Web of light. book 1

"Five and four... nine. Turn out."

She looked up at Yuto, and there was such relief in her eyes, as if a heavy backpack had been lifted from her shoulders.

"You know... I'm shifting the sticks all the time., You know... I'm shifting the sticks all the time", She confessed a little sheepishly. I have counting sticks at home, I drive them back and forth until I get completely confused. And here... everything seems to be in place.

Yuto smiled a little:

"Chopsticks are also normal. But the cells are not lost. They won't go anywhere if someone suddenly pushes the desk." Rinko giggled, and this quiet laugh sounded like something very special in the noisy classroom, just for the two of them.

"Okay, tech guy," she whispered. "Show me again how you draw these cells. I want to try it myself."

The teacher, passing by, paused at their desk, looked at the drawing, at the neat strokes, at the crossed-out cells and said softly:

"It's a good way. Someone is counting on their fingers, someone is moving sticks, and someone is drawing. The main thing is that the answer doesn't run away."

When the bell rang, Rinko carefully closed the notebook, as if she was afraid that if she slammed too hard, these painted cells would fly apart.

"Thanks for showing me," she said softly. "Now I'm going to draw a tray. Even if your fingers get tired of bending, and the chopsticks get lost."

Yuto shrugged, but there was something warm in his eyes:

"The main thing is not to rush. And everything will be smooth. It's like putting them on trays."

They went out into the hallway, and the noise of someone else's classroom no longer seemed so loud. Rinko tugged on his sleeve:

"After school, shall we go to the hawker on the corner? Let's get some tea. And if we're lucky, maybe there will be more thayaks."

Yuto nodded. And there was something simple and reliable about this "let's go" — like these cells in a notebook: one step, one more step, and it's not scary anymore. The tray was almost empty, and the salesman smiled and handed them the last of the taiki, one for two.

"For two people?" Rinko frowned slightly, as if this was a new, difficult task. "But it's not enough here..."

"It's fine," Yuuto said softly, and for the first time in a long time, there was no desire to hide in his voice. "We'll split it up. Like a diagram in half: exactly along the line."

He carefully broke the taiki: one half — with a slightly more ruddy crust — went to Rinko, the other — to him. Rinko took a bite, squeezed her eyes shut with pleasure, and immediately pulled Yuto's sleeve towards the noisy group of classmates at the fence.

"Come on," she whispered, as if sharing a secret. "This is Haru and Mio. Haru is always building something out of sticks, and Mio knows all the best places to sit in silence. They're normal. Truth."

Yuto froze for a second, his fingers involuntarily clenched, as if they were looking for a familiar notebook in a cage where everything could be put on the shelves. But then he remembered: the scheme here is different.

"There is no "was-taken-added". You just have to take a step here. One. Then another one."

Haru looked up and smiled, not too broadly, but sincerely:

"Oh, is this the memory-deprived student from the first B? Rinko told me about you."

He says you put any task into squares, as if you were reading a blueprint.

"Well... if you draw everything, you won't get confused," he muttered, and suddenly he was surprised that he was saying it out loud, and not just Rinko.

Mio nodded as if it was the most reasonable explanation in the world:

It's the same with my cards. If I don't mark with a cross where I've already been, I'll definitely wander back into the same alley.

Rinko exhaled softly, as if something had also fallen from her shoulders, and took another bite of the tayaki.

"And we were just sharing the last taiki," She said, as if that made them all a little closer at once. "Yuto broke everything equally. Exactly. Even the filling didn't leak out."

Haru chuckled and took out two chopsticks from his pocket, even though there was nothing left to eat:

"I usually use them to build towers. Do you want to try it together? Or... if you want, we can just stand here. There is a wind from the river of the Quiet Willow Corner, and the noise is not as loud as at the main entrance."

And then Yuto suddenly realized that he wanted both. I want to see how Haru deftly puts one wand on top of the other, as if building an invisible bridge. I want to hear Mio talk about quiet alleys where no one hurries or shouts. I just want to stand here, next to Rinko, and feel that this world is not someone else's, but just not yet fully marked out.

"Give me the tower," Yuto said unexpectedly to himself. "Just... can I chalk a line on the asphalt first? To keep it standing straight."

