Their Own Ideals

(Ceruno)

Miluno to rescue Miss SpiCa.

It was still a dangerous mission with no guarantees, but she didn't complain at all, and stepped into the teleportation channel leading to "the Other Side" with her usual confidence.

That back view was so handsome.

Indeed, Miss Miluno is the true hero of this world, far surpassing me.

"Let's go, A-Yao ~ Open the door!"

Lin Xi reached out and put her arm around my waist, urging me to open the teleportation portal.

Will she still call me by that name?

It was a name that had been with me for over a decade, but hearing it suddenly felt unfamiliar, and I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

"Wait for me, I want to go too!"

My mother squeezed to my the Other Side, grabbed my other arm, and together with Aunt Lin Xi, squeezed me in the middle.

Being pressed so close by inevitably evoked mixed feelings. After all, although these two were elders and a mother, they were magical girls, so they both appeared to be seventeen-year-old girls...

Oh, me too.

I wasn't in a hurry to open the teleportation channel, but instead said:

"Miss Extinction should be in her dormitory right now. She probably doesn't know her identity has been exposed, and she certainly won't admit it easily..."

Aunt Lin Xi pointed to her slightly reddened eyes.

"It's no use. My magic can see into the thoughts in her mind. Even things she doesn't want to admit, I can dig out."

Memory Tracking is such a convenient... yet somewhat terrifying magic.

"However, please don't make a move yet. I'd like to speak with her alone."

Aunt Lin Xi raised an eyebrow and reminded her:

"It's very dangerous, isn't it? Yun Zhi just said that Ptolemy is a master of disguise. The impression she left on you is likely all a facade, and even that sister might be her accomplice. Do you have a chance of winning against both of them alone?"

Xiaoling too...

No, I don't think that's fake.

I replied, "I don't think Miss Extinction and Xiaoling... are bad people. If we talk things out, we can definitely resolve this through dialogue!"

"Oh, you have such a kind heart, child."

Aunt Lin Xi sighed, which was a way of acknowledging my naiveté.

She walked around me and hooked her arm around my mother's shoulder.

"But regardless of how you'll explain it to Xiao Yezi, Yuehan and I will just stay hidden and wait. Is that alright?"

"... Um."

We used our wands to open a teleportation portal and went straight back to our dorm.

"Oh! Ceruno, you're back!"

My mother and Lin Xi remained hidden behind me, so Xiaoling only saw me.

She rushed towards him as before, so affectionately... If even this innocence is fake, then what is real?

I took her arm and asked:

"Xiaoling, where's your sister?"

She twisted her body, and her head suddenly fell off, which I instinctively caught.

She really enjoys doing this.

It would certainly be startling to someone who didn't know better; but for me, she simply enjoyed being held in my arms.

She slumped back onto the sofa, but I, holding her head, replied, "Sister Extinction is still in the room, what's wrong?"

"I have something I'd like to talk to her about."

Why all the secrecy?

Do you know who this is?

I placed the original photo of Sister Extinction in front of Xiaoling, and she fell silent for a moment until I pinched her earlobe and she realized what was happening.

"Sigh, so it seems you... you knew all along?"

Her explanation was ambiguous, so I asked her in return:

What do you mean?

Xiaoling sighed and replied, "It's true that my brother was originally a boy. I told him that registering under a fake female identity would eventually be exposed! But she wouldn't listen. It's rare for a man to become a magical girl, so he was embarrassed and enrolled as a woman... Um, will there be any punishment?"

Does this mean Xiaoling was unaware of Extinction's insider identity?

Or was even this statement a facade?

"It's not about that. I already knew she was a boy... I'd better talk to her directly."

Holding the Xiaoling, she walked towards the bedroom for two and pushed open the door.

Miss Extinction simply sat on the balcony, her expression calm, yet she seemed less weak than before.

I sat down beside her bed and asked:

You heard what we were saying outside, didn't you?

She didn't avoid my gaze and nodded calmly.

"Then do you know why I came here?"

"That matter has nothing to do with Xiaoling."

"Huh? Sis, what are you saying?"

Xiaoling genuinely seemed to have no idea.

Miss Extinction turned around and handed me the notebook on the table.

"Here you find the evidence you want, the evidence that I'm responsible for this matter. But I've completely erased all the email records related to Professor Sun Ji; they're absolutely irrecoverable. Don't waste your time."

She calls her father... teacher?

I don't remember my father ever being a teacher, but the title itself can be a respectful term for a highly respected person.

I shook my head and said, "Then it's pointless. We already have enough evidence to prove that you did it... Why would you do something like this? Do you really think what you did was right?"

"Huh? What did my sister do?"

Xiaoling shook her head in my arms, looking very anxious.

"Xiaoling, don't speak yet, listen quietly... Teacher Sun Ji's ideal is to end this endless war. With the Association's current long-term strategic plan, we may have to continue fighting with 'the Other Side' for more than ten years, or even several decades. Coupled with the disadvantage of the Dark Erosion, the final outcome is still unknown."

Her tone was calm.

"So what?"

I cradled a quiet little head and asked in return:

"So he betrayed humanity and joined forces with the Other Side to fight us? Do you know how many civilians have died because of this? Is this the accelerated plan he envisioned?"

Miss Extinction shook her head.

"As the Association's president, Professor Sun Ji is in charge of all external affairs. If the Association is likened to a country, then he is the diplomat... At the same time, he is also the first person to make contact with the witch. He initiated the first dialogue and contact with 'the Other Side' as a diplomat."

It took me a moment to understand what she meant.

"Are you saying he went to the Other Side as a diplomatic envoy?"

Even before going to "the Other Side," he had been very close to Fomalhaut and probably even provided intelligence to "the Other Side." How can someone like that be called an envoy?

Miss Extinction removed her headband and let her brown bangs fall loosely over her forehead.

"No, Professor Sun Ji doesn't trust those Monsters, but he believes... that the witch who merges the powers of the two worlds will be the key to a truce between them. As followers of this ideal, my colleagues and I will stay in this world to continue assisting his plan."

My father did say that he wanted to end the war.

In my father's opinion, was Fomalhaut the key to the ceasefire?

The method may be debatable, but Fomalhaut did indeed help his father awaken his mother...

No, that's not right.

"But if that's really the case, then why did Fomalhaut refuse to speak with me?"

My ideal of mutual understanding doesn't conflict with my father's ideals!

My question only elicited a long sigh from Miss Extinction.

"Alas, because Teacher Sun Ji hasn't fully shared his thoughts with those witches yet."