The past few days had been hectic,to say the least. There were quite a few revelations Natsume had about the Enchantress, no doubt about it. He got to know more about her without intending to: A young student who may dabble a little too much in the world of romantic literature. Then again, this may not be all too surprising, at least the literature part. She loves keeping to herself after all yet can talk once given a chance to open up a little more. It was a rare occurrence and perhaps no one had really gotten to experience it before. But that was almost wishful thinking on that front. Almost, not like it would truly concern him. He had another goal in mind after all.
Another, perhaps less pleasant thing, was her connection to the furball who always managed to play tricks on the magician until this day. It had not stopped whatsoever and slowed his experiments down by a great deal. It was infuriating in its own right and honestly, he was at a point where rage nearly would get the better of him. But before it could ever come to that the cat-like creature was gone, as if he were sensing that things would go south quickly if he didn't run… Nyeli, was it? This chibi-cat like furball… Yeah, that was his actual name. But Furball felt much more fitting for the time being.
Regardless, a combination of those two gave him a headache not even more rest could prevent. While Furball was doing his usual shenanigans to the magician which ended in an endless chase or Furball vanishing,the enchantress was a different story. Was she driving him insane on purpose? First the spell, now this. He had studied what she had an interest in from her own mouth, 'love'. But nothing, his research had come to a dead end. By now he had grown desperate perhaps, just trying to find a way that this spell would come off him. Even if he had to make himself look like an utter fool at points. But even that has proven useless, it is an endless circle of failure. He had never experienced this before. He was trying to put a spell on her as well, in hopes it would even itself out, but she had some kind of barrier surrounding her which made her numb to any of his attempts. Could this even be possible? Maybe his attempts were not strong enough, that would be the best conclusion.

Simple talks here and there would not work, he did not expect it to have that easy if he were completely honest. After all, there was not much to gain from small talk. But he had tried it anyway, starting small. Perhaps gathering useful intel. Natsume used any chance he could get of course to catch Ann and throw in a talk here and there. Even if they were a disaster at first on her part she started to speak more fluently, more coherent, using the appropriate vocabulary. Not all the time of course but she seemed to get there. It had a result alright? Because before he knew it she would end up approaching him a few times, just talking about mundane things. He had forgotten what, the topic themselves did not matter in all honesty. Unless it was about Furball, he would remember every detail of these conversations. If he could find a weak spot for that cat, he would count that as a potential win already. Regardless, he got her to… Thank him. She claims that the more they talked the better she seemed to get and even her co-workers compliment her improvements. She had clearly gotten more comfortable around him over time, no doubt about that. Even he could tell fairly easily and he didn't mind all too much… Still, no special reaction. He was polite enough to praise her in some way but was somewhat disappointed to see that he had no favorable results showing again, as said before, what had he expected?
The next few tactics however… There was not much of an excuse why they were not working. And no one dared to think that he did not try! He was trying, getting that spell off him as quickly as possible so he could finally move on! He tried to be flattering, at times a little bold and overbearing towards her, saying things to a staff member he would usually avoid to not give the wrong idea or impression or start rumors. It was not necessarily favorable due to his position as an idol, he didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble. But nothing, it didn't work. When trying to be charming himself it ended in one of two ways:
One— Ann would tilt her head, a little confused, staring at him. Not with a redness in her face, not in a flustered manner, not embarrassed. It was the face of pure confusion, her not catching on to any implications he might have let slip when being a little more… Flirtatious, dare he say. Though there were also the tactics where he might have tried to use other measures, like accidentally 'slipping' a drink in her direction with something self brewed, making sure that all of her clothes got sticky and soaked,setting her in a panic. But even that had no results. And upon closer inspection… No one has to tell him, he has been doing something wrong here. He had soon gotten behind that none of this was like him, hence why he had given up on any method. Maybe he should focus more on himself if he wanted to get rid of the spell, that could work better. Like thinking about the less desirable sides of the enchantress or something. Hah, he honestly didn't get why he was behaving like a fool.
Two— Furball happened. Because at points the cat would see everything, literally. And you bet said cat jumped to action and started using its paws to get Natsume away from the enchantress herself. Things would have escalated if she were not present to grab Furball and hurry away with him to calm him down. An obstacle he had not taken into account but should have.
… Seriously, what was wrong with him the past few weeks? This was clearly, absolutely not like him! He knew it himself all too well! Just what type of spell had she casted on him!?

"Agh, I don't get it at aLL!" Natsume loudly complained, ashamed of his own actions by then. Just what was he aiming for with all of this? He was not asking for her attention, not at all! But that was what he had gotten and in a twisted turn of events it would only push him further, make him continue his ways more than he'd like to admit. Was he seeing a glimmer of hope there without realizing himself? No, nonsense. If he did he would have already noticed. He wasn't that oblivious to it nor would try to deny something like this, right? Right! He wasn't an idiot!
Unlike the one person who had been sitting down at the desk at the office, distracted for a short moment from his ever so important paperwork he had been doing since getting up. Honestly, if he considered asking Tsumugi for his input he had truly reached a dead end. Usually the magician would not consider it in any shape or form. After all, this guy usually would just let out his nonsense. Only every 100th time he would say something useful, making these occurrences very rare. Sora was also an option but Natsume did not dare to trouble the young boy with anything honestly. Not to mention that it would be unfitting for a Master to ask his student for advice. And telling anyone else was a little embarrassing. When it came to Tsumugi Natsume at least knew that he would keep his mouth shut, even if it had to be by force. His former upperclassman would not tell a single soul and thus is the only reliable option he had at this point…Which means he was at the end of his own wits. And even then he didn't hope for much either if anything at all.
