How Did a Promised Joint Performance Turn into a Fight?

"G-Greetings, everyone. I'm Magical Girl Shan Que. It's an honor to stand on this stage. Um, I hope we can all have fun together."

Onstage, a golden-haired girl with curls held a microphone, her legs turned slightly inward as she spoke nervously.

The girl's adorable appearance, combined with the way she looked as tense as a little animal facing strangers, made some of the old perverts below chuckle foolishly.

With a chance to perform alongside a Magical Girl, everyone raised their hands, hoping to be chosen.

Looking at the eager crowd below and unsure whom to pick, she turned to the host beside her for help.

The female host smiled sweetly and casually selected a cosplayer.

The girl in cosplay immediately climbed onto the stage. Standing there, she covered her mouth in excitement and reached out to shake Shan Que's hand.

Since it was a joint performance, they chose a song they both knew well.

Watching Shan Que dance cheerfully onstage, Molis stood toward the back of the crowd, somewhat speechless.

"What a coincidence. I didn't expect to run into her here."

Xia Ya looked over as well and spoke with some surprise.

"You know her?" Molis pretended not to recognize her and asked curiously.

"Mm, we met once."

--

After the song ended, the passerby was invited off the stage.

"Next up will be a group dance performance. We'll invite several lucky audience members to perform with us."

The female host spoke again from the stage.

She swept her gaze over the audience. At the very front stood a rather plump boy, both hands raised high.

Luckily for him, the female host chose him.

The plump boy was ecstatic and hurriedly climbed onto the stage.

Standing there, Shan Que greeted him with a friendly smile.

The boy waved back at Shan Que with a silly grin, looking somewhat restrained as he stood beside her.

Just as the female host was about to choose the next participant, she suddenly spotted an unremarkable man mixed in among the crowd, and her expression froze.

His eyes were filled with a certain extreme fanaticism as he stared fixedly at the Magical Girl onstage.

For no apparent reason, the female host felt a chill run down her back. She hurriedly looked away from him, but before she could do anything, he met her gaze.

The instant their eyes met, the female host's expression stiffened, and her pupils gradually lost focus.

"Please invite the boy on the left wearing a black coat and hood to come up."

She spoke in an utterly emotionless tone and pointed at the man.

The hooded man who had been called trembled all over as he unsteadily pushed through the crowd toward the stage.

Someone nearby noticed that something was off about him, but they only assumed he was overly excited and did not pay much attention.

"Hehehe, hello, Magical Girl."

Standing before Shan Que, the hooded man mumbled indistinctly, his eyes staring straight at her.

"H-Hello."

Seeing his strange behavior, Shan Que inexplicably felt uneasy. A Magical Girl's instincts warned her that there was something wrong with the person before her.

I didn't run into a pervert, did I?

Thinking that, she quietly moved a little farther away from him.

"Please have the silver-haired and pink-haired girls in the back come onstage."

After saying that, the female host left the stage.

Shan Que was still watching the strange man beside her and did not notice that two girls had already come up beside her.

When she came back to her senses and saw the new audience members onstage, she immediately recognized Xia Ya.

"Ah, it's Senior Xia Ya."

Shan Que's eyes lit up as she hurriedly called out.

"We meet again, Miss Shan Que."

Xia Ya replied with a smile. "I can't really call myself your senior. I only debuted a few months earlier."

"A senior is a senior in my eyes."

Seeing someone familiar, Shan Que's mood brightened considerably. The strange feeling brought on by the odd man also faded away.

"Senior Xia Ya...?"

On the other side, the ignored plump passerby heard their conversation and froze in place.

A Magical Girl had called that girl her senior, and her name was Xia Ya.

No matter how slow he was, he understood now.

However, no one paid attention to his reaction. After a while, an anime-style dance track began playing.

The group performance began. The hooded man hid slightly behind Shan Que, staring at her the entire time while muttering under his breath.

"Hehe, Magical Girl, hehe."

At the same time, Molis and Xia Ya quietly shifted behind the hooded man, watching him as well.

Aside from the oblivious Shan Que and the plump passerby who had no idea what was going on, the other three were all harboring their own motives.

As the dance track reached its climax, the atmosphere below the stage was whipped into a frenzy.

At that critical moment, the hooded man suddenly moved, charging straight toward Shan Que, who was singing and dancing ahead of him.

A twisted smile appeared on his face. One hand was about to touch the girl's shoulder when two hands landed on his shoulders first.

The hooded man did not react in time. A powerful force yanked him from behind, sending his whole body flying backward.

With a smack, the hooded man crashed heavily onto the stage.

"Who was that?!"

The man sprang up from the ground and angrily looked around. Then he saw two girls with long silver-and-Bai hair and pink twin-tails standing over him, their magical battle outfits exposing their identities.

The two girls looked down at him, their clenched fists cracking.

The hooded man froze on the ground. As a newly awakened Monster, he had once feared neither heaven nor earth, but now sweat beaded at his temples.

"Can we make peace?"

"At a time like this, you have to be joking."

Molis clenched her fist and looked down at him disdainfully.

Behind her, the hooded man received a brutal two-on-one beating from the Magical Girls.

"This..."

Shan Que was still singing wholeheartedly at the very front, but the plump passerby beside her noticed what was happening behind them.

He looked at Shan Que, then turned back to look at the fight. He hesitated in place for a long while, unsure what he should do next.

"Enough! Damn Magical Girls, don't think you can stop me!"

After being beaten for some time, the hooded man flew into a rage and briefly blasted away the two girls pinning him down and pounding him.

His aura rapidly intensified. He tore off his hooded coat, revealing his twisted Monster form.

"To force out my true power, Magical Girls, you can go die now."

"Explosive Flash!"

"Moonflow Thrust!"

The Monster had barely finished his threat when countless splitting pink beams and a blue-and-Bai streak of light came hurtling toward him.

Pfft!

The streak was incredibly fast, piercing through his body first. Then the Monster was swallowed by countless beams of light.

After passing through the Monster, the streak transformed back into Molis. With her back to him, she flicked her spear, and a violent explosion erupted behind her the next moment. The surging heat wave lifted her silver-and-Bai hair, making it flutter gracefully.

Just then, the dance track ended, and the audience below erupted into cheers.

Shan Que panted lightly and bowed to the audience.

"Senior! Being able to perform together with you really was..."

Then she broke into a grin and turned to speak to Xia Ya, only to see the wreckage behind her. Half the stage had collapsed.

"That's great..."

She tilted her head, somewhat confused by the sight before her.

"Huh? What... happened here?"

"..."

Beside her, the plump passerby looked hopelessly at the bewildered blonde girl.

All he wanted now was to go home.