“So annoying.”
Shouldering her backpack, Lin Yu sat in the unmanned taxi heading toward their family’s Commercial Street.
She gripped the backpack straps, adjusted her ponytail, and muttered softly.
Even now, she didn’t understand how she had ended up friends with Jiang Yao.
Maybe it was just a stray comment during the first day of school, or perhaps helping pick up a dropped pen — that was all it took to connect them.
(Hate it! I hate it the most!)
Every time she saw Jiang Yao, Lin Yu couldn’t help but think of her mom.
Not because the two were alike — in fact, they barely resembled each other at all.
But they both had talents others envied.
Her mom spent every day at home watching anime and playing games, occasionally going into chuunibyou mode pretending to be a Magic Girl firing lasers.
When Lin Yu was little, her mom even tricked her into being a Familiar for a long time! Back then, her mom told her she was a noble member of the Dragon Clan, destined to inherit the Divine Dragon Power and conquer the world.
Her usually reliable dad would always spoil her mom at these moments, not only never exposing the lie but even helping to deceive Lin Yu.
So Lin Yu had believed it her entire childhood — thinking she was truly a noble Dragon Clan descendant, unfit to mingle with ordinary people.
She barely made friends because of that.
What made it worse was her mom had documented all her embarrassing moments on video. So far, Lin Yu had tried at least thirty times to delete the Memory Archive, but her mom struck back by burning the videos onto Discs and placing one in every Office.
She’d always thought her name was dull — Lin Yu, Lin Yu — felt like going out only to get rained on.
It wasn’t until she pestered her dad that she learned he originally wanted to name her Lin Yu Xia.
What a poetic name that was. Just hearing it conjured an image of a narrow alley drizzling with fine rain, a girl strolling beneath an oil-paper umbrella.
But her mom flat-out vetoed it, saying the character “Xia” was unlucky, refusing to change anything else, and just chopped it off — so her full name became simply Lin Yu.
Then she called her dad some incomprehensible nonsense like “wrinkly.”
In short, what kind of proper mom would do such a thing? (Annoyed)
But despite her mom’s eccentricity, she ran her own Magical Empire and even managed to hire a real Magical Girl Idol to endorse her business.
Even her dad said it was because her mom possessed her own Talent, combined with some luck and the resolve to seize opportunities, that she achieved such results.
Lin Yu once thought she’d never meet anyone like her mom again.
Yet Jiang Yao had that same quality.
That girl never studied, but somehow always crushed her on every test.
It put immense pressure on Lin Yu.
Pressure she imposed on herself because she had long considered herself a “noble and powerful Dragon Clan descendant,” so her grades had to surpass ordinary mortals.
Over time, even after the lie was revealed, she got used to being First Place, refusing to accept any other ranking.
Her parents, on the other hand, didn’t care about her grades — only that she was a good person.
“Anyway, our family’s got plenty of money. As long as you have good character, grades don’t really matter 🖐, but…”
At that time, her mom had spoken seriously for once:
“If someone — or a fairy — asks you to be a Magic Girl, don’t ever go. It’s real sacrifice, real death.”
“But don’t worry too much. Our family’s never had that self-sacrificial spirit. We’d never risk ourselves to save others.”
As if her mom really knew other Magic Girls besides meeting endorsers!
The term Magic Girl was still so distant to Lin Yu. She’d hardly ever witnessed Demonic Tribe attacks herself — just read about them in the news.
That was society’s norm now. Magic Girls’ beautiful appearances, their wondrous magic, their many personalities and careers could stir plenty of discussion, but they were far removed from ordinary people.
Even those close to Magic Girls often didn’t know their identities, let alone the general public.
Those dark forces felt more like “Disasters” to human society — sudden, taking a few lives or sometimes not, and Magic Girls were those who came to handle these Disasters.
Like firefighters or police officers — noble professions, but until it affected you directly, it didn’t feel real.
Still, for some reason, recently Lin Yu had seen quite a few. Once, some huge bugs even invaded the school playground.
