The Weight of Control

After being thoroughly exhausted all morning, Chloe found herself even less able to leave her bed.

She lay idly, lost in thought, her eyes fixed on the world outside her window, filled with a profound sense of bewilderment.

Perhaps I should scroll through my phone for a bit.

Retrieving the special mobile phone issued by the Watchtower, Chloe unlocked it with her face and began scrolling. Outwardly, the phone appeared no different from any ordinary device. According to the Watchtower personnel, it boasted numerous features tailored for a Magical Girl’s duties. Yet, all she had discovered so far was its remarkable durability; despite constant use, it remained utterly scratch-free.

The moment she connected to the local Wi-Fi, Chloe found her social media applications bombarded with notifications, the conspicuous ’99+’ red dots impossible to ignore.

She couldn’t recall having grown particularly close to anyone at school since her transformation into a girl. Who, then, could be showing such concern for her?

Tapping on the icon of the penguin wearing a scarf (TL Note: A reference to the logo for the popular Chinese messaging app, QQ), Chloe saw a friend’s message thread, boldly marked with ’99+’, appear prominently at the very top.

The profile picture depicted a cartoon Magical Girl, and Chloe wracked her brain for a long time before she finally remembered who it was. It was a girl from her class, an ardent admirer of Magical Girls. She sported green twin-tails and wasn’t particularly tall (though still taller than Chloe), yet she constantly proclaimed herself a Magical Girl, vowing to protect her classmates’ safety and spouting other similar declarations.

As for why Chloe had her as a friend, it dated back to when Chloe had just transferred schools under the Watchtower’s arrangements. The moment this girl saw her, she had scampered over, excitedly claiming Chloe looked ‘just right’ and had the makings of a Magical Girl. She had then insisted on adding Chloe, promising to recommend her for Magical Girl status once she became a ‘big shot’ in the future.

[Wolf Fang]: I heard you took leave. What happened?

[Wolf Fang]: Your constitution is perfect for a Magical Girl, which means you’re also very attractive to demons. You must be careful!

[Wolf Fang]: Did you see my messages? If you did, give a shout, hey!

[Wolf Fang]: If you don’t reply, I’ll assume you’ve been captured by a demon!

The subsequent messages were mostly a flurry of meaningless spamming emojis, the latest one having arrived just a few minutes ago.

It felt unsettling how accurate her words were. Could she really be a Magical Girl? Yet, Magical Girls were strictly forbidden from revealing their identities to outsiders unless absolutely necessary, and her flamboyant mannerisms hardly fit the profile.

Forget it, I won’t reply to her for now; it would be far too difficult to explain. If she stubbornly pressed for details, it would be a real headache. Besides, I can return to school tomorrow and simply brush her off with any convenient excuse.

Recalling the girl’s proud expression whenever she spoke of Magical Girls, Chloe’s lips couldn’t help but curve into a faint smile.

A Magical Girl—what an idealized image.

Powerful, beautiful, righteous, their very existence revolved around defeating demons, the embodiments of evil. After victory, they earned adoration, and any setbacks they faced were merely preludes to their ultimate triumph. They perfectly embodied the public’s image of a hero while simultaneously fulfilling the highest spiritual aspirations of an individual.

This was precisely why so many people idolized Magical Girls. It was also the simple reason Chloe had initially decided to become a good Magical Girl.

She had originally believed that by diligently completing her preliminary tasks and officially becoming a Magical Girl, she could steadily walk towards that bright future.

Now, however, everything had changed, evolving far beyond Chloe’s wildest expectations. The path ahead was shrouded in a dense fog, its future no longer within her control. It was like watching a show where one episode sees the Magical Girl calmly defeating enemies, only for the next episode to take a dark turn after a devastating defeat, sending the narrative spiraling out of control.

Could a Magical Girl, once violated by a tentacle monster, truly continue to fight demons as if nothing had happened?

A more common fate was for such a Magical Girl to succumb, becoming a mere plaything for demons, utterly stripped of her heroic essence.

Chloe’s eyelashes drooped, her slender fingers nervously intertwined, and half of her face was submerged in shadow.

Well, it’s done. There’s no turning back now; I can only take things one step at a time.

She hadn’t scrolled through her phone for long before Chloe found herself bored again. In her current predicament, deliberately trying to relax only seemed to amplify her inner anxiety.

