Liam twisted the cap off a cheap lip balm he'd grabbed from the hotel bathroom. Not ideal, but it'd work.
He pressed the waxy stick against Shizuku's stomach, drawing slowly. The pale pink line stood out against her skin, faint but visible.
Shizuku had bitten down on the hem of her sweater to hold it up, hands at her sides. She stood perfectly still, watching him with the same mild curiosity she'd give to a particularly interesting cloud.
Liam finished the pentagram and pulled his hand back. "Okay. Hold still."
He wrapped aura around his fingertip and pressed it against the lipstick pattern.
The reaction was instant. His Nen flooded into the mark, lighting it up from within. The pentagram shifted from pink to rose-gold, glowing briefly before settling into a permanent brand on her skin.
Shizuku's eyes widened slightly. "Oh."
"Feel different?" Liam asked.
"Yes." Shizuku touched the mark with one finger, tracing its edges. "My aura's moving. I can't control it. It's flowing toward the mark, then spreading back out."
As she spoke, the shallow cuts on her arms began to close. Bruises faded from purple to yellow to nothing. Even her aura felt different. Denser. More active.
"The mark accelerates healing," Liam explained. "As long as it's intact, you'll recover from pretty much anything. Even major injuries."
"That's useful." Shizuku poked the pentagram again. "But why did I draw it here?"
"What?"
"You said the mark disappears if it's damaged, right?" Shizuku looked down at her stomach. "Even small damage. A scratch. A cut. Anything that breaks the pattern."
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then why did I put it somewhere so exposed?" She gestured at her abdomen. "In a fight, this is easy to hit. The risk is high."
Liam blinked. "You're the one who chose that spot."
"Because your star looks like a tattoo," Shizuku said, completely serious. "And when I think about tattoos, I think about putting them on the stomach."
"Do you want to move it?"
Shizuku's expression didn't change. She reached down and started unbuttoning her jeans.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!" Liam grabbed her hands, stopping her mid-motion. "What are you doing?"
"If I put the mark somewhere private," Shizuku said, as if explaining basic math, "somewhere I'd instinctively protect in a fight, it won't get damaged as easily. Right?"
"You have a point, but—"
"So I'll put it here." She pointed vaguely downward.
Liam's brain short-circuited for a second. Then he pulled the lip balm out of his pocket and shoved it into her hand. "You can do it yourself."
"Oh." Shizuku looked at the lip balm, then at him. "Okay."
She turned around, biting down on her sweater hem again. Then she undid her jeans and tilted her head down, working carefully.
Behind her, Liam stared very intently at the wall.
"Don't smudge the pattern when you pull your clothes back up," he said after a few seconds.
Shizuku made a muffled sound of acknowledgment, sweater still between her teeth.
A minute later, she straightened up, adjusted her underwear, buttoned her jeans, and turned back around.
Liam gathered aura around his hand, keeping his eyes firmly on her face. "Where'd you draw it?"
Shizuku pointed at the inner side of her left thigh, just below the hip. Her movements were stiff, careful not to smudge the lipstick.
Liam pressed his hand against her jeans at the indicated spot.
Even through the fabric, he could sense the mark's position. His aura connected with the pattern, triggering the ability. Rose-gold light flickered briefly beneath the denim, and the Star Mark formed.
"Done." Liam pulled his hand back and nodded, satisfied.
Shizuku sat down beside him on the bed. "Were you embarrassed? Is that why you made me do it myself?"
"Ha! I just didn't want to take advantage of you." Liam smirked. "Otherwise, now that you're marked, I could order you around. Make you strip. Make you—"
Shizuku started pulling her sweater up.
"Stop!"
She stopped, blinking at him.
"I was joking," Liam said flatly.
"Oh." Shizuku smoothed her sweater back down. Then she tilted her head. "Can you give verbal commands through the Star Mark?"
"Yeah. But even when I do, you'll feel it. It's not like normal conversation. The moment I activate the mark, you'll know you're being controlled. You'll feel your body moving against your will."
"Oh." Shizuku nodded, processing this. "That means Liam's essentially a good person. Your ability doesn't control people's minds. Just their bodies."
"Shizuku, stand up and dance 'Love You.'"
Shizuku's body jerked upright before she could react. Her arms moved into position, her hips swayed, her feet started stepping in a bouncy, playful rhythm.
"I've never seen this dance before," Shizuku said, her voice perfectly calm despite her body gyrating without her consent. "Since you said you can't control my will, does that mean you're actively manipulating me through the mark right now?"
"Yep." Liam watched her for a few seconds, satisfied that she'd nailed the choreography he remembered, then released the control. "Shizuku, how old are you?"
Shizuku sat back down, sticking her tongue out slightly. "Fourteen." She paused. "No, wait. Fifteen now. I think."
"See?" Liam said seriously. "I almost committed a crime just now. Do you understand?"
Shizuku stared at him.
"I'm shorter than you by half a head now..." Liam looked down at himself. "Probably hit puberty. If I'm one and a half meters tall, how old does that make me?"
Shizuku kept staring.
"I'll say twelve," Liam decided.
"Aren't you in your twenty?" Shizuku asked, genuinely confused.
"That's my mental age. Twelve's my body." Liam stood, stretching. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's get food."
He glanced down at his clothes. The shirt that had been loose on a toddler was now skintight on a preteen. His pants had turned into shorts. His sleeves barely covered his shoulders.
"I have spare sweatpants," Shizuku offered. "They're unisex."
"Hand them over."
They found a small restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. The TV mounted on the wall was playing news footage of the terrorist attack at Cosmo Station that morning. Reporters stood in front of police tape while medics carried stretchers in the background.
Liam stabbed at his rice with chopsticks. "We're postponing the airship tickets."
Shizuku looked up from her soup.
"Stations and airports are going to have tighter security for a while," Liam explained. "I've got a Hunter License, so I'm fine. But your documents won't hold up under scrutiny."
He tapped his chest. "Also, I just grew several years in one nap. If I don't train hard now, it'll feel like I wasted all that time. That'd be depressing."
Shizuku nodded slowly.
"So we're staying a few more days." Liam grinned. "Let's set a goal. Get your total aura to 10,000. If we work hard, maybe even higher."
"Okay."
They finished eating and paid. On the way out, Shizuku suddenly asked, "If Liam's body is twelve years old now, does that mean it's not a crime anymore?"
Liam stopped walking. "What?"
"You said you almost committed a crime earlier."
"Shizuku." Liam turned around, expression deadly serious. "You can fool other people. You can't fool yourself."
Shizuku watched him walk ahead, hands in his pockets.
She touched her face, wondering if she'd just smiled.
Evening. Back at the hotel.
Liam and Shizuku stood facing each other, both wrapped in Ken. Their aura pressed against the walls, thick and heavy.
After several minutes, Liam opened one eye. "Did we forget something?"
Shizuku opened her eyes too. She thought for a long moment.
Then they both said "Ah" at the same time and looked toward the half-open window.
"We forgot to feed the birds."