Magical Girl Club

Zhou Mo mechanically turned her head.

"Haah, recruiting new members all day was really exhausting..."

The girl sitting on the bench sighed and muttered to herself.

So that was what she meant. Then it was fine.

Hearing the girl's muttering, Zhou Mo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment just now, she had thought she had been exposed.

"Hm?"

The petite short-haired girl glanced at Zhou Mo. Seeing that she had not left yet, she asked:

"What kind of expression is that? Why do you look like a magical girl panicking over an identity exposure crisis?"

"?!!"

Zhou Mo was plunged into deep shock.

"Just kidding. You're a boy, so how could you become a magical girl?"

The girl waved her hand dismissively. Though she said she was joking, her expression remained utterly unchanged.

This bastard!

Zhou Mo clenched her fists tightly, feeling like she had been toyed with.

She squeezed her fists, then relaxed them as though all strength had drained away.

Zhou Mo shook her head and prepared to leave.

"So, do you want to join the club?"

The girl asked the same question once again.

"I don't..."

"Right, I should introduce myself first."

The short-haired girl interrupted Zhou Mo's refusal. Her teal eyes fixed on her as she slowly said:

"My name is Bai Yi. I'm a magical girl."

Zhou Mo fell silent, though it was not because she was surprised by the other girl's true identity.

She had indeed suspected that the girl was a magical girl. After all, no matter when she came here, she always saw this girl sitting on the bench. Such strange behavior certainly matched her impression of magical girls.

But why had she suddenly revealed her identity? Why was she telling these things to a stranger she had only met a few times?

Isn't she afraid I'll tell others about her identity?

Bai Yi's erratic behavior made Zhou Mo's mind crash for a moment.

"Y-you, why are you telling me this?"

Zhou Mo asked tentatively.

"Because if you know my true identity, then as a magical girl, in order to keep you from leaking it, I'll have to do some this-and-that to your brain to make you lose your memory."

The girl straightened up and walked toward Zhou Mo as she explained.

"But if you join the club, you'll be one of us, so I won't do anything to you. So, will you join? The club."

Holy shit, what convincing logic. So this is a threat, right? This definitely is a threat, right?

As the girl slowly approached, a bead of sweat formed on Zhou Mo's forehead. She forced herself to remain calm and said:

"Heh, who knows whether you're telling the truth? I think you're not a magical girl at all. You're just an ordinary person trying to scare me."

Hearing this, the girl stopped walking.

Seeing that, Zhou Mo secretly smiled.

That was right. As long as there was no proof that Bai Yi was a magical girl and Zhou Mo did not believe her, she could not threaten her with being exposed.

Then, the girl tilted her head, clasped both hands behind her back, and said:

"If that's the case, do you want me to show you all of me?"

"Wha..."

Before Zhou Mo could finish speaking, a gentle radiance enveloped the girl before her, and her school uniform vanished.

Starting from her hands, then spreading to her legs, a flawless white magical outfit gradually formed over her entire body.

After a transformation process lasting a full forty seconds, the girl appeared before Zhou Mo in a completely different form.

She wore a pure white pleated dress that reached her knees, with a bow tied behind her waist. The two ribbons hanging from the knot naturally draped below the skirt. Her hair was still short, but it had turned silver-white, and the ahoge atop her head curved naturally. A golden outline shaped like an eye was embedded at the chest of her outfit, with a teal gemstone in the center, making it look like an eye.

Looking at the magical girl calling herself Bai Yi, Zhou Mo was speechless for a moment.

Fine, she transformed right in front of someone. She was even more badass than Tai Shen.

Zhou Mo had not expected that Bai Yi would go this far just to recruit her into a school club.

She had no choice now. She could only go along with it.

The girl lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her shoe, tilted her head, leaned forward, and asked:

"How is it? Do I look good like this?"

Hearing her question, Zhou Mo gave the girl before her a brief look-over, and a flash of amazement crossed her eyes.

She had to admit that Bai Yi's looks were no worse than Zhou Mo's magical girl form.

No, why was she even comparing them?

Zhou Mo hurriedly shook her head, casting out the strange thoughts in her mind, then gave an awkward cough.

"Ah, well... yeah, that's right. You really are a magical girl. Since you've gone this far, it's not like I can't join some club or whatever."

"Huh? Really? Yay."

After hearing that, the girl lightly raised both hands. Though her movements looked happy, there was not much change in her tone, as though she were saying something completely ordinary.

"Before that, answer a few questions for me."

Zhou Mo suddenly spoke up and looked directly at Bai Yi.

"What kind of club is this?"

The girl immediately raised her hand and answered, "Yes, we are Thousand Feathers High School's magical girl club, called the Omniscient Wish Society. Our usual activities are gathering and researching all sorts of news related to magical girls. Occasionally, we hold various school events related to magical girls."

"Our Omniscient Wish Society is the most famous club on campus. We have over a hundred members, with people in both the middle school and high school divisions."

"And I am the president."

Zhou Mo was immediately somewhat surprised upon hearing the last part.

She looked Bai Yi over again. The girl before her looked only thirteen or fourteen. A middle school student was the club president?

As though she understood what Zhou Mo's eyes were saying, Bai Yi put her hands on her hips and said with slight dissatisfaction:

"Stop looking at me. Like you, I'm a second-year high school student."

