Hotaru set a glass of water at the counter, in front of Jotou. They shared a glance, "Drink it."
Jotou breathed, taking a sip. She looked up, "What's that?" Jotou pointed to the ceiling. A little latch dangled above as she set the water aside.
"Probably goes up to the roof but Jotou," Hotaru brought the blonde's attention back to her, "Are you okay?"
Jotou squinted, "I, I'm fine, what d'you mean?"
"Jotou… please. You helped me—many times. It's my turn to return the favour."
"No need to return whatever. I did that because, because, you're… a friend," Jotou gazed away. 'I… oh no… Do I have a crush…? Please don't tell me I have a crush, ugh…'
"You got angry… but it looked like the angrier you got, the more powerful your spell became… Was that how you defeated that giant velatos? You were… angry? For me?" Hotaru questioned.
'Was it anger?' "I'm not sure actually. But I wasn't angry just now; just, frustrated."
Hotaru's eyes shrank at the statement, "Fine. Just know I'm here to talk to, okay?"
Jotou sighed, "…I'll remember that," she sipped more water. 'If I tell her about my pathetic excuse for a life, I might end up getting her depressed. Besides, she's been through way worse than me.'
"That's all you called me here for? To cool off?"
"That," Hotaru sat on the counter, "and all the magic training… You're the only chance we have against any velatos.
Asobi may have a small amount of another affinity, but I think that may just be sound, alongside her illusions. And Fumeko for now, has nothing to affect a velatos. I'm just, worried you know?
I know I can talk to you, but am I really the best teacher? At least the three of you do something in battle; all I can do is sit back and heal when you come back injured."
'Please… you're the one keeping us afloat. Still, with students like us; any teacher would pull their hair out. But you're not at fault Hotaru.'
"Listen," Jotou looked to her, "You're the best teacher I know. More importantly, you're doing your best. Fumeko will get it, it's just a matter of time.
Stop questioning yourself, alright? You're not doing anything wrong. In fact, I'd argue you're the only one doing anything right," Jotou softened her voice.
Hotaru smiled. Her face then twisted… "You know what? Jotou Howllett, I want to-" she couldn't finish.
"You, want to what?" Jotou gawked. 'Why is she blushing?' Jotou noticed the redhead shifting her hair idly. 'Is she…? Shut up Jotou, don't be stupid and assume things like that.'
"I, I want to say, even though we've known each other for a while; I, really appreciate you," she gulped.
"Oh. Thanks, I appreciate you too," Jotou replied with a beam. 'Yup, she just likes me as a friend. Don't overthink it and try to make it something more.'
The door busted open, startling the two, "Come quick! Meko's up a tree!" Asobi shouted.
"Up a tree?" the two asked in sync.
_
They walked up to where Asobi ran, the teapot still sat where it was. The books previously stacked and arranged were flipped open, leaving crinkles in the corners of pages.
Fumeko hazardously hung from a high branch, about five or six metres off the ground. Hugging it tightly, she sweated glancing down.
"What are you doing up there?" Hotaru looked up.
Fumeko glared down, "Oh, you know, just hanging around," as she sassed, she lost grip on her fingers, "Guh!" the tree shook as she hung on for dear life, but the book in her grasp fell down onto the grass.
"Shadows came from everywhere and hugged her and then poof! She was up there! Meko, uhm, tried another spell," Asobi pointed to the book.
"Snitch!"
"Hey, I need to return these you know," Hotaru picked up, "Serves you right; I think we should leave you up there till you learn to climb down."
"Oh please, I've climbed out of high places several times; I just need a rope or something."
Jotou shook her head, "I'll go see if I can find something."
"No need," Hotaru dismissed. She put her arms out, "Just jump, I'll catch you." "Worst case, I can heal you," she muttered to herself.
"Huh!? What are you? A safety net? There's no way I'm doing that!"
"What we need is a trampoline!" Asobi added.
"Ai, ai, ai," Jotou groaned, moving below Fumeko and beside Hotaru. She put her arms out, "Come on Meko, jump. Worst case scenario, you can be healed, but I'll catch you before that."
Fumeko glanced down, "You…?" she contemplated, "I guess…" she took a deep breath, "Don't let me fall, please," she let go of the branch. "JOTOU!" Fumeko closed her eyes.
The tree rustled and Jotou's grunt was the next sound she heard. Fumeko opened one eye, seeing the golden blonde hair cascading and framing her face, her head blocking the Sun perfectly.
She rested in Jotou's arms as Jotou stood up straight, having bent her legs to catch her. "Oh Jotou, you saved me!" Fumeko smiled, hugging her while still being carried.
"Yeah, you're welcome," Jotou was lucky she didn't fall whilst catching her. "You know, knowing how much you eat, you're surprisingly light."
Fumeko brought her head up, "What's that supposed to mean- BAAK!" she sounded as she was pushed off onto the grass.
"What's wrong with me catching you huh?" Hotaru pushed her out of Jotou's arms.
Fumeko grumbled, rubbing her head, "You can't even trust me to cast a spell, but I need to trust you to catch me?" she got up, dusting off her clothes.
"Who ever said that?" Hotaru furrowed her brows, "I just wanted you to take it slow so something EXACTLY like this doesn't happen."
"What spell did you even do?" Jotou queried.
"Here," she pulled the book from Hotaru's hands and flipped a few pages, "This one."
"Blink…? This is a pure mobility spell…" Hotaru uttered. "Asobi, I thought I asked you to keep her out of trouble?"
"You did… but Meko promised me a pet frog," Asobi hid behind her wand.
Jotou and Hotaru glanced at Fumeko. "What? How hard is it to find a frog?"
"You're not getting a frog," Hotaru looked back to the book. "Ugh… Fine, I guess you have a mobility affinity based in shadow magic. Is that a minor affinity or the main one, I have no clue."
