WITCH!

hex 004

------------------------------------------

She licked the ice-cream off the spoon, sighing sadly as she watched some teary soap opera on television. Momo was next to her, a distressed expression on his cute face.

"Mimi-chan…it's not that bad being a witch," he said, patting her arm uneasily as he attempted to cheer the girl up.

The brunette shrugged, avoiding the cat's saddened gaze. "Then why did Yamato-san give the impression as if he was so sickened with me? Like…," she trailed off, tears collecting in her eyes. "Like I was some sort of freak…" she choked on the last word and blew her runny nose with a tissue.

"There, there…you're not a freak. You're just….special." Momo said slowly, wary with his choice of words.

"But- I don't want to be special! I want to be normal!" Mimi cried, taking another tissue from the cat as he offered it to her daintily. "I want to be a normal, high school girl. Is that too much to ask?"

The spell device shook his head. "You just have to learn how to accept who you are…and love yourself, although you're different."

"Mmm…jeez, you're like a stand-in parent, Momo-chan." She smiled a little, causing the cat to relax.

"Do you want to talk to your Otou-san?" He piped, offering a cheeky smile.

The girl looked at him dubiously. "But he told me not to call him- ever, because he's always in meetings!"

Momo's ears twitched mischievously. "We'll see about that!"

***

After pressing a sequence of buttons, Momo managed a thick book to materialize out of thin air.

"What's that dusty old thing?"

The cat glared at her. "It's not just a dusty old thing. With this, you can communicate through the Magic World!" He passed the book to Mimi.

The thick book titled "TeleMagic" flipped open and bookmarked was a page labeled in small letters: TACHIKAWA, Seta. A black and white picture of a man with dark hair and glasses, with a serious face was illustrated.

"Hey! That's Otou-san!" The photo brought a rush of homesickness to Mimi's heart.

Suddenly, the drawing shimmered and gained depth. In a moment it was if the book held a window that enclosed the small image of a living man.

"Mimi-chan? Is that you?" Seta Tachikawa peered over the rim of his spectacles, while smoothing his business tie.

Stunned, the brunette's jaw dropped once the 3D-image spoke to her. "O-otou-san-!"

"Oh, look at you! My daughter is becoming more beautiful and beautiful each day," The nostalgic man wiped a crystal tear from his eye.

Mimi slammed the volume shut.

"Oi, what are you doing-?" Momo stared at her in shock. "Don't you want to talk to your Papa?"

"I- I can't! I don't want to talk to a book!" Mimi clapped a hand to her forehead.

A muffled voice resonated through the hardcover: "Mimi-chan, open me up this instant! We need to talk!"

"No! I'm just not used to this!" The girl replied, shaking her head in disbelief. She massaged the sides of her head, mumbling, "Oh god. I'm talking to a book."

Momo flipped the book open and allowed Mr. Tachikawa to face his daughter sternly. "Mimi," Fixing his eyes on her sadly, he sighed. "Mi-chan…I know this is hard. But you have to accept it."

The girl moaned. "None of this makes sense! I mean, all these years I thought you were traveling with the Foreign Service."

Seta smiled wistfully at his child. "I am. It's just a lot more foreign than you thought."

Another groan. "Otou-san…I'm tired. Let's talk tomorrow, okay?" Mimi suggested, rubbing her eyes.

"Okay, Mi-chan. You're going to be fine, just take some time and think about all this. And if you ever need me-" He winked playfully. "Just search me up in this book."

Seta Tachikawa's figure flattened into the page, no longer a 3D-image. Mimi stared at it for a long, long time.

"You're alright, kid." Momo nudged her affectionately as he curled into a little ball and fell fast asleep.

Mimi sighed and said to the darkness: "Maybe so."

***

"Please God, please help me get through my second day of school," Mimi prayed under her breath as she walked to her first class.

"Re-lax, kiddo. Like your Papa said, you'll be fine," The cat comforted.

Mimi brushed away Momo's comment and entered the Biology room, which was filled with stone-topped lab tables. The teacher, a tall thin man with glasses and bluish hair smiled halfheartedly.

"Come in. You're an early student," he remarked, adjusting his glasses.

The girl nodded, weakly smiling. "Tachikawa Mimi, sir."

The young teacher ran a pale hand through his coarse indigo hair. "Ah, I'm Kido-sensei, your biology teacher for the rest of the year."

Mimi bowed and chose a seat close to the back, and took out the necessary stationary items. She caught a glimpse of flaxen hair as a certain blue-eyed boy walked in. 'Shoot! Yamato-san's in my class…' She shivered inwardly, avoiding the boy's arrogant frown.

The rest of the students filed in, and Kido-sensei began to speak. "I'm Kido-sensei. Now, I know you were hoping I'd spend the day mispronouncing your names, but instead- we'll jump right into sophomore biology."

Impressed with his firmness, Mimi listened attentively.

"Today, we are going to dissect a frog. We'll be looking for the kidneys - (tap)" He snapped a collapsible pointer at the blackboard. "And the heart – (tap)." He turned to gaze at his pupils. "I'm going to assign you a partner randomly." His eyes shifted to the class list.

"Tachikawa Mimi and…"

Mimi held her breath, fingers drumming her desk anxiously.

"…Ishida Yamato."

A pair of icy azure eyes glowered at her from not far, and she winced. 'This is gonna be a long day…'

------------------------------------------

end hex 004