I got wordy and a little cheesy with this, I just have so many thoughts! I think they would have a hard time speaking to each other after everything. Not that it’s from any hate or animosity towards each other- they’re just worried about the outcome!!
Papa Kagami gets all the guilt points for, yk, disowning and banishing his elementary-aged son. Gokuraku gets all the “I don’t want you to see what I’ve done to myself” anxieties. But they work it out, because that’s the only way to get past everything🙏
I hope you like this!! Happy Late Holidays! 人(_ _*)
Hello @thatguy3331 ; I was your Secret Santa for the Ichi the Witch Gift Exchange! I hope you had a great rest of the 2025 year and that 2026 treats you well.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 魔男のイチ | Madan no Ichi | Ichi the Witch (Manga)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Desscaras/Chikutoge Togeice
Characters: Desscaras (Madan no Ichi), Chikutoge Togeice
Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, Pre-Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read
Summary:
“Heey, Togeeeeeeiceeeeeee!” Desscaras dragged the vowels of her name as if she was quartering them in the town square. A firing squad would be much kinder.
“What.” Togeice said at last, deciding that it was less painful to acknowledge her than to have her go into another whine.
Desscaras's lips curled into a smile that allowed Togeice to finally visualize the ‘cat that got the cream’ idiom. “Carry me,” she said.
~~
written as stocking-stuffer for @urlocalwreck for the 2025 itw gift exchange. thank you so much for pinch hitting aj!!!
All's Fair in Majik and Mischief - An Ichi the Witch Fic
Rated: G
Ichi the Witch (Light Mentions of manga events, but basically no spoilers for anything)
Desscaras & Ichi & Kumugi & Gokuraku
Words: 2.8k
Warnings: Nothing! Fun and fluff!
[Ao3 Link!]
Gift for treble for the Ichi the Witch Exchange!!! Team Desscaras is assigned a team building mission: To enjoy themselves at the Natali Fair!
--
Following an, in Togeice's words, "extraordinarily childish display of squabbling" at Ichi's debut, it was decided by the Mantinel Witches' Association that Team Desscaras was in need of some team building.
This decision was made mostly by Moneygold, and if the weary looks by the team after they'd returned from the Pendulum Seas had any influence on her decision, she'd deny it until the day she died.
Their task? To enjoy Natali’s Annual Fair and Festival, opened early– exclusively to Mantinel Witches and their associates– for one evening only.
---
By the time the group arrives, the fair has only just opened its gates. The sun has begun its slow descent into the earth again, casting long shadows across the grass. The summer heat has begun to cool, leaving the atmosphere warm, but not unpleasantly so.
In what was previously an open field, dozens of booths, carts, and attractions have been assembled.
It doesn't take long for Ichi's attention to be caught by the whirlwind of new things surrounding him. He swirls his head around, eyes lighting up as he takes in all the lights and sounds. Alongside him, Kumugi, Gokuraku, and Desscaras seem more interested in observing Ichi's reactions than the fair itself.
"Kumugi, what's that?"
Ichi sticks his arm straight out, pointing towards one of the booths lining the walkways. Hastily assembled on top of the grass, various stalls flash brightly coloured lights, drawing in passerby.
"Oh, those are the games!" Kumugi explains with a smile.
"Games?"
Kumugi nods. She gestures out to the rows of carnival games. Lined up side by side, the games vary, as do the prizes. The one Ichi's pointing to has a small looping pond with little fish swimming through it. Though, as Kumugi squints, she can see the fish are actually a kind of magic item, swimming through the water as part of the game. Fish game aside, there's a couple darts games, a variety of ball throwing games, and something that looks like it involves throwing rings onto bottles.
"They're like… little trials! Getting the ball through the hoop, or catching a little fish. If you get it right, you get a prize!"
"Ooooh…" Kumugi can hear the excitement in Ichi's voice even before she turns to face him. Sure enough, his eyes are sparkling brightly.
"Wanna play~?" Desscaras leans in between the two of them, startling Kumugi. She shrieks, jumping backwards, but Desscaras just grins at her.
"If you've never been to a fair, seems only right for you to get the full experience, right Ichi?"
"Y-yes! It would be fun!" Kumugi nods quickly, threatening to topple her hat to the ground.
Gokuraku smiles, tossing a glance at Desscaras.
"I didn't know you were into that kinda thing."
She parries the look back.
