Chapter 179: The Place That Must Be Visited

"Not participating in next year's exam?"

Asai Enka's words were like a depth charge, silencing the girls of the Fang Ting City squad collectively, while Senior Cuique became the only one to speak up and press for an answer, her expression displeased: "What do you mean by that?"

"It means nothing; I'm simply making the suggestion."

Asai Enka's face remained unchanged, as if she felt no wrong in her words at all: "If you insist I give an explanation, then consider the upcoming sparring as the 'preliminary test' for qualification. If you cannot pass the 'preliminary test,' naturally you have no qualification to participate in the subsequent exams. That's quite normal, isn't it?"

"Are you an examiner for next year's exam?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then I don't think you have the legitimacy to make such a suggestion."

Senior Cuique raised her chin slightly, her gaze turning slightly cold: "Or is the purpose of your 'exchange' in Fang Ting City exactly this? Simply looking for trouble?"

"I've already said it; I have not a shred of malice. If I were just looking for trouble, I wouldn't need to specifically trip up a group of little girls I've never met, would I?" Asai Enka's face looked innocent.

Yet the words from her mouth clearly failed to convince Senior Cuique; Senior Cuique didn't even have the willingness to reply, merely continuing to stare at her in silence.

After persisting under that icy gaze for several seconds, the smile on Asai Enka's face finally began to falter. Once the smile faded, it was replaced by an expression of helplessness.

"Alright, it seems this way really won't convince you."

She sighed lightly: "Indeed, perhaps we need to find a place to talk properly. I can answer some of your doubts, and perhaps you can also tell me some things I don't know."

"Find a place?"

"Mm, at least not here."

Asai Enka turned her head, looked at the girls beside her, and smiled mysteriously: "Some matters are topics for my lord; it's too early for children to understand these things."

Upon hearing this, the girls nearby showed various expressions; some remained indifferent, while others were clearly unconvinced. Lin Xiaolu even stepped forward directly, looking as if she was about to speak in rebuttal, but before she could say anything, she saw Senior Cuique suddenly nod.

"Agreed."

She spoke decisively and crisply, her voice ringing with weight: "Where? Do you have any good suggestions?"

"You are the host here; regarding where to talk, you should be more thoughtful than I am, right?"

Asai Enka crossed her arms: "It's been so many years since I returned; I'm quite curious about what interesting places Fang Ting City has now. Take me to see them, please."

"... Then let's just go to the Fang Ting City Special Strategy Bureau."

Ignoring the latter half of the other party's request, Senior Cuique casually suggested, obviously having little interest in the matter of "where to go"; she cared more about the content of the conversation: "The meeting room at the Special Strategy Bureau can guarantee the confidentiality of the conversation; no one else will hear it."

"Special Strategy Bureau? No, that's too boring."

Asai Enka rejected the suggestion without hesitation, her gaze carrying a hint of inquiry: "Don't you have any more interesting suggestions?"

"What do you want?" Senior Cuique looked back at her.

"Since I've already come to Fang Ting City, I will definitely visit the Special Strategy Bureau later, so shouldn't we find a place with more atmosphere while we have this opportunity?"

Asai Enka tapped her arm with her finger: "You see, like finding a better restaurant? Or a scenic spot built in recent years? Make it a bit more romantic, at least."

"... If you don't want to go to the Special Strategy Bureau, we can talk in the study at the Secret Base; there won't be any outsiders there either."

"Secret Base? Isn't that a place we'll be going to often anyway?"

Asai Enka was dissatisfied: "You've stayed in Fang Ting City for over ten years longer than I have; really, you can't think of anything? You know, even if I just searched online randomly before coming, I could see many people listing 'check-in spots'."

"I'm truly sorry; I'm just such an uninteresting person." Senior Cuique involuntarily lowered her eyelids and turned her face to look at the corridor beside her.

Probably due to the other party's earlier orders, only a few scattered staff members were passing by on the walkway at this moment, with no intention whatsoever of advancing toward this side; the area outside the lounge seemed to have some artificially drawn boundary, isolating everyone except the Magical Girls.

Her gaze spinning aimlessly, Senior Cuique pressed her lips together and thought for a while, then looked up as if remembering something: "Speaking of which, if you really want to find a place to discuss matters that also has enough 'commemorative significance,' I actually have a suggestion."

