Snow had just fallen, and lead-gray clouds blanketed the sky. The weather was still freezing, but there was a hint of a change.
“Xiao Xia!” Lin Xiaojue said, rolling one snowball about as high as her knees. “How is your side coming along?”
“Um… it’s okay…” Xia Yao replied softly, silently rubbing her snowball.
She channeled her magic power, and countless purple silk threads glided out from her fingertips.
They danced in the air for a moment before turning into orderly lines under her conscious control, firmly rooting themselves into the snow.
Lustrous white snow particles climbed along the threads, condensing into a single snow-white strand of hair.
Xia Yao pinched the hair strand and checked it carefully. Seeing nothing wrong, she tucked it into her pocket.
Ever since her predecessor suggested playing in the snow, they had cancelled their transformation. Although the post-snow weather was cold, the sea was calm, so Xia Yao didn’t feel a hint of chill.
However.
‘Will we fall through while playing on the sea ice?’
‘Forget it, forget it.’ Xia Yao shook her head vigorously, trying not to think about such things. She still had so much to do for her predecessor.
She had to re-knit her predecessor’s clothes and repay all of her predecessor’s kindness.
Then, she would stay far away from home.
She would also stay far away from everyone else so she wouldn’t hurt them — just as she wouldn’t hurt her predecessor.
“Xiao Xia!” Lin Xiaojue’s shout interrupted her train of thought. Xia Yao turned around and found her predecessor pouting in dissatisfaction.
“Muu — why is Xiao Xia ignoring me?”
Lin Xiaojue frowned slightly; she clearly hadn’t heard Xia Yao’s response.
Ah, that made sense.
Because her predecessor had lost her power, even her perception as a magical girl had declined.
Come to think of it…
Xia Yao looked Lin Xiaojue over. The other girl was wrapped in a trench coat today, and around her neck was the Whale Scarf that Xia Yao had knitted and mended.
Seeing the scarf, uneasy memories flooded back into her heart.
“I have finished. Please take a look, Predecessor.”
Xia Yao picked up the snowball, holding it in her palms like a precious treasure.
“There’s no need to talk like that~” Xiao Jue took the snowball and placed it on top of a large snow mound at her feet. The prototype of a snowman began to take shape.
By sticking two branches in as arms and poking two holes in the smaller snowball for eyes, a snowman was born.
Lin Xiaojue was very satisfied with the masterpiece before her.
“Hmm… what else is it missing?”
While examining it, she drew a smiley face on the snowman.
She clapped her hands.
There, that was perfect!
“Um… Predecessor.” Xia Yao carefully carried over a pile of silver hair strands, her eyes full of hope.
“Hmm?”
“May I add this?”
Lin Xiaojue nodded and stepped aside. Having received permission, Xia Yao solemnly stepped forward with the silver hair.
The silver hair was draped over the snowman’s head. With its two empty eye sockets, it looked ridiculous and comical.
“Uh…” Xia Yao took a deep breath, not knowing what to say.
Lin Xiaojue also fell silent.
***
After a long time, she approached the snowman and pinched a tuft of hair to form an ahoge.
Although the eye sockets were still empty, with the addition of the ahoge, the snowman clearly had a two-dimensional anime vibe.
It looked both cute and funny now.
“Doesn’t it look much better?”
Lin Xiaojue tilted her head and smiled. Her soft silver hair fluttered in the wind like a blooming night-cactus.
Xia Yao’s eyes widened. A faint red flush appeared around her eyes, and tears shimmered at the corners.
“Yes.”
“Hehe, then let’s… go! Off we go to get some barbecue!”
Lin Xiaojue raised her fist high, only to fall into the sea amidst the *crack-crack* of breaking ice.
*Splash!*
A spray of water splashed beside the snowman. Xia Yao immediately reached out in panic, her hand resting at the edge of the hole as she tried to find the other girl.
There was no response.
Breath… she couldn’t catch her breath.
This was the first time Lin Xiaojue had ever fallen into the bone-chilling sea.
She was someone who couldn’t swim; she had almost drowned in the pool during her university swimming class.
