“He… What kind of person was he?”
While she only paused for a brief moment, countless questions sifted through Su Mu’s mind in that instant, leaving behind only the simplest yet most troublesome question.
Tang Nai dithered for a second, a flicker of trance passing through her gray eyes.
“He was… a hot-blooded fool.”
That was why he had held onto the resolution of mutual destruction, forcing the Demon King to the brink of death.
“That’s a bit mean…”
Using Tang Nai’s own tone, Su Mu responded in a low voice, as if expressing dissatisfaction toward something.
“He saved many people, but those who survived were plunged into pain because they lost him.”
Tang Nai stated plainly, turning her gaze toward Su Ya.
The latter seemed trapped in a dream she could not wake from.
Though she had clearly heard the name of her beloved, she could not even manage to lift her heavy eyelids, only continuing to breathe slowly and evenly.
Su Mu fell silent.
As a listener, she could not intrude upon the narration of that old tale, but perhaps she had hoped to hear words of praise from Tang Nai’s mouth.
Children always dream of their father being the best in the world.
Although describing it with “another mother” would be more appropriate, in Su Mu’s heart, that blurry figure had always existed in the name of a father.
“So, do you think what he did was good or bad?”
“Don’t ask me that kind of question.” Tang Nai refused to answer, even though she knew the answer better than anyone.
That person was the closest thing to a “perfect Magical Girl” in Tang Nai’s mind, yet he was also the person furthest from Tang Nai.
He was unpredictable and had a unique sense of humor.
He had once been the person Tang Nai admired, only for Tang Nai to later discover that he was more like a child than anyone else.
Ming Yueming had amber-gold eyes, snow-white hair, and a mature, striking figure, yet he always wore an angelic expression while telling jokes that left everyone in silence.
“One day, a bear was walking along, minding its own business. It wasn’t looking where it was going, and suddenly, it took exactly 1.4235 seconds to fall to the bottom of a 10-meter pit. So, tell me, what color was the bear?”
Although the current Tang Nai often acted out, she had surprisingly been a well-behaved star student before she met Ji Qing.
“White. According to my calculations, the acceleration due to gravity it experienced was 9.87 meters per square second. This means the hole is at one of the poles, and the only bear that lives in the polar regions is the Polar Bear.”
The petite, Tang Nai spoke with a flat expression, but the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously, anticipating praise from her senior.
However, she was destined to be disappointed…
“Wrong!” Ji Qing raised a finger and wagged it gently, “It’s red! Because it fell into the pit and got covered in blood, so it turned red.”
It was likely from that point on that Tang Nai began to go astray…
Admiration is the furthest distance from understanding.
The closest Tang Nai ever got to Ji Qing was when he entrusted Tang Nai with that dilemma —
“Are you willing to kill the father you once loved, and who loves you, to become a hero?”
“I’m sorry, Tang Nai. This is my final order, or rather, my request. If you really can’t do it, don’t force yourself…”
He lay on the ground as blood quietly seeped out, forming a pool that stained his snow-white hair a piercing red, just like that white bear that had fallen into a lonely death.
Beneath the moon, surrounded by the crowd, the gray-haired hero plunged her blade into her father’s heart and became the strongest person in the world.
The black-haired Witch had since then sunk to the borders of the Dream Realm, amidst the pale dawn…
But Tang Nai saw no salvation on anyone’s face.
Everyone she cared about had either been lost in that war or had lost the loved ones they depended on.
The culprit had turned into cold bones, leaving behind only the final words of a father: “Just embrace the world that belongs to you.”
‘So, you’re asking me whether the person who dumped all this on me was good or bad?’
If it were the Tang Nai from ten or so years ago, she might have flipped that person off and then hung them from a machine to spin them for several hours.
But now, she didn’t even have the energy to respond.
Su Mu wanted to ask more, thinking Tang Nai was intentionally keeping her in suspense to tease her.
She felt a bit annoyed, but after seeing the way Tang Nai’s mouth turned downward, she swallowed her words.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say sorry to me.” Tang Nai raised an eyebrow and jumped up to give Su Mu a rap on the head, leaving a large bump.
The strike was startlingly fast.
It was so quick that even Luo Jialan, the best in physical techniques, couldn’t see the movement.
It was so painful that even Su Mu, who had the most endurance, held her head and groaned.
“Enough. Go cook two dishes for me. Otherwise, tonight, I’ll be staring at you, and you, all night long.”
While Su Mu was still crouching and holding her head, Ye Wanqing, who was pointed at, was full of questions and confusion.
‘Everything was going fine. Why is this being blamed on me?’
The group scattered.
Su Mu tied on her apron with watery eyes, shooting one or two complaining glances at Tang Nai from time to time.
Luo Jialan obediently went to help her, while for Ye Wanqing… she could take on the job of taste-testing — or rather, poison-testing.
Something flickered in the depths of her gray eyes.
Tang Nai retracted her angry expression and watched the girls file into the kitchen.
The late afternoon sun fell on her profile, making her look quite pale.
“Senior Ya, if you ask me, the stories of Magical Girls should have a background so beautiful it’s unrealistic.”
She poked Su Ya’s face absentmindedly, like an older sister playing a prank on her sleeping sibling, only to accidentally prank her younger sister beneath her skirt.
Though, even if such a thing actually happened, Su Ya might not necessarily wake up.
“The Magical Girls live carefree lives within a school setting. When a Strange Person attacks, they all disappear into the bathroom at once, sneak onto the rooftop to transform, and then take their fiery staffs and flying cute mascots to cast dreamlike friendship magic. They defeat the evil Strange Person with the power of their bonds, sending them flying into the sky to turn into a twinkling star.”
This was why Magical Girls needed to go to university, and why Tang Nai had customized special uniforms for them.
“Then again, would they really be happy that way? That’s a genre suitable for middle school girls. As they get older, their innocent selves mature and develop their own little ideas. They have seniors they have secret crushes on and complicated lives to deal with. Eventually, they stop being the group of girls who can gather in a Coffee Shop to laugh together.”
It seemed sad, much like how a prince and princess living happily ever after couldn’t really be considered a bad thing.
“I’m sorry, Senior Ya. I’m afraid I have to interfere in her life. It doesn’t matter if you take your anger out on me when the time comes.”
As if remembering something, Tang Nai gave a self-deprecating smile.
“If I could do it over, I’d stay still and put my face right under your hand. I’ll find a way to get through this.”