Morning Trifles

"Does it have anything to do with you?"

Lin Xiaolu turned her face away, seeming somewhat resistant to Lin Yun's question. After a moment, she shifted her gaze back to him. "And if we're talking about being late, aren't you the same?"

"This was just an accident." Lin Yun fastened his tie and picked up the briefcase beside him. "I only got back at dawn because I was busy with work. I'm not usually like this."

"Mine was an accident too."

Lin Xiaolu muttered, "I got home late, then I had to practice... do homework. I just went to bed too late."

Lin Yun simply looked at Lin Xiaolu, while Lin Xiaolu glanced sideways at Lin Yun. Father and daughter stared at each other awkwardly for quite some time, until the father was ultimately the first to concede.

"Go fix your hair first."

Looking utterly helpless, Lin Yun picked up his briefcase and turned toward the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast? Instant noodles or bread? Or should I boil a couple of eggs?"

"Huh? Breakfast?"

Lin Xiaolu raised an eyebrow, startled at first, then confused. "At this hour?"

"I'll drive you there later." Lin Yun took off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of a chair beside the dining table.

"No way. You can leave by yourself."

"What if you're late?"

"...Then I'm late." Lin Xiaolu felt a little guilty, but she remained stubborn.

Was this kid planning to fly to school? Did she realize the mana disturbance from her flying was about as subtle as setting off fireworks?

After placing everything in his hands on the chair, Lin Yun watched his daughter for a while, then shrugged expressionlessly.

"Fine. But go comb your hair first. I'll boil two eggs."

"I said I don't need—"

Lin Xiaolu had intended to keep refusing, but then seemed to realize something. Her eyes widened, and her grip on the doorframe tightened slightly. Her voice softened. "Oh, I get it. I'll go, okay?"

Then she reluctantly headed toward the bathroom.

From Lin Yun's perspective, Moko suddenly flew out of the room and whispered something quietly into her ear. Lin Xiaolu's attitude abruptly softened.

It seemed Moko understood her better than she understood herself. That was what he thought.

That guess was correct. That was indeed the case.

"Moko, what did you mean just now? What do you mean all those frivolous girls can fly to school, but I can't?" Once inside the bathroom, Lin Xiaolu lowered her voice and glared at Moko, who floated beside her with an unfriendly expression.

After finishing her magical girl lessons last night, Lin Xiaolu's work had not actually ended, because she still had homework to catch up on once she got home.

Normally, that would have been her own business. But ever since meeting Xia Liang, an idle figure had appeared beside her whenever she worked on homework, occasionally trying to persuade her to stop studying and play games together instead.

Ever since declaring that she had run away from home and staying overnight at Lin Xiaolu's house that day, Xia Liang had often shamelessly come over to mooch dinner. In her words, Auntie Liu, the hourly housekeeper, cooked better than the food at her own home.

Judging by her attitude, if she had not been worried about leaving a bad impression on Lin Xiaolu's parents, she would probably have kept mooching a place to sleep too.

Lin Xiaolu disliked studying, but she was even more resistant to associating with the "frivolous girls" as she understood them. So the more Xia Liang bothered her, the more determined she became to finish her homework. After finishing it, she even stubbornly pulled out the review exercises she had not touched at all and began preparing for the upcoming final exams.

Results aside, she studied until dawn in the end. Her dedication was commendable.

But the result was that Lin Xiaolu overslept that morning, happened to run into Lin Yun as well, and was now yawning nonstop while combing her hair in the bathroom.

"Whose fault is it that you still haven't learned Mana Breakfall?"

Hearing Lin Xiaolu's slightly dissatisfied question, Moko's catlike face vividly took on a teasing expression. "Xia Liang mastered it in two days, but some people still couldn't learn it after two weeks!"

"Xia Liang..."

Her hand gripping the comb tightened unconsciously. Lin Xiaolu looked at Moko with an odd expression. "You two have gotten pretty close lately, haven't you?"

"Meow-haha! Xia Liang is gentle, cute, and a genius. We hit it off right away."

Moko pressed a paw dreamily to its chest. "She said I was smart and dependable!"

"Why do I feel like her sweet talk has gone straight to your head?" Lin Xiaolu let her eyelids droop.

It was no wonder she thought so. Xia Liang seemed to like Moko's cute appearance very much, often holding it like a pet and saying plenty of nice things to make it happy.

Lin Xiaolu had known Moko longer, but ever since that night, when Moko admitted under Larkspur's questioning that it had deceived Lin Xiaolu, it had not received a single pleasant look from her.

The affection it lacked had been fulfilled by Xia Liang, and then some. No wonder Moko now mentioned "Xia Liang" every other sentence.

"That's jealousy and prejudice! As a Seeder, building a good relationship with the magical girls one has contracted is a required course!"

Moko shook its head as it corrected Lin Xiaolu, then smugly added, "Xiao Lu, are you jealous? Have you developed a sense of crisis because Xia Liang is so outstanding? Do you want me to change my mind and come back to you?"

"Jealous of what? A clueless idiot Fairy?"

Lin Xiaolu curled her lips and turned her gaze back to the mirror. Staring at the tuft of hair sticking up on her head, she kept combing. "And you call it a required course for Seeders. You never taught me even the basic common knowledge of magical girls. In the end, I had to trouble Larkspur."

"Idiot... Fairy?"

Moko trembled at her words, flew behind Lin Xiaolu, and fiercely smacked her with its paw. "I can't pretend I didn't hear such an outrageous thing! And I did tell you plenty of things. I just don't know how magical girls train or fight!"

"Would an ordinary Seeder not know that?" Lin Xiaolu gave it another sidelong glance and asked lightly.

"Of course they would... Well, they do, but my situation is rather special..." Moko looked away and changed the subject.

"Because you're a knockoff who got shoved into the job?"

"Could you not put it in such vicious terms?"

"Then you're a refugee who snuck across the border from the Magic Kingdom."

"Why is your evaluation getting worse and worse?"

"When you first made me become a magical girl, you said I was a genius. Now you mock me every day for being stupid."

"Uh..."

Overwhelmed by the thick resentment in Lin Xiaolu's words, Moko had no choice but to soften its attitude and honestly admit, "Fine, fine, it's my fault. I shouldn't have said that. Don't be angry, okay?"

"A perverted Fairy that rubs its face against girls' chests when they hold it."

"You're still saying it!"

"A suspect who may have embezzled funds and fled."

"That's pure slander! Xiao Lu is a math-failing science idiot!"

"Wha— A Fairy con artist who deceives little girls!"

"A developmentally delayed, flat-as-a-wall runt!"

In the dining room not far away, Lin Yun scooped the boiled eggs out of the pot and lowered them into cold water with a slotted spoon. After shaking the water from his hand, he took out a glass and pulled a carton of milk from the refrigerator. Carrying the prepared breakfast to the dining table, he could not help turning his head toward the bathroom.

Listening to the muffled sounds of an argument coming from within, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"...What's going on?"