Witch and Mermaid - 1

Tagging along with Gami and the others to see a live concert, going to a festival, working part-time as an event staff. This is the kind of summer I was living. If one didn't put their time and effort into tending to their friendships like this, you definitely lose your place to belong once the break ends.

Once the second term rolls around, all the uncertainty of social standing and relationships in class vanishes, and you have found your place. There's no people who succeed with a summer break debut. Of course, that results in Aotsuki-san's place being the same, earning herself the title of the 'Solitary Poison-Tongued Princess'. Nobody would dare to approach her, and I stay away from talking with her as long as we're in the classroom. However, no matter how busy we may be during the day, we continue to meet at that park at night.

Someone like me shouldn't be dealing with her. And despite me being aware of this, I kept meeting her nonetheless. But, it's only when nobody else is looking. If someone called me a coward, then I could only nod 'Correct' to that. Since nobody knows about our relationship, nobody could actually say that though.

"Gami~ What should we do after this?"

Classes ended, and when I asked Gami, she laughed while slurping on her royal strawberry chocolate milk tea.

"I'm going to a mixer. Jelly, right?" "Seriously? I feel bad for the other girls." "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, all the guys would probably aim for you, right?" "Hmm."

Her expression, which looked like a 'Of course', did all the talking. That's the perfect kind of attitude towards the queen so that she keeps her good mood.

"So what, the reason you were acting different from usual is because of that mixer, Gami?" Sakana joined in on the conversation.

He's a hottie, and really loves being surrounded by girls, which makes him the exact opposite of the real me, but it didn't take long for him to become something like a friend of mine. While we all surrounded Gami, playing around, he just suddenly ended up like that. When it comes to forming pairs for P.E, it's generally with him. It's not that I particularly like him, but making him my enemy would get me hated by every single fan of his, so I try to get along with him.

"That's right. With some guys from another school."

"Huh, that's unexpected. You and Yafune are always together, so I'm surprised you aren't dating."

"Because Gami-sam is totally wasted on me." "Yafune, are you making fun of me?"

"Not at all, not at all~ I really feel that way. I bet you could get yourself an even better guy. They'd be biting all onto you like fish on a hook."

"What's up with that. Well, you're totally right though!" "Phew, she even said it herself."

"Yafune is more like a pet dog than a boyfriend." "I'm a dog!?"

"Aren't you happy about that? Come on, bark." "Wow, like a true queen! Lol"

It's nothing more than a superficial conversation. But, both Gami and Sakan are just rocking such looks, the atmosphere looked like it was sparkling.

"That's why, I don't have much time to talk with you. Bye Bye~" Gami twirled on the spot which made her skirt flutter, and walked away.

Right after she fully disappeared, I kept the same smile as I did before, and turned towards Sakana.

"What are you on about~?"

"Eh, did I say something weird?"

"Something about me and Gami dating or whatever."

"I mean, I really feel like Gami's taken a liking to you. The fact that she's bringing up the mixer is probably only to get you jelly, you don't think?"

"Didn't you hear her? I'm but her dog, woof woof!"

"Why are you that good at mimicking a dog! Lol. Anyway, I got a date of my own to attend to, so if you'd excuse me~" Sakana walked away while laughing.

I mean, I get where he's coming from, and I don't mind all of this love talk, but I wish that he wouldn't wrap me up in that. Of course, they're free to go on mixers and dates as much as they want. Whether it's a popular person or normie, as long as they don't bother me too much, it's no problem. Even if it's Gami or Sakana. Though, I feel like shit for putting these labels on them.

After all, I'm the one acting like a normie so that I fit in their rows, so I chose this for myself…EIther way, that means I got free time today. I guess I'll head straight home and read some light novels.

Right as I headed to the shoe lockers, I spotted Aotsuki-san in front of the materials room, talking with our homeroom teacher. Ah, I got a bad feeling about this. Some event is gonna happen.

"Aotsuki-san, are you doing your day duty all alone again? Didn't I tell you

to come here with your partner?" "They're probably skipping work again."

