My ex-girlfriend is a magical girl junior?

Chapter 272 Starfrost's Future Plans

Roland picked up the teacup on the table, but did not drink it immediately. He simply felt the warmth from the cup and carefully considered his words. After a moment, he slowly spoke, "To be honest, when Lord Xingxian first visited our Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, he clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with our work. His unquestionable and assertive demeanor left a deep impression on this old man and brought considerable pressure."

"That's precisely why," he changed the subject, a genuine curiosity showing on his face, "that when I heard from the on-site reports that she planned to hand over all subsequent command to you, I was quite surprised."

"Even though you showed great strength and performed quite impressively when you saved the day, logically speaking, your identities should be that of a Crescent Moon-level magical girl stationed in this city, and — a Rainbow Light-level inspector with an even higher status."

"She voluntarily relinquished command—this is completely out of character for her previous assertive style."

As Xing Shuang listened to Roland's narration, the image of Xing Xian, who was proud yet unexpectedly frank and adorable at times, involuntarily surfaced in her mind, and a slightly helpless, gentle smile appeared on her face.

"I didn't expect her to make that decision suddenly, and I didn't expect the field team leader to be so efficient. She shared the news with everyone almost immediately. To be honest, I wasn't prepared at all."

"Hehe, as an outsider, I can't judge who is more suitable to make decisions between you and Lord Xingxian," Roland said with a gentle chuckle, half-jokingly, upon hearing Xingshuang's "complaint."

"However, to say something that might be a bit impolite to her, if I had to choose between the two of you to be the one to communicate with me, I would definitely choose you without hesitation."

"After all, her communication style—well, it's a bit too direct."

"Since she herself agrees to hand over command to you, I naturally assume that you are the most suitable person to be the backbone. The keen insight and accurate analysis of the situation that you showed when you communicated with me before also prove this point."

Faced with Roland's almost "praise," Xing Shuang just smiled awkwardly, neither accepting it nor denying it.

Roland, completely oblivious to Xingshuang's embarrassment, continued with a smile, "And what surprises me even more is that she actually called you 'senior'? So, those juniors you mentioned who relied on and trusted you so much include Lord Xingxian?"

"That's right, it includes her." Xing Shuang nodded slightly, acknowledging this.

However, upon hearing Roland mention this again, her mind involuntarily flashed back to the audacious actions those three troublesome juniors had taken against her not long ago. Her expression turned somewhat strange once more. "This is truly—unbelievable," Roland exclaimed sincerely. "For proud magical girls, the title 'senpai' shouldn't be used so casually, right?"

"Even if you displayed Rainbow Light level strength, logically, she should at most address you by your code name, but..."

"Shouldn't I address you as 'senpai' like my other two Stardust-level companions?"

Roland leaned forward slightly, his voice becoming low and solemn: "Perhaps I should change my question. Instead of asking what your relationship with her is, I should ask—Miss Xingshuang, what is your true identity?"

"Unless your strength has reached the Sun-level" — but that doesn't explain your performance in the previous battle.

"If you're truly a legendary magical girl of that caliber, then failing to overwhelm Mirror Lord's mirror image with sheer power actually made you seem a bit...less impressive?"

Roland pondered for a long time before finally abandoning the word "mediocre" and choosing a description that sounded less offensive.

Xing Shuang keenly sensed the caution and goodwill in Roland's words. She shook her head with a smile and said frankly, "There's no need to worry about such things, Director Roland. My strength is far from reaching the level of Jiao Yang."

"As for why Hoshino calls me that, it's actually quite simple. It's because I was indeed her senior, and a magical girl considered a 'legend' within the Magic Kingdom."

"So you are now—" Roland's expression instantly turned extremely surprised, and he quickly asked.

Xing Shuang's voice suddenly lowered, her expression complex: "For reasons I haven't even figured out myself, I lost all my previous memories and most of my power, and even my physical form underwent a huge change. As for the result—"

She glanced at her slender hands clad in pearl-white gloves, then shrugged helplessly, summarizing with a touch of self-reproach: "—This is what you can observe right now."

"I appeared in this city without any explanation after losing all my memories, and—I was re-registered here."

"Before this, Xingxian had been trying to find my whereabouts, but to no avail. It wasn't until the local magical girls of Jiangchuan City were ambushed by Jingjue that she was sent here by the kingdom to investigate the situation, and finally—by chance, she met me again."

"And after she recognized me through a unique technique closely related to the soul, even though her current full strength might be stronger than mine, she still insists on calling me senior and willingly accepts my command—I think this should be the answer to all your confusion, Director Roland."

"I see—" Roland instantly understood. He leaned back in his chair, a knowing expression on his face.

"No wonder from our first meeting I felt your understanding and speech were quite mature, and your —"

"Well, some of the youthful physiques don't match at all. It turns out all of this is because you lost your original power and memories."

"So, your amazing performance in today's battle with Mirror Lord wasn't due to a huge increase in your strength over the past week, but rather—that you've slightly regained a bit of your original power?"

I'll take this as a compliment on my maturity and composure—although the word "childish" still bothers me a little.

Upon hearing Roland describe her appearance as "youthful," Xing Shuang's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, but she quickly returned to normal.

She smiled calmly and replied, "Yes, you can understand it that way."

"Furthermore, I will try to regain more power and those lost memories; this is something I must do."

