WChapter 557:
The Bear and the Bears That Are Made
THE WATER PRESENTATIONS were all finished. Next, they started on the wind presentations.
Unlike water magic, wind magic wasn’t visible on its own. So instead, the students would slice the lake with wind blades. This would cut a clear line through the surface of the water. They’d do that two or three times. The more skilled students could make a circle or a small whirlpool. Some could even draw on the water like it was a canvas.
“I think this would be better viewed from behind.”
The ground was higher behind the students, so it was easier to see the lake’s surface. Other people had already moved there, so we followed them over.
“They’re so talented.”
If they weren’t fast, the line they drew would disappear, so they had to be able to cast their magic quickly. A lot of students were drawing general shapes on the lake’s surface, since drawing complex things would probably be impossible. After they released a blade, they couldn’t really change the direction it went. But depending on how they twisted the air blade as it was released, they could set it on a curving path. By doing that, they could draw circles. They couldn’t do it all in one move, of course, so they would cast using both of their arms to make one half circle each. That would then become a perfect circle and finally create a huge splash in the water when the two blades met. That part of the performance was really pretty to watch.
The students kept drawing their shapes and making art on the water’s canvas. They could have done this on the field they used yesterday, but it was prettier on the water’s surface. It must have been annoying for any of the animals living in the water, though. That is, if any of the fish survived all the magic that was used here today.
The students from Yufaria could practice because the lake was nearby, but I wondered what the capital students had done. Had they practiced on a pool?
The final person to go up was Seleiyu. She carved a pretty flower pattern into the water.
“She’s amazing,” I said.
“The flower she made with wind magic is beautiful, just like the one she made with water magic.”
Making all those flowers was pretty feminine. If I had done it, everything probably would have ended up as bears.
With the wind part finished, they moved along to fire magic next. Since making shapes with fire was hard, a lot of the students struggled. It made sense—not many people could imagine forming flame into a shape.
I gathered mana in my bear puppet and made a bear-shaped flame.
“A bear!” Noa said in surprise as she looked on. “Is it hard to make?”
“I’m just manipulating the mana with my imagination,” I told her.
“Your imagination...”
Noa looked at her own hand.
“It’s easiest to make something that’s easy for you to picture. Since you have the opportunity to be here, you should watch what they’re doing for reference later on.”
“Of course.”
Noa looked over at the lake. All the students were using their imaginations to form the flames into shapes.
“They’re so spectacular.”
Someone made a wolf from flames, and a cheer broke out. I guess you could call that a fire wolf. Visualizing something like that would be pretty hard. Trying to make one while in the midst of combat would be too difficult, but honing your imagination could help.
Soon Seleiyu, always the star of the show, stepped forward. She created a cloud of flames in the shape of birds and sent them flying off, which caused the crowd to erupt in applause.
The fire birds flew, free in the sky, circling around. Everyone was mesmerized. Finally, the birds disappeared and Seleiyu bowed, finishing her act. Seleiyu really was amazing.
“Shia didn’t participate this time,” Noa said.
“No, but maybe she’ll enter for some other type of magic?”
Shia hadn’t performed for the fire magic portion, but she hadn’t told us she wouldn’t be part of the fabrication magic either. I figured she’d be part of the next portion, which was earth magic.
Soon, the final part of the performance began. I wondered how they would organize the earth magic portion. It was going to be held in front of the lake. Apparently, this was the main act, since all the students lined up to the side. Shia and Seleiyu were among them.
“There’s Shia.”
Each of the students started to create whatever they wanted using earth magic. Since they all started at the same time, everyone started to stir excitedly around them.
“Oh! Shia is making a bear!”
She was. Among all the students making things from earth magic, Shia was making a bear statue. It wasn’t a real bear, either. It looked just like one of the cute bears I liked to make.
“Ugh. That’s no fair. I wanted to make a bear,” Noa said.
After pointing out that she wanted to use magic to make bears minutes earlier, Noa seemed upset that her sister beat her to the punch. She pouted.
As each student finished making their statues, the audience clapped. Shia’s bear seemed strangely popular, and a large crowd gathered in front of it. Seleiyu hadn’t participated in this event—she must have wanted to preserve her mana.
But then finally, all the pieces crumbled, and people let out disappointed groans. The fabrication magic event was over, so we headed from the lake back to the field. As we were walking, Shia came up to us.
“How could you, Shia! Why did you make a bear first?!” Noa asked her.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
Shia had no idea what Noa was talking about, so I filled her in.
“Noa said that she wanted to make a bear once she learned how to use magic, but you beat her to it.”
“It’s not fair!”
“Why did you make a bear, anyway?” I asked.
“I’ve actually been practicing ever since you made that one at the academy festival.”
It was true, I’d made a bear as a sort of mascot to bring more customers to her booth when she was selling cotton candy.
“I only made it because I thought you’d like it, Noa. I’m sorry.”
Shia patted Noa’s head. I guess it was supposed to be a surprise for her.
“Well, I can’t be upset now, can I? That bear you made was very cute.”
“I guess you two have a lot in common,” I said.
“I think we were both just influenced by you, Yuna.”
I didn’t know what to say in response. I couldn’t deny that I was the reason for both Noa’s love of bears and Shia’s creation of one.
I tried to change the subject.
“So what’s next?”
“We’re doing a team competition. Everyone from the academies will gather for it.”
Ah, this was what she had been talking about yesterday, then. Supposedly, this was to be the last event.
According to Shia, there’d be a flag set up in each team’s territory, and the opposing team had to try to bring it down by using magic to burn it, cut it down, knock stuff into it or whatever else they could think of. The teams would also use magic to try to protect their own flag.
Shia explained the rules to us as we headed to the field grounds. I saw six flags on each side of the field. They were spaced apart and had white circles drawn around them. Apparently, one person could stand within the circle to protect each flag from the opponents.