Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 45: Name

Vol 2 Chapter 45 Name

"I saw her."

That same evening, when the Fangting City Magical Girl Squad wrapped up their patrols and gathered in the living room of their Secret Base, Lin Xiaolu suddenly tossed out a comment, half to herself, and then looked around at her teammates, as if waiting for some reaction.

Unfortunately, her vague and contextless remark didn’t help anyone understand what she was trying to say. All she got in return were confused looks from Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan.

"Saw what... exactly?"

"A strange girl. A new Magical Girl."

Lin Xiaolu spoke solemnly, "I don’t know where she came from, but she already has Magical Armor, so her abilities are definitely above Bud-tier. She's not a novice."

She announced this with great seriousness, clearly expecting her teammates to be just as shocked. But, to her disappointment, neither Xia Liang nor Bai Jingxuan looked particularly surprised.

"What’s with your reactions?"

She said in disbelief, “We’re talking about a strange Magical Girl, right? Isn’t that supposed to be something rare?”

“Well... I mean, I guess it’s rare?”

Xia Liang reluctantly acknowledged her point, raising a hand as if testing the waters, and asked with a dry laugh, “But is it really something you need to say with such a serious face?”

"You don’t get it!"

Lin Xiaolu shook her head. "When a strange Magical Girl appears in a city, it usually marks the beginning of something new in anime! It means something’s about to happen!"

“Even putting aside the fact that real life doesn’t follow anime logic, I feel like your reasoning is already pretty shaky…”

“Even without the anime comparison, this is still weird! A Magical Girl showed up in Fangting City, and we didn’t hear anything about it. That’s not how it’s supposed to go!”

Lin Xiaolu continued earnestly, “When a Magical Girl enters a new city for a mission, she’s supposed to get in touch with the local stationed squad ASAP. That’s what Veronica taught us!”

“What if she’s not here on a mission?”

Xia Liang countered, “Maybe she’s just passing through or visiting. I don’t think there’s a rule saying she has to contact us right away.”

“Uh… well, when you put it that way…” Lin Xiaolu was briefly stumped.

“…Actually, what Xiaolu said—me and Moko ran into something like that today too.”

Just as Lin Xiaolu was at a loss for words, Bai Jingxuan suddenly spoke up. “During patrol this afternoon, Moko ran over and told me it had found a new girl with Magical Girl potential.”

“A new Magical Girl?”

Her words instantly caught the other two’s attention. Lin Xiaolu was quick to drop her own awkward thread and turned to ask, “Did you meet her? Is she really qualified?”

“You think I’d get that kind of thing wrong?”

Clearly offended by the doubt, Moko rolled its eyes at Lin Xiaolu and spoke in a theatrical tone, “When I say new Magical Girl, I mean new Magical Girl. One hundred percent guaranteed, satisfaction guaranteed!”

“So, did you actually talk to her? Is she willing to become a Magical Girl?”

Xia Liang was already thinking ahead. “Or did the girl you found get snatched away by the ‘other city’s Magical Girl’ Xiaolu mentioned?”

“Well… not exactly.”

At this point, Moko began to hem and haw. “We did find the girl with potential, and no one else tried to poach her, it’s just that…”

“Just that?” Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang said in unison.

“Just that, when we found her, she said she’s already a Magical Girl.”

Moko’s voice grew quieter. “She said she came from another city and already partnered with another Seeder… and she even apologized very politely.”

“She was really nice,” Bai Jingxuan added. “She even bought me and Moko hot milk tea. But she said she had other stuff to do and left pretty quickly.”

Now it was Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang’s turn to exchange glances.

“So she wasn’t a new girl with potential… but an actual Magical Girl.”

After a moment, Lin Xiaolu finally summarized the situation, then turned to Xia Liang, puzzled. “Normally, would a Seeder make this kind of mistake?”

“Probably not?”

Both girls glanced at Moko with mild suspicion.

“Why are you acting like it’s all my fault?! They had really similar Magic wavelengths, okay? Mixing them up is totally normal!”

Moko protested. “Usually, when you sense unfamiliar Magical Energy in the city, you’d think it’s a potential new Magical Girl, not that someone from another city just randomly showed up!”

“A real Magical Girl’s power isn’t just different in type—it’s like, hundreds of times stronger than a normal person’s, right?”

Lin Xiaolu gave Moko a look like it had lost its mind. “How careless do you have to be to mess up that badly?”

“M-maybe she’s a once-in-a-generation genius with naturally massive Magical Power!”

Moko tried to defend itself.

“If someone like that really slipped past you until now, doesn’t that count as Seeder negligence?”

“Ugh…”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just go with that. You two, knock it off.”

Seeing the argument about to spiral, Xia Liang quickly stepped in. “Anyway, based on what Xiaolu and Xiaoxuan saw, there really was an unfamiliar Magical Girl in Fangting today. Xiaolu probably met her after school during patrol, and Xiaoxuan saw her in the afternoon—so they probably saw the same person?”

“Probably?”

Prompted by Xia Liang, Lin Xiaolu thought for a moment, uncertain. “I mean, it’s not like several Magical Girls would suddenly show up in our tiny city, right? That’d basically be a declaration of war… Wait, do you think it’s Claw Mark?”

The room fell into silence at her words. No one could deny the possibility.

Just half a month ago, an unexpected visitor who called herself a Fairy Sage had broken into their Secret Base and warned them about signs of Claw Mark activity. Which meant it had already happened once. Even if the girl they met today seemed friendly, that could’ve easily been a facade.

And just as the conversation ground to a halt, they heard the front door open.

Veronica staggered in, visibly exhausted, returning to the Secret Base.

