This made Takeo pause, his back turned to Tsuchi for a moment. "No... no, I doubt it is them. But, surely," he turned to look at the door, suspicious for a moment, as if expecting either of them to come in any minute, "they wouldn't know anything about this, now, would they?"

He hesitated.

"Oubai wouldn't play with strings. Oubai sets laws. Oubai interprets those laws. He tells you and tries to convince you of what he thinks is good for you-- but he doesn't manipulate. Not consciously. I think he finds satisfaction in getting one to admit that he's right," he said, slipping into this topic, into talking about his classmates, because this whole, crazy idea that they had magic was so hard to tackle that it was much easier to talk about simpler things... "But Terumi, I wouldn't be so sure of. He seems nice, and that's what worries me. I've never met a truly nice person that can be so..."

He struggled for a way of putting it.

"Even. So constant in his niceness. Nice people falter. Nice people have off days. But ever since I met him, he's got a perfect record."