Chapter 3: The Loner's Rejoice

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Hey, guys. I'm finally done with Ch. 3. This time it's shorter than the last two chapters which this will have no second part. I'm actually favoring this since I like to read short chapters sometimes. Anyhoo, just like before, remember to like it if you like it and comment your favorite part and how you like it!

You'll get something nice out of it like raising your badge's color to gold if you do! That's sort of like a game now, huh? Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
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The next morning.

It happened seamlessly, as it always had since their lives have begun. However, the events that occurred before the night relinquished were still burning brightly within their minds.

For one, her entire life has changed for the better, now that she has attained her dream of becoming her own magical girl.

For the other, his life of magic now included a rather optimistic girl with a strange sense of enjoyment. But at the very least, she was a kind girl whom he can actually talk to without any issue.

As such, these two start their second day together as students under their magic master.

●

In the morning, Touyo was glad that he didn’t receive a rather pleasing surprise those few days ago when Tsubaki was waking him up. It was because Tsubaki is now switching between both houses, both Touyo’s and Yuki’s in a cycle every day for her ‘variety’.

For Touyo’s heart, he would prefer that Tsubaki stays over at Yuki since she was a girl. Tsubaki refrained because she also wanted to stay at Touyo’s house.

In any case, Touyo woke up this morning with no distraction, and the call of his mother entering into his ears made him hurry up with his morning routine. After showering, dressing up, heading down to the table, eating his breakfast, and saying goodbye to his mother, he went on his way to school.

However, he found himself a bit of a surprise when he opened the door.

“Eep!” A surprised yelp of a young girl permeated the air outside his gates.

Widening his eyes, he found Yuki standing outside the gate, fully adorned—properly, unlike the first time he met her—in her school uniform, her arms huddling to her chest while carrying her black school bag in front of her uniform. All the while she had stiff look on her face, her cheeks ablaze in a rosy-pink color.

Of course, there was the similar pendant hanging around her neck. In his eyes only, Tsubaki came out of it seamlessly in her phantasmal form.

“Yuki…?” Touyo said in a befuddled tone. “W-What are you doing here?”

“What else? We’re here to pick you up!”

Tsubaki answered instead with Yuki hanging her head low as she let Tsubaki talk for her.

“W-W-We’re sorry to bother you so early…” In between her shoulders, her head poked out as she spoke softly—distraught with nerves.

“H-Hey, it’s not a bother,” Touyo rubbed the back of his head. “You can come whenever you want…”

“I-I see…”

Both Touyo and Yuki were too new at visiting someone else’s home—ignoring her kidnapping just yesterday—so the two were wrought with awkwardness as to how exactly to treat each other when visiting.

“Touyo, what’s the holdup?”

A loud voice came from where Touyo came from which he then opened the door to let his mother come out. Adorned in her secretary uniform, Razaru came herself to find out what was holding her son to stand in the middle of the entrance and found quite a surprise herself.

“I-Is that a friend?!” Her widened eyes and scream showed exactly what she felt. Her head hung back and her arms exaggeratingly posed in some strange way.

“Eep!” Another helpless sound squealed out of Yuki. She didn’t expect to see her so shocked.

“Holy crap!” Razaru unwillingly cursed. “You actually found a friend?! And a girl, at that?! A pretty girl, even?!”

Razaru stepped down from the entrance to walk up to the gate where the frightened Yuki nearly took a step back to see her suddenly coming in so frankly.

“Hellooo there~!” Razaru responded so prolongedly that it made Touyo cringe. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Ah! Umm… hello… to you too…” Yuki could only respond in a meek tone, stood frozen by her beaming smile.

“My, so cute! Where the hell did you found this cutie, Touyo? I would never have thought that you would've snagged yourself someone like this! Is this your girlfriend?”

“S-She’s not, Mom! Stop it!” Touyo ran after his mother in hope of stopping her embarrassing rampage before she made things worse.

“Sorry, Touyo, but I can’t help but feel so happy that you found yourself a friend after so long. She’s even picking you up from home. You should have told me!”

Razaru’s beaming smile, while still scaring Yuki, made her see just how young and beautiful Razaru was despite having a son Touyo’s age.

