The unfortunate reader in question was named Qiuqiu. Its tail had gone stiff as it stared at the latest update in utter disbelief.

Because of several of Feiniao's previous works, readers already had a certain expectation of the magical girl genre. Magical girls were supposed to be lighthearted and youthful. Even when difficulties arose, they would overcome them safely through the power of love and friendship.

Every magical girl also had her own unique traits, whether different hairstyles, different weapons, or different personalities. Together, they created charming and lively school adventures.

And at the beginning, The Literary Master and the Magical Girl seemed no different from a normal magical girl story.

 

[

An ordinary student named Sakura opened a mysterious book and released a "Paper Witch."

Paper Witches were born from tragic characters in ancient literature. Having already fallen into extremity, they possessed immense destructive and seductive power, turning reality into the same kind of tragedy found in their stories.

This Paper Witch was named Fantine, originating from Les Misérables. She was tall and paper-thin, carrying a pair of scissors, cutting the hair of every passerby she encountered.

Sakura believed it was her responsibility to stop the witch, so she repeatedly tried to confront her. Suddenly, a talking book appeared, claiming that if Sakura signed a contract and became a magical girl, she would gain the power needed to defeat the Paper Witch.

But before signing the contract, Sakura had to make a wish.

Sakura immediately wished for "the power to protect others."

At that very moment, her friend Iris rushed out and took the contract in her place. Iris instantly became a magical girl and defeated the Paper Witch using page magic.

"Someone like you isn't qualified to become a magical girl," Iris declared coldly.

"She still doesn't want to make up with me…" Sakura said sadly. "I broke my promise about our summer picnic and left her waiting under the sun for two whole hours. That was really awful of me. No wonder she hates me now. It's completely my fault… How can I make things right?"

The floating grimoire huffed:

"How rude! You were supposed to be my contractor! Now I don't have enough protagonist slots left. Sakura, why not make another wish? Maybe wish to reconcile with Iris?"

Sakura refused.

"You can't repair a friendship by relying on outside forces."

In the days that followed, Sakura met many other magical girls: Lily, Rose, Hyacinth…

Though she possessed no flashy transformation outfit, Sakura still dedicated herself to protecting others, using only martial arts and intelligence to support the magical girls around her.

Because of this, she became known as "The Plainest Magical Girl."

 ]

 

Alien reader Qiuqiu assumed that this was the classic setup where Sakura would eventually earn everyone's recognition and become the brightest magical girl of all. That's how these stories always went!

Qiuqiu had even praised the story for its originality, since the Paper Witches drew inspiration from famous literary classics, and it loved this sort of Blue Planet literary trivia.

"But it doesn't really feel like Feiniao's writing style… Could this be a newcomer?"

Then the next chapter delivered a devastating twist.

Magical girl Lily was dragged into a book by a Paper Witch. Her entire body turned to ashes, and from those ashes a new Paper Witch was born.

"Lily actually died?! She's really gone?!" Qiuqiu screamed along with countless alien readers. "Wasn't Lily part of the main cast?! How can magical girls die?!"

Qiuqiu immediately looked at the author's name.

"Anonymous." The name was especially strange.

So even the author knew this kind of story would get them cursed out?!

Please don't let me find out who's behind this alias!

Before Qiuqiu could even process the grief, another series of truths came crashing down.

 

[

After Lily's tragic death, the magical girls within the story themselves began to fall apart emotionally.

The Paper Witches that they had been hunting all along…

Had once been magical girls just like them.

They and the enemy shared the same origin.

Once someone was dragged into a book, everything human about them disappeared.

Sakura demanded to know why the Contract Book had never told them this before.

The Contract Book replied that books were the ladder of human progress, and therefore, books inevitably carried the evil of the world within them. When enough malice accumulated, Paper Witches emerged by borrowing the forms of tragic literary figures.

But for humanity, the "tumor of Blue Planet," existing books were no longer enough.

That's why a "Blank Book" like itself had descended into the world.

It would choose magical girls to become protagonists and record their lives upon its blank pages. Malice would then completely corrupt them into new Paper Witches, who would then be defeated by the next generation of magical girls.

As compensation, any story written on its pages could become reality.

"Isn't that enough?" the Contract Book asked.

"I'm completely blank. Come, Sakura, write down your wish. Even though half a protagonist slot has already been used, there's still room if we squeeze a little."

]

 

Outside the story:

"Contract Book! Aren't you supposed to be the mascot character?!" Qiuqiu cried in horror. "You're actually a spy for the enemy side?! How can the truth behind the magical girls be this cruel?! And you're still trying to recruit Sakura?! Do you have no conscience?!"

"But… this explanation actually makes sense," other readers said after recovering from the shock. "Stories of this genre never explain where the witches come from. But if witches were transformed from magical girls, then everything suddenly fits together."

"DON'T TELL ME THE TRUTH! Give me back my cheerful school-life story!"

"Wuwuwu… Can Lily really not come back? The other magical girls will survive, right…?"

And yet, no matter how loudly the readers wailed, their bodies stubbornly continued reading.