"Sheesh…Doing it all alone must be tough, I'm sure...Ah." I tried to quickly walk past them, but Sensei spotted me nonetheless. "Yafune-kun! Perfect timing. Could you help out Aotsuki-san?"

"Sensei, I don't need any help."

"Shush. You'll never finish it all alone. Not to mention that I want you to get along with people. That's why, get this work done together with someone else!"

Our homeroom teacher Shirahama-sensei is quite friendly with her students, but also has no delicacy at all, so it's like a two-edged sword. With her cheerful attitude and cute appearance, she definitely has the popularity necessary with the boys, but I hear that a lot of girls can't stand her. Although Aotsuki-san showed clear disinterest with her eye movement, Sensei didn't catch on to this at all, and continued.

"It's fine~ Just clean the materials room, and throw unneeded documents in the shredder! Yafune-kun, you can't be skipping out either! Once you're done, you better come back to report to me as the two of you!"

Despite the actual person responsible for duty having skipped? Unreasonable. After explaining to us how to organize the documents, and how to take care of them, Sensei walked away. Thanks to this, Aotsuki-san and I were left alone in that room—

"..."

"..."

We exchanged a simple gaze, but shared no conversation. With a bit of distance between the two of us, we started working.

"Is this really a good idea…?"

This materials room is pretty much like a storage room. There's mountains of old documents, and other printouts, covered by dust, so cleaning up everything took quite some time. I could see the sky outside the window slowly turning red as well. In the end, until we finished most of the work, we didn't exchange any words, almost like we were robots doing an office job.

Although it was just the two of us right now, the atmosphere was clearly different from our usual meetings at the park.

"Aotsuki-san, are you done?"

"I only have to organize the contents of the cardboard box…" "Then let me help you, and get this done."

When I opened up the cardboard box, I was greeted by old printouts.

"Why do they have all this stuff here? And, why do we have to take care of them in the first place?"

This really is bad luck for both Aotsuki-san and me, being asked to clean up this mess.

"…Huh? What's that?"

In the corner of the box was a thick notebook. It was pink in color, the cover full of stars and cats, giving off the girliness.

"Maybe someone forgot this here?" Flipping over the pages, I read some of the contents. "It's not for use in class, but more like a diary…?"

"…I don't think we should be looking into this." Aotsuki-san gave me an awkward gaze.

She probably doesn't feel comfortable prying into this.

"You're right, but leaving it here is…you know. Maybe there's a name or class written on it…Though, I think it belongs to a graduate…"

By flipping through the pages, I arrived at some with pictures on it.

"What are these drawings?"

A three-cornered hat, a long robe…and a wooden wand? It looked like a witch you'd see from all the fantasy stories we've seen before. That being said, the drawing isn't all that great, so it's a bit hard to tell.

*25th of July

I met a witch.

They wore a hat and clothes dark like the night. Golden hair reflecting the moonlight. A long wand made out of wood.

It was the appearance of a witch I've seen in picture books I read when I was young, not to mention that she was a really cute girl…The first moment I saw her, I just knew that my own eyes were sparkling in excitement.

When I jumped at her to give her a big hug, she only hit me with her wand. She was very angry. 'It's dangerous for humans to touch me. Don't get too close to me', she said.

The Witch's name is Shell, it seems. From what she told me, not many people can see Shell, although it's a bit different from the whole sixth sense thing, but you need a knack for that stuff at least.

Though, Shell herself can decide if she wants to show herself…but, it's rare for a human like me to see her just like that.

Shell told me to 'Go home', and didn't talk with me at all at first.

But, meeting an actual Witch was a first for me, so I wanted to get along with her, which is why I one-sidedly talked all the time.

About school, about a cake I ate recently, about the black cat I see when I walk to school.

Shell never gave a comment or any hint that she was listening, but she just sat down nearby, showing no signs of walking away.

After the day ended, and the sun started to set, Shell told me 'I'm going to do my daily practice of magic, so watch me if you feel like it'. She swung her wand, and—In the dimly-lit sky, like large fireflies, fluffy spheres of light appeared.