“Come on, Mom! You’re embarrassing me!”

Touyo’s cheeks burned like Yuki’s did as he tried to push his mother away from the gate, acting as if he was holding back an embarrassing beast.

“What’s your name, sweetie?”

Razaru, however, did not even flinch as she twirled with grace. Touyo missed his target and fell to the ground in shame.

“U-Umm… my name’s… Yuki Sosuke,” Yuki was still too awkward to respond to her expressive nature.

“Yuki… so cute!” Razaru squealed before facing Yuki, her expression changed from excitement to a motherly smile. “Please, Yuki, make sure to treat him right. He may be rough around the edges, but he’s very lovable.”

“Mom!” Touyo raised himself from the ground, his face scowling and full of dirt while his cheeks have gone redder from the shame.

“R-Right!” Yuki didn’t know how to answer that correctly, so she did the best she could.

“Good!” Razaru clapped her hands together, making a small sound before she turned to Touyo. “Touyo, I’ll be leaving. You better not screw this up, and treat her nicely! Unlike you, she’s sweet and frail!”

This time, her earlier motherly expression quickly changed to that of a bossy mother who was reprimanding her delinquent child.

“I know that already, damn it!”

Touyo hissed at his mother as she sneaked in and kissed him on the forehead before turning to the gate and opened it. Razaru headed out, meeting Yuki face to face.

“Have a fun day at school, Yuki!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

Yuki almost saluted before Razaru waved at the two kids and left for her work. The two magi-in-training were left standing there, dumbfounded, before turning to each other.

“…Your mother is very friendly,” Yuki had to say, forming an awkward smile on her blushing face.

“Yeah… sorry about that,” Touyo said in shame, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

“She’s everything Touyo isn’t! That’s why I like being with her!”

“Oh, shut up, Tsubaki!”

Tsubaki made a gleaming smile as she crossed her arms in the air before she was called out by Touyo with a furious scowl.

●

After the whole display of motherly affection, the two students walked alongside each other, both seemingly embarrassed by the awkward atmosphere around each other.

Touyo peered to his side, and Yuki did the same. Catching both of their glimpses at each other made them turn back to the ground with flushed cheeks.

“Come on, you guys,” Tsubaki spoke out of the awkward air, floating above them in her phantasmal form. “Aren’t you a little bit too nervous? You both know each other’s secret, so why the hesitation?”

“S-Shut up, Tsubaki,” Touyo repeated his last word to her, begrudgingly scowling at her for making it more awkward. “It’s not that.”

“It’s… because I never went to school with a boy before…”

The way Yuki explained it made it sound that it could be clearly misunderstood, but he left it as it is to avoid further awkwardness.

“A-Anyways,” Touyo knew that continuing this topic would be worse for their mental health, so he quickly switched it. “How did everything go at your house, Yuki?”

He figured that by asking that, he could get rid of the tension between them. Yuki’s eyes showing the same sparkle when she learned about magic for the first time.

“Oh, it was so much fun! I never had a visitor come to my house before, so I was really nervous, but Master Tsubaki and I had a great time!”

“That’s right! Having just us girls was like a fresh breeze. Nothing like the boyish smell in Touyo’s room,” Tsubaki said, her hand waving the air in front of her nose in a jokingly manner.

“H-Hey!”

“Y-You slept in Touyo’s room, Master Tsubaki?!”

The way the topic quickly derailed made Yuki ask, her cheeks blushing and her hand moving to her mouth in shock.

“I-It’s nothing like that! Tsubaki!” Touyo screamed at Yuki then at Tsubaki to try to correct the misunderstanding.

“Hehe, I was sleeping in the crystal, so don’t worry, we didn’t do anything funny.”

“F-Funny, you said…”

Yuki’s face was now colored red after hearing that word. Touyo already became drained to exhaustion despite not even reaching to school yet.

“Oh, man…” He uttered out as his intentions for a good conversation has already been ruined.

●

The walk to school didn’t take very long, and the conversations managed to steer correctly on the right path as Yuki told Touyo what they did—other than the obvious girly secrets she wouldn’t say to a boy—which got Touyo left out from the fun.

