Nuomi

They can talk. The magical creatures of this world can talk.

Qiluo’s mind raced. Simultaneously, she had Star-trail gracefully lower its head, performing a subtle yet distinct nod toward Nuomi.

From its debut until now, her Star-trail hadn’t uttered a single word. It only tilted its head, wagged its tail, and made ambiguous little noises.

In the eyes of a real magical creature, that probably looked like a human meeting another person who could only grunt and hum.

…It would probably be seen as a fool.

Fortunately, she in the alley and Star-trail on the street shared a consciousness; the shock only happened on Qiluo’s end. Star-trail’s external reaction was merely its star-chart pupils spinning a fraction faster.

Since magical creatures could talk, Star-trail had to speak too. However, she needed to keep its words few and refined, leaving room for imagination.

An elegant yet cute appearance, a reserved initial attitude, and timely kindness.

Yes, that was it! It wouldn’t be too strange, nor would it be too cold.

Ahem. This is my persona.

“Thank you,” Star-trail spoke. Its voice was clear and ethereal, with an echo that seemed to come from far away.

When Nuomi heard Star-trail speak, its ears twitched even more violently. Its two front paws stepped rhythmically on the ground, as if it didn't know how to express its excitement.

“Mingyue, Mingyue! Did you hear that? It’s a Contract Spirit! A real Contract Spirit!”

In those few short seconds, the Magical Girl Mingyue had already finished off the second Erosion Body.

She swept her scythe back, but her movement was a beat slow as she sheathed it; the blade paused for a moment in the air before she hoisted it onto her shoulder.

She was a Magical Girl specifically paired with a Contract Spirit. The moment this girl named Mingyue saw Star-trail, there was an imperceptible break in her combat rhythm.

It was like someone walking through a desert suddenly seeing a spring in the distance. Their first reaction wasn't to rush over and drink, but to doubt if they were seeing a mirage.

Mingyue walked over with her scythe on her shoulder, traces of dissipating black mist still clinging to the blade. Her movements were half a beat slower than Qiluo expected. As she approached, she kept her eyes fixed on Star-trail, scanning every detail from head to tail.

Nuomi rolled from one of her shoulders to the other before finally sliding down to crouch on her knee, watching the conversation from the best seat in the house.

“Are you a new Contract Spirit?” Mingyue asked. “I haven’t seen you in this area before.”

“…Yes,” Star-trail answered briefly. The more concise, the less likely it was to make a mistake.

She looked down at Star-trail. Her deep blue eyes held curiosity, devoid of the sharpness she had shown toward the Erosion Body. In the face of a seemingly non-threatening, cute creature, a person’s expression would unconsciously soften. Magical Girls were no exception.

Mingyue nodded, not pressing further. Her fingers tapped twice on the ground. Qiluo noticed her fingertips curl slightly when they touched the pavement, as if she were suppressing a long-standing impulse.

Then she spoke, her business-like tone a somewhat unsuccessful disguise:

“What is your name? Do you have a contractor?”

“Star-trail. Not yet.”

“Not yet—” Mingyue’s eyes lit up for an instant. She quickly suppressed that light and regained a relatively calm expression. “So you’re currently active in this area alone?”

“For the time being.”

Nuomi leaned half its body off Mingyue’s knee, its two front paws gesturing toward Star-trail in the air. Its large eyes were sparkling, and its two tails spun behind it like propellers.

“Mingyue!” it turned to its contractor and said, its voice rising two octaves. “Can we—”

“No.” Mingyue pressed down on Nuomi’s head.

“I wasn’t finished!”

“You can’t, whether you’ve finished or not.” Mingyue’s tone was a sharp refusal, but the hand on Nuomi’s head didn’t pull away immediately. Instead, she gently rubbed the base of Nuomi’s ears.

It wasn't that she didn't want to invite Star-trail. She was controlling herself so as not to seem too eager and scare off a rare, uncontracted Contract Spirit.

