Qiluo Tian Gong tilted her head, cradling the toy cat she had won from the shooting gallery in her arms.
She looked as quiet as usual, her brow slightly furrowed as she offered the toy to Shizuru, as if tending to a patient.
The Lightweaver she had chased all through the alleyways—the placement of the shoulder ornaments, the intricate patterns on the skirt, the splash of red dyed into the tips of her hair... every single thing.
It all aligned perfectly with the details on the person standing before her, without a single discrepancy.
The person she had chased through the entire street of booths was Qiluo Tian Gong?
Shizuru withdrew her gaze from Qiluo, looking down at her own dust-covered fingers.
When she had been chasing her in the alley just now, she had almost brushed against the tips of her fluttering hair several times. Thinking back, the texture indeed felt like a wig—smoother and cooler than real hair.
Squatting on the ground, she quickly ran through all the details of everything that had happened recently in her mind.
From beginning to end, Lightweaver hadn't released any magic today. That wasn't because she was deliberately suppressing it, but because she simply had no magic to release in the first place.
Because the person she was chasing was someone else entirely...
“Those clothes,” Shizuru began, her voice still a bit raspy from running so hard, “are they the uniform for your class's Magical Girl-themed café?”
“Yes.” Qiluo squatted down beside her, placing the toy on her knees. “I was serving plates at the café this morning, and then I came out to look around after my shift ended. This outfit is Lightweaver's.”
“I know... I know.”
Shizuru's voice was barely a whisper, as if she were apologizing to a secret known only to herself.
She took the toy cat from Qiluo, turning it over in her hands before giving its paw a gentle squeeze.
“Why were you running in the alley just now?”
“I thought someone was chasing me.”
Qiluo pointed to her outfit with her free hand. “Walking around in this, I kept feeling like someone was following me ever since I left the theater. You know how popular Lightweaver is in the Magical Girl community. I thought it might be some obsessive fan, so I got scared and started running.”
The lie wasn't perfect, but there were no obvious holes in it either.
She handed the toy back to Qiluo. When she stood up, her knees trembled slightly; her legs had gone numb from squatting for so long.
Shizuru leaned against a nearby tree trunk, waiting for the tingling sensation to pass. Once it did, she pulled her hand away and said, “Let's go.”
Her tone was much steadier than when she was squatting on the ground, though the corners of her eyes still bore faint red marks from burying her face in her arms earlier.
Qiluo Tian Gong walked ahead, while Shizuru followed half a step behind, her eyes involuntarily falling on that swaying lock of hair.
Tian Gong-san looks so much like Lightweaver.
She instinctively reached out, but withdrew her hand just before her fingertips could touch the lock of the wig. She slipped her hand back into her coat pocket and quickened her pace slightly to walk side-by-side with Qiluo.
“Your class's cosplay costume is indeed very detailed.”
Shizuru's gaze shifted from the wig to the brooch on the collar, and then to Qiluo's bare thighs.
“The level of detail is incredible. It looks almost identical to the one Lightweaver herself wears.”
“...Is that so?” Qiluo looked at her, tilting her head at an angle that made Shizuru daze for a moment.
When Lightweaver had wiped her face with a wet wipe, she had tilted her head at this exact same angle.
The same tilted head, the same slightly upturned corners of the eyes, the same quiet gaze.
Qiluo Tian Gong was looking at her sideways, waiting for her to finish speaking.
Realizing she had been staring for too long, Shizuru quickly shifted her gaze to the items on a nearby booth.
“...I mean, your class is really talented,” she cleared her throat, awkwardly pulling the conversation back on track.
“Is it made of the same material as the original?”
Qiluo looked down at her shoulder, pinching the brooch with her fingers and turning it over to show Shizuru the back.
“No, the original is probably condensed from magic, whereas this one seems to be embroidered with silver thread.”
Shizuru couldn't help but reach out, her fingertip brushing against a loose thread sticking out from the brooch.
At this close distance, she could clearly see the pattern of the stitching on Qiluo's collar, and she could even catch a faint scent wafting from her.
Lightweaver had once been this close, too.
No, even closer than this.
Right now, Tian Gong-san wasn't noticing her gaze.
She took the opportunity to steal another glance. Tian Gong-san's eyelashes were very long, fluttering like butterfly wings when she looked down. It reminded Shizuru of the expression Lightweaver had when she looked down to wipe her nose—just as focused and quiet.
She didn't know whether she hoped Tian Gong-san was Lightweaver, or if she hoped she wasn't.
If they were the same person, then every time she nodded in greeting to this quiet transfer student at school, she was essentially nodding to Lightweaver.
But if they weren't, then staring at Tian Gong-san's eyelashes right now was a betrayal of Lightweaver.
She pulled her hand back and pinched her index finger with her thumb. The slight sting temporarily cleared the chaotic thoughts from her mind.
“What's wrong?” Qiluo turned back, finding Shizuru still standing in place, pinching her index finger with a troubled expression, as if stuck on some difficult problem.
She took two steps back and waved her hand in front of Shizuru's face. “Kirishima-senpai? Did you get a stitch in your side from running too fast just now?”
“...It's nothing.” Shizuru released her finger, letting her hand drop and slipping it back into her coat pocket.
She looked at Qiluo's defenseless face, recalling the expression Yuki had when she brought up Tian Gong-san while sitting on the courtyard bench during lunch break.
If Qiluo Tian Gong really was Lightweaver, did Yuki know?
If she didn't know, then Lightweaver was brushing past Yuki at school every day, watching her, talking to her, and eating bento with her under a different identity, all while never revealing that she was the very figure Yuki chased after in the night.
What would that mean to Yuki? And if she did know, with what kind of feelings was Yuki spending time with her?
Shizuru snapped out of her thoughts, tucked a stray lock of hair blown messy by the wind behind her ear, and started walking again.
As the two of them passed the Tea Ceremony Club's booth, a tea-making performance was underway inside. Several girls dressed in kimonos were kneeling on the tatami, the tea whisks stirring the matcha with a soft, delicate rustle.
Shizuru stopped, looking at the white steam rising within the tea room, and asked, “Want to go in and take a look?” Qiluo nodded.
The corner of the tea room was very quiet. They kneeled in the very back row, a bowl of freshly prepared thin matcha placed before each of them.
The tea bowl felt slightly hot against her fingertips. Shizuru lowered her head to take a sip, the bitterness dissolving on her tongue to leave a very faint, sweet aftertaste.
But Shizuru also knew that she had chased Lightweaver for too long and too far.
Her obsession with Lightweaver had long surpassed the boundaries of cooperation or admiration.
She was certain that what she felt for Lightweaver was love, but it wasn't just love either.
If the two people she liked were actually one and the same, then this person just so happened to be the most important person to Yuki.
Her fingers tightened around the tea bowl, as if she were about to crush it.
No, these are just assumptions. I shouldn't let my imagination run wild without any evidence.
She's just wearing Lightweaver's cosplay costume, that's all.
“Kirishima-senpai, your tea is going to get cold,” Qiluo's voice came from beside her.
Shizuru looked down and realized her tea bowl was no longer steaming.
She lowered her head and drank the tea in one gulp, placing the empty bowl back on the tatami.
“Let's go see what else is fun.” She pushed open the door of the tea room, and the bustling noise outside flooded back into her ears.
Rate on N.U.
