Tongmen City, inside a private room of a café.
Lu Yuan had never seen a café with private rooms before. This place was brought to her by Liu Zhe, who had connections due to his scout identity. The meeting was arranged with great care to ensure privacy.
At first, Lu Yuan worried that appearing on the street in her transformed state might cause a commotion, but judging by the current situation, Liu Zhe’s professionalism was reliable. His car had a privacy screen, and the meeting spot was very secluded. But…
If only he could be a little more honest.
***
Lu Yuan crossed her arms, expressionless, staring at the girl sitting opposite her.
So this was the “Qing” Liu Zhe had described—“not eating or sleeping,” “about to break down,” “on the verge of collapse”?
The girl before her wore a smoky gray knitted dress, her pale blue-green hair falling smoothly over her shoulders. Her skin was fair and flawless, her features delicate—like the most expensive doll in a display window.
***
Lu Yuan took a good look at Qing. She sat properly upright, hands quietly folded on her lap, her gaze calm. There was not the slightest trace of “collapse” or “fragility” anywhere.
In fact, Lu Yuan felt this girl seemed much more mentally stable than herself—she, who had been forcibly dragged out of bed to become a Magical Girl.
***
“Mr. Liu,” Lu Yuan’s voice grew cold as she sharply turned her gaze to the restless Liu Zhe beside her. “Is this the ‘about to break down’ you mentioned?”
Sweat instantly appeared on Liu Zhe’s forehead. He awkwardly shuffled, not knowing where to put his hands or feet. “L-Lu Yuan Miss, please let me explain… Miss Qing, she just looks calm on the outside, but inside she’s very—”
“Enough.” Lu Yuan cut him off, unwilling to listen to such a clumsy excuse.
***
She looked back at Qing, trying to find something in those pale green eyes: the excitement of a fan? The joy of meeting an idol? Even nervousness would do.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Only a pure, unmasked observation.
Like a scientist examining a specimen under a microscope—focused, curious, even analytical.
Lu Yuan felt uneasy under that gaze. Being scrutinized like an object was deeply uncomfortable.
She frowned. “So, Miss Qing? You went through all this trouble, even had your agent make up such ridiculous lies, just to see me?”
Qing finally responded.
She nodded very slowly, her eyes still locked on Lu Yuan’s face.
“Why?” Lu Yuan pressed, leaning forward slightly to add pressure. “I don’t remember us knowing each other. What do you want from me?”
***
Qing remained silent. She seemed to be processing Lu Yuan’s question and carefully choosing her words.
After a few seconds, she pulled out the cellphone Liu Zhe had just bought her. There were no apps installed on it—only a memo pad.
Qing opened the memo and typed two characters.
【Look.】
***
Lu Yuan blinked in surprise. Why would this girl speak like that?
She glanced at Liu Zhe, who nervously explained, “Sorry, Miss Lu Yuan… Miss Qing is mute.”
“Mute?” Lu Yuan was at a loss for words. “…Alright.”
But that didn’t justify lying or harassing her.
And… what did “look” mean?
Just that? Look? Using such an almost obsessive way, just to “look” at her?
This reason was even harder to understand than fanatical worship. She would have preferred the other party wanting an autograph or a photo.
“Look?” Lu Yuan repeated, disbelief in her tone. “Have you looked enough? If so, I have other things to do.”
She made a move to stand, wanting to leave immediately from this inexplicable atmosphere.
“Wait!”
***
Liu Zhe panicked, almost jumping out of his seat. Qing suddenly moved too—she reached out and grabbed Lu Yuan’s wrist.
Those focused eyes quietly looked at Lu Yuan, gently shaking her head.
【Not enough.】
She raised the phone screen in front of Lu Yuan.
***
Lu Yuan froze.
She looked at Qing, at that extraordinarily persistent but utterly innocent gaze. Somehow, the anger inside her inexplicably faded, replaced by a deeper confusion and… a faint, indescribable curiosity.
Who was this person, really?
She sat back down, took a deep breath, and decided to clarify things.
“Fine, ‘look’ then?” Lu Yuan stared at her. “You’ve seen now. So what? What do you want? Or rather, what did you see?”
Qing didn’t answer but seemed satisfied that Lu Yuan was willing to continue the conversation.
【Want to, understand, more.】
***
Lu Yuan was stunned.
“Understand more? What do you mean…”
Before she could finish, a strange foreign sensation came from her chest.
Qing’s hand had somehow grabbed the softness at Lu Yuan’s chest.
Time seemed to freeze in an instant.
Lu Yuan’s mind went blank, all thoughts crashed under the sudden real touch.
She could even feel Qing’s fingertips pressing lightly through the thin battle suit.
“Eh…?” Lu Yuan was stunned, utterly unable to comprehend what was happening.
“Miss Qing?! What are you doing?! Let go now!!” Liu Zhe shouted desperately.
***
This was over! Totally over! All his painstaking efforts to bring in Miss Lu Yuan were ruined! Qing’s move was enough to land them both in jail for molesting a Magical Girl!
However, the expected scolding and violence didn’t come immediately.
Qing seemed to completely ignore the nearly fainting Liu Zhe and was oblivious to the severity of her actions.
She didn’t even look at Lu Yuan’s suddenly flushed face or shocked eyes. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, expression calm.
She even pinched the protrusion again, as if confirming what it was.
Then she clearly typed two characters in the memo:
【Soft.】
***
As if what she just did wasn’t star harassment but a simple physical experiment with a conclusion.
“Soft…?” Lu Yuan repeated softly.
Those two words struck like thunder, fully waking Lu Yuan up.
“You—!” A huge wave of shame shattered Lu Yuan’s rational barrier. Her cheeks flushed red as she fiercely slapped Qing’s hand away, the force making Qing’s hand instantly redden.
“Pervert!!!”
***
Lu Yuan jumped up from her seat, pointing at Qing and yelling at Liu Zhe incoherently, “What’s wrong with her?! This is your ‘look’?! This is your ‘understand’?! Mr. Liu! You owe me an explanation! Or I’m reporting this to Headquarters right now!”
Liu Zhe’s face went pale, his legs nearly giving out as if to kneel before Lu Yuan. “Sorry! Sorry, Miss Lu Yuan! I don’t know! Miss Qing—she’s not usually like this! She’s just… maybe too… too—”
He trailed off, unable to find a single reasonable word to explain the scene.
Meanwhile, the culprit Qing just glanced down at her reddened hand, then looked up at Lu Yuan, trembling with anger and red-eyed.
She raised her phone again.
【Still want, more, touch.】
She seemed to want to do something again, reaching out once more.
During the previous touch, she had felt a surge of intense emotion erupt from Lu Yuan’s body and wanted to experience that feeling again.
“Shut up! Don’t move!” Lu Yuan, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, suddenly took a large step back, pointing at Qing’s nose, her voice trembling. “Don’t come near me again! Don’t touch me again! Do you hear me?!”
Her chest heaved violently as she glared at the still dazed Qing and the nearly collapsing Liu Zhe.
***
“This isn’t over! Just wait!”
Throwing down that sentence, Lu Yuan practically fled from the café.