Go to work, and then educate magical girls.

Chapter 9 First Bloom

An Jinju was a little dazed at the moment.

She was looking through the strange man's file, trying to find any clues about Tang Feng, when Natsuko suddenly rushed in anxiously and started chattering away.

Although the other person spoke very quickly, she still understood.

"A calamity beast beyond the warning information? Preliminary detection indicates it's B-rank strength? Send me? Wait, wait, wait..."

Seeing that An Jinju seemed to be reluctant, Natsuko patiently explained.

"Although you are a magical girl from elsewhere and there is no explicit rule that you must participate in local extermination operations, we are indeed short-handed at the moment."

There are currently four active magical girls in Binhai City. Two B-rank girls have gone to deal with the warning incidents in the Flower District and Sparrow District respectively, one cannot be contacted at the moment, and the last one is too far away from the disaster site to make it in time.

I believe that as a magical girl, you must possess very noble character and will help us overcome this difficult time!

Natsuko stared intently at her. "Furthermore, you're an A-rank, so dealing with B-rank monsters must be a piece of cake for you. On behalf of the Binhai City Magical Girl Association and all its citizens, I extend my highest respect to you!"

As Natsuko spoke, she bowed deeply to An Jinju at a ninety-degree angle.

"Huh? But, but I..."

"There's no time to explain, please follow me!"

Natsuko led An Jinju to the rooftop of the building, where an armed helicopter was already on standby.

"While it can't match the speed of an A-rank magical girl, it has the advantage of conserving a lot of magic power, and with navigation and positioning, it can go directly to the disaster site!"

Without a word, Natsuko shoved An Jinju into the helicopter and closed the cabin door.

"I await your good news." She stood straight outside the cabin and waved to An Jinju.

The propellers began to vibrate and hum as the helicopter slowly took off.

"What should we do?!"

An Jinju stared blankly at the street scene that was getting smaller and smaller, inwardly groaning.

……

"Whoosh, whoosh—"

Several shells formed from corrosive liquid grazed past Shengxue's ears, her hair swaying wildly in the air currents created by the shells.

Saint Snow weaved through these dangerous shells; even a slight touch, let alone being directly hit, would greatly affect her movements.

The fluorescent white light emanating from her body shone even brighter.

Tang Feng's body lay quietly on the ground, lifeless.

Several more shells narrowly missed, but Shengxue's expression remained even calmer.

From a young age, she carried countless expectations on her shoulders.

Parents' expectations, teachers' expectations.

She was the "other people's child" that her classmates' parents talked about.

She deserves to be even better.

As she grew older, her parents hoped she would study medicine and inherit the family business, but she didn't want to; she wanted to become a magical girl.

His family didn't understand. Why would he choose such a dangerous profession when he could be enjoying a peaceful life, facing countless dangerous beasts and the possibility of an accident at any moment?

"The reason we can enjoy life so peacefully is because of the existence of magical girls," she said.

It is because magical girls sacrifice their time, energy, and even lives that people can live and work in peace and contentment.

"We've enjoyed the peace and security that magical girls have brought us for so long without a care in the world, so why can't I be the one to sacrifice myself?" she said.

Her parents still disagreed, and she couldn't persuade them, but she insisted on doing it.

They made a pact to study at the Magical Girl Academy for a year. If she didn't become a magical girl within that year, she would have to obey her family's arrangements and go back to study medicine.

She became the most outstanding student at the Magical Girl Academy.

But that's far from enough.

Half a year has passed, and she still hasn't become a real magical girl.

Her time is running out.

Everyone thought she was outstanding and had a great chance of becoming a magical girl, but no one knew the immense pressure she was under.

These pressures were suffocating her, leaving her with nowhere to release them.

If she said it out loud, others might think she was pretentious, that she was so outstanding but didn't even realize it.

She could only keep it all inside, and over time, she felt that she was getting sick from bottling it up.

Becoming a magical girl became a mental obsession for her, and she felt that she was getting further and further away from her goal.

But everyone around her had complete faith in her, while only she knew that without overcoming her inner demons, it would be difficult for her to become a magical girl.

One day, as she was going up the stairs, she noticed an adult man downstairs looking up at her.

From this angle, the view beneath her pleated skirt is completely visible.

She ran away in a panic.

When she reflected on it afterward, she suddenly realized that the pressure she felt had been fully released at that moment.

This is something extremely secret in the heart of a young girl.

If discovered, her public image will be completely overturned.

That man later became her teacher.

He was very good to her.

They became close friends and mentors, sharing everything.

The secret in her heart remained hidden, never told to anyone.

She confirmed it again today.

She could feel the pent-up pressure bursting forth like a floodgate being opened at that moment.

