Going to Your House

"Waaah... urgh, urgh... waaah..."

After the battle settled, Lin Xiaolu was on her hands and knees on the ground, repeatedly dry-heaving with tears in her eyes.

Ever since she had been splashed with that foul-smelling tissue fluid, she had been curled up on the ground retching. Then she started crying, cried for a while before dry-heaving again, then cried after retching, until tears and snot streamed down her face.

"It's okay. It's okay."

Larkspur crouched beside her and gently patted her back, comforting her in a cool yet soft voice. "It only smells a little bad, and no one saw you. Go home, take a good bath, and the smell will wash away."

Seeing her daughter reduced to such a state, Larkspur could hardly help feeling heartbroken.

So even though comforting her like this was somewhat out of character, she could not stop herself.

"Larkspur... urghhh, urgh... waaah..."

Lin Xiaolu looked at Larkspur through tear-blurred eyes, but before she could even say two words, another fit of dry-heaving overtook her.

Xia Liang was not doing much better nearby. She leaned against a traffic light pole by the roadside, her face sickly pale. Still, her willpower was stronger than Lin Xiaolu's. After dry-heaving a few times at first, she forced down the physical reaction with sheer self-control and did not actually throw up. At least she retained some of her dignity.

The sour, rotten stench at the scene was utterly nauseating. Even a battle-hardened Magical Girl like Larkspur, who had seen plenty of filthy battlefields, felt somewhat sickened and could not help covering her mouth and nose.

After crouching beside Lin Xiaolu for a while and realizing she was unlikely to recover anytime soon, Larkspur flew over to Xia Liang and asked with some concern, "How are you? Feeling any better?"

"Mm... much better than at first."

Xia Liang covered her mouth, her expression miserable as she forced a smile. "It's just that my hair feels sticky and uncomfortable. Senior, can you use something like water magic?"

"Sorry, I haven't studied that sort of thing either."

Larkspur answered honestly.

The "water magic" Xia Liang referred to did exist. It was generally known as the Living Water Technique, but it was not among the Spell Formulas Larkspur had mastered.

For Magical Girls, once their abilities Blossomed to the Leaf Stage, using Spell Formulas became one of their basic abilities. However, becoming proficient and mastering all kinds of Spell Formulas still required dedicating a great deal of effort to study and research.

Lin Yun had never been particularly interested in studying Spell Formulas. She had only learned a few of the most basic ones to aid her in battle and had never put much more effort into them. In truth, she had not mastered many Spell Formulas.

But in the current situation, the Living Water Technique was not strictly necessary. So after waiting for Lin Xiaolu's condition to improve slightly, Larkspur made a suggestion to the two of them:

"Now that the Aberrant Beast has been dealt with, you should both go home, wash up, and get some proper rest."

Still sprawled on the ground, Lin Xiaolu spoke with difficulty. "But, urgh... I still have to go to school this afternoon..."

"You don't need to worry about that."

Larkspur waved a hand, showing how unconcerned she was. "Coordinating with the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is for handling situations like this. I'll report the matter to them, and they'll have someone contact the school and take care of your attendance."

In fact, if Xia Liang had not been with them, there would have been no need to use the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's channels at all. Lin Yun could simply call the school, use her identity to request sick leave for her daughter, and be done with it. Adults had plenty of ways to handle things.

"Mm... all right... urgh." Having no further objections after hearing Larkspur's words, Lin Xiaolu weakly pushed herself up from the ground.

Once she was standing, she spent a moment gathering her focus, then looked around to confirm her bearings and regain her sense of direction. After quite some effort, she narrowed her eyes and thought for a while, seemingly only then remembering which way her home was.

She took two steps in the direction she had identified, planning to fly home once her magic power recovered. Before long, however, she realized that someone seemed to be following behind her.

She looked at Larkspur standing some distance away and confirmed that the person behind her was someone else. So she stopped, narrowed her eyes, and turned around. A purple-clad Magical Girl stood behind her with a smile.

It was undoubtedly Xia Liang.

When Lin Xiaolu turned around, Xia Liang seemed utterly oblivious to her unfriendly gaze. She merely raised a hand in greeting and gave her an obedient smile, with no intention whatsoever of explaining herself.

"Why are you following me?"

Lin Xiaolu asked irritably.

"Hmm... I'm looking for somewhere to take a bath?" Xia Liang answered naturally, though with some uncertainty, as if she were asking for the location of a public bathhouse.

"Stop following me. Go wash at your own house." Completely uninterested in her half-truths, Lin Xiaolu threw out those stiff words and turned to leave.

But after taking only a few steps, she realized something was wrong. The footsteps behind her had not disappeared. Clearly, Xia Liang was still following her.

"You!"

This time, Lin Xiaolu was genuinely angry. She turned around again and stared straight at Xia Liang's face. "I already told you not to follow me. What exactly do you want?"

"Nothing."

Xia Liang blinked innocently. "I just want to visit your house."

"Huh? Why should I let you come to my house?"

Lin Xiaolu looked utterly baffled. "Why don't you just go back to your own house?"

"Hmm..."

Xia Liang seemed to ponder seriously for a moment, then tilted her head and answered, "I don't think I can?"

"I don't care about your attitude... Wait, why was that a question?" Lin Xiaolu frowned.

Hearing that, Xia Liang first broke into a bright smile, a hint of pride appearing on her face. Then, as though she were announcing something remarkable, she arrogantly pressed a hand to her chest and declared:

—"Because I ran away from home."

Silence.

The moment those words came out, Lin Xiaolu froze on the spot. Even Larkspur, who had remained silent nearby, raised an eyebrow and looked at Xia Liang in astonishment.

Fortunately, Larkspur was an adult after all. She quickly grasped the situation and felt that it might be better to let her daughter continue the conversation at a time like this, so as to bring the two of them closer. Thus, she poked Lin Xiaolu from behind.

But when Lin Xiaolu came back to her senses, all she could ask in disbelief was, "You... what did you just say?"

Hearing Lin Xiaolu's question and seeing both of them looking at her, Xia Liang apparently thought she had failed to make herself clear. She blinked and repeated herself:

"Ah, I mean, I ran away from home. I actually have nowhere to go right now. Could you please give me somewhere to stay?"