It's for Kids, So It's Fine!

"Vice Minister He, although I'm just an ordinary person, and I know this isn't our responsibility, but... a girl who might become a Magical Girl has been suffering from school bullying for a long time. Since you already know about it, why can't you take the initiative to do something?"

Fang Ming knew that his questioning might have seemed rather inexplicable.

But he simply couldn't hold it in.

School bullying was actually quite common in society. To some extent, bullying incidents occurred in most schools.

Of course, this "bullying" might not be anything particularly serious. It could just be private exclusion or targeted treatment from a small group of people.

There might not even be any physical violence or verbal abuse. It could simply take the form of cold violence.

But that still counted as bullying, and the psychological harm it inflicted on teenagers was impossible to estimate.

Normally, there were simply too many cases of school bullying. The Investigation Department had only just been established and had limited manpower. They truly had no obligation to straighten out every school and stamp out bullying before it could take root.

But it would have been one thing if they had never encountered it. Since they had, and the person involved might even be one of the Magical Girls, shouldn't the Investigation Department do something, even if it was only a guess?

Even if it was just making contact and showing some concern?

When Fang Ming recalled Song Niandong from last night, curled up in that alley like an abandoned kitten, an inexplicable surge of anger rose in his chest.

If that girl truly was the mastermind behind the Toy Bear Incident and the Lantern Festival Incident, then... what kind of experiences had made 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 documents and carefully read through them before saying to Fang Ming:

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

"But please understand that each department has different administrative responsibilities. Our Supernatural Powers Investigation Department is responsible for everything related to Magical Girls, while student Song Niandong... is not a Magical Girl."

"You've already confirmed that?"

Fang Ming looked up and asked.

He Xuan nodded. "We're absolutely certain. There were times when she and Xiao Bai appeared at the same time. Also, according to the psychologists' analysis, Song Niandong's personality, methods, and temperament are completely 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 as for what they would specifically do, the Investigation Department truly had no authority over it.

After all, aside from the Toy Bear and the Vine Demon from last night's Lantern Festival Incident, the authorities had never personally witnessed Demons appearing in reality.

Naturally, neither the Magical Girls nor the relevant departments could stand above other departments in authority.

Fang Ming understood this, and the anger in his heart gradually subsided, 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 glances with the investigators, and they all sank into thought.

Then, at that critical moment, the silence was broken by an Investigation Department member rushing in through the door:

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

He Xuan abruptly turned to look at the member. For the first time, astonishment appeared on her usually calm face.

Then she turned to Fang Ming, only to see him sigh once more and sit back down in his chair, silently drinking tea.

He seemed not at all surprised by this outcome.

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

She might not be the fourth Magical Girl, Xiao Bai.

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

Only now, the Investigation Department had lost track of her. The trail ended here.

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

After a busy morning, Fang Ming finally sat in the shade in the Investigation Department's courtyard and looked up at the screen in the sky.

The beginning of Episode Eight was different from the previous episodes. Like Episode Four, there was no recap at all before it went straight into the opening.

People always said, "Opening in your face, protagonist in danger," but after thinking about it, Fang Ming felt like this episode really did not seem particularly dangerous.

If there was any danger, it was probably the Fish Monster Demon.

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

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

And the first thing shown was a battle between Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia.

That was right, a battle between two Magical Girls.

Within the barrier they had deployed, magic formed from pink light clashed against Chen Xiaoxia's greatsword.

Fang Ming became slightly more interested at the sight.

Because he did not remember Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia having fought in the past.

This Is a Kids' Show, So It's Fine!

[Magic light from the greatsword intertwined with light magic in midair.

Balls of light appeared around Yu Muqiu, then shot toward Chen Xiaoxia.

After dodging them, Chen Xiaoxia swung her greatsword, sending out a sword aura formed from magic power. The long, narrow arc shattered Yu Muqiu's light bullets and came chopping down at Yu Muqiu's head.

But Chen Xiaoxia's attacks were far too straightforward, making her movements easy to predict. Yu Muqiu merely dodged through the air and avoided the incoming sword aura.

At the same time, pink magical light formed transparent pink chains that wrapped around Chen Xiaoxia's body.

