Little Witch Doremi 16

Stories

## Chapter 1: Spring in Full Bloom

A single cherry-blossom petal rode the breeze, drifted lightly into the room, and settled on my left shoulder.

It must have come from the cherry tree next door, the one shedding its flowers and putting out new buds. It had to be.

It felt wonderful.

—This is no time to be savoring idle pleasures!

Scolding the girl reflected in the mirror, I looked at the hair bun that was only half finished and let out a sigh.

Sigh. Looks like I really can't get this bun to stay.

The proper name for this hairstyle is a chignon (シニヨン, French: chignon). Ever heard of it?

"If it were even half as long as it was in elementary school, I could make a matching pair…"

Even as I complained, a dopey, idiotic grin spread across my face of its own accord.

After all, today I would be reunited with everyone from Misora First Elementary after so long. Of course I was happy.

That's right. Today was the day the graduates of Class 1 and Class 2 from sixth grade at Misora First Elementary were gathering for a class reunion.

Ah, this is bad. This is bad.

Among the readers who have followed along this far, there are probably still some who don't know who I am.

In that case, I'll introduce myself all over again. Ah, if you already know, feel free to skip this part.

Hello, nice to meet you. I am Harukaze Doremi!

I graduated last month from Misora Municipal Junior High with excellent grades and officially advanced to Prefectural Misora High School. I am the happiest fifteen-year-old girl in the world!

Right now I'm just an ordinary high school girl, but in the past…

## Chapter 2: MAHO-Do Opens for Business

The three of us had just run up to the front of MAHO-Do when three dandelion seeds were fanned by the weathercock spinning round and round and seemed to be sucked in, drifting through the skylight in the roof.

Neither early nor late, Witch Rika happened to step out the front door at that very moment.

"Witch Rika!"

At the sound of my voice, Witch Rika's face flashed with surprise for an instant, then broke into a wide smile.

"Doremi! Oh, and if it isn't Hazuki and Aiko! Long time no see!"

We ran forward and threw our arms around Witch Rika, celebrating a reunion three long years in the making.

Witch Rika was the same as ever, wearing her hair in a bun just like mine, except that faint threads of white were already showing through.

I almost blurted out, "Haven't you gotten a little older?" but swallowed the words at the last second.

If I really said that, it would absolutely hurt Witch Rika.

All at once a question welled up in my mind, which had been full of joy.

"Witch Rika, what is going on? Didn't you say you would stay over there until Hana became queen of the Witch World?"

"…"

Witch Rika knit her brows, and a shadow fell across her face.

Before I could speak to the silent Witch Rika, Ai couldn't hold back.

"What happened over in the Witch World?"

Hazuki asked, worried as well:

"Did something happen to Hana…?"

"…I don't care what happens to that girl."

Witch Rika spat the words out in disgust and turned her head aside.

"You said that hou…"

## Chapter 3: Setting Out for Hokkaido

"I can't. I can't eat another bite. Have mercy."

I wailed, rubbing my swollen stomach.

In front of me, one hairy crab after another sidled toward my mouth.

After I helplessly ate a crab, another crab crawled up in its place.

At last my belly, stuffed tight to bursting, reached its limit and exploded with a bang.

"Waaaaaah!"

Startled by my own scream, I jolted awake.

"Do-Doremi!"

In the cabin of the flight bound for New Chitose Airport, Hazuki and Ai, seated on either side of me, clapped their hands over my mouth.

"Mmph—mmph—I'm suffocating…"

"You're not going to let out another weird yell, are you?"

Hazuki asked in a whisper. I nodded hard, like a chicken pecking rice.

The two of them seemed reassured and let go.

The passengers around us turned to look, surprise on their faces.

"I'm sorry. We've caused everyone trouble."

Ai bowed her head in apology.

"Doremi, you apologize too, quickly."

"S-sorry…"

Ai forced my head down.

Just then laughter rose from every direction, and a gentle liveliness filled the cabin.

When there were still twenty minutes until departure, Dad Onpu finally appeared on the platform.

The other party suddenly tried to take Dad Andy away, so we had no choice but to bolt without a second thought.

