Watch Closely...

On the day of the cultural festival, the sky was clear and bright.

Colorful flags fluttered across campus, and the place buzzed with people.

The scent of takoyaki mingled with the sweetness of crepes along the main road. A long line stretched from the haunted house, and crowds packed around the ring-toss stall.

Two girls dressed as horse girls wandered around selling fried noodles.

(Ah—my eyes!)

Class 2's senior-year performance was scheduled for two in the afternoon on the auditorium's main stage.

Chen Zhou and Su Wan had brought folding stools that morning and claimed two seats with the best view.

"Honey, aren't we a little too conspicuous sitting this close...?" Chen Zhou whispered.

"What's conspicuous about it?" Su Wan held up her phone, camera trained on the stage, her face flushed with excitement. "It's Xiaochen's first proper performance! We have to be in the front row!"

"Besides, look over there... Other people came early too."

Chen Zhou looked over.

Not far away, a large group of red-faced boys stood at the ready with professional cameras.

They muttered about once-in-a-thousand-years beauties and divine physiques... Whatever it was, none of it made sense to a man his age.

Kids these days...

At last, with everyone watching, one thirty rolled around.

It was time for the special guest.

"Please give a warm welcome to Magical Girl Knight!"

The screams nearly blew the roof off the auditorium.

Knight stepped out from the wings in silver armor and waved to the audience.

The screams instantly rose another octave.

"Lady Knight, look over here!"

"Mom, I've seen Knight in the flesh!"

"Lady Knight! I'm your fan!"

Knight took the microphone and offered a few brief remarks—stay safe on campus, enjoy the cultural festival, and thank you, everyone.

Then, as planned, she took a seat in the VIP section, eager to watch the performances that followed.

Yes, learning Love's true identity had stunned Knight too. She could hardly believe that Love was Yang Chen, whom she had met a few times.

Then again, his selfless spirit made perfect sense now.

She was genuinely curious to see what would happen when Yang Chen revealed himself to Chen Qianqian.

"Whoa... Lady Knight's so close... Too bad Li Qi isn't here..."

A few girls behind Knight whispered excitedly.

Knight: "..."

Backstage.

"Yang Chen! Stop looking! Ten minutes to go!" the class entertainment representative called from behind him. "Check your costume and props one last time!"

"Coming, coming."

He turned around and nearly collided with Chen Qianqian, who was carrying a prop sword.

Chen Qianqian already had long black hair. She usually tied it up, but today, simply letting it down and smoothing it out made her look almost exactly like Homura.

She had also put on makeup for the performance, making her look even more different than usual.

"Nervous?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A little," Yang Chen admitted.

"Don't worry." Qianqian straightened his skirt, leaned toward his ear, and lowered her voice, smiling meaningfully. "I'll make sure to play along."

"No matter what tricks you pull onstage."

But honestly...

In a full girl's outfit and light makeup, Yang Chen looked infuriatingly sweet.

It made her want to bully him mercilessly.

Yang Chen: "..."

She was still thinking about that.

At two o'clock, the performance began.

Their half-month of rehearsals had clearly paid off.

The story flowed smoothly, and applause rose from the audience again and again. Su Wan never lowered her phone, and she slapped Chen Zhou's thigh so often it was almost swollen.

"Xiaochen! Look over here! No, wait, look at the stage!"

"Honey, calm down..."

Finally, the story reached its climax—

The city was on the brink of destruction, and Madoka's companions had fallen one after another.

At center stage, Yang Chen stood alone as Madoka, a spotlight shining down on him.

In the next scene of the script, Madoka would make a wish, transform, and save the city.

The dry ice was ready, and the lighting operator had a hand on the controls.

Yang Chen drew a deep breath and raised his hand—

Boom!!!

With a deafening crash, the auditorium's west wall exploded!

Dust billowed upward, rubble flew, and screams tore through the auditorium.

A colossal creature smashed through the wall and landed heavily on the field outside the auditorium. It was a jellyfish-shaped Fallen Beast, three stories tall, with black mist as thick as ink swirling around it.

Then a second roar sounded from the other side of the auditorium.

Another Fallen Beast, its skeletal wings spanning over ten meters, shattered a skylight and circled overhead, sweeping the crowd with its cold gaze.

"A F-Fallen Beast!!"

"Two of them!! There are two!!"

The auditorium erupted into chaos as the crowd surged toward the exits.

In the VIP section, Knight was already on her feet.

Silver light flashed. A shield and longsword appeared in her hands, and she leaped into the open space by the auditorium entrance. Her tower shield slammed into the ground.

"Everyone! Evacuate in an orderly fashion! Don't push!"

