The Book Of Letters 3 Kurai, Piper And Litmus

"The boy who… what?" I didn't hear his last sentence clearly.

"You haven't heard the story about the boy living on top of the hill, have you?" Piper asked me. "It is said that every night, you can hear the loud banging and clanging and maniacal laugh. And the weirdest part was he wasn't born in Gloxinia Town. He just appear out of nowhere."

"Are you guys trying to scare me?" I asked. "I already faced ghosts in this town-"

"Some things are better warned beforehand," Benjamin interrupted, and proceed to eat his toast.

It's been six days since I arrived Gloxinia Town. Everything was alright and all except my job consists of delivering to ghosts. Last Monday, Postmaster made me delivered flowers to a mysterious woman living inside the lake, which turned out to be a ghost as well and the flowers were to make sure she wouldn't disturb the town's peace. In the end, however, all she needed was a friend to talk to. At the end of the day, she disappeared and never to return again.

I started to think that Gloxinia Town is literally a ghost town and the only humans here were the ones running the post office. Well, I haven't made any friends outside my workplace, so I hung onto that possibility until I meet this boy. "So is this boy a ghost?"

"I am one hundred percent certain that he's human and alive," said Piper, the Mrs.-Always-Right.

"Piper, didn't you notice a pattern?" Benjamin asked confidently, crossing his arms and legs. "Well then, why don't you follow Kurai later to the hill? I am sure this one is a ghost."

I was hoping that I won't be delivering to a ghost anymore. Piper agreed to Benjamin's suggestion by placing a bet: if it wasn't a ghost, then Benjamin would be doing the dishes for a month. If it was, then Piper had to stop working on the speedy bicycle. Both shook hands and left the table, forgotten to finish their meal.

After getting them to clean up their mess and get ready for work, we went out of the house and enjoyed another early morning air. You don't usually get this at Lavender City. The place was always busy no matter the time. Gloxinia Town has the quietest nights too, which creeps me out since after encountering ghosts, I was worried if there were bad ghosts out there.

"Hold on a sec," I stopped. "This doesn't make any sense! I mean, Postmaster made me sent pie and flowers, but why would a ghost be getting a parcel? Doesn't that mean the boy made an order?"

Piper looked at Benjamin. "I won."

"Come on, Kurai," Benjamin pulled my sleeves, didn't want to lose the bet too easily. "Why do you doubts whether this boy is a ghost or not now? I mean, it could be the ghost has a distant relative that keeps on sending parcels. You, as a Special Task Postman, should get used to something like this."

"I did not sign up for supernatural shenanigans," I told him. "And the bet was all for nothing anyway. I would like to deliver to a normal person, even if it is just for just one day."

Benjamin still held onto his words. When we finally reached there, Postmaster was sleeping on the bench again. I often get worried about his back, despite he can be rather energetic throughout the day. Piper mentioned to me before that Postmaster has a house nearby, but he rather stayed at the post office. Sometimes I wondered if he has a family waiting for him, or none at all and he enjoyed sleeping in the post office.

Benjamin led me to the mailroom. The mailroom was much different than the one in Lavender City. It was small and one side of the wall were lined with compartments. On the other side, there was a large map with different coloured crystals, each placed on cities and towns. In front of the map, there was a circular gla.s.s platform with more crystals arranged around the edge. I knew what they were, but I just pretended not to know, because I knew how much Benjamin loved to show how knowledgeable he was.

"This is usually my zone," said Benjamin. "This thing here acts as a portal. The crystals surrounding it are teleportation crystals. Unlike those charms that magic users can use, these crystals have their own magic stored inside."

"I thought teleportation crystals can only send light objects," I said, still pretending to not know anything.

"The crystals used in post offices are much different than the commercial ones," he said, looking prideful. "They are much powerful, and can be used by non-magic user as well, since the magic supplying these crystals derived from the veins of magic that are coming from inside the platform. A crystal can send objects to the location where another crystal of the same colour is located. For example, Lavender City is pink, so we transfer a bag of mails using a pink crystal. Of course, they're not powerful enough to teleport people around."

Veins of magic is one of the basic concepts of magic. Anything, including magic users, are somehow bounded by an invisible vein that allows magic flows through them. Although, these veins are still being investigated in order to understand how it is functioned. A popular theory that it works like human circulatory system, but it lead people speculate that if it was true, then magic would be constantly flowing in and out of the body, and where would the 'heart', that ensures the flow, could be.

"Speaking of deliveries, I wondered where you get that magic rubber stamp that you used to deliver letters to your girlfriend," Benjamin asked.

"It was custom-made," I said, which it was true, but I couldn't admit that I was the one who made it because that would reveal my secret. I also did created my teleportation crystal that was implanted inside the stamps.

"Anyway, here is the parcel," said Benjamin, taking out a square box wrapped with brown paper and tied with a string out of one of the compartments. The stamp on it showed it was from Cactus City, the capital city of Orei. It is well-known place for magical research, and the person it was addressed to was a man named Litmus.

"Doesn't this prove that the ghost is a human?" I asked.

