31 (not so) Daily Short Stories

[~Rinko~]

Day 1:

“Dammit...” a fair-skinned teenage girl with soft brown hair, going down to the small of her back, sighed, “I told you not to mess around with it, Dylan.” she scolded a young boy, in his early teens, with the same hair colour and skin tone who stood in front of her and the shards of what was once a bowl.

“Sorry, sis...” Dylan muttered, looking at the ground to his left, hands behind his back, “But I mean it was just a plain bowl! Why’s it so important?”

“Didn’t mum tell you the story about it, too?”

“Uhhh... oh, yeah, yeah. I remember now!” Dylan turned to face his sister and smiled, letting out a small laugh.

“Well? What was it?” Rhiannon inquired.

“Apparently a ghost was trapped in it, but that sorta thing just isn’t true, is it sis?” he laughed, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

“Yeah, but you know how mum is with this kinda thing, right?” she sighed, “I shoulda’ just brought it into my room while I was hanging out with Alis...”

“Eheh... yeah, maybe.”



That evening, while Dylan was being scolded by his mother, Rhiannon was in her bedroom studying. She had a lot to do, but plenty of time, so she took it slow, often taking breaks to browse games and forums on her computer.



The next day, Rhiannon yawned as she walked to school. It was almost winter break so, naturally, it was cold. Rhiannon fiddled with her sparkly, silver scarf and heading into the school building. There, several other students had already gathered. Rhiannon took off her gloves and walked over to a girl with shoulder length red hair in pigtails and green eyes. That girl wore a large, garish, hand-knitted scarf, loosely looped around her neck and covering much of the front of her uniform.

“Hey, Alis!” Rhiannon called out, smiling.

“Oh, Rhiann. Um–” before the redhead, Alis, could continue, Rhiannon placed her hands on her cheeks. “Gahhh–!” Alis cried out, “Too cold, too cold, too cold!” Rhiannon moved her hands and let out a small laugh, while Alis sighed. “You were wearing gloves right...?”

“Gloves are kinda useless, aren’t they?” Rhiannon laughed, flicking back her hair.

Before Alis could respond, another girl, one with mid-back length black hair and purple contacts, walked up to the duo of friends.

“Rhiannon Pryce, the whole school is now aware of your grave misdeed.” the third person spoke, in a dramatic tone. “Does the popular and cute Alis Sayer really wish to speak with someone as widely-accursed as her?” she inquired.

A silence fell among the crowd.

“What misdeed?” Rhiannon asked, breaking the painful silence.

“Hmpf, you do not realise what you have done? Ah, it is but the fate of all but the sacred few to know what you have done wrong. But do not underestimate the effect the telephone effect has! Your reputation will suffer as much as if all knew the truth of the world, even so.”

Rhiannon stared at the dark haired girl. She had always known that girl was strange, but even so, her current behaviour was certainly odd.

A boy with dyed, silky purple hair walked up from behind and placed a hand on the shoulder of the dark-haired girl, as he began to address her in a sarcastic tone, “Oh great Miss Meredith Morris, I do beseech thou to stop being such a goddamn weirdo.”

Meredith sighed as she looked over her shoulder. “I am not being a weirdo. I am merely seeking to bring the truth to light.” she stated, barely hiding her anger.

“What I mean is, you just seem to do whatever with no reasoning... why couldn’t you have just had a one-on-one chat with Rhiannon about what she did before proclaiming it to the whole school?”

“Tch, never mind that. Let’s go, my dear Gwallter.” Meredith sighed, turning around and walking off with the young man who seemed to calm her down.

Rhiannon stared at Meredith as she walked off. “Weirdo...” she muttered.

Alis cleared her throat, catching Rhiannon’s attention, “Yeah uh so... people think you’re a ghost who’s planning on summoning a bunch more to destroy the world by New Year’s.” Alis explained.

Rhiannon stared blankly at her friend, blinking a couple times.

“So... yeah. Thoughts?”

“...She was right. Can’t underestimate the telephone effect.” Rhiannon shook her head. “How did she even know about that bowl and the story behind it though...?” she sighed.



After her first class, Rhiannon headed back to the lounge, as she had a free period then. On the way, a boy with messy dark hair was casually walking towards her. She stepped to the side, but the boy copied her movements, ultimately walking into her nonetheless.

“Oh? I can’t walk through through here? Can ya’ not walk through ghosts then? Oh no!” he exclaimed in a mocking voice.

Rhiannon sighed, “You seriously believe something that weird as hell ‘mystic’ said...?”

