Chapter Seven: Can You Confront Your Own Feelings Honestly?

“Hey, Jiang Keke, is your brother coming to the parent-teacher meeting again this time? I’m having my sister come instead...”

During the break, a boy’s words made Jiang Keke close her book.

She grabbed her lunch and left the classroom.

“Ah, you scared her off again.”

“I was just trying to talk to her...”

Jiang Keke’s grades at school were good, so she wasn’t really bullied.

Although it was a joke that her brother always came to the parent-teacher meetings, the teachers were very responsible and had sternly reprimanded the students who made fun of her.

Her classmates didn’t actually look down on her or ostracize her.

After all, she was an excellent student.

It was just that Jiang Keke didn’t like socializing.

Especially with boys.

She hated boys, and the one she hated most was her brother, Jiang Si.

Poor grades, always skipping classes, getting into fights, causing trouble.

And never apologizing.

Ever since the day their parents died, he had been like that.

Looking back now, sometimes she felt dazed.

In truth, she had known from a very young age that Jiang Si was a cold person.

Apart from his daily, almost mad, self-punishing workouts, he showed no interest in anything.

But normally, he was respectful to their parents and obeyed whatever they said.

Back then, Jiang Keke loved clinging to him, because although Jiang Si didn’t talk much, he was always willing to play with her.

Now she thought maybe that was just to appease their parents.

From the beginning, that person never cared about her, nor their parents.

Unfortunately, Jiang Keke hadn’t understood this yet—she had foolishly believed her brother was good, just not expressive.

Until their parents passed away.

He hadn’t shed a single tear and didn’t even want to attend the funeral.

His impatience and absent-mindedness standing before their parents’ bodies were undeniable.

Selfish, cold-blooded, utterly inhumane.

This was Jiang Keke’s entire judgment of her own brother, Jiang Si.

She took out the lunchbox she had packed the night before—leftovers, now somewhat cold.

Since their parents died, she rarely ate hot meals.

She refused to eat any food Jiang Si made, unwilling to rely on the brother who had always wanted to abandon her.

She only had time to cook at night, so she usually made extra to eat the next day.

By daytime, the food was cold, and there was nowhere at school to reheat it.

She ate the cold rice, holding the water bottle beside her—at least the school provided hot water, which could warm her stomach a little.

The wind blowing from the nearby construction site at noon was chilly. Summers in BH City always came late, and the lingering cold of winter made the early spring warmth feel like a tiny sugar cube dropped into bitter tea—no trace of sweetness, only the harsh cold.

Huddled in the corner of the third-floor balcony, she gazed at the distant park in the city center.

It was the place her parents often took them when they were young.

Her parents would run around the park with them, finding fun playground equipment to amuse them.

When they were tired, her mother would carry her on her back, and her father would carry Jiang Si, singing lullabies as they walked home.

She still remembered the parents’ chatter on the road, thinking they were asleep—discussing when to buy a car. Though their salaries weren’t low, raising two kids meant they couldn’t spend recklessly. The car purchase had to be postponed, and her father was even considering buying a used one to start with.

They planned to teach Jiang Si to drive...

When the cold crept in, memories flooded her mind, offering a little warmth before turning into deeper chill.

That was why she couldn’t forgive Jiang Si.

She couldn’t forgive the blood relative who hadn’t shown a shred of sadness after their parents died.

She couldn’t forgive him for living so well as if nothing had happened!

“Boom!”

Suddenly, the whole school building shook.

The lunchbox in Jiang Keke’s hand spilled its contents. Though pained, she quickly gathered the food containers and looked down toward the schoolyard.

A disaster beast, shaped like a giant bat, emerged from the playground in front of the building!

In recent years, BH City had seen frequent disaster beast appearances, so many people were no longer as shocked.

But without magical girls, the danger was still very real.

The school security reacted swiftly, sounding the alarm. Students and teachers hurriedly evacuated the building.

Though noisy, there was little chaos. Several retired security officers from the Disaster Control Bureau stood at the front, holding spray cans—dispersal agents developed to repel disaster beasts.

They could temporarily frighten the beasts or stop them in their tracks, buying time for the magical girls to arrive.

But the bat-like beast showed no reaction to the spray—it only screeched sharply!

The guards holding the spray in front were the first to fall without warning, dropping their cans, which rolled to the beast’s feet and were crushed underfoot.

The agent splattered over the beast had no effect whatsoever.

The screeching gradually faded into silence, and across the school and nearby streets, no one remained standing.

Everyone lay face down, eerily still as if in a graveyard.

Jiang Keke wished she could faint too.

But she didn’t.

The screeching beast turned its head, its dreadful eyes fixed firmly on her.

Always like this.

She clenched her lunchbox tightly, struggling to breathe, but found it difficult.

It was always like this.

The beast flapped its wings suddenly, stirring up dust and debris, making it hard for Jiang Keke to keep her eyes open.

When the giant bat’s claws latched onto the window ledge, hanging upside down and staring at her, Jiang Keke took a step back—then her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the ground.

Biting her lip, she felt more grievance and sorrow than fear or panic.

Why was it always her who had to go through these things? Why was there never a single good thing in her life?

Her father and mother had died at the hands of disaster beasts.

Her only remaining relative was cold and unfeeling.

Alone, struggling, living without knowing why.

And even the small wish to simply survive was denied her.

The beast opened its massive mouth, its dark silhouette casting a shadow over her.

Instinctively, Jiang Keke took out her seed.

The magic seed.

The proof that she could transform into a magical girl, given to her on the day her parents died.

But from the moment she received it, the magic seed had remained a dull gray.

As if some force had drained its energy.

What she held was just an empty shell.

Just like her life—always giving hope and happiness, only to plunge her into the deepest despair.

Mocking her weakness and ugliness in the face of misfortune.

Only leaving an empty shell, existing without reason.

“If only I had never been born...”

She closed her eyes and gave up struggling, feeling a strange sense of relief for a moment.

But still afraid of pain, afraid of the unknown death, trembling slightly.

“Disaster beasts grow stronger by devouring people.”

A clear, bell-like voice rang in her ears, followed by a warmth that dispelled all the cold.

“Ah!”

The beast let out a strange cry.

Cautiously, Jiang Keke opened her eyes.

A purple flame streaked down like a meteor, crashing onto the beast!

The bat slammed headfirst into the ground and screamed in pain, disappearing beneath a cloud of dust.

The purple flame slowly settled before her.

Elegant pale purple boots touched the ground with a crisp, light sound; the purple firelight flickered and faded quietly.

A purple-gold long skirt, flowing ribbons dancing behind, a cute butterfly bow decoration, and long purple hair fluttering in the breeze.

Until finally, a beautiful yet cold face came into view.

“If a magical girl is eaten, the disaster beast becomes stronger,” the purple flower-like girl said to her. “If you die, it will be very troublesome.”

That day, the sun rose again in Jiang Keke’s life.

Though purple, its warmth was undeniable.