Chapter 156 | This Magical Girl Is a Bit Strange

“Kirishima-senpai, do you have any other plans?”

“...No,” Shizuru shook her head. “I was just planning to wander around.”

Shizuru had originally hoped to find Lightweaver after the performance and spend some quality time together.

But now, she had found Qiluo Tian Gong instead.

“That's perfect then. Yuki and Kizuna are over at the sports field watching the school idol live performance. Let's go together,” Qiluo said, already starting to walk.

Shizuru followed behind her, suddenly speaking up. “I always thought you were very reserved. I didn't expect you to be so direct.”

“What kind of misunderstanding do you have about me?” Qiluo glanced sideways at her. “I've always been direct.”

Shizuru was slightly taken aback, then let out a soft chuckle.

“By the way—” Qiluo reached into her pocket, her fingertips brushing against a neatly folded slip of paper. “Just now, outside the tea room, someone wearing a mask asked me to give this to you.”

She handed the slip over.

Shizuru took it and unfolded it in her palm. Written on it in black ink, in clean, sharp handwriting, was a single line: “I went to watch! You did a wonderful job~ But you look even better without the mask.”

Below it was a Line ID.

Shizuru stared at the slip of paper for a long time.

People bustled past outside the tea room. A few girls carrying plushies walked by, one of them accidentally bumping her shoulder.

“Why didn't you give this to me earlier when we were outside the tea room?”

“That person said to wait until we finished our tea before giving it to you.” Qiluo tilted her head, asking with a touch of curiosity, “What's wrong? What does it say?”

“...Nothing.” Shizuru folded the slip of paper and slid it into her inner coat pocket, her fingers lingering inside for a moment before she finally pulled them out.

When she looked up, she found Qiluo still standing a few paces ahead, looking back at her with a mysterious smile playing on her lips.

Shizuru quickened her pace to catch up.

“Let's go. Didn't you say we were going to find Yuki and the others?”

Qiluo didn't expose her. Instead, she casually brushed the red-dyed lock of hair on her wig back into place, as it kept falling into her eyes.

Wigs really did have that one drawback—some strands of hair just refused to behave.

Shizuru walked by her side, her steps much lighter than before. Every now and then, she would unconsciously touch her coat pocket.

Qiluo caught this small gesture out of the corner of her eye and silently turned her head the other way.

It was a good thing I didn't run too fast in the alley earlier. It would've been trouble if she actually caught up.

Things had worked out perfectly. Shizuru believed Lightweaver had truly come to see her, while Qiluo Tian Gong was merely a passerby helping to deliver a note.

The note was a sudden stroke of inspiration from Qiluo, who had realized that Shizuru didn't have any way to contact Lightweaver at all.

It wasn't like she could just summon Mingyue as if firing a flare every single time, right?

For now, “Tian Gong-san” had to pretend to know absolutely nothing.

Qiluo Tian Gong was just an ordinary transfer student who had no idea what this note meant to Shizuru!

Following Qiluo across the plaza, Shizuru's fingers never left her phone screen.

She had stared at the ID on the note until she memorized it. Typing it into the search bar character by character, she saw the profile picture was a shining star.

Very fitting for Lightweaver...

Shizuru backed out and looked at her own profile picture for a moment—it was a crescent moon.

A perfect match, isn't it?

She tapped “Add Friend” and sent the verification request.

After sending it, she clutched the phone in her hand, pressing the screen face-down against her chest, as if waiting for some monumental response.

A few seconds later, she flipped the phone back over to confirm her signal was full, the message had indeed been sent, and the other party had indeed not accepted yet.

She slipped the phone into her pocket, deciding to wait a few more minutes. When she pulled it out again a few minutes later, there was still no activity.

“Maybe she's still busy and hasn't had time to check her phone,” she muttered to herself. She put the phone back in her pocket, only to pull it out again after a few steps to re-search the ID, making sure she hadn't mistyped a single character.

“...Watch where you're going.” Qiluo reached out to tug at her sleeve, pulling her half a step to the side.

Shizuru looked up and realized she had almost walked straight into a lamppost.

“Kirishima-senpai, you seem especially distracted today.”

“...It's nothing.”

You wouldn't understand, Qiluo Tian Gong. I'm waiting for a very important message.

She didn't know if this counted as a date. After all, Lightweaver had only given her her contact info, not asked to meet.

But now that I have her contact info, I can learn more about Lightweaver's hobbies through Line. I can ask her what she likes to eat...

Maybe even her type.

“Kirishima-senpai.” Qiluo shattered Shizuru's daydream once more, sounding slightly helpless. “You've been smiling at thin air for quite a while now. The sports field is this way. Where are you trying to go by turning left?”

Shizuru looked around and realized she had taken the wrong turn at the fork, almost walking into a dead end by the club building.

Without a change in expression, she turned around and walked back, falling in line behind Qiluo.

Seriously, why does Tian Gong-san keep watching me?

Now she's seen me grinning like an idiot!

Just ahead was the entrance to the sports field. The crowd was visibly denser than before, and the energetic beat of drums echoed from the stage. The school idol live performance had already begun.

“I see Yuki. She's over there.” Qiluo stood on her tiptoes and waved into the crowd.

Almost at the same time, Yuki spotted her, along with Shizuru Kirishima standing right beside her.

Yuki's gaze lingered on Shizuru for a split second before naturally shifting away as she walked over to them.

Kizuna followed behind her, holding two glow sticks in her hands, with a star sticker she had bought at a roadside stall pasted on her cheek. Her eyes lit up when she saw Qiluo, and she ran over to stuff one of the glow sticks into her hand.

“Kirishima-senpai.”

Yuki emerged from the crowd and stopped in front of Shizuru. She nodded slightly in greeting, her gaze naturally drifting back to Qiluo. “How did you two end up together?”

“We ran into each other outside the theater.”

Shizuru pulled her hand out of her pocket, returning to her usual upright school posture. “After the performance, I happened to run into Tian Gong-san being chased by some fans, so I lent her a hand.”