“So. Where are we going now?”
In the elevator, alone, Wuhua looked at the rising floor numbers, puzzled.
An anomaly occurred—normally, she should have walked downstairs, left the complex, and taken the bus to her destination.
But after stepping out, Ruibi insisted Wuhua go to a higher place.
“That car ride was so dizzying. Besides, Wuhua, you need to learn how to fly.”
Just then, Ruibi popped out and explained.
“That sounds like an excuse you made up just because you don’t want to take the bus… Fine.”
Wuhua shrugged helplessly, then walked out to the topmost floor that led to the rooftop.
“Wuwuwu, the wind is so strong, nya. I remember when I first taught Xiaoying how to fly, it was here too, nya.”
Miao Ke simply shrank her head into her pocket.
“Lianying? By the way, why did you follow me again? Don’t you have work as a fairy?”
Wuhua poked Miao Ke.
“My current job is to look after you, nya. It’s not time for Xiaoying to make a move yet, nya.”
Miao Ke urged, “Hurry up and start, nya. If we’re late, we might get beaten by other magical girls, nya.”
‘Isn’t that a good thing?’
With that thought, Wuhua took out the delicate earrings from his pocket and put them on. After flicking them gently with his fingertip, he shouted out the words that came to mind.
“——Save all magical girls, uphold salvation and hope!”
*
“By the way. Will I flash someone when I fly? Um, it’s chilly under the skirt.”
After transforming, Wuhua, now wearing a black-and-white Lolita dress, looked around uncomfortably, afraid of being accidentally seen by anyone.
“Except for other magical girls flying in the sky, probably not, nya.”
Miao Ke spoke from experience.
“First, imagine you’re a bird. Then, try to relax your body and break free from gravity.”
Ruibi explained from the side.
“You could also imagine you’re a chicken—the kind you humans eat, nya.”
Miao Ke added.
‘Chickens can’t fly, right?’
Although the two dolls’ explanations were quite abstract and strange, leaving Wuhua a bit confused, they were the experts in this area, so she had no choice but to try following along.
—
“S-succeeded?!”
After fumbling for about half a minute, Wuhua’s body successfully floated up. It felt like being in outer space, experiencing a zero-gravity environment.
She circled around the railing on the rooftop but didn’t lean out, afraid that the ability might suddenly disappear and make her fall from dozens of meters high.
“A natural talent. It took even less time than Xiaoying and Xiao Lan, nya. Wuhua, you haven’t practiced this before, have you, nya?”
Miao Ke said.
“Truly surprising. At this rate, it won’t be long before Wuhua becomes a top-tier magical girl.”
Ruibi also agreed.
“Is this it? Such an amazing power. It feels like, as long as I believe I can fly in my heart, my body just floats.”
In fact, that’s exactly what Wuhua did.
“That’s right. The condition for activating Miracle Power is belief. Whether it’s transformation, flight, or using abilities.”
Ruibi said.
“That’s why there’s a saying that when a magical girl stops believing in herself, she loses her powers, nya.”
Miao Ke added.
Under the two dolls’ concise explanations, Wuhua felt she had grasped the trick.
“Then, let’s go. I’ll leave the navigation to you, Ruibi.”
…
…
Five minutes later, in Haizhu City, at an altitude of a thousand meters above the ground, above the clouds as white as cotton candy.
There was a magical girl dressed in Lolita flying at a moderate speed. The air pressure coming at her was like an autumn breeze, brushing her face, blowing her silver-white twintails and skirt back in the direction she came from.
A scene hard to imagine except in dreams. But in this society with magical girls, it was nothing unusual.
“So this is the real sky…”
Wuhua looked at the world composed of blue and white, a scenery completely different from the ground.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never been on a plane.’
‘I never thought I’d fly up to the sky myself before that.’
Ever since becoming a magical girl, Wuhua had been constantly updating her worldview and understanding.
“Actually, I have a bit of a fear of heights. For some reason, at this height, I’m fine.”
Wuhua said.
“This is also part of the magical girl’s Miracle Power, nya. Including having such superhuman physical abilities, nya.”
Miao Ke said.
“By the way, if I cancel my magical girl transformation right now, would I be instantly torn apart by air pressure?”
Just thinking about it scared Wuhua.
“Don’t worry, I’ll prevent that from happening. Wuhua, there’s an anomaly reaction below.”
Ruibi warned.
“OK.”
As she responded, Wuhua changed direction and began diving toward the ground. Her body felt like she was walking at a high-altitude mountain top.
By the time Wuhua overcame gravity and fell to the ground like a comet, the city scenery reappeared before her eyes.
Unexpectedly, it was exactly the same place she had fought yesterday.
“That direction is… Binhai Park?”
*
At this moment, in an open flat area of Binhai Park, which turned into a square stage every evening, a magical girl was confronting an anomaly in front of her, clearly at a disadvantage.
“Hah… hah… hah… hah…”
The girl panted heavily, struggling to keep herself from falling, hoping to recover enough to continue fighting.
But her enemy was at least the size of a hundred-year-old tree.
It barely had a human shape, holding a weapon resembling a candy cane, its surface covered in a bottomless black shadow. Obviously, it wouldn’t give her that chance.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The monster let out an eerie, piercing roar and charged straight at the girl, swinging its weapon.
The ground shook from its weight, causing the girl, who had just tried to stand up, to fall back on her bottom.
“Guu…”
Fearing the incoming attack, the girl could only cross her arms to protect her face, hoping to reduce the impact.
Just as the weapon was about to hit—
—
“H-how do I stop?!”
The sudden unfamiliar voice from high in the sky diverted the monster’s attention, making it stop. The girl also froze and looked up at the sky.
“Wh-what. Try to emergency land with my body. Is this really okay?”
The uninvited guest kept falling while muttering to herself.
“Ah, the anomaly is there… perfect.”
Then, noticing the monster, she instantly changed direction and flew straight toward it.
“Take my flying kick!”
Like a silver-white comet, keeping the flying kick pose, she slammed into the monster, blasting a huge hole in its body.
With the appearance of the gap, the remaining impact force completely tore the monster’s body apart. Unable to maintain its form, it collapsed, turning into waves of black mud that flew into the air before slowly falling.
“Phew, that was close. I didn’t expect to find a landing cushion.”
Thinking it was her own sweat from nervousness, the silver-haired girl reached up to wipe her forehead.
“Huh? This texture.”
Because it was too sticky, she realized it wasn’t her sweat—
The remaining black mud from the monster had fallen like raindrops onto her body, clinging like bloodstains to her upper body and face.
“This smell, ew. It smells like rotten eggs.”
The girl disdainfully shook off the black mud. Some of it even landed on the other magical girl standing two or three steps away.
“Ah. Sorry, sorry. Um, did I scare you?”
The girl quickly walked over apologetically and wiped the black mud off her face. Then she smiled and kindly extended her right hand.
“Um, hello! My name is Wuhua. What’s your name?”