Alicia’s eyes lit like a lantern catching wind, and she turned to Lian with a sudden spark.

“Ling! Are you going back to school? Your spot’s still there—just report in and you’re set.”

Lian’s heart rippled like a stone dropped in a pond before her thoughts cleared like a lifted curtain.

She remembered joining some academy back when Ling was driving the body, a memory glowing like embers.

She was finally out to play, and an academy felt like another garden gate to wander through.

Ling wouldn’t blame her, that certainty sitting warm as afternoon sun.

She nodded, light as a falling petal.

“Alright~”

Steam curled from Remi’s fresh dishes like soft clouds, and Alicia caught Remi’s sleeve like a sparrow in a rush.

“Remi, come too!”

Remi’s refusal came crisp as a winter bell.

Go to a place like that? What would she learn—just dry dust on the tongue.

Home was a hearth, and playing with Flan was sunlight through lace curtains.

“Eh? No, I’ve gotta stay and look after Flan. I don’t have the time.”

“Then bring Flan with you,” Alicia pressed, voice bright as a ribbon.

“But… the start of term’s already gone by,” Remi murmured, like watching a train vanish into fog.

“The academy allows maids. You and Flan can come as maids,” Alicia said, doorways opening like a garden in spring.

She fired off her starry-eye skill; twin comets flared from her gaze, dazzling as fireworks.

“This… fine, I’ll go,” Remi yielded, her sigh a breeze over tea.

“But I’m only there to look after Miss Alicia and Miss Ling. I won’t be listening seriously to lectures.”

Just treat it as caretaking, don’t overthink… the thought settled like a soft blanket.

Alicia accepted at once, her worries flutter-light as feathers; Remi and the others were iron under silk anyway.

“Great, great!”

Flan drifted in from the kitchen, steam trailing her like ribbons, and she smiled at her sister, a crescent moon.

“But sis, who’s caring for who?” she teased, a pinprick of starlight.

Struck right at the tender spot, Remi flushed rosy as an apple.

“No way… I don’t need you looking after me! I take care of you too!”

As if to prove it, Remi gathered Flan into her arms, an embrace like a quilt warm from the sun.

Her hand stroked Flan’s hair, gentle as a breeze through grass, and Flan closed her eyes to enjoy it, petals folding.

Alicia watched the sisters’ sweetness, envy dew-bright in her eyes, and she couldn’t help glancing at the “Ling” beside her.

What’s wrong with Ling? The feeling tugged at her like mist at dawn.

Since she came back, she’s changed—like someone swapped masks.

Forget it; at least Ling’s here, that thought a small lantern in the dark.

She’d been dazzled by Ling’s strength and assumed a mind firm as iron.

Now, however she looked, Ling was a child lacking guidance, a sapling needing stakes.

It was Alicia who hadn’t taught her well; yet she’d gotten angry, guilt bitter as over-brewed tea.

She felt awful—on every level.

Noticing Alicia’s stare, Lian looked back, her gaze an arrow with a feather-soft tip.

“What are you doing?” lived in her eyes like ripples on clear water.

She didn’t know how eyes spoke that way—maybe a Yokai knack, a hush of snow in the blood.

Ling’s cute little eyes lifted to her, spring-sweet as new buds, and Alicia’s resolve knotted like a ribbon.

She had to teach Ling some basics, kindle lanterns of common sense, or that adorable face would be wasted.