“Kitty’s very cute,” she said. “Someone might’ve kidnapped her!” Alice burst into tears again. “Wh-What if she’s all cold and freezing to death?! I wouldn’t be able to stand it!”
“I can imagine…”
Did Kitty leave because she felt like she was being smothered by Alice’s affection? I’ll never say that, though.
“I’d like to help you search for her somehow…” I muttered.
Hmm… What can I do? How can I… Wait, what about the spell that we just learned?
“Alice, why not use Inspicere to search for your familiar?” I suggested.
“A spell to search for her?” Alice asked.
“I think it’s worth trying.”
For today’s lesson, this spell was meant to search for clumps of mana so that we could locate magic stones. It was a simple spell, but with a few tweaks, I hoped that it could be applied to a formula to search for Kitty’s mana. Maybe we could find her then!
“Why don’t we test it out?”
“O-Okay,” Alice replied.
“Could you first convert Kitty’s mana into a magical formula?”
“I’ll try!”
She took out her student handbook from her pocket and began scribbling. True to her status as the second-best student in class, she finished writing the formula down within five minutes. I would never have been able to come up with a formula that fast.
“Let’s give the signal and head back to class,” I said.
“Okay,” Alice agreed.
I launched a simple firework into the sky, and the teleporting door immediately appeared in front of us. I looped my arm around Alice’s, supporting her as she staggered through the door.
“Team Cat, that was qui— What happened?!” the professor gasped.
“Professor, Alice really isn’t feeling well,” I said. “Can she head back to her dorm?”
“Very well.”
The professor tweaked the teleporting door’s settings so that Alice could be brought directly to her dorm.
“I’d like to tag along with her for a bit, if that’s okay,” I said.
“Sure,” he replied. “Come back to class once she’s all settled down.”
He handed me a magic scroll that would teleport me back to class. Before Alice and I went through the door, I handed Professor Girm the magic stone that we collected.
“Ritual, speak with her dorm parent,” he said. “We can get a doctor over immediately.”
“Okay. Thank you, sir,” I said.
We passed through the door and arrived right in front of Alice’s room. The ceiling was high above me, and a plush carpet lined the hallways; beautiful paintings decorated the wall, adding a tasteful flair to the area. There weren’t any doorknobs I could grab, and perplexed, I waited for Alice to place her hand on the door to her room. A magic circle appeared, and the door automatically opened for her.
The room used rococo-style architecture, was all-white, and very lavish. The cabriole legs on the table, the elegant vanity table, and the draping curtains felt like everything that a girl would dream of—truly, a room fit for a princess.
“It’s a lovely room,” I said.
“Thank you,” Alice replied.
Dorms were usually shared by two to four students, but students with good grades, like Alice, could have a room all to themselves.
“What dorm are you in?” I asked.
“Leaf,” Alice answered.
“Which means you’ve got the wind element.”
“That’s right.”
I feel like I shouldn’t just be asking questions.
“I’m the snow element,” I said.
“How unusual,” Alice replied. “Are you in Arcenciel, then? I believe that’s where students of other elements gather.”
“No, um, I’m actually living in the caretaker cabin at the Garden Plant. I have my reasons.”
“I see.”
I can tell her all about it later. For now, Kitty is our top priority.
“I’d like the spell to have as wide a range as possible,” I said.
“Then a magic circle should be good for that,” Alice said.
We headed for the dorm’s yard; it was far wider than this room. The Leaf dorm was rich with greenery and verdure. At the entrance, a building was encased in glass reminiscent of a greenhouse. No prefects or instructors were around at this hour. If we were wary of the dorm parent, we could head to the yard undetected. We snuck about the dorm, reached our destination, and scribbled the magic circle with a wand.
“A magic stone would be great as a catalyst for this spell…” I muttered.
“Yeah…” Alice agreed.
Is a magic stone conveniently nearby somewhere? I glanced around when Gem took the initiative and rolled into the center of the magic circle. It flashed proudly, signaling that it was ready.
