Enrollment, but at a School Where Magical Girls Exist

Thousand Feathers High School, Class 8, Grade 11

"This semester, our class has a new student. Let's give him a round of applause. Go ahead and introduce yourself."

After Zhou Mo stammered through his introduction at the podium, the female teacher smoothly assigned him a seat by the window in the second-to-last row.

Sitting in the classroom, he let out a quiet breath.

"Great. I can finally focus on studying properly."

A normal enrollment, a normal integration into a new class—it had all gone quite smoothly. There had been no Monsters on the streets either.

As expected, ordinary life was the norm. There was no way a Monster would suddenly leap out and tear down the school building the moment he started school.

"Turn your textbooks to page eight."

Zhou Mo opened his textbook, ready to pay serious attention in class.

"Teacher, I-I have a stomachache. I need to go out for a moment!"

Partway through class, a girl's voice from nearby interrupted the teacher's lesson.

Zhou Mo looked over curiously. The girl had two braided pigtails and wore a pair of large black-rimmed glasses. She spoke timidly and looked exceptionally quiet and frail.

"Oh, it's Lan Yue. Go ahead."

After seeing the girl stand up, the teacher on the platform nodded and allowed her to leave.

Zhou Mo watched her jog out. She was just going to the bathroom, so he did not think much of it.

Half an hour later...

Zhou Mo looked again at the still-empty seat beside him. Class was nearly over, but the girl named Lan Yue had yet to return.

"Did she... fall into a toilet pit?"

He felt rather puzzled.

When the dismissal bell rang, several nearby classmates took the initiative to chat with Zhou Mo. Somewhat awkwardly, he joined their conversation.

"Hey, Zhou Mo, which magical girl do you like?"

One of them suddenly asked him.

"I'll always be an Illya-only fan! Of course, I like Trilly too, and Shurim, and..."

Before Zhou Mo could answer, the guy began rattling off names on his own.

"Is that what you call being an only fan? You clearly just want their bodies, you shameless bastard!"

Another person beside him mocked him.

Zhou Mo sat at his desk, feeling a little helpless.

Sure enough, the topic inevitably turned to magical girls.

After the group finished noisily bickering, they all looked at Zhou Mo curiously.

With everyone staring at him, a faint sheen of sweat appeared on Zhou Mo's forehead.

He did not have a magical girl he liked. But if he said he did not have one, would people find that strange?

Zhou Mo thought carefully and suddenly recalled a name.

"Magical girl Xia Ya, I guess..."

He answered weakly.

Upon hearing his answer, everyone looked confused.

"Xia Ya? Which one is she?"

Someone asked quietly.

"She's a rookie magical girl who's been active over the past few months. She's pretty active and has nearly a hundred thousand followers by now."

His deskmate spoke up to explain. Then he turned to Zhou Mo, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said with wholehearted approval:

"Good taste. You should follow magical girls who don't have many fans. That's what pure love is."

"Sigh, niche bro..."

Hearing their deskmate's words, the others shook their heads and teased him.

Ignoring everyone else's reaction, his deskmate leaned close and whispered:

"I heard a newly promoted magical girl appeared in the East District yesterday. I think her name was Molis. So, interested in learning more about her?"

Zhou Mo's heart instantly skipped a beat, and he nearly failed to keep his expression under control.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, no, nothing... Well, I'll look into it first."

Zhou Mo said haltingly.

Only after the class bell rang and the others gradually dispersed did Zhou Mo finally relax.

As time slowly passed, the girl with braided pigtails finally returned to her seat through the back door.

The teacher now at the podium saw that she had only just returned to the classroom, but said nothing. The teacher merely glanced at her and continued the lesson.

Zhou Mo looked at the girl a few more times. He could not understand why nobody else seemed to react to her having vanished from class for so long.

Strange.

"Teacher, I'd like to use the restroom."

A moment later, another girl with long black hair stood up and spoke calmly.

"Mm, all right, go..."

