Bittersweet Fairytale
Prince of Tennis: Marui Bunta
Chapter 3: Witchcraft
“Magic?” I repeated.
She looked at me and nodded. “Hai. You know, like ‘abracadabra!’ or ‘open sesame!’”
I sniggered. I picked a piece of hotdog using the fork. “Magics don’t exist.”
A menacing grin drew on her face. “Oh, yes they do tensai.”
“Okay, fine. Whatever,” I replied while rolling my eyes. I don’t really care about anything right now. All I care was the bento in front of me, and the food of course.
Although…
“How come you’re so sure that magic does exist?” I asked. I couldn’t help it; she aroused my curiosity.
She didn’t answer. All she did was to align the Seigaku dolls in front of her, laying them down on the grassy ground. She looked at each doll, making sure that each one receives an intense gaze from her exploring auburn eyes. She gently poked them at the stomach.
I bit my hotdog.
“Neh tensai,” she uttered. She held up a doll that looked like the short and cocky freshman who had beaten Sanada-fukubuchou. She adjusted his white cap before combing his greenish-black hair using her fingertips. “Do you love fairytales?”
I frowned. What was she trying to prove? First she was blabbing about magic. Then she wouldn’t even answer my question. Now fairytales? How childish a thirteen to fourteen year old girl can actually be?
I gave a small puke for that question. “Of course!” I proclaimed with utter sarcasm.
I certainly didn’t expect her to be too oblivious. But she was. Aww.
“Really?!” she perked up with sparks dancing in her eyes. “So who are you?”
Wasn’t my sarcasm obvious enough?
“Of course I’d be the prince,” I responded without any effort. I devoured the last piece of cake before handing the empty bento back to her. “Thanks for the meal,” I smiled.
“Ohh…the prince,” she said thoughtfully as she received her bento. “I’m the witch!” she grinned with blissfulness.
“Witch?” I blinked. “Doshite? Why not the princess?”
Right? I mean, most girls would pick a princess’s role. Usually, girls love to play a character that’s beautiful, intelligent and majestic.
A witch or a princess? Princess.
It’s automatic.
However, this girl was extremely weird; she picked a role that no one would usually choose. Witches are the antagonists.
She gave a small pout. “Why should I?” she asked back. “Princesses often rely on their Prince Charmings. They give us the impression that boys are saviors of girls. Although it is true in some cases, the concept of princesses still instills girls to just hope and hope and hope that someday, a prince riding a gallant steed would come to their aid.” She shivered. “I don’t want to be like them.”
Excellent point.
“But witches are bad,” I insisted.
“Not all witches are bad,” she answered with a smile. “The fairy godmothers are witches too.”
I opened my mouth to reason, but eventually shut them. Why did I care much about her fairytale topic? It’s not supposed to be my business if she wanted to be the witch or the princess or whatever.
I just shrugged instead. “Okay. That’s nice.”
“Neh tensai,” she grinned. “You were asking awhile ago, ‘how come you’re so sure that magic does exist’, right?”
I nodded. “What about it?” I reached in for my pack of gums inside my summer uniform pocket.
Her grin got wider. “You want to see some magic for evidence?”
I was planning to chew a gum, but what she asked made me halt. I gave her a blank expression. The questions she was asking were all…were all…out-of-this-world.
“Uhm…” I uttered, right before swearing myself for saying uhm because geniuses don’t really say the uhm thing. Ever heard of Yanagi saying uhm?
“Well?” she asked with a cute smile.
“Uhm…”
Ugh! The uhm thing again! She’s the only one in this world who has the capacity to make me say uhm! Mattaku.
“I don’t know; maybe…” I trailed off. Great. Just great. How’s that for a genius?
“I’m taking maybe as yes!” she cheered while leaping up.
Oh boy. I rolled my eyes.
“Tensai, backpack please,” she winked while pointing at the pink and white bag beside me.
I simply shrugged and handed it to her.
“Now, watch and learn,” she beamed as she received the bag. She pulled out a book— an antique book. The cover was black and the pages were tattered at its sides. The color of the pages was dirty yellow instead of white. Judging by its poor condition, I could say that the paper’s texture was rough as well. The book was thick, and probably heavy. The weird thing was the title of the book was unknown. It was written in symbols.
Morse code? It has no dots.
Semaphore Code? The symbols didn’t look like clocks.
Cipher Code? Not really. It has no wheel.
