For non-magical humans, magic is interpreted in numerous concepts. It could mean a performance of an illusion using tricks, staged for the easily entertained. It could be used as a means of describing something out of the ordinary in this mundane world.

For Minatozaki Sana, some things are magical even when it seems like it is not. It takes the soul to see as much as the eyes. The potential with magic is unmistakably boundless. Pair this with her unparalleled amount of mischief and curiosity, it might as well be a recipe for “minor” disasters.

For most non-magics, it is fiction. For Sana, it is anything. The true meaning of magic remains ambivalent throughout the ages.

Hence, it came as no surprise that her very name was always a daily echo in the academy hallways. Her reputation preceded her for being known as the finest enchantress, both in brewing and transfiguration. Though needless to say, even without magic, her appearance alone was enough to allure a person, non-magic or mage alike. Her name slipped past people’s lips like dripping honey, but in most instances, it was commonly accompanied by a loud voice.

“Minatozaki Sana!”

Momo watched as Sana made a beeline towards her with Savely clutching onto her hair for its dear life. She could not be bothered enough to even hold back a sigh, fully knowing that she was about to get dragged into whatever mess she had done. She merely arched an eyebrow at her fellow classmate and best friend, waiting for her new excuse to plead her way out of trouble. Sana’s hand gripped tightly onto Momo’s arm as she tried to catch her breath from fleeing Miss Sunmi’s wrath.

“I need you to transform me into a hamster, quick, it’s for research!”

Scepticism rose inside Momo. “The last time you told me to transform you into something for research, you were hiding from the police. Why can’t you do it yourself?”

“Please! Miss Sunmi has my wand,” Sana whined.

From a distance, Momo could make out the said woman’s figure marching its way towards them. The walls grumbled from her amplified voice, calling out for the troublemaker. Savely leapt and hid inside Momo’s pointed hat out of fear.

Momo drew her wand and directed it at Sana threateningly. “This is the last time I’m doing this for you.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank—” Sana’s gratitude was cut off short as Momo’s magic did its work and morphed her into a rodent as requested.

Sana immediately scurried away, hiding inside a nearby crack in the wall. Her disappearance was as quick as Miss Sunmi’s reappearance.

“Hirai Momo,” Miss Sunmi started.

Momo reattached her wand back onto her belt and mustered up the best innocent smile she could at the teacher. “Good afternoon, Miss Sunmi. How are you today?”

“Peachy. You wouldn’t happen to see Minatozaki pass by, would you?” Miss Sunmi returned her smile with one of her own, only hers never reached her eyes.

Momo puffed her cheeks, switching the air between left and right. “No, Miss.”

“Can Movely vouch for you?”

The said familiar that was situated on Momo’s shoulder stopped playing with its legs and stood up straight. It made a small noise of confirmation while saluting.

“I see.” Miss Sunmi nodded in acknowledgement and picked out a small confectionary from her pouch.

Momo gulped.

“Then I suppose you don’t mind me rewarding your familiar with a treat for being so trustworthy?” Miss Sunmi waved the bright pink lollipop in front of Movely, who was already drooling at the sight.

Under different circumstances, Momo and Movely would have fought each other for the delectable candy, but Momo had to keep her composure for Sana’s sake. Movely certainly did not. Neither did Savely.

Momo’s pointed hat started twitching and tweaking around and eventually revealed the little purple sprite with an expression so gleeful, it completely forgot why it was hiding in the first place once it got hold of the candy’s scent.

“Hello there, Savely.” Miss Sunmi smirked and tapped the lollipop on its head. “If you show me where your master is, I’ll give this to you.”

Movely threw a fit while Savely, without hesitance, did a cute dance that uncovered a trail of sparkles leading up to the crack in the wall. The teacher easily seized the familiar by the head and with a swish of her wand, the human-turned-hamster was forcefully dragged out of the hole by the tail and ended up dangling upside down in mid-air.

“Damn it, Savely,” Sana squeaked.

