Pink · Huali

Fu You said nothing and quietly continued upstairs.

Lin Lan merely glared resentfully at her retreating back, but said nothing more.

"Big sis~ I'm here~~~"

A syrupy call broke the delicate standoff.

Liu Ting, a black-haired girl in a short green dress, popped out from the side and bounced over to pounce onto Lin Lan's back, resting her head on her shoulder.

Following Lin Lan's gaze, she saw Fu You's back as she headed upstairs. Then she puffed out her cheeks slightly. "Is something wrong with that person? Why would she transform into a Magical Girl where she lives?"

"She's crazy."

"Crazy? You know her, Sister Lan?"

"No."

After saying that, Lin Lan stopped looking at Fu You and turned to head downstairs.

Fu You went straight up to the fifth floor and arrived outside Room 503.

The fifth floor was unexpectedly empty. It seemed that not many people lived there.

She straightened her appearance, adjusted the angle of her skirt, fixed her hair ribbon, and lightly combed through her hair with her fingers, arranging the locks over her shoulders neatly on either side of her chest.

Someone had once told her that her hair had to be styled like this to look good.

Although she did not care that much about a Magical Girl's appearance, this was her first time meeting her junior—and a junior she would be spending some time with. She thought she ought to make a better impression.

Dignity.

Right, she needed to appear more dignified.

She thought she looked rather imposing. After all, most Magical Girls were afraid when they saw her. The dense darkness surrounding her was something no ordinary Magical Girl could possibly possess. Even if she said nothing and merely stood there, she could draw every Magical Girl's attention.

Their instinctive hostility toward her.

After all, she was a Magical Girl who had truly fallen into darkness.

—But while darkness was intimidating to Magical Girls, to ordinary people, she was still just a little girl under five foot three. And because her face was somewhat rounder than that of most Magical Girls, people often talked about it.

Among Magical Girls of the same height, she was a little chubby.

Just as she was about to knock, she suddenly noticed that there was actually a doorbell.

She rose onto her tiptoes and pressed it. Then the door opened.

She froze when she saw the person standing before her.

The person opening the door hesitated slightly and looked down at Fu You, meeting her face. Her surprise had made her forget to maintain her fierce expression, and her blank stare made her look just a little cute.

"Are you the Magical Girl senior who came to teach me?"

The person who opened the door extended a hand.

She did not care why he had reached out, whether he meant to pull her inside or merely wanted to shake hands politely.

Without hesitation, she summoned her staff and swiftly pressed its tip against his chest, shoving him a full two meters away from her.

"Don't get so close to me," she said coldly.

At that moment, she suddenly understood why Sun Feiliu had so mysteriously said that this Magical Girl was very special, and that she was best suited to teach him.

There was roughly a thirty-centimeter height difference between them.

The most special thing about him was that he was a man.

And the person before her was also a man.

He had tousled blond hair, earrings, and a clean face that looked as though he had even put on foundation.

The Golden-Hair man, forcibly pushed back into the room by the tip of her staff, staggered back several steps. Yet there was not the slightest disappointment at being rejected on his face. Instead, he immediately stepped aside, hurried to the coffee table behind him, picked up the carefully prepared gift resting there, then quickly returned to Fu You's side. He bowed respectfully and held the gift out before her.

"Ta-da! I heard a teacher was coming, so I specially prepared a meeting gift."

It was a neatly wrapped gift box.

Fu You swiftly looked the blond man over again, then scanned the room.

There was no one else in the room. That meant the person she was looking for should be the man in front of her.

The lights in the other rooms were off, and the layout was simple: sofa, coffee table, television, bed—everything was there.

Although everything looked like it was meant for a girl, it seemed to be furniture the Special Incident Response Department had uniformly prepared for Magical Girls. The style probably had nothing to do with the man before her.

Several photographs hung on the wall. Judging from the yellowed edges, they should not have been put up by this man. They seemed more like something left behind by the room's previous occupant.

"You're Huali?"

Though it was hard to believe, Fu You still asked.

The Pink-Hair Magical Girl in those photographs was actually this...

To be honest, his face could be called handsome, but not in a particularly masculine way. Normally, people would call him a pretty boy. Especially with that blond hair and bangs partly covering his eyes—at school, that hairstyle would probably earn him an automatic major demerit.

"Yeah, Senior Fu You. Um, would you like to accept this gift first?" Huali shook the gift in his hand.

Fu You loosened her grip, and the staff in her hand vanished again in an instant.

She scratched her head. Her twin-tailed hair was tied so tightly that it was difficult to reach her scalp, which made her even more irritated.

Was she supposed to call this man Huali?

She did not like effeminate men.

Huali could not possibly be his real name. It was probably just his Magical Girl codename. But even as a codename, it sounded a little strange on a man like him.

Still, standing in the doorway was not a good idea.

Standing before a man like this—and doing so in the form of a Magical Girl... or rather, in the image of a girl—made her deeply uncomfortable.

She was the senior.

The man before her was the junior.

There was no reason for her to have to look up at someone else.

If anyone was to blame, it was her heels for not being high enough.

She walked into the room and shut the door behind her. As for the gift Huali offered, she casually accepted it.

Since it was a gift from her junior, she might as well take it.

Without any further concern, she immediately opened it.

Huali was clearly very curious about her and kept studying her body.

As a Magical Girl, Fu You wore many accessories: a black cape, golden shoulder straps, a golden pendant set with a purple gemstone around her neck, gilded ornaments on her gloves, golden decorations in her hair...

Black made her seem aloof, purple made her seem mysterious, and gold made her seem noble.

Her outfit was completely unlike the cute, beautiful attire of ordinary Magical Girls. Most Magical Girls dressed to emphasize cuteness, purity, and perfection, but her clothing highlighted mystery, nobility, and just a tiny bit of sexiness—the semi-sheer thigh-high stockings, the absolute territory between skirt and stockings, and the faintly translucent silk-like fabric around her waist all gave her a unique charm.

Though it was a little strange, such a beautiful girl...

Even though he had seen plenty of Magical Girls, he still found it hard to look away.

Fu You used her nails to slice open the gift wrapping.

Her purple-and-black nails easily cut through the paper. Inside was a cute rabbit plushie. It was white and fluffy, with red eyes. Quite adorable.

"..." Fu You stared blankly at the gift in her hands.

"Well? Do you like it?" The man beside her blinked.

Fu You felt a little nauseated.

She knew he was definitely not trying to disgust her. Most Magical Girls would probably like something this cute, right?

Magical Girls steeped in love often retained childlike hearts even into adulthood, and were especially unable to resist cute things. If he had done his homework, he would probably have assumed that the Magical Girl who became his senior would be a cute girl who liked this sort of thing.

Besides, Huali was clearly still a student, and students did not have much money to begin with. This plushie was at least worth a hundred yuan, so he had put some thought into it.

The strange one was not Huali, but her.

She held the plushie and stared at it for a while. Huali gave an awkward laugh. "It doesn't seem to suit you. I originally thought you would be, um... that kind of Magical Girl."

Clearly, Huali had read the speechless look on her face.

Fu You fastened the plush toy to her waist, her expression calm. "I accept the thought behind it."

"If you don't like this kind of thing, I'll buy you a different gift next time. Ah, would you like something to drink?" Huali began bustling around the room. "I prepared some fruit and drinks. Would you like milk?"

Fu You sat on the nearby sofa, folded her arms across her chest, lifted one leg high, and crossed her legs.

"I want cola."

Huali visibly froze, then took a bottle of cola and placed it in front of Fu You.

"Senior, did I scare you? Because I'm a man?"