“F-found you, haah, haah…” Wuhua panted, climbing the escalator all the way to the fourth floor—
Finally, in a corner at the front counter of a milk tea shop, she found the child who had been reported missing, the one in the surveillance footage. And not far in front of the child was the floating rabbit plushie.
It hovered above the child’s head, pointing Wuhua in the right direction. Strangely, the child didn’t react at all to the plushie approaching her, until Wuhua got closer…
“Huh? Wh-who is it?” A girl who looked about 6 years old stood up, looking at Wuhua warily with teary eyes.
“Hello there, little one. I’m Wuhua. Um, your mom is looking everywhere for you outside. I’m here to take you to her.” Wuhua briefly explained the situation.
“Little one?” The girl tilted her head in confusion, studying Wuhua, who looked about the same age as her. She took a few steps back suspiciously.
“Don’t—don’t let my appearance fool you, I’m actually an adult.” In her hurry to defend herself, Wuhua inadvertently said something very strange.
“O-kay. Mm! I believe you. Take me to my mom.” Fortunately, the girl decided to trust Wuhua.
She stepped forward and obediently took Wuhua’s hand. Their hands, similar in size, overlapped—
Before Wuhua could even take a step, the rabbit plushie from before ran ahead of them again. And it stopped in front of the emergency exit.
Choosing to trust the plushie as well, Wuhua formed a brief but genuine chain of trust.
“…Then let’s go.”
.
Running along the downward stairs, the two girls, focused only on escaping the trouble zone, soon reached the first floor’s main door. The dawn light shining from outside seemed within reach.
“Just a little more, we’re almost there!”
However, it was as if some entity was watching their every move. Before Wuhua’s hand could touch the door handle—
A gurgling sound of water gushing from underground with bubbles.
An eerie noise rang out, and the shopping mall shook. At the same time, from the gap between the middle of the door and the floor, a pitch-black slime began to seep in continuously—
Like sewage from a drain, it surged toward Wuhua in a jelly-like form.
“Dammit. So this is the anomaly this time, huh? I didn’t think it would have spread this far.”
Wuhua couldn’t help but complain. The shopping mall was still some distance from the commercial street.
“A-anomaly?” The girl hiding behind Wuhua took a few steps back. Then, her eyes lit up, and she stepped forward.
“I remember… that’s the enemy of the magical girls, right? So—so there are magical girls outside!?”
“Wait, it’s dangerous!” Wuhua grabbed the girl just as she was about to touch the black slime.
“It looks like we can’t get out through the front door. Let’s fall back for now—” Wuhua keenly observed their surroundings.
She noticed that not only the main entrance but also the walls and every corner were being invaded.
“Th-here.”
The ethereal voice came again. The rabbit plushie beckoned to them.
So the two girls, unable to stand alone, turned back and retreated to the safer upper floors.
.
A few minutes later.
“Hey, big sister. Are we going to be okay?”
The girl leaned over the railing, looking down at the black slime that was piling up, rising, and forming a surging sea level like a tide.
The speed was increasing. It would probably flood their floor in less than half an hour.
“Even if you ask me that…” Wuhua, sitting with her back against the railing, sighed helplessly.
Right now, there was nothing they could do but wait for rescue.
“Say, if I call out to the magical girls really loud, do you think they’ll come save me?”
Unlike the pessimistic Wuhua, the previously frightened girl was now acting as if nothing had happened, chatting cheerfully with her.
Earlier, they had already talked about where they lived, where they came from, why they had come to the shopping mall, and other topics.
Moreover, Wuhua had the vague feeling that this girl was a huge fan of magical girls.
“Let’s give it a try. It’s better than doing nothing.”
Wuhua stood up again and stood shoulder to shoulder with the girl. Just as she was about to speak—
‘By the way, what should I call out?’
‘If I call Lianying… no, no, that would expose her identity.’
