Chapter 2-3: Enter, Yuki Sosuke!

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The last part! Hope you enjoy it!
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Fortunately for Touyo, his mother was taken up by her work. She received notice of a co-worker’s mistake, and thus his mother is unluckily dragged along into working overtime to fix it (She’s making sure she’s getting paid for this).

Though he felt bad that his mother had to stay for work, he was never more thankful for this opportunity. Carrying Yuki on his back, he resisted the urge to enjoy the softness of her body, and if at all possible, the slight bumps from where her torso is supposed to be.

Touyo reached to his home and opened up the door. The pleasant air of his home filled him up with relief. He ushered inside, pulling up the girl on his back before putting her right on the sofa as softly as possible. His body drained of stamina, Touyo sat by her side on the cushiony seat he dragged in from farther away. He gazed at her sleeping face—Yuki was just nonchalantly resting her time away, despite the fact that she was literally kidnapped by him.

“If my mother catches me, I’m killed in all kinds of ways…”

His heart was beating out of his chest from the sudden thought of his mother returning home early.

There was a girl lying asleep, but he wouldn’t dare touch her any more than he has to. Normally, an immoral boy his age would probably jump for a chance like this. However, Touyo was raised by his mother on the idea that women should be treated right.

Rather, what he was worried about the most is the girl waking up in his living room and deciding that Touyo was doing something malicious to her. He shuddered at the thought of newspapers going around town, claiming Touyo’s name as some kind of offender.

“I’m back!”

“Waaah!”

Appearing right in front of him, Tsubaki’s face showed from above him, her visage upside down. Touyo reacted by jumping to the edge of his seat, losing his grip on it and fell over to the floor. The cold and hard floor did not receive him kindly.

“O-Ow…” Touyo uttered out, sharp pain coursing through the side of his head.

“Oops, sorry,” Tsubaki floated above him with a slightly lackluster apology.

“Tsubaki! Please don’t surprise me like that! I’m already nervous enough as it is!”

Tsubaki snickered. “Sorry, sorry. But we got everything done!”

Tsubaki floated back up to the sofa with a confident smile on her face. Getting himself up the natural way, Touyo looked to see her wide smile.

“Did everything go well with her parents?” He asked the most important question in this scenario.

“Yes, I did,” Tsubaki answered with a haughty air around her. “I did a small hypnosis spell that made them think that she went out with her friends.”

“Wow, you can do that?”

“Well, when I first put it, they seemed so shocked that the spell almost didn’t work. So I put it in twice and they completely believe it.”

“That’s… isn’t that practically mind-wiping?”

Touyo could figure out the reason why the parents would be so shocked for Yuki to hang out with her friends. Tsubaki continuously hypnotizing them seemed overboard for him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tsubaki waved her index finger left and right. “That spell is completely safe. Complete mind control is impossible, so it’s just a mild thought. And also, by the time the next morning, they’ll believe that Yuki was in her room the whole night.”

“Wow, magic sure is convenient…”

Touyo was once again astounded by the limits magic can go for. Would he ever go evil with that sort of handy spell?

“Is she awake?”

Tsubaki floated towards the sleeping Yuki, her beautiful visage nearing Yuki’s pretty sleeping face. It created a nice picture for Touyo as Tsubaki floated away from her.

“Good, she’s still asleep.”

“Hey, Tsubaki?”

“Mmh?” She turned back to face Touyo’s curious gaze.

“How did she manage to see us? Didn’t you put some sort of barrier around us?”

Touyo recalled the barrier that disallowed the reality around them. Tsubaki went back to the sleeping girl with a curious gaze as well.

“I wonder… It’s certainly an enigma,” However, her facial expression changed to a light smile. “That’s why I’m so interested in her.”

“W-What do you mean by that?” Is that why I brought her here?” Now Touyo pressed on to the other matter at hand.

Tsubaki began to laugh to herself. “See, I decided.”

“…On what?” Touyo hesitated on asking.

“I’ll make her into my student!”

“A-Ahh!?” The words alone made him step back in shock. “Y-You’re taking her in?! Is that why she’s here?!”

“Right!”

“B-But why? I thought I was your student! A-Am I getting kicked out?!”

The fear of being taken over by another person grabbed his heart. He only just started learning about magic, and now he’s about to be booted out on the third day.

“No, no, silly Touyo,” Tsubaki floated towards him and flicked her finger on his forehead, making a small sharp pain course through it. “There’s nothing wrong about me taking more than one student, right?”

“O-Oh…” Touyo figured out as he took that painful flick to his forehead seriously. “I thought it was because I couldn’t use magic as much…”

“Oh hush,” Tsubaki silenced the very thought. “Don’t worry about that. I told you to take her here so that I can use my Magic Authorization spell on her.”

