She said softly.
"..."
Haihara didn't know why these girls always liked coming over at night to wrap their arms around her waist.
But... was this their way of coming to her for affection?
Fine. Just for tonight.
Haihara gave her a gentle hug and said calmly, "All right. Good night."
"Mm... Gale... Ace... transform..."
Kaedehara High School's student council president, Kazama Kiriori, was falling asleep with her dog plushie in her arms again, murmuring incoherently in her dreams.
As she slept, she might have caught a chill. She woke up in the middle of the night and rubbed her eyes.
Looking around the empty room, with no one else there, she couldn't help feeling a little lonely.
Suddenly, she sneezed.
"Ah-choo..."
The girl slowly sat up in bed, breathing softly through her nose. Her black hair lay in a lazy tangle, a few strands resting against her fair skin. Her long, pretty eyes were still hazy with sleep.
Hmm... Had she failed to cover herself with the blanket?
No, no...
Kazama Kiriori blinked her sleepy eyes, still not entirely clear-headed. But her intuition told her that someone must be thinking about her.
Hmm... Mama must miss her, too.
She'd made up her mind. This weekend, she'd sneak home and surprise Mama!
"Good night..."
Kazama Kiriori pulled the blanket over herself and began her nightly daydreaming.
Magical Girls
"You were so down yesterday. How come you're so happy today?"
Kirishima Ai looked curiously at Sakaki Chika, who had been grinning like an idiot.
It was hard to describe the little idol's mood. She also seemed to keep looking at someone, just like a girl who'd fallen head over heels.
Sakaki Chika froze, then bashfully covered her face.
"I-Is that so?"
"Yeah. You're just like a girl in love."
"Ehehe..." Sakaki Chika started grinning again.
Kirishima Ai was utterly bewildered.
"You're hopeless..."
As the two of them were talking, an arm suddenly slipped around each of their shoulders. Kirishima Ai and Sakaki Chika turned around and saw Takanashi Shiori leaning in.
Kirishima Ai looked at her in confusion.
"What is it?"
Takanashi Shiori looked unusually excited. She pulled an elegant, ornate mirror from who knew where. It looked like a prop from a fairy-tale movie.
The mirror was glowing, but instead of reflecting a face, its surface showed a blurry, chaotic scene.
"What's this...?" Sakaki Chika and Kirishima Ai stared curiously at the glowing mirror.
"I just reestablished contact with R'lyeh. They said that a mentor from the Academy will soon descend to Earth and give us some things we need!"
Takanashi Shiori spoke excitedly.
A mentor from the Academy?
Once they understood, Kirishima Ai and Sakaki Chika grew curious, too. After all, the Academy's mentors were said to be far more powerful than they were.
What would they be like?
And the Academy's mentors were probably quite old. Could they still be called magical girls?
"But according to the mentor, we need to prepare some sacrifices as a medium for the summoning..." Takanashi Shiori said, looking a little troubled again.
"Sacrifices?"
At that word, Kirishima Ai got a bad feeling.
Would they have to prepare things like materials for a witchcraft ritual? The most basic ingredients were all kinds of insect corpses, and sometimes live animals, like chickens, cows, or sheep.
Takanashi Shiori soon revealed what the sacrifice was supposed to be.
"The mentor said she wants... um, high-proof distilled liquor?"
Takanashi Shiori paused as she said it.
Distilled liquor? What was that?
She'd never heard of anything like it in R'lyeh. After all, very few magical girls liked drinking.
According to legend, when Her Majesty the Queen sealed Overlord away, she also laid a curse concerning alcohol.
Only after drinking could Overlord recover some of her magic while inside the seal.
"Alcohol... That's better than I expected, but where are we supposed to find distilled liquor at school? Beer would be easier."
Even if they went to a convenience store, they couldn't buy distilled liquor. Neon didn't allow alcohol to be sold to minors.
After thinking about it, Takanashi Shiori decided that it might be difficult.
"Anyway, let's try looking first. I'll find a spell for locating alcohol."
Takanashi Shiori pulled out the thick spellbook again and started leafing through it.
She soon found the incantation for locating alcohol.
"Ah, here it is. Wine Seeking Spell. The higher the alcohol content, the stronger the signal."
The magical girl from R'lyeh nodded with satisfaction, then took out her wand: a silver wand carved with a bird.
It was probably like the little wands in Harry Potter.
She waved it, gathering her magic. Light bloomed at its tip, and then the wand began to move on its own, pointing toward a distant direction.
"It really works?"
Takanashi Shiori looked in the direction the wand was pointing.
Today, student council president Kazama Kiriori was busy again.
At school, she always maintained a flawless, graceful, and gentle image. Naturally, many people admired her for it.
After the student council meeting about the school festival, she had barely left the meeting room when a girl quietly came over and stopped her.
Kazama Kiriori looked at her in puzzlement.
"Um... P-President, this is for you..."
Blushing, the girl held out a pretty pink envelope.
Kazama Kiriori quickly realized what it was.
The other students nearby looked over curiously. Some even began whispering among themselves.
Was it a girl this time?
Naturally, plenty of people had confessed their feelings to President Kazama.
President Kazama had an appeal that transcended gender. Many people, male and female alike, had confessed to her, so nobody found it strange.
And the outcome was always the same.
"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm sorry. I can't accept."
Kazama Kiriori shook her head, refusing in a calm, gentle voice.
"You must be Chiba. I remember you. You've been doing as well as ever lately. I hope you'll keep it up."
She let the girl down as gently as she could. Blushing, the girl took back her love letter, then asked quietly, "President, is there someone you already like...?"
She didn't seem ready to give up.
Hearing the question, Kazama Kiriori paused for once.
She thought it over, then gave a rare smile.
"Yes. But she's even more exceptional than I am. There are many obstacles to overcome if I want to be with her, so even I have to work harder."
At her words, both the girl who had confessed and the onlookers looked stunned.
The president... The perfect President Kazama already liked someone?
And someone even more exceptional than the president? Could such a person exist?
Everyone couldn't help wondering who the president liked.
But President Kazama soon left their sight to take care of her other duties.
Once again, she seemed to be heading to the first-year building.
Quite a few students had noticed that President Kazama had been going to the first-year building rather often lately.
What was she going there for?
"Hehehe~"
On her way to the first-year building, Kazama Kiriori hummed a cheerful little tune.
She'd get to see Mama again soon.
But after the midterm exams, Mama seemed to have run into some trouble. She didn't know if it would affect her work.
Kazama Kiriori had heard a little about the Problem Children in Class Four.
Of course, there wasn't much she could do. She could only keep an eye on those Problem Children and stop them from doing something like they had three years ago.
Not long after she reached the first-year building, she drew plenty of attention again.
Once again, she didn't find Teacher Haihara in Class One, Grade One.
Kazama Kiriori was a little happy. It meant Teacher Haihara might be in the office.
She hurried toward Haihara's office, but stopped after a moment.
The reason was that she saw the three Problem Children.
They were all gathered outside Haihara's office.
They seemed to be muttering about something.
"Hey, are you sure there's distilled liquor in there...?" Kirishima Ai asked with a cool expression.
"Well... This is Teacher Haihara's office, right? It's not very nice to go in..." Sakaki Chika didn't dare enter, but she was curious, too.
"It has to be in there. And it's really high-proof liquor. My Wine Seeking Spell can't be wrong!" Takanashi Shiori was utterly certain.
What were these Problem Children up to now?
Had Mama called them all to the office? It didn't look like it.
Kazama Kiriori raised an eyebrow, then quietly walked over.
Lord Gemstone
Before you continue