Magical Girls Exposed!

"Deputy Minister He, although I'm just an ordinary person, and I know this isn't our responsibility, but... a girl who could possibly become a magical girl has been suffering from campus bullying for a long time. Since you already knew about it, why couldn't you take the initiative to do something?"

Fang Ming knew his questioning might have seemed rather inexplicable.

But he simply could not hold it back.

Campus bullying was actually quite common in society. To a greater or lesser extent, bullying incidents occurred at most schools.

Of course, this "bullying" might not be anything particularly serious—perhaps just private exclusion or targeting by a small group of people.

There might not even be any physical violence or insults, only a form of cold violence.

But that still counted as bullying, and the psychological harm it inflicted on young boys and girls was impossible to measure.

Normally, there were simply too many cases of campus bullying. The Investigation Department had only just been established and had limited manpower. They truly had no obligation to reform every school and eliminate bullying before it took root.

But it would have been one thing if they had never encountered it. Since they had, and the person involved might even have been one of the magical girls, shouldn't the Investigation Department have done something, even if it was only a suspicion?

Even if it was just approaching her and showing some concern?

Whenever Fang Ming recalled Song Niandong, curled up in that alley last night like an abandoned cat, an inexplicable anger rose in his heart.

If that girl really was the mastermind behind the Toy Bear incident and the lantern festival incident, then... what kind of experiences had she gone through to make her choose not to seek help from the Investigation Department, but instead take matters into her own hands and do such things?

"Song Niandong, is it?" He Xuan picked up the file and read through it carefully before saying to Fang Ming,

"Mr. Fang Ming, I understand how you feel. In fact, during our investigation, we had already been paying special attention to this child and had tried to change her learning environment.

"But please understand that every department has different management responsibilities. The responsibility of our Supernatural Powers Investigation Department is to handle everything related to magical girls, and Student Song Niandong... is not a magical girl."

"You've already confirmed that?"

Fang Ming looked up and asked.

He Xuan nodded. "We are completely certain. She and Xiao Bai have appeared at the same time, and according to psychological analysis, Song Niandong's personality, way of doing things, and overall temperament are entirely different from Xiao Bai's.

"She cannot be Xiao Bai."

Precisely because Song Niandong could not be a magical girl, all He Xuan could do was report Song Niandong's situation to the relevant departments.

But the Investigation Department truly could not interfere with what happened next.

After all, aside from the Toy Bear and the Vine Demon encountered at the lantern festival last night, the authorities had never personally witnessed Demons appearing in reality.

Naturally, neither the magical girls nor the relevant departments could hold authority above other departments.

Fang Ming understood this, and the anger in his heart gradually faded, replaced by a sigh.

He sighed and asked, "Then... could she be the fifth magical girl?"

"Hm?"

He Xuan froze.

Clearly, they had never considered that possibility.

The reception room fell silent. He Xuan exchanged looks with the investigators, and all of them sank into thought.

Then, at the critical moment, the silence was broken by an Investigation Department member rushing in from outside:

"Minister He... Minister He! Song Niandong... Song Niandong has disappeared!!"

He Xuan abruptly turned toward the member. For the first time, astonishment appeared on her always calm face.

She then turned to Fang Ming, only to see him sigh again and sit back in his chair, silently drinking tea.

He did not seem surprised by this outcome in the slightest.

If they had only suspected that something was wrong with Song Niandong before, then Song Niandong's disappearance now—and her disappearance right under the Investigation Department's watch—was enough to prove her identity.

She might not have been Xiao Bai, the fourth magical girl.

But she was definitely connected to the recent events in Spring City!

However, the Investigation Department had now lost her trail, and the lead ended there.

No matter what happened with Song Niandong, Episode Eight still aired on schedule.

After spending the entire morning busy, Fang Ming finally sat in the shade of the Investigation Department's courtyard and looked up at the Sky Screen.

The beginning of Episode Eight was different from the previous episodes. Like Episode Four, it did not have any recap at the start and went straight into the opening.

Although people always said, "If the opening plays right in their face, the protagonist is in danger," Fang Ming thought about it and realized that this episode did not seem particularly dangerous.

If he had to name a danger, it would probably be that Fish Monster Demon.

But if the Fish Monster Demon was not dealt with in this episode, then the real danger would most likely come in the next one.

After the ninety-second opening, the actual story began.

The first scene was a battle between Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia.

That was right, a battle between two magical girls.

Within the barrier they had spread out, magic formed from pink light collided with Chen Xiaoxia's greatsword.

Fang Ming became slightly interested at the sight.

Because he did not remember Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia ever fighting in the past.

This Was a Children's Show, So It Was Fine!

[The magic of light and the magical glow produced by the greatsword intertwined in the air.

Light bullets appeared around Yu Muqiu before shooting toward Chen Xiaoxia.

After dodging, Chen Xiaoxia swung her greatsword, releasing a magical sword aura. The long, narrow aura shattered Yu Muqiu's light bullets and came crashing down toward Yu Muqiu's head.

But Chen Xiaoxia's attack was too straightforward, making its trajectory easy to predict. Yu Muqiu merely dodged through the air and avoided the sword aura aimed at her.

At the same time as she dodged, pink magical light formed transparent pink Chains that wrapped around Chen Xiaoxia's body.

Chen Xiaoxia, bound by the pink Chains, furrowed her brow as surging magic erupted from her—

"Break!!"

The turbulent blue magic collided with the pink magic, and all the Chains of light instantly shattered into the purest magic before dissipating into the air.

