Chapter 19: The Flowing Water’s Revelation

Kazami Jin felt the skin on her wrist was almost scorched by the heat from Yu Niannian’s fingertips.

That phrase, ‘more than them,’ struck her like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the sluggishness that had settled upon her nerves from her recent ‘slacking off’.

This was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

That tenacious gaze, brimming with fierce possessiveness; that undeniable strength; that tone, seemingly a request yet undeniably a declaration—none of it belonged to a typical shy junior.

An absurd and horrifying thought, like a venomous serpent, abruptly slithered into her mind, prompting her to blurt out almost without thinking, a final flicker of hope warring with immense dread:

“You… you couldn’t possibly… be a magical girl too, could you?!”

The words had barely left her lips when Jin regretted them.

‘How could she have asked so directly?!’

‘If Yu Niannian wasn’t a magical girl, wouldn’t I have just exposed my own anomaly?’

‘And if she was…’

However, the anticipated confusion or denial never materialized.

Instead, upon hearing the words ‘magical girl,’ Yu Niannian’s already limpid and clear eyes suddenly burst forth with an unparalleled, almost tangible brilliance.

The cautious expression on her face, tinged with a hint of grievance and bewilderment, vanished instantly, replaced by a smile so radiant it was nearly blinding, an expression of sheer ecstasy, as if she had just heard the most beautiful compliment in the world.

“Senpai! You actually knew!” Her voice soared, filled with an uncontrollable burst of delight and excitement, and the grip on Jin’s wrist unconsciously tightened further.

“Have you always known my identity?

Is that why you’ve been so kind to me, patiently teaching me to draw?

Is it… because you’re my fan?

Have you been silently following me all this time?”

Jin: “???”

‘Wait! Is there something terribly wrong with this development?!’

‘I only blurted that out in sheer panic, out of suspicion and accusation! How did it completely transform into adoration and a secret crush in this junior’s ears?!’

Before Jin could recover from this overwhelming information overload and the sudden logical dead end, Yu Niannian had already released her wrist and stepped back two paces.

Her face glowed with pure, undisguised happiness, her hands clasped before her chest, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at Jin, as if Jin were the only person in the world who truly understood her.

“This is wonderful! I’ve always wanted to tell Senpai!

But I was afraid I’d scare you, afraid you’d think I wasn’t mature or reliable enough…” Yu Niannian’s voice trembled slightly with emotion, her cheeks flushed with an excited blush.

“Now that Senpai already knows, I don’t have to hide anymore!”

Taking a deep breath, a soft, aquamarine aura suddenly rippled around her.

The glow was not dazzling, yet it pulsed with a pure and immense energy, like an undercurrent surging beneath a calm sea, instantly and irresistibly filling the entire art studio bathed in the sunset’s hues.

“With a heart of water, connecting all phenomena—Flowing Water’s Proof, unfold!”

Unlike Xia Yue’s formidable aura that could freeze all things, or Lin Wan’s swift and unrestrained bursts of electrical arcs, Yu Niannian’s transformation unfolded like a gentle stream merging into a river, natural and fluid, imbued with a unique sense of rhythm.

Layers of aquamarine brilliance surged like gentle tides, gracefully enveloping her petite form, precisely outlining a figure-hugging yet opulent silhouette.

As the light receded like an ebbing tide, the girl standing in her place had transformed, now clad in a battle gown primarily adorned in aquamarine and moon white, its skirt designed in cascading wave-like tiers, embellished with delicate pearls and dynamic wave patterns.

In her hand, she held a slender, translucent staff, seemingly condensed from continuously flowing living water.

At its tip, an oval sapphire was embedded, shimmering with a misty vapor, its depths seemingly alive with shifting light.

Although Yu Niannian’s face still retained a youthful innocence, the calm and profound aura radiating from her now made her seem a completely different person from the shy, easily embarrassed junior she had been moments before.

It was a confidence born from absolute mastery over her own power, akin to a seemingly tranquil deep sea that, in reality, harbored boundless strength.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself,” Yu Niannian, or rather, the Magical Girl “Flowing Water’s Proof,” declared, a blush mixing shyness with pride gracing her features.

She performed a slight, ancient, and elegant curtsy to Kazami Jin, who was now utterly petrified, her mind completely inundated with “WARNING” alerts.

“‘Flowing Water’s Proof,’ a water-element magical girl belonging to the ‘Star Guardians,’ Yu Niannian.

Senpai Jin, I am so pleased, truly delighted, to meet you in my true form!”

As she observed Jin’s vacant face, which seemed to scream ‘Who am I? Where am I? Has the world glitched?’, Yu Niannian apparently misinterpreted it as perfect shock, pleasant surprise, and silent adoration.

