She picked up one and took a bite, the chocolate chips melting slightly between her teeth.
“It's delicious.”
Kizuna's eyes lit up, and she visibly relaxed, taking another piece from the bag and handing it to Qiluo.
“This one has more chocolate chips, here you go. By the way, what subjects do you like, Tian Gong-san? I took a leave of absence for so long that I've fallen far behind on my schoolwork, so I might have to trouble you to help me study.”
I like slacking off...
“I'm decent at science, but not so good at history,” Qiluo said, popping the second cookie into her mouth. “But since I arrived a few months earlier than you, I can lend you my notes.”
“Really? Thank you so much!” Kizuna pressed her hands together, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.
She turned around, took a notebook out of her schoolbag, and placed it on her desk, her movements significantly lighter.
Even opening to the blank first page carried a certain sense of ritual; she wrote her name in the top right corner with enough force that the pen slightly embossed the back of the page.
Then, thinking of something, she leaned closer to Qiluo and lowered her voice. “Tian Gong-san, do you know if there are any Magical Girls at our school? I mean real Magical Girls, not the ones who do cosplay.”
“I heard that in some schools, there are students who are also active Magical Girls. Of course, I'm not trying to pry, I'm just a bit curious.”
There are, sister, there are.
Our Tachibana High School is practically crawling with Magical Girls.
If you threw a brick from the rooftop, you'd probably hit one or two of them.
“...I'm not sure. Even if there were, they probably wouldn't talk about it, right?”
“That's true.” Kizuna rested her chin on her crossed arms, the ends of her hair sliding off her shoulders and gently sweeping across the desk.
Her gaze drifted past the windowsill toward the distant rooftop of the gymnasium, as if she were imagining a transformed figure standing right there.
She stuffed the remaining half of the cookie into her mouth, puffing out her cheeks as she added, somewhat indistinctly, “But I think Magical Girls must be everywhere. Maybe they're right by our side.”
Lying flat on the desk, she turned her head to look at the blue sky outside the window and the few clouds slowly drifting by.
She pulled her water bottle from the side pocket of her schoolbag, unscrewed the cap to take a sip, and then leaned back against her chair, stealthily observing Qiluo out of the corner of her eye as the latter flipped through her notebook.
Her new deskmate hadn't been overly enthusiastic from the moment they met, nor did she look at her with that overly solicitous, pitying gaze just because she had taken a leave of absence.
She was so natural.
This naturalness made her feel comfortable.
She watched for a moment and noticed a sticky note sticking out halfway from the edge of Qiluo Tian Gong's notebook, with a crooked star drawn on it in ballpoint pen.
The star was drawn very casually, and its lines were not very smooth.
There was also a line of writing on the sticky note that had been torn in half, leaving only the word “idiot” visible.
So she draws stars in her notebook too.
And here I thought she would be a really aloof person.
This discovery made Kizuna curve her lips. She put the water bottle back into the side pocket of her bag, fished out a pen, and drew a star of her own on the title page of her notebook.
She drew it much more carefully than Qiluo had; the five-pointed star had sharp, distinct corners, and she even added a ring of light around it.
After finishing, she pushed her notebook slightly toward Qiluo, the two stars facing each other across the gap between their desks.
“Tian Gong-san.” She tapped her pen cap gently next to her own star. “What were you thinking about when you drew your star?”
Qiluo looked down and glanced at the crooked doodle on the edge of her notebook.
Rei had drawn it without permission while Qiluo was in the restroom, and she had even written the words “Qiluo Star” next to it, which Qiluo had promptly whited out with correction tape.
“Nothing much. I just doodled it absentmindedly during class.”
“Me too. I used to draw stars all the time when I was in the hospital. Since I couldn't sleep at night, I would look out the window to find constellations. My sister said I almost covered the entire ceiling with drawings.”
?
Lying, are we?
How come I didn't know you couldn't sleep and were drawing stars in the hospital?
You were clearly sleeping like a baby while hugging Star-trail!
To think you'd actually lie just to make friends!
The two stars were drawn in completely different styles, yet they looked surprisingly harmonious together.
Kizuna looked up at Qiluo, her expression carrying a hint of the curiosity and earnestness typical of a new transfer student.
“Tian Gong-san, do you have a Magical Girl you admire? I don't mean just thinking they're cool, but really feeling like... 'I want to become a person like that'.”
She actually wanted to ask something more specific.
Like, Have you ever seen a Magical Girl fly past the rooftops on a certain night, and remembered the glow of her skirt?
Or even, Have you watched the debut performance of the newcomer, Seisou, over the weekend...
But she felt that asking so much upon their very first meeting would be too presumptuous.
“It's fine if you don't want to answer, I was just asking randomly.” She crossed her hands on the desk, looking sideways at Qiluo.
The Magical Girl I admire?
That would be Lightweaver, of course. I like myself, is there any problem with that?
Hmm... Since she's looking at me with such expectation, she definitely doesn't just want to hear a simple 'yes' or 'no'.
She probably wants to hear a name from me that would make her happy.
Should I? Tell her a name that will cheer her up?
“...Yes, I do. I went to see a show over the weekend. There was a newcomer named Seisou making her debut, and she performed quite well.”
Her tone was flat, but she added another line: “Her stage presence was very stable, and her high notes didn't shake. To achieve that on a debut performance, she must have prepared for a very long time.”
Kizuna's fingers, which had been propping up her chin, slipped slightly. As if confirming something, the light in her eyes gradually brightened.
“...You watched Seisou's performance?”
Her voice was a few pitches higher than before. Realizing she seemed a bit too excited, she quickly placed her hands back on her knees and sat up straight.
“I mean—how did you find her? Besides her stage presence and high notes, was there anything else... like... the overall feeling?”
Kizuna asked cautiously, never expecting such a coincidence.
Her new deskmate had actually watched her very first performance. This joy and surprise made her heart beat faster.
“The overall feeling was great. She was very dazzling, comfortable to watch, and made people want to keep watching. Everyone in the audience loved her, and the crowd's reaction was incredibly enthusiastic.”
Qiluo put down her pen and turned to look at Kizuna.
Qiluo knew everything.
She knew what this girl was thinking; she was waiting for a stranger's evaluation of her stage performance.
“And, her smile is very beautiful.”
Kizuna lowered her head, burying her face behind her open notebook, leaving only her two bright red ears visible.
Her fingers traced unconscious circles on the paper, tracing the halo around her star over and over again.
“...Thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me? I wasn't praising you.”
“I'm thanking you on her behalf.” Kizuna lifted half her face from behind the notebook, her light purple eyes still twinkling with an irrepressible excitement. “Because I'm a fan of Seisou!”
She was lying, and doing a terrible job of it, her ears already burning red.
Rate on N.U.
