Mother's Crystal

(Bai Ziye)

Ceruno's morning run while riding my bicycle.

"Remove your bubble wrap! No using magic to secretly reduce your burden!"

"Oyster--"

She made a sound as if she couldn't run anymore.

Her physical condition is really bad.

By ordinary standards, she might not be bad, but she's a magical girl, and with the blessing of the Star Crystal, she should be stronger than ordinary people.

To put it bluntly, her physical abilities are only at a third-rate level among magical girls who are all superhuman. Not to mention me and Metal, who are fighting types, even Hualun and Haite might be stronger than her.

"Oh my god!"

Miluno lay sprawled on the roadside green belt, where countless Doggy had defecated, her face flushed and breathing heavily. Her eyes were glazed over as if she were drunk. If she were left there tonight, some strange person would definitely take her in...

Of course, she put a protective film on herself, so theoretically she shouldn't be dirty.

I urged, "Get up quickly, we've only just arrived! Didn't you say you were going to see your mom?"

"I never expected you to make me walk all the way to the branch! It's not good for a girl's body to develop muscles! You know that!"

She's a magical girl idol, after all. It's too embarrassing for her to be lying dead on the roadside. I tried to pull her up from the ground.

"Muscles? Your fleshy body is as soft as a sixty or seventy-year-old woman's. The lack of exercise in your original form will also be reflected in your magical girl body. Similarly, if you develop a healthy physique in your magical girl form, you might be able to lose that annoying little belly fat when you turn back."

"Turn back...?"

She seemed to be thoughtfully considering my words.

Something feels off.

I asked tentatively, "What, don't you want to turn back?"

Ceruno sat up from the ground, looked at me, and asked, "Yezi, even from a rational point of view, I'm much better off now than before, right?"

Hey, it's all Mom's fault.

She instilled in Ceruno the idea that "magical girls can turn back into normal," and this idea, through her experiences over this period, has gradually become her own, and has even been taken as truth.

"Whether it's Sun Yao or Ceruno, you're still you. Besides, isn't Miluno waiting for you?"

Reluctantly, I played my trump card.

Ceruno stammered, "I think Miss Miluno... she should be able to accept my choice..."

How could I possibly accept that?!

I confessed to her under the identity of "Miluno" in order to straighten her out, because I was afraid that she would fall in love with me (Bai Ziye) as a magical girl.

This was originally a roundabout way to achieve our goal.

If he ends up as a girl and "Miluno" together, wouldn't he still be gay in the end?

It's simply the difference between the camphor tree and the palm tree.

However, I won't comment on her choice.

If she truly decides to live her life as a woman, as a magical girl, I will respect her choice.

This conclusion was reached as early as Hawaii...

"No, Yezi, I really can't run anymore."

Although she stood up, she clung to the streetlight and refused to leave.

"No choice... Get on the bike, I'll ride you the Past of the way."

She stared at me and blinked, a glimmer of light appearing in her tired eyes, and an ambiguous smile playing on her lips.

"Hehehe, Yezi, you're quite romantic!"

"What?"

She sat sideways on the back of my seat, wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Isn't it romantic for couples to ride bicycles together?"

He actually touched my abs and said we were a couple...

Is this idiot deliberately provoking me?

"We're not a couple yet! Besides, you can't run anymore, can you?"

"Okay, okay! You're not a couple, alright? So it's perfectly normal to give your best buddy a ride on your bike, right?"

She not only spoke loudly, but also pinched my waist.

Why are you angry?

"I'm not angry, hurry up and pedal!"

Result...

We were stopped by a traffic policeman at the next intersection and fined twenty yuan.

Please obey traffic regulations.

Do not carry passengers on your bicycle!

"Oh! Can Mom be released from prison now?"

Yin Wei, from the Sky Branch, who was in charge of receiving us, brought good news.

"Well, the research department doesn't have a clue how to undo the forced fusion of the Star Crystal yet. However, given Miss Yuehan's cooperation in the previous operation, both Director SpiCa and the acting chairman of Sirius agreed to release her. She didn't accept the Star Crystal voluntarily, so it's inappropriate to convict her based on that."

"Miss SpiCa is brilliant!"

Ceruno seemed very happy, raising her hands and cheering in the elevator.

"Don't be too happy yet. Her condition is still unstable, and we don't even know what the side effects of forcibly fusing the Star Crystal will be. Anjie knows nothing about the technology. Even if Director SpiCa uses Mental Overlay, he won't get anything out of her. We can only pin our hopes on the Prosecutorate and see if they can dig out any useful information from those third-party research institutes."

Because of Ceruno's father... the former magical girl Vega's plan, Mom and Dad had to go abroad on a business trip. Not only them, but the entire Association mobilized to eliminate the hidden dangers left by that person.

Yin Wei, who led the way for us, said, "After you walk through this corridor, Miss Yuehan is in the reception room at the very end. I won't disturb you and your son... the touching scene of mother and daughter reuniting."

And judging from what she said, I should probably avoid her too.

"Yezi, you don't need to leave..."

As if reading my mind, Ceruno tugged at my sleeve and said first, "... I also want to introduce you to my mother."

What's going on with this strange statement?

Yin Wei, who was always serious, left with a half-smile on her face.

"You're actually just too scared to face Aunt Yuehan alone, right?"

"That might have been true before, but I'm not afraid anymore."

She shook her head and walked towards the conference room at the front.

"After the battle that day, before my mother was taken away by the Association, I had a chance to talk to her alone... I told her everything I hadn't been able to say over the years, including how my father had changed over the years... She listened silently, then hugged me, patted my head, and said, 'It's okay, none of this is your fault'... I couldn't help but burst into tears then... Yezi, do you know? All I've ever wanted is to be treated gently by my mother just once... The hurt, the self-blame, all those feelings that had been troubling me, all dissipated at that moment."

The awakening of Aunt Yuehan brought her salvation, freeing her from the nightmare that had haunted her for years.

Although I hate to admit it, Ceruno's father did have a positive influence.

But these things are not worth trading the safety of the entire world for, nor do they change the fact that he has gone down the wrong path.

"I only have one goal left now: to bring my father back alive from the Other Side."

As she spoke, Ceruno pushed open the door to the reception room.

"Mom..."

"Huh? Who do you call Mom?"

However, it was Heat Haze who stood there.