Written July 31 2021
Posted on Wattpad August 23 2021
Posted here December 3 2021
Two more weeks passed, and in that time, quite a few things ended up happening. Shinichi had left for his own house, having regained enough strength for him to be able to live by himself again. Fluffy had also grown slightly more friendly towards Yozora, only slightly though, the kitten was still mean most of the time. Saguru had encouraged this by having Yozora be the only one to give Fluffy any sort of treats, he had gotten the kitten for Yozora after all. It wouldn't do for said kitten to grow attached to someone else instead. Both things were nice, but the most important thing that'd happened was Saguru contacting Akako about Kaito.
Surprisingly, the red witch did know of a way to get Kaito to wake up faster. Thankfully said solution wouldn't require anything heinous as payment. They just needed to offer up an equal amount of vitality- the kind that didn't shorten anyone's lifespan. Saguru, Shinichi, Akako, Aoko, and Yozora had decided to offer up as much as was safe to give. That had allowed a good base, allowing the rest of the vitality to be sourced from plants.
Unfortunately, unlike with humans, plants couldn't survive the process so their lawn was dead, and the neighbouring properties weren't looking too good either. Less life was taken from each individual neighbour's property, but that just meant that more properties had ended up being affected. Though they did ward off the vitality draining effects from the property of the lady who sold flowers for a living. Destroying her livelihood wouldn't have been right.
The preparation of such magic had awed Yozora, magic was just so cool! Sure she'd seen Kaito heal himself and show her his wings, but the preparation of spells made it look even more special. The girl had also decided that she kinda liked the witch, Akako was calm and collected.
"I've completed the ritual outline" Akako stated, eyeing the magic circles that covered almost the entirety of the back yard. They would be invisible to the human eye until they were activated, as they were, they were just storing the collected vitality.
"So now all Saguru needs to do is bring Kaito out here?" Yozora inquired softly, amazed that nobody outside the property would realize that magic was afoot. She really wanted to know magic! Sadly Akako had informed her that she had zero affinity for it, just like how it was with most people.
"Yup! Then Akako can help Kaito wake up!"
Yozora glanced at the one who'd spoken. Her name was Nakamori Aoko, the woman who was present in a lot of the photos on the walls. She was okay with Aoko, but preferred the woman's cool partner. Yozora had warmed up to her a bit after being shown tons of pictures of Kaito from when he was her own age. Kaito had been a cute child, and one that'd apparently gotten into countless crazy situations. The fact that both Aoko and Akako were female had made getting somewhat used to them a little easier.
"I'll go grab him then" Saguru hurried off into the house, eager to have Kaito awake again.
Shinichi, who'd just been hanging around after offering up his energy, eyed the yard curiously "Is transferring energy really that complicated?" He inquired.
Akako smiled, scarlet eyes glinting "Somewhat, but I have two rituals actually set up. Lucifer told me that ow was a good time to cash in his debt"
Azure narrowed "Debt?..." Shinichi suddenly frowned "Won't that exhaust him?"
"Well first he'll be practically buzzing with energy, then he'll be weak but lucid after the second ritual"
Aoko blinked "But you said..."
Akako cut Aoko off by placing a finger against Aoko's lips "Yes, the timing is good" Aoko looked excited, as if she was restraining herself from squealing.
Yozora was confused "Debt?"
"I'll collect some of his magical essence as payment for helping Kaito pursue a path in the medical field by changing how his magic worked just a little" The red witch explained "I've been informed that now would be the ideal time, your presence should quell the sadness of him not having a child yet" Aoko and herself had been waiting for Kaito to have a child first before starting their own family.
"Oh..." She didn't really understand but Shinichi didn't seem too alarmed so it was probably the truth.
"So I just need to place him in the middle?" Saguru inquired as he reappeared with Kaito in his arms.
Akako nodded "Yes, then all of you should back away as I activate the ritual" She didn't want one of them to accidentally absorb some of the collected vitality.
"Right" Saguru quickly did as instructed.
The witch gave one last glance to the magic circles before activating them. Intricate glowing red lines immediately came into view, pulsing a steady rhythm as the light seemed to flow inwards to the center, to Kaito. Kaito himself was glowing, but it was with a white glow instead of red. The sight was almost too bright to see before the glowing seemed to cut off abruptly.
Kaito swiftly hopped to his feet, black wings spread out. The magician looked very confused as he looked around, body practically vibrating with energy.
"Lay back down, I need to collect from you" Akako stated.
Still looking very confused, Kaito obeyed. Probably because he was too confused to even think of doing anything else. The witch let out an amused huff "Don't be alarmed, it's expected that it'll be painful for him but he won't truly be harmed" The moment Kaito Laid down, a different set of magic circles came into view, though this time they were alight with white light and just the faintest traces of Akako's red magic"
Yozora felt herself be pulled away, she glanced up at Aoko confused before Kaito's screaming made itself heard. She eagerly followed after the other into the house, not wanting to hear Kaito's screams "Thanks..." The house must have been recently spelled, she couldn't hear any screaming once the door had closed behind them.
"Kaito will be fine, it's just hard to hear him like that" Aoko replied softly. She was glad that her friend had seemed half out of it at the start.
