Chapter Summaries

Larkspur checked in with Lin Xiaolu, bought proper clothes, and went to meet Ink Lotus, whom peace officers had detained for acting suspiciously. Larkspur got Ink Lotus released by explaining that she was a magical girl and war veteran, and the two continued their meeting.

• Larkspur read Lin Xiaolu's message about making Valentine's chocolate and asked who she planned to give it to; Lin Xiaolu replied that it was for Larkspur.
• Larkspur bought two outfits and changed into a beige cardigan, white trousers, and brown platform loafers.
• Larkspur arrived early at her meeting place and found peace officers inspecting Ink Lotus after residents reported her suspicious behavior.
• Larkspur told the peace officers that Ink Lotus was her friend, showed her identification, and privately explained that Ink Lotus was a magical girl and an Interrealm War veteran.
• The peace officers apologized to Ink Lotus and left, and Ink Lotus praised Larkspur for rescuing her again.

Larkspur spent the afternoon watching Ink Lotus buy everyday magical tools for friends living in the Wasteland, then joined her for dinner. After Ink Lotus tried to pocket the restaurant’s pre-meal buns to get her money’s worth, she realized she did not know how to use the tableware laid out for the meal.

• Ink Lotus bought generators, repair devices, water systems, and agricultural tools for her friends in the Wasteland, planning to send them through the Material Realm.
• Larkspur and Ink Lotus went to a restaurant and cautiously began eating the cream buns provided before the meal.
• Ink Lotus ate several buns and tried to pack the rest into her bag because she thought thirty-seven were needed to get her money’s worth.
• Larkspur explained that the buns were only appetizers, and the waiters set out plates and tableware for the meal.
• Ink Lotus told Larkspur she had taken on something beyond her abilities and asked what the tableware was for.

Larkspur tried to teach Ink Lotus dessert etiquette, but Ink Lotus mangled her cake and recalled a painful moment from their past. After Larkspur left to take a call, Ink Lotus struggled to open a metal sphere for the chocolate hot pot and broke a knife instead.

• Larkspur explained how to use dessert utensils, but Ink Lotus mistook a Butter-Jam Knife for a dining knife and crushed her cake.
• Larkspur shared part of her own cake with Ink Lotus, who recalled that Larkspur had done the same when she left before and asked whether Larkspur had been happy afterward.
• Larkspur avoided answering and left the table to take a call, leaving Ink Lotus alone as the attendants served chocolate hot pot.
• Ink Lotus examined a metal sphere, tried to open it with a Flame Page Knife, and punctured the sphere while breaking the knife.

Larkspur approved a limited deployment to guard a construction site, then returned to dinner with Ink Lotus and answered her question about whether she was happy. She acknowledged her grief over lost happiness while insisting that the happiness she still had remained real, leaving Ink Lotus questioning whether it could still be called happiness.

• Larkspur approved sending Special Operations Department personnel to the construction site, with the guard duty ending after seven days if no Aberrant Beast appeared.
• Larkspur agreed to send Tian Sheng if he was available and stressed that elite personnel should retain time to respond to other attacks rather than overburden Asō Madoka.
• Hong Siyu wished Larkspur a happy birthday and Valentine's Day, then confessed that her heart was completely filled with her before ending the call.
• Larkspur returned to dinner, served Ink Lotus chocolate-dipped banana, and noticed Ink Lotus muttering about a time machine while worrying about an undisclosed mistake.
• Larkspur told Ink Lotus she remained happy despite regretting and grieving the happiness she had lost, and Ink Lotus asked whether lost happiness could still be called happiness.

Ink Lotus challenged Larkspur’s view that the happiness left after loss could still be cherished, and Larkspur explained that they simply wanted different kinds of happiness. After a dessert mishap, Ink Lotus said that despite their differences, she still wanted to help Larkspur.

• Ink Lotus argued that happiness diminished by loss became only fragments, and that people should seek lost or new happiness instead of remaining trapped in the past.
• Larkspur said their different views of happiness could both be true and explained that she could cherish whatever happiness remained.
• Ink Lotus fell silent and kept eating as their afternoon tea stretched into a two-hour dessert meal.
• Ink Lotus accidentally pulled a napkin from beneath her parfait, spilling jelly and fruit wine over herself while Larkspur caught the falling glass.
• Ink Lotus told Larkspur that, despite their different experiences and goals, she could not stand by and wanted to help her.

