Gale's Omake -It begins- 02

A week or so passed until the outside world interacted with me again.
Just like last time I had been sitting at my desk studying some books when I suddenly heard a knock on my door and nearly fell out of my chair.

I was able to regain my posture more quickly however and felt less rushed and anxious as I brushed myself off and walked towards the door to open it.

I had a hunch whom it might be….and as I opened the door and caught sight of that familiar-head of hair my hunch was proven true. It was the girl who had only weeks before come to me to ask me how to turn the Witch back from a frog into a human.

While personally I would've preferred the Witch to stay as a frog, the girl was so enthusiastic about getting her turned back that I wasn't able to refuse helping her.


Humans…hmm… I thought to myself as I nodded towards her.


I then turned around and started walking back towards my "fortuneteller" desk I had in the center of the room, stood on 'my side' of the table and turned back around to face the girl whom  was in the middle of shutting my front door behind her.

"You have all ingredients?" I surmised before the girl turned around and revealed a small basket she was holding. A wave of surprise seemed to spread across her face for a moment. I was uncertain why however… it was in fact only logical that the only reason she'd visit me again was because of the motive she made oh so clear the last time we met…

"Ah…yes! I have them all right here!" She finally answered enthusiastically as the surprise finally left her face and she raised her basket up. I sensed a bit of fatigue behind her words but thought nothing of it as I raised my arm out towards her, palm open.

"Hand them to me. It will only take a moment." I stated, then waited as the girl quickly made her way from the door towards me to hand me the basket.
I took the basket and headed towards my desk, emptying its contents onto it.

Hmm…not of the best quality…but not bad either I thought to myself as I glanced back towards the girl to see what she was looking. She had not moved from where she was standing when she handed off the basket to me but seemed to be leaning forward as if trying to secretly study my actions.

When she finally noticed me looking at her she seemed to step back and her expression seemed to look apologetic.
"Here…" I blurted out as I quickly handed the empty basket towards her before she could say anything.
Then I turned back around to focus on making the potion…

…..
a couple of minutes and incantations later the potion was finally complete. I admit I had prayed it wouldn't come out correctly so that the Witch's "revival" could be delayed some more but I was not one who could intentionally botch up a spell easily.

"Okay…let's go…." I stated as I turned around slipping the flask in my pocket.
"Huh…?" The girl voiced, dumb-founded, as I walked toward the front door.

"You want to revive the Witch, yes?" I asked.
"Oh yes! Please!" She answered as I held open the door for her to step out.

It was probably early afternoon by now. I shielded my eyes and squinted until my eyes finally adjusted to the light. Then I turned around to lock up my house.

When I turned back around I had expected the girl to had walked on ahead a few steps but was surprised to find that she hadn't moved save a step or 2 away from my door and she was staring at me.
Or should I say… she was looking me over.

Did I really seem odd to her? The thought did come to mind but I quickly shrugged it off. It didn't matter what anyone thought…this was what I had always wore.
I waited for her to finish looking me over…

"Ah! I'm sorry!" The girl finally answered. "I guess….I guess I've never seen you in the daylight…." She explained. Her voice quickly trailed off  towards the end of the sentence and she quickly turned around.

There seemed to be a pause before she finally continued, "Alright~! I'll lead the way." She spoke again, more cheerfully and we started walking towards the Fugue forest. Her taking lead as I trailed behind.

…
As we navigated through the maze-like forest I continued to let her take lead.
Though it would be a simple task for me to reach the Witch's home in record time, I was dreading the arrival and let her take the leading—keeping my fingers crossed that we would get lost and need to retrace our steps several times.

But as we navigated the forest I then noticed it again….the "Earthy-like" aura seemed to be flying erratically around her again… Again it was unstable and I was not able to determine what it was.
One thing seemed apparent though…it seemed to be helping her navigate through the forest and before I knew it… we had reached the clearing that led to the Witch's home.

I couldn't help but feel partially-impressed at how fast she had navigated Fugue forest…but I was also partially-intrigued…probably more about the unstable aura that zipped around her and not the girl herself but…still….

"Here it is! It's up ahead inside" The girl exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. She turned towards me briefly then went ahead towards the Witch's house.

I sighed and continued on after her. When the Witch's house came into view I spotted the girl rushing into the house's open door and I quickly rushed after her fearing that something else could've been in the house –why else would the door have been left wide open?

My worry was misplaced as I entered the Witch's house I did not sense any danger in the vicinity.
Except from the lone frog sitting on the table…
I carefully held back a laugh as the girl spoke to the seemingly cranky-frog.

"I brought the Wizard! He's going to turn you back to normal." She explained then stepped back and looked towards me with a pleading expression.
I sighed and straightened myself from the hilarity of the situation and stepped towards the frog on the table, carefully taking the potion out of my pocket, the frog, all the while actually cooperating and sitting absolutely still.

I chanted a few incantations and threw the potion contents of my flask onto the frog.
In a cloud of smoke the Witch replaced the frog on the table. She had returned back to normal.
She quickly jumped off the table and after a few stretches exclaimed angrily at me, "What took you so long?!"
The girl was about to open her mouth –probably to apologize—but I cut her off,
"It's your fault in the first place….I told you not to mess with things…."

The witch started to stomp her foot down angrily, "Shut up. Shut UP. SHUT UP! Get out of my house!" she hollered at me and pointed towards her door. That was my cue to leave.

As I turned around and quickly made my way out the girl ran out of the house to catch me.
"Wait…Don't leave, I---" I raised my hand to interrupt her.

"It is not your fault, this is how it is…." I quickly commented then turned around and quickly walked out of her view, leaving her there in the middle of her thoughts….

Now that the Witch had revived as she wished… there would probably be no more disturbances or visits to my house from anyone anymore.

I walked on in silence as I returned back to my home to resume my studies…