It was a beautiful sight that I had never seen before, and it made me want to keep watching it forever.

When I smiled with a 'It's beautiful', Shell's cheek turned faintly red, and she averted her face while saying 'Is that so'.

She called it her daily practice, but maybe she just wanted to show me this? I think that Shell is just easily flustered, but really kind deep down.

I came to love Shell. When I asked her if I could come visit her the next day as well, she didn't look me in the eyes, and said 'As long as you don't touch me, I don't mind'.

Since she didn't directly say no, I felt happy. I'll definitely come visit Shell tomorrow, and the day after.

"What the heck is this…I thought that this was a diary, but this sounds more like the manuscript for a novel…I mean, witch Shell?"

That was a sudden twist into the fantasy genre, alright. Maybe the person who wrote this came up with some plot mid-way through their diary. That tends to happen right, this period where you just feel like working on a manga or novel. I always lose motivation before I actually start, though.

"...!"

"Aotsuki-san? What's wrong?"

"Hey, show that to me!" She had been taking glances at the notes so far, only to now completely rip it out of my hands, running her eyes over the pages.

What was that about 'We shouldn't be looking at this…', huh? You're reading it like your life depended on it. What's going on? That sure is a

serious expression. Since Aotsuki-san got completely engrossed in the notes, I just silently stood next to her, reading through it. After that initial entry, the notes described the other encounters between the author and that witch.

At first, the witch was cold and distant, but she slowly opened up to the writer. At the same time, the author started to treasure the witch more and more. However, their relationship came to an end together with the passing of summer.

*31st of August

Summer break is going to end.

Spending this summer break with Shell, this might have been the most fun time in my life so far.

Because other people can't see Shell, we couldn't go to a place with lots of people. However, listening to the cicadas on the tree branch, cooling our legs in the nearby river, and watching the stars as we laid on the grass…

It wasn't anything special by any means, but to me, it was something like a treasure. Starting tomorrow, school will begin, but I will still come meet Shell even after that—or that's what I planned at least. However.

—Shell told me not to meet her again. When I asked her why, this is what she said.

I'm a human, and Shell is a witch. We are two existences that should have never met. That's why Shell said 'I can't steal any more of your time'. She said that humans should spend time with other humans. And, that she was deciding on this for my sake.

…If I had to guess, Shell must have seen me rejecting an invitation from my friends a few days ago. She must be worried that I would not make any more friends at this rate. Since Shell can't be seen by anybody else, and I keep playing with her, they might think of me as weird…

But, I love Shell. It's just just any like. A while back, I realized. My feelings

for Shell are different from normal friendship. Whenever I'm with her, my face burns up, and my heart races annoyingly loud. Just her existence makes my heart all warm.

Any other person isn't good enough. It can only be Shell. After all, she always listened to my stories. When I was sad because I got in a fight with Mom, she didn't ask anything, and just gave me a beautiful flower. When I said that I wanted to see a rainbow, she made water spray beneath the sunlight to create a rainbow-colored bridge.

Shell does have a bad tone at times, and is really clumsy. Depending on people, they might say that she had a bad personality (although barely anybody knows her to begin with).

However, I know that Shell is more kind than anybody else. That's why I told Shell. 'If I have you, I don't need any friends'. And then, she showed me an expression I had never seen on her before. She showed a faint smile, but her eyes weren't happy at all, instead looking like she was about to cry.

She said that all feelings are temporary. She said that all my feelings are fake. And, that I was scared of realizing this.

I didn't know how to properly convey my feelings to her. My words got stuck in my throat. So instead, I asked Shell. 'Do you not like me?'. And then, she said.

—'I hate people like you.'

Right after, she hid her own appearance with magic. No matter how much I screamed, and searched for her, she never appeared in front of me again. For a long time, the tears wouldn't stop streaming down my eyes. Maybe she really doesn't want to see me ever again…But, even so. My feelings aren't temporary. Even if she hates me, I will always…always love Shell.

"What a sad story…" "…This…"