The extra Saturday classes for second-year students at No. 4 Middle School were actually against regulations.
There had been reports to the education bureau a few years earlier, but the principal had considerable clout and some connections higher up. Reporters had even come specifically to film on a Saturday, and the story had almost made it onto television.
But the matter had ultimately been suppressed, and the school's tradition of extra Saturday classes had continued to this day.
In fact, from every angle, extra Saturday classes weren't really a bad thing. Students got another day of study and could score better, teachers received extra teaching fees, and the school got higher advancement rates. It was a win-win-win.
But for the students, having only one day off a week was still rather hard to endure.
Yinlian herself didn't attend the extra Saturday classes. As a magical girl with the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, whenever a Calamity Beast appeared, the bureau would arrange leave for her directly. Of course, only the principal knew about this.
Moreover, the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had the ability to predict when Calamity Beasts would appear, so they arranged leave in advance. Generally, magical girls didn't wait for a Calamity Beast to appear before deploying. Instead, they were already on-site when it appeared, keeping losses to a minimum.
This also prevented anyone from guessing who the magical girls were based on who took leave when Calamity Beasts appeared.
Of course, even if someone guessed correctly, it didn't matter. The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had one final measure: wiping their memories directly with magic.
As long as a magical girl didn't want to be exposed, the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had plenty of ways to help conceal her identity.
Unless a magical girl voluntarily revealed her identity like Hyacinth, ordinary people wouldn't know who she was.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Like Yinlian, who had been forced by certain special circumstances to transform in front of someone she knew...
Yinlian had originally intended to rest properly that Saturday. After all, between her battle with the firebird Calamity Beast and subsequently being forcibly beaten out of her transformed state by Ziyuan, the damage to her body was substantial however one looked at it. The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's doctor had advised her to rest properly.
But Yinlian felt barely injured at all that day. Unable to sit still at home, she had come to school anyway.
In truth, sitting in a classroom listening to lessons for a while really wasn't very tiring for her...
When the first lesson ended, she leaned by the window and saw Jiang Si being berated by a teacher outside.
He was a whole lesson late. You really couldn't blame the teacher for going mad...
Keke's older brother had rather delicate, refined features. If he wore glasses, he would look like a very scholarly bookworm.
Yet his gaze contrasted far too sharply with his appearance.
Calling it icy would be going too far. In fact, whenever his eyes occasionally moved, they still held a trace of warmth. Calling it vacant wasn't right either; it wasn't the dull stare of someone who wasn't thinking.
An indifferent disregard for others might have been a fitting description, but Jiang Si didn't actually have that lofty air of treating everyone else as beneath his notice.
It was more as though he simply didn't care, remaining indifferent to what happened around him and focusing only on his own affairs.
Sometimes Yinlian would think of her older sister. Although Yinluo wasn't quite so extreme, she looked much the same when she concentrated on her own affairs.
So mature, and so cool.
Yinlian had always yearned for that state, because she herself was incredibly easily distracted, struggled to focus on herself, and always involuntarily paid attention to her surroundings, constantly responding to them.
It was precisely because of this similarity between her sister and Jiang Si that Yinlian had felt from the beginning that Keke had most likely misunderstood her older brother.
Because they weren't truly cold, nor did they truly not care about their surroundings. They only acted that way because they had things they had to do. Once those things were finished, they would return to normal.
She had argued with her sister over this before, but once her sister finished what she was doing, she would become gentle and dependable again and come apologize of her own accord.
She hoped Keke and her older brother could clear up their misunderstanding soon and get along.
"Li Yi, the teacher wants you."
A classmate called from outside. Yinlian answered, "Got it," then stood up and headed out.
"Jiang Si! Get your ass to the office!"
Meanwhile, Jiang Si's teacher apparently hadn't scolded him enough, or hadn't found scolding him in the corridor satisfying, so he roared for Jiang Si to go to the office.
Yinlian actually knew that this sort of teacher didn't genuinely have any good intentions about educating students.
There weren't that many good teachers.
Teachers like this were actually so furious only because a student had challenged their authority. In particular, Jiang Si's manner, which easily came across as disregarding everyone, was practically dancing through the minefield of a teacher who placed such importance on his own authority.
That was why every time Jiang Si got scolded, the teacher invariably dragged him to the office to continue, because he could get physical there too.
She had seen the teacher throw a book at Jiang Si. It really was going too far.
"Be careful, Li Yi."
As she left the classroom, a classmate whispered beside her, "Stay away from that delinquent Jiang Si. Don't get dragged into it. Once Teacher Zhang gets carried away scolding people, he'll go after anyone he catches. He's really fierce. Honestly, Jiang Si just had to provoke him..."
Yinlian smiled. "Then that should be the teacher's problem. It has nothing to do with Jiang Si."
"Well, sure..."
"Don't worry. The teacher wouldn't dare scold me."