“That’s not it!” Nuomi was so anxious its tails whipped into two white whirlwinds, its bells ringing incessantly. “I want to invite it for snacks! It looks so elegant and pretty! And it’s my companion! A Contract Spirit!”

Leaning against the brick wall in the alley, Qiluo thought to herself that Contract Spirits in this world weren't just real—they were rare.

They weren't the standard-issue partners for every Magical Girl like she had previously assumed. Star-trail’s appearance was, in itself, something people wanted to hold onto.

Star-trail lowered its head, letting the star-shaped mark on its forehead shimmer slightly.

“If there is an opportunity in the future,” it said, its tone softening slightly, as if coaxing a cute child.

As it spoke, its tail casually traced an arc, scattering starlight particles into fine specks of light. A few drifted onto the tip of Nuomi’s nose and stuck there. Nuomi let out a small sneeze, and its bells chimed.

“You said it! An opportunity in the future!” Nuomi used its paw to rub the starlight particles off its nose, then looked up at Mingyue with eyes that practically shouted, ‘Look, look, it promised!’

Mingyue looked at her own Contract Spirit’s completely defenseless behavior, remained silent for two seconds, and then sighed. She shifted her gaze back to Star-trail.

“I am Mingyue, the administrator of this area,” she officially introduced herself, her tone completely different from before. “As you can see, Nuomi is my Contract Spirit. To my knowledge, it is the only Contract Spirit currently active in this city. You are the second.”

She paused, weighing her next words carefully before speaking. “The fact that you can act independently without a contractor means you possess a considerable reserve of mana. This is uncommon among Contract Spirits. So… are you lost? Or have you just arrived in this world?”

“…I arrived not long ago,” Star-trail said. This was the truth; no fabrication was needed.

Mingyue nodded slowly, as if confirming a suspicion. She pulled her scythe from the ground, hoisted it back onto her shoulder, and stood up.

“There is a white building in Motomachi 2-chome; that is the headquarters of the Magical Girl Association. You can go there to handle the registration procedures for Contract Spirits.”

“The registration process for a Contract Spirit is different from that of a Magical Girl. You can go alone. But if you want someone to accompany you—”

She paused, swallowing the phrase ‘I can go with you’ and replacing it with: “You can find the association’s front desk and give them my name. They will make arrangements for you.”

Then she reached out and traced the air. A deep blue trace of mana condensed into a small mark, which floated toward Star-trail and merged into the star-shaped pattern on its forehead.

“This is my contact information. If you want to register, or if you run into trouble—you can find me. I’m quite familiar with this area.”

“Me too, me too!” Nuomi hopped down from Mingyue’s knee and brought its forehead close to Star-trail. The golden four-pointed star mark glowed.

A tiny golden speck of light separated and landed on Star-trail’s forehead, leaving a still-pulsing golden mark right next to the deep blue one.

“This is mine! Mine is cuter! You’ll know it’s me as soon as you see it!”

“Mingyue sometimes fails to pick up communications; her device is always having problems. But my mark will absolutely never lose connection!”

Mingyue scooped Nuomi back up and placed it on her shoulder, her movements natural, as if she were long accustomed to her own Contract Spirit exposing her flaws at critical moments. She took one last look at Star-trail.

“Including you, there are no more than three active Contract Spirits in this city.”

Her tone was stating a fact, but the way she stated it carried something heavier than the fact itself. “If you choose to stay in this area, you can come find me. Of course, it’s not a requirement. It’s just… having another Contract Spirit around is better than being alone. It’s true for Magical Girls, and it should be true for you as well.”

Mingyue turned and kicked off the ground, leaping onto the roof of a building. Nuomi crouched on her shoulder, wagging its tail even harder than before, the sound of the bells trailing into a long, thin golden tail in the night.

Star-trail stood in the middle of the road, looking up in the direction they had disappeared.

In the alley, Qiluo opened her eyes.

She moved her head away from the brick wall and took the plastic bag off the pipe. The pineapple bun inside was still intact, though a layer of fine night dew had formed on the surface of the bag.

