"Norton broke out of Bronze City and was killed when Caesar's Storm Torpedo hit him. That was the situation."
"Oh? Then why was that Dragonbone Cross only half intact?"
"Obviously, it was destroyed by the torpedo."
"Ange, are you treating us like idiots?! That was a Dragonbone Cross!"
"That is the truth. We are not Norton himself, so how could we possibly know what happened after he was hit?"
"What about the other special commissioner mentioned in the files? Who was he?"
"He was Lu Mingfei. The one you all know."
"A Magical Girl? How many times are you going to use that lousy excuse?"
"You have all seen the test data."
"Then what exactly did he do?"
"Gattuso Family representative, do I need to repeat myself? This is a Board of Trustees meeting, not your interrogation room."
"I propose that we personally inspect Kassel's ice cellar and Special Commissioner Lu Mingfei."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Opposed."
"Opposed."
"Opposed."
3:3. A tie.
"Hmph. Ange, I hope you are still the Dragon Slayer you once were."
"I have always been."
"The principal sent word." Caesar hung up the phone and looked at Lu Mingfei on the bed beside him. "The Board of Trustees has more or less accepted the outcome this time, but some families may begin investigating you."
Lu Mingfei watched the medicine drip steadily from the IV. "Then they will not investigate you?"
"They still do not know that the other Magical Girl is me." Caesar leaned against the wall. "How are your injuries? Feeling better?"
During the battle against Surtr, Lu Mingfei's left arm had been bitten. Fortunately, the muscles strengthened by the Shining State had been tough enough that his bones were not injured.
As for Caesar, he had only suffered a few cuts and scrapes. They healed within days.
Now Lu Mingfei was the only one recuperating here. He had even declined the Literature Club gathering Chen Wenwen had invited him to.
"I am mostly better. I feel like my physical condition has improved ever since I gained Magical Girl Power." Lu Mingfei wore a troubled expression. "The problem is Lao Tang. What is he supposed to do? How am I going to explain this to him when he wakes up?"
For once, Caesar fell silent when faced with that question. He did not know either. If it had happened to him, he would have been completely dumbfounded too.
Lao Tang had indeed been saved, but something seemed to have gone wrong in the process, leaving Lu Mingfei with no idea how to face him when he woke up.
Even Chu Ke, the familiar responsible for this mess, had vanished without a trace. No matter how they called for him, there was no response, as if he were dead.
Fortunately, perhaps because he was still adapting, Lao Tang had not awakened yet, giving Lu Mingfei plenty of time to think.
Just then, the door to the ward was suddenly pushed open, and a nurse walked in. "The patient in bed two is awake. Family, please go see him."
Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat. He had not been this nervous even when fighting Surtr.
"Do you need me to help you over?" Caesar asked considerately.
"It is fine. My legs are not hurt. I can walk on my own." Looking somewhat weak, Lu Mingfei stood while holding onto the IV pole and headed toward the other ward.
Elsewhere, Ronald slowly woke up on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling above him.
Where was this? Had he not gone on a mission beneath the Three Gorges? He remembered seeing a shattered bronze jar, with a child's corpse inside. Then an immense, inexplicable sorrow had drowned him, and he could not remember anything after that.
Then he had woken up here.
"Hiss..." Ronald sucked in a breath and slowly sat up. Something felt off.
Especially his forehead. It itched like crazy.
"The patient is awake!" Seeing this, the nurse outside hurried off to fetch a doctor to check his vitals.
"It is nothing serious. Get plenty of rest." The balding doctor gave a few instructions before leaving.
Ronald looked around the luxurious private room, and his heart sank. He did not have the money to pay these medical bills.
Just as he was wondering whether he should take the chance to sneak away, the ward door opened. A boy with drooping eyebrows walked in, his eyes full of strangeness and hesitation.
Mingfei? Why was he here?
After countless nights of video speaking practice and gaming together, Lao Tang naturally recognized the appearance of his only gaming friend.
It was just that Lao Tang's brain was still in standby mode and had not caught up at all.
Wait? That look... I do not have a terminal illness, do I?
"Sorry, Lao Tang." Lu Mingfei shook his head. "I did my best."
Lu Mingfei came out swinging with a devastating opening line.
"Fuck, do not scare me! I really have a terminal illness?" Lao Tang blurted out.
To his surprise, the first person those words frightened was himself.
Because the voice that had just come out was not the weary young man's voice he had heard for over twenty years.
It was an especially ethereal, sweet voice, the kind only beautiful girls in anime had.
"Sorry." Lu Mingfei apologized again. "That is what I was about to tell you."
After speaking, Lu Mingfei took out a mirror and handed it to Lao Tang.
Lao Tang accepted it with trembling hands. Reflected in it was a head of long dark hair, a lovely and innocent oval face, gemlike eyes widened in disbelief, and a cherry-red little mouth slowly opening to reveal pearly white teeth.
Ronald Tang fell silent for a moment, then slowly reached beneath his crotch.
Caesar turned around, facing away from the bed, while Lu Mingfei continued hanging his head in shame.
"Fuck!!! Where is my little brother?!!!" A scream of utter misery, yet impossibly sweet, pierced their eardrums.
"Is this a dream? This has to be a dream!" Ronald abruptly turned toward Lu Mingfei, only to realize that he was not hanging his head in shame at all—this bastard was holding back laughter! Ronald viciously pinched himself. The skin was soft, and it hurt.
This was not a dream.
Looking at the hospital gown bulging over his chest, Ronald's brain crashed.
After being a rough-and-tumble man for over twenty years, he had become a beautiful girl today.
Please, anything!!!! Onegai, onegai!
Before you continue