Huh, Namika thought as she stumbled back into the store. So it turns out that magic is real after all. Who knew? Certainly not her five minutes ago. It was, after all, rather difficult to remain skeptical in the face of - well, rapidfire maturity but also the multicoloured beams of light emanating from nowhere, flowing into her body and leaving her hair sticking up and clothes smouldering as though she'd spent the afternoon playing with a fork and an electrical outlet.
She staggered back inside the store with a radiant aura and a beatific smile. How wonderful! Quite literally, full of wonder. She was long past the age where she believed in fairies and Santa and things that didn't make sense in the world. Learning there were witches, actual real magic casters that weren't doing tricks but actually doing things that science did not yet properly understand by sheer force of will... Yes, it really was wonderful! So wonderful that she completely forgot why she had gone outside in the first place.
"Hello, Namika," Sukeyasu said in his usual deadpan. "That hairstyle seems to be a good start for an Albert Einstein cosplay. However, I would also say that for some reason it suits you rather well. Even though it's messy, it provides a distinct character design that you were somewhat lacking before."
"Y-You really think so?" Namika blushed at the compliment. Oh, he thought she was cute! He thought she was pretty! He said something nice about her, noticed her hair and had a girl hanging off his arm in a rather affectionate manner.
Oh. Oh yeah. That was why she'd rushed outside. Namika opened her mouth wide open and, by way of visual metaphor, a broken heart floated out.
"Hi there!" the girl chirped, nuzzling up against Sukeyasu's arm. "I'm his new girlfriend. Agatha Yaga. Pleasure to meet you, Namika!"
She was gorgeous. As in, even Namika's eyes wandered a little over that figure and that face. She suddenly felt as though she didn't stand a chance. No wonder Sukeyasu had jumped - for such a passive boy a hop could be considered a leap - at the chance to date someone like this. Affectionate, polite, kind and -
Hang on a second.
Agatha disengaged herself from Sukeyasu's arm and strolled over towards Namika. "I probably shouldn't be like that while you're at work," she said with a slight flip of her radiant hair. "It might get you in trouble... So, why don't I spend some time checking out the retro games?"
"I don't know," Sukeyasu said, tilting his head. "Why don't you?"
"Teehee!" Agatha tittered girlishly. "Oh, you and that cool deadpan attitude! I can hardly wait to see you after work! Bye bye dearest!"
"Goodbye," Sukeyasu said, forming a pyramid above his head with his hands. Then, with no further explanation, he spun like a top off towards the arcade portion of the store. Leaving Namika all alone with the girlfriend of the boy she liked.
Even a nice girl can feel awkward in a situation like this.
"My, my!" Agatha said. "What a nice boy you've been crushing on." She turned around, and suddenly gained about five years and a pointy hat. "Surprised, Namika? Hohohoho! This will teach you for breaking my broom! You careless, clumsy girl! This must all be so confusing to a boring bitch like yourself, so allow me to explain -"
"You travelled back in time," Namika said with a nod indicating that she genuinely felt impressed. "I suppose if magic exists, then that sort of ability probably does as well."
"R-Right!" the witch said, her pretty eye twitching a little bit. "When I found out the effect my spell had, it left me completely unsatisfied, so I went back in time to investigate a way to get my revenge... Then seduced the boy you had such an obvious crush on from under your nose! Yes, this should teach you a valuable lesson about not breaking other people's possessions!"
"... Um..." Namika said, politely raising her hand. "The reason I went outside in the first place was because I overheard your confession. Doesn't that mean this whole thing happened because you wanted revenge in the first place?"
Agatha fell silent mid-laugh, but kept the back of her hand raised to her mouth. It was as if time had frozen for her and her alone as she stood there. Namika was actually starting to get quite worried. From here it didn't look like she'd blinked for a while, and she couldn't tell if the witch was breathing either.
"Not at all," Agatha said, pointing an accusatory finger at Namika, while brandishing a microphone from the other hand. "It really is all your fault that I want revenge in the first place! Someone has to teach you not to be so infuriating! Being nice doesn't mean anything at all unless you can understand the other person's point of view! Therefore I shall secretly take my revenge without anyone being the wiser!"
... If she was trying to keep this quiet, maybe she shouldn't be announcing it so loudly in the middle of a public place?
She turned to leave, swishing off triumphantly and then, out of nowhere, Namika got a burst of... Something that she didn't quite understand. She rushed forward and passed by the witch, then stood in front of her with arms stretched wide. There was a feeling in her chest that she didn't understand. It was tight and both hot and cold at once. It felt horrible. Like a building pressure that was in desperate need of release. And that release came out in the form of a sentence.
"I won't let you hurt the man I love!"
To which, the witch shrugged and stepped around her. "Easy, girl," she said, resting a hand on Namika's shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt him. I am going to date him. He is a rather nice lad, and I think we might even be a compatible match. Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean I'm a monster. Instead of seeing me as an enemy... Why don't you see me as a harsh teacher?"
Not going to hurt him? On the one hand she felt relief at that. It would have been terrible if he'd been turned into a toad or something... Then again that would be sort of like out of a fairy tale, wouldn't it? Then Namika could rescue him with a kiss and they'd have lived happily ever after.
By thinking about it this way, just dating him was actually crueler in its own way. Forcing Namika to watch from a distance as he dated a pretty girl she knew for a fact was trying to get revenge on her, without any evidence to back up that assertion... Was it better to die from having your head cut off in a single stroke, or by a thousand paper cuts over as many days?
