Friday 5 October 2007, Luna Nova
"I continued to train the girls in the hope that it would help them to really get their magic back and I was rightabout that achievement, I could see the progress, I could see them improving, they themselves were alsoamazed by my skills and motivated to get there, I was basically having a first year being a teacher to thesegirls who were relearning to walk and that made me feel fulfilled, I was relieved that finally the dream fuelspirit wasn't affecting them so much, but still very much disconnected from the fact that the effect is muchworse on children than on teenage witches who have already had contact with magic, so it's another thingentirely."
I'm on break before my afternoon classes, so I head for the magical astrology room and knock on the door. I need to talk to someone before I do this, maybe this way I can clear up my doubts about helping these girls, they'll need this teacher to help them. I'm answered straight away by Professor Watson and she lets me in, which I'm relieved about, one more person to help me.
"So, Chariot, what brings you here to my office, did you think about that thing about building closer ties?" She asks and I nod.
"You're a good witch and you can judge like nobody's business, I need your help with something I've been helping some friends I've made" I say to Professor Watson, who smiles at me.
"I wonder who they are, I've been watching you from afar helping this group of first year students, they're really struggling with this, I'm glad you took such an action, it's really noble of you as a witch, I assume you want my help with them too, don't you?" I nod.
"Not as a teacher, but I want you to assess how they're doing with magic, since you're more experienced in magic than I am and a good observer, I think it would be ideal for us to start examining them, they're kind of entering the final stage of their training and I want your help so I can be sure" Mrs Watson nods as she looks in the window.
"It's very peculiar that these girls have been affected by something, even so I'm happy for your help, later I'll want to know more about it, I think it may be linked to something I've been suspecting for a while, we can talk about it after I've assessed the girls, for now let's focus on these girls doing well in magic, tell me what you want in this test to be analysed" said Professor Lucy and I'm even a little nervous if she suspects everything.
I really hope the girls do well, I've done my best in the middle of this first month training them, if I succeed I'll be more fulfilled, I'll know that the Dream Fuel Spirit doesn't cause such horrible damage as I thought that even people can recover magic easily.
[...]
Today's lessons are over, what a relief, it's good that so far the year hasn't been so bad, I'm actually enjoying it, much better than last year, I'm simply making friends and more people know me, that's marvellous, as I leave the classroom I go to meet the girls, who were waiting for me to train.
"You've finally arrived, Chariot, so there'll be some training for us to do, because frankly I don't think we need it" said Patricia.
"Today we're going to see if you really need the training or not, we're going to do the definitive test, if you pass with everything you need then we don't need the training to relearn magic, which I think might be what's going to happen" I say to the girls.
"It was fun, but I still felt it could be a bit better" said Tsugumi.
"Well, I could even improve it to more of a training session to make them the best in the class, a training session to become more skilful witches" I say to them, who nod their heads in agreement.
With that we arrive outside, I look around, with the girls following me, we make a circle, let's see if they really have their magic back, or if this is just a placebo, I hope my training has worked, I tried what I could to make them become better witches.
"For today you're going to put all our training into practice and show how many times you can do these spells over and over again, which I'm going to evaluate, it's going to be like a test, the first part will involve the metamorphosis magic of the bird in the cage, the second will involve yourselves, the third will be with you using the metamorphosis of clothes, the fourth you'll fly with the brooms and show your flying skills, in the
fifth part you'll levitate objects for up to 30 seconds, In the sixth part I want to see how you do at making a statue move for 30 seconds, in the seventh you'll fire a spell at the target and we'll test how good you are at hitting those spells, in the eighth you'll use magic to improve your own physical strength, which brings us to the penultimate part of the test that will involve creating holograms and showing something projected onto it and to finish off you'll perform a unique magic of your own that I want to see how you do, but I won't be the one to evaluate you" I say to them as they understand everything.
"Woah, it's a lot, are you sure we'll have magic for all this?" Eun asks.
"Yes, I do, especially as you'll be performing the spells one at a time, which gives the next one time to rest and understand more about how to do it, just remember to do it very well, remembering that you'll have to perform at least five spells in a row to get the maximum mark" And then the teacher arrives to assess everything, she'll be very useful on our journey.
"If you're not going to assess us, who is?" Brooke asks.
