Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

In Fangting City's Sunset Middle School, on the third floor of the main teaching building, Lin Xiaolu stared blankly at the ended call on her phone. After pausing for a few seconds, she let her arm fall and placed the phone down. She looked toward the window in the hallway, where a fine, continuous rain fell outside. In this incessant dreary weather, her mood had sunk a bit as well.

Perhaps "sunk" wasn't quite the right word—what she felt was more like a sense of loss.

The Emerald Sparrow had told her "no need to come," which surely was well-intentioned. She didn't want Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang to be in danger, nor did she want them to miss the important parents' meeting. The consideration within that message was clear to anyone, wasn't it?

Yet, even if the Emerald Sparrow had no ulterior motives, her words could be interpreted in another way. The "no need to come" might as well mean "your coming would be useless."

There was no scorn or belittlement in this, only the stating of a fact: in the eyes of the Emerald Sparrow, the two newbies were fragile, in need of protection, and not at all capable of contributing to the fight.

When faced with an Inchworm-class Remnant Beast, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang, merely at the Seed level, could play no role. Even though they had undergone nearly a month of learning and training, in the face of the Inchworm, they would probably still end up as a burden.

In name, the Emerald Sparrow and Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang were "comrades" as Magical Girls, but in reality, the two newbies simply couldn't keep pace with her or stand alongside her.

As Fangting City was currently in crisis, the Emerald Sparrow still had to fight alone.

So, was it really right to proceed in this orderly fashion?

That's what Lin Xiaolu wondered.

Being protected, cared for, and taught by such a senior did give her a sense of security. Perhaps, just like now, by leaving all the dangerous tasks to the Emerald Sparrow, and following her plan to gradually improve her own strength, she could naturally become a skilled Magical Girl, right?

There would be no risks, no obstacles, with only time, effort, and talent being necessary.

This path to growth sounded so logical, safe, and sensible. Just as any good mentor would do, diligently arranging the safest possible path for their juniors.

But if that was understandable, where did this feeling of loss within her heart come from?

She couldn't figure it out.

"Are you okay? Xiaolu."

The Fairy resting on Lin Xiaolu's shoulder saw her looking downcast and asked with some concern.

Lin Xiaolu merely shook her head.

The time for the parents' meeting was drawing near, and most classes had already ended for the day. Students were leaving their classrooms and walking along the corridors to the outside of the teaching building, preparing to meet their arriving parents.

Thus, the number of people in the hallways gradually increased, and the passing stream of pedestrians became more dense. Lin Xiaolu couldn't chat with the Fairy at such a time.

She put her phone back in her pocket, clapped her hands on her cheeks to remind herself to regain composure, and refocused her attention on the upcoming parents' meeting. Then she turned and walked back toward the classroom.

The rain outside grew heavier; she needed to go back and get her umbrella.

Passing through the nearly empty classroom, Lin Xiaolu pulled her backpack from her desk and took out an umbrella. When she stepped out from the classroom door again, she happened to see a familiar figure:

It was Xia Liang.

"Xia Liang!"

The Fairy that had been worried about Lin Xiaolu immediately defected, leaping from her shoulder and, before she could react, darted into Xia Liang's embrace, leaving Lin Xiaolu standing there with a disgruntled look as she watched the interaction between the two.

However, this was a school, filled with ordinary people who couldn't see Fairies. Engaging too much with the Fairy could lead other students to think she was strange, talking and gesturing to thin air. Thus, Xia Liang also knew to show restraint, merely petting the Fairy before letting her go, to avoid odd behavior.

"How is it?"

After putting the Fairy down, she looked at Lin Xiaolu with a smile: "Is your dad about to arrive?"

"How would I know the whereabouts of that person?"

Lin Xiaolu frowned in displeasure, "He might not even show up."

"Then why did you take an umbrella?"

"...Anyway, there's nothing else to do, so I'll just go to the school gate and have a look."

"Pfft." Xia Liang covered her mouth and giggled.

"You're so annoying!"

Lin Xiaolu said with irritation, "If you have nothing else to do, go back to your own class!"

"Alright, alright, let's drop it."

After pacifying Lin Xiaolu like one would a child, Xia Liang slightly toned down her expression, "I just wanted to ask about the message you sent earlier, about the Remnant Beast on the light rail tram..."

"Emerald Sparrow went." Lin Xiaolu's eyes briefly flashed as she answered tersely, "Alone."

"...I see, it's like that again." Xia Liang seemed a bit stunned as she blinked, but she quickly grasped her meaning.

Compared to Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang was more sensitive in social matters. Therefore, she recognized Emerald Sparrow's actions earlier and understood them more clearly.

She knew why Emerald Sparrow went alone.

After a brief silence between them, Xia Liang recovered her spirits and smiled, offering Lin Xiaolu reassurance, "But there's no helping it. Since it's like this, let's just face the parent-teacher meeting head-on."

"...Yeah."

Lin Xiaolu nodded with a complex look, "I know worrying isn't going to help."

After exchanging these pleasantries, Xia Liang waved goodbye to Lin Xiaolu and walked off towards the other end of the school building, while Lin Xiaolu continued on toward the school gate with her umbrella.

With the parent-teacher meeting imminent, the school gate had already gathered a dense crowd of people. Students were meeting up with their parents there, then leading them to their respective classes.

Lin Xiaolu opened her umbrella, avoiding the puddles on the ground, and skipped over to the gate in a few bouncy steps.

She stood on tiptoe, looking around in all directions, trying to find Lin Yun's figure in the crowd, but it was difficult to see clearly amid the sea of heads with her stature.

After expending a lot of fruitless effort, she realized this approach wasn't very effective. So she dropped back down on her heels and stood still, preparing to try a different method: finding a less crowded spot and waiting there.

After all, with her height, it was somewhat hard to find someone in a crowd, but for Lin Yun, with his stature, it wouldn't be difficult to see past obstacles to find his daughter.

What she needed to do was to make herself easier to find.

Lin Xiaolu held her umbrella and found an unoccupied corner by the flowerbed at the school gate. After making sure she was visible from the entrance, she stood there, quietly waiting.

The flow of people at the gate became denser, more classes finished, and students either waited inside the building or came to the gate to meet—after all, the parent-teacher meeting was also going to reveal the end-of-term report cards, and it was always good to appear well-behaved before knowing whether they'd failed the exams or not.

Lin Xiaolu didn't care about her report card. She had never been fond of studying, and after becoming a Magical Girl, she treated learning purely as a mandatory task. Although she knew her grades wouldn't be great, the idea of trying to curry favor with Lin Yun over such a thing was out of the question.

She had come to the school gate simply because she wanted to see.