CHAPTER 13

What they need is something simple, something small

Mindie was back in the Lumisphere practice rooms as soon as her classes were done for the day. She had a hearty lunch and was ready to devote the rest of her afternoon towards trying Ciara’s suggestion: manipulate her luminescent energy into a shape she could wield.

Most luminescents already instinctively know how to draw on extra energy to shape into something that would helpful in dealing with chaos. But this was something that Mindie had never trained herself to do. When she became luminescent, her instincts chose to rely on her basic martial prowess.

Even something simple could help you a lot, Ciara had told her.

She stood in the center of the practice court, holding a hand out in front of her. Then she went luminescent, her eyes glowing yellow as she did. Energy surged from her soul and encased her in an aura of the same color.

Turn it into a shape…

Clenching her hand into a fist, Mindie willed her energy into her grip. But while her concentration was outwardly sincere, internally she couldn’t decide. A katana like her sister? Floating swords she could command like her mom? Pike might not want to be a Star, but creating barriers like he could might be useful…

Her aura flared outwards, reflecting her lack of focus in wild, flailing streams. But some small portion of her soul caught wind of the spirit of her intent. With great effort, luminescence started to slowly extend out from both sides of her outstretched fist, forming something like a simple pole—

The glow in her eyes vanished, and she dropped to the ground in a fit of exhaustion as her aura flickered out. Her luminescence had broken.

Now she remembered. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of trying this before; it was that she had tried it a long time ago and failed each time. Still, she had grown up a lot since she first became a luminescent. Things could be different this time.

Mindie tried again when she felt her energy recover enough to go luminescent.

And again, she broke.

It happened a third time too. She was no closer to achieving a shape than the previous two times.

Mindie snorted at herself in sharp frustration. It seemed she couldn’t manipulate her luminescence into this even something simple shape.

It would be another while before she could recover enough to use her luminescence again—maybe when the rest of her lunch had finished digesting. She dragged herself towards the entrance to the court and sat back against the wall just beside it.

Fortunately, Mindie wasn’t one to let her troubles weigh on her. No, not at all. That would be unbecoming of someone like her, who aspired to be a Star. Sure, the idea that she couldn’t do something that all of her luminescent peers could was disheartening. But only slightly.

She bared her teeth to herself as she continued to catch her breath. “Dammit…”

Several minutes passed, and Mindie stared at nothing in particular as her breathing gradually steadied into its state of rest.

Then the door between the court and the observation area opened. Pike stuck his head through the doorway and looked this way and that before his eyes caught his constant companion right there by his feet.

He grinned. “Found you.”

“Looks like it.” Mindie drew her knees to her chest and hugged them as Pike took a seat beside her. He was going to ask what she was up to anyway, so she decided to beat him to the punch. “Ciara gave me some advice. She suggested I try forming some of my lumi into a shape or weapon.”

“Didn’t you try that back in high school?”

“Don’t remind me. I still can’t even create a simple stick. I’ve tried three times already. It feels like I wasted a whole afternoon since I have to wait to go lumi again each time.”

She scoffed, wiping a fist across her mouth like a typical thug before going back to hugging her knees. “Everyone else on the Tour seems to do just fine. Like Ryan. He can make whole flames without breaking.”

“Sounds tough.”

Mindie groaned, burying her face between her knees. “What do I do now…?”

“Hey. Being gloomy is my shtick. And it’s too early for you to start being down on yourself.”

Pike leaned over and gently knocked the side of his head against hers. He knew how badly she wanted to rise above her fellow Stars; he could feel how frustrated she was. As her biggest supporter (he was pretty sure he was), he wanted her to achieve that goal just as much as she did.

“What if you just channeled your luminescence into a real object?”

Mindie looked at him, dejected but with a hint of curiosity.

“Think about it. Our luminescence covers our entire body as we will it. So, what if you held like, a stick or something and channeled some energy into that too? Doesn’t your sister have an actual sword she practices with?”

“That’s an idea. But lugging around a physical sword all the time sounds like a bit of a pain. It’s not like any of that will fit into my backpack.”

“Go full otaku; wear a sword on your belt the entire time.”

The image that popped into her head started with her walking around campus with a sword at her waist. Then it added her in a flashy outfit worthy of a shonen anime protagonist. Oh, and the spikey hair—can’t forget that anime staple. And what’s this evil doer trying to pull in front of her? She’ll just raise her sword and glow with a golden aura of power that would smite this foe—

Her imagination ran so bizarre in just that single, snowball of a moment that it flushed away all her frustration in a distracted fit. Mindie threw her head back, bursting out in laughter. The back of her head smacked itself against the wall, squishing her messy updo, which only made her laugh harder after a momentary wince.

“I’m not as hardcore as you, you weeb.” She pulled at her hair bun and let it fall away unselfconsciously for a moment before she began to deftly redo it, beaming at her partner. “Actually, any new anime recommendations for me? I’ve kind of been starved for a good show. It feels like there’s nothing but isekai trash lately.”

“Which you still end up binging…” Not a hardcore weeb, huh. Pike shrugged and shook his head helplessly. “Nope, not until next season.”

“Bummer… Anyway, I can’t just hope that some random crowbar or tree branch will be within grabbing distance each time I go lumi. What I need is to somehow give my energy level a boost so I can shape something myself.”

“That’s what all that training with your mom is for, right?”

“Yeah…” Mindie finished redoing her hair and leaned against Pike’s shoulder. “I wonder if it’s too much for me to ask to have something small and packed with extra power that I can bring around to shape into some kind of weapon—like some kind of magical, transforming locket.” She snorted out another small laugh. “That makes me sound like some magical anime girl trope, huh.”

But the idea seemed to strike a chord with Pike. “Some kind of locket…”

His eyes drifted over Mindie’s familiar form, and his focus trained itself on something he hadn’t given thought to in a long time: her heart-shaped earring. The simple pinkish-red piece of jewelry dangled from her left ear.

As he locked his gaze on it, a scene from their high school days flashed through his mind. Valentine’s Day. Mindie was so excited about this earring she had gotten, hooking it through the piercing of her earlobe and showing it off to him…

The silence that followed was telltale for Mindie. She nestled herself closer to him, settling in the crook of his neck. A smile touched her lips. “Is that artist’s mind of yours in gear again?”

“Heh. Yeah.”

As they sat propped up against each other, simply enjoying the silence, the reflection of a figure could be seen against the observation plexiglass. Her dark eyes leered at the pair. Her eyebrows knitted in disapproval.

Ciara scowled. “And there you are, slacking off with him again…”

=-=-=

It was already getting dark by the time Pike and Mindie left the Lumisphere. Mindie had decided to try shaping something from her luminescence one more time, but once again nothing came from it. With a bit of encouragement from her partner, her frustrations were mollified fairly quickly—replaced by the notion of dinner at home to look forward to. She invited Pike to join them, but he respectfully declined and assured her he would take her up on the offer sometime soon.

“All right.” Mindie waved over her shoulder as she parted ways with him. “I’ll text you later!”

“Sounds good!”

Pike watched as she wheeled away on her rollerblades, her form intermittently illuminated by the line of lampposts along the sidewalk until she was too far away to recognize. Then, he turned the other way and pulled out his phone. After scrolling through his list of contacts, he found the one he was looking for and tapped the name for a call.

As the call-waiting tone rang against his ear, he held Mindie’s earring up to his eye level and examined it with a certain thoughtful regard.

The voice on the other side of the line acknowledged his call. “…Hey, Tita She. Are you free? I wanted to ask you something.”