Having seen Genbu Omori out of the school gates and offered his comfort, Zhou Huanan finally turned back. In his hand, he held the snacks he had acquired, but a small unease settled in when he realized Liu Li, despite being called away by a teacher, still hadn’t returned to him.
A feeling of unease began to prick at him. He headed back to the classroom office, searching for Liu Li, but she was nowhere to be found.
A subtle apprehension tightened in his chest, making him wonder why Liu Li would abandon him and head home without a word.
‘Could it be that…’
Zhou Huanan suddenly understood. Liu Li might have witnessed him accepting Genbu Omori’s gift and misinterpreted the gesture. His heart pounding, he pulled out his phone and quickly messaged her.
“Liu Li? Why did you go back without telling me?”
“Look, these are cookies I got from the class monitor. She wanted to get closer to me.”
“Too bad for her, she doesn’t grasp that some things, once gone, are lost forever. I didn’t say yes.”
“Why don’t you come to my place after school? We can play games and finish this box of cookies.”
Zhou Huanan sent a flurry of messages to Liu Li, yet as the minutes slowly elapsed on his phone, there was still no sign of a reply. A growing sense of unease gnawed at him.
Usually.
Liu Li, typically glued to her phone, always responded to him in an instant. It was only recently that her reliance on her device had somewhat diminished, resulting in slightly slower replies.
But not to this extent.
Zhou Huanan had already arrived home by car, yet Liu Li remained utterly silent. Just as his worry reached a peak, and he resolved to go to her house to personally clear up any potential misunderstanding, a new distraction arrived.
It was then that he finally noticed the barrage of messages from Dr. Zhuge.
“There’s an announcement today: all personnel on the first and second floors of the Banjao base are not working.”
“But don’t forget, you are not among them.”
“Go to work.”
Zhou Huanan could practically feel Dr. Zhuge’s murderous intent radiating through the screen. He clicked his tongue in exasperation, cursing his rotten luck.
It seemed the busier one was, the more tasks piled up.
He hastily rummaged through his home, retrieved his combat uniform, and then sprinted into the nearby alley to quickly change. Fully clad, he then sped off towards Banjao’s secret base.
Preoccupied as he was, he naturally failed to notice the pair of gleaming crimson eyes, belonging to Magical Girl Grey Moon, that had finally revealed themselves above him. She descended silently, landing just behind him.
The moment Grey Moon touched down in the alley, a single thought was all it took to release her transformation.
She transformed into a less conspicuous girl, donning a black mask. While Liu Li’s tracking skills were admittedly atrocious, Zhou Huanan’s frantic rush to get to work perfectly masked her amateurish pursuit.
And so,
****
The entrance to Banjao’s secret base.
Relisa Victoria, a student from Sakura International High School’s Second Year E Class, had been lurking nearby, her presence concealed by a hoodie and a mask.
Before classes, and after the final bell.
Victoria had been staking out this location for well over five hours today.
Having confirmed that Banjao’s base had seen no personnel movements all day, and that the situation was indeed as ‘that woman’ had described, leaving a convenient window of opportunity, Victoria made her decision.
“Transform.”
Emerging from the alley once more was Magical Girl Glimmering Yellow, an elegant figure radiating justice and shimmering with golden light. She pulled out her phone, recalling the woman’s instructions: all she had to do was dial 114514 on the phone booth.
Unaware of the sequence’s true meaning, she simply typed the numbers in, offering no comment.
In a flash, the unassuming red phone booth shifted, transforming into an elevator that whisked Magical Girl Glimmering Yellow into the depths below.
And just a moment after Magical Girl Glimmering Yellow descended.
Zhou Huanan, teetering on the brink of being late for work and facing the immediate wrath of his superior, arrived just moments later, albeit tardily.
Even clad in his Banjao combat uniform, he was panting heavily. He shoved open the phone booth door, punched in the password, and entered the subterranean base.
And then.
Next came Liu Li, in her casual clothes. The misty exhalations of her breath dampened her black mask as she watched the Banjao combatant disappear into the alley, leaving behind only an impossibly conspicuous phone booth.
