"Hello, Senior Jiang Si."
When he saw Jiang Keke come in with a friend, Jiang Si briefly thought he was imagining things.
This younger sister, who had fallen out with him after their parents died three years ago, did not merely treat him badly.
She was actually cold toward everyone, as though determined to sever ties with the world.
Never mind having friends-she barely exchanged a few words with her classmates at school.
Every time he attended a parent-teacher conference, her homeroom teacher stressed this to him.
Your child is far too withdrawn. This can't go on. Should you take her to the hospital to see if she's ill...?
Schools these days paid so much attention to students' mental health that Jiang Si found it hard to get used to.
Back in his day, they had never had things so good...
"This is my friend, Yinlian."
Jiang Keke's words interrupted his thoughts, so he nodded. "Get along."
"You don't have to tell me."
It was not that Jiang Si was as childish as Keke and wanted to play at giving her the silent treatment.
He had always communicated with Jiang Keke normally; he had simply carried on the way he and his father had interacted at home in his previous life.
Rather than a younger sister, Jiang Keke was actually more like his daughter. In terms of mental age, that was about right.
When their parents went to work, he had helped look after the little girl from infancy. He had changed diapers, fed her milk, and rocked her to sleep-pretty much everything.
Calling himself her father hardly took advantage of her, especially now that their parents had passed away. An eldest brother stood in a father's place.
As for why he was so distant, even casual, as a father...
That was how his biological father in his previous life had been.
Although his parents in this life had been warmer, they had not spent much time together and were not that familiar with one another. Jiang Si was still more accustomed to the way things had been in his previous life.
Give the kid a beating during their rebellious phase, otherwise leave them alone. Hardly ever be around, and let them do whatever they wanted so long as they stayed out of trouble.
If they really could not stand it, they could stay with relatives. One less hassle.
So after greeting them, Jiang Si went into the kitchen to cook on his own. Jiang Keke likewise paid him no further attention and dragged her friend into her bedroom.
In that respect, they did have a tacit understanding as family.
Yinlian, however, had it rough.
She had said she wanted to come over with Jiang Keke and take a look, but she had actually intended to persuade her parents to let her join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau.
Instead, she had arrived to find this situation, leaving her stuck in the middle and awkward enough to die.
"So your brother is Jiang Si..."
Hearing Yinlian's remark once they were in the bedroom, Jiang Keke found it strange too. "What? You know him?"
"There can't be many high school students who don't, right? All the nearby high schools know his name."
Yinlian wore a complicated expression. "He skips class all the time and drives the teachers half to death. And he's especially good at stirring up trouble. He deliberately provokes the thugs outside school, says it's some kind of live combat drill, and beats them into the hospital. Those thugs' parents even came to the school... Luckily, they all had criminal records, so the school could handle it."
The corner of Jiang Keke's mouth twitched. Of course she knew her own brother's bad reputation.
But she had not expected it to have spread so far that even a magical girl knew about it.
"That's just how awful he is."
"I wouldn't exactly call him awful..." Yinlian smiled somewhat awkwardly, then said quietly, "At least the thugs don't dare come near the school anymore. He beat the fear into them. That counts as doing something good, and he hasn't bullied any students."
"Mom and Dad told him to study properly and finish university." Jiang Keke slipped off her slippers, sat on the bed, and hugged her legs. "But he doesn't take school seriously at all. Every day, he's either skipping class and fighting or saying he needs to train..."
"Your parents..."
"They ran into a Calamity Beast three years ago and died."
Although her tone was very flat, Yinlian still said, "I'm sorry."
She had actually more or less guessed that Jiang Si's parents had passed away, because she had heard something while watching him fight outside the high school gates before.
Later, Jiang Si's homeroom teacher had come out and taken him back inside, scolding him furiously the whole time.
"So being an orphan means you don't have to respect the school anymore?"
But she had never been certain whether the teacher had simply lost his temper and called him an orphan as an insult, or whether his parents really had died.
Now that it was confirmed, she felt somewhat guilty.
"As you can see, it's just me and Jiang Si at home, and we don't get along. If you want to convince him to let me join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, go ahead and try. I'm not interested in talking to him about it."
Their relationship really is visibly awful...
Yinlian sighed. "Then I'll give it a try."
Jiang Keke snorted, turned her head away, and lay down on the bed with her legs hugged to her chest. "Suit yourself."
While he was eating, Jiang Si paused when he saw Yinlian come out of Keke's room.
He had not expected Jiang Keke's friend to come out.
Even less had he expected Jiang Keke not to come out.
Normally, Jiang Keke would come out to eat at this point, and he would go upstairs to his room without being told.
That was their daily routine.
He glanced over. Jiang Keke still seemed to have no intention of coming out, so Jiang Si cleared the table anyway, intending to return to his room first.
"Senior Jiang Si, you know me, don't you?"
She asked cautiously. Jiang Si glanced at her. "I don't remember you."
Aaaaaah, this opening really didn't work!
