It was close to eight when Mizuki got home, dusk clinging to her like rain-soaked sleeves. As soon as the door clicked, questions from Mom and her sister came down like sleet. She forced a dry laugh, floated an excuse like a paper boat. Doubt still rippled on their faces, but they let it drift.

She didn’t dare say what really happened; fear fluttered first, then memory bit down. In a few hours she’d brushed past death, hanging by a thread, one bad step and she’d have vanished like mist at sunrise.

No one could know. Not family, not friends. This was a stone she had to carry across the river herself.

From now on, Miyuki Kiseki would shed her old skin like a cicada. She couldn’t face the world with a schoolgirl’s eyes anymore; she’d seen it was no clear pond but a bottomless pit. Still, the road ahead had Sham beside her like a lantern at dusk, so it wouldn’t be so lonely.

Whatever it was, Mizuki had decided to face it. Even if it was a chasm ten thousand fathoms deep, she’d step forward. The weight was hers.

“C’mon, no need to act so cool. My master only needs to be a well-behaved, rule-abiding Witch~”

Her room was a girl’s haven, pink-red like cherry petals with white laid underneath like snow. Pens sat in neat ranks on the desk, and the soft bed carried a few cute plushies, a white bunny set proudly front and center.

Mizuki lay there now, cocooned in her quilt like a tide pool, holding up the talking necklace, eyes fixed and bright.

“I know,” she breathed, unease first like a shadow at the door. “It’s just… what I’ll face is darkness. Thinking about that makes me a little scared…”

“Relax, relax. Don’t be afraid,” the necklace chimed, light as windbells. “You’ve got that Witch’s agent called Sham. She’ll take care of you. And you’ve got me~”

“Thank you. Then… just call me Mizuki from now on. I remember your name…”

“I am Elana!”

“Right. I’ll be in your care, Elana~”

Mizuki smiled, the curve gentle as moonlight, and greeted her future partner in her usual voice.

“Heh, my master’s still a kid. Then I won’t stand on ceremony, Mizuki~”

As Elana spoke, the Artifact Spirit shifted like a fish slipping from her palm. The necklace hovering in the air breathed a pale glow, soft as dawn. When the light thinned, the Artifact Spirit had become a cute orange hair clip, which clicked into place at Mizuki’s forehead, replacing her usual clip like a blossom taking root.

“Huh? You can transform?!”

“Heh-heh, that’s my thing,” Elana preened, voice rippling. “I can turn into all kinds of shapes and stick by your side. I’m a transformation type by nature, and when you enter Witch state, you fight through me. By the way, in standard combat I can shift into seven forms. But right now you’ve only undone two of my seals, so there are only two forms. If you want more, then pile up experience and unlock my seals.”

She finished and flowed again, turning into a watch that hugged Mizuki’s left wrist like a thin stream. Mizuki studied it with bright curiosity, eyes catching light like stars in a well.

“But in everyday life I can only become things you can carry,” Elana added, sing-song. “Bigger stuff’s a no-go. Turning into a human? Not happening~”

“Eh… no?”

“Of course not. I was made by the Church. How could I do such boring transformations?”

Mizuki eyed the Artifact Spirit on her like a cat teasing a ribbon; this talking trinket had hooked her heart.

“Mizuki, the Underworld’s messier than you think,” Elana said, tone flattening like a calm lake. “Get used to it first. Then decide what’s right, what’s just. Otherwise you’ll get erased in a blink.”

“Mmm… hey, Elana,” she asked, her want rising like steam, “about that… Miss Night Phantom from today—how much do you know?”

She knew she shouldn’t ask, but curiosity tugged like a tide. She needed to know that girl.

Her feelings were misted over, a lantern behind paper. She didn’t know why she cared so much, but it wasn’t a flicker of whim. She really wanted to know about Miss Night Phantom.

“You mean Night Phantom… I’m not too sure,” Elana admitted, voice twining like smoke. “I just woke up, remember? Ask Sham, maybe you’ll get something. She’s your agent now too, same as Night Phantom.”

“Is that so…” The words fell with a small thud, a little shadow of disappointment spreading.

“But I do know one thing. They say Night Phantom’s very strong because she’s the holder of the First Vessel Soul. In the Underworld, her reputation’s not great. She always wears a mask; no one’s ever seen her true face. Whether Sham knows it? That’s another story.”

Never shows her face? So that’s the kind of person Miss Night Phantom is.

Mizuki didn’t fully understand, but a few strands were better than empty hands. That was enough for now.

Suddenly her phone rang, sharp as a pebble tapping glass. Mizuki stopped thinking and reached for it.

“Hello…”

“Mizuki, where did you run off to again? You vanished for no reason today! What were you thinking!”

“Mai?”

The voice on the other end snapped like a twig, but worry flowed through like warm tea. Mizuki froze, breath held.

“What are you doing? You’ve been like this for days and won’t tell us anything. Do you know how worried I am? Mizuki, what happened? Tell us. We’re friends, right? If you can’t fix it, lean on us.”

“Mai…”

She hadn’t expected it—her friends worrying about her. She’d thought her problems were a lone path through reeds, no one else stepping in. She’d forgotten she had people.

These days she’d been a mess, always absent in spirit, face like clouded glass. Of course her friends would worry; why hadn’t she seen it? Such a simple truth, that the people beside her were shoulders to rest on.

She remembered the dead end, walls closing like a canyon. Sham had risked her life to pull her out, and in the escape she showed a steadiness she never had in class. Without her, Mizuki might already be a name on the wind.

“I’m sorry, Mai. I was wrong.”

Yes. She shouldn’t have shut them out. They were her friends.

“And… thank you. Don’t worry. My thing’s already been handled~”

Right. Today, she’d lived an adventure she might never taste again. Today, she’d met a girl she couldn’t get out of her mind…

“If you can think like that, then great…” Mai sighed, the sound soft as rain on eaves. “But Mizuki, next time don’t hide it. Come find us.”

“Mm. I will~”

Joy rose like a kite tugging the string. So many people cared. Wherever she went next, for her friends’ sake, she’d live hard.

After the call ended, the smile stayed on Mizuki’s face, a warm patch of sunlight.

Right—back then, it was that boy who brightened her.

“Yun…”

Today, he’d been harsh, but his gentleness had steadied her like a hand on her back. Because of him, her mood had cleared.

Call him.

Thinking that, Mizuki acted at once, fingers flying like sparrows as she opened her contacts. Yun Shi hadn’t given her his number; she’d copied it from the class list and saved it. Now it was finally useful.

“Hello, this is Bian Qi. Who are you trying to reach?”

A familiar neutral voice came through, flat but with a soft edge, like shade under a tree.

“It’s me, Yun.”

“…Miyuki Kiseki?” The voice on the other end cracked a little, surprise skittering like a pebble.

“Mm. Yun, I wanted to thank you. Thanks to you I pulled myself together. I really—”

“I don’t care! You’re noisy as hell. I don’t want to hear about your problems!”

Click.

Silence poured in like cold water.

Mizuki stayed there, phone still at her ear like a seashell. She turned stiffly, thoughts a tangled skein, and gave her Artifact Spirit a skin-deep smile.

“Did I do something wrong…?”