As soon as the morning reading class ended, the transfer student Huang Quan, who sat in the back row of the classroom, trotted over to Tang Xiaolu’s side with a cheerful “da da da” step.
“Lulu!”
Under Tang Xiaolu’s awkward gaze, Huang Quan said with anticipation, “We’re going to the playground for morning exercises later, right? I don’t know the routine here. Can you teach me, Lulu?”
Since Tang Xiaolu and I were seated right in the center of the classroom, Huang Quan’s unabashed words were naturally overheard by the surrounding classmates.
“Do you know Xiaolu from before, new student?”
“Hey, hey, Huang Quan, what’s this about a magical girl you mentioned? That can’t be real, right? Haha.”
“There haven’t been many popular magical girl anime lately. Can you tell me what kind of magical girl it is? Do you need a magic wand to transform? I want to be a magical girl and save the world too.”
“Haha, forget it. Being a magical girl isn’t easy these days. Some kill each other, some lose limbs, and some turn dark at the drop of a hat. It’s pretty scary.”
It was clear that many classmates thought Huang Quan’s words were just a joke or an attempt to grab attention.
After all, from the first year of middle school to the second year of high school is a time of teenage rebellion.
Everyone is eager to express themselves, and it’s also a peak period for “showing off” behavior.
People are used to it.
“Mm…”
Faced with Huang Quan’s enthusiastic invitation, Tang Xiaolu instinctively glanced at me beside her, hesitated for a moment, and then said to Huang Quan, “Well… how about you stand behind me and follow along?”
Clearly, Tang Xiaolu felt the same way I did about this new student.
She was probably also suspicious of Huang Quan’s motives behind this series of actions, but she just couldn’t find any obvious reason to doubt.
“Okay!”
Hearing Tang Xiaolu agree, Huang Quan seemed very happy.
She took the initiative to grab Tang Xiaolu’s hand and started heading out of the classroom.
Tang Xiaolu shot me a “help me” look.
“Let’s go together.”
I just smiled, stood up from my seat, and gestured for everyone to go out together.
I knew what that look in Tang Xiaolu’s eyes meant.
She didn’t want me to misunderstand.
Tang Xiaolu had once had many magical girl friends.
But they had left her one by one, until only she was admitted to Heijiang No.3 High School.
It was precisely because of these experiences that Tang Xiaolu valued me, her “magical girl junior,” so much.
Not only did she take me to see the “secret base” on the very first day, but she also told me a lot about magical girls, even calling me “wife.”
Then the next day, a transfer student showed up and immediately called Tang Xiaolu “Lulu,” acting incredibly close to her.
What made Tang Xiaolu most awkward was that she didn’t even know this transfer student.
So she was afraid I would misunderstand—afraid I would think she was hiding something from me.
I could even see a hint of panic on Tang Xiaolu’s face.
Clearly, she had been through something similar before.
Like “fighting with her magical girl friends at the secret base because she got to know other girls” or something.
In other words… Tang Xiaolu cared very, very much about my feelings.
She genuinely wanted to be good friends with me.
But what Tang Xiaolu didn’t know was that I wouldn’t get angry over such a trivial matter, or complain about why she said all her past companions had died when she clearly knew another magical girl named Huang Quan.
I had been used to living alone since I was a child.
“Friends” were a luxury for me.
When I was little, I read in a fairy tale book that children should learn to be friends with their parents.
So I tried to be friends with my mom and dad.
Then I slowly realized that I could never really become their good friend.
Mom was always sick, and Dad was always busy with work.
When he wasn’t busy, the only thing Mom and Dad cared about was my grades.
We had nothing in common.
They had no patience to listen to me talk about anything other than studying, thinking those things were irrelevant.
No matter how hard I tried to talk to them about my hobbies and what I experienced in class every day, it would never make them as happy as a perfect score on a test.
Sometimes, when I mentioned my hobbies, they would even scold me for “not focusing on the right things.”
Gradually, I gave up trying to be friends with my parents.
Then the fairy tale book said I could make friends with classmates at school.
But when I mustered up the courage to talk to my classmates and said I wanted to be friends with them, all I ever got in return was—
“A good student actually comes to talk to us slackers? Aren’t you afraid of getting a spanking from your dad when you get home? I remember your dad is a doctor at the town health center, right?”
“Wow! The sun’s rising from the west! Go back to your seat. This isn’t the place for a good student like you. We’re about to skip class and go to the internet café. You coming?”
“What? Be friends? Then lend me your homework to copy, or pass me notes during the next test?”
“No? You won’t even help me cheat, and you call yourself a friend? Get lost…”
Gradually, I got used to living alone, used to loneliness.
After being admitted to Heijiang No.3 High School, I thought my life would continue like that.
But by some twist of fate, I became a magical girl and became friends with Tang Xiaolu.
Tang Xiaolu was worried I’d be mad at her about Huang Quan, but I didn’t think I had the right to be mad.
In my eyes, Tang Xiaolu was my first real friend.
Since I was a child, besides Mom and Dad, no one had ever cared about me like this.
No one had ever been willing to take care of me and share their feelings with me like Tang Xiaolu did.
“Yeah… let’s go together.”
In the classroom echoing with the bell, perhaps seeing that I really didn’t seem upset, Tang Xiaolu looked relieved and said to Huang Quan, “The class monitor will lead the exercises during morning exercises. Just watch her and follow along. Our school isn’t strict about morning exercises, so it won’t affect your score…”
“Okay!”
Before Tang Xiaolu could finish, the new student Huang Quan grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the back door of the classroom.
“Huh? Hey?”
Tang Xiaolu was a bit dazed, half-pushed and half-led out of the classroom: “Slow… slow down, wait up, Huang Yao…”
Just then, I felt someone gently tugging at the hem of my skirt.
I turned around and saw Class Monitor Luo Zhiyin holding my skirt hem, with Mu Linxi standing behind her.
Both of them had expressions that said, “We need to talk to you.”
“Don’t go yet.”
Under my curious gaze, Class Monitor Luo Zhiyin spoke up: “You’re a magical girl too, right?”
“I…”
I was still hesitating about whether to admit it, but Luo Zhiyin spoke again: “Don’t be nervous. We’re magical girls too. We mean no harm to you or Lulu.”
“Is it convenient to talk somewhere private?”