0 Lulu
Lulu chanted in her mind that she was an earthworm. She was moving in such a way that she was only allowed to wriggle along, without going too fast.
She’d done well in sneaking into the school ahead of time, but she had wound up hiding herself from the masked attackers, and now she was inching forward to escape the Lightnings that were supposed to be her allies.
Within the nightmarish spectacle of multiple Princess Lightnings running around all over the place, Lulu hid and moved along at a snail’s pace. No matter how impatient she was, she couldn’t rush out in a hurry. She would move forward slowly and certainly, passing under the bricks so that she wouldn’t be found.
She’d been quite boggled to see Lightnings all over the place, but she’d had no choice but to be pragmatic about it and conclude, “That’s just how it is.” With Lightning’s unique lack of worldly sense, anything was possible. She was about equal to a Lazuline in combat capabilities and prized as their final weapon, so actually, a surprise like this was to be expected.
And Lulu had not been told that there were multiple Lightnings. That meant that information had been at a level of confidentiality beyond Lulu.
Lulu tightly clenched the cheap purple gemstone in her palm. Iolite symbolized “showing the way,” and Lulu’s magic would manifest that. A puny stone like this didn’t have a lot of power, but it was far better than nothing—supposedly.
Even if she had cast her magic on it, it wasn’t like it would glow. There was no whisper in her mind, either. Unlike things with physical effects like healing and permanency, or things with mental effects like insight or concentration, with luck effects, you wouldn’t know until you got results. It was no different from a typical good luck charm.
Lulu moved from the schoolyard to proceed along the outer perimeter. She pressed her back to the wall, perking up her ears so that she wouldn’t miss even the sound of a pin dropping, smothering her impatience.
Since she’d been watching Ripple, Lulu had not been expected to be involved with the magical-girl class. That was exactly why she had been shocked to see so many Lightnings show up.
Should she have reported Ripple’s behavior to Old Blue in detail? If she had done that, then the current situation would have been reported, and of course her master would already have known about it, and maybe Lulu would have been able to coordinate with the Lightnings. But Lulu had not done so. She had not made to tell her master about her every thought and action. She’d had the strong feeling that if she did speak up, she would be stopped.
There was no use in stubbornly continuing to worry about the past. She would change course here and move things in the best direction she could.
Focusing every nerve in her body on stealth, she inched forward. Neither could she slack off on her magic. There were many demands on her right now. It wasn’t just about this. There really had been a lot of demands on her ever since she’d been stuck with Ripple. And Lulu wasn’t sure how thankful Ripple was for Lulu’s touching devotion. If she asked, Ripple might tell her, but Lulu was too scared and couldn’t bring herself to. Though Ripple’s attitude was still brusque, she had softened a bit since they had first met—but still, Lulu couldn’t say for sure that wasn’t her misunderstanding.
She felt ready to sigh, but she swallowed it. No pointless sighs were allowed when sneaking. She was also not allowed to get distracted by her thoughts when she was busy doing something else. But it was best to think unrelated thoughts in order to work with your fear and do a job. Plenty of thoughts would come to mind if she was mining grumbling and complaints about Ripple.
Lulu reached right under the classroom, where there was a big hole from an explosion. She sneaked into the wreckage, waiting for a moment when no one was around to creep out of the open hole into the classroom. The desks, chairs, blackboard, and all the various items that were emblematic of a classroom were destroyed beyond recognition, with nothing intact.
Lulu strengthened the magic she’d put in the iolite. As she prayed, Please, please, the cheap gemstone, like a grain of sand, melted away and vanished. How useful had it been, in the end? With Lulu’s magic, the results were very difficult to know.
She moved from one pile of rubble to the next. Evening her breaths and heartbeat, she kept herself concealed. Techniques to control the body were compulsory for a Lazuline candidate. Using techniques she had learned like this made her think she might actually be suited to being Lazuline. That was strange, since there was no way a magical girl like that would be in this kind of situation.
She heard lightning crash. A cry followed.