Editing Shadows Hills Mina (section)

==== Background ====

Once upon a time, a Western couple moved into a small Japanese town. At first, their exotic looks disturb the neighbors: the husband is way too tall, and the wife has platinum hair. But as they got old as anyone else did, the neighborhood came to accept them. The couple had a lovely daughter, born with emerald eyes and hair golden as sunset. The couple loved their daughter, and their daughter loved them. Everything was good.

But one day, everything changed. On that fateful day, the girl uncovered a secret her parents intentionally hided from her: Magic is real. Her father told her that he is a detective, while in reality he was a wizard. Her mother worked as a doctor, but she was also an alchemist. The couple had a large collection of arcane materials; the girl studied them…and understood them. For the first time in her life, she felt awakened.

Magic is not the only thing the girl learned from the materials. She learned that monsters – Ghul, Naga and the likes – are real too. People always hunt these so called “monsters”, forced them to live in hiding, between the silhouettes, even if the monsters did nothing wrong at all. And people with magic, people like her parents? they just turn a blind eye on it, cover their ears and pretend it’s not there.

Young and rebellious, the girl just couldn’t understand: how can they let this happen? How can all those Mages, with all their Magic, allow the innocent monsters to suffer from fault they did not commit? The girl confronted her parents, and despite her pleads for her to stay, the girl made up her mind: she will leave the country, become a real Mage and fight for the rights of monsters.

The girl left without saying goodbye. On the cold and raining day she left, she met a little black kitten on the street. Separated from her mother and siblings, the poor little thing would have died if left in the cold rain. The girl brought the kitten along and named her Mina. Unbeknown to the girl, just on the other side of the wall, her father saved a little white kitten. He gave the kitten his daughter’s name.

That was then. This is now.

Heart broken by the losing of their daughter, the couple swore they will never practice the mystic arts again, and disposed all their arcane materials. They seek comfort from the little white kitty, and treat her like their own. The girl, while successfully became a true Mage, couldn’t live up to her dream – there are way too many monsters to be protected, but far too few Mages who share her dream.

None, actually.

Frustrated, the girl slowly faded into the shadow of what she once was. Her hair fall from being the gold of sunset to the deep of night, and her emerald eyes were overtaken by darkness. She became bitter, angry and cold, every bit an evil witch of cautionary tales. For a time she practiced the forbidden Arts, the Arts of Paradox, just so she can take revenge on the world that doesn’t understand her.

It was Mina who saved the day. Comforted the witch while she needed it the most, Cassandra helped the girl’s through her darkest nights. The girl decided to cherish what she has, lay low until the time comes, when all of humanity will Awaken and share her dream. Moved into a small town, the girl started to treat people, consult them about their problems, help them out with her Arts. She came to be called as the Kind Witch by the town people.

The Kind Witch is not surprised when her familiar Mina started to pick up human language, mindset and eventually appearance. Japanese folklore told that if someone keeps a cat for more than 10 years, that cat becomes a Nekomata - cat spirit with the ability to enter dreams. The witch instructed Mina in the art of Spheres, and while Cassandra is not bright enough to learn the foundations of Magic, she still picked up a trick or two.

Seeing Mina started to approach the mental age of a teenage girl, the Kind Witch actively contacted Shadow Hills Boarding School to give Cassandra a chance to study like a normal girl. The normal life the witch once abandoned, she doesn’t want Cassandra to miss. Besides, now with Mina going to school, the girl can finally set foot on her homeland once again…to see what changed while she was gone.