She looked down at Star-trail curled up in a ball on her shoulder. The marks left by the receptionist's fingers still lingered in its fur, so she gently smoothed the messy coat with her fingers.
“...Let’s go.” She started walking. Just as she reached the elevator lobby, the doors happened to open. She looked up and saw two people standing inside.
One was a girl with long, dark hair, dressed in casual clothes. Perched on her shoulder was a plump, milky-white creature, excitedly thumping the metal wall of the elevator with its two tails, making a soft clinking sound.
“Star-trail!” Nuomi launched itself from the elevator, its four short legs drawing a parabola in the air. Yuki Kurokawa instinctively reached out to catch it, but Nuomi's trajectory was higher than she had anticipated. The little furball sailed right over her palm and landed on the floor with a soft plop.
Nuomi looked up at Star-trail, as if the words it had prepared for so long were suddenly stuck in its throat. Then, it pressed its front paws together and, in a very solemn posture, said, “Long time no see.”
“We just saw each other last week,” Star-trail said, poking half its body out from Yuki Kurokawa's shoulder.
“But you barely spoke last week! Can you stay at the registration desk a bit longer today?”
“Nuomi,” a helpless call came from the elevator entrance. Mingyue stepped out, wearing a dark blue light jacket and light-colored jeans. She didn't look much different from her transformed self, but without the giant scythe and gorgeous skirt, she seemed a bit softer. Her long hair wasn't tied into a ponytail like when she was transformed; instead, it was draped casually over her shoulders.
This was the first time she had seen Mingyue's true appearance.
Without the cognitive interference of her transformed state, the person standing before her was a high school girl who looked about her own age. Her facial features were softer than when she was transformed, her skin was very fair, and there was a faint, small mole at the corner of her eye.
Overall, she was quite a cool, elegant beauty.
Kurokawa-san, she's totally overlapping with your character trope.
“You're Snowrealm, right?” Mingyue stopped in front of her. “I figured you'd be about done registering.” She bowed slightly, a formal gesture. “Thank you for the joint operation last week.”
Yuki Kurokawa froze for a moment, then bowed in return. “I should thank you too. If I hadn't run into you on the day of my first battle, I wouldn't have known about the Association or registration.” She straightened up and looked at Mingyue's face, a faint smile appearing on that cool, elegant countenance.
“Anyway, now that you're registered, we're official teammates. By the way,” Mingyue pointed to herself, “my real name is Shizuru Kirishima. Class C, second year at Tachibana High School.”
Yuki Kurokawa's mind ground to a complete halt. Tachibana High School. Second year. That meant they went to the same school.
Just how many Magical Girls is Tachibana High School hiding?
She remembered what Rei had said—maybe there are Magical Girls right around us. Yano Rei's intuition was terrifyingly accurate in so many ways.
“I'm Yuki Kurokawa from Class B, first year.” Her voice was steadier than expected, but her fingers instinctively pulled Star-trail a bit closer to her chest.
“...Yuki Kurokawa.” Shizuru Kirishima repeated the name. “The top student of the first-year class, right?”
“...You know me?”
“I'm on the disciplinary committee. I check the cleanliness of each class every week.”
“Since we're at the same school, you can come to me directly if anything comes up.” Shizuru took her phone out of her pocket and naturally tapped the screen to light it up. “Give me your contact info. For combat communications.” Yuki Kurokawa recited her number and heard the soft clicks of the other girl typing it in.
“...So you're a second-year senior.” She shifted Star-trail to her other shoulder, as if using the movement to compose herself. “I had absolutely no idea.”
“I happened to be on a long leave of absence when you entered the school,” Shizuru said, leaning against the hallway wall with a casual tone. “I was hospitalized for two months due to injuries sustained during a Magical Girl mission. I didn't join any clubs afterward either, and aside from the disciplinary committee's routine patrols, I rarely stay at school.” She slipped her phone back into her pocket and lowered her eyes. “So it's normal that you didn't notice me. I was never the kind of senior people remember anyway.”
