The whistle ending physical education class echoed across the track and field. Qiluo tossed her empty sports drink bottle into the trash can and walked toward the locker room with Rei.
Rei chattered beside her, comparing the running times of each class, while Qiluo responded half-heartedly.
By the time she snapped out of it, Yuki Kurokawa was no longer on the track.
“That girl was talking and laughing after PE class. Did she recover already?” Qiluo stared in that direction thoughtfully before turning to head to the locker room a few seconds later.
The locker room was filled with the warm, humid air of post-exercise heat. Girls were laughing and chatting as they changed. Rei asked her if she wanted to check out the newly opened dessert shop after school, and she gave a vague “we'll see” in response. Then, she froze.
Deep within her consciousness, Star-trail sent her a signal. The state-sensing marker she had planted in Yuki Kurokawa's left-hand contract mark on their first night had been triggered.
The marker was something she had set up on a whim when the contract was established. Its function was very basic: to monitor the contractor's vital signs and the state of her magic circuit, sending an alert if any indicators fluctuated dangerously. This way, even if Yuki Kurokawa was out of her sight, any severe fluctuations in her physical state would be transmitted in real-time through the marker.
As a Contract Spirit—though she didn't know how Nuomi and the others treated their contractors—she knew Yuki was her contractor and partner now. If something happened to her partner without her knowing, that would be a disaster.
Right now, that marker was pulsing rapidly at the edge of her consciousness. Blood pressure plunging, heart rate spiking, body temperature normal but cold sweat breaking out on the skin's surface.
It was Yuki Kurokawa.
What an idiot. She had just completed the contract last night and depleted her mana. Today she skipped breakfast, and she barely ate anything for lunch.
“What's wrong?” Rei looked back.
“...I'm going to the restroom. Go back to the classroom first.” She turned and walked quickly toward Class B's locker room, breaking into a light jog halfway there.
The locker room was already empty. Yuki Kurokawa was sitting on the floor with her back against a locker, knees pulled up, and forehead resting against them. She was still clutching her gym uniform, not yet having had the chance to put it away. Her breathing was shallow and rapid, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
Ah... it was low blood sugar combined with a delayed reaction to last night's mana surge. Her body was hosting mana for the first time, and her metabolic consumption was far exceeding normal levels.
Qiluo squatted in front of her, pressing her fingers against the pulse on the inside of her wrist. The moment she touched her, Yuki Kurokawa raised her head, her deep blue eyes still glassy and unfocused from dizziness.
Her gaze lingered on Qiluo's face for a long time, as if trying to identify her, before she said softly, “...The girl from Class A.”
“Qiluo Tian Gong,” she introduced herself, then reached into the pocket of her athletic shorts. There was a piece of candy in her pocket. She had found it at the convenience store earlier, and since it was delicious, she carried one with her every day.
She placed the candy in Yuki Kurokawa's palm. “Low blood sugar. Eat this.”
Yuki Kurokawa looked down at the candy, picked it up with her fingertips, slowly unwrapped the paper, and popped it into her mouth.
A sweet aroma drifted into the air. She sucked on the candy silently for a few seconds, then wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.
They were physiological tears brought on by the dizziness.
“...Thank you,” she said, her voice carrying a bit more strength than before.
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.” Yuki Kurokawa placed her gym uniform on the bench and slowly pushed herself up from the floor. Once standing, she took half a step back to put some distance between herself and the stranger. Her expression returned to its usual neat, detached coldness. “Thank you. I'm fine now.”
“It would be better to go lie down in the nurse's office.”
“No need, we have a quiz next period.” Yuki Kurokawa picked up her schoolbag and walked toward the door. As they brushed past each other, she paused for a brief second and glanced sideways at Qiluo.
“Tian Gong-san.” She paused, looking as though she wanted to clarify something, but in the end, she only said, “The candy was delicious.”
Then she walked out of the locker room. Qiluo stood where she was, casually folding the gym uniform and throwing it into the laundry basket. The sensation of holding Yuki Kurokawa's wrist still lingered on her fingers, along with the memory of that damp, not-quite-focused gaze looking up at her.
“...Why is it that none of the Magical Girls in this world know how to take care of themselves?” she muttered to herself as she left the locker room and headed back to her classroom.
At the convenience store.
Qiluo changed into her uniform and tied her apron strings into a perfect bow behind her waist. There weren't many people at the register, so she took advantage of the downtime to align the drinks in the cooler so their labels faced forward, and refilled the broth for the oden.
Nishikawa was his usual self, drifting back and forth between the backroom and the register. Occasionally, during shift handovers, he would mutter, “Watch the expiration date on this one,” before turning invisible again.
