Chapter 7: Dark Magic Training (Parts 3-4)

Chapter 7 Part 3

The girls have headed to the gym showers to relax a bit before going home. 

Water from four showers cascades down. Miru, Sumire, and Chisato are in one, while Yasuragi and Ai share the fourth. 

Despite having exercised a lot, the girls shower with hot water on this chilly day. 

A mist fills the place, obscuring the girls from the waist to their knees. 

— Hey, Miru. — says Sumire, who is in the shower next to hers. 

— Yes? 

— How did you meet Uraseku? 

Ai steps out to hear the story better. 

— That's right! How was it? 

— W-well, it's a very sweet and strange story! 

Chisato, Sumire, and Yasuragi continue showering while Miru begins to tell the story of how she met him. 

— I was twelve years old, and that day I was on my way home after school when some boys a bit older than me approached. 

At this moment, Miru starts narrating her story. 

— Come on! Or do you not want to go out with us? — says one of the boys to little Miru. 

— I started to feel very uncomfortable and rejected them, but they didn't understand and tried to take me by force. Then Uraseku arrived, carrying two buckets. 

— Hey, leave her alone! — shouts Rasec in somewhat broken Japanese. 

— He couldn't speak Japanese well at that time, but he defended me, or something like that, haha. 

Sumire interrupts her recollection to ask a question. 

— Uh… what do you mean by "something like that"? 

— W-well...! They beat him up… 

— I saw that coming... 

— The point is he tried to defend me. After that, I ended up stopping the boys who were beating him, and they left. He was lying on the ground, so I treated his wounds. 

— T-thank you. 

— That's what he said, a bit blushing and furious for losing. After that, I asked him a question, but he didn't understand. 

— Y-yeah... bye. — responds little Rasec, confused and not understanding what Miru said. 

— I had asked if he was badly hurt, and his "yes" made me feel bad for him. Since then, I started seeing him around the streets to check if he was better, but in the end, we became friends when we started practicing Japanese together. 

Ai falls to the floor and starts flailing around. 

— Oh, it's like a romance novel! 

Sumire pouts angrily, squeezing the soap in her hand until it bursts. 

Yasuragi from the other shower tells Sumire: 

— Calm down, Neko-chan! It wasn't very different from how you met him, both times he got pretty hurt! 

— Haha, you're right! — says Sumire, quite cheerful. — By the way. 

Sumire goes to the cubicle where Chisato is showering. 

— Could you lend me your soap? I exploded mine, haha! 

— Sure… um… 

The soap slips from Chisato's hand and falls into the drain at the back. 

Chisato bends down to reach it as the mist thickens. 

— Wait, I'll help you. 

Sumire stands next to Chisato and also bends down to try and reach the soap. 

— Hey, don't move... hng… 

— Umh... you're in the way... 

— Kya! Hey, you don't have to touch me there! 

— Ng... Ah... what kind of... unh... scream was that... 

Sumire accidentally pushes the soap further down, making it go to the start of the drain. 

Miru approaches the cubicle where Sumire and Chisato are. 

— Hey, calm down! 

A mysterious girl covered only by a towel, with long dark purple hair, takes the soap that fell from Chisato. 

— She's right... calm down, anyone would think you're doing something else in there! By the way, thanks for the soap! — says the mysterious girl in a mocking tone. 

She turns to leave, but before she does, Miru grabs her arm and stops her. 

— Let go... 

— That doesn't belong to you, remember you already have a lot of problems. 

The girl pushes Miru, turns around, and shows her face. 

— So what?! 

This girl is Sato Ayumi, a student from class 3-B at Adachi Institute. It's rare for her to attend classes and she's known to be very problematic. 

Chisato and Sumire come out of the shower to help defend Miru, and Ai and Yasuragi join them too. 

— Miru-chan! 

Ayumi is surprised to see this. 

— Ah…! I can't believe they… 

— If you attended the institute, you'd know who we are, Sato-san… 

— So those rumors were true… — says Ayumi, worried and in a low voice. — whatever. 

Ayumi runs away. 

— Thanks for the soap!

Everyone was stunned by what had just happened.

— Hey, come back here! — shouted Sumire, very annoyed.

— Let her go, let's just forget about it.

Sumire pouted in anger while Chisato watched her seriously.

The girls decided to forget about it and headed to the hot springs at the gym.

— Ah, the water is perfect! — said Miru, much calmer.

— Grr! That girl drives me crazy. — said Sumire as she entered the water.

— Uff... just relax, Neko-chan.

They spent a moment in silence, but Sumire started to question something.

— What kind of gym has hot springs? We're not even in the capital for this to make sense...

— Huh? Just relax...

