Chapter 4: Teleportals!

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Hey guys! Another chapter up and running. These chapters will go on like this for a while, so I hope you can handle the slightly short content. I will be uploading much more since they're so short, so hopefully, it'll be good for you guys XD

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The afternoon bell gonged to signal the end of the school day. Going over the usual, the students ran out of the school to start their relaxing day before tomorrow comes.

But this time, Touyo and Yuki didn’t come out of the entrance of the school to head home. Instead, they traveled together up the staircase, both hearts beating rapidly as they stepped up the stairs in quick succession before finally seeing the metal door that Touyo himself opened up for the both of them.

Light shined through the moment the door was opened, revealing the rooftop which did not change its look. The sun was slowly moving towards the horizon, nearly making the once bluish sky tinged with orange.

It was the afternoon, and as planned, Touyo and Yuki have already called their parents to tell them that they will be staying behind to learn a bit more in school. Figuring that it was more classwork, the parents accepted their half-lie, allowing them access to stay out a little later than usual.

It was mostly a half-lie, since they will still be learning something new.

Once they reached to the rooftop, they were already in their Black Witch uniforms. The cool wind blowing on their faces and their hair swayed, along with Yuki’s skirt which she slightly pulled down to avoid giving her first friends a show.

After the wind settled, their teacher Tsubaki came out of Yuki’s pendant, finally becoming solid from her transparency to show herself to her students.

“Alright!” Tsubaki stretched her arms out in the open as she declared. “It’s time you kids learn the art of teleportation!”

““Yeah!””

Showing their excitement, Touyo raised his fist in the air and showed his grin while Yuki clasped her hands together as she made small jumps with a gleaming expression.

“However, you guys won’t actually be ‘teleporting’, to say.”

““…Eh?””

The energy and excitement the two shared suddenly dampened, leaving them with bewildered smiles.

“It’s not like I won’t teach you!” Tsubaki quickly corrected herself by waving her hands. “See, look, I’ll show you.”

The moment she said that, she stood upright in the air. Then her body began to dissipate in square particles, eventually disappearing from their sight.

Touyo and Yuki widened their eyes and tried to spot their teacher, but she wasn’t here. But after a while, Touyo and Yuki could sense a presence from behind them. They turned back around to see the same square particles appearing once again, showing Tsubaki in all her glory.

“Did ya see?” Tsubaki asked with a smile.

The two nodded slowly in understanding.

“Now, teleportation like I just did is too advanced for you two right now. If done incorrectly, you might erase yourselves from existence. That’s why it’s better for you two to understand the concept of teleportation before actually learning how to teleport.”

“O-Oh, yeah, you said something like that before, right?”

Touyo slowly nodded as he remembers what she said a couple of days ago along with Yuki, but there was still doubt planted in her mind.

“So then, if that’s true, how will we teleport? It should be the same thing, right?”

Yuki made her statement as she was confused about the subject in this matter. Tsubaki nodded to prove that it was a good question.

“You’re right about that. That’s why I’m teaching you guys a spell that’s a level lower than the true ‘teleportation’. It’s called the Teleportal spell.”

“The Teleportal spell?” Touyo repeated in a confused state.

“Teleportal… does it has something to do with portals?” Yuki asked which she knew was completely obvious, but Tsubaki was kind enough to nod her head to her question.

“Exactly,” Tsubaki raised her finger, spinning herself around as she floated near them. “The teleportal spell is basically harmless than the actual teleportation. However, it can be rather showy. During a battle, an opponent with a sense of arcana can tell where you will be teleported, so it can get there and hit you before you’re done entering.”

“Wha…” Touyo and Yuki remained confused as the two tilted their heads.

“Let me show you rather than explain it,” Tsubaki said as the distraught look on their faces were apparent.

Getting into position by making her body float upright in the air, she lifts her hand forward and stretched her fingers out. A purple magic circle the same size as Tsubaki slowly appeared in front of her. The process of creating it was slightly slower than creating the usual small magic circle for their elemental spells—about 3-4 seconds longer.

Their eyes widening in awe, Tsubaki glanced back at the two students and gave a short smirk before floating towards her magic circle. She put her hand forward, and the hand disappeared into the magic circle which made the two students gasp in surprise.

With Touyo and Yuki being so into the example, Touyo didn’t realize that the magic circle appeared instantly behind him. The same hand that Tsubaki put inside appeared from it and grabbed hold of Touyo’s shoulder.

“Ahh!”

Touyo jumped forward, his scream filled the air as he and the frightened Yuki turned to the very magic circle and the disembodied hand.

