Best friends

The broom train kept flying skyward, but Jiang Si could feel that something was off about time and space.

There had to be something wrong with time and space here, or rather, they were in disarray.

Jiang Si had noticed that a strange magical power enveloped their surroundings, and once they reached a certain altitude, even his vision began to misalign.

By the time the broom train slowed down, he found that heaven and earth had spun around.

That was not a figure of speech, but a literal description.

The sky was beneath his feet, and the ground was overhead. Looking up, he could even see the platform from earlier, distant and indistinct.

Beneath his feet lay layers of cumulus clouds, as thick and solid-looking as the ground. A thoroughly modern high-rise stood abruptly atop them.

Amid such fantastical, magnificent scenery, a modern building had suddenly appeared.

Even if they were not completely unrelated, they certainly clashed.

The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's taste was as despair-inducing as ever.

Granted, Jiang Si had already given up hope for their aesthetic sense when he saw their knockoff of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

But the sight of something so jarringly out of place still exceeded his expectations.

Yinlian jumped out of the carriage first, landing directly on the cumulus clouds. They gave a soft, supple bounce, holding her steady without letting her fall through.

"Don't worry. As long as you're not a Calamity Beast, ordinary people and magical girls can all stand on these clouds." To reassure the two of them, Yinlian even jumped a few times.

She was already short, and now she looked even more like an elementary schooler...

Jiang Keke tentatively extended her right leg and pressed her foot against the clouds. Only after confirming that she could feel something solid beneath it did she extend her other foot. Holding the broom, she loosened her grip little by little and carefully walked onto the clouds.

"Well? I didn't lie to you, did I?"

Jiang Keke jumped a few times too-she was not very old to begin with, having only started middle school this year. She still had a child's disposition, but her family circumstances meant she usually suppressed herself, making her seem mature.

Faced with something like this, she was actually rather excited. Bouncing around on the clouds, she finally looked a little more her age.

Yinlian hopped around beside Keke, looking as though Keke were playing with her little sister.

Jiang Si watched for a while. He had intended to make sure there was no danger before letting go.

Although holding the broom handle all the way here had left his hands a little tired and sore, he could not release it lightly before confirming it was safe.

After all, if he really fell, he would have no choice but to transform, and transforming here was clearly unwise.

But just as he touched the clouds and felt his legs sink into their softness,

the broom in his hands suddenly vanished.

This was clearly beyond Jiang Si's expectations. Worse still, with his support gone, he could feel nothing solid at all beneath his feet. He sank straight into the clouds and even began falling through them!

Yet although he was falling downward, he also had the disorienting sensation of flying upward.

"Watch out!"

Yinlian was the first to notice something wrong and immediately sprinted over.

Pink magical power revealed itself for an instant. With its enhancement, she grabbed Jiang Si's hand at incredible speed.

Beside her, Jiang Keke instinctively ran forward a couple of steps too. Seeing that Yinlian had caught Jiang Si, she let out a small breath of relief, slowed down, and walked over to help Yinlian grab his other hand so he would not fall.

"Hold tight! Don't let go!"

"You really aren't human. You can even fall through this..."

"Keke, how can you say that at a time like this!"

To avoid exposing herself, Yinlian withdrew the magical power from her seed, only to discover that he was so heavy...

She could barely hold on.

She wondered why he was so heavy when he was not particularly large, but immediately said,

"Hang on. I'll call the broom back right away!"

She took out the key again. This time, pink magical power could clearly be seen swirling around it before spreading outward.

The broom that had disappeared suddenly dropped out of thin air, though this time there was no carriage.

All alone, it slipped beneath Jiang Si's feet.

By then, half his body had already sunk into the clouds.

"A-are you okay?" Only after Jiang Si flew back up on the broom did Yinlian breathe a little easier. She had clearly received quite a fright too; she had never seen anyone fall through these clouds before. "Why did you suddenly fall? That shouldn't happen."

Beside them, Jiang Keke added another remark. "Definitely not human."

"Have you come into contact with any Calamity Beasts recently?" Yinlian seemed to remember something. "Could you have been contaminated by one?"

Jiang Si thought for a moment. "Oh, yes. I went over to the middle school division and stepped in that giant bat's blood."

"Maybe that's why..."

In truth, contamination would not be that simple. Jiang Si had more or less guessed that it probably had something to do with his absorbing magical power from Grief Seeds.

It seemed the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau did have a few tricks...