“Huh? What was that breeze? Is there a window open somewhere?” he ignored Rhiannon, continuing to mock her.

“...Whatever.” Rhiannon gave the guy a side-glance and walked off.

A similar thing happened almost every time she moved between classrooms, slowly making her more and more angry.



At the end of the school day, as she reached the door, Rhiannon tugged on her gloves and stretched her arms out in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Alis heaving her large, vibrant red rucksack onto her back.

“Hey, Alis! Wanna hang out again today?” Rhiannon called out, leaning backwards.

“Oh! Um, uh... maybe some other time. After New Year’s, maybe?” Alis replied, scratching the back of her head.

“Oh, sure, alright then...” Rhiannon returned herself to a normal posture, before calmly walking out of the school.

Once she had gotten a fair distance away, she screamed and slammed her fist into a nearby signpost. “Dammit what the hell...?” she muttered, her voice cracking slightly as tears started to appear in the corners of her eyes, “She’s... she’s always been by my side so why... why the hell’s this obviously bullcrap rumour stopping her from wanting to hang out with me...? Why, why, why?!” she cried out, letting her voice slowly grow louder. She fell to her knees, in the middle of the pavement, brushing back her tears with the back of her hand. “...Why... why is this bothering me so much...? I mean yeah she’s my best friend but still...”

“You’re this bothered because of how many times people have run into you and wound you up, I think.” came a voice. Rhiannon looked up and saw a figure with short, wind-tousled, silver hair in a black suit – or perhaps school uniform? – who had their back turned to her. But nonetheless it was where the voice had come from. “I can tell she does still care for you. A long-lasting and strong friendship like yours can’t be broken by a single rumour.”

“How do you know that...?” Rhiannon asked, voice shaky from her crying.

“Look behind you.” the figure said, before walking off.

Rhiannon did as she was told and saw Alis running towards her.

“Ah, you alright?” Alis asked, bending down from her waist and placing her hands on her knees.

“U-uh yeah. I’m fine.” Rhiannon smiled. “I just got a little annoyed at everyone, y’know? For believing that crap.”

Alis smiled, “Makes sense.”

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 2:

A year ago...

At the edge of a town in a pitch-black night, a boy with bright, silky purple hair and soft blue eyes was filming himself on his phone.

“Hey, as you already know, I’m the second-in-command of a supernatural research team, Gwallter Priddy. As our leader’s currently busy, I’m leading tonight’s expedition!” he said, a slight smile on his face.

“Ah, behind you!” one of the people he was with cried out. With that, Gwallter looked over his shoulder. There was a strange figure leaping towards him, letting out a loud roar. He quickly spun around and took several steps back.

“Take charge of the recording!” he yelled, reaching his right arm out behind him, as he handed his phone to another girl who was with him. The figure leapt onto his left arm. He kicked it away, letting its claws drag along his arm.

The figure collapsed onto the ground, but quickly picked itself up. It looked like a short person, hunching over, but with disproportionally large claws. It shook itself off and raced toward Gwallter once more, who was also charging at it.

The figure swiped it’s hand in front of itself, at the same time Gwallter landed an upper cut to its chin, quickly following up with an elbow to the neck. The creature fell to the ground, soundly knocked out.

“Gwallter! Your eyes!” one of the girls cried out.

“Ah? Oh, I didn’t notice...” he muttered. “Well, one supernatural creature down. While it’s unconscious... do the healing spell. Then, try reasoning once it wakes up.” he said calmly, keeping his breathing steady.

The two girls quickly set about drawing a magic circle around the creature, Gwallter sitting atop it. The girls recited an incantation and the blood and scratches on Gwallter’s arm and face disappeared. He slowly opened his eyes, before squeezing them shut again.

“My... my eyes still hurt...” he sighed. He heaved himself up, dusting down his clothes, “Ah I guess we don’t have enough experience then. To heal this.” he stated, hand over his eyes.

Present day...

Gwallter sat at his desk, fiddling around with the pencil in his hand. A notification sound played on his computer, followed by a robotic voice reading out the contents.

“Calendar event. One year. Today, at 22:23.”

Gwallter took a deep breath, stretching his arms out behind his head. “It’s been a year huh?” he muttered to himself. He placed his left hand back on the sheet of paper on his desk, projecting an image of the contents of it into his head.

Having no visible injuries, to have suddenly become blind was something not easily explainable. For that reason, and also to stay at the same school as his friends, he constantly practiced two spells to allow him to live as he had before.

One of them, being to ‘see’ clearly what is on any piece of paper he touches.

“Gwallter! One of friends has dropped by!” his mother called out.