"What?!"

Zhou Mo was stunned. This information shocked her even more than learning that Bai Yi was the president.

When she saw the girl's unblinking stare, she gave an awkward cough.

"Uh, I have another question. Why are you so determined to make me join this club, even revealing your identity as a magical girl? We shouldn't have known each other before."

At that, Bai Yi lowered her hands and calmly replied:

"Because A Li said that as long as I showed you the image of a magical girl, I would definitely be able to seduce you successfully. Looks like she was right."

"Correction, that's called attracting, not seducing. No, that's not why I agreed either. It was... sigh, forget it."

Zhou Mo immediately wanted to refute her, but the more she argued, the less she could explain herself. She simply gave up.

"As for why I wanted you to join, it's because I saw that you have a certain special talent. You're very suitable for joining our Omniscient Wish Society."

Bai Yi suddenly said this.

"Talent?"

Zhou Mo narrowed her eyes, and alarm bells rang in her heart again.

Bai Yi really did know something.

Ignoring Zhou Mo's nervousness, Bai Yi tapped her chin with a finger and continued thoughtfully:

"How should I put it? It's something like intuition. I vaguely feel that you're not ordinary, but I can't tell exactly what's extraordinary about you. Anyway, my intuition has always been accurate. I personally selected most of the club's members."

Bai Yi really had noticed something, but she had not fully figured it out.

At that, Zhou Mo relaxed slightly.

"If that's the case, then I'll agree for now. Is there any procedure?"

The girl waved her hand.

"There's no need for that. As long as I acknowledge your membership in my capacity as president, that's enough."

"Is that so? Then I'll be going."

Zhou Mo glanced at Bai Yi, then turned and waved as she left.

After Zhou Mo departed, a flash of light suddenly flickered over Bai Yi's shoulder.

A snow-white long-eared rabbit lay on her shoulder, rubbing its ears with its paws as it spoke to Bai Yi.

"Will she be the person you saw?"

Looking in the direction Zhou Mo had disappeared, Bai Yi remained silent for a long time before softly saying:

"I don't know. It's just... a feeling..."

Somewhere beneath the city, unknown to anyone.

In a dim basement, a group of people in standard black uniforms and identical hoods sat before computers, rapidly and efficiently typing on their keyboards.

"This magical girl rose to first-rate too quickly. Her threat level needs to be raised. Organize the paid posters and push a wave."

"This one, do we have any candid photos of her transforming?"

"There's no solid evidence, but after this magical girl finished fighting, this girl appeared nearby several times."

"Very good. Dox her. I want to know whether it's really her."

A man in the same uniform but without a hood paced among the crowd, issuing orders to the people below.

A moment later, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

The man took out his phone. Upon seeing the message, his eyes instantly widened, and he immediately jogged away.

After turning through several deep passageways, the man arrived before a large door. He adjusted his clothes, then pushed it open.

Beyond the door lay a vast, hollow underground space. Directly ahead stood a long flight of stairs.

The man climbed the stairs and soon arrived below a stone seat.

A person sat atop the stone seat. One arm rested on the armrest, their head leaning sideways against their hand. Their entire upper body was hidden in shadow, making their features impossible to see clearly.

The man below lowered his head and bowed.

"Lord Moba."

"Speak."

The figure in the shadows uttered a single word, their voice magnetic and deep.

The man lowered his head again and reported:

"My lord, Kais, the one we sent out earlier, was eliminated by a magical girl."

"Kais..."

After hearing that, the person in the shadows took a deep breath. Their index finger lightly tapped the stone seat. After a moment of silence, they spoke again, their deep voice sounding once more:

"Which one?"

"Uh."

The man below froze for a moment, then awkwardly reminded him:

"The Shallow Tier monster who awakened at District 11 East City Square a few days ago, in the afternoon. The exceptionally gifted one."

"Oh, so it was him."

After the man's reminder, the person in the shadows finally remembered and spoke indifferently.

"Though he did have some talent, it wasn't worth you personally coming to report such a trivial matter."

"Uh, of course. That isn't the main point, but rather..."

"But what? Spit it out. Why are you hemming and hawing?"

The man hesitated, then said again, "The one who eliminated him was a newly debuted magical girl..."

Whoosh!

The black figure suddenly rose from the chair, and the pair of deep eyes hidden in the shadows shook violently.

"Uh, my lord, this matter isn't that exaggerated, is it?"

Seeing his lord suddenly lose composure like this, the man asked in confusion.

Although the matter was indeed rather shocking, he had not expected Lord Moba, who had always been steady, to react so intensely.

"No, that's not what I meant."

The figure in the shadows waved a hand, then lowered their head and slowly paced.

"What you said is indeed worth taking seriously. But my reaction just now was because of something else..."

"You may leave first."

He gestured for the man to withdraw.

After the man left, the figure in the shadows remained standing without moving.

Just then, he had suddenly sensed an indescribably terrifying fluctuation of energy.

He was all too familiar with that energy. The instant he sensed it, he had reflexively risen to his feet.

The figure in the shadows remained silent for a long time before finally sighing.

"Forget it. Let those people worry about it. I'm only a minor commander now. It has nothing to do with me."