As it turned out, you could escape for a moment, but not forever.
The next morning, shortly after the morning reading bell at Coral Middle School had rung, the class teacher’s light footsteps echoed in the classroom, accompanied by her gentle voice:
“Everyone quiet down. Today, our class is getting a new transfer student. Let’s all welcome her.”
Ye Ning was hunched over her desk, fiddling with her textbook, with a hidden sugar-coated hawthorn on a stick stick hanging from her mouth.
She lifted her head casually, but when she saw the slender figure behind the class teacher, the stick in her mouth fell onto the desk with a clatter.
On the podium, Chu Lingyan wore a Coral Middle School uniform.
The collar of her clean white shirt was tied with a neat blue tie, and her light gray pleated skirt came just above her knees, revealing her slender, fair calves.
She wore a pair of brand-new white canvas shoes.
Feeling the gaze of the entire class, Chu Lingyan lifted her head slightly, a faint and polite smile curling at the corners of her lips.
Her voice was soft yet clear as she slowly introduced herself:
“Hello everyone, my name is Chu Lingyan. Starting today, I’m transferring into this class. In the days to come, I hope we can all get along.”
Her gaze slowly swept across the classroom.
When it passed Ye Ning’s seat, it paused for a split second, a flicker of a smile flashing in her eyes so quickly it was almost imperceptible.
Then she returned to her calm expression and looked elsewhere.
Ye Ning: “…”
‘Are all you Magical Girls so free?! One after another, instead of properly hunting down Witches and slaying Disaster Beasts, you all come flocking to A City for what?!’
The class teacher seemed to have arranged everything in advance.
Smiling, she pointed to an empty seat not far from Ye Ning.
“Classmate Chu Lingyan, you can sit there for now. It’s right next to Ye Ning, so if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask her.”
Chu Lingyan nodded lightly, said “Thank you, teacher,” and carrying her backpack, slowly walked toward that empty seat.
Ye Ning’s heart gave a sudden lurch.
She hurriedly lowered her head, pretending to organize her textbooks.
For the entire class, Ye Ning was restless and uncomfortable, constantly feeling a faint, elusive gaze fixed on her.
After barely enduring until the class bell rang, Chu Lingyan didn’t hesitate at all.
She immediately turned around and walked straight toward Ye Ning’s seat.
A particularly brilliant and pure smile bloomed on the girl’s face.
Her eyebrows curved, her lips turned up, revealing two small dimples.
Her eyes were full of tenderness and joy, even sparkling—that smile was all too familiar to Ye Ning.
It was the unreserved smile that Chu Lingyan had once shown only to her.
Seeing her like this, a premonition of doom shot straight to Ye Ning’s head.
Chu Lingyan walked up to her step by step, bent down slightly, and gently placed her hands on the edge of Ye Ning’s desk.
She leaned close to her ear, her warm breath brushing past her earlobe, bringing a faint tickle.
Her voice was soft and sweet, yet carried a certainty that left no room for escape, as she said word by word:
“After school, can you come to the rooftop alone, Ye Ning? I have something I want to tell you.”
Ye Ning’s eyelids started twitching wildly.
She forced a stiff and awkward smile on her face, let out two dry laughs, and tried to bluff her way through:
“Well… Chu Lingyan, we’re all classmates here. Can’t we just talk about it right here? Why go to the rooftop? That’s so inconvenient.”
The smile on Chu Lingyan’s lips remained brilliant, but now carried a hint of mystery.
She straightened up slightly, her gaze locked onto Ye Ning’s eyes, and lowered her voice even more, with a barely perceptible hint of probing and certainty:
“Some things can’t be known by others, can they?”
She paused, then added softly, her tone carrying a hint of understanding:
“Ye Ning, don’t you also have many things you don’t want others to know?”
“Ah… hahaha…”
Ye Ning immediately switched to pretending to be dumb:
“What are you talking about, Chu Lingyan? I don’t understand. I’m just an ordinary student.”
Chu Lingyan watched her flustered act, a faint smile flashing in her eyes.
She didn’t call her out on it but simply shook her head gently.
Her tone was meek yet stubborn, as if she had already seen through Ye Ning’s thoughts but deliberately left her some leeway:
“I’m only here to inform you of my request. Whether you come or not is your own choice. I won’t force you.”
She leaned in a little closer, her voice gentle: “But I’ll be waiting for you on the rooftop. No matter how late you come, I’ll wait.”
With that, she straightened up, gave Ye Ning a gentle smile, turned around, and returned to her seat.
“Sigh—”
This was Ye Ning’s umpteenth sigh.
Ever since Chu Lingyan finished that sentence, she had been sighing continuously, her brows tightly furrowed, looking utterly distressed.
Even the snacks on her desk had lost their appeal.
Hua Niao, sitting in front, finally couldn’t take it anymore.
She turned around with a helpless look and said, her tone carrying some exasperation:
“Listen, if you want to go, just go. If you don’t, don’t. You’ve been sighing for an entire class period, and it’s so noisy I can’t even read my book.”
“I don’t want to go!”
Ye Ning lifted her head abruptly, then buried her face in the crook of her arm.