“Oh, send them up.” he replied. The sound of footsteps approaching and... yup, that figure was Meredith.

The other spell he had learnt, was basically echolocation.

“How are you today, my trusted right hand?” she asked.

“I’m fine, you? Have you got a new coat?”

There was certainly an odd shape of a coat, one he’d never run into before.

“I am fine too. Ah, and uh... it’s not really a coat. It’s just a leather jacket I altered...” she paused as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a small slip, “Here’s a photo I printed off.”

Gwallter reached out and took the photo. As soon as he touched it, he saw it. A silky, dark purple, knee-length dress with two slits on the sides of the legs, covered by a black leather jacket with black silk coattails visibly stitched on to the bottom. All that, modelled by a reasonably attractive young woman with long black hair and purple eyes.

“That makes sense...”

“So, are you coming with us tonight? For the expedition.”

Gwallter placed his left hand by his eyes. “You know I can’t anymore.”

“Ah, fair enough. I’ll take my leave now.” with that, there was a swish of silk and hair, followed by footsteps slowly fading away.

Gwallter sighed, placing the photo down and turning back to his work.

“Do you regret getting involved in the supernatural?” came an unfamiliar voice. Gwallter couldn’t feel anyone’s presence in the room, either.

“Huh? Who are you...? What do you mean?”

“You lost your sight because you got wrapped up in all this. You’re saying you don’t regret it?”

“...I don’t. Because it’s how I met my friends. Sure Meredith’s kinda a jerk at times, but the rest are always kind and I know I wouldn’t have been great friends with them otherwise.”

“...I see. So, you have no regrets?”

“I don’t.”

“...Keep living that way. I’ll go now.”

“Uh, wait, who are you?”

There was no response. They’d already gone.

Even aware of the supernatural, Gwallter found that interaction strange.

The simple explanation would be...

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 3:

A young woman with fair skin, icy blue eyes and shoulder-length wavy brown hair, fading to white at the bottom, sat idly staring out of a window of a train.

“Why the hell’d I need to go back before the term ended...?” she muttered under her breath. “Just ‘cause I don’t technically need to be at uni to learn the shtuff they’re teaching, don’t mean I don’t wanna...”

A beep came from her trouser pocket. She sighed and pulled her phone out; her mother had sent her a text. ‘Gwyn, are you travelling well? I’m preparing that cake you always lik...’ was what was displayed on the notification.

With a sigh, she put her phone back and plonked her head against the window. This was going to be a long month for one Gwyneira Holt.



When Gwyneira stepped outside the station at her destination, she let out a yawn, adjusted her simple, purple and white knitted scarf and looked out at the gradient of blue that was the sky. She turned to her right, where the sky was lightest, and walked slowly. She didn’t wait to see if anyone was picking her up and she didn’t care.

She wandered around, through a park and through the entire town, in fact, not realising where she was going, until she reached the edge of town.

“Huh? Wait, where... oh alright.” she pulled out her phone and turned on the screen. 6% battery. “Oh well... locater spell it is I guess.” she shrugged, walking out farther into the grassy plain, picking up a loose stick she found along the way.

She knelt down and drew a tiny circle in front of her with the stick, then reached into her luggage and pulled out various small trinkets, piling them in the circle. She muttered a small incantation, and a small light emanated from the tower of trinkets, which turned into a little spirit or wisp-like light, which swirled around upwards and floated over to the town.



Eventually, long after the sun had set, Gwyneira reached her parents’ house. She whispered thanks to the light that led her there, dispelling it, before knocking on the door.

Her father opened it and looked completely surprised. “Gwyn...!” he muttered, stepping back, before rushing forward and hugging his daughter. “Finally! Your mum and me were so worried!”

“Yeah yeah let go will ya’?” Gwyneira said, pushing her father away. “Sorry, but I really don’t wanna talk much y’know? I’m going to my room.” she huffed, stomping inside.



She went up the stairs, into her old room and flopped onto her bed. She sighed, turning over onto her back and resting an arm over her face.

“Why is it you act like this?” came a strange voice. Gwyneira moved her arm slightly and saw a figure with silver hair who had their back to her, standing in front of the wall next to the door.

“Ha? Hell d’you mean?”

“Why do you seem to hate your parents so much?”

“Tch, none of your business.”

“I have to at least try and help.”

Gwyneira sighed. “They always ignore what I want. Still think I’m a kid. Y’know, that sorta thing.”

“Have you tried telling them that?”

“No. Won’t matter.”

“You don’t know that. Try.” saying that, the figure disappeared.