Ink Lotus told Larkspur that the Magic Kingdom had unfairly exiled her, then asked whether Larkspur still considered them companions. The chapter ended with Larkspur waiting for her answer in Ink Lotus's car.

• Ink Lotus said Larkspur deserved better because she had saved many people, but Larkspur refused to discuss the matter in the restaurant.
• Ink Lotus tried to pay with expired restaurant Coupons, so Larkspur covered the bill and gave her money for the next two days.
• Outside the restaurant, Ink Lotus revealed that she had learned Larkspur was permanently exiled from the Magic Kingdom and had confirmed the news with Miss Cherry Blossom.
• Ink Lotus insisted Larkspur had done nothing wrong and asked whether they were still companions.

Ink Lotus told Larkspur about her team’s refuge for abandoned magical girls and homeless humans, and offered to help restore Larkspur’s Magic Armament if she joined them. She asked Larkspur to help protect the children and their home, but Larkspur could only say she needed time to think.

• Ink Lotus said she wanted to help Larkspur, then revealed that she knew Larkspur had used Ephemeral Bloom three times and had only one piece of her Magic Armament left.
• Ink Lotus offered to help restore Larkspur’s Magic Armament if she joined her team, though its form and abilities might change.
• Ink Lotus described the refuge her team was building in the Wasteland for abandoned magical girls and homeless humans.
• Larkspur believed Ink Lotus’s dream was sincere but worried that helping could add to the burdens she already carried.
• Ink Lotus asked Larkspur to help protect the children and their home, and Larkspur replied that she needed time to think.

Larkspur told Ink Lotus she needed time before deciding whether to join her, and asked to hear about her life and friends. Ink Lotus shared stories from the years after the war, then wished Larkspur a happy birthday and left her at the Rainbow Cloud Wetlands.

• Larkspur clarified that her hesitation came from her existing responsibilities, not Ink Lotus’s poor performance, and asked to hear more about her plans and friends.
• Ink Lotus struggled to explain her team’s work because revealing it might betray her companions, and Larkspur inferred that the group could have ties to Claw Mark.
• Larkspur assured Ink Lotus that she did not need answers and said Ink Lotus had changed, though she remained special to her.
• Ink Lotus told Larkspur about her plans after the war, her search for a home, and her schooling in the Material Realm as they drove back to the Rainbow Cloud Wetlands.
• Ink Lotus wished Larkspur a happy birthday, said the blessing was special to her, and walked away into the darkness.

Lin Xiaolu struggled to decide what shape to make for the chocolate she planned to give Larkspur, then discovered Bai Jingxuan was making chocolates with messages for her and Xia Liang. She moved on to inspect Xia Liang’s work, leaving her own design undecided.

• Lin Xiaolu found herself stuck choosing a shape for her chocolate and turned to see how Bai Jingxuan was doing.
• Lin Xiaolu startled Bai Jingxuan by touching her exposed back, then tried to peek at the messages Bai Jingxuan was writing.
• Lin Xiaolu spotted chocolates labeled “Sister Xiao Lu” and “Sister Xia Liang” and excitedly hugged and teased Bai Jingxuan.
• Bai Jingxuan admitted that one chocolate was for Larkspur and asked Lin Xiaolu not to look at the blessings she was writing.
• Lin Xiaolu went over to Xia Liang, who stopped working and let her look.

As Lin Xiaolu made Valentine’s chocolate, Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan teased her into affirming that they were friends before Xia Liang explained how to put personal feelings into a gift. Lin Xiaolu found inspiration for her chocolate, though she realized the others had deliberately played a prank on her.

• Xia Liang told Lin Xiaolu that she had made a Heart Gem-shaped chocolate for her and confessed that she liked her as a friend.
• Lin Xiaolu misunderstood Xia Liang’s confession, and Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan pretended to judge whether Lin Xiaolu considered them friends.
• Lin Xiaolu insisted that Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan were her friends, and Xia Liang declared that Jiang Yuan was her only other friend at school.
• Xia Liang explained that Lin Xiaolu could use chocolate to express feelings understood only by her and its recipient, drawing on Lin Xiaolu’s birthday gift of earrings.
• Lin Xiaolu gained an idea for her chocolate, then accused Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan of teasing her before they continued working without answering.

