A Hero's Daughter

"Hey, bro? Have you been eating properly?"

The lights were off, and the curtains were drawn tight. The only light in the room came from the phone in Ranger's hand.

"Don't skip meals just because you're busy at work. You have to take care of yourself."

"Me? If I dared skip a meal, the cafeteria ladies would kick down my door and pour the whole thing into me through a funnel..."

"I'm not tired. I'm not like you—I'm a Magical Girl!"

"...Yeah. Stay safe."

The call ended.

Ranger fell back onto her bed. For some reason, her thoughts were suddenly a mess.

Had she been acting that strangely these past few days? She had even worried Celestial Star and Masked Heroine... Hadn't she always been like this? She didn't seem any different from before.

The same patrols, the same meals, training, and sleep...

What did they mean, she took responsibility too far? Weren't these all things she was supposed to do?

She was a Magical Girl. Wasn't helping people her duty? What did it matter whether she had done it before...

All kinds of tangled thoughts raced through her mind.

Before long, Ranger grew sleepy.

As she drifted off, old memories rose unbidden from deep within her mind.

Her father, Xu Hao, was an armed Public Security Officer stationed on the frontier.

As far back as Xu Youyou could remember, she could count the number of times her father came home each year on one hand.

Strangely, though, their home had never felt lonely because of it.

Her mother never complained over the phone. She only reminded him again and again to "take care of yourself."

Her brother saved up his certificates so he could show them to their father one by one when he came home.

Xu Youyou