“We’re almost there,” Yang Mo said with a smile. The place where they stood had already become very familiar to Qian Ling.
—
The alley sandwiched between streets, the concrete walls, the red bricks, and… the gray sky. Ever since they left the aquarium, the clouds had been growing thicker. A haze also clouded Qian Ling’s heart.
This scene was exactly like her nightmare; it was the alley where Yang Mo encountered Number Zero in the original work. To protect Yang Mo in time if anything happened, she walked closer to her until their shoulders were almost touching. At this distance, Yang Mo noticed Qian Ling’s eyes drifting elsewhere from time to time.
—
So, she quickened her pace to stand slightly ahead, then turned back to ask Qian Ling, “Is there something on your mind, Qian Ling?”
Qian Ling made up an explanation on the fly. “I’m worried a magical girl might show up here. Could you help me keep an eye out?”
It sounded like a perfectly reasonable request.
Yang Mo nodded energetically. “Mm, I’ll let you know as soon as I spot anything.”
This way, there was at least one more pair of eyes helping Qian Ling monitor the surroundings. As they continued walking, Qian Ling saw a fork in the road ahead from a distance. She recognized it at a glance—it was here that Number Zero had appeared in her nightmare.
‘Will it be here, just like in that dream?’
Qian Ling’s heart was nearly in her throat. Especially when they reached that fork, she was prepared to use her Iron Thorns at any moment. In reality, however, she encountered nothing. She and Yang Mo crossed the intersection without incident. Furthermore, the section requiring them to walk through alleys soon ended.
The end of the alley connected to a plaza paved with reddish-brown bricks. This was still a bustling area, surrounded by European-style buildings with white paint and red tiles, almost all of which were shops. The most prominent features were the fountain in the center and the clock tower standing behind it. On a weekend like this, all sorts of people chose to rest in this plaza after getting tired of shopping.
The path Qian Ling and Yang Mo had just taken was merely an inconspicuous shortcut; there were more prominent entrances in the other three directions, and most people entered the plaza from there. Some people sat on benches devouring burgers, some walked hand-in-hand with their partners through the shops, and some stood in front of the fountain taking photos. The air was filled with the noisy chatter of crowds.
This was such a commonplace scene, yet to the current Qian Ling, it seemed so bizarre.
‘Is this the end that the original work failed to reach?’
She stood at the mouth of the alley, staring blankly at everything, even forgetting to take a step. This was because she was absolutely certain that this plaza never appeared in the original work—this plaza where both she and Yang Mo were present.
Yang Mo’s slightly excited voice interrupted her thoughts. “It’s right there.” Yang Mo pointed at the fountain. “They say making a wish by that fountain is very effective.”
Qian Ling followed the direction she pointed and finally remembered to take a look at the central fountain. It used a classic three-tiered circular platform structure, with a sculpture of a carp at the very top. Unlike the modern atmosphere of the surroundings, one could see that the stone composing it had weathered many years; it was easy to find damage caused by erosion.
In front of the fountain pool, a red sign stood prominently, with yellow characters reading: “No Tossing Coins into the Fountain.”
Suddenly, Yang Mo held up her phone and began to read aloud with conviction, “…This fountain has survived since the last dynasty. It was originally commissioned by a corrupt official to bring good luck to his son. The carp on the fountain signifies ‘the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate’…”
“No wonder…” Qian Ling sighed.
Even from this distance, she could vaguely see coins piled up on the third tier of the fountain, nearly overflowing. And… actually, there were people right now standing before the fountain with coins in hand, looking ready to try.
Qian Ling shifted her gaze back to Yang Mo, only to find her eyes sparkling as she watched the people throwing coins. In the next second, Yang Mo smiled and invited Qian Ling, “Let’s go throw coins, too.”
“Absolutely not,” Qian Ling flatly refused, then reminded her, “Didn’t you see the sign below?”
“Then I’ll go throw one by myself!”
Saying this, she trotted toward the fountain, not forgetting to wave her sleeve back at Qian Ling as she ran.
Faced with her behavior, Qian Ling could only chase after her while shouting, “Wait… at least look where you’re going while you run.”
Looking at Yang Mo’s energetic back, she thought, ‘She’s so foolish.’
So foolish that even her tense nerves began to relax. She had come here with her heart in her mouth, only to end up seeing such a silly fountain. So far, Qian Ling hadn’t discovered anything unusual in the area. Perhaps, as she had suspected, all threats had already been eliminated, and her worries were completely in vain.
‘After all, hadn’t they already arrived? A world line that didn’t exist in the original work.’
As Qian Ling was thinking this, something suddenly drifted down from the sky. A cold and wet sensation… raindrops. To confirm it wasn’t an illusion, she looked up at the sky. Sure enough, she could see the traces of rain falling, becoming denser. The people in the plaza became noisier because of it.
But even so, Qian Ling could still clearly hear—”It happens like this sometimes…”
Interrupted by the rain, the voice sounded as if expressing regret for the unfinished task. Qian Ling involuntarily let out a sharp gasp, then suddenly looked down toward the source of the voice. There, Yang Mo looked up with a hint of sorrow, reaching her hand toward the gray sky as if to catch the falling rain.
Everything was exactly like “that time” in the original work. A coincidence? No, how could this be a coincidence? A tide of panic swept through Qian Ling’s heart.
‘This scene… no way, right? How is it possible? Has the plot returned to the original development after all? Despite all the effort… No… Absolutely not! How could I allow such a thing to happen!’
To prevent a tragedy, she began to use all her strength to search for anything unusual in the surroundings. Eyes, hearing, magic—she used everything. In the crowd, in the shops, on the beams—she missed nothing in that short span of time.
But in the end, what proved useful was none of those actions, nor her knowledge of the original work, nor her perception of her own kind. It was her sixth sense; it was that simple.
“Yang Mo!”
Qian Ling rushed to her side and pushed her away at the critical moment. Then… the impact of some sharp weapon, gathering strength, struck toward Qian Ling’s chest. Its momentum was so fierce that Qian Ling had no power to resist. She was pushed back until she hit the wall behind her, resulting in a burst of collision and shattering sounds.
“Qian Ling!”
Yang Mo screamed. As she struggled to crawl up from the ground, tears were already flowing and her hands were shaking uncontrollably, but she still understood the situation.
“MAGICAL GIRL AMBER! TRANSFORM!”
She shouted at the top of her lungs. As the orange Magical Girl reappeared, “that thing” also shed its disguise and revealed its true form.