Off Work, Then Transform into a Magical Girl

It was night. The sky was a dark gray, like it had been splashed with ink. The moon was faint, and the stars were dim.

Lin Xiaolu lay on her side by the window, curled up, quietly gazing at the boundless night sky.

Mo Ke had fallen asleep at the head of the bed at some point, her crystalline wings draped over her shoulders, the pink fur gently trembling without a sound.

From the floor beside the bed came the occasional soft rustle of fabric, clearly indicating someone was tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

"Little Lu, are you asleep?"

Suddenly, Xia Liang's voice broke the silence in the dark room.

There was no response. Lin Xiaolu remained silent, ignoring her.

"I mean, this outfit is a bit too tight. It's uncomfortable to sleep in."

But Xia Liang never cared about such things. Without waiting for a reply, she continued talking to herself: "So, can I sleep naked?"

"...No."

Disturbed by this conversation, Lin Xiaolu's melancholic thoughts were interrupted. She lowered her eyelids and rejected Xia Liang's suggestion.

She refused offhandedly at first, then realized what Xia Liang meant by "tight clothes," feeling even more annoyed: "You're wearing my clothes, sleeping in my room, and you have so many demands? Do you want to sleep on the couch in the living room?"

"Naked?" Xia Liang blinked, her cheeks reddening.

"Of course with clothes on!" Lin Xiaolu gritted her teeth.

"Just kidding. Besides, it wouldn't be good if your family saw."

"You do know this is my house, right?"

Halfway through the joke, both fell silent.

After a while, Xia Liang, hugging her blanket tighter, closed her eyes:

"Hey, Little Lu."

"What now?" Having already spoken, Lin Xiaolu couldn't pretend to be silent anymore and responded irritably.

"Do you have a bad relationship with your dad?"

Xia Liang's question froze Lin Xiaolu's expression.

Facing away from Xia Liang, Lin Xiaolu buried her face deeper into the pillow, her voice muffled: "You can tell?"

"Yeah, I sensed it."

"Well, but it's none of your business, right?"

Talking about this topic made Lin Xiaolu's voice hoarse: "Or are you going to lecture me too?"

"No."

Xia Liang's voice was gentle in the night: "I'm just curious."

"Curious about what?"

"Your dad seems to care about you. He actually treats you quite well."

"How do you know? Just from a few words?"

"Not the words, but the attitude and expressions."

Xia Liang's tone became serious: "You can tell if parents really care about their children from these details."

Another long silence followed.

Lin Xiaolu said nothing, seemingly lost in thought, and Xia Liang didn't speak further.

After a while, as if making a decision, Lin Xiaolu spoke: "Does he look like that now?"

Xia Liang was puzzled: "Now? Wasn't he like that before?"

"Of course not."

In the darkness, Lin Xiaolu's expression was unclear, but her voice seemed squeezed out of her throat, filled with indescribable resentment:

"You wouldn't understand unless you've seen it. His truly unreasonable side. That cold, heartless face that chills you to the bone."

"He's been like that since I was little. Work, work, work. Either working overtime or socializing. At home, he always had a stern face, as if nothing made him happy, as if he didn't care about anything. Including me. He just kept enrolling me in cram schools, buying exercise books, and telling me to study hard."

"Mom always said to understand him, to forgive him. Even when he called to say he wouldn't come home for a holiday dinner, she never complained."

"And then one day, she died."

"One day she was fine, and the next day he suddenly told me she was dead. From then on, it was just him and me. No reasons, no explanations. When I asked to see her one last time, guess what he said?"

Caught off guard by Lin Xiaolu's question, Xia Liang hesitated: "Um...did your dad refuse?"

"He said, 'Forget about her.'"

Lin Xiaolu sneered, but there was no humor in her voice: "He casually packed her things, casually invited a few people, and casually held a funeral, as if that was the end of it."

"Then, halfway through the memorial, he disappeared, hugging some young woman from who knows where."

"Was he really working outside? Did he ever consider Mom? I don't know, but I was worried and scared. When I asked him for reasons, he avoided the topic. Even when I cried in front of him, he showed no reaction, just saying he was also sad."

"In the end, we had a fight. I don't even remember what we said, just that I poured all my anger and confusion onto him, and he slapped me."

"What did he say? 'Who do you think I'm doing this for?' Something like that?"

"For whom? Certainly not for me, and definitely not for Mom. Otherwise, why was he hugging another woman at home just days later?"

"He seemed so loving every day, but when she really passed away, he immediately changed. Is that what Mom meant by understanding him?"

"So I ran away from home."

This made Xia Liang's eyes widen slightly.

As if realizing something, she looked towards Lin Xiaolu, but in the pitch-black room, Lin Xiaolu still faced away from her.

"So I won't ask why you ran away. I know what makes someone want to run away."

Her voice was muffled, the unknown anger had retreated at some point, but it was unclear if it had disappeared or was lurking deeper.

"I stayed at a classmate's house for many days, not going to school, just staying quietly by myself."

She continued recounting her past: "I don't know when, but it seems the classmate's parents contacted the school, and the school told him where I was, so he came to find me."

"That was probably the first time I saw him so disheveled. His eyes were dark like a ghost's, unshaven, unkempt hair, not wearing his usual suit, just an old, shabby jacket."

"He said, 'Come home,' and I thought, we've come to this point, what reason do I have to go back with you?"

"But seeing him like that, I don't know why I softened. Sympathy? Or feeling wronged? Before I knew it, I had taken his hand."

"Since then, it's been like this. I don't really talk to him, and he acts like he's making up for something, trying to be a 'good father,' but that's it."

She seemed to have finished what she wanted to say, letting out a long breath, her pace slowing down.

"That's it, the end of the story."

Lin Xiaolu closed her eyes: "Is this boring story satisfying for you?"

Xia Liang didn't respond immediately. At some point, she had let go of the blanket, seemingly lost in thought.@@novelbin@@

After a while, she lowered her eyelids and softly replied: "Yes."

"That's good."

Lin Xiaolu pulled the blanket up, half-covering her face: "I'm going to sleep."

The room fell silent. After a long time, Lin Xiaolu's even breathing could be heard from her bed, leaving Xia Liang alone, awake on the floor mattress.

She no longer worried about her tight clothes or the poorly made bed she and Lin Xiaolu had put together.

She seemed to say something, but only she could hear it.

Finally, in the dim midnight, Xia Liang slowly drifted into sleep.