“M-Magic authorization?” The blackish orb that entered through his stomach passed through his mind. “You mean the stuff that got me to use my magic? But that’s painful!”

The pain still remained in his mind, even if it was just only for a moment. He couldn’t explain how much it hurts, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“And we can’t just do it without her permission!” He raised another all-important matter.

“Touyo, didn’t you see how enthusiastic she was to learn magic? If I were to ask her, she would immediately jump for it. That’s why I’m doing this so that we don’t have to waste any time.”

The aggressiveness Yuki displayed to join up their ranks filled Touyo’s thoughts. It was certainly possible that for someone like Yuki, she would jump off a bridge for a chance to do a magical spell.

“E-Even so…” Touyo turned back in worry at the sleeping Yuki. Tsubaki was already preparing her spell, the magic circle from her hand appearing and the black orb slowly coming into existence.

The orb once again in his sight, it made Touyo shiver. It was like the orb was calling for him, the painful memory still haunting him.

Touyo wanted to say something else, but his mind took a pause. It was too late for more discussion as Tsubaki, without warning, plunged the magical black orb into Yuki’s chest.

The orb slowly entered and, the sound of a heartbeat reverberated throughout the living room. Yuki’s eyes popped open and—

“Yiaah?!”

A single unintelligible shout echoed, managing to pierce their hearing. Then, Yuki fell onto the sofa—entering once again into a deep slumber.

“Sosuke!” Touyo screamed after Yuki’s short moment of pain.

“Shh, let her sleep,” Tsubaki placed her finger near her lips and shushed the panicking Touyo. “She needs to recover so that she can use her magic.”

Seeing that his magic master was so calm about this, Touyo remembered that it took him 2 hours for him to wake up, so they had no choice but to wait for those nerve-wracking 2 hours.

●

Darkness surrounded her. Her eyes fluttered open before finally opening them fully, the light slowly focusing on her eyes.

She then completely widened her eyes after noticing something that was amiss. The roof was unfamiliar.

She lifted herself up from the comfy cushion—only to find out that she was sleeping on a sofa, and that this wasn’t her house after a quick glance around. Her sudden lifting got the attention of the ones waiting alongside her.

“Y-Yo…” Touyo waved at the newly arisen Yuki with a cracked smile as he sat on a chair. The TV was on so he was watching it as he waited.

Yuki took another glance around, finally spotting the girl responsible for bringing her here.

“Yo! Welcome to our base of operations of the Black Witches!”

Enthusiastically, she shouted the name for Touyo’s living room. Tsubaki floated towards Yuki which made her flinch in surprise to see her face closing towards her.

“Y-You... you’re flying!”

Slowly getting her mind together, she made the distinction that Tsubaki was using some form of magic.

“T-Then! Magic is real! I knew it!” Yuki swung her legs forward to sit properly on the sofa, her green eyes gleaming brightly from the lights of the room with a beaming smile on her face.

“Yep!” Tsubaki answered with the same fervor. “Sorry that we treated you kinda roughly before. You know, we have to keep it a secret from the common folk.”

“D-Don’t worry about it!” Yuki vibrantly shook her head. “If it’s about magic, it should be kept a secret!”

She accepted her rough treatment without any issue, surprising Touyo as she seemed to be more cooperative than he thought.

“Oh, right now, we’re in your classmate’s house, Touyo’s home,” Even though she introduced it before, she still properly explained where they are. “We brought you here so that we can ask you one very important question.”

Tsubaki’s face suddenly turned serious. It made Touyo’s throat clog up from the tense atmosphere she was creating. Yuki also felt the same tension, a sweat running down her temple as Tsubaki asked her.

“Would you like to become a witch?”

“Yes! Yes! Please! I want to be a witch!”

In an instant, rather, in the very next nanosecond—Yuki’s explosive answer rang out, shocking both Touyo and even Tsubaki. However, Tsubaki took it rather well.

“Alright!” Tsubaki shouted, bringing both fists into the air with joy. “See, Touyo? I told you that she’ll agree.”

“Y-Yeah…” Touyo was left in disbelief as Yuki had no sign of regretting her answer from the look of her gleaming smile.

“Finally... Finally, I get to be a magical girl!” Yuki muttered to herself, her entire body trembling with excitement. “S-So can I learn magic right away?! How can I learn it?! Wait, how does it even work?!”

Suddenly, another barrage of questions was thrown at Tsubaki. However, she took them easily as she lifted her hands.

“Calm down now. I’ll explain. As to how to use your magic, I had already given you the power to use it yourself. I used a spell on you that allows your body to learn it so that it’ll create magic as if you have been doing it your whole life.”

