Episode One
The Selene who stopped hiding her feelings was, well — something else entirely.
Going out meant holding hands without exception. Sleeping meant being together without exception. One kiss a day was apparently non-negotiable. Once the desire had started spilling over, it seemed to have no intention of stopping. She did try to get into the bath together at one point, and I drew the line there.
To think she’d kept all of this hidden while living under the same roof. Perhaps she’d been venting all that accumulated, nowhere-to-go feeling through the supply.
That Selene — the White Witch herself — was walking beside me now along the wide corridor of the Magic Association. The first time Verna called us, the time we brought Kiaran. The memories here hadn’t been particularly good ones.
Even so, right now it didn’t feel unpleasant. Not much time had passed since then, and yet it seems we’ve changed quite a lot.
The gaze that had always been fixed on the toes of my boots was now aimed straight ahead down the corridor, and with a warm feeling in my left hand, I stepped into the blue-white glow of the transfer circle.
“Hey, long time no see.”
By the third visit, I’d grown quite used to this small room surrounded by books. I felt no pressure from the room’s particular atmosphere, or from Verna’s gaze.
“Haven’t seen you in a while and the look on your face has changed quite a bit.”
“Not a bad thing though.”
Verna, leaning deep into her chair, let the corner of her mouth soften.
“Quite a lot happened… Where’s Kiaran?”
I looked around the room but could only find Verna. The woman in the hood who was always with her wasn’t there either.
“That one’s out shopping with my assistant. Apparently she’s taken a liking to her without my noticing.”
She rested her chin in her hand and murmured it as though mildly put out, but her expression stayed soft. Verna really is, I think, kind.
“She should be back soon enough, so let’s start.”
We received an explanation from Verna, more thorough than you’d expect from her, about how far the research had progressed and what she intended going forward.
In the end, she hadn’t yet gotten to the bottom of my condition. Even so, with Kiaran’s cooperation among other things, she was apparently moving forward one step at a time.
“That’s about the size of it. Sorry, but bear with me a little longer.”
“By the way, is there anything wrong with Selene’s body?”
Verna took off the glasses she’d been wearing and pointed a red-nailed finger at Selene. She looks more like a researcher with the glasses on, I think.
“Me? Nothing in particular.”
“I was told at the academy that I had more mana than most. Perhaps it’s thanks to that.”
“Hm. I’m looking into you alongside Sion’s case, for what it’s worth.”
“Something about you might be what makes something visible.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Selene’s face lit up suddenly.
“Y, yes! If I can be of help, please tell me anything! I’ll do everything I can!”
Selene saying it with such force, and Verna giving a satisfied little sniff. I was quietly thinking about what words could possibly do justice to these two people working so hard for my sake, when a familiar voice reached me from behind.
“We’re back! Oh, it’s the witch ladies!”
What came into view was Kiaran, arms wrapped around a paper bag so large it hid her face, and beside her a grown woman casting a worried look at the precarious Kiaran. The face that had always been hidden under the hood was visible now, and she was a much gentler-looking person than I’d expected, which put me oddly at ease.
And behind her—
“Uno — it’s been a while.”
Selene let out a voice that couldn’t quite hide her surprise.
“Witch ladies. Happy to see you.”
Uno murmured it in the same vague, unfocused way as always. In her small hands was a familiar-looking pamphlet.
“…Latest issue.”
I left the pamphlet she held out for Selene to deal with, and let out a small breath. I hadn’t seen it recently, but apparently it was still being published without missing a beat.
“Um… so Uno was here too.”
I tried to say it calmly, but my voice might have gone slightly unsteady. If Uno was here, I’d have to think about how much to say about my own situation and about Kiaran.
“Black Witch, Uno already knows everything.”
The unexpected words nearly drew a sound out of me.
“So you don’t have to hide anything.”
With a slightly awkward smile, Kiaran rested a hand gently on Uno’s shoulder. The loud energy I knew from her wasn’t there, but her expression had a clarity to it that caught my eye.
“I was going to hide it all for her, and then the day Uno came here she went and told her everything herself.”
“Honestly, what a strange pair.”
She said it looking up at the ceiling, but her voice sounded as though happiness was seeping through it. Just as Selene and I had been changing, perhaps Verna was slowly changing too.
“I hadn’t intended to say anything, but I wanted Uno to know after all. So I told her everything.”
“I thought she’d hate me, and then she said she was going to live here too, which surprised me.”
Saying it, Kiaran began sorting through the paper bag’s contents, as though to cover her nervousness.
It must have been a shock for Uno. Even we couldn’t hide our surprise, so for Uno who had been beside her all along it would have been all the more so.
Even so, she chose to stay with Kiaran. Not just to continue as they had been, but to live alongside her.
I’d been worried their relationship might not survive it, but it seemed that was unnecessary.
After that, for a while, we kept up light conversation. The Verna who had been so prickly and efficiency-minded seemed quite settled now.
Selene no longer showed Kiaran the feelings from that day, and I thought the day they found their way back to something like before wouldn’t be far off.
With the pamphlet Uno had pressed on me still in hand, the two of us went down the Association’s wide staircase together. The next time we came here might be a little further off, but what kind of feeling would we come back with then?
Wondering vaguely where to dispose of the pamphlet and walking without much direction, the hand laced through mine was pulled firmly.
“Sion, look at this.”
“Hmm?”
Selene had stopped in front of the noticeboard set at the entrance to the main street. Many sheets were posted there, and Selene’s finger rested on one of them.
“Shall we go to the founding festival together this year?”
“I’d always wanted to go with you, but I… couldn’t bring myself to ask.”
Looking away shyly, Selene let her voice drop just slightly. Seeing that, I nearly burst out laughing.
“Wait, why are you laughing…?”
Selene glanced over at me, mouth in a slight pout, and looked oddly pathetic.
The White Witch everyone admired, unable to ask her childhood friend to a festival for years. If that made it into the pamphlet, it would cause quite a stir.
“Sorry, sorry. Let’s go.”
I swung our joined hands and looked across at her. I tried to say it the way I always did, but the joy was probably impossible to conceal.
Feeling a little flustered, I pulled the wide-eyed Selene’s hand and set off down the main street.
A founding festival is, when all is said and done, just a festival. A big event with many people, but nothing especially extraordinary about it.
Not going always felt like a small loss, so every year I’d drifted through it with Rizett, not really thinking about it — but this year, apparently, that won’t be the case.
I’d have to apologise to Rizett. Knowing her she’d find it amusing and ask all sorts of questions, but I’d probably manage to deflect them somehow.
There were plenty of people around, so I had to keep the Black Witch’s expression on. I knew that, and yet the cheeks that wouldn’t stop softening were more than I could manage as I pulled Selene’s hand down the street.