Chapter 3 Face to Face Interview

Lin Yun drove Hong Siyu's car back to her apartment, then took the tram back to his own home. When he stepped into the entrance hall, the clock had already pointed to ten o'clock.

Subconsciously glancing at the shoe cabinet by the door, he found that his daughter's shoes were casually dropped on the ground. Lin Yun straightened them out and walked towards the living room.

If Hong Siyu is correct, there should be an interview report about the new magical girl on TV tonight.

He turned on the TV and took a look at the content of the city channel. He saw that it was a cheap idol drama in the night slot. Realizing that the news time might have passed, Lin Yun turned on the communicator and searched the Internet for what the city channel would broadcast tonight.

Soon, he found a replay of the evening news on the official website.

One of the pieces of news was about a group of ferocious beasts attacking a downtown area in the morning.

The news reported the damage and casualties caused by the crippled beast to that neighborhood, and then changed the subject to indicate that the one who knocked down the crippled beast this time was the new magical girl. Although she was a novice, she had already made outstanding contributions to maintaining public safety.

Then, the scene shifted to the scene, where the reporter said he had met the new magical girl and would conduct an on-site interview with her.

Not long after, this previously mysterious magical girl made her debut in a news interview.

What caught my eye was a girl who gave people a fairy-tale-like impression.

She had golden twin ponytails, a light blue dress, a bright yellow corset around her waist tied into an exaggerated bow at the back, a round gem on her chest, and a small hat on her head.

"Hello everyone, uh, I'm the new magical girl, my name is White Rose..."

Judging from her clothes alone, she doesn't give people the impression of a "combatant" at all. It just makes people wonder which dance party she ran out of.

However, this kind of clothing is the norm for magical girls.

Most magical girls fight in costumes like this. What's even more counterintuitive is that no matter how restrictive their clothes seem to be, their movements are not affected at all by such gorgeous clothes.

Naturally, the first impression such a magical girl gives people is not "powerful" but "cute".

But when looking at the magical girl in the news video, Lin Yun always felt that something was wrong.

This "not quite right" feeling had no source, but it was so strong that he soon realized the nature of this feeling - it was a sense of familiarity.

He felt familiar with the magical girl on the screen.

Where have I seen this girl before? With this thought in mind, he subconsciously compared the magical girl in front of him with his memory.

In fact, he had already felt it vaguely in his heart, but he was unwilling to associate it in the direction that he was most unwilling to accept.

But if you don’t think in that direction, this feeling of familiarity cannot be explained and there is no answer.

So, when he really hesitated and put the least desired answer on the table, Lin Yun froze.

Because he couldn't accept it.

How could it be her? Why was it her? How could it be her? Countless questions arose in my mind, which turned into confusion, which turned into anxiety, and then into anger.

Now in his forties, Lin Yun rarely feels such intense anger in his life. It seems to burst out of his chest and burn his brain to a blank.

He couldn't understand.

Why is this magical girl Lin Xiaolu? His daughter?

Not in the mood to continue watching the news, Lin Yun put down the communicator in his hand. He felt his thoughts were confused and his emotions were difficult to calm down.

——I have to go and have a good talk with her.

This thought came to his mind.

Even though he and his daughter Lin Xiaolu have been in a cold war for a long time and they hardly say a few words to each other on a daily basis, he still needs to fulfill his duties as a father and have a good talk with her.

If she volunteers to become a magical girl, she should be told the pros and cons and allowed to make the decision.

With this thought in mind, Lin Yun suddenly stood up and walked straight to his daughter's room.

【Knock on the door first】

There was a note like this on the door.

Familiar words. When was this note first posted on the door of my daughter’s room?

In the two years since his wife passed away, there have been too many conflicts between father and daughter, and he has always been bad at expressing himself, so that the relationship has finally come to this point.

The two of them were clearly family members who depended on each other for survival, but they barely spoke to each other for the entire day. Even if they did, it was just the most basic daily routine, without any heart-to-heart conversation.

Lin Yun paused with his finger against the door, then took a deep breath and knocked: "Are you asleep, Lulu?"

There was no response from the room.

Feeling a little depressed, Lin Yun waited for a while, quickly calmed down, and knocked on the door again.

But still no response.

The gentle knock on the door disappeared without a trace like a stone sinking into a deep pool.

Lin Yun lowered his head, looking slightly gloomy.

If it were any other day, he would have given up by now. He would have felt that things were irreversible and that they should keep enough distance between each other and let time heal the gap.

However, this time it would not work. Even if it would further deteriorate the relationship between him and his child, he had to convey what he wanted to say.

So he won't stop.

Click.

Just as he was about to knock for the third time, the door in front of him was suddenly opened.

A young girl in pajamas stared at him unhappily and said, "You're awake, what are you doing?"

The alert look is like a cat with its fur standing on end.

Seeing his daughter's uncooperative attitude again, and thinking that he came to talk to her out of concern, Lin Yun felt annoyed and annoyed. He just thought that this girl was so annoying and he should really give her a good scolding.

But when the words came to his lips, he stopped.

He suddenly didn't know what to say.

