Magical Girls Exposed! Chapter 19

The authorities had to prevent this from happening. It was not only for Xiao Chun's sake, but for the sake of the entire world.

Half an hour after arriving at the branch office, Xiao Chun hurried in through the door.

The moment she entered, she saw Fang Ming sitting in the conference room. Her face turned even paler, and she looked like a child who had done something wrong as Deputy Minister He Xuan led her into the conference room.

Only after everyone had arrived did He Xuan speak.

"Then the discussion meeting regarding the ending of Episode Six will now begin."

Though they called it a meeting about the "ending of Episode Six," it was actually a meeting about the "Xiao Chun Likes Fang Ming Incident." They simply did not put it so bluntly out of consideration for Xiao Chun's feelings.

As soon as the meeting began, everyone in the conference room fell silent.

To be fair, while the people in the Investigation Department could be considered elites in their respective fields, they were complete amateurs when it came to matters of the heart.

There was nothing much they could say.

In the end, He Xuan was the first to speak, asking Xiao Chun:

"First, I need to confirm something with Miss Murong. You... have romantic feelings for Mr. Fang Ming, correct?"

"!!"

Xiao Chun's face immediately flushed red. She lowered her head as though she wanted to bury it in her chest, then said in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz:

"...Yes."

She did not deny it.

The Sky Screen was still there, and the story would continue. If the ending of Episode Six had already revealed her feelings, then she certainly would not be able to hide them in the next few episodes.

Rather than lie, she might as well admit it openly.

There was no need to conceal it.

He Xuan sighed upon hearing that, then looked at Fang Ming.

"Then, what does Mr. Fang Ming think?"

"..."

Fang Ming merely remained silent. He looked at the adults gathered here, then at Xiao Chun, who was sitting there like an ostrich with her head down. Rather than answer He Xuan's question directly, he asked:

"Minister He, although I'm only an outsider, isn't publicly 'putting a girl's feelings on trial' a little too much?"

Girls were delicate. He Xuan was a woman herself, so she should have understood that.

She should have understood even more clearly just how much psychological harm it could cause a girl to have her feelings exposed in public and placed out in the open as a topic for discussion.

This truly was not something that could be discussed openly.

But He Xuan gave her explanation as well.

"I know, but this is a serious matter. We need to reach a conclusion about Xiao Chun's feelings as soon as possible, and... it is precisely because we are considering her feelings that I did not invite everyone here. Otherwise..."

Otherwise, at the very least, the Magical Girls would certainly not have been absent. There might even have been remote video conferences for guidance and discussion.

It would not have been like this, with only a handful of people attending, all of whom were familiar with Xiao Chun.

Since He Xuan had put it that way, Fang Ming could not say much else.

He could only remain silent.

At that moment, He Xuan continued with her earlier question.

"Then, Mr. Fang Ming, can you tell us what you think?"

The question came up again, and everyone's eyes fell on Fang Ming.

That included Xiao Chun, who had been pretending to be an ostrich just moments ago.

Discussing Feelings Like a Serious Matter

What did he think?

What could he possibly think?

Fang Ming looked at Xiao Chun with a complicated expression.

He had never thought of Xiao Chun in that way. All he felt for her was the affection an older brother had for a younger sister.

Just like how he felt about Yu Muqiu.

There was nothing else mixed into it, and there was not the slightest trace of romantic love between a man and a woman.

But looking at Xiao Chun, Fang Ming found himself unable to say any of that.

Saying it would be easy enough, but would Xiao Chun become completely dispirited because of it and lose her Magical Girl powers?

Fang Ming himself did not need to worry about such things. Since magic already existed in his body, with the help of his cheat, he did not need to worry about it disappearing or weakening.

It would only continue growing, or remain where it was.

That was all.

But the other Magical Girls were different. Even now, Fang Ming did not know where the other Magical Girls' powers truly came from.

Whether it was the "aptitude" Nino had mentioned or the Emotion Seed, Fang Ming had never felt either of them.

He was also worried that this matter would cause Xiao Chun's emotions to fluctuate, weakening or even stripping away her magic.

After considering it for a while, Fang Ming could only answer conservatively.

"So far, I have not had those kinds of feelings for Xiao Chun."

"..."

Even though Fang Ming had phrased it gently enough, Xiao Chun's expression still darkened upon hearing those words.

She lowered her head again and said nothing.

He Xuan fell silent as well. She looked at Xiao Chun before saying, "Since Mr. Fang Ming's feelings have been confirmed, Miss Murong... please leave with Ms. Chen for now. I will arrange for you and Mr. Fang Ming to meet alone afterward."

Ms. Chen was the psychologist they had called over.

Her main task was to provide psychological counseling for Xiao Chun after the meeting ended.

No matter how lofty or official they made it sound, calling Xiao Chun here and laying her girlish feelings out in the open for discussion was still hurtful to her.

Although they had no choice but to do this, they also had to pay attention to the psychological counseling of the person involved.

Xiao Chun kept her head lowered and said nothing. She silently stood up and left with Dr. Chen.

After the two of them left, He Xuan looked at Fang Ming.

"Mr. Fang, let me confirm this again. You truly have no feelings whatsoever for Xiao Chun, correct?"

"Didn't I already say that before I came here?"

"Is that so..."

He Xuan rubbed her brow and said nothing.

Fang Ming looked at her in surprise. "Why do you look somewhat disappointed?"

