Lin Liuxia still remembered that, on the eve of the Cataclysm, Xiao Xue’s gaze had already grown frighteningly intense.
All sorts of obvious and subtle signs of affection had kept appearing, and once, Xiao Xue had even cornered her, nearly pinning her against the wall.
Having a beautiful girl like her was certainly a wonderful thing.
The problem was that nobody, including Xiao Xue, knew that the legendary Magical Girl Liuli Xin was actually a boy.
Unable to return those feelings, Lin Liuxia could only play dumb and brush them off with all sorts of excuses.
After the Cataclysm War, she had become disheartened and decided to retire. She left without saying goodbye, partly to escape Xiao Xue’s burning affection.
Lin Liuxia covered her face, feeling utterly miserable.
But right now, she had no other choice.
She picked up her phone and entered the number buried deep in her memory.
Lin Liuxia had no idea how Xiao Xue was doing now or whether anyone still used that number.
With little hope but willing to try anything, she pressed the call button.
The phone rang for a long time, so long that Lin Liuxia began to wonder whether the number she’d remembered for ten years had already become inactive.
Just as she was about to hang up, a click sounded.
The call connected.
A faint electrical hum came through the receiver, but neither side spoke.
Lin Liuxia felt a little nervous and didn’t dare speak first.
After what felt like an eternity, a woman’s voice finally came from the other end.
Her tone was extremely faint, carrying an aloofness that seemed to keep everyone a thousand miles away.
“Is that you, Liuli Xin?”
“Xiao Xue, it’s me.”
There was a two-second pause on the other end.
There was no furious interrogation as Lin Liuxia had expected. Xiao Xue’s voice remained as calm as ever.
“Mm, it’s been ten years, and this is the first time you’ve called me. You’re probably not calling to reminisce, right?”
“Ahaha…” Lin Liuxia laughed awkwardly. “Um, it’s a long story. There’s a bit of a personal reason…”
“I’m not interested in hearing your personal reasons,” Xiao Xue interrupted bluntly.
“Get to the point. Where are you, and what trouble are you in?”
Even through the phone, Lin Liuxia could feel the other woman’s powerful presence.
The aloof girl who used to blush whenever someone patted her head seemed to have become an iceberg again, keeping everyone at a distance ever since Lin Liuxia left.
She hurriedly explained.
“It’s not a big deal. Something seems to be wrong with my magic circuit. I… can’t change back.”
“Hm?” Xiao Xue sounded puzzled on the other end.
“Can’t change back?”
“Right. I’m stuck in Liuli Xin’s form and can’t deactivate it.”
Lin Liuxia scratched her silver hair.
“I have no one else to turn to. Only you might be able to help me, so I wanted to ask if you have any ideas.”
The other end suddenly fell silent.
Lin Liuxia’s hand, which had been playing with her hair, froze as her heart began to pound.
After quite a while, Xiao Xue’s voice came through again.
This time, the sharp aloofness that had kept people at a distance had softened considerably.
“Something’s wrong with your magic circuit?”
She repeated the question, speaking a little more slowly.
“You’re a healing-type Magical Girl yourself. If even you can’t fix it, then the situation must be serious.”
“I can’t tell what’s wrong over the phone. Search this number and add me as a friend.”
“I’ll send you the address. We’ll talk in person.”
Lin Liuxia froze for a moment before asking hesitantly, “Huh? But wouldn’t it be inconvenient for me to go out like this?”
“Afraid of being recognized?”
Xiao Xue gave a soft snort.
“Don’t worry. It’s a members-only cafe. I’ll reserve the entire floor. Just come over.”
Her tone then returned to its usual businesslike manner.
“I’m hanging up. Add me as soon as possible.”
After saying that, she didn’t give Lin Liuxia another chance to speak before hanging up.
Lin Liuxia sighed and resigned herself to searching for Xiao Xue’s account and adding her as a friend.
The request was accepted within a second.
Her phone vibrated as Xiao Xue sent her a location.
Lin Liuxia opened it.
“Starry Blue Night Cafe.”
She swiped the screen twice to switch to navigation and saw that the distance was 2.5 kilometers.
Staring at that number, Lin Liuxia felt a headache coming on.
‘How am I supposed to get there?’
