During lunch break at school, Rei nudged Qiluo's arm and turned her phone screen toward her. “Look at this comment: ‘Why hasn't Lightweaver shown up lately? Could she have been secretly recruited by the Association?’ Someone even replied below saying she might have transmigrated to another world. That's hilarious.”
Close enough. I actually did transmigrate to another world once.
Qiluo swallowed her last bite of rice ball and calmly screwed the cap back onto her water bottle. “You seem to care a lot about Lightweaver.”
“Of course! I told you, I'm her die-hard fan!” Rei pulled her phone back and swiped to another post. “But seriously, you look exhausted lately. You've got dark circles under your eyes. Are you pushing yourself too hard at your part-time job?”
“...I just haven't been sleeping well lately.” Qiluo packed her bento box into her bag, stood up, and massaged her temples. “I'm going to the library to return some books.”
As Qiluo walked down the hallway holding a stack of books, Kizuna turned the corner from the stairs, carrying a bulging bento bag. Seeing her, Kizuna jogged over.
Kizuna stopped in front of her, tilting her head to stare at her for a long moment before her brow slowly furrowed.
“Have you been staying up late again?” Kizuna reached out and straightened the topmost book, which was slipping from Qiluo's arms. “You have dark circles, and your complexion looks terrible. You seemed so much better after resting in the nurse's office last time. Why are you back to this?”
She switched the bento bag to her other hand, leaned in a little closer, and lowered her voice. “Did the convenience store schedule you for too many shifts? Or did you run into another Erosion Body? Even though your checkup was fine after you were attacked last time, something like that is bound to leave an impact!”
“Are you eating properly? Are you sleeping on time? If you're feeling unwell, you have to tell me. Don't just force yourself to push through it.”
Kizuna wanted to keep asking, but she suddenly realized they were standing right in the middle of the hallway. A few passing students had already glanced over. She quickly took half a step back, hiding her hands behind her back.
“I'm really fine.” Qiluo shifted the books to her other arm and used her free hand to gently pat Kizuna's shoulder. “I've just been staying up late playing on my phone. I found some fun stuff and couldn't stop scrolling.”
Kizuna was clearly unconvinced by this excuse, but with students passing by from time to time, she couldn't press any further.
“What about the concert next weekend? The ticket my sister had me give you is for next week! Since you're in such bad shape lately, will you even have the energy to go?”
“Of course I'll go. I won't back out of a promise.”
Actually, I completely forgot...
Great. How am I supposed to sit when the time comes?
I can't exactly have Qiluo Tian Gong sitting on the left and Lightweaver sitting on the right, fighting myself for the armrest.
If worst comes to worst, I can just have Star-trail maintain its mimetic form as Lightweaver and sit in her seat. The audience section will be dark anyway, and with Meruru singing on stage, there's no way she'll jump down to inspect the crowd.
But making Star-trail maintain a human clone for that long means it'll probably collapse into a flat rug by the time we get home.
But!
The real problem is that Lightweaver's presence has already become far too prominent.
Meruru will absolutely! Absolutely! Not let Lightweaver off the hook!
“...Qiluo?” Kizuna waved a hand in front of Qiluo's face. “Are you spacing out? Are you really feeling unwell?”
“I was just thinking about the concert's setlist. I heard Seina mention last time that there would be a new song, so I'm looking forward to it.” Qiluo pulled herself back to reality and gave Kizuna an apologetic smile. “Don't worry, I'll definitely go to the concert. But—”
Qiluo tilted her head, looking at Kizuna. “Seina is performing that day too. As Seina's biggest fan, shouldn't you be the one who's more nervous?”
“Of course I'm nervous! I get so excited every single night!”
She patted the bento bag in her arms as she spoke. “But let's not worry about that today. You need to eat properly first—here, this is for you.”
She stuffed the bento bag into Qiluo's arms and took a step back, hiding her hands behind her back. “My sister made too much this morning and told me to bring some to you.”
“Then I won't stand on ceremony.” Qiluo took the bento bag and weighed it in her hand. “Thank your sister for me.”
Just kidding~ How could I ever thank Meruru?
“Mm!” Kizuna nodded vigorously. She watched Qiluo pack the bento bag into her schoolbag, then added as if suddenly remembering something, “Oh, right, some parts of this bento weren't made by my sister. I made them myself.”
Qiluo paused as she was zipping up her schoolbag. “...Since when did you learn how to cook?”
“Just recently! My sister taught me. She said I can't keep freeloading off her meals forever and need to learn to do it myself.” Kizuna brought her hands out from behind her back and made a tiny peace sign.
She grew embarrassed after saying this, twirling the end of her hair with her finger as her voice dropped a bit. “Just give it a try. If it doesn't taste good, I'll make it better next time.”
In that case, I won't thank Meruru for her part, but I'll thank Kizuna for hers.
Just after saying goodbye to Kizuna, Qiluo turned to head downstairs, only to run right into Yuki at the top of the stairwell, who was walking up with a water bottle in hand.
Seeing the books cradled in Qiluo's arms and then the dark circles on her face, Yuki didn't say a word. She simply freed her right hand and gently tugged on Qiluo's sleeve.
“Going to return books to the library again? I'll go with you.”
Even as she spoke, her hands had already reached out to take the top two precariously balanced books from Qiluo, cradling them against herself.
“I've just been having some insomnia lately.” Qiluo adjusted the remaining books in her arms and continued walking toward the library.
Yuki followed behind her. After a brief silence, she quickened her pace to walk side-by-side with her.
Yuki stacked the two books against her chest, resting her chin on the cover of the top one. “Is it because of too many shifts at your part-time job? Being too tired isn't good for your health. Why don't you consider—”
“Considering quitting?” Qiluo tilted her head to look at her.
Qiluo Tian Gong wasn't considering quitting now, even though she had really wanted to before.
But if she quit now, she would barely have any opportunities to get close to Store Owner Tachibana.
“...No.” Yuki hugged the books a bit higher, hiding the lower half of her face behind the spines, leaving only her eyes and the tiny mole near the corner of her eye visible. “I just wanted to say, if it's because of money, I can lend you some first. You don't even have to pay me back. I don't really spend my allowance anyway.”
Yuki's ears quietly flushed a light red again.
She knew herself how strange this offer sounded. Who would lend money to a classmate out of nowhere and insist they didn't have to pay it back? But she just wanted to do it.
She had searched online many times for “how to make the person you like need you,” and the search results had been all over the place. One of them said, “Give her money when she needs it, and that way, she won't be able to leave you due to financial dependence.”
She knew how childish this line of thinking was, and she knew Qiluo wasn't that kind of person, yet her fingers still tightened around the book spines of their own accord.
But what if? What if Qiluo really did need it?
What if...
If Qiluo quit, she would lose her steady source of income.
If she was short on money, she could help her, and that way, she wouldn't be able to leave her due to financial dependence...
Rate on N.U.
