1

Work was relatively smooth sailing today. Seika arrived fifteen minutes early and used that time to get her PC running while also preparing her second cup of coffee for the day.

This was the day she would finish editing Yoshida’s manuscript. Whatever else he was, he was at least a concise writer whose only mistakes were the odd typos and some oddly structured sentences. When it came down to the story, he fully understood how to construct narrative arcs for the light novel format, to start a story arc that is resolved in the same book, even if it is just a B plot to the actual main arc that might span multiple volumes.

Volume 6 of ‘The Demon Lord’s Right Hand Woman is my Little Sister’ was actually the end of one such main story arc.

The main protagonist Rufus’ sister Lyselle had just been exposed as being related to the legendary hero trying to bring down the dark lord in volume 5. In previous volumes she had always cautiously navigated the political intrigues of the demon court to avoid having to confront her brother directly, which often resulted in Rufus slaying another high-ranking demon who was there in her place.

While being subjected to interrogation and torture she had to weigh her loyalty to the Demon Lord with her love for her family and chose to keep Rufus’ greatest weakness a secret despite the pain inflicted on her.

As Rufus stormed the castle, he, too had to make a choice: pursuing the Demon Lord himself or save his sister from torture. He chose the latter to the anger of his allies who had come so very close to defeating the source of all evil. In choosing family over victory, he had to leave the kingdom but was ultimately happier for it.

This sets the story up for another three-volume arc where the hero has to continue with all his allies having left his side, except for his sister, now blind in one eye from torture but a mighty spellcaster almost on par with the Demon Lord himself.

She hadn’t talked to Yoshida yet what he planned to do about the possibility of a romantic development. In online discussions there was currently a divide between those who just wanted to see siblings kick ass together and those whose interests were more otaku aligned.

Yoshida himself has never shown any interest in developing the story that way, despite being the stereotypical otaku without life skills who would ordinarily be thought to be into that sort of thing. In fact, he had never even written an erotic scene involving Lyselle, be it a peek of her taking a bath or otherwise. He was almost suspiciously wholesome.

Seika went on to add the illustrations that had been prepared beforehand.

Known only by their handle AKITO, the artist for ‘The Demon Lord’s Right Hand Woman is my Little Sister’ had been doing freelance work for MagiColle for a while, working on five of their series at the moment, though they could only ever be reached via mail and have never been to the office.

Seika opened the company’s file share and began inserting the illustrations one by one in the appropriate chapters after the appropriate paragraph. The best effect naturally happens when the reader is engaged in a scene and right after the description is finished, they flip the page and ta-dah! There is a page-filling illustration showing off just how cool or cute the characters are.

In this case there were a bunch of images of Rufus mowing his way through the demonic hordes and one that shows the moment Lyselle is being blinded in one eye while still refusing to betray her brother. A final spread shows the siblings hugging after the story resolves.

Hard to believe he wrote this whole ending while locked inside an office yesterday… if only he didn’t need that kind of motivation.

Today nobody was at the office. The other editors, including her boss, weren’t necessarily always on location. They could always be talking to the printers, the writers, the illustrators, literally anyone involved in the process of publishing books from start to finish. And more often than not such meetings would be in cafés, where the atmosphere helped everyone to be at ease.

Seika wrapped up her work on Volume 6 of ‘The Demon Lord’s Right Hand Woman is my Little Sister’ and stretched, looking up at the clock.

Wait… seven in the evening?

Some days the time simply flies for her. Usually on days where she is enjoying herself and is doing work that doesn’t involve rearing unwilling writers. Seika sent the finished manuscript to the printers and decided to wrap it up for today.

She brought up her phone and checked the missing posters of the girls she had been looking for.

“We’ve been checking all of their last known locations, and there was no presence of magical creatures that I could confirm anywhere.”

Minerva said with a long sigh.

I will try again today, starting with Kabukichō. Maybe one of the regulars at Snack Starlight knows something.

I kind of miss her, too.

2

Seika passed the giant neon torii gate leading into Kabukichō. It had just been turned on as the sun had started setting and while it wasn’t illuminating anything with the current level of light it still shone brighter than its surroundings.

Neon signs on both sides of the road were advertising services provided and would soon be the main source of light within the narrow street. Adult video stores, girly bars, ramen restaurants, cabaret clubs, Seika passed all of them until she arrived at the building she was looking for. A small multi-level brick house stood in front of her, only accessible through a staircase on the right side. Multiple framed posters marked with the floor levels were plastered on the wall, advertising the various establishments housed inside.

Seika’s target was the basement, so she descended the stairs and opened the door.

