Editing Failing Witch:Volume2 Episode2 (section)

===Part 8===

Night had fallen.

Each group’s tent was up, so they could rest easy as the gentle darkness settled in.

“Wow. The summer solstice is supposed to be the longest day of the year, but once it gets dark, it gets dark fast. Eep.”

“You say that, but it’s only 8 PM. For exam students, the night is only just beginning.”

“Wow, Melehe. Eep. Y-you can tell the time without a clock?”

“Using the moon and stars. They don’t move through the night sky at random, you know?”

After Dorothea took that advice to heart (so easily it actually made Melehe jealous) and began trying it herself, she saw an orange light flashing in the distant sky. It reminded her of an oddly-colored firefly.

“?”

And with dinner over…

“Oh, neat. Your textbooks are completely different from ours!”

A short distance away, Viocia was speaking with some other girl.

She was already making friends with a student from another prep school.

“Dorothea, Melehe! This is Ileana from Costus Af Prep School. Eh heh heh. At their school, they use automatic writing to figure out their weaknesses and focus their studying there!”

“Oh?”

“She also goes to Aurora Swan Flight Sports Gym to increase her Formula Broom skills. She’s amazing!”

The Ileana girl was dressed like a white ghost, which meant she wore a large sheet over her head. That was as much a symbol of witch parties as an orange pumpkin. The front of the sheet wasn’t kept closed well, providing glimpses of her bare skin below. It looked like she only wore some large stickers below the sheet.

Those weren’t the only two engaged in some cultural and informational exchange. When Melehe took another look around, she noticed quite a few sunlight seal lanterns shining outside the tents.

“Melehe Superlative? So you’re Carraway Cs’s ace?”

“Wait, are you the Ileana I sometimes see on the official practice exam rankings?”

She sensed an unexpected connection here.

Before long, parchments describing different study methods arrived from somewhere. People were apparently writing whatever advice they could think of and passing them around.

Dorothea’s eyes widened behind her glasses.

“This is a mnemonic for memorizing what power you get when you burn different types of wood. Apple, birch, elder...huh, neat. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

With a dry slap, Yagoro – who had approached without them noticing – knocked the parchment from Dorothea’s hands.

“Eep!”

“What is wrong with you, pervy tutor!?”

Melehe snapped at him in a hurry, but he ignored her.

“Elder, or elderberry, shouldn’t be on there.”

“Eh?”

“'''Trick question warning: Elderberry is a special plant. Burning it is forbidden.'''”

“Um, eeep, th-then…”

“It’s just a mistake. That’s the problem with secondhand or who-knows-how-many-hand information, don’tcha think? The answer can get warped without anyone trying to deceive anyone.”