“R-Really…?” Yuki became awed that it already happened, but then a memory flashed in her mind. “…Ah, so then, that black orb that seemed to pierce my chest was…”

“Ah, so you saw that?” Tsubaki asked, but she figured that Yuki was conscious enough to see the spell for herself.

Yuki held her hand near her chest and felt nothing there. Nothing actually happened, but she definitely remembered the sharp pain that entered through her. HHHH

“Umm… we’re sorry if it was painful.”

Touyo figured that he should say something about that and apologized for their sudden invasion to her body. Yuki turned, becoming stunned by Touyo’s concern.

“O-Oh, don’t worry,” Yuki answered to mend Touyo’s concern. “I don’t feel any pain anymore.”

“O-Oh, good…”

The air suddenly turned still now that they were finished. Tsubaki placed her hand on her mouth, squinting her eyes in delight.

“What are you so nervous about, Touyo?” Tsubaki let out a snide smile. “You carried her here on your back while she was asleep. You can be closer to her!”

“S-Shut up, Tsubaki! Don’t bring that up!”

Touyo instantly rose up and shouted at her. It didn’t flinch her at all as she just laughed away. Meanwhile, Yuki’s cheeks burned rosy-pink from hearing about her being carried by a boy.

“Alright, continuing on,” Tsubaki dropped the topic. “Now that your Magic Core, the special part in your heart that allows you to make magic, has awakened—you can use magic as you instruct.”

“S-Seriously?!” Yuki forgot about her being carried after hearing those words. “I can really use magic?!”

“That’s right! You’ll be a master mage, like me!”

Tsubaki proudly proclaimed, putting on a pose that stuck out her voluptuous chest and her hands on her hips. Touyo rolled his eyes from the haughty pose.

“Wow…” However, for Yuki, it was a pose of pure amazement. “P-Please teach me everything, Master Tsubaki!”

“Ooh…? Master Tsubaki… I like that sound!” Tsubaki had her fingers near her chin as she enjoyed the title, then she furrowed her slanted eyes at Touyo. “See, Touyo? Why don’t you call me something like that?”

“Like hell I’ll call you that,” Touyo snapped, nearly creasing his brows as he looked away.

“Ah, so mean…” Tsubaki exaggeratingly held her chest, spinning herself around in mid-air in a dramatic fashion. “How did I get such a mean student…?”

Then, she quickly got back up and went about in her usual relaxed pose in the air.

“Ah, well. There’s nothing I can do about that,” Tsubaki simply answered. “So, Yuki, while you’re here, I’ll teach you the method on making magic!”

“P-Please teach me, Master Tsubaki!”

Yuki’s eyes went back to their sparkling colors which made Tsubaki smirk. Meanwhile, Touyo figured that he should stay aside and let them do as they please.

●

During the lesson, Tsubaki taught Yuki the concept of using magic. She taught her about where the magic comes from, the Magic Core, and how to channel the magic. Basically, everything she taught Touyo for the past two days. Yuki absorbed all that in with vibrant eyes, ready to learn everything about magic in a single night.

“Now then,” Tsubaki said as she and Yuki met up at the front of the entrance where there was more room. “Do you understand everything so far, Yuki?”

“Yes, Master Tsubaki!” Yuki responded with glee.

“Good,” Tsubaki smirked. “Now, start a fire spell. Take it nice and easy…”

Tsubaki made sure to include those words to calm her down. Yuki nodded her head multiple times while her face stiffens up to a solemn expression.

Touyo watched from afar in his seat, being the spectator for all the lessons Tsubaki has taught her so far. He gazed curiously, checking to see how well she can understand the concept of magic.

Closing her green eyes, her brows wrinkled as she focused her arcana through her body.

“T-This is… incredible!”

Yuki smiled, her eyes still closed as her delighted expression resonated with Touyo—sympathizing with her. He could also understand the excitement of feeling the arcana inside of himself and channeling it through his hands. It’s an incredible experience, after all.

Lifting her dainty hand, Yuki formed a magic circle, one that has a vibrant blue like her hair color.

“Okay,” Tsubaki spotted it and instantly shouted. “Do it!”

“Fire!”

Putting in more volume to her shout, she exclaimed the name of her spell. The magical circle above her hand combusted into a small—

Scratch that, a large flame at the size of a standing book.

“W-Whoa?!” Touyo exclaimed the moment the fire burst forth. Compared to his own, it was at a much larger scale.

“Incredible, Yuki! It’s your first time, and you already made such a large fire!”