“Gem, will you lend me your power in lieu of a stone?” I asked. My familiar nodded. “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll need your power just a little, okay?”
I gripped my wand in one hand and used my other to grab Alice’s hand as I chanted the spell.
“Find Kitty’s location! Inspicere!” I shouted.
The magic circle emitted a pale glow as a radar appeared in the skies. I was able to cast this spell over the entire Leaf dorm, and I inspected it closely when I spotted a blip—a signal that indicated Kitty’s location. We could hardly believe our eyes.
“What?! Kitty’s there?!” Alice gasped.
“Let’s head there!” I shouted.
We raced up the dorm’s stairs, our shoulders bouncing as we caught our breath. It seemed both Alice and I had depleted our mana with that spell, and we were a bit dizzy, but now wasn’t the time to catch our breath; we bravely marched on in search of Kitty.
“Please, please, please! Please be there, Kitty!” Alice prayed.
To our surprise, the signal stated that Kitty was still in Alice’s room.
“I can’t believe she’s here,” Alice muttered. “The dorm parent, prefect, and I searched every nook and cranny of my room. We practically turned it upside down searching!”
Alice had called for her familiar countless times and even tried to summon Kitty with mana, but to no avail.
“Then maybe she returned to your room,” I suggested.
“That can’t be,” Alice replied. “That door only reacts to my mana. Kitty couldn’t have possibly opened it by herself.”
“Right…”
Then there’s only one other explanation for the signal in her room.
“Kitty never left,” I said slowly. “Maybe she was always in your room.”
“But I searched all over for her!” Alice cried.
“Even so.”
Back in Japan, I kept a cat as a pet. To be more precise, it was my family pet back at my hometown before I left for the big city, and once a year, the cat would vanish.
“I used to take care of a cat, so I know their tendencies,” I said.
Back in Japan, I’d lived with a cat for more than two decades. Oftentimes, when my cat vanished, I turned the house over in search of my beloved pet, only for her to suddenly appear a couple of days later as if nothing had happened.
“I once observed a cat for a week for my summer vacation homework,” I said.
I’d tailed my cat before, curious about how she spent her days and where she liked to go. I diligently recorded her tendencies throughout the week.
“Cats are very moody creatures,” I said. “They don’t really have a set routine.”
One moment, my cat could be curled up fast asleep behind a curtain, only to be found in a pot that my mom left out in the next. I would find her atop the bathtub’s cover for warmth one moment and squeezed between two dressers the next.
“Cats like dark and narrow spaces,” I said. “Kitty might be in the last place you thought to search.”
“Let’s look for her,” Alice said.
We scoured her room again in search of Kitty. If I could use Inspicere again, the search might’ve been a cinch, but unfortunately, we were both out of mana—I could only rely on my experience of living with cats for two decades. Alice pulled out the drawers of her vanity table and called her familiar’s name. I knew it was a long shot, but I asked Gem if it could pinpoint an area with high mana—a location that Kitty might prefer. My familiar quietly rolled toward a trunk where Alice stored her clothes and dresses.
“Is she here?” I asked.
Gem nodded. I opened the trunk and spotted several fluffy dresses. I waded through them like I was pushing brush aside and searched for Kitty. Near the bottom, after I pushed all the dresses aside, I spotted a small, fluffy cushion. It stirred just a bit, and I smiled.
“Found her!” I shouted.
I gently scooped the familiar in my arms. The cat had triangular ears, almond-shaped eyes, a long tail, and beautiful, soft fur.
“Kitty!” Alice cried. Tears streamed down her face as she rushed over, and she drew her familiar close to her chest when I held the cat out for her.
“There you are!” she said.
Kitty tilted her head to one side and gave a small, adorable meow. Alice was adamant about giving her familiar a good lecture once she was found, but she only cried with delight, tears trickling down her face. There wasn’t an ounce of anger in her face.
“Thank you, Misha!” Alice exclaimed. “Thanks to you, I was able to reunite with Kitty!”
“Don’t mention it.”
I was painfully aware of how worried and sad an owner was when they lost their cat. I’m so glad that we found her.