She stomped her foot in frustration, her voice full of grievance and distress:
“That kid Wu Wang Wo must have noticed something, otherwise she wouldn’t have specifically transferred to our class and specially invited me to the rooftop to talk alone… She must suspect my identity!”
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she became.
She grabbed her pink-white hair with both hands, her tone full of resentment:
“Damn it! Where did it go wrong? Yesterday was absolutely flawless! I even made up such a reasonable and touching story to fool her, so how could she still suspect me? That story was so perfect! Climbing a mountain, falling off a cliff, meeting a pink-haired girl, dyeing her hair in memory—how reasonable is that? Any ordinary girl would have an experience like that!”
Hua Niao gave her a faint glance, already beyond words.
She gave another simple, straightforward suggestion:
“Then don’t go. She won’t force you anyway. Just come home with me and ignore her.”
“How can I do that!”
Ye Ning suddenly lifted her head from her arm, her eyes firm, her tone full of conflict and soft-heartedness:
“Don’t you know that kid’s personality? You know better than anyone how stubborn she is! What if she really follows through and waits for me on the rooftop until dark? What if she catches a cold?”
After saying that, she glared at Hua Niao as if it were all her fault, venting all her grievances onto her, her tone full of complaints: “It’s all Hua Niao’s fault! Useless! Can’t even come up with a good idea, and you keep giving me bad ones! If Wu Wang Wo exposes my identity, it’s all your fault! Silly Hua Niao!”
Hua Niao: “?”
She was so amused she started laughing, and without hesitation, she snapped her fingers.
The next second, Ye Ning’s cheeks flushed red.
She clutched her stomach and collapsed weakly onto the desk, her voice soft and flustered, carrying a note of pleading:
“I was wrong, I was wrong! I won’t say it anymore! Silly Hua Niao, don’t do this kind of thing at a time like this!”
—
As soon as the school bell rang.
Ye Ning waged a three-minute-long mental battle in her heart.
‘I am a pure-hearted and brave Magical Girl.’
‘I am Little Wu Wang Wo’s role model, her teacher.’
Then she made her decision:
“Run!”
“If I go, something will definitely happen!”
Fenbai Tuanzi put her hands on her hips and found an excuse for herself with complete confidence.
“Besides, I still have to go home and cook dinner for Hua Niao!”
At lightning speed, she packed up her backpack, grabbed hold of Hua Niao’s wrist, and dragged her out of the classroom.
“I don’t want to take care of a hungry, silly Hua Niao!”
That’s what Ningning said.
However, at dinner, Ye Ning was especially distracted.
“Ningning, if you don’t eat soon, the food will get cold.”
Hua Niao put down her chopsticks, then picked them up again and tapped gently on her bowl, her tone full of resignation.
This was her nth time reminding Ye Ning.
“Oh, oh…”
Ye Ning snapped back to reality and replied blankly.
Automatically, she scooped up a bite of food and put it in her mouth, but she couldn’t taste anything at all.
She just chewed mechanically and swallowed.
Just then, a soft rustling sound came from outside the window, like raindrops falling on leaves.
Ye Ning instinctively lifted her head and looked outside.
The sky had become overcast without her noticing.
Dark clouds covered the entire sky, and the once-bright daylight instantly turned dim.
A single raindrop hit the glass with a tap, leaving a tiny water mark.
Then more and more raindrops fell. In the blink of an eye, the rain grew heavier.
Dense raindrops, like broken beads, pounded wildly against the glass and the roof, producing a pitter-patter sound, blurring the entire view outside.
Fenbai Tuanzi listlessly poked at the rice grains in her bowl, her shoulders slightly drooping.
The usual charm and liveliness were gone from her face.
Her voice was small and muffled, carrying a hint of barely noticeable guilt and worry:
“Hua Niao… do you think Little Wu Wang Wo has gone home? With such heavy rain, she probably isn’t still waiting for me on the rooftop, right?”
Hua Niao put down her chopsticks and spread her hands lightly, her tone carrying a hint of understanding and affection:
“If we’re talking about who knows her best, isn’t that you? You know her personality better than anyone.”
Ye Ning bit her lip, her fingers gently twisting the hem of her clothes.
Her eyes were full of guilt and conflict, and her voice grew softer and less confident:
“I know that… but the rain is so heavy, she should know to go home… It’s been so many years, she must have grown up. She can’t still be as stubborn as before, right… She wouldn’t still be foolishly waiting for me on the rooftop, getting soaked…”
After a few seconds of silence, Ye Ning suddenly lifted her head, a flash of determination in her eyes.
Without any more hesitation, she stood up with a whoosh, grabbed the umbrella from the table, and walked toward the door.
“I’m going out for a bit.”
Hua Niao watched her hurried back, a knowing smile hiding in her eyes.
She deliberately drew out her tone, her voice carrying a hint of teasing: “In such heavy rain, where are you going?”
Ye Ning’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she seemed flustered.
She stopped abruptly, stomped her foot, and scolded Hua Niao with a coquettish tone: “Bad Hua Niao! Don’t ask! Don’t laugh at me!”
As she spoke, she grabbed the umbrella hanging by the door and pulled it open.
The cold wind, mixed with raindrops, instantly blew in, dampening the ends of her hair.
“I’m just going to buy some sugar-coated hawthorn on a stick!”