Kizuna, however, listened with great interest, her eyes sparkling with eagerness to try it out.
“Rei sounds so fun! Who decided on the menu for the Magical Girl-themed café? Are there any special dish names? Like ‘Ouka Omelet Rice’ or something?”
Kizuna said as she pulled out her phone, wanting to find that café video.
“When I was in the hospital, I watched a Magical Girl cooking show. It said that a real Magical Girl-themed café must have a signature dessert, preferably the kind that smokes or glows when it's served—”
Halfway through her sentence, she realized she had blurted out a whole stream of words like a machine gun again. She quickly stopped herself, awkwardly twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.
“Sorry, I asked too many questions again.”
Qiluo waved her hand dismissively.
“There's a Tsukiyohime Special Black Coffee and a Meruru Strawberry Parfait...”
Qiluo hesitated, wondering if she should mention the last one.
Why is Lightweaver on there too?
“And a Lightweaver Pudding.”
Kizuna quickly jotted down a few notes in her notebook. Hearing “Lightweaver Pudding,” she looked up at Qiluo.
“Lightweaver—the white-haired Magical Girl?”
Her tone grew increasingly excited, as if she had caught a glimpse of a hidden treasure.
“Your class even made a dessert for Lightweaver? What does the pudding taste like? Is there a spun-sugar flower made of threads of light on top? I saw her retracting her threads in a video once; that would be perfect for a dessert design—”
“It's just a caramel pudding.”
Qiluo interrupted her, her tone carrying a trace of imperceptible stiffness. “A plain caramel pudding. No sugar flowers, and no threads of light. It's just using her name.”
It's one thing to put Lightweaver on the café menu, but spinning sugar threads on a pudding? How come I, the actual person, didn't know I had a signature dessert?
Serving myself to customers... even I would find that embarrassing.
Unaware of all this, Kizuna simply lowered her head and earnestly wrote “Lightweaver Pudding, plain caramel flavor” in her notebook. Once finished, she looked up again.
“I had so much fun this lunch. Getting to eat bento with you guys on my very first day of school makes me feel so lucky. Even though Kurokawa-san doesn't talk much, she's very gentle.”
Yuki raised her eyes. She wasn't used to being praised to her face as gentle, especially by someone she had just met.
Qiluo didn't count.
She wanted to say “I'm not,” but felt that saying so would fail to live up to the other girl's sincere compliment.
In the end, she merely nodded slightly.
“Yuki is just like that, don't mind her,” Qiluo said.
“It's not that she doesn't like you; she just doesn't know how to talk to people she's just met. Once you spend more time together, it'll be fine.”
Turning to Kizuna, Qiluo added, “As for that Ouka Omelet Rice you mentioned, I think the class rep added it to the menu, but changed the name to Seisou Rolled Omelet.”
“Really?!” Kizuna almost bounced out of her chair.
She clutched the notebook to her chest, her eyes shining like two newly lit stars.
She lowered her head and quickly added a line to her notebook, circling it with a highlighter once she was done.
Qiluo didn't even need to look to know that Kizuna was probably already looking forward to the school festival.
The sunlight outside the window was just right.
Yuki packed her bento box into her schoolbag, stood up, and said softly, “I'm going to the library to return some books.”
Kizuna, who was looking down and making preparations for the school festival in her notebook, looked up upon hearing this and waved to her.
Qiluo slumped onto her desk, resting her face on her crossed arms. Though her eyes were closed, her consciousness had already drifted over to Star-trail.
Controlling Star-trail to poke its ears out of Kizuna's schoolbag, she confirmed that Yuki had walked out of the classroom's back door and that Kizuna was still flipping through her notebook at her desk.
She sent messages to both of them at the same time.
To Yuki, she sent: “Before going to the library, take a detour to the corridor behind the school building. I have something to show you.”
To Kizuna, she sent: “Before the break ends, you can take a walk in the corridor out back. Think of it as getting familiar with the campus.”
Although they were both contractors, they still didn't know each other very well.
Yuki was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, while Kizuna was enthusiastic yet sensitive. Both of them needed a more private space to get to know each other.
The corridor behind the school building.
There were rarely people there, making it a good place to talk.
Qiluo wanted them to become genuine friends, rather than just connecting through her.
This is better for both of them, and I can... save myself some trouble?
Well, actually, seeing them get along well would make me happy too.
Yuki stopped in her tracks when she received the message.
Star-trail rarely sent her messages of its own accord during the day. She looked down at the faint star-shaped mark on her wrist.
Without asking any questions, she naturally turned and headed toward the back of the school building.
Meanwhile, Kizuna finished her last stroke in her notebook, capped her pen, told Qiluo, “I'm going out for some fresh air,” and got up from her seat.
There were a few benches at the end of the corridor. Usually, a student or two would come here to read during lunch break, but today it was completely empty.
Yuki arrived first.
She stood in the middle of the corridor, her fingers resting lightly on the back of a bench as her eyes swept over the surroundings.
Star-trail had said there was something to show her, but there was nothing here right now.
What on earth was Star-trail up to? Though it was usually a bit mysterious, it never played pranks.
As she walked from the school building to this spot, she had turned over a few possibilities in her mind.
Sometimes Star-trail would notice small, unremarkable things during its patrols and call her over to take a look.
Whichever it was, it probably felt this was a suitable place.
She walked slowly along the corridor once, then finally sat down on the bench.
Her mind was still replaying the scene of their lunch in the classroom.
She knew she was overthinking again, and she knew that overthinking usually led to obsessive conclusions, but she couldn't control it for now.
Did Star-trail know I would spend the entire afternoon obsessing over that scene, so it called me out here to interrupt my wild thoughts?
Just as she was about to sense Star-trail's location again, footsteps echoed from behind her.
The footsteps sounded a bit hesitant.
It wasn't Qiluo. She recognized Qiluo's footsteps; they were much more leisurely than this.
Yuki turned around.
Kizuna stood at the other end of the corridor, holding her phone. Its screen was still lit, displaying a map of the school.
She froze when she saw Yuki, stopping in her tracks. Her eyes blinked, as if she were checking to see if she had come to the wrong place.
“Ah, Kurokawa-san.” Kizuna put away her phone, looking a bit embarrassed. “Tian Gong-san said the scenery here is great and told me to check it out. Are you here for some fresh air too?”
“...Yes.” Yuki stood up, undoing the button that had wound around her cuff a few times.
“The weather is nice.”
Yuki felt that this sounded too much like small talk for the sake of it.
But it really was just making small talk; she had no idea where to start.
“...It really is.” Kizuna sat down on the other end of the bench.
This distance was neither too far to seem distant, nor too close to make Yuki feel uncomfortable.
“U-Um... I didn't know you were Qiluo's friend before. If I did anything to cause a misunderstanding, I apologize! Tian Gong-san and I only met today. She's really nice; she showed me around the school and even offered to lend me her notes. Those cookies—”
Her voice dropped by half, as if unsure whether she should continue. “My sister baked those cookies for me to share with my new classmates. I didn't mean anything else by it.”
Yuki felt a bit at a loss as she watched Kizuna apologize.
“...I didn't misunderstand. You said you were hospitalized for a long time. Is your health okay now?”
She deliberately avoided Kizuna's gaze as she spoke.
“I'm completely fine now! The doctor said I've recovered very well, and my magic circuit is also—” Kizuna bit her lower lip halfway through, almost letting it slip.
She quickly corrected herself, “I mean, my physical strength has recovered. Though I might not be able to run very fast in gym class yet, I should be able to keep up if I take it slow.”
Rate on N.U.