Liu Li, who had devoured countless manga in her time, slowly removed her mask. As the stifling heat trapped beneath it evaporated, the young girl greedily inhaled a deep breath of fresh, liberating air.
A little timidly, she approached the phone booth.
She stared blankly at the phone in front of her.
Liu Li was utterly bewildered, unsure what number to input to gain entry. In her rising panic, she glanced up, noticing a subtle hint: the numbers “114” were displayed.
‘It couldn’t be that, could it?’
It was a cryptic numerical sequence that a righteous, pure magical girl could never, and should never, have knowledge of. Yet, it posed no challenge to Liu Li, who had once been male.
She extended a small hand, her delicate frame trembling slightly. With a hesitant touch, she meticulously entered “114514” onto the antiquated telephone dial, one digit at a time. The moment she completed the final input…
A violent sensation of weightlessness came from beneath her feet.
“W-waaahhh!!”
Overwhelmed by terror, Liu Li instantly transformed into Magical Girl Grey Moon the very second the feeling of weightlessness engulfed her.
****
“Ding~”
Banjao’s underground base.
With the familiar ‘ding’ of the elevator doors at the entrance, Magical Girl Glimmering Yellow emerged, gun held at the ready. Her gaze swept across the vast hall, yet she found no Banjao personnel within.
She nodded in satisfaction. It appeared the doctor hadn’t dared to play any tricks on her after all.
Following the route Dr. Zhuge had provided on her phone, Glimmering Yellow set off in search of Magical Girl Violet.
And just as her figure disappeared at the end of the corridor.
Another familiar “Ding~”
Zhou Huanan burst from the elevator as if his backside were aflame. He first gazed around in confusion at the cavernous hall, once bustling with people and monsters, now eerily empty.
“I’m so unaccustomed to this.”
Zhou Huanan muttered this, yet he didn’t pause. He rushed to the end of the corridor, took the descending elevator, and clocked in for his shift.
“Ding~”
Moments later, as the elevator doors parted once more, the sacred, aloof, and stunning Magical Girl Grey Moon stepped out, utterly devoid of fear.
Her crimson eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, yet her gaze found not a single target.
She had been prepared to instantly annihilate anyone audacious enough to attack her.
Yet, within Banjao’s vast underground complex—a sprawling expanse capable of accommodating thousands—Magical Girl Grey Moon couldn’t spot a single soul within her field of vision.
‘Was Banjao base’s security really this lax?’
Grey Moon subtly raised an eyebrow. She lifted a high-heeled foot and stepped inside, her original objective being to locate the Magma Demon’s core and reclaim it.
Actually.
Magical Girl Grey Moon harbored immense confidence in her infiltration abilities, for as any stealth game or the tenets of the Berserker’s Creed would teach…
‘As long as the enemy doesn’t discover you, it counts as a successful infiltration.’
‘In other words, if you simply eliminate anyone who spots you, you’re still one of the world’s finest assassins, perfectly capable of stealing any treasure you desire!’
True to this logic, Magical Girl Grey Moon, already weary of tedious formalities, began furiously kicking open every single door she encountered within the Banjao base.
Her hope was to capture a Banjao combatant and compel them to reveal the hiding places of the treasures.
What the Magical Girl didn’t know, however, was a crucial detail.
Today.
Banjao base was closed for the day. Little Grey Moon was left feeling lonely, desolate, and utterly cold. No matter how many doors she kicked open, it was all in vain.
Furthermore, the doors that the loli-sized Grey Moon so forcefully kicked open, once opened, remained permanently ajar.
****
The following day, when Dr. Zhuge groggily awoke in her office and pushed her door open, she was met with a startling sight.
Most of the doors in the base were utterly demolished, prompting an incredulous, almost absurd expression from her, as if to say, ‘No, seriously, guys?’
‘Did Glimmering Yellow and Banjao really have such deep enmity?’
‘How could she not even leave a single door intact?’
Of course, these were all concerns for another time.