Chapter 20: The Demolition Darling’s Declaration

Kazami Jin crouched on the ground, clutching her head, attempting to block out the harsh reality with this ostrich-like posture.

Her mind reeled in chaos, the words ‘magical girl,’ ‘three,’ and ‘I’m doomed’ relentlessly flashing through her thoughts.

It was a while before her thoughts, stiffened by overwhelming shock, reluctantly began to churn again.

She drew several deep breaths of air, thick with the scent of paint and dust, forcing herself to calm down.

‘Wait… Yu Niannian’s abilities just now—levitating objects, creating amber, restoring energy… they sound and look more like auxiliary and control types, don’t they? They seem different from Senior Xia Yue’s ice-sealing sword strikes or Senior Lin Wan’s pure explosive gunfire, which are all about pure destructive power.’

A faint flicker of hope, a tiny flame of ‘luck,’ began to waver once more in the frigid lake of her heart.

‘Perhaps… things aren’t so bad after all? This newly discovered magical girl is a support type? Aren’t support characters usually gentle and in need of protection? Even if she has a hidden agenda, the pressure should be less than facing those two main combatants… right?’

Her subtle mental turmoil and gradually slowing breaths seemed to be misinterpreted by the anxious Yu Niannian.

Those large eyes, which had just moments ago sparkled with anticipation, slowly clouded over with a watery film of disappointment and unease.

She watched her senior, who was curled into a ball and remained silent for a long time, assuming Jin was disappointed—disappointed that she had only displayed ‘flashy but impractical’ support abilities, not powerful or impactful enough, unable to compare to Senior Xia Yue’s sharp frost or Senior Lin Wan’s dazzling electric light.

‘How could this be!’

‘She had finally revealed her identity to her senior, finally shown her true self, so how could she be disliked for such a reason?! Does Senpai think she isn’t worthy of being compared to Senior Xia Yue and Senior Lin Wan?’

A surge of urgency, a blend of grievance and indignation, welled up within her.

Yu Niannian bit her lower lip, her voice carrying a hint of imperceptible stubbornness and a nascent sob:

“Senpai… do you think I only have a few small tricks, that I’m not powerful enough? Not as… strong as Senior Xia Yue and Senior Lin Wan?”

Jin, who had just begun to build a fragile mental defense, heard the trembling question and instinctively looked up, trying to explain:

“No, Niannian, listen to me. I think support abilities are very important. There’s no need to be like them…”

She had intended to say, ‘There’s no need to be violent like them,’ hoping to guide her junior, who seemed caught in a comparison trap, and remind her that everyone possessed their own strengths, rather than blindly imitating others.

However, in Yu Niannian’s ears, already predisposed to believing she was being ‘disliked,’ Jin’s words took on an entirely different meaning!

‘Senpai really does think I’m not strong enough! Senpai is pitying me! That hurts even more than a direct denial!’

“No! Senpai, watch this!” Yu Niannian abruptly straightened, cutting off Jin’s words. She clenched her small fists, and the tranquil aquamarine aura that had just subsided around her reignited, but this time, the glow was no longer gentle; it pulsed with a heavy, heart-stopping oppressiveness! She had to prove herself!

“I… I can be powerful too! I don’t need special treatment!”

Before her words fully faded, without even transforming again, she remained in her school uniform, facing an empty section of the art room—specifically, the most robust-looking load-bearing wall. Her slender, pale right arm casually pulled back, and then, she unleashed a punch!

There was no cry, no dazzling light effect, only the muffled sonic boom of extreme power, compressed to its absolute limit before suddenly erupting!

“Vwoom—!”

The air seemed to rupture from that single punch! A visible, distorted transparent shockwave, like a cannonball fired from its barrel, tore through the air, hurtling forward with unstoppable force!

CRASH!!!

With a deafening roar, the very ground trembled!

The sturdy load-bearing wall, upon impact with the shockwave, seemed struck by the fist of an invisible colossal giant. The thick concrete wall began to spiderweb with cracks from its center, which then violently spread and burst open, before suddenly caving inward and collapsing! Rubble and dust poured down like a breaching flood, instantly revealing the twisted, gnarled rebar within the wall and a colossal, irregularly edged hole, wide enough for several people to pass through simultaneously!

