Magical Girls Exposed!

As the opening theme began to play in that atmosphere.]

(!!!Episodes seven and eight have always been fan service!)

(The ancients truly did not deceive me!)

(Why is Xiao Qiu wearing a school swimsuit?!)

(Xiao Chun has a really nice figure.)

(Xiaoxia is kind of...)

([Chen Xiaoxia]: Kind of what?! Say it clearly!!!)

(Xiaoxia is angry now www)

Seeing the nearly empty outdoor pool in the Sky Screen, Fang Ming thought carefully and recalled when this had happened.

This was three days after Xiao Chun had fallen into the water.

Xiao Chun had fully recovered and was no different from usual. Her family should have been picking her up to take her home, but at Xiao Chun's strong insistence, they had decided to spend one more day in Rock City before leaving.

The location was an outdoor pool in one of Rock City's parks.

As for why they had chosen a pool, it was naturally to deal with the escaped Fish Monster Demon!

Although Xiao Chun and the others had not seen Xiao Bai slay the Demon, since Xiao Bai had not returned the Nightmare Seed to them, that proved the Fish Monster Demon was still alive.

And if it was still alive, they might encounter it again.

But the Fish Monster Demon fought underwater, and aside from Xiao Chun, the other two magical girls' swimming skills were really nothing to write home about.

So, in order to train everyone's swimming skills, Xiao Chun's family had specifically rented out an outdoor pool as their swimming training ground.

That was right, rented out!

Although Xiao Chun's family was a scholarly household, they were still rather well-off...

As the temporary guardian of the three girls, Fang Ming naturally qualified to visit the outdoor pool as well. Since he could enjoy it on the company dime, there was no way Fang Ming would refuse.

But after carefully recalling what had happened at the outdoor pool that day, Fang Ming could not help rubbing his chin.

"I remember that night, only an Octopus Monster Demon showed up. There was no sign of the Fish Monster Demon instead... So this episode should just be a transitional one, and the next episode is the final battle against the fish monster?"

After thinking back for a while, Fang Ming suddenly remembered something, and his expression turned strange. "...No, there was something else... Could this episode be... Damn it, it definitely was!"

Fang Ming suddenly remembered that the Octopus Monster Demon had not actually been killed by Xiao Qiu and the others. Fang Ming had dealt with it.

Before that, Xiao Qiu and the others had not even gotten the chance to make a move.

And the key was what came afterward...

In order to let Xiao Qiu and the others understand the "cruelty" of magical girls, Fang Ming had deliberately fought them... Well, though the main reason at the time had been that he wanted to see just how much stronger he was than Xiao Qiu and the others.

But he really had fought Xiao Qiu and the others like some kind of villain!

No wonder the opening had a scene of him fighting Xiao Qiu!

[After some fooling around, Chen Xiaoxia finally began adapting to the water with Yu Muqiu and Xiao Chun's help.

Xiao Chun could not help laughing as she said to Chen Xiaoxia:

"You're clearly blue-themed after transforming, and you even seem to be connected to water, yet you can't swim..."

"Who says being blue means I can swim?! I'm a landlubber!"

While floundering in the water, Chen Xiaoxia rolled her eyes at Xiao Chun and retorted.

Xiao Chun smiled without speaking and helped Chen Xiaoxia adjust her swimming posture.

After swimming around nearby for a while, Yu Muqiu suddenly said:

"We still don't know where that Fish Monster Demon ran off to, and there's been no news from Xiao Bai either..."

"Don't mention her." Chen Xiaoxia said unhappily. "That girl ignored Xiao Chun and just ran away. If it hadn't been for Brother Fang Ming, Xiao Chun would probably be..."

She paused there before continuing, "Anyway, she must have been defeated by the Fish Monster Demon and was too embarrassed to come see us.

"Otherwise, with that arrogant attitude of hers, she definitely would have brought the Nightmare Seed over, thrown it in front of us, and said something like, 'Children should act like children'... Tch, so annoying!"

"Xiaoxia, that's just your own assumption." Xiao Chun said helplessly. "I've met her before. Although she is... indeed a little cold, she's not actually a bad kid."

Chen Xiaoxia fell silent.

She really had no right to speak on this matter. Apart from their first meeting, everything she knew about Xiao Bai had come from Xiao Qiu and Xiao Chun.

But even what she had learned from those two had left Chen Xiaoxia with a poor impression of Xiao Bai.

In the end, that was Xiao Bai's fault too.

Right from the start, she had denied the efforts of Xiao Qiu and the other magical girls, simply treating them as children who had been "deceived," and even seeing Nino as a bad person.

No matter what Xiao Bai's true intentions were, in Chen Xiaoxia's eyes—as a companion standing on Xiao Qiu, Xiao Chun, and Nino's side—Xiao Bai was an enemy.

The same kind as those adults who looked down on children.

That was the real reason Chen Xiaoxia disliked Xiao Bai.]

Blue-Themed Magical Girls Did Not Necessarily Know How to Swim

[Setting aside Chen Xiaoxia's evaluation of Xiao Bai for the moment, the three fell silent briefly before Chen Xiaoxia changed the subject and asked:

"By the way, is practicing swimming here really useful? The Fish Monster Demon's home ground might be at the bottom of the lake, but we don't have to fight it underwater, right? Wouldn't it be better to lure it outside?"

"That's possible, but we also have to consider the possibility that we can't lure the Fish Monster Demon out."

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Chun answered.

Inside the Fish Monster Demon's barrier, there was water almost everywhere, at most divided between the lakebed and the surface. That meant most of their combat time would have to be spent underwater.

