Schoolmates

Overnight, the whole city heard the news.

[Breaking news! Knight's concert has been officially announced! After years without one, our city will once again host a major Magical Girl performance!]

The association's posters were everywhere: a silver sword, a sharp profile, and the words "The Guardian's Voice, Singing for You" in bold. Bus stops, mall screens, phone notifications—there was no escaping them.

School was no exception.

Before morning reading, Class 1 of the senior year was in an uproar.

"A concert! Is it true? Our city's Knight is holding a concert!"

"When do tickets go on sale? I want front-row seats!"

"You think you'll get front-row seats? Wake up."

"What do you think she'll sing? Knight always looks so serious. I can't even picture her singing..."

"What if it's actually a swordsmanship show? I'd watch that too!"

By the classroom window, Li Qi silently opened her textbook and held it up to hide her face.

A senior. Eighteen years old. An ordinary girl.

At least at school, she was just Li Qi, not Knight.

As her classmates heatedly discussed Knight's concert, Li Qi ducked a little farther behind her book.

This felt strange.

Really strange.

They were talking about her, and every compliment should have made her happy. But when she heard them wondering what Knight would be like as a singer, she cringed so hard her toes curled inside her shoes.

She didn't know what she'd be like either!

...No.

Li Qi lowered her textbook, resolve settling in her eyes.

Know yourself and know your audience. If she was going to hold a concert, she first needed to find out what kind of person everyone thought Knight was.

During the break, she began her little survey.

"Sorry to bother you," she said, stopping a boy in the corridor. Trying to sound casual, she asked, "What kind of person do you think Knight is?"

"Huh?" The boy paused, then lit up. "Knight? Isn't it obvious? Silver armor! A sword fast as lightning! Strong and cool! She's perfect, if you ask me! Not a single flaw!"

"Are you looking forward to her concert?"

"Of course! But honestly, can a concert be as cool as watching her swing her sword? I'd rather see her cut down a Fallen Beast..."

"...Right. Thanks."

Li Qi walked away without a flicker of expression.

Her next targets were two girls chatting together.

"Sorry to bother you. What do you think of Knight?"

"Knight? She's pretty amazing," one of them said. "But..."

"But?"

"Honestly, that new Magical Girl is more interesting." The girl cupped her cheeks. "Pink! Sparkly eyes! Those are the only details we have, but she already sounds adorable... And she calls herself Pure Love Warrior! Don't you think she's super mysterious? She comes and goes without a trace, takes down Fallen Beasts with one punch, and even the association can't find her! That whole 'mysterious powerhouse' thing is irresistible!"

"Exactly!" the other girl agreed. "Knight's amazing, sure, but she feels... too proper? Like the model student who gives a speech at the opening ceremony. Kind of hard to approach. Pure Love Warrior makes me way more curious!"

Li Qi: "..."

Too proper.

A model student.

Hard to approach.

She kept her polite smile in place, thanked them, and turned away. The smile slowly vanished from her face.

Damn it.

She had protected this city for an entire year. She had cut down a second-tier Fallen Beast with one strike just last week. And yet that blasted pink thing had stolen all the attention...

No. Calm down.

Knights don't get jealous.

The seventh knightly virtue: humility...

Besides, that pink thing had saved her mother. How could she begrudge her a little attention?

I really shouldn't...

Still reciting that to herself, Li Qi rounded the corner of the school building, distracted—

Thud.

She walked straight into someone.

"Ow—"

A stack of exercise books spilled from the other person's arms and scattered across the floor.

"Ah, sorry!" Li Qi hurriedly crouched to help pick them up. "I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you—"

The words caught in her throat.

The person crouched opposite her, gathering exercise books, was a "girl."

Shoulder-length hair, a fair face, delicate features that were almost beautiful. Slender fingers gathered the fallen books one by one.

That face—

Li Qi's pupils narrowed.

She knew that face.

People's Park. The fountain plaza. A figure sitting up amid clouds of dust, face smeared with dirt, waving a hand and saying, "I'm fine."

The one who had taken a direct hit from a Fallen Beast and miraculously escaped without a scratch—

"It's you?!" Li Qi blurted out.

The person opposite her looked up. The instant he saw her face, his hands visibly froze over the exercise books.

"...Ah."

The look on Yang Chen's face ran through a whole palette of emotions.

Knight.

The Magical Girl Knight.

That day in the park, Yang Chen had seen Knight transform. That was why he had recognized her at a glance in the hospital.

Of course, Knight had been on guard then and had already released her magic, which had helped him identify her.

Now she was wearing the same school uniform as him, crouched in front of him and helping him pick up his exercise books.

Wait. The same school uniform?!

"You're..." Yang Chen's voice came out stiff. "You go to our school?"

"You know me?"

"Class 1, senior year. Li Qi." Li Qi gave her name without thinking, then caught herself and raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean? Doesn't my being here make it obvious I go to this school?"

Yang Chen scratched his cheek.

"It's just that my nickname's pretty well known around school. I thought anyone who went here would recognize me."

Li Qi blinked.

"Of course I know you're the person who saved someone at the park that day."

She realized then that, normally, she shouldn't know Yang Chen. She hurried to cover for herself.

"That's not what I meant... Never mind. Forget I said anything."

Yang Chen sighed.

But...

"Hey, Miss Yang! Chatting up another girl?"

Someone slapped Yang Chen hard on the shoulder. The books he had just picked up nearly fell again.

That was hard.

"What's gotten into you?"

Chen Qianqian ignored Yang Chen and looked at Li Qi, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Did you need something else?"

What hostility!

But after seeing how close the two of them had been that day, Li Qi had some idea what was going on.

"No. I only recently came back after being away from school for a long time. Since I didn't know him, he almost thought I went to another school."

She had awakened her powers shortly before that and gone away for special training.

"That makes sense. Hardly anyone at school doesn't know Yang Chen's nickname."

Chen Qianqian rubbed her chin.

Nickname?

Li Qi thought back for a moment.

"Miss Yang?"

Yang Chen had no comeback.

"Oh, right." Li Qi suddenly remembered something. Folding her arms, she asked as casually as she could, "Since you're here, can I ask you something?"

"You were there that day. You saw Knight fight with your own eyes."

"What do you think... Knight is like as a Magical Girl?"

Yang Chen paused.

The girl before him stood with her arms folded, looking almost indifferent. But in her resolute eyes was a hint of tentative hope she herself hadn't noticed.

Yang Chen was silent for a moment.

He didn't answer like the others had. He didn't call her "strong," "cool," or "the perfect Knight."

He simply thought about it, then said:

"I think... she must be tired."

"...What?"

The answer took Li Qi by surprise.

"Everyone in the city thinks Knight is strong and dependable, always out in front."

"But really, when she's off duty, she's just a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl, isn't she? She's still so young, yet she has to carry such a heavy responsibility."

"Then again, when I think of it that way, she's actually really strong."

"I heard she's putting on a concert, right? I don't think she needs to change herself to please everyone... Look at that lead singer in the next province with the smoky makeup. She's as wild as they come, and everyone still loves her. What people here like is Knight herself."

The corridor bustled with students coming and going, their voices overlapping.

Li Qi stood motionless.

The bell rang.

"Ah, I'm going to be late with these exercise books—" Yang Chen snapped out of it and hurried off with the stack in his arms. After a couple of steps, he turned and waved. "See you around, Li Qi!"

Li Qi remained where she was, watching him run off with the books.

After a long moment, she lowered her head and smiled faintly.

"...What was that?"

"He's pretty good with words."