Chapter 154 | This Magical Girl Is a Bit Strange

The steam from the fried noodle stall blurred her vision.

Shizuru had already changed out of her ancient Greek robe and was wearing a thin, dark blue coat. Her long hair, still slightly wavy from having the hair ornaments removed, was cascading down as she stood on her tiptoes, peering in this direction.

“Shizuru—wait for me!”

Nuomi chased after her from behind, its four short legs weaving nimbly through the crowd.

When it caught up to Shizuru's feet, it almost failed to brake in time, nearly crashing into her heels. Its ears flopped forward from the momentum.

It shook its head to fling its ears back into place, looking up at Shizuru. “You're running too fast! Did you find Lightweaver?”

Shizuru didn't answer. She only stared at the silver-white figure in the crowd.

Nuomi jogged along at her feet, occasionally poking its head out from between people's legs to help Shizuru keep track of their target's location.

Qiluo straightened up. Without looking in Shizuru's direction, she turned and walked toward a shooting gallery.

From behind came a flurry of hurried footsteps, followed by the muffled thud of a sudden stop.

The person had likely stopped just a few paces away from her.

Without turning around, she picked up a toy gun from the stall and pulled the trigger at a balloon.

The first shot missed, but the second hit the bullseye. The stall owner handed her a toy cat. She took it, tucked it under her arm, and continued walking forward.

The gaze behind her followed her every step of the way.

Qiluo quickened her pace to round a crepe stand, and the footsteps behind her sped up accordingly.

The chase continued through the entire street of booths.

Qiluo consistently maintained just enough distance to keep herself in Shizuru's sight—not close enough to be caught, but not far enough to be lost.

Several times, Shizuru thought she was finally about to catch up and reached out to tap her shoulder, only to brush against the tips of her fluttering hair.

She turned into an alleyway leading to the courtyard. Catching a glimpse of her pursuer out of the corner of her eye, she ducked into a fork in the path just a split second before Shizuru chased her into the alley.

The fork branched left and right. On the left wall hung faded club posters, while the right path ended in a row of trash cans.

Shizuru's breathing grew increasingly ragged. She finally came to a stop right in the middle of the fork, resting her hands on her knees as she panted heavily.

Nuomi poked its head out from by her feet and gently patted the top of her shoe with a tiny paw.

“There are too many people. Her scent cut off halfway down the alley.”

Nuomi let its ears droop, its tail dragging on the ground. “I'm sorry, Shizuru. If only I had run a bit faster and caught up to her before she entered the alley...”

“...It's not your fault.” Shizuru straightened up, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.

Lightweaver's retreating figure had been so resolute; she hadn't even looked back once.

But she clearly saw me. Why didn't she just stop?

Deliberately running away today... Does she not want me to catch up to her? Or is she hiding from something?

Footsteps sounded again from within the alley.

Qiluo poked half of her body out from the shadow of the wall, locking eyes with Shizuru, who was standing at the alley entrance.

Shizuru's eyes widened slightly. Her lips parted, as if she wanted to say, “Found you.”

Qiluo didn't give her the chance to finish. She turned and ran.

This time, she didn't choose secluded alleys. Instead, she headed straight for the most crowded part of the courtyard.

The brass band's booth was currently sound-checking, and the intro to a march happened to start playing.

“Wait—”

A hushed yet undeniably anxious voice called out from behind.

Qiluo didn't stop. She kept squeezing forward.

Tucking the toy cat tightly under her arm, she lowered her head and ducked left and right through the crowd. Using a few students posing for photos with balloons as cover, she slipped into the thickest part of the courtyard plaza's crowd the moment the balloons floated up.

By the time Shizuru chased her out of the alleyway, she only managed to catch a glimpse of that splash of red flashing past the courtyard entrance.

She squeezed into the crowd, her shoulders brushing past countless unfamiliar arms and backpacks. Her shoes stepped over discarded program pamphlets, and she navigated around a cart piled high with empty paper cups. For a brief moment, her field of vision cleared, allowing her to catch a silver-white back slipping past the edge of the fountain pool in the center of the plaza.

She squeezed past the flea market booths and chased her to the edge of the fountain.

A few tourists taking photos blocked her path. She squeezed past them sideways, and the splashing water dampened her cuffs.

That splash of red flashed beneath a lamppost, like the final ripple cast into a body of water, completely dissolving into the bustling flow of the crowd.

Shizuru stood in the middle of the crowd, panting. Her coat had been jostled askew on one shoulder, and several strands of her long hair had slipped loose from behind her ears.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, her eyes searching the crowd for that familiar figure.

Qiluo took a few steps back, hiding behind a ginkgo tree.

The people around her were still moving, chatting, and laughing. The march playing over the broadcast was drawing to a close, and the announcer was introducing the next event.

Shizuru Kirishima slowly squatted down, burying her face in her crossed arms.

Nuomi crawled out from beside her feet. It said nothing, only gently wrapping its two tails around her wrist.

The surrounding crowd remained bustling. Someone rode a skateboard past the alley entrance, the wheels rolling over fallen leaves with a crisp, rustling crunch.

All of these sounds felt as if they were filtered through a magic barrier, reaching her ears only as a muffled hum.

“...She came, and then she ran.”

Nuomi tightened its tails slightly against her wrist.

After Shizuru lost track of Lightweaver in the alley, it had been flying right behind her.

Now, it pressed its fluffy body against Shizuru, acting as a little hand warmer.

“Nuomi,” Shizuru said, lifting her face from her arms. Without looking at Nuomi, she stared at the sunlit, gleaming floor tiles before her. “Did I do something wrong?”

“In what way?” Nuomi asked.

“Why did Lightweaver run? If she didn't want to be found by me, she wouldn't have come in the first place. She could have easily just vanished, so why did she run instead...?”

She extended her index finger, absentmindedly drawing circles on the ground.

She was still thinking about the Lightweaver who had just vanished into the crowd, and about that toy cat tucked under her arm.

Since when did Lightweaver like those kinds of trinkets? This detail didn't quite match the Lightweaver in her memories, but she didn't have the spare energy to dwell on it right now.

A hand reached out from behind her, gently tapping her shoulder.

Shizuru didn't turn around. She remained squatted on the ground, her dark blue coat slipping down a bit from her shoulders, revealing the stage play lining underneath that she hadn't yet changed out of.

She was afraid that if she turned around, she would find nothing behind her—just like the empty seat in the theater, or that fleeting splash of red highlight by the fountain.