The symbols were unearthly; it was the first time I’d seen such symbols. I guess everything about this weird and childish girl of Hyotei Gakuen was unearthly.
With a gentle smile, she flipped the book to a certain page with more symbols and complicated drawings. The drawing was…weird. No, more than weird. The first drawing was a white entity, and beside it was an arrow pointing towards the second drawing, which was a doll. What does it mean? White entity. Arrow. Doll.
“Tensai, favor please,” she smiled. “Can you stand up and hold this book for me?”
Do I even have an option?
I followed her instructions, and I ended up standing at the back of the Seigaku dolls holding the creepy book, while she, on the other hand, was in front. The dolls were facing her. From her pocket, she pulled out another unearthly stuff. It was a colorful, beaded necklace, but the design was too weird that I couldn’t even describe it.
She held the necklace on top of the dolls’ heads. She closed her eyes and, with a different language that seemed like German, she uttered, “Ich bin die Hexe des Lebens, und durch meine Energie, bringe ich das Leben nach diesen Puppen hervor. Sie haben volle Fähigkeit eines human' s und sie leben, um zu unterhalten, holen Frieden und zum ihrer respektierten Meister zu lieben. Hören Sie meine Stimme, Geist vom guten und Ruhe; reincarnate unter diesen Puppen!”
I didn’t bother to know what those words meant; I just stared at her with a pair of widened eyes.
Suddenly, the necklace she was holding began to glow, and the breeze got stronger and chiller. The trees rocked each other; the rivers created small waves; the grasses danced with each other.
She was standing there at the opposite side of me, looking quite and calm while her auburn eyes were still hiding. I was also standing, and I didn’t bother to know how I looked like or how I felt. Everything happened so fast, and so slow at the same time.
The very moment she opened her eyes, I was taken aback in astonishment and awe when she released a sweet smile. That seriously caught me off-guard. I looked away from her…
…And looked back when I saw her crouching down at the Seigaku dolls. She gave them her trademark sweet smile and said, “Minna-sama, please say hello to Marui Bunta-kun,” she winked. “He’s a tensai.”
I was so flabbergasted and thunderstruck that it got to the point that I mindlessly lost balance, making the heavy book fall upon my head when the Seigaku dolls suddenly turned to me and grinned. Okay, I’d be honest. I’m not an avid fan of horror films and booths, and I’m afraid of ghosts and spirits.
Don’t laugh. Given those conditions, I’m sure the same thing would happen to you if you were in my position.
And the thing was, instead of helping me up, the girl, along with her beloved living dolls, laughed at me!
“Thanks a lot,” I mumbled annoyingly while standing up.
“Gomen-gomen,” she bowed her head several times while giggling. “That was goofy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great.” I glanced at the dolls.
“Yoroshiku, Marui-kun!” they chirped in unison.
The girl smiled, and I could tell from that smile that she was waiting for my answer.
So I didn’t.
“Tensai,” she pouted when I wasn’t answering. “What will you say?”
“This is so unrealistic,” I muttered under my breath.
I expected her to cry, or yell, or be offended, or something that would be so far from the reaction she gave me, which was a kind and understanding smile. “Mattaku! That’s the problem with geniuses like you,” she chuckled. “You guys always tend to rationalize things.”
I grimaced.
“Don’t you find this factual enough?” she asked while tickling a doll with red hair and a bandage on its cheek, causing it to giggle.
“What’s so factual about this?” I challenged.
“I’m real you know,” she responded with a little pout. “And what’s happening now is real. Therefore, this is factual.”
“Yeah, but dolls being alive?”
“Be surprised if they suddenly became alive without any raison d'être,” she said while sticking her tongue.
I narrowed my eyes at the dolls, then back at her. “Well what was these dolls’ raison d'être?”
“Witchcraft,” she beamed.
I stared blankly at her for about 15 seconds, which was actually longer than it sounded.
“Huh?” I eventually asked, puzzled.
She giggled. “Do you want me to enlighten you on that one?”
“Uh-huh…” I slowly nodded, right before cursing myself once again for saying the huh and the uh-huh words.
Words that are taboo for a genius:
1.) Uhm…
2.) Huh?
3.) Uh-huh…
4.) I don’t know.
5.) Maybe.
And I had said all five in one day due to one person. Seriously. How’s that for pure genius?
