Dan held his helmet to his chest as he gave an overly theatric little bow.

“Daniel Higginbotham, at your service.”

The light of her phone cast a warm glow on her shy smile as she replied,

“Amy Tucker”

Amy

Dan knew he was grinning like a madman, but he didn’t care. For some reason he couldn’t fully explain, he was having more fun than he’d had in ages. More than during the game itself.

“So what’s the plan?”

“The plan?” Amy blinked and shook her head a few times, as though clearing it.

He helpfully raised the paper cone that her little spirit pig had tried to retrieve. The cup still showed glistening traces of water. Water that likely held some kind of cheating magic.

“You needed this?”

“Ah, yes,” her face lit up as she took it. “I need a connection to try and dispel that potion.”

Potion.

Any good feeling Dan had was instantly swept away by a wave of righteous anger.

“I knew it,” he snapped sharply before gritting his teeth with an ‘rrr’ of frustration. His left hand tightened its grip on the face guard of his helmet as he gave the patchy grass a little scuff with one foot. “So the athletic boosters did put something into the lucky water, didn’t they?”

“'Lucky water?” Amy mused as she tucked away her phone and peered around the edge of the building. “Was that what they had in the back of those trucks?”

Dan took a deep breath to restore his sense of calm as he tried to follow her gaze. The angle didn’t quite give a view of the visitor’s benches. When he turned back, she was already looking at him. Without the light from her phone, the shadows made her expression unreadable. The contrast from the glaring field lights reduced her eyes, nose, and mouth to little more than dark patches on a pale face framed by a gray knitted stocking cap, whisps of black hair, and a thick scarf that blended seamlessly with her dark, woolen coat.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “They bring it to every game. The refs checked our school coolers, but they must have missed checking the booster’s. Damn it! I remember thinking the water tasted better than usual. Someone must have spiked it with something.”

She nodded in agreement, the motion making the gray blur of her hat’s pompom bob and wobble. “There was a patch of magic residue on the ground with strong signs of mana activity and decomposition. It looked similar to what I saw on you and your teammates.”

Dan clenched his jaw as unpleasant truths ran through his mind.

So they really had cheated. Maybe not intentionally, but the end result was the same. He took a slow, deep, calming breath. He didn’t want to vent his frustration on the lovely Amy Tucker, especially since she was only trying to help.

“So you did find something,” he said in a low whisper. “But if you found proof, why not say so? Why lie to the officials and your own coaches about us cheating?”

Her dark eyes widened, and she inhaled sharply at the question. She looked down, as though carefully forming her response, before looking back up calmly and directly.

“Did you?”

“Did we what?”

“Cheat?” after a brief pause, she added, “At least, did you mean to?”

Amy’s face may have been unreadable, but her voice sounded full of concern.

It took him a while to admit with a resigned sigh, “Well, we didn’t mean to, at least not me and the team. But that doesn’t really matter, does it? If we didn’t do anything to stop the boosters from cheating for us, that’s the same as if we did it for ourselves.”

After a tense moment, the courageous Amy Tucker took a step closer, leaving little more than half an arm’s length between them.

“Well I don’t see it that way.”

Something about her determination made his heart skip a beat. Dan could swear there was a warm, happy glow surrounding her, and she was inviting him to join her in it. The fact that she was nearly eye level with him only made her that much more irresistible. That and he desperately wanted to believe she could make this right.

“And you have a plan to do something about it, right?”

A hazy curve of a smile appeared above the top of her dark scarf.

“I do! I was hoping to perform a ritual disenchantment. I just needed an anchor for the casting.”

A feeling of hope blossomed in Dan’s chest at Amy’s enthusiasm. Although he had no idea what she was suggesting, his gut instinct was to trust her. She was the magic girl, after all.

Her obvious excitement grew as she continued, “As long as I can establish a sufficiently strong connection, I won’t need physical contact or even a clear sight of the subjects. In fact, I should be able to clean up everyone who consumed the potion, one by one.”

“So you’re going to remove the magic. You just need a good connection.”

“That’s right. I tried to get a sample, but the spirit I summoned wasn’t manifested strongly enough to collect any useful telesma. But then you brought me this!” She cheerfully held up the cup.

Dan hadn’t understood most of what she’d said, but she sure sounded like she knew what she was doing. That and he badly wanted her to succeed, just to see the joy on her face.

“And that will help you make the magic go away?”

“Boom! Just like it was never there. Problem solved.”

Although he was no expert, something about her plan seemed a touch far-fetched.

“And you can do this? You’ve done something like this before?”

Her silent pause and looking away shyly heavily suggested the answer was ‘no’.

“Well, not exactly like this, and not all at once. I’ve done ritual casting, and I can hold the pattern for quite a while, even by myself. I’ve managed remote targeting, and I can disenchant multiple targets in sequence. I’m really good at disenchanting, actually. Mrs. Hillard says I’m a natural breaker.”

Once again, Dan hadn’t followed a word of it.

She continued in a sad tone, “But if you really don’t want me to do this, I won’t.”

The best option really was going back to Coach with the evidence and forfeiting the game. Cheating was cheating, after all. But damn, if he didn’t want this to work, for her as much as for himself. When she’d suggested abandoning her plan, the happy warmth surrounding her had chilled.

He gently put his hands around her gloved hand and the cup, prompting her to look back up.

“Go ahead. I trust you.”

She smiled and nodded, and a little bit of the warmth returned.

Dan reluctantly released his hold on Amy’s hand and took a half-step back to let her work. As she inspected the cup she held in one gloved hand, she put one finger of the other to her chin. She gave a thoughtful ‘hmmm’ before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

Unlike the time she’d gazed at him with stars in her eyes, she wasn’t doing anything openly magical. At least nothing he could see. The vague warmth surrounding her intensified, but that was it. He still found himself holding his breath in anticipation.