The taxi inched forward through the evening rush hour traffic.
Jiang Zhu leaned back in his seat, forehead pressed against the window glass, watching the street scenery slowly recede.
He tried to piece together an image of Lin Ciwei in his mind, recalling the bits and pieces they’d shared.
But strangely, though it hadn’t been that many years—only five or six since high school graduation—the outline of that little girl from his memories had gradually grown blurry.
The few clear images he had were from when they were very young, innocent childhood friends: Lin Ciwei’s arms looping around his neck, her chin resting on the top of his head as she clung to his back.
Back then, Jiang Zhu always complained that she was annoying, but faced with a little girl so dependent on him, he couldn’t bring himself to put her down.
The image of that little girl in his mind slowly faded, while the impersonal, rigid, and old-fashioned captain of the Magical Girl squad became clearer.
No matter how hard Jiang Zhu racked his brain, he could never connect the two.
Sure, girls change a lot as they grow up, but to have no trace of resemblance at all—how was that possible?
“How could they be the same person?”
Jiang Zhu muttered to himself, then let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Thinking about it the other way, she probably wouldn’t connect the swindling Magical Girl Feng Ling with him either.
In her eyes, Feng Ling was probably just a Magical Girl with a bad track record, only interested in money.
There’s no way she could be the Jiang Zhu gege she once relied on so much.
Jiang Zhu pinched his own cheek, and the image of that cute childhood friend in his heart gradually replaced by the aggressive Magical Girl Lian Ge.
A thick wall had long stood between them, and it was time to shatter these meaningless filters.
“If only she were still like she was as a kid, then we could do the whole yuri act together and rake in double the money.”
After this final sigh, Jiang Zhu gave up his fantasies and resolved to cut ties with her.
Just go through the motions of the blind date.
After tonight, let things be as they were.
She’d continue being the ally of justice, and he’d continue being his money-grubbing Magical Girl.
Like water and oil—captain and team member.
Nothing more.
Just as he thought that, the taxi stopped.
Jiang Zhu paid, got out, stood by the roadside, and looked up.
It was one of his mother’s carefully selected old restaurants—the same place the two families would often go to when they were kids.
Jiang Zhu knew the private room’s location by heart.
He went up the stairs to the second floor, slid open the door, and saw only one person inside.
Lin Ciwei was sitting by the window, looking out at the quiet old street in the night.
She wore a thin white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her mid-forearm, revealing slender wrists.
Her hair was casually draped over her shoulders.
Hearing the door slide open, she looked up, instinctively brushed her hair aside to touch her earlobe, and with her other hand, she gave a soft wave, her voice equally gentle.
“Jiang Zhu gege, long time no see. I never had a chance to meet you—got a bit distant…”
Jiang Zhu stood at the doorway, frozen in place.
‘Did my mom trick me? How can these two be the same person!’
For a moment, his thoughts drifted back to childhood.
Memories that had gathered dust were now as clear as if washed by clean water.
He returned to a distant summer.
That clingy little girl had quietly knocked on his door, standing outside with both hands behind her back, fidgeting for a long time before finally speaking: “Jiang Zhu gege, long time no see. I never had a chance to meet you. Come play with me.”
“Xiao Lin, long time no see.”
Jiang Zhu sat down at the table.
Several dishes had already been marked on the menu: sweet and sour ribs, fried chicken strips, steamed sweet cake.
She was still ordering the same childish food as when they were kids.
“Jiang Zhu gege, how have you been lately?”
“Great, of course. When am I ever not great? Graduated and joined a big company, making good money. In a few years, people will be calling me Boss Jiang.”
Jiang Zhu spit out those words almost reflexively.
He said that to everyone around him.
If he weren’t a Magical Girl, he really would be steadily walking that path.
“Hehe, as expected from Jiang Zhu gege. Still amazing as always.”
Lin Ciwei smiled, just as cute as when she was young.
The moment Lin Ciwei said that, Jiang Zhu began a word-by-word psychological analysis.
‘If she really were the Magical Girl Lian Ge, how could she compliment someone else’s skill? So the conclusion is obvious—the intel is fake.’
Right, the intel had to be fake.
Mom had spent the whole afternoon chatting with Auntie, knowing full well the two of them would meet and everything would be explained, but the intel was fake.
After all, how could his sweet, soft, clingy childhood friend ever turn into that cold-hearted tigress?
After injecting himself with this placebo—one even he knew was false—Jiang Zhu mustered the courage to continue pressing:
“What about you, Xiao Lin? I heard from my mom you’re a Magical Girl? And the captain, Lian Ge?”
“Huh? H-how do you know?”
Lin Ciwei visibly panicked.
The smile on Jiang Zhu’s face froze, and the fragile hope in his heart shattered.
“Wait, wait. Let me ask Mom. A Magical Girl’s identity should only be told to family. How could she just blurt it out like that…”
She frantically grabbed her phone, fingers flying across the screen.
A moment later, she received a reply.
She glanced at the screen, and from her neck to her ears, an obvious blush spread.
“What did she say?”
“N-nothing much. I think I understand now…”
Lin Ciwei placed her phone face-down on the table, her voice as quiet as a mosquito’s.