"Oh? What kind?" Asai Enka's eyes immediately lit up, as if she had become interested.

"A very quiet place; not many people go there often, but most people in Fang Ting City will inevitably have dealings with it."

Senior Cuique spoke in a calm voice, expressionless: "You know; you should go there and take a look."

"Not many people go, but I should go there and take a look... is this a riddle?" Asai Enka smiled bitterly.

"Is it hard to think of the answer?"

"A bit hard; after all, the clues and conditions are too few. To be honest, there are simply too many places like that..."

Asai Enka stopped speaking halfway through her sentence, suddenly falling silent.

Even the expression on her face froze slightly at that moment. She remained silent for a long time, then sighed as if resigning herself: "Ah, I understand. You're right; it's not hard to guess."

The two stared at each other strangely, and the atmosphere instantly became much heavier, leaving the girls nearby completely in the dark.

"... So which place is it? Does Fang Ting City have such a place?"

Lin Xiaolu, who had listened to the entire conversation from start to finish, could only speak up blankly at this moment: "Can you two explain yourselves a bit more clearly?"

"I'm sorry, Bai Mei; I probably can't take you back. Why don't you take the tram or fly back more discreetly?"

But Senior Cuique did not answer her question directly this time; instead, she suddenly turned and walked to her side, patting her arm: "Take the guests from Bai'an City to the Secret Base; remember to treat them well. My lord and this Auntie Asai will be back a bit later."

"What do you mean by 'Auntie'? Can't you speak more nicely?" Asai Enka immediately retorted from the side.

"Taking them back is fine... but where exactly are you two going?"

This strange atmosphere made Lin Xiaolu feel subtly uneasy; she instinctively pinched the hem of her clothes under the arm Senior Cuique had patted: "Will it be dangerous?"

"No, nothing dangerous."

Senior Cuique said it lightly, then leaned slightly closer to Lin Xiaolu and spoke a location while lowering her voice as much as possible.

Her voice was indeed very soft, so much so that no one else around heard what she said. But Lin Xiaolu received the answer she wanted, and her eyes widened slightly because of that answer.

Then, before she could express any opinion on it, Senior Cuique and Asai Enka said goodbye to the other Magical Girls, walked toward the corner of the corridor, and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Lin Xiaolu stared at that corner, pressed her lips together, and remained silent for a long time until Mu Baihe leaned over to her side, unable to hold back her inner doubts: "So where exactly are they going? What did the Patrol Enforcer Senior tell you?"

"... They are going to see a person."

Lin Xiaolu finally spoke up again, turned her head with a complex expression, and looked at her, answering slowly: "Senior Cuique said they are going together to see my mother."

One hour after the concert ended, the bustling concert venue finally gradually returned to calm. In the outer field of the Green Tower Stadium, although many music fans who were still reluctant to leave were chatting enthusiastically, the surroundings had become much quieter.

The lively crowd lingering in place gradually dispersed around the stadium, and an unremarkable silver-white SUV pulled out from the "Green Tower" Stadium, slowly entering the highway. The SUV blended into the sparse traffic leaving the stadium, driving along the road like an ordinary group of fans.

But if someone had sharper eyes and glanced inside the passenger seat, they would notice an unusual fact—the main star of the concert, Masaoka Manaka, sat there with a smile.

At this moment, the pop star, who should have been accustomed to luxury and glamour, behaved like a curious girl, fiddling with the interior: now poking the seat cushion, now tapping the air conditioning buttons, then playing with the passenger-side window.

The driver beside her, at first indifferent, finally turned his head only after the window had lowered halfway, giving her a weary glance and warning: "Don't mess with the window. Don't you worry about being photographed?"

The driver was Senior Cuique.

Until now, she had remained silent, unwilling to speak, eyes fixed ahead, acting like a cold driving machine. Only because Masaoka Manaka's constant fidgeting disrupted her focus did she utter this word.

Upon hearing it, Masaoka Manaka, who had been quietly fiddling, turned her head, met her gaze, and smirked: "What's so wrong with being photographed?"

Senior Cuique's eyes met hers for a second, then deliberately looked away, refocusing on the road ahead, assuming a serious driving posture: "You know where we're going next. I don't want any random media following us."

