Her consciousness slowly drifted up from the tide of starlight.
Kizuna felt like an ice cube submerged in warm water, her edges melting bit by bit as she regained her shape.
First, her fingers could move, then her eyelids registered the light, and finally, her hearing returned.
She heard the door being pushed open, followed by footsteps so familiar they were practically hardwired into her soul. She heard that voice, kept incredibly low, whispering by her ear, “I'm sorry, I'm late today.”
It took some effort just to move her lips, but her throat was too dry, and in the end, she only managed to squeeze out three words.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her sister's face, clearer than it had been in her dreams, with fatigue lingering in the corners of her eyes that she hadn't had time to hide.
She wanted to reach up and wipe it away, but her arms were too weak to lift. Ultimately, she could only curve her lips into a faint smile.
Kizuna gently rubbed the back of her sister's hand with her thumb, feeling a warm liquid seep through her fingers.
Her sister, who never cried in front of her, buried her face in her palms and wept silently.
She didn't call her out on it. She simply continued to gently rub the back of her hand, just like how her sister used to pat her back when she had nightmares as a child.
Out of her sister's line of sight, she tilted her head slightly, pressing against the soft, silver-white fluff beside her pillow.
The little creature was curled up in her embrace, looking as though it had trekked through the depths of her consciousness for far too long, completely drained of all its strength.
She didn't know where it came from or who it was, but she had heard its voice in her dreams.
That voice had draped a layer of light over her when she was at her coldest, and gently supported her back when she was most afraid.
She pulled the blanket up a bit, carefully covering its curled-up body, leaving only two floppy ears exposed.
Her sister was still wiping her tears with her head down, completely missing this subtle movement.
She quietly rested her finger on Star-trail's back, feeling a faint, rhythmic rise and fall beneath her fingertip.
“Sis,” she spoke. Her voice was still very soft, but it carried a bit more strength than before.
Yuzuki looked up, her eyes still red, her fingers tightly gripping her sister's hand, refusing to let go.
“A voice spoke to me in my dream just now. It said someone was waiting for me, so I woke up.”
Kizuna gently clasped her sister's fingers back, the curve of her lips widening a fraction more. “Also, Sis, have you eaten dinner yet?”
Yuzuki didn't speak. She only gripped her hand even tighter and reached out to press the call button on the headboard.
Soon, the sound of nurses' footsteps, the startled exclamation of the doctor on duty, and the rumbling of more medical equipment being wheeled over echoed from the hallway.
Kizuna lay quietly amidst the commotion, her finger remaining gently rested on the warm, silver-white fluff beneath the blanket.
The ward door was pushed open from the outside. The doctor on duty walked in quickly, followed by two nurses, one of whom was pushing a portable monitor.
The doctor flipped through the basic vital signs record handed over by the nurse while checking Kizuna's pupillary light reflex with a penlight.
He muttered medical jargon under his breath—stable vital signs, clear consciousness, normal speech function—his tone thick with suppressed astonishment.
Yuzuki Asakura stood at the foot of the bed, her fingers clutching the cuff of her jacket, her eyes never leaving her sister for even a second.
She nodded every time the doctor read out a measurement.
Kizuna cooperatively went along with the examination, only frowning slightly when the blood pressure cuff tightened.
In between checks, she turned her head toward the foot of the bed and gave Yuzuki an “I'm fine” smile.
The doctor closed his clipboard and told Yuzuki that the patient was fully conscious, her cognitive function was initially assessed as normal, and her speech function was intact. Her physical mobility would need further evaluation tomorrow.
However, her response tonight had already far exceeded expectations.
“Her magic circuits are also showing clear signs of self-repair, though we'll need a full lineage scan to confirm it.”
“But judging by the speed of her vital signs' recovery, the residual contaminating mana is almost undetectable now. Frankly speaking, this is extremely rare.”
“Can she eat something now? She's been asleep for so long, she must be hungry... I bought some pudding on my way here. It's from the convenience store, her favorite flavor.”
As Yuzuki spoke, she reached for the convenience store bag on the nightstand, but Kizuna gently tugged at her cuff, wrapping her fingers around her sister's hand.
“Sis, I'm not hungry... Sit down for a bit. You've been standing for too long.”
The doctor glanced at them and said nothing more. He simply instructed the nurse in a low voice to add a note to tonight's observation log: Family member's emotions are stable; recommend scheduling a comprehensive examination tomorrow morning.
The nurse nodded, wheeled the equipment out of the room, and gently closed the door.
Quiet settled over the ward once more, the warm glow of the bedside lamp casting the sisters' shadows onto the pristine white sheets.
Yuzuki sat down on the chair beside the bed, still clutching the unopened pudding package in her hand.
“You said earlier that someone was singing to you in your dream?”
“It was your song, Sis,” Kizuna said.
“And there was another voice. It wasn't yours, but it was very gentle too. It talked to me a lot, saying someone was waiting for me and that I couldn't keep sleeping forever.”
“Then it started to sing. The melody was very similar to your slow song, but not quite the same.”
She pulled her left hand out from under the blanket, the pale purple contract mark casting a faint glow in the dim light.
“Then I found this on my hand. Sis, I think... I've become a Magical Girl.”
“A Magical Girl—you made a contract?”
Yuzuki's voice spiked instinctively, only to be dragged back down instantly, as if terrified someone in the hallway might overhear.
Her gaze darted back and forth between the mark on her sister's hand and her sister's calm face.
In the end, she only managed to squeeze out: “When... and who—?”
“I don't know what it's called, but it's right here.” Kizuna peeled back a corner of the blanket with her other hand.
Star-trail was curled up like a little glutinous rice ball.
Its ears were plastered flat against its head, its tail resting unconsciously over Kizuna's wrist, and its breathing was so faint it was practically imperceptible.
“It's asleep. It's been sleeping this whole time,” Kizuna said softly, afraid of waking the little ball.
Her finger gently tapped the tip of Star-trail's ear.
Qiluo decided...
To play dead!
No matter what, it was definitely best not to wake up in this situation.
The best-case scenario would be to wait until Yuzuki Asakura left and Kizuna Asana got tired and fell asleep.
Then make a stealthy escape.
Rate on N.U.
