"So..."
For so reason, Bai Ji stopped speaking halfway through her sentence.
Her shoulders trembled slightly.
Asou Haruka looked helplessly at her student, reached out to lift her head, but as her hand touched Bai Ji's shoulder, the smile on her face froze, her expression turning to one of utter astonishnt.
She realized that Bai Ji seed to be crying.
"Ah, why are you crying? Is it really worth getting this upset over? Let take a look."
This look of surprise didn't last long; she imdiately reacted, smiling as she lifted Bai Ji's face, "It's just a loss in one match, no one blas you, don't worry about it."
But who knew, such consolation only made Bai Ji cry even harder.
If before she had been quietly sniffling in silence, after hearing Asou Haruka's words, the sniffling turned into wailing.
"I'm just... sob, so unworthy of your expectations..."
As she cried, she said, "So you... sob sob sob... never expected to win from the start, you've always been biased towards Bai i... waaahhhhh!"
The crying was heart-wrenching, desolate and pitiful, making it unbearable for others to watch.
The other Magical Girls, upon hearing the commotion, turned their eyes in this direction. A few team mbers from Fangting City didn't see anything amiss, but the other two from Bai An City were extrely shocked.
After all, in their view, Bai Ji was always composed and mature, considered the cornerstone among the younger generation. She never complained no matter what kind of hard or tiring work she encountered, and instead, always helped her teammates, Reseda and Shy Violet, to resolve their own emotional problems.
Such a Bai Ji, now crying openly in front of everyone?
Let alone the other Magical Girls, even Asou Haruka was taken aback for a mont.
All she could do was to follow her instincts, subconsciously patting Bai Ji's back, wanting to say sothing comforting, but considering that her own words seed to have made Bai Ji so sad, she was completely frozen.
After thinking for a mont, she could only blink and look towards Erald Sparrow.
"Apologize." Erald Sparrow, with her arms crossed, spoke with certainty.
"Why?" Asou Haruka chuckled dryly.
"No reason, this is just the consequence of disappointing soone who had good intentions towards you."
Erald Sparrow, with droopy eyelids, analyzed, "The things you just said, in her ears, sounded like 'I never had much faith in you to start with, I think the opponent is much stronger, it's only natural for you to lose, there's no need to criticize'."
"Furthermore, you gave her opponent extra coaching right before the match, despite being her own ntor, it's like you were helping the enemy against her. Of course, she would feel aggrieved in such a situation."
Having analyzed the situation, Erald Sparrow, who believed she had unraveled the chain of events, nodded and said, "So, apologize."
"Waaahhhhh——"
Just as she finished speaking, Bai Ji's crying grew even louder as if to affirm Erald Sparrow's words.
At this point, Asou Haruka had no choice but to believe.
It was less about being persuaded by Erald Sparrow and more that she herself had had an inkling of this point.
However, in her mind, Bai Ji had always been a sensible and worry-free student, possessing a deeper understanding than her peers in everything, so she shouldn't be fussing over such a matter.
Ever since proposing this "competition," that had been Asou Haruka's belief.
Turbidity was a technique of her creation, but once it was developed, she didn't guard it jealously. Instead, she taught it to many people; it was almost semi-public knowledge, and teaching this semi-public technique as a favor to others was quite normal.
For the inter-city team competitions, although she was the ntor for Bai An City, having her own students win too easily wouldn't serve as a challenge for them, so providing the opponent with so competitive edge within an appropriate range was actually quite reasonable.
Regarding the outco of the competition, since her opponent possessed an irregular ability beyond the norm for a Magical Girl, losing wasn't really sothing to be embarrassed about. Explaining this fact had no issues.
All her thoughts were "normal," all her actions "reasonable," but she had completely disregarded one fact.
"You child... Do you really like that much?"
That was what Asou Haruka had failed to realize all along.
To her, she was rely a senior who had, under the pretense of "hiring part-ti work," cajoled the other person into becoming a Magical Girl and then taught her how to fight as one.
Their relationship, as Bai Ji had always put it, was that of "ntor" and "student." While they were acquaintances and trustworthy companions, it wasn't supposed to inspire such fervent emotions.
It was precisely this misperception that had led to their interactions always being strictly business, or perhaps a bit too indifferent.
In a sense, she had overlooked the other person's feelings.
So she pursed her lips, reached out to embrace Bai Ji, and gently patted her head, softly saying, "I'm sorry, I was wrong."
As she spoke, her sentint was genuine.
Then, Bai Ji cried even louder.
But this ti, it clearly wasn't out of sorrow, but rather the release of pent-up emotions after her emotional knots had been untied.
As for how to console her now, that was Asou Haruka's own task—Erald Sparrow was unable to assist her.
Indeed, while Bai Ji needed consolation, she had her own bit of a firecracker to deal with.
Reviews
All reviews (0)