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It was a warm spring day with a clear blue sky at the beginning of March at the Japanese Ryotensu-Magicacademy, one of the four big schools of magic in modern day Japan.
Today, classes had ended early, since there was an important meeting scheduled between the teacher representatives, the student council and the principal.
Thanks to that, Miyona Umitsugu was able to go for a walk through the park of the school a bit earlier then she normaly did.
The dark-blue pleated skirt of her uniform was swinging around her knees as she walked and her black, high ponytail, with a blueish hint, hopped up and down together with her steps.
She had taken of her dark-blue blazer, carrying it in her left hand, so that the mild spring wind could blow around her white blouse, slightly rustling the ends of her dark-red ribbon.
In her right hand, she held a book she truly wanted to read.
She had waited to get her hands on it for a while and finally getting the chance to read it put her in a good mood, making her deep blue eyes glimmer in anticipation.
Her mood was lifted even more through the spring sun warming her cheeks and the birds singing beautiful songs down from some trees standing tall in the garden.
Everywhere around her flowers, trees and bushes there blooming, filling the air with pleasant fragrances.
The flowers also included some that normally only bloomed in summer or early fall.
The beautiful garden was like this all year round, since a special magic spell kept the plants blooming and the temperature constant all the time, similar to a greenhouse.
The barrier created through the spell was invisible, so that the view at the sky wouldn't be disrupted if you looked up and the wind could enter the garden as well, thought it was turned into pleasant warm breezes.
Miyona loved to be in the middle of all those flowers, partly because the garden was quieter then the rest of the school.
Carefully she bowed her head and smelled at a lilac flower with a tasty sweet scent for a while.
The smile on her face grew brighter again as she remained like that for a moment.
Then she continued walking, her black leather shoes making sounds on the grey gravel paths leading through the flowerbeds.
Her destination was a white stone pavilion in the middle of the garden.
She often went there after school in order to relax and read a book.
The pavilion had seven white stone pillars standing in a circle.
Two of them had a gap, the entrance, between them, while the others were connected through white stone walls the high of one's hip with with stone benches infront of them, wich were following the walls leading around inside the pavilion as a circle with an opening in the front.
The roof also was made from white stone the form of a hemispher.
On the front pillars, two rose bushes were growing upwards, but through a special magic spell they didn't grow any thorns so that there was no risk of pricking yourself even if you touched the scarlet roses.
Miyona let her gaze wander for a moment as she slowly went forward.
It was just another normal peaceful day at the academy and with the end of the schoolyear approaching there also there no exams left to learn for, granting her lots of free time to read.
But today, a surprise was laying in wait for the girl.
Once Miyona reached the pavilion she could see an unknown girl laying unconsciousness in the middle of the white stone floor,covered with petals of the cherry trees growing around the pavilion.
The petals had fallen on her hair, her clothes, her skin like a thin blanket covering the girl gently.
Moreover, from the amount of petals laying around, Miyona judged that the girl had been laying there for quiet a while already, at least half a day.
Another thing caught Miyonas eye: The unknown girl didn't seem to be a student at the academy, since she was wearing a long, dark-blue kimono with cherry blossom embroidery and a pink satin obi instead of the school uniform.
Her deep black hair had been braided into a complicated, traditional updo hairstyle, wich was decorated with cherry blossoms.
On top of that she had some light makeup on her face and her overall appearance was that of a person going to a festival rather then a student studying in school.
However, her hairstyle had loosened, allowing some strands to escape and she had a cut on the inside of her left hand and another one on her right cheek.
The wound on her hand seemed to be quiet deep, since it was still bleeding, painting a deep red cloth beneath her hand on the stone.
Even so,the girl was beautiful, with her pale, white skin, her deep black hair, the fine facial features and the delicate figure.
For a moment, Miyona seemed to be under a spell, unable to move or talk or do anything besides looking at this beautiful girl who seemed to be only a bit younger then herself, who was sixteen.
After a moment that felt like an eternity to Miyona, she pulled herself back together and shot a signal for help up to the sky, through using her power to form a ball of water and letting it burst in midair.
Only seconds later the school doctor and a boy, who was a member of the safety committee, as Miyona could see from armband he was wearing, appeared in front of her.
Thanks to his ability the boy was able to teleport himself and another person from one spot to another.
The school doctor instead grasped the situation with one look and started examining the girl right away, befor using her own ability to heal the cut on the girls hand.
Afterwards, the boy teleported the girls and the doctor back to the infirmary.
