Water Ghost

"One order of pork tenderloin, offal, and beef tongue. Oh, and an order of cartilage and chicken gizzards!"

Huo Lin hadn't asked what Hayate wanted to eat. Of course she knew what Hayate liked. The two of them had the same tastes.

It was a little warm inside. The air conditioner wasn't on; they had simply opened the windows. They could hear the wind chimes tinkling under the eaves.

Both of them wore the yukata provided by the hot spring inn and sat barefoot on the tatami, looking pleasantly languid.

Hayate had spent a little too long in the hot spring. Feeling woozy, with her cheeks flushed, she leaned against Huo Lin.

"Certainly. Pork tenderloin, offal..." The waitress repeated their order, her gaze drifting back to the two of them.

A man and a woman leaning against each other might have made people question whether it was appropriate, but two twin girls leaning together looked perfectly natural. They really were like dolls.

Honestly, her maternal instincts were practically overflowing.

She didn't think they had ordered too much, because Huo Lin's mental suggestion made her believe the girls' parents were there too, just soaking in the hot spring at the moment.

"Would you like anything to drink?"

"What would you recommend?"

"We have freshly squeezed juice, milk, or mineral water."

Since her customers were minors, the waitress didn't recommend alcohol or tea.

Huo Lin asked Hayate what she wanted to drink. She genuinely didn't know what Hayate would choose.

"Just mineral water for me. Nice and cold."

"Mineral water for me too, then. Oh, and two bowls of rice!"

How could anyone eat grilled meat without rice? Huo Lin was a rice fanatic.

"Certainly. Cold water and rice. Please wait a moment; they'll be right out."

Before long, their dishes arrived one after another, almost covering the low table in front of them.

It seemed they had ordered too much, but whatever. At least right now, they were starving.

The waitress lit the grill and offered to cook the meat for them. Tenderloin came first. When it came to pork, tenderloin was king, no matter what.

Once the fat dripped onto the charcoal and the aroma rose, nothing could stop Huo Lin from going into demolition mode.

Pork wrapped around rice-one bite was pure satisfaction!

These past few days, she had been forced to disguise herself despite already looking like her original self, and she had to sneak around in her daily life too. It had all left her rather annoyed.

Now that she finally didn't need a disguise, she had to relax to her heart's content.

They could hear people laughing and playing in the neighboring courtyard. The private room next to theirs probably belonged to the high school girls they had met in the hot spring earlier.

They were quite noisy.

"I'm sorry. Are they disturbing you? I'll go speak to the guests next door," the waitress offered.

"No, it's fine. It's nice to have things lively like this."

Lively was good.

She felt as though she had finally come back to life. Huo Lin hadn't said anything before, but she had felt stifled all this time. This was a rare chance to unwind.

After dinner, Huo Lin wanted another soak in the hot spring, but Hayate couldn't take any more. She had nearly given herself heatstroke by staying in too long earlier.

"Go on your own, Huo Lin. I want to rest a little longer."

"All right."

Huo Lin actually wanted to go because of inspiration. During her earlier soak, relaxing her mind and body had brought inspiration bubbling up, giving her quite a few new ideas for the Device she wanted to make.

A magical girl's transformation ought to let her conjure up all sorts of outfits, of course. That would make changing clothes at school much easier in the future.

With another soak, she might even be able to start a project for an outfit-changing Device when she got home today.

She already had the materials, anyway. Whoever that Graham fellow was, at least the materials he had sent were all up to standard and usable. That was enough.

As for any hidden scheme, setting aside the possibility that her "cheat" had been exposed, the most likely explanation was that he coveted the Book of the Night Sky.

That didn't scare her.

She had sealed the Book of the Night Sky using the infinite magical power supplied by her cheat. Huo Lin didn't believe anyone else could subdue it so easily. If someone wanted it, they could just take it-as long as they weren't afraid of the Book of the Night Sky going berserk.

Come to think of it, if someone really could eliminate the threat posed by the Book of the Night Sky completely and ensure Hayate never fell ill again, she wouldn't mind giving them the book as payment.

After all, Huo Lin couldn't use any of the Book of the Night Sky's functions as a Device. To her, it was only a magic textbook. Carrying it around was a nuisance too.

Even now, she had to hold the book in her arms while going to the hot spring. Several women had seen her on the way earlier and called her a "literature girl."

To Huo Lin, "literature girl" had never been a flattering term. It described a certain book-eating monster in her Literature Club.

Come to think of it, if I gave the Book of the Night Sky to Amano, could she eat it?

With these idle thoughts running through her mind, Huo Lin removed her bath towel, folded it beside the pool, and immersed herself in the water again.

Dripping water, chirping cicadas, wind chimes under the eaves. A leaf fell onto the water.

She submerged herself completely, and the world fell silent. Sure enough, relaxation brought inspiration.

Meditation, calculations, and a new magical concept gradually took shape.

She exhaled, unsure how long she had held her breath underwater. Then a pair of large, pale breasts appeared before her eyes, followed by a cry of "Ah!"

"Th-there's someone here!"

The girl was clearly startled by Huo Lin suddenly emerging from the water.

"Were you holding your breath underwater this whole time?"

"Yes."

Once she saw that the person who had surfaced was a little girl, Mio Akiyama finally calmed down a little. Heaven knew how frightened she had been when someone suddenly appeared in front of her while she was soaking in the hot spring and thinking up lyrics.

Now her fear turned to curiosity. She had already been in the water for quite a while and had even come up with two lines of lyrics, yet she hadn't seen anyone else.

"How long were you holding your breath down there?"

"About ten minutes?"

Are you some kind of water ghost?!

"The world record for holding your breath underwater is twenty-nine minutes," Huo Lin said, guessing what she was thinking. "So ten minutes is within normal human limits."

Though she could have held her breath even longer if she wanted. She was a magical girl, after all. Even fighting on the ocean floor was no problem.

But her mood for soaking had been spoiled. She returned to the edge of the pool and picked up her bath towel. Just then, Huo Lin suddenly sensed something unusual.

She hadn't felt anything like this in all the days since her magical power had awakened. More precisely, it had to be the presence of magic!

It was powerful enough to rival the time she had accidentally caused the Book of the Night Sky to erupt.

The location... wasn't far away. It should have been somewhere in Tokyo, within a hundred kilometers.

What was that?

Before Huo Lin could think further, she sensed the erupting magical power spreading outward. Something imbued with magic had scattered in every direction.

One of those things was heading straight toward her!

Realizing this, Huo Lin threw on her bath towel and flew straight into the sky without bothering to change. It was dark anyway. No one would see her high in the air.

Something really was coming, and fast. After the objects had scattered, though, the magical power contained in any single one wasn't particularly high.

Of course, she had no real benchmark for judging whether magical power was high or low. Her own had no upper limit, so it couldn't serve as a reference.

She had always used the Book of the Night Sky as her benchmark.

The person-or object-flying toward her carried roughly as much magical power as one or two pages of the 666-page Book of the Night Sky.

Mio Akiyama saw the girl climb out of the pool. After wiping the water from her face, she turned back, only to find the poolside empty.

...She only got out a second ago. How was that possible?

After several seconds of thought, her muddled brain could come up with only one explanation.

Was she really a water ghost?

Her face had already turned ashen.

"Aah! Ritsuko, help!"