Eriol Hiiragizawa

The Changing Stage only truly lived up to its name in Sakura's hands, because she had a talented, versatile seamstress all to herself.

Tomoyo had already made more than ten outfits for her.

Now all those outfits had been packed into the Device at once. Sakura had become a magical girl who could truly change costumes.

"I set 'Costume change' as the command, but you can choose whatever command you like. Something like 'Clow power, transform,' for example," Huo Lin reminded her.

Sakura mulled over the command "Clow power, transform" and decided it did sound pretty good. Better than "Key that conceals the power of darkness," at least. When she first heard Kero say the incantation involved "the power of darkness," she had thought it belonged to a villain.

So, after changing the command, Sakura tried transforming for the first time.

There were no surprises. The transformation succeeded, leaving Sakura dressed in a pink-and-white Lolita dress. It was the most elaborate outfit Tomoyo had made for her so far.

Once the transformation was complete, Sakura glanced shyly at Huo Lin, her face flushed.

Why did a magical girl's transformation have to be like that?

Still, after confirming that the footage from Tomoyo's constantly recording camera really did show nothing but a screen full of holy light, she relaxed a little. As long as nobody else could see anything, it should be fine... right?

"Wonderful, Sakura! Absolutely wonderful! Now that's a real magical girl!" The photographer had gone wild. "Try another outfit! And another!"

Now the only things that could stop her were her camera's battery life and her memory card's storage limit.

"Do you need help capturing the Clow Cards?"

This was most likely some kind of trial, so Huo Lin had no intention of interfering. Still, they could at least be considered friends now. If Sakura needed help, she would not mind stepping in.

Sakura hesitated.

Huo Lin was clearly a far stronger magical girl than she was. The ease with which she had captured the Clow Cards earlier made that obvious.

Those Clow Cards that posed such a huge threat to Sakura and always caused havoc all over town had been utterly helpless against Huo Lin.

With Huo Lin's help, things would surely be much easier, wouldn't they?

But Sakura still shook her head.

"I want to try my best on my own. I was the one who accidentally scattered the Clow Cards, so they're my responsibility. If... if there's a Clow Card I really can't handle no matter what, and it's going to cause trouble for everyone, could I ask for your help then?"

"Of course. Here, let's exchange phone numbers."

Sakura and Tomoyo both had phones, but mobile phones were not yet widespread in this era. Sakura had not known whether Huo Lin had one, so she had never brought it up.

Now Huo Lin had suggested it herself.

"You have a mobile phone too, Huo Lin?"

"Yes, I do."

She had not had one before, but after submitting her work and becoming a detective novelist, Huo Lin had bought a phone with her royalties. She had also bought one for Hayate, making it easier for them to stay in touch.

When she was buying the phones, the salesperson had told her about some new touchscreen phones on the market, but Huo Lin had always felt that having no buttons would be inconvenient.

Just as light switches broke after being pressed too often, screens were bound to do the same. Those flashy gimmicks were probably just a way to fleece fools.

So she had bought a Nokia. It was an established brand with good quality, and she had used one in her previous life too.

It had been 1999 when her neighbor killed her with a single blow in her previous life-the so-called end of the century. Now that she had been reborn, she had actually lived into the twenty-first century. Having crossed into the new millennium, she kept encountering all sorts of odd inventions.

But no matter what, phones were obviously better with physical buttons. A flip cover could protect the screen, too.

These so-called touchscreens-you just poked the screen with your finger?

She really had no idea what the manufacturers who came up with such a rotten idea were thinking. It was not user-friendly at all.

"Innovations" that gave no thought to the customer were bound to lose a fortune.

Sakura's phone had buttons too, but it was pink, and Huo Lin could not tell what brand it was.

"Tomoyo's mother's company made it themselves," Sakura explained.

The Daidouji Company made phones too?

The two quickly exchanged contact details, and Huo Lin exchanged numbers with Tomoyo as well. Getting in touch would be much easier from now on.

On Monday, Sugisaki brought some good news to their club meeting.

The Literature Club had recruited a new member. That meant the club would not have to disband next year even after Amano graduated.

"You found someone already? You're actually pretty useful, Sugisaki."

"That last part was unnecessary. Of course I'm useful." Sugisaki did not consider that a compliment. "The person who wants to join said he's a transfer student from Britain. He's interested in literature."

It could hardly be called Sugisaki's recruiting, really. The other student had come to inquire on his own.

"From Britain?"

"Right, but he speaks Japanese, and very well, too."

That went without saying. If he could not speak Japanese, he would have to attend one of those specialized British schools.

"All right. Have him come in for an interview."

"Huh? There's an interview?" Sugisaki had never heard about that.

Did the president really understand the state their Literature Club was in? Amano would graduate at the end of this school year, and they were facing the threat of being shut down!

They were the ones begging people to join now.

"Of course there's an interview. We're a proper club, after all."

Was their club proper?

Apart from the president, who did occasionally write something, all they had left was a book-eating monster and Sugisaki, who was just there to keep up an attendance record and usually spent club time reading manga.

There was hardly anything proper about them.

Still, since the president had said there would be an interview, they might as well hold one.

Huo Lin did not have any special requirements for joining the Literature Club. She simply felt that this supposed transfer student from Britain was a little too much of a coincidence, giving her a strange hunch.

The next day, when the transfer student appeared before Huo Lin, she realized her hunch had been right.

To prepare for the interview, Sugisaki had specially rearranged the Literature Club's tables and chairs so the applicant and the "interviewer" could sit facing each other.

Then Huo Lin met the transfer student.

There was no question that he was a mage. His magical power was completely unconcealed. Ordinary people could not see it, but to her, it was as obvious as a firefly's glow.

Perhaps it was not a firefly, but a torch. Huo Lin could not tell. Her own magical power had no upper limit, leaving her without a point of reference and often unable to judge how much magic someone else possessed.

But this boy, despite being an elementary school student, had more magical power than anyone she had met so far.

It was about the same amount she normally maintained to seal the Book of the Night Sky.

In other words, roughly five times the maximum magical power that could fill all 666 pages of the Book of the Night Sky.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The boy wore glasses and a cheerful smile. "I'm Eriol Hiiragizawa, a transfer student from London, Britain. I'm very interested in the Island Nation's literature, and I hope to join your club."

Clow Reed looked at the little girl in mild surprise.

Her simple, laughable disguise would naturally have no effect on him. He could see her true appearance with ease.

She was not a boy, but a girl.

What surprised him, however, was that she was not a reincarnated soul like him. She really was that young!

Her vast magical power was undoubtedly on par with his own at his peak, before his reincarnation-above SS rank.

Had something gone wrong somewhere?

A nine-year-old archmage from the age of the gods?