As the school day drew to a close, most of the students at Kaedehara High School had already left for their club activities.
Kirishima Ai wasn’t in any club, but today it was her turn for cleaning duty, so in the bustling hallway the girl stood alone, holding a broom, waiting until it was time to tidy up.
She hadn’t said anything, but anyone could tell—Kirishima Ai was in a foul mood today.
The reason was probably that Teacher Haibara had called her into the office and given her a stern scolding.
Teacher Haibara never cursed or lost her temper, but she always spoke to students in an icy manner, never sparing anyone’s feelings.
Even toward an honor student like Kirishima, her attitude was just as cold and heartless.
Everyone in Class 4 could tell that Teacher Haibara disliked Kirishima.
…
Sunlight slanted through the windows, spilling across the hallway and lighting up a haze of drifting dust.
Kirishima Ai mopped the floor, all alone.
Though her grades were excellent and her looks weren’t bad either, she didn’t have any friends.
Her relationship with her classmates could only be called ‘not hostile’—normally there wasn’t even anyone she could talk to.
Except for one person…
“Kirishima, you look terrible.”
A foot stepped onto the floor she’d just mopped.
Kirishima lifted her gaze, and there stood someone she didn’t much want to see.
Following the slender, straight calves upward, she found an aloof girl who looked like she belonged in an artsy, coming-of-age drama.
Her aura was like sunlight tinged with cool tones.
Her long, ash-gold hair fell from her fair neck all the way down her slight back, taking on a faint silvery-white sheen in the dusk light, making one wonder how it would feel to touch.
Takanashi Shiori—the transfer student who had recently joined their class.
“Don’t step on the floor I just mopped.”
Kirishima Ai said coldly.
“Fine, fine.”
Shiori answered offhandedly, then sat down on the windowsill nearby and simply watched Kirishima Ai keep cleaning—like a young mistress watching her servant work.
“…You’re supposed to be on cleaning duty with me today.
Why are you just watching?”
Kirishima Ai quickly stopped what she was doing and looked over at Shiori.
“I’ve never done this kind of work before.”
Shiori said naturally, toying with her sleeve.
“Are all you magical girls pampered young ladies like you…”
Kirishima Ai couldn’t be bothered to look at her anymore.
Though on the surface she was a transfer student, Takanashi Shiori wasn’t from anywhere on Earth.
She came from a kingdom called “Ruruye.”
That place was also the homeland of the magical girls.
Takanashi Shiori was a native-born magical girl from Ruruye—and reportedly a genius one at that, with outstanding grades and exceptional talent.
That an ordinary person like herself had been chosen to become a magical girl, on the other hand, had been nothing but an accident.
“What, are you in a bad mood?”
At times like this, only Shiori would ignore the atmosphere and ask so bluntly.
“Isn’t it obvious just by looking?”
“Because that ordinary-human teacher chewed you out?”
“…Something like that.”
Kirishima Ai answered offhandedly.
“Do you not like that teacher?”
When asked this, Kirishima Ai stopped mopping, lifted her head, and wiped a bit of sweat from her brow.
Summer was hot, so even a little exertion made her sweat.
“She’s terrible.”
Kirishima Ai said suddenly, coldly.
Aside from her frequent absences, she was a polite and obedient student.
Teachers came in all sorts of personalities—some she liked, some she didn’t—but she respected all of them.
Only Teacher Haibara was someone she simply couldn’t bring herself to respect.
Lazy, cold, irresponsible—nothing like a proper teacher should be.
She looked listless and worn-out all day, hardly a role model for students.
On top of that, she smoked over by the open-air stairwell, where other students often spotted her.
Compared to the other diligent, responsible teachers, Haibara struck Kirishima as a truly lousy one.
Of course… plenty of high school teachers were like that, and Teacher Haibara was just one example.
At the very least she taught her lessons properly, and the classes she oversaw had fairly decent grades.
“I don’t really get it…”
Takanashi Shiori had never attended school on Earth before this, so she had no common sense about such things.
“But lately, the Black Death Cult’s monsters seem to be getting stronger and stronger.
Are you going to be all right?”
The Black Death Cult—that was the name of the evil monster organization they were fighting against.
They kept creating monsters throughout this city, threatening the safety of its citizens, all with the goal of resurrecting their leader, the “Black Demon King.”
A Mature Form monster possessed the power to easily destroy a city and cause massive disasters.
The firepower and weaponry the city’s public security forces typically had couldn’t pose any threat to these monsters—only magical girls could truly wipe them out.
Silver Feather, the form Kirishima Ai Transformed into, was the most active magical girl in this city.
“No problem.
No matter what kind of monster it is, I’ll destroy it.”
Kirishima Ai replied.
To this day, there hadn’t been a single monster she couldn’t easily defeat.
Hearing this answer, Shiori nodded, then climbed down from the windowsill and left just like that.
Leaving Kirishima Ai alone to keep cleaning.
After finishing mopping, Kirishima Ai returned to the empty classroom and stood in place for a while.
She was today’s monitor on duty.
That morning, the chemistry teacher had reminded her to fetch a spare alcohol lamp from the supply room, to be used the next morning.
So in a little while she’d need to go to the supply room to get the alcohol lamp.
If she remembered correctly, the supply room key should be with Teacher Haibara—but after being scolded by Teacher Haibara today, she’d forgotten to ask for it.
She hoped the door wasn’t locked today.
“……”
Kirishima Ai picked up the blackboard eraser, her gaze slightly dimmed.
