The Second Tail

Two days later, on a perfectly ordinary noon.

Because the school building at Sunset Middle School is used as an examination hall for social exams in the afternoon, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang are able to enjoy a precious half-day off even on weekdays.

Normally, such a half-day off would probably be wasted in the girls' idle daily routine, but this day was different; Lin Xiaolu had different plans.

"Well then, I'll be going now. Goodbye."

As Hong Siyu's voice rang out in the entrance hall, the girls faced the door of the Secret Base together, watching her leave until a muffled "bang" came from the doorway, after which they looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Walk."

Lin Xiaolu waved solemnly towards the door. "Follow her."

"Are you really going to do this?"

Xia Liang sensed an ominous premonition and was extremely unwilling to make such an unreliable decision. "Didn't we already fail last time by following your dad? Why don't we just skip it this time?"

Xia Liang is a girl who is used to keeping her thoughts to herself. The reason she revealed her true wishes this time and showed her resistance on her face is because she really thinks this matter is not feasible.

The reason she was so pessimistic, besides thinking the plan was unreliable, was mainly because she was the one who actually knew the inside story.

She knew Larkspur's true identity and could guess the relationship between Larkspur and Hong Siyu.

In the months that had passed since then, Lin Xiaolu had been able to discern Hong Siyu's true intentions, so naturally, she was no exception.

It was an unspoken fact in the girls' eyes that "Hong Siyu likes Lin Yun".

This is why Lin Xiaolu has always been quite wary of Hong Siyu, while Xia Liang is also watching the situation unfold with curiosity.

This progress stalled after November, when Hong Siyu suddenly took sick leave and abruptly disappeared from the girls' sight.

Now, the other party has regained the power of a magical girl and returned to Fangting in this way, which is also how she returned to the world of Larkspur. From Xia Liang's perspective, this should be a rare window of opportunity for Hong Siyu.

If she herself were Hong Siyu and wanted to pursue "Lin Yun," she should seize this opportunity to demonstrate her importance and affection in front of him, thereby seeking a chance to win in their relationship.

Xia Liang didn't really have any subjective opinion on the entanglement between Hong Siyu and Larkspur —after all, she wasn't Lin Xiaolu and didn't need to be wary of that fictitious "stepmother." If she had to say something, her attitude would probably be to wait and see.

Firstly, she had no right to interfere, and secondly, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

If Hong Siyu's relationship can be put into practice, it will not only benefit herself but also Lin Yun. Perhaps it will be difficult for Lin Xiaolu to accept, but in the long run, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

However, if Lin Xiaolu insists on interfering and tracking Hong Siyu's whereabouts, the chances of this matter being ruined will greatly increase.

Larkspur was unaware of how much she doted on her daughter, and Lin Xiaolu was also oblivious, but Xia Liang could see it all clearly.

If Lin Xiaolu really discovers something by following Hong Siyu and exposes the truth, even if Larkspur and Hong Siyu's relationship warms up, she will probably still choose to put it aside because of her daughter's opinion. At that time, the relationship between Hong Siyu and Lin Xiaolu will probably become strained.

This is not what Xia Liang wanted to see.

She doesn't mind if the team members get along better for some reason, but she really doesn't want their relationships to get worse because of it.

If this so-called stalking leads to a falling out between Lin Xiaolu and Hong Siyu, causing them to dislike each other, and Larkspur is caught in the middle, it would be a complete loss.

However, these were reasons that Xia Liang couldn't say aloud.

Telling Lin Xiaolu the truth here would certainly dispel Lin Xiaolu doubts and make her give up her stalking. However, doing so would be fair to Lin Xiaolu but unfair to Larkspur, leaving her caught in the middle, and she didn't want to be disliked for it.

That's why she expressed her opposition so clearly.

"Failure is the mother of success; where you fall, you must rise again."

Unfortunately, Lin Xiaolu was completely unaware of her thoughts, merely glancing at her sideways before declaring confidently, "After the last failure, I learned my lesson and reviewed the situation repeatedly. I've found the root cause of the failure, and I will definitely not repeat the same mistake this time."

"What's the crux of the problem?"

"Moko." Lin Xiaolu said decisively.

--"ha?"

Moko, suddenly became unhappy. "It was clearly your own fault for getting too close and being discovered, so why are you blaming me!"

"Ultimately, it's because you didn't provide timely information! And you abandoned your post at the most critical moment, causing us to lose a crucial source of information!"

Lin Xiaolu pointed at Moko: "Anyway, this time you stay home, we'll handle things ourselves!"

"Hmph, do you think I want to play this kind of childish game with you?"

Moko snorted and turned around, "If you don't want me to go, then don't. The Seeder has his own things to do. Do whatever you want!"

