Friends — Meilin

Did she just ask me for help?

How odd…

Well, I suppose I can go. I hope it’s not another trap. “Sure. Haruki, let’s go.”

“Okay, nya!”

“Thank you,” the girl bowed, “Thank you so much.”

“Lead the way.”

The girl gently held my hand and guided us forward.

This feeling...it feels familiar.

But I can’t remember what it was.

The girl had honey blonde hair, tied into double low buns with big red ribbons. Her eyes were a lovely emerald green. She wore a tidy uniform which reminded me of my old school.

Urgh— those memories. I’d like to have them erased.

We finally arrived at the place the girl brought us to. It was an orphanage…

The girl led us to a small bedroom, with a child coughing terribly. Some other children were surrounding the bed, and were shooed away by the girl.

“This is Souta. He’s been sick for quite a long time, almost a year. The orphanage has tried to find different doctors to attend to him, but all of them were unsuccessful in curing him.”

The child gasped, perhaps in pain, or perhaps as an attempt to say something.

“Big sis Himari…There’s a witch.”

The child stared at me with tired eyes, breathing heavily.

Himari stroked his hair affectionately, “It’s alright. This witch can help us.”

She looked at me with pleading eyes. “Since we couldn’t cure his illness, our last resort was to find a witch who could cast healing spells.”

She fiddled with her fingers, “But witches are hard to find these days…due to, you know. Anyway, we’re fortunate to have found you, and we were hoping you could help cure Souta. Please. He’s been suffering too much.”

I nodded. I've been in hospitals a bit too much in my past life. That poor child— it must be painful for him.

“I could help you. But there’s a teeny problem…” I explained my situation to Himari, who was both shocked and slightly disappointed.

“So…you were from another world, and woke up as a witch. You don’t know how to cast spells? Like at all? But it’s okay if you can’t cast spells. We’re lucky even to find a witch who agreed to help us anyway. So don’t be too pressured!” Himari forced a smile.

Even though she tried her best to hide it, I could tell she was disappointed to find an amateur witch who couldn’t cast spells, let alone healing spells.

“We could try, nya!” Haruki meowed, grabbing a spell book out of the thin air.

“Madame Meilin might be new to these sorts of things, but I’m a very experienced cat, nya! I’ve seen plenty of my previous owners cast spells, of all different styles!”

Himari’s eyes lit up. “Really? Thank you so much!” She grabbed my shoulders and shook me dizzy in excitement. “Yay!”

“Madame Meilin, please put your orb inside the cage for me, nya!”

I grabbed my wish orb, which seemed to glow brighter, and placed it in the cage as Haruki instructed.

“That’s…the wish orb?” Himari’s eyes reflected the glow of the orb. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, nya! Madame Meilin stumbled upon it on the way to Kazemura.”

“How can you even stumble upon an orb?”

“Extreme luck, nya?”

“Fair enough.”

Haruki flipped through the pages of the spell book. “Aha! This one.” “Nya, Madame Meilin, project your staff at Souta, focus your energy at the tip of the staff. And repeat after me:”

“Life at the tip of my fingers,

Energy is flowing through my veins.

Let this sickness, which lingers,

Be set aflight like cranes!”

I repeated the exact words, and a light beam was shot at Souta.

Life seemed to be restored to his body instantly. His face was no longer paper white, and his tired eyes turned into ones full of energy.

I…did it?

Is it that easy?

The wish orb really is powerful.

Everyone gasped— even the children peeking through the doorway.

Souta opened his mouth:

“I feel…great. I want to play soccer again!”

Himari was overjoyed as she pulled Souta into her embrace, “Oh, Souta, my Souta is back.”

She turned to me with tears in her eyes, “I can’t thank you enough. Really. You saved my Souta.”

I managed to smile a little. I was pretty worried about casting the spell wrong, but I guess I got it after all. “It’s nothing.”

The children from outside all rushed in and surrounded me, all shouting excitedly:

“Miss Witch! That spell was so cool!”

“Can you teach me?”

“I wanna be a witch!”

If I had saved Haokei that day, would my classmates have the same reaction as these children?

“Nya! You have immense power!” Haruki bounced around in the air again. He seemed to do this whenever he got excited. Let’s just call this his happy dance.

“I never expected a witch who had just gotten a new orb, let alone one with no experience, to cure a person completely with only one single spell! I bet you don’t even need to recite spells, just saying a word would be enough—nya!”

“Do witches normally not be able to cast spells after obtaining a new orb?”

“Well, nya. Most have to adjust for a while first. Still, I cannot believe that you healed him with such a simple and weak spell! The wish orb’s power has grown stronger since the last time Madame Cecilia used it, nya!”

Himari twisted her neck so fast I thought she would’ve suffered from whiplash.

“Cecilia? You mean the Cecilia who saved the Kingdom of Izumo from doom and became a deity with the wish orb?”

“Yep.” Haruki held his head up high. “Madame Cecilia was my previous owner, nya! I helped her through various challenges to save the kingdom and make that wish!”

“That’s incredible, kitty!” Himari petted Haruki’s head, then turned to me. “What’s this little one’s name? He’s so smart and super adorable!”

“I’m Haruki! Haruki Kazenya!”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Haruki Kazenya! Oh, and I didn’t quite catch your name?”

Himari’s gaze fell upon me again.

“I’m Meilin. Mak Meilin. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Himari—”

“Kaji. Himari Kaji.” She beamed and took my hand, shaking it violently. “It’s nice to meet a new friend!”

Friend…huh

Now I know why I got a familiar feeling.

She reminds me of Haokei.

Guess this world isn’t that bad after all.