"Well, unless that other affinity is offensive shadow magic, it doesn't really matter. But since you did cast, in a purposeful-accident, maybe you can try heat again?" Jotou suggested.
"Fine, for your sake," Fumeko agreed.
_
She sat back down, focusing on the pot. Her nerves now had felt mana and magic… "Heat," she spoke with her hands out and… steam emanated out. "I did it!!! Suck it!" Fumeko jumped up.
Hotaru opened the lid, "Jotou overboiled it and you underboiled it… Still, I guess you did do the spell," Hotaru raised a brow.
"Yay! Now she can do shadow magic!" Asobi cheered, an illusory green frog atop her hat.
"What does that spell do? Exactly that is," Jotou asked.
"Hm," Hotaru checked, "An intermediate spell that basically teleports you a short distance. Though, if you don't know where you're going, you might just end up in a tree."
Fumeko sighed, "So can I learn some actual magic now?"
Hotaru looked to the brunette; judging, "Normally, if you cast on accident, it means you have more of an affinity towards it. And knowing your tendency to run off; I think your main affinity is mobility."
"Does that mean…?" Fumeko stood on the tips of her toes.
"Yes… let's try to get you to learn blink right…"
_
Hours passed, shadow and sunlight danced under the clouds till the skies grew purple. "How far can I go?" Fumeko asked, having practiced the spell a few times now.
Hotaru glanced up from reading, "That's dependant on you. Not incredibly far, it's still an intermediate spell. The better you get at it, the better your spell will become. It's getting late, so, one more time."
Fumeko nodded, "Here I go," she leaned forward, keeping her legs apart. She focused to the edge of the house. Purplish-black shadows surrounded her petite form.
They lingered around her limbs and head, "Blink!" she casted and within a flash the shadows warped and evaporated. Next to the house stood Fumeko, the shadows retracting and disappearing.
"Wait, I was trying to get into the house…"
"That's not possible; that's at least some other expert level spell. For now, you need an open space or at least a window."
"Spark!" meanwhile, "Zap!" Jotou gripped a sword with both hands, slashing at various 'velatos'. Upon impact, she slashed through the illusory enemies.
"Go Jotou go! Go Jotou go!" Asobi whisked her wand, creating more and more stationary illusions.
"Hiya! Ha!" she swung whilst on the move, taking down all of the illusory enemies in a sprint. Sweat trickled down her temples and arms as she came to a halt—some blonde strands of hair stuck to her cheek.
She stood tall after piercing the sword into the ground, "I think I got the hang of it," she exhaled.
Fumeko and Hotaru went towards her. "Great for a day's full of practice," Hotaru's tail wagged.
"I never thought I'd be able to do it… Man it feels good. What other spells can I learn?" Fumeko giddied even with the feeling of her mana draining.
"Plenty. Sobi, I promise I'll teach you tomorrow, I have just the spell," Hotaru handed over a parchment.
"Yay! Blinding light?"
"Yes. If a velatos is affected by what it sees, which it is, your light maybe strong enough to annoy them, but a spell like this could blind them for a good while; speaking of which,"
Hotaru looked to Jotou, "I think you should try Thundering Strike."
Jotou narrowed her gaze, "Are you sure?"
"Very much so. All three of us combined still can't take down a velatos. It's obvious that you need to learn to get that spell right if we want even a chance. I didn't want it to come to this, but we have to."
"More like we're forced to. You used to be able to just kill them," Fumeko added.
"Yeah, that's been bothering me too; but it's better to have safety measures," Jotou agreed.
They set the test dummy back up, placing the top half by sticking a stick in between. It was just so Jotou had a target; the three moved back as Jotou stood ready, sword to her side.
"Be very careful! If it feels like too much, just stop. In fact, we can even do this tomorrow if you're not feeling up to it!"
"Don't listen to her Jotou; you can do this, I believe you can, I know you can!" Fumeko shouted.
"Let the dummy have it! Let the magic flow through you and make a giant BOOM!" Asobi cheered, making the dummy look like the plant velatos they fought previously.
The clouds shifted, the Moon peeking through the fading sunlight. Jotou grinned. 'I got this. They believe in you and you've done it once before. Time to live up to the title.'
The blade fizzled with electricity, "Thundering Strike!" she casted and swung; the lightning "Blast!"-ed the figure and a faint thunder echoed till the house…
Jotou started breathing, heavier and heavier, "Ugh…" the fatigue was hitting her. The blade she held cracked and fell into pieces.
The stick was broken, but the dummy merely was flung a few metres into the grass. "Jotou!" Hotaru and Fumeko both caught before the blonde could fall.
"How… was that…?" Jotou's eyes felt heavy; so did her body.
Hotaru and Fumeko hoisted her up on her feet, "Not too bad…" Hotaru's face scrunched before she examined her, "Just muscle tears all over and your blood pressure's decreased…"
"No broken bones! Yay!" Asobi clapped.
"You can do it Jotou. But, maybe not right now…" Fumeko pouted and kept Jotou standing up.
Jotou sighed, "It didn't work properly did it… All my limbs hurt to move."
"No signs of bleeding either. You've been training the entire day, it's okay. Hey, for the third time casting and not too serious injuries, this isn't that bad," Hotaru continued.
"Don't lie to her; that was still nothing compared to that first one."
"That may be true, but you can't learn it all in one day's worth of work. We'll keep practicing and I'll keep healing you till you can do it without hurting yourself," Hotaru ushered her towards the house.
"It's only a matter of time; you'll get it," Fumeko encouraged. Jotou was silent, staring at the grass as they went back into their abode.
By the late night, when the lights of the house were turning off, tiny green sprouts broke through the dirt she walked away from…