The entire meeting felt extremely strange and abstract—Luo Shuangxing had no idea what Xiao Yi was trying to do.
She glanced at the pendant Xiao Yi handed her, then muttered something about being friends, and ended with asking for a hug—then that was it?
What exactly was going on? Luo Shuangxing couldn’t make sense of what Xiao Yi actually wanted.
“Let’s go back!” Xiao Yi smiled at Luo Shuangxing with great effort.
…Alright.”
Back in the classroom, the more Luo Shuangxing thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.
Moreover, during the next class, she could still sense Xiao Yi’s faint gaze drifting from her direction.
Why did it feel like some kind of weirdo was stalking her?
In reality, it was exactly as Luo Shuangxing suspected—after the morning classes ended, Xiao Yi clung to her like they were close friends.
As for the Class Monitor, she walked off with the other students as if she didn’t know Xiao Yi at all.
“Shuangxing, let’s go eat lunch together!” Xiao Yi grabbed Luo Shuangxing’s arm, her slightly warm hand seeming to pass a fire burning in her heart to Luo Shuangxing.
“Ah? Why?” Luo Shuangxing finally couldn’t hold back and voiced her confusion.
“Huh?” Xiao Yi looked a bit bewildered at the question, as if those words shouldn’t have come from Luo Shuangxing’s mouth. “Because we’re friends.”
“Why are we friends? Counting the amusement park, we’ve only really talked twice. I really don’t understand why you think we’re friends.” Luo Shuangxing counted on her fingers, speaking while Xiao Yi stared at her in surprise.
This was just too strange. Xiao Yi’s attitude made it seem like being friends was a given—but that was obviously odd.
Luo Shuangxing wasn’t a strange person herself, so the only conclusion she could come to was that Xiao Yi was the strange one.
Faced with Luo Shuangxing’s question, Xiao Yi was completely thrown.
She looked down at the pendant hanging around her neck, then back at Luo Shuangxing’s confused face before pulling her hand back like a frightened rabbit.
“Why? Why is this happening?” She held the pendant tightly and took a few steps back, her eyes full of helplessness.
It was as if a Magical Girl suddenly realized her gem had been swapped with a fake and she couldn’t transform anymore.
“What the hell is going on, Xiao Yi? What’s your deal?”
Xiao Yi said nothing and turned, stumbling out of the classroom.
“She ran?” Luo Shuangxing was stunned.
For the first time, her usually sharp mind seemed to stall. Everything that happened this morning left her at a loss for words.
[Maybe I’ll ask Xiao Yi what’s going on after the lunch break?] she thought, but unexpectedly, Xiao Yi didn’t show up in class for the entire afternoon.
And the entire class acted as if Xiao Yi had never existed—completely ignoring her absence.
When Luo Shuangxing asked the Class Monitor about it, her reaction shocked her even more.
“Xiao Yi? Who’s that? My deskmate? I never had a deskmate,” the Class Monitor replied with a blank expression.
Huh? Then what was that thing I saw? A ghost? Luo Shuangxing was utterly dumbfounded.
Even after school, when she flew to the Magic Department Training Ground, she still looked like she was a million miles away.
This caught the curiosity of the two university students who had been waiting at the training ground for a while—what on earth had happened to make Luo Shuangxing look so existentially shaken?
One slash shattered the magic cannon fired by Xia Mo, and Luo Shuangyue scolded Xia Mo with a serious face, “Your Magic Power isn’t focused enough. Why did the arrowhead turn round? Start over!”
After pointing out Xia Mo’s mistakes, her gaze turned to Luo Shuangxing. “Lily of the Valley, are you seeing ghosts? Hurry up and come train!”
Hearing Luo Shuangyue, Luo Shuangxing pressed her forehead against her oversized magic wand and said in a low voice,
“I think I really saw a ghost.”
“Can a Magical Girl even get a fever? Your forehead feels normal.” Luo Shuangyue approached, took off her glove, and touched Luo Shuangxing’s forehead.
