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“Oookay, a little bit more Lemon Balm”
Ochako said to herself as she started adding the ingredient to the boiling liquid in the massive cauldron in front of her.
“A sprinkle of the sparkly blue powder-“
POOF!
“*Cough cough* Ah, maybe too much...nah it’s fine!” She shrugged off.
“Worst thing that can happen is it lookin’ too sparkly. Never a bad thing.”
She stirred the now blue boiling liquid with her massive wooden spoon while softly humming a soothing tune.
“Now the last ingredient I need is…”
The girl put the spoon on the side, and with her hands on her hips, she started looking around the room, her gaze gliding over the ingredients, utensils, ghost books, not finding what she was looking for.
“Oh where is it?”
She twiddled with one of her brown locks, brown eyes still scanning around for whatever it is she wanted.
She perked up.
“Oh! Right!”
She turned her head to the other room.
“Eri sweetheart! Could ya get me the bag of shiny red balls from the tiny closet! The one with the little drawin’ on it!”
The screech of a chair was heard, with the sound of tiny footsteps getting a little farther away.
The girl could hear the cabinet shut, and the footsteps were now getting closer, pretty quickly.
“Ya don’t have to run! I’ll wait!”
Out of the corner, came out a little girl no older than 6, wearing a cute white and red dress, with big red boots that made look pretty silly and adorable at the same time. Her bluish hair was flowing behind her as she hurried, the horn on her standing out even more. In her hands, the bag of red spheres extended forward, her wide round eyes with red irises were filled with excitement and determination to help.
Unfortunately that determination did not compensate for her clumsiness, as she tripped on a loose floorboard and started falling.
“Ah!”
“Eri!”
Ochako acted fast and she flung her fingers forward. A soft pink light engulfed Eri as her fall stopped and her body was now floating.
The bag kept going, only for a long tongue to wrap around and pull it, where it went into the mouth of a frog sitting on the shelf.
Ochako sighed as she walked towards the floating girl, grabbing her by her shoulders to adjust before canceling her spell, putting the girl back on the ground.
She crouched down to her level and started checking for any sort of bruises on her, even brushing her disheveled hair and tucking some strands behind her ear.
“You okay?”
The little girl only hummed while nodding sheepishly, embarrassed of her mess up.
Ochako got up and turned towards the frog who still had a part of the bag in its mouth.
“Thanks Tsu! Ya can spit it out now!”
The frog looked down at her hands, made a muffled croak sound and spat out the bag, getting drool all over Ochako’s fingers.
The witch made a grossed out face, her face wrinkling at the feeling of the slimy substance.
“Ughhhh….thaaaaanks Tsu. I can always count on you.”
“ Kero ”
Ochako then reached for a napkin to wipe the drool off the bag and her hands.
The tiny girl’s meek voice came out.
“I’m sorry”
“It’s okay. We all make a few clumsy mistakes. I remember I broke a lotta stuff when I was your age.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah!”
She put the bag down and crouched again, this time, patting Eri’s head affectionately.
“I remember I used to help my mama make potions, but I always ended up making the ingredients float all ‘round the house.” She giggled. “I didn’t know how to cancel it yet, so we’d just follow floating stuff around the house all day till we caught em all!”
A smile formed on Eri’s face, and she started to giggle as well. Both girls were now laughing together now, even Tsu seemed to be enjoying the site, making a happy croaking sound.
“Now, whaddya say we go back to work! Ms. Nakamura’s potion isn’t gonna make itself! Come on, you can help me add the last ingredient!”
“I can do it! I can do it!”
“Alrighty then! Open your hands Eri.”
Eri did as told, as she brought her palms forward, for Ochako to drop two red spheres in her hands.
“We just have to add these, come on!”
She said as she grabbed Eri from below her armpits and raised her so she could see the sparkly blue color. The little girl cupped the two spheres in one palm, while the other grabbed each of them, one at a time.
“One…”
She threw the first one in, making a tiny splash as it dissolved into the solution.
“Careful. Don’t wanna splash ourselves with very hot liquid.”