If she can continue to release her pent-up emotions, the knot in her heart will be completely untied, and she should be able to become a magical girl very soon.

But it was too late.

The man died in front of her while protecting her.

Ironically, magical girls are supposed to protect more people, but she can't even protect the people she wants to protect, and is even being protected by others.

She suddenly felt lost.

So what if he became a magical girl? He's already dead.

In the instant she was lost in confusion, a slug-like projectile flew towards her, nearly hitting her body.

She barely managed to avoid it, but the splattered slime clung to her clothes, corroding them even more thoroughly.

Then, the monster opened its huge mouth again, and with the same move as before, a barrage of slime projectiles rained down like a meteor shower.

At that moment, she seemed to hear several voices travel through time and space to her ears.

"Saint Yuki, you absolutely have to become a magical girl!"

It was the high-pitched shouts of Jinju.

"Saint Yuki, how beautiful it must have been to see you become a magical girl, but sadly I won't be able to..."

It was Tang Feng's regretful voice.

"You will see."

Saint Snow floated in the air, silently watching the falling meteor shower above, both awe-inspiring and beautiful.

A pale white light appeared on her body, flowing like ocean waves and growing ever stronger.

These rays of light gathered in her heart, condensing and compressing like a black hole.

The white magic was compressed to the point of being almost tangible, and there it gradually formed a heart shape.

That was the prototype of the Heart Gem.

A storm began to rage in the center of the scene.

In this space, all energy began to converge towards the nascent form of the Heart Gem.

The nascent gemstone, like a black hole, was insatiable, frantically absorbing and plundering more and more energy.

The rising storm shattered the meteor shower that symbolized death, and a torrential downpour of corrosive black slime fell.

When all living things on the ground were about to suffer annihilation, the energy swirling around the Heart Gem transformed into a fluorescent white light, neutralizing and dissolving the black corrosive slime.

The monstrous beast let out a sharp roar, spraying more corrosive slime from its enormous, cracked maw.

The energy storm that erupted from the nascent gemstone continued, the source of the fluorescent white energy seemed inexhaustible, and the black corrosive sap gradually showed signs of decline.

On the two distinct sides of black and white, the area occupied by white is getting larger and larger.

The stalemate didn't last long; finally, the black was completely swept away.

At this moment, the Heart Gem truly took shape.

The energy storm gradually subsided.

After the storm subsided, the figure of a petite girl appeared in the air.

She stood there quietly, elegant, pure, and breathtakingly beautiful.

Her long, silvery-white hair danced wildly in the afterglow of the storm, her pure white dress was adorned with delicate floral patterns, and long, silky sleeves and thin white stockings clung to her body, outlining her graceful and shapely limbs and creating an alluring silhouette.

Her hand emerged from her pure white sleeve and grasped an exquisitely intricate wand, inlaid with a silver-white transparent gem that shimmered with a divine light.

Tang Feng lay on the ground, looking at the girl in the air, his eyes gleaming with uncontrollable excitement and fervor.

That's a magical girl!

A magical girl awakens for the first time!

Even though he had seen many magical girls, he had seen very few of them awaken for the first time.

They have gathered unprecedented courage, love and hope. Everything they cherish, everything they believe in, and everything they yearn to protect will converge at this moment and bloom with the most beautiful and dazzling colors in the world.

Tang Feng called it the "first bloom" of the magical girls.

The initial awakening and blossoming is the most sacred, awe-inspiring, and inviolable.

This was fatally attractive to Tang Feng.

Tang Feng was undergoing an unusual internal struggle at this moment.

A voice told him to follow his instincts and rush forward now.

Another voice told him that what he longed for was the beautiful vision of magical girls, and he should not tarnish or trample on this beauty; this was his true nature.

"Don't forget what you did in Kyoto. You've already tainted all that is considered beautiful. One more won't make a difference." The first voice urged him wickedly.

"Don't forget why you left Kyoto. Find your original aspirations, Tang Feng." This was the second voice.

"You're a weirdo, following your instincts, doing whatever you want, and taking it all for granted."

"You were once human, and you once dreamed of becoming a magical girl, to protect the purest place in the depths of your heart."

Two voices argued incessantly in Tang Feng's mind.

The stunningly beautiful, silvery-white figure in the air was like a drug, tantalizing his soul. Though the figure remained perfectly still, it twisted like a snake in his eyes, crawling all over his internal organs and extending a devilish invitation to him.

The eccentric's rationality gradually took over.

Tang Feng slowly sat up from the ground.

The silver-white figure moved. Instead of immediately engaging the calamity beast in battle, she descended from the sky and came to Tang Feng's corpse.

