Chapter 22 | This Magical Girl Is a Bit Strange

The amusement park incident only occupied an inconspicuous corner of the social section in that evening's news. The headline read: “Sudden Equipment Failure at Theme Park; Several Tourists Sustain Minor Injuries.” The article didn't contain the words “Erosion Body,” nor did it mention Magical Girls.

After all, it would be a tragedy for a newly opened amusement park to have an Erosion Body appearance; it would cause a massive loss in popularity.

She thought, this is for the best.

The next day was Monday. After the initial bustle of the new term, Tachibana High School settled back into its daily routine. During lunch break, Qiluo took the black bento box Rei handed over as usual. Rei had stuffed an extra octopus sausage in for her today.

“That amusement park from the news yesterday!” Rei lowered her voice, biting her chopsticks. “I saw people online saying it was an Erosion Body. I was actually planning to go yesterday, but luckily I didn't—Qiluo, don't you think that’s a huge coincidence!”

“...Quite a coincidence,” Qiluo said, stuffing the octopus sausage into her mouth.

What a coincidence indeed. I was there. I even fought the Erosion Bodies.

“And I heard there were Magical Girls on the scene! People who were there are posting that two Magical Girls fought off the Erosion Bodies together! One was the one who usually appears in this area with the deep blue scythe, and the other seemed new. She had white hair and a skirt that looked like it was glowing!”

Rei got more excited as she spoke, gesturing with her chopsticks. “The discussion threads online are exploding right now! People are saying she might be a newly debuted idol Magical Girl!”

Qiluo picked up a piece of tamagoyaki with her chopsticks and remained silent. She hadn't expected the code name she’d come up with on a whim to spread at a speed she absolutely didn't want to see.

Meanwhile, in the classroom of Class 2-C at Tachibana High School, Shizuru Kirishima sat by the window with her math textbook spread out in front of her.

Sunlight hit her draft paper at an angle, casting a long shadow from her black pen.

Nuomi hadn't followed her to school today. After the fight at the amusement park yesterday, it had consumed too much energy. This morning, it was slumped on its little cushion, unable to get up. Even with its eyes barely open, it was still mumbling, “I can go.”

Shizuru had tucked it back into the bedding and come to school alone.

Now she regretted it a little. Because that fluffy weight was missing from her shoulder, the extra space in her mind was being filled by something else.

To be precise, it was being filled by a person.

Shizuru put down her pen and flipped the draft paper over. The back of the paper should have been blank, but at some point, she had drawn the silhouette of a figure. It was a sketch she had drawn and erased several times with her pencil. She had even drawn the folds of the skirt, the warm white short hair, and the single streak of color at the ends.

There was no face, because she truly hadn't seen it clearly.

She flipped the draft paper back over.

Then she realized she had flipped it in a fraction of a second, so fast it was as if she were destroying evidence of a crime.

The girl in the next seat leaned over to ask what she was writing. Without changing her expression, Shizuru pressed the paper deep into the back of her math textbook and said, “Solving trigonometric functions.”

After school, she sat down at a public computer in the library. The glow of the screen reflected on her face, the cold blue tones making the fatigue at the corners of her eyes more apparent.

She typed keywords into the Association's database search bar and hit enter.

Search results: Zero.

She expanded the search range from “active-duty” to “all archives,” including retired and deceased. Still zero.

She typed in “light attribute,” “threads,” “Lightweaver”—no matching records.

A Magical Girl capable of instantly clearing two mid-tier Erosion Bodies hadn't left a single clue in the Association's database.

Either she wasn't a Magical Girl at all, or the Association's system wasn't worthy of recording her existence.

Shizuru leaned back in her chair, took off her glasses to wipe them, and put them back on.

She wanted to delete the code name “Lightweaver” from her mind, but her fingers had already opened another search interface before her brain could catch up.

The speed at which she typed the keywords was much slower than when she was searching the database; she weighed every word. The search results popped up—a few scattered social media posts from tourists who had witnessed the battle at the amusement park yesterday.

“...A Magical Girl with a red streak at the tips of her hair, her magic uses threads made of light... Such an amazing lady!”

“...That red streak at the ends of her hair was so striking when she turned around!”

“...She’s so pretty! She looks so aloof and cool! Totally my type!”

“...I’m declaring it: she’s my new fave! The name Lightweaver is so cool, too!”

