Confession at Dusk, News

Ke Mingqing slung a backpack over his shoulder and walked alone along the edge of the coastal highway, heading downhill against the flow of traffic.

With both hands tucked into his pockets, he kept his head lowered, lost in thought. The entire highway was baking under the summer sun, and even the waves crashing against the beach had been dyed a brilliant gold.

Ke Mingqing kept walking downhill. Countless buses passed by his side, and the sky above gradually darkened. Before he knew it, dusk had arrived. He leaned against the guardrail and turned his head for a look.

The setting sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon, taking back the light scattered across the sea and highway.

When he came back to himself, he had finally reached the end of the road.

The evening sea breeze lifted his hair. Raising his head, he saw a girl in a white linen dress sitting quietly on a public wooden bench by the shore, her head hanging as she stared blankly ahead.

He sat down at the other end of the bench. Without saying a word, he simply accompanied her as she gazed out at the sea at dusk.

Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili sat on the bench, silently looking out over the ocean.

For quite a while, neither of them spoke. The only sounds around them were the evening waves and the rumble of buses passing behind them.

After a moment, she suddenly spoke. "I've actually just been under a lot of pressure lately... Just pretend I never said those things earlier, okay?"

"I know," Ke Mingqing said quietly. "You can tell me if something's wrong."

He paused. "And... it's not that I don't want to understand you. You're the one who keeps shutting yourself away. How am I supposed to get to know you when you never give me the chance?"

"But what if some things, once you say them, make the people around you see you completely differently?" After a long silence, Xia Zili asked softly.

"Then try saying them anyway. I'm your brother."

"I did try. I told you last night."

"Did you?"

"I said..." She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "Your little sister has an incurable mental illness and is about to turn into a lunatic. Satisfied now?"

Ke Mingqing suddenly understood. Xia Zili's sudden emotional outburst that afternoon had not been because she had been viciously attacked online by media outlets around the world for days and nights, nor because she had become a magical girl in secret and had no one to confide in.

It was because she knew that she might become a witch—a murderous, insane creature that was close to human yet no longer human. She could not bring herself to tell anyone around her, so she had been so gloomy and helpless.

But who could she tell...?

Her family was the first option to rule out. After being a magical girl for two years, she was bound to have made plenty of enemies. What if her family got dragged into danger? Besides, in her eyes, they were all ordinary people. Who would understand how she felt?

Telling other magical girls would be even worse.

If the Magical Girl Company found out, they would put her on a control list. From then on, she would have to spend her days locked in a windowless observation room, doing nothing but hugging her knees and staring blankly at the metal panels on the ceiling.

Thinking of this, Ke Mingqing suddenly shrugged and gave a helpless, dry laugh.

You silly little sister, what's so terrible about that? If, six months from now, I stop pretending and tell you I'm not really your brother but a player from a parallel world, and that if I don't kill you, I'll be the one who dies, what will you think then?

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Didn't I say it already? Even if you have a mental illness, you're still my little sister. No matter what happens, you're still my little sister."

Ke Mingqing spoke casually as he gently reached out a hand toward her.

He seemed to want to pat her hair, but after hesitating for a moment and seeing no reaction from Xia Zili, he gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders instead.

This was the best family member Ke Mingqing could imagine himself playing. He had never had family in his previous life, yet he had longed for someone to be by his side, to put an arm around his shoulders and listen to him share what was in his heart.

Xia Zili still said nothing. Her eyelashes merely trembled slightly, but she did not resist.

After all, they had been much closer as children. It had not just been an arm around the shoulders. Whenever she was bullied at school back then, she would come home crying and throw herself into his arms to pour out her grievances. But when had they started drifting apart?

Perhaps it had been the moment she stubbornly became a magical girl and decided that she would protect him?

In the sunset, Xia Zili's lowered face was bathed in a halo of light.

The two sat quietly by the sea for a while, listening to the soft rush of the waves.

Before long, the sun completely sank below the horizon, and twilight gradually blanketed the shore. In the distance, tens of thousands of hectares of maple trees swayed in the wind like a dim golden sea.

The tide struck the black shore and shattered into white foam. Amid the rustle of swaying maple leaves, one person on the bench asked:

"Shall we go?"

After a long while, the other answered softly, "Mm... let's go home."

At seven in the evening on July 3rd, Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili boarded a bus back to the Old Jingmai District.

Neither of them said much on the ride. They merely watched the city shrouded in twilight, then closed their eyes and leaned against the windows for a nap. When they woke up, the bus had already reached their stop.

The night was quiet. Children were playing in the streets and alleys, while a faint smear of dark red still lingered in the sky.

Not long after Ke Mingqing got home, Xia Ningzhi returned from school with her backpack.

Third Sister Xia Ningzhi was still wearing her blue-and-white school uniform that day, her hair tied into a strange yet pretty bun like little Nezha from a TV drama.

The instant he saw Xia Ningzhi, a mission panel suddenly appeared in his vision.

[Main Quest Four (Phase One): Use your second identity to approach the mythological vessel—"Red Lotus"—and establish contact with her.]

One family member a day? I'm seriously busy, Ke Mingqing thought.