— Yeah, Neko-chan, I feel like witches are making soup with me. — said Chisato, blushing.

— Should a sweet girl like you say things like that? — Miru wondered, quite puzzled.

— Leave her be, that's just how she is. By the way, do you know where Ai and Yasuragi are?

— They said they were going to relax inside the diamond...

— I didn't even notice when they went in...

The girls enjoyed a pleasant moment in the hot springs, but something was bothering both Sumire and Miru.

Sumire dunked her head in the water and started blowing bubbles. Then, she suddenly lifted her head, scaring Miru.

— Ah, that girl from before stressed me out! — shouted Sumire, very furious.

— She causes a lot of problems at the school. I guess she just likes to bother others, and I really don't like that...

Miru began to get upset, emitting a strong pink aura.

— It bothers me that she criticizes others and plays with people's feelings...

Her aura intensified, raising the water temperature, and a cut appeared on her face.

— Ay, ayayay! Hey!

Sumire stood up, covering herself, while Chisato seemed excited by the increase in water temperature.

— Uh...

— Just because she takes advantage of her looks and beauty, but...

The aura faded, and the cut on her face healed.

— She wasn't always like this. I don't know what happened to her.

Miru looked at Chisato and Sumire.

— Ah!

Sumire and her cat were toasted by the water temperature, while Chisato, blushing, was blowing bubbles.

— I'm sorry! — said Miru, very worried.

The girls decided to relax a bit more before getting out and getting dressed to go home.

Chisato noticed Satonaka-sensei removing Makoto's photo and plaque from the Hall of Fame and throwing them in the trash, then placing her photo and plaque in their place.

— What is that...? — asked Chisato with her always expressionless face.

— You broke all the gym records, you're better than your brother! — replied Satonaka-sensei, quite cheerful.

Chisato was surprised and blushed, but not because she had broken all the records.

— Ah! Does that mean we can now do black magic?

Sumire approached Chisato.

— We've always been able to, you just needed to stretch a bit.

— So, can we go home now...?

— But not to rest, now the black magic training really begins.

— Ah!

Chisato blushed and ran home as fast as she could.

Miru and Sumire were stunned and decided to walk after her.

— The Fujisaki family is definitely very athletic! — said Satonaka-sensei. — Though her grandfather never did anything, I don't know how he lived to be a hundred...

Miru and Sumire headed to Chisato's house while Ai and Yasuragi rested in their respective diamonds.

— By the way, Miru-senpai, you still haven't answered what kind of guys you like.

— Eh?!

Well... I guess they'll have a bit of an awkward conversation on the way to Chisato's house.

Chapter 7 Part 4

When Miru and Sumire arrived at Chisato's house, they went into her room.

It was quite a gloomy place, full of shelves with thick books, small stuffed animals, and insects in glass jars.

However, it also had more normal things like a computer, manga, comics, and novels mainly focused on horror, mystery, and magic.

Chisato pulled out a kind of dark magic kit, took out a book, placed some candles, and lit them.

Sumire approached, striking a fighting pose.

— Hahaha! Good thing I came prepared for a situation just like this...

She put on a witch's hat, took out her weapon with the power of the diamond, and finally struck an epic pose.

— My name is Sumire! I wield the diamond of peace, the strongest of the diamonds! — exclaimed Sumire, referencing a character from the novels she read.

— Do you really think this is going to work?! — asked Miru, quite scared.

— We have to try. — replied Sumire, covering her face with one hand.

Sumire began to emit a light blue aura, and when she transferred it to Chisato, its color changed to a darker blue with black spots.

The girls' hair started to fly in the air, along with their clothes.

Chisato begins to read some paragraphs from the book.

Miru looks quite scared as she hears Chisato speaking in an unknown language.

The room turns out to be quite small, probably because of the disasters she has caused while attempting to invoke her magic.

— Come already! — exclaims Chisato forcefully.

The flames of the candles change to a purple color.

— I see... Neko, give me your cat...

Chisato grabs Nyakoshi by the tail and starts pulling him while he tries to escape.

— Nya!

Sumire grabs the cat with her free hand and also starts pulling him.

— Of course not! I can't imagine what wicked things you'll do!

— Ni! — exclaims Chisato, referring to her brother.

Chisato finally lets go of Nyakoshi.

— Yes? — asks Makoto, who appears at the door.

— D-don't come near?! — Miru says, very scared.

— Huh? What do you need? I have to go train with the team.

Chisato says a word in an unknown language and gives Makoto a small electric shock.

— Ah! Wow, there's so much static here!

Chisato finally changes her expressionless face and draws a smile on her face.

— I see...

— Fujisaki-san, you better run! — Miru warns Makoto.