"She, Professor Watson, is the one who will assess your performance, she even has a folder where she will see how each of you did, if you manage to get a good mark overall it's a sign that you've passed and that you're good enough witches with magic, thus ending the training, remembering that you all have to be doing well, after all you are a group" I say to them who nod in agreement.
"Ah, so Fujiwara better do everything right, she's the one in the group who tries the least, but at the same time the one who shows the most, I hope we don't fail because of her" said Patricia.
"Wow, with a group like this, who needs friends?" said Tsugumi and we started laughing.
"All right girls, let's line up and start the test, the order will follow as Chariot asked, from the one who did the best in training to the one who had the most difficulties, so there will be no way to take any advantage, the ones who did the worst will be able to better understand how to follow each step" said the teacher.
"So the first is Patricia Williams" I tell them to get organised now.
The test site was starting to be set up, with each of the stages necessary for the students to pass, I hope they really do well, I would already rate them as capable, but I know that Professor Watson will be able to assess them better. All sorted, now it's time to start doing the tests, the teacher is already looking at the worksheet and asking the blonde to start doing things, I'm just watching and following along with my hands behind my back.
[...]
Patricia did very well, I could see on teacher Lucy's spreadsheet that she's got the best grade, now it's quiet Ryouko's turn, she also did very well in training, even though she's always quiet, the stages of training are even being done well, the teacher can analyse very well, the girls even clap for Williams who got a bit carried away.
"I told you, Mum's magic is back, I'm confident for good, nobody will mess with me now" said the confident Patricia.
"Now it's Ryouko's turn, you can come, we're going to do the same thing as Williams' test, she's already done well, I hope there isn't a huge gap between you and Patricia" said the teacher and Ryouko arrived quietly.
She just nodded and started to do the spells, she speaks very quietly, but everything was still managed to be executed and done with great skill, she may not have Patricia's confidence, but Ryouko still does things well, that's the peculiarity of such a shy girl, well let's see how this will unfold with each of them.
[...]
The tests are over, I'm actually relieved, they didn't do badly, on the contrary, even Tsugumi who always thinks she's doing badly is doing marvellously, that's what's good to know, and soon they're all queuing up and anxious to see how each one's grades were, while the teacher looks at the spreadsheets and so do I, apparently there are only very good grades, none of them did badly and that's very optimistic to think about.
"From what I've seen, you've all done very well, in these basic magic tests you'd do very well, that's optimistic to see, it seems you're no longer struggling to use your magic, apparently you've managed it with a lot of practice" said Professor Watson and they all jumped for joy.
"We did it Chariot! You're the best" They all came towards me, even though I was waving my hands so they wouldn't get that far, but they kept lifting me up and shouting my name while I sat on top of them celebrating.
"Well, Chariot's training has really had marvellous results, she's done everything as expected, by the looks of it they're at a level that I'd say is more than enough to keep them going this whole year, they're on a par and some are even better than the students in your year, not bad as a trainer for them Chariot" said Mrs Watson.
"I just learnt from the best, I needed to help them with their difficulties" I say to them and they celebrate and even leave me on the floor.
"I know who the best one is, I'll miss her coming round here, but anyway, from my calculations I can say that you've all passed, you've managed to get where you wanted to go" said teacher Lucy.
"I knew I had felt my magic come back a while ago, I wasn't wrong about that, now that I have a very good and restored magic, I can say that I'm not a failure, now I'll just do my best to do well, it's a pity it didn't happen in the broom relay, I could have had the chance to do better than before" Patricia said looking at herself.
"Now this training to restore your magic is over, as expected we've reached this point, but what you can do is choose to improve the magic you already have, which requires more, but we can talk about that when I get back from talking to Professor Lucy, a celebration like this won't be left out" I say to the girls who go over to me in a group hug.
"Thank you Chariot!" They all say together.
I even felt fulfilled, a hug like that, I hadn't felt in a long time, they admire me, they're happy for my help, even though all I did was the basics, I didn't give the best help in the world, I just did what I had to do to help these girls, well apparently I was able to do my best, that's wonderful to think about.
Then I went out with Professor Watson, waving to the girls who were excited by my presence. I'm not going to stop celebrating these girls' achievement, but I also have to see what important things the professor has to say, which I get to her room and there she even uses magic around them so they can't hear.
"It was the weight of conscience, wasn't it? I could see that you felt a huge sense of relief when you managed to help these girls, you feel guilty in a way for everything that happened to them, don't you?" How could she be so right?