Shizuru was silent for about five seconds, then she screenshotted and saved these posts one by one.

The save path wasn't “Association Related/Combat Records,” but a folder she had newly created today named “Weave.” She stared at the folder's name for a while, then right-clicked to rename it to “LW.” After changing it, she felt like a total idiot and changed it back to “Weave.”

Nuomi was right. She really was acting a bit strange right now.

Returning home in the evening, Shizuru pushed open the door to find Nuomi lying on its little cushion, nibbling on a strawberry daifuku.

“You're awake,” Shizuru said, placing her schoolbag in the entryway and kicking off her shoes.

“Shizuru!” Nuomi looked up from the daifuku, a small bit of white powder stuck to its nose. Its ears twitched. “Your expression looks a bit different today.”

“Math was too hard.”

“Math has never been hard for you.” Nuomi wiped the powder off its nose with a paw, then spoke with absolute certainty, “You’re thinking about that Magical Girl again.”

Shizuru didn't deny it, which was a confession in itself. She went straight to the kitchen to pour some water, holding the cup without drinking, her fingertips lightly tapping the side.

“I checked today. She’s not in the Association's database. I used the highest level of access and searched all archives, even those retired for over twenty years. She doesn't exist. She’s a Magical Girl appearing in this recording system for the first time.”

She set the cup on the island counter, her speech faster than usual. “Her mana structure type isn't in any known classification, and her combat style doesn't match any existing schools. If she truly were a newly born Magical Girl, she couldn't possibly have that kind of combat experience.”

Nuomi got up from its cushion, hopped onto the kitchen island, and sat down next to her hand holding the cup.

Shizuru looked down at Nuomi, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

Nuomi sat on the island, watching her walk from the kitchen to the living room, from the living room to the bedroom, and then from the bedroom back to the kitchen. Finally, she stood by the refrigerator, staring at the light in the cold storage compartment for several seconds before closing it without taking anything.

“Shizuru,” Nuomi tapped the island counter with its tail.

“Yes.”

“You’ve paced around the room four times already.”

“...”

Shizuru didn't answer. She raised the cup to take a sip, only to realize it was empty. She hadn't poured any water at all. She put the empty cup back on the island.

“I was thinking about her combat style. That style of using magic threads to control multiple targets simultaneously requires extremely high spatial awareness and precise mana control. The way her fingers moved when she reeled in the threads—that level of precision control—”

“You’ve said so much,” Nuomi interrupted her, “but really, you’re just thinking about how pretty she is, aren't you?”

Shizuru's ears turned red instantly, the color spreading from her lobes to the very edges.

Nuomi’s eyes widened. It had only said it on a whim, but now it realized it had stumbled onto something incredible.

“I just—”

“You’re blushing!”

Nuomi jumped up from the island, its two tails excitedly whipping the air. “Shizuru Kirishima! You like that Magical Girl! You like Lightweaver! You’ve been thinking about her ever since you got back yesterday!”

Shizuru stood still, her lips pressed into a thin line. She tried to use her usual calm, almost cold expression to suppress the heat in her face, but it was ineffective.

“...Nuomi.”

“Yeah!”

“Do you think I'm being weird?” Shizuru leaned her hands on the island, looking down. “I don't know why either. She only appeared for less than five minutes, and I didn't even see her face clearly. All I saw was a blurry silhouette.” Her fingers traced light circles on the counter. “But I saw her movements very clearly. They were very sharp, very beautiful.”

Nuomi quieted down, sitting on the edge of the island, its two tails slowly drooping onto the back of her hand.

“It's not weird,” Nuomi said. “It was pretty much the same for me when I first saw Star-trail.”

Nuomi scratched at the island counter with its claws, then sat up straight again. “Shizuru. Do you want to see her?”

Shizuru fell silent, the pause longer than usual.

“...Yes.”

She took out her phone and pressed the screen, the light making the small mole at the corner of her eye reflect slightly. She stared at those screenshots for a long while, put the phone down, then picked it up again.

She remembered the scene of the amusement park incident very clearly. There was an alley near the viewing tower that she hadn't had time to check. The spot where that mid-tier Erosion Body fell had happened to block the alley's entrance.

If Lightweaver had chosen to retreat through that alley after the battle, she might have left behind mana residue.

The Association's Observation Department had corresponding tracking methods, but it required the person to be present to provide their own mana sample as a reference to separate the target's mana residue from the environment.