Because her grades were excellent, among the top three in her year, and the principal had personally approved her several requests for leave.
These teachers all knew Yinlian's family had powerful connections.
In fact, after leaving the classroom, she deliberately walked over to Jiang Si's side. Teacher Zhang, who had been about to scold him some more along the way, turned and saw Yinlian. He immediately swallowed some of his words and merely asked sullenly, "What are you doing here?"
Yinlian just smiled politely. "Teacher Fang asked me to come to the office, Teacher Zhang."
"Don't walk with Jiang Si."
"Sir, the corridor is so narrow. There's more space on Jiang Si's side."
Once Teacher Zhang fell silent, she lowered her head and whispered, "Don't be afraid. With me beside you, he won't dare scold you."
Jiang Si glanced at the little girl.
With a troublemaker like him around, Teacher Zhang basically had no chance at any bonuses, and absolutely no possibility of receiving any awards for excellence, so he easily lost his temper with Jiang Si.
Teacher Zhang hadn't started making trouble for him just a day or two ago. He had long since grown used to it: a few tepid scoldings, with the occasional physical blow that was basically no different from scratching an itch. Jiang Si couldn't even be bothered to pay attention.
After all, however angry he got, once the bell for the next lesson rang, he wouldn't dare keep a student in the office.
Jiang Si didn't spend much time at school to begin with, and got caught even less often. A few words of nagging neither hurt nor itched.
Yinlian's meddling was instead letting the other party's anger build up.
Sure enough, when they reached the office, the teacher yanked him inside, shut the door, and kicked his calf. "Go squat over there. What business does a student like you have attending class?"
Yinlian, who had been heading toward Teacher Fang's desk, immediately stepped in front of Jiang Si, her pretty face filled with anger. "How can you kick a student! No. 4 Middle School doesn't condone corporal punishment!"
"What's it to you if I kick a student?" Teacher Zhang was clearly worked up too. He glared at her. "What does a little kid like you know? Get out of the way!"
"He was only late! What right do you have to kick him? How can you call yourself a good teacher?"
"Do I need a little kid like you telling me whether I'm a good teacher..."
Teacher Fang, who had been drinking tea at her desk, immediately set down her cup, stood up, and hurried over to take Yinlian's arm. "Hey, hey, hey, Li Yi, come here. Why are you arguing with a teacher? And you, Zhang, what are you doing, bristling and glaring at my student? I'm warning you, she's in my class. Don't treat my students the way you treat yours."
Yinlian immediately shook off her teacher's hand and marched angrily back to Jiang Si, squatting down alongside him. "If Jiang Si isn't leaving, neither am I."
Teacher Fang looked torn between laughter and tears. "I called you here to take the exercise books back, and now you're refusing to leave? Zhang."
"If she wants to squat, let her." Teacher Zhang casually picked up his water bottle and said through gritted teeth, "I'll let him go back when class starts."
"Fine, fine, fine."
Teacher Fang pointed at him, then at her own student, before returning to her desk and picking up the exercise books. "I'll deliver them myself. Happy now?"
"Hmph. Teacher Fang's a coward. She's terrified of trouble."
Squatting beside Jiang Si, Yinlian whispered, "But she's not a bad person. She's very nice to me too, because my grades are good."
They were colleagues who saw one another constantly. Falling out would make work inconvenient. They were all adults; who would make trouble for themselves at work over something like this?
The old hand had protected her own student without provoking the short-tempered Teacher Zhang. It could be called the best way of handling things.
Besides, however angry Teacher Zhang was, he had still taken the offered way out, saying he would let Jiang Si return when class started.
But saying this to a genuine magical girl probably wouldn't mean much.
So-called childishness was a judgment reserved for those whose abilities weren't sufficient to overturn the world. When an existence like a magical girl possessed sufficiently outstanding abilities, she would receive a different set of judgments: independent-minded, eccentric.
So as long as one's abilities were sufficient, a person didn't have to change to fit society. Society had to change to fit her.
The same applied to establishing one's own Great Dao on the path of cultivation.
The Great Dao followed me, not I the Great Dao.
"Sorry."
"Even if you hadn't stepped in, Teacher Zhang would've acted the same."
Yinlian paused, then immediately gave a quiet, furtive giggle. After all, Teacher Zhang was still angry over there. If she laughed aloud, there would inevitably be more trouble. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant lying to you earlier, when I said I wasn't a magical girl. Sorry."
Jiang Si had nearly forgotten that Yinlian had initially concealed her identity from him.
She had only exposed herself when she encountered a Calamity Beast at the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau and had no choice but to transform.
Because he had known Yinlian was a magical girl from the beginning, it hadn't even occurred to him that she had lied to him earlier.
"It's nothing. Magical girls are supposed to hide their identities." After some thought, Jiang Si asked, "Are you going to erase my memories, Yinlian?"
