"Probably?"
Reminded by Xia Liang's words, Lin Xiaolu said with so uncertainty, "It shouldn't be possible for several magical girls to co to a small place like ours at once, right? If they did, wouldn't it be like declaring war... Ah, could it be that 'Claw Mark'?"
With her saying this, the few people in the living room fell silent at once. No one could deny this possibility.
Just half a month ago, an uninvited guest who called themselves "Fairy Immortal" had broken into their secret base and inford them of the signs of Claw Mark's appearance. That is to say, the intrusion of a "Claw Mark" into Fangting City was a reality that had already occurred. Even though the magical girl they encountered today was relatively friendly, they did not rule out that this was just a disguise.
As the topic stalled, the sound of the door closing suddenly ca from the entrance.
Erald Sparrow floated in with weary steps, returning to the secret base, her face showing fatigue.
It was already nine o'clock at night. The reason for her late return was not only because she had accepted a challenge from Yuan in the evening but also because there was still unfinished work after the duel.
Earlier, she had received a notice from the city governnt. Due to the major security incidents in Fangting City since the Full Moon Festival, and the near-compromise of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau during the process, Lin Yun, as the new director, needed to make so assurances to the higher-ups in the city governnt to calm the officials' concerns.
As ti progressed, the day to give her report was approaching. Even though it was well past the normal end of the workday, Lin Yun had to stay at the Abnormal Strategy Bureau, continuing to perfect her report docunt.
Moreover, with the clean-up operation of Black Ash Dawn entering its final stage, a succession of paperwork and reports kept coming, with endless etings big and small every day. After returning to the secret base, she still needed to tutor in studies and teach the magical girls, so Lin Yun was as busy as a spinning top, with no ti to rest from morning until night.
Dragging her eyelids, Erald Sparrow tidied up her shoes listlessly and sighed. Glancing at the living room not far away, considering the image she should maintain in front of her juniors, she had to force herself to liven up.
She slapped her cheeks, trying to make her expression more relaxed, straightened her back, and strived to maintain an indifferent look—as if nothing was wrong—as she stepped into the living room.
Then, she found the three girls and a fairy all gathered together, staring at her in silence.
Had they noticed sothing off about her?
The thought couldn't help but arise in her heart, but Erald Sparrow still maintained a calm facade and preserved her basic aura as she asked, "Why are you all looking at like that? What's wrong?"
However, she did not realize that although she maintained outward calmness, the fatigue of her body and spirit, coupled with the hostility from the fight she just had, couldn't be completely concealed.
In the girls' eyes, this looked like a display of a bad mood.
The appearance of an unidentified magical girl in the city, although not necessarily a worriso bad event, given the recent Claw Mark issue, was hard to believe was anything positive. In such a situation, bringing this kind of news to an ill-tempered Erald Sparrow felt like asking for trouble. No one seed willing to explain for the mont.
The girls and the fairy in the living room looked at each other, eventually all turning their gaze to Lin Xiaolu. Lin Xiaolu first incredulously pointed at herself, then shook her head quickly and pointed at Xia Liang, who just smiled and shrugged, saying nothing.
In the end, it was Lin Xiaolu who was pushed to the forefront.
"That... We were just discussing it because we encountered a strange magical girl today."
She folded her hands in front of her and unconsciously gripped her own fingers, "It's just, because we don't know who the other party is, so we were guessing."
"A strange magical girl?"
Hearing this, the first person to co to mind for Erald Sparrow was Yuan. Considering that it was indeed possible for her to be wandering around Fangting City every day and bump into the girls, she asked, "Did you see the other party? What exactly did she look like?"
"It was a girl in yellow clothes, she seed young? Her magical accessory seed to be shoes." Lin Xiaolu tried hard to recall the image she had seen, but could only rember a flash of light and her black skirt soaked with the Remnant Beast's gooey innards, saying with so uncertainty.
"It was a lady with glasses, about the sa height as Sister Xia Liang," Bai Jingxuan provided a completely different answer, "She looked rather stern, but actually, she was very nice."