Sorry it's so short and crap. Lots of writer's block.

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 4:

A teenaged girl with dark hair sighed, sitting on the ground in the park, knees to her chest.

“Hey Cristyn!” a guy of a similar age to her called out, “You heard the legend of this park?”

She sighed, “No? What’s so special about it?” she asked with a monotone voice.

The guy ran over to Cristyn and knelt in front of her, “So apparently–” he began.

“Idiot.” she said and stood up, walking away from the guy. “I’m not interested.” she stated, walking off while staring at the cloudless night sky.

It was clear, but one could not quite see the stars from the ground, at least, due to the city lights.

The guy cleared his throat and began to yell, “They say, in this park, you can see glimpses of the past if–!”

“Nonsense.” Cristyn interrupted, loudly enough she hoped he’d hear.



Reaching her home, Cristyn leant against the wall and sighed, eyes closed. She opened her eyes and saw, in the corner of her eye, a strange figure standing perfectly still in the driveway.

“Oy, get out of there,” she called out, pushing herself off the wall and walking over.

“I know you’ve been hurt before, but you shouldn’t just shut everyone out without a second thought.” came a voice, seemingly from the silver-haired figure.

“What are you talking about?” she, of course, meant how did this random person know her past.

“You haven’t even tried to make a single friend since then.”

“Stop being a creepy weirdo.”

“I only know this because the other day I saw what happened through that legend. The one that boy tried telling you. It might be hard to believe, but stuff like that is true.”

Cristyn sighed. “What does it even matter to you? How I live my life.”

“It’s complicated.”

After a while of silence, Cristyn sighed once more. “Fine. I’ll head back to the park. If that legend is true, I’ll follow your advice, but I highly doubt it.”

“Alright. Ah, but you need to wait until the city lights have mostly been turned off.”

“Huh? That happens?”

“About two in the morning.”



As she decided, Cristyn snuck out in the early hours of the morning and headed to the park.

The sky still remained clear. But now the stars were visible, faintly. If she headed into the middle of the park, the farthest place from the few remaining lights, they would be entirely visible.

Now, was the legend true...?

Again, sorry for how tiny this one is. I really lacked motivation again...

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 5:

A cold breeze blew about, as four friends quietly walked to school together – Meredith, Gwallter and a pair of short twin girls with purple hair and grey-ish blue eyes.

Meredith suddenly broke the silence. “I find it quite interesting how I am the only one here whose eyes changed colour by using magic... I have long looked into it myself but have found no reasoning – Luna, Selena, could you two perhaps help?”

At that, one of the twins, who had her hair tied up in a ponytail to the left of her head, nodded, “Yup, me and Sel should be able to look into it!”

“I think it might just be a fifty-fifty chance if it’s hair or eyes that change colour...” said the other twin, Selena, with a right-tied ponytail.

“But in that case, why am I the only one of us four?”

“Maybe the fact that me and Lu are related – or perhaps specifically that we’re twins – means it had to be the same? And also just... a fifty-fifty doesn’t necessarily mean two-out-of-four.” Selena explained.

“Ah, of course. Luck is as fickle as a frog.” Meredith said quickly.

Luna chuckled, trying her best to hold back her laughter, “What’s that even supposed to mean...? Since when are frogs known to be fickle...? Hahahaha...!” she ended up bursting out into raucous laughter.

“They are, are they not?” Meredith spluttered, not turning her head around, to hide her blush. “A-anyway. We should hurry, should we not?”

“Yeah, we should.” Selena nodded.



That evening, in Selena’s room, the twins were pouring over several books.

“Hm... yeah, I can’t find anything...” Luna muttered, “Snack time!” she yelled.

“No.” Selena said bluntly, “We’ve only been looking for this for about ten minutes...”

“Huh? No way! It’s definitely been way longer than that.”

“It hasn’t. We started reading at around twenty-past eight and it’s currently...” Selena leant over to look at her computer screen, “Yup, just gone half-past.”

Luna pouted, “Well, whatever. I’m taking a snack break. If you don’t want it, then that’s your loss, I guess.” saying that, she left the room and skipped off to the kitchen.

Selena sighed. “Honestly what I find more interesting is how two people born only a couple minutes apart are so vastly different in maturity...”

Luna skipped back into the room, holding a plate in her left hand and a large orange in her right. “Snack is here~ Snack is here~” she sung to herself as she entered.

“I thought you were staying outside the room while taking your snack break.” Selena muttered, watching her twin skip into the centre of the room, “I mean, you’ve no reason to be here on a break really...”

