Trial & Error

After waiting for a few moments, unfortunately they still got the same answer from Arin. "Still smokey." She said and everyone sighed heavily hearing that.

Although, Ruri didn't actually seem surprised because she only gave her a potion that's usually used to improve magic circulation--which is gonna be useless, because again, Arin couldn't use any magic in the first place.

But since there was a case where someone's magic actually got stuck inside and ended up messing with their other magic, Ruri decided to give it a try. But yeah, wrong hypothesis.

Oppositely, the one who seemed to be very upset was Hazel. "Why didn't it work? Does this mean you have to come up with another potion and come here again?"

"Hh." Ignoring him, Ruri just turned to Alisa, checking if she was already finished making the other potion she asked. The one for Zen  "How about that one? Is it done?"

"Ah, yes." Replied Alisa while showing a small vial with blue liquid in it.

Ruri stared at it for a second, and then she asked, "But why did you put a paper on top of it?"

"I mean… It kinda stinks."

"It is??" Zen complained hearing that, but Alisa could only chuckle at that.

"It's perfect then." Said Ruri while moving the vial in front of Zen. "Drink it."

Preparing himself, Zen let out a long sigh. But then Alisa also gave him a can of juice as well. "It's fine, right?" Alisa asked for Ruri's confirmation first.

"Of course." Answered Ruri with a smile.

Following Alisa's recommendation, Zen held the juice can when he was about to drink his potion. And judging by his bitter expression, it definitely tasted bad.

"Blehh..." He grumbled as soon as he drank it. He immediately jogged his juice, but even that didn't look like it was enough to wash out whatever taste the potion had.

And after he calmed down. Ruri finally asked him too. "How is it?"

"Not my table again!" Hazel warned him immediately first--which was late because Zen already tapped the table again. But fortunately, it didn't get crushed like the last time. "Phew, at least this one worked." Hazel commented feeling relieved.

"Good job." Said Hana who was also there and Alisa immediately blushed a little.

Alisa actually felt a little unworthy receiving the praise because she already knew a little about potion in the first place. But she still felt a little happy--because she never really got any praise about it, especially from her picky aunt.

"How about now?" Hana suddenly whispered in Ruri's ear after that. "She's good, right? Do you still don't wanna change your mind?"

"..." Pouting her lips, Ruri seemed unhappy that she couldn't deny that. She wasn't actually sure when she first saw Alisa three days ago. But looking at her again today, the girl was indeed quite good at making potions.

"Aren't you two busy though?" Hazel suddenly interrupted. "You may go now if you're already done, you know."

"What? What about me?" Asked Arin whiningly.

"Don't worry. Ruri will come up with another potion again. Right?" Said Hana.

"Well, I guess I should. I'm still curious too." Added Ruri. "To be sure, I might need to check your blood first. It's okay, right?"

"You do those kinds of things too?" Alisa blurted.

"Sometimes." Answered Ruri. "Barely ever needed, but sometimes."

"Well, if that helps…" Arin said helplessly. And after Ruri glanced at Hana, Hana immediately stood up to approach Arin.

Hana was seen carrying a small box. But different from Ruri's box, hers looked more like a first-aid kit where the contents were clearly medical equipment. Bandages, betadine, alcohol and a few vials of what seemed to be magic potions as well. Then there were also several injections that had contents and some that were empty.

"Does she always bring that?" Asked Alisa.

"She even sleeps with that." Replied Ruri teasingly.

"That's…!" Hearing that, Hana immediately stopped and glared at Ruri. "I mean, Rei and Fio get hurt too often, so I just… Hh." Couldn't really continue her sentence, she ended up just sighing and finally started taking Arin's blood.

Everyone was silent for a moment because they were watching the process. But while looking at it, Hazel suddenly remembered something. "Come to think of it, doesn't he also have a box like you two?" He said. "The small one."

"You mean Rei?" Replied Ruri who suddenly laughed. "Yeah, he does. It looked like a cigarette box, so he got misunderstood a lot." She added and Hana also chuckled hearing that.

And naturally, Hazel's brain went to think of the other Vip. "Could it be that Fio also has one?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. Does he?" Said Ruri.

"Yeah, he does. A few, even." Replied Hana sadly. "That's why he always has a lot of weird stuff."

"You mean dangerous stuff." Hazel added bitterly which then made Hana and Ruri pursed their lips bitterly too.

On the other hand, completely unfamiliar with the topic, the 3 first graders who were there could just listen in silence. But Alisa remembered something, so she chimed in a bit.

"Talking about Fio, I actually met him by accident before coming here." She said.

"..."

Alisa said it lightly, but the silence after that was so heavy that she immediately sensed that maybe she shouldn't have said that. "That, um, really, really by accident—"

"Did he do anything to you?" Hana asked and immediately walked closer to Alisa's place. "You should've told us earlier if you met him."

"Exactly. A first grader like you might not know it, but there's no such thing as 'met Fio by accident' here." Ruri added too. "If you met him, chances are it's because he was the one who wanted to meet you."

"What did he do? He did something, didn't he?!" Hana asked again.

Immediately being interrogated like that, Alisa became silent and started trembling in fear as if she was the one that made a mistake. But after being stared at for so long, she finally tried to answer, "We didn't even talk much, really. He just…"