Their conversations absorbing much of their time, they have already arrived at school.

From entering through the school gates, they have gained the attention of some of the students. The moment they entered together, some male and female students looked their way and cast their curious glances at them.

Their glances were filled with not just curiosity, but as if they have encountered some strange image.

“The weirdo girl is walking with the loser boy?”

“Who would have thought…?”

“Figures that these two would hang together…”

It was mostly the students who were from their class. Each of them had some sort of expectant look on their faces as they scoffed at the sight and went back on their routine.

It wasn’t just Tsubaki who noticed this—Touyo and Yuki hung their heads low to act as though they have disappeared from their sight. The two kept quiet after noticing their stares and headed to their classroom with haste.

●

A few hours later, the school bell rang throughout the school, signaling that it was time for lunch.

As the students left to get their meals from the cafeteria, Touyo and Yuki have brought their own lunches and headed towards the rooftop. They headed there at their lonesome, enjoying some peace and quiet.

It was then that Tsubaki decided to bring out the topic that they’ve been putting aside.

“These children can be quite mean to each other.”

Tsubaki said as the two were just about ready to eat their lunches from their lunch boxes. Touyo had his own similar lunch box, but this time he made it himself along with Tsubaki’s lunch box to the side. Yuki’s lunch was nearly the same as Touyo as it also had rice and egg rolls, but it had different side dishes such as sausages shaped as octopuses and chopped fruits.

“That’s just how it is, Tsubaki. I don’t really care about what they think, though,” Touyo said his remarks as he clicked his chopsticks together with a bored look.

“I’m already used to it,” Yuki also replied normally. “So it doesn’t affect me much, either.”

“Mmh…”

Tsubaki could see that the two really do share similar traits as Yuki began to munch on her rice while Touyo was eating his egg rolls. The lunch box Touyo made for Tsubaki was empty since Tsubaki ate her lunch early on, so she snatched Touyo’s egg roll. He turned to her in shock as Tsubaki put the food into her mouth, chewing and tasting the succulent taste of his cooking.

“Hey! You already had your lunch! Can you not steal my food before I could even taste it?”

Touyo gave out his complaint with a furrowed look as Tsubaki puckered her lips and pouted.

“You’re mean, too. You didn’t make enough!”

Tsubaki made a ‘hmph’ sound by turning her head, facing Yuki ate her own lunch while spectating their fight. Tsubaki’s eyes sparkled at the sight of her egg roll.

“Yuki, feed me~” Tsubaki opened her mouth and expected the food to be handed to her.

“A-Alright,” Yuki became surprised with flushed cheeks as she held an egg roll with her chopsticks. “I hope it’s to your liking, Master Tsubaki.”

Yuki then moved the egg roll towards her, but Tsubaki made a sharp sound out of her mouth which surprised Yuki. Becoming more embarrassed, she moaned ‘Ahh~’, getting Tsubaki to repeat that action and munched on the egg roll.

Tsubaki chewed with great pleasure, but she soon became overwhelmed with a bountiful amount of salty flavor exploding in her mouth. The soft and fluffy texture of the egg only further enhanced her experience as she imagined herself being showered by Yuki’s egg rolls.

“S-So good~! Yuki, your meal is the best!” With tears welling in her eyes, Tsubaki cried out which got Touyo’s attention.

“R-Really?” Yuki’s heart swelled with pride from that. “I-If you like, I can make your food from now on, too. I love to cook.”

“Really?! Oh, you’re the best, Yuki!” Tsubaki extended her arms and embraced Yuki fully, shocking her from the sudden glomp of her master as she put out her lunch box away before it could get knocked over.

Touyo peered at her side, becoming curious with his mouth becoming watery.

“H-Hey..” Touyo meekly spoke out, getting the girls’ attention.

“Ah, so you want a taste of Yuki’s meal? You better beg for it, Touyo!”

“W-Who’s gonna beg?!”

Hearing that from the sneering Tsubaki, Touyo retracted his need to taste Yuki’s supposedly delicious meal and went back to his own lunch.

