“Ready?” Lune asked me.

“Yeah!” I shouted back, “I’ll get it right this time for sure!”

“Alright! I like the enthusiasm! How about this time trying something simple – a piece of paper.”

With the parameters set, I closed my eyes as I imagined a piece of paper form in my hands. Just like Lune explained, I stopped paying any and all attention to my surroundings and made the hand symbol, trying to replicate it to be as close to his as possible. Right, a piece of paper – made of dried bark, it is essentially a blank canvas on which one can write or draw whatever they please. From it an infinite amount of possibilities stems, as long as the person writing on it so wishes it. That is what a piece of paper is! Now, all I need to do is open my eyes, and I will have this very piece of paper in my hands…!

“…?” I took a peek and saw only my empty palms, “Argh! It’s impossible! I’ve been practicing over and over for weeks now and I still haven’t managed to recreate a single Iro Ability so far!”

“Hey, hey! Don’t give up!” Lune urged me to continue, “You were this close to getting Materialize down just the other day, so what’s the holdup?”

“The holdup is that I can’t make anything pop out of thin air no matter how hard I try! That’s just not how the world works! It’s illogical! What ever happened to the Law of Equivalent Exchange?! And why did we have to start at Materialize of all things? Didn’t you say that that was the last one you yourself got down?”

At this, Lune gave me a deer in the headlights look before plainly stating, “Well, since it’s the last thing I learned, I figured it’d be easiest to teach given the fact that it’s still fresh in my mind.”

You selfish prick! This whole time you were only doing things out of order because it was easier for you?! God damn this idiot tutor of mine! He’s been a nuisance in my life ever since he suddenly appeared in Oden! It’s one thing to be bothering me during work time, since that usually means I get to skip out on it in favor of training, but he’s living with Joseph and I as well! I can’t get a moment of reprieve from him, and Joseph has only gotten more annoying 'cause of his frequent comments of Why can't you be as talkative as Lune here? Argh, it's pissing me off!

“Lune, let’s just start from the beginning, alright?” I suggested, “Please teach me how to use Spark first. That seems like a beginner-friendly thing to go for.”

“Hmm…” He gave me a worried expression, “But didn’t you say you didn’t want to present ‘Spewing fire out of your hands’ to the Mobius Award Officials?”

“I changed my mind! I’d rather present anything than nothing at this point! We’re running out of time with each passing second! The Awards are just over a week away!”

Lune wasn’t feeling any sort of pressure from this warning of mine. It’s like he couldn’t care less about being an attendee at the Mobius Awards! I genuinely couldn’t care about whether or not you care, but you should at least help me get in, dammit! Don’t be a jackass, come on! Show some spirit!

“Alright then, how pissed are you right now?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Pretty damned pissed 'cause you’re not taking this seriously at all.”

“What? Seriously? Phahahaha!”

Huh? What’s he laughing at?! That’s rather rude, you know! I’m doing my best trying to fight desperately for my dream, and you laugh in my face?! You damned, insolent fool!

“Wait, you’re seriously pissed from just this much? Heh, I figured from your height that you wouldn’t be all that much, but I at least kind of had some semblance of hope for you because you were talking so high and mighty about getting to the top and all that.”

“Hmph! So what? Got a problem with that?!”

“Well, not really. I couldn’t care less about whether or not we embarrass ourselves on the Awards or not. If we show up with nothing, then only Sol will become the laughingstock of the world, not Lune. I can just save face from the competition and go back home to a lovely wife and kid. You on the other hand? Hah, oh, it’s too hilarious to even think about!”

Cracking my fingers out of pure frustration, I pondered just why exactly Lune was acting this differently than usual. What the fuck is this guy’s deal all of a sudden?! He was so supportive this whole ass time and now he’s suddenly grown an attitude?! What’s with all these damned jeers? Is he trying to start a fight or something? I’ll beat him to the ground!

“Hey,” Lune thought to ask, “Wanna just tell the officials that we won’t be going? It’d be the best option given your situation. Remember, I’m doing this for you.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I suddenly yelled out my first vulgarity in a long time.

