Disclaimer: Magi The Labyrinth of Magic belongs to Shinobu Ohtaka.
PAINTING
Red and black are the first colors she knows, the devouring gaze of sunset and midnight's hollow ache, and the golden-bangled magi is both.
He stands before her in the withering sun, a mesh of dark hair and blood eyes peering over bamboo latticework, and she wants to weep in joy.
"Whatcha doin', Old Hag? You hiding or something?" His voice is rough as his calloused feet, careless and carefree. To Kougyoku, it's a balm to the basin of tears she's bled all day.
"Judal-chan!" she calls out in raspy wisps. "How did you find me?"
"I'm a magi, remember? Something as simple as finding a missing girl is no big deal for me. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I was just...I-I got lost."
She only wanted to paint, she tells him. But no one would teach her, so she kind-of-sort-of secretly borrowed her sister Kourin's paints. Two minutes and a toppled footstool later, a multicolored ocean of paint began to pool on the floor.
"So you ran away. But since you're new around here and happen to have no sense of direction whatsoever, you got lost."
Maybe that was an insult. A tear might have leaked from her mudstained face.
"Come on. Let's go back," he says.
"I don't want to." They'll scold her, she knows. She's tired of their hurtful words, tired of being ignored, tired of crying. Surely Judal-chan understands?
Her companion responds by hurling a peach pit into a rooster several yards away.
Squawk.
It hit.
Whatever the target, Judal has never missed, not once. The unfortunate creature dashes into the surrounding bushes and is gone.
"It won't get lost, will it?"
"Nope. Even with a brain that small, it's way smarter than you are," he smirks.
She pouts.
"Hurry up! Unless you want the monsters to make you their dinner tonight?"
"Of couse not!" Forget the scolding. Being left outside all alone in the dark in a scary place full of monsters is a thousand times worse.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
He glides around on his unfurled carpet, two loops and three dizzying twirls. And just like that her fear is banished. With just the tiniest hesitation, she scrambles toward this beacon of hope and clings tight as he steers them home.
The next morning, with Ka Koubun's help, Kougyoku sets up a fresh canvas in the garden and attempts to paint. This proves to be trickier than she thought. Inspiration is scarce, and a whole day seems too short to learn the basics of fumbling with a brush.
A black streak zips toward her. It's a boy on a carpet, hovering mid-air.
"What's up, Old Hag?" he greets, with feigned casualness.
"Judal-chan! I'm painting rainbows!"
"Rainbows, huh." He leans over for a closer look. What he sees are blots and splatters, a wavy blue arc in the middle, green next to violet, and orange gone missing.
He can't stand it.
"Why are you laughing, Judal-chan? My rainbow's supposed to be happy, not funny. I even made it smile. See?"
In her clumsy eagerness, she nearly shoves it in his face. That puts an end to his laughter, finally.
When she sets down the canvas, his expression has changed. It's more...cruel.
"Didn't they teach you anything? Rainbows only know how to frown."
He sulks away. He hadn't been around for three minutes and now the place is silent once more.
Kougyoku studies the despised painting. All she wants is to draw something happy, something that feels the way she did yesterday when Judal-chan found her. But what does happiness look like?
Happiness could be flowers, but the flowers don't laugh. And rainbows don't smile...
He's right, she concludes at last. There is something very, very wrong. She folds away the used canvas and requests a blank sheet.
That afternoon, Judal drops by to spy on his favorite princess only to find a crude stick drawing of a boy surrounded by ice spears twice his size. On the lower right fringe are what appear to be monsters - or chickens - and the boy decimates them all.
Smiling.
Silly Old Hag...maybe I'll be nice to her next time.
"Judal-chan, I ate three of your peaches. I hope you don't mind."
Nah, forget it.