Chapter 36 | This Magical Girl Is a Bit Strange

Lunch break.

Rei waved goodbye, saying she was going to the swimming club to submit her application form. Before leaving, she didn't forget to add, “Tomorrow night at seven is the Wings of Freedom's debut stream. You absolutely have to watch it, Tian Gong-san!”

Qiluo nodded, closed her bento box, and was about to pull out her English textbook for the first afternoon class when she caught a familiar figure in her peripheral vision at the back door of Class A.

Yuki Kurokawa stood at the door, holding a light blue bento box in her hands. Just like last time, her free hand was tightly gripping the hem of her pleated skirt.

“Kurokawa-san is here again!” a girl sitting near the back door called out. Several girls who were chatting stopped and turned their heads in unison.

Class B students passing by in the hallway also stopped to peer inside.

“Isn't she the top student from the class next door?” someone nudged their classmate with an elbow.

A girl with a ponytail covered her mouth with a textbook, her eyes curving into two crescent moons. “Is she here to see Tian Gong-san again? Last time was the same, and now this time—”

No, sister. Do you have any idea how much pressure you're putting on me by just walking over like this?

The first time was one thing, but didn't I tell you yesterday that it's best to talk when it's just the two of us?

I really don't want the class to end up filled with fanfiction about me.

...

Last night, Yuki Kurokawa flipped her homework to a new page but didn't write a single word on it. She tapped her pen tip against the blank space, leaving several tiny ink dots, before she finally spoke.

“Star-trail.”

Crouching on the armrest of the sofa, Star-trail lifted its head, its ears twitching.

She set her pen down, closed her notebook, and turned her chair to face Star-trail. “I don't know... what the next step is after giving someone cookies.”

Qiluo Tian Gong, who was lying on the bed scrolling through videos, sat up straight.

“I'm wondering... does this mean I've made a friend?” She finished the last few words, her fingers unconsciously gripping the hem of the skirt over her knees. “I'm not sure, because I've never actively done something like this before. I don't know the standard procedure for going from strangers to friends with someone, and I don't have any examples to reference. My older sister never hangs out with her classmates, and my mother and father's social circles are entirely work-related.”

So, Yuki Kurokawa wants to make friends? She's been trying to make a change ever since she became a Magical Girl.

The fact that she wants to draw up a standard procedure just to make friends isn't because she's cold, but because she genuinely never learned how. From childhood to now, no one had ever taught her how to get along with others in a non-competitive relationship.

Star-trail hopped down from the armrest, its four paws landing silently on the edge of the desk. It squatted next to Yuki's open notebook.

“In typical social customs,” Star-trail spoke, “if the other party accepts your goodwill, the next step is an invitation. It doesn't need to be complicated—just ask if they would like to go somewhere together. A park, an aquarium, a movie theater. Anywhere where two people can share the same space without needing to maintain a continuous conversation.”

This was advice from someone who hadn't unlocked their social skills to someone whose social skills were in the negatives.

Although Qiluo didn't have many friends either, even if she hadn't made friends, had she not read books? Everything being said was stuff she had read in books.

“...An aquarium.” She repeated the word, as if confirming its feasibility. “We can look at things together without worrying about the awkwardness of a conversation dropping. If she doesn't want to go, I can still go see the jellyfish exhibit by myself.”

“Would you still go by yourself?”

“Yes.” Yuki answered quickly, then paused. “...Actually, I've wanted to go. The deep-sea area is very dimly lit, which feels a lot like standing on a rooftop at night after transforming. And... the way jellyfish glow in the dark is probably a lot like starlight.”

“As for Tian Gong-san...” Yuki flipped her notebook to a blank page, picked up her pen, and wrote the word “aquarium.” Next to it, she drew a set of parentheses with a question mark inside. “I keep wondering what I should do if she doesn't accept my invitation...”

“Will she think I'm too forward... inviting her to hang out when we've barely even spoken a few words to each other...”

“What if... what if she thinks, ‘Ah... I only helped her out once, and now she's just coming over on her own. What a boring woman’... Just thinking about that makes me lose my nerve...”

Having said this, she tapped her pen tip next to the question mark and looked up, the tips of her ears flushing red once more.

Why would she think of me that way? Do I really have such a bad personality in other people's eyes?

“...Star-trail, do you think she'll say yes?”

“Yes,” Star-trail replied quickly.

...

Qiluo stood up from her seat, the surrounding gazes chasing her back like spotlights.

She could feel everyone's eyes glued to the space between her and Yuki Kurokawa.

Walking to the door, before Yuki could even utter her rehearsed lines, Qiluo reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her toward the other end of the hallway. The teasing jeers of several girls echoed behind them, but she didn't look back.

“Come with me,” she said, her voice just loud enough for Yuki to hear.

Yuki's wrist stiffened in her palm for a split second, then quickly relaxed. She didn't ask where they were going, nor did she try to pull her hand back. She simply followed quietly, cradling her bento box securely in her arms.

Qiluo led her through the hallway and pushed open the glass doors connecting the school building to the courtyard. There weren't many people in the courtyard during lunch break. The leaves of a few ginkgo trees were just starting to turn yellow, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, casting dappled spots of light onto an old bench at the edge of the lawn that swayed gently with the wind.

Qiluo sat down on one end of the bench, released Yuki's wrist, and shifted over by half a seat. Yuki sat down on the other end, placing her bento box on her knees, her fingers resting on the edge of the lid.

“...It was too noisy inside.”

“Yeah.”

The bento box was opened, revealing two neatly arranged rows of cookies inside.

Yuki took out a small, individually wrapped bag from the bento box. It was tied with a thin ribbon in a bow, the tails of which were cut slightly unevenly, showing that she had probably measured them with a ruler and cut them herself with scissors.

“I put more sugar in this time, and I changed the brand of butter.”

Qiluo took the small bag, opened it, and took a bite. The crispy texture broke between her teeth. The buttery flavor was indeed richer than last time, and the sweetness was just right.