Chapter 555
"I'm... I'm so sorry!!!"
"I don't want to hear 'sorry'! You need to find the meeting minutes by noon!! Otherwise--"
"Yes... yes!!!"
The noise coming from the Student Council made Xiao Qiu break out in a cold sweat.
She couldn't help but sigh softly:
"... Xiao Chun is really... getting more and more terrifying when she's working. I'm so glad I didn't join the Student Council."
Otherwise, there would be one more person being reprimanded.
Yu Muqiu gently patted his chest, thinking with lingering fear.
The Student Council meeting didn't last long, as it was almost time for class, and it ended before the bell rang.
After all the Student Council members, including Xiao Qiu, had left, she entered the meeting room, looked at Murong Xiaochun sitting at the head of the long table, and greeted her with a smile:
"Good Xiao Chun, Xiaochun~"
"Not good!"
Xiao Chun said angrily, "Seriously, I'm about to be driven crazy by these guys! Summer vacation is just around the corner, isn't it common sense to finish up all the schoolwork before summer vacation?!"
"The result was either the meeting minutes were lost, or the wrong books were ordered for next semester... This Student Council is doomed!"
"So, you don't need to take it so seriously," Xiaoxia said casually, sitting on the windowsill. "Isn't this how the Student Council always is? It's only in the last two years that the Student Council's power has increased slightly..."
"Chen Xiaoxia!! Get down from the windowsill right now!!! You're a disciplinary committee member! A disciplinary committee member!! Don't you even know what a disciplinary committee member is?!"
"Waaaaah! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry...!"
Seeing that Xiao Chun's hair was about to stand on end in anger, Chen Xiaoxia, who was sitting on the windowsill swinging her legs, immediately jumped down and apologized to Xiao Chun repeatedly.
"Hahaha... Xiao Chun, you're getting scarier and scarier..."
"Who do you think this is because of?! Who?!"
Xiao Chun pointed at Xiaoxia, and it took a lot of effort to finally calm down her anger.
She took a few deep breaths, gently blew on the hot tea she had placed on the table, and then, calming herself down, said to Xiao Qiu:
"Xiaoxia told me you had something to tell us?"
"Ah, it's nothing major, it's just... we wanted to reinforce the defenses around the world, and..." Yu Muqiu hesitated for a moment, then said, "There are some things I wanted to ask Teacher Kelly."
"Huh? Someone called me?" As soon as Yu Muqiu finished speaking, Kelly's image popped up on Xiao Chun's phone, which was on the table.
This is Kelly's virtual avatar left among the Magical Girls in the Central Continent District.
The clone is connected to Kelly's main body, essentially acting as Kelly herself. Normally, she resides within Xiao Chun's phone, occasionally popping up like now to chat with everyone.
But most of the time, the clone doesn't appear. After all, the clone is connected to Kelly's main body, and when the clone appears, Kelly has to spare some of her attention to keep an eye on the situation.
Kelly seems to have something very important to do in the Eastern Ocean District right now, so she doesn't have much time to talk to Xiao Qiu and the others.
However, it seems that Kelly does have the time.
Looking at Kelly's virtual avatar, Xiao Qiu said to Kelly:
"Ms. Kelly, I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask you something... about the First-Generation Magical Girls."
"Hmm? The First Generation?"
Kelly blinked, about to speak.
Suddenly--
Ding ding dong--
The bell rang to signal the start of class. Kelly smiled and said, "Ask whatever you want during lunch break, if you don't want to skip class."
(The overall atmosphere of the fourth season is completely different...)
(The first three seasons had a light and cheerful tone, and the colors were very vibrant, but the fourth season... although the colors were still similar, why did it always feel like...)
(The atmosphere seems a bit somber lately.)
(... because there was no background music)
(Oh yeah, where's my background music?!)
(There is no music playing from beginning to end, except for the opening theme, so it looks like watching a documentary.)
(And Dongdong is withdrawn, Xiao Qiu is mature, and although Xiaoxia and Xiao Chun don't seem to have changed much, but... well, something just feels off.)
(... This is the impact of Xiao Bai's death.)
(On the bright side, at least Dongdong is the only one who's autistic...)
The audience's perception is quite sharp.
The situation of the Magical Girls in the Central Continent District under the Sky Screen seemed similar to before, but in reality, it gave people an eerie and oppressive feeling.
Besides the lack of familiar background music, the reason is also because the entire prologue is told from Xiao Qiu's perspective.
As for Xiao Qiu herself... she seemed to have lost the innocence and carefree spirit she had in the previous three seasons.
She has become more mature. She knows not to say certain things when she is at Dongdong's house, and she will patiently wait while Xiao Chun is doing things.
When they talked, her tone no longer carried the innocent charm typical of young girls.
That quality, once jokingly referred to as 'clear-sounding stupidity,' seemed to have completely disappeared from Xiao Qiu's appearance.
Xiao Qiu in the final episode of the spin-off series doesn't seem to have changed much.
But Xiao Qiu in the fourth season of the main series is excessively mature.
Such maturity evokes both admiration and a touch of sadness.
Because in everyone's mind, Xiao Qiu shouldn't be like this.
Xiao Qiu's changes, the lack of background music, and the overall dark color tone of the visuals, which, although seemingly unchanged, make the first third of this prologue uncomfortable to watch.
It gives the illusion that it suddenly went from being all-ages to being 15+.
"... Xiao Qiu..."
Fang Ming also felt quite sorry for Xiao Qiu, who was seen in the light screen.