 

———

 

There was something about detention that Sana hated. The unmeasurable time was a torture to the mind, body, and soul. Being sent to detention meant two things, having to prepare a scroll containing ancient runes or disciplinary punishment. She would have the time of her life doing the former as her writing was complimented by every teacher in the academy. However, she was stuck—with magic restrictions—writing manually using a quill and ink.

“Can I just make my familiar do it instead?” The witch scratched the side of her head. Savely peeped in disapproval which earned an eye roll from its master. “You’re the one who got us here.”

“No.” Miss Sunmi crossed her leg over the other and took a sip of her tea. “And you can’t blame your familiar for the mess you made. Plus, you know how crazy they get over lollipops.”

Sana pinched Savely’s cheek. “Yeah, I know.”

Lovelies are little sprites that often crave for candies, especially lollipops. They are tiny familiars, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound, who accompany witches and are the spitting genuine personality and traits of their masters no matter how much the latter deny it. Unlike their masters, they are unable to hide their true emotions. Nonetheless, a lovely and its master are linked by bond and soul.

Sana placed the feather on top of the ink bottle and looked around. “Why am I here alone anyway?”

“No one is as stubborn as you.”

“What’s the point in being a witch if you can’t break a few rules?” Sana sneered.

She was only given a pointed look from the teacher which prompted her to stick her tongue out in response. Just as she was about to refocus herself on the scroll, the door creaked as the student body president, Park Jihyo, walked in.

The familiar sight brought a grin to Jihyo’s face. “Nice to see you here again, Sana.”

“Will you be joining me today?” Sana wiggled her eyebrows and pulled out a seat next to her.

“Sadly, no.” Jihyo turned around, facing someone outside the door as she gestured them to come in. “Come on now, detention isn’t that scary.”

The mystery student took one step inside and that was when a sudden shock spread in the back of Sana’s mind. It caught her off guard to the point that she nearly jolted her knee against the table. It was clear that Savely was possessed by happiness, quite literally since it streaked across the room towards the person flamboyantly.

A blue sprite hopped down from the student and warmly returned Savely’s enthusiasm. Sana’s eyes slowly travelled from Savely’s new friend, up to the student’s face. Another witch.

She entered the room with an air of grandeur hugging her. Her eyes scanned the room for a split second before meeting Sana’s. There it was again, the same shockwave triggered throughout her body instead this time. Something radiated from within that rendered her awestruck. Sana was so sure that the constellations were resting behind the witch’s eyes.

Sana was snapped out of her reverie when she faintly heard the teacher snorted in amusement. “Chou Tzuyu?” Her attention shifted between Tzuyu and Jihyo. “What could she possibly be in here for?”

Jihyo beamed at her question. “It’s quite funny actually. Why don’t you tell us, Tzuyu?”

Tzuyu broke eye contact with Sana and hung her head in an attempt to avoid the teacher and Jihyo’s scrutiny. “Um…”

Sana wondered what a beauty like her could have possibly done. Such a face never struck her as a rebel of any sort. Stealing ingredients from Magic Pharmaceutics class? Cheating in an examination? Misuse of magic brooms?

“I was standing up for my friend.”

Oh, that doesn’t sound bad at all.

“She punched a student,” Jihyo clarified.

Oh.

Her explanation evoked Miss Sunmi to break out into fits of laughter. “I would have never guessed!”

“Yeah, me neither. I’ll take my leave now, please take care of her well and you,” Jihyo pointed a finger at Sana, “don’t harass her too much.”

Sana crossed her arms. “That’s mean. I would never.”

Everyone’s attention panned towards the two sprites on the floor, busy in their own tiny world. One could say they were acting too familiar with each other. The tip of Sana’s ears glowed red and Tzuyu definitely had already planned 101 ways to escape this situation.

“Sure,” Jihyo flatly said and left the room without another word.

The teacher snapped her finger. “This is a good coincidence. I heard Chou is in need of a charms tutor?”

Sana’s ears perked up and her eyes grew wide. “Hey, you’re not trying to say what I think you’re saying?”

