Proving one's status starting with magical girls

"...What are you looking at?"

The woman's calm voice rang out in the interrogation room, causing the girl to avert her gaze for a moment.

You can't see it?

Li Jiangqun originally intended to say that, but the words that came out of her mouth turned into something else entirely.

"I'm looking in the mirror behind me."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "This is a one-way mirror."

"Um."

"Can you see the people behind the one-way mirror?" she asked curiously.

"I can't see it."

"...What are you looking at?"

"Look in the mirror behind you."

"..."

After a moment of silence, the woman suddenly smiled, then stopped maintaining her posture and sat down opposite the girl with her long legs crossed.

"Name." Without any documents or records, the woman asked naturally.

"Li Jiangqun"

"gender."

"female."

"age."

"sixteen."

After a series of standard, routine questions, the woman got straight to the point.

"Li Jiangqun, you must have a lot of questions to ask right now, but don't worry, we will answer your questions one by one. But before that, we hope you can answer some of our questions."

"Let me introduce myself. I am Si Baixiu, the head of the Magic Disaster Tactical Countermeasures Section of Linjiang City. You can call me Section Chief Si."

Head of the Countermeasures Division?

The girl's eyes widened suddenly.

Did she hear that right? That's a deputy director-level official!

And why would someone of this caliber interrogate her alone?

She vaguely heard a voice that seemed to be saying something.

"Li Jiangqun, your impersonation of a magical girl has been exposed. Come with us!"

Then a scene unfolded in my mind:

She found herself standing in front of the open refrigerator door, inside which lay a mountain of seeds of hope, and she spoke through her tears.

"Section Chief, I really haven't used a single one of these seeds of hope! I'm just too afraid of being poor!"

"......"

Looking at the girl in front of him who seemed to be lost in some kind of fantasy, Si Baixiu's eyes twitched slightly.

Her expression turned serious again, and a sharp shout jolted the girl out of her reverie.

"Citizen Li Jiangqun! Were you at Baiye Park near the Third Middle School in Huawen District, Linjiang City at 7:58 PM on April 17, 2020?!"

Please answer my question directly!

Under that stern gaze, the girl felt as if she had nowhere to hide.

She could only answer truthfully.

"...yes."

"reason?"

Li Jiangqun hesitated for a moment, but under the woman's serious gaze, she still told her the whole story.

After listening to her story, Si Baixiu fell into deep thought for a moment before continuing to ask questions.

"My second question is, you said you were at Baiye Park at the time. Did you see any magical girls other than Magical Blaze?"

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this question, Li Jiangqun's mind went blank for a moment, and she asked incredulously.

"Didn't you see Magical Girl Inagi???"

Upon hearing the name, Si Baixiu frowned almost imperceptibly before speaking.

"No, we didn't see anyone except Bai Chi at the time."

"How could this be..."

The girl's eyes widened.

She clearly remembered that Daoya said she would guarantee Baizhi's safety, so she could leave with peace of mind this time!

Did Daoya just abandon Wang Fanfan after she left?!

hateful!

What happened to the promise that magical girls wouldn't lie?

Rice sprouts are unreliable!

Si Baixiu looked at the girl opposite him, whose expression seemed genuine and not feigned, and immediately understood.

"Then, the third question."

She stopped crossing her legs and sat up straight, staring intently at Li Jiangqun as she spoke each word.

"Excuse me, citizen Li Jiangqun."

"Did you make a contract with a righteous angel of the magical world to obtain the Seed of Hope, and subsequently fulfill your duties as a magical girl?"

Upon hearing this, the girl's delicate body stiffened.

"I..."

Think it through before you answer!

Li Jiangqun took a deep breath.

"I...am not a magical girl!"

Not yet, at least not now.

However, Si Baixiu would not let her off the hook because of her rebuttal, but instead asked loudly.

"Then how do you explain the fact that you were at the scene the entire time and emerged unscathed? You must understand that the battle between the magical girl and the unknown figure had an area of ​​nearly three kilometers! The entire Baiye Park was reduced to ruins!"

The girl shrank back in fright at her voice, and after a long while, she said uncertainly.

"Because... I'm a sports student?"

She said coldly.

"You might as well say you know how to cultivate immortality."

Li Jiangqun's eyes lit up.

"How did you know I could cultivate immortality? To be honest, I'm actually a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage..."

"..."

Si Baixiu realized for the first time that people can actually laugh when they are extremely angry.

"Don't try anything funny with me!" she shouted sharply, immediately silencing the latter's words.

"Magical Girl Blaze is injured and unconscious, but you are completely unharmed! Citizen Li Jiangqun! Give me a reasonable explanation!"

"You don't need her to explain, I'll explain it to you."

A calm voice suddenly appeared, startling both men in the interrogation room.

"Director Bai, please don't do this, please don't do this..."

The voices of other members of the countermeasures section could be heard outside the interrogation room, seemingly trying to persuade someone.

"Bang!"

The interrogation room door was kicked open, and a short-haired girl with her hands in her pockets, a languid golden hamster perched on her shoulder, and a slightly pale face stood in the doorway, with a countermeasures officer behind her slapping her on the forehead.

"Incandescent?!"

"Fanfan!"

Looking at the woman's astonished expression, Wang Fanfan calmly said.

"Section Chief, I'll explain what happened next. Please release my classmate now."

"But!"

"There's no 'but' about it. I was on the scene firsthand, so I know more than she does. You don't need to ask her anymore."

Si Baixiu glanced at the ponytail girl with a happy expression, then at the short-haired girl with a tough attitude at the door, and finally could only sigh helplessly.

She looked at Li Jiangqun and said.

"Citizen Li Jiangqun, thank you for your cooperation. You can leave now."

"Ah Jing, Yu Xie, take her away."

Following her instructions, a male and a female member of the countermeasures section entered, looking apologetic as they prepared to take the girl away.

"Fanfan, I..."

"Let's talk about it later. This isn't the place for you right now."

Li Jiangqun originally wanted to say something to her, but since the latter had already spoken, she could only leave with the two of them.

"Hey, these are your things. Would you like us to take you home?"

The female countermeasures team member, known as Yusai, handed the girl a schoolbag and a long umbrella, and then kindly asked her what was wrong.

Coming to her senses from what had just happened, Li Jiangqun quietly weighed the umbrella in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that there was no change in its weight.

So she said politely.

"I have some things to attend to, so I won't trouble you any further."

The girl refused to leave and turned away, leaving the two countermeasures officers looking at each other in bewilderment, and in the end, they had no choice but to go back.

Li Jiangqun walked along the road for more than ten minutes before finally seeing a bus stop in the distance.

Although she was still somewhat concerned about Wang Fanfan's condition, the girl decided to deal with the immediate matter first.

—Use my remaining savings to buy some medicinal herbs with strange and grotesque shapes from a traditional Chinese medicine shop, so that my master can make my head pointy.

As she waited, she noticed that the girl next to her who was also waiting for the bus looked strangely familiar.

She wore light blue pigtails, blue eyes, a short, off-the-shoulder white tank top, and a light mint green transparent sun-protective jacket over it. She also wore a high-waisted white pleated mini skirt, revealing her fair and slender legs.

She had a light blue bag slung over her shoulder and wore white platform sneakers, looking light and energetic.

Seemingly noticing her gaze, the girl with pigtails looked up at her and smiled, her eyes crinkling.

"Hello, my name is Jiang Qing."