"Oh, that would explain why you've been acting so strange lately." He heard Tsumugi say, as if he had just listened to a big revelation yet remained cheerfully calm all the same. "Haha, good to hear it's not a fever of some kind."
"Thanks for telling me what I already knOW…" Natsume responded, he himself was not impressed with this observation in any way. "You have anything original to sAY?"
"Eh!? I'm just glad that you're healthy! You had me all worried after all."
"Yeah thaNKS… Can we move on nOW?" Natsume had sent a sharglare towards the blue haired individual, making him shudder in his own seat for a moment despite the forced smile he kept up all this time. Seriously, he didn't ask for that now… But did he come off as that weird lately? Not like he didn't know but was it that bad?
"Right right, my bad." Tsumugi responded, trying to keep his composure all the same and remaining as calm as he possibly could be. "Something you don't even understand though… I never thought I'd see the day~"
"What's that supposed to mEAN?"
"Ah– Nothing, honest! Just another observation!"
"Are you just going to repeat what I already sAID? If sO, I'll just take my lEAVE." Maybe Natsume had made a mistake after all. Hah, this was such a pain in the neck.
"Wha– No, not at all! I'm just trying to see if I understood everything correctly!"
"RiGHT…"
It seemed that this somewhat unsettled the fellow unit member, at least a little. Coming here in the end… Yeah, not the magician's smartest decision. But the damage has been done, no need to complain now…
"So… Long story short… You have your eye on the new employee for some time now and can't stop wanting to get closer…"
"HeY! Don't twist my worDS!" He interrupted, almost hissing. "That's not what's going on you moRON!"
"Eh? But you said—"
"That I'm trying to get rid of a spell she cast on mE! But nothing's worKING!"
"Are you sure it's just that?" It seemed that Tsumugi was ready to stubbornly hold onto this belief. No way, this was just him interpreting things wrong now. After all, Natsume had no time for such things nor could bother to be truly interested. It would bring all kinds of distractions. With all of that the redhead just nodded, not wanting to even consider this option to begin with. It sounded too absurd!
"Haha, maybe you're just overthinking things then. Ann doesn't seem to be the type of person who'd do something like this. Besides, what reason would she have?"
"AhA… And you are so sure beCAUSE?" He first countered with a question, not believing a single word coming out of this guy's mouth before it hit Natsume all of a sudden. "WaIT… AnN!?"
"Uh… Yes? She said it's fine for me to call her–"
"You two are on a first name baSIS!?" He didn't know what suddenly came over him for a moment, but it rubbed him the wrong way for some odd reason, to the point he temporarily forgot the topic at hand.
"Waah! C… Calm down!"
"When did you two even tALK!?"
"Waah! I just asked her to tell me what some English articles were about!"
"WhY!?"
"Because she's our translator?" Tsumugi responded, his fear slowly turning into utter confusion. He didn't even hide it as he continued responding either way. "Plus she's studying English. So she should have a better idea than me."
"How do you know thAT!?" Every single word coming out of this guy's mouth nearly made Natsume fume for some reason… Ugh, why was he acting up like this now of all times? He didn't want to but something made him act like this.
"Haha, we got to talk actually." The male with the glasses responded with a calm smile now. "Not much, we only started to get to know one another."
"And you two just talKED?" Why was he suspicious all of a sudden? This doesn't make any sense!
"Yeah, we just talked." Tsumugi responded, not minding the change in Natsume's voice or having chosen to ignore it. "Are you really sure she cast a spell on you?"
"O… Of course I'm sURE! Why do you bring this up aGAIN?"
"Well… Because…" The other male began, at first seeming like he was not too sure if he should even bring this up. But it seems that he had decided to open his mouth for once in the end. "Maybe you started to like her Natsume."
"Eh? WeLL… She isn't a terrible perSON… I never said I disliked hER…"
"No, not that! I meant 'like like'! As in… Look Natsume, maybe you have a crush on Ann."
And silence. Utter silence. He said it. This guy actually said it. He had the guts to let it out of his mouth and just say it. No sugarcoating it, no beating around the bush. He kept it plain and simple. 'Maybe you have a crush on Ann.' He dared to suggest it.
Natsume could feel it, what this suggestion did to him. He had no words, he couldn't speak. Instead he felt an odd heat overcoming him at this moment, perhaps red even, as if he had been caught doing something unacceptable. At first he didn't know how to react, how to respond. He had told it himself before but quickly dismissed it, there was no way after all! He wasn't that shallow nor simple! But now that he heard it from an outsider… He didn't know what to do, what to say, what to think. Even if it were Tsumugi's words, they held some odd weight. It felt crushing, as if he got busted… It was confusing, to say the least.
Confusing enough that from one moment to the next Natsume rushed over, right across the table, in front of Tsumugi, and before knowing it lifted the other male up by the collar of his shirt, then looking up with the deadliest glare he could manage. " Say it aGAIN… "
"Eep!? L… Little Natsume!?"
His grip became tighter, as if this was the last straw. " You want to lose your tongue that badLY, don't yOU? FiNE, I can help with thAT… "
"No no no! I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry!"
And another moment of silence… Wait, what was he even doing? Ah damn it, a reaction out of instinct. And thus he quickly dropped the upperclassman, right back into his seat before turning away, trying to hide his current face. There was no reason to react like that this time… Ah yeesh, this is just getting more confusing now…
"NeverMIND… I'll just think about it on my oWN. Sorry for wasting our tIME…"
Natsume didn't catch a glance back at Tsumugi, he couldn't. It was too shameful right now. All he could do was make his own legs carry himself out of his room, perhaps leaving the other male behind, all confused. But it didn't matter once he left the office once and for all. Besides, his mind was stuck at one sentence. One, just one. One simple sentence…
"As if I have a crush on that woMAN…"