Tsubaki closed up on the flame. The flame was a soothing blue color, yet it burns much hotter as she could feel it near her face. Her eyes gleamed at the sight of it.

Yuki now opened her eyes and saw the burning flame for herself.

“W-Wow… I’m doing magic! I’m doing magic, Master Tsubaki! Hahahaha!”

Yuki laughed maniacally from using her very first spell. She moved her hand to the left and then to the right, feeling the flame on her hand yet she can’t feel the heat at all.

“Okay, now call it off and try a wind spell!”

Tsubaki made the next order with an exaggerated pose, extending her arms and hands with her index fingers pointing right at Yuki. She nodded in agreement as she imagined the fire turning off, making the blue flame burning in her hand quickly dissipate into a small ember before finally fading away. This time, she’s keeping her eyes open as she channeled her arcana into her other hand.

Touyo widened his eyes as he eagerly waited for her next spell since at this point, this is where he got stuck at.

The magic circle is once again formed, and this time—

A column of air burst forth from her hand all the way to the ceiling.

It blew everyone’s hair, making them flow outward from the massive burst. The scattered paper in the living room started flying around as the burst created a small wave across the ceiling before finally disappearing.

The ceiling didn’t take any damage, but the living room became a messy haven of white papers everywhere.

“A-Ah…” Touyo’s mouth hanged. A sweat trickled down his skin from Yuki casting another powerful spell.

“Great!” Tsubaki commented to the smiling Yuki as she continues to stare at the ceiling where the burst of air hit. “Now, onto the other spells!”

For a while, Tsubaki demanded Yuki to practice the basic elemental spells. Yuki did so at a remarkable pace that even stumped Tsubaki amazed.

She was able to create an earth spell with ease by making the floor crack apart and a ground pillar appeared out of it—which made Tsubaki fix it up later so that Touyo’s mother wouldn’t get mad. Then she created a lightning spell. Electricity coiled around her fingers and arms at a snake’s size, feeling the slight jolt in her skin. Finally, she created water through a water spell and made a batch of water to the floor which she quickly dries it up with a mild wind spell afterward.

“Amazing, Yuki! Completely amazing!” Tsubaki continued to praise Yuki. She embraced Yuki without hesitation by wrapping her arms around her head, nestling Yuki into her large chest.

Yuki herself felt excited due to the fact that her master has praised her for a job well done by the look of her easy-going face—even as she is smothered by her breasts.

“You have done so much already! I can tell that you’re going to be an exemplary mage!”

“T-Thank you very much, Master Tsubaki!”

Yuki giggled as she and Tsubaki jumped and spun around in excitement, the two of them giggling away at their amazing progress.

Meanwhile, Touyo saw the whole spectacle with a complicated feeling welling up inside. At one side, he’s happy that Yuki has shown so much progress in a single day, and that should be a happy occasion.

Yet, on another side, it was unfair. He learned how to use magic earlier than she did, yet he can’t even go as far as making basic elemental spells other than fire. However, not even a single day passed, but Yuki has learned so much magic that she has a proper control of it already.

It made him somewhat restless.

(T-That’s too overpowered…) Touyo swallowed his saliva in shock as Tsubaki and Yuki celebrate their progress without him.

“Now then!” Tsubaki let go of Yuki as she floated right up to the air, once again in her haughty pose. “It’s time to make your own uniform!”

The moment she said that, Yuki’s eyes gleamed so brightly that they resembled the stars themselves.

“Seriously?! What do I need to do first to get my uniform!?”

Yuki asked fervently, her hands and knees shaking as her crazed look in her eyes returned once again.

“First,” Tsubaki said as she smirked. “We’re going to change your wardrobe. Here.”

The floating magic teacher said as she raised her fingers and snapped them. In the next moment, the area around Yuki became submerged in purple smoke.

The smoke drifted for a moment before fading away, revealing Yuki with her eyes closed from the sudden smoke. She then opened her eyes after noticing that the clothes she wore were different.

The very same black dress that, unlike on Touyo, fitted her nicely. The dress accentuated her slim stature, the fluttery skirt fluttered left and right as she moved herself to see it clearly. For a child Touyo’s age, she really looked like a magical girl with that costume.

“A-Amazing!” Once she realized that it was the very dress she bought, her eyes gleamed again. “Can I do that too?!”

Yuki was hardly fazed. Instead, she was over-ecstatic as she asked about the possibility of learning that spell.

“You can,” Tsubaki smirked. “But you’re going to have to chant the spell in order to charge up your uniform.”

“Chant…? But I didn’t need to chant for the elemental spells…” Yuki made sure to learn her lessons as she asked.

“Ah, but this one is a fairly powerful one. This one needs a small chant, but in this case, you’re going to have to do it a hundred times before it could work while you wear the dress.”

