Hey guys thank you so, so much for the great reviews! I'll will be addressing some of you in regards to the story
Dear guest (the 2nd one) In regards to parings I'm still iffy…But if uhh you um didn't know I also have another story called Random love *coughsmalessplugincough* that's basically one-shots of Okuda with various other E-class students so if you haven't read it I think you might like it…You can also vote for or suggest future pairings
Dear Gamer- Oh my god…I want to read whatever story you're thinking about! I actually have an idea fo this story already but I like some of your ideas to and I hope you don't mind if I use'em later on…oh but you gave a wonderful idea…mwhahmwahMWAHMAWH…. Ha…*cough*
ANywho I Made a cover for he story but I can get it to upload so check it out on my tumblr blog/hazydraw3r
Enjoy the chapter!
Light poured in from the glass window and coated the room in a layer of bright white light. Opening her eyes Manami let out a yawn, she was still a little tired; which was to be expected as she had gone very late into the night trying to learn more about the Bonding Ritual.
She put on her glasses, got out of bed and went to change into her uniform. First things first she grabbed her brush and started detangling her slightly wavy dark violet colored hair before braiding it into its signature braids. After putting on her school uniform, which was just a black skirt, a grey undershirt, a darker grey blazer with a red tie, and the signature back witch hat and cape she grabbed her purple pouch and slung the thin shoulder strap over her shoulder. Although the silk pouch appeared small it was actually enchanted and could hold various items, most of which were school books and magic supplies.
Walking down the hallway of the dormitory Manami heard Akari's voice calling her name. She stopped walking and let Akari catch up to her before talking.
"Good morning Akari." Manami said happily.
"Morning, Manami!" Akari greeted back with a smile.
Both witches made their way to the intimating castle that sat idly on a hill. They filled the silent air by chitchatting about various things, but the one thing on both of their minds was the Bonding Ritual…That's to be expected the Bonding Ritual is a big event in any witch's life only second to their wedding.
"So what do you think you're familiar is going to be?" Akari asked.
"Hmm…I don't know…maybe just a simple spirit. What about you?" Okuda replied.
"Well I'm hoping for a demon." Akari responded. Manami's purple eyes widened at the word demon.
While it wasn't unheard of to get a demon as a familiar it definitely wasn't just an everyday occurrence. Demons have a great amount of magical energy and witches' with demon familiars are some of the most powerful witches there were…But, there was always a risk a witch had to take with a demon. If they weren't careful the demon could consume their body, mind and soul….but that only happens if the witch is too weak-willed, corrupted in some way, or overuses the demon's abilities.
"A-a demon…?"
"Yeah…You see my older sister got a demon as a familiar and I want to be like my sister!"
"Oh I see…hmm…Demons are too scary for me…I feel much more comfortable with a spirit or even a bakeneko." Manami commented with a sheepish smile.
"Hmmm…I can see you with a bakeneko maybe a cute Scottish fold one."
"S-so have you finished your bonding spell incantation?" Okuda asked.
They were now entering their first class of the day, which they both happened to be in: Alchemy class, Manami's favorite.
"No, but I'm almost done…I feel like I got a good incantation going, but I don't think its demon summoning good yet." Akari confessed as she opened her small pudding shape purse and started placing her ink and quill on the elongated wooden table.
"Oh okay, I was thinking about asking Rio for some pointers." Manami said as she set her stuff down on the table next to Akari's stuff.
"Yeah good idea! Rio's an amazing caster. I have her next block want me to ask for the both of us?"
"Really? Thanks I appreciate it."
"Alright class! Take your seats and open your books to chapter ten…" The teacher said and with that the class started.
Manami excelled at creating poisons and potions. She could write the entire procedure for an elixir with one brush stroke! She may not be a great caster but she was a great wielder. After class Manami packed her stuff and waved goodbye to her friend. Akari had physical education with Rio while Manami had Magic Caster Re-Ed.
After Magic Casting Re-Ed, Manami went to Lumen magic class where she learned sense magic and wield magic. Sense magic is used to gain information on the enemies' power level and their true intentions; it allows the witch to be more aware of her surroundings making surprise attacks useless. Wield magic allows a witch to draw upon the energy of nearby things and cast small but powerful spells that can reach far distances. After that she headed towards Defensive magic class. Defensive magic is just learning counters for basic common magic tricks like mind control, performing healing spells, counters to curses, etc. Once the bell rang it signaled the time for a small break.
Manami went to the school cafeteria where she knew Akari was most likely to be during break. She searched for the bright green hair that was sure to be her friend….but her search was cut short. Manami could feel their heated gazes on her back. She willed herself not to look back…But that just made their gazes burn all the hotter. She tried to pretend they weren't there but that gave them the opportunity to surround her. She gulped….It was the flower girls... (So named because the three people making the group were all named after flowers)
"Hey your poison glasses, right?" Daisy asked her tone cold and flat.