"Eh, why not? I am the best after all, and that includes kitschy stuff like this. It'll be fun to show you kids what an expert witch can do. Besides," She fishes a pouch out of her bag, holding it up. She bounces it a few times, and the loud sound of coins clattering resonates from inside. "It's all on Moneygold's Majey. I say we make the most of it."
"Ahhh… Well, if Icchan wants to, I'm down. Though, if you sound so confident, let's really put it to the test. How about a contest!"
Desscaras laughs, throwing her head back.
"You're challenging me? Sure. I could use the laugh."
"You're laughing already…" Kumugi mumbled, but no one listened to her.
"Haa? Don't expect to win so easily." Gokuraku boasts. "Come on, Icchan. Whattya say?"
Ichi grins widely. "You're on!"
Thus the unofficial Team Desscaras carnival game battle begins!
"H-here are the rules!" Kumugi declares, "We'll all choose a game, and all four of us will play it! In the event of a tie, we keep playing new games until a winner is crowned!"
The first game, at Ichi's request, is the little fishing game.
Small mechanical fish, powered by the woman manning the stall, swim in endless circles around the booth. Every time one seems to slow, the woman scoops it out of the water, filling it with her mana and then setting it off into the river again.
"Heya folks! Wanna try our little fish game? Rules are simple." She bends beneath the booth, then pulls out 4 tiny little rods. They look small even in Kumugi's hands, so Gokuraku looks like he's holding onto a twig.
"Use these rods to hook a fishy! You might need to jiggle it around to entice 'em though! The fish got different colours to 'em, and depending on what colour you get, you can get one of our prizes!"
She gestures above her. Hanging by cords are a variety of plush in an assortment of shapes. Tiny octopus plushes, medium sized fox plushes, and large bear plushes, all in a rainbow of colours.
"Pink fishy's a little prize, green’s a medium one, and gold's the biggest! There’s only a couple gold fish though, so better snap 'em up fast! You can keep fishing until you get a winner, so everyone gets something. To keep things fair, no magic allowed! Gotta give you gentlemen a fighting chance. Now, good luck!"
All four of them crouch around the tiny artificial river, craning their heads to get a better look.
Immediately, Ichi scans the water for a golden fish. Swimming faster than the others, it darts around in circles, looping backwards from the flow of the water, then around again to lap all its fellow fish. Only its partner, the second golden fish, stands a chance at matching it. The toy rod has a blunt hook to it, with a small latch at the end. As Ichi crouches in closer, he tries to get as close to eye level with the water as he can. Sure enough, the little mechanical fish have a perfectly shaped groove in their mouths, hooking them once caught.
Carefully, Ichi winds up, then casts the line into the water, as he has a hundred times before. Or, he tries to. The toy rod is far lighter than anything real he’s used, and the hook goes flying over the river, landing clear over and wrapping around one of the plush bears on the display.
“Ha! Nice try, Mister, but you’re supposed to aim for the fish!”
“Okay,” Ichi replies, casting his rod back in and pretending he can’t hear Gokuraku and Desscaras snickering to his right.
On the second try, things go much smoother.
The fish swims around in circles, so Ichi carefully maneuvers his rod, keeping his hook in its line of sight as it turns around and—
"Got it!"
The second he feels the string twitch, he flings the hook out of the river, sending the golden fish flying with a spray of water.
"Eeek!" Kumugi shrieks, ducking down and dropping her rod in the process.
"Aughk-!" Gokuraku, having been too focused on his own fish, misses the cue and ends up fully drenched, "Ohooo, playing dirty, are you Icchan?"
Ichi, retrieving his fish from the grass where it landed, shakes his head.
"Shoulda been more vigilant. If this was real fishing you'd probably get hit in the face by one."
"R-really?" Kumugi asks.
Ichi grins.
"Oh yeah! Sometimes I've had fish jump into the boat I was borrowing, or right into my shirt! One time one of their fins got caught in my hair and it kept whacking me in the face trying to get free. Don't worry though, I got it back in the river."
"Ouh….." Kumugi shivers. Her rod lays abandoned on the ground.
"Ehh, don't get too full of yourself!" Gokuraku grins, "Watch this!"
With a flick of his left wrist, he yanks the second golden fish into the air, where he catches it with his right hand.
"How's that?!"
"Ohh!!! Amazing!" Ichi applauds, as does Kumugi. The fish, still in his hands, flops uselessly.
"Very nice, you two!" Says the woman running the stall. "I'll take those off your hands then."
Ichi frowns. "I don't get to keep it?"
