The Girls' Picnic

At the fish restaurant:

After the meal, Mo Chou had planned to take the three children shopping while they were all together today.

He would buy them some clothes or new phones-anything that might bring the family closer.

Mo Chou had been thinking a great deal lately. He felt that perhaps he should stop shirking his responsibilities to the children.

Even if, one day in the future, the arrival of the empire would turn him and the children into bitter enemies.

Mo Chou's intentions were good, but the timing was unfortunate.

As soon as the group stepped out of the restaurant, Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly raised her hand. "Dad! My classmate is nearby and asked me to go to a cat café!"

Mo Chou paused, then nodded helplessly. "All right. Stay safe. Do you have enough spending money?"

He gave each of the three children five hundred dollars a month in spending money, a normal amount for a middle-class family in Taiping Prefecture.

In the extremely prosperous Taiping Prefecture, even an ordinary worker's monthly wages could easily support a family of three and a dog, so it wasn't a large allowance.

As a geology professor, Mo Chou could naturally afford that much, not to mention the subsidy he received from the Superhero Association.

Bai Xiaoxiao waved her hand. "Enough, enough! I'm off!"

"Be careful on the way. Call me if anything happens."

Mo Chou reminded her.

Not long after Bai Xiaoxiao left,

Mo Zhen raised his hand and called out, "A friend asked me to go to karaoke too."

Mo Chou felt helpless. One after another.

"Go on, go on. Stay safe."

Mo Zhen then headed off in the opposite direction from Bai Xiaoxiao.

Left alone with Mo Chou, Mo Xiaochuan gritted his teeth. "Those two didn't invite me along again. How awful...!"

Mo Chou shrugged beside him. "Perhaps you'd like to go fishing with me?"

Mo Xiaochuan groaned. "Come on, Dad, your hobby is way too boring. You sit by the river for half the day. What's fun about that?"

Mo Chou smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't say that. As far as I'm concerned, fishing is the most interesting sport on Earth."

"Come and give it a try with me. You'll like it."

"Uh... all right, I guess I'll give it a try."

Whale Sea Park.

Although the park was named after Jinghai District, it was close to the sea and too far from downtown, so hardly anyone visited at night.

Rumor had it that from the beach at Whale Sea Park, you could actually see whales leaping high out of the water, though Bai Xiaoxiao had never seen it herself.

Saionji Kirika was the first to arrive at the meeting place.

The girl wore a deep black sailor uniform with a red bow. She sat on a wooden bench in the center of the park, holding a box of pastries and softly humming a popular Japanese song.

A pure white meteor descended into the park.

It was Bai Xiaoxiao.

The magical girl in a pure white Gothic dress descended from the sky and nearly fell when she landed because she hadn't mastered controlling her magic yet.

"Sorry! Senior Wuhua, I'm not late, am I?"

Bai Xiaoxiao wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from her forehead. Diving all the way here had scared her badly; she really had only just learned Meteor Magic.

Meteor Magic: the long-distance flight magic most commonly used by magical girls, known for the burst of magic that sent them streaking across the night sky like meteors.

Wuhua shook her head. "It's only nine fifty. We just need to wait for Miss Hell now."

"Will Senior Hell really come?"

Bai Xiaoxiao sat down beside Saionji Kirika, nervous and excited at the prospect of seeing that powerful senior magical girl again.

Holding the wooden box, Saionji Kirika sounded a little uncertain herself. "Actually, I'm not too sure either..."

"After all, Miss Hell isn't related to us or anything. She only gave us a verbal promise."

Bai Xiaoxiao looked up at the sky, hoping to see Senior Hell's meteor streak across the night:

"Mm... I hope she doesn't stand us up."

"What are you looking at?"

The voice that suddenly rang out startled both Bai Xiaoxiao and Wuhua.

The two turned around almost in unison and looked at the gray-haired girl who had appeared by the central flower bed.

A trace of confusion showed in the girl's deep red eyes. She glanced up at the sky and suddenly remembered something.