The two of them were bickering, not caring whether their words were appropriate. Bai Jingxuan, listening quietly to Lin Xiaolu and Moko's conversation, was already having other thoughts.

I need to find a chance to secretly tell Dad.

That was her idea.

The reason is simple: it was said by "Mom and Dad".

Lin Yun had once told her not to reveal his work at the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, especially not to tell "Sister"; Larkspur had also privately told her not to disclose what had happened at Lakeside Spring for the time being.

Bai Jingxuan didn't really understand why, but that didn't stop her from choosing to be an obedient child. Because of this, Bai Jingxuan had been unusually tight-lipped in front of Lin Xiaolu these past few days. Even though she made many mistakes in the process, and it was obvious to everyone that she was hiding something, Lin Xiaolu just couldn't get the information out of her.

Now that Lin Xiaolu has decided to follow Hong Siyu, Lin Yun's work at the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is likely to be exposed. Bai Jingxuan thinks this will likely put Lin Yun in a difficult position.

In that case, she needed to tip him off in advance so that her father could be prepared and not be discovered.

So she waited quietly by, and only after Moko expressed her opinion did she find a moment to awkwardly interject, "Um, sister, I don't really want to go out today. Since you've said so, I'll stay with Moko..."

"You stay with me." Lin Xiaolu said expressionlessly.

"Huh?"

Bai Jingxuan's shoulders trembled slightly, her heart skipped a beat, and then she blinked somewhat guiltily. "But, Moko stays home alone, there's no one to play with it..."

"That guy's shrewd. He'll sneak out to fool around when no one else is home, so you don't have to worry about him getting bored at all."

Lin Xiaolu reached out and placed her hands on Bai Jingxuan's shoulders. "As for you, you're the one who seems most like a traitor among the three of us right now. Your failure to report what happened in Dawnstar District has already aroused my suspicion."

"I really don't know anything," Bai Jingxuan struggled to refute.

"No problem, you don't have to know anything, but you have to come with us today."

Lin Xiaolu lightly flicked her forehead. "Let me keep an eye on you, you little traitor."

"I'm not a traitor..." Bai Jingxuan muttered, but in the end she couldn't resist Lin Xiaolu's insistence and was pushed by the shoulder to the entrance.

"That woman left for about a minute, and we're just about to go out now, so we can stay out of her sight."

Standing at the entrance to the Secret Base, Lin Xiaolu changed her shoes and socks while instructing her two teammates, "Because the opponent is a magical girl, and Flower Rank one at that, all magical means are prohibited during the operation, including transformation. Her Mana Perception is even stronger than ours. If any of you transform and use magic, causing the operation to fail, then I will mark you."

"What if she chooses to fly during the journey? If we can't transform and fly with her, we'll be left behind. If we transform and keep up, we'll be discovered, and it'll be easy to expose us."

Xia Liang stood with her hands on her hips, hesitating to change her shoes, only sighing, "It's a rare holiday, why not just stay home and watch TV? Didn't you say a few days ago that you wanted to watch some anime? If we go out now, we'll miss it!"

"We can watch the recorded version of the anime online when it comes back."

Lin Xiaolu pursed her lips, her gaze slightly lowered, clearly having made a firm decision. "But opportunities to follow that woman are rare; it's not suitable outside of weekdays!"

"Um, I suddenly have a stomachache."

Bai Jingxuan, holding the shoes Lin Xiaolu had shoved at her, hesitated and said evasively, "Why don't you two go out first, I'll catch up right away..."

"Stick your foot out," Lin Xiaolu suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"Stick your feet out, I'll help you change your shoes."

Lin Xiaolu bent down and grabbed Bai Jingxuan's ankle. "If your stomach hurts, I'll carry you out. Just follow me and don't even think about sneaking in."

"I... I didn't mean to tip you off."

Bai Jingxuan avoided eye contact. "I really just have a stomachache."

"Really? Where does it hurt?"

Lin Xiaolu took the shoes from Bai Jingxuan and put them on her feet. "Transform first, heal yourself, it'll only take a few seconds, I can wait."

"Transformation... to cure stomach aches?"

Bai Jingxuan's voice suddenly rose, even slightly changing in tone, clearly not expecting Lin Xiaolu to bring it up. "I don't think it's curable..."

"I was injured while on patrol last month, and you treated me?" Lin Xiaolu put on one shoe and reached for the other.

"My stomach..." Bai Jingxuan murmured.

"Is there any other reason?"

"... That's all."

"Alright, then it's unanimously approved! The Fangting City Magical Girl Squad's second surveillance operation on special circumstances shall begin!"

As Lin Xiaolu loudly announced, she pushed open the door, a smug look on her face. "This time, I'm absolutely going to uncover the truth!"

Thank you to reader West of Dusk River for the generous donation, and thank you to reader 3zh-bth for the generous donation.

First day back to daily updates, getting started, meow.