She gripped the phone in her palm, looking down at the comments about Lightweaver on the screen.

“Nuomi.” She put the phone on the island and took her jacket off the hanger. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“The scene. We’re going to the amusement park. There should be mana residue nearby.”

Nuomi jumped down from the island and trotted over to brush against her shoulder. Shizuru’s stride as she pushed open the door was larger than usual, with almost no hesitation.

Nuomi lay on her shoulder, its two long ears blown back by the evening breeze blowing in from outside. It pressed its forehead against its contractor's neck, feeling the pulse beneath the skin beating much faster than usual.

The closing lights of the amusement park were already on. The main gate was cordoned off with tape, and the guard in the security booth was looking down at his phone. She circled around through the side employee passage and stopped at the entrance of the alley behind the viewing tower.

This was the place. Yesterday, the spot where that mid-tier Erosion Body fell had blocked the mouth of the alley, and she hadn't had time to check it then.

Now, only a few cracks in the shattered floor tiles and a piece of blurred caution tape remained on the ground.

She placed Nuomi near her collarbone and whispered, “Your senses are sharper than mine. Help me find if there's any light attribute mana residue.”

Nuomi closed its eyes, the golden four-pointed star on its forehead glowing faintly. A moment later, it opened its eyes, its ears rotating once before pointing deep into the alley.

Shizuru followed Nuomi's guidance inside. The alley was very narrow, barely enough for two people to pass each other sideways, and the walls on both sides were covered in old, dark stains.

The further they went, the clearer that extremely subtle layer of warmth floating in the air became.

“Here.” Nuomi pointed with its tail toward a corner. There was an inconspicuous scorch mark in the corner, about the size of a palm, with a very faint charred color.

Shizuru knelt down and placed her hand over the scorch mark. The moment her fingertips touched it, she felt a very weak sting from the residual mana.

She let Nuomi come down to feel it together. Nuomi touched the edge of the scorch mark with its nose, its eyes suddenly rounding.

“What is it?”

“...It's so clean,” Nuomi’s voice was filled with confusion. “All mana undergoes slight degradation when it lingers as residue. Residue after a battle is especially turbid, but her mana residue hasn't degraded. It’s been almost two days, and it still feels like new.”

Shizuru withdrew her fingers from the scorch mark and took out a micro-sampling tube she carried with her. Using her mana, she sucked a fine layer of powder from the surface of the scorch mark into the tube, sealed it, and placed it in her inner jacket pocket.

The Association's mana analyzer might not be able to identify her now, but once the Observation Department updated the database, or once Shizuru found more samples for cross-referencing, she would appear.

By the time she stood up, her legs had gone numb from crouching. She leaned against the wall to stand straight, looking down at the sampling tube in her hand. The warm white particles glowed quietly against the inner wall of the glass tube.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she put the sampling tube back in her pocket and brushed off the wall dust from the hem of her jacket.

Just then, an extremely faint sound came from the direction of the alley entrance. It was the slight rustle of fabric brushing against the wall, made by someone who had intentionally muffled their footsteps.

Shizuru was instantly alert. She tucked the sampling tube deeper into her inner pocket, her right hand pressing against her contract mark, maintaining a critical state ready to transform at any moment.

A slender figure stepped into the alley. Light gray trousers, a white short-sleeved shirt, and a beige light jacket draped over her arm. A streak of color at the ends of her hair—it was her.

Shizuru's hand relaxed from the contract mark.

Lightweaver stood at the mouth of the alley, readjusting the jacket that had slipped from her arm. Her tone was casual. “Sampling the scene?”

“...How are you here?” Shizuru didn't know where to put her hands.

“Just taking a look. I left something behind in my hurry yesterday.” Lightweaver’s gaze swept over the scorch mark in the corner, lingering for a beat on the spot where the sample had been taken, then looked back at Shizuru with a slight smile. “You’re quite fast.”

The alley was quiet for a moment, leaving only the faint whistle of the night wind through the gaps.

Shizuru said, “I saw your battle. Your mana structure isn't in the Association's database.”

Lightweaver leaned against the alley wall, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, but didn't answer.

Shizuru took a step forward, close enough to see the texture of the hair at Lightweaver’s temples. “I want to get to know you.”

Lightweaver tilted her head slightly, the pale red streak in her hair glinting a dark crimson under the moonlight. “You already know me. You know my code name.”