Do I Have to Become a Magical Girl Too?

"..."

The silver-haired girl—now Zhou Mo—stood frozen in place for a long time.

"Is this... me?"

Her lips parted slightly, and a clear, sweet voice rang out. Zhou Mo's heart jolted. She lowered her head to inspect her body and saw the slight swell of her chest, along with the empty feeling below, as if something was missing.

"My chest, and... and my dick?!"

"╱/\╲ See? I didn't lie to you. Boys can become girls too... ngh!"

Rabi's voice came from behind Zhou Mo, but before it could finish speaking, a hand grabbed it by the neck and lifted it up.

Zhou Mo gripped Rabi and snarled, "What's going on? Was this your doing?!"

Looking into the girl's murderous eyes, Rabi showed no pain despite being choked. Its expression remained completely unchanged.

Dangling in midair, Rabi spoke with an utterly punchable look on its face:

"As you can see, this city is under attack. Weirdos could destroy it at any time. Magical girls bear the responsibility of fighting weirdos, protecting the city, and debuting as idols. We need young strength like yours."

"So, brave boy, go create a miracle."

Growing impatient, Zhou Mo was about to speak when a video call came through on her phone. Pulling it out, she saw the village chief's profile picture and was so startled that she immediately flung the phone aside, grabbing Rabi and shaking it frantically.

"Turn me back! If he sees me, I'm finished!"

Amid the violent shaking, the white cat remained expressionless, spreading its paws in a helpless gesture.

"I merely guided out the latent magical power within you. I can't directly control your transformation. In other words, only you can undo it."

"Besides, the first lesson of being a magical girl idol is learning how to hide yourself and keep your human identity from the world."

Zhou Mo couldn't help saying, "I don't know magic, I'm not an idol, and I'm not even a girl."

Seeing that Rabi remained unmoved and that she had no idea how to undo the transformation, she glanced at the phone and decided not to answer it.

"Hey, Xiao Mo, you've arrived in Cloud City by now, right? Huh, where are you?"

But then, the phone's video call ringtone suddenly stopped, replaced by the connected video call popping up on-screen.

Zhou Mo stiffly turned her head and discovered that the tip of the white cat's tail had somehow touched the phone screen. She was immediately shocked and furious.

"You!"

Zhou Mo pulled Rabi closer and whispered, "How do I undo the transformation? Don't tell me you don't know at all."

"Well, it's your own power. Maybe try imagining it with your mind, and you might turn back."

Rabi tapped its own head, as though telling her to use her brain.

After staring at Rabi for a moment, Zhou Mo let out a heavy sigh and could only close her eyes to feel every part of her body.

In a daze, a flash of inspiration passed through her mind. Some inexplicably active energy flowed through her body.

"Undo it. Undo it."

Zhou Mo focused her thoughts, constantly imagining the active energy inside her settling back into silence.

Then, a layer of radiance suddenly surged from her body, enveloping her. In an instant, the curtain of light burst apart with a bang and scattered into countless motes.

Sensing the strange change, she looked up at the mirror. The girl's appearance had vanished, and she had returned to her original form.

"Eugh—good, I'm back!"

Zhou Mo let out a breath of relief. If she couldn't change back, how was she supposed to live normally afterward?

"Hello? Zhou Mo, where are you? Why can I only see some strange ceiling?"

The village chief on the phone beside her was still calling out.

Hearing the phone, Zhou Mo finally came back to her senses. She grabbed it and greeted the village chief.

"Village Chief, I was in the bathroom just now. I left my phone on the bed."

"Then how did this get answered... Forget it. You've just settled in over there, right? How is it? Is the environment okay? Are you getting used to it?"

"Ah, I just got here. I'm tidying up the place right now. Where I'm staying is pretty good."

"That's good. You're alone in the city, so take good care of yourself. Don't worry about living expenses—the village will cover everything. Your task is to study hard and try to get a college student out of our village."