Ask your daughter directly if she is going to be a magical girl? And then scold her for doing something that is considered a good deed in the eyes of everyone?

Or should you tell her straight away about the dangers of magical girls as soon as you meet her, so that she can give up immediately?

Putting aside how he would come up with evidence to support his statement, would stating everything so directly touch the child's fragile and sensitive nerves?

Taking a step back, it was a long-lost conversation. As a father, was it really appropriate to deny his child as soon as they met? He wanted to know his daughter's true thoughts, but was his daughter really willing to confide in him? Could he really achieve his goal through such a harsh conversation?

How can I make my children believe in me now? No matter how I think about it, the answer is that I can't do it.

Lin Yun couldn't help but start thinking, what exactly did he want to tell her? Putting aside these external contradictions and the accumulated alienation, he wanted to know his daughter's true thoughts, so what about his sincerity?

He was thinking a lot under his daughter's gaze, but in the end, all his thoughts became nothingness, and only one voice remained:

"We haven't seen each other for several days. Dad wants to see you."

This is his only true heart left after discarding unnecessary emotions such as anger, anxiety, worry, and guilt.

He might not be able to make his daughter happy, and he might not be able to solve the problems between them, but at least now, he wanted to see her.

After learning that his daughter has become a magical girl, he now wants to see if the child is okay, if she is scared, and if she is emotionally stable.

When the girl standing at the door heard this, her frowned brows raised slightly, then relaxed, and her expression became complicated.

"Now? Just for something like this?"

"Well, because I was afraid you would get angry if I called you in the morning."

Lin Yun forced a smile on his wooden face: "Now that I've seen it, I feel much more relieved."

The black-haired girl raised her nose and sniffed, pursed her lips, and after a while, she stammered and said:

"Are you drunk?"

"Maybe? After all, I drank quite a lot tonight."

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Lin Yun followed his inner feelings and said frankly: "Dad, I am really happy that you are willing to open the door."

"...Now that you have seen me, what next?" The daughter still frowned.

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask how you've been doing lately and whether you're happy at school."

Lin Yun stood there and waved his hand: "I won't ask you about studying. You should take charge of it yourself. I have no right to tell you."

The conversation between the two paused again.

The daughter seemed a little surprised that her father asked such a question. She looked at him strangely. After a while, she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, it's very ordinary, nothing happened."

"It seems like there's a dangerous incident near your school. Is everything okay?"

"Danger... It's nothing. I can handle it."

"Do you need me to pick you up?"

"Just do your thing."

"How about the phone I bought you for your birthday last month?"

"Good."

"Is the dinner cooked by the hourly worker okay?"

"No problem, Aunt Liu is a good cook."

"Has anything good happened recently?"

"Good thing?"

The daughter raised her eyebrows when she heard this, seeming a little confused, but soon, as if she thought of something, her expression became a little hesitant.

"I don't know, but nothing bad will happen anyway."

Nothing bad...

Lin Yun's heart moved slightly.

"Really? Then I have nothing else to ask."

Hearing his daughter's somewhat ambiguous answer, he seemed to be relieved and took a step back: "Lulu, Daddy is sorry for you."

This sentence was met with a brief silence.

"…It's too late to say these words now."

The girl behind the door whispered, glanced at him again, lowered her eyebrows and began to push the door: "Go to bed, don't bother me anymore."

Click.

The door in front of me was closed.

Lin Yun, standing outside the door, didn't know what he was thinking. He stopped for a long time before walking towards his bedroom.

In the end, he still failed to bring up the topic of "magical girls".

He couldn't say it, couldn't ask, and whenever he tried to mention this word, his throat would become extremely dry.

However, not saying it now does not mean that he has given up.

During the conversation just now, Lin Yun had already thought of another way in his mind. Perhaps, using that method, he could tell his daughter some information about the magical girl and be sure enough that his daughter would take these words seriously.

Opening the door to his bedroom, he undressed from his formal suit, put down his briefcase, and walked towards the closet in the corner of the room with a burning gaze.

There are two wardrobes in the master bedroom, one for storing clothes of the two owners. One is very large and placed on the wall, and the other is very small and tucked in the corner.

Lin Yun doesn’t have many clothes. Apart from a few sets of casual men’s wear that he often wears, he only has formal suits for office scenes.

He opened one of the drawers, which was filled with some old clothes. Many of them were what he wore when he was young, but now their styles no longer matched his age and were not in line with the fashion trends.

After removing the clothes on top, he slowly reached out and took out a palm-sized gift box.

“…19 years.”

He sighed in a trance.

He had hidden the box despite his wife's objection, and never thought that there would be a day when he would take it out again. At that time, he just felt that his life was perfect and everything was settled, and he had no reason to take out the things in the box again.

However, after so many years, it was not until today, when he learned that his daughter had become a magical girl, that he realized that escape would never solve the problem.

He gently opened the buckle of the box and lifted the tight lid. He looked at the items inside for a long time without saying a word.

It was a cracked gem flower.

A gem covered with fine textures and stained with dust.

It has another name, people always call it "heart flower".

And in this world, there is only one kind of person who can possess this kind of rare treasure.

——Magical girl.

(End of this chapter)