Chapter 51: The Location of the Mark
The small tube of lip balm was extended, its waxy, translucent tip pressing against the smooth, pale skin of her abdomen. As it moved, it left a faint, glossy trail—not obvious, but just visible enough for the naked eye to follow the pattern he was drawing.
Shizuku, her expression as placid and unreadable as ever, stood perfectly still in front of him. To keep her turtleneck out of the way, she had simply lifted it and was now biting down on the bunched-up fabric, holding it securely with her teeth.
It was just past noon. Through the cheap motel window, the cacophonous, bustling sounds of the city—the rumble of traffic, the distant shouts of vendors, the ever-present sirens—drifted in on a wave of humid, noisy heat.
Kai finished the final stroke of the five-pointed star. He then raised his hand, his palm already glowing as a dense, white ball of Aura condensed. He pressed his hand firmly over the glossy, lip-balm pattern.
The moment his Aura covered the complete symbol, his Hatsu, Song of the Earth, activated. The faint, glossy lines flashed and were instantly replaced by a brilliant, rose-gold Star Marker, which settled onto her skin like a magical tattoo.
Shizuku felt it immediately. It was a subtle, internal shift. The Star Marker on her skin felt like a new, foreign-yet-familiar hub, a nexus point. A small, thrumming sliver of Kai's own Aura had just integrated itself into her system, and in response, her entire Aura pool began to circulate, all on its own...
She could clearly feel the nagging, searing pain from the blast wounds on her arms and legs beginning to fade, the tissue knitting itself back together at an accelerated rate. Even the ambient, passive recovery of her Aura felt like it had been kicked into a higher gear.
"But," Kai's voice suddenly cut through her analysis, "why did you ask me to draw it there? Of all places?"
"What?" Shizuku looked down, her head tilting. She touched the glowing, warm mark on her stomach. "Is this not a good place?"
"I told you, didn't I?" Kai said, holding up a finger for emphasis. "If the Star Marker is damaged, it vanishes. Instantly. Even a minor scrape, a shallow cut... if the integrity of the symbol is broken, the connection is severed."
He pointed at her exposed, pale skin. "Putting the mark right on your stomach... this is a major target in a fight. It's not exactly what I'd call 'easy to defend.' It seems... incredibly risky."
Shizuku paused, as if genuinely considering this for the first time. "Oh," she said. "It's just... you said it was like a tattoo. If I were to get a tattoo... that's the first place I would think to put it."
"Do you want me to... move it?" she asked, her expression still completely blank.
She didn't wait for an answer. As if it were the most logical next step in the world, she reached down and, with a pop, unfastened the button on her jeans.
"Whoa! Hey! Hey! Stop! What are you doing?!" Kai yelped, lunging forward and grabbing her hand before it could go any further. "Use your words! What is happening right now?!"
Shizuku just looked at him, her eyes wide with placid, analytical confusion. "You said it was a risk," she explained, as if to a child. "A private location, one that I would instinctively protect in a fight... that would be the safest place, wouldn't it? The mark would be less likely to be hit by a stray attack."
"Your logic... is terrifyingly sound," Kai said, his voice a little strained. He quickly tapped the Star Marker on her stomach, and it dissolved into a burst of golden light. He then pressed the tube of lip balm into her hand and closed her fingers around it. "Here. You do it."
Shizuku held the lip balm, staring at him for a long, silent moment. "Oh. Okay."
She then turned around, giving him her back. She lifted her turtleneck, bit down on the hem again, unbuttoned her jeans, and got to work.
A few seconds of silence passed, broken only by the sounds of the city outside.
"Be careful when you pull your pants back up!" Kai called out, his voice a little louder than necessary as he stared intently at the opposite wall. "Don't smudge the pattern!"
"I knooow..." Shizuku's reply was muffled by the wad of fabric in her mouth.
After another minute, she was done. She carefully rearranged her clothes, buttoned her jeans, and pulled her turtleneck down. Then she turned around.
Kai, his face a mask of professionalism, raised his hand, his Aura already gathering. He looked at her jeans, his expression one of deep, scholarly concentration. "Alright. Where... where exactly did you put it?"
Shizuku pointed to a spot on her left hip, just inside the line of her jeans. She stood, her posture a little stiff, clearly trying not to smudge her own handiwork.
Kai took a deep breath. For the mission.
He reached out, his hand glowing, and slowly, carefully, pressed his palm against the denim fabric where she was pointing.
He couldn't see the mark, of course, but he didn't need to. He wasn't looking for it; he was feeling for it. He felt the Aura of the lip balm, felt the distinct, five-pointed shape... and then he pushed his own Hatsu into it. He felt the familiar, resonant click as the connection was forged.
"Got it."
Kai nodded, a deep sense of accomplishment washing over him.
Shizuku, now feeling the familiar, warm thrum of the Star Marker's healing energy, sat down on the bed next to him. She tilted her head, watching him. "Why did you make me do it myself?" she asked. "Was it because... you were shy?"
