The Lurking Monster

"That's all for today's stream, everyone. Good night. Ciao~"

Molis waved goodbye at the camera, then clicked to end the stream amid a flood of reluctant comments.

As the screen went dark, Zhou Mo returned to normal and collapsed onto the bed with an exhausted expression.

Another day of streaming until the early hours.

Lately, magical girls had been pulling out all kinds of tricks to boost their votes, but defeating monsters was not among them.

As if they had reached some sort of agreement, most monsters had gone into hiding, and the frequency of attacks on the city had noticeably decreased.

Rabi had stopped sending Zhou Mo out to defeat monsters as well. Instead, her nightly streams had been extended until two or three in the morning on average, which was torture for someone who had always kept a normal, healthy schedule.

She lay in bed, unable to sleep no matter how she tossed and turned, her mind uncontrollably dwelling on certain things.

The monsters' sudden disappearance and some organization's mysterious plan. There had to be a close connection between them.

Could it be that they planned to show up together at the New Star Competition and launch a collective attack?

"But there'll definitely be defense forces there by then, right?"

Considering that, she felt it was possible that the organization would launch an attack at the Nova Tournament, but attacking such a highly anticipated event also seemed a little unlikely.

Other than an attack, she simply could not think of any other strange plan on her own.

"Memories..."

Zhou Mo suddenly recalled that when she defeated monsters, their last words would appear. At those moments, it felt as though she had formed some kind of Emotional Resonance with them.

"Maybe I can try asking a monster?"

With random thoughts swirling through her head, Zhou Mo gradually closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When Zhou Mo woke up, the first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was a cat head looking down at her.

"..."

She ignored Rabi, who had wanted to startle her awake, and walked straight into the bathroom.

Rabi followed her in as well.

"Why are you following me to the bathroom?!"

With a bang, Zhou Mo shut and locked the bathroom door, blocking Rabi outside.

Rabi stood at the door without saying anything, its tail swishing back and forth behind it.

Spring was the season when all things came back to life. In March, magical girls began appearing one after another on the streets of Cloud City to forage for food—no, to perform outdoor street shows.

Some drew passersby with singing and dancing, while those who could play instruments sang as they played.

Others went even further, using magic to put on fire-breathing acts.

"Idol performers? More like street performers!"

Zhou Mo stopped before a magical girl performing a lion dance. After watching a full round of the performance, she started applauding.

"But it really was pretty good."

Rabi, perched on her shoulder, saw her becoming so absorbed in the performance that she forgot where she was and gave her a timely reminder.

"You're going to be late."

Zhou Mo's clapping hands froze in midair as she shouted, "Oh no!"

She immediately slung on her backpack and raced toward school at full speed.

During break, Zhou Mo lay sprawled across her desk, yawning repeatedly.

Seeing her like that, her deskmate Zhang Wei asked with concern, "What's wrong, Little Mo? Didn't sleep well last night?"

"Yeah..."

Zhou Mo did not raise her head, merely giving a simple response.

"Hehe, were you doing something bad at night?"

Her deskmate chuckled and moved in front of her. "Like staying up late to watch streams or something."

Zhou Mo raised her head, glanced at him, and said nothing.

Her deskmate wore an expression that said, I get it, I get it, and continued smugly.

"Look at me. I watch sleep streams at night. I put my phone beside my pillow, watch magical girls' sleeping faces, then put on my headphones and listen to their snoring as I drift off. It's simply a pleasure."

"Are you a pervert?"

Zhou Mo asked curiously.

Although it was phrased as a question, her tone made it sound utterly certain.

"...Of course not."

"Stare—"

"Fine, I admit it. That is kind of perverted."

Having gotten the answer she wanted from her deskmate, Zhou Mo lay back down on her desk.

"..."

"Stare—"

"Wait, bro, you even watch men sleep? Are you from River City?"

That afternoon, on the rooftop of the school building.

"What did you say? You want to find stronger monsters to fight?"

Rabi stood atop the railing, somewhat surprised by Zhou Mo's words.

This was the first time it had heard Zhou Mo actively ask to fight monsters.

Recently, with monsters suddenly becoming much scarcer, Surface Tier monsters were no longer much of a challenge for someone with her strength, so it had not sent her out very often.

Seeing Zhou Mo bring it up of her own accord, Rabi tilted its head, fell silent for a moment, then said,

"Even if you hadn't said so, I would have done that."

It leaped onto Zhou Mo's shoulder and raised a cat paw to pat her head, like an old father stroking an obedient child.

"But for you to take the initiative like this, Rabi is truly pleased."

Zhou Mo's eyelid twitched at Rabi's behavior, and she clenched her fist.

"Right, there's one more very important matter."

Rabi lowered its stroking paw and said this to Zhou Mo.

"Speak." Zhou Mo gritted her teeth impatiently.

The white cat took out its phone and pointed at the follower count on Molis's account.

"Look, you've already passed thirty thousand followers. Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"It means your popularity has reached the minimum standard for holding a solo performance."

A solo performance?

Zhou Mo stood there blankly for a moment, thinking it over.

"A solo performance?!"

She was shocked.

"Do I have to hold one?"

Zhou Mo hesitated before asking cautiously,

"Of course. Whether you want to hold a performance is up to you."

"Phew, that's good."

"But would you still be an idol then?"

Rabi suddenly said.

Zhou Mo was speechless.

So why did she have to be an idol in the first place?!

"It's only a performance. It's not like this is your first time. Is there really any need to make such a fuss?"

Seeing her startled reaction, Rabi sighed in a very human-like manner.

Zhou Mo thought about it for a while, then spread her hands.

"But this is an idol commercial performance. Won't there be situations where rookie idols who want popularity have to accept certain people's unspoken rules at their companies, or else those people will make it impossible for them to hold performances?"

Rabi did not speak. It merely looked at Zhou Mo, its crimson eyes seeming to say, Are you serious?

"Nothing like that happens."

"Really?"

"Really. Though there may be things like handshake events and backstage fan meetings."

The moment Zhou Mo heard that, she nearly suffocated.

Performing onstage was one thing, but facing fans at close range in her magical girl form made her feel as though embarrassment would have her toes digging through the center of the earth.

"You can hold your first performance during the Popularity Warm-Up Tournament. It's a perfect chance to raise your popularity."

Rabi said that, then stopped talking. It jumped down from her shoulder and walked away without looking back.

"Anyway, do your best, kid."