Reunited, Like a Dream

"So, it's all because of this?"

Ten minutes later, in the director's office, Lin Yun stood to the side, looking at the two people sitting on the sofa facing each other, and sighed inexplicably, "I just went to another department, how did you two start arguing?"

"This is clearly the senior's fault!"

Hong Siyu hearing this, pointing to Asō Madoka: "Why didn't you tell me sooner that Yuan Xiang was back! And you didn't even mention it to me?"

"... This isn't my fault; this guy didn't even notify me beforehand."

Lin Yun crossed her arms, her gaze instinctively Hong Siyu's. "Well, even if I knew there was a singer with the same name coming to Fangting City for a concert, I couldn't be sure it was the real person until I actually met them. If I told you directly, and it turns out it's not the same person at all, wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?"

"So the final result is that I won't be included?"

Hong Siyu pointed to herself. "You mean, the entire Fangting City Bai'an City Squad went to the concert, everyone went out to have fun on their own, and I even had to take a day off on the weekend? What about me? What about me?"

"It's not that I think you need to continue treatment..." Lin Yun hesitated, then stopped herself.

"The chief already said it before, I'm cured, completely cured! Look at me now, there's no trace of the Aberrant Beast!"

Hong Siyu stood in front of Lin Yun, spreading her arms wide. "Senior, please take another look? Aren't I just a perfectly normal beautiful girl? Am I not presentable to anyone?"

"... Feel sorry."

Lin Yun lowered her head helplessly. "It was my oversight."

"In the end, why did you decide so easily to go to another woman's concert? What if the singer wasn't Yuan Xiang herself?"

Hong Siyu slightly tiptoed, forcing herself to meet Lin Yun's gaze. "Wouldn't that completely benefit other women!"

"To say that going to someone else's concert is cheap is a bit of an exaggeration..." Lin Yun couldn't help but twitch her lips. "Asō's tickets aren't that expensive either; you don't lose anything by simply going to see a performance."

"What? Senior, you don't understand at all! I'm not talking about money!" Hong Siyu was even more unhappy.

"I disagree. You can easily find my photos by searching online."

At this moment, Asō Madoka raised her hand and said, "I'm so famous, why don't you check and you'll know if it's really me?"

"This is your first time holding a concert in Fangting City. Where can we find so much detailed information about you on the intercity network here?"

Lin Yun shook her head. "It's one thing to not be able to find many clear, unedited front-facing photos online, but your current appearance is also quite different from how I remember you as a child. How can we confirm it's you without going to the scene?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, sister? All my photos are original; they don't need any post-processing!"

Asō Madoka's eyes widened suddenly. "And are you saying that if you can confirm it's me, you won't go to my concert? Really? That's so heartless! It's my concert!"

"I have a lot of important things to do, how could I possibly spend half a day just to listen to a few songs?"

Lin Yun lowered her eyelids slightly. "You know, I'm not very knowledgeable about pop music, so I can't really tell whether it's good or bad."

"What kind of midlife crisis talk is this? You avoid anything related to 'trendy trends' and only talk about 'serious matters' all the time. How did you become such a boring person after you got married?"

Asō Madoka stuck out her tongue, making a disgusted face. "Wait a minute, most middle-aged men at least have some hobbies like fishing, playing cards, or collecting things. Do you even have any decent hobbies?"

Lin Yun was stunned.

He briefly recalled his usual life, or rather, not just his current life, but also his life when Anya was still alive. No matter which period of his life he lived, it seemed that his focus was always on "work." And now, after becoming a magical girl again, besides having the option of taking care of a child, he simply had more magical girl-related work to do.

Going back further, back to my student days, I realized that because I wanted to get into a higher education and the magical girl thing took up a lot of my time, I was probably the only one in the group who spent all my time studying except when fighting Aberrant Beast.

What exactly is a "hobby"?

Does driving... count?

After much thought, he could only find this one thing that occupied a certain proportion of his life. It seemed that only when he was driving could he truly relax and not have to think about work or similar matters.

"Wow, to use a term young girls would like, this greasy middle-aged vibe is overflowing." Asō Madoka exclaimed subconsciously.

"Senior..." Hong Siyu looked at Lin Yun with a somewhat sympathetic gaze.

Even Lin Yun found it hard to bear being looked at with such subtle expressions by the two of them. "Wait a minute. Although I don't really have any hobbies in my life, I think we were discussing something else before. Is this the topic we need to discuss now?"

"Sister, you like this kind of guy?"

However, this sentence failed to convey any message to the other two. Asō Madoka turned to Hong Siyu and said, "Don't let the past cloud your judgment."

"Hmm... even so..."

Hong Siyu also cooperated by putting on a conflicted expression. "I'll convince myself it's okay, men who are focused on their work are also very attractive..."

"Alright, that's enough for you two."

Lin Yun, with drooping eyelids, clapped his hands. "Hong Siyu, you shouldn't join Asō in this commotion. We've finally reunited, shouldn't we exchange information first?"

"Ah, here you are, such standard Mandarin." Asō Madoka chuckled. "If you insist on changing the subject, that's fine, but you might miss some very interesting things. For example, do you know what Hong Siyu said to me before you came? She was..."

Before Lin Yun could even begin to wonder what was going on, Hong Siyu strode over from the side and covered her mouth from behind. "Nothing at all! I just thought it was a senior coming to the office, so I called the wrong person. I was just surprised when I saw it was Yuan Xiang!"

"Mmm?" With her mouth covered, Asō Madoka shook her head, trying to break free. However, Hong Siyu completely disregarding her image and clung to her back like an octopus, impossible to shake off.

