“Sorry to intrude…”

“Relax. No one else lives here.” Yekase flicked on the only light in the main room and led them in.

“I don’t have spare bedding. One blanket each. Floor.”

“Having a roof is already a blessing.”

Ling Nuo Si said that in his male voice, then, under Yekase’s scrutiny, transformed into a Magical Girl.

“Huh. Look closely, and you’re actually pretty cute as a girl.”

Yekase rubbed her bare, hairless chin, circling to inspect her. Lately, inspired by Professor F’s sermons, she’d started chasing aesthetics—how to make her inventions handsome without losing function. They sold better on the black market that way.

Even ignoring the gorgeous costume Zhang Wendao had already seen, just Ling Nuo Si’s female face alone deserved a high score.

Waist-length hair, fluffy but not messy. Lively eyes. A nose tilted at the right angle. Lips pale-red, neat and light.

A face that should glow with youth felt a bit off, weighed down by a too-old gaze.

On that point, Yekase was the same. They differed in only one place…

“You might as well stay a girl forever.”

Dead-fish stare. Delinquent-bully vibe. She poked Ling Nuo Si’s cuppable headlights.

Because this one could switch when she wanted, while Yekase was imprisoned in her body for life.

Choice. Choice is everything.

But Ling Nuo Si didn’t blush. She smiled. “Oh? If I agree, will you treat me as a girl?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Then let’s shower together.”

“Huh?”

“We’re both girls, right?”

…Huh???

Was that always her personality? Yekase glanced at Zhang Wendao for help, but the girl read it as dead air.

“Bro, behave.”

That familiar scolding tone!

Yekase’s surprise spiked. Her good impression of Ling Nuo Si cracked and fell in glittering shards.

So you’re a repeat offender, huh? You damned guy.

All through the One-Year War you hid your real self—just so you could do girl-only things with your Magical Girl coworkers? And Zhang Wendao was the accomplice… I thought you were a steady big-bro type. My bad!

“Okay, let’s shower.”

“Doctor, don’t indulge her delusions!”

With these two being unreliable, Zhang Wendao—who’d only recently learned to speak plainly—was forced to play the straight man.

“Man, time’s ruthless. Back then, little Zhang Wendao admired me so much. Didn’t know my true body was male. She even asked if we should bathe together…”

“Waaahhh!”

Zhang Wendao suddenly shrieked, ran to the corner, and crouched with her head in her arms. “Do what you want! Shower how you want!”

Is that worth a meltdown?

Yekase looked at the trembling back in the corner, then at Ling Nuo Si’s smiling shrug, and something clicked.

Classic age-gap yuri… even if one of them isn’t actually a girl.

“Don’t lose heart, Zhang Wendao. Your big—your Elder Sister just revived. Your age gap just shrank by nine years in one breath. Now, even if you two started officially dating, no one would—”

“WAAAAHHHH!”

Ling Nuo Si copied Yekase’s chin-rub. “Elder Sister… that sounds nice. Has a hint of taboo. Wendao, call me Elder Sister, how about it?”

“I refuse!”

“Do you prefer my true body?”

“WAAAAAAHHHH!”

Got it.

Yekase shot Ling Nuo Si a look. Comfort her a little. Then she went to the wardrobe to fetch two bath towels and change of clothes.

A tub? Of course not. In a cheap rental like this, an actual private bathroom was already a miracle. Which meant two people squeezed under one shower.

“Tsk.”

Ling Nuo Si’s thoughts were showing.

Yekase didn’t get mad. The lady who thought she’d scored a bargain didn’t know she’d bumped into her own kind.

Should I lean to her ear and tell the truth later? Let her feel the visceral dread of “turns out it’s actually two dudes”? Yekase entertained the wicked idea.

Besides, Ling Nuo Si had earned some truth.

And even if it leaked, with Ling Yi vouching for her, Ling Ya probably wouldn’t choke on “Yekase = Dr Ika.” Dr Ika was a big bad, sure, but no one had seen her do evil with their own eyes. Plenty of room to maneuver.

Unaware of Yekase’s plotting, Ling Nuo Si slipped out of her Magical Girl gown, kicked off ankle boots and frilly socks, shed her underthings, and stepped into the shower.

“In my memory, you were a textbook paragon, Ling Nuo Si. Not this… flippant.”

