So, what Hong Siyu said about "definitely not doing it" was actually a statent.
She was saying that even though she seed to have certain connections and entanglents with the mastermind behind the scenes, and even was involved in this matter from an early stage, she had not betrayed.
"...You don't have to make such a promise," Erald Sparrow spoke again, feeling her voice to be incredibly hoarse.
"I do, senior." Hong Siyu's tone was very solemn, "There are so things I don't want you to misunderstand."
"I won't misunderstand."
"You've already misunderstood, haven't you?"
"I just need to know if you're with Black Ash Dawn now, as long as you're not, then there's no misunderstanding."
"I'm not." Hong Siyu's reply was calm and clear.
"...That's good then." Erald Sparrow didn't know what she felt as she said those words.
"So, senior, even though you've co early, we're out of ti," Hong Siyu did not dwell on the topic but gently hinted, "The real culprit is over there, the Magical Girl should clear the Remnant Beasts blocking the way and face the real enemy."
Clear the Remnant Beasts.
Erald Sparrow had completely understood what Hong Siyu was saying because she had pieced together all the puzzles related to her and found the answer to the matter.
But precisely because of this, she had never felt such aversion to the phrase "clear the Remnant Beasts."
Before fully understanding the situation, she told herself that Hong Siyu was "at a high place." What this "high place" was, Erald Sparrow had co to know after seeing the sight on the ceiling.
A few hours earlier, when Hong Siyu left her own house, she said sothing strange, and now she understood the aning of those words.
Retired Magical Girls should not have the Magic Power to see Fairies, but Hong Siyu had achieved that, and Erald Sparrow had found the answer to how she had done it.
She finally knew the reason behind Hong Siyu's peculiar taste in cooking that she demonstrated in everyday life.
Also, five months ago, on the initial day she discovered her daughter had beco a Magical Girl.
It was a day as terrible as ever after An Ya's death; she had just got off work, and the sky had just darkened. Before she knew Lin Xiaolu had beco a Magical Girl, Hong Siyu called her and asked if they could "have dinner together."
At the restaurant, this junior who hadn't had much interaction with her for a long ti chatted about a lot of trivial stuff and subtly inford her of the news that Lin Xiaolu had beco a Magical Girl.
Then, she escorted the drunk Hong Siyu ho.
She couldn't rember what the drunk Hong Siyu had said at the ti, but she felt as though she was back in that alcohol-scented driver's seat. Among the sour taste, on the passenger seat beside her, there was a blurred whimper:
——"I'm sorry."
It was a phrase that the Erald Sparrow at the ti could not understand.
"I..." she began, but had no idea what else she could say, feeling only her blood rushing and her brain buzzing, "I can't..."
"You can do it, senior; that's why I'm asking you, please," Hong Siyu's voice beca softer, with a hint of encouragent: "Because only you can do it here; I believe in you, just like in the past, bring a miracle to this city."
"After all, you are the person I admire the most."
After these words fell, Erald Sparrow felt the buzzing in her head had disappeared. The whole world seed to have lost its voices, turning into an empty void, entering a silent, colorless illusionary realm.
Without blinking, Erald Sparrow was expressionless. She slowly lowered her head, looked at her own feet. She gazed at the spot that originally cast a shadow.
There should have been a shadow there, a shadow representing "Hong Siyu." But at this mont, she couldn't find the thing she wanted to see.
Although she could see a shadow, the one on the ground didn't belong to Hong Siyu or even to a "human."
The shadow cast from behind her onto the ground in front of her was just that of a moth with spread wings, standing tall, completely enveloping itself.
It looked so alien, and yet, it wasn't alone. For in the Abnormal Strategy Bureau, there was more than just one moth's shadow.
Countless pitch-black moth shadows stretched out from the ceiling, from beyond the walls, from all directions; they crawled, knelt, praised, but all faced the sa direction—the dark purple pillar of light in the city center.
They encircled Erald Sparrow in layers, like a vortex, ready to swallow the tiny figure at any mont.
"Hong Siyu," Erald Sparrow called out again, breaking the silence amidst the infinite dark shadows.
But no answer ca from the call.
She stood there, expressionless, staring unwaveringly at the ground before her, suddenly feeling a desire to laugh, and at the sa ti, a sense of suffocation.
She didn't feel happy; rather, she no longer knew what other expression she could make.
"'Sorry,' a word that I should have said... right?"
Erald Sparrow suddenly looked up, mumbling unclearly. Then, she finally slowly turned around, toward her back.
"I'm the one who should apologize to you, Hong Siyu."
She had never looked back before, not only because of Hong Siyu's request but also because she had guessed what she would see, and so didn't want to, nor dared to look back.
She knew the mont she turned around, all the good tis and reminiscences would be easily torn apart like a thin piece of paper, never to retrieve a trace of warmth again.
But she had to turn back; she needed to confirm, to tell herself that the person she wanted to say "sorry" to was no longer there.
A Remnant Beast, tall as several people, stood there.
Its wings, spread like a flower in full bloom, emanated a purplish-red glow beneath the moonlight. Its wings, dotted with countless black and white spots, ford bizarre and fantastical patterns.
Its eyes were dark and profound, swirling with a sinister purple-black luster as if to see through everything. The furry body was lean and slightly ferocious, instinctively inspiring fear.
Under the moonlight, the Remnant Beast stood silently, gazing at Erald Sparrow. It didn't make any sound, of course, it couldn't speak either.
It rely stood lightly in front of Erald Sparrow, then extended its proboscis, gradually approaching her.
The slender proboscis enlarged as it ca closer to Erald Sparrow's pupils, then gently reached next to her neck, spreading out, its thin tubes and sharp teeth erging from the sticky saliva to touch her seemingly delicate and fragile neck.
Erald Sparrow closed her eyes.
In the darkness, she seed to see once more the familiar figure of her junior. She stood before Erald Sparrow, placing a hand on her neck, looking at herself with dark eyes.
No more clumsy imitation, no rough lies, no contrived foolishness. These things wouldn't affect Hong Siyu's true heart anymore, she had shed all her usual disguises, just like when she first t Erald Sparrow, looking at her with a shy yet resolute expression, opening her mouth:
"Go ahead, senior."
"Magical Girl... it's ti to drive away the Remnant Beast."
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