Heavy Droplets of Rain

(I can’t believe that all of the Ojamajo Doremi manga volumes have been scanned and archived on Internet Archive and the Dokkan section of the manga is on the Doremi Wiki)

Stars glimmered above the neighborhood Chavo lived in. The moon shined upon the houses occupied with sleeping residents, snoozing comfortably in beds under warm blankets.

…All except Chavo. Nobody could take him in tonight.

He couldn’t sleep. Sleeping in his barrel was a much better option than sleeping on the cold ground, but it wasn’t that much better. Chavo looked up at the sky, he was hoping to see a shooting star. He hoped to make a wish, a wish that he could sleep comfortably. Or, at the very least, something to eat.

Chavo’s stomach growled. It’s been ages since he had something to eat, the last time he had something was when Chilindrina offered half of her ham sandwich… which was 4 days ago. Chavo held his stomach, feeling the pain of hunger set in.

You take one random door you find in the Witch World and suddenly, you’ve hit some hotel in the middle of…

…Well, not really nowhere, it’s more so that she’s arrived in a country that’s not Japan and it’s got a language that she… thought was something she did know… which she couldn’t read well… but there were definitely words she’d never seen before, even with the stuff she did know… so she definitely couldn’t read it.

The place she came out of looked like a hotel, she saw a neat water pool near it when she flew away from it with her broom. She’ll make sure to remember that.

…Huh? Oh, I mean, wouldn’t you be intrigued if you were suddenly in a whole other place? She loves checking out places she’s never been to before, so that’s enough reason in her head to… not immediately head back into the Witch World. Probably irresponsible but whatever!

………………

“No one saw me fly down, right..?” She saw this random little spot here in her travel under the night sky. The lack of light that came from around here compared to the rest of what she had flown over interested her.

…Hmm… No one did… at least, it felt more like no one was even around. The water fountain here and the flickering lightbulbs she can see past the corridor there were the only hints to her that there are actually people that live here… but those hints still didn’t really click with her, this just felt like the setting of a horror movie!

Well, whatever, she still felt like it’s fine to her to get out of her witch apprentice outfit… Just ignore the pretty noticeable pink glow that came from it.

“…Man… this place really isn’t looked after much…” She whispered as she crossed through the corridor that connected her to another part of the place.

More houses… Well, not like what you’d first think of when you think of houses, it’s more so like it’s one fully connected walkway with doors on the walls. There’s even some stairs that lead to a door.

…Is it better to call them apartments? She’s got no idea, she hasn’t seen that many kinds of houses before.

Wait. Wait, she needs to guide her eyes back down those stairs.

Is that an empty barrel.

…That’s a empty barrel.

…Actually, wait, even more notable now that she’s noticed the barrel. There’s someone close by it. Sitting on the ground.

…Is he lost? The only reason someone could be willingly sitting on the ground at this time would be if they got themselves lost… right?

“…Hm…?” Chavo’s tired eyes lifted up to the girl in front him.

“No.. I’m not lost…” Chavo confirmed, rubbing his eyes. He could see more clearly now, and he could more clearly see the girl.

Chavo is usually afraid of witches. He was terrified of one of his elderly neighbors, fully convinced she was a scary witch using magic to meddle with him and his friends.

Something about Doremi… she felt trusting. Was she even real? Was Chavo just seeing things, being so tired and hungry? The girl looked around his age, surely she wasn’t going to hurt him.

“A-Ah, I…” He’s… not? That’s weird. What is he doing here then..? He’s got a home, doesn’t he? Did he get into a fight with his mom or something and decided to just run from home..?

…Oh goodness, she didn’t even realize that he was this weak. He looked like he was about to fall over! He’s not starving herself, is he? Surely a fight between family members couldn’t be this severe, could it?!

…She doesn’t even know if that’s the reason why he’s like this!

“H-Hey, I already checked that barrel and there wasn’t any food inside it…” Well… not fully, she did just make a alright glance at it and didn’t look too thoroughly. For all she knew, maybe there really is something in the barrel.