“You’re right, Jiang Zhu gege. I really am the Magical Girl Lian Ge.”
When he first heard her softly call him “Jiang Zhu gege,” he was a little dazed, unwilling to believe.
But the facts were laid out, and he knew he could only end this blind date.
He quickly suppressed those fantasies from the bottom of his heart.
After completely erasing the image of Lin Ciwei from his mind, all that remained was his archenemy Lian Ge.
“Oh, right. You know we’re here for a blind date, right?”
“Yeah… Honestly, I was shocked. I never thought I’d end up on a blind date with Jiang Zhu gege…”
Seeing her with that innocent, naive little girl expression, Jiang Zhu was reminded of that clingy little girl from back then.
He almost couldn’t bear to say what came next.
But in the end, he pinched his thigh under the table, forcing back the phantom image of the past that was about to surface, and braced himself to put on the greasiest expression he could imagine.
“Since you’re such a famous Magical Girl, your salary must be pretty high, right?”
“Why are you suddenly talking about that?”
Lin Ciwei was taken aback, clearly not expecting the topic to go in that direction.
“We’re on a blind date, so we have to talk about this stuff. Work income is the main event, isn’t it?”
As he said this, Jiang Zhu deliberately made his tone flippant.
He could feel how scummy he was being, but at the same time, he was painfully aware that this was the quickest way to end it all.
“I-I suppose…”
Lin Ciwei bit her lip, as if trying to digest this abrupt, real-world topic.
“But we Magical Girls don’t do this for money. Everyone has ideals…”
The moment he heard the word “ideals,” Jiang Zhu felt completely at ease.
She was the genuine Magical Girl Lian Ge.
The filter over Lin Ciwei shattered piece by piece, and Jiang Zhu gradually returned to his identity as the Magical Girl Feng Ling, locking horns with her.
Usually she was the captain, and when Jiang Zhu, as Feng Ling, argued with her, she always had the upper hand.
Now it was finally his turn to be the one with the advantage.
“So how much is it? There has to be a number, right?”
“About… per month…”
Her voice dropped.
“Around five thousand in subsidies.”
“What? How can it be that low? Magical Girl treatment is this bad and you haven’t gone on strike?”
Jiang Zhu already knew all this, but now he could finally argue with her properly.
He almost regretted not being able to pick a fight with her as Feng Ling.
If he were Feng Ling, he could spew even more, ranting about the association’s treatment from the subsidy standards to the overtime system, and maybe throw in a curse or two about that dead rabbit’s relatives—if it had any.
“How can you say that!”
Lin Ciwei’s voice suddenly rose, and the righteous aura in her eyes flared up.
Now she was almost fully back to being Lian Ge:
“We’re Magical Girls protecting others! How could we casually go on strike for personal gain? If we all went on strike, who would protect everyone when Demon Beasts attack?”
“I understand your concerns about Magical Girls, and we’ll do our best to improve their treatment. But if you measure whether to become a Magical Girl solely by how much you can gain, that’s far too shallow.”
“Then not many people would want to be Magical Girls…”
Jiang Zhu started to miss the job offer he’d once received, adding casually, “My salary is ten times that.”
“That’s not true at all. Magical Girls are good people, eager to dedicate their lives to others…”
As she spoke, she thought of a certain Magical Girl, and her tone suddenly dropped.
Finally, she fell silent, closing her mouth.
Jiang Zhu could think of crueler words, but seeing her deflated, unable to argue her point, he couldn’t bring himself to keep going.
Enough was enough.
Going further would cross the line.
This blind date was probably a bust.
For the rest of the time, they ate in silence, their chopsticks occasionally landing on the same dish before retreating, neither looking at the other.
Time passed quietly, minute by minute.
After dinner, Jiang Zhu paid the bill.
They walked out of the restaurant one after the other.
There were few pedestrians on the street—it was already late at night.
Jiang Zhu hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
“I’ll walk you home.”
“Okay.”
Lin Ciwei turned her head to glance at him, her expression complicated.
An unarmed ordinary man offering to walk home a Magical Girl who could punch through a building was a bit illogical, but she didn’t refuse.
Both of them felt the same way—treat this as a final farewell to the childhood friend they once had, now mortal enemies.
Lin Ciwei’s home really wasn’t far.
Two streets over and a turn.
They walked side by side, one on the left, one on the right, about an arm’s length apart, each wondering how the other had turned out like this, but neither spoke.
They reached an old residential building.
He walked her up, and Lin Ciwei stopped, slid the door open, and stepped inside.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
The door closed behind Lin Ciwei.
Jiang Zhu watched her enter the room and knew it was time to leave.
The two of them had walked such different paths for so many years, becoming such different people.
It was time to go their separate ways.
After tonight, she would continue being the Magical Girl Lian Ge, and he would continue being the Magical Girl Feng Ling.
Off duty, like water and oil.
On duty, they’d keep hating each other’s guts.
Let it be.
But then, the door behind Jiang Zhu suddenly burst open.
The wooden door slammed against the wall with a loud crash.
Before Jiang Zhu could even turn, a hand grabbed his wrist.
He looked back to see the transformed blue Magical Girl Lian Ge.
“Run!”
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