“Okay!”
She got her hand a little bit closer and dropped the ball gentler this time.
“..Two”
The splash this time was much smaller. Ochako brought Eri back down at a safe distance away from the fire.
“Now, we just have to stir it till it becomes a nice purple.” She said as she took the massive spoon again and started stirring.
Meanwhile Eri, ever the curious girl, ran back to the other and came back dragging a stepping stool with her. Adjusting so it was exactly where Ochako told her to stay, she climbed up the chair, getting a full view of the now stirring liquid.
Slowly, the once blue solution started getting a tint of purple, starting from the center, until it expanded towards the edges, transforming it into a sparkly bright purple liquid, a color that was getting brighter and brighter.
Eri was stupefied by the change, her eyes widening in awe.
The brightness was getting stronger and stronger, and Ochako knew what was coming.
“Eri cover your eyes!”
The little girl immediately reacted to the order, putting her hands up, covering her eyelids. Tsu turned around and jumped away, while Ochako covered her eyes with one arm. Just then, the surface of the potion blew up into a cloud of purple smoke.
Ochako and Eri started coughing at the sudden burst of gas that came.
“*Cough cough* Why do potions have to be so explosive when ya *cough* add stuff to it *cough*” Ochako complained as she fanned the air and started dusting off her orange shirt and navy skirt.
She then took out an empty flask in one hand, and using another spoon, filled it with the purple solution and closed it with the cap. She also stuck a tag onto it and wrote “Ms. Nakamura” on it.
“Aaaand done! That should be it for her order!”
Just then, a knock on the door was heard.
“And speak of the devil! That must be her!”
She put the flask in a basket on the table and made her way to the wooden door, passing the rack with the two hats hung onto it.
She reached for the handle and opened the door, to reveal a nice looking middle-aged lady with a soft smile on her face.
“Ms. Nakamura! Hello!”
“Good day to you too, my dear. I hope you don’t mind me coming here unannounced. How are things here? Are you and little Eri doing okay?”
“Never better Ms. N, everything is just peachy! We girls can take care of ourselves!”
Ms. Nakamura giggled “I’m sure you can. And what about your other um...spectral...lodger? Is that what you consider him?”
“Oh! Um...I guess ya can say he’s kinda my roommate. Everything is fine though, so no need to worry!”
“I see. Well, I won’t keep you longer, could I get my order if you please.”
“Of course! Gimme just a second, I gotta make sure I got everything you wanted!”
She went back inside quickly and rummaged through her basket.
“Blue thing okay...red is here...green, yellow and herbs...aaaand demon rock okay! Everything is in order!”
She picked up the basket and went back outside, handing it over the the lady.
“Thank you dear. Here. Keep the rest.” Ms. Nakamura said as she handed Ochako a pouch with gold coins.
“Oh you don’t have to Ms. N, really!”
“I insist. You send a large sum of your income to your parents, correct? That is a lot of responsibility for a young girl like you. Please, I insist.”
“O-Oh thank you so much! I-” she felt a tug at her skirt, she looked back to see Eri hiding behind her, her head poking out a bit.
“Hello there little Eri. How are you? Are you doing okay?”
Eri only nodded, nervous as she balled Ochako’s skirt in her hands.
“Oh I have just the thing for you. Let me just...find it…” she started rummaging through her satchel.
“Aha!” She exclaimed “Here you are sweetheart, it’s an apple candy, I heard you really like apples don’t you?”
Ochako looked at Eri, and the look on her face made her chuckle. The girl was still, her eyes wide and shining, a string of drool slipping out of her mouth at the sight.
“You can take it Eri, if you want”
That got the girl to snap out of here reverie. She shyly got around Ochako’s legs and reached for the apple, already removing the wrap around it and immediately starting to savior it, forgetting herself in the sweetness of the treat.
Ms. Nakamura smiled softly at that, only for her smile to turn into worry as she glanced back up. That got Ochako to raise an eyebrow.
“Everything okay Ms. N”
“Now that she’s distracted by the candy, listen dear, it’s about them .”