Luna knelt down, facing her sister, and placed the plate in front of her. “I wanted to offer this to you, just in case!” she smiled, eyes closed.

“No thanks.” Selena said. “Though, knowing how much trouble you have with peeling oranges, I’m willing to give you a hand...”

“No! I’ll peel it all by myself!” Luna snapped, beginning to peel the orange, though she failed to get even a small square of the thick skin off in the following few minutes.

Selena flinched every time Luna groaned at the orange, mostly ignoring it and continuing to read.

“Gah! Finally I got some... ah no! Too little!” Luna cried, her voice quickly growing higher-pitched.

“Oh shut up already!” Selena snapped, causing Luna to drop the orange. Selena couldn’t take her groaning any longer. “Either let me peel it or go to your room and eat it there!”

At that, Luna stiffened, blinking constantly, before grabbing the plate and orange and storming out. “I hate you!” she screamed as the left.

Selena sighed. “...Maybe I should’ve kept my calm a bit better.” she muttered.

“So, will you go apologise?” came a strange voice from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a silver-haired figure who had their back to her.

“No. She won’t listen to me right now. Besides, by morning, she’ll probably have almost completely forgetting what just happened...”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Every time she yells about hating me or not wanting to talk to me, she seems perfectly fine with hanging out with the next day. I dunno why, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“I see... so, you don’t actually–”

“Regret anything? Nope. I can do my research in peace and Lu’ll be fine in the morning. You can go now, whoever you are.”

“Alright. I will, then.”

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 6:

Meredith sighed, lounging in a chair in the entrance room of her school. She looked at a message on her phone, from Luna and Selena. “Still nothing? Seriously? Ah, well, they’re doing their best.” she muttered. As she put her phone in her pocket, she noticed a certain brown-haired girl and her short redhead friend walk into the building together. “Hmpf, the ignorant one and her careless friend once more appear.” she spoke loudly.

“Uh, well, we have to come here?” Rhiannon stated, looking at Meredith like she was crazy. “Term doesn’t end until a week on Friday.”

“That is not what I meant.” Meredith stood up and began to walk toward Rhiannon. “I meant why are you so carefree right now? And why is your friend bravely risking her pride?”

“The rumour died out as quickly as it started...” Alis muttered.

At that, Meredith flinched. “Ah, well. Whatever. You two are still too ignorant. I have not forgotten what you did, Rhiannon Pryce.” she stated, turning away from the duo.

“Can you stop speaking so cryptically? If you want me understand, then naturally being cryptic isn’t gonna help, y’know...” Rhiannon asked, staring idly at Meredith.

“Tch, you wouldn’t believe me in a million years. That’s just how it goes. The world is ignorant.”

“...Yeah, please stop.”

Meredith merely walked off, ignoring Rhiannon.



After school that day, Rhiannon and Alis were walking home together.

“Halt, you ignorant idiots.” came Meredith’s voice from behind them. The duo looked over their shoulders at her. She held a strange, shining, purple orb in her hand. Or rather, it floated above her palm.

“Huh? What are you–” Rhiannon began.

“Showing you the truth. Magic and various strange supernatural creatures exist.” Meredith stated.

“...You’re kidding. That’s... that can’t be...” Rhiannon said, turning around fully.

“It is! You’re seeing it right in front of your eyes!” Meredith cried out. The orb started to become unstable in shape, sparks flying out from it.

“R-right... but... it’s hard to believe, yo–”

“Dammit why don’t you freakin’ BELIEVE ALREADY...!” Meredith screamed. The orb shot of a blast of lightning that barely missed Rhiannon’s head, before shaking and dissipating.

“I... I believe it. So... did you somehow know a ghost was trapped in that bowl that was broken... and that the bowl was even broken in the first place?”

“I sensed a ghost appear in your house, before it flew off. You set it free without knowing.”

Rhiannon smiled. “I see. Glad we could clear this up.” she said, before turning around and heading back.

“...She still doesn’t... she still doesn’t believe it... I can tell. How the hell. That girl...”

“She will believe. She just needs to process it.” came a strange voice.

“Who are you, now, I wonder?”

“That is not important. Just, do make sure to keep an eye on your dangerous spells. You could have seriously hurt that girl.”

“So what? The ignorant are idiots.”

“...I see you’re cynical – and perhaps a bit of a psycho – but that is no reason to be so careless.”

“...I just need to make her realise. I want to make everyone realise.”

“That is a lofty ambition. Very difficult, in fact, surely impossible. Don’t be upset if you can’t do that.”

Meredith nodded, “Okay, got it...”