As Yinlian supported Jiang Si and steered the broom toward the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau building, Jiang Keke suddenly asked from behind them, "What were you doing at the middle school division?"

"Passing by."

In fact, he had only gone to collect Grief Seeds and absorb some magical power along the way.

To the two girls, however, it sounded like something else entirely.

Once they passed through the clouds, the entrance to the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau came into view. A gleaming sign above it bore the bureau's name, and the entrance itself was a glass revolving door of the sort commonly found on the market.

Jiang Si tested the ground outside the entrance, and only after confirming that he could stand on it did he get off the broom.

Compared with the clouds, marble flooring really was much more substantial and reassuring.

Only after making sure Jiang Si was safe did Yinlian put the broom away. She then stepped back twice, distancing herself from him, and leaned close to Keke, lowering her voice. "Could he have gone to the middle school division because he was worried about you?"

"He doesn't lie," Keke said indifferently. "Or rather, he can't be bothered to lie. If he said he was passing by, then he was passing by. Don't overthink it."

"But that's too much of a coincidence. Why would he suddenly pass by the middle school division, then go inside and step in the bat Calamity Beast's blood? I think he really was worried about you, so he went to check on you. Then he got contaminated by the Calamity Beast and nearly fell to his death..."

Keke immediately kneaded her senior's cheeks. "Don't let your imagination run wild!"

Don't make my imagination run wild.

Worried about me? How could he be? This guy would never worry about me. He didn't even care that our parents died. Why would he care whether I was safe?

It would be more likely that he wished I'd die so he could have an easier life and keep all our parents' inheritance for himself.

Thinking this, she looked at Jiang Si's back and drew a breath.

There was absolutely no way he went to the middle school division because he was worried about me!

Even if he nearly fell to his death, he brought it on himself. It had nothing to do with me.

"Keke? Keke?"

Coming back to her senses, Jiang Keke looked at Yinlian, who was calling her. "What is it?"

Yinlian waved a hand in front of her. "Nothing. You suddenly spaced out. What were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking that maybe I should join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau." Jiang Keke looked up at the attendant behind the bureau's counter. "That way, I can leave Jiang Si sooner."

"I'm happy you're willing to join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, but that reason really isn't something I can feel happy about."

Jiang Si naturally had little interest in the two girls' muttering behind him.

The entire building was thoroughly modern. After entering the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau building, Jiang Si found himself in a long corridor.

He waited for Yinlian to walk ahead so he would not trigger any more mechanisms.

Many framed pictures hung on the walls on both sides of the corridor.

They all depicted magical girls and Calamity Beasts.

The pictures all moved. When someone approached, the Calamity Beasts would roar at them, as though about to crawl out of the paintings.

As for the magical girls, some were reading. Up close, one could see them even turning pages inside their pictures. Others were painting, and the contents of their paintings kept changing.

He remembered that Harry Potter seemed to have a display of paintings like this too, but he could not recall clearly. After all, he had only glanced at it casually back then and had not paid much attention.

They really copied everything.

However, he stopped at the end of the corridor.

He looked up at the picture hanging highest in the corridor. Keke stopped too, staring blankly at the magical girl in it.

Yinlian had been walking in front. When the two of them stopped, she also glanced back.

The blue magical girl in the picture blinked, then winked at her viewers, cute and radiating charm.

"This is Senior Larkspur. Are you fans of hers too?" Yinlian recited her achievements as though counting treasures in her own home. "Senior Larkspur is only seventeen this year, but she's already one of the best magical girls in the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau. Not only does she rank near the top in the number of Calamity Beasts hunted, she's also taken part in the bureau's idol project and earned it a huge amount of operating funds. I hear her grades are among the best too..."

"What kind of all-round superhuman is she?" Keke quipped beside him. "I knew she was amazing, but isn't that a little too amazing?"

"Of course. She's an idol to lots of magical girls. Have you met her before, though?"

Keke said quietly, "Three years ago, when we encountered a Calamity Beast, Senior Larkspur was the one who saved us."

"Oh." Yinlian nodded in immediate understanding. "Then it's only natural for you to admire Senior Larkspur."

"I wouldn't exactly call it admiration."

Keke said with some guilt, "I said something wrong back then. I blamed Senior Larkspur for not coming sooner to save our parents. I've regretted it ever since, and I want to apologize to her."

Yinlian patted her back. She had intended to pat her head, but could not reach it. She comforted her gently. "It's okay. Senior Larkspur won't mind. But if it really bothers you, you'll have plenty of chances to meet her after joining the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau. You can give her a proper apology then."

