A Chance Encounter at the Cinema

After adding Moqu on Feixun, Mo Bai left the academy square.

Looking back, he had no idea why he had suddenly taken the initiative to ask for Moqu's contact information.

It wasn't as if Moqu had faced a life-or-death crisis alongside him, the way Rover and Lynae had.

"Maybe his determination rubbed off on you."

A familiar voice sounded beside Mo Bai's ear.

It was already past midnight. The students, worn out from the day, had almost all returned to their dorms, leaving no one near Mo Bai.

"You're awake," Mo Bai said to his shadow.

Only Mo Hei, the Shikigami Mo Bai had made by drawing him into his shadow, could read his thoughts and talk to him like this.

"Just woke up. If you're thinking of using me in a fight already, forget it. That'll take a while yet."

Mo Hei spoke at ease from within the shadow.

Mo Bai guessed it was because Mo Hei's body was more complex than an ordinary Shikigami's.

After all, Mo Hei had to recover inside his shadow while slowly changing from a creation of Sonoro into a Shikigami that belonged entirely to Mo Bai.

The fact that Mo Hei could already speak to him from the shadow meant he was recovering fairly quickly.

"Right. You said Moqu influenced me?"

Mo Bai steered the conversation back to Moqu.

"Of course. I'm you, after all. There are plenty of things you can't see through, but as your opposite, I can spot them at a glance." Mo Hei sounded a little smug.

He did have a point, though.

Seeing Mo Bai fall into thought, Mo Hei spelled out exactly what had moved him. "His determination. That's what it was," he said helplessly.

"Sorcerers aren't just sensitive to negative emotions. They pick up on positive ones too. The way Moqu keeps striving toward his dream really is moving."

"I see..."

After hearing Mo Hei out, Mo Bai rubbed his forehead, troubled.

Was I the kind of person who liked sticking his nose into other people's business?

He had thought he understood his own nature, but Mo Hei's reminder made him realize there might be more to it.

"Anyway, talking to you is exhausting for me right now. I need to rest..."

Mo Hei's voice cut off halfway through.

"Good night."

Mo Bai wished his former imaginary friend good night, then went back to wandering around the academy.

There was still some time before curfew. He might as well keep walking.

As he wandered, Mo Bai noticed that the screening room doors were still open.

Strictly speaking, the place was an Auditorium. He had heard the academy held its graduation ceremonies there too.

The doors should have been shut long ago at this hour. Was today some special occasion?

With nothing else to do, Mo Bai went inside.

To his surprise, no one was there.

"Did whoever was in charge forget to shut the doors?" Mo Bai wondered aloud.

It worked out nicely for him, though.

He had recently found two movies with decent reviews on the academy forum.

Thanks to resonance power, most people who survived the Lament were pretty sharp, so the entertainment they came up with was interesting too.

Back in his old world, he had just been an ordinary college student who spent a lot of time at home.

He had stayed away from gacha games because their online communities were so toxic, but he was familiar with most other forms of internet entertainment.

Watching movies had been one of his favorite pastimes.

Especially when he could have an entire Auditorium to himself, as though it were a private screening room.

Click.

Mo Bai shut the Auditorium doors, took a seat, and started watching a movie alone.

"The Domineering Magistrate Fell in Love with Me." "How Sad It Is to Love a Resonator."

"Why are they all romances...?" Mo Bai stared at the titles of the movies he had saved, at a loss for words.

Still, he believed in trying things for himself, whether they turned out good or bad, so Mo Bai started watching.

When the words "The End" filled the screen, Mo Bai's face darkened.

He hadn't expected much from those titles, but did the endings have to be quite so... shitty?

In the first movie, the Magistrate of Jinzhou had apparently become so obsessed with romance that she neglected everything else. Did she even know this movie existed...?

As for the second one...

Its story made sense, but he didn't like its style.

The romance had so many painful twists and turns, and it ended badly.

He was a sucker for happy endings.

"Hmm... Both movies have plenty of room for improvement."

A woman's voice came from beside Mo Bai.

At some point, someone had taken the seat next to him.

She was dressed in a distinctly modern, fashionable style, with both the poise of a mature woman and the authority of an academy leader.

What drew the eye most, though, was her top hat.

The starry decoration beneath its brim made it look as though she stood beneath a real night sky.

It was Principal Losera, who had questioned Mo Bai earlier.

Somehow, she had taken a seat beside Mo Bai and was now earnestly reviewing the two movies he had watched.

"The first one is a romance, so it could afford to give its lead a stronger personality. At the very least, the audience should feel that they deserve the Magistrate."

"The second has no problems with its logic or story, but its title attracts too many viewers looking for something entirely different. As they say in Huanglong, it's selling sheep's head while hanging out dog meat."

She offered her suggestions as seriously as a professional critic.

Then she turned to Mo Bai.

"But rather than hear from an outsider like me, I'm more curious what you think, since you chose these two movies yourself."

Losera smiled as she asked Mo Bai.

"I... Honestly, neither was really to my taste. I found them pretty boring."

"Yet you were so engrossed that you didn't notice me approach."

"..."

Mo Bai had no excuse for that.

As a sorcerer, Mo Bai could normally react to an attack no matter what he was doing.

But Losera had shown no hostility, so Mo Bai hadn't sensed her approach. He really had been absorbed in the movies.

In other words, the movies hadn't bored Mo Bai so much as frustrated him with their terrible plots.

A bad plot stirred up more emotion than a boring one. It also made him want to see just how much worse it could get.

"Let's watch a movie I recommend next."

Losera took out the small blue Projector she carried with her.

And so, an academy suspect and its principal sat together in the Auditorium after midnight and watched a movie in perfect harmony.