At that very moment, Nino's voice suddenly rang out:

"Enough! Both of you are nearly out of magic. If you keep fighting, you'll damage the source of your magic."

"Whew..."

Yu Muqiu let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, then descended from the sky and landed beside Chen Xiaoxia, asking,

"Xiaoxia, are you okay?"

"...I'm fine, but... it seems I really can't deal with things that are too agile."

Chen Xiaoxia released her transformation, plopped down on the ground, and sighed.

Yu Muqiu also released her transformation. As the two returned to normal, the Magic Barrier dispersed, and they reappeared on the rooftop of a high-rise building.

This was the rooftop of Fang Ming's apartment building. Since hardly anyone came up here normally, it had become the best place for Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia to train their magic.

That was right—training. Their battle just now had only been training.

Chen Xiaoxia had been extremely unwilling to accept her previous defeat at Xiao Bai's hands.

So she had taken the initiative to ask Xiao Qiu and Xiao Chun to train with her in magic. After several sparring matches, Chen Xiaoxia discovered that she had an obvious weakness.

She was not good at long-range combat.

Both Yu Muqiu and Xiao Chun had ways of fighting from a distance.

There was no need to mention Xiao Chun. Bows were already ranged weapons, and after transforming, Xiao Chun could accurately hit any target she wanted from atop a high-rise building more than a thousand meters away.

Yu Muqiu's Light Magic could not compare to Xiao Chun's at long range, nor could its close-combat power compare to Chen Xiaoxia's, but her Light Magic was extremely balanced and highly practical.

She could use long-range skills such as magical light bullets and magical light cannons with ease.

She was also quite familiar with condensing Light Magic into different forms to assist in close-range combat.

As for Xiao Bai...

Although she appeared to be a combat-focused magical girl like Chen Xiaoxia, her ever-present Chain Magic could be used like long-range artillery shells.

All things considered, Chen Xiaoxia was the only one without any long-range attack methods.

"This is so annoying!!!"

Chen Xiaoxia shouted loudly on the rooftop.

Losing to Xiao Bai had already made her extremely unhappy. Discovering her own weakness made her feel even worse.

And being unable to think of a way to make up for it after discovering it made Chen Xiaoxia even more frustrated.

She did not want to hold everyone back in the coming battles, nor did she want to be defeated by Xiao Bai again. That was why she wanted to undergo special training with Xiao Qiu and Xiao Chun.

But now it seemed that what she could not do was simply what she could not do. As a combat-focused magical girl, she had no way to develop long-range techniques.

That sword aura she had just launched was already her limit.

"Xiaoxia, you don't need to be in such a hurry. You still have us."

Yu Muqiu saw Chen Xiaoxia's irritability and anxiety and tried to comfort her. "We're together. You make up for what I lack, and we can make up for what you lack."

"But I want to defeat that hateful girl in black fair and square! Just thinking about what she said to us that day makes me angry! What did she mean by, 'If I see you again, I'll beat you up'? Who does she think she is? Our guardian?!"

"Ahaha..."

"And I can't even beat her! That's the most infuriating part!"

Chen Xiaoxia gritted her teeth. Clearly, she was still bothered by what Xiao Bai had said to them last time.

And it was not only Chen Xiaoxia. Prompted by her words, Yu Muqiu could not help recalling the final scene from last time as well.

—If you die, what will your parents think?

Xiao Bai's cold words remained especially clear even now.

Yu Muqiu had often thought about that point these past few days.

Yes, if she really died fighting Demons, then what would Mom and Dad think?

Would they think their daughter was a hero who saved the world, or would they think she was an unfilial daughter who disregarded her own life and them, selfishly going off to die?

Or perhaps... they would not think anything at all...

But they would definitely be sad.

Yu Muqiu pressed her lips together, her thoughts complicated.

After complaining for a while longer, Chen Xiaoxia pulled Yu Muqiu down from the rooftop.

Xiao Chun had already been picked up by her family. At present, aside from flying over with flight magic, she could not provide support quickly, leaving only Chen Xiaoxia and Xiao Qiu in all of Rock City.

There was still no news of the Demon with four Nightmare Seeds inside its body, and they did not know where it was hiding.

The other Nightmare Seeds in Rock City had nothing to do with them either. With Xiao Bai around, the two of them had unexpectedly become free for the time being.

But since it was summer vacation anyway, they could take advantage of their free time to look around nearby and investigate the Fish Monster Demon's whereabouts along the way.

Therefore, today, they followed Brother Fang Ming to Rock City's aquarium.]

(That scared me to death. So it was sparring—I thought Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia were really fighting.)

(It looks like Xiao Bai's words affected both of them deeply.)

(But Xiao Bai was right. If they die fighting Demons, then they really die. We know Xiao Qiu is the protagonist, so she won't die, but Xiao Bai doesn't know that.)

(As an addition, there are actually quite a few anime where the protagonist dies in the end...)

(Don't bring up such heavy topics in a magical girl anime that looks like it's for children!)

(www Isn't this reality?)

(Reality is reality, and the Sky Screen is the Sky Screen. They can't be mixed together!)

Because the scenes playing on the Sky Screen were events that had happened in the past, meaning everything had already settled and there would be no bad ending, the mood in the comments was quite relaxed.

They truly watched the images on the Sky Screen as though they were an anime.

Only the residents of Spring City were somewhat more serious.

After all, the earlier Toy Bear incident and the later lantern festival incident both reminded them of the existence of magical girls and Demons.