Aura Massage
"Alright, shall we sit and talk while admiring the scenery?"
I'm encouraging Shark to sit next to me by laying down a dried susuki grass and using it as a cushion, instead of a mat.
"………"
Shark sits without saying a word on the dried susuki grass.
Stage one success. It seems she's uncomfortable with direct eye contact when talking to people. Shark tends to stare directly into your eyes. If she doesn't fix that soon, she'll make unnecessary enemies like me.
In contrast, Serai-san always smiles when our eyes meet, and Nina-san smiles softly. That's probably one of the big reasons why they're popular. It's not just because they're pretty.
"……"
Since Shark doesn't speak up, I wait for her to start talking while I gaze at the scenery. I know I should take my time, and talk at my own pace in situations like this, being bad at talking.
"Hey..."
"Yeah...?"
"Why is Jung so good at using skills?"
"Hmm..."
To put it bluntly, the answer would be "because I'm an otaku".
If grown adults were to use words like 'dungeon', 'monsters', 'magic', and 'skills' in everyday conversations, they would have been laughed at as incompetent members of society based on the previous common sense.
But that common sense has been shattered.
Dungeons have appeared, causing frequent subway closures and disruptions to the lifeline. Monsters have emerged on the surface, attacking many people and causing panic. Amid these disturbances, those who gained powers such as magic and skills have been active, saving lives and being commended.
Yes, common sense has changed.
However, for those who have been firmly facing reality until now, things like 'dungeons,' 'monsters', 'magic', and 'skills' are incomprehensible foreign objects. They might unconsciously reject them as incomprehensible entities.
But otaku is different.
Otaku who haven't been facing reality so firmly have been dreaming with things like 'anime, manga, novels, and games' and have been familiar with things like 'dungeons,' 'monsters,' 'magic,' and 'skills.'
Therefore, even in a world like this, they can accept those things readily as if saying, "Yeah, I knew that." Subconsciously recognizing things like magic and skills as existing positively, the path connects smoothly without any inconvenience, and so on.
That's the feeling. That's the reason.
"Well, it's kind of... But, you didn't want that kind of answer, did you?"
"Yeah..."
It seems to come down to differences in understanding and trust in the heart.
Even if it's just a worthless placebo, when a competent doctor hands it over saying, 'This is a very effective medicine,' it might show effects even though it should be a worthless placebo.
While the Japanese aren't devout believers, I think they're more flexible in understanding and dealing with things than people from countries who believe in a single god.
However, rather than just saying 'because I'm an otaku', it's difficult for me, who's bad at explaining, to break it down so that a high school girl like Shark can understand. Saying, 'When you were a kid, you watched witch-themed anime, right? Try to remember that', and expecting her to say, 'Ah, I see!' won't happen.
Well, I was still watching it even after I turned twenty.
...
"Even if they tell me to meditate, or talk about magic or aura, I don't understand any of that at all...!"
Yeah, Shark is not just an otaku, but also a military otaku and a realist.
But today, she learned the extent of that power. She watched me defeat a boss-level monster using skills left and right. Realizing the extent of her own abilities, which could barely scratch even regular monsters, let alone boss-level ones, must have been shocking for her again.
"Hmm... for example. In Japanese, many words related to 'ki,' right? Courage, energy, weakness, strength. With so many words containing 'ki', it means Japanese people naturally recognize 'ki' as something that exists."
"Yeah..."
"So, once you recognize this 'ki,' can you imagine it existing as air... as a gas?"
"Yeah..."
"Now, if you were to compress that air. What would it become?"
"...Water?"
"Correct. When you compress air, it becomes water. That's what aura is."
"Yeah?"
Sorry, I'm not good at explaining. Since about 70% of air is nitrogen, technically, it might turn into liquid nitrogen but don't worry about that.
"If you further compress, condense, and solidify that water, what would it become?"
"Ice?"
"Yes. When you further compress, condense, and solidify it, it becomes ice. But here, 'ice' refers to... magical power."
"Water is aura? Ice is a magical power??"
"Well, it's a conceptual discussion, so don't think too hard about it. Remember that 'compressing ki creates an aura, and compressing aura creates magical power'."
"Then why can't I feel either aura or magical power?"
"Hmm, maybe because you're too energetic."
"Energetic... having lots of 'ki,' right? So why doesn't it work then?"
"Relax. You're full of energy. You have plenty of 'ki'. But right now, you're like a pot boiling without a lid, constantly boiling over, and it's not compressed at all. So in that state, how could ki turn into aura?"
"...Hmm."
"Meditating and refining ki means concentrating it with your willpower... you could say it's compressing it. By continuously increasing the density of ki, it eventually transforms into aura. It's like how air condenses and turns into liquid when cooled..."
"And then, by further compressing and condensing that liquid until it solidifies into a solid, aura eventually transforms into magical power. The logic is just that, but afterward, try to calm your mind and focus on feeling ki properly."
Hmm, I've been explaining this kind of thing all along. But each time, Shark just got teased by Seki or didn't concentrate. And I only talk to Shark on weekends anyway.
But I never thought it would have such a lasting effect.
"Right, so then. Hold your hand, palm facing up."
"Huh?"
Shark holds her right hand out, and I place my hand over it, using only the aura I've produced to give her hand a hand massage.
"Ah!?"
"You see? This is aura..."
You can't normally see it, but if you can see auras, you should be able to see the aura extending from my hand wrapping around Shark's hand like slime. And this is definitely not a residue with mass.
"Auras are invisible like this. But if it's the life energy of a living creature, denser than magical power, normal eyes can see it too. You saw the life energy light of the Evil Apostle, right...?"
"It feels warm..."
Even though I'm explaining it, Shark seems distracted by the aura massage. Oh well.
"I'll keep going like this, so remember well what it feels like to sense aura..."
"Yeah...okay..."
Under the gently sunny sky, with dried susuki swaying quietly in the breeze, I massaged Shark's hand with aura until the sun began to set.
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