Living with a Magical Girl, but a Monster Executive

North Capital had not changed its name... because there was no longer any need to. North Capital was now a paradise for monsters.

Naturally, humans still existed in a city controlled by monsters. But they lived under the monsters' rule, completely cut off from the world's systems.

No one knew whether they were living well or not.

Along with that, transportation and logistics in the cities around North Capital would gradually collapse as well, spreading outward.

Now, traveling between cities came with enormous risks.

There were many such cities and phenomena around the world.

But the fall of cities in other countries—such as Vatican City—had traces to follow. Only Japan's North Capital... had buried that history of defeat away.

Whether monsters had been pulling the strings behind it remained unknown... at least to the public.

"I... secretly looked at it."

The person on the other end of the call was not surprised by the team leader's words. [The owner of the magic power in your hands was one of the monsters in that battle.]

The team leader was indeed somewhat shocked. From the footage, the monsters that had participated in that battle were terrifying, nothing like the lesser monsters that usually caused trouble. "Does that mean the other party was at least an executive?"

[Perhaps it involves more than you think. The other party is one of the "Unconfirmed Codename"... In any case, destroy the data on that magic power. Leave no trace. After this call, its "existence" will be deleted as well.]

[Beep beep beep—]

"..." As the busy tone sounded, the researcher team leader's expression turned grave. She knew this matter was indeed deeply involved.

Classifying monsters by strength and rank, the strongest were naturally the mysterious Monster Emperor, who had never shown himself to this day.

From low to high, there were ordinary monsters, Executive Tier monsters, and headquarters executive-tier monsters.

After that came "leader"-class monsters, those with the strength of a leader of some monster faction.

And beyond that were...

The "Unconfirmed Codenames," whose abilities were perhaps too complicated to study and assign names to.

In other words, they could not be given labels such as "Ant Monster" or "Crab Monster."

Likewise, it meant that the Association did not know their appearance, identity, or specific affiliation. There were not many of these beings whose original forms could not be determined.

Simply put, they were the ones whose weaknesses had not been uncovered—

"King Level?"

Muttering that to herself, the team leader shuddered... King Level monsters were probably terrifying beings who stood atop countless corpses, created monstrous slaughter whenever they were displeased, and ate at least ten children every day, weren't they?

"Cong Yu-chan, I'm treating you to yakisoba bread, so you'd better remember my kindness! At least remember it for seven days—"

Cong Yu replied perfunctorily, "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Locked on the Rooftop (Literally)

The rooftop... it really was a setting that appeared in all kinds of school romance anime.

But Wind City's rooftop was undoubtedly the best rooftop in the world.

The wind here was not especially strong, but it could be clearly felt, and it was incredibly, incredibly refreshing...

That was precisely why Cong Yu had chosen to live in Wind City.

"Ah, nom—"

Cong Yu took a bite of the yakisoba bread in his hand... How should he put it? It tasted pretty good. The outer crust was a little crispy.

The yakisoba inside was springy and chewy, and the sauce was generous, with a sweet teriyaki flavor.

As he casually ate the lunch Yaochuan Guang had treated him to, Cong Yu leaned against the wall beside the door and looked through the outer railing at the beautiful sky.

The rooftop had always belonged to Cong Yu.

Sometimes he would take a nap here. Skipping afternoon classes was naturally no big deal... the lessons were meaningless anyway.

Since Cong Yu's grades were excellent, the teachers would not say much either.

But today, this rooftop welcomed its second visitor.

"Cong Yu-chan? Ah, you really are here..."

First came the sound of the battered, slightly rusted rooftop door opening, followed by Yaochuan Guang's voice.

Cong Yu opened his eyes helplessly.

By then, Yaochuan Guang had already copied his posture and sat down on the left side of the door... which was the opposite side from Cong Yu.

"Wow, the wind feels so cool. Though it isn't that hot today either."

Yaochuan Guang sighed in admiration, gently closing her eyes like Cong Yu did. Her golden hair draped over her shoulders.

The breeze brushed against her, making the golden hair at her temples flutter softly.

Cong Yu simply finished the last few bites of yakisoba bread. "As long as you calm down and go somewhere high up, you'll find that Wind City's wind has always been like this. It has never changed over the years."

The wind here was clear and aloof, always the same as ever.

"What do you mean, 'over the years'? You make yourself sound like some office-worker uncle in his forties, just like our homeroom teacher."

Yaochuan Guang teased him like that. Ignoring Cong Yu's guilty sideways glance, she suddenly grew excited. "But I saw your grades, Cong Yu!"

"Your scores in last year's exams were first in the entire grade! When I was passing by, I heard a student say they absolutely had to beat you."

Beat me?

Cong Yu hesitated and glanced at Yaochuan Guang. "It's true that I was first in the final exams last year, but... beat me? You mean surpass me?"

Yaochuan Guang said, "More or less—"

Those were completely different things, okay?!

Honestly, Wind City High School's happy education was happy to an absurd degree, so the exams here were very easy.

"Cong Yu-chan, can you tutor me?"

Yaochuan Guang said this as she looked at Cong Yu, who had his hands behind his head. "I didn't really understand the morning lessons. World history was okay, but I didn't understand the math lesson at all."

It was normal that she had not understood it.

"After all, it has been a long time since you were in your first year of high school, right? The textbooks changed once, and Takenaka Kensaku is terrible at teaching."

Cong Yu replied simply. Seeing Yaochuan Guang's stunned expression at him calling the math teacher by name, he comforted her. "But you're a magical girl, so you don't need to care about grades, right?"

