A False Alarm? Miluno

(Miluno)

I woke up from my dream, but I wasn't in my own bed.

Where is this?

Hospital bed?

No, what I'm standing on looks more like an experimental table.

Not only that, but Ceruno and I have also switched our heads back, and they are now securely attached to my own neck.

"Miluno... Waaah..."

Ceruno was slumped over the lab table, her face filled with sorrow, her eyes red and swollen, and she was making heart-wrenching, painful sounds.

"What's wrong? I was just pulled into the dream of the 'Great Will,' why are you crying as if I'm dead? And your face is all stained with tears?"

No, that's not it...

She pulled a bubble out of her hand with a pitiful expression. Inside the bubble was a lump of Black Mud, shriveled up like a Black Mud, with a Black Crystal floating in it.

"What's wrong with this?"

"Miluno, this is...it's Azura."

"... ha?"

Azura?

"Smack!"

The black slime inside the bubble stretched out its tentacles towards me, as if begging for a hug, but could only make the sound of blowing bubbles.

"... What happened?"

Ceruno, holding the bubble ball, explained in a low voice:

"After you fell into a coma last night, Azura wanted to sleep with you, Xiaoling brought her to our room. Since you couldn't wake up at the time, and I was using your body, I just slept with the child in my arms."

I thought for a moment and asked:

"And then? She was absorbed by the Morning Star Crystal?"

"Nothing was wrong at first, but this child said..."

"Explain?"

Ceruno hesitated for a moment, then whispered:

She said she wanted to go back into her mother's body.

Splat~

The slime responded with a sound of agreement.

"... Does 'Mom' mean me?"

"Who else could it be? She herself disintegrated from her fused form and willingly transformed into Black Mud to be absorbed by your Crystal."

Why?

Mono, can you turn her back to normal?

"Oh, you finally thought of me!"

As I was thinking this, the little thing suddenly appeared before me, circled the bubble in Ceruno's hand, and observed Azura's condition.

The answer was:

"It's fine, it doesn't look like the Black Crystal has been damaged yet~"

So why do you think this child should willingly be absorbed by me?

She shook her large, two-headed head.

"How would I know what she's thinking? I'll ask her after I restore her! Oh, and bring my Base Body over here!"

I looked at Ceruno again.

"Mono said she can turn Azura back, don't worry."

Seeing her breathe a sigh of relief, I asked again, "So, where is this place?"

"Professor Stratos's laboratory."

"Engine Department?"

"No, a new cabin has been raised up over the Ring Corridor."

"Has that person already arrived?!"

"They've arrived."

Although I had heard from SpiCa before that they would arrange a special experimental chamber for Stratos, I didn't expect it to be completed so quickly...

The Association is indeed very efficient; as a global organization supporting magical girls, maintaining such efficiency is to be expected.

"Yo! You're finally awake?"

Metal walked in through the hatch and continued Ceruno's words:

"Although she's an enemy witch, Professor, as a technician, her value to the Association is self-evident. We were able to carve out our territory so quickly thanks to her crucial guidance..."

"Her existence has become public?" I asked.

"It's semi-public, isn't it? She's already gained some prestige in the research department; at least the researchers at headquarters are willing to call her 'professor,' and she herself quite likes this feeling of being admired."

He's just an old pedant.

"Where is the professor?"

"Go and rest. She's been working hard to separate you and Azura."

... I really have to thank her after that.

Mono drew a large amount of darkness from my body, which Ceruno caught in bubbles and then merged into Azura's body.

"Give me more!"

Ceruno said, "What you absorbed from her was all condensed Black Mud. And if you give her a little more, she might grow bigger."

"No, then I must reveal my own darkness!"

Mono was meticulous, but the transmission of darkness did not stop; the Azura was expanding and gradually regaining its form within the bubble.

"Azura, you'd better give us a reasonable explanation."

"Mommy~"

"No, Mom!"

Perhaps sensing that I was truly angry, the young girl lowered her head guiltily.

"Tell me, why do you want to be absorbed by me?"

"Azura loves her mother and wants to be a part of her mother..."

Azura's total darkness is greater than Mono's. If she were to completely absorb Azura, Mono might also awaken as a part of the "Great Will," like the "Great Hand"... Of course, perhaps not enough.

After all, the darkness absorbed by the "Great Hand" is about ten times that of Mono. Even if it awakens, it probably won't be any important part of the body, perhaps something like the "Great Appendix," "Great Sinus," or "Great Coccyx."

"Isn't there any more important possibility?!"

The little thing started babbling again. Considering her lewd nature, she might even be a "great linga"?

"Hello?!"

I pinched **'s little nose.

"Azura, we'll be heartbroken if you disappear."

"... sad?"

"You'll be sad and upset. Do you want your mother to feel pain because of you?"

Azura shook her head.

"So, you're not allowed to say anything like 'I'll eat you' anymore!"

"Mother..."

She pressed her head against my chest and rubbed against me.

I sighed too... How did I end up actually referring to myself as "Mom"?

"I was wrong too. I shouldn't have treated you like a human child. After all, you don't understand anything yet and you need to learn everything."

She lacks any sense of being a human being; whatever she does is merely an imitation of our actions. It's inappropriate for Xiaoling to take care of her; it would be troublesome if she developed the idea that "people's heads can be taken off at will."

I'd better take care of her myself.

"Where's Barbara?" I asked.

Ceruno rubbed her eyes, looking sleepy.

"After she moved you here, she went back to sleep."

"Didn't you sleep all night?"

"I couldn't sleep well because I couldn't take good care of Azura."

I gently pinched Azura's little nose again.

"Look how worried your Aunt Ceruno is..."

"I'm an auntie?!"

"Otherwise what? She calls me 'Mom,' so if she calls you 'Sister,' wouldn't that be a generational difference?"

Instead, Ceruno cupped Azura's face in her hands and said, word by word:

"Azura, you can call me Dad!"

"... Um?"

Ceruno's thought process... isn't entirely incomprehensible.

"Dad!"

"Don't actually scream!"

Afterwards, I need to thank the professor. If Azura's Black Crystal are all absorbed, then even if Mono creates a new Azura, it won't be the same Azura.

"Ceruno, why don't you go back to your dorm and rest?"

"Huh? Aren't we supposed to rehearse on the spot?"

"You're not thinking of staying up all night for rehearsal, are you? No way, there's plenty of time, don't worry about missing it."

"All right."

I stretched and climbed off the lab table.

At least I got enough sleep.

I took out my phone to check the time, only to see several missed calls and a text message from an hour ago.

[New discovery at Betelgeuse, come to the prison immediately!]

It turns out to be...

The message Achernar.

Ahem, are there any monthly passes left?