"...Yes. To be honest, Mr. Fang Ming, if you and Miss Murong had feelings for each other, we would not stop you. On the contrary, we would help you see that relationship through."

"Why?" Fang Ming asked in confusion at first, but then he realized the key to it and asked in return, "...Because of the Emotion Seed?"

"Yes."

He Xuan sat up straighter and said to Fang Ming, "To be honest, based on our observations of the Magical Girls, we have also formed some guesses about the source of their powers. The Magical Girls' powers come from Emotion Seeds, and strictly speaking, Emotion Seeds are a combination of positive forces."

"Tell me more."

Fang Ming became interested.

This was the first time he had heard the authorities' analysis of Emotion Seeds. He wanted to know exactly how they viewed them.

He Xuan explained, "According to Ms. Nino's description, Emotion Seeds essentially originate from a person's positive desires: familial affection, friendship, love, liking something, caring for someone, sympathizing with certain things...

"Or certain qualities one possesses: love, hope, courage, gentleness, determination... and so on. In other words, the more outstanding a person is in certain qualities, and the stronger their sense of justice is, the more likely they are to become a Magical Girl."

"Then does that mean Emotion Seeds cannot produce negative energy?"

"...They can."

He Xuan took a deep breath and said seriously, "Emotion Seeds can also produce negative emotions, but those emotions will not give Magical Girls strength. Instead, they will weaken their overall power. Their magic will be affected accordingly by their moods."

After hearing He Xuan say that, Fang Ming more or less understood why she wanted to set him up with Xiao Chun.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "So, if Xiao Chun and I had feelings for each other, you would have planned to make me Xiao Chun's boyfriend in order to activate her 'romantic emotions' and strengthen her powers?"

"Exactly."

The authorities' approach was rational. For the safety of this world, before they found a way to replace the Magical Girls, they would certainly spare no effort in strengthening them.

Since falling in love could enhance a Magical Girl's power, choosing someone suitable whom she also liked and having him become a couple with the Magical Girl would be the safest way to increase her strength.

The authorities had not neglected other aspects either, such as familial affection and friendship. But when it came to a temporary outburst of power, perhaps romantic love, with its strongest personal emotions, was the most suitable.

If Fang Ming had feelings for Xiao Chun, then today's meeting would have ended happily with the two of them becoming a couple.

But unfortunately, Fang Ming did not feel that way.

With the conversation having reached this point, the meeting was also drawing to a close.

Seeing that there was nothing more to discuss, He Xuan announced the end of the meeting. In the end, Fang Ming was the only one left in the conference room.

Sitting in the conference room, Fang Ming leaned back in his chair and thought for a while.

Finally, he rubbed his face, opened the Magical Girl Website, and clicked on his profile and its corresponding comment section.

He skipped past the repeated parts at the beginning of his profile and went straight to the later description.

[...He had little screen time in Episode Five. After being dragged into a barrier, he failed to save his work drafts, becoming the only "victim" of the incident.

In Episode Six, he took Xiao Qiu and the others on a trip to a scenic spot in the city. When Xiao Qiu and the others split up to search for traces of Demons, he had no choice but to look for Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia. Unexpectedly, during that time, Xiao Chun sank to the bottom of the water because of the Demons and nearly drowned.

After discovering this, Fang Ming entered the water and saved Xiao Chun, which was also why Xiao Chun fell for him.]

Since the description was fairly impartial, Fang Ming did not use his authority to alter it.

He continued reading the comments, and the comments inside made the corner of Fang Ming's mouth twitch.

(Cousin is awesome!)

(Cousin, give Xiao Chun's first kiss back!!)

(Come on, Cousin earned that first kiss with his own skills!)

(Enough. He was only performing CPR and rescue breathing. Those are essential steps for saving someone. Can your minds be a little cleaner?)

(...Come to think of it, wasn't Xiao Bai the one who pulled Xiao Chun out in the end? How did it become Cousin?)

(Maybe Xiao Chun saw wrong?)

(So does that mean Xiao Bai was really too focused on chasing the Demon and didn't notice Xiao Chun's situation? That was why Cousin had to go into the water?)

(Who knows? Maybe Xiao Bai is Cousin in disguise, www)

"!!!?"

Seeing that last comment, Fang Ming sucked in a sharp breath.

He knew there were so many people online that someone would surely be able to guess the relationship between himself and Xiao Bai, but he had not expected to see it beneath his own profile.

What reassured him, however, was that because Magical Girls were tied to "girls," most people only took that comment as a joke.

No one truly believed that Xiao Bai was Fang Ming.

Moreover, the footage the Sky Screen had played at the end, mainly from Xiao Chun's perspective, only showed a blurry silhouette. It was impossible to see who had actually rescued Xiao Chun.

That meant the Sky Screen perhaps had not revealed Fang Ming's secret yet.

That made sense. Magical Girl Xiao Qiu was definitely an anime centered on Xiao Qiu, its protagonist.

Only when Xiao Qiu learned Fang Ming's identity would Fang Ming's true identity be exposed on the Sky Screen.

Thinking about it that way, Fang Ming should remain relatively safe for some time to come.

After reading the evaluation of his true self, Fang Ming went to look at Xiao Bai's information and reviews.

It was much the same as his own. The content from Episodes Five and Six had been updated, along with a round of speculation.

Only after using his authority to delete the false, unconfirmed speculation did Fang Ming begin cleaning up the comment section.

Just as he was busy doing that, the conference room door was opened again.