Star-trail silently jumped into the alley and landed on her shoulder. Starlight particles mixed with night dew rolled off its tail, feeling cool as they dripped onto Qiluo’s collar.

“…There are no more than three real Contract Spirits in this city,” Qiluo repeated Mingyue’s words in a low voice.

“So magical creatures in this world aren't a standard pairing that every Magical Girl has.”

“That explains the look in Mingyue’s eyes when she saw Star-trail. It wasn't because she wanted to recruit a new cute creature. It was because Contract Spirits here are so rare that every single one is worth trying to keep in the best way possible. She actually really wanted to extend an invitation, but she held back. She didn't want Star-trail to feel forced.”

Star-trail curled up quietly on her shoulder, its tail wrapping around the back of her neck, starlight particles slowly dispersing in the night breeze.

“But it’s for the best,” Qiluo pulled her jacket zipper to the top, looking at the blurred outline of the apartment building in the distance. “A rare status can explain why my mana spectrum isn't within the registration records, and it can also explain why Star-trail isn't familiar with this world. The benefit of being a limited edition is having exemptions.”

Star-trail’s tail brushed the back of her neck. Through their shared senses, Qiluo could feel the marks on Star-trail’s forehead still pulsing slightly.

Tonight was the first time she had presented herself to this world in the form of Star-trail.

Star-trail buried its face in its tail.

Back at the apartment, the small lamp turned on automatically, filling the room with warm yellow light. The warming array inside the window frame hummed faintly. On the low table sat the half-eaten rice ball from the morning, next to the new plastic bag from the convenience store.

Qiluo sat cross-legged on her futon, carefully examining the state of the two new marks on Star-trail’s forehead.

Mingyue’s deep blue mark had a relatively simple structure. Its function was a one-way communication trigger; once activated, it could send a location and a brief signal to Mingyue.

However, the response mechanism wasn't stable enough. Several mana nodes were connected somewhat casually, which would lead to the occasional loss of connection.

Nuomi’s mark was a different story. The precision of the golden speck’s structure surprised Qiluo a little. In addition to the basic communication trigger, it had an added auxiliary channel for emotional resonance. This meant that if Star-trail experienced strong emotional fluctuations in close proximity, Nuomi might be able to sense them.

It wasn't surveillance; the designer of the mark had added a locking mechanism to the resonance channel that required the other party’s consent.

That little fluffball, who seemed to only care about being cute, was more attentive than its contractor in some ways.

“Maybe this little guy, who’s cute to a fault, will actually be the most reliable one at a critical moment,” Qiluo murmured to herself.

She didn't eliminate the two marks, but instead covered Star-trail’s forehead with her palm, setting up a temporary shield. Then she turned off the small lamp, stretched in the darkness, and pulled the covers up to her shoulders.

“A lot happened today.”

“Yes,” Star-trail opened its eyes and answered.

“…Is it a bit strange to chat with myself using the first and second person?”

“It is very strange.”

“Then could you stop playing along with me?”

Star-trail buried its face in its tail. Starlight particles leaked from the gaps in the fur at the end of its tail, scattering a small patch of silver-white light onto the bedding.

Looking at this scene, Qiluo suddenly realized something: Star-trail was no longer just a simple puppet.

It was automatically making the small gestures she did subconsciously—burying its face in something was a habit she had when she felt embarrassed or didn't know what to do.

The split-mind technique had evolved without her noticing. It wasn't an active evolution she had controlled, but rather the result of long hours of synchronization every day and talking to herself in the empty apartment, causing the boundary between the two consciousnesses to become somewhat blurred.

This wasn't a bad thing.

She just needed to make sure it didn't become a bad thing.

Tomorrow was the first official day of school at Tachibana High School. She hadn't thought of her transfer student self-introduction yet. Her uniform was hanging on the wall, treated with a cleaning spell, and her bag was packed with stationery and notebooks. She closed her eyes, but the scenes from tonight played back repeatedly in her mind.

“Magical creatures are probably quite simple-minded,” she asked and answered herself while staring at the ceiling. “Then the Star-trail I play should learn to be a bit simpler too.”