"Ha! Shy? Don't be ridiculous. I was doing you a favor," Kai scoffed. "If I hadn't... well, you'd be marked by me right now. I could make you do anything I wanted. I could say, 'take off all your clothes,' and you'd just... Stop!"
Shizuku, who had already started to pull her turtleneck up again, froze.
"My... my sweater was just wrinkled," she said, smoothing it down. She then paused, a new thought occurring to her. "The Star Marker. Can it... also be activated by a verbal command?"
"It can," Kai confirmed. "But even a verbal order is an active, overt use of Nen. It feels different from just talking. If I were to use it on you, you'd feel it. You'd know, instantly, that you were being controlled. You'd feel that 'not in control' sensation."
"Oh," Shizuku said, nodding as she filed this information away. She looked at him with her usual, flat expression. "Even though you're a Manipulator, your Hatsu doesn't control a person's will. Just their body. That's... nice. It proves you're a good person."
Kai just stared at her.
A slow, wicked grin spread across his face.
"Shizuku," he said, his voice laced with the cold, sharp feeling of his Hatsu, "stand up and... dance."
Instantly, Shizuku felt it. That horrifying, puppet-on-a-string sensation. Her body was not her own. It stood up, snapped to attention, and... began to move.
She watched, a detached, curious prisoner, as her arms and legs began to perform a series of... surprisingly peppy, intricate dance steps.
"Am I still a good person?" Kai asked, his voice dripping with smug, false-nonchalance.
"This is fascinating," Shizuku said, her voice perfectly calm, even as her body was popping and locking. "I've never seen this dance before. Since you can't control my mind... does this mean you are actively piloting my body to perform these moves?"
"Mm..." Kai, who in truth only remembered a few signature moves from a music video from his past life, was already running out of choreography. He released the Mode-2 control, and Shizuku's body slumped back to her own command. He quickly changed the subject. "Hey, Shizuku. How old are you?"
She tilted her head, rubbing her arms. "Fourteen..." she paused. "No. I just had a birthday. I'm fifteen."
"See?" Kai said, his voice suddenly grave. "I'm twelve. Do you have any idea how many laws I was about to break? You should be thanking me for my restraint."
Shizuku just stared at him.
"This... this new body... it's about a meter and a half tall... that's... what? Twelve? Thirteen?" Kai muttered, analyzing himself. "Yeah. I'm going with twelve."
"But... you told Menchi you were twenty," Shizuku said, confused.
"Twenty is my mental age," Kai explained, as if it were obvious. "Twelve is my physical age."
"Oh."
"Anyway," Kai said, hopping off the bed, "all this talk is making me hungry. Let's get some food."
He stood up, and for the first time, really felt his new body. His clothes, which had been baggy on his five-year-old frame, were now... tight. The shorts were now short shorts. The t-shirt was practically a muscle-tee.
"I have... other sweatpants," Shizuku offered, noticing his predicament. "They're unisex."
"Pants!" Kai commanded, his hand outstretched. "Hand 'em over!"
...
At a small, roadside diner, Kai and Shizuku sat in a booth, eating. The small TV in the corner was blaring the local news—non-stop, sensationalist coverage of the "Gatford Marathon Bombing" at the Kosumo station.
"We're going to have to delay our plan to buy airship tickets," Kai said, his mouth full of fries.
Shizuku looked up, confused.
"Think about it," Kai said. "After that," he gestSured to the TV, "every station, every port, every airship... they're all going to be on high alert. My Hunter License is probably fine, but your papers..." he lowered his voice, "they're good, but they're not that good. They won't hold up to a high-level security check."
Shizuku's expression didn't change, but she nodded in understanding.
"Besides..." Kai pointed a fry at his own chest. "Waking up eight years older in a single nap... it feels like a waste. All that growth, all that new potential... If I don't train, right now, to match it, to master it... it feels like I'm just throwing those years away. It bugs me."
"So," he said, a new fire in his eyes, "before we leave, we train. A new goal. I'm not stopping until my Total Aura (P.O.P.) hits 10,000. Easy."
Shizuku, who had no other plans, simply nodded again.
They finished their meal, paid, and left. As they walked down the busy city street, Shizuku suddenly spoke.
"Boss?"
"Yeah?"
"If your physical body... is only twelve," she said, her voice full of genuine, analytical curiosity, "then it wouldn't have been a crime, would it?"
"What?" Kai stopped, completely baffled. It took him a second to rewind the conversation, to realize what she was referring to. His joke. Back in the room. About her dancing.
He let out a long, weary sigh and put his hand on her shoulder. "Shizuku... it's easy to fool other people. It's... really hard to fool yourself."
Shizuku watched his back as he walked away, her mind processing this.
So, she thought, he was just shy...
She wasn't sure... but she thought she might have just smiled.
That evening. The motel room.
Kai and Shizuku stood facing each other, both of them in their training stances, both of them holding a full, maximum-output Ken.
Suddenly, Kai's eyes snapped open. "Wait."
Shizuku opened her eyes.
They both "Ah'd" at the same time, and then slowly turned to look at the open window, where the birds were conspicuously absent.
"We... forgot to feed the birds..."
(End of Chapter)