“Minatozaki, if you do this, I’m willing to keep today’s incident off the records, and we all know how you have a list of them,” Miss Sunmi blatantly said. “If you weren’t such a genius in potions and charms, you would’ve been expelled by now.”

“I—Are you okay with this?” Sana directed her question to Tzuyu.

Her reply was simply in a form of a shrug.

“That settles it. I’ll pretend like nothing happened today while you tutor Chou. You can both leave.” The teacher passed a dismissive wave of her hand.

As the door closed behind the two, silence filled the empty spaces. Sana noticed that Savely was still very much smothering Tzuvely like nothing else mattered, not that the latter seemed to mind at all.

Bashfully, Sana tore Savely away from it, much to its dismay. “I am so sorry about Savely. It’s never been this attached before.”

Tzuvely climbed its way up to reside in Tzuyu’s arms, clearly disheartened. “No, I’m sorry too. It’s unusual to see Tzuvely like this.”

Another moment of silence surrounded them as they both shared a look at each other’s lovelies. On Sana’s part, she might be staring at the raven-haired goddess more. She was the first to break the awkward silence. “Are you really okay with me tutoring you? Miss Sunmi really put you on the spot back there.”

“I don’t really know anyone else who can. Judging by how Miss Sunmi talked highly of you, I’d assume you’re an expert.”

Sana scoffed, “Yeah, so highly.” She held out a hand, a single twirl, a snap of her finger, and a purple grimoire emerged out of thin air. It opened as sweetly as spring flowers. “I’ll share you the map to my dorm along with my contact. I’m free this evening.” Fragments conjured from the grimoire and forged itself into a piece of note. It smoothly fluttered its way onto Tzuyu’s palm. “I’m Minatozaki Sana, fourth semester.” Sana offered a toothy grin.

Tzuyu could not help but smile back. “Chou Tzuyu, first semester.”

Neither knew that both were sneakily using their magic to conceal their blushes from breaking out.

 

———

 

Uncovering Momo’s—not so discreet—sessions of shoving different types of food into every time Sana set foot in their dorm was a daily routine for the both of them. If not that, she would encounter an intimate moment between Momo and her girlfriend, Mina. Sana would have to brace herself to spend the next few hours anguishing over her loveless life afterwards. It did not help that they all share the same dorm.

Once Momo was done scarfing down a whole banana bread, she sheepishly looked at Sana. “Hey, how was detention?”

Sana made a spot for herself next to Momo on the floor and grabbed a muffin. “Good news and bad news, which one do you want first?”

Momo thought for a second before replying, “Bad news.”

“You and Mina have to find another place to be nauseatingly cute this evening.”

The news provoked a frown from Momo. “What? Why?”

“Because I’m stuck on tutoring duties like the responsible senior I am.”

Hearing such a statement coming from Sana tickled Momo’s funny bone which earned her a shove on the arm.

“I’m being serious!”

“I thought you’re busy illegally finding plants or whatever?”

“You make it sound like I’m a drug dealer.”

Momo smirked. “It’s close though, isn’t it? You’re always out there trying to improvise or innovate charms and infuse potions that are outside of our curriculum.”

Ignoring Momo’s truthful remark, Sana continued, “Anyway, Miss Sunmi said that if I tutor this student, I’m off the hook for now.”

“Makes sense for you to take up on that offer. What’s the good news then?” Momo bit a piece of sushi.

Sana scooted aside and laid her head on top of Momo’s lap. Just the mere thought of Tzuyu was enough to tug the corners of Sana’s lips. Just the mere thought of Tzuvely had Savely flare with affection. Sana wondered if Tzuyu was not entirely uncomfortable with their interactions. It was obvious Tzuvely was smitten with Savely as well, so that must mean Tzuyu felt at least something positive for Sana. Like lovely, like master, right?

“I’m tutoring this really wicked witch,” Sana sighed fondly. “Even her name is nice to say, Chou Tzuyu—”

Suddenly Momo coughed a fit, probably choked on her food again. A few crumbs escaped the tiny gaps from and fell onto Sana’s face which propelled her to retreat.