“Well, I’ll take my leave.”

“Wait!” Meredith turned around, but no one was there.

Yes, this is late. I haven't had much motivation. I'll catch up soon.

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 7:

A teen boy, with blond hair and light brown eyes, yawned, as he walked down the street, holding a large bag on his shoulder. He stopped at the street corner, idly gazing around, before sighing as he crossed the road.

“Honestly, couldn’t things be any more interesting?” he muttered, eyes closed.

A feminine voice suddenly resounded. “You’ve heard the phrase ‘Be careful what you wish for’ before right?” it said, prompting the boy to open his eyes and look around. No one seemed to be talking to him, so he sighed, shaking his head, and closed his eyes again, slowly advancing.

Shortly after, a short girl with long, blonde hair fading into pink bumped into the boy and grabbed his arm. “Hey, why’d you ignore me?” she asked. That voice was the same that he had just heard.

“I didn’t notice you were talking to me. I don’t even know you.” he stated, not focusing his gaze.

“Oh, yeah, true. But I’ve been meaning to talk to you!”

“Why?”

“Well, you always seem very tired and grouchy... I wondered if I could help you at all.”

“Oh, right. Don’t bother. It’s nothing something a little kid like you could help with.” he shrugged, walking on.

“I’m the same age as you, aren’t I? You’re fourteen, right?”

“Uh, yeah...? Oh, do we share a class? Meh, whatever.”

“Yeah, so... Ifan, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Who are you anyway?”

“Hefina Firth. Honestly, can’t you recognise me with my hair?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

Hefina pouted, “Well then... you want something more interesting? How about you read this?” she sighed, handing Ifan a dark grey, sticker-decorated spiral-bound notebook.

“What is it?” he asked, voice still monotone.

“It’s a book of magic!”

“Pass.” he turned away and started walking again.

“Wait! I’m not kidding!” Hefina ran up to Ifan and grabbed his arm, “Please, just take it. Give it back to me tomorrow at school if you don’t want it or believe it, but at least give it a look!”

“Fine, if it’ll shut you up.” he huffed. Before he’d even finished talking, he’d turned around and snatched the book out of Hefina’s right hand. He sighed and spun around on his heel, tucking the notebook into his bag.



When he made it back home, Ifan went straight to his room, tossed his bag onto his bed and flopped down next to it. He sighed and pulled out the book.

“Hm... ha, these just feel like a mish-mash of various anime magic systems or something. I knew it, the girl’s made it all up.”

“Hm, so you’re willing to immediately deny something that might help get you out of your rut.” came a voice. Ifan pushed himself up and frantically looked around. A single, silver-haired figure, with their back to him, stood in between his bed and computer.

“Who the hell are you?”

“That’s not important. What is... is that you want to have a more exciting life right now, right?”

“I mean I guess. But that sorta thing isn’t possible.”

“Don’t deny possibilities immediately, just because they’re incredibly unlikely. Sure, sometimes you need to think of the most likely first, but even so... you should at least test the improbable occasionally.”

Ifan sighed. “Fine, I’ll try and do one of these spells. But I doubt it’ll be worth anything.”

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 8:

A young woman with black hair streaked with bright pink yawned, stretching her arms out behind her head and leaning back in her chair. “Alright... that’s the school shtuff done, next is the magic shtuff.” she said to herself.

She stood up, walked over to her bed and pulled out a box from underneath. She flipped open the clasp and rifled through the contents of the box, pulling out a few things.

“Alright, these should be suitable... ah, but all I can do is test natural affinity, isn’t it? I can’t bring anyone into the group with it... so back to Seren’s garage it is for our meetings...” she muttered. “As the leader of a magic and occult club, I shouldn’t let anyone say I’m wasting that space.”

She sat down with a sigh and set about casting the spell. A small light flickered up from where she sat and flew off out the window behind her. She looked over her shoulder and sighed.

“I can’t be asked to follow that...” she muttered, closing her eyes and facing forwards again.

She stood up, dusting her clothes off.

“Well, I might as well give up on finding anyone else. It’ll be just us three...” she sighed. “Though, I bet Hefina’ll grow out of her interest soon. Maybe this whole thing was a stupid idea...”

“Don’t give up so easily.” came a voice from behind her. She spun around on her heel and saw a silver-haired figure.

“Huh? But it’s hopeless. I really feel like all this was a waste of time...” she muttered.

“Don’t say things like that... if it was truly a waste of time, then why would enjoy it so much? This whole magic thing.”

She looked shocked, “...That makes sense... but I guess... it stopped being fun a while back...”

