Buying Meat

(Ceruno)

She said she was delivering goods to Miss SpiCa, but I knew she was lying.

Miluno likes to keep everything secret, but without evidence, it's difficult to stop her.

"It's 6:30, Xiaoling. I'm going to the Materials Distribution Center to get some food. Can you look after Xiaojie for me?"

Xiaoling hooked her arm around Xiaojie's shoulder.

"Okay, leave it to me!"

Watching the two girls, whose mental age was younger than their appearance, snuggle up to each other affectionately.

"What would you like for dinner?"

"Let's have some barbecue."

Oh! Xiaoling is a carnivore, just like me!

"Okay, then I'll go buy the meat."

When it comes to Zodiacal barbecue, I still trust Falcon's skills.

After defeating the witch with Heat Haze, she still had to set up a meat stall to sell meat, which was quite difficult for her.

With that in mind, I opened the teleportation portal and went straight to the Materials Distribution Center in the Dormitory District. As the number of students in the City School increased, the place became even more lively.

"Oh! Ceruno ~"

A loud voice rang out. Turning around, I saw a magical girl in a blue tracksuit, holding a box of seafood fried noodles and slurping it down.

"Quanyin- nee, you're here for dinner too?"

That seems like a pointless statement.

"You know perfectly well that I can't cook at all!"

Is this something to say with pride?

"Is Miluno back?"

"Just got back, and this time I returned safely from the Other Side as well."

"She's really impressive! But one person can't change the situation, can they? I wish we could Past and fight them someday!"

Contrary to her delicate and pretty image, Quanyin- ne is actually quite combative.

I sighed:

"If only the war could be ended in a way other than through fighting."

Total war inevitably results in death.

On the Other Side are bio-weapons mass-produced on assembly lines, but magical girls all have family, friends, and lovers, making any casualties seem unacceptable...

"Ceruno, I think you should give up that naive idea."

Quanyin reached out and ruffled my hair.

"I haven't read many books and can't talk about grand principles, but I know that what can shut up thugs and hooligans is never any principle. In other words, might makes right. If you really want the 'The Other Side' to sit down and discuss peace, you first have to beat them into submission and fear them. And any sacrifices made in this process are necessary."

I replied:

"I know, I have no intention of giving up the fight."

After all, ideals cannot contradict reality.

She smoothed my bangs again and sighed.

"You're quite the character, but kindness has its limits. Being kind to the enemy is being cruel to your comrades..."

She glanced at the time and said:

"I still need to bring lunch to Professor Fahrenheit, so I'll head back to Skyreach Dormitory first."

"Will you open the door in a bit?"

"No need~ I'll go back myself after I buy it~"

She waved to me with her back to me.

Although I initially decided to visit Falcon and Heat Haze's stalls, the dazzling array of food stalls on this street eventually held me back. The Zodiacal, encompassing magical girls from all over the world, is diverse, and naturally, the food sold at the stalls is equally diverse; all sorts of unfamiliar things made me want to try them...

But in the end, she stuck to her original intention and came to the barbecue stand, where other magical girls were also queuing up... Business was good; nothing could compare to meat.

Falcon greeted, "Hey! Ceruno ~ Come have some meat?"

"Any kind of meat, please grill enough for five people, and also give me a medium-rare steak."

"Why don't you just eat it while it's only half-cooked?"

Heat Haze made a sarcastic remark about me, but this steak was for the Golden.

Falcon brought in the beef and started processing it. I asked:

Why don't you two combine?

Heat Haze lowered his head, controlling the heat, and replied, "One person with two hands simply can't handle it. It's better to have two people at times like this. Besides, after merging, I don't feel like myself anymore, and I'm always a little scared after separating..."

Are there any side effects to combining them?

"There haven't been any side effects yet, but SpiCa asked us not to disclose this finding for the time being and to observe it for a while longer."

The frequency of attacks by Magical Girl Soldiers and witches is currently far lower than that of attacks by Monster Soldiers, and our current combat power is sufficient to handle them, so we must still prioritize security.

Place the seasoned meat on the grill in front of Heat Haze. Falcon asks:

"By the way, I remember Miluno has a very high adaptability, right? Is there any possibility that she can fuse with someone else?"

"Huh?"

Have no idea.

I've never thought about this question.

Heat Haze also chimed in:

"Right, isn't she the most adaptable magical girl? What I can do, she can theoretically do too. Why don't you give it a try with her? Or... Ceruno, how about the two of us give it a try?"

Her tone suddenly became provocative.

"Us?"

"What, are you disgusted with me?"

"It's not that... it's just that even our consciousnesses are merging, and it feels a bit strange."

Falcon advised, "It's not that bad. You'll feel that all your actions are your own thoughts, and there's nothing out of place. Once you undo the actions, they'll revert back to normal."

"Then I'll try with Miluno first..."

"In the end, it still has to be Miluno."

Heat Haze sighed, lit one last blazing fire, packed all the grilled meat into a lunchbox, and handed it to me, along with a bag of lettuce.

"A balanced diet of meat and vegetables, go back and take care of the kids."

It took longer than I expected to get back to the dorm with two big bags of meat. The two girls were actually snuggled up and asleep on the sofa. But Golden, who was lying next to the sofa, smelled the meat, jumped up, its eyes wide like saucers, and started circling around my feet.

I walked to the sofa and leaned down to whisper in the ears of the two sleeping people.

"They're eating children!"

"Whoa!" Xiaoling was startled awake.

"Don't eat me!" Xiaojie cried helplessly.

But after they realized it was me, they both frowned and expressed their displeasure.

"Ceruno, don't scare me!"

"Who told you to sleep at this hour? Now that you've slept for a while, how will you be able to sleep tonight?"

Xiaoling complained with a bitter face, "Xiaojie is a nocturnal animal and clingy. She kept me up all night last night and I didn't get a good night's sleep."

"... What's all the fuss about?"

"He keeps tossing and turning around next to you, and every now and then he sits up and plays on his phone."

Xiaojie was given a cell phone so that she could contact the Achernar.

"Her biological clock is Hawaii, and she hasn't adjusted to the time difference yet. To keep her quiet at night, she absolutely cannot sleep now."

I went up to Xiaojie, pinched her tired cheeks, and lifted them upwards.

"Go wash your face, we'll eat when Miluno comes back."

It was called a meal, but it was all meat.

Xiaojie Jie nodded and was dragged back to the bathroom in the bedroom by Xiaoling.

A teleportation portal opened in the living room, Miluno stepped out... Wait, Miss Jaeger is here too?

Behind them followed the Base Body of the Magical Girl Soldiers who were supposed to be sent to SpiCa.

The consciousness within that Base Body...

Who is it?