“Ew! Gross—”

Momo gulped sharply and held onto Sana’s shoulder. Her dishevelled appearance resembled much like Sana from her failed escapade earlier. “Did you just say, ‘Chou Tzuyu’? like ‘Chou’?”

“Yeah?”

“Tall, long black hair, blue lovely—”

Upon hearing the description of the sprite, Savely broke out into a series of jumps and incoherent happy noises. It did not take a fool to decipher that it was fawning. Sana had a lop-sided smile plastered on her lovestruck face. “Amazing posture, silky voice, dark captivating eyes, really nice smile—”

Her thread of compliments was broken when Momo knocked her wand on her head.

“Ouch! What was that for?!”

“Had to make sure this Tzuyu didn’t cast a love spell on you.”

Sana’s face reddened and she clicked her tongue. “You know no student here can charm someone my level.”

“She sure has you enchanted though.”

“Shut up.”

“Do you even know who Chou Tzuyu is?”

“A junior?”

Momo leaned back and scrunched up her face, dumbfounded at Sana’s obliviousness.

Still oblivious, Sana grew more puzzled. “You obviously know the answer to your own question. Just tell me.”

“She’s a descendant from a prestigious line of witches dated back to the ancient times. You’ve never heard of the Chous?”

Sana shook her head.

“Even though she’s just a junior, she’s always been a prodigy. I’ve never seen her magic up close but I’ve heard it’s incredible.”

Sana’s eyebrows rose in amazement but instantly snapped together. “Wait, why would she need a tutor if she’s already perfect?”

“Beats me, but what I want to know,” she gave Sana a once-over, “is why you’re so in love with her?” She then pointed her wand at the little ball of sunshine. “Savely too!”

“I’m not in love!” Sana flailed her arms. “I just find her really attractive is all.”

“Come to think of it, I heard that lovelies are good indicators of finding your soulmate. Look at Movely and Mively.” Momo nodded at her own words. “Yes, yes. That explains it.”

Sana spared a look at Savely who only stared back. “It has never been proven that they hold such a power though.”

“But there have been a lot of couples that got together because of them and lasted a long time,” Momo countered.

On the spur of the moment, the purple sprite bounced its way towards the door, arms reaching out for the handle even though it was physically impossible for it to do so. Sana got up on her feet to open the door. “What’s wrong, Savely—”

“Oh, good evening.”

Every nerve in Sana’s body froze seeing the owner of the voice. Savely had no trouble finding Tzuvely and pampered it straightaway. Sana subdued a wince at the fact that she undoubtedly looked like a deer caught in the headlights in front of Tzuyu. She really needed to charm herself from looking idiotic. She found her voice again, albeit it came out high-pitched. “Hi!”

“Am I too early?” Tzuyu had a tight smile.

“No, no. Let me just get rid of my roommate and then we can start.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose—”

“Of course not. I like your company.”

While Savely and Tzuvely rejoiced at Sana’s slip-up, the witch was mentally reciting an entire incantation that she could remember from her grimoire in hopes that she does not embarrass herself more.

“A-anyway, come in.” Sana scampered to the side for Tzuyu to enter.

Once Sana was out of Tzuyu’s vision, she frantically jabbed her thumb towards the door repeatedly while mouthing at Momo to get out. Momo received the signal, hastily gathered all of her food and shrunk them with a quick spell to fit in her trusty pouch.

Before Momo left, she bowed in respect to Tzuyu. “Nice to meet you, please let me know if she becomes overbearing.”

A very small part of Sana died inside after that comment and she made a mental note to hex Momo later as she pushes her outside of the room. “Don’t mind her,” Sana tittered. “I guess we should start now?”

“Okay,” Tzuyu said and with a wave of an airy hand, she summoned her blue grimoire.

 

———

 

Was Sana surprised? That would not be the correct word for how she felt precisely. Based on what Momo had said, everything checked out. Tzuyu was definitely a prodigy in witchcraft. Her superiority in the philosophy of magic was highly commendable and could potentially outshine Sana’s own rank. Although her grades could put every other top witches to shame, that was not the cause of Sana’s stupor. Instead, it was about the exact subject she was tutoring her for. Somehow, despite encompassing an impressive amount of magic power, her spells ranged from everything except for charms.

