I rolled off the stairs and fell into the shrubbery. Staves couldn’t roll on their own; Stella had kicked me.
She looked at me through the gaps between leaves.
“Stella...?”
She crushed the wrapping of her finished kebab with a balled fist and stood up. “Forget it. I’m done dealing with you. Maybe someone else will find you here, if you’re lucky. Bye.”
The moment she looked down at me with scorn in her eyes, I knew I had messed up.
She was serious this time. There was no tsundere-ness here. I was finished if Stella abandoned me; there was no guarantee anyone else would want to keep a talking staff with them.
I desperately called out from my place in the shrubbery. “Wait, Stella! Leaving me behind won’t solve anything!”
“I won’t have to talk to you again, at least.”
“Please, don’t get mad; just tell me what’s going on.”
“Shut up! It has nothing to do with you,” Stella yelled.
She started to run away, her silver hair vanishing into the distance.
Pathetic as I was, I couldn’t catch up to her. Anxiety swept me. This was exactly why I hated being a staff.
“Of course it has something to do with me. Because, Stella... YOU’RE MY IDOL!”
My roar echoed down the street. Stella paused. After a moment, she turned and muttered, “Idol...?”
“Otaku get their life energy from their idols! You could say we live for them. We want them to be happy, and we want to see them smiling. Your happiness is our happiness. If it’s for our idols, we otaku can work hard day in and day out!”
Stella blinked rapidly. Her vocabulary most likely lacked both “idol” and “otaku.” Still, I continued on, the words stumbling out of my mouth.
“If my idol has a problem, I want to fix it. I want to do anything I can to help my idol smile. Didn’t I say it at the start? ‘Let me spend my life with you.’ From that moment, you were my idol. But up until now I’ve been unable to help you at all; you dug me out and told me about the world, but there’s nothing I’ve done! It’s pathetic. An otaku must repay their idol. Please, let me do something for you...!”
It was a self-centered request, but my passion seemed to reach her. Stella walked over and looked down at me.
“Are you stupid?” she asked, a backdrop of stars twinkling behind her.
After picking me up, Stella leaned me against the stairs again. She sat next to me and cradled her legs.
“Jeez, how stupid can you get...? Wanting to repay me over basically nothing...?”
“Most otaku are idiots.”
“Don’t be so serious with meat on you.”
Stella flicked off the piece of meat stuck to my cheek, then spoke in a heavy tone while wiping me off.
“This is Saint Antohsa’s Academy. It’s one of Oravina’s most prestigious schools, established to raise talented saints. I’m a student here, but I’ve never cast a single miracle.”
“Saints?”
“Women studying miracles are called saints. You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“That’s why starting with the basics is such a help.”
“Anyone who holds a staff and chants the proper prayer can cast a miracle—it doesn’t matter how old or rich you are, or even if you’re a girl or a boy. Though talent will impact how strong they are.”
“But you can’t use miracles, Stella...?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know why?”
“It’s because the spirits hate me, apparently.”
“Excuse me?” I asked after a pause.
“That should be obvious. Miracles happen by asking the spirits for help; if the spirits hate you, they won’t inhabit your staff, and your miracles won’t work.”
Stella was hated because the spirits didn’t like her? How much bad taste did the spirits have to have to dislike Stella? I’d like to gather them all in one place and give an entire presentation on Stella’s appeal. Shilling one’s idol was an otaku’s duty.
“So, the reason those girls all left the stand was...”
“They think that being near me will make their spirits run away and leave them unable to use miracles too. But that would never happen. It’s not like I’m touching their staves or anything,” Stella said. Her eyes began to shift, and she fidgeted in place. “And that’s why...you’re my first.”
My first. The phrase made me tense up.
“Y-You’re the first spirit to ever inhabit my staff.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I’m not a real spirit.”
Stella sighed and picked me up. “If only I could cast miracles with you...”
She began to spin, taking steps as if dancing. The hem of her robe flowed out like a blooming flower, and her long silver air fluttered softly in the wind.
“O Spirits of Light, fulfill your contract in the name of the Goddess supreme: Luxsaria Sein!”
That was an incantation, but unlike when the villainess chanted it, nothing happened. Stella was engulfed only in the suffocating darkness of night. Even so, she continued her chant.
“Pray and ye shall receive. Even the darkest of midnight caves shall shine with dazzling light: Luxsaria Sein... Why do you answer everyone else, but not me? Spirits of Light, please, come out... Luxsaria Sein...” Stella’s voice was getting tearful. She rubbed her cheek against me, trembling, and repeated the incantation as if praying.
Hey. You spirits of Light or whatever!
I was starting to get pissed.
Where do you get off, when Stella’s about to cry begging for your help? Seems like you have no idea just how precious a tsundere asking for help is, so listen up.
Tsundere girls do NOT go around asking for help. After all, it’s a struggle for them to be honest with themselves, and even if they want something, they won’t admit it. They’ll especially avoid any requests that make it clear they have affection for someone else. Reason being, their crush learning about their feelings would make them so embarrassed they could die.
But right now, Stella is making a request! This is a moment of miracles, visible only when a tsundere’s iron defenses have broken down.
Imagine a girl who’s usually all mean and prickly suddenly begging for something with tearful eyes... Is there anyone alive who wouldn’t be hit by that?! I can’t fathom how you can ignore her. It’s just shining a bit of light. Look at how desperate she is; at least grant this one wish, you Light spirits!
And just as I thought that...my vision was blinded by a flash.
“Wh— Ah!”