Face-to-Face Talk

Lin Yun drove Hong Siyu's car to take her back to the apartment where she lived, then rode the tram home. By the time he stepped through the entryway, the clock had already struck ten.

He instinctively glanced at the shoe cabinet by the door and found his daughter's shoes carelessly kicked off onto the floor. He bent down to straighten them, then headed for the living room.

If Hong Siyu was right, there should have been a television interview with the new Magical Girl tonight.

He turned on the TV and checked the city channel. Seeing that it was airing a cheap late-night idol drama, he realized the news broadcast had likely ended long ago. He then opened his communicator and searched online for the city channel's schedule that evening.

He quickly found a replay of the evening news on the official website.

One of the segments covered the Aberrant Beast attack on the downtown district that morning.

The report described the damage and casualties the Aberrant Beast had caused in that neighborhood, then shifted gears to explain that the one who had defeated it was a newly appointed Magical Girl. Though she was a rookie, she had already made an outstanding contribution to public safety.

Then the footage cut to the scene, where the reporter announced that they had met the new Magical Girl and would be conducting an on-site interview.

Before long, this Magical Girl, who had previously been rather mysterious, made her debut in the news interview.

A girl with the air of a fairy tale appeared on screen.

She had golden twin ponytails, a light blue dress, and a bright yellow corset around her waist, tied into an exaggerated bow at her back. A round gemstone was pinned to her chest, and she wore a tiny top hat.

"Hello, um, I'm the new Magical Girl. My name is White Rose..."

Judging by her clothes alone, no one would think she was a combatant. She looked more like a little girl who had run away from some ballroom.

Yet such outfits were normal for Magical Girls.

Most Magical Girls fought dressed like this. More counterintuitively, no matter how restrictive their clothes appeared, their movements were completely unaffected by those elaborate garments.

Naturally, the first impression Magical Girls gave people was not "powerful," but "cute."

Yet as he watched the Magical Girl in the news footage, Lin Yun felt that something was off.

There was no clear source for that sense of wrongness, but it was so intense that he quickly realized what it truly was—familiarity.

He found the Magical Girl on the screen familiar.

Have I seen this girl somewhere before? As the thought surfaced, he instinctively compared the Magical Girl before him to his memories.

Deep down, he had already vaguely sensed it, but he had refused to consider the possibility he least wanted to accept.

But if he did not consider that possibility, there was no explanation for this familiarity. There was no answer.

So when he hesitantly placed the answer he least wanted to face before himself, Lin Yun froze.

Because he could not accept it.

How could it be her? Why was it her? How could it possibly be her?

Countless questions flooded his mind. The questions became confusion, the confusion turned into agitation, and then it transformed into anger.

Nearly forty, Lin Yun had rarely felt such intense fury in his life. It surged as though it would burst through his chest, scorching his mind blank.

He could not understand.

Why was this Magical Girl Lin Xiaolu? His daughter?

No longer in the mood to continue watching the news, Lin Yun set down his communicator. His thoughts were a mess, and his emotions were impossible to calm.

—I need to have a proper talk with her.

That thought surfaced in his mind.

Even though he and his daughter, Lin Xiaolu, had been in a cold war for a long time and barely exchanged a few words on ordinary days, he still had to fulfill his duty as a father and have a proper talk with her.

If she had chosen to become a Magical Girl of her own free will, he needed to tell her the pros and cons and let her weigh them again.

With that thought in mind, Lin Yun abruptly rose to his feet and headed straight for his daughter's room.

[Knock first.]

A note with those words was stuck to the door.

The familiar handwriting made him wonder when that note had first appeared on his daughter's door.

In the two years since his wife had passed away, too many conflicts had arisen between father and daughter. He had always been poor at expressing himself, and their relationship had ultimately reached its current state.

They were clearly family who had only each other in this world, yet they could go an entire day without saying more than a few words. Even when they did speak, it was only about the most basic daily arrangements, never anything heartfelt.

Lin Yun paused with his fingers against the door, then took a deep breath and knocked.

"Are you asleep, Lulu?"

There was no response from inside.

His heart sank slightly. Lin Yun waited a little longer, quickly steadied himself, and knocked again.

Still, there was no response.

The soft knocking vanished like stones sinking into a deep pool.

Lin Yun lowered his head, his expression darkening.

On any other day, he would probably have given up by now. He would have felt that things could no longer be salvaged, that they should give each other enough space and let time mend the gap between them.

But not this time. Even if it made his relationship with his child even worse, he had to convey what he wanted to say.

So he would not stop.

Click.

Just as he was about to knock for a third time, the door in front of him was suddenly pulled open.

A young girl in pajamas glared at him irritably and snapped the moment she saw him.

"I'm awake. What do you want?"

Her wary expression was like that of a cat with its fur standing on end.

Seeing his daughter once again acting so uncooperatively, and remembering that he had come to speak with her out of concern, Lin Yun felt a wave of irritation and anger. He thought this girl was truly aggravating, that he really ought to scold her properly.

But the words stopped at his lips.

He suddenly did not know what to say.

Should he directly ask whether she had become a Magical Girl? Then scold her for an act that anyone would see as doing good?

