Magical Girl Heavy Dependence

Chapter 82, [I love my brother the most!]

The girl suddenly opened her eyes.

The morning sunlight was seeping in through the gaps in the curtains, and the soft bed beneath her gave off a comforting scent. A flock of sparrows was chirping outside the window. She carefully lifted a corner of the curtain to peek at them pecking at the millet she had placed on the windowsill the day before.

Looking past the windowsill, she saw a lone fledgling bird, its feathers not yet fully grown, perched on a distant telephone pole, its beak wide open, begging for food towards the sky, but she couldn't see any adult birds in sight.

"What kind of bird is that? I've never seen one before."

The little girl skillfully grabbed her favorite pink rabbit doll from the bedside table, hugged it to her chest, and kneaded it while lost in thought.

"It's a nightingale."

A voice inside her told her...

"Who is it!"

The little girl was startled and quickly hugged the doll even tighter.

"Xiao'ai! Wake up!"

Just then, a gentle call came from outside the door. She quickly closed the curtains, slipped on her slippers, and rushed out of the bedroom. "Mom, I'm already up."

The little girl held the rabbit doll's ear with one hand and rubbed her sleepy eyes with the other, searching for the figure she longed to see.

The morning was filled with the warmth of everyday life. The father sat at the dining table, drinking tea while reading the newspaper with a serious expression. In the kitchen, a figure wearing an apron was busy at the stove, humming an unknown, cheerful tune.

"Have you brushed your teeth? Come and have breakfast."

The humming stopped, and a cheerful and melodious voice came through.

Mother?

For some reason, a sudden wave of sadness surged forth.

Her eyes were wet, and the little girl reached out to touch them, her fingertips getting wet.

The figure stopped what he was doing, turned around, and knelt down in front of the little girl.

She gently reached out and patted her head: "Did you not sleep well last night, baby? Why are you crying?"

"I had a nightmare."

The little girl closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around her mother's waist, and said coquettishly, "It was a very scary dream."

"Sweetheart, forget that dream." A gentle whisper echoed in your ear, "Dreams are all fake, Mommy is here... No matter how scary the monster in your dream is, Mommy will protect you."

"Really?"

The little girl nuzzled her head against my chest.

"Of course!" the mother smiled brightly, rolling up her sleeves to show her daughter her not-so-strong arms. "Mom is very strong, you know. If there are bad guys, I'll beat them all up!"

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang, and my father, who had been reading the newspaper, looked up. "Oh, coming!"

He hurried to open the door, and upon hearing the noise, the little girl nervously gripped her mother's sleeve.

"It's your brother," her mother said to her.

"elder brother?"

"Yes, didn't you two agree to go to the amusement park together today? He came especially to pick you up." The mother kissed her daughter's soft cheek. "Okay, baby, go have some breakfast."

The little girl tightened her grip suddenly, and only then did she realize that her mother's face was blurry.

"baby?"

The mother was somewhat puzzled.

The little girl looked towards the entrance again, where her father was laughing heartily, pretending to be polite as he accepted the gift from the man and invited him in.

"...No need to trouble yourself, dear teacher."

The man shook his head deftly. "The amusement park opens very early, and I heard it's especially crowded today. If you go late, you'll have to wait in a very long line, and Xiao'ai will get impatient."

"And what about breakfast?"

"We'll eat in the car. We bought it on the way here... I'll say hello to my teacher's wife and then take Xiao'ai and we'll set off now."

That familiar yet unfamiliar face gazed at us from afar across the corridor.

The mother smiled at the little girl.

"Go."

"Isn't Mom going?"

"Hmm... Mom has her own things to do."

The little girl hesitated, then stubbornly shook her head: "But... if Mom isn't with me, she won't be able to protect me."

"Your brother will protect you."

The mother gently patted her head and asked the person standing in the entryway, "Right?"

Without the slightest hesitation, he nodded solemnly: "I promise."

For some reason, the moment he made the promise, the sleeve that the little girl was clutching tightly slipped from her hand, and a gentle push came from behind her. She saw her mother waving to her.

She walked forward unsteadily, while her mother grew further and further away.

Extreme fear gripped my heart.

She started crying uncontrollably. Her warm home, the delicious breakfast, her father and mother... everything collapsed and disappeared in an instant, leaving only chaos.

"Xiao Ai?"

Suddenly, someone called her softly from the chaos.

"…elder brother."

The little girl turned around, sobbing, and suddenly realized that she was holding a sword in her hand, a silver-white rapier with a flowing blue light, the tip of which was pointing at her heart.