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The girl opened her eyes but needed to shut them tight right away again, because the dazzling light was to blinding.
Afterwards she opened them again, slower and more careful this time.
Above her was a white ceiling and as she turned her head left, she saw white walls, and a wooden chair standing next to the bed she was laying in, a warm white blanket covering her.
On the chair sat a girl with a black ponytail, rose-colored skin, well-defined features and deep blue almond eyes, who was clearly watching her.
Now the girl sprang up."Thank goodness!", she exclaimed happily," You finally woke up! I was really scared you would continue sleeping for all of eternity. Your wound was quiet deep. Oh, what's your name? Mine is Umitsugu Miyona."
The words were spilling from her mouth like water from a waterfall.
Then she quieted down, as the other girl sat up carefully, then hestitaded for a moment, deep in thought, before she answered:" I think my name is Sakuya."
Sakuya hestitaded again.
That was her name, right? Strained, she tried to recall her surname, but then was starteled, barley taking a breath.
There was nothing there besides deep darkness!
Not only her name but all of her memory's before waking up here there gone!
Miyona looked at Sakuya with a question mark in her eyes, since she seemed to have heard, how Sakuya had catched her breath in surprise just now.
"What's wrong?", she asked worried.
"N-n-nothing.", Sakuya hurriedly stuttered, unsure whenever to tell Miyona about her memory loss or not.
In that moment, a woman wearing a white doctor's coat entered the room through a light-brown wooden door,sliding sideways then opened, unknowingly saving Sakuya from the embarrassing situation.
As she stepped next to the bed, she smiled kindly and asked Sakuya:" How are you feeling?"
As the woman slightly tilted her head sideways, her blond ponytail, the high of her neck, fell over her shoulder.
Sakuya only nodded, not sure what to answer and who the woman was.
The unknown woman started speaking again:" I'm Miss Kukiko, the school doctor, as you might have noticed from my clothes. Miyona here found you unconscious in the pavilion in the flower garden of the magicacademy. You were slightly injured. Do you perhaps remember how you ended up there?"
Sakuya focused all her concentration on trying to remember, but in the end, she could only shake her head.
"I don't know.", she said, befor taking a deep breath and continuing," To be exact I don't remember anything besides my name."
And I'm not even sure about that, she added in her thoughts.
She looked towards Miyona and Miss Kukiko who were looking at her with a sympathetic gaze.
Seems like it was right to trust them, Sakuya thought.
Miss Kukio nodded, changed the infusion, that she was giving Sakuya, to a new one and then left the room with the words:" Try to get some more sleep. You are still weak and need to get all the rest you can. Tomorrow, we will continue this talk and explain everything to you."
Once Miss Kukiko had left the room, she felt her exhaustion hitting her hard again and she laid back down.
She smiled one last time at Miyona, who was still sitting on her bedside, befor closing her eyes.
Only seconds later she fell asleep again, her last thought being, It's a pity we couldn't talk more.'
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Miyona continued sitting on the chair next to the bed, watching the sleeping girl for a long time.
It had already been four days, since she had found the unknown girl, no, since she had found Sakuya.
Afterwards, Sakuya had been unconscious for three whole days and only had woken up for a short moment today.
But sadly they had barley been able to talk, befor Miss Kukiko had come and Sakuya had fallen asleep afterwards.
I have so much I want to tell her, Miyona thought angrily.
What was she supposed to do now?
"Tomorow we will explain everything", had Miss Kukiko said.
But was Miyona also included in that ,we'?
Or had the school doctor only talked about herself and the teacher representative?
Or the student council?
Or the principal and her assistant?
With each of those thoughts the panic inside Miyona grew, despite there being no reason for her to feel this way.
But somehow, ever since she found Sakuya, she had been feeling responsible for her, a deep connection with this unknown girl that she couldn't explain with words.
The desire to protect her?
The wish to be closer to her?
The responsibility to take care of her?
All of them seemed right and wrong at the same time.
Suddenly a faint voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
" What's wrong?", asked Sakuya who was looking at Miyona with open eyes, as the first girl confirmed, after her gaze flew back to her in a second.
"It's nothing. I'm sorry for waking you up.", Miyona said with a smile.
And it wasn't even a lie.
Once she saw Sakuya awake, all of her worries had disappeared into thin air.
Sakuya looked at her with doubt inside her phoenix eyes but didn't say anything.
Instead she lifted herself up with great effort and sat in the bed again.
Miyonas gaze wandered over the beautiful girl once more.