Ochako squinted at the statement.
“What is it?”
“I think I was followed on my way here by a man. I’m not so sure, but I suggest you take precautions, I don’t think he’s alone either. They could be a dozen, so be prepared. I will notify the mayor about this as soon as I go back, and immediately take action. Just stay safe.”
“O-Okay. But what about you Ms.? What if they come at you on your way back?”
“Do not worry about me child. I’ll be able to shake them off if they do that, besides we both know it’s not me they’re after” She said somberly as she looked back at Eri still enjoying.
“They’re not exactly a threat, but still, it worries us all for you, people tend to do crazy things when they’re afraid.”
Ochako put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s okay. We can take care of it ourselves, don’t worry. Besides, we have our own guardian angel...well, if you can call him an angel”
“I suppose you’re right. It is nice to have friends on the other side. Be safe, okay, I’ll be as fast as I can.”
“Thank you”
Ms. Nakamura then started to speed walk down the hill towards the town.
“Come on Eri, let’s go back inside”
Eri immediately complied as she finished the rest of her candy and went inside, Ochako looking around for any sorts of activity in the vicinity as she closed the door again.
She flung her fingers at the chair to bring it to the table, Eri immediately sat on it, while she sat at the chair next to her.
She didn’t get to say anything before a loud knock rattled the door, followed by a shout.
“I know you’re in there! Open up...pleaaaaase!” The mocking tone in his voice made it obvious he wasn’t genuine with that apology.
Ochako immediately got up, knowing what was about to go down.
“Eri, take Tsu and go and hide upstairs, and whatever you hear, don’t, come, down, okay?”
Eri nodded and immediately scurried up the stairs while cupping the frog in her hands.
Ochako waited until she was sure Eri was hidden. The knocking did not stop, growing even more violent and impatient.
“I don’t got all day, witch! Open up!”
She steeled her posture, putting her most serious face, and made her way to the door, this time putting on her hat, and making sure to conceal Eri’s hat and sort of trace of her here.
The knocking was still going on, the person on the other side was not giving up.
“Don’t ignore me! You better open that door or I’ll knock it down myself”
She rolled her eyes at that. Of course they would immediately jump to violence. She turned back around, gripped the handle, and wildly swung the door open, finally interrupting the annoying knocking and letting silence settle in, until she spoke.
“Yes? How may I help you, sir?” Her voice made it clear that she wasn’t happy with the visit.
Of course, the tall lanky man on the other side did not seem to care about what she thought.
“I came here to check up on our resident witch of course! Who knows what kind of creeps are out there. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to ya”
His cocky smirk made her sick to the stomach.
“Really? Because that is a very clear contrast to the way you were knocking on my door just now.”
The man was obviously still too impatient, he looked inside her house and proceeded to push her away as he entered. Surprised at first by the sudden rudeness, her face got angrier and she made sure to close the door again before following. Wouldn’t want anyone to sneak up on her without the loud door being a dead giveaway.
The man proceeded to look around like he hadn’t just intruded on her home.
“I suggest you leave. This is not a place for you to be in.”
“Or what? Are you gonna turn me into a frog”.
He picked up a cup of water on the shelf, inspecting it like it was some sort of magical artifact.
“You might not wanna touch that, you could get hurt.”
“Tsk. It’s just a cup of water.”
“I wasn’t talkin’ about the cup” she smirked, her gaze piercing through him.
He let the cup down and looked around again.
“Don’t you have a kid living with you here?”
“What’s it to you? Do you like knowing where kids go? Are you that much of a creep?”
“So…” He started approaching her “...we’re alone here”
“Not really”
“What? You have demons in your closet, waiting to come out?” He barked laughing.
“I guess you can say that”
That got his laughing to stop, looks like he’s done playing.
“Of course a witch like you would say that. You know, I didn’t mind at first, witchcraft is sketchy and all but it has its uses so no one said anything about you and your little companion frequenting these lands.” He started explaining. This asshole thought he had some sort of authority over how things work here.