Sana was sure to lose a handful of hair for the number of times she had pulled them out of disbelief. “How is this possible?”

Four charm spells and all Sana had concluded was that Tzuyu was not lying about her charm skills. Every charm spell ended in mishaps, though under Sana’s supervision, the side-effects were not severe. The witches started off with the most basic category, emotions.

Sana demonstrated an Emotion-Suppression Spell, used to store an emotion or more in a flask. However, Tzuyu, for some unknown reason, created a manifestation of anger in the form of blazing flames instead, barely burning Tzuvely by a whisker.

Sana demonstrated a Chameleon Spell to change an emotion. She willingly became Tzuyu’s test subject for this. The goal was to alter Sana’s mood from happiness to sadness. Instead, her happiness was replaced with… lust. It was a miracle that Sana managed to negate the spell and secure her dignity, if there still was any. Amidst Tzuyu’s endless rounds of apologies, Sana considered meeting an astrologer to find out what would have happened between the two if she never stopped herself.

Sana demonstrated a Tranquillity Spell that cloaked and, depending on how strong the charm is, may even comfort negative emotions. To be honest, Sana still voluntarily presenting herself to be Tzuyu’s test subject was due to her constant overthinking. If Tzuyu were to succeed, it would be a win-win situation for both of them. Tzuyu learns a charm and Sana stops overthinking. Of course, the outcome was unfortunate. Instead of feeling a weight lift off Sana’s shoulders, it lifted off instead, spilling all kinds of secrets. Now she had to live knowing that Tzuyu learned about her fear of thunders. It should not be an embarrassing fact for her, but if you still wholeheartedly believed your grandmother’s words that the Thunder God would steal your belly button, you would want to disappear from the face of the earth too.

The last spell was the last straw for Tzuyu. Sana demonstrated a Voice Adjustment Spell which was pretty self-explanatory and almost every mage can do with no problem, except for Tzuyu apparently. Sana requested her to amplify her voice little by little, like baby steps. The other witch went full grown though. A piercing banshee-like scream that could be heard from a mile radius was unleashed. Rows of magical texts enclosed Sana, containing complaints from every other witches in the dormitory.

After Sana finished answering the texts, she laid limply on her bed. “You really do need a tutor for this.”

Tzuyu’s hands tightened into fists. “I’m really sorry. I’m the only witch ever in my entire family history to not be able to do charms well and nobody knows why.” She ended with a pout.

Ironic since you look very charming yourself. “It’s okay, it’s only the first day. I don’t expect that much progress.” She heard Tzuyu sigh in exasperation though.

“That’s the thing, I am expected to have progress. I’m expected to be able to use charms. There’s a lot of high expectations for me.” Tzuyu brought her knees up to her chin and hugged her legs.

Sana tried to understand. She really did, but the reality was she could not come to terms with it. In Sana’s mind, expectations put people at risk of becoming a host of unwanted outcomes ranging from perpetual frustration and disillusionment to damaged relationships. Even worse, the negative experiences of unmet expectations can become seriously draining. Sana did not like that at all. She wanted others to live life freely as much as she did.

Now, Sana was nothing like Tzuyu in terms of bloodline. She was lucky enough to have two loving parents and a circle of supportive friends. To put it simply, she lived a fairly normal life. Talent did not necessarily run through her veins since birth. Charms and potions were casually dabbled into, much like kids experimenting with cooking by serving dirt and leaves. Eventually, Sana’s world with magical substances and fusions expanded. The infinite possibilities involving unknown formulas urged her to seek out into the world and she could not do it if the academy restricted her from doing so.

Sana sat up and looked at Tzuyu thoughtfully. “What do you want to do?”

“Huh?”

“Like, what is magic to you? What do you plan to do with it?” Sana leaned forward, propped her elbows on her knees and cupped her own face. “Surely you have a dream, no?”

