With Qianhan covering her defense, Wuhua only needed to focus on attacking. She no longer had to hide and dodge like before. As a result, progress was faster than expected. Soon, they reached the center of the bridge where they had seen the girl earlier.
“Strange. It’s unusually quiet around here.” Wuhua gripped her weapon, scanning their surroundings warily.
This was supposed to be the area most affected by the Anomaly, yet not a single monster was in sight.
“Um, Miss Wuhua.” Qianhan walked beside her. “The girl you mentioned earlier…”
“She should be around here.” Wuhua ejected her magazine, preparing to reload with a flare as before.
“Hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm~” The clear sound of a child’s nursery rhyme drifted over again.
“Miss Wuhua, are you trying to find her by humming?” Qianhan clapped her hands, her expression full of admiration. “That’s a great idea.”
“It’s not me! It’s not like we’re looking for a kitten or puppy…” Wuhua followed the sound. “Found her.”
The golden-haired girl was sitting in roughly the same spot as before, still holding that storybook in her hands.
As Wuhua and Qianhan approached, the girl named Hanna spoke up again on her own.
“Oh? You’re back. And you brought a friend this time.” Seeing Wuhua, Hanna’s face lit up with a smile.
“You must be curious about the rest of the story, right? I’ll tell you—”
Still entertaining herself, the girl flipped open a page of the storybook and read aloud the words and pictures.
“The prince and his companions, after countless hardships and battles, finally reached the dragon’s lair.”
“But then a strange castle appeared, blocking their path.”
“The princess must be inside—the prince believed that firmly, and decided to challenge the castle.”
“Wait… hold on.” Growing more worried about Hanna’s safety, Wuhua crouched down and continued pleading earnestly.
“We can look at the storybook once we get out of here. Me and this big sister will read it with you, okay?”
“—” Hanna didn’t answer. Instead, she showed her a bright smile. Just as Wuhua thought the girl had listened…
“No. The story isn’t over yet.” Hanna rejected her decisively. As her voice faded, the next moment…
Rumble rumble rumble rumble… The shaking returned. This time it was more pronounced and violent, making the entire bridge tremble.
“N-not again! Could it be…?” With a nervous heart, Wuhua lunged forward, trying to grab Hanna’s hand.
“Can’t do that.” Hanna put her hands behind her back, leaped backward, and disappeared into the surging Black Mud.
“I knew it!…” For some reason, Wuhua had a feeling things wouldn’t be this simple.
“Miss Wuhua…! We need to leave.” Qianhan grabbed Wuhua from behind and pulled her toward safety.
After a frantic struggle and hasty retreat, Wuhua and Qianhan finally managed to reach a safe spot.
“W-what is that?”
“…It’s a castle, Miss Wuhua.”
Under their astonished and bewildered gazes, as if a high-rise were rising from flat ground, the Black Mud across the entire bridge converged toward the center, forming a towering Western-style castle on the bridge deck. It even had turrets and walls.
The eerie, dangerous atmosphere made it almost impossible to breathe, and for a moment they were at a complete loss.
“Don’t tell me… our next goal is to destroy it from the outside.”
“I-it seems so, Miss Wuhua.”
…
…
About half an hour later, the rain grew fiercer. The water on the bridge had risen to ankle height. In the blinding downpour, the two girls fought as if draped in a white, misty “veil.”
“—” Wuhua continued her tactic of unloading ammunition until she was completely exhausted and stopped.
“I-it’s completely useless… haah, haah, haah.” Wuhua collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.
Bullets could penetrate the barrier, hit the inside of the castle, embed themselves in the Black Mud, and dispel a portion of it.
But they quickly vanished like stones thrown into water, leaving only ripples. The dispelled Black Mud soon covered the same spots again.
“…Miss Wuhua, are you all right?” Qianhan rushed over and helped her up from the ground.
Whether intentional or not, she pressed Wuhua’s arm between two soft mounds.
‘T-touching… so soft!’
Wuhua’s dream was to bury her face in them, but experiencing this was fine too.
“What did you say? ‘So soft’?” Wuhua’s thoughts were hardly a secret to Qianhan.
“Nothing, nothing.” Wuhua was glad she hadn’t thought about it in too much detail. She then looked into the distance.
“…This castle is a lot like the one I encountered that night. And it was raining then too.” Wuhua sighed.
“If only Sister Lianying were here. She might know what to do.”
Before Qianhan could figure out who this “Sister Lianying” was and ask…
“…That’s enough!” A clear, energetic voice rang out from behind.
When Wuhua and Qianhan turned around in unison and looked up at the sky—
“To protect the love and justice in everyone’s hearts—” A girl with long hair tied into a side ponytail, primarily peach-pink in color, declared.
“We, the Cat Garden, must stop you here. You’re causing unnecessary trouble and danger to this city and its citizens.”
Like a protagonist from a story making a brilliant entrance at the critical moment, she radiated an extraordinary aura and halo.
“…You know, you’re only serious when you’re shouting catchphrases.” As her voice trailed off, a girl with long, sky-blue hair tied into a high ponytail arrived belatedly.
“Hey hey, my dear teammate Ice. You can’t treat your own captain like that.” The peach-pink girl put her hands on her hips in complaint.
“Um, you two? Now’s not the time to argue.” A girl with curly orange-yellow hair followed behind, trying to mediate.
In an instant, all three members of the magical girl civilian organization Cat Garden had gathered.
“B-big sister…?! Why are you here?”
“I-it’s the senior magical girls of the Cat Garden in person…!”
Wuhua and Qianhan showed completely different reactions and levels of excitement.
Hearing the conversation, the three girls noticed the Anomaly in the distance and also spotted the two unfamiliar girls on the bridge.
“Huh? There are magical girls here before us.” Lianying said, landing gracefully and confidently in front of them.
“Hello, hello. Nice to meet you. I’m Cute cherry, the captain of the Cat Garden.”
“Y-y-y-you…” Qianhan was so nervous and shy that she couldn’t get a second word out.
“Hmm. Nice to see you again, cherry.” As for Wuhua, she greeted her with deliberate calmness.
After all, they had met in this identity before, so there was no need to act like a stranger.
“Eh? I remember you—” Lianying looked at Wuhua, scratching her head as she tried to recall.
“She’s Mirror. Back at the Industrial Park incident, didn’t she save you?” Qinglan added.
“Yeah, yeah! That’s right! …Of course I remember. I just forgot how to pronounce that word, hehe.” Lianying rubbed her face awkwardly. Coming from her, it didn’t seem out of place at all.
“Ah… no. Now’s not the time for chit-chat. So, you two, could you tell us what happened?”
At Lianying’s request, Wuhua and Qianhan exchanged glances. Then Wuhua began briefly explaining the situation.
…
From understanding the details to agreeing to cooperate in resolving the crisis, it took less than half a minute.
“Then, fellow magical girls—let us return peace and tranquility to this city.”
Wuhua watched Lianying deliver those cool lines, showing a side of her she rarely saw—
The biting autumn wind tousled her hair. Her delicate profile bore a fearless smile. The twin swords at her back were ready. Resolute, courageous, optimistic, and cheerful.
Wuhua’s heart swirled with complex emotions as she threw herself into the coming battle.