At that time, she had planned to pull Jiang Yao and run, but got separated in the crowd, which startled her. Fortunately, she later heard a Magic Girl had come to resolve the crisis, and after they reunited, she finally felt relieved.
She was so mad at Jiang Yao for not following the group through the Emergency Passage properly and somehow getting separated.
Jiang Yao was so careless and hated studying — always either dozing off or secretly playing on her phone in class.
Yet she was always First Place.
Some girls in class whispered accusations of cheating.
That was ridiculously foolish.
They’d even shared an exam room once. Jiang Yao’s quick writing and confident timing clearly showed she knew what she was doing. Besides, you can’t cheat your way to First Place.
Maybe, like her mom, that was just her Talent.
Annoying Talent!
Lin Yu worked hard but could at best keep pace with Jiang Yao.
Under those circumstances, even with good family education, Lin Yu couldn’t help but feel jealousy.
At the same time, she was deeply ashamed of envying her friend.
That shame burned her heart with a pain only knowing you’re wrong but unable to stop yourself can bring.
(I wish we’d never been friends in the first place.)
— That thought kept swirling through Lin Yu’s mind.
After the latest test, holding the report showing her Second Place rank, she finally lost it and shouted at the smiling Jiang Yao, who was asking if she wanted to hang out over the weekend:
“We’re not friends! I’m not some genius like you. Can you stop always blocking me from studying!”
Jiang Yao looked hurt and ran off immediately.
Later, Lin Yu heard from the teacher that Jiang Yao got sick and took a leave, not coming back the entire afternoon.
When she saw Jiang Yao come to school normally this morning, Lin Yu gave up on the idea of hiring an Investigator or tracking down Jiang Yao’s house to apologize.
Instead, she took the apology letter she had painstakingly revised all night — a heartfelt essay she had written after watching countless videos to learn how to apologize properly — and lowered her head as she approached Jiang Yao, who had just put down her backpack.
“I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that… Actually, I’ve always considered you…”
To lay bare her feelings so openly, something she had never done before, made Lin Yu uncomfortable, but she had to formally apologize and earn back her hurt friend’s forgiveness.
Especially since Jiang Yao was her only friend.
“…my best friend.”
(It’s out! I said it!)
Lin Yu kept her head down, afraid to meet Jiang Yao’s eyes.
“Huh? Actually, yesterday I just took that chance to go visit my mom at the hospital. I was a bit upset then, but I knew you were just saying those things.”
Hearing Jiang Yao’s bewildered reply, Lin Yu felt like a blowfish puffing up with anger!
If the other side didn’t care at all, then all her late-night efforts revising the apology, watching videos, writing the letter, staying up all night, and rehearsing how to apologize — wasn’t that just some kind of Red Nose Profession!
No wonder Lin Yu had been so annoyed with Jiang Yao during class.
But since Jiang Yao accepted the apology and said she really wasn’t mad,
Lin Yu’s goal was achieved, so she’d won!
The vehicle came to a stop.
Lin Yu opened the door to get out and suddenly felt utterly exhausted.
Her only dependable dad had a project today, so after dealing with Jiang Yao during the day, she still had to go to her unreliable mom’s place at night.
“Ding-ling-ling~”
Accompanied by the wind chimes inside Yaoguang Cafe, Lin Yu stroked Black Bean’s small head, picked up the kitten, and shakily walked up to the third floor with her bag on her back.
(She’s probably watching anime again…)
She thought as she climbed the stairs.
At the third-floor door, as she pulled out the key to unlock it, she suddenly heard voices inside.
(Her mom talking to someone? She usually doesn’t let strangers in here.)
Curious, Lin Yu pressed her ear against the door.
The voices grew clearer, and her mom sounded excited:
“Come on! Let me see if you’re developing normally!”
“No!”
“Behave! (voice trembling) Put this on quickly!”
“No! Qian Jie, don’t! Qian Jie, please…”
Lin Yu: “??????”
Her hand, originally about to insert the key, froze outside the lock.
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