Chapter 159: Doesn’t Matter

It wasn’t that Xingyue was making things difficult for her—she truly wanted to hear what she had to say.

Back when Zhizhi first started snickering, Xingyue had already realized—this Jinlin was, in fact, that very UU.

In other words, Herrera.

When she figured this out, Xingyue’s mind blanked out for a few seconds.

She’d had the gym fire Youyou, so why had she appeared at such an important meeting the very next moment?

Here, in this gathering filled entirely with Magical Girls, a strange entity had slipped in.

Thinking back, the Fourth Seat, Zhizhi, had considered bringing Youyou into the so-called Shorty Group a long time ago, but at first, Xingyue herself had vetoed the idea.

It seemed Zhizhi had gone behind her back to arrange things with Youyou, which was how Herrera managed to blend in here.

When Luo Youyou—when Jinlin first spoke up, Xingyue actually wanted to just skip over it.

She had already decided on all the following steps.

To put it bluntly, this meeting was just a formality, part of the plan—no need to create extra complications.

But on second thought, perhaps seeing things from Herrera’s perspective might bring about a brand new outlook.

Yet judging by Jinlin’s appearance, she already seemed rather impatient.

So Xingyue said considerately, “If you feel you can’t speak up in front of so many people, you can tell me privately later.”

“Um… it’s just that…”

Luo Youyou was still fidgeting, not wanting to make any particularly attention-grabbing statements.

All in all, it wasn’t so bad to just play the part of a nobody for now.

“I’m begging you too.”

Luo Youyou looked at the main screen in confusion.

Because the speaker wasn’t Xingyue, nor was it Manjusaka, but the utterly unremarkable—Luo Zining among over a hundred Magical Girls.

Beside her, Ji Yue also looked at her in surprise, but still cooperatively made room.

Luo Zining nervously glanced at the main screen.

Seeing Xingyue didn’t seem to object, and recalling the suffocating feeling from her previous quarrel with friends, Luo Zining summoned her courage and said:

“I really want to know how someone who only recently became a Magical Girl sees things. Right now, everyone around me is deeply involved, and their perspective has become so narrow they can’t see anything else. I…! I really need your opinion! Please!”

At the end, she even bowed deeply.

Lowering her head, Luo Zining bit her lip.

If she could, she wouldn’t want to get involved at all—this kind of thing should just be left to the senior Ten Seats to handle.

But the conflict that broke out among her friends made her realize she couldn’t just extricate herself.

Right now, the problem was only being barely suppressed; it hadn’t actually been solved.

Xingyue’s return wasn’t entirely a good thing either—it might even intensify the conflict, making it even harder to resolve.

Luo Zining had decided: as the team leader and a de facto member of the Ten Seats, if she couldn’t even resolve conflicts within her own squad, she had to struggle in her own way.

She couldn’t take care of other districts, but at least, she had to deal with the problems in her own team.

“Heh.”

Luo Youyou looked curiously at Luo Zining, who bowed her head on the screen, and opened her mouth in surprise.

“It won’t be anything useful, you know.”

Her voice was still pinched, but her attitude was no longer timid.

On the contrary, she seemed like a senior who had seen through the nature of conflict and could handle things with ease.

“Even so, I’m begging you! I want to know!”

Luo Zining said loudly.

“Ai~”

Luo Youyou spread her hands helplessly, then opened her mouth—all listened intently.

“Whether to take radical measures or to stick to your ideals, I think it reallydoesn’t matter, it’s allfine either way.”

She spoke with an attitude as if discussing someone else’s misfortune, so perfunctory it made people angry.

At the very least, among so many Magical Girls, her words caused quite a stir, and many of them immediately became hostile.

Luo Zining looked up in confusion. “Doesn’t matter?”

“That’s right, doesn’t matter~”

Luo Youyou casually crossed her legs.

“Today, you’re all here going on about ideals and the future… what’s the point? To the practical types, this kind of boring stuff is completely~~unnecessary. If you ask me, what you should be discussing is whose method can best solve current and future problems, not who’s right. If you’ve got a method, bring it up—even if it’s clumsy, even if it’s roundabout, as long as the direction’s right~ That’s all I think about it.”

“Efficiency above all, huh…”

Luo Zining murmured dumbly.

【Damn! That makes sense!】

Liyun, who had been quietly watching, suddenly had a realization.

Most of the Magical Girls who came had gotten it all wrong.

They were here to find out whether Manjusaka’s methods were right or wrong.

Was supporting Manjusaka the correct thing to do?

Was it right to stick to the ideals of a Magical Girl?

Or rather, those who supported Manjusaka came for the fundamental reason of proving that their choice to follow her was correct, so they could tell their companions, “See! I told you I was right!”

Conversely, those with misgivings about Manjusaka’s actions came here hoping Xingyue would stand up and oppose her, proving that they were the ones in the right.

But they’d forgotten Manjusaka’s original reason for such radical actions—to defend against the Tidal Surge of the Boundary Sea and the dangers both within and without.

Any stance that failed to solve the problem was utterly useless.

So Luo Youyou had already seen through it: this meeting was just for show, Xingyue and the others were simply putting on a performance for the outside world, and the declarations of the Magical Girls in the meeting didn’t matter at all.

Of course, not all the Magical Girls present had forgotten the point of the discussion. Some really did want to find ways to solve the problem, but swept up by the mood, they could only make mechanical statements.

However——

【Why does this Jinlin’s mysterious slacker vibe feel so familiar?】

Liyun thought, puzzled.

Too bad, through the screen, she couldn’t see anything more.

“I’m done speaking.”

Luo Youyou gently nudged the dazed Bailing Wu awake.

“Huh?! T-then, would the next person please share your opinion.”

Bailing Wu snapped out of her daze and continued to preside over the meeting.

But the atmosphere had clearly changed from the numb recitations before.

After Luo Youyou, the Magical Girls who spoke all became much more active, starting to offer ideas to solve the problem.

Even though most of them were immature pipe dreams, at least the useless time meant just for show turned into a golden time worth looking forward to.

“Hmph, you brat are still too green.”

Luo Youyou sneered inwardly at the stubborn girl’s earlier actions as she sat down.

Yet the corners of her mouth quirked up a little.

“Well, at least… at least she could bow her head in a situation like that. That means she’s at least trying to solve the problem, right?”

For a mere Luo Zining, this could barely count as progress!