This was because the store manager had a rule against talking during shifts.
As Qiluo scanned items and rang up customers, she thought about how Yuki Kurokawa had looked that afternoon.
The usually flawless, top-of-the-class student, with her eyes red over a single piece of candy, saying thank you.
My, my. I've seen quite a surprising side of you, Kurokawa-san.
Upon returning to her apartment, the first thing she did was check the warming array. The mana supply had returned to its normal threshold, and the room's temperature remained consistent with before.
She sat down at the low table, took a convenience store bread roll out of her bag, and switched Star-trail's senses to her primary consciousness while she ate.
Eating food while having a show to watch. Not bad at all.
Star-trail was currently perched on the armrest of the sofa in the Kurokawa household's living room.
Yuki Kurokawa sat at her desk, with today's math quiz spread out in front of her. She had been staring at the same problem for quite a while, slowly twirling her pen between her fingers.
Her complexion was much better than it had been in the afternoon, and color had returned to her lips. A half-drunk glass of milk sat on her desk next to an empty salad bowl; at least she had eaten something tonight.
“...Star-trail,” she suddenly spoke, her eyes never leaving the problem.
“Yes?”
“I felt dizzy after PE today.”
“I know.” It hopped down from the armrest and trotted over to squat beside the desk. “How are you feeling now?”
“I'm fine. A classmate I don't know helped me.” Her pen stopped spinning as she finished speaking. She raised her head to look at Star-trail. “Qiluo Tian Gong from Class A. Do you know her?”
Qiluo paused mid-bite of her bread roll back in her apartment.
“...No, I don't,” Star-trail's voice was steady and clear.
“She had the scent of starlight on her shoulders. It was very faint, but very similar to yours.”
She spoke very softly. Once she finished, she returned her gaze to the problem and started twirling her pen again, as if she had only mentioned it in passing.
Qiluo slowly swallowed her bread in her apartment, realizing her heart had skipped a beat.
“...Wait,” she put down her bread and muttered to herself in a low voice, “she can smell Star-trail's scent?”
“Star-trail,” Yuki Kurokawa spoke again, tapping her pen lightly against her scratch paper as if organizing her thoughts. “I recall that girl from Class A is a returnee student, a transfer. I'm considering whether I should go thank her.”
“She helped you, so thanking her is only natural.”
“Yes.” Yuki Kurokawa lowered her head to look back at the problem, but the tips of her ears flushed a subtle red. She flipped her notebook to the next page and added in a tone more serious than usual, “Just to say thank you. Nothing else.”
Star-trail's tail swished slowly on the armrest. Qiluo took a bite of her bread in her apartment at the same time, her lips curling up. You're the one insisting there's nothing else to it, so why are your ears red? She only gave you a single piece of candy.
She swallowed her bread, brushed the last few crumbs off her fingers, and sat cross-legged. For now, Yuki Kurokawa's attitude toward Qiluo Tian Gong was simply that of a helpful stranger.
There was currently no overlap between the social networks of these two identities. As long as she handled the details of her switches carefully, she wouldn't blow her cover.
But in the long run, Yuki Kurokawa would frequently interact with both identities at the same time.
“...Star-trail,” Yuki Kurokawa finished writing her last problem, capped her pen, and suddenly asked, “what do you think of Tian Gong-san?”
Star-trail tilted its head, the star chart in its pupils slowly rotating half a turn. “I've only seen her once from afar in the hallway.”
“Then, do you think she could be a Magical Girl?”
Qiluo rested her forehead against her knees in her apartment. What a perfect opportunity. Why didn't I think of this?
“It is possible. People who possess Star Seed aptitude but have not formed a contract do indeed leave trace amounts of mana around them. If her aptitude is strong enough, the residual mana outside her body might present as specific sensory signals. Your smelling the scent of starlight means her mana affinity might be compatible with the astrology spectrum.”
“So she won't necessarily become a Magical Girl. She just has the aptitude.”
“Just the aptitude,” Star-trail agreed with a nod. It hopped down from the armrest and walked toward the bathroom, its tail gently brushing past Yuki Kurokawa's ankle. “You weren't feeling well today, so you should rest early.”
“Wait,” Yuki Kurokawa called out to it. “Where are you sleeping?”
“The sofa.”
“The sofa is too cold.” Yuki Kurokawa stood up and pushed her chair back under the desk, her movements light so as not to make a harsh scraping sound. “Sleep on the bed. I'll share my pillow with you.”
Star-trail's ears twitched. It raised its silver-white head, the rotation of the star chart in its pupils slowing down.
Last night, she had secretly pulled Star-trail into the covers after it fell asleep. Tonight, she was asking directly.
“...Okay,” Star-trail replied.