"What would you even do with a mechanical fish, Icchan? You know you can't eat it, right?"
"Yeah, but still…"
Gokuraku hands over his fish, collecting Ichi's to return as well.
"Cheer up, kid!" Says the woman, "You can pick whatever prize you like from our fabulous prize wall!"
She gestures above her with great flare.
"What do you think, Kumugi?" Ichi asks, turning towards Kumugi, still dusting herself off from ducking for cover.
"M-me!? Um… I think the bears are pretty cute. That red one is nice."
She points to a large stuffed bear, a lovely shade of velvet red with large bead eyes. It looks pathetically sad, with the lights of the stand giving it the impression of tears clouding its eyes.
"Okay! One red bear please!"
"No hesitation…" Gokuraku observes, "Actually, I'll take a bear too! A blue one."
"Two bears, coming right up!"
The woman uses a long pole to unhook the bears from their stand, bringing them down to their waiting recipients.
"Here you are!" She passes the bears off to Gokuraku and Ichi respectively. Though they're not heavy, the size is such that it still takes Ichi both arms to hold his.
"How are you ladies faring?" The attendant asks, turning her attention over towards Kumugi and Desscaras.
"Ah- I dropped it. It's… um— got it!" Kumugi grabs her pole off the ground from where it's fallen. In her haste, she flings the hook out of the water, alongside a small pink fish.
"Hey, you got one!"
"Nice, Mugi."
Kumugi laughs sheepishly.
"Aha… here you are…"
She trades her fish back to the woman running the stand. As she's discussing which colour octopus to get, Gokuraku turns his attention over towards Desscaras.
"Hmmm~ How's the world's greatest witch fairing for herself, huh?"
Desscaras pulls her line out of the water.
"Pretty well, I'd say."
To Gokuraku's shock, Desscaras had somehow managed to loop a whopping four green fish all onto one hook, crowded around each other.
"How?!"
Desscaras smirked. "I'm not the greatest for nothing!"
"Whoaahoho!! I've never seen that before! Take your pick of the prizes, ma'am!"
The woman operating the attraction looks just as stunned as Kumugi, now carrying a small blue octopus plush, does.
"Hmm. Purple bear."
"You've got it!"
As Desscaras accepts her prize, she turns over towards Kumugi.
"Here ya go, Mugi."
"W-what!?"
"Eh, I don't need 'em. And I don't wanna carry it. So you can keep it."
"A-are you sure?"
"Just take it."
Ichi jumps up.
"Oh, me too! Here, Kumugi! You can have this one too!"
"What!?"
"Yeah, Mugi! Here you go."
"Wait-- There's so many!"
---
From there it’s a dead tie at ring tossing, as everyone except Kumugi tosses their rings perfectly onto the marked bottle, enchanted to spin around a circuit. While her rings end up missing, she still winds up walking away with three giant duck plushes.
It’s the same story at Whack-A-Majik, the ladder game where each rung was a magic item with a mind of its own, popping a balloon using the provided dart spell, and of course, magic skeeball.
Somehow, some way, Desscaras, Ichi, and Gokuraku all wind up in a tie for first at each game they play, leaving Mugi trailing behind, yet somehow ending up with all the prizes.
(“I’m not sure the bag can take much more!” Kumugi had said, trying to shove her 3rd giant horse plush into the pouch. However, it only took one moment of Desscaras holding it to pour in enough mana to swallow the toy whole, leaving a slightly terrified Kumugi in her wake.)
“You’re pretty good at this!” Gokuraku said.
“Told ya,” Desscaras replied flippantly.
“You’re pretty good too, Gokuraku!” Ichi replies, preventing Gokuraku from replying to Desscaras, as the praise evidently makes him blush.
“Yeah yeah, get a room.” Desscaras says, before turning toward Kumugi, “Hey Mugi, it’s your turn to pick a game.”
“Wh-what! Me?”
Desscaras shrugs.
“You’re the only one who hasn’t picked one yet. Or won.”
“W-ah…. You’re right…”
Kumugi pauses walking, standing in the field and looking at everything around her. By now, they’ve given most games at the fair a shot. In the hopes of finding anything to break the tie, she points at the first stall she sees they haven’t already visited.
“That one! Let’s play… uh…”
“The Thrilling 3-Question Quiz Showdown~!” Says an overly enthusiastic woman, nearly falling off her stool as she waves them over.
“Ye-yeah. That.”
“You heard her,” says Desscaras, following her over.