"Staring at me again? Did you get heatstroke?" Xia Ningzhi immediately gave him a hard knuckle rub, pressing her fist against his head and grinding it viciously, just like Nobita's mother scolding Nobita in Doraemon.

"So annoying. I just think your hairstyle looks stupid." Ke Mingqing shook off her hand.

Xia Ningzhi curled her lips, unconcerned. "My classmates and teachers all said it looks cute. They called me the modern-day little Nezha."

"Are your college entrance exams over?" Ke Mingwei, dressed in a police uniform, took off his leather shoes and walked over from the entryway with a cigarette between his lips.

"One more day," Xia Ningzhi answered casually.

Ke Mingwei sat down on the sofa and turned on the television with the remote. "Why are the college entrance exams so late this year? I remember they were usually in June."

Xia Ningzhi tossed her backpack onto the sofa, plopped down, and stretched against the backrest as she explained, "They were postponed because of the Clockmaker Mimic Attack Incident, Dad. Your memory is really terrible."

At the mention of "Clockmaker," Ke Mingwei fell silent for a moment. A cold glint passed through his eyes.

With a click, he lit his cigarette and asked quietly, "How did the exams go?"

Xia Ningzhi blinked at him. "I feel pretty good about them. Maybe I'll get into the same university as Second Sister."

"Why not your eldest brother?" Ke Mingqing chimed in.

"Big Brother's personality is too weird. We don't get along." Xia Ningzhi muttered softly.

Ke Mingwei sighed faintly. "Your eldest brother is just a little odd. He actually cares about you all more than anyone."

"Got it, dear Daddy." Xia Ningzhi smiled.

A while later, Xia Zili finished showering, changed into a nightgown, and sat down in front of the TV as well.

When she noticed that Ke Mingqing was still wearing that fan T-shirt, she could not help frowning.

Then Xia Zili suddenly had an idea and spoke up.

"Dad, what do you think of his T-shirt?" As she spoke, she gestured with her eyes toward the Magical Girl Ember fan T-shirt Ke Mingqing was wearing.

Ke Mingwei had been watching TV and smoking. Only after hearing his daughter mention it did he notice Ke Mingqing's fan shirt.

He gave it a look, frowned, and said, "What the hell is that? Change out of it. Otherwise, your classmates will laugh at you when you get to school."

Xia Zili remained expressionless, but secretly clenched her fist. Well done, Dad. That's the spirit.

Ke Mingqing let out a long sigh, turned to meet his father's gaze, and said, "Dad, you really stick your nose into everything. Can we not be on duty everywhere, even at home?"

Holding a pen cap against her chin, Xia Ningzhi looked at her vocabulary book and smiled. "Exactly. What's wrong with A-Qing having his own hobbies? I hope the girlfriend he brings home someday is as cute as this magical girl."

Xia Zili's little face turned red as she listened, and she suddenly could not take it anymore.

Third Sister, aren't you helping the villain here? I wanted Dad to rein in this damn Fourth Brother of mine and make him permanently lock away that T-shirt.

Ke Mingwei frowned and took another look at the face of the girl in the Gothic dress on Ke Mingqing's shirt. In the end, he sighed, looked away, and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

The four sat before the sofa, each doing their own thing. Xia Ningzhi reviewed her physics workbook, Ke Mingqing drank a beverage while playing Tetris, Ke Mingwei watched current affairs news on TV, and Xia Zili memorized English vocabulary.

Their mother, Xia Wenna, wore an apron as she quietly prepared dinner in the kitchen, listening to an old Showa-era Japanese song sung by Akina Nakamori, Second Love.

The cicadas chirped faintly, and the twilight outside deepened. It was a quiet, warm evening.

But after a while, the news anchor on TV suddenly adopted a grave expression.

"We interrupt this program with two urgent reports. At 19:40 today, wanted criminal 'cyborg Gaster' attacked the headquarters of Dawn Capital Fifth Bank, causing at least three deaths and twelve injuries. Separately, at 19:43, fugitive vampire criminal 'Stro' carried out a series of attacks on Zero Overpass in Dawn Capital. Nine citizens have been confirmed seriously injured from blood loss, and traffic on the bridge has been completely paralyzed."

The next moment, the three people on the sofa nearly rose to their feet in unison and spoke at the same time.

"I'm going downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes," Ke Mingwei said.

"Oh, right, I just remembered I'm going out to dinner with my classmates tonight," Xia Zili said.

"Crap, I left my practice book at school. Tomorrow is the second day of the college entrance exams, so I need to go get it and study," Xia Ningzhi said.

The moment they finished speaking, the three exchanged astonished looks.

Only the one person still sitting on the sofa remained calm. Ke Mingqing took a sip of iced cola. Good. Better if everyone stays busy...

At the same time, while no one was paying attention, he pulled the D-rank item "Tracking Sunglasses" from his pants pocket, pressed the button on the frame, and locked onto Third Sister Xia Ningzhi's location.

[Notice: "Tracking Sunglasses" has locked onto a Super-species—"Mythological Vessel: Red Lotus." For the next two hours, the target's location will be continuously marked on the sunglasses' map.]