“Ms. Tanabe?” Kizuna pulled the photo closer to herself, squinting to examine it. “It really is her. She was so young back then. Sis, how did you recognize her at a single glance?”
“Actually, your Ms. Tanabe isn't an ordinary person,” Misa Tachibana said slowly, setting down her chopsticks.
This made Qiluo Tian Gong almost choke on the drink she had just sipped.
“It's normal that you didn't know. Though she wasn't a Magical Girl, she used to work in the Association's logistics department, providing support.”
A faint smile played on Misa Tachibana's lips, as if she had remembered something very amusing.
“Later, when the Association underwent restructuring, she took the opportunity to step down, got her teaching license, and came to Tachibana High School. When I ran into her afterward, she told me that teaching at this school is a bit easier than working support at the Association.”
“It's not just Ms. Tanabe.” Yuzuki pointed toward a girl with twin tails in the front row of the photo without actually touching it. “This one was my very first manager. She was the one who guided me during my debut year. I was a complete rookie back then, but she never once scolded me.”
Her finger moved half an inch to the right, landing on the face of a short-haired girl flashing a V-sign.
“And this one—anyone in the Association's Finance Division should know her. She's Manager Sato now.”
Kohinata stood up from her chair, carefully took the photo from Misa Tachibana's hands, and held it up to her eyes, looking at it over and over.
“So you're saying everyone in this photo went on to become the backbone of the Association? Doesn't that make this a legendary, antique-tier group photo?”
“Store Owner, when you buried this time capsule, did you already know they would all grow up to be such incredible people?”
“How could I have known back then?” Misa Tachibana gently slid the photo back out of Kohinata's hands and placed it back into the metal box. “Tanabe was just an intern back then; she couldn't even hold a piece of chalk steady. Sato was only a temporary worker in the Finance Division, constantly worrying about whether she'd ever get a permanent position.”
It was pitch black.
Qiluo Tian Gong used the internet slang of this world to describe the situation.
No wonder the Association's attitude toward Wings of Freedom was so ambiguous.
Store Owner, you have connections like this, so why on earth aren't you using them?
Aside from the group photo, there were a few individual photos of Misa Tachibana standing on the rooftop. The wind blew her bangs aside as she gave the camera a slightly awkward peace sign.
Next to it, written in ballpoint pen, were the words: After my first patrol mission. The handwriting had already faded significantly.
Qiluo silently shoveled the food from her plate into her mouth while listening to everyone chatter.
Right then, a message from Yuki arrived.
Yuki: 【Qiluo, have you arrived at school? I'm at the side entrance of the gymnasium. There are quite a lot of people here. If you're here, I can come pick you up.】
Shoot. She still had to go on stage as Lightweaver later, or at least stand by backstage, but Qiluo Tian Gong couldn't just vanish into thin air either.
Then she would just have to have a stomachache and rest in the nurse's office!
Why not just say she was resting at home?
If she said she was at home, Rei had just seen Qiluo this morning. If Yuki happened to chat with Rei, the whole cover would be blown.
“I'm in the nurse's office,” she typed, her fingers moving slightly slower than usual. “My stomach felt a bit upset when I came over this morning. It might be from eating too much street food yesterday. I'm lying down and resting now. It's nothing major, so don't worry.”
The other side replied with just three words: 【I'm coming over.】
“No need!” After typing those words, Qiluo took a deep breath and added a few more lines. “I'm really fine. The school nurse said it's just a bit of indigestion, and I'll be good after lying down for a bit. You don't need to make a special trip. Isn't there still a performance in the gymnasium this afternoon? Don't let me hold you up.”
After sending the message, Qiluo waited and watched for a few seconds.
Read. No reply.
She waited another few seconds, but there was still no response.
Knowing Yuki Kurokawa, this kind of silence usually didn't mean “Okay, I got it.” Instead, it meant “I'm already on my way.”
This was bad!
“Sorry, I have an urgent matter to attend to. I have to go first,” Lightweaver said, standing up from her chair.
“Eh? Why are you leaving all of a sudden?” Kohinata looked up from her plate, bits of seaweed still stuck to the corner of her mouth. “There's still the performance this afternoon. Didn't you say you were coming to help backstage? Night Sakura even saved the very best seat in the front row for you—”
“A friend of mine suddenly feels unwell, so I'm going to check on them. I promise I'll be back in time for the performance.” Her tone softened as she spoke the last few words, and she turned toward Misa Tachibana. “Store Owner, I'll be there.”
The distance from the gymnasium's clubroom to the school building's nurse's office wasn't very far, but Lightweaver ran at her absolute fastest speed.
She canceled her transformation behind the school building, flipped her jacket inside out before putting it back on, tied her hair back into a low ponytail, and mumbled prayers under her breath.
The nurse's office was at the end of the first-floor corridor. The sign hanging on the white doorframe was slightly yellowed. The door was unlocked, so she pushed it open a crack and slipped inside.
...
The nurse's office was very quiet. The curtains were half-drawn, and the air smelled faintly of disinfectant mixed with the scent of sun-dried bedsheets.
Yuki Kurokawa took a few steps inside. She saw that the curtain of the bed by the window was half-drawn, revealing long hair spread across the pillow.
Qiluo Tian Gong lay on her side on the narrow cot of the nurse's office, the blanket pulled up to her shoulders and her eyes closed.
Yuki Kurokawa quietly pulled up the chair beside the bed and sat down.
The legs of the chair made a faint scraping sound against the floor. She gently pushed the water cup on the nightstand a bit further back.
After an unknown amount of time, Qiluo slowly opened her eyes.
She saw Yuki sitting by the bedside. Backlit by the window, those deep blue eyes were gazing at her with intense focus.
“...How did you still end up coming?” Her voice was still raspy from sleep. “I'm fine, just a little sleepy. What time is it now? The performance is about to start, right?”
“It's still early.”
“You're not planning to sit here the whole afternoon, are you?” Qiluo propped herself up. The blanket slid from her shoulders to her waist, leaving shallow creases on the white sheets beneath her.
Qiluo swept her long hair back over her shoulders and tilted her head to look at Yuki. “You said before that you wanted to watch it. If you don't go now, you'll regret it.”
“I won't.”
In her mind, Qiluo was pacing around in circles with anxiety.
Why was this girl so stubborn? She was usually so easy to distract, yet today she seemed nailed to this chair.
No, if she showed any expression that suggested “I'm fine, go do your thing,” Yuki would only worry more and refuse to leave even more stubbornly.
She had to change her strategy. She needed to make Yuki believe that she really was going to lie here obediently, rather than slip away the moment Yuki turned her back.
Qiluo pulled the blanket up a bit, hiding her slightly flushed cheeks from her guilty conscience, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Rate on N.U.