If Namika had been the more cynical sort, she'd have noted that this form of revenge wasn't remotely monstrous at all. It was exceptionally human.
"Oh, hey!" Agatha gasped as she, sans hat and about five years, excitedly held up an old Funtendo game. "It has been years since I've played this! Got any consoles I can play on?"
"Sure," Namika said automatically, gesturing over towards the Funtendo setup. "It's a hundred fifty yen an hour. Please sign the form, fill in the game's name as well and we shall log the time automatically."
And off she went. A witch that was apparently a fan of retro games. That was heck bent on emotionally destroying Namika for the crime of accidentally destroying a broom. What could she do about this situation? Tell him? Ah! He would think it was a joke, or it would be played off as an attempt to split them up! As for anything more directly manipulative, that really wasn't her style at all. What could she do? What should she do?
"Just watch!" Agatha called. "I'm great at this! I'll rush right through this first level in no -"
The words Game Over flashed on the screen ten seconds later.
"Th-that was just a warmup!" Agatha cackled. "This time, I'll get it for -"
Another ten seconds later, the words Game Over flashed by once again. This witch... She'd never actually played video games before, had she? She was the sort of person that wanted to show off and boast about things without actually being good at them.
In other words... Basically, she was an idiot with magical powers?
"Hey now," a voice whispered over her shoulder. "You know how much it upsets me to see a pretty face scowling and frowning."
Senichi was standing there just behind her with an affable smile. How he did that, she'd never understand. He held up his hands, showing them both empty. Then made a fist, flipped his left thumb and made a coin appear as if out of nowhere. "Did my magic trick cheer you up any?" he asked, letting it land flat on the back of his hand. "Why don't you tell old Senichi what's got you down?"
"Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you with it," Namika honestly and earnestly said.
"Ah, but knowing there's something troubling you without knowing what it is troubles me even more," Senichi said. The coin flipped along the back of his knuckles as though it were a rolling boulder. "So please ease that trouble and tell me all about it. So that I may sweep it aside and stamp on it as though it were a bug!"
<i>Being nice doesn't mean anything at all unless -</i>
"Hey, pervert!" Chino said, slapping her hand down on Namika's shoulder. "I didn't realise I was paying for you to stand around staring at the wall."
<i>"Huh?"</i> Namika thought. <i>"What was... Huh?! Why can't I move?!"</i>
"Apologies, my stern but beautiful flower," came Senichi's voice from her own body. Namika felt herself turning around, and saw a hand - a very definitely male hand - attach a flower to Chino's lapel. She rolled her eyes and impatiently tapped her foot. "My mind did wander briefly, but your gorgeous face has brought me back to reality."
"Right of course it did," Chino said. "Daydreaming about Namika again, were we?" She pulled out a microphone from nowhere, adopted doe eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, that sweet and innocent girl! If only she would have eyes for you instead of that boring boy that never smiles!"
... What? What? What was going on around here? Namika couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She couldn't do much of anything at all but listen and watch and - Daydream about Namika? Was that what Chino said? Hold on. Wait a minute. Let's go back to that for a moment. Please?
"You really are too good at reading me," Senichi sighed. "No wonder we didn't work out, all those years back. If only she didn't have eyes for none but Sukeyasu. I have tried to distract myself with other girls, other beautiful women but none of them can hold a candle to her innocent smile."
"Knowing you, that smile wouldn't stay innocent for very long," Chino observed, reaching out to tweak his ear ow ow ow don't twist so hard! "And that comment about other beautiful women seems pretty transparent as well!"
"Is it so wrong to practise what I'm good at?" Senichi asked. A podium somehow appeared beneath his feet, elevating him up towards the ceiling where he gestured dramatically with a hand over his heart and the other outstretched as if reaching to the heavens. "An artist must paint! A singer must sing! A writer must write! And I must share my passion for women with them, so that they may feel the depths of my warmth! Is that wrong?"
Then, looming over him like god pushing clouds aside to stare down upon the mortals below, Chino's face appeared with eyes like fire and her voice like thunder. "Only if you do it on my time and my money. Get back to work!"
"Yes ma'am!" Senichi smartly saluted, then turned and marched off directly towards any place but right here, please.
<i>You can understand the other person's point of view!</i>
"Namika?" Senichi said. There was a slightly worried lilt to his voice. Ah! She could move again. Namika patted down her body, revelling in the simple sensation of being able to control her own movements. "Now I really must insist. Please tell me what the problem is. The last time I saw a girl hug her own shoulders, she fainted shortly afterwards."
"I - I'm fine," she said, blinking slightly in confusion. She turned slightly and looked right at Senichi, the funny pervert that always made her laugh but never actually hit on her. Oh no! How had she managed not to notice that! She was standing right in the middle of a classic love triangle... Well, make that two love triangles. A love square? Rectangle? "Excuse me a minute, I think I need some air. I need to think."
"Took the words right out of my mo~uth!" Agatha sang as Namika ran past. As she did so, time seemed momentarily to slow right down and Agatha turned with a wicked grin on her face. "Enjoy your new ability, my pretty. You're going to learn a lot more about your friends than you could ever dare dream. And maybe learn a little more about yourself as well! Hohohoho- Oh come on, where the hell did that come from?! Damn cheating game!"
- Namika tries to figure out this new power.
- Namika encounters someone else the witch has cursed and must fight them for some reason.
- Namika tells her friends about this power and asks for help.
- Agatha and Sukeyasu's first date!
- Something else
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