Just as Qianling had expected, the sound of footsteps echoed from the other side of the corner a moment later, though the rhythm was somewhat hurried.
She quickly rounded the corner and revealed herself before the owner of the footsteps, fearing she might miss the chance to strike up a conversation.
She planned to start by waving a greeting.
That was Qianling’s original intention, but the short-haired girl rushing toward her was currently charging at full speed toward the sports field.
It seemed Qianling wasn’t the only one afraid of missing her window; the short-haired girl was also in a desperate rush to reach the field as soon as possible.
“Whoa! Get out of the way!”
The girl shouted at Qianling while trying to come to a sudden screeching halt.
Fortunately, Qianling’s reactions were sharp enough; she easily avoided the collision with an elegant side-step.
Instead, it was the short-haired girl who lost her balance due to her abrupt movement, stumbling forward as if she were about to take a dive.
In the heat of the moment, Qianling reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back.
Although she needed to avoid direct contact because of this doll body, this much should be fine, right?
She glanced at the spot she was holding—right at the wrist covered by a sleeve—and then released her grip once the short-haired girl had fully regained her footing.
The short-haired girl turned around, let out a long sigh of relief, and said to Qianling, “Thanks.”
Then, she began to scrutinize Qianling closely.
To her, Qianling, who was currently wearing the same school uniform, was simply a classmate she had never met before.
“I couldn’t tell just by looking… but you’re pretty strong, classmate.”
The short-haired girl reached this conclusion and immediately prepared to dash toward the sports field again.
Qianling called out to her instantly. “Wait! You’re Yangxia’s friend, right?”
The girl finally stopped in her tracks and turned back to ask, “Huh? How did you know?”
Qianling then brought out the excuse she had prepared in advance, telling her, “Because I’m Yangxia’s…”
The words caught in her throat for a moment.
“Um, we’re something like… cousins.”
She finally managed to force out those last few words with some difficulty.
“The situation is like this…”
To avoid wasting each other’s time, she raised a finger and began to speed up her explanation of the persona she had created for herself.
In short, she was a relative of Yangxia who might transfer here next semester and was currently visiting the school. However, Yangxia didn’t know yet because Qianling wanted to surprise her, planning to give her a gift and hang out with her over the weekend.
The short-haired girl nodded repeatedly throughout the explanation, though her expression remained somewhat dazed, as if she were struggling to keep up.
Qianling couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: No wonder Yangmo recommended I come to her for information. I probably didn’t even need to make up an excuse this elaborate…
Finally, she reached the most critical question.
She did her best to imitate Yangmo’s professional “business smile” and asked the girl, “Does she have any plans for the weekend?”
Midway through, she started acting pitiful, furrowing her brows as she asked, “I’m so worried that my plans will clash with hers…”
However, in the eyes of the short-haired girl, the range of her facial expressions was so subtle that it was impossible to read the nuanced emotions she was trying to convey.
The girl smiled and told Qianling, “Then you probably don’t need to worry much. I haven’t heard her mention any special plans, though she seems to go see her younger sister every week. That’s Yangmo—do you know her?”
“Yes, I know her. Thank you for telling me all this.”
“Don’t mention it! We’ll be classmates next semester, so feel free to come find me to hang out then too.”
After saying her piece, the short-haired girl bid Qianling farewell and dashed toward the sports field at the same speed as before.
It was then that Qianling suddenly realized something…
“She believed me without even asking for my name…”
She didn’t know whether to call the girl kind-hearted or just incredibly careless.
“But with this, my mission is complete.”
Qianling finished her sentence and stood in place, stretching her arms.
Aside from being discovered by Aimei, everything she had done today had gone unexpectedly smoothly. She had no other pressing tasks left.
So, Qianling decided to wander around the school for a bit.
After all, this school was one of the most important stages in the original work. In a way, this could be considered a sort of holy land pilgrimage.
At that thought, her mood became even more cheerful.
First, she stopped by the school gymnasium along the way.
The main interior area was covered in wooden flooring, with courts set up for badminton and basketball. On both sides were spectator seats that rose gradually like stairs.
Qianling sat in one of the empty seats, silently watching the students compete intensely on the court.
She remembered that in the early plot of the original work, Aimei had once stood there facing off against a certain witch.
At that time, that witch could still be considered “harmless,” so the outcome of that plot point was that the two didn’t actually fight, but instead became friends.
From that perspective, the first three episodes of ‘Magical Girl Velu’ really hid their true nature well…
Qianling mused as she reminisced.
After all, since the story initially featured such easy “enemy-to-friend” developments, anyone would have assumed it was a lighthearted and pleasant work. Unfortunately, the truth was quite the opposite.
After sitting for a while, Qianling stood up and headed to the next location.
Next, she arrived at the school’s back gate.
This area was connected to the school parking lot and was rarely open to students, being used primarily by teachers.
Therefore, after school hours, this gate was locked much later than the main entrance.
In the original work, “Bad Monsters” that specifically prowled at night had appeared in the school; Aimei and Yangxia had snuck in through this gate during that arc.
However, other than that, there wasn’t much of interest here, so Qianling left quickly.
Afterward, she returned to the teaching building, strolling past the laboratories, music rooms, and art rooms.
Under the protection of her stealth magic, Qianling’s journey remained as unobstructed as ever.
But when she passed the library doors, her movements became exceptionally quiet.
This wasn’t because she intended to maintain the library’s quiet atmosphere, but because there was a person inside who she absolutely did not want to encounter at this stage.
Even though Aimei hadn’t become a magical girl yet, “that person” should have already become a witch, shouldn’t she?
She peeked through the glass pane of the door.
Sure enough, sitting at a wooden table in the library was a young girl. Her long, pinkish-white hair was as fluffy as snow piled on a plain.
Because her bangs covered her eyes, her eye color was hidden.
She sat there, quietly turning the pages of the book in her hand.
The scene might have brought to mind the saying—”In me the tiger sniffs the rose.”
This was because the girl’s frame was very tall. Even though she was currently sitting, Qianling could feel it: She’s huge!
Qianling remembered the setting notes mentioning she was nearly one hundred and eighty centimeters tall.
Thinking about this caused a hint of jealousy to creep into the gaze she directed at the girl.
Perhaps because of that, the girl suddenly lifted her head toward the door.
However, when she looked out through the glass pane, she found nothing.
Qianling had already slipped away long before then.
As expected of the school where the protagonist resides—it really is a place of “crouching tigers and hidden dragons.”
She thought about this while praying that she wouldn’t encounter that “Dragon Witch” again before she was properly prepared.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.