Chief

"It was rare to see you take the initiative to look for me."

Youyue arrived with a cheerful grin after receiving the message, before she could even make any teasing remarks.

She saw Qingyin lifting the old man Wayne, who looked like a dead dog in her hand.

"Here. A Blood Purity Court officer," Qingyin said.

"Ah, just as expected. What an unromantic woman." Youyue put on a sighing expression, planted her hands on her hips, and demanded:

"Can't you come to me for something other than work?"

"If I remembered correctly, you're my superior. Who else should I go to?" Qingyin asked in return.

"Then you should come to me for work." Youyue nodded in agreement.

As she spoke, she revealed Purple Mist, which possessed spatial abilities.

"Very convenient." Qingyin tossed the old man inside.

"It's merely a means of storing objects. Since you know Barrier Art, you should be able to do it too," Youyue replied.

Barrier Art required virtual spaces of varying sizes to be layered over real space.

Purple Mist, meanwhile, simply placed things into a virtual space. The difficulty of the two could not be compared at all.

Qingyin, who had never systematically studied at the Magical Girl Academy, lowered her head to look at her hand and lightly clenched it.

She seemed to have a feeling that she could master this ability.

"I think I can do it," Qingyin suddenly said.

"Genius," Youyue praised.

The principle was not too different from storing things in a Heartglow Stone.

The only difference was that the virtual space she controlled could hold large objects and living creatures.

"Since you came to me yourself, come with me," Youyue said.

"What is it?" Qingyin tilted her head and thought for a moment.

"Are you asking me to treat you to lunch?"

"Of course not! What kind of image do I have in your eyes?" Youyue immediately retorted before adding:

"If you wanted to treat me, I'd definitely agree, but I already ate today."

The conversation had gone off track, and the atmosphere was gradually becoming strange.

Youyue hurriedly returned to the point.

"A director wants to meet you. She's also the regional director of District 28."

"My superior's superior?" Qingyin tried to recall the relevant job titles.

When it came to such matters, she was actually an idiot.

Having never been an executive, she had never carefully learned about many job positions. In any case, sucking up to her current superior could not possibly be wrong.

"Wrong. She's your superior's superior's superior," Youyue corrected.

"Oh... I don't get it." Qingyin pretended to understand, then answered indifferently.

"Logically speaking, as an executive, there's no way you wouldn't understand these things." Youyue muttered in confusion, then came to a realization.

"You don't actually care about your work at the Magical Girl Association at all, do you!"

"..."

"I'm going to tattle to the director. Are you scared she'll make things difficult for you?"

"Are you an elementary school student or something?"

"The director wants to meet me at her house?"

Qingyin looked at the building before her and blurted out in slight confusion.

She had heard that if a superior was willing to invite a subordinate to meet at their home, it meant they valued that person highly and regarded them like family.

Yet she had never even met this Magical Girl Association director.

"This is my home," Youyue explained from beside her.

"?" Qingyin's brain crashed.

After a brief loading period, it resumed functioning.

Youyue's home was also an apartment, but compared to the place Qingyin had chosen in the Otherworld, it was like the difference between a luxury apartment and a studio.

After passing the fingerprint verification on the coded door lock, Youyue shoved the door open and shouted inside:

"Yaohua, I brought the person you wanted."

Following behind her, Qingyin saw a magical girl lounging far too casually on the sofa in the living room.

"Why didn't you message me first?!"

At the risk of exposing herself, the disheveled Yaohua sprang up and dove straight into a room.

Qingyin had long grown accustomed to such flustered situations. Calmly, she asked Youyue:

"Should I change my shoes?"

"No, no, if they get dirty, we can clean—" Youyue had not finished speaking before she instinctively followed her own words to look at Qingyin's little feet wrapped in shoes, then immediately changed her tune.

"Please do change your shoes."

"Then give me a pair of house slippers," Qingyin said.

Her gaze at Youyue grew increasingly strange when the other girl took so long to bring out a pair of house slippers.

Was she, the guest, supposed to rummage through someone else's shoe cabinet herself?

"There aren't any guest slippers at home," Youyue said.

"Then how am I supposed to change shoes?" Qingyin tilted her head.

"Just make your shoes disappear and walk barefoot on the floor. Don't worry, the floor is very clean."

"You won't even let me wear socks?"

"Um... barefoot is still better." Youyue stared at the little white socks in hesitation before ultimately answering that way.

Qingyin could not be bothered to indulge her nonsense any further. Seeing Yaohua return to view fully dressed, she walked toward her on her own.

"We really need to prepare some slippers."

She could still hear Youyue muttering softly behind her.

Having returned to her Normal State magical girl outfit, Yaohua carried an air of elegance and indescribable gallantry as she invited:

"Please sit, Miss Qingyin."

At that, Qingyin naturally sat down across from her, only to hear Yaohua's next question.

"What would you like to drink? Um... is black tea all right? That seems to be all there is." Yaohua rummaged through Youyue's tea cabinet and spoke helplessly.

"Plain boiled water is fine." Qingyin had just been about to agree before changing her answer.

"Hey, the black tea at my place is premium stuff. Don't you want to try some?" Youyue sat between them and promoted it.

"No," Qingyin said again.

Going along with Qingyin's wishes, Yaohua poured plain water into an ordinary cup and pushed it before her.

"I'm not very good at, nor do I like, exchanging pleasantries." Yaohua got straight to the point.

"Youyue recommended you to me. You led yesterday's mission exceptionally well, so I'm informing you that you've passed the probationary period and have officially become the Association's Chief Magical Girl."

"Understood." Qingyin replied calmly with the peculiar lifeless air of an employee facing the company's top boss.

"Take these." Yaohua pulled out a series of relevant documents from her Heartglow Stone.

"Your Chief Magical Girl certificate. You may enjoy all the benefits afforded to a Chief Magical Girl within the Association, and you may apply to use any facility in the Academy.

Welcome to officially becoming one of the Magical Girl Association's Chief Magical Girls."

With that, she extended her hand toward Qingyin, who stepped forward and shook it.

"You've become a full employee. Happy?" Youyue joked from the side.

"Not really," Qingyin blurted out.

Yaohua's smile stiffened slightly, while Youyue burst out laughing instead.

Such words were not supposed to be spoken before a superior, but Qingyin's magical girl nature had always been to act as she pleased.

Having weathered her share of storms, Yaohua quickly regained her composure and explained:

"Because of Youyue's recommendation, and to ensure that your future actions do not harm society or the Association, you will still need to remain bound to Youyue for half a year."

Their relationship would remain one where if one suffered, they both suffered.

If any accidents occurred, Youyue would be the one to step in and stop them.

It was Yaohua's little precaution.

After all, now that Qingyin had become District 28's Chief Magical Girl, responsibility for her had shifted from Youyue to Yaohua.

Yaohua did not know Qingyin well enough yet, and she did not want to unconditionally clean up the mess for a magical girl recommended to her.

In short, she would first make someone else take the responsibility.