Chapter 7: Magical Girls, There Are So Many of Them in This School!

Morning at Shenghua Shengai Academy, outside Class 4, Year 2’s classroom.

“Gouda, heard your house got blown up?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me!”

Lin Feng’s face twisted in agony, like a wound was stabbed.

“My figurines, my acrylic stands, my signed posters, and my life-size body pillow I can’t sleep without… all—gone!!

Cheng, I’m heartbroken!”

He spread his arms, tears streaming, lunging at Dongfang Cheng.

Dongfang Cheng, mid-bite of a burger, stepped back swiftly.

His free hand formed a sword with two fingers, pointing.

“Stop!

If you get any weird fluids on me or my breakfast, I’ll roll you into a ball.”

“Tch, heartless!

Your bro’s lost his loves, and you won’t even offer yourself to ease my pain?

So cold, you ruthless man—I’ll never forgive you!”

Dongfang Cheng rolled his eyes, focusing on his burger.

“…Lost what?

I saw your Blue Captain, Fengxiang Red, on TV this morning, looking plenty lively.”

“Forget it, no point talking to a guy who doesn’t get magical girls.”

Lin Feng spun away like a sulky wife, muttering incomprehensible terms—‘solo stan’s faith,’ ‘my wife’s merch has a soul.’

Watching his friend sulk, Dongfang Cheng felt a faint—very faint—twinge of guilt.

This idiot might act carefree and clownish, but the way he treasured his magical girl merch and lit up reciting trivia showed real passion.

Maybe those collectibles meant more to him than he let on.

Perhaps some comfort was due?

He did save him last night, but the guy’s house and merch were still toast.

“…Alright, cheer up.

You’re loaded, right?

Buy another house, order new figurines.

And didn’t that Xishan District live stream blow up?

Your precious Black Magical Girl showed a clear profile.

She looked, uh…”

He paused, searching for words.

“…Pretty good, right?”

Saying this about his transformed self felt awkwardly shameful.

“What’s with that pause?

‘Pretty good’?

She’s ultra-mega-cosmic-tier gorgeous!

A goddess descended to earth!”

Lin Feng, sulking one second, flipped to fanboy mode the next.

Dongfang Cheng regretted his fleeting guilt—it’d be better fed to dogs.

“I’ve decided—starting today, I, Lin Feng, am Little Black’s solo stan, offering her my heart—ow!”

Before he finished, a rolled-up textbook smacked his head.

“Playboy!”

A golden-haired girl with dazzling twin-tails stood behind him, pouting as she lowered her book.

Her waist-length hair, shimmering like molten gold, swayed with her movements.

Her doll-like face held sapphire-blue eyes glaring at Lin Feng, lips pursed.

Xingye Qiluoluo, their classmate, heiress of Duhuang’s top Xingye Group.

“Don’t hit heads, Miss Heiress!

What if you make me dumber?”

“But Lin Feng’s always hovering around the year’s average score…”

A gentle voice came from behind Xingye Qiluoluo.

“…A bit dumber… probably won’t matter… right?”

Dongfang Cheng followed the voice.

Lin Yaoyao, tall and graceful, stood there.

Her features weren’t striking, but her calm aura was like moonlight in morning mist.

Her glossy dark brown hair fell neatly over her shoulders, a few strands framing her chest, giving a refined, ladylike impression.

Lin Feng clutched his chest dramatically, feigning deep hurt.

“Even Senior Yaoyao says that?

Cheng, look, they’re ganging up on me!”

“Don’t look at me, I don’t hit women.”

Dongfang Cheng looked away, finishing his burger in a few bites.

“If you dare have any rude thoughts or moves toward Senior Yaoyao, as class president, I’ll be the first to teach you a lesson!”

A voice, bright as summer sun, rang out before its owner appeared.

The classroom door slid open with a whoosh.

A tall girl strode in, slapping both boys’ shoulders heartily.

No need to turn—Dongfang Cheng knew it was the fiery red-haired class president.

Last semester, she’d hounded him plenty on the homeroom teacher’s orders.

“Morning, President.”

Dongfang Cheng tipped his cap in greeting.

“Morning, Dongfang.

You’ve been quiet these two months.

