"Hey, Keke Jiang, is your brother coming to the parent-teacher conference again this time? My sister is coming this time..."
During the break, a male classmate's comment made Keke Jiang close her book.
She picked up her lunch and left the classroom.
"Ah, you scared her away again."
"I just wanted to talk to her..."
Keke Jiang had good grades at school, so she wasn't bullied.
Her brother coming to the parent meeting, though laughed at, was dealt with strictly by the teacher who severely scolded the students who joked about it.
In fact, her classmates neither looked down on her nor ostracized her.
After all, she excelled academically.
It's just that Keke Jiang didn't like to interact with people.
Especially boys.
She hated boys, and most of all, she hated her brother Jiang Si.
Poor grades, always skipping classes, fond of fighting, causing trouble.
And he never apologized.
He's been like this since the day their parents died.
Looking back now, sometimes she found it all surreal.
Actually, she had known since she was little that Jiang Si was a very cold person.
Apart from his daily almost-mad self-destructive workouts, he was uninterested in everything else.
But usually, he was respectful to their parents and listened to whatever they said.
Back then, Keke Jiang liked to cling to him because even though Jiang Si didn't talk much, he was always willing to play with her.
Thinking back now, perhaps he was just appeasing their parents.
From the start, he hadn't cared about her, nor their parents.
Unfortunately, back then, Keke Jiang hadn't realized this. She just foolishly thought her brother was great, just not expressive.
Until their parents passed away.
He never shed a tear, not even willing to attend the funeral.
The impatience and absent-mindedness in front of their parents' bodies couldn't be faked.
Selfish, cold-blooded, inhuman.
That was Keke Jiang's full appraisal of her brother Jiang Si.
She took out the lunchbox she made last night, leftovers, a bit cold.
Since their parents died, she rarely ate hot meals.
She wouldn't eat the food Jiang Si cooked; she didn't want to rely on the brother who wanted to abandon her.
In school, she only had time to cook in the evenings, so she'd make more to save for the next day.
By day, they'd turned cold too, and there was no place at school to heat them up.
Pecking at her cold meal, she grabbed a thermos beside her—there was hot water at school, it could warm her stomach a bit.
The noon wind blowing from the construction site had a hint of chill, Beihai City's summer always arrives late, the coldness of winter lingers too long, making the spring warmth in this cold wind feel like a small piece of sugar falling into bitter tea.
Unable to taste a bit of warm sweetness before it's drowned by the bitter cold.
She huddled in the corner of the third-floor balcony, looking at the distant park in the city center.
That's the place their parents often took them when they were kids.
Their parents would lead them running around the park, finding fun and interesting rides to amuse them.
When they were tired out, their mother would carry her, and her father would carry Jiang Si, singing children's songs as they walked home.
She still remembered when their parents thought they were asleep, chatting on the road.
Discussing when to buy a car, though their parents' salaries weren't low, they couldn't spend lavishly due to raising two children, and buying a car had to be postponed, even considering a second-hand one.
Talking about teaching Jiang Si to drive...
Whenever she felt cold, past memories would rush in, giving her a little warmth, then turning into greater coldness.
Therefore, she couldn't forgive Jiang Si.
Couldn't forgive the blood relative who wasn't sad at all when their parents died.
Couldn't forgive him for still living well, as if unaffected!
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the entire classroom building shook.
Keke Jiang's lunch scattered on the ground. Though it pained her, she quickly picked up the lunchbox and looked down from the building.
A Disaster Beast resembling a bat broke through the ground from the playground in front of the school building!
In recent years, Disaster Beasts frequently appeared in Beihai City, so it wasn't as shocking for many people.
But without a Magical Girl, they were still very dangerous.
The school security reacted quickly, immediately sounding the alarm, students and teachers swiftly evacuated the building.
Though noisy, there wasn't much chaos, a few retired Disaster Strategy Bureau security guards stood at the front, holding sprays—repellent developed by the Disaster Strategy Bureau for Disaster Beasts.
The spray could make the Disaster Beasts momentarily fearful, even stop moving, buying time for the Magical Girl to arrive.
However, the bat didn't react to the spray at all, merely shrieked!
The first to be affected were the security guards at the front with the spray, who unexpectedly fell to the ground at the shriek, the spray rolling before the Disaster Beast, only to be crushed underfoot.
A large amount of the spray splattered on the Disaster Beast, yet had no effect.
The volume of the shriek gradually diminished to inaudibility, and not a person was left standing in the school and the surrounding streets.
Everyone lay on the ground, quiet as if in a graveyard.
Keke Jiang wished she had fainted too.
But she hadn't.
The shrieking Disaster Beast turned its head, its dreadful eyes locked onto her.
It's always like this.
She clutched her lunchbox tightly, struggling to breathe, but finding it difficult.
It's always like this.
The Disaster Beast suddenly flapped its wings, whipping up a whirlwind of debris around, making it almost impossible for Keke Jiang to keep her eyes open.
When the large bat's feet gripped the window frame tightly, hanging upside down looking at her, Keke Jiang stepped back.
Then her legs gave way, and she sat on the ground suddenly.
She bit her lip, feeling more wronged and upset than fearful and panic-stricken.
Why is it always her who has to go through such things, why is there nothing good happening in her life.
Her parents, killed by a Disaster Beast.
The blood relatives left, cold as if not human.
Just one person, trying hard, not knowing for what, to live till now.
And then, even the small wish to simply survive couldn't be achieved.
As the Disaster Beast opened its large mouth, its dark figure looming over her.
Keke Jiang instinctively took out her seed.
Magic Seed.
A token to transform into a Magical Girl, it was given to her the day her parents had their accident.
However, since she obtained it, the Magic Seed had stayed a dull gray color.
As if its energy had been drained by something.
What she held was only an empty shell.
Just like her life, always hit with deep despair when filled with hope and happiness.
Mocking her weakness and ugliness in the face of misfortune.
Leaving only an empty shell unsure of its purpose for existing.
"If only I hadn't been born..."
Closing her eyes, giving up her resistance, she felt a sense of relief.
Yet she was still afraid of pain, afraid of the unknown of death, trembling slightly.
"Disaster Beasts become stronger by eating people."
A bell-like clear and pleasant voice reached her ears, followed by warmth dispelling all the cold.
"Ah!"
The Disaster Beast let out a strange call.
So, Keke Jiang cautiously opened her eyes.
Purple flames descended like a meteor from the sky, striking the Disaster Beast hard!
The beast screamed in pain, smashed head-first into the ground, engulfed by smoke and dust.
The purple flame slowly landed in front of her.
Elegant light purple boots touched the ground with a crisp sound, the purple light resembling flames slowly dissipating, revealing the rich, golden-purple dress, trailing light ribbons, cute bow decorations, and flowing purple hair in the breeze.
Until the beautiful yet cold face fell into view.
"If Magical Girls are eaten, Disaster Beasts become stronger." said the girl who resembled a purple flower, "If you die, it will be troublesome."
That day, in Keke Jiang's life, the sun rose once more.
Though it was purple, it remained warm.