They had never encountered a story like this before: a tragedy interpreting a fundamentally cheerful genre. That contrast itself possessed an irresistible charm.

On top of that, the story was filled with fascinating snippets of Blue Planet literary knowledge, and the prose carried a unique emotional rhythm that hooked readers back in just as they were about to leave.

In fact, all the grief and outrage only brought The Literary Master and the Magical Girl even more new readers.

And those new readers inevitably went through the same stages: Excitement. Shock. Furious screaming.

The one universal stage was passionately cursing out the Contract Book.

Why are you tricking people into this "job," you evil recruiter?!

Every update of The Literary Master and the Magical Girl felt like another impossible plot twist.

 

[

When magical girl Hyacinth discovered the pages could alter her life, she wrote herself a loving, happy family. Smiling peacefully, she transformed into a Paper Witch, and the family she had written became her most loyal guardians.

Magical girl Rose remained uncertain about the pages' power. Hesitating, she decided to rewrite the fate of her best friend. But no matter how she altered the storyline, her friend's destiny only became worse and worse.

Then the Contract Book appeared again:

"Because tragedies of the past are things that were destined to happen. Once they're written onto the page, how could they possibly be remade from scratch?"

]

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAH! I officially declare the Contract Book my most hated character!"

"Because of it, I want to shred every physical book on my spaceship!"

"Why do you only explain the truth after people ask you?! You're basically an unethical HR recruiter tricking people into signing contracts with fake salaries! Take this long-distance punch to your physical form! Bam bam bam!"

Readers' hearts ached while fury burned inside them.

Then they learned the truth behind Iris, the magical girl who had always been at odds with Sakura.

Iris had seen Sakura's death in the future.

That was why she made her wish.

She said, "The page after the second-to-last page is the first page."

And thus, the endless loop book began.

In every cycle, Iris tried to save her friends, yet almost always failed. Little by little, she was collapsing mentally. The only thing sustaining her was the fact that, from the very beginning, she had at least managed to save Sakura.

"Iris has always been the powerhouse of the series, but I never realized she became this strong through countless repeated battles…" one reader lamented. "Her real personality has completely changed. She's actually deeply gloomy now, and she just pretends to be her old self in front of Sakura. Aaaah, this hurts so much!"

"I thought she was just the standard tsundere character. I never expected she'd be willing to nearly break herself apart just to save her friend. Waaaah… Sakura is still worrying about their summer date and whether Iris forgave her, while Iris already forgave her long ago. I'm too old to handle this kind of pain."

In front of its optical computer, Qiuqiu furiously wiped away tears with tissues.

All its emotions condensed into four words: "They feel so real!"

 

[ 

In the end, the malice within the city grew too overwhelming. Nearly every magical girl transformed into a Paper Witch.

Gigantic paper demons twisted their bodies in the wind, rampaging through and destroying the city.

Only Iris and Sakura remained.

After driving back several Paper Witches, Iris finally collapsed from exhaustion. She felt herself nearing her limit, and over and over again, she warned Sakura never to become a magical girl.

But Sakura calmly replied:

"The past can't be changed."

Iris retorted, "Don't listen to that nonsense from the stupid book! I clearly changed the moment when you became a magical girl!"

Sakura answered:

"Maybe… because throughout all these loops, I was never meant to become a magical girl in the first place. After all, clothes, techniques, even intelligence... those can all become the key to victory."

"When the Contract Book asked me back then, I said out loud that I wanted the power to protect others. But deep down, what I really wanted was to reconcile with you, Iris. That's why I said I couldn't rely on outside forces. Maybe that means the contract was never truly successful from the start."

"Iris, you've worked so hard. You've carried all of this for so long. Leave the rest to me! Break free from the cycle already. You never need to bear the burden of being the protagonist ever again!"

"Let the plainest magical girl perform her one and only final act!"

Throughout the countless loops, the Contract Book had left half-blank pages for Sakura each time. Now, at last, she had accumulated enough empty pages.

She intended to reenact the stories of others upon herself, creating a Book of Life heavy enough to contain all the paper-born malice of the city.

In the end, everyone else would reach a new page in their lives, while Sakura herself would remain forever on the final page of her own story.

]

 

"Why…"

Readers whispered those words helplessly at their screens, tears flowing like oceans.

"Iris repeated countless loops just so Sakura could survive. That was the only thing she ever wanted. So why doesn't she even get that?! Why do they have to be separated? Iris might even forget everything Sakura sacrificed for her! But she doesn't want to forget!"

"In all those endless loops, Sakura wasn't completely unaware either. She kept instinctively trying to prevent tragedy by studying hard, saying proper goodbyes, and training constantly. And in every repeated battle, she defeated enemies faster and faster. Even without memories, even without becoming a true magical girl, she was still that same kind child who stepped forward to protect others… to protect Iris. No wonder Iris could never let her go."

"Wuwuwu, Anonymous Author, get out of here!"