Chen Xiaoxia frowned tightly as she was bound by the pink chains, and immense magic power burst forth—

"Break!!"

Surging blue magic power collided with pink magic power, and all the Chains of Light instantly shattered into the purest magic power before dispersing into the air.

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

"Enough! Both of you are nearly out of magic power. If you keep fighting, you'll damage your Sources of Magic."

"Phew..."

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... I still can't deal with things that are too nimble."

Chen Xiaoxia canceled her transformation and dropped onto the ground with a sigh.

Yu Muqiu also canceled her transformation. As the two returned to normal, the Magic Barrier dissipated, 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 ideal place for Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia to practice magic.

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

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

So she took the initiative to ask Xiao Qiu and Xiao Chun to train with her in magic. After several sparring sessions, Chen Xiaoxia discovered that she had a glaring weakness.

She was not good at fighting at long range.

Both Yu Muqiu and Xiao Chun had ways to fight from a distance.

There was no need to say much about Xiao Chun. Bows and arrows were inherently ranged weapons. After transforming, Xiao Chun could accurately hit whatever target she wanted from a high-rise building over a thousand meters away.

Although Yu Muqiu's Light Magic was inferior to Xiao Chun's in long-range attacks and weaker than Chen Xiaoxia's in close combat, her Light Magic was extremely balanced and highly practical.

She could use ranged skills such as magical light bullets and Light Cannons with ease.

She was also highly adept at condensing Light Magic into different shapes to assist in close-quarters combat.

As for Xiao Bai...

Although she looked like a combat-focused Magical Girl just like Chen Xiaoxia, her omnipresent Chain Magic could be used like long-range artillery shells.

Overall, only Chen Xiaoxia lacked any real long-range attack methods.

"This is so frustrating!!!"

Chen Xiaoxia shouted loudly on the rooftop.

Being unable to defeat Xiao Bai already frustrated her greatly, and discovering her own weakness only made her even more frustrated.

What made her even more upset was that she could not think of any way to make up for it after discovering it.

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 flying sword aura from earlier was already her limit.

"Xiaoxia, you don't need to rush so much. You still have us."

Yu Muqiu saw Chen Xiaoxia's irritation and anxiety and tried to comfort her. "We're together. You can make up for my shortcomings, and we can make up for yours."

"But I want to defeat that hateful woman in black fair and square! Just thinking about what she told 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 the worst part is, I can't even beat her! That's what makes me the angriest!"

Chen Xiaoxia gritted her teeth. Clearly, Xiao Bai's words from last time still bothered her deeply.

And it was not only Chen Xiaoxia. After being reminded by her, 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 been thinking about that often these past few days.

Yes, if she really died while fighting Demons, what would her parents think?

Would they think their daughter was a hero who saved the world, or would they think she was an unfilial daughter who ignored them and threw away her life?

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

But they would definitely be heartbroken.

Yu Muqiu pressed her lips together, her thoughts tangled.

Chen Xiaoxia complained for a while longer before pulling Yu Muqiu down from the rooftop.

Xiao Chun had already been picked up by her family. Other than flying over with flight magic, she had no way to provide support quickly. In all of Rock City, only she and Xiao Qiu remained.

There was still no news about the Demon with four Nightmare Seeds in its body, and they had no idea where it was hiding.

The other Nightmare Seeds in Rock City had nothing to do with the two of them either. With Xiao Bai around, they unexpectedly found themselves with some free time.

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

Therefore, today, they had come to Rock City's aquarium with Brother Fang Ming.]

(I was scared to death. So it was just sparring. I thought Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia had really started fighting.)

(It seems Xiao Bai's words had a huge impact on both of them.)

(But Xiao Bai was right too. 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.)

(Just to add, 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 show that looks like it's for kids!)

(www Isn't this reality?)

(Reality is reality, the Sky Screen is the Sky Screen. You can't mix them together!)

Because the images playing on the Sky Screen showed things that had happened in the past, meaning everything had already settled and there would be no bad ending, the atmosphere in the comments was very relaxed.

They truly watched the footage on the Sky Screen as if it 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.