The death of familiar faces, the impending crisis of external enemies, and the pressure of having no one left to stand in front of him... all of these combined became the catalyst that made Yu Muqiu mature.
But this kind of maturity is precisely what Fang Ming doesn't want to see.
Fang Ming has always believed that one should do the right thing at the right age.
That's why he goes to great lengths to protect Xiao Qiu and the others' daily lives, not wanting them to continue fighting as Magical Girls.
In the end, even though he knew that Xiao Qiu and the others had to become Magical Girls and that the task of saving the world had to be entrusted to them, Xiao Qiu Fang Ming did his best to delay that day from coming.
But in the end, what did he actually protect?
"... I can't repeat the same mistake."
Fang Ming muttered to himself.
In the Sky Screen, one's own sacrifice is unavoidable, but in reality, one still has opportunities and choices.
Regardless, he must at least protect the Magical Girls in reality.
Of course... all of this is predicated on him having to leave this world.
The morning passed quickly.
During lunch break, the rooftop where the Magical Girls gathered was transformed into a conference room.
As for why the Student Council meeting room was chosen --
"Ahhh~~ It feels so good to have air conditioning on such a hot day..."
Chen Xiaoxia, completely disregarding her image, lay sprawled on the conference room table, enjoying the cool air in the room.
Murong Xiaochun pushed up her decorative glasses and said with a smile:
"This is what 'privilege' is."
Chen Xiaoxia suddenly shivered upon hearing this, and said to Xiao Chun:
"... Xiao Chun, please don't say that, it sounds really scary."
"Really?" Xiao Chun looked at Chen Xiaoxia with a complicated expression. "You seem to be the least qualified to say that about me."
"Huh? Why?" Xiaoxia, daughter of the city police chief, tilted her head at Xiao Chun with a puzzled expression.
"... Did you put all your nutrition into your breasts this year?!"
Xiao Chun rolled her eyes and complained, then ignored Chen Xiaoxia and turned to look at Xiao Qiu:
"Ask whatever questions you have now. The Student Council members won't be back for a while, so we have plenty of time."
"Excuse me for asking..." Xiao Qiu raised her hand and asked, "... why haven't the Student Council members returned yet?"
It would have been better not to ask this question. After it was asked, Xiao Chun immediately smiled and looked at Xiao Qiu, her eyes narrowing:
Do you want to know? Do you really want to know?
"... Sorry, I suddenly don't really want to know anymore."
Xiao Qiu decisively admitted defeat, then muttered to herself:
"The 'privileged' class is indeed terrifying..."
Xiao Qiu had clearly guessed that the real reason why the Student Council members couldn't come to the meeting room was probably because Xiao Chun had done something.
Well, she used her 'Student Council' privileges... to do something.
Stopping thinking about these things, Xiao Qiu turned to look at Kelly, who appeared in a virtual avatar, and began to talk about serious matters:
"It's like this, Ms. Kelly, I want to ask you... when exactly did the Demon King first appear?"
Xiao Qiu's first question left Kelly stunned.
Volume 6 <Magic Autumn> Season 4: Chapter 595 Can We Go Back to the Past?
When exactly did the Demon King appear?
Kelly wasn't actually very clear about this issue either.
She thought for a long time before, based on the information and speculations she had gathered from the Magical Girls, she said to Yu Muqiu:
"Probably... a few years before I came into your world?"
"Did the Demon King attack the Magical Girls' base as soon as he appeared?"
"No, not at all. He first dealt with the internal problems of the Demons, and then the battle with the Magical Girls... From the start of the all-out offensive against the Magical Girls to their complete annihilation, the time... was only about a year."
Kelly said in a low voice.
Chen Xiaoxia suddenly stood up, looking at Kelly in shock. "Wait, a year?! You mean... in just one year, the Demon King completely annihilated the Magical Girls?!"
"... Yes, after all... among the Magical Girls the 'Tea Party,' there isn't one who can compare to the Demon King."
Kelly's voice grew softer and softer.
Looking back on what happened, Kelly also finds it quite outrageous.
The Demon King was too powerful. Originally, the Magical Girls were evenly matched with the Pillar-Tier Demon, but after the Demon King appeared, the Magical Girls suffered a one-sided defeat.
Although there were powerful individuals at the Tea Party, their strength was at most equivalent to that of Commander Rank, the same level as the four commanders of the Demon Clan.
However... the Demon King's strength is indeed overwhelmingly powerful; even Magical Girls at the Commander Rank would be no match for such Demon Lord.
The experiences of her Magical Girls predecessors weighed heavily on Yu Muqiu's mind, but Yu Muqiu didn't forget the question she wanted to ask. She then turned to Kelly and asked:
"Before this... had the Demon King never appeared before?"
"!" Kelly was stunned. She stood there for a long time before shaking her head and saying, "No, at least not in the records. And if the Demon King really existed, the Magical Girls... would probably have been wiped out long ago, right?"
The Demon King's appearance was very brief; judging by Kelly's sense of time, the entire period was probably no more than ten years.
Before this, the Demons were actually a loose organization led by Four Commanders, each fighting their own battles.
Let alone uniting to fight Magical Girls, even the Four Commanders themselves are engaged in internal battles.
As for why they fight, the Magical Girls don't know. In short, it is precisely because the Demons Organization has a loose structure and only has a single Commander Rank Magical Girls force that it has been able to exist until now.
The appearance of the Demon King changed everything. He united the Demons race and gathered the power of all Demons together, which allowed him to destroy the Magical Girls' forces in a short period of time.