Snack Starlight was a small so-called Snack Bar. It had no windows and only a row of seven or so stools facing a bar counter with a small karaoke machine at the far side of the room. It appeared that she was the first customer to arrive today.

As Seika entered, she turned to the right and greeted the elderly proprietress, the ‘Mama’, with a little bow before she decided to go all the way to the last stool from the entrance.

“Oh! Senpai! Welcome!”

The woman standing behind the counter was a long-time friend of hers.

Her friendly expression was framed by blonde hair – usually worn in a hime cut, with the longer strands of hair that usually fall over her shoulders being tied into a ponytail while she’s at work, nicely completing her serious look with her white shirt, black vest and red tie.

Her blue eyes figuratively sparkled with excitement as she saw Seika and immediately went to where she was sitting.

“Miori. Hello.”

Seika gave her a tired smile. It must have looked terrible with the dark rings under her eyes, especially compared to the almost blinding radiance of the bartender’s smile.

“Geez! Are you working yourself to the bone again, Senpai? You need a day or two off from time to time.” Shaking her head Miori followed up by being all business, possibly in response to a glare from ‘Mama’. “Want me to pour you from your bottle, Senpai?” she offered.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Seika had purchased a whole bottle of whiskey here, as was custom in these bars. It was kept with a name tag, a promise of return in essence. A Snack Bar survived on making itself a home away from home for its patrons to turn them into regulars.

Seika had been introduced to Snack Starlight about seven years ago as Watanabe took her out drinking in the after-hours to congratulate her on the release of a series she had overseen. That’s how she met Miori… again. Their shared history is a bit longer than that, but it had been the first time the two saw each other again in a while.

Miori grabbed a large, cylindrical piece of ice from the freezer behind the counter and brought it to a special press. Lifting up the top she put the cylinder inside and let the weight of the press do its work. Water dripped into a collector surrounding the bottom piece of metal as the top slid down, melting the ice with kinetic force and thermal conductivity. Once both halves touched Miori lifted the top again, grabbed the clear ball of ice with a pair of tongs and placed it in a glass before she poured whiskey from Seika’s labeled bottle. As everything was done, she put the drink down in front of Seika.

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“Here you go: on the rocks, just the way you like it.”

“Thanks, Miori.”

Seika took the glass and allowed herself a sip before she got to business.

“Listen, Miori. I’m currently looking for somebody who can tell me where these girls might have vanished to. You get a lot of reputable and less-so gentlemen coming through here, maybe one of your regulars has seen something?”

She opened the pictures on her phone and slid it over the bar counter for Miori to inspect.

“My, my, Senpai, are you still getting involved in that kind of stuff? Are you listening to too many of these internet radio shows about real crimes?”

“Shut up. I just like to help people in my free time.”

“By doing work the police should be doing?”

“Well if… if I learn something new about them, I’ll just tell the police and let them handle it.”

“Hmm, the ones you ask about do tend to be resolved quickly, come to think of it. But I think it’s usually not the police resolving them…”

Seika stiffened. Until now it never really dawned on her how obvious she must have been about it.

“Ah! I guess the police would naturally be in contact with Magical Girls these days!”

Miori clapped her hands together and nodded as if she just made a groundbreaking observation.

“Ha… yeah.” Seika slumped over the counter and let out a sigh, counting her blessings that her friend provided and accepted such a simple answer.

“Aw, tired again, Senpai?”

“A little.”

“Maybe I need to spoil you a little, Senpai. But I doubt I can give you a lap pillow on the clock! We’re not a hostess bar.”

“Oh stuff it, you!”

Seika did her best to sound annoyed, hiding a grin by holding her hunched over position against the bar. She really had missed Miori and her nearly infectious energy.

“Now, do you think you can help me out with this?”

Seika tapped on the phone, showing the face of one of the missing girls.

Miori’s expression changed. Now it looked like she was about to challenge Seika. She lowered herself to the counter, elbows resting on it as she held her face in her hands and made eye contact.

“What do I get for it, Senpai?”

Here it comes.

In the nine years they had known each other, Miori never held back when it came to making advances towards her Senpai and the two had turned it into some sort of tug-of-war between Seika’s denial of her flirting and Miori’s relentless attacks. A quid-pro-quo deal like this gave her an unfathomable advantage.

“I… uh, I don’t know, what would you want?”

“A kiss?” Miori suggested playfully.

“No way in hell.” Seika answered quickly with a deadpan tone.

“Wow, that came out so fast I actually feel a little hurt. Your LINE contact information, then?”

“Still a no.”