“U-Umm, I don’t need that,” Yuki said meekly, the wanting look in his eyes obvious to her. “If you like, you can have some.”

“T-That’s…” Touyo hesitated when Yuki offered. When Yuki held out her egg roll with her chopsticks, expecting Touyo to do the same as Tsubaki, Touyo grew hot in his face as he moved his chopsticks forward and—

“Uh-uh! You can’t do that! You gotta eat it with your mouth!” Tsubaki stopped his chopsticks in the middle, moving her index finger left and right as she scolded him.

“I-I can’t do something that embarrassing!”

Both Touyo and Yuki blushed as Touyo protested. Tsubaki was still adamant about it as she pulled Touyo’s chopsticks away, making her twirl them around with her magic in the air as she made a sneer.

Touyo growled at her, but then looked back at the fluffiest egg roll he has ever laid his eyes on. With an expectant look from Yuki’s widened eyes, Touyo had no other choice. He opened his mouth, and similar to before, moaned ‘Ahh’ with Yuki before munching on the egg roll.

The egg roll practically exploded with flavor, much more than his own egg rolls. He could never compete with such an intricate and delicious taste.

“S-So good!” Touyo repeated Tsubaki’s words, making Yuki redden her cheeks. “It’s so good, Yuki! You actually made this?!”

“Y-Yes…”

“I can’t believe it!” Touyo kept chewing on the roll to further savor the flavor coating his entire mouth, softly moaning to himself as he finished the egg roll in a matter of seconds.

“Yuki, do you make food often?” Tsubaki asked as Touyo was stuck in wonderland in his mouth from tasting the food.

“Yes,” Yuki nodded. “I always made food for my family. Since my parents give me an allowance to buy Magical Miyuri’s merchandise, I would clean up the house and cook the meals for them. It’s the least I could do.”

Suddenly hearing her say those delightfully responsible words made the background behind her shine with so much light from her purity that it made both the dark-hearted Touyo and Tsubaki cover their eyes in shame.

“S-So bright!” Tsubaki commented shrilled from her blindness.

“M-My eyes are burning from her kindness…!” Touyo winced from the light.

“Umm, guys?”

The moment her voice pierced through, the light disappeared in an instant, getting the two to quickly get back into reality.

“Ah, well,” Tsubaki cleared her throat. “I believe that’s very sweet of you, Yuki.”

“Yeah,” Touyo figured that asking for more would be rude, so he went back to eating his meal. “Yuki, you’ll make a great wife someday.”

“R-Really?”

Touyo commented with a daring compliment, causing Yuki to look away with a blushing face, but a smile rose from her lips in secret.

“Yeah. It’s too bad that you’re such a nerd,” Touyo words made Yuki flinch.

“Yeah, that’s a real downer,” Tsubaki agreed to that statement.

“W-What do you mean by that?!”

Yuki snapped back, her face returning to normal as she asked the two who answered as if it was truly a shame.

●

Their lunch boxes now empty cases, the students stood up as it was nearing time for the next class.

“Guys, throughout the commotion, I forgot to say something as your teacher.”

Tsubaki floated upwards to face the two of them, leaving the two students to raise their heads to their master.

“I believe it’s time to teach you two how to teleport.”

The moment those words were dropped onto the two, their faces stiffened up and their mouths hung open.

“You’re serious, Tsubaki?!”

“I-Is that really true, Master Tsubaki?!”

Both of their faces glowed with excitement. Tsubaki could see it in their sparkling eyes that they truly wanted this just as much as they wanted to fly.

“Of course,” Tsubaki replied with elation. “When you really need to go somewhere, and you can’t just fly there and get other people’s attention, you can just teleport yourself there. I think it’s wise to teach you two this valuable technique as fast as possible.”

“T-Touyo, we’re going to learn how to teleport!” Yuki turned back to Touyo which in turn made him turn to her.

“Yeah!” Touyo responded before turning to Tsubaki. “When can we learn it?!”

“After school, in this rooftop. Once you both are done with classes, come back right here to practice!”

“ “Yeah!” ”

The two excitedly punched the sky with their fists, their cries filling the open sky over their next lesson.