Her smile grew even sweeter and purer, carrying a hint of eagerness to display her best self to the person she held most dear.

“Since Senpai is my fan, you must be eager to see my powers, right?” Yu Niannian raised the staff, which shimmered with flowing water, her tone light and lively, as if showcasing her proudest creation.

“While I may not excel at instant, powerful freezing attacks like Senior Sister Xia Yue, nor possess the extreme burst speed of Senior Sister Lin Wan, I am very confident in my precise energy control, area support, and sustained combat abilities!”

With a gentle wave of her staff, her movement was as elegant as conducting a silent symphony.

Inside the art studio, all the scattered paintbrushes, tubes of paint, palettes, and even the unfinished still life painting on the easel, with its wet colors, silently and steadily levitated.

Each was perfectly enveloped in a soft yet resilient aquamarine aura, as if suspended within a weightless aquatic realm of absolute balance.

They drifted and rotated slowly along an elegant and mysterious trajectory, ultimately aligning into an incredibly neat and precise sequence.

The entire process occurred without a single sound of collision, demonstrating a breathtaking level of precision and stability.

And that wasn’t all.

Yu Niannian tapped her staff again, and several sycamore leaves of varying shapes, which had drifted in through the window, were instantly and precisely encased by countless delicate, translucent water droplets, then gently compressed.

In the blink of an eye, they transformed into several crystal-clear “water jade ambars,” each perfectly sealing the intricate veins of a leaf within, which then tinkled like fine gemstones as they rolled at Jin’s feet, refracting a mesmerizing shimmer in the sunset.

Finally, she winked playfully at Jin, and the sapphire at the tip of her staff flickered with a soft light.

Jin felt a gentle yet immense surge of life energy, imbued with a fresh aquatic essence, instantly flood her entire body.

Her heart rate and vital energy, previously chaotic from the intense shock, were immediately soothed and regulated.

Even the subtle fatigue and soreness accumulated from her recent ‘toil’ (in both mental and physical senses) vanished without a trace, leaving her completely revitalized, in an incredibly good state, and even feeling a surplus of energy.

Only after completing all of this did Yu Niannian contentedly retract her staff, and all the suspended objects around them silently and precisely returned to their original positions, not even a paintbrush’s orientation having shifted, as if nothing had ever happened.

Only the few priceless “water jade ambars” on the floor and the overflowing energy within Jin’s body silently attested to the terrifying reality of the effortlessly graceful and exquisitely precise power display she had just witnessed.

“What do you think, Senpai?” Yu Niannian asked, dispelling her transformation.

As the light flowed and shifted, she reverted to her usual appearance as a junior in a simple school uniform, seemingly docile and harmless.

Yet, the calm, confident light of a true powerhouse that had not yet faded from her eyes, and the undisguised eagerness in her tone—a yearning for the approval of the one person whose recognition truly mattered—sent Kazami Jin reeling with dizzying sensations.

“Am I… quite impressive, wouldn’t you say?

Am I worthy of being Senpai’s favorite junior?” She tilted her head slightly, a pure yet expectant smile gracing her face, as she took another step closer to Jin, who remained frozen like a statue.

Her voice, sweet as honey, delivered words that plunged Jin into an icy abyss:

“Now… Senpai can confidently agree to my request, can’t you?”

“More, closer, and more special contact… than with Senior Sister Xia Yue and Senior Sister Lin Wan.”

Kazami Jin gazed at the seemingly harmless face before her, now even sweeter and more adorable than before, yet utterly deceptive.

She felt the forcibly ‘replenished’ energy surging within her, so abundant it made her want to flee, and recalled the power display she had just witnessed—a mastery over all things as effortless as moving her own limbs, a silent influence that nevertheless held the might of colossal waves…

Silently, slowly, she unclenched her fists.

She raised her hands, clutching her buzzing, almost overloaded head, and then—

Slowly, she squatted down.

She buried her face deeply into her knees.

‘It’s over.’

‘It’s all f*cking over.’

‘I thought I was merely struggling to survive near the den of two sleeping lions,’ she despaired, ‘but it turns out there was also this creature quietly lurking beside me, whom I’d mistaken for a harmless little kitten.

They’re a f*cking deep-sea behemoth in sheep’s clothing, disguised as a cub!’

‘I really can’t go on like this!’

‘Is my witch’s life destined to be utterly consumed, leaving not even a shred of my witchly dignity, by these magical girls who are each more deceptive, more powerful, more ‘profound’ in their schemes, and who, goddammit, are especially skilled at exploiting their own advantages?!’

An unprecedented, immense despair and… a bone-deep sense of resignation, completely engulfed and froze her from head to toe.