It was Saturday.
Liu Li awoke early that day, pulling his long hair into a determined bun.
He munched on steamed buns and spicy strips for breakfast, his phone propped horizontally on the bed.
He lay there, eyes fixed on the small screen.
He was waiting for news of another attack, eager to transform into Magical Girl Grey Moon and rush into action.
‘Attack quickly, attack quickly.’
‘Just attack already!’
‘As a righteous heroine, Magical Girl Grey Moon, I must never let anyone know these thoughts, lest I be deemed obsolete…’
“Emergency news: C-City Grand Hotel…”
“Here it comes! Transform!”
Liu Li immediately yelled, sprawling across the bed.
His body shrank, his hair turning silver-grey.
The pristine Magical Girl Grey Moon wriggled off the humble little bed, bounced up, and with a joyful expression, pushed open the door before dashing to the rooftop.
Taking flight, she frantically sped towards the reported location.
‘I refuse to be slower than Magical Girl Tri-color this time!’
Her heart pounding with resolve, the magical girl arrived at the news scene.
She met Scarlet Magical Girl’s gaze with a cold stare.
Scarlet Magical Girl stood over the already lifeless body of a monster, while the surrounding passersby looked up at Grey Moon.
“Guh…”
An unseemly sound escaped the magical girl’s lips.
‘This doesn’t count, it doesn’t count! Again!’
***
By noon, the magical girl had reverted to her true form in a secluded spot.
On his way home, Liu Li replenished the household’s depleted stock of steamed buns.
As he carried the buns, he passed a boutique bakery, inhaling the sweet, creamy scent wafting from within.
He secretly vowed that once he was rich, he would feast daily on two butter toasts, two fried eggs, plenty of meat, and bread slathered with sweet honey.
“Hahahaha~”
Liu Li chuckled foolishly, lost in his daydream, feeling utterly blissful just thinking about it.
“Ah! A monster! A monster has appeared!”
Liu Li’s head shot up as groups of business people in suits rushed past him, their faces etched with terror.
‘A monster attack nearby?’
Liu Li’s expression brightened with excitement.
‘This time, I can make it!’
Liu Li looked at the fresh bag of steamed buns in his hand, hesitating for a long moment, glancing left and right.
Ultimately, he headed into a narrow alley, using an outdoor air conditioner unit for cover.
“Transform.”
Grey Moon tucked the buns onto the air conditioner unit and immediately dashed out of the alley, moving against the flow of the panicked crowd.
“It’s Magical Girl Grey Moon!”
Along the way, someone recognized her.
A faint smile touched Grey Moon’s lips.
The small park ahead was the site of the attack.
Grey Moon leaped over the green belt and charged straight towards it, her gaze landing on a grotesquely swollen, obese man whose arms had mutated into large crab pincers.
‘Finally, finally, I see a living monster!’
Grey Moon’s heart swelled with an excitement akin to seeing a long-lost family member upon spotting the live monster.
Even her typically cold lips couldn’t help but curve upwards; she couldn’t wait to eradicate it.
“Ahhh…!”
‘No—’
Grey Moon watched in despair as the monster let out a low, pained cry.
‘No, no, I won’t allow you to die by someone else’s hand!’
‘Ahhh…’
A familiar red halberd pierced through the monster’s body, tearing its putrid heart right out.
A gaping hole appeared in the monster’s torso.
Through this hole, Grey Moon’s widened eyes met Scarlet Magical Girl’s blood-splattered face.
“Oh…? Haha~”
Scarlet Magical Girl let out a surprised chuckle, her fangs peeking out as she grinned.
She roughly wiped the filthy blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, then brandished her halberd, flinging the monster’s tainted blood onto the ground.
“How about trying to be faster next time~?”
‘Faster?’
Grey Moon’s eyebrows shot up.
‘How much faster could she possibly be?’
She had been near the incident site, yet Scarlet Magical Girl still managed to beat her to it every single time.
Grey Moon couldn’t fathom how Scarlet Magical Girl achieved this.
‘Was she just coincidentally shopping nearby again?’
‘How could such a coincidence happen to her every single time?’
Grey Moon was suddenly overcome with a feeling of futility, like a gamer encountering an opponent using cheats.
A good citizen could only curse their bad luck, or else immediately succumb to darkness and deploy forbidden ‘box weapons’.