The golden-red twilight, unimpeded, surged through the massive rupture, pouring into the formerly dim art room and dyeing the pervasive, choking dust into a dazzling yet eerie haze.

The entire art room appeared as if one of its walls had been violently torn away.

The sound of the wind outside, the distant rumble of cars, even the chatter from the adjacent building, instantly became clearly audible, as if the entire space had been breached by that single punch.

Such was the terrifying might of a single punch!

Kazami Jin remained frozen, her head still partially lifted, her pupils constricted to pinpricks.

She felt no pain from the falling rubble, nor could she hear any sound.

The entire world seemed to have been muted in her senses, leaving only the scene seared onto her retina—her petite, seemingly delicate junior, clad in a school uniform, had casually delivered a punch that obliterated a load-bearing wall, creating a ‘skylight,’ and leaving behind a wasteland.

A chill shot from the soles of her feet directly to the crown of her head, seeming to freeze every drop of blood in her veins.

Every pore screamed with frantic alarm; her limbs trembled uncontrollably, and her teeth even began to chatter against each other, emitting faint ‘clacking’ sounds.

‘This… this is supposed to be *support*?! Whose support character can demolish a building with one punch?!’

She was now utterly convinced that her previous assessment of Xia Yue and Lin Wan as ‘violent’ had been born of profound ignorance!

Compared to this human demolition machine, this walking natural disaster before her, Xia Yue’s ice sword and Lin Wan’s energy gun seemed as gentle as a spa treatment!

Yu Niannian gazed at the ‘masterpiece’ she had just punched into existence, seeming momentarily stunned herself.

A flicker of vexation crossed her face as she mumbled, “Ah… I think I used too much force… my control is still unsteady… the repair report is going to be so long again…”

Yet, she quickly turned, her gaze falling upon Jin, who was still trembling, her face utterly drained of color.

The damp expression, a mix of anticipation and unease, reappeared on Yu Niannian’s face.

She walked over to Jin, crouched down, and asked cautiously:

“Senpai… look, I, I actually have a lot of strength too… I’m not worse than Senior Xia Yue or Senior Lin Wan…” Her voice grew softer with each word, tinged with a mix of grievance and eagerness to please. “So… could you… spare a little time for me too?”

“Don’t… always be with just them…”

Kazami Jin slowly, agonizingly, lifted her head, her neck emitting a stiff ‘click’.

What met her eyes was Yu Niannian’s face, appearing incredibly pure and innocent, even slightly timid and obedient, beneath the pale twilight filtering through the gaping hole—and behind her, the utterly ravaged, beast-like ruins of the wall.

The stark contrast between extreme violence and extreme cuteness, at this moment, created a juxtaposition so absurd, so terrifying, it threatened to shatter anyone’s sanity.

Jin’s lips trembled; she wanted to speak, but her throat felt as if it were clogged with cement, preventing a single syllable from escaping.

She looked into Yu Niannian’s large eyes, brimming with such longing that it seemed she might burst into tears if denied, and then recalled the terrifying power of that sky-rending punch, capable of reducing her to fundamental particles…

Ultimately, all struggles, all fleeting hopes, all sense of shame, dissolved into nothingness before the absolute disparity in power and the primal instinct for survival.

She nodded forcefully, with an exaggerated motion.

The swiftness of her movement nearly twisted her neck.

In her eyes, there was an unprecedented, complete, and utterly transparent acceptance of her fate, mingled with terror.

Seeing her finally nod, Yu Niannian’s face instantly bloomed with a smile more radiant and brilliant than the sunset outside the gaping hole.

Delighted, she threw her arms around the still-trembling Jin.

“That’s wonderful! Thank you, Senpai! I knew Senpai was the best!”

Feeling the stiff, trembling body of her senpai in her embrace, Yu Niannian contentedly buried her face in Jin’s neck, nuzzling her, and declared in a soft, sweet voice laced with laughter:

“Then it’s settled, okay? Starting tomorrow, during lunch breaks, and after club activities every Wednesday and Friday, Senpai will be all mine!”

Kazami Jin’s vision swam as she was struck by this declaration, seemingly wreathed in pink bubbles, yet sounding like a final judgment.

She felt as though she could already glimpse her future: fragmented and bleak, torn asunder by three magical girls, each distinct in their style, yet equally terrifying.