Tzuyu pondered for a moment, a pinkish highlight crawling its way to her face. “I really like animals and want to help them as much as I can.”

“Revitalisation Magic?”

“Yes, my family are all accomplished healers.”

“That’s so cool! My healing magic isn’t really that strong.” Sana giggled as she ran a hand through her hair. “I really like how it’s quite similar to charms and potions in a way.”

Tzuyu tilted her head, not quite following. “How so?”

Oh my god, she is so cute. “Well when you think about it, all three are capable of helping people or things to feel better.”

“But then, there are necromancy, curses and poison.”

“I meant when used for good reasons, duh,” Sana huffed. A small chuckle bubbled from Tzuyu, tugging a certain spot in Sana’s heart that she never knew existed before she met the witch. She could not tell if she enjoyed basking in this intense sentiment of exhilaration or frightened by its unpredictability.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why were you in detention?” Tzuyu had an earnest look in her eyes, undoubtedly asking without any hint of judgment.

Sana groaned as she remembered today’s event. “Foraging outside of school grounds.”

“And that’s wrong because?” Tzuyu stretched the last word, prodding Sana to explain even further.

“One of the night guards snitched when I was searching for grave mushrooms last night.” Sana gave a bitter laugh. “It only grows at a particular time after midnight but we’re never allowed outside since we have curfew.”

“Did you need it for an assignment?”

“No, I’ve learned all I can from the books. I just want to try something new.”

“Even though you shouldn’t?” Tzuyu sounded rather amused than deprecating.

Sana got off the bed and brought herself closer to her, a playful grin graced her lips. “We’re all sinners pretending that we aren’t.”

Tzuyu failed to keep steady eye contact with Sana and found the crumbs of bread on the floor more interesting as shades of red adorned her cheeks.

Sana let out a hearty laugh and lightly bumped her shoulder with Tzuyu’s. “What about you?”

“I told you guys, I was standing up for my friend,” Tzuyu insisted.

“You left out the punching part.”

“Okay, so I did punch a student. She deserved it though.”

“So you actually physically punched her? Good old-fashioned fist–to–face action?”

Tzuyu grimaced. “I suppose.” She felt like she could have dealt the situation better and not let her emotions get the best of her.

 

The whooshing sounds of witches gliding on their brooms through the air purred into Tzuyu’s ears. The courtyard hustled and bustled with different cliques camping around. Seniors stood tall and proud, hooded with a sense of dominance among the rest. Juniors manoeuvred their way around to avoid any unwanted spotlight.

Tzuyu sat on a bench alongside her two good friends, Dahyun and Chaeyoung. She admitted she was lucky to have met people like them in her first semester. Three months in and she would not know where she would be without them. Sure, Tzuyu had the potential to push the benchmark of magic in the academy and surpass several seniors above her, recreate a spell—except for charms—by skimming and eye-balling, and fluency in familiar language, nonetheless Tzuyu never truly took pleasure being in the public eye.

Do not misunderstand her, she wholly appreciated the compliments thrown her way. She only dreamed it could be referred to as “Tzuyu” and not “Chou Tzuyu”. Wishful thinking, she thought. Thankfully, the duo left her family name untouched as it never mattered to them.

As Tzuyu was busy nurturing her blue sprite, she overheard her friends’ conversation.

“Leviosuru,” Dahyun mused.

“I told you, it’s ‘Leviosa’ not ‘Leviosuru’,” Chaeyoung retorted.

While they resumed prolonging their squabble, they overlooked a couple of girls that passed by them. One thought it would be a great idea to mess with them. Another girl snickered as she pulled out her wand and with a sharp motion, a force pulled Dahyun’s head and undid her bun which earned a few catcalls.

Tzuyu, on the other hand, saw it clear as day. Both she and Tzuvely scrutinised the perpetrators. “Excuse me, please apologise to my friend.”

Following their eyes, Chaeyoung put two and two together and stormed her way towards the group of girls. “What’s the deal?”

“Chill out. Have a little fun.” The girl winked. “Doesn’t she look hotter with her hair down?”

