Chapter 187 - Chapter 187 - The Truth

📰'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' Ratings Rise Slows—Fans' Pre-Air Hopes of Surpassing 'Tokyo Love Story' and 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' May Be Dashed!

📰'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' Episode 3 Ratings Fall Short of Expectations—From the Plot, This Work May Soon Enter Viewer Aesthetic Fatigue.

📰Aftereffects of Killing Off the Popular Character Tomoe Mami Appear—Episode 3 Ratings Fail to Break the 5.3% Barrier as Scheduled!

📰Making a Wish for Someone Else Is Laughable in Itself—Characters in 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' Are Detached from Reality!

📰Three Episodes In, 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' Still Hasn't Revealed Its Main Plot—We Still Don't Know Which Episode the Female Lead Kaname Madoka Will Transform!

📰'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' Growth Slows—'Peerless', Once Pronounced Dead, May Have a Chance to Overtake!

In the past, Su Yan's dramas only drew this kind of talk when there was something controversial in the plot.

Now, even though 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was still the highest-rated show of the season, plenty of media outlets were already singing doom.

But neither Su Yan nor his fans cared.

How could any show have every single episode packed with dramatic twists that gripped viewers' hearts?

Among Su Yan's many works, only 'Tokyo Love Story' had been a nonstop chain of reversals in every episode.

An episode like the third one of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'—a transitional buildup—was completely normal.

As long as ratings didn't fall, that was already good. And it had even risen slightly.

This week, Su Yan continued attending events to promote 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.

At the same time, filming for '5 Centimeters per Second' entered its final stretch, and on Friday, it officially wrapped.

Filming '5 Centimeters per Second' itself wasn't difficult.

There were no massive set pieces. The real challenge was in post-production—how to blend the visual style of the original '5 Centimeters per Second' from his previous life into the film.

Fortunately, there were still more than two months for final post-production coordination. Not a lot of time, but not truly urgent either.

That night, at the wrap party for '5 Centimeters per Second', Su Yan drank himself completely drunk.

After Episode 4 of 'Peerless' aired, it received widespread praise.

It was an S-tier drama—sure, it was being suppressed by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', but how bad could it really be?

The climaxes it was supposed to have definitely wouldn't be missing.

The next day, Episode 4 of 'Peerless' posted a 5.19% rating. There was still a gap compared to Episode 3 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'—

But that gap…

Didn't look impossible to close.

This development jolted Akasaka Yoshitoki, who had been sinking into despair.

Could there actually be a chance?

If 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' stalled at around 5.2%, then next—

Hope flared in Akasaka Yoshitoki's chest.

When nobody believed in Su Yan, he had stirred up such waves in the Xia Nation entertainment world in only a few short years.

And yet, when everyone believed 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' would soar, so far it still hadn't broken 5.3%.

Of course, 5.3% was already an explosive number.

Even if it didn't reach it, it wasn't something worth nitpicking.

But when it came to Su Yan—the man who had created the phenomenon-level masterpiece 'Tokyo Love Story'—everything was different.

5.3%? What trash tier performance was that?

With Akasaka Yoshitoki seeing hope, and after he hired a large wave of water-army trolls to smear 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' all week—

Sunday night arrived.

Episode 4 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' aired.

At 8 p.m., Nan Yichen sat in front of the television on the dot.

He didn't let his attention drift for even a second as the cheerful opening of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' played.

The story picked up from last week: Sayaka had made her wish and become a magical girl.

But Madoka was still hesitating, still wavering.

And then—a new character appeared.

Red-haired… Sakura Kyoko.

This character had already shown up in the official setting book and trailers, so Nan Yichen wasn't surprised at all.

It was just her attitude—

It didn't seem very friendly.

Nothing like Mami at all.

Then came Madoka and Homura.

Before Mami died, Madoka leaned on Mami.

After Mami's death, the person Madoka confided in within the magical girl world gradually shifted to Homura.

Madoka was still hesitating about whether to become a magical girl.

She wanted to save everyone, but she was afraid of dying at the hands of a witch.

She watched her friend become a magical girl and fight alone night after night, fearing she would die like Mami—isolated, without help.

And yet she hated herself for lacking the courage to make that wish—becoming someone who could fight alongside her friend.

"I don't want to lie… and I don't want to make promises I can't keep!"

"Give up on Miki Sayaka."

Homura Akemi and Kaname Madoka.

Gu Qingyuan and Shen Liqian.

No one knew how many times these two had partnered up before—but this time, the CP energy practically overflowed from the screen.

The cool, valiant Homura and the kind, timid Madoka…

["So cute…"] Nan Yichen watched, satisfied—and oddly moved.

"This is no different from the fact that the dead can't be brought back. Once you become a magical girl, you can never be redeemed." Homura said.

Nan Yichen frowned.

Wasn't that a little too extreme?

Sure, fighting witches was dangerous.

But "no redemption"?

What was that supposed to mean?

It was like going to war—if you died, was that really such a horrible ending?

Did it warrant words like "redemption"?

If you stripped everything away, chose to become a magical girl, and even if you died to a witch, so what?