"Quickly, stab it out."

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

"Don't hesitate, this is the best opportunity."

Countless seductive murmurs erupted, and the hand gripping the sword began to tremble.

Clang!

In terror, she dropped the rapier in her hand, crouched down on the spot, and covered her ears with her hands.

"No, stop talking! Stop!"

"Please stop, I can't do it, I really can't."

"Actually, I..."

puff!

Warm blood blossoms into flowers.

Another beautiful girl, dressed in a light blue dress and with a cool and aloof expression, appeared out of the darkness at some point and pierced the man's heart with the sword.

The little girl stared blankly at the scene, murmuring, "No..."

thump.

The person lay in a pool of blood. The girl in blue shook the blood off her sword, turned around, and looked at her.

"This is the mission of magical girls." The blue-haired girl's voice was cold and devoid of any warmth. "We are doing the right thing."

The little girl shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face: "This is not the right thing to do, absolutely not!"

The girl in blue walked up to her with a sword, pointing the blade at her throat: "I am you. I will cut off the ridiculous weakness in our hearts. You don't need to resist. Just shut your mouth and watch carefully."

"No! You're not me!"

The little girl was terrified and hugged the rabbit doll in her arms tightly.

"I am you."

The girl in blue repeated it expressionlessly.

Suddenly, countless fragments of memory flooded her mind like a storm, and everything that had happened flashed by like a slideshow. The little girl recalled them blankly, and her image began to overlap with the blue-clad girl in front of her, as if they had merged into one.

Finally, the image freezes on the moment when he pierces the man with his sword, and the man falls to the ground in disbelief.

"elder brother!"

He shouted, but no sound came out.

Instead, a cold and resolute voice came from her own lips: "I don't need him. He was just using me... Now, the mission is complete, and I've finally gotten what I wanted."

Her body began to move uncontrollably. In the midst of the chaos, she turned around without hesitation, stepping on the man's blood, and gradually walked away.

The rabbit doll was ruthlessly abandoned on the spot, lying quietly beside a pool of blood, looking sad and lonely.

"Brother, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and all the beautiful images of him began to replay uncontrollably in her mind.

Even though he knew I secretly threw away the broccoli, my brother would still take me to play with the puppy!

[My new piggy bank is always empty, but it gets filled up again quickly when I'm with my brother, right?]

[After I fell, my brother carried me all the way home on his back. It was so warm on his back; I almost fell asleep.]

[Let's eat ice cream and read comics together today!]

My brother never gets angry with me...

"don't want!"

His steps abruptly stopped in mid-air!

Her body trembled and struggled. In a near-self-destructive struggle, she slowly changed direction and laboriously walked back towards the rabbit doll.

Deep inside, she felt another part of herself raging, hysterically roaring, "Are you crazy?! What are you thinking? Face reality! He's not your brother at all; it's just your weakness, your wishful thinking!"

"You're right, I was just being wishful."

"And you killed him with your own hands, you betrayed him. What kind of willful girl would do something like that and still be forgiven!"

"I don't care! I don't want to!"

"What good will it do you to go back?! He'll hate you, be wary of you, and stay away from you."

"Even so, it's okay!"

At this moment, the voice of her other self surprisingly wavered: "Why...?"

"because……"

The girl in blue closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks.

Even though he's not my brother, he's still the one I love most in this world!

The originally slow steps began to alternate quickly, and they walked faster and faster.

Finally, she ran towards him without regard for anything else.

Just a moment before her fingertips were about to touch the rabbit doll.

boom!

The ground beneath my feet suddenly collapsed without warning.

This chaos began to dissipate in her consciousness. She cried out and fell downwards, losing her balance and beginning to fall into that endless darkness where there was nothing.

Just when she thought she would be swallowed by darkness forever, she suddenly fell into a warm embrace.

Cang Qing's tightly closed eyelashes trembled, her eyes regained focus, and she looked at the somewhat chaotic sky and the face so close to hers.

"elder brother……"

His face had become almost transparent, and seemed poised to vanish completely in the next second. Yet, even so, the familiar, slightly indulgent smile remained on his face.

Silly brother, how much did you sacrifice to save me?

"Thank goodness! Xiao Ai, you're alright!"

I was hugged tightly.

Qing wanted to open her arms and hug him back with the same force, but found that she couldn't muster any strength at all.

"It's alright now."

He whispered in her ear while secretly dispelling the maximizing power spell behind her back.

Hearing that familiar heartbeat, Cang Qing obediently leaned against his chest and closed her eyes again in peace.

"Um... thank you, brother."

……