Who Witches the Watcher?
A Mahou Tsukai Tai fanfic
by hkmiller
5 December 2003
The characters of Mahou Tsukai Tai ("Magic User's Club"; also
translatable as "I want to use magic") were created by Ohta Tami,
Satou Junichi, and Itou Ikuko. No disrespect intended by my
unlicensed usage.
One character inspired by another (rather obvious) source.
Contains major spoilers for the MTT OAVs; minor for the TV series.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sae and Nanaka were sitting outside school eating lunch when they
saw him. A bald, chubby, twenty-foot-tall humanoid wearing a
light blue toga drifted slowly down from the sky onto the grounds
of Kitanohashi High School. He held his left arm bent at the
elbow, the forearm level with the ground. A portion of his toga
was draped over his left forearm. The intruder landed, then
turned his head slowly, calmly observing the students milling
around the grounds. The students stared back.
Sae cowered behind Nanaka. "Is it another alien?"
"Sae, I don't think that hiding behind me is going to do any
good," Nanaka began in an even tone, one eye twitching.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!" came a piercing laugh from one side. Miyama
Mizuhara, the president of the manga club, daintily held one hand
to her mouth. Miyama advanced towards the alien, one hand
outstretched in greeting. "Finally, you aliens give me the
recognition I deserve."
The towering alien ignored Miyama, much to her displeasure.
Instead, he posed himself carefully, then, looking skyward,
started speaking. Alert students noticed that his mouth movements
didn't match the perfect Tokyo-dialect Japanese they were hearing.
"I am... the Watcher. For untold eons I have beheld the myriad
wonders of the universe. I have watched life evolve on this
planet from its very beginnings. Now, one young human female has
displayed power unknown to any others of her race, single-handedly
defeating an invasion by the alien Bh'ell conquerors. For some,
with great power comes great responsibility; how will it turn out
for this young woman?" The Watcher brought his right forearm over
his left at right angles, his index finger pointing straight
ahead, his other fingers curled. "Stay right there, and I'll show
you!"
"Who is he talking about?" asked Sae nervously, clutching Nanaka
from behind and peering over her shoulder.
A vein pulsed in Nanaka's forehead. She bowed her head slightly
and clenched her fists. "Sae, you dunderhead," she hissed in a
whisper, "he's talking about you."
"Oh, a new alien?" came a new voice.
Sae and Nanaka turned; their fellow club member, Akane Aikawa,
was coming up behind them.
"Oh, and he's big, too," Akane continued. Giggling a bit, Akane
tiptoed forward towards the back of the Watcher. She ducked her
head under the lower edge of his toga and peered upwards.
"Oh, rats, he's wearing underwear," Akane pouted for a moment.
Then she brightened. "But I can fix that." Akane pulled her pen-
wand out of her purse and pointed it upwards.
Sae looked horrified. "Akane-chan, you shouldn't do that!"
Akane recited the transparency spell under her breath. The
Watcher rose a foot into the air and slowly spun a single
revolution, glaring down at Aikawa. "Do you _mind_?"
"Not at all! And do let me compliment you on your equipment,"
Akane replied, still giggling.
"What did she mean by that?" Sae asked Nanaka, puzzled.
Looking up at the sky, the Watcher announced, "Ah. With great
power comes great naivete."
On another part of the school grounds, Aburatsubo sidled over to
Takakura. "This is bad," Aburatsubo whispered. "Everyone will
see the alien watching Sawanoguchi-kun, and the whole world will
know."
The sunlight reflected off Takeo's glasses as he frowned. "And he
might even sweep Sawanoguchi off her feet, too! We've got to do
something!"
Their lunch finished, Sae and Nanaka proceeded into the school and
returned to their homeroom. Outside, a horde of newsvans appeared
just in time to see the Watcher step to the side of the school.
He then grew just enough so that he could comfortably peer into
the window of Sae's and Nanaka's homeroom.
"Stupid alien," muttered Miyama Mizuhara, fists on hips. "He
can't even find the right classroom."
- - - - - - - - - -
During the afternoon, the students noticed a continual flow of
additional reporters. A few military helicopters hovered briefly
over the school, then departed. For most students, that was all.
The students in Sae and Nanaka's homeroom were distracted somewhat
by the huge eyes observing them from just outside the window, but
the teachers did their best to make sure their attention did not
stray too long.
Among the press corps, Mitsuru Minowa stood fidgeting, wondering
whether he should break the scoop himself, since it looked like it
was going to be broken anyway. He became uneasily aware that he
had little more time to make up his mind when a few reporters came
running out of the school building holding a list of the names of
the students in the class being so scrutinized by the Watcher.
- - - - - - - - - -
As classes ended for the day, Sae and Nanaka made their way to the
rather miniscule room used for meetings of the Magic User's Club.
Fortunately, the room did not have a window, a virtue up until now
unappreciated.