“No way! That’s so cool!”

Yuki shouted as she took a closer look at the hand, poking it with her own finger before Tsubaki’s hand gave a thumbs up out of nowhere.

“Hehe, impressed? I’m still not finished yet.”

Tsubaki then moved forward, her whole body entering into the purple magic circle, disappearing into it as the magic circle disappeared as she did.

The magic circle still near the students did not disappear, and following her example, her hand and the rest of her body came out of it—which made the magic circle disappear as well.

““Whoa…”” The two students were left in awe. Too much in awe to see such a spell that they will learn.

“This way, the teleportal can send you to the coordinates that you imagine, creating a portal to it. This is a safer and easier to learn spell before you upgrade to instant teleportation.”

“I see,” Yuki said before becoming curious. “But, what happens if, when there are people around, the portal is summoned to where they are? Wouldn’t that make a lot of problems?”

“Ah.”

Touyo understood what she meant. If they make a portal where there was a person in the middle, it would be possible that the person and one of them could collide. Things would get complicated if one of them turned out to be conjoined with a stranger in some freak accident.

“Don’t worry about that,” Tsubaki went floating back up in the air, a pleasant smile crossing her lips. “You see, you pick the coordinates and send yourself there, however, the portal itself will appear in a different place than you imagine. This is because the portal only appears in an unoccupied location.”

“Unoccupied…?” Touyo asked once again.

“Like for instance,” Tsubaki pointed between the two of her students. “The portal that I just made was supposed to be right in the middle between you two. Since you two were so close to each other, the portal opted to form behind you two instead, where there is nothing there. The portal can sense the other person’s life signal and avoids interacting with such life signals. It’s a sort of self-automated spell that transports their users with ease.”

“T-That spell is so handy!” Yuki praised.

“And unexpectedly smart,” Touyo remarked. He never expected a spell that thinks for itself.

“It’s not exactly perfect,” Tsubaki reinstated, now a frown forming on her face. “It might send you into an undesirable location, like for example—a dirty puddle that people avoid. You’ll appear right on it and get yourself dirty.”

“Ah…” Yuki winced from imagining wetting her shoes and socks.

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Touyo figured that it was the least problematic situation.

“Trust me, it gets annoying,” Tsubaki grumbled, a pout on her face. “But you just have to make sure that you don’t make a teleportal in the rain, and you’ll be good.”

“Ah, Master Tsubaki!”

In the midst of their conversation, Yuki suddenly had a thought in her head which she instantly addressed her master about.

“What’s up?” Tsubaki asked in correspondence to Yuki’s curiosity.

“Umm, so we can see the teleportal appear out of nowhere, and it was a little flashy. If we do this outside, even if we’re far away from them, wouldn’t other people be able to notice such a big magic circle?”

The question raised a lot of flags for the students. Both Touyo and Yuki expressed concern by furrowing their brows. If this spell was made public, the populace would think that they were aliens appearing out of nowhere.

However, Tsubaki only smirked at her question and answered with a delightful tone.

“Don’t worry~! See, only those who can sense arcana, in other words, mages and ghouls, can see the portal. What’s more—even if you appeared out of nowhere, the spell will activate a small illusion the moment it appeared to those without arcana. It will show them you guys coming in like it was natural.”

“Ah, that’s incredible!” Yuki clasped both her hands together in awe.

“And really convenient,” Touyo smirked at the possibilities of using this spell in the real world.

“Ain’t it? Now…” Tsubaki moved her body in the air so that she would look like she’s resting on the front of her body, her right hand cupping her chin, “Now, who’s ready to make it first?”

“Me! Me! I want to try it!”

Raising her hand, Yuki jumped up and down in joy to try out the new spell. Touyo stood back as he figured that he might as well see how Yuki handle it before he does.

“Okay,” Tsubaki floated towards her. “Now, remember what I said. You need to create a portal in the specific coordinates you can think of. For now, transport to…” Tsubaki then shifted her head around to glance at their area. “The top of the entrance door.”

Tsubaki spotted the perfect place for Yuki to transport to. She pointed her finger at the top of the entrance door where it resembled that of a gray cube, showing the visible empty spot at the top.

Clearly, it wasn’t dressed up as nicely as the roof since nobody would usually sit so high up there. But to Yuki, it became her determined location to be in.

“A-Alright.”

Yuki nodded hesitantly before closing her eyes. She lifted her hand forward and searched inside of herself. Following Touyo’s advice from last night during their flying lesson, Yuki made sure to properly channel her vast arcana.