The teacher had told her to stop swimming, and consequently, she was ostracized by the others.
As a magical girl, she was destined to have no time to spend on social interactions.
Therefore, her social experience was almost zero, excluding her experiences as the magical girl Tianyu.
Once, she had failed to defeat a residual beast and broke her arm.
She wobbled into school with her arm in a sling; others cast a fleeting glance before pulling away distantly, as if afraid of some monstrous flood or beast.
Because she hadn’t attended her own mother’s funeral that day.
Her mother had been a famous teacher at the university. As her child, going or not going would have influenced her future.
‘Hah, why is it that when people are about to die, they always remember unpleasant things?’
Lin Xiaojue felt slightly uncomfortable.
Not just mentally uncomfortable, but her body was also reaching its limit.
She was sinking continuously, wrapped in the deep, silent darkness, little by little, until even the light coming from the ice hole above was swallowed up.
As for her.
As for her body, it felt like it was already *boro boro da*.
The pressure of the seawater surged from all directions, like a giant hand gripping her.
With just a slight squeeze, she could feel the stinging in her brain and the burning in her lungs — a suffocating sensation that made her unable to stop the urge to open her mouth and breathe.
Her heart thudded wildly. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on. She could feel the heartbeat getting louder and louder, like a drum beating inside her body.
‘Stop beating.’
Lin Xiaojue tried to open her mouth. As soon as her lips parted, the merciless seawater poured in, the salty, fishy taste carrying silt as it forced its way into her oral cavity without reason.
‘Forget it, there’s no way out.’
She didn’t know who had designed it so that a transformation required shouting a catchphrase.
Lin Xiaojue was furious. If she could, she definitely wanted to go back to the shore and swing her fists.
But she couldn’t go back.
As far as she knew, Xia Yao also couldn’t swim.
There weren’t many skilled swimmers in their team, and Su Yaqing, who was the best at swimming, wasn’t here.
‘Ah, this really hurts…’
Lin Xiaojue felt the burning sensation inside her as she sank bit by bit.
‘Why am I so unlucky?’
A hint of resentment rose within her. It was the same during the final battle and in the Simulation. Her life was a mess, with no sense of order to be seen.
But…
Recalling the time spent with her teammates, everyone had always been laughing.
If she weren’t a magical girl, she would probably be looking at the sea surface with a mediocre gaze right now and then hurrying off to work.
She would get married, have children, and live a life so ordinary it couldn’t be more ordinary.
The people and things she cared about would be nothing more than neighbors, family, and the mundane details of daily life.
Choosing the path of a magical girl, she had walked with everyone for 5 years. She had even confessed to a teammate, and…
Lin Xiaojue felt the coldness on her face diminish quite a bit.
‘It’s just that everyone hasn’t truly gathered together yet…’
The prolonged suffocation caused Lin Xiaojue’s consciousness to fade. Her thoughts were slow, advancing with extreme difficulty.
‘I can’t sleep yet.’
Lin Xiaojue understood this logic. Maybe if she held on a little longer, someone would come to fish her out.
Though what they fished out might just be the corpse of a beautiful girl.
A corpse…
Lin Xiaojue couldn’t help but imagine Su Yaqing holding her and crying. ‘Would she be very sad?’
‘With me gone, Yaqing will have to be the one to comfort Xia Yao.’
‘I wonder if Xia Yao will lose control now…’
After sinking for an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiaojue couldn’t hold on any longer.
A violent impact surged through her chest. Her heart beat incessantly, and her chest felt itchy and painful. Every cell in her body was forcing her to breathe.
‘I can’t hold it in.’
There was no other way. Since she was going to die, she would take one last look at the world.
Lin Xiaojue opened her eyes and looked up at the dim layer of ice and the floating light from the mouth of the ice hole.
The moment she opened them, her eyes were irritated by the surrounding seawater. She quickly closed them, and her consciousness faded.
Suddenly, a solid sensation came from her back.
‘Did I hit the bottom?’
Lin Xiaojue thought so, but perhaps not.
Because her lips were blocked.
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