Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

Chapter 40: Chapter 37: Umbrella

The rain intensified, and the slanting wind did not cease. Lin Xiaolu, despite holding an umbrella, still had raindrops blown onto her from time to time.

After a while, at the school gate, the crowd had already passed the peak of its gathering.

With only about ten minutes left before the parents' meeting was to start, most of the students' parents had already taken their places, even beginning to strike up conversations with each other in the classrooms.

After guiding their parents to the classrooms, the other students made their choices. Those who usually traveled alone on ordinary days would go home as usual, while the rest gathered in the library or gymnasium, waiting for the parents' meeting to end.

The playground and the open area outside the teaching buildings were empty, as no one wished to stand in the rain.

The crowd at the gate became even sparser, leaving only a few students like Lin Xiaolu waiting with their umbrellas. Seeing that there were hardly any people left, the security guard at the gate also stepped out of the security room and dutifully closed the main gate, leaving only the side entrance for pedestrians to pass through.

Lin Yun still hadn't arrived.

The deluge became more ferocious.

Lin Xiaolu took out her phone and looked at the message history she had sent earlier. The reply "Definitely" was particularly striking.

She remembered the time when her mother was still around.

As a freelancer, An Ya's schedule was much more flexible than Lin Yun's, so it was always her who attended the parents' meetings.

Compared with Lin Yun's rigorous approach to time management, An Ya was much more laid-back, often running on time or arriving late, and she always managed to gloss it over with a laugh. If she ever really angered Lin Xiaolu—like the time she got the date of the parents' meeting completely wrong—she would buy lots of snacks and toys, then take Lin Xiaolu to the amusement park until her daughter's dissatisfaction was completely dissolved by the sweet bombardment, and then would look at her pitifully and ask, "Lulu is the most understanding, won't you forgive Mommy?"

"Don't save all the tacit understanding for things like this."

Moments from the past flashed before her eyes as Lin Xiaolu murmured to herself while staring into the torrential rain.

She felt that she shouldn't really care whether Lin Yun kept his promise.

It was just a parents' meeting. No one had come to attend in the past two years, and she hadn't felt that it was a problem.

Rather, if she hadn't told Lin Yun about the parents' meeting today, she would have been like in previous years, explaining the situation at home to her homeroom teacher and then completely disregarding the parents' meeting, leaving school early to go home.

If she had gone home early now, she might even have caught the afternoon's cartoon show. The new series of Magical Girl animations had already aired up to the tenth episode, right?

Come to think of it, ever since she became a Magical Girl for real, she hadn't had the time to watch the cartoons anymore.

Did she really need to be so concerned about the parents' meeting now?

As for that man, she had already been disappointed in him long ago, and she had no trust in him whatsoever. Whether he came or not, it was unlikely to cause her any emotional ripples.

She was standing here now just because she had initiated the topic of the parents' meeting; not coming to see would seem irresponsible, it was a display of her sense of duty.

His tardiness or even a no-show was his own affair and would not affect her.

Once the parents' meeting began, if he still hadn't arrived, she would turn around and leave. As for the class number, that was a matter of sending a text message.

Lin Xiaolu thought grimly, expressionless.

However, regardless of her rationalizations, that familiar figure never appeared at the school gate.

Even as she tried to distract herself by refreshing social media on her phone screen in an attempt to pass the time, Lin Xiaolu still felt restless, her gaze occasionally flicking toward the school gate.

The last student waiting there finally saw their mother arrive, and the rims of their two umbrellas met, as mother and child chatted and laughed under the shelter.

Lin Xiaolu stamped her foot, the heel repeatedly striking the ground, kicking up water and making a "squelching" noise.

"Could it be he's really not coming?"

No sooner had she spoken these words, as if to confirm something, a burst of music suddenly sounded, its melody melodic yet harsh through the school speakers, like the sound of thunder, pulling Lin Xiaolu back to reality from her thoughts.

For the students of Sunset Middle School, this tune was familiar; it was the sound of the class bell.

And today, with altered schedules, it was the signal that the parents' meeting had started.

...

...

Lin Yun was running in the rain.

The outcome of the battle was not in doubt. Having the ability to defeat the Cocoon on his own, beating the Inchworm was not difficult.

However, because the battle took place on a fast-moving train, the constantly changing space made it hard for him to use his silk threads for a quick resolution, and recklessly using mighty moves like his masterpieces risked involving other passengers. In the end, he had to pick up his basic Magic Power skills, which he had been neglecting for a while.

In such a condition, even though he had defeated the Inchworm as quickly as possible, it took him a few steps longer than usual.

After the light rail train stopped, and perhaps because it was his first time fighting outside of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau's control, there were quite a few onlookers around after he defeated the Remnant Beast. He spent some extra time dispersing the crowd gathering around the Remnant Beast.

Finally, after contacting Hong Si and explaining the situation to the Abnormal Strategy Bureau, he avoided the surrounding crowd who kept taking photos and took to the air, flying directly towards Sunset Middle School.

As usual, he found a secluded alleyway, reverted to his true self after emerging from it, and ran towards his destination.

Since he rushed off in a hurry, he left his umbrella on the train, so he was forced to squint and press on through the pouring rain.