“...Then try to find some way for it to still be fun. If you can’t, then... well, focus on the fun times, okay?”

“Uh... sure...” she muttered, looking to the ground next to her “Oh, right uh, what’s your nam–” she asked, looking up, but the figure had already gone. “Ah... well... whatever.” she shrugged and flopped on her bed, face down.



After a while of just lying there, a knock came at the door. The young woman yawned, pushing herself of her bed and walking to the front door. She opened it to see a young girl – none other than Hefina – smiling, with a young man with blond hair looking distracted behind her.

“Mererid! I found a member for our club! This is Ifan Flint! Ifan, this is Mererid Glynn, the leader of out magic club!” Hefina introduced the two.

“A... a new member?” Mererid’s eyes and mouth were wide open.

“Hold on, I didn’t say I was gonna join your club! I just want to figure out what I did wrong...” Ifan raised his voice slightly.

“Fufu, well, that doesn’t matter. I can help you out.” Mererid smiled.

Maybe this will be the new way to have fun?

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 9:

In a dark room, late at night, a young girl with fluffy platinum blonde hair, tipped bright pink, sat at her computer, hugging her knees as she browsed a couple forums.

“Oh, that’s interesting... oh, so that’s it. Neat.” she muttered.

Her phone, resting by her mouse, buzzed and lit up. She looked at the message she’d just got.

‘From: Mererid.
‘Hey Seren, we might be getting a new member! He’s struggling a bit with getting the spells right but he’ll pick it...’

Seren didn’t bother to read the rest, and just turned the screen off.

“Hmpf. He’s probably struggling ‘cause he rushed them or something.” she sighed, returning to focus on her computer.



The following afternoon, Seren tiredly crawled out of her room and started to walk towards the front door. She yawned “Ughhh... it’s so tiring having to go out twice in a day...” she mumbled.

With a heavy sigh, she pulled on a large, thick dark brown coat with a light brown fluff collar as she opened the front door.



Eventually, she made her way to a storeroom. Inside were the two partially pink haired girls who were her only friends and a blond teen looking somewhat bored.

“Ah! Seren, you’re here!” Hefina cheered.

“Alright, then we can start this meeting now.” Mererid stated, a small smile on her face.

Seren sighed. “Why did you recruit this idiot?” she cut in, glaring at Ifan out of the corner of her eye.

“Idiot? What’re you talking about?” Ifan suddenly looked over the girl who’d just shown up. “You don’t even know me.”

“As I thought, you look like a dumb, athletic brat.”

“That’s enough Seren!” Mererid told her off. But Seren continued her rant.

“You don’t have the patience for any of this. I can tell. You’re just like all those idiots.” she walked closer to the target of her anger, not averting her glare.

Ifan gulped, “W-what are ya’ talking about?” he asked, backing away.

“Seren, please, calm down!” Mererid urged her.

Seren sighed and turned around. “I’m going home. Do this meeting without me.” she said.



Back at her house, as she was nestling into her chair with a blanket, Seren heard a sigh come from elsewhere in the room. She swerved the chair around and saw a silver haired figure with their back to her.

It was Seren’s turn to sigh. “Are you the strange figure talked about on that forum? Rumours are you’ve shown up to magically-inclined people for the past couple days.” she asked, no hint of emotion in her voice.

“Ah, have people really been talking about that much?”

“I mean, you’ve shown up to a lot. It’s not surprising.” a tiny smile formed on Seren’s face. “So, why are you here?”

“It’s no good to judge people so quickly. You should at least give him a chance.”

“Tch. A chance? To what? Make fun of me?” Seren’s tone grew suddenly bitter. “It’s better off just not having anything to do with him.” she swivelled her chair back around

“Far from everyone is like that, though.”

“...I don’t care.”

“I’m sure, if you shut most people out like that, you’ll end up not meeting someone you really want to spend time with...”

“I don’t care!” Seren cried out, throwing her blanket at the figure, though completely missing her mark.

“...I guess it is up to you if you take my advice or not.” the figure sighed.

Seren closed her eyes and sighed. The figure was gone.

“Well, whatever...”

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 10:

A teenage boy with dark brown hair cut very short sighed, stretching his arms out over his head. He bit into one of the cupcakes by his desk, then rubbed off his hand against his top, before turning back to his computer.

“Ah... a mystery yet unsolved, huh?” he muttered to himself, a wide smile forming on his face, as he read a forum thread, “Fufu, Afon knows me well.”

It wasn’t on a forum he was familiar with, but a friend had sent him the link to that thread.