Chaeyoung was slowly starting to see red, similar to Chaengvely’s colour. “She’s my girlfriend, you little !”

“That’s big to you,” the girl ridiculed, referencing the height difference between them.

Dahyun enveloped her hands with Chaeyoung’s in hopes it would calm her down. “Hey, Chae, let it go. Let’s just leave.”

“Not without an apology we’re not.”

“Apology? What are we, twelve?” the girl mocked.

Tension engulfed everyone. Emotions were all over the place, although anger mostly shrouded their minds. Tzuyu had enough. She placed a comforting hand on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. “Come on, it’s not worth it.”

Chaeyoung heaved a long breath and threaded her fingers with Dahyun’s. “Okay, okay.”

“What? That’s it?” The girl took a daring step closer.

Tzuyu’s nostrils flared, her jaw clenched and unclenched as her patience was running thin by the second. Keep calm. Like she said, it was not worth—

The girl pushed and shoved Chaeyoung.

Tzuyu’s knuckles swiftly met with the girl’s face.

Trickles of blood dripped on the floor.

Dahyun let out an audible gasp. Chaeyoung had never smiled so brightly.

Tzuyu thought it was definitely worth it.

That was until Jihyo caught her right at the end after news broke out about the conflict. While she applauded Tzuyu for her strength, she still had to put her in detention for assaulting another student. Jihyo still had a good laugh out of it once she grasped the full story from Dahyun and Chaeyoung.

 

Sana threw her hands up in irritation. “But you’re the one who had to go to detention?”

“Yeah.” Tzuyu folded her hands in her lap. “So much for upholding the Chou name.”

The inexplicable expression occupying Tzuyu’s face did not sit well with Sana. “Hey, no. Let’s not go there.”

Tzuyu’s glum eyes clashed with Sana’s mellow ones. “I can’t even do basic charms. It’s shameful—”

Sana refused to let her self-deprecate more. Not when Sana’s around, in fact, not ever. Watching Tzuyu’s guard slowly collapse, trusting Sana enough to unfold another side of her only made Sana drown in aggression. She glanced at Tzuvely and Savely. Both exchanged a look with Sana as if they were saying, “Go for it.” So she did.

She scooted closer to Tzuyu’s side and placed her head on her shoulder. Tzuyu made no effort to withdraw, so she took that as a good sign. Carefully, she unfolded Tzuyu’s hands and had their palms face each other. Maybe if I intertwine our fingers—no, do not push it.

Almost as if Tzuyu heard her thoughts, Sana heard her sigh softly and intertwined their fingers as well as adjusting her position to rest the side of her head on top of Sana’s head. The latter had to push all the butterflies in her stomach deep down.

“What if I told you that you’d eventually get the hang of it?” Sana started gently.

“What if I told you it might be impossible for me?”

“What if I told you,” Sana gave a mild squeeze, “I believe that you can do it?”

For a moment, Tzuyu kept silent and Sana feared that she must have said something wrong until she felt her chest shaking. Thinking she was crying, she quickly leaned back to get a good look at Tzuyu to confirm her suspicion, only to find out she was chuckling.

“What’s so funny?”

“Back in detention, you seemed so reluctant to tutor me and now here you are telling me you believe in me.” Tzuyu’s mouth curved into a smile that Sana desperately wanted to see.

Sana felt her face burn up and instinctively scratched her nose shyly. “L-like I said, I’m busy creating new things.”

“And yet you made time for me,” Tzuyu teased.

Sana’s jaw slacked. “Well someone’s surely in a better mood now.”

Tzuyu turned her attention to the two lovelies, but the words uttered were all for Sana’s to keep. “I have you to thank for that.”

The silence was comfortable, unlike their first encounter. No more words were needed as they both spared another look at one another. A dimple smile and a scrunched-up nose. It was quite unsettling for Sana to have this new profound feeling. Though, she thought, she could put her foraging adventures on pause for now—for Tzuyu—to savour the rare chance of embracing this invisible warmth only emitted by the witch next to her.

She decided to trust Momo’s words and put her fate in the hands of their lovelies.