Champignon Witch (シャンピニオンの魔女)

"G" is for the Green Witch

Withering in the hot sunlight

"W" is for the Water Witch

Boiled away by fire torture

"S" is for the Stone Witch

Hammered into little pieces

"E" is for the Eastern Witch

Who fell into a pit so bye-bye

"B" is for the Beast Witch

Who was terrified one day by a sharp spear

"C" is for the Champignon Witch

Poison doesn't bother her

She's the really scary one

'Cause she's gonna bring The End of All Things

There are lots of devils. Drive them all away!

Yes! I win!

THE HOUSE IN THE BLACK FOREST

Kids from the village. The adults tell them to stay away

but sometimes they come to play this close to the forest anyway.

Lize, let's get going.

End of All Things?

Don't let that stuff get to you.

I was told I need to find great happiness,

but sometimes I'm consumed by such an intense sadness,

I can't put it down in my diary.

How would you handle something like that, Miss Witch?

I know it sounded immature and corny, but I worked up the courage to ask anyway.

I try to remember something sad that I keep locked up inside, cry over it,

and use those tears as a bed to grow more mushrooms.

Then I make tea with those tear mushrooms,

drink it, and cry more to detox.

It really helps me calm down.

Then I use the tears I cried to make more mushrooms.

She responded with an off-kilter but very practical answer.

Don't worry. It's caffeine-free.

That's not really the issue.

Would you like to watch me make the tea?

I don't know why she suddenly seemed so eager,

but I got the strong impression that I shouldn't say no.

Wow! It smells nice!

But I've never smelled anything like it. A very unique smell.

It was lush but delicate, and made me imagine floating in a warm ocean.

A very mellow fragrance.

Um...

I did extract all of the poison,

but don't force yourself if you think it's gross.

As Miss Witch nervously stammered her insistence she'd removed all the poison,

I thought she looked kind of cute.

But, wait.

The tears these mushrooms grew from, they were part of Miss Witch's body...

Why's he suddenly look so intense?

You'd better not be thinking something dirty, kid.

Back off, crow.

Wow! This smells delicious! Thank you!

Ah...

Oh!

I had so many tears.

There was enough sadness and pain inside me to fill up a whole cup.

I didn't lose the memories the sadness had been linked to,

and the mushrooms that came from my tears

looked like emerald mixed into a sky blue. They had a deep, very lovely color.

Miss Witch took them, sliced them,

dried them,

fried them to remove the poison,

and boiled out the memories.

By the time the tea from my tear mushrooms was ready,

my heart felt almost as unbelievably sunny and clear as the blue sky.

It's up to you to decide when you should drink it.

Don't forget to collect the tears you cry in a cup, though.

It was a very well-polished tear ceremony.

There were jars of Miss Witch's tear tea.

It must have taken many nights of feeling very sad to have made so much tea.

I wonder just how many nights Miss Witch had felt like that.

I wonder how many days she's spent like this,

quietly enduring the embrace of such sadness.

I also made some tea to help you sleep, Claude.

Lize.

I would start to wonder about that during our tear mushroom tea parties

so they always left me feeling a little melancholy.

Ooh!

Uh-oh, Luna. Did you accidentally give the crow tear tea, too?

If he realizes, he'll kill me!

I didn't see a thing.

Gosh, I didn't know the crow had any tears inside him.

Gross.

Caw.

Caw!

Miss Witch, I have a question.

Good. He's getting serious about studying.

What is going on here? What are these two people doing?

I take it back.

It says something about a "kiss,"

but why would these people be doing something like this?

Is this brat for real?

Um, are you all right, Miss Witch?

Don't let him get to you, Luna!

W-Well...

Would he really lose his memories about something like that?

A kiss is something people do when they're very close.

A sign of intimacy, kind of like a greeting.

Have you ever kissed someone before, Miss Witch?

Man, he's aggressive!

She froze.

She's not moving.

She's malfunctioning.

Exactly how close do people have to be in order to kiss?

Does our relationship count as being that close, Miss Witch?

This little shit!

He shall cloak himself in a semblance of innocence...

Or does the relationship between you and I

not really count as that close?

At that moment, the crow thought,

"I'll be damned. I guess that's one way to try to steal a kiss."

Excerpted from the memoirs of Claude the crow.

Th-That definition of a kiss applies to normal people.

It doesn't apply to someone with a poison body like me.

That's a pretty decent comeback for Luna.

Um, I think...

that even if we have to do it through a magic cloth,

I would like to kiss you, Miss Witch.

Huh?!

This brat never gives up!

Even strangers kiss each other's hands. I heard that's just being polite.

Give it a rest, you little shit!

I hope that someday you let me place one on your lips, Miss Witch.

Okay, I'm going to go practice my magic!

Luna?

That brat. He knew exactly how to give a formal kiss on the hand, didn't he?

The nerve of that little white witch punk! You don't know what a kiss is, huh?!

That whole damn thing was an act!

Miss Witch was so pretty!

Today I feel like I'll be able to do the hard magic I struggled with in training!

It feels like my heart's sprouted wings. It feels like I can do anything!

Shopping in the village?

You really want me to go?

Yeah, you'll be doing us a favor,

and it'll also give us a way to evaluate your magic progress. A preliminary test.

And he'll keep an eye on you.

Me?

Luna is always protecting you so maybe you didn't realize,

but a kid like you who can't really handle his magic yet

is an easy target for all sorts of demons and poison creatures.

I'm sure you'll see some once you're out of the forest

and outside of Luna's protection.

Demons and poison creatures?