"Huh... so it's just embarrassing to call the wrong person?"

Seeing their strange behavior, Lin Yun guessed there was probably more to the story. He remembered coming up from the Special Operations Department downstairs to a tense, Cold War-like atmosphere. The two men sat facing each other on opposite sofas, staring at each other, yet neither spoke, "Just because of this, does it have to be so tense, like when I came in?"

"Heh, I was just offering some suggestions for improvement, Hong Siyu seems a little hesitant to accept them." After struggling to pry Hong Siyu's hand off her face, Asō Madoka chuckled, "Fine, since you don't want me to say it, I won't."

"We certainly can't reveal tactics here that haven't actually been used yet..."

Hong Siyu whispered behind her head, "Anyway, don't talk about this, let's get this topic over with quickly."

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you, sister."

Asō Madoka shrugged and said, "Then let's talk about the 'serious business' that our Director Lin always talks about."

Lin Yun raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, but she was already used to the sarcastic tone in Asō Madoka's words, so she did not refute it.

The once noisy director's office immediately fell silent.

"Which topic should we start with? Yours or mine?"

Asō Madoka looked at Lin Yun, then at Hong Siyu: "For example, do you have any questions about the Kingdom? I've been in the Kingdom for the past ten years, so I should know more about the latest news than you do. But let me clarify first, many things are just hearsay; I haven't verified them myself. Don't blame me if there are any errors."

"What is Su Shengzi doing now?" Lin Yun asked directly.

Of the five members of the Old Fangting City Squad, three had already gathered here, except for Anya and Su Shengzi. Anya aside, the absence of the fifth person was somewhat concerning.

Moreover, this fifth person is none other than Su Shengzi.

It's unclear when it started, but a saying has circulated among magical girls that a successful Magical Girl Squad often consists of the following members: an energetic mascot, a cool and proud combat specialist, a mature and sensible peacemaker, and a troublemaking lunatic.

This formula, when applied to the Old Fangting City Squad, while differing slightly in the roles of the other members, found a perfect embodiment in Su Shengzi.

--She's just a crazy person who's always looking for trouble.

As long as Su Shengzi was around, the team would argue about some inexplicable and strange topics every day, and always strive for some strange goals, wasting a lot of energy in the process.

Lin Yun's most vivid memory was when Su Shengzi specially researched an instantaneous Spell Formula to solidify the Aberrant Beast for the summer's ghost-hunting activities. She processed the severed Aberrant Beast corpses into adventure materials, which ultimately scared Hong Siyu into the hospital.

Indeed, Su Shengzi is also the smartest one in the team. Although her magic power and Magic Armament equipment are not outstanding, her ability to comprehend and research Spell Formula is unique. She can even create some original minor Spell Formula based on the existing Spell Formula system. This Spell Formula to solidify the corpse of Aberrant Beast is one that she specially devised.

Such a research talent naturally attracted the attention of many senior magical girls across the Kingdom. In fact, the first person in the team to talk to the Emerald was not Lin Yun, but Su Shengzi.

According to Su Shengzi herself, after examining her through several questions, Emerald personally extended an olive branch to her, inviting her to join the Research Institute and even promising to acquire her Flower Card within ten years. However, Su Shengzi rejected such tempting offers without even considering them.

"I only study what interests me, and I don't want to be bossed around by the powerful figures in the Royal Court."

This is Su Shengzi's explanation for this.

And she did indeed keep her word, retiring without hesitation after serving her full ten-year term. After retiring, she left Fangting City, and her figure completely disappeared from Lin Yun's life.

Currently, all the other members except for her and Anya have returned, but the absence of such a capable and resourceful person definitely makes one feel that something is missing.

"That woman... sigh, don't you know her?"

Speaking of this, Asō Madoka suddenly sighed, "She went to the Interrealm all by herself."

"Huh?" It took Lin Yun several seconds to realize what the other person was saying. Hong Siyu widened her eyes after hearing this.

The Interrealm, a world separate from the Magic Kingdom and the Material Realm, has always been considered a "wild wasteland" due to its extremely unstable spatial connection with the other two worlds and its own highly unstable structure. There have even been rumors that the Interrealm is the origin of monsters like the Aberrant Beast.

Black Ash Dawn, Claw Mark, the Resistance Army, and a series of other anti- Kingdom organizations have deeply entrenched themselves in the Interrealm, making it their headquarters. It's no exaggeration to call it a criminal paradise, a veritable den of dragons and tigers for magical girls.

Su Shengzi, a magical girl who had retired and thus completely lost her powers, actually chose to go to the Interrealm alone?

"And the truth is, my last contact with her was twelve years ago, around the time she retired and left Fangting City. I didn't know much more than you do; I only heard her tell me she was going to the Interrealm for a 'journey to find herself.'"

Asō Madoka, "And then I couldn't contact her anymore."

She didn't actually finish her sentence. For most people, if someone goes to the Interrealm alone and then disappears without a trace, it's safe to assume they're dead.

However, that person is Su Shengzi.

Just as Lin Yun found Anya's death unbelievable and unreal, Su Shengzi was also someone who seemed completely unrelated to the phrase "seeking her own death."

No matter how bizarre or abnormal her behavior may be, it always seems to indicate that she has her own plans.

Therefore, considering her love for the research and development of Spell Formula, yet her easy abandonment of the magical girl's power; her past rebellious remarks that showed contempt for the Royal Court and its nobles; and her seemingly extraordinary curiosity about the Aberrant Beast, Lin Yun couldn't help but have a very strange idea.

"... From what you're saying, that guy wouldn't have gone to Claw Mark for help, would he?"