"The secret of our club is endangered! Our club must face this
new crisis united!" pronounced Takeo, hands emphatically on hips.
"What crisis?" wondered Sae.
"Sae, he means the alien who just spent the whole afternoon
staring at you," Nanaka explained, clenching and unclenching her
fists. "We have to figure out how to prevent the whole world from
noticing that it's you he's following around. Or do you WANT to
spend the rest of your life in a laboratory?"
"We'll try the exchange spell again. That'll send him back to
outer space, exchanged for a meteor or a comet," announced Takeo.
"We never got that one to work right!" protested Nanaka, to no
avail.
"We have to be able to see the object we're trying to exchange,"
added Aburatsubo.
"well," Takeo replied, then paused to think. "Let's go up to the
roof to cast it then."
The five club members, still wearing their uniforms, trooped out
of their clubroom, up the nearest staircase, and out onto the
school roof. Takeo carefully drew a magic circle on the roof.
Meanwhile, the Watcher grew again, tall enough to peer over the
edge of the roof at the club members. A few helicopters circling
the area noted this development.
Sae bowed politely to the Watcher, and began apologizing for the
spell the club was about the perform. "Umm, I'm sorry, you know,
but Takeo-sempai thinks this is best, and anyway maybe since
you're from outer space to begin with you'd really be happier
there than here, but I certainly hope this won't hurt or anything,
and we'll try to send your clothes together with you since we
don't want you to be embarrassed when you arrive or anything; I
know I'd be horribly embarrassed if someone did something like
this to me and my clothes didn't come with me..."
"Takeo, you've messed up the circle there," pointed out Aburatsubo
with a bit of asperity in his voice.
"Heh, heh," Takeo noted, chuckling nervously as he erased that
part (which looked vaguely like an unclothed Sae) and redrew it.
Finally the five stood around the edge of the circle, crossed
their wands, and recited the exchange spell. Sae glanced
nervously over her shoulder at the Watcher, wondering to
herself if it really was a good idea to do this. Maybe the
Watcher would be happier if he just went home? Sae wondered what
the Watcher's home was like.
The Watcher promptly vanished from the school grounds, as did the
five club members.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Do not move; do not touch anything," warned the Watcher as the
six reappeared in a futuristic-but-mostly-incomprehensible
locale. "To you, my household is dangerous beyond your
wildest imaginings."
"Why did we come along?" Takeo screeched, hopping up and down.
"The spell wasn't supposed to do that!"
Nanaka and Aburatsubo contented themselves with jaded, tired
glares in Sae's direction. Akane giggled. "Sae's slightest
wish overruled our spell again."
Sae looked just down at the floor, flinching, shoulders hunched.
"I'm sorry. It's my fault. I didn't concentrate again."
"That's okay, Sae," Nanaka patted Sae on the shoulder to reassure
her. "We're all safe. All we have to do is get home."
Takeo scratched the back of his neck. "Heh-heh. We could just
reverse the spell, if only we knew exactly what Sawanoguchi did."
Aburatsubo approached Nanaka and whispered in her ear. Her
eyes widened and she nodded. "Sae, just close your eyes for a
moment. Think about the five of us back on Earth. Now, click
your heels together three times and repeat, 'There's no place like
home'."
Sae did, and the club members all vanished. The Watcher remarked,
"With great power comes great susceptibility to suggestion, it
seems. I must make a note of that."
- - - - - - - - - -
That night, Nanaka paced her room in worry. What were the alien's
real intentions toward Sae? Might the alien be looking for Sae's
weaknesses, so that the next invasion could be more successful?
Well, she knew one way to find out for sure. Grabbing her wand,
Nanaka sat down on her bed and began to chant the spell for
reading another person's mind.
Abruptly, an image of the Watcher's head appeared in her own mind,
speaking directly to her. "You really don't want to do this. Of
all Earthlings, only your friend Sae would not be killed or crazed
instantly by direct contact with my mind."
Startled, Nanaka stopped the spell. The Watcher continued, "I can
see that you are only worried about your friend. If it helps, I
assure you that I am here only to observe her."
"But how can I be sure?" Nanaka wailed. "Sae has always depended
on me to protect her; she's so out of it all the time. She trips
over the tiniest cracks in the pavement; she walks into walls; she
hasn't the faintest sense of self-preservation!"
"You feel a great need to protect your friend, I see," noted the
Watcher. "With great power comes great appeal to the maternal
instinct."
- - - - - - - - - -
The next day Sae and Nanaka walked to school together, as usual.
What was not usual was the way virtually everybody they passed
stopped to stare at Sae. Glancing around, Nanaka noticed a lot of
pointing and hushed whispers. Sae, of course, noticed nothing
amiss, gabbing on and on at Nanaka about Nanaka's chances with
Aburatsubo, how pretty the day was, wasn't Takeo such a wise and
wonderful club president, and hadn't she maybe forgotten what she
was talking about.
