X
The midday sun shone brightly, with a few white clouds dotting the clear, azure sky.
In front of the towering structure, the weekend bustle only intensified. A dizzying stream of people mingled with fantasy creatures flying to and fro, creating a truly mesmerizing sight.
A large parasol was strategically placed in a secluded spot near the entrance. Beneath its shade, an embedded white crystal perfectly neutralized the summer heat.
Behind the parasol, Xu Yanqing sat at a table and chairs, absently twirling her pen while staring at the completely empty registration book.
Su Qingyao and Xu Yiyi, seated behind her, both felt a distinct sense of being watched.
Su Qingyao, however, remained composed, casually seated as she replenished the magic of the large parasol above their heads.
Xu Yiyi, on the other hand, had unconsciously straightened her posture. Despite appearing the oldest of the three, her face clearly betrayed her nervousness.
As team leaders, they had arrived to set up their stall a full hour early.
Erecting the stall took five minutes, followed by a twenty-minute wait.
This was ample time for passing magical girls to curiously approach, utter an ‘oh’ upon seeing the standee on the table, and then gather two or three friends to come downstairs and exclaim, ‘Oh~’ at the sign.
In this new world, many magical girls began their training young, naturally undergoing proper instruction.
The office Xu Yanqing used didn’t seem particularly large.
Yet, ‘procurement lists’ or ‘bills’ for training supplies never took more than ten minutes to approve.
Unless, of course, the magical girl in charge of approvals had secretly snuck off to the lounge for afternoon tea.
Just as Su Qingyao felt enough time had passed and prepared to withdraw her magic, two small figures, one white and one black, emerged from the crowd.
“Mama~” The voice was deliberately hushed.
Su Muxue’s tiny call reached Su Qingyao’s ears.
Su Qingyao simply smiled, then extended her arms, catching her daughter as she tumbled into her embrace.
Following Su Muxue was a rather shy girl. Su Qingyao remembered her name was Jiang Jiuli, wasn’t it?
She was the same age as Su Muxue and a friend they had known since their orphanage days.
“Hello there, Jiang Jiuli.”
Su Qingyao greeted her warmly.
The small, black-haired girl’s face flushed instantly. She shuffled forward, stammering, “Ma— eek!— Hello, Su Muxue’s mama. I stayed at Su Muxue’s house this morning for a while.”
Jiang Jiuli gasped, realizing her mistake, then rattled off the rest of her words like spilled beans.
‘This child seems very nervous.’
Su Qingyao instinctively ruffled Jiang Jiuli’s head, glancing in the direction the two had come from.
‘But… where’s Senior Lu?’
Unlike Jiang Jiuli, who stood frozen, steam practically rising from her brain, Su Muxue noticed Su Qingyao’s action and leaned in to whisper a few words.
“Like this, like that.”
“Oh, so Lu Zhichuan just casually dropped you two off by the roadside?”
Su Qingyao’s eyebrow twitched, her tone subtly fluctuating.
Su Muxue merely shook her head, uttering a soft ‘Mm, mm,’ and then made a ‘shush’ gesture to Su Qingyao.
Clearly, Lu Zhichuan had entrusted her with a secret.
The young woman lifted her gaze, surveying the surroundings.
‘Even if there’s no malicious intent, does he still have to keep things from me?’
“Alright, alright, I won’t be mad at Senior Lu anymore.”
Su Qingyao sighed, allowing the small white cat, its cheeks puffed out, to burrow into the palm of her other, now free, hand.
With that, both her hands were occupied.
Su Qingyao looked helplessly at the scene before her.
Xu Yanqing, who had been momentarily overlooked, kindly waited a few seconds before clearing her throat and reminding the two girls, “Children who have arrived, please sign in with me first.”
“Oh, oh, oh.” “Oh.”
While Su Qingyao conversed with her daughter, Xu Yiyi had already arranged two stools behind them.
After Su Muxue and Jiang Jiuli finished signing, their name cards were placed on the two chairs at the very front.
