Unique magic skill (2)

“Oh, Karasu Tengu, my apologies, I have not noticed you sitting there,” Mami focused a moment on the black-haired boy.

“Karasu Tengu?” Makoto asked, confused, which turned the girl’s attention right back to him.

“Hah, you Yokais think you’re so sneaky hiding behind your human forms,” she flipped her braids dramatically, “but you cannot fool my eyesight! The black feathers around your companion Red Oni are a clear indication of him being a Karasu Tengu if his jet ink hair wasn't clear of a hint already.”

It was true that there were many black feathers near Nakano but the reason for it was that his younger sisters loved collecting those. Whenever they saw a lost feather of a crow or a rook, they took it with them and just gave it to their brother so he could hold onto them when they played.

“Whoa, big bro, that’s so cool!” Yukari cheered excitedly believing that whatever nonsense Mami just said out loud and visibly Kaori thought exactly the same.

It seems like both girls either forgot or just didn’t care that it was they who collected those feathers.

To this, Makoto defeatedly put his face in his hands and muttered, “Aah, forget it, she’s back at it again with her nonsense.”

“No, actually,” Nakano started while Onitsuka raised his head to look at his friend, “it sounds cool. The nickname. Can I keep it?” he added while his eyes were basically glowing with excitement begging for the red-haired teen to accept his request.

“Sure, whatever. If it floats your boat, go for it, man.”

“Woohoo!” Nakano cheered jumping up from the bench that he and Makoto were sitting on the whole time and then he turned to Mami. “Thanks for the brand new nickname, Watanabe-chan!”

“You youkai creatures are amusing. Calling you for who you are made you so pleased it seems so ridiculous. But you are most welcome Karasu Tengu, brother of my two new apprentices.” Although she tried to make it sound like it was ridiculous and not a big deal for her, Makoto saw through her and noticed how proud she felt as if she achieved the biggest success of her life.

“Well, it was nice meeting you today, Watanabe-chan but we need to head over to do some grocery shopping that Makoto-san here offered to help us carry back home.”

Oh, thank god that Nakano tried to shoo Mami away this time. Maybe if it wasn’t him trying to get rid of her, she would listen and just leave for the day.

And maybe she would have if two small traitors didn’t chime in.

“Eeh, but we wanted to play more with Mami-sama!” Kaori whined.

“Can’t she come with us?” Yukari added while both tugged on their brother’s arms beggingly.

It was the last chance for Makoto to get rid of Mami for today so he had to take it. “I’m sure Watanabe is-”

“If my presence is requested, I shall grant your wish and assist you with your duties!”

“Yay!” Both girls cheered, jumping up and down.

“Yay…” the red-haired delinquent weakly said, defeated.

Though, he couldn’t really complain in the end. Yukari and Kaori were so enchanted by Mami’s presence that the girl didn’t have any chance to bother him with her absurd request. It didn’t look like she minded either. While the girls walked in front of them, Yukari holding Mami’s right hand while Kaori the left one, the boys were in the back, making sure no one would bother them and in case they were ready to defend them if necessary.

She looked like a natural when it came to handling kids. Maybe it was because Watanabe herself acted like a kid in a way, or maybe she babysat in her free time. Would it be the reason for her to always leave at the exact same hour? Maybe.

Needless to say, it was peaceful until they reached the shop and Nakano’s sister started throwing a tantrum over some collectible card booster packs.

“I told you, I would give you the world but last time we bought the pack of those, you cried for days that you didn’t get the rarest one,” Nakano tried to reason with them.

“It’s because that meanie Maya from our class keeps bullying us that we don’t have any rare ones!” Kaori whined.

“She keeps saying that we bring bad luck and no one will want to be our friend because of that,” Yukari added.

Nakano looked at Makoto, hoping his leader would know how to solve this issue but he had no clue himself. In gangs, they deal with the problems by fighting each other in a fair and square duel. He wouldn’t recommend this option to elementary schoolers though.

“Fear not my young apprentices,” Mami chimed in, noticing how both of the boys struggled with the current situation. “It so happens that I have a magical ability to find the rarest of the gems between lumps of common coal!”

And without explaining further, she started digging into the package filled with card boosters. Makoto observed as she carefully scanned each and every one of them until she decided on one and handed it over to the girls.

“Just remember, you cannot succumb to the feeling of greediness just like your acquaintance with the name of Maya. Poor girl has been cursed but hopefully, with this obtained power of the rarest of the gems, you shall break it and become united with friendship!”

“And will there really be a rare card here?” Yukari asked.

“Do I sense an ounce of doubt in my skills, my young apprentices?”

At that question, the twins shook their heads.

“Good!”

The rest of the shopping went smoothly, girls packed all the items while the boys carried all the groceries all the way to the Nakano’s household where they parted ways so now it was only Makoto and Mami walking towards the main road where they would most likely go in different directions or so the delinquent teen hoped for.

But there was a thing that had bothered him since the situation in the store that he couldn’t just let go of.

“Hey,” Makoto said out loud to catch Mami’s attention, “if there won’t be any rare card in that pack you gave to Yukari and Kaori, I swear, I will deal with you myself,” he stopped for a moment but when he didn’t get any response from the girl walking next to him, which was quite uncharacteristic when he thought about it, he continued. “There is one thing living in your delusion but if they end up disappointed because they decided to believe in your whatever magic, they will have their hearts broken. No kid deserves to go through something like that. Do you get-”

“The SSR card will be there,” Mami suddenly cut him off.

“Huh?”

“This is a brand new card game. The manufacturers messed up and they put stamps with codes. The second to last number changes depending on the rarity of the special card.”

It was strange. Never before has she spoken so naturally, without any ridiculously overly complicated wording. Was this the real Watanabe Mami? All this time the girl with black hair was facing forward. Only when she finished saying that, she turned around to look straight into Makoto’s eyes.

“That’s how I knew that the card would be there.”

Standing and staring at each other felt awkward by the every second passing but then again, Makoto wasn’t sure how he should respond. This change in the girl’s character threw him off so hard that he only lamely said, “O-oh, I see.”

And like with a light switch, the ‘hidden’ Watanabe Mami disappeared and the ‘delusional’ Watanabe Mami reappeared.

“It is a shame how I had no chance to convince you to become my familiar today,” she whined childishly. “And I even prepared my wardrobe to appeal to you more. Such a shame it ended up as a failure of an attempt.”

Oh, right. At some point, Makoto blurred out the fact that the girl was wearing a cosplay for the entire day. He was so used to people staring at him either with fear or just fascination with his big posture and red hair that he didn’t even think if the stares this time weren’t directed towards him.

“Well then, it is my time to bid my farewell but fear not, my soon-to-be familiar! I shall conquer you tomorrow!”

And with that, the girl ran towards the main street and turned in the direction opposite to the Onitsuka’s household.

Wait a moment…

Did she just try to seduce him by wearing a cosplay? Did she think he was into this kind of thing?!

More importantly… Was he into it if he thought she did look good in it?