Deep within her mind, she was having a difficult grasp of it. In her vision, she imagines there being so much arcana around her that she can’t get a proper grip on it. She doesn’t know whether to take a handful or take a bucket full in her imagination. She had no choice but to take a small amount into her hand.

The warm arcana enveloping her hand, Touyo widened his eyes at the arcana becoming practically solid around her like an aura. He could sense her determination.

Yuki envisioned the very same big sized magic circle that Tsubaki made right on top of the entrance door. She opened her eyes, steeled her gaze which she then furrowed her eyes to shout.

“Teleportal!”

She shouted since it would help her imagination become alive. In the next moment, a blue-colored magic circle appeared in front of her which was the same size as Tsubaki’s spell.

Yuki gasped in awe. Touyo widened his eyes. Tsubaki nodded in joy with a smile on her ever gleaming face.

“Okay,” Tsubaki was becoming excited herself. “Now, enter into it.”

Receiving her instructions, Yuki nodded again and walked forward toward the magic circle. Yuki bit her lip in anxiousness, her facial expression stiffening with a sweat streaming down her temple. She stopped before it, the glowing magic circle becoming warmer near her face. It wasn’t scalding—it was pleasant like a freshly-dried towel.

She put her hand forward and slowly moved it towards the magic circle floating in the air. Once her hand touched the circle, she didn’t actually ‘touched’ it, but instead phased through it. To Yuki, the process didn’t feel anything unnatural at all—it was as if she was feeling nothing but air as usual.

But then at the top of the entrance’s door, the same blue magic circle appeared on it and showed a hand coming out of it. Yuki was left slack-jawed before she smiled widely.

“I-I did it!” Yuki screamed out, and in the moment of elation, entered through the portal like an open door, making her body disappear in an instant.

In the next moment, she passed through the portal on the entrance’s top like it was natural. The magic circle behind her disappeared, and Yuki spun back around with a gleaming smile.

“I did it! I did it!” Yuki jumped up and down on the entrance’s top in joy, getting both Tsubaki to smile and give a thumb’s up while Touyo held the top of his head with his hand in amazement.

“Nice job, Yuki!” Tsubaki praised her student before she turned to Touyo. “So, Touyo, want to try?”

Touyo turned back to her, only that he didn’t look as excited as he once was. In fact, a cold sweat ran down his temple, his lips pursed together tightly.

“Umm… well…”

Touyo wasn’t exactly keen on embarrassing himself in front of the girls. Especially the girls.

With his magical abilities, it could be possible that he can’t even do the teleportal spell right. As he thought of this, the more likely that he will try to suggest that he’ll skip this one.

A powerful slap hit him on his back, shocking Touyo out of his consciousness after feeling the stinging pain on his back.

“Ow!”

“Don’t be so nervous. Just go with it!”

With Tsubaki’s encouragement, all of his escape routes have been neutralized. Touyo grumbled a little before stepping forward, straightening his back as he figured that he might as well go for it.

Touyo inhaled a large breath, then let it out slowly as he calmed himself. He lifted his hand the same way as Tsubaki and Yuki did. Following Tsubaki’s instructions, he was to go to the same entrance’s top as Yuki, which Yuki was still at the top of it waiting for him to come.

Touyo focused on himself, the arcana swirling around him gathering into his lifted hand. Then he imagined the coordinates which were the entrance’s top in his mind.

He didn’t know how to exactly do it, but he might as well imagine the same portal that the girls used to transport themselves. He furrowed his eyes, and then shouted:

“Teleportal!”

…

But nothing happened.

“Ah…” Touyo let out in disbelief.

“Touyo?” Tsubaki responded.

“I-I can’t do it…”

Touyo said meekly as he tried to do it again by imagining the coordinates and the magic circle but to no avail.

Yuki back at the top decided to use her own teleportal to get to where they were. She lifted her hand and created another teleportal by shouting ‘Teleportal!’, getting her to go through it quickly.

The blue magic circle appeared near them which Yuki got out from in a hurry, making her magic circle disappear as a growing look of concern shadowed her face.

“W-What happened?” Yuki asked, the situation making her crease her brows.

“I-I can’t make a portal,” Touyo answered for Yuki’s sake.

“Touyo, are you sure?” Tsubaki asked again. This time, her tone took a solemn turn.

“I-I just can’t do it! I don’t know how!”

Touyo’s tone increased in volume out of frustration. In his mind, Tsubaki was making fun of him for not doing the spell right.

Yuki lowered her head the moment he snapped back, becoming tensed from his sudden shout.

