Although he came from such a complicated family, for the first sixteen years of his life, Cloud You was just an ordinary boy with a quick mind and a nimble body.
It wasn’t until the start of his second year in high school that, all of a sudden and inexplicably, he found himself with two new identities in a single day.
Fortunately, both of his family’s “veterans” were very experienced, and even though Cloud You hadn’t eaten pork before, he had definitely seen pigs running around—he was quite familiar with the kind of problems a Kamen Rider or Magical Girl might face.
For example, identity issues.
Cloud Li and Lin Zhifeng both had their own jobs outside their vigilante roles.
From Cloud You’s observations, their identities had never been revealed publicly; only a handful of close friends and family knew, and even they didn’t know about each other’s secret identities.
Those few insiders seemed to be their
“colleagues.”
Cloud Li’s secrecy was relatively simple—unless someone was physically beaten and forced to undo his transformation, it was very hard to see through his impenetrable mask.
But Lin Zhifeng never covered her face.
Why hadn’t anyone recognized her yet?
This puzzled Cloud You for a long time.
So, when he was six, he decisively asked,
“Mom, why didn’t Dad recognize that was you?”
At the time, Lin Zhifeng was sitting on the sofa watching a Magical Girl anime with Cloud You, more absorbed in the show than even he was.
Her reaction almost caused her to fall off the couch.
Relying on excellent balance, she grabbed the edge of the sofa with one hand, stretched her other leg out to press against the armrest, and held a difficult pose.
“Wh… what?”
[Friendship Power of Red Maple Magical Girl]
tells the story of Red Maple, Bellflower, Heather, and Chamomile—the four Magical Girls who fight against the Evil Witch.
Even when facing despair and collapse, they ultimately win through the power of friendship…
It’s an extremely traditional, classic story.
It was said the production team had authorization from the actual people behind Red Maple and others, and the main creators were true fans who poured love into it.
The plot was full of twists yet carried strong positive and educational messages, making it a perennial hit on the Children’s Channel, rebroadcast every winter and summer vacation.
Later, due to the soaring popularity inside and outside the show, the production company fired the original main creators and hired a new team to produce a series of sequels.
However, the new team was only interested in making a quick profit.
Both plot and animation were sloppy, with blatant self-serving content.
The quality declined with each installment, so the TV station still mainly reruns the original series.
Back to the point, Cloud You had basically grown up watching this anime and could recite the plot backwards.
So noticing that a few characters in the show shared personality traits and some appearance features with people he knew was extremely easy.
Cloud You pointed at the TV screen.
“Red Maple. Mom, you’re Red Maple, right? Why didn’t Dad recognize you?”
Before Lin Zhifeng could answer, he pointed at other characters on the screen.
“Bellflower is Aunt Yu, who’s often on TV. They have the same tear mole. Heather is Aunt Su, who bakes me cookies. Heather’s first batch of cookies was for Red Maple… umm umm.”
Lin Zhifeng sprang up from the sofa, her expression complicated as she looked at Cloud You, who was blinking at her while covering his mouth.
She briefly wondered if she had made a mistake authorizing that production team to make the anime.
But then again, Chamomile said the more widely their deeds were publicized, the less likely ordinary people would be tricked by magical beasts.
Besides… the Red Maple character design in that anime was really cute.
Who would connect a two-dimensional cardboard cutout with a real person?
Well, Cloud You would.
Children’s imaginations were truly something else.
She looked left and right, making sure Cloud Li wasn’t home before releasing her grip.
“Xiao You… tell me, why do you think that?”
It wasn’t like she hadn’t used magic to make toy cars fly in front of Cloud You when he was too young to remember.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t entrusted a teddy bear to take care of him and prepare his milk powder while she was out fighting magical beasts.
She had even transformed right in front of him…
On second thought, when Cloud You was just a toddler of one or two years old, she hadn’t bothered hiding the transformations.
Later, she had unconsciously gotten used to ignoring his presence—after all, who would be wary of a cabinet in their own house?
So she had transformed right in front of him…
Lin Zhifeng’s face twitched involuntarily at her own foolishness.
She relaxed her body and slowly slid off the sofa, falling backward onto the wooden floor covered with a wool rug.
The cushions piled on the sofa slipped one by one and buried her.
If she remembered correctly, at a certain kindergarten parents’ meeting, the kindergarten was attacked by magical beasts.
The current generation of Magical Girls seemed delayed by something, so Lin Zhifeng, in her true form, guided the teachers, parents, and children to evacuate.
