Patrols and Training

The Masked Heroine's team drew plenty of attention on their first official patrol.

After all, four Magical Girls had appeared in the city at once. People were bound to notice.

Before they set out, Ranger rubbed her hands together eagerly.

"Here we go! Our first fight on the job! I wonder what kind of enemy we'll run into!"

"Calm down." The Masked Heroine pressed a hand to her head. "We're patrolling to deter trouble, not pick fights."

"I know, I know—"

And so the day began.

That morning in the eastern district, Ranger defeated zero Fallen Beasts and sustained a minor injury.

She did save a little girl who had nearly been hit by a car.

"A Magical Girl big sister I've never seen before! You're amazing!"

The little girl gazed at Ranger, brimming with excitement.

Ranger scratched her head, embarrassed.

The onlookers were astonished too. They had clearly seen the car hit both of them.

Of course, with a Magical Girl's constitution, even getting sent flying wouldn't have caused any serious harm.

Cars in the city didn't go particularly fast, either.

So where had Ranger's minor injury come from?

The answer: Ranger had spotted an adorable puppy and gone over to play with it, only for it to bite her without warning.

She wasn't facing an enemy, after all. She couldn't stay on guard every second of the day.

"Hahahaha! You're killing me!"

That was the Masked Heroine after they regrouped that evening. She showed not a shred of concern for her junior—only mockery.

"I'll fight you! Don't think I won't just because you're my senior!"

Celestial Star pushed up her glasses with a helpless look.

She had been responsible for the western district.

Nothing had happened there, either.

She had, however, made a fresh record of the western district's urban layout, including its sewer system and major construction projects.

Unknown underground spaces were the easiest places for nasty little rats to hide.

Still, she hadn't found anything amiss.

"Masked Heroine, what did you do?"

Celestial Star asked without the slightest hesitation.

She might not have fought an enemy, but she had done real work. Her conscience was clear.

"Oh, come on. Isn't it a good thing nothing happened?"

The Masked Heroine didn't look embarrassed in the least.

She had spent most of the afternoon shopping in the northern district.

She had once been the Magical Girl stationed there, and people on the street were delighted to see her again.

They had treated her to plenty of snacks along the way.

It wasn't that she was taking advantage of them. They were so enthusiastic that it would have felt wrong to keep refusing.

Then there was Knight in the southern district.

Things had been just as peaceful there, but quite a few people had cheered her on when they saw her.

That seemed to lift Knight's spirits considerably.

At six that evening, the four Magical Girls met up at the Branch.

For an entire day, the city that had seen four incidents erupt in the past two weeks lay as still as a deep pool.

"Too quiet." The Masked Heroine rubbed her chin, her gaze darkening. "The four of us came out in plain sight, and the other side didn't even try to test us. Either we scared them off, or they're preparing something big."

"But hey—" The Masked Heroine suddenly changed tack and clapped her hands. "No point overthinking it! We'll deal with whatever comes! Since we're all free tonight, this is perfect—"

She pointed straight at Knight.

"Knight!"

"Present!" Knight instinctively snapped to attention.

"The concert's in three weeks." The Masked Heroine grinned. "How's your singing practice coming along?"

Knight: "...Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me. Come on!" The Masked Heroine slung an arm around her shoulders and dragged her away. "Ranger! Celestial Star! Meet us at the training ground! Tonight's lesson—stage training!"

"Ooh!" "Wait, us too?"

"You're the hype squad!"

Half an hour later, the Underground Training Ground had been turned into a makeshift "stage."

Lin Guo had brought a string of colored lights from who knew where. Old Wei had set up the sound system with a scowl on his face. Ranger and Celestial Star each held two glow sticks and sat in the front row—which was also the only row—as the audience.

The Masked Heroine stood at the edge of the floor, pointer in hand, radiating authority.

"Listen up, Knight! A concert and a battle are fundamentally the same thing—"

"Huh?" Knight stared at her. "They are?"

"In both, you stand alone before everyone! In both, you can't back down! And both require—" The Masked Heroine whipped her pointer through the air. "A sense of occasion!"

"First, your entrance! Coming onstage is the concert version of transforming! What's a transformation without a pose? You might as well be a dead fish! Here, I've designed one for you—"

She demonstrated it herself: she turned sideways, glanced back over her shoulder, rested her right hand on her sword, pointed her left hand at the sky, and sent her cape sweeping through a sharp arc.

Thanks to magic, even if her cape flew off, she wouldn't have to run over and pick it up herself!

"—Like that! Now you try!"

Knight copied the Masked Heroine's movements perfectly.

Her name suited her: her physical coordination was frighteningly good. Learning a few moves was no trouble at all.

Yet everyone watching frowned.

"The energy's wrong..."

The Masked Heroine folded her arms, her expression unusually serious.

"You need to feel like you're stepping onstage to perform, not gearing up for battle."

"Do you know what it feels like to show off? That's what you're doing now. Make the movements bigger, even a little exaggerated. They don't have to be so precise."

"Your entrance is supposed to get the audience excited."

With that, the Masked Heroine put on a pair of sunglasses and jumped straight up.

The instant she landed, her whole presence changed.

She stood with her legs slightly apart and her hands at her sides, her head turned and lowered a little.

There was such power in her stance that, for some reason, everyone felt a sudden rush of excitement.

"Again!"

Training continued late into the night.

They practiced her entrance forty times and her vocals thirty times.

Even Ranger grew sleepy.

At last, everyone left. Knight stayed behind alone in the training ground and practiced a little longer in front of the mirror.

The colored lights were still on, casting a small circle of light across the floor, like a tiny stage that belonged to her alone.

She remembered the children at the elementary school in the southern district waving to her during her patrol that day.

She remembered the comment: "Knight! Thank you for always protecting us!"

She remembered Love saying, "Everyone wants to give back the love you've shown them, in person."

She remembered her mother holding her hand in the hospital room, eyes shining as she said, "My wonderful daughter's first performance? I have to be in the front row."

Knight looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly gave a soft smile.

It wasn't Knight's polite, ceremonial smile.

It was Li Qi's smile, a little nervous and a little eager.

"...The front row, huh."

She spoke softly.