The Arrow Remains Sharp

“So, Star-trail, what should I do next? What do Magical Girls usually do?”

Kizuna closed her manga book and placed it on the nightstand, wearing an expression that said she was ready for class.

Star-trail sat upright on her lap. “You can start with basic mana perception. Try to sense the contract mark on the back of your hand. It will tell you the current operating state of your circuits.”

Kizuna looked down at the star-shaped mark on the back of her hand and pressed it gently with her thumb.

The mark immediately lit up with a soft glow, and an extremely faint ring of light slowly rotated around its edges like a tiny spinning planet.

She stared at the ring of light for a good while, the corners of her mouth slowly curving upward.

“It's spinning. I can feel it spinning, like a heartbeat, but a bit slower than a heartbeat.”

“That is your mana cycle. You need to remember this rhythm; it will be your most reliable reference when channeling mana in the future.”

Star-trail gently tapped the inside of her wrist with its tail. “Now, try to concentrate mana at your fingertips. Not too much, just a tiny bit.”

Kizuna extended her index finger, her eyes locked onto its tip.

She tried her best to force the mana from the mark toward her finger.

A soft “Woo—” escaped her lips.

Slowly, a tiny sliver of light began to glow on her index finger.

The light was very weak, but it was indeed mana.

“It's glowing! Look, Star-trail, it's glowing!”

Kizuna could not hide her excitement. The tiny glimmer at her fingertip reflected in her pupils like two small mirrors.

“Very good. To achieve a stable output on your first try means you have a good talent for mana control.”

Star-trail nodded. “Next, try to draw the mana back.”

Kizuna slowly pressed the point of light at her fingertip back into her finger pad, a thin layer of sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Drawing it back was indeed much harder than releasing it; she could feel the resistance of the mana flowing backward through her circuits.

But she gritted her teeth and pushed it back bit by bit, until the last trace of pale purple completely merged back into her fingertip.

She released her held breath, leaning back against the pillow, a smug smile still lingering on her lips.

“When I used to watch Sis train, I thought being a Magical Girl was just about flinging mana around to hit people.”

Star-trail's ears twitched, its tone carrying a hint of wariness that even it didn't notice.

“Yeah.” Kizuna picked up the manga book again, placed it on her lap, and flipped to the page she had been reading, her finger gently tracing across the paper.

“Every time she came home after fighting Erosion Bodies, she would keep her voice very low, afraid of waking me up.”

“But I was actually always awake. Through the crack in the door, I'd see her sitting on the living room sofa, treating her own wounds.”

“Back then, I thought that if I were a Magical Girl too, I could share some of her burden. At least when she got hurt, I could help her wrap her bandages.”

“...So that's why you ran off to become her partner.”

“Yes. She didn't agree at first. She said the battlefield was too dangerous and that I should stay home and wait for her. But I told her, ‘Between you getting hurt out there alone and me waiting at home alone, which one is more dangerous?’”

Kizuna looked up at Star-trail and smiled.

Kizuna wanted to tell it that this wasn't just happiness; this was a miracle of regaining what had been lost.

She had thought she would never be able to watch her sister stand on the stage again.

The days of lying motionless in bed for all this time were finally over.

“I'm really happy right now!” Kizuna clenched her fist, looking at the faint light leaking through the gaps between her fingers.

“It's not just ordinary happiness. It's the kind where you wake up and find that not only are you alive, but you can also transform.”

She opened and closed her fingers, as if confirming that every single one of them would obey her commands again. “You gave me a second chance. I won't waste it.”

“You can try it now.” Star-trail hopped down from her lap onto the nightstand, pushing the manga book aside to clear a small space.

“When you transformed in your dream last time, your weapon didn't manifest because the contract process was triggered passively, skipping the weapon definition step. Now, actively go through the full process yourself. Focus your attention on your weapon slot and see what responds.”

“Can I do it right now? In here? Won't my mana mess up the ward?” Kizuna asked, though the light in her eyes had already completely lit up, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the blanket again.

“The transformation state won't damage the environment when not in combat. As long as you don't smash your weapon into the wall.”

Star-trail gently tapped the back of her hand with its tail, telling her not to be nervous.

“Close your eyes and sense the mark on the back of your hand. Let it guide you to draw mana from your circuits. This time, don't channel it to your fingertip—let it flow naturally throughout your entire body.”

Kizuna did as Star-trail instructed.

At first, her brow furrowed slightly, a habitual expression of hers when concentrating.

A pale purple light surged from the star-shaped mark, spreading across her body along the pathways of her blood vessels.

Wherever the light flowed, the cuffs of her hospital gown gently lifted and fell.

The tips of her flaxen hair began to dye themselves a faint purple, like a drop of ink falling into clear water, slowly diffusing.

The outfit that had hastily materialized in the starlight last time was now truly worn upon her body.

The moment she opened her eyes, she trembled slightly, like a fledgling bird that had just learned to fly, testing its wings.

She looked down at her hand. On the thin bracelet around her right wrist, the blank music-note pendants were lighting up one by one.

It wasn't something she was consciously controlling.

“Your weapon,” Star-trail reminded her. “Concentrate your mana into the palm of your right hand. Don't think about what shape it should take. Let it tell you itself.”

Kizuna spread open her right palm.

The sphere of light that had hovered around during her last transformation appeared once more, but this time it was no longer blurry.

It began to take shape under her gaze.

First came a silver shaft, both ends extending outward simultaneously. One end slowly curved into the limb of a bow, while the other lit up with a thin, silver-white string the moment it touched the air.

There was no mana attached to the string, yet it glowed faintly on its own, as if a wisp of starlight had been spun into thread.

Kizuna blinked as she looked at the fully formed bow in her palm.

She gripped the riser of the bow, and simply placing the fingertips of her other hand on the string, she pulled it back a fraction.

The moment the string tightened, an arrow appeared on its own.

It grew directly from the string—a beam of pale purple light automatically forming along it, the arrowhead pointing straight toward the sky outside the window.

She didn't release the arrow, merely maintaining her drawing posture as she turned her head to look at Star-trail, the pale purple in her pupils deeper than the color of her skirt.

“...It's a bow.”

The door of the ward was gently pushed open from the outside, and Yuzuki Asakura stood at the doorway holding a cup of steaming water.

She had changed into casual clothes, her long hair draped loosely over her shoulders, with traces of last night's sleeplessness still lingering around the corners of her eyes.

Then, she saw her sister, dressed in a pale purple transformation outfit, holding a bow longer than her entire upper body, standing right beside the hospital bed in a drawing posture.

Kizuna turned her head. The pale purple arrow of light on the bowstring had not yet dissipated, pointing directly at her sister's face.