"Mm..."

Beside them, Jiang Si turned to look at his younger sister for the first time. "Have you decided to join the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau?"

"Just as you wanted. I can become independent sooner."

Long accustomed to her tone, Jiang Si merely nodded and looked at Yinlian. "Then let's register her."

"We're almost there. Follow me."

The three of them passed through the corridor and arrived in a lobby. The reception desk was staffed not by humans, but by two Incubators.

One was white and the other black. Although they looked much like the Incubator Jiang Si had met, their bearing was worlds apart.

Jiang Si's Incubator was both lazy and stupid. Now it spent all its time clinging to Bingtang and would not even come out on a normal day, let alone offer any fighting power. He would count himself lucky if it did not hold him back. Its knowledge of magical girls was also half-baked, and it could not even explain things clearly.

In Jiang Si's understanding, Incubators were essentially synonymous with uselessness.

Yet the two Incubators on the counter before him were clearly different.

Even setting aside their oppressive presence, the main thing was the depth of their magical power.

Incubators generally shared their magical girls' magical power. His own had explained this too: as his magical power grew, its magical power would grow as well.

In other words, the masters of these two Incubators were very likely Full Bloom magical girls.

Mere Full Blossom could not produce such deep magical power. Jiang Si knew that better than anyone.

If only I could make it mine.

"Yinlian, why are you only back now? Did you find the Calamity Beast yesterday?"

"I did, I did. And..." Yinlian immediately pushed Jiang Keke forward. "I also found a new magical girl!"

The two previously composed Incubators immediately grew excited. "What? You actually brought back a new magical girl!"

"We have to celebrate!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Get Aurora over here..."

They even looked somewhat flustered.

"Hey, hey, help register her first!"

Jiang Si found a seat nearby and sat down. The layout of the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's lobby was not much different from the police station he had visited before, except that there were very few people.

Apart from the platform and corridor out front, one could basically tell that the entire building had been converted directly from a police station.

After registration was mentioned, he saw one Incubator haul a computer out from underneath the counter, then plug it into its own tail.

The two Incubators then fussed over Jiang Keke like kindly old people, asking after her well-being.

They looked exactly as though they had found a treasure.

For the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, which had not seen a newcomer in so many years, Jiang Keke's arrival really did make her a precious treasure.

At least there was no need to worry about Keke being bullied here.

"Hey, you over there." The black Incubator flew up and called to him. "You're Keke's guardian, right? Come sign this."

"He's Keke's older brother," Yinlian reminded it from beside them. "Be a little nicer."

"Keke doesn't even like him. Why should we be nicer?"

Yinlian was momentarily speechless. She merely shuffled over to Jiang Si. "Sorry. Those two are just a little dim."

The two Incubators immediately shouted, "Who are you calling dim, Yinlian!"

Jiang Si did not particularly mind. He walked over to the counter and looked at the documents printed out by the computer.

It appeared to be a contract. Since a magical girl's appointment counted as official employment, an employment contract was required. It contained many detailed rules. Jiang Si skimmed it and found no major issues.

The Azure Cloud Sect had issued employment contracts internally too. Bingtang had said they were copied from the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's, so he knew a little about them.

He casually signed his name, and that was all he had to do.

As he waited behind them for Keke to finish the formalities, Yinlian explained the procedures to her while occasionally turning back to check on Jiang Si, who sat alone, so he would not feel neglected.

It looked rather tiring.

So Jiang Si got up, intending to go back to the corridor and look at the magical girls some more.

But before he had taken two steps, red lights suddenly began flashing throughout the lobby.

A shrill alarm rang through the entire building!

"Attention, all units! Attention, all units! The Miracle Seed in the secure room has been stolen. All personnel, remain where you are! Do not move!"

Accompanied by the urgent alarm, a group of fully armed soldiers poured down from the upper floors.

They carried American MK18s, weapons released in the early 2000s around the same time as the M16A4. They looked quite good.

The question was, why did a magical girl stronghold use the military for security...?

Leading them was a blonde girl in a sharp military uniform, her emerald eyes exceptionally cold.

Every entrance abruptly shut. The soldiers spread out to either side, surrounding the entire lobby.

The blonde girl's gaze immediately swept over Keke and Jiang Si. "Fluctuations were detected in the cloud layer earlier. Which of you caused them?"

At those words, Yinlian's expression immediately turned strained.

Now we're in trouble...