Mio laughed, but not offensively, but like they laugh when someone does something their own way and suddenly everyone likes it:

Sure. We have a whole collection of lines here. Someone draws paths, someone draws borders, and one day I drew a circle just to know: here I am.

Rinko smiled, looking from one to the other, and there was so much quiet happiness in her smile, as if she herself had just solved the most difficult problem.

"See?" She whispered to Yuto as Haru carefully placed the third wand. "There's no need to keep everything in mind. You can just... be. And if you get confused, we'll tell you."

Yuto nodded. And for the first time, he didn't want to draw a diagram to hide behind it. He wanted to watch this ridiculous, shaky, but so real tower of sticks grow. How the wind moves Rinko's hair. How Mio points to the sky and says, `Look, there's a cloud like a fish.'

And the world, which a week ago seemed alien and too loud, suddenly began to decompose not into cells, but into small, simple things: a warm side of taiyaki, a quiet laugh, a wand that finally stood up straight. The next day, they went to the calligraphy club after school, but Yuto saw the physics club. After the calligraphy class, they walked down the hallway, and Rinko was still smiling, as if she was holding something warm in her palms:

"You liked it! You didn't even wince when you dipped your brush." Yuto shrugged his shoulders, but didn't wave it off. He really liked it — but not to "draw", but to feel how the line obeys the rules.

"I liked it," he admitted quietly. "Everything is in order there. As an instruction."

Rinko wanted to say something else, but then they passed by the door, on which hung a piece of paper with stickers: rocket, magnet, magnifying glass and the inscription "Physics Club: experiments every Wednesday." Yuto suddenly slowed down his pace.

"Is it... about physics?" he asked, as if he was afraid that if he spoke loudly, the door would close.

"Yeah," Rinko nodded. "They touch everything there. Last year, we made boats out of foil so that they wouldn't sink. And they watched how the shadow moved when the lamp was moved."

Yuto looked at the stickers, then at the schedule, where it was written in black and white: "One circle to choose from." And something inside him tightened.

"I want to go there," he said almost in a whisper. "But... there too. Into calligraphy. Everything is according to the rules there, too."

Rinko suddenly stopped pulling on his sleeve. She just stood next to me and also looked at the schedule.

"One circle," she repeated, as if tasting the word. "And you want both."

Yuuto nodded without looking up. He was ashamed that he couldn't choose, as if he was complicating things again.

"There's... there's probably an order to physics, too", He muttered. "We do it first, then we see what happened. Then we write it down. As a scheme."

At that moment, a teacher looked out of the calligraphy classroom, the one who calmly said, "First it's right, then it's beautiful." He looked at their faces, at that quiet confusion, as if he wasn't reading the words, but the lines between them.

"Something happened?" he asked softly.

Rinko opened her mouth, closed it, then finally blurted out:

"Yuto wants to come to you and the "physicists". But it is possible only in one."

The teacher did not immediately shake his head. He tilted his head slightly, as if weighing not the words, but the feelings behind them.

"You know," he said to Yuto, "In calligraphy, we learn how to hold your hand so that it does exactly what you want it to do. It's about control. And in physics, they learn to notice how the world itself does exactly what nature intended. It's about surveillance. Both of these skills are important to you."

Yuto listened as if each word was placed on a separate cell in his head.

"But the circle..." he began.

"Let's do this," the teacher interrupted, not sternly, but as if offering a deal in which everyone wins. "In the Physics club, you will learn to see how everything works. And just come here for five minutes after class. Sit down, draw one line. So that the hand does not forget the order. It won't be a circle. It will be... your little habit."

Rinko exhaled, as if she had just realized that she was holding her breath.

"Really?" she asked. "May I?"

"You can," the teacher nodded calmly.

The main thing is that he feels calm. And so that he doesn't lose what's important to him. Yuto looked at the stickers on the Physics door again: rocket, magnet, magnifying glass. Then look at the schedule sheet. And for the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like hiding behind a notebook. He wanted to step into a place where he could feel how the world worked.

"Then I'll go there," he said softly, as if he were giving himself permission. "To the Physics club. But... if it's okay, I'll come in here. On one line. And maybe I'll draw something complicated? Then..."

"Of course," the teacher smiled. "One line is not much. But it can be very important. And then we'll get to the difficult part."