["Homura's resolve is weak,"] Nan Yichen shook his head. ["Judging whether the job is good or bad purely by life-and-death danger is way too narrow."]

He kept watching.

Sayaka confessed to Madoka that every night, when she set out to fight witches, she felt afraid.

But because of Madoka's encouragement, she regained confidence.

Girls' friendship, with a slightly tragic background melody.

And Kyubey's timely "advice".

"Actually, as long as you're by her side, you can prepare a trump card to prevent the worst-case scenario. If you make up your mind…"

Kyubey was trying to persuade Madoka to become a magical girl again.

After a brutal fight, Sayaka finally defeated a witch.

But the moment she emerged, she ran into Sakura Kyoko—the magical girl from another city.

And what she said was downright shocking.

She bluntly claimed that Sayaka should deliberately leave behind some of the witch's familiars, let them eat humans and grow stronger, then, when the familiars matured into witches, kill them to harvest Grief Seeds.

What kind of "scientific pig-farming" logic was that?!

["?"] Nan Yichen looked stunned.

Is that something a human being says?!

Why was this outsider magical girl so evil?

The difference between her and Mami was enormous.

Then came the battle between Sayaka and Kyoko, Sayaka's disadvantage, and Homura's intervention.

From this point on, the amount of combat increased—viewership clearly rose.

And the plot began revealing information: the "Witch of the Night" arriving two weeks later, and Homura's intent to team up with Kyoko to face that disaster.

As the story pushed forward, Kyoko and Sayaka's conflict deepened.

When Kyoko learned Sayaka's wish had been to heal a man and restore his health, she burst out laughing.

Their next clash felt inevitable.

But none of that was the real focus of the episode.

Up to this point, Nan Yichen thought Episode 4 marked the show's shift into a battle series.

But then—Kaname Madoka, trying to stop Sayaka and Kyoko from fighting—

At a critical moment on an overpass, she snatched Sayaka's Soul Gem while Sayaka wasn't paying attention and tossed it onto a passing truck.

She only wanted her friend to stop using magic to fight another magical girl, but—

Sayaka's body instantly collapsed, going limp on the spot.

Huh?

Nan Yichen suddenly felt something was very wrong.

"The farthest you magical girls can control your bodies is within one hundred meters." Kyubey began calmly explaining at that moment.

"Madoka… how could you throw your friend away?"

Two short lines.

Explosive information.

Throw your friend away.

Throw the Soul Gem away.

Nan Yichen froze—then, even before the show explained further, he realized what it meant.

No way…

Could it be—

That the true price of becoming a magical girl was turning into the Soul Gem itself, while the original body became nothing more than a controllable shell—like a robot?

His mind erupted into a storm.

On screen, Homura used her power to chase down the truck and retrieve Sayaka's Soul Gem—

And Kyubey finally explained the truth to Madoka and to the audience watching at home.

Just as Nan Yichen had guessed.

After becoming a magical girl, the magical girl's true body was the Soul Gem.

As for the flesh-and-blood body, it was merely a mass of meat that could be repaired with magic and controlled at will.

Madoka knelt beside Sayaka's body, crying.

Kyoko grabbed Kyubey, looking like her worldview had shattered.

And Kyubey wore that same carefree smile, like boiling water could never scald it.

"You're always like this. Once I tell you the truth, you react the same way every time. I don't really understand it—why are you humans so obsessed with where your souls reside?"

Holy—

Nan Yichen shot to his feet.

["Kyubey, the way you say that—!"]

["How did this rabbit not get killed by Homura in Episode 1?!"]

Nan Yichen was completely stunned.

He never could've imagined that Episode 4's big reveal would be this.

No wonder.

From Episode 1 to Episode 4, the reason Homura kept warning Madoka not to become a magical girl finally made complete sense.

Homura had known the truth from the beginning.

And this detestable white rabbit had been lying the entire time.

If it had told everyone this from the start, who would choose to become a magical girl?

Saving the world—sure, that was fine.

But becoming a monster to save the world—what was the point?

You could dress it up as "transferring the soul from the body into the Soul Gem," but—

Was that still human?

A person was a person because of their human form, their shape, their emotions, and their desires.

Who could accept turning from flesh into a rock—then controlling their former body like a puppet to fight witches?

No matter how nicely you phrased it, this was serious concealment.

Becoming a magical girl meant no longer being human—becoming a monster completely.

In that instant, Nan Yichen finally understood.

The true final boss of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' wasn't witches.

It was Kyubey!

On screen, Madoka cried bitterly.

Kyoko's expression turned ugly.

As for Homura, she brought back Sayaka's Soul Gem, and Sayaka's body immediately regained consciousness.

Sayaka blinked in confusion and asked the simplest question.

"What… happened?"

The ending song began.

A powerful wave of darkness and depression rose inside Nan Yichen.

Anger.

Rage.

The urge to bite Kyubey to death—and yet—

He desperately wanted to watch the next episode, to learn the fate of these magical girls.

To know what happened next.

["Su Yan, you bastard, you cut it off here—what does that mean?!"]

Nan Yichen felt like the plot had twisted his brain into knots.

How was this supposed to be resolved?

Madoka, you're the protagonist!

You can't just do nothing and hide like a coward, right?