After some more browsing of the thread – and the site as a whole – the teen leaned back in his chair, making a puzzled face.

“A mystery on an occult forum... hmm, should I try to get to the bottom of it?” he muttered, his right hand on his chin. “I mean, even if it’s just one report made tons of people think they saw the same thing... I’ll for sure get a result!” he stretched his arms out in front of him.



Heading out, the teen pulled a dark olive coat over his shoulders, not wearing it properly. He looked at his phone, where he had reopened the thread.

“Hm... looks like it’ll be hard to search for clues... but, I think, I have an idea on how to find something!” he cheered. A nearby boy around the same age as him with red hair smiled.

“Alun, you’ll really become a detective someday, won’t you?” he smiled.

“Huh? Oh, Afon, hey!” the first boy, Alun, exclaimed. “Heh, yeah. I don’t think you can help me with this.”

“I see, well, best of luck!” Afon said, turning around and waving.

“Thanks!” Alun waved back, walking off in the opposite direction.



From the roof of a nearby building, the silver figure sat on the edge, looking down at the boy.

“Hm, it looks like... you probably won’t get to the bottom of that mystery. I’ve no reason to talk to you.”

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 11:

A teenage girl with navy-streaked dull blonde hair sighed, looking at the most recent message she got from a friend.

‘Hey, Betrys (I spelt that correctly right?). You maybe wanna go stargazing tonight? I think it’s best to hang out with friends while waiting to see the best things and also there’s a meteor shower at the moment, though it’s not at peak.
‘So yeah, you wanna come with?’

“I... I want to but...” Betrys sighed, typing her reply. “But there’s no way I can be out that late. I really wish I could but I just can’t.” she sighed again, hesitating slightly to send it.

“It shouldn’t take too long, with this meteor shower. If you want to do it, then just go.” came a voice.

“Oh, is that the mystery figure?” Betrys asked, tilting her head backwards to see the silver-haired figure. “Yeah, it is.”

“Haha... I can’t help dropping by this many people.”

“So... you think I should go? But tomorrow’s a school day, still, and my parents...”

“Well, as long as you explain properly and get back by the time you usually go to sleep, I don’t see any issues with it. And, if you don’t go, you’d regret it right?”

Betrys stared at the figure, moving her mouth slightly as if trying to speak, though not saying something. “...Those are some good points.” she eventually said.

“So? You’re going?”

“Maybe... no, yeah, I will go!” she cheered. She looked down at her phone and deleted what she’d typed out previously. Speaking as she typed, her replacement message was: “I won’t be able to stay too late, but sure! It sounds really fun, so I want to go!”

“Well, that’s that.” the figure heaved a sigh of relief. When Betrys looked up, they had already gone.

“Mm, it is. But I wonder? Will you run into Rhys or anyone else I know, so I can try to learn more about you?” she muttered.

Yes, these have been incredibly short. I just need to catch up.

 

[~Rinko~]

Day 12:

A young girl sighed, sitting at her computer. “Even though I said I’d do these pixel art gifs everyday... what should I do today?”

She sat, staring at her computer, a small blank canvas open. She let out a yawn, “I’ll just take a short break...” she muttered, heading on to some forums, checking on her notifications.



After about fifteen minutes bored, waiting for more notifications, the girl yawned. She closed the browser, “Time to get to work...” she muttered, staring at the blank canvas.

After another five minutes of staring, she yawned again, and starting playing some music. As she reopened the browser to do so, she ended up quickly checking on her notifications again, though she didn’t get too distracted.

Singing along as best as she could, she stared at the blank canvas again. “Ughh... nothing’s coming to me... maybe I just can’t do this...” she let out a huge sigh, “I’ll go stretch my legs for a bit... if I still don’t have anything... well, I guess I’ll have to give up on it...” she said, twirling her chair around and standing up.



After about half an hour walking around, she flopped down onto her chair again. She sighed once more, “I still don’t have anything... dammit where’d all my motivation go? I guess I’ll just give up on this...”

“You don’t have to...”

“Huh? Who’s that?” the girl looked all around her, spotting the silver-haired figure.

“Maybe try a different version of something you’ve already done? And maybe that will give you more ideas.”

“Oh, yeah... that could work! Hmm... but what should I do different...?”

“Well, maybe you could almost combine two of them? I’m not very creative myself, so I don’t really know how to help... but I want to at least try.”

The girl looked down in thought, one hand on her chin. “Hmm... ah, that’s it!” she looked up, to see the figure had disappeared. She shrugged and turned around to work on the gif.

Yes this is inspired by my lack of motivation for this.