The Shackles of Magical Girls

Fu You was an ordinary high school boy.

No parents, no girlfriend. He was used to being alone, had few friends, and not many classmates even knew him.

He was actually twenty-seven years old, old enough to be called an uncle by younger kids.

But no one had ever called him that. After all, his appearance had never let anyone perceive his real age. Even kindergarten children would at most call him "big brother."

At his age, he should not have still been a student. School life held no appeal for him at all; it even irritated him.

Especially since this school actually had evening self-study sessions.

But as a professional magical girl, there were always compromises he had to make. Being a student was one of them.

After finishing his cola, he headed toward the school. The last evening self-study session had not ended yet.

At the school gate, the elderly guard spotted him and immediately widened his eyes.

"Which class are you from? Don't you know it's evening self-study right now?"

Fu You ignored the guard's shouting and vaulted over the sliding gate in two or three steps.

As he hurried toward the teaching building, he suddenly noticed two streaks of blue and yellow light descending into the depths of the campus.

The two magical girls he had seen earlier?

He did not linger and headed deeper into the campus, toward the laboratory building.

The laboratory building was quiet at night. Only one room in the entire building was lit.

Following the light to the door, he pushed open the half-closed door with his foot. A middle-aged man had his legs inelegantly propped on the desk, a white "cigarette" dangling from his mouth. Wearing headphones and swinging one polished shoe, he stopped shaking his leg and removed one earpiece when he saw Fu You arrive.

Fu You could not help looking at him with some disgust.

He knew the man before him was called Sun Feiliu. What dangled from his mouth was not a cigarette; he simply wanted to smoke so badly that he had rolled up some paper and stuck it between his lips.

If this man smoked again, he would die.

"Yo, Fu You." Sun Feiliu greeted him.

Fu You did not waste words. He tossed the name tag from his pocket over to him.

Sun Feiliu picked it up for a glance, then casually tossed it into a folder beside him.

Fu You turned to leave.

"Good work. Don't rush off," the man said. "Including this one, you've completed three A3-level missions this month, for a total of thirty points. As agreed, complete one more B-level mission and you'll get a five-thousand-yuan bonus."

Fu You prepared to leave again.

A-level missions usually required magical girl teams to complete them. Since he preferred working alone, he usually handled missions by himself.

He truly disliked the attitude of the people in the Special Incident Response Department. Even magical girls who could only complete one B-level mission per month could earn five thousand yuan. Yet he had to complete A-level missions to receive the same pay. It was outright exploitation.

"Don't be in such a hurry. There's another mission from above for you. Do it well, and there'll be additional pay."

Fu You stopped.

Sun Feiliu smiled faintly, then changed the subject. "You're old enough to start mentoring juniors. At your age, you should have retired long ago."

Fu You fell silent for a moment.

Most magical girls from his generation were mothers by now. Once they became mothers, magical girls found it extremely difficult to gain magic power and naturally chose retirement.

The abilities of retired magical girls often passed on to the next generation.

Most magical girls chose to retire by the age of twenty-five. Even if they were not married, they would usually begin preparing for marriage. At twenty-seven, he was an unquestionable elder among active magical girls.

"What are you planning to do from here on? Are you really not going to find a man and have children?"

Fu You had not planned to pay the man any attention, but he truly could not hold it in after hearing that.

"I'm a man."

"Hahaha, fooling other people is one thing. Don't fool yourself too."

"...Sun Feiliu, are you deliberately trying to disgust me?" Fu You turned around, slightly raising his chin, murder in his eyes.

His youthful voice remained lazy, but it now carried a trace of killing intent.

"If you don't plan on having children, just say so. Why make such a fuss?" Sun Feiliu pulled out a card from beside him, flicked it between his fingers, and sent it flying at Fu You like a blade. "I'd actually prefer that you don't plan on having children. Magical girls like you are hard to find these days."

Fu You finally took his hand out of his pocket and caught the card.

On the card was a pink magical girl.

[Newly Awakened Magical Girl: Pink Huali

Age: 16

Magic Power Rating: B1

Magic Power Attribute: Healing]

Fu You stared at the girl on the card, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Pink...

He was somewhat allergic to that color.

"This child has just become a magical girl. As her senior, help train her."

"Not taking it." Fu You tossed the card back to Sun Feiliu.

"Five thousand." Sun Feiliu caught the card and casually waved it a few times. "And it'll also offset the five hundred thousand in damages you've caused in the past."

Fu You's expression finally changed noticeably.

Though he was a magical girl who despised money and power, the prospect of actually obtaining money made him waver intensely.

Five hundred thousand!

That was enough to offset the damages from the time he had accidentally blown up part of a hospital.

"Three months. A pretty good deal, right?" Sun Feiliu said. "If you refuse now, there won't be another chance."

Sun Feiliu tossed the card back to Fu You again.

This time, after catching it, Fu You finally examined the girl's face on the card seriously.

There was nothing particularly special about Huali's face. She was pretty, certainly—pretty enough to make any teenager's blood race and heart pound. Magical girls were girls who represented love and justice, gathering countless beautiful things within themselves. Generally speaking, the prettier they were, the stronger their abilities.

Even a man like Fu You had become disgustingly cute after transforming into a magical girl.

"This person is very special. The higher-ups assigned her to me, and now I'm handing her over to you. Train her well. Perhaps she'll become a rising star of the next generation."

"Special? What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow night, go to Room 503 of the girls' dormitory. She'll be waiting for you there. Remember to go as a magical girl."

Seeing that the other man had no intention of explaining, Fu You could not be bothered to ask further. He put the card into his pocket, turned, and prepared to leave.

Before he could even walk out of the room, two girls rushed in recklessly and collided with him head-on.

"A... a man?! I'm sorry, I didn't know someone was standing by the door!"

The girl in front repeatedly lowered her head in apology.

Fu You's gaze instantly swept over the two girls' bodies.

With that single glance, he knew they were the magical girls he had encountered on the rooftop earlier.

Without transforming, they looked like ordinary girls. They were rather slender and short, appearing to be no more than middle school students. Given how reckless they were, it was no wonder they had nearly died at the hands of the Witches' Society.

This was the Magical Girl Division, so it was hardly strange for magical girls to appear here.

The laboratory building had five floors in total. The fourth and fifth floors belonged to the Magical Girl Division. At this hour, most of the division staff had already gone home, leaving only Sun Feiliu on duty.

The reason the Magical Girl Division was located in a high school was simple: most magical girls awakened while attending high school. Of course, quite a few awakened earlier, just like the two girls before him.

Fu You did not continue looking at them and walked past them.

He could feel the two girls still staring at his back.

"Who was that? Why was he here? His eyes looked like they had killing intent... He isn't someone about to mutate into a monster, is he?"

"So scary..."

The red glow in his pupils often made magical girls fear him.

The corner of his lips lifted slightly.

That was more like it. Fear him.

Young magical girls, girls ignorant of the ways of the world, should stay safely at home. Why did they insist on coming out to do work that risked their lives?

He returned to the classroom.

His seat was in the innermost row, near the back window.

"Fu You, where did you run off to have fun?"

The male student beside him asked with a grin.

"Went to the rooftop and fired one off," he replied blandly.

He looked out the window.

Outside was pitch-black.

It seemed he had quite a lot to do tomorrow.