“Really? Maybe I was. But since I came back from the Void, my mindset… shifted.”

“What shifted?”

With water drumming on her crown, she stood like beneath a waterfall, hair plastered to her face. Her expression turned solemn. “If you haven’t died once, you’ll never feel the joy of living this sharply.”

She gathered up her long hair, eyes closed. “In that dreamless sleep, I heard a call and woke. That was your voice, right? You survived that explosion, peered back at us from the crack of existence… You gave me this second life. I haven’t thanked you properly.”

Yekase nodded, then shook her head.

“So dying once made you decide to enjoy life?”

“Exactly.”

“Yet you’ll still beat up punks?”

“Occupational habit. Hard to quit. And they were on ice. Couldn’t just watch.”

Good. If Ling Nuo Si were the type like Professor F—righteousness overflowing, mission to change the world—Yekase would have a headache.

Yekase undressed and stepped into the shower. The stall was narrow, but their smaller frames just managed to fit.

“Then let me tell you something good too.”

She rested her chin on Ling Nuo Si’s slim shoulder.

“…?”

“On second thought, forget it.”

“What are you even trying to say…”

In those few minutes, Yekase’s own mood shifted again.

You like to play? I’ll play slow with you. I’ll seed false tells, make you tear your hair guessing who I really am—then, when crisis hits, I’ll lift the veil in one flawless entrance.

It was a trick she’d learned from novels.

At Ling Nuo Si’s last, desperate moment, Yekase would drop in piloting her not-even-on-paper personal mech, Luciferin. Under those stunned eyes, she’d fire her signature move, Nightlight Torch—also currently impossible—drive the enemy back, and leave behind a back that Ling Nuo Si knew too well—

“This magic… Dr Ika?! Didn’t you die fighting the Outer Entities—”

Then Ling Nuo Si would deliver the standard line.

…Just imagining it felt amazing.

Thinking about unreliable plans not yet inked, Yekase’s hands traced Ling Nuo Si from shoulder to calf. “Your skin’s great. What’s your routine?”

“Hey… what game is this now?”

Ling Nuo Si finally realized she wasn’t the one taking advantage.

So whoever has the thicker skin wins?

“Classic gender-bender beat: ‘a girl praising your skin.’ Every protagonist hits it. You never?”

“Where do you even read this nonsense?”

“Your sister’s bookshelf.”

“…Huh?”

Ling Nuo Si visibly wavered.

“In the nine years you were gone, Ling Yi turned into a lovable disaster with a kink for femboys and gender-benders.”

“Huh…?”

“Whether that’s a remnant imprint you left on the world as you crossed the river… who knows.”

“Yi-yi… knows…”

She froze.

Me? Was it me?

After being erased, I left only a seed of “gender-bender” in my sister’s heart… pushed her onto a different path entirely…

As a big brother, isn’t that a bit too sinful?

“…What about Ya-ya?”

Yekase seemed to know the Lings far too well, which only made Ling Nuo Si more at sea. But that wasn’t the point now.

“She only remembered the codename ZEROS. So she recorded it and plays it on loop by her ear every day.”

“Ya-ya?!”

Ling Nuo Si’s knees buckled. She almost dropped. Yekase caught her—and casually squeezed her headlights again.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. As long as you go back and reunite—oh, right. They don’t remember you.”

Yekase smiled like a devil twisting the knife.

“Urgh… kill me…”

“Not enjoying your second life?”

“If both my sisters forgot me, what’s the point of living…”

Siscon, huh.

“As for that… it’s not hopeless.”

“What?!”

The devil’s smile stayed on Yekase’s face. In Ling Nuo Si’s eyes, it became a lifeline.

“Twenty Second Squad right now is like Flash Energy before it’s born, trapped in an infinite loop of birth and annihilation. So, like Flash Energy, as long as someone observes, a result collapses into being. But whether that result is distorted, I won’t risk it. After confirming your true existence, I performed a targeted observation and brought you back intact.”

“You mean if you hadn’t noticed my original gender, I’d have woken up fixed as a Magical Girl?”

“I’m starting to regret not doing that.”

“Name it. Anything I can do for you!”

“Hm…”

Looks like I just freeloaded a reliable hitter… Yekase worked shampoo through Ling Nuo Si’s silky hair. When the girl closed her eyes, Yekase flashed a bright I’ve-done-it grin.