Taking a deep breath, she suppressed her tumultuous emotions. She rummaged through her bedside table for a mirror and clumsily tied her hair into a braid. Unsatisfied with the result, she pouted and tried a different hairstyle. For some inexplicable reason, these techniques had come naturally to her after transforming into a girl. Though still unpracticed, the resulting hairstyles clearly bore the marks of an amateur.

Isn’t there a kind of beauty called messy beauty? An imperfect braid counts as beauty too!

You say I was a boy not long ago? Please, do boys not care about beauty? Now that I’m a girl, am I supposed to spite myself by cutting my hair into a buzz cut to commemorate my lost male youth? Girls should dress up in the way that suits them best; that’s what’s healthy!

Just as Chloe, frowning, was adjusting her hairstyle with her small hands in the mirror, Tia silently entered the room. Standing by the doorway, she froze the moment her eyes fell upon Chloe’s hairstyle.

“Ah, you’re here. Have you figured out another way to torment me?”

Chloe had made an unintentionally humorous remark, but then realized she was the subject of her own dark humor, and the smile vanished from her face.

Tia snapped out of her daze, her gaze sharpening, turning cold and severe.

“You are not to wear that hairstyle ever again,” she stated.

Chloe, who had been about to ask if it looked good, immediately halted her movements. She silently undid her hair, letting it fall loose.

“Furthermore, do not wear any of the clothes in the wardrobe. I will buy you new ones. For today, just wear these pajamas.”

Tia seemed to have been stirred by some emotion, inadvertently triggered by Chloe’s hairstyle; a faint sadness was clearly discernible in her eyes.

Heh, was it because this hairstyle reminded her of Yilan? My sudden urge to try this hairstyle was actually influenced by my memories of Yilan’s appearance; I was imitating it. It wasn’t surprising that Tia had noticed.

Chloe defiantly tangled her hair into a messy knot. She then angrily flopped onto her side on the bed, pulling the blanket over her head, the entire golden-haired bundle curled up deep within the covers.

Suddenly, the blanket was forcibly yanked away.

The sudden change in temperature made Chloe’s delicate body shiver.

“What are you doing?! Can’t a person even sleep in peace anymore!”

“You’ve already slept all morning.”

“So what? It’s all your fault anyway!”

“I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“What does your not eating lunch have to do with me? I haven’t even had breakfast!”

“I want you to cook for me.”

“Huh?”

“Yilan always used to cook for me.”

Chloe wondered if her ears had deceived her.

“You’re the reason I can’t even get out of bed, and now you’re telling me to cook for you? That’s hilarious!”

This vile woman not only demands physical gratification for her depraved desires but also wishes to control me entirely, to order me around at will. Is she treating me as some kind of tool, something less than human? (TL Note: The original text likely used an extremely vulgar slang term that dehumanizes a person into an object for sexual use.) I was, at the very least, my parents’ precious darling. Yet, to Tia, I am nothing more than a toy to be wantonly defiled. It’s infuriating!

“Sometimes I don’t quite understand. Don’t you grasp your situation? Why do you believe you have the right to defy me? I am commanding you, not soliciting your opinion. If you’re unwilling, I wouldn’t mind letting you enjoy the taste of the tentacles again a little earlier.”

As she spoke, Tia actually released her tentacles once more.

Upon seeing this harbinger of endless nightmares, Chloe’s face went stark white, her pupils contracting sharply. Her entire body reacted as if in shock, every hair standing on end, and her not-yet-fully-healed wounds throbbed with a dull ache.

“No… I’ll go make lunch right away…”

She ultimately caved. There was nothing else to do; the shadow cast by the tentacles was simply too vast.

Struggling to get out of bed, she glanced around but found no slippers, forcing her to walk barefoot. The soreness in her muscles compelled her to move slowly, one hand bracing against the wall, the other pressing into her lower back. Even a slightly larger movement could tug at her wounds, sending cold sweat dripping down her face from the pain.

As she reached the doorway, Tia’s voice drifted eerily from behind her.

“Oh, right. Just make a single serving. You can eat the impurities expelled by the tentacles. A single serving has enough nutrients and energy to sustain you for the entire day.”

Upon hearing this, Chloe nearly fainted, her vision blurring, and her breathing becoming somewhat labored.

She gritted her teeth, her head bowing even lower.