Squad Assembly

"Ha, Qingyin is my team leader?"

Feiyan shouted in astonishment, while Qingyin silently looked at her.

That reaction was perfectly normal. After all, having the magical girl who had just beaten you senseless become your immediate superior was indeed terrible.

"That's awesome!" Feiyan cheered, her eyes sparkling as she danced around.

"Hm?" Qingyin looked at her in confusion.

She had not expected that reaction.

Seeing that the other girl's delight was genuine, Qingyin realized she had been overly suspicious. Her worries had been unnecessary too.

Magical girls were simply like that.

"Does that mean I can spar with Teacher Qingyin whenever I want?!" Feiyan blurted out excitedly.

"That depends on whether Qingyin has time." Youyue replied with a helpless smile.

"If I'm free, we can spar." Qingyin dangled an empty promise.

Whether she was free or not was entirely up to her.

Like saying, "I'll treat you to a meal next time"—a polite remark with no end in sight.

When she had nothing to do, she could beat them up for fun. If something came up, she would turn and run.

"Where are the other members?" Qingyin looked around.

A standard magical girl squad consisted of three magical girls and one leading magical girl.

Any group with more than three members was a magical girl organization.

For example, the Magical Girl Ten-Color Squad and the Magical Girl Detective Squad.

A moment later, two magical girls Qingyin knew appeared.

Yuyan and Yalin.

"Sorry, I think we're late!" Yuyan arrived, pulling Yalin along by the hand.

"I lost my way on the road of life." Yalin gave her excuse for being late. When the others looked at her suspiciously, she turned her flushed face away.

"It wasn't because I was drawn in by desserts."

The squad was now fully assembled.

Feiyan, Yuyan, and Yalin.

They were all new-generation magical girls Qingyin had dealt with before.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves?" Youyue suggested from the side.

From what she had learned of Qingyin in this short time, Qingyin definitely would not do something that seemed so useless.

It was important for the magical girls in a team to get to know one another.

The introductions were simple, with no particular requirements.

They mainly introduced their titles, hobbies, and dreams. It did not matter whether they said much or little.

Since their true natures were obvious, they could even skip describing their personalities.

For magical girls, this could not have been easier.

Feiyan raised her hand and jumped in first. "I'll go first! My magical girl title is Feiyan. My dream is to become stronger. I like the feeling of becoming stronger, and I also like going out with friends, shopping... I hate celery and troublesome foods..."

A sunny, cheerful battle maniac.

Qingyin made her judgment and shifted her gaze. "Next."

Yuyan noticed her gaze. Since she happened to be second, she went along with it. "Then I'll be second. My magical girl title is Yuyan. My dream is to spend a healthy and happy lifetime with my family. I like everything about a certain person, and I hate his blockhead brain!"

An open and forthright love-struck fool.

Qingyin turned to the last person. "Next."

Yalin planted her hands on her hips and slightly raised her chin. "My magical girl title is Yalin! My dream has something to do with my parents, but I'm not telling you. I like eating sweets, and also—no, no, I don't like sweets... I hate..."

A pointy-headed tsundere.

After listening to the three introductions, Qingyin rested her right hand against her chin in thought.

A battle maniac, a love-struck fool, and a tsundere, huh.

At first glance, this squad was doomed.

On closer inspection, it really was doomed.

Although each of them had different labels.

With a little conversion, though, they became...

Idiots, idiots, idiots.

Wasn't a battle maniac an idiot? Wasn't a love-struck fool an idiot? As for the last one, Qingyin could not even be bothered to say it. Her self-introduction was just her left brain attacking her right brain.

To figure out what she meant, it was more practical to look at her tail.

"My title is Qingyin." Having finished thinking, Qingyin stated her magical girl title.

After waiting for a while with no follow-up, Feiyan voiced her intense dissatisfaction.

"Objection, objection! Why did Teacher Qingyin only say her title? That's sneaky!"

Yuyan chimed in, "Yeah, we want to know about you too, Senior Qingyin."

Yalin nodded in support. "Sister Qingyin, that's unfair. It's not like I really want to know about you, but it's unfair. It's definitely not because I'm curious."

When words proved useless, the three of them turned expectant eyes toward Youyue beside them, hoping she would speak up for them.

Youyue gave an awkward laugh and took a step back. For the moment, she did not want to know any more about Qingyin.

Sorry, I can't help you this time. Her smile carried that answer.

"First, let's standardize what you call me. There are too many different forms of address, and the confusion of identities creates too much cognitive load." Qingyin changed the subject.

Whenever she encountered a difficult question, she changed the subject.

Apparently, that worked very well on simple-minded magical girls.

"Isn't a teacher just called Teacher?" Feiyan tilted her head in confusion.

"Calling her Senior is pretty good too." Yuyan cast a vote for her preferred form of address.

"What's wrong with calling her Sister?" Yalin scratched her head.

"I'll decide!" Youyue settled it with one decisive word.

"Twenty-four-year-old Qingyin is older than all of you, so call her Sister Qingyin. An affectionate form of address is also part of strengthening the bond between magical girls on the same team."

After saying that, Youyue winked at Qingyin.

It would not be overly intimate, but it would not feel distant either.

"What do you three think?" Qingyin asked.

"Twenty-four? Then she's Auntie Qingyin." Feiyan covered her mouth halfway in surprise.

"Auntie Qingyin!" Yalin immediately followed suit.

Yuyan said nothing and pretended to be invisible.

After all, her real age was only two years younger than Qingyin's, so calling her sister was perfectly appropriate.

"Don't change the subject." Qingyin forcefully cracked skulls, directly grabbing both girls by the head as she said flatly,

"Decide for yourselves whether you prefer Auntie or Sister."

"Sister Qingyin!" *2

The two magical girls' survival instincts kicked in at full force, and the words flew from their mouths.

"Then it's settled." Qingyin released her hands and looked at Yuyan.

"Sister Qingyin." Yuyan immediately called out with a smile.

Qingyin continued to draw their attention elsewhere. "Good attitude. I'll leave the squad's name for you to discuss yourselves. I'll allow whatever you decide to call it."

The moment the topic turned to the squad name, the three magical girls were instantly energized.

Who would not want to slip in their own preferences, name the squad after something they liked, and then make a name for themselves?

An intense discussion was about to erupt, and they completely forgot about Qingyin's self-introduction.

After watching the entire process, Youyue could not help saying from the side,

"What a despicable adult, deceiving innocent magical girls."

"This is called winning with brains, darling."

The topic of introductions had already passed, and it would never be brought up again.