New Affinity

Lying on his grassy medical bed, Taro waits for someone to come by. Glancing out of his room, he sees Lila and Haruto exit through the doorway.

Smiling, he lays back and calmly breathes.

“Can’t believe those two saved me twice.”

Looking down at the bruises on his abdomen and battered arms, his smile continues.

Crack

A commotion is heard out of Taro’s room. Glancing out the door, a broken potion glass lies on the floor.

“I’m so sorry! I…I…get shaky with stuff like this.”

Looking towards the voice, an elf student was standing there with curly blond hair covering her left eye. Beside her, a nurse uses her own wand, reciting a spell and cleaning up the mess made earlier.

“It’s alright my dear, you’re a bright girl. Don’t let your nerves get the best of you.”

“Yes ma’am.” The elf hands stop shaking as she takes out her wand.

“I’ll fix it.” Clearing her throat, she recites her incantation.

“Vitrum Reparatione.” Focusing her wand, blue energy emits and the glass begins to lightly twirl.

Piece by piece, the shards of glass reconstruct to its original appearance. Reconnecting every crack and scratch, a glass vial now sits calmly on the table.

“See Mia. You’re gifted. Keep your confidence up.” The nurse mentor lightly pats her head.

“I do need your help though, a fellow student here needs healing.”

Mia nods as she follows her mentor. Taro watches as the nurse and the elf enter his room.

“Hello, I’m Nurse Keiko and this is my mentee, Mia. Let’s take a look at you. Mia, prepare to hand me the supplies.” Keiko points to some medicine in vials and jars.

Mia stands to the side while Keiko looks over Taro’s arms and torso. Utterly shocked by the damage, Keiko immediately rushes over to get bandages.

“Mia, hand me the jars of Vita Water and give me the tincture of Self Heal.” Mia immediately grabs the jars at her side and rushes them over to her.

Mia accidentally drops a jar as Keiko grabs some jars of Vita Water.

“Here’ drink these jars.”

Taro follows her instructions and drinks them. Immediately, he feels the elixir in his stomach traveling down to his intestines and as they’re soaked up and travel in his bloodstream.

All of the pain in him goes away as Keiko grabs the tincture and soaks a rag in it. She applies it all over his arms and torso and rubs it in.

“Whoa, hey lady, that’s a bit rough.”

“Mia, give me another jar of Vita Water.”

Mia steps close again and the nurse grabs the jar and lets Taro drink.

“Drink all of it please.”

Taro gulps down every drop as the pain subsides again. Keiko continues to rub the tincture on his injuries and sees every bruise covered.

“Okay, stand still. Uh, Mia, that's all for now.”

She immediately gets the bandages and uses her wand to wrap it all around his torso and arms. Blue energy courses through her as Taro no longer feels any pain and the wraps are secured.

“How do you feel now?” Keiko asks Taro.

“I feel better. There’s no pain anymore.”

“Good. You’ll have to rest for the weekend.”

Taro smiles.

“Thank you both.” Taro looks over his bandages in admiration.

Thud, thud, thud, thud

“I need all available nurses here now!”

Everyone looks over and Taro’s eyes open wide. He recognizes the student that attacked him, all knocked out and drenched.

“Mia, stay here with Taro. I have to deal with this.”

Keiko steps out as Mia stays with Taro. Mia shifts her eyes towards Taro but is visibly shy.

“My name is Taro, what’s yours?”

Mia faces Taro and breathes.

“My name is Mia.”

“Nice to meet you and thank you for your help. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in the Nurse’s office?”

Mia appears stunned by Taro’s remarks.

“You think I’m pretty?”

“Uh, yes. Elves are beautiful, just like you?”

Mia looks like on the verge of tears as her mouth trembles. Taro notices.

“You okay? Did I offend you?”

Mia rubs her eyes.

“No, it’s just…you’re the first person to call me pretty.” Taro looks surprised by her statement.

“What why?” Taro asks.

“It’s…very personal.” Mia brushes her hair that’s covering her eye.

“Well you are, don’t let some jerk tell you otherwise.”

“Thank you for your kind words.” Mia says.

“It’s no problem. Why are you learning here in the Nurse’s office?”

Mia sits next to Taro.

“I have had issues calming my nerves when handling stuff.”

“Why though?”

“Stress.” Mia rubs her hands.

“What?” A puzzled Taro asks.

“Elves are beautiful by nature, but I’m a rare one in a million where that’s not the case.”

Taro still looks confused.

“I don’t get it.”

Mia holds her hair covering her left eye.

“It’s a mark I have under my eye. It’s a symbol that I’m not pretty.”

Taro shifts his body to sit upright.

“Let me see, I swear the students here have horrible judgemental issues.” Taro reaches his hand out as Mia steps back.

“Ah, please no. I don’t want you to be repulsed by me.” Mia looks away from Taro.

“Mia, it’s okay. I’m a friend.” Mia steps back again as Taro reaches out towards her.

“It’s not just the students here, it’s my kind.”

Taro’s confused mind grows.

“Back in my village, so many of them judged my mark. Even my parents look ashamed of it.”

Taro puts his hand on his lap, held by her words.

“What? Why?”

“My mark means bad luck to any Elves around. I don’t want anyone to look at it.”

Mia begins to have tears form. Hearing her slight whimpers, Taro stands up.

“I’m not an Elf, I’m a Kitsune.” Taro replies as his tail wags side to side.

“You don’t have to show me your mark, but know that you shouldn’t let it hold you back.”

Mia looks towards Taro again, seeing him in his bandaged state.

“I have been lazy throughout my life and have been made fun of for it. People expect me to be a hunter or scavenger, but I just want to relax.”

Taro steps forward to Mia as she looks at him.

“A few friends of mine made me realize this and I don’t have to listen to people’s random criticisms for every little thing about me.”

Taro looks down at his bandaged arms and smiles.

“I won’t be able to use any spells without my arms and fingers. But I won’t let that hold me down.”

Mia looks astonished by Taro’s self hope, and smiles.

“Whoever your friends are, sounds like fantastic people.”

“Well, a human and a wand actually.” Taro chuckles as Mia turns puzzled.

“A wand?”

“You know, I think I’ll take you to them.”

Mia holds Taro back.

“You can’t. You need to heal here properly.”

“I’ll be fine Mia. Look, the nurses are busy with that guy who attacked me with despair.”

Mia's eyes open wide.

“What?!” Mia shouts.

“It’s an extremely long story, you’ll have to hear it when we get to some fellow friends.”

Taro leads Mia to the wall where no doorway is present.

“Can you use your wand to get us to dorms on the east wing? I think that’s where they are and I can’t use my fingers to conjure up a doorway.”

Mia's eyes widen again as she hears his remarks.

“Wait, you don’t have a wand? You're a wandless conjurer?”

Taro smiles, chuckles and nods as Mia takes out her wand and points it to the wall. Blue energy erupts from her wand as a doorway opens.

“You’ll love them. Come on.”

Taro grabs Mia’s hand, making her smile and slightly blush. They walk through the doorway, with a new kinship developing for the group.