Chapter 2

I woke up regretting what I had done. It’s not that I didn’t like getting jerked off by Arakawa, it’s just that I thought it was really wrong to betray Fujimura’s trust like that, it crossed the line. I pretty much cheated on her, and i know it wasn’t right to manipulate her into liking me either, but now that i had done it, i wanted to make it right by being a model boyfriend, i couldn’t keep losing my sleep over this. So I decided to tell Arakawa that we would be terminating our partnership today at school at the first chance I got.

I steeled myself, and then went to school and took all my classes like normal. Arakawa ignored me like we had never talked before, as usual, but when all the classes ended, she approached me at the school’s exit. “Here’s your cut from what we got yesterday. Try not to spend it all on videogames and action figures.” Said her, with a smirk, clearly mocking me, as she handed me an envelope.

“Very funny.” I answered, as I opened the envelope and found what seemed to be 100,000 yen, all in bills. I couldn’t believe that, that wasn’t by any means a huge amount of money, but still it was a lot for a student to earn in what had been essentially a few minutes of work.

“I’ll be waiting for you tonight as well, don’t be late.” Said her, as she turned her back and walked away. And just like that, I had lost all of my drive to stop working with her. Just thinking about the limitless possibilities, about the stuff i could buy with that money, just like that i decided to continue the partnership to discover all the secrets of that spell book.

Once again, night came and I went to Arakawa’s house. We translated a few pages, she jerked me off again for the money spell, and I went home. We kept doing that for the whole week until the weekend. On Saturday I went to the shopping district in the morning and bought myself lots of videogames and action figures. Once i got home, i spent the rest of the day enjoying my new possessions until it was time to go to Arakawa’s again.

On Sunday, I had a date with Fujimura, and since we were now on a first name basis, I just called her Asuka and she called me Saito. We were walking around downtown, checking up some stores. We were browsing a jewelry store, and I, perceptive as i am, noticed that she was staring a lot at a pair of pretty expensive earrings. And so, wanting to impress her, I decided to buy them on the spot. “Hey, I’ll take those earrings.” I told the clerk, pointing at the earrings with my finger. He seemed a bit surprised by what I said. “I’m sorry, but are you sure about that, sir?” Asked him, clearly judging me. Probably thought I wouldn’t have the money since I’m a high school student. “Don’t worry.” I reassured him, confidently.

Asuka looked at me with a smile, surprised by what I had done. “Saito, thank you so much!” She grabbed my arm, hugging me in the middle of the store, making me start blushing a bit out of embarrassment. Still, I liked it. It was good to feel loved by another person, to feel like you matter, that you’re important, wanted. At times like that I could almost forget that Asuka was under a spell that I had cast upon her.

And so, at the end of the day, we parted ways and I returned home. On the way back I started to realize that I was almost out of cash, after all, I spent everything almost immediately. It wasn’t a problem though, tonight I’d hit up Arakawa’s house and we’d make some more money after the translation ends for the day. I get home, change my clothes, and then head straight to her apartment complex.

I rang the doorbell and it was like she was already expecting me, she answered the door immediately. “Punctual as always. Looks like you do have a single aspect in you that isn’t a complete embarrassment.” She said to me with her smug grin as soon as she opened the door. She was wearing her casual outfit, the black top with the blue miniskirt. “Geez, can you at least try to talk without dissing me once in a while?” I answered, annoyed, as I entered her house, the spellbook in my hands. “I’ll make no promises.” She replied, closing the door behind me. Arakawa seemed to be in a better mood tonight, I wondered what had happened.

We sat in front of her desk, as usual, and I opened the black spellbook on the page we had left off. Arakawa sat beside me and opened her brown notebook too, pen in hand, as she grabs the spellbook and brings it closer to her. She had a smirk on her face as she wrote, now i was getting curious, what was going on here?

“Hey, Arakawa.” I ask, making her shift her attention into me. “You seem more cheerful tonight and it’s creeping me out a bit, care to tell me the reason?” I make the question in a sarcastic tone, she just chuckles. “I tested another spell on my own and i liked the results, that’s all.” She explained, casually.

“Wait, why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” I ask, feeling a bit worried. “You’re casting spells without telling me? What happened to us being partners? And what spell was it anyway?” I questioned her.

“Well, we didn’t set any rules about whether or not we could use magic on our own when we made the deal.” She answered, in her usual nonchalant tone of voice. “And besides, why do you care?” She asked, with a smirk. I was starting to get a bit angry, I then got up from my seat before continuing to speak. “Because some of those spells are really dangerous and if for some reason something goes south then it’s my ass too! You should’ve at least let me know, dude!”

Arakawa sighed. “Alright, fine! I’ll tell you the whole story if it’s so important to you.” She closed her brown notebook and turned to me. “I have a married couple as neighbors and they are really loud when they have sex, makes it difficult for me to sleep at night. I really hated it and always wanted to do something about it, so on Friday I cast a spell on the man to make him impotent.” She laughed a bit, amused at what she had done. “Worked like a charm! Now there’s not any noise to be heard late at night.” My eyes widen as I hear her say that. “Really? That’s what got you so happy?” I asked, taking a step back. “Sure was.” She answered, like it was totally normal.

I was starting to get a bit more scared of Arakawa than usual. This girl is just flat out cruel, I understand hating an obnoxious neighbor, but doing that to him was a huge overreaction. It could seriously harm his life, including his marriage. And since Arakawa was ruthless enough to do something like that to someone just because they annoyed her, I started to dread what she’d do with me if I seriously pissed her off. I wanted to call her out on her excessive cruelty, but I just didn’t have the balls. I decided it was better just to play along for now and try not to get on her bad side.

“Alright then, just tell me beforehand if you plan on casting another spell like that again. You have my number.” I tell her, before sitting back on my chair, she simply nods a bit reluctantly and goes back to her translating.

An hour or so had passed and we had completed our translating for the day, I looked at her once she closed the notebook. “We’re gonna make some money now?” I asked, wanting to get my hands on more of that sweet, not so harned earned dough. Arakawa got up and said: “Sure, but today i’d like you to help me with one more spell.”