Chapter 1: Do miracles and magic really exist?

“If you were a girl, that would be great.”

——That was the last thing Mom said to me before she left this world.

When I was still very young, Mom had been suffering from illness.

That disease couldn’t be cured by modern medicine.

It was terminal.

Our family could only go in and out of the hospital repeatedly, hoping that one day a miracle would happen.

But it didn’t.

That day, the doctor called Dad and me over and said euphemistically:

“Maybe… try conservative treatment?”

Three days later, Mom stopped breathing at home.

The relatives who came over cried very sadly.

I knelt by Mom’s bed, her words echoing in my ears:

[If you were a girl, that would be great.]

If I were a girl, would Mom not have died?

There was no answer.

The world has no ifs, and life has to go on.

A month later, I returned to school.

Back to Black River City No.

3 High School, an ordinary demonstration high school.

The town where my family lives is about 80 kilometers from Black River City, so I have to board at school while studying there.

“What did you take a month off for?”

“Hey hey! Why are you always frowning? Can’t you cheer up a bit?”

“Yeah, you’ll have no friends like that. Be more positive. How can you be so full of negative energy?”

The classmates at school didn’t know what had happened at home.

The classroom with the sign “Class 11, Grade 10” was still as noisy as I remembered.

I sat down at my usual seat and opened my light blue pencil case.

My deskmate had borrowed a comic book from somewhere and was making strange laughing sounds while reading.

In the hot classroom, a window on the far left of the back row seemed not to be closed properly, creaking under the assault of the summer monsoon.

The first day back at school was just as boring as I remembered.

In a daze, time quickly came to the afternoon dismissal.

As soon as the dismissal bell rang, the students in the back row rushed out like crazy.

“What are we eating today?”

“I heard a new fast food place opened next to David’s Milk Tea. The food is pretty good. Want to give it a try?”

“Fast food again? But I want to eat rice noodles today…”

Black River City No.

3 High School has a relatively open school rule: students are allowed to freely enter and leave the school gates after school, including boarders.

So everyone runs outside to eat dinner—the school cafeteria is terrible.

“Do I have any real friends?”

Bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, walking out of the school gate with the crowd, I asked myself helplessly in my heart.

I come from a very ordinary, even somewhat poor family.

To treat Mom’s illness, our family has spent all its savings over the years.

Coming from a small town, I’m just a somewhat insecure boy.

Not only is my appearance unremarkable, I’m also not tall, my grades are so-so, and I can’t adapt to the fast-paced life of a big city.

Everyone in the class is very warm and outgoing, which is somewhat incompatible with me, who has been surrounded by sadness since childhood and prefers quiet.

Because the main colors of the hospital are sadness and silence.

Both my father and mother are doctors.

As a regular at the hospital, I’ve gotten used to this deathly silence.

A too-lively environment actually scares me.

In the hospital, if sadness and silence disappear, then only despair and death remain.

“Where is the long hand? Where is the short hand?”

“These two are substitutes for tears. We give them to you…”

Lost in thought, I walked on a small path outside the school.

The sky was gradually getting dark.

Some sound seemed to ring in my ears.

“The windowsill is tightly sealed, the key is firmly fixed.”

“With your promise, fall, fall…”

A train slowly passed by on the asphalt road beside me.

At the position of the moon in the sky hung a clock.

“Coo coo, coo coo.”

The train stopped beside me.

The door opened, and a large group of passengers dressed in suits and leather shoes got off the train.

“Fort da!”

Among the tourists, there seemed to be a child shouting loudly: “Fort da!”

I couldn’t see the faces of these tourists.

Wait.

Train?

Tourists?

When I came to my senses, I realized I was standing on an unfamiliar railroad track without knowing when.

Behind me were no longer the familiar school gate and city streets, but twisted giant clocks and gears.

High above, some clocks glowed with an eerie deep purple light, like polluted moons.

Trains fell like shooting stars from the sky, some crossing the road behind me diagonally, others lying straight across the ground, weaving into a web of spider webs.

Where… is this?

Coming to my senses, I subconsciously stepped back several steps.

Wasn’t I just leaving school, about to go eat at a nearby fast food restaurant with my classmates?

What’s with these strange trains and the clocks around me?

In my panic, my gaze fell on the faceless “tourists” who had gotten off the train carriage.

These faceless tourists noticed my gaze and froze in place.

Then, they let out strange cries and rushed toward me.

Run!

Run fast!

Even though I didn’t know what was happening, the faceless people were too scary.

Without thinking, I turned around and stumbled, trying to get away.

But the group of faceless people in suits were faster.

They caught up to me in no time and pinned me to the ground—

“Nichts!”

“Leer!”

“Nebel!”

The faceless people said words I couldn’t understand, pressing me firmly on the railroad tracks, tearing at my clothes.

Pain transmitted from every corner of my body at this moment.

“Starlight—”

Just as I thought I was going to die in this inexplicable place, a familiar voice came from outside.

“Burst!”

Blinding light enveloped the entire world.

In the light, a snow-white, slender hand pushed aside the faceless people and pulled me out.

The next second, I saw the owner of this hand.

A girl.

A very beautiful girl.

I knew her.

Tang Xiaolu, a girl in the same class as me.

She has good grades and is very low-key.

At this moment, she was wearing a gorgeous dress similar to the “Magical Girl” style in anime.

Her beautiful long white hair naturally fell behind her.

On her legs were soft white stockings and Lolita-style round-toe leather shoes.

In her hand, she held a gem-studded magic staff.

However, unlike the clean, tidy Magical Girl in my impression that symbolizes beauty and hope, Tang Xiaolu in front of me was covered in mottled bloodstains and dust.

She herself was panting heavily, as if she had just gone through a hard battle.

Moreover, on the ground beside Tang Xiaolu stood a strange creature that looked like a cat and a rabbit at the same time.

This creature had red, shiny eyes, and from the center of its cat ears extended a pair of ears like a rabbit’s.

On those ears hung something like golden earrings.

“Are you okay?”

After pulling me out of the faceless crowd, Tang Xiaolu seemed a bit embarrassed: “You… remember to keep it a secret from the classmates after you get out, okay?”

“Watch out!”

Before Tang Xiaolu’s words faded, the strange creature beside her suddenly spoke.

“Boom—”

A train suddenly fell from the sky, crashing into Tang Xiaolu, sending the petite girl flying over ten meters, heavily hitting the ground.

“No good. The ‘witch’ in this barrier is not a ‘familiar.’ She just went through a battle. Her ‘Soul Gem’ is under too much strain. It’s going to be very dangerous like this.”

While I was still stunned, the rabbit-like creature jumped over.

“Giving up means it’s over here, but you can change your fate.”

“Unavoidable destruction and sighs, you can overturn it all. The power you possess is exactly what was born for this… So please make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl.”

The strange rabbit’s words made my mind a little dazed: “Sign… signing a contract means… what?”

As it spoke, another train crashed toward Tang Xiaolu, who was lying on the ground in the distance—

“Boom!”

The exploding firelight and train parts filled the entire sky.

“You seem to have the qualifications to become a Magical Girl.”

Tang Xiaolu’s fate was unknown, but the rabbit kept saying strange things to me: “Say your wish quickly. Make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl, or else it will be too late.”

“Wish?”

I felt my mind even more confused: “Can it be… any wish?”

“Any wish is fine. Hurry.”

“Then I…”

[If you were a girl, that would be great…]

It seemed like Mom’s voice on the hospital bed echoed in my heart again.

I stepped forward, clenched my fist, and raised it to my chest.

“My wish is… please turn me into a real girl.”