"Hey, Jiang Keke, is your brother coming to the parent-teacher meeting again? I asked my sister to come this time..."
During the break, a male classmate's attempt at conversation made Jiang Keke close her book.
She took her lunch and left the classroom.
"Ah, you scared her off again."
"I only wanted to talk to her..."
Jiang Keke did well at school, so she wasn't really bullied.
Although she had been laughed at for having her brother attend the parent-teacher meetings, the teacher had been very conscientious and given every student who laughed a harsh scolding.
Her classmates didn't actually look down on her or ostracize her.
After all, she was a very good student.
Jiang Keke simply didn't like interacting with others.
Especially boys.
She hated boys, and the one she hated most was her brother, Jiang Si.
Bad grades, always skipping class, fond of fighting and stirring up trouble.
And he never apologized.
He had been that way ever since the day their parents died.
Looking back now, she sometimes felt as though it had all been a dream.
In fact, she had known from a very young age that Jiang Si was a very cold person.
Aside from exercising every day like a madman, practically torturing himself, he wasn't interested in anything.
But ordinarily, he had still been very respectful toward their parents and listened to everything Mom and Dad said.
Back then, Jiang Keke had loved clinging to him, because although Jiang Si wasn't talkative, he was always willing to take her along to play.
Thinking about it now, perhaps he had only been doing it to appease their parents.
From the very beginning, that person had never cared about her, or about their parents.
Unfortunately, Jiang Keke hadn't understood that back then. She had only foolishly believed that her brother was very good, just not good at showing it.
Until their parents passed away.
He hadn't shed a single tear, and had even been unwilling to attend the funeral.
The impatience and distraction he had shown while standing before their parents' bodies couldn't have been faked.
Selfish, cold-blooded, utterly inhuman.
That was Jiang Keke's entire assessment of her own brother, Jiang Si.
She took out the packed lunch she had made last night, leftover dishes and rice, a little cold.
Ever since their parents passed away, she had rarely eaten hot meals.
She wouldn't eat the food Jiang Si cooked. She didn't want to depend on the Jiang Si who had always wanted to abandon her.
On school days, she only had time to cook for herself at night, so she made extra and saved some for the next day.
By daytime, it was all cold, and there was nowhere at school for her to heat it up.
Shoveling cold rice into her mouth, she picked up the flask beside her-at least the school had hot water to warm her stomach.
The midday wind blowing from the construction site carried a chill. Summer always came late to BH City, and winter's chill lingered far too long, making the warmth of early spring seem like a little piece of candy dropped into bitter tea amid this cold wind.
Before a trace of its warm sweetness could be tasted, the bitter cold swallowed it.
She huddled in a corner of the third-floor balcony, gazing at the distant park in the city center.
It was where their parents had often taken them when they were little.
Their parents had taken them running all over the park, finding fun, interesting rides to make them happy.
Once they were tired from playing, their mother would carry her on her back, while their father carried Jiang Si, singing children's songs to them as they walked home.
She still remembered their parents chatting on the way, when they thought the children were asleep.
They had discussed when to buy a car. Their salaries weren't actually low, but with two children to raise, there were many things they couldn't spend money on carelessly, and buying a car could only be put off. Their father had even planned to buy a secondhand one to use for the time being.
He had said he would teach Jiang Si to drive...
Whenever she felt cold, memories of the past welled up, giving her a little warmth before turning into an even greater chill.
So she couldn't forgive Jiang Si.
She couldn't forgive that blood relative who hadn't felt the slightest sadness after their parents died.
She couldn't forgive him for still living perfectly well on his own, as though nothing had happened!
Boom!
Suddenly, the entire classroom building shook.
The packed lunch in Jiang Keke's hands spilled all over the floor. Although it pained her a little, she quickly picked up the lunchbox and looked down below the building.
A bat-like Calamity Beast burst out of the ground on the sports field in front of the classroom building!
Calamity Beasts had appeared frequently in BH City over the past few years, and for many people, it was no longer so shocking.
But without a magical girl, they were still very dangerous.
The school security guards reacted quickly, immediately sounding the alarm, and students and teachers swiftly ran out of the classroom building.
Although there was some noise, there wasn't much chaos. Several security guards who had retired from the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau stood at the front, holding sprays-Calamity Beast repellent developed by the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau.
It could briefly frighten Calamity Beasts, even halt their movements, buying time for magical girls to arrive.
Yet the bat showed no reaction whatsoever to the spray and merely let out a shriek!
The first to be affected were the guards standing at the front with the sprays. Amid the shrieking, they fell to the ground without warning. The spray cans in their hands rolled across the ground to the Calamity Beast, only to be crushed underfoot.
Large amounts of repellent splashed onto the Calamity Beast, but had no effect at all.
The shrieking gradually grew too quiet to hear, and throughout the school and the surrounding streets, not a single person remained standing.
Everyone lay on the ground, and it was as quiet as a graveyard.
Jiang Keke would rather have fainted too.
But she hadn't.
The shrieking Calamity Beast turned its head, its terrifying eyes fixed squarely on her.
It was always like this.
She tightened her grip on the lunchbox, trying hard to breathe in, but could only struggle.
It was like this every time.
The Calamity Beast abruptly beat its wings, whipping the debris around it into a gale that left Jiang Keke barely able to open her eyes.
When the giant bat clamped its feet onto the window and hung upside down to look at her, Jiang Keke took a step back.
Then her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor.
She bit her lip. More than fear and panic, she felt hurt and sorrow.
Why was she always the one who had to go through things like this? Why did nothing good ever happen in her life?
Her father and mother had died at the hands of a Calamity Beast.
The blood relative left behind was so cold he barely seemed human.
Alone, struggling, not knowing what any of it was for, she had lived until now.
And then, even a wish as small as simply staying alive couldn't come true.
When the Calamity Beast opened its huge mouth and its pitch-black silhouette loomed over her.
Jiang Keke still instinctively took out her seed.
The Magic Seed.
Proof that she could transform into a magical girl, something she had received on the day disaster struck her parents.
Yet ever since she had received it that day, the Magic Seed had remained a dull gray.
As though something had sucked away its energy.
What she held was only an empty shell.
Just like her life, always giving her the deepest despair when it was filled with hope and happiness.
Mocking her weakness and ugliness in the face of misfortune.
Leaving only an empty shell that didn't know why it existed.
"If only I'd never been born in the first place..."
After closing her eyes and giving up struggling, she actually felt a momentary sense of release.
But she still feared pain, feared the unknown death, and trembled faintly.
"Calamity Beasts grow stronger by eating people."
A voice as clear and pleasing as a bell reached her ears, and then she felt a warmth that drove away every trace of cold.
"Hah!"
The Calamity Beast also let out a somewhat unusual cry.
And so, Jiang Keke cautiously opened her eyes.
Purple flames fell from the sky like a meteor and slammed into the Calamity Beast!
The Calamity Beast, smashed headfirst into the ground, screamed in pain and was momentarily swallowed by dust.
Those purple flames slowly settled before her.
Gorgeous pale-purple boots touched the ground with a soft, crisp sound, and the purple light, like burning flames, quietly faded.
A purple-and-gold dress, light ribbons fluttering behind her, adorable bow decorations, and long purple hair swaying in the wind.
Until that beautiful, icy face came into view.
"If a magical girl gets eaten, the Calamity Beast grows even stronger," the girl who resembled a purple flower told her. "If you die, it'll be a lot of trouble."
That day, the sun rose once more in Jiang Keke's life.
Although it was purple, it was just as warm.