"Huh? No need, no need. It's only troublesome when strangers find out. That's why we erase their memories." Yinlian said matter-of-factly, "You're not a stranger, Jiang Si. You're Keke's little sister too, so you count as a comrade's family. My family hasn't had their memories erased either. They all know I'm a magical girl. It's fine as long as you don't go around announcing it."
"Oh."
Actually, even if he did announce it, memory-erasing magic could still clean up afterward, so it didn't matter at all.
"Also, my name is Li Yi. Yinlian is my magical girl code name..."
"Isn't your sister called Yinluo?"
"We came up with the code names together. My sister wanted to become a magical girl with me back then, but unfortunately, she didn't succeed... Uh, I've gotten sidetracked. Sorry."
Yinlian returned to the topic.
"I wanted to apologize to you that day, but later, while chasing the firebird, I ran into a really powerful enemy."
The girl sounded slightly dejected. "I couldn't beat her. After I lost, I fell unconscious and only woke up after a long time, so I couldn't come find you."
Jiang Si, the culprit responsible, consoled her. "It wasn't anything major."
"I'm glad you don't mind."
Yinlian let out a breath of relief. What she feared most was being disliked for lying. "Oh, right. After your little sister went home, did she secretly transform?"
"Yes. She suddenly transformed in the middle of the night, messed around with a barbell, and damaged the floor." Jiang Si didn't conceal anything.
The girl immediately covered her mouth and giggled. "Hehe, I was much the same when I first learned to transform. I secretly transformed under the covers, really curious about my own strength. The next morning, I was still half-asleep, and I was still transformed when I got up. I accidentally ripped the door off..."
Jiang Si immediately felt grateful that his little sister wasn't quite that stupid.
Still, being able to sleep peacefully through an entire night during her first transformation really showed outstanding talent. When first learning to transform, there were all kinds of things to get used to, and the transformation wouldn't last very long either.
It all required time to adapt and practice.
"If you argue with your little sister, you can call me. I'll protect you from being bullied by her."
Watching Yinlian clench her fist and show off her muscles, Jiang Si was rather speechless.
"But I won't help you bully her either..."
While she was still chattering away, Teacher Zhang, who was marking homework at his desk, coughed and banged his cup against the desktop. "Class is about to start. What are you two still squatting there for? Hurry up and get to class. Stop wasting time here!"
Yinlian immediately pulled Jiang Si out of the office, making a face at Teacher Zhang just before passing through the doorway.
"Hmph. He just uses students to vent his emotions. Don't lose heart, Jiang Si. There aren't many teachers like that at No. 4 Middle School. You can switch classes later..."
"We'll see."
Switching classes was too much trouble. Other classes weren't willing to take a hot potato like him either. The teacher surnamed Zhang had already tried to transfer him several times, but none of the other teachers wanted him.
Only when they were almost back at the classrooms did Yinlian wave. "Anyway, I'll help you! Don't worry."
She's overly enthusiastic. Could she suspect I'm involved with the Azure Cloud Sect?
Jiang Si then rejected the idea. The possibility was too low.
Perhaps the incident where he had nearly fallen through the clouds earlier had aroused her suspicions, and she wanted to investigate him.
There was also a chance she wanted to look after Keke, so she was starting with him.
There were rather a lot of possibilities. He would ask Bingtang for information from inside the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau later before drawing any conclusions.
Bingtang hadn't come to school that day. She generally didn't come on Saturdays, because she had her own private tutors at home. She could even skip school altogether, yet Bingtang came to school far more often than Jiang Si.
Still, the two didn't run into each other much at school, because Jiang Si didn't particularly like meeting Bingtang there.
Being watched by others was simply too troublesome. Bingtang's looks, personality, and family background gave her an unusually large number of suitors. There were always brainless idiots coming to pick fights.
He couldn't exactly fight students at school. If he really did, even the principal couldn't protect him. At school, he could only pretend not to see those who came looking for trouble, while outside school, those bastards ran faster than anyone.
So he also did his best to avoid Bingtang at school.
When he returned to his seat in the classroom, he happened to notice that the student in the third row on the left looked somewhat familiar.
Only afterward did he remember that this was the student Limp's trio had cornered when he arrived that morning.
What a coincidence. He's actually in my class? I don't remember him at all.
With that thought, he sat down and began rummaging through his bag for a book. He noticed the boy kept looking out the window, his face filled with apprehension, though Jiang Si didn't know what he was looking at.
He followed the boy's gaze and spotted a figure wandering back and forth by the school gates.
Limp, seemingly looking for someone.
Probably looking for him.
As expected of the gutsiest delinquent.
Having found his book, he stuffed his bag into the desk compartment, propped his chin on one hand, and yawned. Just as he was about to look away, Limp seemed to notice him too.
Limp looked over, and their eyes met. They weren't too far apart, so he could see Limp's somewhat arrogant smile as he opened his mouth and gestured at him.
His lip movements were very easy to understand.
"Fucking come on, then! Beat me to death!"