“Really, Senpai? We’ve been friends for what? Nine years? We can’t always rely on running into each other.”

“The reason is still the same. I don’t have the time for idle talk on some app.” Seika managed to lie. You’d have too many opportunities to try and melt my defenses.

“Boo. You’re no fun, Senpai!”

“I am a very boring adult after all.”

“I’m an adult now, too. And you’re really still echoing that one back at me? It's been nine years.”

“I know. But you’re a fun one! And it’s fun to say!”

“Ah, to be young again.”

That last one came from the entrance. ‘Mama’ had heard everything and finally gave a comment. “Stop flirting, you two!”, she seemed to imply.

Seika turned red up to her ears while Miori broke out into a laugh.

“I guess I should stop. Anyway, Senpai… are you free this Saturday?”

Seika looked up at her, still as red as a tomato.

“Uh, this Saturday? Why?”

Miori smiled, then leaned closer and whispered into Seika’s ear. “Let’s go on a date and I’ll help you out. Hanging out somewhere that’s not a stuffy bar doesn’t sound so bad, right?”

Seika couldn’t really disagree there. There was a hint of a bitter taste from the fact that Miori was essentially bartering the life of the lost girls for some quality time with her beloved senpai, but there was no way she could actually know that Seika herself was saving them and her getting the information she needed influenced the outcome.

And even if Seika had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t get intimately involved with anyone ever again, spending a day with a friend like this didn’t sound so bad.

“All right. We’ll go on a date this Saturday. Don’t go prepare another love confession, though. I’ll shoot you down.”

Miori’s eyes widened and seemed to sparkle with a whole universe inside them, even with Seika’s denial of this being more than a friendly outing. This undiluted expression of joy burned itself into Seika’s memory to become a permanent part of it.

3

One after the other the regulars poured into Snack Starlight. Everyone greeted ‘Mama’ at the door before they took their seats. Of course, most eyes were focused on Miori.

Whoever she had in mind wasn’t here yet, so Seika kept to herself in her corner and let the usual business of the bar happen.

“Hey, Miori! Looking cute as always!”

“Aw, thank you. A highball as usual?”

“Miori, you seem to be shining brighter than usual today!”

“Aw, that’s because my Senpai agreed to go on a date with me!”

“A date?! My cute Miori is going on a date with someone other than me? Forget the highball, I need a straight whiskey!”

And so on.

The other patrons were exclusively middle-aged men in business suits. They already knew Seika and knew not to bother her, at least, but Miori as the bartender had to entertain them with idle conversation and endure their clumsy attempts at flirting to keep the alcohol flowing. A good long while of nonsensical chatter later the mood in the bar called for a song and Miori promptly got volunteered to use the karaoke machine.

“Hmm, whatever shall I do?”

She pondered and looked over to Seika, who could immediately feel that the blonde planned some mischief again. Miori flashed her a quick grin that only she could see and entered a song title into the JOYSOUND machine.

The first notes played, and recognition showed on all faces in the room.

“Oh, I know that one. My daughter watched the anime it’s from! She’s your age.”

“You’re not afraid to show your cute side, aren’t you, Miori?”

After the initial interjections everyone went quiet and Miori sang.

It was a cutesy song that served as opening to a certain card-wielding Magical Girl anime around twenty-five years ago. The lyrics were all about trying to confess one’s love.

Of course, Miori held almost uncomfortable amounts of eye contact with Seika while singing those lovey-dovey lyrics.

I rejected her already. But she’s kept trying all these years.

About nine years ago Seika held a part-time job at a convenience store to earn a little bit extra while making it through college. The high school aged Miori joined her shifts during that time as a new hire, hence why she called her ‘Senpai’ and never dropped that habit.

Seika kept their interactions friendly and tried her best to be a good senior to her. Sometime later the way Miori looked at her changed. Instead of innocent adoration for her senior the younger girl had definitely developed a crush, trying to perform her work as close to Seika as possible, always taking chances to strike up conversations and even trying to invite her to ‘hang out’ on their days off. Seika naturally brushed her off, even after Miori’s eighteenth birthday made their relative ages less awkward.

As Seika was about to leave on her last day of work, Miori finally worked up enough courage to speak what has been on her mind.

“I love you, Senpai. Please go out with me!”

Seika had just come out of a situation where a close friend of hers got hurt because she knew the truth about her and got too close. Starting a relationship with her junior from work was the last thing she wanted to do at that time.

“I’m sorry, Miori. I can’t return your feelings. I shouldn’t.”

You would only get hurt if I did. And I like you too much to let that happen.