The fast-food restaurant where Liu Li worked was perpetually swamped.
With a constant stream of order numbers flashing, and impatient customers pressing, even a moment to catch his breath felt like a luxury Liu Li had to snatch, leaving his eyes vacant as he mechanically scooped fries.
To add to the chaos, Liu Li found himself frequently distracted, his gaze drifting to the television news to ascertain if any new attacks had occurred.
‘Magical Girl Grey Moon is certainly not intentionally late.’
‘Today, I will prove it to all of you.’
Liu Li silently clenched his fists, his divided attention inevitably drawing a sharp reprimand from the store manager.
“Liu Li! For goodness sake! This is peak hour! If you keep zoning out, I’m docking your pay!”
Liu Li craned his neck once more, eyes fixed on the store’s television screen, the manager’s furious bellow now utterly disregarded as a wave of delight washed over him at the sight of precisely what he had been hoping for.
[C City’s largest pedestrian street has come under attack by the evil organization, Semi-Awakening! A flight from here will take less than two minutes!]
‘Aha!’
‘This time, everyone will have to change their minds about me!’
“My apologies!”
A wide smile spreading across his face, Liu Li swiftly untied his red apron and bolted towards the back kitchen.
“I’ve suddenly taken ill!”
With that sole declaration, he completely disregarded the store manager’s furious, bewildered expression, excitedly pushing open the back door.
Once in the deserted alley, far from any prying eyes, there was no need for elaborate incantations.
Liu Li clenched his fist to his chest and quietly intoned.
“Transform.”
With just those two words, countless beams of moonlight-like radiance converged around Liu Li, and as the light receded, the figure that stood in the alley in his place was a new star: the grey-haired, red-eyed Magical Girl Nova.
Magical Girl Grey Moon.
The girl’s slender, intricately carved heels clicked softly on the ground, her magnificent formal gown shimmering with a faint starlight in the deepening twilight.
What merit could such a dark alley, choked with refuse, possess to host a maiden of such ethereal grace?
Grey Moon, too, seemed to recognize the impropriety of lingering in such a squalid locale.
With a powerful flex of her white-stockinged calves, her body effortlessly soared into the nocturnal cityscape.
A cool, refreshing breeze swept across her face, softening Grey Moon’s usually stern expression into one of serene weariness, and scattering her long, silvery-grey hair around her.
Having escaped the greasy fumes of the alley below, Magical Girl Grey Moon greedily inhaled the crisp, clean air of the high altitude.
In that fleeting moment, she felt utterly free.
Her brief respite lasted only a moment, for Grey Moon had not forgotten her duty.
Daring not to indulge her feelings any further, she swiftly resumed her flight towards the pedestrian street.
****
C City’s largest pedestrian street.
The nefarious organization, Semi-Awakening, had uncharacteristically launched two attacks within a single day.
This particular assault was entrusted to the only fully operational squad they possessed: Captain 19’s squad.
Captain 19—or simply ’19’ from now on—gazed at the clamoring hostages thronging the pedestrian street, a profound sense of exasperation welling within him.
He had been lauded by the organization for his prudent decision to conserve his strength during the previous engagement, a commendation that had now ‘gloriously’ culminated in him being tasked with tonight’s combat mission.
‘If only I had known—’
‘If only I had known, I would have let these imbeciles behind me go get themselves killed during the day!’
Grumbling internally about the forced overtime, 19 surveyed the motley crew of combatants and monsters arrayed behind him.
He cleared his throat before issuing his directives.
“Listen closely, all of you.”
A collective rustle permeated the air as, upon hearing their captain’s command, the combatants snapped to attention.
“Our objective for this mission is a swift and decisive victory.”
“The Magical Girl Tri-color are utterly exhausted from this morning’s battle, and our organization has deployed every available monster to lie in ambush nearby.”
“The moment Magical Girl Tri-color reveal themselves, we will ensnare them all in a single sweep.”
“As for Magical Girl Grey Moon, she invariably arrives twenty to forty minutes after a conflict has already begun.
Should we fail to incapacitate the Magical Girl Tri-color before her appearance, this mission will be deemed a failure.”
“Is that clear?”
“Crystal clear!”
The combatants roared their assent with invigorated spirits, for this was a rare opportunity: a Magical Girl subjugation mission.