It was already 9 PM. She was late not only because of her Duel with Yuan that evening, but also due to unfinished work afterward.

She had received notice from the city government. In light of several major safety incidents since the Moon Festival, and the Countermeasure Bureau nearly being overrun, the new Bureau Director, Lin Yun, had to report to high-ranking officials to reassure them. The report deadline was approaching, and despite being well past regular work hours, Lin Yun had to stay behind at the Countermeasure Bureau to finish it.

With the Black Cinders Dawn operation also nearing its final stages, the paperwork just kept piling up. Every day brought more meetings, more reports. Even after returning to the Secret Base, there were still lessons to teach and training to supervise. At this rate, Lin Yun was basically spinning like a top, with no time to rest from dawn till dusk.

Veronica sighed, eyes half-lidded, as she took off her shoes. Looking at the nearby living room, she forced herself to perk up—at least enough to not look completely drained in front of the juniors.

She slapped her cheeks lightly to relax her face, straightened her back, and walked into the living room like nothing was wrong.

Only to find three girls and a fairy silently staring at her.

Did I mess up somehow?

The thought crossed her mind, but she kept a calm front and asked, “Why are you all looking at me like that? Something wrong?”

She hadn’t realized that, despite her composed appearance, the weariness in her body and the aftertaste of battle couldn’t be hidden.

To the girls, it looked like she was in a bad mood.

An unfamiliar Magical Girl showing up in town wasn’t necessarily something to worry about. But when considered alongside recent Claw Mark activity, it was hard to see it as a good sign. No one wanted to risk delivering bad news to a clearly moody Veronica.

They exchanged glances with each other, and then all eyes landed on Lin Xiaolu. She pointed at herself in disbelief, then quickly shook her head and pointed to Xia Liang—who only smiled and waved her off.

So, in the end, Lin Xiaolu was pushed to the front.

“Well… we were just talking about it. We ran into an unfamiliar Magical Girl today.”

She clasped her hands nervously. “We don’t know who she is, so we’ve been trying to figure it out.”

“An unfamiliar Magical Girl?”

The first person that popped into Veronica’s mind was Yuan. Considering how she often wandered around Fangting City, it wasn’t impossible the girls bumped into her. So she asked, “Did you see what she looked like?”

“She was wearing yellow. Looked pretty young? Her Magical Armor seemed to be shoes,” Lin Xiaolu said uncertainly. All she could remember was a flash of light and a drenched black skirt from the Ravager’s fluids.

“She wore glasses and was about as tall as Sister Xia Liang,” Bai Jingxuan added. “Seemed kind of serious, but was actually really nice.”

These two descriptions had zero overlap—and neither matched Yuan. Whether they were talking about the same person or not, no one could say.

Hearing this, Veronica sighed in relief. Relief that the girls didn’t run into Claw Mark, and that Yuan hadn’t gone looking for trouble.

But soon after, her guard went back up. If the girls were being honest, that meant another unfamiliar Magical Girl really had appeared in Fangting City.

No wonder her first reaction was caution. Since her return, only three foreign Magical Girls had entered Fangting: the Cat Tail Squad from the Investigation Bureau, and then Sparrow and Yuan from Claw Mark—both enemies.

With that in mind, she had the girls sit down and gave the situation a thorough rundown, asking about every detail and trying to determine the newcomer’s motive. Hearing how this Magical Girl helped Lin Xiaolu defeat a Ravager and even bought Bai Jingxuan a gift made her waver.

Someone that friendly… didn’t really sound like Claw Mark.

And for some reason, even from the fragments of Xiaolu’s description, Veronica had a strange feeling of familiarity. Like she’d seen this person before.

An old friend?

She tried to recall any Magical Girl she knew who wore yellow and used roller skate-based Magical Armor… but no one came to mind.

With no leads, she decided to leave it for now. Tomorrow, she’d use the Countermeasure Bureau’s resources to investigate and identify the two girls.

Having made her decision, she set it aside. After a simple dinner, she gathered the three girls to head to the underground training arena for their lesson.

Just then, Lin Xiaolu suddenly clapped her hands, as if remembering something.

“Oh, right! I might not be free Saturday afternoon or evening for patrol. Can you cover for me, Veronica?”

“Cover your patrol?”

Veronica mentally ran through her Saturday schedule. Realizing she could probably make room, she nodded. “I can. You have plans?”

“I’m going out with a friend.”

“A guy or a girl?” Veronica’s alertness spiked, but she asked casually.

“A girl. My classmate.”

Not picking up on Veronica’s real intent, and missing the amused look on Xia Liang’s face, Lin Xiaolu answered honestly. “She said there’s a really famous singer doing a tour here on Saturday and wants me to go with her.”

“…I see. Then go ahead. I’ll handle patrol.”

The tension eased from Veronica’s face. “Patrolling is busy anyway. It’s good to go out with friends once in a while. Have fun.”

“Mm! Thanks!”

Grinning, Lin Xiaolu nodded. “I don’t really follow celebrities, but if she’s that famous… something-singer, right? Her concert’s gotta be good.”

“‘Something-singer’...?”

A name flickered in Veronica’s mind. She froze for a moment, then shook her head, chasing the thought away.

It was all in the past. That person only sang as a hobby.

Trying to fill the silence, she asked offhandedly, “What’s her name? Any popular songs?”

“What was it again… Ma… Mari… Maka…”

Trying hard to recall the name her classmate Jiang Yuan had mentioned earlier, Lin Xiaolu frowned in concentration. She didn’t notice Veronica’s widening eyes as she finally remembered.

“Oh! Right, it was Asou Madoka?”