If there was a time when a precocious Magical Girl like Nim acted most like a child, it was undoubtedly in front of her older sister—Nina.
"Nim, have you been listening to the captain?"
After a morning of instruction, Cornflower and Nim returned to the team camp, where they ran into Nim's sister Nina, the Magical Girl codenamed Ink Lotus.
While fussing over her younger sister, Nina checked her equipment and even reached out to tidy her hair. Still, she did not forget to ask about Nim's behavior. "You haven't been throwing tantrums or saying anything strange, have you?"
Because their parents had passed away early, Nina was not merely Nim's sister; she often filled half the role of a mother, constantly worrying over all sorts of things concerning Nim.
Perhaps it was because of this somewhat excessive protectiveness, coupled with Nina's tendency to view things pessimistically, that she had, under the legion commander's guidance, done something like bribing her superiors to stuff herself and her sister into the same squad.
Even now, Nina often felt too ashamed to face Cornflower over that matter. Most of the time, she avoided her squad captain altogether. From Cornflower's perspective, the Magical Girl codenamed Ink Lotus was practically a ghost—clearly listed as a member of the squad and completing every task assigned to her, yet nowhere to be seen.
"Of course not. You worry too much, Sis."
Sitting on a bench and kicking her little legs, Nim restlessly shook her head beneath her sister's hands. "The captain's been praising me for doing really well."
Nim was not entirely unaware of the things her sister worried about. She simply felt that many matters were not as complicated as Nina made them out to be.
She thought Cornflower was amazing and admired her, so she