Chapter 7: A Fated Encounter and a Public Declaration

“……I’m so sleepy.”

The next morning, on the school campus.

Having not slept a wink all night, Chao Wu sported dark circles under her eyes as she hurried towards the school gate, a piece of bread clutched between her teeth.

Having experienced too much in quick succession, she found herself unable to sleep a wink all night after returning home and lying in bed.

How should they interact from now on? Should she contact the organization? Ought she to tell her about the crystal? What would it feel like for her to become a magical girl?

A jumble of chaotic thoughts kept Chao Wu tossing and turning in bed. Despite her body being utterly exhausted, she simply couldn’t fall asleep.

Just as a hazy drowsiness finally began to claim her, it was already time for school.

Sigh…

Such was the daily grind of a student.

Without the crystal, and having lost her identity as a magical girl, Chao Wu felt that her motivation for school had dwindled significantly.

As a normal student, however, there was nothing she could do.

After all, the person who had saved her had told her as much, all while putting on a display of cool bravado.

She wondered if she was adapting well; generally speaking, someone inexplicably turning into a girl would likely experience considerable resistance and discomfort, wouldn’t they?

Sigh…

What good was it to ponder these things now?

She was merely an ordinary girl now, and might never see her again in her lifetime.

What was the point in caring about her? Thinking about it all night, tossing and turning, wouldn’t change anything in the end.

Ding-dong—

Chao Wu’s wild musings were abruptly cut short by the school bell.

“Ah, what’s the point of thinking so much? I’m already late…”

Chao Wu sighed, then, with the bread still in her mouth, she vaulted over the school gate railing and quickened her pace, sprinting towards her classroom.

****

Then, at the corner just before reaching her classroom, in a scene straight out of a shojo manga—

She collided head-on with a familiar, long white-haired girl.

“Oof—huh?”

If this truly were a shojo manga, the two of them would now be embracing, their faces flushed, their hearts racing as they leaned against each other.

Alas, this was no shojo manga, and the person she’d crashed into was none other than…

Ling Xing, the elite combatant, swift and agile with the skills of a rogue, moving like the wind!

“Whoa!”

The instant of impact, Ling Xing had already sidestepped, bracing a hand on the ground, and forcefully propelled herself using the collision’s momentum!

Then, under Chao Wu’s utterly bewildered gaze—

She sprang into the air and took a bite out of the bread that had flown from Chao Wu’s hand.

“Oh my, what a fated encounter this is, you silly girl. Thanks for the snack—”

Landing with the agility of a gymnast, Ling Xing, still munching on Chao Wu’s bread, let out a burst of laughter and bolted.

She left behind the girl, who had landed squarely on her backside, blinking her eyes as she stared at the very person she had tossed and turned all night thinking about…

There wasn’t a single trace of the worry she’d harbored for her! Ugh—

“—Why was your first reaction after bumping into someone to catch the bread and run off?! Shouldn’t you have caught *me*?! And wasn’t that bread already bitten by me, hey!”

“You’re fine if you fall, but if the bread falls, it’ll be inedible! It’s alright, it’s alright, I wouldn’t ever look down on a silly person, ah hahahahahaha—”

With that reply, trailing a long, exaggerated laugh, she vanished down the corridor like a gust of wind.

Chao Wu was left alone, staring blankly in the direction where she had disappeared.

‘Give me back all the worry I spent on you last night, you wretched brat—’

‘When we hadn’t met, I fantasized about a reunion someday, yet the moment we did, all my illusions shattered into dust, hey!’

‘No, that’s not right…’

‘Why would that combatant be at school?’

‘Could it be?’

‘The combatant has actually been at the same school as me, the magical girl, all along?’

‘That person, who seemed so brazen and carefree, always lecturing me, was actually my classmate?’

Chao Wu rubbed her backside; fortunately, given her physical conditioning, it didn’t hurt much.

The pain was more in her heart, grieving that she had wasted an entire night worrying about such a thoughtless individual, and had actually taken her words as life philosophy, pondering them seriously all night long!

In a way, perhaps this was a case of ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’—or rather, ‘distance creates an illusion of beauty’.

Chao Wu, her cheeks puffed out in indignation, made her way towards the classroom.

Then, just before she could enter and push open the door—

She heard words that made her vision momentarily dim.

“Yo, everyone, eyes on me! I’ve got an announcement to make—”

From the open classroom doorway, the white-haired girl, still holding the heavily bitten bread in one hand, stepped onto the teacher’s desk with her boots, standing tall and prominent.

“I, Ling Xing, have transformed into a super, super, super, super cute beautiful girl! Hahahahahaha, behold my beauty and envy my valiant grace!”

“Oooooh!” “No way, can that fierce-looking Ling Xing really become this cute?” “Did she awaken as a magical girl? I think there have been a few cases?” “You’re Ling Xing? Bro, bro, I need to ask you something…”

‘And she’s even my classmate!’

‘I was too focused on magical girl training before and didn’t pay much attention to school matters, so I never recognized her…’

The classroom erupted into a cacophony of chaos and jeers.

Chao Wu bit her lip, her head bowed, as she shuffled towards her seat.

“Hehehe, dream on! For a beautiful girl of my caliber, you’d at least have to treat me to a grand meal before I’d reluctantly consider holding hands or something—”

‘—No, I can’t take this anymore!’

‘How could a magical girl behave like this, using her body as, as…’

‘It’s simply unacceptable!’

‘In terms of magical girl seniority, she was the veteran.’

‘Moreover, she possessed such immense potential to become the magical girl Chao Wu envisioned; how could she allow her to stray down the wrong path!’

Chao Wu dropped her schoolbag and, while Ling Xing was still basking in her self-satisfaction, darted onto the podium.

“You! Now that you’ve become a girl, have some self-respect!”

Snatching the bread from Ling Xing’s hand, and before she could further embarrass herself, Chao Wu, with an air of overwhelming power, pulled Ling Xing down and shoved the bread into her mouth!

“Mph? Mph mph mph, mph—”

Ling Xing, now a beautiful girl, seemed to have considerably less strength than before.

Chao Wu even felt that Ling Xing, even without transforming, couldn’t escape her grasp.

Since that was the case—

Chao Wu simply picked up the not-so-heavy Ling Xing, and, like a caveman seizing spoils of war, directly hoisted the slightly struggling Ling Xing out of the classroom!

The classroom, now steeped in a peculiar atmosphere, left the recently jeering classmates exchanging bewildered glances.

“Should we, uh, help out?”

“Forget it. That’s a dark-skinned jock. Even in late-night shows, they’re a league above us. Though her skin isn’t dark, she’s definitely a jock.”

“Y-yeah, you’re right. Let’s just wish Ling Xing good luck. Poor Ling Xing, her first time as a beautiful girl involves such an athletic public… wait, why doesn’t she seem that pitiable!?”

“You clearly lack observational skills! Didn’t you notice Ling Xing didn’t even try to dodge? What you don’t know is, these two have definitely been hanging out for ages in places we don’t know about. Their relationship is super good, they’ve long become—”

“Oh oh! Tell us more, for 5QP!” “Yeah, give us another 5 Half-Coins’ worth! We love to hear it, keep talking!”

As for Ling Xing, she was… she was dragged by Chao Wu in one swift motion into the stairwell, where Chao Wu, with one hand braced against the wall, pinned Ling Xing beneath her in a stance akin to a ‘kabedon’.