Chapter 15: Choice

Xia Liang often wondered if the life she lived every day was truly the one she wanted.

Passing time aimlessly at school, laughing and joking with those "friends" who had a poor reputation, and checking in at so-called "internet-famous spots" after school. Then, going home alone and pretending on social media that her life was quite fulfilling, praising it all.

Was she happy? Probably.

She had learned to wear makeup, learned to dress well, learned about fashion, made friends, and become the focus of the boys' attention; shouldn't she be happy like this?

It was just that she often felt the smile on her face didn't belong to her. The more she greeted others with a smile, the more cynical she became, and the harder it was to soothe the emptiness within her heart.

She wanted to fill that emptiness, so she craved attention and craved validation.

She actually knew that her "friends" didn't like her.

They felt that standing with her made them lose their luster, felt that she stole the attention that should have been theirs, and more importantly, she couldn't be considered "one of their own."

The reason was simple: Xia Liang was unwilling to participate in "part-time work."

No matter how they boasted or how they urged her, Xia Liang was never willing to go. She felt that true friends shouldn't be like that.

But this persistence was being eroded as time went on.

If she accepted the "part-time work," would her "friends" accept her more?

If she accepted the "part-time work," could she seek a more intimate relationship?

After this thought was born, Xia Liang's attitude became less resolute.

So today, after school, when she received another invitation from a "friend," she finally figured everything out.

Let it be.

She agreed.

She followed her "friends" to the electronics district, heading toward the "meeting spot" they had mentioned.

Abandoning meaningless persistence and reserve, abandoning those unnecessary bottom lines and fantasies, she could go and pursue a more practical, more real love.

She felt she was prepared and had made up her mind.

—But she saw a cat.

A pink cat, flying in the air.

It was following a girl with a ponytail who looked a bit petite and was wearing the same school uniform as her, sneaking along behind her group.

What was this?

The curiosity that had been quite strong since Xia Liang was born made it impossible for her not to pay attention to what was behind her.

More importantly, when she saw that pink cat, she felt as if she had received some kind of summons and wanted to get closer.

At that moment, a voice appeared in her heart, telling her she should go over, she should find that pink cat, and she would be able to obtain something very important to her.

So she stopped in the street.

She was walking in the middle of the group, so when she stopped, the girl walking with her immediately noticed her actions were a bit different from usual and asked her with some confusion: "What's wrong with you?"

Xia Liang looked at her, unsure for a moment whether she should speak up, saying she saw a flying pink cat and wanted to go over there to take a look.

She noticed that the girl walking at the very front, who was also the central figure of their little circle, had also turned her head and looked at her with a somewhat inexplicable gaze.

"I..."

She spoke with hesitation, but in the process, she slowly made up her mind: "I suddenly have something to do, I might have to leave first today."

Then she smiled, showing a somewhat apologetic expression, waved her hand, and said to the others: "You guys have fun!"

After saying that, she prepared to trot away.

"Xiao Liang."

The girl in front called out to stop her at this moment.

She was holding her phone, her long-nailed fingers tapping rapidly on the screen, her gaze not looking toward Xia Liang at all: "If you leave today, don't come crawling back later."

Xia Liang's footsteps faltered.

She turned around, looked at that girl, and then slowly turned her head to look to the side, looking at these "friends" of hers.

Perhaps she had hoped that everyone at this moment would be smiling, scolding, ignoring her, and letting her leave with their usual flippant attitude.

But this time, everyone was looking at her with a somewhat strange expression.

No, that wasn't a strange expression; she knew it, she was very familiar with this kind of look, she used to see this look in her own home every day, she wouldn't mistake it.

—This kind of look was called indifference.

Perhaps she really couldn't fit in with them.

Only at this moment did Xia Liang realize this reality.

No matter how she forced a smile, no matter how she flattered and pleased them, it was impossible for her to be on the same path as them, and it was impossible for her to become their companion from the very beginning.

The strange summons in the distance was still strong, as if calling for her to hurry over.

The cracks she had tried so hard to cover up and ignore on ordinary days now formed a deep chasm, separating her and the girls in front of her on either side.

Xia Liang finally put away the smile she always wore on her face, and also looked at these "friends" of hers seriously, nodding:

"Okay."

Without any extra words, she turned around again, didn't look back, and walked away quickly.

What she didn't expect was that this one sentence, ten minutes later, would bring her to the rooftop of a high-rise building.