She had actually spent ages working herself up before coming out. They attended the same school, after all. As class president, she often went to the office to help the teachers, while Jiang Si was a poor student who often stood in the office as punishment, so they had met.
Thinking it over carefully, they really had not seen each other that many times, but meeting three or four times under those circumstances ought to have left a strong impression, right?
That was why she had thought she might as well use that opening to bring them closer.
The result was a complete failure...
She wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor, but quickly pulled herself together. Although even her ears had flushed, she maintained a professional smile.
I'm the captain of a magical girl squad. I won't lose to an ordinary person!
"I'm Yinlian, class president of Year One, Class Six. We've met in the office before..."
"Oh, sorry. Doesn't ring a bell."
"N-no problem." Yinlian tapped her thick-soled combat boots against the floor. "A Calamity Beast appeared at Jiang Keke's school today. You've heard about that, haven't you?"
"No."
"...It was on the news."
"I don't watch the news."
Yinlian finally understood why Jiang Keke disliked her brother.
He was far too difficult to talk to.
Just as she was wondering whether to give up, Jiang Si paused, then asked, "Any injuries?"
Yinlian's eyes widened, and she asked blankly, "Who? Me?"
"...Do I know you that well?"
Only then did Yinlian realize he meant Jiang Keke. "Uh, no."
She had actually been injured while dealing with the Calamity Beast earlier, so she had initially assumed he was asking about her. Another embarrassing mistake.
I want to die...
"Oh. Then that's all."
He was certainly cold.
But had he actually been showing concern for Jiang Keke just now?
Having confirmed that, Yinlian gained a little confidence and asked, "What do you think of magical girls?"
"They're strong."
"Uh, if Jiang Keke became a magical girl, what would you think?"
"I couldn't beat her anymore." Not without transforming.
Yinlian raised her right hand and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
Because his answer was genuinely sincere, without the slightest hint of brushing her off or joking.
His little sister became a magical girl, and his first reaction was that he would no longer be able to beat her?
How do you two live together? Do you actually hit your little sister?
Still, she felt that Jiang Si was simply answering from the perspective of combat strength, not saying he would actually fight his sister.
Yinlian was not stupid, either. She had seen what family relationships looked like after physical fights.
Although Jiang Keke treated her brother coldly and with some disgust, it was nowhere near the hatred that would follow a physical fight.
"Actually, magical girls generally don't use this power to fight their families." After explaining this very seriously, she added, "The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau carefully regulates this powerful force."
"Oh, are you an employee of the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau?"
"I'm an auxiliary member. I'm only responsible for guiding magical girls to join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau. Of course, I'm normally just an ordinary student. The bureau believes people of the same age can communicate more easily..."
This was a lie. Jiang Si had a partial list of the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's magical girls in BH City.
Yinlian, fifteen years old, 1.5 meters tall, captain of BH City's magical girl squad, a pink magical girl skilled in mental attacks. Both parents were alive, and she had an older sister who also worked at the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau.
She was not an auxiliary member, but a full-fledged combatant.
He had not expected them to send a core member directly to Jiang Keke. They were showing considerable sincerity.
Still, it was understandable. Over the past two years, all the magical girls who had emerged in Beihai had been snatched away by the Azure Cloud Sect-Bingtang could always find magical girls the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau could not.
Unable to recruit anyone, BH City's Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had even found itself in such dire straits that it had transferred magical girls from other cities to help.
The bureaus in other cities were never this miserable-not only helpless against a nongovernmental organization of independent magical girls, but also losing the competition for recruits and being forced to borrow magical girls from other cities.
It had even prompted people to ask which side was actually the official organization.
So now that a new magical girl had emerged, sending the captain herself to recruit her was perfectly normal.
Jiang Si had no intention of exposing Yinlian's lie. He merely went along with her. "Keke became a magical girl? Can't you just take her to the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau to register?"
After registering as an official magical girl, she would not only receive a salary from the municipal government, but the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau would also safeguard her identity and everyday safety.
"Jiang Keke is still a minor and needs a family member to accompany her. Besides, she still seems very hesitant about joining the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau." Yinlian said worriedly, "I'm really concerned she'll become an independent magical girl. There are more and more Calamity Beasts now, and the Azure Cloud Sect is becoming increasingly active. Being an independent magical girl is dangerous. It would be even more dangerous if she were tricked into joining the Azure Cloud Sect..."
"Several magical girls have already been tricked into joining and vanished without a trace. That hateful Azure Cloud Sect-we'll arrest every last one of them someday!"
Watching Yinlian grit her teeth somewhat, Jiang Si said without a change of expression, "Truly hateful."
After composing herself, Yinlian continued, "In short, I hope you can persuade Jiang Keke to register with the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau as an official magical girl. That would also keep the Azure Cloud Sect from targeting her. I know your relationship may not be very good, but you're her only family, after all. As long as you're willing to speak up, surely she'll at least listen?"