Benjamin pouted. "I don't want to do the dishes so please confirm that it is a ghost."

I put the parcel inside my satchel and grabbed my broomstick. Piper was already waiting for me outside. Postmaster had already woken up and brought coffee and biscuits from his office. He offered me biscuits, and I took one because I didn't want to look rude.

"Do you know anything about the boy living on top of the hill?" I asked instead.

"He is no longer a boy," he smiled. His reply confirmed that Benjamin would be doing the dishes. It did make happy to know that I would be delivering to a living person. I then told Piper about it but she insisted to come along, since she wanted to see what the person looks like.

The house on the hill was at the outskirts of the town, inside the forest. You could see the smoke coming from the chimney from far away. The pathway to the hill was gra.s.sy, but I noticed that they were flatten to the ground, proving that this person used the same route to go up and down. Even the trees had broken branches, flowers pulled out and burnt gra.s.s.

"We're almost there," I told Piper, pointing at the cottage on top of the hill. Both of us held on the broom tightly as we went up the slope till we finally reach at the top. The cottage appeared to be warm and cozy, with colourful plants growing around it. Piper held on the broomstick as I knocked on the door.

"Mr. Litmus?" I called. "Are you inside?"

"Hold on a sec!" a voice replied back. Then there was a thud, "Ouch!", clang, smash, "Ow!" and a long maniacal laughter which sounded more like a maniacal cry. Finally, the door opened. A young man about the same age as us had a messy black hair with blue highlights at the end of his bangs, brown eyes and wore a white coat over his dirty s.h.i.+rt. He had a small creature on his head that looked like a cat with a very, very long tail.

"I won," said Piper, relieved to see the result of their bet.

"Wow! I've never seen an albino person before!" he exclaimed, referring his statement to me. "Although your skin isn't as pale as it should be, and but pupils are really red."

I laughed awkwardly as I adjusted my gla.s.ses. "Let's just say I dyed my hair. Anyway, here is your delivery."

Litmus took the parcel. "My book order is finally here! Why don't you two come inside for some tea? Although, it is a bit messy."

Piper and I peeked at the cottage. It looked smaller than the outside, but that was because there were so many bookshelves and yet not enough s.p.a.ce to put all of his books. They were scattered on the floor, along with spilled fluids and broken apparatus. If Benjamin was here he would faint at first sight.

"May be you should start cleaning up the place," Piper recommended.

He shook his head. "Research must come first! I have been trying to understand as to why some people are magic users and some are not, and why do magic users have different talents like why can't I, a spellcaster, can't make potions like alchemists do, or heal people like healers? It doesn't make any sense at all!"

What he said was true. Some magic users can imitate other magic user's specialties but it wouldn't have much effect or be exact. For example, spellcaster can try to heal people like healers, but it would be a weak heal, or worse, injure more. Although, there is one family who bears all types of magic...

"Have you heard of this family name, Ak.u.mu?" Litmus asked as he entered his cottage, picking up a book and flipping through the pages. "The legendary Ak.u.mu family is a powerful family that can do everything! However, due to their reputation, they decided to live far away, outside their hometown, Lavender City."

"Kurai is from Lavender City," Piper nudged me.

"J-Just because I come from the city doesn't mean I know everything about them!" I fl.u.s.tered. "They're secretive! No one has ever seen them going out of their house."

Litmus looked very disappointed. "Well, there is no point getting you to talk about them, but just once I want to learn the secret to their great power. Anyway, thanks for coming. By the way, what happened to the old man? I hope he is still alive."

"You mean Postmaster? He is," Piper replied. "Kurai here is taking his job. We're leaving now."

"Wait just a moment!" Litmus stopped us and ran back into his cottage. There was another thud, "Ouch!", clang, smash, "Ow!" and a long maniacal cry, and repeated again. He later came out with an old broomstick model and his hair messier than before. He decided to tag along since he often came out at night. He commanded his animal friend, Boron, to take care of the cottage.

"How long have you been living there?" I asked as we flew down the slope.

"Pretty long," he replied. "I used to live with my grandpa. I don't go out a lot in the morning since I have a night job."

Litmus was so excited to see the town in the morning that he reacted like a child who went to the amus.e.m.e.nt park for the first time. He talked about how it was less crowded at night, and ghosts he would encounter at the alleys. When we finally reached the post office, he leapt out of his broomstick and looked around with sparkles in his eyes and big smile on his face.

"Who is that?" Benjamin asked when he came out of the post office to do his deliveries.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "The proof that you were wrong."

Benjamin froze. We could tell he really didn't want to do the dishes because he took a great care of his hands. I had to admit that his hands looked softer than woman's.

Benjamin walked away, sulking at his defeat.

"Are you sure the streets are safe in the morning?" he asked. "I often get this strange feelings that I am being hunted."

"That is your imagination," said Piper. "Anyway, I am going to work on my speedy bicycle."

"Can I watch you work?" he asked. He joined Piper to the back and that got my guts twisted. I followed them to see if it would be alright. When Litmus looked at the bottle attached to the bicycle, he could tell it wasn't right.

