At one in the afternoon, Qiluo was startled awake by the vibration of her phone.
Rei had sent six messages in a row.
“Are you awake yet?”
“Don't tell me you're still sleeping.”
“Qiluo Tian Gong, are you standing me up?”
They were interspersed with a few stickers.
The last one said: “Actually, sleep a bit longer. I'll wait for you at the station. No rush.”
She replied with a brief “just woke up,” tossed her phone onto the pillow, and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.
She had barely slept last night.
It all started around midnight when Star-trail sensed waves of mana coming from Yuki.
Sneaking out to train in the middle of the night wasn't something Yuki was doing for the first time.
Qiluo rolled over in bed. She originally didn't want to bother, but Star-trail's senses were constantly active.
She could feel that Yuki's magic circuit was beginning to fluctuate with slight instability as she repeatedly practiced a certain move.
With a sigh, she switched Star-trail's senses to her primary consciousness.
Star-trail slipped silently through the window, landed near the park, and crouched in a corner to watch for a long time.
Yuki was repeatedly practicing a single move. Every time she swung her chain, excess mana would vibrate at the tip, causing the chain's trajectory to wobble.
Yuki probably realized this herself. She bit her lip and tried over and over, beads of sweat already forming on her forehead.
Star-trail called out to stop her. When Yuki tried again, she succeeded on her first attempt. She turned to look at Star-trail, her eyes lighting up.
And then, Qiluo was drafted by Yuki to help out for two whole hours.
She had to stand in the center of the training ground and act as a mock enemy.
By the time Yuki was finally satisfied and carried Star-trail back to her room to sleep...
She had just coaxed Yuki back to bed, and before she could even fully retract Star-trail's senses, another consciousness gently tapped her through the contract link.
“...Star-trail. Are you asleep?”
“...No.”
Did these two make a pact to keep me from sleeping?
Even though Star-trail doesn't need sleep, the person behind it definitely does!
That being said, once both of them are through with this busy period, I am absolutely going to curl up on Yuki's pillow and sleep for twelve hours straight over some weekend.
Using Star-trail's senses as my primary ones, of course.
Star-trail leaped gently down from Yuki's pillow, slipped through the window, and flew across the rooftops under the cover of night toward Kizuna's home.
Kizuna was sitting in bed wrapped in her duvet, the faint glow of her phone screen reflecting on her face, with the setlist spread across her lap.
Next to the lyrics, breath marks and emotional cues were highlighted in fluorescent ink, and the margins were packed with dense annotations.
“Insomnia again?” Star-trail hopped from the windowsill onto her bed, leaving several shallow paw prints on the soft duvet.
Kizuna lifted a corner of the blanket to let it crawl in.
“My performance is tomorrow, and I can't sleep.”
Kizuna flipped the setlist to the next page. Under the glow of the bedside lamp, the highlighted marks emitted a faint, pale-green shimmer.
Kizuna babbled on, pouring out all of her worries.
She was worried about singing out of tune, worried about her positioning on stage...
“Kizuna,” Star-trail said, rolling over on her lap. It exposed its belly and draped its tail over the tip of its nose, using this pose to interrupt her increasingly rapid chatter.
Kizuna looked down at it, the highlighter in her hand freezing in midair.
Ever since she became Star-trail's contractor, she knew that it rarely showed its belly. This gesture left it completely defenseless.
It only did this to comfort her, or when asked something difficult.
She gently tapped its forehead with the cap of her pen.
“If you're nervous, you can sing it to me right now. I don't understand music, but I can be your audience.”
Kizuna opened her mouth, but the first note spun around in her throat and turned into a tiny yawn instead.
She folded the setlist and placed it on her nightstand, switched off the lamp, and pulled Star-trail close to her chest.
“I'll sing it for you on stage tomorrow. Just wait for me backstage.”
Kizuna lay on her side. With Star-trail cradled in her arms, its silvery-white fur rose and fell gently with the rhythm of its breathing.
...
Qiluo hesitated in front of her wardrobe for much longer than usual.
Her everyday casual clothes consisted of just a few pieces, mostly in plain colors. She would usually just throw them on and head out the door without a second thought.
But today was different. I'm going to watch Kizuna's performance, she told herself.
As her Contract Spirit, she still harbored some expectations in her heart.
She picked up the white short-sleeved shirt she often wore, then put it back.
In the end, she dressed up in an outfit that looked like it came straight out of a high school girl's fashion magazine.
It was something Yuki had dragged her out to buy back then.
The person in the mirror finally looked like someone who was going out to shop with friends on the weekend.
She was quite satisfied with the result.
On the plaza outside the station, Rei was standing on the edge of a flower bed, peering into the crowd.
One only had to look up to spot Rei instantly amidst the sea of people.
She was wearing a graphic tee printed with Meruru's logo, the back featuring the Light-wing Emblem, and she was holding two cups of bubble tea in her hands.
Spotting Qiluo at the top of the stairs, she jumped down from the flower bed, stood on her tiptoes, and waved enthusiastically, sending a few droplets of condensation from the bubble tea cups flying onto the ground.
“Tian Gong-san! Over here, over here! You look so ladylike today! I was actually worried you'd show up in a tracksuit. Aren't you usually the one who hates putting in effort? Why the sudden glow-up today? Don't tell me—you're actually really looking forward to this concert too, aren't you?”
“No, it's just that my tracksuit was washed yesterday and isn't dry yet.” Qiluo took the bubble tea, poked the straw through the lid, and took a sip.
It was still ice-cold. Rei had probably timed her purchase perfectly based on when Qiluo left her house, but Qiluo didn't point it out.
It was still quite early for the performance, which was why Rei had called Qiluo out so ahead of time.
Whenever these kinds of shows were held, there would always be plenty of merch booths.
The interior of the venue was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
With the stage facing away from the entrance, tiered seating flanked both sides, leaving a standing area in the middle where quite a few audience members were already testing the brightness of their glow sticks.
The overhead dome lights weren't fully on yet; only a few warm-golden spotlights swept slowly across the stage, as if warming up for something about to ignite.
Rei tugged at her sleeve, pulling her inside while muttering about checking out the merch booths first.
Limited-edition badges, keychains, acrylic standees—she didn't want to miss out on a single thing.
Qiluo let herself be dragged along, shifting her gaze from the stage to the merch booths lined up on both sides of the entrance.
Crowds gathered in front of every booth. The air carried the sweet scent of popcorn mingled with the smell of freshly unpacked plastic—a unique combination that could only be found at events like this.
She paused in front of the Meruru booth.
Her eyes swept over the merch printed with her image, featuring Meruru from different eras. Every single smile was drawn flawlessly, identical to the one she had seen during the livestream.
“Tian Gong-san! Look at this! Isn't it super cute!” Rei peeked her head out from a gap in the crowd at the booth, holding up two newly purchased keychains.
Rei waved the Meruru keychain in front of her.
“This one is for you! Buy one, get one free, so they make a perfect pair. It'll look great hanging from your school bag.”
Rate on N.U.
