When it comes down to it, it’s just the collapse of the current magical girl etiquette.
If you like someone, you ‘a’ them.
If they don’t resist, it means they like you too.
If they resist, it means they want to like being passive, so you keep enjoying it.
Foot fetish, hand fetish, disdain face…
Yandere, landmine girl, yellow-haired enthusiast…
How can things be like this?
You don’t even know if it’s the person who likes you that’s a pervert, or the one being liked that’s a pervert.
Shouldn’t it start with writing a letter to express your feelings, then getting to know each other from the first meeting, holding hands on the third, hugging on the tenth, trying to be alone and intimate on the fifteenth, and kissing under the brilliant fireworks on the twentieth night?
Then, even if others gossip and doubt you, you still firmly choose each other, confirm your feelings, and live happily together for a lifetime?
Madoka didn’t understand the current magical girls, but she respected them.
“Xiao Tianyou, Yuela Liuli was a relationship that Floran found for you back then. It can also be considered a lingering grudge left by Floran…”
“Sis Madoka, I just want to leave Yuela Liuli. I never want to see her again. I’ve been bullied by her enough to make up for what happened with Mother back then.”
Luo Tianyou gently clenched her skirt.
Maybe Mother really did bully Yuela Liuli badly back then, but didn’t Yuela Liuli bully me as well?
It’s already enough to return favor for favor.
Right now, I haven’t even completed becoming a magical girl, I’m not even considered a girl, and I don’t even know my own future or feelings.
Even if I take a step back ten thousand times—
I, Luo Tianyou,
Just don’t want to have anything to do with Yuela Liuli!!!
I hate Yuela Liuli to death!!!!!!
“…Understood.”
Madoka reached out her hand, her fingers gently brushing over the Crescent Mark on Luo Tianyou’s neck, covering it with her own magic.
“But this mark is a contract planted by Yuela Liuli. It acts directly on your soul. Forcibly removing it would cause considerable damage to both your origins. I can temporarily hide it, making it impossible for Yuela Liuli to sense or locate you clearly for a while. As long as you’re not especially close to her, she shouldn’t be able to detect your exact location.”
“How long can it be hidden?” Luo Tianyou felt the change in the mark.
“Two weeks. During this time, you can think carefully about whether you really want to leave her completely. If you decide to completely break the connection, come find me again when the mark’s concealment is about to fade. Then, I can help you remove it for good. Although there will be some trouble and cost, for Flora’s sake, I’ll help you.”
Madoka pressed her hand to Luo Tianyou’s lips, stopping her from directly saying she wanted it removed completely.
“Xiao Tianyou, this is your own choice. Yuela Liuli’s promise from back then affected her deeply. Her actions may be extreme, but at her core, she’s also a persistent child. She has never shied away from her duties as a magical girl. Of course, if she truly hurt you and forced you to do things you didn’t want to, I’ll definitely stand by your side.”
Luo Tianyou bit her lip and fell silent for a while.
She knew Yuela Liuli was a responsible magical girl.
Just an hour ago, her thoughts toward Yuela Liuli had changed, feeling she should treat her a bit better.
But Yuela Liuli’s later rough behavior proved she was a jerk.
She’s kind to everyone, but when it comes to me, she only wants to toy with and torment me.
“Thank you, Sis Madoka.”
She thanked her sincerely.
Madoka’s smile remained warm.
“What do you plan to do next? Do you need me to arrange a safe place for you? Or stay by my side?”
Luo Tianyou shook her head and hugged the bundle in her arms tightly.
Her physical condition was still a secret.
“I want to calm down by myself first and study the things Mother left behind…Sis Madoka, I had a car accident when I was little and hurt my head, so I can’t remember a lot of things. Do you know about this?”
She had never cared about it before.
The past was always in the past, and the future was what mattered most.
Mother had told her that after the accident, she lay in the hospital for half a year before waking up, almost forgetting even Mother herself.
No one around her knew about her past, and whenever she tried to remember, her brain would ache uncontrollably.
So she didn’t like recalling the old days.
Yuela Liuli’s appearance gave her a slight desire to understand her past, but when Yuela Liuli said Mother was murdered, Luo Tianyou couldn’t believe it.
Mother never lied to her, never.
She would even count rice grains with her at every meal, count how many there were together, and then admit with a smile she hadn’t really counted, spending another hour or two to count them again before finally eating together.
But why didn’t Sis Madoka know her gender?
With such a suspicious opening, and suddenly meeting Mother’s friend who might know more about her early years, Luo Tianyou naturally became curious and asked.
Madoka tilted her head slightly, thinking, then gently shook her head, her face showing an apologetic expression.
“Sorry, Xiao Tianyou, I don’t know about the car accident. The last time I saw you was when you were very, very little, being held by Flora. That was about…twenty-five years ago, right? Back then, you were about two or three years old, chubby and cute. After that, due to Long-Term Tasks, my contact with Flora became intermittent, and I didn’t hear anything about you from Floran again.”
Twenty-five years ago?
Two or three years old?
“…Huh?”
Luo Tianyou was struck like lightning, staring at Madoka in disbelief.
After the car accident, she wasn’t clear about her own age.
She asked Mother, and Mother said she was eleven at the time, with a birthday on January 1st each year, and now she was twenty.
But Madoka said she was already two or three years old twenty-five years ago?
Even counting at the youngest, if she was two, she should be at least twenty-seven now!
There’s a gap of at least seven years.
Did Mother lie to her?
She probably…didn’t.
Maybe Mother simply remembered wrong, or she herself remembered wrong.
After all, she was just out of the hospital and her mind was a mess.
Luo Tianyou comforted herself, but she felt a chill spread over her body.
It wasn’t that she was uneasy or didn’t trust Mother.
It was that Yuela Liuli had said Mother was murdered.
She had never imagined such a thing could happen.
“Twenty-five years ago? Sis Madoka, are you sure? You’re not mistaken?”
Seeing Luo Tianyou’s shocked expression, Madoka sensed something was off.
“I couldn’t be mistaken, Xiao Tianyou. For magical girls who have lived a long time like us, important memory nodes are very clear. Twenty-five years ago was right before I participated in a major mission, and Flora brought you over to see me off. I even gave you a Handmade Bracelet I wove myself. You liked it so much you wouldn’t let go.”
Handmade Bracelet?
In Luo Tianyou’s mind, a faint and broken image seemed to flash—
Warm sunlight, pink hair, a delicately woven bracelet.
But then, the familiar stabbing pain struck again.
“Ugh!”
She groaned, clutching her head.
“Xiao Tianyou!”
Madoka quickly used her magic to ease the pain again.
The pain gradually subsided.
Luo Tianyou tried her best to calm herself.
It was just a trivial matter, not worth getting nervous over.
Mother had no reason to deceive her.
Just ask Sis Madoka and she’d know.
“Sis Madoka, about the Death of Mother, Yuela Liuli said she was murdered. Is that true?”
Madoka’s eyes narrowed, her expression turning unnatural for a moment.
What’s going on?
Luo Tianyou didn’t know about this???
That Floran fellow, didn’t lie, did she???