"Are you an alchemy engineer, or just an engineer?" he asked. "Because that gas—"

"I know what I am doing," said Piper. "You're just a spellcaster. You don't know anything about alchemy."

"I read alchemy books you know," Litmus defended. "And yes, even though I lack the expertise, but judging by the contrast, it will–"

Piper took a step closer and gave a death glare at Litmus. "I know what I am doing. You hear me?"

Litmus wasn't even afraid of her. He walked to the bicycle and turned the pedal around. "If you just listen to me–"

Litmus lost his grip on the pedal when all of the sudden the bicycle zoomed away. It happened so fast I didn't have time to react. The bicycle seemed to have a mind of its own that it turned back and zoomed towards us. I pulled Litmus and Piper out of the way and bicycle zoomed out of the back alley.

"We have to chase it before it hurts anyone!" I told them. Litmus grabbed his broomstick and flew away to chase it. Piper didn't utter a word. She just stared at the s.p.a.ce blankly that I had to shake her to get her attention.

"Let's go, Piper!" I called her. She nodded her head and both of us got onto the broomstick. We finally caught up on Litmus, but he had no idea how to stop a speedy bicycle. Pedestrians were trying to run away from the bicycle that kept on hitting against the walls.

"Do you have any spells to stop it?" I asked Litmus.

"How can I point my wand if it keeps moving around?" he asked. "There must be a way!"

It would be difficult to get the bicycle cornered because it kept on moving randomly. We continued to follow it whilst I tried to come up with a plan. "May be there is a way."

Piper and Litmus listened to me closely and understood my idea. I dropped Piper off so she could evacuate everyone into the building. Litmus and I followed the bicycle down the road where Benjamin was walking by.

"Get out of the way!" I yelled. He leapt before the bicycle hit him but he dropped some letters. Litmus casted a freezing spell on the road to reduce the bicycle speed. However, it affected a small area on the road that I quickly mumbled a spell to spread the freeze. The bicycle lost control of itself as it glided on the ice and fell down. The wheels kept spinning when we got down from our broomsticks. Litmus fell when he tried to walk over the ice whilst I slid myself towards the bicycle. I gripped onto the wheel tight, struggled to stop it from spinning as I removed the bottle off.

"Are you guys alri–" Piper ran and slipped onto the icy road. Benjamin caught her from behind.

I skied to where they were and helped Litmus to stand up. "We did it!"

"Isn't that my bicycle?" Benjamin asked.

"I–" Piper got interrupted by a little girl who saw the icy road. She glided across it and later, everybody started to join in. Even Litmus tried to glide and he laughed like a kid.

"What were you going to say, Piper?" I asked.

She sighed. "Litmus was right. I don't know what I was doing."

Benjamin dropped his jaw. He didn't think the day had finally come for Piper to admit that she was wrong. "T-then why did you work on that bicycle? Aren't you an alchemy engineer?"

"Just an engineer," she confessed. "I thought alchemy was all about mixing the ingredients like cooking so I found a potion that could speed things up."

"It is more complex than you think," Litmus glided past her before he stopped. "Which is why I am researching the nature of veins of magic, but honestly, Piper, you're already talented enough as an engineer, so all you needed is just a little help."

"I know an alchemist that could help," Benjamin said, patting Piper on her shoulder.

"You guys aren't mad at me?" Piper still felt guilty.

"Kind of," Benjamin mumbled.

"Its fine now," I said. "We should really melt this before…"

"WEEEEEEE!" Children skied across the icy ground, looking very pleased with what we had done. Some of the adult pedestrians ended up joining as well. None of them were mad at us at all. Piper burst into laughter, pus.h.i.+ng Benjamin till he slipped and fall.

"Thanks guys," said Piper. "You know what? I think we should keep the ice a little longer."

❤︎

「The freezing spell lasted till nightfall. Litmus conjured up a hundred of candles on the window stills and on the stairs. I wished I could bring you there. It reminded me the time we skated on the frozen lake during winter. Remember the time you naturally did a back flip and landed with one foot? It was amazing.

Litmus came to me and told me that he couldn't have freeze the whole road because he didn't use a couplet spell. I was surprised because couplet spells were much weaker than actual spells, but his case was the reversal of it. I told him that he was probably lucky that the spell worked but he still suspects that there was a third-party intervention. How can I admit that my dark freezing spell could actually freeze people inside out if Piper didn't evacuate everyone into the buildings and Benjamin didn't jump on the pavement? At least the mumblings allow the spell to affect the road only.

And again, I lied about my family name when Litmus asked for my full name. If I told him that my real surname was Ak.u.mu, who knows what questions he would ask. Litmus is a curious person, so I have to be cautious.

Speaking of Ak.u.mu family, how is my cousin at Peony Town? He is not the direct bloodline so he is probably alright being a charm user. I probably should send a letter to him to tell him that I've changed address, but if he still sends letters to you then could you send them to me? Thank you in advance.

Also I love you.

From the greatest guy you've ever met,

Kurai」