“Don’t panic, I’m Magical Girl Aurora. I’m here.”
Even though she had met with Shachong before, Jiang Lingwei was still in the habit of introducing herself first, then releasing a wave of soothing magic toward Shachong.
Yao is a good kid with no ill intentions. Most likely, this is just some unexpected accident.
She’ll have to be taught a lesson, but before that, no matter what trouble your own child gets into, a mother’s job is to take care of it.
Suddenly, Shachong, who had been clutching her chest, felt a calm, peaceful feeling well up inside her. She stared steadily at Jiang Lingwei, let go of the hand clutching her chest, and, almost involuntarily, reached out toward Jiang Lingwei…
“Wait.”
Because Shachong was taller, Jiang Lingwei had to tiptoe and even float a little just to reach her head.
“Don’t put your hand down just yet, let me fix your clothes, okay?”
“Al-alright…”
Being patted on the head, Shachong responded docilely, looking as if she had no intention of acting out again.
Standing off to the side, Jiang Yao was dying of envy. She knew just how good it felt to be patted on the head by Aurora—like a gentle warmth streaming from your head through your whole body. It was as if outside it was a scorching summer, thirty degrees, but you were lying in bed under a thick blanket with the air conditioner on its lowest setting, phone and computer in hand, and even a big watermelon beside you. The comfort seeped from spirit to flesh, making it so pleasant you never wanted to leave.
But, well, Shachong was the one getting the treatment now. She couldn’t complain.
If Aurora could help steady her mood, that was really for the best.
After all, Aurora was here to clean up the mess, and Yao knew that full well.
(Good.)
Once Shachong responded, Jiang Lingwei pulled her hand back.
Jiang Lingwei’s habit of patting people’s heads mostly came from patting her teammates before.
Except for Wen Yaquan, who was basically immune to her head pats—and even turned around to roughly scrub Jiang Lingwei’s own head—everyone else said it felt really good.
She never really understood the reason for it. Sometimes Jiang Lingwei even suspected they were all just teasing her.
—Until Beifeng, who was super sensitive, nearly jumped up on the spot. Only then was she sure there was some effect.
Beifeng wasn’t the type to just go along with everyone for something like this.
But what exactly that feeling was, Jiang Lingwei still couldn’t verify.
Pats on her own head didn’t work at all.
Warmth, comfort—Jiang Lingwei didn’t feel any of that herself.
In the end, it didn’t really matter what the principle was, as long as it worked.
Whenever she needed to calm someone’s emotions or encourage them, she would pat their head.
Sure enough, now Shachong had completely calmed down. Only two tear streaks remained on her face, but she seemed to be feeling much better.
Next, Jiang Lingwei used a Restoration Spell on Shachong’s waitress uniform, and handed her the bra.
“Your clothes are fixed. Just… just put this on. I’ll step outside, call me when you’re done.”
Jiang Lingwei, out of habit, made sure to avoid any awkwardness and stepped out the door.
(Mm.)
Just as she reached the door, Jiang Lingwei suddenly thought:
(Actually, there’s not much need to be so cautious. Lately, I’ve seen my own too often.)
Hers weren’t very noticeable before. She wasn’t exactly flat, but she didn’t have much either—just about average for girls at this age.
Besides, she didn’t spend all her time transformed in her daily life.
But now it was different. The moment she took off her clothes and lowered her head, she could see everything.
Every day, no matter where she looked, she was just too used to seeing oppai and all that.
It wasn’t as interesting as Jiangcheng’s abs… Lewd…
(Forget it, forget it.)
(It’s fine to step out anyway. Don’t want Shachong to feel embarrassed.)
“Aurora?”
Just as she was spacing out, Jiang Yao came over and whispered, “Is it okay to leave Shachong alone in there?”
“It’s fine. I left a magic seed for vision, and besides, she…”
As soon as she saw her, Jiang Lingwei had already noticed Shachong’s current problem:
“She can’t transform, and she can’t run far even if she tries.”