It was in that exact moment that I noticed my fingertips grow warm. Checking again, I finally realized Lune’s intentions this whole time. He knew I was better at the theory side of learning, but when practice came into the equation, I was as useless as a dead fish. That’s why he wanted to rile me up so I could use Spark without thinking about it at all. Heh, that damned bastard…!

“This…!” I looked at my fingers, “Spark! I used Spark for the first time! And it was this simple!”

In the very next moment, the edges of my field of vision went back to normal, and the sparks died out pretty fast. Saddened, I checked the expression of my tutor, only to see him be totally ecstatic over just this much.

“You did it!” He grabbed my hands as he jumped around in place like a little girl, “I was getting worried that my plan wasn’t gonna work and I’d only be discouraging you, but thank Prylos you’re so devoted to your dreams!”

I had almost cracked a smile given the situation, but the moment he mentioned that fake God of his, I immediately started berating him.

“Prylos? Lune, stop believing in that damned faker! Our true God is the God of Sun, not that Meditation or Mediation poppycock you believe in!”

“Dude," Lune gave me a somewhat ticked expression, "I’ll believe in whoever I want, we’ve been over this countless times before. Just let it go, alright? I’ve never even heard of this Sun God you speak of anyways.”

“That’s because I still haven’t found out the secret behind him yet!” I defended my religion, “But I will, once I get into the Library of a Thousand Passages! Just you wait!”

Lune didn’t refute my lofty goals and purely egotistical claims, and instead pushed me towards them, spouting stuff like That’s the spirit! and Prove ‘em wrong for me, okay? Geez, I cussed out such a supportive teacher for no reason…

“Alright then!” Lune patted me on the back, “Now that you properly realize that Iro Abilities come from your emotions and have gotten the feel of using an Iro Ability, how about we try and strike the iron while it’s hot?”

“You don’t mean…?”

“Yep! Next up on the list is Going Solipsistic!”

***

Fuck this. I’m pretty much ready to throw in the towel on this entire damned thing at any moment. Since then, it’s been a couple more days. After Lune taught me Spark, I skipped Going Solipsistic as I was never much of a fighter, so I had no use for it and I finally came back full circle as I once again began working on understanding the basic principles of using Materialize.

That being the case, I still don’t understand how it works at all! If a Red Iro represents Rage, and a Gray Iro represents Solipsism, then what the hell does Blue represent? Lune explained that Blue basically believes in the Elegance of Creation or something like that, but I don’t know what that means, so it’s of no use to me at all!

“Hey, Lune.” I decided to swallow my pride and ask, “When was the first time you used Materialize, anyway?”

“My first time?” He chuckled before recalling something that wiped the smile off his face, “The first time was with a shield, and-! ...I don’t really want to remember that day, after all…”

“?”

“Oh! But I can tell you all about my second time! Since the first time was actually a fluke (as you can imagine), I think the second time would probably be of more use to you anyways!”

Alright then, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of all his adventurer’s tales he’s constantly been bragging to me about, but I’ve got no other choice but to hear him out this time. It’s crucial if I am to attain my dream!

“Ahem!” Lune began his story, “It was actually a couple months ago. Back in winter. My wife just died and I was pretty bummed out, honestly.”

“As one would imagine.” I injected my own thoughts into the story.

“…Right. Anyways, during that period where all I was doing was paperwork and tying up loose ends, I recalled the first time I had used Materialize, and I wanted to try replicating it, since I felt it could prove useful for later.”

“See, this is why you should just tell me about the first time. I feel like I could understand the story way better if you’d just stop trying to be mysterious and secretive about it.”

“Hey! Will you stop interrupting my sad and depressing backstory for how I figured out Materialize, already?!”

“Right, sorry. Please continue.”

“THANK YOU! In any case, where was I? Oh right, I recalled the first time I used it, and I noticed that what I had summoned wasn’t just any old shield, but rather a very specific shield I had seen before in my life. Add to this the fact that a foreign friend of mine named Issei explained to me that the world is comprised of many small particles named Atoms, and I began thinking that I’m not actually ‘Materializing’ things in my hands out of thin air, but in fact simply ‘Manipulating the Particles in it to create a Wormhole to the item I want to Summon.’”