She blinked. "Were you waiting for me to fly over using Meteor Magic?"

Yes, yes!

Bai Xiaoxiao and Wuhua nodded at the same time.

Seeing this, Hell held up her newly bought phone. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I took a taxi. Meteor Magic draws too much attention."

Her taxi ride history was still displayed on the phone.

She did know how to use Meteor Magic, having learned it from her companion little crow. It was a basic travel spell, so it wasn't difficult.

But Hell knew better than Bai Xiaoxiao that many dangers lurked beneath the surface of this world. It wouldn't be good to draw their attention.

So she had chosen the most straightforward way to travel: paying for a taxi.

"I see. No wonder we never saw your meteor, Senior."

Bai Xiaoxiao stood up, unable to contain the happiness in her eyes.

Saionji Kirika was happy too, but she was more reserved by nature, so she only wore a gentle smile.

She held up the wooden box and bowed lightly to Hell.

"Um... Miss Hell, thank you for coming to teach us. I made these pastries myself. I hope you like them."

Hell was a little surprised. "Pastries?"

"Mm! They're matcha daifuku. I don't know if you like them."

Wuhua opened the box. Inside were nine matcha daifuku, garnished with cherry blossom pieces that made them look especially exquisite.

Bai Xiaoxiao held up a bag too. "I-I bought yogurt too."

"You two... pastries and yogurt? Are you here for a picnic?"

Hell sighed helplessly, but under their eager gazes, she reached out, took a daifuku, and ate it in one bite.

"...It tastes good. Let's eat together."

Miss Hell's cheeks bulged slightly. After savoring it, she gave it a favorable review and instinctively reached up to gently wipe the matcha powder from the corner of her mouth.

"Huh? Wait...!"

Seeing this, Wuhua immediately took out her handkerchief.

She leaned forward, carefully wiped the matcha powder from the corner of Hell's mouth and her fingers, and handed her the handkerchief.

"Um... Miss Hell, if you don't mind, please use my handkerchief."

For some reason, Saionji Kirika's earlobes had turned a little red, because she had used the handkerchief herself.

What's with this girl?

Hell accepted the handkerchief. "Thank you."

The night breeze was cool, and the ocean waves rolled in and out as the girls sat together on a bench beside the flower bed, eating matcha daifuku and drinking yogurt smoothies.

Wait, this really has turned into a picnic!

Hell stood up. "Ahem, it's time to get ready for training. I should tell you in advance: I can't guarantee one hundred percent that I can teach you what we'll be training in tonight."

She was an untrained magical girl herself, and there wasn't much she could teach Saionji Kirika and Bai Xiaoxiao.

However, after learning Reverse Cursed Technique, the precision of her magic control had indeed risen to a very high level.

After all, the prerequisite for using Reverse Cursed Technique was controlling magic to an almost freakish degree.

Two negatives made a positive. The magic on both sides had to be output steadily, with neither too much nor too little.

So teaching two newcomers shouldn't be a problem.

"Yes! Thank you, Senior!"

Bai Xiaoxiao was full of anticipation, swaying from side to side. If she'd had a tail, it would surely have been wagging.

Wuhua nodded beside her. "You being willing to teach us some techniques is already enough to make us stronger. Whether we can learn them is up to us."

An outsider saw the spectacle; an expert saw the skill. Saionji Kirika, born into an ancient magical family in Kyoto, understood the value of Reverse Cursed Technique better than anyone.

To date, no more than five people in the entire magical world had mastered the technique, even counting those old fogeys.

There wasn't a single one in the Saionji Family Clan.

For that reason, Wuhua didn't expect to learn the advanced technique herself. She only hoped Hell could guide them in controlling their magic with precision.

The three moved to another spot, an empty grove, where Hell personally set up a Magic Curtain to block sight.

Magic Curtain: a basic spell like Meteor Magic, capable of blocking sight and preventing ordinary people from accidentally entering.

No matter what they did inside the curtain, people outside would be unable to notice.