Last night, I couldn't stop thinking about the Lumina Compass I'd found in the attic. Even during class, I kept writing and erasing the words "star fragment" on the edge of my notebook. The teacher's voice wasn't reaching my ears. The theoretical formulas for stellar alchemy were lined up on the blackboard, but my eyes were gazing blankly into the distance. The moment the after-school chime rang, I stuffed my parents' research notebooks into my bag and stood up. I left the hallway and passed through the gates of Stellar Academy—the Core Tower, one and a half kilometers west, Seraphim's largest alchemist training facility. The sky was already beginning to tint with dusk, and Stellaveil mixed the light of the sun with stardust, painting the entire city in orange and white. A Flügel glided overhead—a floating vehicle. Fifty Luche per ride. Today, I'd walk. I pulled the compass from my pocket. A small, round, metal compass. An old model, the kind you don't see in markets anymore. Just like yesterday, the needle glowed faintly. It seemed just a little brighter than yesterday, and my feet naturally quickened their pace. (The compass is pointing toward... Tindal Shopping District.) That shopping district, about eight hundred meters south of the Core Tower, was a bustling area lined with roughly seventy shops. Everything from student cafeterias to shops selling synthesis materials. I'd been there many times before. As I walked along my usual route, I heard angry shouting from a distance. "Hey! Who is it?! Who did this?!" A thick voice I recognized. It was coming from an alley. I stopped. The next moment, something flashed brightly, and the depths of the alley glowed white for an instant. Then came the sound of something crashing and collapsing. (What...?) I rushed over and peered into the alley, and I froze. The goods that had been displayed on the stall were floating in the air. Bags of star sand, bottles of synthesis catalysts, metal containers—all of them were caught in a torrent of light, swirling in a vortex. It was like a small tornado made of light. The ground was scattered with powder, and the air glittered. In the center of that vortex stood a single girl. Her hands were pressed together, her eyes squeezed shut. Her long hair, a pale pink color, was tied back in a ponytail and billowed in the wind of light. Faint star-shaped freckles dotted her cheeks. She was slightly shorter than me. Her face was pale blue, and her lips trembled. "Ugh... stop, stop, stop! Please stop!!" With the girl's scream, the vortex of light grew even larger. A bottle shattered against the wall with a crash. "Wait, wait, wait!! My merchandise!!" The one shouting was a middle-aged man standing with his legs planted firmly beside the stall. Thick eyebrows, muscular arms crossed over his chest. A nameplate hanging from his chest read "Gaspar." He was the owner of the star-goods shop "Palme," and it was famous around the shopping district that he was a former Light-Rank Alchemist. Around forty-five years old, usually a friendly old guy, but now his face was bright red and his veins looked ready to burst. "You're wearing a school uniform and doing synthesis in an alley?! Don't you know the Stellar Light Management Ordinance?! Apprentices are supposed to practice only in the academy's practice building!!" (This is bad. Really bad.) I assessed the situation in a second. The Stellar Light Management Ordinance—a law established by the Guardians of Stars that prohibited unlicensed stellar alchemy synthesis outside academy grounds. Violation meant up to a year of labor punishment. Apprentice practice was strictly limited to inside the academy's practice building. This girl was blatantly breaking that law in an alley. And spectacularly so. "I-I'm sorry! A stray cat! It got caught on the roof, and I was trying to make a light foothold, and then—" "Excuses later! Stop it first!!" "I don't know how to stop it!!" At that cry, I took a step forward. My body moved before I could think. "Sorry, I'll help too!!" I jumped into the alley and approached the outer edge of the vortex. The light star sand stung my face. Squinting, I stood beside the girl. "Relax your image, let your power go! If you try to force it into your star veins, it'll go haywire! More gently, open your palms!" "Gently... gently...!" The girl's hands, which had been tightly pressed together, slowly opened. The vortex of light wavered. I also held out my hands, gradually letting the light escape from the edge of the vortex. The basics of stellar alchemy—concentration and imagination. Even someone like me, who kept failing badly enough to scorch walls, could do this much. Slowly, slowly. The density of the light decreased. Thirty seconds later, the vortex vanished with a pop. The goods that had been floating in the air all fell down at once with a thud. Silence. Three people stood motionless in the powder-covered alley. The girl slowly opened her eyes. Her aqua-blue eyes looked at me first, then at the devastation, and her face began to crumple. "[crying]...I've done it now." "You sure have." "[scared]I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry!!" Gaspar let out a deep sigh. He uncrossed his arms and looked at the scattered goods on the ground. Two broken bottles, four bags, one dented metal container. "Honestly..." He looked at me with a grim expression. "Are you a student at the academy too?" "Ah, yes. But I just happened to pass by..." "Then help me pick these up for now. Action over conversation." --- The two of us began picking up the goods in silence. The girl—Lili, as she introduced herself—was sweating on her forehead as she desperately gathered bags. I carefully collected the broken glass fragments. Since it was dangerous to touch with bare hands, I pinched them with the edge of my jacket. Gaspar confirmed the damage to the goods with a sullen expression. After