“But…” His voice dropped “...when the rumors came out, of the witching duo frequenting the dead? Experimenting on the subject? Messing with the laws of life and death?! That’s where I draw the line”
“Do you have any evidence of this claim?”
He then pointed to shelves.
“No need when I can clearly see you’ve been burying your nose in books about the knowledge of ghosts!”
“Who says I’m not just interested in the genre? Thrillers are pretty entertaining.”
“Oh please! Stop the bullshit!”
She crossed her arm, glaring straight at him.
“So? What are ya going to do about it? Take my head and show it to your buddies”
He started walking around her, making her a but uneasy.
“No no no no no no. I think I’ll take much more than that.” He said with a low voice. His hand gripping one of the ribbons on the back of her skirt and pulling a bit.
She was annoyed, but didn’t falter. In fact, she was sure her eyes had started glowing a bloody red from anger.
“Get. Out. Now.”
“Or else what?!” He stopped in front of her, all up in her face “You gonna kill me? You’ll be seen as a murderer! You’ll be thrown into the capital’s dungeon, and everyone will know that we were right about your kind!”
“My kind ?”
Which spell could take him out for a while? Somnambulis? Nawme Haniyye? Just hit him with the closest chair?
“You witches are nothing more than a nuisance! You all should just disappear! And I’ll make sure to start off by starting with you!”
He brought his hands forward, she raised her own glowing ones.
SMASH!
They both stopped at the sudden sound, turning their heads to the left to see the same cup that the man carried before, smashed into a million bits on the ground.
“Huh?”
The man didn’t have any time to process before-
THUD! THUD! THUDUD!
The books on the shelves started falling off one by one.
“What the-“
The room suddenly got very cold , to the point the man’s own breath was visible to him now.
A gust of wind suddenly surged, making the curtains flail wildly to the point where they stuck to the windows, blocking the sunlight and plunging the room into darkness.
The man, who had covered his eyes from the force of the wind, opened them and was frozen by the sight of the whole room being engulfed in some sort of green light.
“W-W-What in the devil is going on here?!”
All the materials in the room that were covered by this strange light were then thrown up and started flying around the room wildly, creating a space of utter chaos.
“What kind of trick are you pulling now, witch! Stop this at once!” The man screamed while pointing accusingly at Ochako.
Meanwhile, the girl herself was just standing still, eyes wide as she witnessed what was going on in her home.
“That’s...not me”
“What do you mean it’s not-“
“ You there. ”
The man froze, fear engulfed his whole being at the sound of the bone chilling voice that entered his eardrums. He slowly turned his head around to where it came from. The levitating objects started to circle the room, creating a swirling vortex, the whistle of its wind grew stronger as nothing else could be heard.
The vortex’s radius started to close in, pushing the two witnesses forward, and at the center of it, a green spark flared brightly, blinding them.
“ You who has shown nothing but impudence in this home ”
The man opened his eyes again, and this time, the sight shocked him to the point where he thought his soul had left his body and transported him into another world.
Right there, floating in the middle of the room, was what seemed to be an ethereal being, it looked like a boy, covered in a long white sheet, its whole being was shining brightly with the same green light as everything else and even its eyes were similar to two green suns, blindingly bright, too bright to even look at.
“ I suggest you step out of this place at once… ”
The being raised its arms, and the flying objects started to move even faster, the wind blew harder, the light brighter.
“ ...or you shall witness the true terror of the underworld ”
The man was shaking in his boots, and he definitely felt liquid in his pants.
“U-Underworld..?”
The being’s bright eyes widened.
“ LEAVE!”
The whole room wildly shook because the sheer pressure the screamed order gave. The man, wise enough to at least know when he was in danger, bolted forward, tripping while passing under the figure, hitting every object that appeared in his path, as he opened the door, and ran screaming for his life.
Ochako looked out the door, and saw the man still tripping as he went down the hill, his screams were still being heard.
That is gonna get some unwanted attention.
She closed the door and sighed, rubbing her forehead in annoyance.
She then turned around, her hand on her hips.
“Deku! What the heck?! Stop that! Yer gonna break all my stuff!”