It was widely known that those Magical Girls who fell in battle rarely met a pleasant end.
Merely imagining a defeated Magical Girl caused many of the combatants to instinctively lean forward, a shiver running down their spines.
“Excellent! Then let us prepare to greet the Magical Girl Tri-color!”
Having delivered his lines with booming theatricality, 19 received a prompt on his mask’s UI, indicating the presence of a Magical Girl nearby.
Turning his back to his subordinates, he let out a cold, derisive chuckle.
“They arrive with remarkable speed, as befits the Tri-color team that has protected this city for so long.”
“Alas, you will not endure long enough today for Magical Girl Grey Moon to arrive and rescue you—”
As 19 turned to face the newcomer, his jaw dropped in utter astonishment.
“What the hell?! Why is Grey Moon here first?!”
19’s eyes threatened to pop from their sockets as he beheld the unmistakable figure of Magical Girl Grey Moon, resplendent in her magnificent formal gown, noble and silent, suspended gracefully in mid-air.
“Aieeee, Magical Girl Grey Moon! Grey Moon, why?!”
“Captain! This isn’t what we were told!”
A commotion rippled through the ranks of 19’s subordinates, and even 19 himself could no longer maintain his composure, vehemently challenging Grey Moon, who remained suspended in the air.
“Hold on, hold on! This just isn’t right!”
“Don’t you typically arrive half an hour late? Why are you so uncharacteristically prompt today?!”
‘I came today precisely to shed this stereotype of always being late.’
While Grey Moon naturally found herself unable to voice such a candid sentiment, witnessing their utterly panicked expressions still afforded her a profound sense of satisfaction.
However, as her gaze drifted to the familiar number emblazoned on the mask of their leading captain, her eyes widened further.
She instantly recognized him as the brazen scoundrel who had previously dared to assault her chest.
Grey Moon, too, had a few choice words for 19.
“You scoundrel! You’re still alive.”
The maiden exclaimed indignantly.
A faint blush crept across Grey Moon’s cheeks as she clenched her white-gloved hands, raising her fists, barely restraining herself from delivering another righteous uppercut to the scoundrel.
Standing below, 19’s mouth twitched beneath his mask, in a place Grey Moon could not see.
‘Good heavens, she still remembers me? It was just a chest grab, wasn’t it? Is that truly worth such a deep-seated vendetta?’
“Virgins are such a nuisance, aren’t they?”
“Did you just utter another blasphemous remark about women?!”
Grey Moon bristled with indignation.
‘Virgins are a nuisance’? What an outrageous statement!
Any man who dared to grope a woman upon their first encounter would never, under any circumstances, earn an ounce of a girl’s favor!
He absolutely deserved a severe lesson.
Grey Moon clenched her fists, her hands itching with an undeniable urge to fight, ready to unleash a day’s accumulated stress upon these members of the evil organization.
However, 19 abruptly stepped forward once more.
“Are you implying that you’re *not* a virgin?”
“H-huh?!”
Grey Moon’s mouth gaped slightly.
What on earth was this man even saying?!
Grey Moon’s mind was instantly submerged beneath a tidal wave of mortification, causing her to completely malfunction, rendered immobile and frozen in mid-air.
At that precise moment, 19 was frantically yelling “Retreat!” into his ear-mic, even as he theatrically maintained his position in the center, continuing his taunts.
“Hehehe! Did I hit a nerve? Who would have thought our city’s great hero, Grey Moon, was secretly a public bus, ridden by just anyone?”
“Did you arrive so early today because no old man picked you up from the street corner?”
“If that’s truly the case, then I suppose I could deign to bestow upon you ten thousand yuan.”
Grey Moon watched in disgust as 19 pulled a handful of banknotes from his pocket and scattered them, the wind carrying the cash to flutter against her face.
With an expression of utter disdain, Grey Moon merely brushed the offending money away with the back of her hand.
‘This brute!’
She glared down at 19, her voice laced with profound disgust.
“For a wretch like you, who repeatedly insults young women,”
“It is absolutely imperative that you receive a proper lesson.”
“And furthermore!”
Grey Moon nearly ground her teeth to powder in mortification, her face flushed so deeply it seemed to radiate heat.
“I am absolutely, unequivocally a virgin!”