Without a doubt, these two descriptions had nothing in common with Yuan. As for whether they were talking about the sa person, no one could make that judgnt.
Listening to the girls' descriptions, Erald Sparrow first breathed a sigh of relief, relieved that the girls had not directly encountered a person from Claw Mark; and assured that Yuan had indeed kept her promise, not actively causing trouble for the children.
But right after that, she had to beco vigilant once again. After all, if what Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan said was true, Fangting City might really have seen the appearance of another unfamiliar Magical Girl.
It was no surprise that her first reaction was caution, since her coback, there had only been three instances of foreign Magical Girls entering Fangting City: aside from one occasion when the team from the Abnormal Strategy Bureau's Cat Tail Squad visited, the other two tis were respectively the Erald Sparrow and Yuan from Claw Mark, and undoubtedly, both were enemies.
With this in mind, she sat the girls down, and asked seriously about all the details of the incident, confirming repeatedly the behavior and possible motives of this group of Magical Girls. Upon hearing that these unfamiliar Magical Girls not only helped Lin Xiaolu defeat the Remnant Beasts but also bought gifts for Bai Jingxuan, she couldn't help but start to waver in her judgnt.
Being this friendly, could it really be from Claw Mark?
Moreover, for so reason, even just from a few words, the Magical Girl that Lin Xiaolu described gave Erald Sparrow a very strong sense of familiarity, as if she had t this person sowhere before.
Was it an old friend of hers?
She couldn't help but ponder this quietly, searching her mory for a Magical Girl dressed in yellow clothes and using roller skate magic gear, but she couldn't seem to find a match.
In the end, with her considerations leading nowhere, she could only set aside these thoughts for the mont and decide to utilize the resources of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau the next day to investigate and clarify the identities of these two Magical Girls.
After making this decision, she put the matter aside, had a simple dinner, and then took the three girls down to the underground training field for today's lesson.
It was at this ti that Lin Xiaolu seed to suddenly rember sothing and slapped her hands together:
"Ah, right, I might not have ti for patrol on Saturday afternoon and evening, Erald Sparrow, can you cover my shift for ?"
"Cover for you on patrol?"
After thinking about her own schedule for Saturday and realizing that she could indeed squeeze in so ti, Erald Sparrow nodded, "I can, but do you have sothing on?"
"I'm going out to have fun with friends."
"Boys or girls?" Erald Sparrow's suspicion slightly arose again, but she pretended to ask casually.
"Girls, my classmates."
Unaware of the intent behind Erald Sparrow's question and not noticing the sowhat amused expression on Xia Liang's face, Lin Xiaolu answered honestly, "There's a very famous singer coming to our place for a concert tour on Saturday, so she's taking along to listen."
"...I see, then go for it, I'll cover your patrol."
As her suspicions eased, Erald Sparrow's expression softened slightly, "You're usually busy with patrol, and it's rare to go out with friends, so it's more important to have fun."
"Yeah! Thank you!"
Having received Erald Sparrow's promise, Lin Xiaolu nodded cheerfully, "Although I don't pay much attention to popular stars, since she is very famous... What did they say, a queen of song? Her concert should not disappoint."
"Queen of song, huh..."
A na flashed through her mind for an instant, Erald Sparrow felt a mont of reverie but quickly shook her head to dismiss that na from her thoughts.
It was all in the past, and that person was just an amateur who loved to sing.
Thinking this, to fill the conversational void, she casually asked, "What's her na? Does she have any famous works?"
"What was it, Ma... Mari... Mari Ka..."
Lin Xiaolu tried hard to recall the na she had heard from Jiang Yuan that afternoon, struggling to rember without noticing Erald Sparrow's eyes gradually widening. Finally, a lightbulb went off, and Lin Xiaolu stood up, flashing her tiger teeth as she called out the particularly hard-to-rember na:
"Ah, right, was it Asou Haruka?"
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