I awoke the next morning to the sound of servants bustling about the corridors but their activity was no longer for me. No one came to prepare my usual routines, no master called me to the dojos. And the pity-laden expressions that had previously stung me were now replaced by complete indifference. Officially, my cursed-less body meant I could no longer be trained as a sorcerer.
Instead, my mornings began with chores. The things that servants normally did, they now made me do too: sweeping the stone floors until my arms ached, scrubbing the wooden panels until my palms burned, carrying buckets of water heavier than I thought a ten-year-old should be responsible for. Even feeding the household's animals fell on me. Every task was a constant reminder of my uselessness.
My mother argued on my behalf more than once, her voice pleading, her hands clenched tight as she tried to protect me from this new humiliation. "Even if he cannot train as a sorcerer," she said."he should not be punished with labor meant for servants. He is still your blood!"
But the head's mind was made and carved in stone. "That's his role now" he replied coldly, "and he must learn to perfect, atleast it."
And my father… the man who had once whispered to me that I would become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, who had painted the sky with impossible dreams? He was gone, he didn't even speak to me anymore, didn't glance my way and offered no sympathy to the bruising sting of his son's new reality. I didn't know if he still believed in me or if he ever truly had.
But I moved through my day, going from one chore to the next. Mopping, sweeping, polishing and hauling, my body exhausted before I even had a moment to think.
The world of sorcery that had once seemed like a vast horizon now felt like a prison with bars made of expectation and rejection.
And yet… a flicker of something stubborn burned in my chest. I couldn't let this be the end. I wouldn't.
After doing everything they asked, doing it perfectly. I lay stretched out in the shade of the ginkgo tree near the east. And I had just closed my eyes when a shadow fell over me.
I opened my eyes and saw Jinichi.
He was a few years older than me, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and already a fully recognized sorcerer. And most of the clan treated me like a ghost but Jinichi was different. He didn't mock me, he simply saw me.
"You're awake?" he whispered, a small smile tugging at his lips.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I was always hyper-aware of his presence, this older brother figure who had inherited everything I hadn't.
"They sent me to check if you had finished cleaning the East Wing." He spoke the words with an audible sigh. And then he glanced around quickly. "Come with me, now."
He didn't wait for a reply, he simply forced me up and dragged me. We slipped out through the back gate, away from the stone corridors, until we reached the forest that lay behind the houses.
Jinichi handed me a simple stick. "Let's start with this..." he said. "as a sword, a spear or whatever you want."
I gripped the stick tighter. "I'm not allowed to train." I said quietly, though I already knew he'd ignore me.
And he did, just like I hoped he would.
Jinichi stepped back, his eyes narrowing, posture grounded. "Then don't think of it as training." he said. "Think of it as more chores."
And before I could answer, he lunged.
The wind rushed past my ear as his stick cut through the air and my body reacted on instinct, feet sliding back and stick raising in defense. The strike connected with a sharp crack that numbed my palms but I didn't drop it.
He pressed the attack, forcing me backward through the undergrowth, his movements quick but not merciless.
Each swing was a test with every feint a question: "Do you still have the will to fight?"
And I answered. Not with words but with motion.
I parried one of his blows and spun, sweeping low at his legs. He jumped back easily, laughing under his breath. "That's it. The Toji I know wouldn't quit."
We traded strikes again. And minutes passed, maybe longer. Sweat blurred my vision, my breath came ragged and yet I didn't stop. I didn't want to stop.
Because I felt alive again.
When he finally called for a break, I stumbled back and dropped the stick beside me, collapsing onto the cool earth. Jinichi sat down too, his grin softening into something almost brotherly.
"You still fight better than half the new recruits." he said. "Even without cursed energy."
I scoffed. "That doesn't matter, not here."
"It does." he replied simply. "Strength isn't always about cursed energy, Toji. You just don't see it yet."
We lay there for a while, beneath the endless canopy of green. The stars slowly began to prick the sky, one by one.
"You ever think about what you'll be?" Jinichi asked after a while, his voice quieter now.
I turned my head toward him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… when you're older. When they finally stop telling you what you can't be."
He plucked a blade of grass and rolled it between his fingers. "I want to be someone who decides my own worth. Not the clan, not the elders. Just me." he said.
I stared up at the night sky, the vast darkness dotted with fragile light. "I used to think I'd be strong." I said. "Someone who could protect my mother… make my father proud. But now..."
I stopped. The words caught somewhere between my throat and my heart. "Now I don't even know if that version of me ever existed."
Jinichi didn't answer at first. Then he said, softly, "Maybe it still does. Maybe it's just waiting."
I closed my eyes, letting the sounds of the night forest surround me.
Jinichi interrupted my silence. "Hey, let's head back." he said.
As we rose to leave, the stars overhead were glittering map. And I thought to myself: Maybe tomorrow will be different.