As they neared school, Akane walked up to them, holding a folded
newspaper. Nanaka could just make out "Sawanoguchi Sae" in huge
print on the side of the paper facing her.
"Did you see this? That reporter, Minowa, leaked the whole story.
They even have photographs from our battle with the Bell," Akane
remarked blithly.
Nanaka took the paper and scanned the first page worriedly as they
walked. Sae's role in changing the Bell into a giant cherry tree
(and then causing the tree to walk to its current location in the
mountains) was clearly described. The story did not even mention
the other four club members (but did describe, in minute detail,
Sae's old teddy bear Jeff).
Things were no better once the three walked onto the school
grounds. The Watcher was standing just inside the school gates,
being scrutinized by the students and reporters. This abruptly
changed to a silent, intense regard of Sae's minute-by-minute
movements. Sae continued to be completely oblivious to this as
she bowed slightly to The Watcher, who bowed back.
"Oh, hello again, I'm sorry we trespassed into your home uninvited
and I hope we didn't disturb anything or unduly trouble you. I
know I don't really like it when people are in my house whom I
wasn't expecting. Once I was in the shower and my sister invited
her boyfriend over and he was sitting in the living room and I
came downstairs with just my towel on and I was very embarrassed
and then my sister pretended she was going to take my towel off
me and I screeched and ran upstairs and... I forgot what I was
talking about," Sae said.
"Takeo, did you hear what I just said?" Aburatsubo asked tartly
off to one side as he elbowed his fellow senior.
"No harm was done," The Watcher assured Sae.
Smiling, Sae turned and headed into the school building, ignoring
the hundreds, if not thousands, of eyes trained upon her.
"With great power comes great obliviousness," The Watcher told the
sky.
- - - - - - - - - -
"I don't understand; why would you want to interview me?" Sae
asked the reporter, confused. At the end of the school day, Sae
and Nanaka had started to leave the school grounds, but they'd
been ambushed by a few dozen reporters. Nanaka put an arm around
Sae protectively and glared at the reporters; Sae just stood,
hesitant, uncertain, glancing around at the circle of reporters
with incomprehension.
"One question at a time!" Nanaka barked. "You, there, first. The
rest of you shut up, or you won't get any questions answered!"
Nanaka was careful to choose an older, calmer reporter first.
"Miss Sawanoguchi, please tell us, in your own words, how the
Bell came to be changed into a cherry tree." Those reporters
still grumbling over not having been chosen shut up and listened
closely.
"Umm, well, really, it wasn't so... I was all alone since Nanaka
and the others were all captured, and I had to get them back! So
I took a can of paint and painted it here at the school, except I
started at the wrong place and part of it was up on the roof.
And then I did it, but it didn't work. Jeff, that's my old teddy
bear, said I just had to believe in myself. But I was desperate!
And then they were chasing me! And then everything got very
confused, and there were giant broomsticks, and lots of cherry
blossoms, but everyone was saved! I was so happy!"
"Err... right," the reporter who'd asked the question scratched
his head with his pencil.
"Miss Sawanoguchi, is it your intent to protect the Earth from
future alien invaders?" asked an agressive, immaculately-dressed
woman reporter, thrusting a microphone towards Sae's mouth.
"Umm... I don't know, really. I think it's up to Takakura-
sempai."
A dozen reporters spoke up at once, all shouting their questions.
Sae shrank back in fear, turning her head and burying it in
Nanaka's shoulder.
"Sae..." Nanaka interjected, in a comforting tone. Then, in a
lower voice, she asked, "Do you want the reporters to leave you
alone now?"
Sae nodded, then added, in a whisper, "I want them to go away."
Then in a stronger, determined voice, she added, "PLEASE go away
now." To Nanaka it seemed that Sae's last words were accompanied
by stray sparkles in the air.
The reporters abruptly fell silent, their eyes and faces blank,
their postures stiff. They then turned and walked slowly away.
"Oh. Nanaka, I didn't mean to be impolite to them. Are they
angry with me?"
"Oh, just let them be, Sae. But they'll be back, unless you
convince Mr. Watcher here to leave you alone too." Nanaka turned
Sae to face the Watcher, who stood just behind them.
Sae looked up at the Watcher, who spoke nervously and quickly.
"And with great power comes great incomprehension of one's own
abilities. Ok, I'm finished, no need to get angry with me or
anything, Miss Sawanoguchi. I was just leaving."
Slowly the Watcher ascended into the sky, readjusting his toga
as he rose. Sae waved goodbye, at first tentatively, then
eagerly.
"Do you think he'll ever come back, Nanaka?" Sae asked. "We
didn't really get a chance to know him, and he seemed nice."
"I don't know if he'll come back, Sae. But if you really want to
get to know him, you'll find a way."
The End.
This and other fanfics stored at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/5058
(
geocities.com/tokyo/dojo) (
geocities.com/tokyo)