Roland listened to these words and gave an encouraging smile, nodding gently as he said, "I sincerely hope you succeed, Miss Starfrost, even if—it might lead you to decide to leave this city someday in the future."

"While from a selfish perspective, it would be best for Jiangchuan City if you could stay here, I also understand that in this long war between us and the Void Realm, we need a 'Sun-level' legend in far more places than just this small city."

"Thank you for your blessing," Xing Shuang lowered her gaze slightly, her tone carrying a complex emotion that no one could detect, "and I also hope that the final result will not disappoint Xing Xuan."

Although she said that, Xing Shuang understood that Xing Xuan would eventually be disappointed. After all, the system's answer had clearly told her that the Xing Shuang of the past could never come back.

This means that even if the future self can become as powerful as Xingshuang was, or even more powerful, the self will never be able to retrieve the memories that Xingshuang lost, nor will the precious memories shared with Xingxian be available.

But if the other party feels disappointed because of this, she doesn't really have a good solution.

Even worse, one day in the future, Xingxian will learn that she is not the real Xingshuang, but a "fake" who has inherited her power and taken her name.

The immense blow caused by such a fact is far heavier than a simple "loss" because there was once hope.

Even though she knew that Xingxian was essentially a very strong child, she could easily empathize with her by simply comparing herself to the people she cared about most.

The despair of falling from the peak of hope into the abyss is probably something the other party cannot bear.

Xiao Li also holds a very similar attitude towards herself as Xing Shuang as Xing Xian.

From this perspective, her choice to perfectly portray "Xingshuang" seems to have transformed from a simple rejection stemming from shame into a sense of responsibility—"I have to do this."

Thinking of this, Xing Shuang sighed helplessly in her heart.

These younger generation members are, in a sense, all troublesome "problem children" —

Roland, of course, had no idea of ​​the complex thoughts in Xingshuang's mind at that moment; he only heard the worry in her words that "Xingxian might be disappointed."

He hesitated briefly before finally speaking, tentatively asking, "So, Miss Xingshuang, putting aside the matter of power, how do you plan to recover your lost memories? Do you have any specific plans?"

Xingshuang was slightly taken aback, but this was indeed a question she had considered before, so she answered almost without thinking: "After the matter concerning Mirror Lord is settled and it is confirmed that there are no problems with the city's protective forces, I plan to have Xingxian take me to Esmeralda."

"According to her previous account, I disappeared while carrying out an extremely dangerous mission, and then appeared in Jiangchuan City in a somewhat mysterious way."

"I hope—at least I can ask the kingdom's high-ranking officials who assigned me the mission what the mission was all about. Maybe—I can get some useful clues."

"I see, that's not a bad idea." Roland nodded knowingly, then joked, "As a former legend of the Magic Kingdom, your return must bring a huge surprise to those younger generations who admire you, right?"

"It might be a shock—" Xingshuang silently complained to herself, then shook her head slightly, a slightly troubled smile on her face: "No, I plan to go disguised as an ordinary Stardust-level newcomer, and I will also tell Xingxian in advance not to be too high-profile. It's best to let the kingdom's higher-ups know about this."

"If she doesn't agree—at the very least, make sure she doesn't publicize my 'return'."

"Oh? Why is that?" Roland asked curiously.

"After all, he was a legend in the past." Although I don't remember him anymore, there are probably many juniors like Hoshizora who hold me in such high esteem.

"To be honest, I'd be a little troubled if they knew I was as enthusiastic as Hoshizora after my return."

O

"Furthermore, there are probably some magical girls who harbor a strong desire to challenge me—that is, the former Starfrost—and try to defeat me to prove themselves."

"My goal is to find out exactly what happened back then. If talking to these magical girls takes up too much time, it won't serve my purpose."

"I see, I really didn't consider that." Roland shook his head with a chuckle, then said, "In this respect, you, as a senior, have thought things through much more thoroughly."

"If you also had three juniors who conspired to forcibly kiss you and succeeded, you would definitely think carefully about this kind of problem."

"I dare not assume that the three of them are just special cases. If they were really surrounded by a group of fanatical juniors, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Xingshuang mentally scoffed again, but maintained a calm expression and nodded slightly: "In short, this is my plan for the future. Only after I have truly regained my past memories and have a clear understanding of everything will it be more appropriate to have formal exchanges with the kingdom."

"Although you said before that this city is not the only place that needs my strength, I will probably stay in this city for a long time before my strength and memories are fully restored."

"I understand." Roland nodded solemnly. "I respect, and am extremely grateful for, your choice, Miss Starfrost."

O

"Well then, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. I've learned a lot of things I never knew before because of it. Thank you."

"It's nothing, just a simple sharing of information. Isn't that what we've done before?" Starfrost said with a smile.

"No, there are still many differences." Roland denied this statement, but did not elaborate further.

He then said, "Well then, I will immediately make the necessary arrangements based on the results we discussed earlier, so I won't waste any more of your time."

Xing Shuang nodded, slowly rose from the guest sofa, and bid farewell to Roland: "Okay, if you want to contact me..."

"Let Jiying deliver the message."

"Understood, I'll have Xiaoyue take you there," Roland said with a smile.

"Okay, Director Roland, see you next time."

Xing Shuang turned around, gently pushed open the heavy office door, and left the office.

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