Chapter 266: Nina and Nim

And if one were to say when the prodigious magic girl Nim behaves most childishly, it is undoubtedly in front of her older sister—Nina.

"Nim, did you listen properly to the Captain?"

After a morning of instructional courses, Cornflower and Nim, returning to the squad camp, met her older sister Nina, who was also the magic girl with the codename Ink Lotus.

While asking her younger sister about her well-being, Nina checked the condition of her personal equipment, even reaching out to tidy her hair, yet she did not forget to ask about her sister's performance: "You didn't throw a tantrum or say anything strange, did you?"

Because their parents passed away early, Nina was not only Nim's older sister but often played the role of a half-mother, constantly worrying over various matters concerning Nim.

Perhaps it was due to this somewhat excessive protection, combined with Nina's own tendency to view things pessimistically, that she made the decision under the Legion Commander's guidance to bribe a superior and insert herself and her sister into the same squad.

Even now, Nina often felt ashamed before Cornflower because of this matter, and most of the time she avoided her own squad's Captain. In Cornflower's own view, the magic girl with the codename Ink Lotus was like a ghost; although she existed on the squad roster and completed her assigned tasks, she was simply never seen.

"Of course not, sister, you are worrying too much."

Sitting on a bench and kicking her legs, Nim shook her head restlessly under her sister's hands: "The Captain has been praising my performance all along."

Nim did not completely fail to understand the things her sister worried about; it was just that in her view, many things were not that complicated.

She thought Cornflower was amazing, she admired the other person greatly, so she should speak well of her; she knew her experience was insufficient and her strength was weak, so she had to work hard to improve herself; she sensed the doubts and distrust of the other squad members, so she took the initiative to communicate with these teammates to eliminate the barriers.

Because problems exist, solve them; because difficulties exist, face them; Nim always thought this way and acted this way.

However, she would not contradict her sister over such a difference in concept.

"That's good."

Hearing her sister's answer, Nina sighed with slight relief, yet did not forget to warn with concern: "Do not cause trouble for the Captain, understood?"

"Understood, understood."

Nim helplessly dealt with her sister: "But sister, you should pay a bit more attention to yourself too? According to the schedule, this afternoon it is your turn to go to the construction zone with the Captain for an inspection, but you can't even speak coherently to strangers right now; is that okay?"

Nina's hands paused.

"... N-no, it's fine."

She stiffly raised one hand, brushed aside the bangs that were too long and blocked her vision, and answered with some difficulty: "I am now much more familiar with the Cap-Captain, I th-think she is no longer a stranger."

"You are already starting to stutter."

Nim tilted her head back, looking at her sister with a mischievous smile: "And sister, you clearly haven't seen the Captain many times, right? You've always been hiding from her."

"I-I have seen her!"

Recalling her conversation with Cornflower regarding the bribery incident, Nina refuted: "Although we haven't spoken for a long time since then, but, it still counts as having met. I-I think it should be fine..."

This was a lie.

Everyone in the Cornflower squad knew that the magic girl with the codename Ink Lotus played a game of cat and mouse with Cornflower every day; whenever there was a scenario where the two might meet, she would definitely find a place to hide in advance.

The reason it developed to this point was that, in Ink Lotus's view, she had two things to feel guilty about regarding the other person.

First was her bribery of the Legion Commander; although Cornflower had already stated she forgave her and had now accepted her sister as a member of the squad, Nina still felt she was at fault regarding this matter.

Second was that she felt she had failed to live up to the Captain's expectations.

As compensation for the "bribery" incident, Cornflower had once requested Nina to be responsible for the new recruit training of her own sister Nim, and at that time, Nina had loudly declared "I can do it."

The aftermath of this matter was that when Nina began to act as Nim's mentor, the efficiency of her teaching was extremely slow.

This was not only because her personal expression ability was quite terrible, so terrible that even her own younger sister could not understand her explanations of those professional terms; but also because Nina's training requirements for Nim were far too lenient; she simply could not bear to see her sister suffer even a little, and often before Nim even felt anything, Nina would feel her sister was already tired, start asking about her well-being, and prematurely enter the rest period.

Naturally, such teaching efficiency could not meet Cornflower's original requirements. Even Nim herself found it hard to hold back, so one day, after finishing the lesson, Nim organized all the problems she hadn't understood into a booklet, then went to find the Captain Cornflower to ask questions.

Facing a squad member's inquiry, Cornflower naturally spoke without reservation, answering Nim's questions one by one, and quickly resolved the bottlenecks Nim had encountered.

From then on, Nim's daily teaching process became listening to her sister once first, then compiling the questions she didn't understand and going to ask Cornflower once. Over time, driven by the pursuit of efficiency, this process gradually changed to going directly to the Captain to learn, and sister Nina no longer needed to do anything.

Regarding this matter, Cornflower never felt there was any problem; in her view, this was a result actively brought about by both herself and Nim. And Nina had very conscientiously completed a portion of the teaching tasks before this, which was enough.

But in Nina's view, this was her own incompetence; the more the Captain and her sister had no complaints, the more uneasy she felt inside, always wondering if she had already been disliked.

And even though she kept hiding from the Captain like this, the two could not avoid meeting forever; the work schedule eventually brought the two together. This time, Nina could no longer escape.

Thinking of the scene she might face this afternoon, Nina felt immense pressure, so great that it made her stomach hurt, even making her want to vomit. Yet she also knew she could not keep avoiding it; since she had to take the blow anyway, she might as well stick her neck out voluntarily.

"A-Anyway, I will try my best."

Imagining that "doomed to be miserable" future, Nina could not help but reveal an expression like a hero bravely marching to his death, then, clenching one fist, suddenly raised it before her face...

—"Ouch! Sister, why are you pulling my hair!" Feeling that several strands of hair on her head had been pulled out by her sister, Nim looked up and complained.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!"