129th Spell: Turmeric and Neem

"Oh, my!" Ryosei Maki remarked as he appeared in the doorway of Class 201A.

Seita Fumito's barbed hair strands were wiggling around his head while the rest of his brown hair had noticeable bald spots. The rest of the class was stunned in fear after some of their desks had been cut in half. Meanwhile, Gimu Rikyan was trying to compose himself despite his face looking flustered.

"Hello, Maki-sensei," Gimu said. "I was just about to leave."

"Would you care to explain what's happening?" Ryosei said before glancing at his son Daizō. "And why does Daizō have white stripes on his kimono?"

"Rikyan insulted me!" Daizō claimed. "Just because I made a remark to Fumito and Wataka."

"It was a derogatory remark, actually," Gimu corrected. "He referred to them as Jun'na."

"Daizō!" Ryosei scolded. "Why would call your classmates that horrible word?"

"Fumito just found out he's part-Harionago, and I overheard Wataka talking to Ryuji and Genma about her Manai father," Daizō confessed.

"But did you have to refer to them as Jun'na instead of 'Maza,' which is the appropriate term?" asked Ryosei.

"No, Sir…," Daizō admitted.

"That's right," Ryosei said firmly. "Now apologize to your classmates and your teacher."

Reluctantly, Daizō stood up and bowed to Gimu. "I'm sorry for insulting you, Rikyan…Sensei."

"I accept your apology, Maki-kun," Gimu nodded in approval.

"Also, I'm sorry for referring to Seita Fumito and Ruri Wataka as Jun'na," Daizō said while still bowing his head.

Rui paused before saying, "Thank you, Maki."

"Same here," Seita muttered.

"Now what's going on with Fumito's hair?" Ryosei glanced at Gimu. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"I…don't know what you're talking about," Gimu said as he packed up his Essential Oils kit and left the classroom. "Be sure to read my Essential Oils book for tomorrow."

Confused, Ryosei examined Seita's hair and looked at Gimu's products which were still in the classroom. He then tapped his black pine wand against the Magic Circle backdrop and changed it to Midorime's classroom with all the herbs in jars and other Kampo tools in the back.

"You can change to other teacher's classrooms with that Magic Circle?" Haru said, looking around in amazement.

"Yes, Ryuji-kun, as long as I picture it clearly in my mind," Ryosei said. "This will only last temporarily until I can fix Fumito's hair."

"Do you know what's wrong with it?" Seita asked.

"From what I examined, it would seem a substance was added to your hair that caused the barbed strands of your Harionago hair to react aggressively, hence the mild destruction in the classroom," Ryosei determined. "And did anyone get hurt?"

"No, Maki-sensei!" said the rest of the classroom.

"Good," Ryosei said with relief. "You're all quite lucky that Fumito's hair didn't harm anyone, because Harionago are known to kill people with their hair."

This made Seita even more nervous.

"But why is Seita's hair acting up so much?" Sumi asked Ryosei. "He said he only found out his mother was a Harionago this Spring Break."

"Perhaps the shock of this news caused his latent yokai abilities to become apparent, which is why his hair grew out," Ryosei said as he went around the room examining the herbs before putting some in a mortar and grinding them up. "And whatever substance got added to his hair just now seemed like it was trying to kill the yokai side of him, which is why the hair reacted badly. Though this substance also seems to have an unintended side-effect of hair loss, which is why the rest of Fumito's hair has bald spots."

Seita felt the bald spots and frowned deeply. "Rikyan gave me this stuff called Magical Hair Condition Removal Oil that's supposed to get rid of any magical effects on hair."

"He also called it Kajōto," added Hikari.

"Kajōto?" Ryosei pondered. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"It's one of Rikyan's own products," Rui said, still holding the booklet from Rikyan's Essential Oils Kit. "But the ingredients for it are pretty vague."

"Let me see." Ryosei took the booklet from Rui's hand and flipped to the page that described how to make Kajōto.

"You're right, Wataka-chan, the recipe is vague," Ryosei said. "But from what I know about Kampo, it would seem he tried to mix turmeric and neem using red algae to bind the two ingredients creating a gelatinous substance that's similar to shampoo. However, neem can be toxic to small children."

"Does that mean I'm going to die?" Seita said, not liking the sound of this.

"No, it's not that serious," assured Ryosei. "But this does explain your bald spots as Rikyan seemed to have mixed too much turmeric into the Kajōto he made while the barbed strands of your hair were strong enough to negate the toxic effects of the neem. If anything, you should be grateful for your Harionago hair as you would most likely be bald and sick right about now."

"I don't feel grateful, since I damaged the classroom and nearly hurt people," Seita said. "Am I going to be stuck like this forever?"

"Not if we can get your hair under control," Ryosei stated. "And being your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I know just what to do."

After mixing in a few more herbs, Ryosei ground it up into a dark-green pulp that he rubbed on the bald spots of Seita's head.

"This Hair Growth Poultice will help grow back those bald spots on your hair, Fumito-kun," Ryosei said. "Be sure to apply this every night before you go to bed."

"For how long?" Seita said.

"Until your hair grows back. As for your barbed strands, try humming to them."

"What?" the whole class exclaimed from confusion.

"If you turn to page 73 of More Yokai and Other Dangerous Creatures by Furu Eru, you will find a description about the Harionago," Ryosei said as he then used his wand to change the classroom from Midorime's setup to his setup which was the castle dungeon with the wooden bars and stacked platforms.

To be continued…