"I feel bad that they all lost their magic coincidentally at my concerts, so I had to do the minimum, they have to have the opportunity and the chance, I'm not going to let these girls down" I say to the teacher and she even takes a deep breath.
"You feel involved in all this, don't you? I had my suspicions, I could see it in some witches, as if your show made them have their magic stolen" She knows a lot, I'm afraid, I'm very suspicious.
"Do you know anything?" I ask her and she nods.
"These can only be suppositions, I know I'd never be capable of something like this, on the other hand I know who would be capable of it, someone I've even had an extra eye on, your friend or girlfriend, I know you might feel a bit bad about it, but she must have used you to steal magic, I heard her when she arrived here talking about this revolution stuff and that she'd do anything to change it, that's what my suspicion realised, she was wanting to use the stolen magic as a weapon or something" She knows so much, from the nine witches.
"Croix..." I say a little sheepishly.
"You must have broken up with her to have cancelled the New York performance I imagine, I didn't get to see any of them up close, but these are just suppositions, I know things about you that nobody knows Chariot, I know things about your family that you have no idea about, believe it or not, I'm closer than you think, but it's not yet time for me to gain your trust and tell you my secret, I'm still risking my life just by opening my mouth" Now this has shocked me, a teacher has discovered Croix's plan and on top of that she knows about my family.
"You're scaring me, Professor Watson" I say, shocked.
"I know that this news can shock anyone if I open my mouth, but anyway, let's get back to stealing magic, as I've surmised you managed to successfully recover the magic from these girls, with a little training it's possible to get the magic back, but because of what happened, I think we're going to have difficult times ahead, the lack of magic can make many witches give up, they'll think they're not cut out for it and things will get much worse" I hadn't stopped to think about it.
"So you're saying you've only made things worse?" She snorts.
"Look, I'm going to be honest with you Chariot, things weren't very optimistic, you could end up causing a very disgruntled generation with magic if they can't use spells, which could lower the number of future students, making magic lower, which we always have, it's always when a witch tries to revolutionise it always happens, I know you want to change things, I really admire that you want it to be the best for everyone and I also agree with that, magic and technology is the future, but you're not going to succeed by being that radical, it didn't work for Elisabeth McLaren and her friends at the beginning of the 20th century, it didn't work for Laura McLaren and her friends in the 90s, it doesn't work for you today, unfortunately the best way we can do it is to give in to the system and introduce it little by little as if it were part of the magic, these grandiose things always end up going wrong" I never stopped to think about it.
"But things like this have always happened because of the insatisfaction of the older witches who don't accept change, they've always sabotaged us" says Professor Watson.
"You're always too anxious, of course you're always going to sabotage, you have to realise that you're too small for this system, I know it's important to cause this revolution in things, but you're ants trying to face a lion, you won't even be able to hurt the lion, he'll always step on you, it's useless to try, just look at the history, the Broom Gran Prix failed and was sabotaged in order to be seen as dangerous and thus cancelled, and lose audience because of the danger, the attempts to use machines with magic created byApril Jordan with Laura's disclosure went wrong and always crashed, they even gave up quickly, when they tried to do an LGBT parade in Luna Nova the same thing, now you with the Shiny Chariot, how do you think they will see you in ten years? Do you really think you'll be able to pursue your career as such?" She was the only person who came to me with that question.
Now my head is full of things: will I still do well as Shiny Chariot? I no longer have the fat sponsorship of the Cavendish, now it's my own money to do each show, I no longer have the same infrastructure as before, but will they really talk about me? I don't really know how I'm going to respond to that, all silent, staring at Professor Lucy and looking out of the window.
"I know you can't think of anything, but unfortunately I have a very encouraging answer, I believe that you will be seen as a passing fad, even if you try to return to the stage it will not be the same as before and the older witches will make a very strong propaganda to influence any student who comes to study here in the coming years not to speak well of you, in ten years' time, the children who watched your show today will only have this vision of you, the Shiny Chariot who was a children's entertainer, and they'll be brought up to see you as a charlatan, unfortunately things aren't optimistic" I even get into my armchair and cry a little.
"I hope that's not true Professor Watson, I'm still going to make a big comeback, I know I will, the children will still be enchanted by the magic of the Shiny Chariot, I'm going to try my best and not give up on my dream of putting a smile on people" I tell the teacher as I make my way to the door.
