“Blue Court Station has arrived. Please exit the train.”
“Senior, we’ve arrived at the station.”
Lucia gently woke Clara, who was sitting on her lap. The latter let out a soft whimper, rubbed her eyes, looked up at Lucia’s face, and her expression was somewhat awkward.
“Sorry.”
Although Clara apologized, Lucia’s face was flushed and she looked particularly refreshed…
This was because Clara had “refreshed” her.
“Let’s continue sleeping when we get back.”
The three got off the train, but Kamui began to feel conflicted and anxious.
As for Nangong Xiwang not being home, it seemed she could only continue using the part-time job as an excuse for now.
They walked side by side through the subway station and arrived at the smart apartment Kamui had rented.
Clara still insisted: “Do you really have to send me back to my room? You two can go back now, right?”
“No, we have to send you back! Even if it’s just to your room door!”
“…Fine.”
Kamui didn’t understand why Clara was so insistent on sending her home. She didn’t seem to have any ill intent, but she refused to explain, and Kamui didn’t feel she could ask.
Fortunately, she had registered tenant information under both identities, so after scanning, she could open the elevator door, avoiding the embarrassment of being blocked outside.
“So high-tech.”
Noticing that the elevator didn’t just move up and down, Lucia was a bit surprised. This reaction was just like Clara’s when she first followed Nangong Xiwang home.
It was her first time seeing such a smart loft apartment, so naturally she was surprised.
Kamui simply said: “It does use a lot of high-tech, but the apartment is actually not that big. It’s pretty much a beautifully decorated matchbox.”
Clara quite agreed with that statement.
Kamui and Miss Nangong’s apartment didn’t even have a single real window. At least Clara thought that even if she had the money, she wouldn’t rent such a place.
As she spoke, Kamui took out her phone and sneaked a glance.
“Miss Nangong also has a part-time job tonight, so she’s not home.”
Clara had originally wanted to talk to Miss Nangong about the manga release, but she forgot that she had to work at the bar tonight. It seemed that had to be postponed again.
The open elevator faced the apartment’s front door.
“I’m home.”
As soon as Kamui said that, the smart home system in the apartment automatically turned on the lights in the living room and entryway, the water heater in the bathroom started working, and the TV turned on to play a scheduled recording.
“Wow, so convenient!”
Lucia seemed a bit envious, but Kamui was indifferent.
“Come on, the dormitory you two live in is ten times bigger than this place.”
Since it was a small matchbox apartment, even three people standing in the entryway felt cramped.
Therefore, Kamui kicked off her little boots and ran into the living room.
“Make yourselves at home. I’ll mix some juice for you.”
The way she tossed her shoes toward the shoe cabinet felt strangely familiar to Clara.
Miss Nangong also seemed to kick off her shoes like that.
‘Could it be… that because they live together, she picked up Miss Nangong’s bad habit?!’
[You…]
Nyx seemed to have something she wanted to say, but ultimately she didn’t say it.
“Then let’s have some juice and rest a bit before leaving.”
Clara pulled Lucia into the room and sat on the sofa in a very bold posture, her casual attitude as if she were at home.
After all, it was Clara who had cleaned this place, so she naturally didn’t need to be polite.
But not long after they sat down, the sound of broken dishes came from the kitchen.
The two hurried over to check and saw Kamui crouching on the floor, cleaning up a glass.
“What happened? Be careful not to cut yourself!”
Clara hurried over to help clean up.
“It’s nothing, nothing… I just slipped.”
Although Kamui said that, her expression and tone didn’t seem like nothing was wrong.
Clara and Lucia exchanged a glance and asked: “So, is there anything we can help with?”
First, Kamui said: “I’m fine.”
Then she changed her tune: “No, I do have something.”
“If you two don’t have anything to do, have some juice and then please go back.”
So, she was kicking them out.
“Is it a trouble you can’t talk about?”
Clara and Lucia huddled together and whispered for a bit, then said: “Then we’ll go back now… but if you need help, remember to call me, okay?”
“Mm, thank you.”
Feeling the other’s concern, Kamui’s anxious heart calmed down a lot.
Clara, who had put on her shoes, stood in the entryway but didn’t rush to leave.
She turned around and said: “Next, you’ll understand why I had to send you back.”
On her small face, besides helplessness, there was a hint of a smile that looked like she was enjoying the drama.
This made Kamui vaguely feel that something was off.
“Huh?”
“But before that, you’d better go to the bedroom first~”
Leaving these words, Clara finally pulled Lucia away and left.
***
After closing the door again, Kamui didn’t rush to revert her transformation, nor did she listen to Clara and go back to her small bedroom. Instead, she sat back on the sofa, holding her phone with a gloomy and anxious expression.
On the phone was a termination notice sent by the editorial department.
She never expected that while she was still mulling over whether to resign and become a full-time hero, the publishing house had actually fired her first.
However, she didn’t have much resentment about it.
She had been absent for two consecutive days, and today even couldn’t be reached.
Previously, she often had unexplained absences and loss of contact due to hero commissions, including the commission to retrieve the belt for World Tree Technology…
Although that bald editor-in-chief was annoying, this time it was indeed her fault.
‘But what could she do?’
Working as an editor while also being a hero, and on top of that, not letting anyone know—how could she possibly manage her time?
“Sigh, there’s no choice now.”
Kamui lay across the sofa and let out a long sigh.
With this, she had completely lost her way out.
Joining the “dream witch” seemed to be the only choice she could make at the moment.
Resigning was not something Kamui couldn’t accept.
This job, to put it bluntly, was just something she found to make a living after leaving the Magical Girl Society.
But unexpectedly, she ended up doing it for several years.
She didn’t have much attachment to the editorial department. She was more worried about the manga artists, including Beast Fox and Zhongming.
Although she was always pushing for manuscripts, it seemed like she was on the opposite side of the authors, constantly putting pressure on them.
But in reality, she had already blocked quite a bit of interference and pressure from the editorial department for them.
It was hard to imagine what the next editor would do to those authors to gain more profits after she left…
“I’ll go to the editorial department tomorrow to handle the resignation. I hope nothing happens after I leave.”
“Huh?”
Kamui was still immersed in her thoughts when the clothes on her body suddenly began to shatter.
Like ashes that crumble at the slightest touch.
Even a slight movement would cause them to collapse and dissipate into magical power in the air.
“T-This is the reason Clara was talking about?”
Kamui, lying on the sofa, instantly turned into a naked child, her cheeks reddening up to her ears.
She bit her white teeth tightly, her lower lip trembling slightly, her body squirming uneasily, and finally buried her face deep into the gap of the sofa.