Zhou Mo forced herself to keep smiling. After listening to the village chief's instructions for quite a while, she finally ended the call and tossed the phone aside.

Rabi padded over and jumped onto the bed, walking up to Zhou Mo.

"Why are you still here?"

Zhou Mo raised her eyelids slightly and shot the hateful white cat a sidelong glare.

"You're already a glorious magical girl. From now on, make good use of this power to create commercial value for the company, and defeat weirdos while you're at it."

Rabi sat beside her and began offering words of encouragement.

Zhou Mo looked at it disdainfully. "Don't worry. I'll never transform into some magical girl again, much less become an idol."

"Is that so? What a pity. Just a reminder: I've already recorded the entire process of you transforming into a magical girl and changing back."

Rabi used its tail to hook a camcorder it had somehow produced, its lens aimed at Zhou Mo, whose pupils had shrunk sharply.

"!"

"Boy, you wouldn't want other people to see a video of you becoming a magical girl, would you?"

Devil. Damn devil. Take my Demon-Slaying Salvation Fist!

Though she had already beaten Rabi to a pulp countless times in her mind, Zhou Mo still gave in under its threat.

"Hiss... sorry, sir."

The evidence was still in the other party's hands. For now, she would have to endure.

Seeing Zhou Mo's compromising expression, Rabi stood up, leaped out the window, then turned around and said to her:

"Then farewell. I'm looking forward to your debut battle as a newly minted magical girl."

"..."

Zhou Mo felt as if the worldview she had built over the past decade or so had completely collapsed.

Whether from mental exhaustion or something else, her body seemed to lose control as she fell onto the bed. The moment she closed her eyes, she fell asleep.

After waking from a long sleep

Zhou Mo felt as though she had come back to life.

What? Magical girls?

Haha, how could she have had such a dream?

She had slept from yesterday evening until nearly noon the next day, and when she woke up, she felt ravenously hungry.

After washing up quickly, she took her phone and keys downstairs.

Zhou Mo casually found a breakfast shop by the street and ordered a fried dough stick, two tea eggs, a bowl of soy milk, and noodles.

As she ate breakfast, she considered her plans for the day.

Tomorrow was the official start of school, so she needed to buy all the necessities today.

Zhou Mo opened her map and quickly found a supermarket nearby.

It wasn't far away. After breakfast, Zhou Mo scanned a shared bike by the street.

More than ten minutes later, Zhou Mo arrived at Wonima Supermarket.

It was a large shopping complex with five floors. Since it was the weekend, quite a few people were playing with their children in the plaza out front.

A large screen was mounted on the shopping complex, displaying a white-haired beautiful girl fighting a giant weirdo.

After the girl unleashed a barrage of dazzling magical explosion effects and knocked down the weirdo, the screen switched again to a shot of her winking at the camera.

"Annual Top Ten Magical Girl Illya! Shining Stage performance tickets now on sale!"

Seeing the girl on the screen, passersby excitedly discussed her with the people around them.

"It's Miss Illya! I have to get tickets for this performance!"

"Give it up. Those are Shining Stage tickets. How could they possibly be easy to get?"

"Mom, when I grow up, I want to become an amazing magical girl like Big Sister Illya too!"

"Silly child, you're a boy. How could you become a magical girl?"

"..."

Speechless, Zhou Mo decided to ignore it all and quickly walked into the supermarket.

She took the elevator to the second floor, where a white cat was squatting by the elevator entrance.

Zhou Mo ignored the white cat and continued forward.

The white cat glanced at her and silently followed.

After walking for a while, Zhou Mo finally stopped and sighed helplessly.

"So, what do you want this time?"

The white cat tilted its head, blinked its innocent crimson eyes, and said:

"According to the energy fluctuation warning, a weirdo will appear here soon. As a newly minted magical girl, I think you should know what to do."

"No, I don't."

Zhou Mo waved a hand, looking utterly unconcerned.

"I'm just an ordinary person. Go find someone else."

With that, she turned to leave, intending to retreat behind the crowd.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

Bang!