“ ...Sorry. ”
Everything started to calm down, the freezing air was gone, the wind settled, the curtains returned to their original positions, bringing light again into the room.
The flying objects started to slow down, the light covering them dimming as they floated back to their original places.
Ochako cancelled the spell that concealed Eri’s possessions, and was surprised to see them where they were before.
Guess it doesn’t matter to him if these are invisible or not.
The being itself started to lower, the light in its eyes and around its figure dimming, making its face more visible, revealing a boy with green hair and eyes, freckles, wearing a tattered sheet over him. The boy lowered until he was floating just above the table, crossing his arms and legs, revealing his red shoes and his scars on his hands, a grumpy pout on his face.
“That guy just got on my nerves” he turned his head to the side, his brows furrowed as he looked at the broken cup on the ground.
“Deku, yer a ghost, ya don’t have any nerves”
Ochako clarified as she flicked her hand, and the broken pieces started to float away into the garbage can in the corner.
“He still pissed me off. The way he was talking to you was uncalled for. I mean...what a jerk!” He looked at her.
“Yeah, well, that’s how it is. People just don’t like witches”
“Lots of people like you”
“Okay, some people don’t like witches”
“I still find this whole thing ridiculous. You’re helping tons of people with your stuff and everything seemed great so far, but when rumors started to spread about me, it got off the rails again. I’m sorr-“
“Hey! No self-guilt! I ain’t lettin’ ya! Or else I’ll have Eri help me chew you out!”
That got a giggle out of the boy.
“Please don’t. You know the power you two have over me.”
“Yep” Her cheeks kind of burned “So no Saddy Pantsy time aight? I wanna see some smiles here! Which reminds me…”
She then walked towards the stairs.
“Eri! You can come down now!”
The hurried footsteps were heard from above, and no sooner was the girl running down the stairs, with Tsu on her head, and proceeded to tackle Ochako in a tight hug, burying her face in the older witch’s skirt.
“Hey hey it’s okay. Look, Deku’s here now”
The girl looked up, then to the table. The ghost boy waved happily at her.
“Hi Eri!”
“Mr. Deku!”
She let Ochako go and ran towards the table, and started excitedly jumping up and down from excitement. Deku laughed at that.
“Sorry I was gone for a while, guess I slept way more than I thought”
“Ya can say that again. A full week? That’s a lot”
“Well I’m not exactly on a normal sleeping schedule anymore”
“Hmm. Well I should probably start on a new order. Let’s seee...first, I need some nice yellow triangle chips!”
“Why do you keep calling the ingredients like that?”
“Their names are tough, okay? Doesn’t matter what their names are as long as I know what they do.”
“I don’t know about that”
“Shush. Who’s the professional witch here? That’s right! Me!” She announced, proudly pointing at her chest with her thumb.
The two other occupants giggled at that, even Tsu let out a happy croak.
“Get out of here witch!”
A scream was heard from outside. All of them were confused. Ochako made her way to the window and saw a bunch of people gathered a distance away from her house, with pitchforks and torches.
“What the?”
“What’s going on?” Deku asked, worried.
“I...don’t know”
“Your time is up you fiend! Come out now!”
“ Burn the witches! Burn the witches! Burn the witches! ”
Ochako felt a grip on her skirt, and instinctively wrapped a secured arm over Eri, reassuring her.
The mob of people kept shouting, repeating their intentions to kill them. Uneasiness settled in Ochako’s stomach; the bastard from before must have warned his buddies, but he was too much of a coward to come back himself. Her getting out there meant being out of reach of Deku’s influence, and that’s why they’re waiting instead of barging in.
She saw the green glow from the corner of her eye, she knew what that meant: he was getting mad again, but he knew this one was out of his control. So, now was the time for her to wack her brain for a solution. What to do now? Should they just bail? Can she make the incantation before they notice anything and decide to barge in? What to do? What to-
“What in the world is going on here?”
That voice.
Everyone turned around to the voice coming from the back.
“What do you think you’re doing? Is this really the sort of behavior you all accept here?”