Even if they were not magical girls, many students did not care about their grades.

Being a magical girl was even something of an iron rice bowl. Just like Junchin Ding Yilang, going to school was merely entertainment for him.

Junchin's path was already invincible, so why bother reading the sages' books?

"That may be true, but before my parents died, they wanted me to study hard. They always said being a magical girl was too dangerous."

Yaochuan Guang spoke with a nostalgic and sorrowful expression. "They wanted me to live as a normal person. I even argued with them over it."

"..."

"I have to say, your parents were pretty remarkable. They were able to stay clear-headed at a time when humanity desperately needed magical girls."

Cong Yu spoke simply, propping up his chin. "You

should be able to feel it yourself, more or less. Being a magical girl is not glamorous."

Looking at Yaochuan Guang's lowered gaze, Cong Yu paused before speaking again, choosing his words more carefully. "At least, it isn't as wonderful as you think."

That was true. Before Yaochuan Guang became active, or when she had only been fighting monsters for a short while, she had thought being a magical girl was cool and wonderful.

But later, she discovered...

A battle was a battle. Pain was pain. Injuries were injuries...

"And if someone is killed, then they die. In that regard, magical girls have something in common with humans."

Cong Yu spoke simply, then thought of Lantian Zhu and the other magical girls. "You actually have it pretty good. There are quite a few magical girls near our residence, but they're all trainees."

In other words, the kind who did not get paid. They trained voluntarily during the spare time they had outside of school and work in pursuit of the dream called "magical girl."

They had to train for at least two and a half years before becoming barely qualified magical girls. But whether they would die during their first official encounter with a monster?

That was an unknown.

"Besides, there are restrictions from agencies and contracts. Magical girls also have to worry about lifespan issues... Like me, I'll definitely grow old and die eventually."

Cong Yu made up the part about his own lifespan, because monsters were also immortal creatures distinct from humans. "By then, you'll still be as young as you are now... assuming you don't suddenly die while fighting monsters."

In fact, magical girls really were in a high-risk profession. Not quite as dangerous as people imagined, but still quite dangerous.

It was like being a worker in a hazardous profession, except without a safety belt, safety rope, or hard hat.

There was always the risk of suddenly dying.

There had actually been quite a few magical girls who had died by Cong Yu's hand.

Well, before he turned over a new leaf, he was not the type to hold back just because the other side was pretty. If you did a job, you had to love the job.

Except drawing manga.

"Ugh... When you put it that way, Cong Yu-chan, it does make me a little scared. But I don't really have a choice—"

Yaochuan Guang seemed to shrink back for a moment, but then she showed a helpless smile. "If I don't do it, who will protect Wind City?"

That smile was not particularly cool. At the very least, it was less dazzling than Yaochuan Guang's usual cheerful smile, but it no longer had that naive foolishness.

Even Cong Yu was briefly stunned.

"Think about it, Cong Yu-chan... If I weren't a magical girl, then the innocent people at Grass Flower Bank before, and all those children in the park, would have fallen victim to the monsters."

With her hands on her hips, Yaochuan Guang listed the civilians she had previously saved, regaining her initial confidence. "I'm not like those magical girls who only post videos and chase views. The reason I'm so popular is because I'm genuinely saving people!"

"..."

"That's true... but that's your job. Besides, even if you didn't do it, there would be plenty of others who would."

Cong Yu admitted it, drawing his legs in slightly.

Sunlight shone on Yaochuan Guang, making her hair glitter, while the rusty iron door blocked all the sunlight.

Cong Yu pulled his feet in, completely retreating into the shadows, forming two extremes with Yaochuan Guang's side.

One side sparkled, while the other was calm and dark.

But...

"Cong Yu-chan! Why did you stop talking? Praise me already!"

Yaochuan Guang shouted. With a bang, she slammed the door separating them shut, and Cong Yu's expression instantly turned shocked.

The sunlight that had been blocked before now spilled warmly over him. The sudden brightness made his eyes sting, but...

It was hard to say whether it was Yaochuan Guang or the sunlight itself that was dazzling.

"Uh... well... ah... How exactly do you want me to praise you? Idiot, the key is inserted on the other side of the door."

Cong Yu sighed and stood up. After reaching out to tug on the iron door, he sighed again. "Sigh, this door won't budge. It's like it has been fixed in place with space itself."

"So, Miss Yaochuan Guang, how are we supposed to get down now?"

"..." Yaochuan Guang said, "Eh? Um, does that mean we can only spend the rest of our lives together on the rooftop?"

Cong Yu said, "What kind of joke is that?! You idiot!"

Red... Teacher?

It was worth mentioning that Cong Yu's phone was in his bag in the classroom, and there were only three people in his Lixe QQ who could help him.

They were Minato Namikaze, Yaochuan Guang, and Lantian Zhu.

There were quite a few others who were useless at the moment, such as contacts with unclear meanings like "Red," "boss," "Doctor," and [Former Colleague (Snow)].

Of course, there was also [Editorial Department Editor (Female)].

In short, when it came to communication for "work" in every sense of the word, Cong Yu was the kind of person who was used to using Lixe to send messages.

So Cong Yu could not possibly remember Minato Namikaze's phone number, because he had never known it in the first place.

Yaochuan Guang had brought her phone, but she had not added anyone at the school as a Lixe friend yet, nor did she have anyone's phone number.

So in the end, Cong Yu told her the homeroom teacher's phone number.