"Well that was my advice for now, it seems that your determination is still alive, but I won't judge, it's normal for a 17-year-old girl to be like that, you'll still mature and understand that things aren't like that, anyway I'll see you another day Chariot, enjoy the celebration with your friends" said Mrs Watson.
She's used magic again on the bedroom door, which I'm getting out of and wow, she's so pessimistic like that, I don't know why she's like that, it doesn't even make sense, she just didn't realise that it wasn't the older witches who sabotaged Croix, she decided to sabotage us, but still with the motivation to go over the top of the older witches.
I keep thinking, will I ever get over it? A passing fad? As soon as I've worked so hard to get here, I'll only end up causing the worst, I at least have to be relevant, well anyway I'm going to go to my room soon and take the time to celebrate with the girls. I arrive quickly and knock on the door, which when I open I see the girls celebrating my arrival.
"You've finally arrived, Chariot!" They say excitedly, I didn't expect them to stay so long, I've only just arrived.
"Well, it was a quick chat with Professor Watson, so let's go and have some fun" I say, throwing myself onto Daniella's lap, who is shocked by me arriving out of the blue, and she blushes as she stares at me.
"Chariot! Not in front of the girls" she said embarrassed.
"They know I'm a lesbian, what's the difference?" I shrug.
"Look, I don't think this is a very decent scene to watch, just don't make out in front of me, okay?" said Williams.
"Ah, here comes the homophobic blonde" said Tsugumi.
"I'm not homophobic, I told you! I'm just disgusted by women kissing... And holding each other, running their hands over each other's bodies, using touch, getting very intimate and then feeling those hands going down and everything so soft and their bodies so perfect and beautiful touching each other... It's disgusting! Don't do it, it's not right" We were even shocked by Patricia's reaction.
"Look how interesting it is, it seems that someone has been scolded about her sexuality" said Brooke teasingly.
"I'm heterosexual and I like men! They can be hairy, strange, unkempt, disgusting... Ugh, they're the right thing to like, aren't they? A good Williams likes the right thing!" Guys, I've never seen homosexuality so contained.
"By the nine witches, this girl is a big, tubby gay slut, even I wasn't like that when I was denying liking women, just the part about being thirsty like Williams, but I didn't talk like that about a man" said Daniella, and with that the blonde even blushed.
"This has nothing to do with it! I'm straight! I can even prove it! I've kissed a boy and I've never kissed a girl!" She said, turning round and closing her face.
"And how did it go?" We even want to know.
"Um, it wasn't that good, the boy doesn't know how to kiss, his breath is awful, ugh, but I'm still not going to kiss a girl, they're beautiful, much more beautiful than any man, but it's not right and... I'm not gonna like this" Wow, Tsugumi pulled her into a kiss.
Everyone started shouting and the two kept kissing, I didn't see Williams pushing her, she was even getting closer to Fujiwara, wow this girl is really getting into it, what do you mean, this is the real homophobic gay, I never thought I'd see someone like this around here, look at this girl's thirsty face, they finally separated.
"The right thing to do is kiss to show you how a girl kisses, now you know what it feels like" I didn't see Williams getting angry, she's quite breathless on the contrary.
"Guys, what was that?" Becca said in shock.
"Any other gay women in denial here?" The others raised their hands, what a bunch of naughty girls wanting to kiss, only Leyland didn't.
"I didn't ask you to kiss me Tsugumi! That's unfair! It won't stay that way, Tsugumi Fujiwara!" She grabbed the girl by the collar of her shirt and pushed her away.
"This is going to lead to a fight, Williams has gone into the loo!" I say worried.
"No need, let the girl cook" said Parker, holding me by the waist, which made me blush.
"Ahhhhhhhh this place is going to become a homosexual hangout, is that how you celebrate? I'm going to get out of here, I think I'll try to see if they got any photos of the boys from Appleton, I went" Becca said leaving the room.
"Is she the other homosexual in denial?" Brooke asks.
"This one is confirmed, she's already told us that she's done a lot of things with a girl, but that she didn't feel anything, but that, on the contrary, she liked it with men, it's bizarre" I said, shrugging, and the girls smiled.
"What do you think about playing truth or dare? That could be interesting between us" said Montgomery.
"I think it's interesting, Becca would like to play with us" said Parker.