Having finished clearing the table, Jiang Si poured her a cup of tea out of politeness. "Would you like something to eat? I can make you something."
"Thank you, but no. I ate before coming..."
Of course, even if she had said yes, Jiang Si had no intention of cooking. The kitchen was already clean, after all, and he was not in the mood to cook.
At most, he would order her takeout.
"Let's get back to Jiang Keke..."
"I don't intend to interfere with her choices," Jiang Si interrupted. "She's already in eighth grade this year. She can tell right from wrong for herself. If she doesn't want to, she probably has her reasons. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to make her go to the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau without even knowing those reasons."
The arguments she had prepared were blocked by Jiang Si's words. Yinlian stared at him for a while before saying hesitantly, "I think she might not necessarily know what's best. She could make a decision she regrets, which is why she needs an adult to help her..."
"I'm not that much older than her. My decisions won't necessarily be the best either."
Jiang Si pushed the filled teacup toward her. "Thinking the decisions you make for children are the best is an adult's arrogance. Why can't children have regrets? Children have the right to choose, and they should also bear the consequences of their decisions. Whether failure or success, they should have the right to experience and taste it themselves. She's already in eighth grade. It's time she became independent."
For a moment, Yinlian felt she was not talking to a senior just one year above her.
Instead, she was speaking to an elder.
Jiang Si did not sound like Keke's brother, but her father.
More importantly, there was no sense of superiority in his tone. Whether toward Keke or toward her, he spoke as though addressing a peer.
Usually, people looked down on Yinlian because of her height, or treated her like a child.
Although Jiang Si's wary distance, and even his somewhat cautious attitude, were not particularly friendly, they made Yinlian feel respected.
Moreover, he really was giving Keke serious consideration. He was not as cold as Keke claimed.
When she had first become a magical girl, her family had repeatedly stood in her way. Her parents had wanted her to give it up. If not for her older sister, she might still have been an ordinary student now.
Adults' decisions were not necessarily the best, and when they made the wrong decisions, they could not bear the responsibility for the children either.
After pondering for a moment, Yinlian nodded in agreement. "You're right. We should let Keke decide for herself."
Jiang Si added, "Of course, I do want to visit the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau."
Ideally, I could see where you keep your Miracle Seed.
"Then Jiang Keke would need to go and register."
After answering Jiang Si's question, she suddenly asked quietly, "Actually, Senior Jiang Si, you care a lot about Keke, don't you?"
Jiang Si raised an eyebrow and did not answer.
He had no idea how she had reached that conclusion. What an unusual train of thought.
Fortunately, Yinlian did not pursue the subject. Instead, she lowered her head. "Then I'll ask Jiang Keke what she wants again. As her senior, I'll make sure to take good care of her."
"Mm. Sorry for the trouble."
"No trouble, no trouble at all."
Jiang Si suddenly glanced out the window. It was already dark outside. He frowned slightly. "Are you staying here tonight?"
"Huh? Can I?"
Jiang Si rubbed his forehead. I'm the one asking you.
He hated it when people answered his questions with questions.
He got up and headed upstairs. "I'll leave some bedding outside the door later. Get it yourself."
Yinlian blinked, then called up from below, "How about you knock, Senior Jiang Si? I can open the door for you."
"Better not."
"Hee, just kidding."
After watching Jiang Si leave, Yinlian took a breath and returned to Jiang Keke's bedroom.
Looking at Jiang Keke, who was hugging a doll and staring into space, she said very seriously, "Jiang Keke, you heard all that, didn't you? Your brother wants you to make your own decisions. He wants you to live independently."
Jiang Keke curled her lip. "Just pretty words. He just doesn't want the hassle."
"I think he meant it. I could feel it. You have to trust a magical girl's intuition. I don't think he's as awful and cold as you think. And he really respects other people. He didn't treat me like a child just because I'm short..."
"Oh, then he really does treat everyone equally." Jiang Keke shrugged. "Treats them all equally as nuisances."
Yinlian sat down on the chair beside her and draped herself over its back. "Forget it. I'm not here to change how you feel about your brother. This is mostly about the magical girl business. Do you want to join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau?"
Lying askew on the bed with her doll tucked between her legs, Jiang Keke mumbled, "Let me think about it some more..."
"All right, all right. I'll stay with you until you've made up your mind."
"But I guess there's no harm in going to take a look first."
"Yay! Your brother really wants to check out the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau too, so we can grant his wish while we're at it."
"Hey, shouldn't you care more about me?"
"What does it matter...?"
With a sigh, Jiang Keke dropped the subject with Yinlian.
Rather than someone who didn't matter, like Jiang Si, she wanted to know what Teacher Shion thought.
Would she want me to join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau? From what Yinlian had said, Teacher Shion might be the leader of the Azure Cloud Sect.
Why did she save me? After saving me, why didn't she take me away like she'd taken the other magical girls before, and have me join the Azure Cloud Sect?
She couldn't make sense of it at all.
If only we could meet again...