Every school has a few spots where young couples go on dates.
Places like the rooftop, the sports field, and the groves.
Tachibana High School was no exception.
Tachibana High School's courtyard lay between the school building and the gymnasium, with a few ginkgo trees planted along the edge of the lawn.
A row of wooden benches lined the grass, backed by a low holly hedge that perfectly blocked the view between the courtyard and the hallway.
On Mondays, the courtyard was always at its quietest during lunch break, as very few people usually came here.
After the lunch bell rang, couples would occasionally come to these benches to share a bento or just sit shoulder-to-shoulder, enjoying a brief moment of undisturbed peace before the first afternoon class.
A first-year girl stood by the holly hedge, clutching an envelope in both hands, her voice trembling.
“...Um... Senpai, I've been watching you ever since the entrance ceremony. Every time we pass each other in the hallway, I want to talk to you, but I always regret it after I walk by.”
“Today, I finally gathered the courage. I like you! If it's okay, please go out with me!”
The upperclassman she was confessing to had her back turned, hiding her expression.
Silence stretched for a few seconds before the upperclassman's voice came, soft but steady.
“...I'm sorry, I already like someone else.”
The first-year girl remained bowed, motionless.
After a few seconds, she finally stood up straight, her lips pressed tightly together, the rims of her eyes slightly red.
But she was trying hard to maintain her composure, not wanting to look too pathetic.
“...Is that so? Thank you for telling me, Senpai. Um—can I still say hello to you when we pass in the hallway?”
“Of course you can.”
The girl took a step back, turned, and quickly walked away.
She controlled her pace well, not looking pathetic at all.
But the moment she rounded the corner of the courtyard, she raised her hand to wipe the corner of her eye.
Qiluo sat on a bench with her bento box resting on her lap, picking up a piece of tamagoyaki.
Witnessing a confession rejection in its entirety was even more stomach-churning than seeing a drunkard hugging an oden pot and singing during her night shift at the convenience store.
Confessions... Handing over your feelings with every ounce of courage you had, only to have them gently pushed back—something like that didn't seem to have anything to do with her.
In her original world's school, she had seen similar scenes.
Every evening, there would be students confessing, and she had leaned on the windowsill to listen to them quite a few times.
The ways they confessed were incredibly flashy.
Once, a boy used wind magic to write his crush's name in the sky, but the wind suddenly shifted, turning the name into that of another girl.
The farce ended that night with three people confronting each other at the entrance of the observatory, and Qiluo had watched the whole thing from the window while eating snacks, deciding that romance was far too much trouble.
Back then, she thought those people were truly brave, packaging their feelings to hand to someone else without any fear of them being shattered.
Qiluo would never do that.
She hadn't done it in her original world, and she wouldn't do it in this one either.
It wasn't because she didn't trust others, but because she couldn't even reveal her own background completely.
The prerequisite for a confession was sincerity, yet every layer of her identity was wrapped in necessary lies.
Who would fall for someone who didn't even have a real name?
She picked up the last piece of tamagoyaki from her bento box.
“So... have I been stood up?”
Qiluo stared toward the entrance of the courtyard.
After the girl who failed her confession ran off, the courtyard fell completely silent.
Only the rustling of leaves rubbing against each other in the wind remained.
She had saved the best dishes in her bento for last, but if Yuki Kurokawa didn't show up soon, they would get completely cold.
She waited a moment longer, rested her chopsticks on the edge of the bento box, and fished her phone out of her pocket.
After a moment's thought, she decided not to send a message to rush her.
Yuki Kurokawa wasn't someone who would be late for no reason; there had to be a cause.
She shifted Star-trail's senses to her primary awareness, and in a fraction of a second, her consciousness traversed half the city and landed in Yuki's bedroom.
Star-trail was curled up on the pillow, half its face buried under its tail. Awakened by her conscious connection, its ears twitched, and it stood up from the pillow.
“Go find her.”
Star-trail leapt down from the bed and turned into a streak of silver light, slipping through the gap in the window.
Qiluo closed her eyes, letting Star-trail's senses fully take over her consciousness.
It turned toward the old shopping district.
Atop the arcade of the old shopping district, a medium-sized Erosion Body was perched on the rusted iron rafters.
Its body was flat, its carapace covered in fine, dark-green patterns, and its core had not yet fully lit up.
However, its legs had already begun to secrete a thick, viscous liquid that dripped down the steel rafters of the arcade, corroding pits into the asphalt where it landed.
Two low-tier Erosion Bodies flanked it, tearing at the storefront curtain of a closed-down shoe shop.
Snowrealm's deep black hair was whipped up by waves of mana, and the hem of her skirt refracted a cool rainbow of light in the afternoon sun.
Cutting in from the flank, her straight sword was already unsheathed. The chain wrapped three times around her left wrist as she waited for the perfect angle to strike.
Sure enough, she had transformed into Snowrealm and was currently fighting Erosion Bodies on the street alongside Mingyue.
“Snowrealm, take the one on the left. I'll handle the medium-sized one.”
Another voice called out from above.
Mingyue stood on the other side of the arcade, her long hair tied into a neat ponytail. Nuomi perched on her shoulder, its two tails held perfectly straight.
“Understood.”
Snowrealm gave a brief reply and dashed in from the side, turning into a silver-blue afterimage.
Ice dust drifted from beneath her skirt, leaving a trail of frost on the walls she stepped on.
Taking three quick steps up the wall, she flipped onto the shoe shop's sign. Her blade carved a silver-white arc, slicing precisely into the joint between the Erosion Body's head and thorax.
The second low-tier lunged at her from behind.
Without looking back, she whipped her chain backward, its pointed tip driving deep into the Erosion Body's abdomen.
Using the leverage to pull, she dragged it out of midair, where her straight sword was already waiting for it.
Above, Mingyue had already engaged the medium-sized one.
The scythe spun like a wheel in her hands, every slash carving into the gaps of the carapace.
Nuomi launched itself from her shoulder, and a golden shockwave exploded against the steel rafters of the arcade, numbing the medium-sized creature's legs.
Seizing the moment its movements faltered, Mingyue lunged for its core, thrusting her scythe through a crack in the carapace.
A blast of deep-blue mana surged from the tip of the blade, blowing the Erosion Body's core to pieces from the inside.
Mhm, nothing major, just a run-of-the-mill Erosion Body incursion.
And they aren't in any danger either. Well then, time to head back and keep sleeping!
Star-trail yawned and flew back into the covers of the Kurokawa household.
“Are there any other Erosion Bodies?” Mingyue asked, resting her scythe on the ground.
“No more. The Observation Department's alarm only marked these three,” Nuomi replied, hopping back onto her shoulder.
Snowrealm sheathed her straight sword.
She pulled her phone out of the equipment pouch at her waist.
While transformed, her phone was encased in a thin layer of ice, keeping it well protected.
She swiped open the screen, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
“Who are you messaging?” Mingyue asked, standing beside her with the scythe propped on her shoulder, tilting her head to look.
Rate on N.U.