Manami simply nodded…She felt intimated. These girls were good casters and Manami feared what they would do to her if she upset them.
"You don't look like much. How did you, of all people, receive the highest marks in alchemy class?" Iris scoffed with a slight sneer…
Manami didn't respond. She couldn't seem to find her voice. It was trapped within her vocal cords trying to wiggle its way through the constricting tubes.
"The top spot was for me! Not for some weak wielder who can't even create a simple levitation spell!" Aster, the leader, cried out clearly angry with the petite witch for stealing her spot in first place.
"I-I'm sorry…" She quietly apologized; her shoulders tensing when she was called a weak wielder.
Wielders weren't exactly well renowned, most people saw them as frauds that can't use any real magic on their own and have to constantly relay on an outside source of magical energy. Often she got bullied for being a wielder and not a caster….Weak, useless, phony, fraud, unworthy….all those words were constantly repeated to her, she almost considered them truth.
Her body felt weak as her mind took her back in time to when she was almost stoned for being a witch and almost got pushed off a cliff when the witches' constant bullying went too far….She didn't like being vulnerable. She didn't like being a burden to others. She wanted to be independent! But it wasn't her fault! It's not her fault she sucks at casting!
"Sorry's not gonna cut it! Listen you're a weak witch, I don't even think you'll have enough power to even summon a familiar. I think it would be best for everyone if you just dropped out. Get out while you're ahead ya'know." Iris said with venomous kindness.
She's probably right. Manami thought…In order to summon a familiar a witch had to draw from her own source of power to open a large enough magic portal and sustain said portal until a contract was made….B-but…even if she couldn't do it…She at least had to try!
"No!"
"I'm sorry….what did you say?!" Daisy cried out taken aback by the fierce replay.
"I-I may not be the strongest caster but that doesn't make me any less of a witch…A-and if I got the highest score in alchemy class it's because I worked for it! I may not be the strongest witch and I-I may not get a strong familiar, but at least I don't have to be so insecure about my abilities that I have to scare off potential competition!" Manami said fiercely as her grip on her purse strap tighten and she closed her eyes, refusing to make eye contact for fear that this feeling, this spontaneous course of power and strength that flowed through her like lighting would disappear if she dared look into their eyes. It was one of those rare moments were she felt confident and powerful.
The flower girls were taken aback by the introverted girl's burst of confidence but their surprise soon turned to anger.
"How dare you speak to us like that?!"
"We need to put no good wielders like you in their place!"
"No one talks to us like that without getting hexed!"
Manami flinched back and tried to reach for her wand, but luckily she didn't have to. Before, the girls could even raise their wands they were forcibly pushed back by a strong invisible force….Manami knew who it was…she recognized the aura.
"R-Rio!" She cried relived to see her best friend.
"Yo!" Rio cried out with a wide smile mindlessly twirling her wand in between her fingers.
"H-How dare you do that?!" Aster cried though she seemed less intimating now, almost scared. She must have sensed Rio's power.
"Ehh you have some nerve asking me that. What was I supposed to do, stand by and watch you hurt my friend? I don't thinks so. Now run along little girls before you see what a real witch is like!" She said with an easy going smile but her aura had grown deadly boarding on blood lust.
They didn't need to be told twice they scurried away with their tails in between their legs.
"T-thank you Rio!" Manami said grateful her friend had come at the nick of time…Though I probably shouldn't relay too much on her I need to be able to do things on my own…
"Eh don't sweat it, it was nothing. But I'm proud of you Okuda-chan!" She said with a big grin as she wrapped her arm around Okuda's shoulders. "It looks like you do have some backbone! I'm so proud!"
"Hehe…uh thanks…" Okuda said sheepishly.
"In any case… Akari said you guys wanted some pointers."
"Oh yeah! Y-you know for the Bonding Ritual!" Manami explained.
"Okay let's meet up later at my dorm room and I'll give you some pointers."
"Thank you! That's sound great!" Manami exclaimed happily as Rio took her leave. Break time would be over soon and if they didn't want to be late for their next class they would need to start making their way towards their classroom now considering how big the school was.
"Oh and Okuda keep that courage up! You'll find casting much easier when you have some self-assurance!" Rio said happily.
"Ok!" Manami replied happy Rio was her friend.
That night while the sun was still setting Manami made her way down the long hallways of the dormitory to room 260, Rio's room. She had brought along her silk purple pouch filled with paper, books about summoning and the Bonding Ritual and writing utensils. Manami's nerves were shot and she could barely contain her excitement. Her heart was beating quickly within her chest and she was practically hopping with joy on the soles of her feet…Finally I can finally finish my summoning spell! She knocked on the wooden door and waited for Rio to open it.
