Chapter 12: Magical Girl Exhibition

Ding-ling-ling.

The phone alarm rang.

Su Bai slowly opened her sleepy eyes, flipped over, and impatiently turned the ringtone off.

Although she was still a bit drowsy, for some reason she had slept exceptionally well last night—the best sleep she had gotten in many days.

No nightmares.

No waking up in the middle of the night.

Su Bai raised her head and glanced at the bed directly opposite.

It was empty, the bedding neatly arranged.

Where did Jiang Yuelan go?

Su Bai’s mind went blank.

She instantly remembered she still had the mission of monitoring Jiang Yuelan, and in the blink of an eye she had lost track of her.

Last night she had waited until Jiang Yuelan was completely asleep before lying down herself—at least she had watched her fully lie down before sleeping.

Click.

The bathroom door opened.

Jiang Yuelan walked out holding a towel, her cheeks still wet, looking as if she had just finished washing up.

Scared me to death. Su Bai thought with the feeling of surviving a disaster.

I thought Jiang Yuelan’s witch nature had erupted and she had run out to destroy the city at some unknown time, and that I had failed in my duty by not watching her.

“What is Xiao Bai thinking about? Hurry and get down to wash up and eat.

I just ordered breakfast on the school’s internal platform. Come down and eat together. It’s really convenient—they delivered it straight to the door.”

“Sister Xiao Lan is so nice and so thoughtful. Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

Su Bai did not dawdle either.

She quickly climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.

“Sister Yuelan, you got up so early. The class advisor clearly said we only need to arrive by ten.”

“I’m used to getting up early. Besides, it’s better to take advantage of the plentiful time right now and properly enjoy university life.”

“That’s true. Sleeping in on the first day of university really wouldn’t be interesting.” Su Bai grinned.

We can only be this relaxed for now. In two more days we’ll face the legendary nightmare of university freshmen—military training. Su Bai complained inwardly.

They belonged to the same department and had even been assigned to the same class.

There was no need to even think about it—this was once again the association’s big hand at work.

Since she had come here to study, she still needed to study properly.

On one hand she could approach Jiang Yuelan more naturally.

On the other hand, if she truly managed to survive in the future, this diploma might allow her to justifiably resign from the association and then find a new job.

If Jiang Yuelan knew about Su Bai’s wild fantasies at this moment, she would probably laugh out loud.

“Sister Xiao Lan, there’s nothing in the afternoon. Do you have any plans?”

Su Bai was heartily eating the breakfast on the table while asking.

“I heard the school and the Magical Girl Association are organizing a magical girl only-event this afternoon. I plan to go take a look.”

“What?! Cough cough—”

Su Bai was so startled by this sudden sentence that her throat tightened and she choked.

She quickly picked up the water cup beside her, took a sip to smooth it down, and looked at Jiang Yuelan with a strange expression.

Seeing that the other party had no reaction, she said awkwardly, “Aha, I never expected Sister Xiao Lan to also like magical girls. You don’t look the type.”

Shocking!!!

A witch likes magical girls? What kind of “mouse falling in love with cat” plot is this?

Who would believe it if this got out?

Su Bai herself did not quite believe it.

Perhaps it was just an excuse for Jiang Yuelan to carry out some action.

Speaking of this kind of exhibition, Su Bai actually had quite a bit of authority to speak.

Previously, when many magical girls went on missions, there were often various association personnel recording from the side and spreading it online.

Over time these magical girls all developed their own fan groups.

Moreover, many fans spontaneously organized activities, held exhibitions, rented stalls, and sold merchandise and so on.

Later the association officially also felt there was profit to be made, so every once in a while they would hold some fan exhibitions.

The department Su Bai had previously worked in was responsible for related business.

Nowadays, the revenue brought by the fandom-ification of magical girls had almost become a major source of the association’s income.

Generally, at the exhibitions, those magical girls who could sing and dance would go on stage to perform.

Those who could not do anything still had to give fans signatures, check-ins, and photos.

When Su Bai had still been a Super S-rank magical girl she had also participated in similar events, and she had quite a few fans of her own.

As for now…

Thinking of this, Su Bai let out a bitter laugh.

The way I am right now is exactly what fan culture often calls “falling from grace.”

“Does Xiao Bai want to go with me? I want to find a companion.” Jiang Yuelan asked.

“Me? Sure. There’s no harm in going to take a look. Anyway I don’t have anything else to do.” Su Bai nodded.

A witch going to a magical girl exhibition with unclear intentions. I must follow and keep an eye on it. Absolutely cannot let anything go wrong.

The weather today was extremely clear.

A light breeze blew through the poplars on campus, the leaves swaying and casting tree shadows.

Students walked in groups of two or three, occasionally chatting with one another.

In the morning the class advisor had gathered them and had the classmates introduce themselves to each other, then talked about the upcoming arrangements for military training and studies.

In short it was all boring trivial matters.

It was now afternoon.

Su Bai and Jiang Yuelan had just come out of the cafeteria together and were preparing to head to the school gymnasium—the venue for the magical girl exhibition.

Su Bai held a rather finely designed brochure in her hand, flipping it back and forth as she looked.

All kinds of stalls selling merchandise, figures, and goods were fully available.

There was also an evening party with some performance programs to watch.

“You can only say that an exhibition co-organized by the official side is much more professional than those spontaneously organized ones. There will even be several magical girls themselves present to meet fans.”

There was one A-rank and three B-rank magical girls on it.

The brochure also had their two-dimensional portraits, with introductions and such attached below.

They were all active magical girls Su Bai recognized, just not ones she was particularly familiar with.

“Sister Xiao Lan, is there any magical girl you like on this? I can help you snatch a signature.”

Jiang Yuelan looked at the several on the brochure, her expression unchanged as she shook her head.

“Hey hey hey, what are you two talking about? Is it the magical girl exhibition? I also want to go this afternoon. Can I go with you?”

Suddenly a voice came from beside the two of them.

A girl in sportswear with twin tails rushed over full of energy and waved in greeting.

“Whoa, who are you? When did you rush over? You scared me.” Su Bai was so startled by the girl’s extremely high-pitched tone that the brochure in her hand nearly fell to the ground.

The girl lively shook her head, causing her twin tails to sway along with it.

“Wuwuwuwu, you’re so rude. Take another good look at me~~”

She raised her volume a bit more, noisy enough that Su Bai wanted to cover her ears.

“You’re…” Su Bai leaned closer and carefully took a look.

Familiar!

She touched her chin, then rubbed her hands, recalling something yet also seeming to remember nothing.

“Classmate Yu Xiaoyan, right? During the self-introductions this morning you were very lively on stage.”

Jiang Yuelan spoke directly, politely calling out the girl’s name.

“Classmate Jiang is still better. Classmate Su is too heartless. She forgot about me after just one noon.”

Yu Xiaoyan exaggeratedly made a drooping-head motion, putting on a disappointed appearance.

“I just…” Su Bai awkwardly rubbed her nose.

Her attention had been entirely on Jiang Yuelan and she had completely failed to notice other people, which was why she had not remembered the other’s name.

“All right all right. Seeing that Classmate Su Bai looks so pleasing to the eye, I’ll forgive you. Next time you’re not allowed to forget. My name is Yu Xiaoyan, okay?”

Yu Xiaoyan did not overly tangle with Su Bai either and immediately changed the topic.

“Do you two also like magical girls?”