“Touyo…”

Tsubaki floated down and stood on the ground. She walked towards him. Touyo became nervous after Tsubaki spoke so solemnly and the fact that she was walking instead of floating made him stiffen up. After getting near him, Tsubaki stared at him with her furrowed slanted eyes.

“Touyo, I’m making sure that you’re not thinking that you’re already going to fail before even doing the spell. Doing so will inhibit your arcana from flowing through correctly.”

“E-Eh?” Touyo was caught in a blind attack of Tsubaki’s logic.

“I’m not asking out of surprise, or out of pity. If you think that you’re already going to fail, then the spell itself will fail as well. Using magic is all about having the will to do magic. If you’re not even willing to go all out, whether it is because you don’t think you can do it, or that there is no point in doing it, then you fail as a mage.”

Tsubaki’s words cut him deep like a knife. Touyo pursed his lips from actually believing that he would fail already.

“Touyo, why would you think that you would fail?”

Yuki asked after gathering the courage to speak up. She was curious since if she could create a teleportal, then Touyo can do it as well. There was no sense of malice within her words through Touyo’s ears.

Touyo lowered his head down at the roof’s floor, unable to keep up with the girls’ attention on him—especially Tsubaki’s deep and heavy gaze. Yuki lowered her eyes to see he didn’t answer her due to something personal.

But Tsubaki was not done yet.

“Try it again, but this time, keep your chin up. If you stop mid-way, then these lessons will be a waste of time for you.”

Touyo could sense how serious she was from her words alone. She wasn’t making fun of him like she usually does. She wasn’t joking as usual.

She was truly serious.

Touyo’s muscles tensed up from having to try again. He doesn’t want his lessons to be wasted on him because he truly enjoyed doing magic with them.

His brows wrinkled. He lifted his hand. He focused on himself, gathering arcana from his magic core into his lifted hand. Then, he imagined the coordinates—the entrance’s top as clearly as possible.

Tsubaki watched it all with a deep gaze. A smirk showed itself on her lips after how serious Touyo has gotten from receiving a bit of a lecture.

Touyo had to do this. This time, he really was planning on teleporting no matter what. Because he doesn’t want his lessons to go to waste.

His eyes sharpened.

“Teleportal!”

A magic circle appeared in front of him.

Touyo and Yuki’s eyes widened at the red-colored magic circle. It was the same size as him, getting him to practically think that this was just in his imagination.

But he wasn’t done just yet. He knew that he still has to see whether it will connect or not. Swallowing imaginary air, he moved his hand forward to ‘touch’ the teleportal.

His hand disappeared into it. Then, back on the entrance’s top, a red magic circle appeared in the air, showing his hand. This got both Yuki and Tsubaki to smile in response.

“Touyo, you did it! You did it too!”

Even though she sounded like a broken record, Yuki didn’t care about it as her body instantly jumped up and down in joy over Touyo’s success. Touyo could hardly believe it as he slowly smiled and—

“Yeah!”

Touyo screamed as he made a fist with his free hand, and before he knew it, he entered the portal with his whole body. On the entrance’s top, right where Yuki was before, Touyo appeared from the teleportal—making the red teleportal disappear instantly afterward.

Touyo opted to do the same as Yuki did. He lifted his hand and shouted ‘Teleportal!’, the same red teleportal appeared just like before. He entered through it. The red portal showed up on the girls’ side, getting him to appear near them with a smile on his face.

Yuki lifted both her hands up at the same time as Touyo did, making a high-ten at each other.

“You did it! Touyo! I knew you could do it!”

“I did it! I did it, Yuki!”

The two children laughed as Yuki congratulated Touyo for a good job done. Touyo also made his remarks to Yuki as he was the one who didn’t praise her for her own teleportal success before.

As the two talked excitedly about the kinds of possibilities of using this spell, Tsubaki viewed at the two of them with a smirk.

“Congratulations, you two! So for now, try to get as much of a feeling on that spell as much as you can. It’s a really handy spell, so you better—”

Suddenly, Tsubaki’s smirk turned into a frown. She felt her body chill up as she looked above. Something transparent formed in the air. She furrowed her eyes.

“Touyo! Yuki! It’ a ghoul!”

Both Touyo and Yuki turned back in surprise. While Yuki had no idea what she meant by that, Touyo’s body tensed up entirely.

Tsubaki lifted her hand and activated her Barrier. Both Touyo and Yuki felt something flow right through them, a wave of air passing by them. Touyo knew that it was the barrier spell like the one before when the worm ghoul appeared in his house.

Yuki felt the spell as well, but her mind was becoming confused as to what was going on.

Then… the sky cracked.