She couldn’t see him but she knew that old but strong voice very well: Mayor Toshinori, otherwise known as Mayor All Might, the biggest authority in this town, and a close friend of theirs.
“You shouldn’t cause this much trouble for the girl! She has done nothing wrong!”
Ms. Nakamura! Guess she brought help just in time.
It wasn’t just her, many voices were heard, all very familiar. All her friends from the village came.
“Are they helping us?” Eri asked as she looked up at Ochako.
“Yes Eri” Ochako smiled as she looked back at Deku “They are helping us.”
Deku seemed to calm down at that, his face relaxing.
The mob started to shout back, curses and insults she honestly did not care about, but quickly this whole thing devolved into many shouts, two ideologies crashing, just for their sake.
That’s when Ochako knew that she wasn’t gonna leave this place, that people wanted them here, and she wasn’t about to let them fight for her.
She had to stop this and she knew exactly how. These people weren’t going to listen no matter what, so maybe she'll have to make a diplomatic request.
“Stay here”
“Wait Uraraka!”
“It’s okay, don’t worry.”
She opened the door and closed it behind her, making her way towards the mass of people.
One of them saw her and proceeded to shout, getting everyone’s attention on her.
Good.
She touched her palms together, a pink enveloping her body, and she proceeded to jump over the first group. She adjusted her trajectory as she got back down and landed right next to the blonde old man.
“Hello Mayor All Might! If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to present a formal request, all I need is your signature!”
“Uh...of course Young Uraraka. What is it?”
She proceeded to snap her fingers, creating a contract out of thin air, which landed in the skinny hands of the mayor who started reading.
“Um, Young Uraraka, the first part of this is alright and all but I don’t know about the-“
“Keep readin’. You should always read the entirety of a contract before makin’ any decisions!” she announced proudly while puffing her chest out. “My Daddy taught me that!”
The mayor kept reading.
“Oh that makes more sense now. Yes yes, everything seems to follow the law, nothing unreasonable, precautions yes...everything seems to be in order. Does anyone have a-”
Before he could finish, a one appeared in front of him.
“Ah! Thank you my dear” he said as he proceeded to sign.
“Pleasure doin’ business with ya!”
“What in the world was that?! What didja make him sign?!”
“What he signed was a simple request to change the way I do business here.”
“Huh?”
“Basically, I am makin’ my business more ‘formal’, since I own this piece of land, and that technically my house is also considered my store, then any rule about my business will be applied to the land”
“What?”
“Confusing”
“So here’s my new rule: any person without a customer card…” she snapped her fingers creating a bunch of cards that landed in the nads of her friends “...is not allowed to trespass this land unless they are here to obtain one. So any person without this card will then be kicked off the hill back to the bottom.”
“Kicked off?!”
“You’ll kill us”
“ Safely! No wounds will be brought upon the trespassers, they will only be flung off with a protection spell.”
“Mayor All Might! Are you really allowing this?!”
“The papers are signed. The transaction is completely legal”
“But she has a literal spirit of the underworld in that house! She’ll bring our doom!”
“Now” she clapped “will you all please get off my property” she said with a smile, but the venom behind it was obvious.
All of the protestors didn’t know what to do, they were cornered, either they accepted or they will be flung off the hill, becoming the laughing stock of the town.
Back at the house, Eri and Deku were looking in awe at what happened.
“Ms. Uraraka is really awesome, isn’t she?”
Deku kept staring, he couldn’t exactly see her, but he could feel her radiance all the way from here. Odd, considering he hadn’t felt anything in years, but in the end that’s what she was to him: odd. Not the bad kind of odd, but the good kind, the kind of odd that you want to see more of, that you want to learn more about, that you wouldn’t mind encountering for the rest of eternity, and for him, he meant that literally.
And as the crowd dispersed and he saw Ochako’s proud smiling face walking back towards the house with All Might, a spring in her step, her witch hat bouncing on her head, the sheer brightness she emitted, he felt it again, and he couldn’t fight off the smile on his face.
“Yeah, she really is outstanding.”