Before the teacher could finish speaking, the long-haired girl turned around and walked out of the classroom with an indifferent expression.

"...ahead."

The student's behavior was somewhat rude, yet the teacher at the podium still said nothing and continued teaching.

A long time passed, but the girl did not return.

Zhou Mo was dumbfounded. Were students at city schools all this bold?

Seeing him repeatedly glance at the braided girl and another empty seat, his deskmate grew curious and asked softly:

"What are you looking at?"

Zhou Mo hesitated for a moment before answering in an equally quiet voice:

"That girl from earlier still hasn't come back. Don't you think that's strange?"

Hearing this question, his deskmate replied as though it were only natural:

"Didn't she say she was going to the restroom? What's strange about that?"

"But it's been so long. Even if she were constipated, she should be done by now, right?"

His deskmate thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Mm, you're right. It is pretty strange to be in the restroom for so long. But she said she was going to the restroom, so this is normal."

Could you listen to what you're saying?

Zhou Mo opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more.

Over the entire day, he observed three girls in the class request to leave.

The braided girl left twice, the long-haired girl left three times, and another girl left once.

They used all sorts of flimsy excuses. Not only were they all allowed to leave, but no matter how long they were gone, they simply resumed class as though nothing had happened after returning.

Before long, it was three thirty in the afternoon, and the dismissal bell had already rung.

Zhou Mo walked through the school alone. Watching the laughing crowd of students leaving school, he felt an inexplicable sense of incongruity.

"Something's wrong. Extremely, even nine-out-of-ten wrong."

Everyone except him seemed to ignore those girls who periodically left class.

No, rather than ignoring them, it was more like they had always considered it normal.

Of course, what was even more abnormal was that school ended at three thirty.

Was that reasonable?

Zhou Mo continued walking as he pondered this. When he turned his head, he saw a petite, short-haired girl sitting on a campus bench, with a single tuft of hair sticking up from the top of her head.

The girl held up a wooden sign that read: "Magical Girl Club Recruiting Now!!!"

"ᗜ˰ᗜ"

The short-haired girl gripped the sign and stared straight ahead without blinking, her gaze as resolute as a warrior's.

Zhou Mo watched her for a while, then slowly and quietly moved away.

"Interested in joining our club?"

After he had already walked some distance away, the girl's voice abruptly sounded from behind him. Zhou Mo stiffened and turned around, only to see that the girl was still staring ahead without looking at him.

"Do you want to join?"

The girl continued.

There was no one else around but him. Zhou Mo forced himself to remain calm before replying:

"Not interested."

"...ᗜ˰ᗜ"

The short-haired girl said nothing more, and her expression did not change.

Yet for some reason, Zhou Mo felt the atmosphere around him become somewhat oppressive.

Without giving it further thought, he quickened his pace and hurriedly slipped away.

"Have no doubt. They are all magical girls."

On his way back, Rabi's voice appeared in Zhou Mo's mind.

Having received a definite answer, Zhou Mo wore an expression of just as I thought. He could not think of any other explanation.

"And everyone else's attitude is because...?"

"It is a type of Mind-Obscuring Magic. It forcibly rationalizes things others see that do not conform to their own common sense. Every magical girl learns this type of magic to conceal her identity. It only works on ordinary people."

Rabi explained at the right moment.

"So that's how it is."

Zhou Mo understood. After a moment of silence, he continued:

"Go on, where has a Monster appeared this time?"

"No, it's something else."

Rabi spoke calmly in his mind.

Rabi instructed Zhou Mo to search for his magical girl name.

There were already scattered discussions about her now.

Tags such as "#StandingStillOnStage" and "#StandingStillIdol" had already been attached to Molis.

"Just as magical girls must know magic, idols need certain basic skills.

Although standing still on stage the whole time has generated some discussion, it should be avoided as much as possible for the sake of the long term."

"So?"

The white cat Rabi appeared at a street corner.

"Let's begin idol training, boy."