Chapter 15: The Choice

Xia Liang often wondered if her daily life was truly the life she wanted.

She spent her days in a daze at school, laughing and joking with those "friends" who had a poor reputation there, then went to so-called "influencer hotspots" to check in after school. Then, alone, she went home and pretended on social media that her life was fulfilling, praising life.

Was she happy? Probably.

She learned makeup, learned how to dress, learned fashion, made friends, and became the focus of boys' gazes; shouldn't such a her be happy?

Yet, she often felt that the smile on her face did not belong to her. The more she smiled at people, the more cynical she acted, the deeper the void in her heart became, harder to fill.

Wanting to fill that void, she craved attention, craved recognition.

She actually knew her "friends" did not like her.

They felt that standing with her made them lose color, felt that she stole the attention that should have been theirs; more crucially, she and they could not be considered "one of us."

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

No matter how they boasted, no matter how they urged, Xia Liang always refused. She felt true friends should not be like that.

But this persistence eroded with time.

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

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

After such thoughts were born, Xia Liang's attitude became less resolute.

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

Let it be.

She agreed.

Following the "friend," she came to the electronics district, heading to the "meeting point" they had mentioned.

Giving up meaningless persistence and reserve, giving up those unnecessary bottom lines and fantasies, she could pursue a more practical, more real love.

She felt she was ready, had made up her mind.

—But she saw a cat.

A pink cat, flying in the air.

Following a ponytailed girl who looked somewhat petite and wore a school uniform from the same school as her, sneaking behind their group.

What was this?

Xia Liang's naturally strong curiosity made her unable to ignore what was behind her.

More crucially, when she saw that pink cat, she felt as if summoned by something, wanting to approach.

In that instant, a voice appeared in her heart, telling her she should go over, should find that pink cat, and could obtain something very important to her.

So she stopped her steps in the street.

She walked in the middle of the group, so when she stopped, the girl walking with her immediately noticed her unusual behavior and asked with some confusion, "What's wrong?"

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

She noticed that the girl walking at the very front, also the usual center of their little circle, had turned her head too, looking at her with a somewhat inexplicable gaze.

"I..."

She hesitated before speaking, yet in the process slowly made up her mind: "I suddenly have something to do; I might have to leave early today."

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

Having said that, she was about to trot away.

"Xiao Liang."

The girl in front called out to her at that moment.

Holding her phone, her fingers with long manicured nails tapping rapidly on the screen, her gaze not looking at Xia Liang at all: "If you leave today, don't come around anymore."

Xia Liang's steps paused.

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

Perhaps she hoped that everyone at this moment would be smiling with their usual frivolous attitude, cursing, ignoring her, letting her leave.

But this time, everyone looked at her with a somewhat strange gaze.

No, that was not a strange gaze; she knew it. She was very familiar with this gaze; the her of the past saw such a gaze every day in her own home. She would not mistake it.

—This gaze is called indifference.

She perhaps truly could not fit in with them.

Only until this moment did Xia Liang realize this reality.

No matter how hard she forced a smile, no matter how she flattered and curried favor, she could not be of the same kind as them; from the very beginning, she could not become their companion.

That strange summons from afar remained strong, as if calling her to hurry and go.

The cracks that she had covered up and ignored no matter how hard she tried in ordinary times had now formed a deep chasm, separating her from the girls before her on either side.

Xia Liang finally put away the smile that had always hung on her face in ordinary times, looked at these "friends" of hers just as seriously, and nodded:

"Okay."

No extra words, she turned around again, without looking back, and walked away quickly.

What she did not expect was that these words, ten minutes later, brought her to the rooftop of a high-rise building.

Kneeling on the ground, her heart racing wildly, she still had to listen to the girl named Senior Cuique in front of her speak words like delusions.

"Magical girl?"

She had heard of it; she knew what a magical girl was.

A magical girl is a profession that frequently appears in children's animation, often representing love and justice, fighting against all kinds of villains.

At the same time, magical girls are the guardians of this world, fighting against the ferocious beasts that appear from time to time in the city; they are warriors who truly exist.

Perhaps the magical girl is also a dream of countless girls in their youth; even knowing they must face dangerous battles, they still yearn for that dazzling self wearing magnificent attire.

But for the general public, magical girls are simply too distant and mysterious.

If this were normal times, Xia Liang would have thought the person was a liar or just joking, and laughed it off to change the subject.

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

Whether it was the abrupt change of clothes, the ability to levitate out of thin air, or the strange flickering particles during their movement, all of it told Xia Liang: she had encountered the real thing.

"So, what does the magical girl want from me?"

In her entire life, she had never even boarded a plane, and her first flight experience was being carried into the sky by someone else—it was too great a shock to her heart, leaving her dazed.

So she could only follow the girl's logic in asking questions, with no real grounds to object.

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

"Do you want to become a magical girl?"

Become a magical girl?

Could she, of all people, become a magical girl?

Xia Liang had never once considered this question.

She was just an ordinary girl, never noticed by anyone, never truly paid attention to; she had never believed she could become such a special being.

Even during all those nights and days she spent escaping into fantasy and prayer, she had never imagined becoming a magical girl.

The word was too dazzling—it made her feel she would be burned if she drew near.

"I must make this clear to you first: becoming a magical girl is not as wonderful as the public imagines."

Cuique looked at her seriously and warned: "There will be danger, exhaustion, and boredom. The only advantage is that, unlike ordinary people who can only sit and wait to be killed by monstrous beasts, you will gain the power to fight back."

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

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

This question caught Cuique off guard, but she quickly recovered and nodded: "The magical girl's attire is exactly as you imagine."

"Can I show off to others that I'm a magical girl?" Xia Liang asked further.

"No, unless it's an emergency."

"Even though there's danger, at least I'll be acting alongside you, right?"

"Until you grow strong enough, I will be responsible for your safety," Cuique nodded in promise.

"Then there's still..."

—"Ah, seriously, we finally found someone with talent, and why is it this frivolous girl?!"

Not far away, Lin Xiaolu, now dressed in a pale blue dress with golden twin-tails, cut in with annoyance: "I don't want to be partnered with someone like her!"

"Don't be childish, Bai Mei."

Cuique glanced at her: "This girl's talent might be very strong—she could become a valuable ally."

"But..."

Lin Xiaolu fell silent, looking at Cuique with a wounded expression: "She doesn't act like a magical girl at all—this frivolous behavior—"

—"I want to become one."

Xia Liang spoke suddenly.

After her earlier questions, she had adjusted to the sudden ascent, stood up, and now walked to the rooftop's edge.

In fact, since she had said goodbye to her "friends" and chosen to follow her inner guidance, she had already made her choice.

She glanced at Lin Xiaolu, raised her hand, gripped her earlobe, rubbed it briefly, then released it—two shiny objects now rested in her palm. She flicked her wrist and threw them directly onto the ground.

She pulled out her phone, scrolled through her contacts, selected a dozen names at once, brought up the edit interface, paused her finger for a moment, then decisively tapped "Delete."

"I've decided—if everything you've said is true, then all these things don't matter. I'm willing to let them go."

She put down her phone, smiled brightly, her eyes gleaming with hope, her shoulder-length black hair stirred by the rooftop wind:

"But above all, I want to become a magical girl!"