“Mm, pink really does look better.”

Bai Xiaoxiao, who loved pink, was very pleased with the two outfits she’d bought today. But when it came to her favorite, girly pink was still the prettiest.

Just as she was nearing home, she ran into her older brother, who’d just come back from outside.

“Huh? Big brother?”

Bai Xiaoxiao spotted the groceries in Li Xinghe’s hand at a glance, and only then remembered that every other day, her brother went out in the morning to buy fresh vegetables.

“Oh? Xiaoxiao, did you just get home too?”

What a coincidence. Bai Xiaoxiao had left first, but somehow they’d both arrived home at the same time.

If those two blond thugs hadn’t hassled her, Bai Xiaoxiao would definitely have gotten home before Li Xinghe. Just thinking about those punks made her furious. They’d ruined her perfectly good mood.

Still, she’d given them a little punishment of their own—enough to make sure they’d never lay a hand on a strange girl again for the rest of their lives, probably. They’d gotten a vivid taste of the illusion of being a woman and getting violated by a man. It was only an illusion, but it felt real enough to scare the piss out of them.

“Mm, I just got back from buying a few things.”

Li Xinghe was carrying quite a lot, so after Bai Xiaoxiao opened the door for him, she let her brother go in first, then closed it behind them.

Li Xinghe was drenched in sweat. He sat downstairs in front of the air conditioner while Bai Xiaoxiao went back to her room to admire her new clothes.

She changed into the little pink dress and matched it with her new hair clip. Then she tried a new hairstyle, tying her short, shoulder-length hair into a ponytail and sweeping her bangs over to the right. With her adorable face, she looked like a model student.

If she were still in school, she’d probably be the campus beauty~

Her short pink-and-white skirt showed off just the right amount of her long, pale legs. Her skin was so smooth and delicate it looked like it would yield to the lightest touch, and the whole room seemed to brim with youthful energy.

A sweet, distinctly girlish scent filled the air. She hadn’t even put on perfume, yet she still smelled so fresh. After posing in front of the mirror, she took a few pictures and sent them to her friends. Senior Lu Wanxin replied in an instant with a heart emoji, while Senior Cai Mengmeng sent back a lily.

Bai Xiaoxiao wasn’t sure what Senior Cai Mengmeng meant, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it.

“Hehehe, my Xiaoxiao’s gotten prettier again. I wonder which girl’s going to get lucky enough to end up with you.”

Senior Lu Wanxin was as blunt as ever. According to her, girls should like girls. There was no need for men at all.

Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t quite agree, but when she thought about it, maybe she wouldn’t mind if two girls got together.

But only if she liked the other person.

Unfortunately, she’d never really been in love, so she had no idea how any of it worked.

She’d gone to girls’ schools her whole life. After graduating, she hadn’t even had the chance to meet any male coworkers before she was chosen to become a Magical Girl. The team she joined after signing her contract was made up entirely of girls, too.

Looking back on her life, it seemed she really hadn’t had much luck with the opposite sex.

Apart from the older brother she had now, who wasn’t related to her by blood...

“Senior Wanxin, could you please act normal? Xiaoxiao hasn’t even thought about something that far off yet.”

After she hit send, Senior Lu Wanxin replied with a string of kiss emojis.

“Xiaoxiao, did you know? Spaghetti is straight until it gets wet.”

Faced with Lu Wanxin’s baffling comment, Bai Xiaoxiao simply replied with a question mark.

“What I mean is, the only reason you haven’t fallen for a girl yet is that you haven’t met one who makes you fall in love at first sight.”

What was that supposed to mean? She’d suddenly hit her with such a ridiculous argument... Though, maybe it wasn’t completely unreasonable?

Bai Xiaoxiao knew Senior Lu Wanxin was trying to tease her, but when she thought about it, she had seen her fair share of forbidden romances growing up. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen girls getting all lovey-dovey with each other. She’d even read a few popular yuri novels and manga. Whenever she saw the two heroines kiss, her face would turn bright red. She’d been too young for that sort of thing.

“Senior Wanxin, have you ever met a girl you fell for at first sight?”

She asked as if she were joking, but Bai Xiaoxiao really wanted to know whether Senior Lu Wanxin meant what she said.

“Of course. It was probably ten years ago. I was only a teenager back then. A C-Rank beast suddenly appeared and nearly destroyed my home. That was when I met her. I’ll never forget that Savior Red Lotus. I’d never imagined there could be a woman in this world so beautiful and so powerful. Following in her footsteps has been my dream ever since. It’s a shame I only ever got to see her that one time.”

Reading Senior Lu Wanxin’s serious reply, Bai Xiaoxiao finally understood why she liked girls so much.

So she’d been joking around all this time. She thought girls were wonderful because Crimson Red Lotus had once saved her, leaving a deep impression on her when she was young.

Powerful and beautiful—she’d become the kind of woman Lu Wanxin wanted to follow.

“So, Senior Wanxin, you like women like the Savior Saintess?”

“To be precise, I like Lady Hong Li, the Savior Saintess.”

A Magical Girl known as the Crimson Red Lotus and Savior Saintess, codenamed Hong Li. The strongest witch to appear since the birth of Magical Girls. Sadly, she vanished eight years ago along with the world-ending monster Chimera, and hasn’t been seen since.

“So Senior Lu Wanxin has a past like that...”

Maybe she’d always pushed herself forward on this path because she wanted to become a powerful woman like the Crimson Red Lotus, someone who could save humanity.

“But that was all in the past. The person I like most now is you, Xiaoxiao. Girls like you were born to be devoured by other girls. Hehehehe.”

Sure enough, Senior Lu Wanxin couldn’t stay serious for more than a few seconds before changing the subject again.

Still, Bai Xiaoxiao was happy. For Senior Lu Wanxin to compare her to the Crimson Red Lotus was practically the highest honor a Magical Girl could receive.

“By the way, do you want to check out the zoo tomorrow? Captain Qu Mengting didn’t detect any changes in magical energy, but something feels off to me. It’s only been a few days since that A-Rank beast, the Returning Sea Demon Lizard, appeared, and now there’s news of what might be another beast about to be born.”

It was true. Several hundred beast attacks happened across the country every year, but spread across all the provinces and cities, that only came to one or two a year on average for each place.

Now another one had appeared in Tianhai City after just a few days. Statistically, it didn’t make much sense.

“What about Senior Mengmeng? Has she recovered mentally?”

“She’s almost back to normal. She should be full of energy again tomorrow morning.”

It was hard to believe anyone could escape the shadow of death in just two or three days. But Bai Xiaoxiao had asked Senior Cai Mengmeng herself, and all she’d gotten in reply was an OK emoji.

Physical wounds healed easily, but mental ones took time.

“Mm. I’ll tell my brother later that I’m going to the zoo tomorrow.”

Without even realizing it, Bai Xiaoxiao had started letting Li Xinghe know whenever she went out. Otherwise, he might suddenly find her missing and start to worry.

After all, he was her new family. Letting him know before she went out was only natural.