"Manami! Hey wake up sleepy head!"
I let out a groan as my eyes slowly began to open. The bright light was prickly to my eyes and I had half the mind to just close them again.
"…The light hurts…" I mumbled as I shield my eyes with the palms of my hands.
"Pfft…what are you a vampire?" The voice joked around…for some reason it sounded familiar…
"Vampires have white eyes and fangs…" I rebutted quietly.
"That's exactly what a vampire in disguise would say!" The voice responded.
"Mmhh…" I responded as I rolled to my side and blocked my ears with my hands. "N-no not tears of a diamond tortoise the tears of a crystal turtle…" Seriously an elementary witch could tell those two apart…
"You leave me with no choice…"
Cold…wet…COLD! Freezing, chilling ice ice! Water wet slippery! ICE WATER! With a start my eyes shot open as I let out a startled cry.
"A-aahhh! I'm up, I'm up!"
"Glad you're finally up." The voice said….Akari's voice…!
"h-huh…?"
I turned to my left and saw Akari there with a cheesy smile, her wand glowing lime green and floating right next to her was a bucket surrounded by the same green aura as her wand. I presume that's where the cold water used to be.
"What do you mean huh? It's our first day of summer training!" She exclaimed
I tried to search my brain for answers. What did she mean…Training? For wha..? OH!
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I said as I jumped to my feet. "B-but I-I thought…why is your skin back to normal? And why am I in the guest room? I thought I was in Aguri's secret cove." I asked….
All I remember was watching a movie and going through the mirror to Aguri's cove where I immediately began searching for a potion that could help Akari.
"Eeesh….May have overdone it with the sleeping powder…" Akari mumbled…
"W-what…?" I was even more confused than before!
"Don't worry about, don't worry about it." Akari said dismissively.
"B-But you're okay now right? Your skin isn't pink anymore." I asked wanting to make sure my friend was okay.
"Yeah thanks to the potion you and Aguri made." Akari replied.
"I-is Aguri waiting downstairs already?" I asked nervously as I immediately began drying my hair with a simple drying spell as I hurried to get dressed.
"Koro's making breakfast first so no need to rush; I'll be downstairs waiting ok?'
"Okay, I'll be down there soon." I replied as Akari made her way towards the door.
I quickly got out of my wet clothes and went to my purple suitcase to get a new pair of clothing. Hmm…since we practiced making potions yesterday we might be doing spellcasting today…I think?
I decided to wear a grey t-shirt under my short pastel pink overalls. I anxiously went to touch my necklace to make sure I was still wearing it. As soon as I felt the cool touch of the opal's smooth surface my nerves began to settle. I quickly got my wand and went downstairs to join everyone for breakfast.
"G-Good morning." I greeted as I picked up my pace practically jogging towards the kitchen table.
"Good morning Okuda-chan!" Koro said happily as he peeked out from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready!"
He exclaimed as he brought forth a plate of hot pancakes on one hand and syrup in another while one of his hair tentacles held the orange juice and cup.
"Why you look lovey with your hair down Ms. Okuda!" Koro complemented. I flushed in response.
"T-thank you Mr. Koro….I-I usually wear it i-in braids so it doesn't g-get it the way of spell casting b-but I uhh I guess I was kind of a rush…" I explained as I began twirling a loose strand of hair around my finger.
"Oh so moe~! If you want I can give you a fishtail braid!" Koro exclaimed. "Even though I like your hair down I think a fishtail would fit you….swimmingly."
"I guess I could try s-something new…" I said shyly. Koro was such a fun person to be around.
He let out an excited squeal before disappearing from my sights. I could feel the rush of wind surround me. His delicate fingers left a lingering ghost feeling of where he so much as grazed. Before I knew it my hair was in a loose side fishtail.
"And….Voila! What do you think?" Koro asked as one of his hair tentacles handed me a handheld mirror.
"I-I love it! T-thank you Mr. Koro!" I said offering him a happy smile.
"AWwww the moe is too much!" He cried as he held his hand over his heart. I just let out a chuckle at his antics….Mr. Koro was such a fun familiar!
"Oh I think the cinnamon buns are ready!" Koro cried before zooming past me towards the kitchen oven.
I made my way towards the kitchen table and sat down next to Akari and waited for my plate of pancakes. Once Koro set them down in front of me I gave him a quick 'thank you' before looking down at the pancakes and noticing that the pancake had chocolate chips which were happily arranged to look like a smiley face. Its smile must be contagious because I could feel a small smile creep its way onto my face.
"Morning Okuda-chan!" Aguri cried as she came over to the table with the daily mail and newspaper at hand.
"M-morning!" I replied before drowning my pancakes in syrup.
"How did you sleep?" Aguri asked as she sat across from us she looked a little worn for wear.
"Oh fine…I…think…"
After I finished my pancake I was going to wash my plate but a cool rush of wind passed by me before I could. I instinctively flinched back as I shut my eyes.
"No, no dear Okuda-chan you're our guest let me do the dishes for you." Koro said with my dirty plate in hand as he made his way to the sink.
"O-Oh okay…" I replied sheepishly torn between letting him be a good host and my ingrained upbringing. I was always taught to wash my own dishes even in the house of a stranger.