At the same time, Celestial Star's urgent voice came through her earpiece.

"Knight! We've detected two third-order beasts! Repeat, two Third-Order Fallen Beasts! Their target is—"

"I know."

Knight stared at the two enormous beasts. Ignoring the scattering crowd, they advanced straight toward her. She tightened her grip on her sword.

This was not part of the plan.

After all, they couldn't control the Fallen Beasts' movements.

It seemed the Liberation Faction still hadn't gotten over what happened at the concert. They had come for revenge again...

Third-order.

And there were two of them.

The Liberation Faction had brought out everything they had kept in reserve. Knight had ruined their plans at the concert, and their Harvester had fallen by her hand. They had held onto that grudge until today.

"Guardian Heart."

She spoke the words in a low voice, and her Magic Power burst outward.

The hostility of both Third-Order Fallen Beasts instantly fixed on her alone.

The field cracked beneath their charge.

Knight raised her shield and rushed to meet them.

Onstage, everything was in chaos.

Staff ushered the performers backstage. Screams, sobs, and the clatter of overturned chairs and tables blended together.

Chen Qianqian stood at center stage, unmoving.

She watched the silver tower shield struggling to hold out on the field beyond the window.

The Jellyfish Fallen Beast's tentacles struck from every angle. Knight couldn't block them all, and a moment's lapse saw her take a brutal hit.

The silver figure staggered back over ten meters.

"Knight!!" Qianqian's pupils contracted sharply.

There was no time to think.

A faint light appeared at her fingertips. The blades of Thousand Blades were about to take shape—

Someone caught her wrist.

"Yang Chen?!" She turned, frantic and furious. "Let go! Knight can't hold off two third-order beasts by herself! I have to—"

"No."

Yang Chen held her wrist and stood his ground.

The stage spotlight was still on, and white dry-ice mist drifted around their feet.

The auditorium was empty. Everyone had fled. Only the impacts from the distant field remained, each one heavier than the last.

"And this is school. Our classmates and teachers are all outside. If you fight as Thousand Blades, the Liberation Faction will have your identity on their desk by tomorrow."

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Qianqian's eyes reddened. "Just stand here and watch?! Knight—"

"So," Yang Chen cut in, "leave it to me."

Qianqian froze.

Leave it to you?

Leave what to you...?

She looked at the person before her.

Madoka's pink skirt spread around his feet. The spotlight shone from above, and against its glare, she could barely make out his expression.

But something felt strange.

At that moment, Yang Chen was nothing like his usual self.

There was no clowning around, no wisecracks. He simply stood there in silence, yet something about him seemed to be awakening, little by little.

"Qianqian."

When he spoke, his voice was soft, yet somehow it carried over every crash from the field.

"You know..."

"My mother once told me that as long as there's love, anything is possible."

"That's why I believe in it so firmly, and why I've given everything I have to prove it."

Chen Qianqian stopped breathing.

Those words.

That way of saying them.

Where had she heard them before? No—where had she seen someone who spoke like that?

Pink motes of light appeared around him, rising and swirling.

In the distance, Chen Zhou and Su Wan, who were evacuating with the crowd, seemed to sense something too. They turned back.

"Go on, child."

Yang Chen took a deep breath.

"Because I've felt that kind of despair before, I swore I would never let anyone cry again."

"Watch closely."

Yang Chen released her wrist and stepped into the center of the spotlight.

A pink halo burst outward from him—

"My—"

"Transformation!"

Light swallowed everything.

A pillar of pink light shot into the sky, pierced the auditorium's shattered skylight, and burst open above the field.

The students and teachers evacuating, the security personnel rushing over—everyone saw that familiar light.

"Is that...?"

"Love!! Love is here!!"

Someone in the crowd shouted it first. Then a deafening cheer rose all around.

No one noticed the boy who had vanished from the stage. Between the chaos, the dust, the distance, and the barrier that quietly blurred everyone's perception, only one thing mattered to them:

Magical Girl Love had arrived.

There was only one exception.

Onstage, Chen Qianqian stood at the very center of the light, staring blankly at the figure slowly taking shape within it.

Long pink hair. Pink-and-white ceremonial attire...

And those eyes that slowly opened as she turned back and gave Qianqian a playful wink—

Eyes filled with stars.

"Yang..."

Her lips moved. Her voice trembled beyond recognition.

"Yang Chen...?"

The girl in the light smiled at her and pressed an index finger to her lips.

"Shh."

"What happens next—"

The pink-clad figure turned, her skirt tracing a dazzling arc through the light as she faced the two roaring Third-Order Fallen Beasts on the field.

"Leave it to the Pure Love Warrior!"