All four of them take a seat on a set of stools set up around a large bench. On the other side of it sits the woman running the attraction, and a large board behind her.
“Welcome, welcome! My trial is simple~” The woman grins, “I’ll ask all of you 3 questions. You’ve got 5 seconds to answer, so shout it out as soon as you think of it! If you can get all of them right, you win our special mystery prize!”
She points over towards a white box sitting over on a table, aptly labeled “really cool mystery prize play to win” in hastily scrawled text.
“Ready to play?”
The four share a nod, and after Desscaras hands over the Majey, the woman begins.
“First question!”
The words appear on the board behind her as she speaks.
“Who is the strongest witch of the modern era?!”
“Icchan!” says Gokuraku.
“Kumugi!” says Ichi.
“Me,” says Desscaras.
“M-Master Desscaras, the Abyssal Witch!” Cries Kumugi.
“Bzzzt! Times up!” The woman waves her arm above her head, the correct answer displaying on the board behind her.
Desscaras, the Abyssal Witch, is displayed in vivid green.
“Heeh~” Desscaras smirks.
“Way to go, little lady!” The attendant says, gesturing towards Kumugi. “Ready for the next question? Doesn’t matter, here we go! How tall is the tallest spire of the Mantinel Witches’ Association HQ?”
“Uhhhhhm wait– 20 meters?” says Gokuraku.
“Pretty tall!” says Ichi.
“At least a meter shorter than whatever they’re telling you.” says Desscaras.
“Sixty-four meters!” says Kumugi.
“Bzzzt! Time's up!” The woman smiles at Kumugi as the correct answer, 64 meters, appears on the board behind her. “Not bad! But can you best… my final question!”
She leans in dramatically.
“What is the exact population of Natali?”
“Oh, come on.” says Gokuraku.
“Ten Thousand!” Says Ichi.
“Three Million or something,” says Desscaras.
“2, 982, 024!” Kumugi yells, breathless.
Everyone’s attention turns to her, eyes wide in amazement.
“Bzzt! That’s it! The correct answer is…”
2, 982, 024 appears on the board behind her, with two confetti cannons launching a spray of sparkle into the air.
“Incredible! No one’s ever gotten that one right before. Great work ma’am!”
“W-wuh?! I won?”
“Congrats, Kumugi!” Ichi cheers.
“That’s our girl.”
“Nice! Guess that makes you the winner of our bet, eh?”
Kumugi blushes, flustered but happy.
“And for your efforts~” The attendant singsongs, “You win our fantastic prize!”
She walks over towards the box, lifting it up to reveal the reward beneath. Sitting politely on the stand, in perfect new condition, is a replica plush of Desscaras. …It bears little resemblance to the real woman, standing only a half a meter away.
“Here you go! Congrats~!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“O-oh! Thanks!”
“Enjoy~!” The woman waves them off, as the group leaves the booth. Standing in the field, the group huddles around the plush. Its large bead eyes stare out at them, glassy and wide and slightly askew.
“...They can never quite capture my beauty in plush form.” Desscaras remarks.
“I dunno,” Gokuraku picks up the plush, tilting it around. “I think it’s the spitting image of you!”
He holds it up towards Desscaras, who scowls at him, sticking her tongue out.
“Hey, yeah! Just like that!”
Desscaras lunges for the plush, but Gokuraku tosses it over towards Ichi before she can reach him. He grins, passing it along to Kumugi. Startled, she nearly drops it, but manages to toss it back over Desscaras’ head.
Then Gokuraku’s running, and the others are following, off through the field, past all the games they’d beaten. The colourful lights blur as they go, the night sky finally having settled into place. Onto the next attractions they went!
---
“Am I to take it that your mission was a success?” Moneygold asks. Late into the night, she’s visibly stifling a yawn. Still, she’d assigned this mission, so it was her responsibility to see it through.
Desscaras stands in front of her, reporting back into HQ as obliged after their return. Behind her floats several large bubbles. In one, the entire pile of plushes, looming over them like an impending meteor. A piece of paper is stuck onto it’s side, reading “Mugi’s”. In another, an overwhelming amount of fair food Desscaras had snagged before their exit, labeled “Mine, Don’t Touch.”. In the remaining three, through the shimmering layer of magic, are the sleeping forms of Ichi, Gokuraku, and Kumugi respectively. Though exhausted, the smiles on their faces are evident.
Desscaras’ replies with a grin, and a mouth full of cotton candy, “Ith aaways iz.”