"She's straight, the funny thing is that everyone here is a lesbian or at least bi, isn't it?" Brooke said.
Then the bathroom door opens and we see the two of them coming out of there and by the nine witches what has happened to Tsugumi, her hair is all messed up, it hasn't even been two minutes, it's not possible that they had a fight, while Patricia is simply in one piece, she even came out of there clapping and with her hand on her waist.
"Do that again with me, kissing me without asking, and next time I'll go further" said the threatening blonde.
"I think I'm going to kiss again, hey are you playing truth or dare? I think I'll leave the flirting aside" said Fujiwara, sitting down with us.
"So Patricia, I didn't say it was good to kiss women" said Daniella.
"I'm not going to say anything, I had a kiss stolen, that bitch stole my first kiss, I lied to you when I said I kissed a boy, I had to give her a change so she doesn't do it again, if she continues the change will be more intense, the message has been given" Williams said a little angrily.
"And what's the next warning going to be? Do you want to take my virginity?" I blush when they talk about it.
"That's really provoking, now let's play this for real or a challenge, for a challenge a Williams never backs down" she said, taking a seat next to me.
And the bottle is spinning, I hope it doesn't fall on me, for the sake of the nine witches that it goes to Patricia or Daniella, but not on me, and then the bottle stops on me and the one in front of me is Tsugumi, the worst of the girls, well I'm going to ask for the truth, I'm not even going to challenge her, the way this girl is.
"Truth or dare, Chariot?" She asks.
"I choose truth" I say confidently.
"All right then, I'll be blunt about this, is it true that you've had sex Chariot?" I nod my head and everyone stares.
"Yes, what's the drama about that? Isn't that common? Like I had a girlfriend that's the thing we all do when we love each other" Everyone is shocked except Daniella, who knows too much.
"And who was it with?" She asks.
"Turn that bottle round, it was just a truth there" I say with my arms crossed.
The next time the bottle spins and is pointed at Ryouko facing Brooke, this time she's not so cowed, it was a challenge, Montgomery challenged the Japanese woman to kiss her and it was just as easy, the two kissed and with that the bottle spun again and with that she stopped this time with Eun and Williams, now she's going to be challenged.
"Challenge" said a confident Patricia.
"I dare you to kiss Chariot on the mouth" said Eun.
"No!" Daniella was even jealous and I spoke along with her until the blonde agreed.
"Are you really going to chicken out of the challenge?" Park kept teasing us.
"I've already kissed a girl today and it's not because I wanted to, I've already said that I'm heterosexual and I'm not going to kiss anyone" With that, the Korean woman took something out of her bag and a bottle of alcohol appeared.
"Next, whoever refuses the challenge will drink a shot of Jack Daniels straight, you decide, Chariot's tongue in your mouth or alcohol burning your throat" Apparently the blonde chose alcohol.
Here came the first dose and just by the look on Williams' face I could see that she didn't like it one bit, I hadn't imagined that this would be the consequence of having to refuse the challenge, for the nine witches, I'm not going to refuse to do anything unless it's too absurd, this is already pushing us too far.
"Where did they get that rule from?" I ask Eun that rule must come out of her arse.
"This is to make the game more interesting, we're not going to get drunk, relax, the effect will wear off quickly if we drink an anti-alcohol potion, then just relax, just let yourself have a bit of fun, it's only alcohol, people" she said.
"My father was one of the worst alcoholics, I'd rather go back to smoking than put a drop of alcohol in my mouth" I tell them and they're even more shocked when I say that.
I just shrug and the game continues, this time I challenge Brooke who is standing right in front of me, she even stands with her arms crossed confidently, already answering me, which I don't take so hard, I just give her a piece of ice with magic and challenge her to stick that piece of ice in her knickers, which she does and has some very strange sensations.
"And that was the beginning of a great friendship with the first year girls, I just wasn't ready for somethingthat would give me the door to go beyond smoking cigarettes, I actually ended up giving in to alcoholbecause I wanted to avoid smoking and it just escalated and escalated, at that celebration we couldn't helpit, we were drunk and completely crazy, the game of truth or dare became so sexual at some point that wejust started playing strip uno and it was bizarre, we ended up escalating to something more and before weknew it we were all naked lying on the bedroom floor in the morning, so much so that Rebecca didn't evenshow up in our room, it was too bizarre, but at that moment I had never felt so good."
See you, magic witches...
