The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch (黒猫と魔女の教室)

Hurry! Hurry!

Every morning, we take the road to school from our dorm and through the town.

They call the sight the Flock of Starlings. The town's famous for it.

Sorry, I'll see you at school.

Io?

Excuse me!

May I help you carry that?

Oh, you wouldn't mind?

Not a bit.

I want to be helpful to others.

I appreciate it.

This is so heavy.

Io's an angel!

Taurus Magic: Gugalanna!

Huh?! Io?!

Hey, Io! What are you doing?!

Oh, Professor Claude.

Good morning.

I thought I'd help this old lady out.

You're holding her like King Kong!

Don't worry. I'm holding her gently.

That's not the issue here!

Io's a really good girl, but she's also really ditzy.

I see...

You had good intentions in trying to help an old lady with a cane.

However...

Your Giant Magic makes you exceptionally large, even compared to other Tauruses,

which is both a talent and a curse.

AVERAGE PERSON

AVERAGE GIANT MAGIC SIZE

You see why that would cause a panic if you use it in the middle of town, yes?

A panic...

I'm sorry. I just want to be helpful, but it never works out.

Do you want to try volunteering?

Volunteering?

You'd be serving the academy, helping with cleaning

and taking care of younger students and such.

Normally, it's used as punishment for students who break the rules.

I'd love to!

Y-Yeah?

Well, then, let's have you work with him.

Castor.

Yeah?

You'll be participating.

Huh? Why should I?

You got in a fight again, didn't you? We got complaints from other students.

I just scared off a kid who was ogling Pollux.

You took it too far.

Let's do this, Castor!

No way.

Why, though?

Volunteering is just virtue signaling.

You're still being virtuous, even if it's just signaling.

Shut it!

Maybe putting these polar opposites together isn't such a good idea.

All right, Io, Castor, Spica,

you three will be cleaning the middle school's Building Two.

We'll be using this place for classes starting next year,

so put your backs into it.

It's pretty gross.

I guess it's been neglected for a while.

Uh... Professor, may I ask something?

What is it?

Why am I here with them?!

Because I can't trust these two on their own!

Please! I'll give you pudding!

Nothing in my character profile says I like pudding!

I know! I'm sorry! Please!

Sure, fine.

Really?

Io's doing it to be helpful, right?

I should learn from her. I'll give it a try.

Spica!

Yeah! The three of us can do this together!

Thanks, Spica.

I'll give you two puddings.

Five, please.

Three.

But I had forgotten...

Castor, you have to work.

Sheesh!

This spot's all done.

Okay, let's start mopping.

Okay.

Here I go!

What is this intensity?

It's almost like...

an out-of-control charging bull!

Io, stop!

That's right.

I'd forgotten that Io has absurd strength.

How did this happen?!

I'm sorry.

I've never been good at self-restraint.

I always end up using way more strength than I mean to.

Taurus Magic makes the user's body stronger.

But once in a while, there are students who can't control their own strength,

and it gets out of control.

Io...

Go back to your dorms for today.

We'll continue tomorrow.

Okay.

Don't be so down, Io.

All you did was wreck a wall. It's not a big deal.

I'm so useless.

Castor!

So why do you want to help other people?

There's someone I look up to.

I want to become like them.

Huh? Who? Your crush?

Professor Deneb, the nurse.

She's always helping the students. She's like an angel.

Professor Deneb's Taurus Magic

lets her strengthen not just her own body, but other people's, too.

I could do so much for people if I could do that.

I'm sure you can do it.

Nah.

Professor Deneb teaches the Zodiac Mastery class.

She teaches us healing magic,

but it's too hard for me because I'm not good at controlling my own power.

I don't have any confidence that I could do that.

Maybe not now, but keep working at it, and someday...

It's not happening.

Castor!

It's irresponsible to baselessly encourage someone.

She doesn't have to give up before she's even tried!

Can you take responsibility when she fails?

Calm down, you two!

Why is he being so abrasive?

I understand what Castor's trying to say,

and I appreciate your encouragement, Spica.

I just wish you wouldn't fight.

Io...

H-Hey...

You're the ones cleaning Building Two, right?

Are you from the middle school? What's wrong?

Please...

Help us save Comet.

Comet?

Our dog.

We picked up a stray.

We couldn't keep him in our dorms, so we were keeping him in Building Two,

but he heard a loud noise and ran off scared.

It's my fault!

We were looking for him and found this.

His name tag was in front of the big mirror in the storage room.

The big mirror?

They took him!

The ghosts of the mirror world!

Gh-Ghosts?!

Rumors say that if you stand in front of it at sunset,

a girl's arm grabs you and drags you into the mirror.

That must be what happened to Comet.

We won't be able to keep him if we go to the professors.

So please, help us.

Professor Claude said taking care of the younger students was part of volunteering.

Let's do this!

Let's find Comet!

Does she mean...

we're going into the mirror, too?!

The mirror belonged to a girl living in a mansion.

But the girl died in a fire.

The mirror survived the fire and changed hands several times,

but sometimes a girl would show up in it, or its owners would go missing.

All sorts of weird things happened.

Even now, stored away in Diana,

the girl is waiting for an opportunity to drag us into the mirror.

Calm down, Io! It's just a rumor!

So then, this is that big mirror?

Magicians afraid of ghosts? That's hilarious.

Stop it!

I can't help that it's scary!

It won't open.

That's weird. It was just open before.

It says something on top.

You're right.

I wonder what it says.

Let's see...

"Present your likeness,

and you shall be invited into the depths of the magic mirror."

I think.

It opened!

How do you go in?

Spica, is it safe to get close?

Spica!

You guys!

You two stay here!

Call for a professor if we aren't back in an hour!

Got it?

They really went inside the mirror...

Io.

Io!

Io, are you all right?

A-Are we inside the mirror?

It's like an infinite mirror hallway.

I guess we should keep going.

How far does it go?

It probably goes on infinitely.

Look, there's a door.

You're right. There's one here, too.