During the time they were resting on the bench, Chiling kept recalling the battle from earlier.
An enemy that didn’t exist in the original work… and that berserk sensation — what on earth was that about?
Even within her knowledge of the original story, she couldn’t find any information that matched the current situation.
But no matter what, the creator of these dolls definitely knew something. She would have to find that person later — now she had one more thing to ask about.
Meanwhile, Yang Mo placed the giant isopod plushie on her lap, repeatedly kneading and squeezing it while staring blankly at the street.
At that moment, a vibration suddenly came from her pocket. She opened her phone and saw it was a text from Yang Xia.
“Look, Big Sis says she’s on her way here.”
Chiling followed Yang Mo’s voice and looked at the screen. Sure enough, the message read:
I’m almost there! Stay where you are and wait a bit!
When Yang Mo had called Yang Xia earlier to report the situation, she hadn’t sounded this urgent. Chiling had no idea what had suddenly changed.
All Chiling could think was:
“I hope this time she doesn’t blame us again for messing up her study schedule.”
Hearing this, Yang Mo lifted her sleeve and gave a couple of soft laughs.
Whenever she made that habitual gesture, her energy seemed noticeably higher than before. Looked like she had rested enough.
A little while later, the familiar red-haired girl appeared from the other end of the street.
Since almost no one dared come near this area where evil demons had appeared, the two of them noticed her immediately.
“Yang Mo! Chiling!”
Her expression was more anxious than they had ever seen. Even from a distance, Chiling could see two beads of sweat on her forehead — most likely from running a long way without stopping.
“Big Sis!”
Yang Mo stood up and waved at her.
When Yang Xia finally reached them, before she could even say a word, she pulled Yang Mo into a tight embrace.
“Big Sis, what’s wrong?”
Yang Mo didn’t return the hug. The sudden action left her momentarily at a loss, unsure what to do with her hands.
Although Yang Mo, being held, couldn’t see it, from Chiling’s angle she clearly saw Yang Xia squeeze her eyes shut hard — a single clear teardrop slipped from the corner of her eye.
“After you called me, I saw the posts online… they said the fight at the plaza was brutal, that the magical girls almost lost… So I’m sorry… I’m really sorry. I should have come with you two…”
……
Even though Yang Mo had been brooding over this matter herself, she now responded to her sister with gentleness.
“It’s okay. Next time we’ll come together.”
As she spoke, she reached up and gently patted Yang Xia’s head twice.
For some reason, Chiling felt that Yang Mo was imitating the way she herself had comforted her before. At the same time, the scene warmed her heart deeply.
If in the original story Yang Xia had successfully saved Yang Mo, perhaps moments like this would have appeared later on as well.
Still, there was one thing that made her a little uneasy — the eyewitness accounts Yang Xia had mentioned. She had thought everyone ran away during the fight, but apparently someone had been secretly watching. Good thing she hadn’t let Yang Mo flip up her skirt back then…
Just as Chiling was still feeling lingering fear about the earlier situation, Yang Xia suddenly furrowed her brows and glared at her.
“Hey, you — the housekeeping robot over there. What are you standing there dazed for? Get over here.”
Her tone was full of irritation. Chiling could only shuffle over while giving a half-hearted reply:
“Okay okay… coming…”
And then, even Chiling was pulled into a tight hug.
“You two are okay… that’s really the most important thing…”
Unlike her earlier tone, Yang Xia’s voice now was calm yet carried a faint tremble, as though she were holding back tears.
One arm around Chiling, one around Yang Mo — the three of them pressed close together, like a real set of sisters.
In the warmth of that embrace, many thoughts flashed through Chiling’s mind.
So I’m part of this place too?
Ah… I almost forgot. I’m no longer just an observer of the story.
And from now on, she would likely become even more deeply entwined with this world.
For the first time, she felt that she wasn’t merely an outsider who had suddenly dropped in. Somewhere along the way, she seemed to have gained a sense of belonging.
…
Chiling simply stood there, letting Yang Xia hold her for as long as she needed.
On the way back together, Yang Xia suddenly suggested spending the night at their family home.
Yang Mo was the first to look surprised. “Big Sis, it doesn’t look like you brought any study materials… Is that really okay?”
“How could I possibly feel at ease after something like this happened here…
I’ve already prepared myself to get scolded by the teacher on Monday.”
After saying that, Yang Xia gritted her teeth and pressed a hand to her forehead.
Chiling shrugged and spread her hands, mercilessly adding from the side:
“Wow, looks like someone who’s bad at studying is going to be busy next week too.”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that—”
Yang Xia started with a tone ready for an argument, but before the next sentence came out she suddenly stopped. In the end she let out a long, defeated sigh, like a balloon that had been popped.
“…Forget it. I’m too tired to argue with you today.”
Perhaps to shift her focus, she turned the topic to Chiling’s magic instead.
“By the way, you even brought out your Kokoro Bu right? Don’t tell me you ran into ‘Lys’ somewhere?”
Yang Mo chimed in: “Or maybe it’s ‘Zhuiyun’ like me? After all, that one appears and disappears like a ghost.”
“What are you two suddenly talking about?”
Although Chiling could understand what they meant thanks to her knowledge of the original work, the topic change was so abrupt that she felt she should play dumb here.
So Yang Xia explained:
“We’re talking about the names of the Contract Beasts. Since you know so much about magical girls, you should know about them too.”
“I know they’re talking animals, but I don’t know their names… You guys are jumping topics way too fast…”
“Fine… my bad for not explaining clearly. So have you encountered anything like that?”
“Nope.”
“Then I really don’t get it…”
Watching Yang Xia fall into deep thought, Chiling could only mentally roast:
If a Contract Beast ever dared form a contract with an evil demon like me, that would be the day this world actually ends.
Just like in most works of this genre, the Contract Beasts in Magical Girl Veru served both as mascots and as the ones responsible for choosing magical girls.
Chiling had seen other similar stories where the Contract Beasts turned out to be the source of all evil, but at least in this world, while each had their own personality, they generally leaned toward the side of good.
That was why she still held a fairly positive impression of them — except perhaps for the one Yang Xia mentioned, “Lys.”
That cat always loved saying cryptic, meaningful-sounding things. The ultimate example of the “riddle-speaking” character type she hated most.
While she was pinching her chin and thinking about all this, the three of them had already reached the subway entrance. It was almost time to head home.