Kizuna pointed at Qiluo's desk, which was currently being moved away, and asked in a lowered voice, “Is that stuff in the drawer Tian Gong's?”
Rei followed her gaze. A manila paper bag had slipped out of the drawer, with a sliver of light blue sticky note peeking out from the opening.
“She must have left it behind.”
Rei stood on her tiptoes to pick up the paper bag and placed it on the desk.
Inside the bag were a few classical literature reference books borrowed from the library, along with a worn copy of Starry Sky Observation. A neatly folded sheet of scratch paper was tucked between its pages.
Kizuna flipped open the introductory guide to observation. On the title page, she found a few crooked stars drawn in pencil, with “Notes of the Observatory Doll” written next to them in tiny handwriting.
She stared at those words for a good while, the corners of her mouth slowly curving upward.
Rei leaned in to take a look. “Her star-drawing skills are about on par with an elementary schooler's.”
“But she was very earnest about it.” Kizuna carefully closed the title page and put the book back into the paper bag.
She then picked up the folded scratch paper and unfolded it. On it was a drawing of a familiar girl wearing clothes identical to Lightweaver's. However, her facial features were drawn in an extremely slipshod manner—the eyes were two circles of different sizes, and the mouth was just a squiggly line.
Next to it, a line was scribbled in pencil: “Forgot to draw the face. Whatever.”
Rei leaned over to look and almost spat out her milk tea. “What on earth is this drawing supposed to be—Lightweaver? Tian Gong's drawing skills are even worse than an elementary schooler's!”
Kizuna stared at the drawing for a long time. Her finger gently traced over the red streak of dyed hair on the figure, and something stirred softly in a corner of her heart.
Tian Gong had drawn Lightweaver, and the details of the outfit were exceptionally accurate, even including many of the complex patterns on the hem of the skirt.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down her spine as a thought she shouldn't have had crossed her mind.
“Could Tian Gong be...” She started to speak, but then shook her head and refolded the scratch paper, placing it back into the manila bag. “Never mind, that should be impossible.”
“What's impossible?” Rei leaned in close.
“Nothing. I'm just a bit curious why Tian Gong drew Lightweaver so meticulously. She got all the details of the clothes right, even the way the threads run along the cuffs is exactly the same.”
“Is that even a question?!” Rei stood with her hands on her hips, a look of absolute expertise on her face.
“Did you forget what our class is doing? A Magical Girl-themed cafe! Tian Gong must have been secretly practicing how to draw Lightweaver at home by looking at the posters. And here I thought she didn't like Lightweaver!”
“Oh my! Turns out Tian Gong is such a tsundere!”
The more Rei spoke, the more flawless she felt her deduction was. She had already begun to picture Qiluo slumped over her desk at home, frowning as she meticulously traced Lightweaver's battle suit stroke by stroke.
Kizuna listened to her animated description without offering any refutation, simply refolding the crumpled scratch paper and putting it back into the paper bag.
But if Tian Gong really was Lightweaver—her heart thudded wildly in her chest, but she quickly shook her head to cast the thought aside.
She recalled Star-trail asking her about the licensing fee, and the faint scent of starlight that occasionally drifted off Tian Gong.
No way. Star-trail wouldn't keep something like this from her.
She decided to keep this question to herself for now, planning to ask Star-trail indirectly the next time they met.
If Star-trail hesitated for even a single second, she would know her hunch was correct.
Once the seed of doubt was planted, it was very difficult to uproot.
...
Rei stepped onto a chair, hung the last string of star lights over the doorframe, and then jumped down, brushing the dust off her hands.
“Decorations complete!” She took a few steps back, placing her hands on her hips as she surveyed the transformed classroom.
In the center of each desk sat a small vase filled with baby's breath.
Magical Girl posters hung on the walls, and the dessert table in the corner was set with the cups and saucers to be used tomorrow.
“Oh, right, right!” Rei suddenly remembered something. She turned and picked up the schedule from the podium, which was brightly highlighted in various neon colors. “Since the room is all set up, we should go try on tomorrow's cosplay outfits! The class rep said the costumes have already been delivered to the changing room!”
Kizuna was smoothing out the last tablecloth when she heard this. She looked up and asked, “Right now?”
“Of course! If we find any issues later, it'll be too late.”
Rei slapped the schedule onto the desk, grabbed Kizuna's hand, and pulled her out of the room.
The changing room was at the other end of the school building. As the two walked down the hallway, the midday sun streamed in through the windows at an angle.
On the door of the changing room was a slip of paper that read “Reserved for Class 1-A's Magical Girl-Themed Cafe,” written in the class rep's handwriting.
Rei pushed open the door. Inside, several cosplay outfits were already hanging, each carefully covered in a garment bag with a corresponding code label taped near the opening.
A few girls who had arrived earlier were gathered around the clothes rack, chattering as they compared the details of the different styles.
“Ouka's skirt is so pretty! The lace on the cuffs is double-layered!” A girl with a ponytail held the outfit up to the light to examine it closely. Beside her, another girl with short hair leaned in to look, pointing to the other side of the rack. “Look at that one. It's so exquisitely made—even the patterns on the borders are identical.”
Several girls clutched their chosen outfits and headed into the fitting booths, the sound of curtains sliding shut echoing one after another.
The girl with the ponytail was the first to emerge. Wearing Ouka's classic outfit, she spun around in front of the mirror, the hem of the skirt shimmering softly under the lights, drawing soft gasps of admiration from the classmates nearby.
The short-haired girl followed close behind. She had barely taken a step before nearly tripping over her overly long skirt. She grabbed the nearby rack to steady herself, her face flushed red as she doubled over in laughter.
“Found them, found them!” Rei took down two garment bags from the rack. One label read “Meruru Classic Edition,” while the other read “Lightweaver Limited Edition.”
She handed the Meruru one to Kizuna, then held the Lightweaver one up to her own chest to measure it before putting it back down with a hint of regret.
“This one is Tian Gong's. I'm definitely going to take tons of photos when she wears it tomorrow.”
Kizuna took the Meruru cosplay outfit, her fingers gently brushing across the surface of the garment bag.
This outfit was exactly as she remembered, with every single detail faithfully recreated.
She cradled the garment bag carefully in her arms and looked up at Rei.
“Yano, Qiluo let me have this one.”
Rei blinked. “Let you have it? Then what is Tian Gong going to wear?”
“The Lightweaver one.” Kizuna lowered her head, her hand tracing the outline of the garment bag.
“She said Meruru didn't suit her vibe, and that it would look better on me. But I actually know she let me have it because she heard that I like Meruru.”
Rei opened her mouth, looked down at the Lightweaver cosplay outfit in her hands, then looked back up at the Meruru outfit in Kizuna's arms. She suddenly recalled what Qiluo had said about the Lightweaver outfit that day.
“Tian Gong is just that kind of person.” Rei carefully hung the Lightweaver outfit back onto the rack. “She claims she doesn't want to participate and that it's too much trouble, but then she quietly arranges everything. Oh, by the way, did you know that Meruru's songs were all written by her? And her first concert—”
Rate on N.U.
