Qianling looked around. Judging from the abundant greenery and the peeling paint on the teaching building, this school must have been established for quite some time.
If we’re talking about good places to hide something, a school with this much history is definitely worth checking out, isn’t it?
She stood at the school gate, propping up her chin and pondering in silence.
And Yang Mo is here too. If the doll is hidden somewhere in the school, wouldn’t that be dangerous?
Maybe I should go inside and have a look now.
It’s absolutely not because I’m curious.
As Qianling thought this, she stepped one foot inside the school gate.
Directly opposite the gate stood a statue in the shape of an open book. There were lines of poetry on its pages, but Qianling hadn’t seen any of them in her original world.
Behind the statue was the entrance hall to the teaching building, with noticeboards on both sides plastered with photos and awards.
Qianling tried searching for Yang Mo among the photos. Finally, she spotted her in a snapshot from a handicraft activity.
Facing the camera, Yang Mo wore her usual silly smile. However, thanks to the bad timing of the shot, it caught her with one eye half-closed, giving her a subtly comical look.
“Pfft.”
Decision made—she would tease her about this later.
Qianling made a fist and lightly tapped it into her other palm.
Then, she walked down the corridor towards the classrooms.
The whole area formed a tic-tac-toe structure, with four rows of classrooms crisscrossing, creating an inner courtyard.
Thanks to the stealth magic concealing her presence, Qianling began playing all kinds of pranks without restraint.
At one point, she leaned against the back door with her arms folded, nodding solemnly and pretending to be the teacher.
Then, she stood at the front entrance and saluted, mimicking what tardy students would do.
For Qianling, this school from was rather familiar, yet the idea of school itself felt novel and peculiar.
Come to think of it, how long has it been since I last went to school before coming here?
Sitting on a bench in the courtyard, she recalled memories of her past life.
She vaguely remembered that after advancing to a higher grade, her health began to deteriorate.
There were many people online saying school life was tough; most had to stay at school even at night. But in this anime, there was no such depiction—going home after class seemed to be the norm.
And as for the uniforms, most students in her original world wore sportswear, while here, everyone wore Western-style uniforms.
Maybe this is what they call a “convenient setting.”
If schoolwork were too heavy, there wouldn’t be time to fight Evil Witches. For the sake of making the anime enjoyable, they designed prettier uniforms than in real life.
It feels a bit contrived, yet in every other aspect, this world is incredibly consistent.
Like the classrooms she just peeked into—Qianling could see from the back door that some students were paying close attention, while others were secretly reading magazines. From the front, no two faces looked the same—unlike games with generic models.
These all proved that they were living, breathing humans, just like Qianling sitting here.
Thinking of this, Qianling lowered her gaze to her outstretched palm, its parts joined by the ball joints unique to dolls.
Just like me… is that true?
She posed the question to herself, then gave a nonchalant snort.
Of course.
“I have a human heart, after all.”
She had never doubted this. Closing her hand, she left the courtyard with a light step, heading to the other side of the teaching building.
If she remembered correctly, Yang Mo’s classroom was in one corner of this tic-tac-toe-shaped building.
Just as she was about to arrive, the end-of-class bell suddenly rang.
Oh no, it’s probably lunchtime now.
Even though it had been ages since Qianling went to school, she still remembered what happened after the last class in the morning.
She braced a hand against the corridor railing and flipped down into the courtyard, then aimed for the top of the building and used Iron Brambles. The bramble’s tendrils instantly pulled her up to the roof.
Then the students poured out like a tidal wave, flooding the courtyard and converging on the cafeteria at the back of the building.
If I got caught in that crowd, how could I not be discovered…
Squatting on the rooftop, Qianling looked down at the scene below, grateful for her quick reflexes.
The person she was most concerned about, Yang Mo, didn’t come out with the first wave of students. After a while, she followed two girls out of the classroom.
In the original work, Yang Mo rarely had scenes set in school; most of her story focused on her relationship with her sister Yang Xia, or her experiences fighting as a magical girl.
So Qianling had no idea how Yang Mo got along at school.
Watching her walk side by side with the other two girls, chatting and laughing, Qianling let out a long sigh of relief.
Good, she does have friends.
After all, Yang Mo always seemed lonely in the original, so Qianling had worried she wasn’t getting along with her classmates.
But in the next second, after waving goodbye to those two girls, Yang Mo walked to the cafeteria alone.
Wait, wait, what’s going on? You’re not going with your friends?
Qianling couldn’t help but crane her neck at this scene.
No way! Could it really be…
She’d originally planned to tease Yang Mo about the photo on the noticeboard when they met, but now that idea was completely scrapped.
No choice—guess I’ll have to keep you company.
With this thought, she used Iron Brambles to lower herself to the ground outside the building, and hurried toward the cafeteria, keeping a distance from everyone else.
The Xinghu Town Middle School cafeteria was a white, two-story building.
The entrance on the first floor, as well as the wall it was set in, were made of glass, supported by concrete columns and steel framework. Windows lined both sides, one after another, letting in plenty of light.
Yang Mo happened to be sitting at the far right end of a long table, by the window.
This spot was also in the corner of the cafeteria, so even at lunchtime, the table wasn’t full.
Just as she was about to pick up some shredded potatoes from her tray with her chopsticks, a light voice came from the front left.
“Is this seat taken?”
A girl in a school uniform stood beside the opposite seat, asking her.
“No, go ahead.”
Yang Mo replied instinctively, not even lifting her head.
But then she realized she’d heard this voice before.
By this point, the girl had already sat down. She wasn’t holding anything, not even a lunch tray, and didn’t seem here to eat.
Yang Mo looked up at her, and sure enough, it was the silver-haired, expressionless girl, with the black ribbon Yang Mo had given her tied at the back of her head.
In that moment, Yang Mo even let go of the chopsticks that had been gripping the shredded potatoes.
“You… you’re Qianling?”
Yang Mo gaped, her voice full of disbelief.
Qianling didn’t answer directly. Instead, she mimed a crab, making a scissor motion with both hands and wiggling them near the tabletop.
Yang Mo instantly noticed there were no doll-like ball joints on those hands—but who else but Qianling would make such a weird gesture in front of her?
She raised her finger joint to her lips, unable to help a little laugh.
“I knew it was you, Qianling.”
“Of course it’s me.”
Qianling replied lazily, propping her chin up with her elbow on the table.