Cough, cough. Even though I know I won't sleep well tonight, looking at her condition, if I refuse, she'll probably be very disappointed.
If she's disappointed, her magic circuit will slow down. If it slows down, her strength will weaken. That would be bad when she has to fight.
Yes, that's exactly why.
She dimmed the bedside reading light to its lowest, warmest setting and patted the pillow, signaling for Star-trail to come up.
Star-trail hopped lightly onto the bed and squatted at the edge of the pillow, its tail neatly wrapping around to cover its front paws. Yuki Kurokawa glanced at it, then suddenly reached out, scooped it into her arms, and buried her face in its belly.
“I can't keep watching this,” Qiluo whispered to herself from beneath the covers in her apartment, staring at the ceiling.
She slightly dialed back the intensity of the sensory transmission from Star-trail to her main body.
Starlight particles leaked from between Yuki Kurokawa's fingers, glowing with a faint silver-white light in the dim bedroom. With her face buried in Star-trail's belly, she mumbled, “Apples for breakfast tomorrow,” and within two minutes, her breathing became steady and long. Her fingers still rested loosely on Star-trail's back.
In the middle of the night, she started talking in her sleep again.
“No...” Her brow furrowed, her fingers holding Star-trail tightening as her shoulders curled slightly inward. “Don't take it away... That's mine...”
It was probably another dream about something being thrown away. Qiluo recalled the neatly aligned textbooks on Yuki Kurokawa's desk and the walls devoid of any decorations.
Qiluo quieted down for a moment, then controlled Star-trail to gently wriggle out of Yuki Kurokawa's embrace. Yuki Kurokawa let out a muffled protest, her fingers grasping at the empty space in her arms. Star-trail quickly slipped the tip of its tail into her palm. She grasped the tail tip, and her brow eased slightly.
Then, Star-trail lowered its head and pressed its forehead against her furrowed brow. The star-shaped mark touched her hot skin, and the rotating star chart cast an extremely gentle silver-white glow in the darkness.
After a few seconds, Yuki Kurokawa's brow gradually smoothed out. Her breathing stabilized once more, and her fingers holding Star-trail's tail relaxed.
...
When the lunch break bell rang, Rei showed up right on time at Qiluo's desk, holding two bento boxes. One was her own, and the other was a simple, solid black one.
“I made this for you!” Rei placed the black bento box on the desk and lifted the lid. Inside, octopus sausages, tamagoyaki, and a few carrot slices cut into flower shapes were neatly arranged.
“I noticed the other day that all your bentos are bought from the convenience store. My mom said convenience store bentos aren't nutritionally balanced. I made this with my mom this morning, so give it a try!”
“...Will this be too much trouble for you?”
Qiluo froze for a moment, her hands clenching unnaturally. This was the first time since arriving in this world that she had received such a warm gesture of kindness.
Rei is so sweet. I could literally marry her.
“It's no trouble at all! My mom absolutely loves cooking for people. She says since she's making a portion for two anyway, making it for three is basically the same. Oh, and by the way, my mom said she wants to meet you. She was like, 'That returnee transfer student must have a hard time living all by herself.' See? She's even more of a gossip than I am!”
Rei waved her hand dismissively and practically forced the bento into Qiluo's hands.
Qiluo picked up a piece of octopus sausage and popped it into her mouth. The crispy skin snapped lightly between her teeth, the savory and sweet flavors balanced perfectly.
“It's delicious. Please thank your mother for me.”
“Hehe, then why don't you eat with me tomorrow too? It's really no extra effort to make another portion anyway.” Rei picked up a star-shaped egg roll from her own bento and placed it into Qiluo's box. “This is my specialty!”
“You made this?”
“Yeah! It's just an egg roll, it's not that hard. What's with that look?”
Their playful banter quickly restored the usual teasing atmosphere between them.
“Tian Gong-san—did you go see Kurokawa-san yesterday?”
Qiluo was just about to pop the last egg roll into her mouth; she was the type who liked to save her favorite foods for last.
Rei suddenly dropped that out of nowhere.
“How did you know?”
Qiluo finished chewing and swallowed to ensure her mouth was completely empty before answering.
“Because the person in question is standing right outside our classroom door, holding what looks like a thank-you gift.”
Qiluo looked up. Yuki Kurokawa was standing by the back door of Class A, holding a light blue bento box in her hands.
Class B's classroom was right next to Class A's. During lunch breaks, students from both classes often visited each other, so Class A's students were well used to people from the neighboring class dropping in.
However, Yuki Kurokawa showing up in Class A was definitely not a common sight. Several girls sitting in the back row had already paused their chopsticks, exchanging glances with one another.
Rate on N.U.