‘If I shout for help, but I’m already a grown-up at an age where I’d be embarrassed to do that.’
.
Bang! Bang!
Just as Wuhua was hesitating, a crisp sound of breaking glass rang out.
Both of them turned to look behind them at the same time. The climbing slime had successfully reached their floor.
“H-help! Somebody help!” The girl overcame her fear and shouted loudly. Her voice echoed through the empty shopping mall.
But the anomaly didn’t stop. It charged straight at the girl.
“…?!” Without a second thought, almost on pure instinct, Wuhua lunged at the girl and pulled her into a protective embrace.
Perhaps it was the influence of her past mentality and memories. Her current 7-year-old self still thought she was the adult man she used to be.
But even the strongest man or the most powerful woman had no effective means to fight an anomaly. Except for magical girls, of course—
“?”
With a fear engraved deep in her heart, Wuhua instinctively closed her eyes as she hugged the girl.
.
Everything went dark, and unease tightened her chest.
Yet the expected pain and impact never came. In fact, nothing happened at all.
“S-Sis, you’re amazing!?” Instead, the girl’s joyful and excited praise reached her ears.
“Huh?” Completely clueless, Wuhua opened her eyes and followed the girl’s gaze from within her arms—
All around them, a thick white mist had risen out of nowhere. It spread to every corner of the floor they were on.
For an unknown reason, the mist of unknown nature protected Wuhua and the girl within a relatively safe space.
It blocked everything—both the attacking anomaly and the light streaming in from outside. It was like a natural barrier.
“This is the Miracle Power of a magical girl!” The girl’s eyes sparkled as she nodded.
“From the first moment I saw you, Sis, I knew you were a real magical girl!”
Wuhua still looked confused at the girl. “Magical girl? Me…”
In this situation, she would think it more likely that the girl herself was the magical girl.
‘I didn’t do anything. I just kept running away, didn’t I?’
‘Or is it that mysterious plushie…’
Wuhua tried to spot it in the mist, but found nothing—
“Forget it. I need to figure out a way to get out of here.” She turned her thoughts to the current situation.
The mysterious white mist seemed to have the effect of blocking the anomaly’s attacks, but it only spread across the top floor of the shopping mall. Yet the exit was on the first floor, which was occupied by the anomaly.
In this situation, waiting for rescue was probably the safest option. After all, Wuhua knew that Lianying was not far away right now…
.
“That’s enough! You damn monster.”
Suddenly, as if telepathy had worked, a clear, pure voice rang out in the first-floor lobby of the shopping mall.
Perhaps it was Wuhua’s intuition, but that voice sounded both familiar and unfamiliar.
“S-someone has come to save us, Sis!” The girl excitedly grabbed Wuhua’s hand and looked down over the railing—
Where the first floor had been completely swallowed by the black slime, a path had been forcibly carved from the entrance inward.
Three girls, floating in midair, each emitting a unique radiance, representing hope and light. Wherever they passed, the anomaly was purified and eradicated.
And the girl charging at the front, acting as their leader, wore a form-fitting battle suit mainly peach pink with pure white accents. Her graceful body curves and heroic, agile movements.
Her beautiful pink long hair reached her waist, tied into a single high ponytail on the left side with a wreath-like hair ornament—neat and refreshing. Her delicate and refined features were confident and generous, a brave expression on her face, unafraid of powerful enemies or difficulties.
“Hey, hey—we’re over here!”
Seeing their saviors, the girl started shouting, leaning out over the railing and waving her hands to get their attention.
“What? There are—there are civilians trapped here?!”
The girl leading the team was taken aback at first. After a brief exchange with her two companions, she flew straight toward Wuhua and the girl.
“Are you two okay? It’s safe here now. We’ll clean up the remaining enemies first…”
She first comforted the two, checking them up and down for any injuries, and confirming the situation of those trapped.
But when her gaze met Wuhua’s—
“X-Xiaohua?”