“Whoa…” Yuki, rather than being stumped by the number, remained astounded instead.

(Wearing that embarrassing dress, there’s no way she can do it…) Touyo pursed his lips. It was impossible for Yuki to wear the dress and even chant while there were people around.

“Also, you’re going to have to spin around while you chant, so you’re going to be a little bit dizzy. The chant you’re going to say is: Piru, piru, pi-pi-pi-piru pi!”

Tsubaki shouted the spell as if she wasn’t ashamed to do it at all compared to Touyo.

(Now it’s impossible…) Touyo became negative after Yuki showed surprise on her face from that chant.

“Alright,” Tsubaki added. “It might be a little difficult, but—”

“Piru, piru, pi-pi-pi-piru piiiii!”

Without waiting for Tsubaki to finish, Yuki’s brain has already processed what is needed and began to spin around as she shouted her chant.

However, the speed as she is doing it was at optimal levels. She was shouting the chant so fast that the word she spoke was practically gibberish, making the other two once again astounded.

She repeated it 10 times, then 20 times, then 40 times, then 70 times… then finally:

“Piru, piru, pi-pi-pi-piru piiiii!”

She finally finished, her body stopped twirling into a sudden halt. Both Touyo and Tsubaki were left stunned. Yuki left sweating, heaving out rapid breaths every so often as it took out everything she had.

“I-I’m done!” She said between breaths, a smile on her beaming face.

“W-Whoa…” Touyo couldn’t even believe what he just saw.

“Congratulations, Yuki! You did it!”

“S-Seriously!?”

Touyo turned in shock to Tsubaki who clapped her hands as she gave her praise. Yuki made a small squeal of delight upon hearing more praise.

“T-There’s no way that she already did all 100 chants in such a short time, right?” Touyo asked to make sure that the reality was still in place.

“I heard all 100,” Tsubaki replied. “So it’s all true. Now she can make a uniform. Now…”

Tsubaki then explained to Yuki what she just explained to Touyo earlier tonight. Yuki nodded as she listened, absorbing the information.

“W-Wow, so that how it works?!” Yuki spoke with a dazzling smile, receiving Tsubaki’s nod of agreement.

“Now, go ahead!”

Tsubaki gave the order, getting Yuki to prepare herself. She closed her eyes and this time, she channeled all of her boundless arcana around herself. Her clothes glowed bright blue, and began to change shape.

The clothes changed with a puff of blue smoke, showing her finished product once the smoke drifted away.

The dress she wore has transformed from a magical girl’s costume to a similarly black goth loli design. Her dress on her torso was snow-colored white, buttons in the center line. Her long black sleeves had white frills at the end and her skirt, reaching up to above her knees, had black and white frills. Finally, she had accessories that were similar to Touyo’s as she had rings and bands around her arms and torso, wore black fingerless gloves, and toughened black boots that reach up to her forelegs. Hair accessories were adorned on the sides of her hair that were black bows, similar to Touyo’s bow on his glass button.

“Wow! I transformed! I really transformed! This. Is. The. Greatest. Day. Ever!”

Yuki paused in each word as she jumped enthusiastically up and down, her skirt flowing up and down as she did so. Tsubaki had a beaming smile to see her darling student, while for Touyo, a look of wonder at how different Yuki looks.

“Yuki, you look so cute! And you already got the dress down! Amazing!”

Once again, Tsubaki shouted praise to the jumping girl who was getting too excited. While Touyo wasn’t the kind to just openly blare out compliments, he agreed in his mind that she was extremely cute in that dress.

“Alright!” Tsubaki stopped flying around Yuki to go along with her excitement. “I got a good feeling about today! Come on, it’s time to give Yuki her own flying lesson!”

“F-Flying!? So I can fly like you?! This day just keeps getting better!”

Yuki could no longer hold in her excitement as she squealed a few times, holding her hands together in delight.

At this point, she would even master flying in such a short time, a lot faster than Touyo did. At best she could finish in just a few minutes.

●

It was only a matter of time before Tsubaki teleported them back to the same park Touyo had for his flying lessons. For Yuki, who saw her teleportation for the first time, became astounded. Especially as she started showing crazed smiles on her lips that nearly disturbed Touyo.

“So that was teleportation!” Yuki spoke with an amazed and awestruck tone. “Just like when Miyuri’s master teleported her straight to the Dark Realm to face off against Dark Master Shiggy!”

Retelling the story of her favorite magical girl episodes, Yuki’s eyes were sparkling brightly from the remembrance and the relation between the two.

All the while, Touyo rolled his eyes as he recalled Yuki telling him that over and over since this morning.