Driving was absolutely out of the question. In her current petite girl form, she didn’t even have a driver’s license.
If she encountered a traffic checkpoint and an officer asked to see her license, she’d have to hand over the ID belonging to her original body. Just imagining the scene was enough to make her despair.
She’d probably be taken to the police station for questioning in less than ten minutes.
Without driving, her only options were to take a taxi or walk.
Lin Liuxia lowered her head and glanced at the clothes she was wearing, then at the outfit she’d thrown onto the edge of the sofa.
She absolutely refused to go out wearing either of them!
Whichever outfit she chose, she’d look like some kind of pervert.
A silver-haired beauty wandering the streets dressed in baggy old-man clothes would probably be reported by some helpful old lady and taken away before she even reached the street corner.
‘Then what am I supposed to wear?’
She irritably squeezed the cushion, her gaze unconsciously drifting toward the door on the other side of the living room.
That was Lin Liuxing’s room.
‘Maybe… just maybe… it’s worth a try?’
Lin Liuxia spent two minutes mentally preparing herself.
Reason told her that secretly wearing her daughter’s clothes was utterly perverted, but reality left her with no alternative.
There was no other way. Sometimes, urgent situations called for flexibility.
She pushed open the door and entered her daughter’s room.
The girl’s bedroom was neat and orderly. Everything on the desk was arranged tidily, and a faint fragrance lingered in the air.
But Lin Liuxia had no time to appreciate any of that. She walked straight to the white wardrobe and pulled open its doors.
Inside, apart from a few sets of academy uniforms, were all sorts of pretty skirts and cute casual outfits.
Actually, as a former Magical Girl, she wasn’t particularly conservative.
Back when she’d been active in the Magical Girl Association, she’d worn all kinds of outfits. Although she’d never gone as far as wearing a qipao with a slit reaching her shoulder, she’d certainly struck plenty of embarrassing cute poses for the camera.
So she’d never been stingy when it came to buying clothes for her daughter. Whenever she saw something Lin Liuxing liked, she’d buy it without hesitation.
After all, dressing her daughter up beautifully was a father’s responsibility.
But now, after so many years without wearing women’s clothes, having to put them on herself was an entirely different matter.
Lin Liuxia looked troubled.
‘This is way too embarrassing!’
“This one will do.”
After agonizing over the decision for a long time, she finally picked a relatively understated outfit.
It consisted of a white short-sleeved shirt with delicate lace trim, a black pleated skirt, and a pair of black thigh-high stockings.
A few minutes later, Lin Liuxia was holding a bra and feeling utterly defeated.
To her dismay, she discovered that her daughter’s bra size was actually one cup larger than hers.
To keep it from fitting too loosely, she could only fasten the clasp as tightly as possible.
An inexplicable sense of defeat welled up inside her.
Then Lin Liuxia suddenly realized something.
‘Wait a minute! I’m her dad. Why am I comparing myself to my daughter?!’
She quickly shook off those muddled thoughts and put on the clothes, her face burning red.
She casually found a pair of black, round-toed shoes in the shoe cabinet and put them on with the thigh-high stockings she’d just found.
Once she was ready, she finally shuffled over to the full-length mirror attached to the wardrobe.
The silver-haired girl in the mirror wore a fitted white short-sleeved shirt that hugged her figure, outlining a slender waist that looked as though it could be encircled with one hand.
Although her figure couldn’t compare to her daughter’s, the way the clothes hugged her petite body gave her a youthful charm.
Below the shirt was a short black pleated skirt. Her legs, wrapped in black stockings, were pressed tightly together inside her round-toed shoes.
Whenever she moved, the hem of her shirt would ride up slightly, revealing a small stretch of snow-white skin at her waist.
Her waterfall of silver hair spilled over her shoulders, while extreme embarrassment painted her fair face a rosy red.
Her ruby-like eyes glistened with moisture, and she lightly bit her lower lip.
“Damn it! If I go out dressed like this, won’t people mistake me for some kind of pervert?”
She muttered through gritted teeth, quickly snatched a mask from the desk, and put it on. Then she dug out a wide-brimmed sun hat and pulled it down over her conspicuous silver hair.
Fully disguised, Lin Liuxia stealthily opened the front door and hurried outside.