"Ah, I see."

Upon hearing this, Masaoka Manaka paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement, smiling as she closed the window: "Indeed, this isn't something outsiders should interfere with."

The small SUV carried only two people. After these words, both fell silent, and the car slipped into a brief quiet.

The main ingredient of this silence was "awkwardness."

If there had been anyone else in the car, they might not have sunk into this inexplicable awkwardness—but unfortunately, there was no third person.

It wasn't that they had nothing to say; it was that too many questions remained unasked, leaving them unable to find a starting point.

Fortunately, Masaoka Manaka didn't let the awkwardness last long. After a short silence, she leaned back against the seat and said softly: "By the way, don't you want to ask why I'm only returning now?"

"Why ask?"

"Usually, you'd ask, given what happened before."

"Two years ago, I thought you'd come. But you never showed up."

As the car turned a corner, Senior Cuique's gaze shifted between the rearview mirror and the road ahead, then slightly turned the steering wheel: "It wasn't just you. Hong Siyu, Su Shengzi. Back then, my biggest worry was: what if you all came? How should I face you? What attitude should I take?"

"I chose this ordinary life, convinced I could live in it forever. But I failed. I couldn't protect the people I cared about. I was terrified you'd appear before me and ask, 'Why didn't you save Anya?'"

"I stubbornly believed the greatest threat was gone; I stubbornly believed my current life could remain peaceful; I stubbornly believed Anya was fine… I never imagined something like that could happen. At that moment, it felt like a nightmare—all of it unreal."

"Honestly, if you'd shown up back then, I might've had to hide. I didn't know what answer to give you."

She paused, took a shallow breath, and whispered: "But luckily, you didn't come. Not a single one of you. Only people who knew her in daily life—neighbors, undercover agents from the Special Strategy Bureau, and the magic girls of Fang Ting City at the time. Everyone had their own version of 'Anya,' their own understanding of my identity. Maybe none knew the full truth—but at least then, no one came to question me."

"So you think it was a good thing I didn't come? It was my teammate's funeral. You didn't even show up for something this big. Didn't you worry I might be dead too?" Masaoka Manaka widened her eyes in disbelief.

"You wouldn't die. You're more afraid of death than anyone." Senior Cuique replied coolly.

"That's a harsh description for a magic girl. Couldn't you pick a nicer word? My behavior could be called valuing one's life."

Masaoka Manaka raised her index finger to argue: "And haven't you considered that even if I value my safety, I might still face an enemy I can't escape?"

"An enemy you can't escape from?"

Senior Cuique glanced at her sideways: "Does such a beast exist in this world?"

"Who knows? Before Anya's death, we all believed no one could kill her, didn't we?"

Masaoka Manaka lowered her hand and looked ahead too: "Honestly, when I heard the news from the principal, I thought she was playing another cruel joke on me. Only when the incident was officially listed as a key investigation case in the Academy's archives did I realize it was real."

"So you knew right away?" Senior Cuique asked softly.

"Ah, probably the day after it happened."

"I see."

"…Now that we've come this far, won't you at least ask why you didn't come?"

Seeing Senior Cuique's unyielding demeanor, Masaoka Manaka felt even more exasperated: "Don't people usually hope their teammates return, so they can plan revenge together?"

"I don't need to drag you into this mess."

Senior Cuique replied calmly: "The one who killed Anya isn't some ordinary being. Seeking revenge against such a thing requires preparing for terrible costs. I can't ask you to risk yourselves for this."

"Sometimes your thinking is as stubborn and foul as a pickling stone."

Masaoka Manaka narrowed her eyes in annoyance, but after a moment, sighed and smiled: "Then again, that's exactly the kind of thing you'd say. Fine, consider what I say next as me talking to myself."

"You won't ask why I didn't come? Then I'll tell you—do you know why I didn't come?"

"... Why?" Senior Cuique responded.

"Because someone stopped me. Told me not to go yet."

Masaoka Manaka leaned back, gazing ahead with Senior Cuique: "The principal met me personally. She told me not to interfere with your thoughts. Let you think through what to do alone."

Just reporting in—I'm still fighting against writer's block, and I haven't lost. And belated holiday greetings—everyone, happy holidays.

(End of Chapter)