Although magical girls could use magic to maintain the oxygen their bodies needed, and could also use magic to move freely underwater, knowing how to swim and being comfortable in water were still crucial.

At least in Xiao Chun's memories, Xiao Bai did not seem particularly good at swimming. So she fought by stepping on Chains extending underwater, using the connections between them to dodge and maneuver around the fish monster's attacks.

But there was resistance underwater. Xiao Bai's fighting style was not unworkable, but it would ultimately weaken her. That was probably why the Fish Monster Demon had managed to escape.

In contrast, Xiao Chun was fairly skilled at swimming and had once been runner-up in the city's youth swimming competition. Underwater, she could actually bring out much more of her true strength.

Though... she had ultimately let her guard down and been dragged to the lakebed by the Fish Monster Demon's watery tentacles, that was because the Fish Monster Demon had been too strong, not because Xiao Chun was bad in the water.

So training their swimming skills was necessary.

Even if they could not learn to swim, knowing one or two techniques to reduce resistance underwater would still be good.

"...But if I can't learn to swim, then I just can't learn to swim!"

Chen Xiaoxia felt like giving up.

Swimming did not require much talent, but some people truly were hopeless landlubbers. No matter how they learned, they just could not swim.

Chen Xiaoxia was one of those people.

She was clearly a water-element magical girl, and water even appeared around her when she transformed, yet she could not swim. It had to be said, that was quite the contrast.

Xiao Chun was helpless about this too and could only say to Xiaoxia:

"Do your best, Xiaoxia! We believe in you!"

"Yes, we believe in you!"

Xiao Qiu encouraged her from the side as well.

The three little ones fought hard in the pool to learn how to swim, but as they practiced, the three started splashing around and messing about in the pool again.

Fang Ming sat by the poolside, keeping an eye on the three little ones while teasing Nino, who sat beside him, with a cat teaser. He said thoughtfully:

"Hmm... I wonder whether cats can swim..."

Nino:?

Human! What are you trying to do?!

Hearing Fang Ming say that, Nino instantly became alert. She did not even play with the cat teaser anymore and simply stared at Fang Ming.

Fang Ming waved the cat teaser a couple of times. Seeing that Nino was no longer playing with him, he looked at her strangely before frowning and asking:

"...You... didn't understand what I just said, did you?"

"!?"

Nino was startled at once. She immediately assumed a casual pose and licked her paw, then started playing with the cat teaser again.

After watching Nino suspiciously for several moments, Fang Ming finally withdrew his questioning gaze and said as he continued teasing her:

"Tch, what am I thinking? How could a cat like you understand human speech?"

As he spoke, he reached out and repeatedly stroked Nino's back, leaving Nino weeping internally.]

(Tsk tsk tsk, Xiaoxia can't even swim, and she's supposed to be the magical girl of "water.")

(Being able to use water magic doesn't mean she's good with water. The inequality wins instantly!)

(Hahahaha, poor Nino, getting played by Cousin right in the palm of his hand.)

(It feels like Cousin knows Nino is smart. It seems like he did it on purpose.)

(How could that be? Cousin was obviously just bored and teasing the cat. How could he think that much into it?)

You know what, you really do have a point!

Back then, Fang Ming really had been teasing Nino on purpose!

He had only wanted to see how far Nino, a magical creature from another world, could keep up her Disguise in front of an "ordinary person" like him.

Looking at it now, Nino had quite a few tells.

Even if someone did not already know she was a magical creature, they could still guess that she was at least an animal that understood human speech and possessed intelligence.

But at the time, Fang Ming had deliberately ignored those things so he would not expose himself.

And normally, no one would think a cat could truly understand human language anyway.

Well, since the Sky Screen had now exposed this scene, he should find a way to bring Nino a gift and apologize later.

He wondered whether she liked dried fish.

[Chen Xiaoxia's special swimming training lasted an entire day.

It was not until dusk that Chen Xiaoxia finally learned a tiny bit of swimming technique.

That was not to say she had learned how to swim, but after transforming, she at least knew how to move underwater.

In the end, she still had to rely on magic, but to Chen Xiaoxia, that was already an incredible improvement.

But peaceful times could not last forever.

Especially for magical girls.

At dusk, before everyone had left the outdoor swimming facility, Nino—who had been teased by Fang Ming all afternoon and was lying exhausted as she rested—suddenly straightened up.

It was not just Nino. Yu Muqiu and the others immediately stopped chatting and laughing as well, all looking beyond the pool at the same time.

"This presence... it's a Nightmare Seed! And it's close!"

Nino sent a Telepathy message to Yu Muqiu and the others.

Yu Muqiu asked, "Is it that escaped Fish Monster Demon?"

"I don't know, but... probably not. The Nightmare Seed's presence is very weak..."

Nino said uncertainly.

A weak Nightmare Seed presence meant that the Demon formed from it was not strong.

Of course, that was not absolute.

After all, the Demon in Stillwater Lake Park a few days ago had also had a weak presence. That was because most of its presence had been obscured by the lakebed, and it had deliberately concealed itself, which was why only Xiao Chun had sensed it.

And the Nightmare Seed presence they sensed now might not be the same situation as the Fish Monster Demon's.

For that very reason, Yu Muqiu and the others' expressions became serious as well.

They exchanged glances, and Yu Muqiu said:

"Then we..."

"Xiao Qiu, how much longer are you girls going to stay? Come out."

Fang Ming, standing at the entrance, suddenly called out to the magical girls.