Last semester, you got into over twenty fights in the first two months, driving Teacher Mizuse nuts.”

Her?

Nuts?

That blue-haired, big-chested woman probably didn’t know the word.

Dongfang Cheng clearly recalled last semester, when he hospitalized two punks extorting younger students.

He’d planned to take the fall alone, keeping the school out of it.

But Teacher Mizuse, waving her “duty to guide students right” banner, grilled him in her office past ten at night.

Only his mom’s phone call and pickup saved him.

“By the way, President,” Lin Feng chimed in, “haven’t seen Teach lately.

Where’s she at?”

“Oh, you mean Teacher Mizuse?”

Huangyu Tong tapped her chin, thinking.

“Didn’t Taogong get hit by a runaway bike near the station a couple days ago?

Not too serious, but she’s a junior high kid, so Mizuse volunteered to adjust her schedule, stay with her, and tutor her a bit.”

Lame excuse.

A bike sending someone to the hospital?

If Dongfang Cheng hit a bike, it’d be the bike headed to the scrapyard.

“Alright, enough chit-chat!”

Xingye Qiluoluo clapped, snapping them back, her heiress demeanor returning.

“Next is PE!

On behalf of our adorable Year 2 Class 4 girls, I’m officially requisitioning this classroom as our temporary changing and strategy room!

You two, hustle to the activity room and change!”

Xingye’s bossy tone made her seem like the class ruler.

Dongfang Cheng and Lin Feng exchanged glances, seeing mutual resignation.

No reasoning with this heiress.

Activity room.

“Gouda,” Dongfang Cheng spoke suddenly, unbuttoning his uniform shirt.

“Gwah!!!”

Lin Feng jumped back like a startled rabbit, staring in horror, half-removed uniform dangling.

“Don’t just talk out of nowhere!

You’ll scare me to death!”

Dongfang Cheng’s eye twitched at the overreaction, momentarily speechless.

“What’s that?

Didn’t you tell me in Year 1, ‘I’m warning you, don’t talk to me while I’m changing, or I might reflexively punch you’?

Forgot already?”

Lin Feng fumbled with his clothes, mimicking Dongfang Cheng’s low voice.

“Ahem, I don’t recall saying that,” Dongfang Cheng lied smoothly, his fist clenching, knuckles cracking faintly.

“Ahem, my bad, false memory.

Go ahead.”

Dongfang Cheng, used to Lin Feng’s quick flip, cut to the chase.

“Don’t you think our class president, Huangyu Tong, plus Heiress Xingye, Senior Lin, junior Taogong, and Teacher Mizuse—their little group’s age, personalities, and activity range seem… too odd?”

“Hm, now that you mention it, kinda makes sense.

But women?

Anyone who fully gets what’s in their heads deserves an award named after them.”

Lin Feng launched into his signature ramble.

“Besides, regular women can’t hold a candle to magical girls.

My heart’s fully claimed by Little Black now—no room for anyone else.”

“Didn’t you say your heart was owned by that mature Jingxi Blue a while back?

Got two hearts?”

Dongfang Cheng jabbed mercilessly but held back from spilling that Lin Feng’s “Blue Wife” was their homework-chasing, recitation-drilling teacher.

If he knew his fave mature magical girl was Mizuse, he’d lose it.

“Tch, one in my left atrium, one in my right—can’t I?”

Amid their pointless bickering, Dongfang Cheng silently confirmed a fact:

The existence of “magical girls” seemed to genuinely distort normal people’s perception.

He’d subtly asked other classmates about the odd quintet.

Whether it was his intimidating vibe or something else, no one found the group strange.

It was as if they were naturally a tight-knit crew, not possibly the city’s famous five-color magical girls.

“No worries, meow.

The cognitive distortion field’s working fine, meow.

So nobody’ll question your height changes or odd behavior, meow.

Even if you transform in front of them, that memory gets blurred, meow.”

He recalled the black cat’s words.

Like him, those five probably warped others’ perceptions to avoid suspicion.

But… President is Fengxiang Red, Heiress Xingye is Liuxing Yellow, Senior Lin is Changpan Green, the Sakura Love Pink he saved is Taogong, and even Mizuse is a magical girl.

Add him as Black—aren’t there too many magical girls at this school?