What...?

“And presto.” He demonstrated by stealing a button from my clothes, “After that it’s as simple as yanking it out of the wormhole. Pretty straightforward, all thing’s considered.”

“What part of any of that is straightforward?! Wormholes? Atoms? Particles? Explain things in more detail, jackass!”

“Whoa, you’ve gotten pretty good at swearing at me, y’know?”

“That’s because you’re the only bastard who genuinely makes me this mad around here.”

“Good. That means I’m finally getting through to you! Glad to hear my newest friend is getting used to how I do things~!”

I had contemplated acting like I started acting on the Red Iro’s influence, but I restrained myself because I felt bad. He’d probably just force me to practice some more if I went ahead with it, anyways, so it’s good that I didn’t do anything like that.

“Haah, alright. Truth is, after failing countless times,” Lune actually started talking about how he figured out Materialize, "I had went to visit my wife, who was still being preserved under the Willow Tree on our Honeymoon location of Lichtenstelle."

"Lichtenstelle? That's the place that used to be called the Island of Exuul, right? And don't you mean buried, not preserved?"

"No, my wife is a bit claustrophobic, so her dying wish was for me to not bury her. I'm keeping her body preserved under the Willow Tree thanks to a process known as embalming. I cover the body in oil and then wrap her up in some linen. Of course, before all that I needed to take away any and all moisture from the body, but I don't think you'd wanna hear about all that."

"You're certainly right. I really don't wanna know."

"And to answer your previous question - yes, that's Lichtenstelle. I named it after our yet-to-be-born son or daughter. They were to be named Licht if they were a boy, so that was my way of hoping for a son."

"...I see. I don't believe I've said this to you before, but my condolences." I felt it was a fitting thing to say.

"It's alright." He smiled weakly, "She's in a better place now, I know that for a fact."

"How so?"

"Well," he fiddled with the button he took from me, "Anywhere's better than here, am I right? The world, I mean."

These depressing words, couple with his manner of saying them sort of made my heart ache. I dislike it when people are sad, it's genuinely an awkward situation for everyone else. An inconvenience, if you will. Don't get me wrong, I do feel bad for him after spending these few weeks listening to his endless tirades about his love life and other relationships he's formed, as well as the hardships he's faced, but deep down there's still a side of me that thinks What do you want me to do about it?

That being the case, even I could tell that there in fact was something I could do to alleviate his pain, and that was to succeed in realizing my own dreams. I've noticed from the way he acts around me that he sees a bit of himself in me, so I can definitely see why he's sticking with such an egotistical person as I am. As such, I tried imitating his hand sign and intentions as a sort of last ditch effort, and in doing so I had apparently surprised both myself and him with what I had done. Namely, the brown button that Lune stole from me using Materialize had poofed away from his hand and somehow appeared in mine.

“…” We both stood there like idiots admiring a shirt’s button.

“That was just a fluke, okay?” I tried to sound humble.

Whilst Lune was laughing at me for doing something I kept saying was impossible, I had actually tried to replicate what I had done once again, but to no avail. So ha, tutor of mine! It was a fluke, after all! Wait, that’s not good…

We then tried a couple more times, each time trying out a variety of items, but I just couldn’t imagine them popping into my hand the same way the button did. I knew what a button was, it’s simple in structure, but how the hell does he expect me to understand what a longsword looks like, or even a simple plank of wood for that matter?! I don’t know what the tree that was cut up to make that plank of wood looked like, and I certainly can’t imagine what the ore of the metal used to cast the sword looked like!

Geez, how the hell did I even do that to begin with? I can take buttons easy-peasy, but anything else is a no-go. God, why a button of all things? And the worst part is that the buttons that I can Materialize, unlike with Lune’s case, have to be within a set range to be Materialized! What the hell kind of useless power is that?! Stealing buttons from people only within close proximity to me? Get outta here!