Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

"What does it have to do with you?"

Lin Xiaolu glanced away, seemingly resistant to Lin Yun's inquiry, but after a short while, she looked back at him: "Besides, aren't you the same with being late?"

"This time was just an accident," Lin Yun finished tying his tie and picked up the briefcase beside him. "I got busy with work and didn't get back until the early morning; I'm not usually like this."

"Then, my case is also an accident."

Lin Xiaolu muttered, "I just got home late and still had to practice... do homework, that's why I went to bed so late."

Lin Yun just looked at Lin Xiaolu, and Lin Xiaolu looked back at him slantwise. In a rather awkward standoff, it was ultimately the father who gave in.

"Go comb your hair first."

Lin Yun's face showed helplessness as he carried his briefcase and turned towards the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast? Instant noodles, bread, or should I boil two eggs?"

"Ah? Breakfast?"

Raising her eyebrows, Lin Xiaolu first looked surprised, then puzzled: "Is it that time already?"

"I'll drive you to school in a bit," Lin Yun took off his suit jacket and draped it over the chair next to the dining table.

"I don't need it; you can go on your own."

"What if you're late?"

"...If I'm late, I'm late." Lin Xiaolu sounded a bit guilty but still defiant.

Does this child plan to fly to school? Doesn't she know the commotion her magic power makes when she flies is comparable to setting off fireworks?

Putting everything in his hands on a chair, Lin Yun simply watched his daughter for a moment, then shrugged expressionlessly:

"Fine, but first go comb your hair. I'll boil the two eggs."

"I told you there's no need..."

Lin Xiaolu wanted to continue refusing but suddenly widened her eyes as if she realized something. Her grip on the doorframe tightened, and her tone softened a bit: "Oh, I got it, I'll go, okay?"

And then she unwillingly headed towards the bathroom.

From Lin Yun's perspective, Moke suddenly flew through the door and whispered something in her ear. Lin Xiaolu's attitude softened abruptly.

It seems Moke knows better than she does. He thought to himself.

This guess was not wrong, indeed it was exactly the case.

"Moke, what did you mean by what you said, that even frivolous girls can fly to school but I can't?" After walking into the bathroom, Lin Xiaolu lowered her voice and looked disapprovingly at Moke floating beside her.

After finishing her Magical Girl course last night, Lin Xiaolu's tasks were far from over, as she still had homework to catch up on when she got home.

Usually, this was her own business, but ever since she met Xia Liang, an idle figure would be by her side when rushing homework, and even sometimes tried to convince her to stop doing homework and play games together.

Ever since the day she claimed she was running away from home and stayed overnight at Lin Xiaolu's, Xia Liang often shamelessly showed up for dinner. In her words, it was because the meals prepared by hourly maid Liu were better than those at her own home.

Seeing her attitude, if it weren't for the worry of leaving a bad impression on Lin Xiaolu's parents, she might even continue to freeload a place to sleep.

Although Lin Xiaolu disliked studying, she resisted even more being lumped together with what she saw as "frivolous girls," and so the more Xia Liang harassed her, the more she insisted on finishing her homework. After completing it, she even defiantly pulled out review questions untouched before, preparing for the upcoming final exams.

Regardless of the outcome, she ended up studying until the early morning. Her spirit was commendable.

But as a result, Lin Xiaolu overslept that morning and coincidentally encountered Lin Yun, now yawning profusely while combing her hair in the bathroom.

"Who told you that you still haven't learned Magic Power Reception?"

Hearing Lin Xiaolu's slightly dissatisfied questioning, Moke's cat face vividly showed a ridiculing expression: "Xia Liang mastered it in two days, yet some people can't learn it even in two weeks!"

"Xia Liang..."

Squeezing the comb a bit too tightly, Lin Xiaolu looked at Moke with a subtle gaze, "The two of you have gotten pretty close lately."

"Meow haha, after all, Xia Liang is gentle, cute, and a genius. We're just lamenting that we didn't meet sooner."

Moke clutched its chest dreamily, "She even complimented me for being smart and reliable!"

"Why do I feel like you've been simply swept off your feet by her sweet-talking?" Lin Xiaolu's eyelids drooped.

No wonder she felt that way; after all, Xia Liang seemed to like Moke's cute looks a lot, often holding it like a pet and saying nice things to make it happy.

Even though Lin Xiaolu had been with Moke for a longer time, ever since that night when Moke, under Emerald Sparrow's cross-examination, admitted to deceiving Lin Xiaolu, it hadn't received any more kindness from her.

The love it lacked from Lin Xiaolu was fulfilled by Xia Liang and was even more lavish, which explained why Moke kept talking about "Xia Liang" all the time now.

"That's jealousy and prejudice! As a Seeder, it's my duty to get along well with my contracted Magical Girl!"

Moke shook its head to correct Lin Xiaolu and then said with self-satisfaction, "Are you jealous, Xiaolu? Feeling threatened because Xia Liang is so outstanding and wanting to win my affections back?"

"Who's jealous? Jealous of a dumb fairy whose head is filled with nothing but question marks?"

Lin Xiaolu pursed her lips and turned her gaze back to the mirror, focusing on the hair standing up on her head, her movements unceasing, "And what about that 'Seeder's essential course'? You didn't teach me the basics of being a Magical Girl at all, leaving me to trouble Emerald Sparrow in the end."

"Dumb fairy?"

At these words, Moke shuddered and flew to Lin Xiaolu's back to give her a fierce tap with its paw, "I can't let such a harsh remark slide! And I did tell you a lot of stuff, just not about how Magical Girls train and battle, that's all!"

"Would a typical Seeder not know that?" Lin Xiaolu cast another sidelong glance at it and asked, airy as ever.

"Of course they would... um, actually, they would know. But my case is a bit special..." Moke evaded the issue.

"Because you're a shoddy imposter pressed into the job?"

"Can't you use a less venomous phrase?"

"So, a refugee who smuggled themselves out of the Magic Kingdom."

"That's not making the evaluation any better!"

"You called me a genius when you made me a Magical Girl, but now you mock me for being dumb every day."

"Um..."

Intimidated by the heavy resentment in Lin Xiaolu's words, Moke had no choice but to soften its tone and admit sincerely, "Alright, alright, it's my fault. I shouldn't have said that. Please don't be mad, okay?"

"A sleazy fairy who gets held against girls' chests and rubs his face all over."

"You're still going on about it!"

"A suspect on the run for suspected embezzlement."

"That's pure slander! Xiaolu, you're the idiot with failing grades in math!"

"Shh— the fairy con artist who deceives little girls!"

"A stunted dwarf with delayed development!"

...

In the nearby dining room, Lin Yun caught a boiled egg from the pot with a slotted spoon, placing it into cold water. After flicking the water off his hands, he grabbed a glass and fetched a carton of milk from the refrigerator. As he carried the prepared breakfast to the table, he couldn't help but glance towards the bathroom.

Hearing the muffled argument coming through, he raised an eyebrow in puzzlement:

"...What's going on?"