wire." She told Anon, then she pointed her hand forward and launched the ball of fire outward, beyond the veranda and toward the torii gate. It flew straight through the gate, then suddenly froze and faded from existence. "There." Patchouli turned. "Anything?"

"I think I felt it pulse?" Anon replied, looking up with a frown. "Was it meant to do anything else?"

"No. I'm trying to isolate the barrier that feeds the magic back into the building." Patchouli looked down. "Two wires to the right. If it pulsed, we're in the right area." Anon looked down at the mess of magic, then shifted so that he was pulling on a thicker line of magic. "This one?"

"That one." Patchouli said, turning back. "Meiling. Why are you here?" She raised her hand, and another fireball began to grow.

"Um..." Meiling pressed herself against the wall of the Shrine, feeling a little concerned as Patchouli's fireball grew larger. "Miss Sakuya charged me with finding you." Patchouli didn't answer, and she looked back down at her grimoire. "She said that you'd been gone longer than usual."

"I've only been here for... Four hours and three minutes." Patchouli said, her eyes flashing for a brief moment.

"I was told that time was distorted in here." Anon said, looking up. "Four times slower than the real world, I think."

"So it's only been an hour..." Patchouli muttered to herself. " The movement of the celestial bodies were not matching up to the passage of time. Now I know why." She pushed more energy into the fireball, then paused. "Meiling." She said, drawing Meiling's attention from the fireball in her hand. "Do you feel calm?"

"Huh?" Meiling unthinkingly asked, then tried again. "Oh, er, I suppose so? Apart from the...fireball."

"Oh, yes. Let us take care of that." Patchouli turned her head toward Anon. "Watch for the magic." Anon nodded, and Patchouli launched the massive fireball. Meiling felt the heat pass dangerously close to her, and then the fireball was past her and through the torii gate. This time, it froze, but didn't immediately disappear. Instead, it began to expand, and Meiling wondered if something bad was about to happen.