“Now it’s time for your lesson,” Tsubaki spoke as she turned around, floating right above Touyo and Yuki as she posed. “Here, you’ll be using this.”

Tsubaki lifted her hand and—Poof!—a puff of purple smoke appeared. As it drifted away, Yuki widened her eyes to see her familiar broom.

“Hey! That’s my broom!” Yuki shouted upon seeing her very broom, the same design as Touyo’s. It was a different color broom that she uses many times to clean her house.

“As you know, for your level, you’re going to need this broom to fly. Of course, you can change the design like how you did for the dress.”

Tsubaki explained further the features of having magic, causing Yuki to have a more expressive visage.

“I-I can change its form?! So cool!” Yuki rapidly grabs the broom Tsubaki handed, and held it tightly in her hands. Knowing the protocol on changing design, Yuki closed her eyes and imagined the best she could for her broom.

Poof!—The broom was covered in light blue smoke, causing the master and the first student to keep a close eye on the broom as the smoke cleared.

It showed Yuki’s newly designed broom. The brush part of the broom curved into an 8-shape, the top of the black-colored pole showed small white wings, similar to that of an angel. It also had three blue colored ribbons tied on the pole itself.

“Wow! It’s so cute! It’s just like Miyuri’s staff!”

Yuki was left with an awed expression at her replica of her favorite character’s staff, now fashioned into a riding broom.

“Now that you got your broom,” Tsubaki got Yuki to focus. “You’re ready to fly!”

“A-Alright!” Yuki answered with confidence.

“Perfect. Now, straddle over the broom and pour your arcana into it. It should handle the flying as long as you remain in control.”

“Understood, Master Tsubaki!”

Yuki replied like a proper student as she did as Tsubaki told, lifting her leg which revealed from beneath the skirt. Her white thighs had a white ribbon tied around it as she straddled over it. This got Touyo to look away with a red face after catching a glimpse of her thighs.

Squirming on her broom, Yuki looked like she was about to explode if she doesn’t fly soon.

“Looks like there’s no problem with your crotch, so it’s all good!” Tsubaki made that remark which caused Touyo to flinch.

“Eh? Crotch?” Yuki tilted her head in confusion.

“See, when Touyo tried to ride it by straddling it, his—”

“H-Hey, hey! Don’t say it!”

Touyo quickly intervened by shouting, getting Yuki to already know what her master was planning to say—her face reddened from imagining it.

“Alright, alright,” Tsubaki waved her hand up and down trying to turn down Touyo’s concern. “Now, make sure that you properly channel your magic into your broom. Once it’s airborne, you should be able to handle it.”

“A-Alright!”

Her heart beating rapidly, Yuki nodded vigorously as she stared right back down to her broom.

Closing her eyes, she poured her arcana into the broom. After a moment, the broom became aloft with her on it. Suddenly feeling the lightness in her weight, she found herself no longer stuck on the ground.

“Good! Just like that!” Tsubaki shouted.

Touyo subconsciously made a light ‘hmph’, no longer surprised that she was able to do it.

He was glad, but at the same time, he wanted her to at least struggle a bit. Just a bit, like he did. Now he sounded as if he wanted her to fail, getting him to feel even worse than he already did.

Though, from the ecstatic look on her face, he can’t really blame her for being happy. He was just as ecstatic just tonight before Yuki found them.

“I-I think I’m starting to get the hang of—thiiiiiis!”

During mid-sentence, her broom shot upwards to the sky, bringing Yuki with her as she prolonged her last word shrieking in terror. Both Tsubaki and Touyo turned their heads upwards with widened eyes to see her flying right up to the clouds.

At the sky, Yuki’s scream continued until she made a stop in mid-air, like an elevator that just stopped on its desired floor. She believed that she was about to get thrown off, but somehow her body stayed glued to the broom.

Figuring that part out later, she surveyed where she was and almost felt dizzy at the vast distance she put herself away from the ground. Nothing but the dark night glittered with stars surrounded her. Down below, she saw the park that had exponentially decreased in size, widening her eyes from the large fall that could happen. She instantly grabbed onto the pole of the broom for her safety, but she had to get down at some point.

She poured more arcana into the pole. She figured that she hasn’t put in enough to properly control it. Perhaps if she did, she can easily get herself down to the ground where it’s more safer.

However, the broom did otherwise.

Her broom shot her forward. Her body swung backward as she cut through the air while feeling the wind pressure hitting her, her hair fluttered crazily as she flew.

Yuki screamed, scaring the flying birds that were passing through just before she flew right through them in jet speed.

“S-Stop! Stop!” Yuki now lost all reasoning and pleaded her broom to stop. Perhaps it takes voice command instead like Magical Girl Miyuri’s staff.