Larkspur returned to the cabin and gave her juniors store-bought chocolate for Valentine’s Day, explaining the custom of Thank-You Chocolate. The juniors revealed that they had made chocolate for her too, though Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang had hesitated over how to present it.

• Larkspur returned to the cabin and found Bai Jingxuan, Lin Xiaolu, and Xia Liang gathered around Xia Liang's phone.
• Larkspur remembered that her juniors had planned to give her chocolate, then fetched the boxes she had bought and gave one to each of them.
• Lin Xiaolu questioned whether Valentine’s chocolate should be given only to someone a person liked, and Larkspur explained how Thank-You Chocolate had become a tradition among magical girl squads.
• Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang blamed each other for delaying their chocolate surprise, while Larkspur pretended not to understand what they meant.
• Bai Jingxuan told Larkspur that the juniors had made chocolate for her too.

Bai Jingxuan gave Larkspur, Lin Xiaolu, and Xia Liang handmade chocolates with heartfelt messages, drawing Larkspur into an emotional embrace and softening Lin Xiaolu’s jealousy. After hugging Larkspur, Bai Jingxuan wondered why she seemed taller than before.

• Larkspur sat with the younger girls in the warm cabin as Bai Jingxuan brought over three decorated chocolates.
• Bai Jingxuan gave Larkspur a chocolate inscribed, “To my favorite mom, who was willing to take me home,” and Larkspur hugged her, deeply moved.
• Lin Xiaolu read Bai Jingxuan’s apology and request to share affection with her, while Xia Liang read Bai Jingxuan’s thanks and request to call her Sister Xiao Liang.
• Lin Xiaolu set aside her urge to pull Bai Jingxuan away from Larkspur and ate the very sweet chocolate.
• Bai Jingxuan asked Larkspur whether she had changed shoes because her chin no longer reached Larkspur’s shoulder when they hugged.

Xia Liang gave the others carefully decorated chocolates shaped like their Heart Gems, including a hidden piece shaped like her own Heart Leaf for Larkspur. When Larkspur returned that piece to Xia Liang instead of eating it, Xia Liang ate it herself and felt delighted.

• Xia Liang handed out small chocolate boxes decorated with flowers matching each recipient’s codename.
• Larkspur, Lin Xiaolu, and Bai Jingxuan discovered that their chocolates were detailed replicas of their Heart Gems.
• Larkspur found a hidden chocolate Heart Leaf in her box and questioned Xia Liang, who claimed it was an extra piece made from her own gem as a reference.
• Xia Liang asked Larkspur to taste the Heart Leaf chocolate, but Larkspur put it into Xia Liang’s mouth so she would not be left out.
• Xia Liang ate the chocolate and felt happy that Larkspur had fed it to her.

Lin Xiaolu gave Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang chocolates whose shapes expressed her affection and gratitude, then fled Xia Liang’s attempt to hug her. Larkspur watched them fondly and recalled the Fangting City Squad’s earlier chocolate exchanges, including how Lin Yun eventually married Anya.

• Lin Xiaolu gave Bai Jingxuan bow-shaped chocolates, explaining that they represented their shared love of candy and might suit Bai Jingxuan as a hair accessory.
• Lin Xiaolu gave Xia Liang a mirror-shaped chocolate and said Xia Liang had helped her recognize her shortcomings and grow as a magical girl and a person.
• Xia Liang, moved by Lin Xiaolu’s thanks and wish to keep walking forward together, asked for a hug, but Lin Xiaolu ran away and Xia Liang chased her around the room.
• Larkspur reflected on the Fangting City Squad’s past chocolate exchanges, when Anya and Su Shengzi teased Lin Yun at school, and recalled that Lin Yun eventually married Anya.

Lin Xiaolu gave Larkspur a handmade chocolate crown and explained that she saw Larkspur as someone who had saved and guided her, prompting Larkspur to remember a painful past. Surrounded by the younger girls, Larkspur composed herself and resolved to protect the people she still had.

• Lin Yun recalled how Anya once gave him a sword-shaped chocolate and called him her prince.
• Lin Xiaolu gave Larkspur a chocolate crown, and Larkspur recognized what it was meant to represent.
• Lin Xiaolu explained that Larkspur had once seemed like a prince who saved her and told her, "I like you the most, Larkspur."
• Larkspur became tearful as memories of the past surfaced, and Xia Liang, Bai Jingxuan, and Lin Xiaolu gathered around her.
• Larkspur reassured the girls that she was all right and resolved to use what remained of her strength to protect them.

