Rei spoke at a rapid-fire pace. “Seina really is Meruru’s younger sister! I knew they looked alike! I thought so the last time I went to their concert!”
“I hear you,” Yuki nodded. Her gaze remained fixed on the stage. Watching Seina being held by her older sister’s hand, a tiny pang of envy couldn't help but rise in her heart.
Seina plucked the bowstring, and the bow produced a string-like sound, much like a violin.
Thinking of her sister’s little scheme backstage earlier, she took a deep breath, raised the bow to her chest, and spoke into the microphone.
“To be able to stand here today, I want to thank my sister for her constant support, and also everyone who has helped me along the way.”
“So today, I want to dedicate this song, together with my sister, to all the people who are important to me.”
As Seina drew her first note, everyone present felt as if the concrete and steel ceiling above their heads had suddenly vanished, replaced instead by a slowly rotating starry sky.
Silver-white star-trail lines spread outward from the center of the stage, climbing up the walls and running across every single row of seats in the audience.
Meruru held her microphone, its silver casing reflecting fragments of light.
Her singing voice echoed from the depths of the artificial starry sky above. Every syllable was wrapped in fine mana particles, sending ripples through the air that were almost invisible to the naked eye.
No one in the audience noticed anything unusual. They simply felt that the song was exceptionally beautiful. After hearing it, a corner of their hearts became incredibly light, as if washed clean by a gentle spring rain.
A girl sitting in the row in front of Qiluo leaned against her companion's shoulder, a tiny tear shimmering in the corner of her eye without her even realizing it.
Was it that Sea Race spell she had heard last time?
She had wanted to figure it out last time, but she never got the chance.
It definitely wasn't because Qiluo Tian Gong had forgotten; there had just been other things going on back then, leaving her no time to ask.
Meruru controlled the spell even more exquisitely this time. Her singing and Seina's bowstring notes intertwined, two sources of identical mana wrapping around each other in the air.
She could even see the resonance field they formed: a pale pink stream of light and light purple starlight swirling beneath the ceiling like two fish chasing each other.
Qiluo Tian Gong closed her eyes and began to enjoy it. Why wouldn't she?
In the past, listening to the songs of the Sea Race required a stroke of luck.
Getting a healing spell for free this time was an opportunity Qiluo wasn't about to miss.
On stage, Meruru and Seina's duet was reaching the chorus.
Every draw of Seina's bowstring showered down note-shaped mana particles, while Meruru's voice caused them to pause, spin, and fuse in mid-air, turning into larger spots of light that drifted down slowly like snowflakes.
Kohinata had a small, bruise-like mark on her leg from excessive mana consumption, which was still throbbing slightly. She rolled up her pant leg to take a look; the purplish-blue mark looked like an irregular ink stain on her skin.
When the rain of light fell, she was poking the bruise with her finger. Poke, hiss. Poke, hiss again.
Then, the mana particles drifted into her pant leg.
The throbbing sensation was gently smoothed away as if by an invisible hand. She blinked and poked it again... It didn't hurt anymore?
She whipped her head around to show Night Sakura, only to find Night Sakura leaning on Lightweaver's shoulder beside her, her head nodding off.
The dark circles left by her staying up all night editing videos were exceptionally prominent under the lights. Her finger was still resting on the handle of the video camera.
The rain of light fell onto her mask, sliding down its curves and into her collar. She yawned, her voice slurring. “So sleepy... Why is this song so hypnotic...”
Amamiya, on the other hand, was perfectly fine—possibly because she had already slept plenty—and her expression didn't change much.
Night Sakura was still fast asleep on Lightweaver's shoulder, her mask pushed askew to reveal half of her chin.
Finding her too heavy, Lightweaver shifted slightly to the side, but Night Sakura's head automatically followed her, as if she had a tracking rune installed.
Giving up the struggle, Lightweaver let her lean on her. She reached out to straighten Night Sakura's crooked mask, incidentally covering up the corner of her mouth where she was drooling.
Beside them, Misa Tachibana suddenly spoke up. “Lightweaver, what do you think of Meruru's singing?”
“It's beautiful, but there's also something hidden in her song. Although the intensity is very low, it covers the entire venue.” Lightweaver withdrew her gaze from the stage and turned to Misa Tachibana. “It directly acts upon the magic circuits. I've never seen this kind of mana structure before.”
Of course, she was telling the truth; she had never seen anything like it in this world.
“I noticed it the first time I heard her sing, too. Later, I searched the Association's lineage database, but I couldn't find any cases similar to hers.” Misa Tachibana tapped her fingers against the armrest of her wheelchair. “Do you think she knows about it herself?”
“Maybe, maybe not. But judging from her performance on stage, she isn't trying to hide it. If she wanted to keep it a secret, she wouldn't use it in such a public venue.”
“That makes sense. But as you said, it's not something she controls intentionally; it's more like an instinct. Her mana is simply structured this way, and singing is just her way of letting it flow naturally.”
Before Lightweaver could reply, Misa Tachibana added, “To be healed by something that flows out so naturally shows that Meruru herself is a very gentle person.”
“...Store Owner, are you very close with Meruru?”
“Not very close. I just heard from someone else that when Meruru first debuted, she would run a high fever after every performance. It was only later that they realized she was unconsciously channeling too much mana into her singing, and her body couldn't handle it.”
“Then how did she adjust later?” Lightweaver asked.
“She didn't adjust,” Misa Tachibana shook her head. “She simply learned to give herself enough recovery time before and after performances. Rather than an adjustment, it's more of a compromise.”
“Her mana is naturally like that, like a spring welling up from underground—you can't block it, you can only channel it. That's why her performance frequency is much lower now than it used to be.”
Lightweaver fell silent for a moment, turning her gaze back to the stage.
Meruru and Seina's duet was drawing to a close, the sisters' voices overlapping on the final note before stopping in unison.
The illusion of the starry sky on stage began to slowly dissipate, the starlight receding from the audience like an ebbing tide, shrinking back into a single, lonely point of light in the center of the stage.
Meruru extended her index finger and gently tapped the point of light. It shattered into fine stardust, sprinkling over her and Seina's shoulders.
Holding her microphone, she took a step back, yielding the center of the stage to her younger sister.
“To be able to stand here today is because there has been someone who has always stayed by my side.” Seina's voice was still trembling slightly, likely because she hadn't fully drawn back her mana after finishing her song. “I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to her.”
“The song just now was written for everyone who didn't leave me when I was at my lowest. And to me, that person is my sister. She was the one who never gave up on me, and I want to dedicate this song to her.”
Applause rang out in the gymnasium, starting with a few scattered claps before quickly spreading into a roaring wave.
Rate on N.U.