Or should he immediately tell her about the dangers of being a Magical Girl and demand that she give it up at once?

Putting aside how he could produce evidence to support his claims, would laying everything out so bluntly touch on his child's fragile, sensitive nerves?

Even taking ten thousand steps back, after such a long time without a real conversation, was it truly appropriate for a father to deny his child the moment they met? He wanted to understand what his daughter truly thought, but would she really be willing to open her heart to him? Could such a harsh conversation really accomplish his goal?

And how could he make his child trust him now?

No matter how he thought about it, the answer was that he could not.

Lin Yun could not help wondering what he truly wanted to tell her. Setting aside these external conflicts and the estrangement that had accumulated between them, he wanted to know what his daughter really thought—but what about his own sincerity?

His thoughts raced beneath his daughter's gaze. In the end, every thought seemed to dissolve into nothing, leaving only one voice behind.

"I haven't seen you for several days. Dad just wanted to see you."

That, after stripping away all the unnecessary anger, anxiety, worry, and guilt, was the only sincere feeling he had left.

Perhaps he could not make his daughter happy. Perhaps he could not solve the problems between them. But at least right now, he wanted to see her.

Now that he knew his daughter had become a Magical Girl, he wanted to see whether she was safe, whether she was afraid, whether she was emotionally stable.

Upon hearing those words, the girl standing in the doorway raised her tightly furrowed brows, then relaxed them. The expression on her face grew complicated as well.

"Now? Just for that?"

"Yeah. I was afraid you'd get angry if I called for you this morning."

Lin Yun forced a smile onto his stiff face. "Now that I've seen you, I feel much more at ease."

The black-haired girl raised her nose and sniffed, pressing her lips together. After a long moment, she muttered.

"Are you drunk?"

"Maybe. I did drink quite a lot tonight."

Following his feelings, Lin Yun answered honestly. "I'm really happy that you were willing to open the door for me."

"...So you've seen me now. Then what?" His daughter still frowned.

"Nothing. I just wanted to ask how you've been lately, whether you're happy at school."

Lin Yun remained where he was and waved his hand. "I won't ask about your studies. You can manage that yourself. I'm not qualified to lecture you either."

The conversation between them stalled once more.

Apparently surprised that her father would ask such questions, his daughter studied him strangely. Before long, she still answered in a casual tone.

"Oh, pretty ordinary. Nothing's happened."

"There seems to have been a dangerous incident near your school. Are you all right?"

"Dangerous... It's nothing. I can handle it."

"Do you need me to pick you up and drop you off?"

"Just focus on your own work."

"How's the phone we bought for your birthday last month?"

"It's fine."

"Is the dinner the hourly worker makes okay?"

"It's fine. Auntie Liu is a good cook."

"Have any good things happened lately?"

"Good things?"

His daughter raised her brows at that, seemingly confused. But then, as if she had thought of something, her expression became somewhat hesitant.

"I don't know. But anyway, nothing bad has happened."

Nothing bad had happened...

Lin Yun's heart stirred.

"Is that so? Then I guess there's nothing else for me to ask."

Listening to his daughter's somewhat ambiguous answer, he seemed to let out a breath of relief. Taking a step back, he said, "Lulu, Dad is sorry."

Those words were met with a brief silence.

"...It's too late to say that now."

The girl behind the door spoke softly. She glanced at him once more, lowered her eyes, and began to push the door shut.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me again."

Click.

The door in front of him closed.

Lin Yun stood outside, seemingly lost in thought. Only after a long while did he head toward his own bedroom.

In the end, he still had not managed to broach the subject of "Magical Girls."

He could not say it, could not ask it. Whenever he tried to mention those words, his throat became unbearably dry.

But not saying it now did not mean he had given up.

During their earlier conversation, Lin Yun had already thought of another way. Perhaps with that method, he could tell his daughter some things about Magical Girls and be confident that she would take his words seriously.

Opening the door to his bedroom, he undid his formal attire, set down his briefcase, and strode toward the wardrobe in the corner with a burning gaze.

There were two wardrobes in the master bedroom, each for one of the room's former owners. One was large and stood against the wall, while the other was small and crammed into the corner.

Lin Yun did not have many clothes. Apart from several sets of casual menswear he often wore, he only had formal outfits for work.

He opened one drawer. It held old clothes, many of which were things he had worn when he was younger—styles that no longer suited his age or current trends.

Moving aside the clothes piled on top, he slowly reached in and took out a palm-sized gift box.

"...Nineteen years."

He murmured in a daze.

When he had hidden this box away despite his wife's objections, he had never imagined there would be a day when he would take it out again. Back then, he had thought his life was already perfect, that everything had settled into place, and that he had no reason to take out what was inside.

But after all these years, only today, after learning that his daughter had become a Magical Girl, did he understand that running away would never solve anything.

He gently unfastened the clasp, lifted the slightly stiff lid, and stared at the item inside without speaking for a long time.

It was a Shard-Pattern Gem Flower.

A gemstone covered in fine, fragmented patterns, now stained with dust and grime.

It had another name. People usually called it a "Flower of the Heart."

And in this world, only one kind of person possessed such a peculiar treasure.

—Magical Girls.