It was perfectly normal—no fever at all.
Luo Shuangyue’s skin under the Dark Moth state was icy cold; being touched like this made Luo Shuangxing shiver.
Taking advantage of this clarity, she hurriedly told the two ‘elders’ everything strange that had happened today.
“I even asked other classmates later. They all said they never saw anyone named Xiao Yi, but I clearly remember such a person exists!” Luo Shuangxing stomped her foot, frustrated by the feeling that she was the only one out of sync with the world.
In the end, she even asked the teacher, who gave her the same denial.
“Xiao Yi? The girl who played with you at the amusement park?” Xia Mo rubbed her chin, recalling the girl faintly.
After all, she was Luo Shuangyue’s ‘rumored love interest.’ If she didn’t remember the girl, that would be strange.
“Elder Sister Xia Mo, you still remember her? Then it’s not my problem!” Luo Shuangxing’s expression brightened immediately. Her previous self-doubt almost made her head explode.
She had been obsessing over whether she was the problem, but now Xia Mo gave her the answer.
It wasn’t her—it was the entire class that had the problem.
“I also… well, anyway, you can confirm that the girl called Xiao Yi truly exists, right?” Luo Shuangyue was about to agree but suddenly realized she was currently in Dark Moth form, and Dark Moth had no interactions with Xiao Yi.
Damn, she almost slipped up. She sighed helplessly inside and realized she was beginning to confuse the line between Luo Shuangyue and Dark Moth.
She wouldn’t have made such a rookie mistake before.
“Of course I can confirm it. She’s a girl with light brown shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, and a body that feels warm to the touch, wearing a beautiful pendant around her neck,” Luo Shuangxing nodded emphatically.
This description was unanimously recognized by Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue.
“The Xiao Yi we see is the same one, which means—”
“This isn’t your hallucination, Shuangxing.” Xia Mo stroked her chin, her eyes full of confusion. “But why doesn’t your class know her?”
“Cognition Modification. Magical Girls skilled in mental powers usually have this ability,” Luo Shuangyue shrugged, thinking it better not to complicate things too much.
None of the three Magical Girls were affected, but Luo Shuangxing’s classmates were undoubtedly influenced.
[Ruling out the possibility that Luo Shuangxing’s classmates all suddenly have issues, there’s only one other option—Xiao Yi is the problem.]
This girl likely uses methods like mind control or hypnosis, affecting the perception of Luo Shuangxing’s classmates.
But why wasn’t Luo Shuangxing affected? Naturally, because she was a Magical Girl.
Magical Girls have innate resistance to such attacks unless they voluntarily lower their guard; even a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl can’t manipulate the mind of a New Bud Level Magical Girl at will.
Of course, if a New Bud is knocked unconscious, they can be manipulated.
“Her ability doesn’t affect you but does affect ordinary people, and you haven’t felt any clear signs of mental attack…”
Luo Shuangyue began to analyze the situation carefully.
If the mental attack was powerful, Luo Shuangxing would feel it in her head. But facing Xiao Yi, she felt nothing.
That meant Xiao Yi’s mental attack was very weak—too weak to even trigger Luo Shuangxing’s passive defenses.
“Maybe she isn’t even New Bud level—just showing off in front of normal people.”
In the end, Luo Shuangyue gave her assessment.
I knew this transfer student wasn’t normal—she’s a psychic with mental attacks!
Just too weak compared to a Magical Girl.
“She doesn’t seem to use this power for anything bad, just enrolled at school and wants to be friends with you? Sounds pretty innocent.”
“I don’t think she’s innocent. Manipulating people’s emotions casually—that’s not something a good person does!”
Luo Shuangxing firmly believed Xiao Yi had serious issues. Look at what Xiao Yi did to her—was that normal behavior?
She was sure Xiao Yi’s attitude toward her was deeply problematic.
“To me, she’s very innocent. Don’t forget who I am,” Luo Shuangyue rolled her eyes and lightly patted Luo Shuangxing’s back of the head.
