“This mayor position, only you can take it.”
With a lollipop in her mouth, Kim Erise strolled lazily down the street, clumsily playing with the butterfly knife she had just bought from a street stall, letting the sharp blade intimately touch her fair skin countless times, yet without drawing any blood.
“I refuse.”
The girl smoothed her messy, voluminous red ponytail and answered in a slurred voice, “I’ve told you countless times, there’s no room for discussion.”
“No, listen to me,” the voice on the other end of the earpiece grew anxious, its decibels rising several notches,
“If you don’t become the mayor of Silver Shore City, then the whole world might really be destroyed!”
“Then let it be destroyed,” she stretched languidly, spat out the little that was left of the lollipop, and pulled out a new one from her pocket,
“There are so many magical girls in the council, just pick one to take office, why does it have to be me?”
“Because they either lack prestige or they’re lunatics,” the girl talking to her sighed, her voice weakening,
“Really, Erise, in the vast council, you’re the most suitable candidate, only you have the prestige and rationality to guide Silver Shore City towards a bright future, only you…”
Beep… Beep…
Slamming the earpiece shut, Kim Erise skillfully tore off the wrapper of the lollipop, then tossed the lollipop into the air, letting it fall perfectly into her slightly open mouth, and began to suck on it.
Overcast turning into drizzle, truly wonderful weather.
Staring at the gloomy sky, she suddenly felt something blocking her way, only to see a girl in Gothic Lolita attire extending her arm, clearly trying to stop her from proceeding.
“There’s a parade ahead, we should avoid it.”
“No need,” Kim Erise adjusted her casual windbreaker, put away the butterfly knife, and scoffed,
“I’ll make a bet with you, Mo, those people will tuck their tails between their legs and won’t dare to utter a single fart when they see us.”
“A string of candied hawthorns.”
Mo’s brief reply indicated her tacit agreement, but she took off the several hairpins clipped to her long silver hair and clenched them in her palm.
“Hehe, okay, it’s a deal.”
As the saying goes, one hears the sound before seeing the person. Less than half a minute after the girls started walking, they could faintly hear the noisy sounds coming from the other end of the street.
Although they couldn’t make out the words, they sounded quite orderly, as if chanting some slogans.
After turning two street corners, the narrow alley suddenly opened up, and the dense parade just happened to collide with the two of them.
“Down with the magical girls!”
“Humans forever!”
“Eliminate the evil monsters!”
“Defend our home!”
Led by a dwarf, the crowd raised various flags and banners, their shouts rising wave after wave, accompanied by the sounds of gongs and drums that made the eardrums ache slightly.
The rats foraging in the garbage heap were also startled by the deafening noise, squeaking as they fled their warm dining table and hid in their burrows, shivering.
The originally orderly parade suddenly experienced a burst of commotion, like a mobile phone ringing in a harmonious chorus, which soon evolved into a large-scale chaos and uproar, causing the leading dwarf to feel angry.
“What are you doing? Stay in order, don’t push, there aren’t any riot police, you all…”
Holding a megaphone, he tried to maintain order, but before he could finish speaking, he froze in place like a statue, his jaw dropping to the ground, never to be closed again.
“It’s a magical girl!”
A man next to him couldn’t help but shout after realizing what was happening, and the sound was amplified by the megaphone, making it clear to everyone on the street.
In an instant, the world stopped turning.
Kim Erise and Mo walked side by side, unhurriedly, through the parade.
Wherever they went, people scattered around them, like penguins seeing a seal, obediently and silently making way.
Some people curiously sized them up, while more people lowered their heads and avoided their gaze, afraid of accidentally angering those monsters and bringing disaster upon themselves.
There were also a few brave ones who glared at them, casting hateful looks, wishing they could devour them alive.
The parade fell into a dead silence, with only the sound of the two girls’ footsteps echoing in the muddy water, occasionally accompanied by the sound of a pebble being kicked away.
Until a girl abruptly emerged from the crowd, blocking their path.
“Um, big sister, would you like to buy some candied hawthorns? They’re very delicious.”
Like the people around her, she was wearing tattered gray clothes, her face was dirty with mud, her hair was messy and even lice could be seen, and the so-called candied hawthorns in her hand were just a few strings of rotten, spoiled fruits, with flies buzzing around them.
Although she was used to it, Kim Erise still frowned subconsciously and rolled her eyes: although the pitiful look was very cute and unbearable, there was really no way to eat this stuff. So she waved her hand to refuse and left.
Mo, on the other hand, took out a few small coins from her pocket, counted them, and placed them in the girl’s hand, gently taking the candied hawthorns, “Is this enough money?”
“Enough, enough, enough, definitely enough!”
Unable to believe that she had suddenly obtained so much money, the girl’s expression became surprised and delighted, and even her words became stuttering, “W-wait, I, I’ll get you change…”
“No need to change, keep it.”
Gently touching the other’s head, Mo blew on the candied hawthorns and floated away, leaving behind the girl who was tightly clutching the coins in her hand, and a pile of dead flies that no one noticed.
“Here, the candied hawthorns I owe you, have been purified.”
The two, having exited the parade, turned into a street that was much cleaner than before, and arrived in front of a store with multiple security doors.
“Pah, this is awful.”
Kim Erise, having knocked on the door, chewed up the lollipop in her mouth, took the candied hawthorns handed over by her companion, took a bite of the fruit that didn’t look as spoiled as before, then spat it out with a grimace, throwing the entire string ten thousand miles away, “Making it like this is really wasting food.”
“You have to understand, after all, it’s a problem for the people in this area to survive, it’s already not easy to get some rotten food.”
Mo, having put on her hair clips again, chewed on the candied hawthorns bite by bite, without showing any disgust – or rather, her face never had much expression from beginning to end.
“Take it easy, we don’t have the ability to help everyone,” Kim Erise put a new lollipop back in her mouth, kicked the door a few times with force, making a dull sound,
“And I’m no longer planning to care about anyone other than you.”
“Then how do you explain the purpose of this trip?”
Mo took out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it over, “This task that the lunatics from Argo entrusted you with.”
“This is the last time.”
Kim Erise snatched the paper, glanced at the words on it, then crumpled it into a ball and threw it to a bald, burly man who had just opened the door,
“We’re here, where’s the goods?”
“Yeah, the last time billion.”
Mo, with her eyes closed, continued to chew her candied hawthorns slowly and shook her head gently.