Intermission 2

When she looked at the clock, it was already past 10:00 PM. Satsuki was getting tired. She sighed a little and stopped casting her anti-curse spell.

“Zzz... Zzz...”

“...”

She’d kept the spell up for four hours now, but Harissa still showed no sign of waking up. Maybe she never would...

The idea flashed through Satsuki’s mind, but she vigorously shook her head. The sleep spell on Harissa was more powerful than she’d expected. She was starting to lose hope.

She hadn’t known Harissa that long, but Satsuki liked the little mage from another world. Just a poor girl who’d suddenly lost the ability to get home.

Right after she’d started living at Rekka’s house, she’d asked Satsuki to teach her how to do chores. She said that she wanted to help Rekka.

She had probably been good with housework to begin with. All Satsuki really had to do was teach her how to go shopping and use modern appliances. Harissa had quickly taken over all the chores in the Namidare household. It was cute to watch her doing her best to help Rekka.

Actually, Satsuki regretted teaching her how to use the kitchen a little. As a result, she’d had fewer chances to make lunch for Rekka herself. Harissa’s cooking was in the style of her home world. It had a unique flavor that was really good.

In that sense, she was one of Satsuki’s rivals for Rekka’s heart. (The fact that it was “rivals” in the plural was bad enough.) But as a person, Satsuki didn’t mind her.

It was like having a little sister, Satsuki thought. That’s why she wanted to help her no matter what.

“...Okay.”

Satsuki began casting her spell again. Once more, the blue light gathered in her hands and softly enveloped the sleeping Harissa.

“......”

As she cast the spell, Satsuki found herself thinking of her childhood friend.

“Rekka...” She whispered the name of the absent boy.

Normally his name brought a warm light to her heart, but now it cast a black shadow.

She knew Rekka was out there trying to save Harissa. That much she was certain of. That was the kind of boy her childhood friend was.

He could be lazy, he hated to stand out, and he never picked fights. He was a boy who loved what was normal, and hated causing a fuss. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t do it to save someone in trouble. He’d complain, and he’d say he wished that someone else would do it for him, but...

“In the end, Rekka wouldn’t give up on anyone...” She said nostalgically.

Satsuki had once come across a stray cat, but her parents told her to throw it out. Rekka subsequently found her crying, and told her that he’d help find a new owner for it.

“My dad saved a cat by the river a while ago, and I helped him find someone to keep it,” he’d said.

He even told her he knew all the best places to put up signs. But...

“No! I want to keep it myself!”

Satsuki had been selfish then.

In her own childish way, she’d fallen in love with the cat. At first, he’d tried to persuade her otherwise... but when he realized it wasn’t working, he took her and the cat to the neighborhood shrine.

“Let’s keep it here and take care of it.”

“Okay!”

For a time after that, they’d visit the shrine day after day. They brought it milk to drink and blankets to keep it warm.

After a year or so, the cat grew up and wandered off somewhere. But Rekka had stayed with her until the end.

He thought it was normal for people to be happy. And he seemed to think it was normal to try and protect that.

But... now he’d rebuffed Satsuki strongly, and hurt her as a result.

Maybe he didn’t mean to. Maybe he had a good reason. Maybe Satsuki had just misunderstood what he was doing, and was getting upset for no reason. But even so...

She didn’t know what to do. They’d been together ever since they were little, and this was the first time something like this had ever happened.

Because... she loved Rekka.

The slightest disturbance shook her heart to the core. Those wounds were deep.

No matter how much she thought it over—no matter how much she loved him—she couldn’t understand him now. If she could, there wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Not even the Magic of Omnipotence could reveal how people felt. The black uncertainty ate at her heart.

A piercing, aching pain...

“...”

Satsuki closed her eyes and tried to endure.

But the pain didn’t stop.