bewitched me

(just like every night has its dawn)

APRIL 10TH, 2017. 7:07 A.M. TOKYO OUTSKIRTS.

Maki once thought she didn't have time for nice things. She thought she could wait for her shiny rewards until after she earned them, and that she'd never be tempted to stare for too long at the couthy things displayed through transparent glass shop windows.

But Maki could've only described the other girl as something tempting her to peek through the glass.

It was like the things she used to never care for: a dewdrop from a blade of grass; the sun lighting up a room during the midday; a flickering lightbulb and a moth right by it; a dying fire; a honeycomb; clay being molded into a shape before quickly changing to something else. Those were the things that Maki never gave a second thought about, but she was reminded of those outwardly boring and mundane things and their existences and places in the world when someone she met valued those things just as much as they valued the people.

Though as she stood in front of the towering red gate to the entrance of the Jujutsu High School with nothing but a uniform over her back and a band in her hair, the sky seemed to clear, the clouds made way for the sun, and along with it came its daughter in the style of a witch's corset with a shirt and a skirt. Maki hadn't immediately seen it, but she felt it, and she thought it was impossible for anyone within a mile radius to not have felt it. It was the radiant smile which beamed with the rays of the sun which shone supportively over their heads. The kind of smile that only came from people who tried too hard to convince others of something.

The trees and bushes that surrounded the stoned walkway, which had bits and pieces of grass blades poking out through the cracks and gaps between the stones, had loomed and peeked over them and craned their trunks to watch the sunshine girl with her hidden sunspots.

The rest of the walkway led to a wooden building that looked older than dirt, though there wasn't any sign of dust that collected on any of the supporting pillars that held the roof and the exterior upright from where Maki and the girl could see. Around it were several other pathways, each leading to different places around the secluded, mountain-based school in which Maki would've had the chance to discover once her teacher—who was unfashionably late—finally got to the gate. Along with them were supposed to be a few other students, no more than two, which was an underlying statement about how few people with cursed energy occupied the global population, much less actual sorcerers, and even less the amount of people like Maki.

The girl behind Maki was standing surprisingly patiently. Maki had been waiting nearly forty minutes by the time her unexpected company finally arrived. She knew other people would be arriving– but she expected to have been in the school by then. Or, at best, all of them having arrived on time. The others were tardy–the students, and her teacher–it already gave her a first impression without ever having met them.

That said, Maki hadn't bothered to turn around and spare a glimpse at the ray of sunshine dressed in black and blue standing some feet behind her. The thought was within her crosshairs, of turning around to meet one of her soon-to-be classmates, but the majority part of her was uninterested.

A while after the girl had arrived behind her, who now sat with her legs crossed along the line between the length of the pathway and the dirt surrounding it, with a surprising lack of insects around to have crawled up her skirt that formed a small puddle around the height of her legs, another person came. He had white hair, though nothing gave Maki the impression that it was her teacher, as he wore a uniform similar to hers, though he had a teal cowl over the bottom half of his face and pants instead of a skirt. He looked around as he approached the gate with his hands dug deep into his pockets and glanced between Maki and the girl.