This time, the broom stopped suddenly as she did, allowing Yuki’s heart to feel elated from the momentary peace—

—For just three seconds before going backward the same way, getting her body to be swung forward as she screamed just the same.

Back on the ground, Touyo watched the helpless Yuki fly around in a panic, her screams could be heard even from far away. If it weren’t for the barrier, she would have woken up the whole town.

“Tsubaki!” Touyo ran up to Tsubaki who remained watching her student flying about with a calm gaze.

“Mmh,” Tsubaki made her quiet assessment. “It doesn’t look like she’s got the hang of her flying yet. From the looks of it, she poured in too much arcana, causing her broom to go haywire.”

“Then what are you doing?!” An angry outburst flowed from Touyo. “Go there and stop her before she gets thrown off!”

“Don’t worry about that. The broom charged with arcana makes it so that the rider wouldn’t get thrown off no matter how much force you use. Unless she personally gets off herself, it’s impossible for her to fall. Unless she crashes with her broom—that’s a different story.”

The more Tsubaki explained rationally, even giving off such terrifying results, Touyo’s vein grew bigger from the anger welling up inside.

“Then what are you doing?!”

Touyo gave another outburst. Why isn’t she doing anything other than standing there and watching? Another helpless scream came from above. He switched to the sky, his eyes furrowed in concern and panic.

“Grr, whatever! I’ll help her myself!”.

He lifted his hand and—Poof!—a puff of light red smoke appeared, and from it came his personal broom aloft in the air. It was already charged with his arcana, so it could already fly at his demand.

Touyo then jumped onto the broom, both feet on the black pole as his weight became absorbed onto the broom. His legs wobbled left and right before he finally stood balanced on it. Touyo then shot himself forward to the sky, the wind once again blowing on his face as he flew upwards to save her.

As he has done so, he left behind Tsubaki. She remained on the ground whose watchful eyes viewed her students from up here, and a small smirk crossed her lips as her first student tried to help her second student.

Flying up in the air, Touyo noticed Yuki flying about above him. Getting up to her level of height, Touyo’s head was on a swivel as Yuki kept flying around him, unable to stop.

“Waaaah! Help me!” Yuki was already shedding tears as she was starting to believe that she will never get down.

“Hold on!”

Fearing that she might steer off course out of the country, Touyo flew right to her side, catching up to speed with his own broom.

She turned to her side, and once that familiar face entered her sight, she broke into tears.

“Shikaya!” Yuki screamed in bliss to see someone that she recognizes in the sky.

“What are you doing?!” Touyo’s tone was filled with annoyance. “You’re putting too much power into your broom!”

“I-I don’t know what to do!”

Screaming helplessly once again, Yuki continued to hold onto her broom as she hoped that she wouldn’t fall off.

“Ah, damn it… ah!”

Touyo was already at his wit’s end—but when he noticed that they were getting near the border of the town, Touyo opted to hold onto Yuki’s broom himself. The speed at which she was doing also dragged Touyo, getting his heart racing as he feared that they might go to space at this rate.

“Yuki! You can do it! Just imagine siphoning off the arcana from the broom! Like… like sucking up juice from a juice box!”

Giving a short example to the best of his abilities, Yuki spun her head towards Touyo once and barely nodded. She gritted her teeth beneath her lips as she closed her eyes tight, imagining all she can by using the image that Touyo explained.

Soon enough, the area around them was no longer like a blur. They were finally starting to slow down, and then after a moment, the two finally stopped in midair. The wind was now caressing them gently compared to the vicious force from before, allowing both Touyo and Yuki’s panic just blown away by the wind.

“Hah…” The two shared an equal sigh after being relieved of the panic.

“…Let’s head back. Remember to put in as less arcana as you can.”

“R-Right…”

Yuki did as he told, and as the two turned around on their brooms, Yuki only poured in just a bit of her power. For a while, Yuki moved forward at a snail’s pace, getting Touyo to follow along with her speed as the two enjoyed a bit of reprieve together.

“Thank you so much, Shikaya… You really saved me.”

Yuki’s cheeks flared pinkish as she thanked Touyo from the bottom of her heart. If he hadn’t done anything, she would have flown right off the country.

“D-Don’t worry about it…”

Touyo’s own cheeks reddened for some reason, scratching his red hair to relax his body from the awkwardness.

“I didn’t think flying was so detailed… Even now, I feel like I might fall, and if I put in more, it’ll just go off on its own! It’s so complicated…”

Hearing Yuki’s explanation, Touyo found out why Tsubaki made her statement.