“Don’t look at Mama like that.”
“When we’re outside, you should call me ‘Teacher Su,’ alright?”
Su Qingyao feigned sternness, turning her face away to avoid their pitiful gazes.
“Okay.”
Jiang Jiuli was the most reluctant. She drooped her little head and walked to her seat.
Su Muxue, however, nodded calmly. From her small, personal pouch, she pulled out a palm-sized puppy doll.
After extracting the tiny doll dog, Su Muxue tossed it upwards with a slight force.
Like a blower, a cartoon-like ‘poof’ of inflation sounded in mid-air. First its head expanded, then its body, and finally its fluffy tail.
It was Booboo, the doll Su Muxue never parted with.
“Oh, isn’t that a fantasy creature?”
Unlike Xu Yanqing, who had already heard about it, Xu Yiyi stared in astonishment at the large, docile doll-dog in Su Muxue’s hands.
“Indeed, Your Excellency. Please call me Booboo.”
Listening to the old-fashioned tone and distinctive voice, not just Xu Yiyi, but even Xu Yanqing behind her, felt their mouths twitch.
Booboo, having anticipated this, simply let out a helpless sigh.
“Go ahead and laugh if you want.”
Booboo’s resigned permission became the final straw, eliciting clear peals of laughter from the group of magical girls.
Unlike the stereotypical fantasy creatures, which are usually cheerful, light-hearted, and somewhat erratic in their thinking, Booboo, at least when beside Su Muxue, usually maintained a ‘reliable’ demeanor.
Su Qingyao, the only one who didn’t burst into laughter, merely gave a polite ‘hmph’ and reached out to pat Booboo’s back.
But Booboo suddenly shifted, dodging Su Qingyao’s hand.
Before the young woman could react, the doll-dog had already circled Su Muxue’s shoulder and settled atop her head.
Tickled by the action, Su Muxue merely extended her hand, and Booboo placed its paw upon it.
‘Only for Muxue to touch…’
Su Qingyao’s mouth twitched.
‘Is this a different kind of, ‘dog relying on its master’s power’?’
Then, the small girl firmly clasped Booboo’s front paws.
Before the doll-dog’s terrified gaze, Su Muxue yanked it from her head.
In a blink, Booboo was bundled and delivered into Su Qingyao’s arms.
Within Su Qingyao’s soft embrace, Booboo inexplicably felt a chill. It stiffened, gazing upwards.
Su Qingyao lowered her head.
Though her face still bore its usual smile, her downward glance made Booboo shiver.
‘Hehe, it’s quite obvious whose side my daughter is on, isn’t it?’
Su Qingyao extended an invisible large hand.
****
It wasn’t until the next child arrived ten minutes early at the meeting point that the swaying Booboo returned to Su Muxue’s embrace.
Its once neat fur, fluffed by Su Muxue’s magic, had almost swelled into a large ball of fluff.
Booboo tried to climb up again, but in its dazed state, its feet slipped, and it fell backward onto Su Muxue’s lap.
“Hmph, I told you already, Booboo…”
Su Muxue sighed, gently holding Booboo’s waist and whispering, “Mama can be very scary when she gets angry.”
****
“Hey, Uncle Lu.”
Two days prior, after Lu Zhichuan had finished telling his story while taking Su Muxue home, Su Muxue suddenly asked him a question.
“Has Mama ever gotten angry in front of you, Uncle?”
“Uh…” Lu Zhichuan suddenly froze.
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded.
Su Muxue’s vacant eyes blinked.
“Then what’s Mama like when she’s angry?”
“Very terrifying.”
Lu Zhichuan emphatically stated, “And if your mama gets really, really angry—”
“She will actually bite people.”
The physical kind. And after biting, she wouldn’t treat the wound, leaving Lu Zhichuan to walk around the settlement with bleeding teeth marks, turning heads 100% of the time.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Into the Halo! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Into the Halo