“I’d been doing witchcraft since I was 12,” she began. “Unlike my cousin Jirou, my mom wouldn’t allow me to play tennis because of a certain illness. That’s why she banned me from any outdoor activities,” she said with a sad smile. “I spent most of my time reading books, and one of my favorites is the fairytales.” Her sad smile brightened.
“Let me guess; fairytales inspired you to learn witchery,” I said.
Her smile broadened. “You really are a genius!”
I smirked. “Of course.”
“Embedding souls into a doll to make it alive is my favorite spell of all,” the girl continued. “I love the way people smile whenever I give them the dolls that resembled them.” She smiled looked down at the Seigaku dolls and sweetly at each of them, giving them a gentle pat on the head. The dolls chuckled.
“Don’t they find it weird?” I asked.
She blinked. “What weird?”
“That,” I pointed accusingly at the dolls. “Living, talking, unearthly. WEIRD.”
The dolls glared at me.
“What’s weird about us?” a doll with spiky black hair and purple eyes demanded.
“Psshhh. Yaru.” Another doll with a green bandana added.
“Minna, don’t be like that,” the girl uttered while taking them into her lap. She turned to me. “And don’t be mean, tensai.”
I frowned.
“They don’t find it weird,” she smiled. “In fact, they love it.”
“How would you know?” I asked while cocking an eyebrow.
“What do you mean how would I know?” she chuckled. “Duh, tensai. It shows. I already finished the dolls for the entire Hyotei tennis team, and everyone was happy. Surprisingly, even Ore-sama.”
I pouted. “I still find it weird.”
She gave me a considerate grin. “Oh, you’ll get used to it.”
“Right,” I answered as I rolled my eyes. It was then that I realized that I was still holding my pack of gums. I opened one and chewed it. “Want one?” I offered.
She shook her head. “No thanks.” She looked at her wristwatch and said, “It’s almost 5pm; I have to go.” She packed her book, bento and the sewing kit she had inside her backpack.
“How are you going to go home?” I asked.
“I’ll walk.”
“What about the dolls?”
“They’ll walk too.”
I gave a disgusted look. “Won’t people find it weird?”
She stopped in her tracks, looked at me, and smiled a little. However this time, that little smile showed how much she was offended by my question. I felt so guilty. I shouldn’t have asked at the first place.
“I’m not as embarrassed as you are.”
I was bowled over by her answer; I had never felt so blameworthy in my entire life.
“Gomen,” I apologized.
She didn’t answer. She just continued fixing and packing her things as I watched her in silence. I didn’t even bother to blow my bubblegum. I felt so stiff and speechless, all because of my guiltiness.
Once done, the girl stood up and bowed. When she looked up, a sweet smile was curving on her lips. “I forgot to say my gratitude, tensai.”
“Huh?” I asked. Another one of the taboos. “Gratitude for what?”
“For staying,” she answered. “You could have left awhile ago, right? But instead, you decided to stay and accompany me.” Her sweet smile remained. “Arigato Gozaimasu! I had fun.”
She suddenly smiled so sweet and big that it caused me a big blush as well. I immediately looked away so she wouldn’t see it. “Dou itashimashite,” I uttered.
She started running, with the dolls trailing after her. When she was a foot away, she turned back and waved goodbye. “Ja mata ne, tensai!” she smiled. She was about to turn around when I called her back.
“Chotto matte!”
She blinked at me. “Nani?”
“I don’t know your name!” I whined with a pout. Now that I’d mentioned it, I had spent the rest of my afternoon with a girl, and I don’t even know her name. What a genius.
The girl smiled sweetly at me. “Watashi wa Akutagawa Natalie desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Marui Bunta-kun.”
I smiled. “Yoroshiku ne. See you.” I waved goodbye.
And with that, I stood there by the riverbank, watching her run towards the opposite direction where the sun was setting, until she was finally gone.
Author's Note: The words that Natalie uttered during the "doll ritual" was indeed German, just like Bunta-kun had informed us ^^. Here's the English translation of it:
"I am the Witch of Life, and by my power, I shall bring forth life upon these dolls. They shall have full ability of a human's, and they will live to entertain, bring peace and to love their respected masters. Hear my voice, Spirits of the Good and Serenity; reincarnate yourselves among these dolls!"
Anyways, that's for Part 3. Hope you liked it, though it's sort of long. Actually, it's not. It's just the spaces and the scrollbar ^_^. I'm not sure if I'm still keeping Bunta-kun on the right track, so if you spotted any out of character-ness, please do inform me! Thank you! ^^