"So Aguri what are we doing today?" Akari asked as she excitedly leaned her chair forward.
"Ok! So Koro and I stayed up late last night creating the perfect class schedule!" Aguri said excitedly as she used her wand to cast a simple appearing spell.
Suddenly a blue sparkle flashed in front of use before poofing away in a swarm of phophenes bubbles leaving behind what looked like a large sheet that was neatly organized from hours of the day to days of the week.
"Okay so yesterday we practiced some potion making, for today we will be practicing some simple battling spells and then in the evening we will have what Koro and I call Familiar relationship studies! Basically since we won't know what kind of temperament or personality your familiar may be you will have to learn how to deal with various situations as well as compromise and build a strong bond! Koro is especially excited for that one!" Aguri said with great enthusiasm.
"Monday mornings we will go out jogging then do some Pilates while in the afternoons we will work on magic. Tuesdays in the afternoon is spell's studies where we will not only practice artificial spells but we will help you make a notebook full of your own original spells for each of you as well as help you with your speech and pronunciation!" Koro chimed in.
"Wednesday morning is defensive magic training and morning yoga while in the afternoon it's all magical creature studies and classifications. Thursday's is potion day! That means research, ingredient gathering and basically everything that has to do with potions and elixirs. I already told you what we're doing today so on Saturday it's review day were we go over all the things we've learned!" Aguri continued.
"Sunday we will help with anything you may need for the Bonding ritual but once you're all prepared for that Sunday will be you free catch up day where you can basically do anything you'd like. You could work on a spell, do some meditation, and decide what kind of magic spells you want to specialize in. Stuff like that!" Koro elaborated.
"Wow you really thought this all through!" I exclaimed as my eyes scanned the class schedule.
"Yes so come on! Let's go!" Aguri said as she hopped out her chair.
"Go?" Akari asked.
"Where?" I asked finishing Akari's sentence.
"We need to go to a more secluded place so we don't alarm any normals or unintentionally harm them with hay wire spells." Aguri explained.
"Are we riding our brooms there?" Akari asked.
"No you two will be hitching a ride on Koro. I would use a teleportation spell but it's too early for magic like that so I'll just fly alongside you on my broom." Aguri explained.
"O-Oh Okay…so uhh do I hold on to Mr. Koro's back or how is this going to work exactly?" I asked.
"Nfueufe no need to worry about that Okuda-chan." Koro said as he transformed into his full demon form.
"Pfftt…Hahhahaha…!" The moment Akari laid eyes on Koro's full form she exploded into laughter.
"Eh! What's so funny?" Koro asked.
"Yeah what's so funny?' I asked genuinely confused.
"Omg look at you! I thought you were at least going to have wings or something! But…HAHAHhahah!"
"H-hey this body is way more aerodynamic!" Koro protested his yellow face turning a light shade of pink.
"W-well I think what Akari's trying to say is s-she thought you would look more scary….I'm happy that you aren't." I confessed.
I actually quite liked his full demon form it looked very friendly even a little silly which eased my nervous…
"Oh stop it you're making me blush!" Koro said sheepishly as two of his tentacles covered his bright pink blush…
"Come on Akari we get it…but for the record I think Koro's form is really cool!" Aguri commented as she felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead.
"Such praise from my master and from Okuda-chan makes Koro so happy!" Koro sang joyfully.
He surely was one eccentric character…Hm… I wonder if he had any elemental powers…Air perhaps or maybe even electricity since it would surly fit his electric personality but…The image of a giant yellow octopus in the sky with lighting powers was…hilarious! I had to choke back the giggles.
"Okay, okay! I'm good haha I'm good now." Akari chocked out her laughter subsiding as she wiped her brow. Who knew laughing so much would make you sweat.
"S-so where w-would I hold on?" I asked trying to direct everyone's attention to my earlier question.
Instead of answering Koro just wrapped one of his many tentacles around my waist and held onto me firmly. It was kind of like having a soft yellow rope tied around your waist. It would make sense for him to hold us like this. I thought as he brought me closer to his body…
"AHHHHhhhh No, no, no a million times no! I'm not into tentacles! Aguri help! Koro's being a perv!" Akari cried out her face flushed as soon as she felt Koro's tentacles warp themselves around her waist.
"I-I know it feels weird but they're not slimy o-or anything and they aren't rough t-they're actually kind of soft." I said trying to comfort Akari who was probably worried Koro's tentacles would be slimy and she would slip or something…At least I think that's why she was uncomfortable I couldn't think of any other reason why.
"That's not the issue here!" Akari exclaimed.
"It's not?" I asked.
"Don't worry Akari." Aguri said calmly as she got up on her broom. "Now there's no more time to waste let's move out!" She exclaimed.
"Roger that ma'am!" Koro cried out happily before zooming out towards the open door with Akari and me in hand.
The wind rushed past me and I held onto my glasses afraid that they would fall off. It was kind of fun really. I ended up raising my hands up in the air once because it felt like a roller coaster and I cried out it joy…I think Akari was crying out of joy too…I think? She was holding onto Koro's tentacles rather firmly though.