Yuki Is in Danger

Kizuna stood at the school gate of Tachibana High School, looking up at the stone monument engraved with the school's name.

She took a deep breath and patted her cheeks firmly, shaking off the last trace of sleepiness.

“Alright—it's my first day, I can't embarrass my sister!” She gripped the straps of her schoolbag tightly and stepped through the school gates.

The hallways were filled with the vibrant energy of youth. Hand-drawn posters for the school festival covered the bulletin boards, and near the shoe lockers, a few girls huddled together, discussing last week's idol live show.

As Kizuna walked past, she stole glances at these scenes out of the corner of her eye, a subtle flutter of excitement rising in her heart.

The door to the staff room was half-open. Kizuna stood at the entrance and looked down to check the bow on her collar.

The neat bow her sister had tied for her was still perfectly in place, untouched by the crowded train ride.

She took a deep breath and knocked twice on the door.

“Come in,” Ms. Tanabe called out, looking up from behind her desk and removing her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose.

A transfer registration form lay open before her. Next to the name “Kizuna Asana” in the name field, there was a recently submitted photo.

She looked at the girl with the innocent smile in the photo, then at the actual girl standing at the door—equally innocent, but slightly more mature than her photo—and the corners of her mouth curved upward.

“Asana-san, correct? Please, take a seat.”

She pointed to the chair beside the desk. Once Kizuna sat down, she opened the folder. “I've reviewed your situation. You took a leave of absence previously due to health issues, and now you've recovered and are returning to school, correct?”

“...Yes,” Kizuna replied, placing her hands on her knees and sitting up straight.

She recalled her sister's advice.

On the first day of school, make a good impression on the teacher, and look them in the eye when speaking.

So, she looked up to meet Ms. Tanabe's gaze and found that her eyes were very warm.

“Don't worry, Tachibana High School is very welcoming to transfer students. In fact, we already have another transfer student in our class, so everyone is quite used to new faces.”

Ms. Tanabe closed the folder and stood up. “Let's go. I'll take you to the classroom. It's just in time for morning homeroom.”

She paused as she reached the door and looked back at Kizuna. “Oh, by the way, that other transfer student is named Qiluo Tian Gong. She only enrolled a few months ago. You two should get to know each other.”

Qiluo Tian Gong.

Kizuna Asana noted down the name of the person she was about to meet.

The hallway was quiet, save for the distant sound of a class reading an English textbook in unison.

Kizuna followed behind Ms. Tanabe, her light steps treading on the patches of sunlight filtering onto the floor, the ends of her light flaxen hair bouncing gently against her shoulders.

She quietly reached into the side pocket of her schoolbag, touching the tail of Star-trail, who was curled up asleep inside, and murmured in her heart: Here I go.

The classroom still held a relaxed post-weekend atmosphere.

Some students took advantage of the teacher's absence to pass around photos from last night's joint live show, while Rei leaned over Qiluo's desk, showing her the fan comments under Seisou's update from yesterday.

“Look at this one—‘Seisou's first performance was so stable, winning the Magical Girl Star is only a matter of time’! What did I tell you? The ones I support never fail!”

Rei held her phone up in front of Qiluo.

“Last time, you said your favorite was Wings of Freedom,” Qiluo remarked, resting her chin on her crossed arms, her eyelids half-drooped.

“They both are! Is there a rule against that?”

Rei defensively pulled her phone back. Just as she was about to scroll down for more comments, the front door of the classroom slid open.

Ms. Tanabe walked in, followed by a figure wearing a brand-new school uniform.

Her gaze quickly swept across the unfamiliar faces in the classroom, finally landing on the blackboard at the back of the room, as if trying to find a safe spot to anchor her eyes.

“This is our new transfer student,” Ms. Tanabe said, clapping her hands gently to quiet the room before turning to Kizuna. “Please, introduce yourself.”

Kizuna stood on the podium, dozens of eyes looking back at her all at once.

My name is Kizuna Asana. I took a leave of absence for a while due to health reasons, but I've fully recovered now. I'm very happy to be classmates with everyone. Please look after me!”

As soon as Kizuna finished speaking, whispers broke out in the classroom.

“She's so cute—”

“Her hair is light flaxen. Do you think she dyed it?”

“She said she was in poor health before, but you can't tell at all now.”

Ms. Tanabe clapped her hands to restore order, then turned to Kizuna, her tone slightly warmer than usual. “Asana-san, your seat is in the window row, next to Tian Gong-san.”

The window row.

Kizuna's gaze followed Ms. Tanabe's finger to the second-to-last seat. An open notebook lay on the desk, and next to it sat a girl with a cool, aloof aura.

She was resting her chin on her hand, looking toward the podium, her eyes briefly meeting Kizuna's in midair.

The girl showed no particular expression, but as Kizuna approached, she picked up her schoolbag from the adjacent empty chair and placed it on her own desk to clear the space.

“Hello, I'm Qiluo Tian Gong.”

“...I'm Kizuna Asana,” Kizuna replied, hanging her schoolbag on the hook beside the desk and sitting down.

The seat was still a bit cool. She smoothed down her skirt, placed her hands on her knees, and turned her head to look at her new deskmate's profile.

This distance was much closer than when she was on the podium—close enough that she could see the curl of the other girl's eyelashes.

Qiluo Tian Gong was looking down, turning to a new page in her notebook, pressing it flat with her fingertips.

Realizing she had been staring for too long, Kizuna quickly pulled her gaze back, looking down to retrieve her textbooks and pencil case from her bag.

Inside the bag, Star-trail was still fast asleep.

She had glanced down on the train earlier; it had buried its face under its tail, its ears flattened softly against its head, with absolutely no sign of waking up.

This morning, her sister had stuffed a small bag of cookies into her schoolbag as a greeting gift to share with her new classmates. Right now, it was squished right under Star-trail's belly, completely covered by its tail.

She arranged her textbooks on the desk, placed her pencil case in the upper-right corner, made sure her bag was hung properly, and then took a deep breath, saying in a voice just loud enough for her neighbor to hear, “Please look after me.”

Stealing a glance to see Qiluo Tian Gong's reaction, she found the other girl looking back at her with a slight curve to her lips. It didn't seem like she found Kizuna strange; rather, she seemed to find her a bit cute.

This made Kizuna feel even more self-conscious.

She kept her head down, pretending to organize her pencil case, swapping the positions of two pens back and forth several times.

“Please look after me as well,” Qiluo Tian Gong replied, her voice just soft enough for only Kizuna to hear.

After morning homeroom ended and before the first class began, the relaxed atmosphere returned to the classroom.

A few girls gathered around Kizuna's desk, curiously asking which school she had attended before and what her favorite subjects were.

Kizuna answered them one by one, twirling the ends of her hair with her finger in embarrassment whenever they complimented her on being cute.

Once the girls dispersed, Kizuna turned around, pulled the bag of cookies out of her schoolbag, and carefully tore open the seal.

Star-trail rolled over inside the bag, its tail sliding off the package. Kizuna quickly tipped the bag downward, letting a few intact cookies tumble into her palm.

She placed the bag in the middle of their desks and pushed it slightly toward Qiluo.

The cookies were a pale yellow, their edges baked to a light golden brown, with a few chocolate chips embedded on the surface.

Kizuna pushed the bag a little further forward, her fingers lightly pinching the opening. Her voice carried a hint of tentative anticipation. “My sister baked these. She told me to bring them for my new classmates. Would you like to try some?”

Qiluo looked down at the bag of cookies.