Too Alike

Back to the present.

“Also, I'll go to the concert.” Qiluo slipped the ticket and the unknown small box into her backpack.

“Oh, right.” Kizuna pulled a kraft paper bag out of her bag. It was the one she and Rei had found in Qiluo's desk the day before yesterday.

“I found this in your drawer when we were decorating the classroom yesterday. Rei said you might have left it behind, so I kept it for you.”

Qiluo took the paper bag and opened it to take a look.

The book lay quietly inside, with that neatly folded sheet of scratch paper tucked beside it.

When she was packing up her things yesterday, she had been wondering where this book had gone. As it turned out, she had left it here.

“Thank you. I was looking for it for a long time yesterday.”

“You're welcome.” Kizuna placed her hands behind her back, the hem of her skirt swaying gently as her body rocked slightly.

She tilted her head and asked casually, “By the way, Tian Gong-san, that drawing of Lightweaver you made was really beautiful. Do you really like Lightweaver?”

Qiluo stuffed the paper bag into her backpack and zipped it up, her expression as calm as usual.

“I wouldn't say I like her that much. I just feel like she's a bit aloof, and I like that about her.”

Hearing this answer, Kizuna nodded thoughtfully.

This evaluation was certainly in line with Tian Gong-san's usual style.

“Oh, right, speaking of Meruru—”

The ticket Kizuna had just handed over had Meruru's name printed on it... and Seina's?

She remembered this kind of ticket. It was exactly the same as the one Meruru had handed to Lightweaver at the Association's café.

“How many of these tickets are there for Meruru's next performance?”

Kizuna, who was tidying her wind-blown hair, paused at her words.

She blinked, clearly not expecting Qiluo to ask this.

“For the VIP seats? Very few. That section isn't open to the public; it's specially reserved for agency executives and Association affiliates. Even my sister only gets a quota of a few tickets, and she has to apply for them way in advance each time.”

Tilting her head, she asked curiously, “Why the sudden question? Are you asking for a ticket on someone's behalf? If so, you might have to wait until next time, since my sister said all the tickets have been given away, leaving not a single one.”

“It's nothing. I was just curious about the scale of Meruru's performances.”

Meruru probably didn't know that Lightweaver and Qiluo Tian Gong were the same person. She had given Lightweaver a ticket out of mutual respect after their spar, and she had given Qiluo Tian Gong a ticket to thank her for taking care of Kizuna at school.

Two gestures of goodwill were sent to two different people, only to end up with the exact same person...

What was she going to do on the day of the performance? She couldn't very well occupy two seats by herself, could she?

Both tickets were personalized invitations. It probably wouldn't be appropriate to transfer them to someone else, either.

If she used her identity as Lightweaver, she could perhaps sell it to someone from the Association, but that would be way too tacky.

Qiluo sighed inwardly.

She would worry about it when the day of the performance came. Worst-case scenario, she could just have Star-trail transform into human form and sit in Lightweaver's seat—

No, that would be even more of a hassle.

“Let's go. Time to change. Rei is already rushing us.”

Qiluo hitched her backpack higher on her shoulder, waved to Kizuna, and turned to walk toward the school building.

The changing room was packed with cosplay outfits sorted by size.

When Qiluo pushed the door open, three or four girls were already in there changing. From behind the curtains came the rustle of fabric and whispered, yet irrepressibly excited, discussions.

“Tian Gong-san! Over here, over here!” The student in charge of costumes poked her head out from behind a clothing rack, holding a transparent garment bag, her face wearing an expression that said, Finally, you're here.

She stuffed the garment bag into Qiluo's arms and pointed to a temporary cloth curtain set up in the corner.

“Your Lightweaver outfit! Go try it on!”

Qiluo took the garment bag. Through the transparent plastic film, she could make out every detail of the outfit.

A silvery-white short jacket, a skirt that was short in the front and long in the back, a thin belt around the waist, and a replica of the star-shaped brooch she was most familiar with.

It was made so accurately that she had the illusion of being completely seen through in broad daylight.

She hugged the garment bag to her chest, nodded to the student in charge, and turned toward the curtain.

Kizuna followed behind her, clutching another garment bag in her arms.

“I've never worn a real Magical Girl cosplay outfit before!”

She stepped into another temporary changing stall, poking half her body back out with sparkling eyes.

Qiluo unzipped the garment bag, pulled out the Lightweaver cosplay outfit, and unfolded it.

Up close, the fabric was thicker than her actual transformation outfit.

The shoulder decorations were sewn on rather than formed by condensed mana, and the hollowed-out patterns on the hem of the skirt were printed on rather than naturally formed by light spots.

Qiluo took a deep breath, shed her school uniform jacket, and pulled her shirt over her head.

The lights of the changing room cast a glow over her back, where silvery-white patterns faintly emerged on the skin between her shoulder blades, looking like marks left by starlight burns.

This was a mark left by long-term use of mana. Usually, it was covered up tightly by her school uniform, and she had never let anyone see it.

She put the outfit on and glanced at the mirror on the inside of the curtain.

She hadn't put on the white wig with red streaks yet. Her face was completely bare of makeup, and her expression carried a sense of resignation.

“Tian Gong-san! Are you done changing?”

Yano Rei had arrived at some point.

“...Almost.” She put on the wig, tucked the last few stray strands of hair into the hairnet, and reached out to pull open the curtain.

The two girls waiting outside the curtain fell silent at the same time.

Rei, clutching a cat-ear headband she hadn't had time to put on yet, stared with her mouth agape for a long while, unconsciously squeezing the headband out of shape.

Kizuna had also finished changing into her cosplay outfit. She stepped out of her temporary stall, leaning against the wall, her long pink hair draped over her shoulders.

The moment she saw Qiluo, her footsteps halted.

“Tian Gong-san...” Kizuna took a step forward, a certain light gently shimmering in her eyes.

Her gaze slid from Qiluo's shoulders down to the hem of her skirt, and finally rested on Qiluo's face. “This outfit really suits you.”

“Right, right?! I knew that Lightweaver outfit would absolutely suit her!”

Rei finally snapped out of it and slapped the cat-ear headband onto her own head. “I hereby declare—the poster girls for our class's Magical Girl-themed café will be the two of you!”