Old Photograph

Lin Xiaolu gripped the edge of her phone, her fingers unconsciously tightening.

She could see the magical girl in the photo, wearing a cherry-pink tutu, laughing with the others, her arms around the somewhat shy blue-haired magical girl beside her, filled with some indescribable emotions.

Two people who should never have any connection in their minds are standing so intimately in this photo, making Lin Xiaolu subconsciously open and close her lips, but she can't say a word.

Is that so? She really wanted to ask again.

But if she had any doubts before, they vanished the moment she saw this scene.

Yes, that's how it should be.

The many unusual things about his mother during her lifetime; why his father was so secretive about her death; why the mysterious magical girl, Larkspur, took special care of him... all these reasons led to the answer, "His mother was a magical girl."

It was like finding the key to unlock an unsolvable lock; with just a gentle turn, it opened instantly.

She never thought her mother could be associated with the identity of a "magical girl." In her memory, her mother was a somewhat strange housewife who always insisted that she was a freelancer.

She has an optimistic, even eccentric, personality. She's usually lazy and careless, sometimes even more childish than I am. But she's a truly loving and doting mother.

She could recall snuggling in her mother's arms watching magical girl anime on TV; she hadn't forgotten the smile on her mother's face when she told her, "I want to be a magical girl when I grow up."

Lin Xiaolu suddenly remembered many things: her mother who asked her to sleep with her when she was little but left halfway through; her mother who would suddenly say she had to go out to buy something when they were having dinner together; her mother who would stand her up when she was supposed to come to the parent-teacher conference but then claimed she had misremembered the time.

"I see."

My vision was blurred by tears, which overflowed from my eyes, streamed down my cheeks, and dripped onto the phone screen.

Her throat tightened, her voice choked, and she felt that she was already a magical girl who saved others, and she shouldn't be so weak now, but no matter what she did, she couldn't stop sobbing.

"Is that so?"

It turns out that the real magical girl had always been by her side, and she had been the child favored by the magical girl from the very beginning.

However, he didn't find out all of this until two years after losing her.

Lin Xiaolu initially just shed tears, but soon covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably.

She thought that in the two years since her mother's passing, she had cried enough and shed enough tears. She thought she had come to terms with it, become numb, and would no longer cry so uncontrollably over her mother's affairs.

But for no apparent reason, after discovering that she and her mother had been connected by the "magical girl" bond, she suddenly realized that she still had so much to say to her mother.

Becoming a magical girl isn't as easy as you might imagine.

Those Aberrant Beast are disgusting, hateful, and terrifying.

The study of magic is arduous and tedious.

The Magic Kingdom seems to be a very complicated place.

Senior Larkspur is a very good person.

We now have partners to fight alongside us.

She might have already begun to understand her father.

And... I never imagined that after two years, I would still miss her so much.

A jumble of thoughts, mixed with sorrow, were locked in the small carriage. Even as the car sped along, the longing kept them connected, preventing them from leaving.

Lin Xiaolu cried bitterly, and Xia Liang, standing beside her, didn't know how to comfort her. Lin Yun, sitting in the front seat, remained silent, saying nothing more.

At least in his view, it's a good thing to be able to cry at times like this.

If you keep your sorrow and tears bottled up inside, and bury your longing and regret deep inside forever, then after a long time, you won't even be able to be sure if those feelings still exist.

The crying in the car continued for a long time until Lin Xiaolu gradually stopped and began to sob softly. Only then did Xia Liang pat her back and continue asking Lin Yun:

"Uncle, but if what you're saying is true, there seems to be another problem with this photo."

Looking at the photos of Larkspur and Anya, she asked with some confusion, "If Xiao Lu's mother was a magical girl of the same generation as Larkspur, then she should have retired long ago, right?"

As far as she and Lin Xiaolu knew, the Larkspur was a resident of the Magic Kingdom.

After all, Larkspur never said which city she came from, and she always emphasized that she was much older than them. She was also corroborated by others as an "important person," so she really didn't seem like a magical girl from the Material Realm.

The two girls had always been skeptical of Larkspur's insistence that he was an adult, but after seeing this photo, their doubts disappeared.

"She has not retired."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu's emotions had stabilized considerably, Lin Yun sighed inwardly, then said expressionlessly, "Because Lulu's mother is special; she is Lifetime Magical Girl, unlike others."

This novel concept left both Lin Xiaolu, with tears in her eyes, and Xia Liang, who was comforting her, feeling bewildered.

"Lifelong? Xiao Lu's mother is a lifelong mother?"

Unlike the two bewildered girls, Moko was the one who reacted the most in the car.

This is not surprising, because among those present, besides Lin Yun, only it knew the meaning of this word.

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang had no idea about this, it quickly explained, "Lifetime Magical Girl means that because of special merits or deeds, one is allowed to remain in the Material Realm forever. It's a very powerful proof!"

"Is Mom... really amazing as a magical girl?"

Lin Xiaolu choked back tears as she whispered, repeating Moko's words. Then, as if realizing something, she looked up in a daze. "Then... in that case, how exactly did Mom die?"

As she asked questions and reminisced, another crucial detail suddenly came to mind. She stared intently at the driver's seat, as if she could see her father through the back of the seat:

"Was this the reason you told me to 'forget her' back then?"

This question gets to the heart of the matter. After releasing her grief and longing, she finally realized that her mother's death was not so simple.

Lin Yun remained silent.

His silence did not signify rejection, but rather stemmed from reflection.

His gaze drifted to the rearview mirror, where he met Lin Xiaolu's eyes, which were red-rimmed. Their eyes met, and he could see that although there was sadness in his daughter's eyes, they remained clear.

So he spoke.

"... Having been a magical girl for so long, you must have heard at least a little about how magical girls determine their strength, right?"

Lin Yun withdrew her gaze, staring blankly at the road outside the windshield. "White Card, Letter Card, Flower Card. Although I'm not entirely clear on the specific meanings, she once had a title."

He paused slightly, but there was not a sound from the back seat.

Whether it was Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang, or Moko, they were all captivated by his words, holding their breath and quietly waiting for the second half of his sentence.

Perhaps I should light a cigarette to set the mood.

Lin Yun had this thought for no reason, but he didn't have the habit of smoking, so he could only let out a long sigh, as if exhaling his own sorrow:

"It is said that in the latter half of her magical girl career, the other magical girls all recognized her as the 'Strongest Flower Card'."