The silver-white-clad girl seemed quite downcast. She had once longed to become a magical girl, but now that she had, she felt little excitement or thrill.

Looking at the inhuman body, she spoke with a choked voice.

"Teacher, wake up! The scene you want to see is right here when you open your eyes."

She slowly lowered her head, her moist eyes meeting Tang Feng's.

"..."

Tang Feng's head tilted to the side, and he turned back into a corpse.

.

An Jinju was in a helicopter, speeding towards this direction.

From the moment she was shoved into the helicopter, her mind was in a daze.

What to do, what to do, what to do?

Fighting a B-rank disaster beast is practically suicide, isn't it?

If her sister still had the Heart Gem, she would barely dare to fight the weakest C-rank opponent.

But right now, the Heart Gem has also been taken away by that strange man, Tang Feng.

She's just an ordinary mage now, and even the weakest monster she encounters can only flee for her life.

Are we really going to go and die?

An Jinju looked nervously out of the helicopter cabin.

With her current strength, jumping from this height would only guarantee her survival.

She glanced at the helicopter pilot again, several thoughts running through her mind.

If all else fails...

"You must be the legendary magical girl?" the helicopter pilot suddenly asked, his voice sounding like that of a young man.

"what?"

Feeling guilty, An Jinju was startled when she heard the other person speak.

"I've never seen a magical girl in person before! My hands are so shaky I can barely hold the control stick." The young driver's voice trembled with excitement.

An Jinju found it a bit strange, "You work at the Magical Girl Association, shouldn't you be dealing with magical girls all the time?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it. Even though I'm new here and only responsible for flying the helicopter, I haven't seen a single magical girl in the entire year. They never ride in these!"

The pilot sounded aggrieved, "They think helicopters are too cumbersome, so they just fly away whenever there's an emergency!"

"Oh, is that so?" An Jinju felt a little humiliated. So she was the only one who rode in a helicopter to fight monsters, or rather, was being attacked by monsters.

"Don't worry, I will go at full speed and I won't be much slower than you!" He was worried that the magical girl in front of him would also think the helicopter was too slow.

"Uh...it's okay to go slower."

An Jinju looked at the clouds rushing past the window, feeling uneasy.

The pilot thought the other party was deliberately provoking him, so he increased the speed again, and the entire fuselage was shaking slightly, clearly having reached the limit of the helicopter.

An Jinju rubbed her forehead, feeling a slight headache.

"If I weren't on a mission, I would definitely ask you for an autograph!" the driver said enthusiastically.

An Jinju was silent for a moment, then asked, "You really like magical girls?"

"No one in this world dislikes magical girls! But none of them like me as much as I do!"

"I work and study like crazy, dreaming of joining the Magical Girl Association, just so I can say a few words to a magical girl!"

"My dream has finally come true!"

The driver, struggling to contain his excitement, glanced at the navigation system and got down to business. "Honorable magical girl, we'll be arriving at the designated coordinates shortly."

An Jinju sensed the swirling storm outside the cabin and was secretly surprised.

A B-rank disaster beast can be this powerful.

Her heart wavered once again; if things continued like this, she would have no chance of survival.

The pilot then shouted, "It's very windy outside. The helicopter can't stay here for long. Would you like me to give you another ride?"

An Jinju did not respond immediately. Seeing this, the pilot gritted his teeth and piloted the helicopter toward the eye of the storm.

He hadn't reached the designated coordinates yet, and the magical girl hadn't told him to stop beforehand, so he was determined to get her to her destination no matter what.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely get you there!" the driver shouted with a ferocious expression.

The helicopter emitted a teeth-grinding creaking sound, the sound of metal collapsing as it was about to fall apart.

"That's enough, I'm going down now!"

An Jinju opened the hatch, and the fierce wind made her hair extremely messy, while the low air pressure made it difficult for her to breathe.

The view below was shrunk countless times like a map. The houses looked like building blocks from the helicopter, and the roads were like silver ribbons. At this height, you couldn't even see a person's shadow.

But she saw the shadow of the calamity beast; in the eye of the storm, a dark shadow several stories high was slowly writhing.

If she continues like this, she will only die.

The driver turned his head for the first time, looking at An Jinju with a look of excitement as if he were seeing his idol.

An Jinju was stunned.

She saw the other person's face, but it had no lower half; the entire chin was made of a metal prosthesis.

At the junction of metal and flesh, horrific scars are faintly visible.

He spoke excitedly, his metal jaws opening and closing, "Magical girl, may I know your name?"

An Jinju was silent for a moment.

"Magical girl, Jinju."

She released her grip on the hatch and leaped towards the eye of the storm.

(End of this chapter)