Kneeling on the ground, her heart pounding, she still had to listen to the girl in front of her named "Cui Que" saying things that sounded like delusions.

"Magical Girl?"

She had heard of it; she knew what a Magical Girl was.

A Magical Girl was a profession that often appeared in children's cartoons, usually representing love and justice, fighting against all kinds of villains.

At the same time, Magical Girls were also the guardians of this world, fighting against the Remnant Beasts that appeared in the city from time to time; they were truly existing warriors.

Perhaps, a Magical Girl was also a dream for thousands of girls in their youth, even if they knew they had to face dangerous battles, they would still yearn for that shining self wearing gorgeous clothing.

But for the general public, Magical Girls were simply too distant and mysterious.

If it were any other time, if Xia Liang heard someone tell her they were a Magical Girl, she would probably treat that person as a liar, or treat this sentence as a joke, laugh it off, and change the subject.

But now it was different; she had just been grabbed by the girl in front of her and experienced the feeling of flying.

Whether it was the other party's abrupt change of clothes, the ability to ascend into the sky out of thin air, or the abnormal flickering particles when the two were moving, everything was telling Xia Liang: she had encountered the real thing.

"Then, what does a Magical Girl want from me?"

In her previous life, she hadn't even sat on an airplane, and the first flight experience of her life was actually being grabbed and taken into the sky by someone; it was truly too much of a shock to her heart, to the point that she was still a bit dazed now.

So she could only follow the other party's logic to ask questions, and had no reason to refute.

Then, she heard a sentence that made her even more dazed:

"Do you want to be a Magical Girl?"

Be a Magical Girl?

Could she actually be a Magical Girl?

Xia Liang hadn't even thought about this question.

She was just an ordinary girl who was never cared about by anyone and had never truly received attention; she never felt that she could become such a special existence.

Even in those days and nights she spent relying on fantasies and prayers, she had never thought she could become a Magical Girl.

This term was too dazzling, making her feel that getting close to it would burn her.

"I must make it clear to you beforehand that becoming a Magical Girl is not as wonderful as the public imagines."

Cui Que looked at her and warned her seriously: "There will be danger, it will be very tiring, you will feel annoyed; the only benefit is that compared to ordinary people who can only sit and wait for death when encountering Remnant Beasts, you will possess the power to contend with danger."

"...Will the clothes be as cute as yours?" Xia Liang suddenly asked.

Unlike her somewhat airy question, no one noticed the light in her eyes.

This question also caught Cui Que off guard, but she quickly reacted, nodded, and replied: "A Magical Girl's attire is as you imagine."

"Can I show off to others that I am a Magical Girl?" Xia Liang continued to ask.

"Not in non-emergency situations."

"Although I will encounter danger, at least I will be acting with you guys, right?"

"Before you grow up, I will be responsible for protecting your safety." Cui Que nodded in promise.

"Then there is also..."

—"Ah, seriously, it was so hard to find someone with talent, why is it this kind of flighty girl!"

Not far away, Lin Xiaolu, whose clothes had turned into a light blue dress and whose hair had turned into golden twin tails, interrupted Xia Liang's question with an indignant look: "I don't want to be a companion with this kind of person at all!"

"Don't be willful, Bai Mei."

Cui Que glanced at her: "This child's talent might be very strong; she will become an effective help."

"But..."

Lin Xiaolu choked upon hearing this, looking at Cui Que with some grievance: "Her flighty appearance doesn't look like a Magical Girl at all—"

—"I want to be one."

Xia Liang suddenly spoke up.

After the previous round of questioning, she had adapted to the discomfort of suddenly flying up and had already stood up, and was currently walking to the edge of the rooftop.

In fact, from the moment she said goodbye to her "friends" and chose to follow the guidance of her heart, she had already made her choice.

She glanced at Lin Xiaolu, raised her hand, grabbed her earlobes, rubbed them for a moment, and then let go; there were already two shiny objects in her hand, and then with a wave, she threw the things in her hand directly onto the ground.

She took out her phone again, tapped through her contacts, selected more than a dozen names at once, brought up the edit interface, and after a moment of hesitation, she resolutely clicked "Delete."

"I've decided, if everything you said is true, then these things don't matter at all, and it's fine to discard them."

Putting down her phone, she smiled brightly, a certain hope flickering in her eyes, her shoulder-length black hair brushed by the wind on the rooftop:

"But in any case, I want to be a Magical Girl!"