Seizing the moment when no one was paying attention, she transformed secretly and dragged the beast until the Magical Girls arrived, successfully driving it off.
Afterward, confident no one knew her identity under the mask, she boasted to the media about how brave Cloud You had been—how he didn’t cry from start to finish and thus set the tone for the whole class to remain calm and well-behaved during the evacuation.
Surely a calm child must have a smart, beautiful mom!
Cloud You’s expression back then had been very subtle.
Lin Zhifeng thought he was worried she might sneak off on an excuse to the bathroom, but now she realized he was probably just uncomfortable listening to his mom bragging nonstop.
Thinking of this, Lin Zhifeng wished she could just be buried and never discovered.
“Why didn’t you know?”
Cloud You pressed stubbornly, moving closer and throwing aside the star-shaped pillow covering her face, cruelly shattering her hopes.
“You’re really just like your dad—so annoyingly persistent about weird things.”
Lin Zhifeng looked up through the gap in the cushions and met his gaze.
Sighing heavily, she pushed away the top pillows and stood to explain.
“Although you might think we don’t disguise ourselves and it’s strange that no one recognizes us, actually, the Magical Girl’s face after transformation isn’t really our true face.”
Generally, after transforming, their appearance undergoes subtle adjustments based on their natural looks.
If they were an eight out of ten before, they become a perfect ten after transforming.
Overall, their original features remain but become more beautiful.
For example, she herself was a delicate-looking girl, so after transforming, she appeared as a friendly, refined, pretty girl-next-door.
Bellflower, who had a colder personality, also transformed into a stunning beauty, just even more exquisite than before.
Besides this, some magic blurs recognition, preventing people from connecting their transformed faces to their real ones.
So even though they never cover their faces, no one suspects unless they witness the transformation firsthand or the girls themselves confess their true identities.
Fans have guessed as much—after all, the Magical Girls are so striking, they’d stand out in daily life.
Yet, for so many years, hardly anyone has discovered their true selves, so they must be using some minor magic.
In short, Cloud You could see through their identities because he had witnessed Lin Zhifeng transform in person.
From there, considering Lin Zhifeng’s social connections and their traits, it was natural to identify the Magical Girls close to her.
In other words, her disguise was perfect!
Being discovered by Cloud You was just an external factor, unavoidable.
Relieved, Lin Zhifeng exhaled deeply.
“I wonder if the fans would be disappointed if they knew the truth. Actually, the Magical Girl transformation is like a witch-level cosmetic surgery.”
“You’ve always been pretty, Mom,”
Cloud You answered with a strong survival instinct, earning a heartfelt squeeze.
“Oh, Xiao You, such an honest good kid! Mom loves you the most! So, can you promise me one thing?”
At that moment, the six-year-old Cloud You didn’t know why the map of Yan Country was so short.
His chubby face grew serious as he raised three pudgy fingers in protest.
Lin Zhifeng sneered and reluctantly nodded.
“Thirty days it is, thirty days. Mom won’t dress you up as Red Maple this month. Satisfied?”
She said she wouldn’t let her son cosplay Red Maple, but she didn’t say anything about Bellflower.
Cloud You’s small body shivered.
Actually, he wanted to say three days… Was this a negotiation?
He experienced the power of words for the first time.
Of course, he couldn’t argue now, fearing Lin Zhifeng would change her mind.
He quickly nodded, “So, what is it?”
A faint smile appeared on Lin Zhifeng’s face.
“My identity—don’t tell Dad, okay? It’s our secret. You don’t have to lie to him, just don’t tell him. Of course, if he finds out himself and asks you—”
Her smile deepened as her hand landed on Cloud You’s head, messing up his hair.
“Then just tell him the truth! But he’s such a slowpoke. Waiting for him to realize is like waiting for a mascot to spill the truth.”
Now sixteen, Cloud You somewhat understood what she meant.
Even though he was used to seeing his parents always standing in front of everyone else, sometimes he worried whether one day they would leave and never come back.
So, did she not want the people close to her to worry about her safety at home?
Lin Zhifeng: Not exactly, she just did a lot of weird things counting on her identity not being exposed, which was simply embarrassing.
…But six-year-old Cloud You only had confused eyes, neither understanding her intention nor the meaning of her last sentence.
Still, he agreed readily.
After all, Cloud Li had told him roughly the same thing.
This way, it balanced out, and Cloud You didn’t have to feel guilty about hiding their secrets.
Plus, he got to avoid skirts for thirty days—a total win.
Speaking of which… what did she mean by “waiting for the mascot to tell the truth”?
Wasn’t she very close to the mascot in the anime?