Chapter 61: Old Photograph

Lin Xiaolu gripped the edge of her phone, her fingers unconsciously tightening.

She could see that in the photo, the magical girl wearing a cherry-pink puffy dress was smiling alongside others, and with some indescribable emotion, had her arm around the somewhat shy blue-haired magical girl beside her.

Two people who, in her understanding, should have absolutely no connection were standing so intimately in this photo, causing Lin Xiaolu to involuntarily open and close her lips, yet she could not say a word.

Is that how it is? She very much wanted to ask again.

But if she had any doubts in her heart before, the moment she saw this scene, they indeed vanished like smoke.

Yes, it should have been this way.

The many unusual things about her mother while she was alive; why her father was so secretive about her death; why the mysterious magical girl Senior Cuique had taken such special care of her... all the reasons fell upon the answer that "mother was a magical girl."

Like an unopenable lock finding its original key, a mere gentle turn made it open with a click.

In the past, she never thought her mother had any connection to the identity of "magical girl." In her memory, her mother was just a somewhat strange housewife who always insisted she was a freelancer.

Her personality was optimistic, even one could say scatterbrained; she was usually lazy and careless in her actions, sometimes more childish than herself. But she was truly a good mother who loved and doted on her.

She could recall the scene of snuggling in her mother's arms watching magical girl animations on TV; she had not forgotten the smile on her face when she told her, "When I grow up, I want to be a magical girl."

Lin Xiaolu suddenly remembered many, many things: her mother who used to come sleep with her but left halfway; her mother who ate with her after she grew up but suddenly said she had to go out to buy something; her mother who had clearly promised to come to the parent-teacher meeting but stood her up, later claiming she had remembered the time wrong.

"So... that's how it is."

Her vision had been blurred by tears at some unknown moment; tears overflowed her eyes, ran down her cheeks, and dripped onto the phone screen.

Her throat tightened, her voice choked; she felt she was already a magical girl saving others and should not be so weak now, but no matter what, she could not stop the sobbing.

"It really is like this."

It turned out the real magical girl had always been by her side; she had been a child favored by a magical girl from the very beginning.

It's just that, surprisingly, it was not until two years after losing her that she learned all this.

Lin Xiaolu first only shed tears, but soon covered her face and wept until she could not speak.

She had thought that in the two years since her mother passed, she had already cried enough, and shed enough tears. She had figured it out, become numb, and would no longer cry so miserably over her mother's affairs.

But for no reason, upon discovering that she and her mother now had an additional connection of "magical girl," she suddenly realized she still had so many things she wanted to say to her mother.

Becoming a magical girl is not as easy as imagined.

The Beast is so disgusting, so hateful, so terrifying.

Cultivating mana is very hard and very boring.

The Magical Realm seems to be a very complex place.

Senior Cuique is a very good person.

I have partners to fight alongside.

I might already be starting to understand Dad.

And... I didn't expect that even after two years, I still miss her so much.

Complex thoughts mixed with grief were locked inside the small car compartment; although the car sped along the road, the longing kept them bound, unable to cast them aside.

Lin Xiaolu cried heartbreakingly; Xia Liang beside her did not know how to comfort her; Lin Yun in the front seat remained silent, saying nothing more.

At least in his view, being able to cry at such a time was a good thing.

If sorrow and tears were always held back in the heart, and longing and regret forever buried deep within, then after a long time, one would not even be able to confirm whether that feeling still existed.

The crying in the car continued for a long while until Lin Xiaolu gradually stopped and began to sob quietly; only then did Xia Liang pat her back and continue asking Lin Yun:

"Uncle, but if what you say is true, there seems to be another problem with this photo."

Looking at Senior Cuique and Anya in the photo, she asked in some confusion: "If Xiaolu's mother and Senior Cuique were magical girls of the same generation, then she should have retired long ago, right?"

In her and Lin Xiaolu's understanding, Senior Cuique was a resident of the Magical Realm.

After all, Senior Cuique had never said which city she was from, always emphasized that she was much older than them, and was corroborated by others as a "big shot," indeed not seeming like a magical girl of the Material World.

Regarding Senior Cuique's emphasis on being a "big shot," the two girls had actually always remained skeptical, but now that they saw this photo, the remaining doubts no longer existed.

"She did not retire."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu's emotions had stabilized considerably, Lin Yun sighed inwardly, then said expressionlessly: "Because Lulu's mother was special; she is a Lifetime Magical Girl, different from everyone else."

This brand-new concept left both Lin Xiaolu, with tears hanging from her eyes, and Xia Liang, who was comforting her, feeling bewildered.

— "Lifetime? Lulu's mother is a Lifetime?"

Unlike the two bewildered girls, the one with the strongest reaction in the car was actually Moko.

This was not strange, because among those present, except for Lin Yun, only it knew the meaning of this term.

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang had no concept of this, it immediately explained: "A Lifetime Magical Girl means that because of special merits or deeds, one is permitted to remain in the Material World forever; it is a very impressive proof!"

"Mother... was she very impressive as a magical girl?"

Lin Xiaolu whispered while choking on her sobs, repeating what Moko had said, then as if realizing something, lifted her head blankly: "Then, in that case, how exactly did Mother die?"

While asking, she recalled, and suddenly remembered another crucial point, staring straight at the driver's seat before her, as if she could see her father through the back of the chair:

"Back then, when you told me to 'forget her,' was it because of this reason?"

This question went straight to the core of the issue. After grief and longing had been released, she finally realized that her mother's death was actually not simple.

Lin Yun said nothing.

His silence did not represent refusal, but rather stemmed from thought.

His gaze flickered toward the rearview mirror, meeting Lin Xiaolu's eyes, which were reddened at the corners. Where their gazes met, he could see that although there was sorrow in his daughter's eyes, they remained clear.

So he spoke.

"... During these days of being a magical girl, you should have heard somewhat about how magical girls determine their strength, right?"

Lin Yun withdrew his gaze and stared somewhat blankly at the road ahead through the windshield: "White Plate, Character Plate, Flower Plate. Although I am not very clear on the specific meanings, she had a title while she was alive."

His words paused slightly, but there was not a sound of noise from the back seat.

Whether Lin Xiaolu, or Xia Liang and Moko, were all drawn in by his words, holding their breath and waiting silently for the second half of his sentence.

Perhaps he should light a cigarette at this moment to set the mood.

Lin Yun had this thought for no reason, but since he had no habit of smoking, he could only let out a long sigh, as if expelling his own worries:

"It is said that in the latter half of her Magical Girl career, the other Magical Girls acknowledged her as the 'Strongest Flower Card'."