Hospitalized for two months. Qiluo saved this information in a folder in her mind dedicated to "Mingyue-related Intel." The injury was likely related to the damage to Nuomi's mana core. She had noticed occasional, momentary stutters in Nuomi's mana fluctuations during combat before, and had suspected even then that its core might have sustained an old injury.
Yuki Kurokawa fell silent for a few seconds, then shook her head. “No. It's because you're too good at hiding yourself. Outside the classroom, you don't look like anyone at all.” She looked straight into Shizuru's eyes. “Similarly, the 'me' you see at school isn't the real me either. So it's only natural that you didn't notice.”
Hearing this, Shizuru's eyes widened slightly. Then she averted her gaze and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, as if trying to dispel a subtle sense of awkwardness.
“...Aren't you embarrassed to say things like that?”
“It's the truth.”
What is with these two? One wasn't used to being seen through, and the other wasn't used to holding back her conclusions after seeing through someone. Two people with zero and sub-zero social skills, respectively, were having a mutual confession in the hallway.
Nuomi hopped from Yuki Kurokawa's feet back onto Shizuru's shoulder, patting the back of her neck with its two tails. “Shizuru! The back of your ears turned a little red when you were talking just now.”
“...Shut up.” Shizuru pressed the back of her hand against the back of her ear, then turned to Yuki Kurokawa. “By the way, the Observation Department needs to give it a standard mana physical exam. This is a process that all unregistered Contract Spirits have to go through, it's not targeting it specifically.”
How deep of a scan could her disguise withstand on a mana level? Star-trail's mana structure was woven based on the magic system of her original world, so there would definitely be differences from the Contract Spirit lineages of this world. To what extent would the difference be judged as a normal variation, and at what point would it be flagged as abnormal?
Yuki Kurokawa looked down at Star-trail in her arms. Star-trail's ears twitched, and its tail lightly swept across her wrist.
“There won't be any invasive tests, it'll take about ten minutes,” Shizuru added, pushing open the door to the examination room at the end of the hallway.
The examination room was even quieter than the registration desk. In the very center of the room stood a cylindrical mana detection capsule. Its outer wall was made of a translucent, milky-white material, and several induction rings were slowly rotating inside.
A technician in a white lab coat was adjusting parameters at the control console. When he saw them enter, his gaze naturally fell on Star-trail in Yuki Kurokawa's arms.
“Is this the one?” The technician pushed up his goggles and walked halfway around Star-trail, his tone shifting from businesslike to a kind of cautious excitement. “I can count the number of Contract Spirits I've handled in recent years on one hand. Don't worry, it's just a routine scan. It won't hurt a bit.”
Whoa, he seems like a total creep!
Don't tell me everyone in this world is a Contract Spirit obsessive.
Yuki Kurokawa placed Star-trail onto the base of the detection capsule. The tiny silver-white creature sat perfectly still, its tail elegantly wrapped around its front paws. It was telling her in its own way: I'm fine.
The transparent door of the detection capsule slowly slid shut, and the induction rings began to move from top to bottom, emitting an extremely faint hum each time they passed over Star-trail's body. Rows of data began to flicker across the console screen.
Total mana capacity, circuit stability, form integrity. Every basic indicator that popped up was marked "Normal" or "Excellent." Qiluo slowly let out the breath she had been holding.
The basic indicators had passed, but the real test was the lineage analysis.
When constructing Star-trail, she had used a large number of astrological magic frameworks from her original world. Those frameworks likely had no corresponding templates in this world's database.
Sure enough, the lineage analysis column flashed “Match Failed” several times.
“There is no exact match in the lineage database,” the technician's fingers slid quickly across the touchpad. “This has happened before; it's not considered abnormal. The system will automatically create a new, exclusive lineage file for it.”
Not considered abnormal. That was great. Then, she took back control of Star-trail's senses, just in time to hear the technician bring up the mana waveform chart to show Shizuru.
Rate on N.U.