As they walked away from the door, Rinko giggled softly:

"Imagine, you will make boats and magnets, and then come and draw one smooth line. It's like it's your secret ritual."

Yuuto smiled a little, almost imperceptibly, but Rinko saw it.

"Yes," he said. "As if I'm checking that the order is still in place."

And they walked down the hall, past the lockers, past the notices, past the guys who were screaming and running, and Yuto suddenly realized that he didn't have to choose between "the right lines" and "real experiences." He can take from the world what helps him keep his balance. Step by step. Line by line. Experience after experience.

Chapter 4. Reflections on daily life.

5.

Month. Did I create this world or did I get into it? Or, to put it a little more broadly: was this world created by human fantasy, or did the mangaka, um, anticipate it? Yes, I know where I am. There are no experts on creating worlds in line of sight, and there is no one to ask. Or you should stick to the theory of infinite multiplicity of worlds... or sign a pledge of allegiance to the religion of Max Fry, and Juffin Halley is his prophet. However, from the point of view of a physical observer, this is all bullshit.

The observer does not like the fact that he is the "chosen one", that is, he got the full program. Some kind of perfume... I'm sorry, Ayakashi. Did Mazoku and Kishin get mixed up? I also came across a manga from the category of "etty" — that is, "perversions". Well, from the Japanese point of view, perversion: I don't see anything perverted in looking at beautiful undressed girls for a young guy. If only I was interested in guys... Brr, don't talk about the bad stuff! Why do I believe I'm in a manga? And why not? The very fact of "hitting" is much more incredible.

But back to the manga. "My (body)The guardian of Himari." I remember her among all the plots by having a GH with a support specialization. A certain clan feature, the "Ferry of Light". The name is strange, what does the ferry have to do with it? Moreover, this is my only "superpower", unlike representatives of other clans, who could do magic either way... sort of. I've been reading manga for a long time, but I don't remember everything. If you adapt the story, then (my) ancestors are not fools: the only magic available is an extended analogue of the Uzumaki clan fuinjutsu from Naruto. Yes, I watched Naruto too. My personal clan now, and I'm the only one in it, the last heir, and therefore the head. A nine-year head, just great. But I digress.

So, my ancestors, now mine, didn't watch Naruto, but they fought in much the same way: they cast spells for themselves (such as "spiritual vision", "acceleration", "muscle strengthening" and who-knows-what else) and hacked at ayakashi. Oh, yes, my clan used to hunt demons. Cute. A kind of secret magical Shinobi, hello "Naruto" again. Ordinary people have completely forgotten about Ayakashi, thanks to the government that protects us. I'm being serious, the silverless hunters are far in the past, the Japanese, of course, are conservative people, but the corrupting influence of the West suddenly opened the magicians' eyes: what the fuck?! Now our people (from the exorcist clans, and there are already twelve of them in little Japan) have bypassed the government and climbed up. Not all. According to the manga, it turns out that we, Amakawa, were overboard. I wonder what the fuck. And I wonder why there are so few of us left that you can even put us in the red Book. Yeah, feet first. I got distracted again.

Amakawa. Abilities. Spirits— in Russian, are problematic to endure due to their ipic... epic power. Not all of them, but some of them. And here is one of my clever ancestors two or three hundred years ago (it's bad to forget the history of your own clan, it's bad!) solved the issue radically. I caught a cat. Hey, hey, the demon cat! How is it... baka-neko? No, bakeneko. That is, the spirit is a cat, but in terms of strength it is a very advanced unit, the ancestor almost ended there. But bullshit — the cat was led to a vassal oath. How?! I am most interested in this question. Because at the age of 16, my amulet will end, and I will smell delicious all over the neighborhood with free magical energy.

It's free for the spirits, because no one thought to train the last heir. But they gave me an advance payment for the descendant of the very cat who would come to "protect and mentor" me after the amulet ended. And, as I remember, the spirits will gather around — like flies on... honey. And I— neither with a sword nor with magic! I won't even be able to order my only combat unit. And why is that? According to the manga, the parents were taken away and rigidly fenced off from everything supernatural. They seem to have quarreled with their older relatives. Then why did Grandfather give out the amulet? It's full of questions...