Chapter 6: Chapter Six: Past Days, Wrong Paths

On the elevated highway at midnight, speeding car shadows roared past.

In the driver's seat, Lin Yun frowned tightly. Even with the accelerator fully pressed and the car at top speed, it had taken nearly twenty minutes to reach the vicinity of the wetland park—and for him now, every passing second was torture.

Yet amid this anxious journey, he had somehow retrieved fragments of long-neglected knowledge from the chaos in his mind, and clarified a few things.

Why had he become a Magic Girl?

This was a question once etched deeply into his heart, not raised again until nineteen years later. He gazed out the window; beneath the dim yellow streetlights, memories equally distant began to surface—and those were events from twenty-two years ago.

He was somewhat surprised he could still faintly recall it: an evening after school.

"Can I fight?"

On the street bathed in sunset, the young Lin Yun asked the rabbit-like fairy this question.

The fairy, who called herself the "Sower," told him:

"Impossible! You're a boy! Only girls can possess the talent to become Magic Girls—and this is a rare constitution, one in ten thousand!"

"Why can't boys do it?"

"I already said: Magic Girl means girl! Only girls can be Magic Girls!"

"Then I won't be a Magic Girl—I'll be a Magic Boy, Magic Big Brother, Magic Superman, anything! I want magic power too!"

As the boy shouted these words with fierce determination, a fierce battle was unfolding between nearby buildings.

His childhood friend, An Ya, was also a Magic Girl, fighting against a vicious beast.

But unlike previous battles he had witnessed, this time the beast was not only massive in size but two appeared simultaneously—and An Ya, facing multiple high-intensity foes, clearly showed signs of being overwhelmed.

There was no doubt she was at a disadvantage.

Watching An Ya struggle under the beast's attacks, having been struck multiple times already, the situation teetering on the brink, Lin Yun raised his voice again, shouting at the rabbit-like fairy: "Can't you see? An Ya's in danger! Isn't she the Magic Girl you chose?!"

"Ugh… I'm really in a tough spot too."

The rabbit-like fairy wore a look of deep distress: "I am worried about An Ya, yes—but magic is a power only girls can possess. There's no other option. What you're talking about simply doesn't exist."

"Magic Boy, Magic Big Brother, Magic Superman— if I could, I'd help you, but I can't. I can only grant the power of a Magic Girl…"

"Let me try!"

"Huh?"

"Let me try—I want to know if I can become a Magic Girl!"

"Are you insane? I already said it has to be a girl!"

"Just try it!"

"How the hell do you even try that?"

"Tell me how to become a Magic Girl—I'll do it myself!"

"…Fine, you've worn me down."

Faced with the boy's stubborn determination and the fact that An Ya was truly in dire peril, the fairy sighed helplessly: "Then let this be your final lesson—you said you'd try. Do it."

It reached its paw to its waist fur, fumbled for a moment, then pulled out a perfectly round, crystal-clear gem.

The gem was a quarter the size of its body; its sudden emergence looked absurd, but neither the boy nor the fairy cared about such trivialities.

"This is called the Heart Seed—the seed of a Magic Girl's power."

The fairy spoke solemnly: "Grasp it, press it against your chest, feel its presence, and connect with it through your heart. If it responds, you have the talent to become a Magic Girl. If not, you have no hope at all."

"Heart Seed…"

Gazing at the gem in the fairy's paw, the boy whispered its name.

He knew full well his words were childish nonsense. If the fairy said only girls could become Magic Girls, there must be a reason.

But now he had no choice. The situation was too urgent. As an ordinary human, if he wanted to save An Ya, he had to gamble on even the most impossible thing.

Taking the gem-like object, Lin Yun immediately clenched it in his hand and pressed it to his chest.

Connect through your heart.

This was the key point he remembered; he wasted no time, throwing himself entirely into it.

He closed his eyes, gradually shutting out everything else. The rabbit fairy nearby, meanwhile, watched the Heart Seed in his hands with a furrowed brow.

Several seconds passed—the Heart Seed showed no change.

Approaching one minute, still no reaction.

Just as the rabbit fairy's heartbeat began to ease, convinced failure was certain, a change occurred.

At first, a faint glow leaked from between Lin Yun's fingers, like scattered fireflies. Then came radiant trails, transforming into streams of pure light.

Rising from the boy's slowly open palms was a pure white orb radiating holy light. It rotated in midair, intertwined with the Heart Seed, and merged with it.

In an instant, the light erupted.

White radiance burst from the surface of the Heart Seed, forming a halo that enveloped Lin Yun.

It was not an intensely brilliant light—but like the full moon in the sky, unassuming, yet sufficient to illuminate the night.

"This… really… you… you actually succeeded? You're really a boy?"

The unprecedented sight shocked the rabbit fairy so badly it blurted out nonsense: "You're not just pretending to be a boy to mess with me, are you?"

But the boy within the light paid no heed to its babbling. He raised his head, fixing the fairy with a resolute gaze, his eyes blazing with fire.

"What do I do next?"

—What do I do next?

Those words seemed to cross through time.

Because it was precisely the question Lin Yun now needed to answer.

Beneath the night sky, in the deserted parking lot of the wetland park, he abandoned his car wherever he could and sprinted down a narrow path into the depths of the forest.

In truth, the answer had always been there. His feelings now were strikingly similar to those of that evening twenty-two years ago.

Many things may have changed—but many things have remained. At least, this feeling—"I must save someone important"—was identical.

With such emotions, could his Heart-Flower still form a connection with them?

Carrying a thread of doubt, he raised his hand.

—The cracked gem-flower in his hand had long been radiating a deep blue light.

"... Sigh, there's truly no dealing with you, kid, but now we can only treat a dead horse as if it were alive."

In a trance, he seemed to return once more to the sunset of that day.

After briefly expressing his shock, the Rabbit Fairy quickly adjusted his mindset and began to instruct him methodically:

"First, after establishing a connection with the Heart-Seed, you should be able to sense the Magic Power, that is, the energy serving as the binding link between you and the Heart-Seed."

"Now, what you need to do is use simple flows of Magic Power to activate it."

The boy nodded, closed his eyes again, and while sensing, summarized in his mind:

Step one is to grasp the Magic Power.

"Divide your flow of Magic Power, connect your four limbs and forehead separately to the Heart-Seed, and then adjust them to mutual balance."

Step two: split the Magic Power, then achieve balance.

"Next is constructing standard magical runes. Ah, if you don't know... look over here, I'll demonstrate for you."

Step three: construct standard magical runes.

"Finally, think of a transformation incantation to serve as the initial activation switch. Although it's rarely used, don't make it too strange; something cute is better, otherwise the Kingdom's review will order it changed."

Step four: finalize the transformation incantation.

With all steps complete, next came the moment of transformation.

The boy in memory and the middle-aged man at this moment seemed to overlap in an instant, existing simultaneously here.

Yet, this was ultimately an illusion.

The boy, filled with passion and hope, carrying new power, shouted a shamefully improvised incantation and set out for the battlefield in the sky to save the girl he cared about.

The middle-aged man, whose passion had long since cooled, remained here, utterly alone.

His pace paused slightly; he shook his head, banished the stray thoughts from his mind, and hurried forward once more.

Light bloomed; deep blue Magic Power erupted instantly in his hands, sweeping around like turbulent currents, lifting the hem of his clothes and his hair.

No superfluous movement, nor any superfluous sound; he raised his hand and pressed the Heart-Flower against his chest. Then, coldly, he spat two words from his mouth:

"Trans-form."