"Hey Okuda-chan! Ohh nice pajamas~" Rio commented with a teasing smile, her blue eyes glancing up and down Manami's petite frame. Manami blushed…she forgot Rio had a dirty mind.
"Oh uuhh thank you…" She replied sheepishly. Really she was just wearing a large over sized pastel purple shirt that had varies alchemy symbols on it along with some black shorts underneath.
"Well come on in! Welcome to my domain! Make yourself comfortable!" Rio exclaimed happily as she gestured to her room.
There were mangas and research books stacked up in messy piles, tipping and leaning over like the tumbling towers of building blocks made by a child. There was a bookshelf but most of its books were sprawled out on the floor or were part of the leaning tower of books on the ground. Rio had a candle chandelier hanging overhead which bathed the room in a welcoming light. The walls were covered with pictures of Rio and her various friends and family members along with a few motivation posters and music groups. Unlike her room Rio's was filled more with papers and quills versus the flasks and weighing scales in Manami's. Everything else in the room seemed normal, a furry bright red circle rug, some manga posters and what Manami assumed were half-finished fanfictions. But what caught Manami's eye was the large body pillow on Rio's bed…She didn't even try to hide it…. Manami thought as she felt a bead of sweat roll down her face. She didn't know who the guy on the pillow was but she felt it was rude to keep staring considering the…uhh…compromising state he was in. Rio noticed.
"Hehe I see you met my husbando!" Rio said with a sheepish smile.
"Uhh…Where's Akari?" Manami asked trying to change the subject all the while looking at anything but the body pillow.
"She forgot to bring her rough draft and she went to go get it. She'll be here in a minute or two. In the mean time I actually have a few questions for you." Manami tilted her head intrigued.
"Questions…?" Rio was a very intelligent individual…What kind of question would she have for her? Maybe it was something about alchemy…
"Yeah like would you mind telling me more about this Isogai guy…?"
"W-what h-how did you…?" Okuda flushed.
"Akari told me."
"W-well he I uhh w-what it wasn't I j-just I….I don't want to talk about it…." Manami said trying to hide her flustered face in her hands. Rio just chuckled.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, but seriously I wanted to ask you something important…What do you want?"
"What do I want? What do you mean…?" Manami asked her eyes peeking through her fingers starring at Rio with confusion.
"Listen Manami I asked Akari the same question and I think you should think about your response because it will affect your outcome in the Bonding ritual…What do you want? What do you desire? What is your wish? And why do you want it?"
"…" Manami stayed silent as she thought about what she wanted…
"Give it some thought."
"Ok…" Manami replied and nodded.
"I found it!" Akari burst in through the door waving a piece of paper around, out of breath.
"Alright now we can start!" Rio exclaimed as she plopped down on her bed. "So let's see first things first unlike normal casting the words in the summoning spell are very important." Rio stated.
"Huh…But aren't words very important in normal casting…?" Okuda asked confused…She always thought the better you were in English and Literature the better you were at casting.
"Yeah I thought so to!" Akari said.
"Okay, okay let me explain how casting really works. After all performing a successful Bonding Incantation will be a lot easier if you understand the basics of casting…You may want to write this down."
Manami got out her notebook and pen (The school allows pens but most teacher only grade papers written in quill) ready to jot down what Rio had to say. Akari did the same
"Ok…There are really just two things you need to know. Number one: Regular casting is almost never chanted out loud, it's usually just chanting in your head and the spells that are chanted out are called Grand Incantations, which are strong spells that require great focus…."
Manami furiously wrote this down so she could study it later. This would really help her in her Magic Casting Re-Ed class. Rio paused to let the girls finish writing down what she said. Once their hands stopped moving she continued, raising a second finger.
"Number two: The words in regular casting aren't important. As long as the spell has a specific meaning and or a set of keywords the incantation chant is left up to the caster's personal taste. It's not so much how eloquent your spell is or how long.
The basic jest of it is the greater meaning behind the words the better the result. So that also means caster that do use unnecessarily long words and chants have big egos and aren't really good casters. After all in battle they would probably get killed off before they even get to finish their spell." Rio explained.
Manami was in awe at the new information bestowed upon her. All her life she always thought she could never be a good caster because she wasn't good at expressing her thoughts through words…but now she knew the words didn't matter at all! What mattered was the meaning behind them! She felt a new set of motivation flow through her like wild fire! This was revolutionary!
"W-Wow! I never thought of it that way…I always thought the better you were in Literature the better you were as a caster!" Manami exclaimed.
"That's just an old wives' tale. It's not really true…well it's half-true. If you're good at Literature it means you know how to express your thoughts easier and faster, but you don't have to be good at English to be a good caster." Rio explained. She then clapped her hands together. "Alright! Now that we got that out of the way time to talk about the Bonding Ritual!"