Applied to reality, this meant Grey Moon would punch Scarlet Magical Girl into oblivion, her healthy-skinned body evenly smeared across the ground, and then retrieve her pretty little fangs as a souvenir.
But such a thing…
‘That’s certainly not allowed, is it?’
Grey Moon sighed, her spirits somewhat dejected as she walked back.
Upon reaching the alley entrance, she discovered that the steamed buns she’d placed on the outdoor air conditioner unit had also been taken.
***
Touching down, Liu Li reverted to his true form.
He stared blankly at the spot where his steamed buns had been, his jaw clenching involuntarily.
His peripheral vision swept across the street outside, where order had been restored.
Tree shadows dappled across the tactile paving.
Under the bright sunlight, students walked in twos and threes, ice cream cones in hand, laughing and chatting.
Liu Li stood in the dark alley, his eyes fixed on their colorful, double-scoop ice cream, the tiny ice crystals glistening and reflecting the sunlight.
It wasn’t until the students passed the alley entrance and vanished from sight that Liu Li regained his focus, swallowing hard.
He sighed, ‘How wonderful, I wish I could have some too.’
Stepping back onto the street, he felt a pang of heartache, but still bought another portion of steamed buns.
Throughout the afternoon, one or two more monster attacks occurred.
No matter how quickly Liu Li transformed, he simply couldn’t make it in time.
Liu Li sat in a milk tea shop, sipping a glass of ice water as he waited for his evening fast-food shift to begin, watching Scarlet Magical Girl’s active figure on the news.
It seemed as though Magical Girl Grey Moon wasn’t really needed by anyone.
“Beep, beep…”
His phone alarm rang, signaling that it was time for work.
Liu Li put down his already empty glass of ice water and, under the staff’s ‘finally gone’ gaze, left the shop.
After walking a few steps, he arrived at the fast-food restaurant where he worked.
Donning his uniform, Liu Li approached the counter, where the manager repeatedly stressed that no mistakes could be made today; it was Saturday, and slacking off was strictly forbidden.
“Oh…”
Yet, Liu Li was so absentminded that nothing truly registered.
The moment he started working, he made mistake after mistake; the fries were either overcooked or he gave customers too much.
The manager’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and losing all patience, he roared in Liu Li’s ear, a torrent of harsh words pouring out.
This only made Liu Li’s heart pound faster and his hands tremble more.
Just as the manager was about to push Liu Li aside and take over the work himself, suddenly, with a low hum from all the equipment, the power in the store abruptly cut out.
Customers dining inside murmured in confusion, their uncertainty quickly turning to fear in the sudden darkness.
Liu Li stood blankly in front of the fryer, his heart, ironically, feeling quite relieved by the blackout.
“What’s going on?! Did the circuit breaker trip?”
The manager grumbled and cursed as he went to check the equipment, sparing Liu Li a scolding.
Seizing this precious moment of reprieve, Liu Li turned to look into the restaurant.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the entirety of C-City appeared dim and lightless, swallowed by the night.
Outside, on the street, car horns blared in an intermittent, ear-piercing, chaotic cacophony.
The entire city had lost power.
“What’s happening?”
Liu Li realized this might be a targeted attack.
He hurried to the back door, but paused, hesitating, as he reached for the handle.
The manager had said there was no room for error today.
Perhaps the power outage would resolve itself soon.
Even if it was an attack, Magical Girl Tri-color and the others could handle it, couldn’t they?
Magical Girl Grey Moon, in truth, didn’t really need to appear.
“Where are you going?”
Having checked and found no equipment issues within the store, the manager returned and saw Liu Li near the back door, frowning as he questioned him.
‘Where am I going?’
Liu Li was startled for a moment, realizing he couldn’t quite answer the manager’s question.
“I…”
He stammered slightly, unsure himself why he was doing this.
Perhaps it was a touch of rebellious impulse?
In any case, Liu Li didn’t want to stay in the store any longer.
“I’m just… going outside for some air.”
With that, he pushed open the door and stepped out.
“Haaah…”
The night air was always cool and refreshing, untainted by cooking fumes or exhaust.
Liu Li smiled, loving the sensation.
He walked into the familiar alley, placed a hand on his chest.
“Transform.”
Magical Girl Grey Moon, transforming into a shimmering silver-white meteor, appeared in the skies above C-City.
Countless people, plunged into panic and confusion by the blackout, looked up.
They watched as the magical girl carved a silver-white streak of hope across the night sky.