Despite only wearing a simple white nightdress, that the school doctor had put on on her, while she was unconsciousness, and despite still being a bit pale, she looked like she came directly from a painting.
Her hip-long, straight, black hair flowed around her delicate figure, now, that the complicated hairstyle had been fully undone, framing her fine facial features with the small, cherry blossom colored lips and the slightly upturned, small nose.
Overall her features looked as if they were painted by a master painter.
But the most beautiful about her were her eyes.
They were black as well, but with a slight light pink touch to them, glimmering faintly.
Miyona had never seen anything like this before.
Again she was enchanted by the breathtaking beauty of the girl in front of her.
It wasn't so that Miyona was ugly or anything, no from an outsiders perspective she was definitely beautiful, but compared to Sakuya she didn't seem to hold a candle.
In that moment the girl in question tilted her head sideways, looking at Miyona askingly and she quickly pulled herself together again.
She smiled and said:" I'm so happy you woke up. You know, then I first saw you I really thought you were dead. But at the same time the moment seemed somehow magical, if not divine. You were covered with cherry blossom petals and looked so beautiful."
Hurriedly Miyona stopped.
What was she saying right now?
Had she gone completely insane?
"Sorry, please forget what I said. I didn't mean to insult you or remind you of something bad."
She lowered her head, filled with the feeling of guilt and remorse.
With her warm, small hand Sakuya lifted Miyonas face, so that she looked her in the eyes.
"It's alright. Thank you for telling me how you found me.", she said with a smile.
Through those words alone, Miyonas mood lifted again and she continued talking.
Sakuya was a good listener and so she told her lots of things.
About the park with the garden of the school and how much she loved the flowers there, how happy she was that it was finally spring and that soon the schoolyear would end, how much she loved the sea and missed it along with her hometown and many other things.
At one point another thing came up in Miyonas mind and she said:"If you want, you can just call me Miyona. You only called me by my surname the whole talk long, even thought we are friends!"
Sakuya looked at her amazed, surprised and with a bit of disbelief.
"Are we friends?", she asked timidly.
"Of course we are!", answered Miyona while nodding profusely.
"Oh, only if you want to.", she added afterwards, a tad unsure.
Had she been to fast forward assuming they were already friends?
"How wonderful! I'm so happy that we are friends!", exclaimed Sakuya in that moment with a bright smile, her eyes truly overflowing with happiness.
With a smile Miyona held her hand.
"What exactly is going on here!", an angry voice suddenly shouted, destroying the magical moment.
Starteled the two girls turned towards the door there the school doctor stood, her hands on her hips, glaring at them.
"Umitsugu Miyona! I told you that our patient needs lots of rest! So why is she awake and sitting in her bed instead of laying down and sleeping? And shouldn't you have returned to the dormitory ages ago already? It's already past 7.30 p.m.!", she scolded.
What? It was already so late? She had completely missed the curfew at 7'o'clock p.m.!
Time had just passed by so fast that it had slipped from her mind.
"It isn't her fault! Please, don't be angry at her! I was the one who made her stay and talk with me! She really isn't at fault!", Sakuya said in that moment.
Her eyes practically begged Miss Kukiko not to punish Miyona.
After Sakuya continued begging for a while the school doctor gave up with a deep sigh.
It's clear that no one can resist Sakuyas cuteness, especially not when she makes such puppy eyes., Miyona thought, while watching the situation quietly and looking a bit remorseful.
Miss Kukiko allowed Miyona to return without punishment or further scolding and even gave her a note for the dormitory head, in which was written that Miyona had helped taking care of a patient and missed the curfew because of that.
But all of that came with the condition that Sakuya would need to sleep right away.
Sakuya promised it and Miyona was allowed to leave.
Before going she quickly hugged Sakuya one time and thanked her.
While walking back to the dormitory on the stone paths leading through the now quiet schoolground she smiled, remembering the day and the breathtaking beautiful girl back at the infirmary.
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After Miyona had left and Miss Kukiko had turned off the lights before going into the room next door there she had her office, Sakuya laid awake in her bed despite having promised to sleep right away and the exhaustion pulling on her mind and body.
She was incredibly happy to have found a friend and that she had been able to help her.
Whatever incident brought me here must also have something good since it allowed me to find a friend, she thought.
But despite all of her happiness she also had a strange feeling inside her.
It was something familiar, but she wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly it was and why she was feeling it.
Almost as if I'm used to helping others, she thought but befor she could focus more, her eyelids shut themself tight and she fell asleep.