Yuki’s arcana is immense. That’s why she can’t fly decently. It’s because for her, putting the amount mostly everyone puts in was too much for the broom.

“It’s…”

Touyo struggled to get the words out. Just a moment ago, he wished that Yuki would struggle a bit, but he never expected that she would be put in danger for it. He wondered if he had the right to help her.

Then he imagined that if he was in her position, he would like some advice.

“It’s not that hard to fly…” Touyo’s face turned red as he explained. “All you need to do is practice at it.”

“Eh…?”

Yuki let out a noise after losing his words for a moment. Her long blue hair fluttered along with the wind, the moonlight showing behind her which caused only her green eyes to show more luminously. It caused such a big impact on Touyo that he looked away, his face becoming redder than before.

“I-I’ll help you out. So… don’t worry about messing up.”

Giving out his words, Touyo became embarrassed at how lame he sounded. Yuki became surprised as he said that, feeling the warmth from his words.

“O-Okay,” Yuki raised the corners of her lips—revealing an embarrassed, but beautiful smile. “Thank you, Shikaya.”

Her smile caught Touyo’s eyes, getting him to remember that he was still living under his lie.

He might as well confess his crime.

“Sosuke, I… about the show. To be honest, I don’t really watch the show. I’m not a fan like you. I’m sorry…”

Touyo rubbed the back of his head as he felt bad for admitting it, but the guilt living in his chest has finally been released.

Yuki’s eyes widened, but then soon afterward she smiled once again.

“It’s okay. I kinda figured that you weren’t really into it. I know now that you wore that dress because you need it for the uniform spell.”

Yuki explained as Touyo figured that she would have realized by now, then Yuki made another smile. Yet in his eyes, it was a smile with a tinge of sadness.

“I thought it was mostly because you were getting annoyed by me.”

Hearing that, Touyo had to correct that at all costs.

“It’s not like that!” Touyo practically shouted, surprising Yuki as she gave a slight shriek. “It’s just that I didn’t follow anything you said!”

Touyo made sure that he was honest with his words. When he said it, Yuki was left with a gaping mouth.

“So, don’t say it like that. Yeah, I thought it was a little aggravating, but that’s what happens when you’re talking with somebody. The truth is that… I kinda liked talking with somebody on that roof other than Tsubaki. An ordinary person like me to talk to…”

It was then that, from the way he said it, Yuki remembered that Touyo himself was a loner. Though the reasons were different, it was true that Touyo also wanted to have companionship during those lonely lunchtimes.

Just like her.

“Mmrh, I guess it’s not possible for you to forgive me for what I did…” Touyo continued to rub his hair, only more furiously as he felt worse for thinking that he would be forgiven so easily.

“N-No! Don’t worry! I’m not worried about that at all!” Yuki vigorously shook her head to dispel the very thought.

Touyo remained surprised as he listened further.

“I didn’t think you felt that way. I don’t mind about the show anymore! I’m just… I’m just glad you told me the truth, Shikaya.”

This time, her smile contained no sadness. She was truly glad that he was honest with her. However, the way she said his name got him to purse his lips.

“…Touyo.”

“Eh?”

Touyo suddenly muttered, catching Yuki off guard.

“You can just call me Touyo. I don’t really mind it.”

Even if he was the one who initiated, his face got red from even saying it. Saying his first name means that he’s allowing her to be close to him, after all.

Yuki was left wide-eyed again. This was the first time anyone let her call someone by their first name. Feeling her own face hot from this, another sense of joy rose in her heart.

“Alright, T-T-Touyo…” She stuttered a bit. “Then, you can call me Yuki, too.”

“I-Is that okay? For me to call your first name like that.”

Unlike a boy’s first name, calling a girl’s first was more embarrassing, but Yuki nodded her head.

“It’s fine,” Yuki smiled. “It’s only fair, right? Besides, I’m happy that people like you and Master Tsubaki are calling me by my first name.”

Her smile, illuminated by the moon above, left Touyo stunned. The negative emotions in his heart blown away by that smile alone, Touyo smirked himself.

“Touyo, let’s strive to become great mages under Master Tsubaki’s care!”

Yuki said, offering her optimism which got Touyo to nod in agreement.

“Yeah. I’m not going to fall behind, Yuki!”

Giving his own personal goal, Touyo grinned his courageous smile. Saying her name without hesitation, Yuki blushed and looked away. Apparently, she got too embarrassed to hear her first name.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Tsubaki was seeing the two with her eyes and ears strengthened by her magic. She grinned with a wide smile.

“Figures he would open up to her,” Tsubaki said to herself. “They are similar to each other, after all.”

Tsubaki viewed the two waving back at her, expecting that they will become great mages together.