a while, Lili said quietly: "[gentle]...I'm really sorry. I'll compensate for the broken items." "Of course you will. Two broken bottles for three hundred Luche, four bags for six hundred Luche, fixing the dent in the container for two hundred Luche. Total of one thousand one hundred Luche." Lili gasped. I felt my stomach drop too. (One thousand one hundred... How many meals at the academy cafeteria is that? About forty-four meals?) "[serious]Um... I can't pay the full amount right now..." "I'll pay half." The words came out of my mouth. Lili looked at me in surprise. I pulled out my wallet and secretly checked the contents. (...Three hundred fifty Luche. This is bad. Really bad.) While internally panicking, I kept my face calm. "Half each, so five hundred fifty Luche each today. We'll bring the rest next week." Gaspar looked between the two of us and sighed again. "...Fine. But," His voice continued in a low tone. "[serious]You academy kids, do your synthesis only in the managed practice building. If you do it outside, Noctis will take notice. Those guys don't show mercy." Noctis—the abbreviation for the Noctis Guard Corps, the law enforcement unit directly under the Guardians of Stars. A unit of about two hundred members wearing black star-marked uniforms, also responsible for cracking down on unauthorized synthesis activities. The moment that name was mentioned, Lili and I instinctively looked at each other. Both our faces went pale at the same time. The next moment, we both gave awkward smiles. Gaspar muttered "Honestly..." as he returned the last item to the shelf. --- When the cleanup was done, the two of us somehow ended up walking out of the alley side by side. As we walked together, conversation began. It started with "Thanks for earlier," then "Are you from the same academy?" "Yeah, but a different class," "Why were you doing synthesis outside?" "A cat was... crying on the roof... and I was trying to make a light foothold..." "You didn't know how to stop it?" "Once I started the synthesis, it became stronger than I expected..." Lili spoke in a relaxed tone, but a bit fast. I nodded along, thinking this girl was really honest. She seemed to tell everything before she could make excuses. "[gentle]...When I see someone in trouble or an animal, I just can't help wanting to help. But like today, I always go haywire and it never works out." She said it a bit embarrassed, her cheeks flushed. Her star-shaped freckles seemed to shimmer. "I'm kind of the same." I thought for a moment before deciding to be honest. "Yesterday, I tried to do a bridge synthesis during practice and scorched a wall. Before Gaspar could say anything about repair fees, I did the same thing at the academy." Lili's face brightened immediately. "[laughing]...Then we're kind of in the same boat today." "We're both updating our personal failure records." Lili laughed out loud. It was a laugh that shed her embarrassment, and I found myself laughing along. Something warm bloomed in my chest. "[gentle]Do you want to get food? I've been so nervous since earlier, I'm starving." "Sure. I'm hungry from stress too, and worried about my wallet." --- The cafeteria "La Meteor" was a small shop at the edge of the shopping district. When I opened the door, the smell of stew wafted out. It was a student favorite diner with six tables and a small counter. It was fairly full at this evening hour. From behind the counter in the back, a round-faced woman in her fifties—Berta—poked her head out. "Welcome. Today's special is stellar light bread set with plenty of stew." "Then two of those, please." We sat at a table by the window. I placed the Lumina Compass on the table. The needle twitched. "...What is this?" Lili leaned in to look at the compass. I hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell her. Not everything. But at this point, why not? "It's my parents' keepsake, sort of. My parents rode a shooting star and left on a journey, and I haven't heard from them since. Yesterday, I found this in the attic." "[gentle]...Rode a shooting star and left on a journey..." "It's a weird story, right?" "No, I think it's amazing." Lili said it with a straightforward face. "So this compass..." "Reacts to star fragments. My parents' notebook says so. Star fragments are supposedly strong crystallized stellar light that used to exist in Seraphim, and now they're scattered all over the city in pieces. This compass's needle points in their direction." Lili's eyes began to shimmer and glow. Those eyes, as if looking at stars, gradually became sparkling. I stared at them. Aqua-blue eyes. A transparent color. Berta brought out the set meals. Stellar light bread—bread fermented with stellar light, crispy on the outside and fluffy inside—and a stew of vegetables and meat simmered together. Twenty-five Luche. The aroma alone made my stomach rumble. "[excited]If you collect all the star fragments, what happens?" "That's the thing—the notebook doesn't say what happens when you collect them all. But there's one passage—if you collect all the star fragments, you can go anywhere." "Anywhere." Lili repeated it. She stared at the compass without even touching her stew. "[excited]Let's search for the star fragments together!" It was an instant decision. "Huh?" "Let's go! Together!" I froze, still holding my bread. "...Isn't that too instant?" "But it sounds fun." "It is fun, but..." "Two people are better than one, right?" "That's true, but..." Lili smiled. It was a smile that wouldn't accept any objections. I was speechless for a while. This was something I'd been carrying alone. The Lumina Compass, my parents' research notebook, the star fragments. Last night, when I read the notebook alone in the attic, my chest felt tight. Happy and lonely at the same time. I wanted to tell someone but couldn't. And now, in just five minutes, everything had changed. (I go