— Well then...

Makoto turns around and leaves.

— Alright, I'll try with insects... — says Chisato, quite excited.

She takes out from one of her drawers what seems to be a venomous spider that is still alive.

— W-what do you have that for?! — asks Miru.

— For nothing special, I just want to try something now.

Chisato places a small porcelain jar and the spider on the floor.

She repeats what is written in the book, and green liquid comes out from the spider.

When she finishes, Chisato lets go of the book and transforms that liquid into a poisonous bubble.

— T-that's...

— The spider's venom...

— Why do you have a venomous spider?!

— Haha!

Chisato transforms the venom back into liquid and, through hand movements, puts all the venom inside the small porcelain jar and closes it with a cork.

— Amazing! — exclaims Sumire. — Can you extract its soul?

— I could, but even with an insect, it can be very complicated, besides, the spider is already dead.

— And can you revive the dead?!

— The price of that spell would be my life, I could only communicate with them.

Chisato turns around and goes to her desk.

She takes what appears to be an ant farm.

— Ants live and work together like in a community, they would never fight each other to the death, that's why... I want to try the confusion spell.

Miru, quite scared, gradually backs away from Chisato's room while she chants the words for her next spell.

Finally, she closes the book, and the ants start to lose control and try to kill each other.

— Amazing! — exclaims Sumire, very surprised.

— Hey, your aura! — Miru warns Sumire and Chisato.

The aura they both shared starts to fade away.

— I'm very tired... — says Chisato with sleepy eyes.

Chisato falls to the floor, and Ai and Yasuragi come out of their respective diamonds.

— Chisato-chan! — Miru shouts, very worried.

After that, Chisato, walking like a spider, runs to her bed.

Miru seems very frightened by what she just saw, while Sumire remains calm, almost as if it's normal to see her do that.

— We should let her rest, Miru-senpai.

— Y-yeah...

Sumire and Miru say goodbye to Chisato's family. They thought about going home, but they finally decided to go to the pupusería to see how Rasec and Hiroki fared in training.

— By the way, Miru-senpai.

— Yes?

Sumire puts a mischievous expression on her face.

— So, what kind of guys do you like?

— Why are you so interested in that?!

— I want to know. — says Yasuragi, quite animated.

— I already know. — says Ai indifferently.

— Please don't say it!

...They end up in the same situation again... If only they knew they were getting Rasec involved in a love triangle without him even realizing it...

And if they ask; which I don't think they will, but since the narrator of this chapter was none other than Rasec himself.

Yes, I was always the narrator... I always wanted to narrate these kinds of situations in full detail!

The point is that at least we saw how the girls' training goes, compared to ours which turns out to be much calmer.

Now, this chapter had almost nothing about dark magic training, and I get it, I think this was more of filler and fan service than anything else... but I know you like that because I do too!

Uhm, as I was saying...

Bah, forget it, I'm just unnecessarily dragging this out...

Chapter 7 final part

Hiroki, Chikara, Kibō, and I are at one of the tables in the pupusería, all tired and battered. Today's training turned out to be just as tough as yesterday's.

Miru-chan and Neko-chan arrive and sit in front of us.

— I'd like to switch with you... — I tell them.

— Fine by me! — Miru-chan responds, quite scared.

— Yes, senpai! — says Neko-chan, quite cheerful.

Seji-sensei, as usual, serves pupusas to all of us and takes the opportunity to say:

— No way, you'll stay here to train, or do you want to see men in tights?

— Ah, true!

Seji-sensei gave me a real reason to never go to a gym.

Hiroki stands up and gathers his things.

— I have to go, I can't stay, sorry.

— Well, suddenly you've become very respectful... — I tell him.

— Tch! Let's go, Chikara.

Hiroki leaves, and when he closes the door, Miru-chan gets scared.

— Ah, she sleeps like a vampire, and the ants wouldn't stop killing each other!

Yasuragi and Ai try to calm her down, but she stands up and hugs me while crying desperately.

— It was horrible, I still feel like their souls are chasing me!

— Ah!

She smells so good... I feel like I'm in a romantic manga! Or like in an eroge game... No, forget it, don't think about these kinds of things, that's why I scare them away!

— Don't be a crybaby. — Neko-chan tells Miru.

— Yeah, be a man... — Kibō says.

— Did Chisato manage to do dark magic in the end? — Seji-sensei asks Neko-chan.

— Yes, she did it with insects...

— I guess that's good enough for us, we're more than ready for what's coming tomorrow, so after classes, everyone needs to come, including her.

— Eh?

— Make sure to rest as much as you can.

I don't know what Seji-sensei is planning, well, it's not like I really care right now...