Jason used his meditation session to settle himself. Afterwards, to keep himself distracted, he decided to undertake a project he’d been thinking about and created a simple but original magical item. The magic theory collection he had inherited from Farrah didn’t have any advanced materials on artifice, the study of magic item creation. It did have some comprehensive, foundational works, however.
Farrah’s ritual magic specialty was related to formations and arrays, which had some interdisciplinary crossover with artifice. Formations were permanent or semi-permanent ritual effects. Arrays were formations layered in sequence or even atop one another. The array of ritual effects on the Network’s headquarters was beyond Jason’s ability to decipher, but he had no doubt that Farrah would have handled it easily.
After Clive’s months of tutelage, Jason was able to take in the fundamentals of artifice theory in a few hours. His existing skill book knowledge was incredibly useful in enhancing comprehension, as was his spirit attribute. Improved memory and learning speed were both aspects of spirit attribute enhancement that frequently went overlooked by adventurers. Jason learned of it from Clive, during one of many early attempts to get Jason more engaged with magical theory.
Jason’s project was to create a new variation of his throwing darts, the simple magic item he knew best. His plan was to combine some simple magic with materials produced by the chemical and engineering knowledge of his own world.
After plotting out the initial test design, he needed some materials. Some were basic stuff he had taken into the astral space and of which he had a decent amount of left over. He’d done a good job of hoarding his limited resources, always prioritising powers over wasting his consumables. Many of the non-magical materials for his project would require a trip to the hardware store.
He left the houseboat and was walking along the pier when he heard someone yell out.
“Kaito!”
Jason turned at the sound of his brother’s name. Someone was jogging along the pier, waving at him. Jason recognised him as Lawrence, one of his high school contemporaries.
“Kaito,” Lawrence greeted as he caught up. “Hey, man. I haven’t seen you in what? Six years.”
“Something like that,” Jason said. “How’ve you been, Lawman?”
Lawrence laughed.
“Lawman,” he said, shaking his head. “I haven’t heard that in a long time. I’m just back in town selling my old man’s boat. You’re looking good, man. I’ve heard you’ve got, what? Three kids now?”
“Two,” Jason said.
“Right. I never picked you for the settling down type. With that Amy girl too. She did get hot that last year of high school, but hadn’t you left by then? I thought she’d end up with your brother.”
“So did he.”
“Oh, you dog,” Lawrence chortled. “I was sorry to hear about your brother, though.”
“Thanks.”
“We should catch a drink while I’m in town.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Jason said. “Two kids, man. Just getting a good night’s sleep is a win.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” Lawrence said. “This is why I like a nice, clean child support payment. I haven’t seen any of mine and I’m not going to. I make sure the baby-mamas know better than to let the little filth-balls anywhere near me if they want those payments to clear nice and promptly.”
“It sounds like you’ve found the lifestyle that’s right for you,” Jason said.
“Damn right. All it took was a few loans from my dad and I’ve got a thriving business. Alright, I’ll see you around, brother!”
Jason watched with distaste as Lawrence walked away. It felt like the man’s personality somehow left an oily residue.
Jason went to a hardware store to make some purchases. When he arrived at the one he knew, it had been replaced by a fish shop. Jason was reminded that the world hadn’t sat still in the six years since he last came home, and he had to look up a new hardware store on his phone. He could only find one of the big warehouse chains that presumably had squeezed out the local proprietors. At least the large store was able to supply him with the things he was looking for.
After returning home, he didn’t immediately dig into his purchases. He found himself processing having been mistakenly recognised as his brother. It was a little unnerving; that was usually a mistake made only by the deeply racist. For all of Lawrence’s many faults, being racist was not one of them. Lawrence hadn’t known Jason or his brother well and high school had been a long time ago, but it was still startling.
Jason found himself in front of a mirror. Now that he looked, he could see the resemblance. The physique-refining process of going up two ranks had significantly enhanced the family resemblance. His skin was clearer, the chin less pronounced. Jason’s face was still more angular than his brother’s. His mouth moved more easily into a grin than Kaito’s signature easy-going smile. He flashed that smile in the mirror with the open, inviting casualness that Kaito naturally exuded. Jason had spent years working to emulate it.
Looking at that smile in the mirror, he really did look like his brother. The smile fell away, the sparkling eyes replaced with a cold stare. He frowned unhappily and the mirror dissolved back into cloud-stuff, sinking into the wall.
“What are you doing?” Hiro asked as he and Taika returned to the houseboat. Jason was on the deck stirring the contents of a large tub with a stick.
“Making a ballistic gel mixture,” Jason said. “I couldn’t get exactly what I was after at the hardware store, but I picked up what should be a good substitute. Once I make some adjustments based on what I found on the internet anyway. Did you get a good car?”
Hiro’s last car had not been released from the police after being shot a number of times, so they had been out procuring a new one. Hiro’s brother, Jason’s father, had driven them to Castle Reach, which was the wealthiest of the small towns making up the Greater Casselton area.
“Wasn’t a problem,” Hiro said.
“That Castle Reach is a fancy town,” Taika said. “It’s all boutique stores and big houses. You don’t see a lot of small towns with European car dealerships.”
“I called in on your grandmother while I was there,” Hiro said.
“Yeah?” Jason said. “How did your mum respond to you turning over a new leaf?”
“It’s a work in progress,” Hiro said evasively. “Your father wanted to come check out where we were staying. I told him I’d show him around on Sunday, so no getting nervous and backing out on the big reveal.”
“It never crossed my mind,” Jason lied.
Jason sat on a chair in his room. He’d distracted himself with his project for a while, but once again, his mind was occupied by the upcoming reunion with his family. If it were just that he’d been away, that was one thing. But even without them thinking he was dead, there was a lot of baggage to deal with.
Upon first arriving in town, Jason had sent Shade to watch over his sister, his father, and his niece. If the Network or anyone else made a move against them, he wanted to be ready to respond. Thus far, he had respected their privacy enough to have Shade keep what he saw to himself.
“Mr Asano,” Shade said. “Your niece seems likely to become involved in an altercation in the immediate future.”