Lately, she’d been a little tired.
And a little lonely, too.
Even though she’d become a magical girl, doing the work of saving the world, with so many people acknowledging and liking her, she felt it wasn’t quite what she’d imagined.
She’d longed to be a hero, and she’d become the hero she’d idealized—but no one knew her identity as that hero.
Not that she cared whether anyone knew, but at school she was still all alone.
Even though she was protecting this city, at school there was still the occasional gossip about her drifting around.
They said she was a cold person, that she looked down on others, that she was aloof and stuck-up.
She was just bad at communicating with people, that was all.
But she didn’t have even one friend she could confide in.
Confiding in a teacher was out of the question, of course.
In truth, her dislike of Teacher Haibara probably had something to do with this too.
It wasn’t as if she took leave to do something bad, yet she’d been so coldly criticized by Teacher Haibara for it.
If only someone could comfort her a little…
“Better not to indulge in such fantasies…”
Kirishima Ai sighed and prepared to go try her luck at the supply room.
Given how irresponsible Teacher Haibara was, the supply room might well not be locked at all.
After locking the classroom door, Kirishima Ai headed for the supply room alone.
By now the setting sun outside was nearly gone.
The hallway was deserted—she walked it alone, her footsteps crisp and clear, making the silence all the more pronounced.
When she reached the supply room door, whether it should be called a surprise or exactly as expected, the door wasn’t locked—it even stood half open.
Then she seemed to hear a clattering commotion coming from inside, like the sound of glass equipment knocking together.
Was there someone in there…?
Kirishima Ai frowned.
Just then, she suddenly recalled a rumor.
Supposedly, students occasionally saw Teacher Haibara carrying a liquor bottle into the supply room.
But no matter how much she disliked Teacher Haibara, she didn’t think it could be true.
After all, there was no reason for an adult to drink in a place like that.
It was probably made up by some student who hated Teacher Haibara.
Still, she grew cautious.
Kirishima Ai placed her hand on the door handle and quietly pulled the door open.
Then she looked inside the supply room.
She didn’t seem to see anyone, so she pulled the door all the way open and stepped inside, her steps still light.
But just then, she heard the sound of glass clinking against something again.
“—Clink…”
She froze for a moment, then slowly turned her head toward the source of the sound.
A liquor bottle rolled across the floor, its crisp ringing eerie and awkward in the silence.
And then, Kirishima Ai saw it.
It was…
A person?
There, a slender, willowy figure sat—somewhat blurred in the dim light, yet its graceful, cold outline was faintly discernible, seemingly crouched on the floor.
It was a woman shrouded in shadow, with unmistakably long hair that spilled dreamlike over her shoulders and down her back, drooping softly all the way to the floor, a dull silver-gray in color.
In the dim light, the woman’s gorgeous face and deep-purple eyes stood out strikingly, as alluring as a beacon of light.
Kirishima Ai stood there, dumbstruck.
‘What a beautiful person…’
It was the first time she’d ever seen such a beautiful woman.
Even more beautiful than she was after Transforming into a magical girl—it was hard to imagine such a beautiful person could exist in the world.
But who was she?
And why was she here…?
“Sorry to intrude…”
She said in a voice so tiny only she herself could hear it.
Then she noticed something.
The woman seemed to be wearing a black business suit—the kind all the teachers at school wore.
Was she a teacher?
But her clothes looked a bit disheveled, a few buttons undone, her hair somewhat messy.
And that liquor bottle lying on the floor…
After a moment, the gray-haired woman, her eyes hazy, pushed herself up from the floor and came staggering unsteadily toward Kirishima Ai.
Kirishima Ai stood rooted in place, at a loss.
“Mm… Kirishima?”
The gray-haired woman suddenly spoke.
Her voice was a little low and husky, cold and dry, yet it carried an indescribable sweetness and charm.
Kirishima Ai blinked.
Just now… had this person called out her name?
“Do you know me?”
Kirishima Ai asked uncertainly.
The woman quickly came right up in front of her, and Kirishima Ai caught a strong whiff of alcohol.
She was now certain—this woman must be drunk.
Maybe it was because they were too close, maybe it was the smell of alcohol on the woman, but Kirishima Ai’s face flushed a little, and her heart began to beat faster.
Suddenly, a cold, slender finger tipped up her chin.
Kirishima Ai froze.
The gray-haired beauty studied her with those hazy, faintly drunken eyes:
“…Now that I look at you, you’re rather cute.”
Her tone was fairly gentle, yet it gave off a cold impression.
“Eh?”
With her chin held up by such a beauty, Kirishima Ai felt her heart pound even faster.
Her face was burning hot, her mind a total blank—she couldn’t say whether it was excitement or something else.
Why was her heart racing so fast…?
But before she could react, the woman’s cold, gorgeous face had already leaned in, the distance between them closing bit by bit.
Close enough to smell the alcohol soaked into her hair, and her moist breath.
It left even Kirishima Ai feeling dazed.
At some point, a cold, soft sensation pressed against her lips.
“…”
The woman kissed her lips very gently, the tips of their noses touching, their cheeks pressed together—a decadent, rotten sort of bliss that nearly drowned her.
After a moment, Kirishima Ai’s eyes went wide.
For an instant, her lips were full of the taste of alcohol, yet also cloyingly sweet… The sensation was cold, and yet somehow it felt scalding.
Kirishima Ai’s body went somewhat stiff and cold.
She realized something.
—She had kissed this woman.