“Now hurry up and train!”
Compared to a mysterious girl with some psychic powers who’s now disappeared, it was far more important to improve battle power.
That day, Luo Shuangxing wasn’t as exhausted as in previous trainings.
Luo Shuangyue also worried that if they just finished training and monsters attacked immediately, the Magical Girls would be forced to fight in a half-crippled state—disaster waiting to happen.
Checking the battle report, half the damage they suffered was from her own attacks—what a beautiful scene that was.
“Your compressed Magic Power is already pretty good. Your magic cannon’s power improved a lot, but the molding of the magic arrowhead is too poor. Keep practicing tomorrow!”
After training, Luo Shuangyue pointed out Xia Mo’s various issues like a teacher.
Meanwhile, Luo Shuangxing and Xiao Mimi stood quietly, whispering to each other.
“Lily of the Valley, don’t you think Miss Dark Moth looks a lot like Senior White Night right now?” Xiao Mimi whispered very softly.
Watching Luo Shuangyue scold Xia Mo, Xiao Mimi felt like she was seeing the long-absent senior.
When that senior trained Xia Mo before, Xia Mo was also scolded like this.
The only difference was that back then Xia Mo kept her head down, only nodding in agreement.
Now, Xia Mo held her head high, confidently discussing solutions with Luo Shuangyue.
“Maybe they’re the same person,” Luo Shuangxing muttered quietly.
Then Luo Shuangyue called out, “Lily of the Valley, are you spacing out? Get over here and pay attention! You’re doing worse than Rosemary!”
At least Xia Mo successfully compressed Magic Power, but Luo Shuangxing couldn’t even finish the first step.
She had her reasons—she used a magic wand, while Xia Mo had a cannon with a spirit.
Ye Lin just had to contract the cannon’s mouth to compress Magic Power; the difficulty level wasn’t comparable.
Luo Shuangxing’s magic cannon had a virtual muzzle, not a physical one.
Shrinking that was much harder than Xia Mo’s.
“I’m trying, but after compressing the initial power, the cannon mouth always expands again when I inject more Magic Power,” Luo Shuangxing complained.
She couldn’t maintain the shape while outputting Magic Power.
“Is there an easier way to practice?”
“Yes. Unlike Rosemary, you can try Magic Mimicry,” Luo Shuangyue said, not pressing Luo Shuangxing further.
She could see Luo Shuangxing had really worked hard, but her results weren’t as good as Xia Mo’s.
Maybe this method just didn’t suit Luo Shuangxing, she thought.
If so, try a different path.
Luo Shuangxing was a Bud Level Magical Girl. Her path wasn’t set, so trying different methods was fine.
Since Xia Mo’s magic cannon path didn’t work, try another approach—maybe turn Magic Power into a siege crossbow or something to bombard monsters.
Though unsure of the effect, trying more methods wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay, I’ll look up some info at home and try to improve by tomorrow,” Luo Shuangxing nodded obediently.
As for Xiao Mimi, her training went smoothly. The Magic Power Cat Claw idea she came up with last night worked well, and she liked this aggressive style.
She just needed to refine the quality of her Magic Power output, and she’d be able to make monsters bleed with her claws.
“That’s it for today’s training. Same time here tomorrow.”
“Okay!”
“Why? Why didn’t it work?”
In a dark alley, Xiao Yi tightly clutched the pendant against her chest, weakly leaning against the wall.
Swirling like a nebula inside the pendant, a gentle current flowed, injecting a trace of warm energy into the girl’s body.
In a daze, she seemed to hear a soft call carried by the wind.
“Yi-jie… where are you?”
“Sorry, sorry…”
Tears streamed down the girl’s face in large drops, shattering on the rough ground.
She was a coward, a weakling.
She had abandoned everyone just to survive.
If given another choice, perhaps she would have faced death calmly with her family.
“Yi-jie… I found you~”
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