Larkspur discovered that Lin Xiaolu and the others were making a cake to celebrate her birthday, which they believed was Xiao Lu’s dad’s birthday. Realizing Xia Liang had deliberately revealed the plan, Larkspur pretended an urgent matter had come up and hurried away.

• Larkspur asked Bai Jingxuan what the girls were making, and Bai Jingxuan revealed they were preparing a cake for Xiao Lu’s dad’s birthday.
• Bai Jingxuan explained that Lin Xiaolu planned to video-call her dad and send him the cake, making Larkspur realize the celebration was for her.
• Larkspur understood that Xia Liang had arranged for Bai Jingxuan to reveal the cake plan and decided she had to leave.
• Larkspur claimed urgent work had come up and told the girls to keep making the cake and rest if they grew tired.
• Lin Xiaolu invited Larkspur to stay until the cake was finished, but Larkspur declined and hurried away.

Larkspur searched for a place to take Lin Xiaolu’s video call without revealing her location and decided to borrow Ink Lotus’s car to reach the Mana-Free District. At Ink Lotus’s room, she instead encountered Heidi Abimeer, whom she had known as a child twenty years earlier.

• Larkspur weighed going to the Research Institute against searching the Mana-Free District before Lin Xiaolu finished making her birthday cake.
• Larkspur decided to ask Ink Lotus to lend her car and went to the room where she believed Ink Lotus was staying.
• A sleepy curly-haired girl answered the door and said she did not know Ink Lotus.
• Heidi Abimeer appeared beside the girl, and Larkspur recognized her as the daughter of Lycoris, whom she had met twenty years earlier.

Larkspur encountered Tulip while seeking Ink Lotus and avoided a confrontation by explaining that she had come to borrow a car. Ink Lotus offered to drive her to the Mana-Free District instead, and the chapter ended with her lending Larkspur her cardigan and leading her to the car.

• Larkspur recognized Tulip at Ink Lotus's house, but Tulip did not recognize her and reacted warily when she asked for Ink Lotus.
• Larkspur said she was Ink Lotus's teammate and had come to borrow her car, causing Tulip to lower her guard and go fetch Ink Lotus.
• Ink Lotus emerged from the house and offered to take Larkspur to the Mana-Free District herself.
• Larkspur declined, saying she needed time to think about their earlier discussion and wanted to find the location herself.
• Ink Lotus accepted Larkspur's wish for a cooling-off period, lent her a cardigan, and led her to the car.

Larkspur searched Luen Nore for a place to stay before transforming back into Lin Yun to meet Lin Xiaolu at a bar. Lin Yun ordered a drink and asked for a quiet booth as he prepared for the call he had missed.

• Ink Lotus helped Larkspur register her startup information and drive her car out of the Rainbow Cloud Wetlands.
• Larkspur searched the eastern districts for an available room, but the inns were full because of the Queen Year examination.
• With time running short, Larkspur stopped outside a bar after Lin Xiaolu called her.
• Larkspur parked and transformed back into Lin Yun in a nearby alley, where he struggled with the discomfort of entering the Magic Kingdom in his original body.
• Lin Yun entered the bar, ordered its Silvermoon Spring Butterfly, and asked the bartender for a quiet booth.

Lin Xiaolu, Bai Jingxuan, and Xia Liang surprised Lin Yun with a homemade birthday cake during a video call. Lin Yun apologized for how he had treated his daughter, and the chapter ended with the three juniors sharing the cake and wishing him a happy birthday.

• Lin Yun answered Lin Xiaolu's call from a bar and pretended not to know that she was planning a birthday surprise.
• Lin Xiaolu showed Lin Yun the finished cake she, Bai Jingxuan, and Xia Liang had made for his thirty-seventh birthday.
• Lin Yun reflected on how his strictness had strained his relationship with Lin Xiaolu, then apologized to her.
• Lin Xiaolu explained that the cake's magical candles would light near the birthday person, but they did not respond through the phone call.
• Lin Yun persuaded Lin Xiaolu to share the cake with her friends instead of mailing it to him, while saving him a piece.
• Lin Xiaolu, Bai Jingxuan, and Xia Liang cut the cake together and wished Lin Yun a happy birthday.