NICHIKA had been soaking in her hope for a bright future until she was flicked in the back of the head and yelped. The expected culprit stalked past her.
“Get moving.”
She ran after him, turning around one last time to bow to the people seeing them off. “Thank you so much for everything! Goodbye!”
The villagers called out encouraging words of “Do your best” and “Come back anytime!” Nichika gave one last big wave before looking forward and running off. She rushed to catch up to her master who briskly walked off without looking back. He didn’t even try to wait for her or slow down.
“Wait for me! I know you’re worried about Wolfie, but give me a second to catch up!”
She finally reached him and still he only slid a perfunctory glance her way and made no attempt to match her slower pace. Confused, she probed him to see what his problem was.
“What now? What’s got you so grumpy?”
She settled into walking a few paces behind him in silence since he didn’t answer her. She searched for anything to talk about and went with the first thing that popped into her head.
“Oh yeah, weren’t you the one who said only women ride brooms? But you still came to rescue me on one. Thank you.”
“……”
She braced herself for the snippy comeback that never came. Getting extra worried, she walked a little closer and barely caught him saying something in a low, threadbare voice.
“What do you…think of Lambert?”
“Who? Lam?” Puzzled as she was by his abrupt question, she answered him honestly. “Hmm. We met in the worst possible way so I was definitely scared of him at first, but it turns out that he’s funny and kind.”
His charming and endearing smile came to mind. His sharp, narrowed eyes had softened since they met too.
Nichika smiled and spoke of the young man in her thoughts. “He’s got a bit of what you might call bewitching charm? He looks like a punk kid, but he’s surprisingly mature and thoughtful on the inside. The complete opposite of you.”
“You’re the last person I want to hear call me childish.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped back.
Oswald started walking even faster. Irked by the way he walked without thinking one bit about her pace, she threw a sarcastic remark right back at him.
“NOBODY said you’re childish though?”
“Zip it and walk in silence.”
“Aaaah, I really wish Lam had come with us. Then I could have…”
The words she accidentally let out in the heat of the moment brought her master to a dead halt in front of her. He slowly turned and flayed her with eyes registering subzero in the frigid department. Oswald enunciated each word amid the nervous tension sparking between them.
“And then you could have what?”
“L-Like I was saying, I could have explained my special circumstances to him and had him do ‘that’ for me in your—hey! Why are you coming toward me?! Don’t come any clos—mmph!”
He grabbed her collar and pulled her into a deep kiss, devouring her lips. He insistently explored her mouth, and when he finally released her, the strength went out of her legs and she sunk down.
He wiped his mouth and sneered, “Say what you want, but you know you can’t be satisfied by anyone other than me.”
Oswald walked off, leaving behind the sexiest smile yet. The girl, who incoherently muttered under her breath for a while, finally got a hold of herself and shouted at his broad back.
“That part of you is what’s so CHILDISH!”
Apparently, Oswald was also considerably influenced by the magic crystal. In other words, he was “jealous” of Lambert.
But the bickering master and apprentice didn’t realize it at all. The noisy duo loudly argued for a while afterward. The startled birds soaring through the blue sky flew in the opposite direction to avoid them.