“That sounds just like something an evil organization would say…”
“What’s evil about it?!”
Her daughter’s complaint made Jiang Lingwei feign displeasure and poke her cheek.
With all that armor on, there wasn’t much else to poke, but the flesh on her face was still soft.
Leaning closer, she whispered,
“What exactly did you do? How did you get her into that state?”
“Uh… um…”
Aurora’s cool hand felt nice and made her cheeks ticklish.
But there were more important things. While Shachong was changing, Jiang Yao quickly recounted what happened in the alley earlier to Jiang Lingwei.
“Uh…”
After hearing it, Jiang Lingwei didn’t know what to say.
Throughout the whole thing, Shachong’s behavior was bizarre. For the most part, Jiang Yao had handled things correctly. If she hadn’t kept an eye on Shachong, who knows what trouble might have happened. You couldn’t blame your own kid for that.
(And the Administration? They just let magical girls go off the rails like this and do nothing? Aren’t they afraid a magical girl might turn into a bomb and explode somewhere?!)
That’s right. Since there’s now an organization and discipline, then the Administration has to take responsibility.
You can’t blame Yao.
If something happens and you do nothing, what’s the point of being the Administration? Now my own kid got dragged into this!
But, to be fair, Jiang Yao hadn’t been blameless either.
“You can’t just mess around with magic like that.”
When Jiang Yao mentioned her improvised magic, Jiang Lingwei quickly said, “Light magic is indeed stable, and it is gentle.”
“But its nature is still different.”
Though she was small, she crossed her arms in front of her chest in a big “X”, looking a bit more authoritative.
“Good thing this time you only used it to clean, and what flew out was just a… uh, bra.”
“But if you even slightly lost control of your emotions, or if the magic flow went wrong—”
“What flew out might not have been a bra, but…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, instead pointing at her own head and drawing a hand across her throat in a slicing gesture.
“Is it really that scary?!”
Jiang Yao was startled, a wave of fear washing over her.
“Of course.”
Once she’d given her a proper scare, Jiang Lingwei immediately comforted her:
“But with this magic, it probably wouldn’t be that serious. After all, there’s a ‘flow rate’ involved. Cleaning someone’s dirt doesn’t require much magic power.
“Even if something went wrong, it wouldn’t be quite so horrifying.”
“That said, don’t try things randomly next time.”
Just scolding her wasn’t enough. Thinking about the characteristics of magical girls in this era, Jiang Lingwei added:
“If you want to improve, start by controlling crystals. Remember, you said you tried making some crystal jewelry before?”
“You can keep working in that direction, and then try using your own methods to recreate some magic.”
Wen Yaquan said magical girls these days can’t learn their old spells, but Jiang Lingwei thought: Why not adapt some simple, general spells with no attributes for modern magical girls and see if they can use them?
It’s like playing Pokémon—if you can’t learn Fire Punch or Ice Punch, you can at least try Tackle, right?
“Mm-hmm!”
Jiang Yao nodded hard. This was a good idea—she’d start practicing as soon as she got home! At the very least, she’d have to make Mom a bracelet or a necklace.
Thinking of this, she even considered carefully,
(Maybe I should start with a bracelet. Mom seems to really like that necklace she always wears.)
“Ah, it’s done.”
Right after saying that, Jiang Lingwei nodded, and headed back into the classroom.
Shachong, now dressed again, was standing with her head down where she had been.
She was completely calm now. When she heard Jiang Lingwei come in, she looked up and said,
“Can I go now?”
“You can.”
Jiang Lingwei nodded.
“But before that, I’d like to help you.”
“Help me with what…”
Shachong took a step back, a hint of fear on her face. “Don’t help me. Don’t be nice to me.”
“That’ll only get you hurt.”
“It’s fine.”
Jiang Lingwei patiently reasoned, “This is an abandoned suburb. You can’t even get a taxi out here.”
“If I don’t help you, you’ll really be in trouble. You won’t be able to get home.”
Shachong: “…”