"Finally!" Akari exclaimed. "Okay so I have my rough draft right here an-.."
"Wow, wow…hold your horses. The incantation is very important but it isn't the only most important thing…"
"I-It isn't…?" Manami asked…all her books told her it was…
"Tsk, tsk…Don't tell you me forgot the other things you have to do to perform a Bonding ritual." Manami's eyes widened as she placed her fist on her open palm in realization.
"Oh! That's right!"
"Huh…what I'm confused…" Akari said.
"Okuda-chan care to explain."
"Oh okay w-well you see the bonding ritual is broken down into three things: An incantation spell, items that represent the alchemic elements and the other thing we're talking about is a vessel." Manami said.
"A vessel…?" Akari tilted her head in thought "But aren't we supposed to be the vessel?"
"W-well we are but not for this…it's more like…uhh…Maybe vessel is the wrong word not a vessel but…uhh…Rio can you explain?" Manami asked since she couldn't find the right words to explain herself.
"Think of it more like a leash. Familiars are usually very loyal to their masters but there have been cases where familiars, go against orders, betray or even kill their masters. In order to prevent this, witches need some way of controlling their familiars if they ever step out of line, enter what Manami called the vessel. The vessel can really be anything as long as it's an inanimate object to store a piece of the familiar's soul."
"Oh I see it's like a backup plan!" Akari said as she finally understood what they meant.
"Yup!" Rio replied; happy Akari finally got the jest of it.
"So the vessel can be anything?" Akari asked.
"Y-yeah as long as it's an inanimate object, most books suggest crystals and gems because they store magic and stuff better than any other thing." Manami replied.
"Oh! That gives me an idea! How about tomorrow after school we go down town and get some pretty jewelry!" Akari suggested.
"Hmm Not a bad idea I myself haven't found a vessel yet…and jewelry is more practical than let's say a book since you can have it on you 24/7." Rio said.
"Okay then its settled! Check that one off the list! What else is there? I mean besides the obvious representations of the four elements including Ether and your own magical energy." Akari asked.
"Training." Rio replied.
"Training…?" Okuda asked tilting her head.
"Yeah! It's only one of the most important things."
"Okay but training for what…?" Akari asked.
"Opening and maintaining a summoning portal takes a lot of energy. We need to train up our endurance and overall just get better at drawing energy from our magic pool." Rio explained…Manami grimaced…She forgot about that….
"Hey, Manami is everything okay…?" Akari asked.
"Huh? Oh…I um…It's nothing it's just…" Manami said her eyes down casted.
"Hey Okuda don't listen to those girls!" Rio said.
"B-But they have a point…I'm a wielder. I don't have enough magical energy in me to summon a familiar…" Manami said sadly.
"Yeah neither do I! That's why we're training!" Rio explained trying to comfort her friend.
"What happened? Who said that?" Akari asked concerned for Manami's sudden mood change.
"Some punks tried to pick on Okuda because she got the top score in alchemy class instead of them." Rio explained.
"What! Manami you should have told me! I would have hexed them to the moon if I knew!" Akari said.
"T-That's exactly why I didn't tell you…I can't just keep relaying on you to solve my problems…I can't let you fight my battles…"
"Manami…Is that how you feel…?" Akari gently asked. Okuda just nodded.
"Okuda listen up! You are a great witch! I saw how you stood up to those girls. You can fight your own battles but don't try to stop us when we want to help. There's nothing wrong with relaying on others! You know what we're gonna do? We are going to train for the Bonding ritual and we are going to get the best damn familiars ever! That'll show those flower girls whose boss!" Rio said fiercely.
"Y-you know when you asked me what I wanted…I think I have my answer. I want power, the power to defend myself and my friends from anyone and anything…A-and I AM going to get the best familiar and show them that Okuda Manami is not a weak wielder!" Manami said with a purple fire burning in her eyes.
"Yeah that's the spirit! Bloodlust, bloodlust!" Rio exclaimed as she pumped her fist up and down chanting, bloodlust.
"BLOODLUST, BLOODLUST, BLOODLUST!" All three girls chanted in unison with a burning passion.
"KEEP IT DOWN!" Professor Bitch yelled from the speaking tubes. That just caused the girls to giggle.
They spent the rest of the night trying to figure out the actual incantation part of the Bonding ritual.
Hope you guys liked it. I decided use Akari's real name but keep her usual green hair and pigtails. She probably cut her hair because some kid stuck gum in it and she just dyed it cause she felt like it. Also if you notice Rio usually calls Manami by her last name rather than her first like Akari that's because Rio is a newer best friend. Okuda and akari have been friends since elementary.
Anyway please leave your reviews I love reading them! :)