Inside the café, Xiaoxi sat nervously by the window, hesitant to look directly at the girl sitting across from her.
The girl’s expression was cold and distant.
She wore a small vest and a short skirt, her slender legs wrapped in black stockings crossed beneath the table.
From both her attire and the genuine leather small handbag resting on the table, it was clear she was no ordinary young lady, but a wealthy heiress of some status.
If not for the family-arranged blind date, Xiaoxi, a shut-in by nature, doubted she’d ever have the chance to come into contact with someone like this high-class lady.
“Ye Xinglan, it’s a pleasure to meet you—didn’t expect my blind date to be a girl.”
Looking at the delicate hand extended toward her, Xiaoxi was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Maybe the Matchmaker made a mistake, haha…”In truth, Xiaoxi knew very well it wasn’t the Matchmaker’s oversight.
Although she had a somewhat androgynous appearance since childhood, she was originally a boy.
She hadn’t dared to tell her family that she had become a girl because of being a Magical Girl.
It was probably her mother, holding onto her old photos, who caused this awkward mix-up when setting up the blind date.“I’ll start by introducing myself. Feel free to interrupt if you have any questions.”
Ye Xinglan didn’t waste time and got straight to the point.
“I’m 23. I’m the only one left in my family. I haven’t counted the number of properties or cars, but as for my job…”Xiaoxi was a little surprised.
She thought the blind date would be over the moment Ye Xinglan realized she was also a girl.
She hadn’t expected the other party to start introducing herself so directly.
Maybe she was also just going through the motions to appease her parents.
But listening to Ye Xinglan’s family background, Xiaoxi couldn’t help but smile wryly in her heart.
She had no idea where her mother had found this blind date.
Ye Xinglan’s conditions made her a bit nervous—what about her?
An unemployed shut-in, what could she possibly offer in comparison?
Maybe only her past as a Magical Girl was worth mentioning… though Xiaoxi had retired three years ago.
Despite still having many fans, she was determined to live an ordinary life now.
After all, it was the whole Magical Girl ordeal that transformed her step by step from boy to girl.
So Xiaoxi held no nostalgia for her past as the “Strongest Magical Girl.”
“Oh, by the way, there’s not much I dislike in daily life. There’s just one thing—I hate Magical Girls. So I don’t want my partner to have any connection with Magical Girls.”
Ye Xinglan’s words pulled Xiaoxi’s attention back.
Watching the girl elegantly sip her coffee, Xiaoxi raised an eyebrow.
It was hard to imagine someone disliking Magical Girls in this era when monsters ran rampant and Magical Girls protected the civilians.
“Why? Did a Magical Girl do something to you? Generally speaking, no one hates Magical Girls, right?”
“No… not exactly,” Ye Xinglan’s tone stiffened strangely.
She waved her hand. “Anyway, I just don’t like Magical Girls. A bunch of people wearing weird costumes, noisy and obnoxious—what’s so great about that?”
Xiaoxi clenched her fist slightly.
Though she had retired, she couldn’t tolerate such a dismissive comment about Magical Girls.
No matter what, Magical Girls had been fighting monsters to protect the public all this time.
Such cold remarks were too much.“Miss Ye Xinglan, I think that’s enough for today. Seems we’re not really compatible—Waiter, the bill please.”
Xiaoxi stood, smiling politely.
She felt there was no need to continue this blind date.
Different paths, no need to force it.
Even as a girl now, Xiaoxi gentlemanly took the bill herself.
Stepping out of the café door, she sighed deeply.
Her already thin wallet was now even lighter.
This month’s living expenses were going to be a problem, let alone the fact that she owed two months’ rent.
If she couldn’t pay soon, she might be kicked out by the landlord and end up sleeping on the street.
Oh well.
For now, the urgent task was to go home and keep looking for a job.
The blind date her mother arranged was at least over…As Xiaoxi was lost in thought, a sudden loud explosion echoed behind her, followed almost immediately by the roars of monsters and screams of panicked civilians running for their lives.
“Roar—”
“M-monsters! Run!”
“Help! Is there a Magical Girl—”A monster attack? So sudden?Xiaoxi whipped her head around.
Before her eyes was a café half-collapsed, dust and smoke billowing up.
She nearly transformed instinctively, ready to rush back to save people.
No, calm down… The Magical Girls from the Association would arrive soon. She was retired now; there was no need to expose herself here.
Trying to force herself to turn away, her gaze still locked on the crowd scattering from the café.
Looking at the terrified faces, she suddenly realized something—Ye Xinglan, the girl she just had the blind date with, didn’t seem to have come out?Doesn’t matter.
No matter what, she couldn’t just stand by and watch someone die…Just as Xiaoxi gritted her teeth to transform, a streak of purple light shot across the sky like a meteor, heading straight for the café.“A Magical Girl! A Magical Girl is here!”
“That must be Muxingge, the Association’s S-rank Magical Girl! Phew… with someone of that caliber on the scene, it should be fine.”
Casting a glance upward at the figure flashing by, Xiaoxi unclenched her fists and pulled her hood up, quietly blending into the crowd.
Since Muxingge was here, it seemed she wouldn’t need to intervene.
After all, they were former teammates.
Xiaoxi knew well that with Muxingge’s strength, taking down a monster was a breeze.
As Ye Xinglan’s face flashed through her mind again, Xiaoxi suddenly wondered if after being saved by a Magical Girl this time, the little rich lady might change her opinion of Magical Girls?
What Xiaoxi didn’t know was that at this moment, inside the half-collapsed café—Almost everyone had fled.
Soon, only a lone, thin figure remained sitting in a corner.
The huge, pitch-black monster stared at Ye Xinglan, who sat calmly in place, and let out a hoarse roar.
This level of monster wasn’t intelligent enough to wonder why she hadn’t run.
It simply wanted to tear the person before it into pieces.
Massive claws sliced through the air toward her, but Ye Xinglan still sat there with her legs crossed.
She took a small sip of coffee, glanced at the monster, and lightly uttered two words—“Trash.”A flicker of crimson flashed in Ye Xinglan’s eyes.
The monster suddenly froze in place.
Though in front of it was just a seemingly frail human girl, at that moment it had felt a suffocating pressure emanating from her.
A powerful fear rooted it to the spot.
The next second, a powerful magical beam pierced through the monster’s body.
Dressed in an elegant long dress, Muxingge slowly descended from the sky and glanced at the fallen monster.
“This is Muxingge. The monster has been eliminated. No casualties on site.”
After the brief report, Muxingge looked curiously toward a corner of the café.Strange.
The rest of the café was smashed to pieces by the monster, but that corner remained intact.
Near the window, the tables and chairs stood as usual, but Ye Xinglan’s figure was gone—only a half-finished cup of coffee on the table gently swayed.