"Hey, you stop right there—!"

After a hasty greeting, we told him how we had wanted, no matter what, to see Onpu looking spirited, and how we had ended up finding this place.

That man, the way he walked…

## Chapter 4: Sparkling☆Summer

This happened not long after we came back from Wakkanai.

Aaaaaah—I never noticed at all—!

I didn't cry out, but inside I struck the very pose of Munch's painting *The Scream*.

The moment I started high school, my everyday life changed completely. You could say it sped up and grew busy.

I still remembered the cherry blossoms falling, but after that I couldn't recall what flowers had bloomed around my house. I was busy to about that degree.

Life at school and working part-time at MAHO-Do was hectic, but I was gradually getting used to it. Even so, I felt that by throwing everything I had into my own affairs, I seemed to have missed a great many things.

"That's not true. It's the same as always."

Ai said it lightly.

You're so cool, Ai.

She's right, though. I've always been busy beyond belief.

And here I had thought that becoming a high school student would turn me into the sort of big-sister type who seems calmer and more composed.

Speaking of which, about a week ago, when Hazuki came to MAHO-Do, the moment Ai heard her greet us, she asked Hazuki something like this:

"What's wrong, Hazuki? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"Hmm—is it because exams are coming up? High school really does have tests at the drop of a hat."

"Exactly, exactly. We only just struggled through those brutal exams to get into high school, and we're still living like exam students. It's so unfair."

From that time on, Ai…

## Chapter 5: Believe in the Dream

Facing a breeze that came through the beech woods, we hiked toward the source of the Fukisaru River.

Dad walked at the front, Onpu followed, and I brought up the rear.

The three of us wore hip-length waterproof waders for stream fishing and were sweating buckets in the heat.

I was wearing Dad's old waders. Onpu was wearing my grandfather's, which hung a little loose and made walking awkward.

"Dad, aren't we there yet?"

"We'll be there any minute. Hang in there a little longer."

Dad carried all three fishing rods and wore a fishing vest, and he was sweating even harder than we were.

"Since Onpu came along this time, let's take a short rest."

We had walked nearly thirty minutes without a break, and I, thoroughly worn out, said it with a grumble.

"I'm fine. Besides…"

Onpu wore an easy expression and cocked her head to listen.

"Hm?…"

I steadied myself and listened too, and caught the faintest trickle of flowing water.

"You hear it, right?"

"Yeah!"

Once we crossed the woods and reached the stream, we could wash our faces in cool water.

My energy came back at once, and I stepped out humming a tune.

If you ask why the three of us had come out to fish the stream, you have to go back to dinner last night beside the sunken hearth at Grandpa's house.

"This fish is really good!"

That remark from Onpu, who had been quiet ever since we arrived in Hida, was what set the whole thing in motion.

Then I turned the reel, retrieved the line, and hooked the wet fly onto the rod's keeper.

I took the teapot, and Onpu said:

Onpu gazed at the Su that still went on without end…

## Chapter 6: Run Toward Tomorrow!

And so, just as I was beginning to feel that I too could finally stand on the same starting line as my best friends and live out my high school life—

Ai, who ought to have been living the fullest high school life of any of us, showed up at MAHO-Do with a gloomy look on her face.

Three days earlier, when she had been selected as a prefectural representative for the National Sports Festival, she had still been full of drive:

"If I leave a good record at the Kokutai, it won't just get me into a university famous for track. Even becoming an Olympic training-squad athlete won't be a dream anymore! I absolutely have to give it my all!"

"What's wrong? That face looks so down."

"I seem really out of place in the club."

"What do you mean? I don't quite get it."

According to Ai, in Misora High's track club, where members were few and the team had grown weak, the harder she fought on her own, the more everyone isolated her.

"Club activities and all that—just mess around a little and have fun. To put it bluntly, you're an eyesore."

There was even a senior who said something that harsh to her.

"You don't have to mind any of that! Your dream is to go to the Olympics and take the gold, isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"The truth is, those club members envy you too, Ai, sprinting toward your dream. Don't let that kind of opinion throw you off course. Just keep practicing the way you always have."