The ritual room was still being de-contaminated from the latest demon attack and so Hoshi had no other choice but to perform his improvised dances wherever he found space. This frustrated the faculty staff to the point where they allowed him to move into a currently unused chamber at the east end of the north wing.

The room was windowless and a little run down, but the only thing he needed to be happy was space.

After spending an hour shoving what few boxes and crates there were left into one corner, the young wizard started with a few simple blessing rituals.

As perhaps the most physically active wizard the school had seen in recent years, he was never found working without a sweatband on his head and one on each wrist.

Later his fellow wizard Minghao joined him and helped put up several chalk drawn ritual circles. They had just finished when the door opened. A pink mop on top of a small man stepped into the chamber.

“Oh, I didn’t know anyone was in here.”

“Jihoonie!”

“Yes, that is my name,” replied the boy matter of fact-ly. “I’ll just grab some tools and be on my way. You didn’t mess with the boxes, right?”

“No,” said ritual master Hoshi, “they’re still alphabetically sorted. I just put them all together.”

While the short boy rummaged in the containers, Minghao said his goodbyes. “I need to do some homework. And I’m going to see what Jun is doing. Maybe he’ll let me copy his.”

Hoshi got up and looked around. “We’re done here anyway. See you at dinner, The Eight.”

“Bye, Hoshi.”

Jihoon pulled small pruning shears from a packet. “The Eight? Hoshi? Did you change your names?”

As the door closed behind the Chinese wizard, Hoshi turned to the non-magical boy. He looked forward to being alone in the room again. Jihoon was an amazing potion brewer, but unpleasant company when not in the best of moods.

“Yeah, we picked names for each other,” he said, adding in his mind Because it’s fun. Not like you would understand the concept of fun.

“Whatever, Hoshi. I’m going back to my lab.”

“Sure, see you.”

The wizard swung his short wand and called several candles into existence. They lit up at the next flick of his magic tool. He was starting to feel the lines in the magic field align along the calk drawings. Immediately he had the urge to get into the rhythm with which they pulsed. About to start swinging his arms in tune with the surrounding magic flow, he hummed.

Ah, what a marvelous feeling. Finally getting back into the beat.

Jihoon froze at the door, his thin fingers on the handle. “Wait, do you guys call me names, too?”

Oh no, he’s not going away. Ugh, do I tell him the truth? Doesn’t he already know what we call him? When was the last time he has left his potion cave for more than five minutes?

“We… call you Woozi.”

“You call me dazed?” shout-asked Jihoon aka Woozi, his voice transporting the aggressiveness of a cornered kitten.

“No, Woozi with I. The Woozler. Woozikovsky. Lord Woozington. Benito Woozolini. Woozimon, I choose you.”

Just leave. I don’t want to deal with your attitude right now. If Jeonghan hadn’t taken Seungcheol on vacation... But alas, I’ll have to make do without mom and dad to moderate here.

Hoshi took a step forward, and walked right into a magic flux line. He felt a sensation he couldn’t place. There was something, right behind Woozi. No, behind the door. Outside the room. A knot in the field, constantly bursting open and re-tying itself. How was that possible?

“Listen,” said the small man. “If you make up a name just to use it as an insult- Hey, are you not even going to look at me?”

Hoshi pointed behind the other boy. “There’s something there. In the magic field. Can’t you see? Oh right, you’re not a wizard.”

He remembered that the mundane student could not perceive what he felt himself. Despite his excellent potioneering skills Woozi was no wand user.

Woozi growled, his pink hair swaying a bit.

He looks positively feline, thought Hoshi.

Again the smaller boy turned to the door. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, your magic nonsense is of no concern to me.”

“Don’t be so brash, little kitten,” said Hoshi without thinking. He was too busy infusing the knot with analytical charms. It was a truly curious manifestation.

Woozi rotated around and stepped back into the middle of the room. “What?! Excuse you, b*tch. No more anti-sweat potions for you. How does that sound?”

Hoshi was getting slightly amused. He though Even his eyes are cat-like. Not quite on level with my 10:10 charm, but they fit the package. “You could be so cute, if you didn’t insist on-“

“Never call me the c-word.”

Pulling a little on one end of the knotty protuberance in magic space, Hoshi waved the wand slowly in the air, more or less ignoring the angry man that glared up at him. But he couldn’t keep a sly comment to himself.

“C-word? You mean ‘cute’? Because when people say ‘c-word’, they mostly mean c*nt. Not sure which c-word fits you better.”

Odd. This knot seems stuck. I can’t get it to budge one bit.

Woozi lifted the little scissors dangerously close to the taller boy’s face. “I don’t have to put up with this. You wizard lot think you’re sooo great.” He stormed away, trampling on the ground as if to punish it with every step. “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to explain to the headmaster what you just said to me and we’ll see what he-“

As soon as the boy touched the doorknob again, Hoshi managed to pluck a tiny bit of the knot away.

Reality tore open and collapsed back together.

The door was gone. Solid walls all around. Two boys trapped.

[Oops. Looks like they’re in trouble. Will Hoshi and Woozi find a way to get along? And a way to get out? And did I introduce their stage names only because I was tired of writing ‘Soonyong’ which I’m not used to calling him? Find out next time.]