"I think my life has been miserable lately. First I fell in love with Xunming and Yongye's novels, and then those two split apart because of creative differences! Then I got invested in Qiongtian and Canghai's works, only for one to develop a terminal illness and the other to stop updating! So I thought, surely there'd at least be a sweet friendship in this story, right? To be safe I even chose the magical girl genre! And yet…!! Wuwuwu author, give me back Sakura and Iris!!"

"A terrifying realization hit me. I searched through all the Blue Planet novels, and it seems like not a single person writes sweet romance stories… Blue Planet novelists! Do none of you date?! Are you all emotionless cold-blooded lifeforms?!"

"Now that today's update is out, I feel completely relaxed."

As the saying goes, joy and sorrow are never truly shared between living beings.

The network delay aboard the Tidal Peace had become increasingly severe, so Xi Yujin couldn't even be bothered to read the readers' anguished comments anymore.

Because he was wholeheartedly waiting for another update.

With every passing minute, he felt himself growing more nervous. The strings of tension inside him tightened further and further. Like the second hand of a clock, he paced circles around the observation hall like a writer suffering from creative block.

Click.

The door unlocked.

The moment Xi Yujin looked at Gano, the companion most familiar to him in the entire universe, his nervousness instantly peaked.

It felt as though he could hear the hands of a clock slowly aligning. The second shoe that had been hanging in suspense for so long had finally dropped.

The countdown was over.

What was meant to come would eventually come.

Gano was equally nervous, more nervous than the first time he had ever entered Permission Day. He held a handwritten manuscript in his hands. Of course, there was an electronic version on his optical computer, but holding the physical pages gave him something to rely on.

He didn't know how this would end.

But he still wanted to do it.

"I wrote a letter," Gano said, "and I want to submit it to Blue Planet."

He noticed a subtle flicker cross Xi Yujin's expression for a split second.

In that instant, Yujinno visibly relaxed. There was no shock, none of the surprise Gano had imagined through thousands of armor-assisted simulations.

The deviation rate of his plan had reached 99%.

Anything unexpected could happen next. In that single moment, Gano imagined countless chaotic scenarios.

"Then I'll… take a look…"

Xi Yujin desperately pretended that he didn't know anything beforehand. With his left hand (despite normally being right-handed, though he'd completely forgotten that fact in his panic), he picked up a pen, shoved it meaninglessly into his pocket, took it out again, then put it back.

Both of them used the worst acting performances of their lives while simultaneously pretending not to notice anything strange about the other.

After a painfully awkward exchange of dry, pointless conversation that felt almost dreamlike, Xi Yujin finally received Gano's manuscript.

The instant he saw the first line, the entire Tidal Peace was pulled by his gravity and rotated 180 degrees off course.

Gano stammered in alarm:

"W-What's wrong?"

"I saw four words. They're written very well. Those four words are…"

Summoning all his courage, Xi Yujin glanced at the manuscript and answered quickly:

"To Yujinno."

Too terrifying.

Both of them thought so simultaneously.

Fortunately, the Tidal Peace had automatic navigation systems installed, so there was no need to worry about Xi Yujin's gravity fluctuations. As the two continued their painfully hesitant conversation, the ship leisurely corrected itself back onto its proper course.

"This is a letter written for me?" Xi Yujin finally regained a bit of rationality. After the violent emotional turbulence, exhaustion settled in, leaving him in a strange state of calm.

Each of Gano's affirmations brought him reassurance.

"Yes. I simply wanted to do this. I wanted to express a little more to Yujinno…"

Xi Yujin lowered his gaze and continued reading.

 

[

To Yujinno:

I searched through Blue Planet's existing literature, but I could not find a suitable Blue Planet word to describe the relationship between us.

Because I do not want to make you sad.

Nor do I wish to drag you into overly bizarre and complicated incidents.

And even less do I wish to be separated from you because of misunderstandings.

I rarely have many thoughts of my own, but I want to lay the time before I met you plainly before your eyes.

My memories of my homeland have already become very vague. I only remember that my duty was to observe the universe day after day and defend against outside threats.

But the war ended long ago. Rather than vigilance, my work became little more than watching.

Amid the changing wonders of the universe, amid endless monotony and boredom, I developed an incorrect thought:

I wanted to see the world outside.

Once an error begins, it can only continue further.

But what would the future become?

I did not know.

Meeting you felt like the beginning of a miracle.

Please allow me to rewrite my résumé:

I am an official Blue Planet translator with extensive multilingual conversion experience…

In combat, I currently have no opponents. I also possess the following qualifications:

(part omitted due to excessive boasting about combat ability)

Please rest assured…

I can fly.

I can pilot spaceships.

I can bargain for lower prices.

I can cook Blue Planet cuisine.

I can answer many, many questions.

(several portions heavily crossed out and rewritten)

I can also steal flowers from other people.

(crossed out again)

I understand that miracles eventually come with an expiration date.

But with every extra second I stay by your side,

with every extra stretch of road we walk together,

it feels as though I like you a little more.

]

 

The moment he finished the final sentence, Xi Yujin recoiled slightly, as though brushed by flame.

It felt as if his very insides were being scorched, with countless tingling currents of warmth spreading through him.

"I…"

Looking at Gano's rare expression of nervous uncertainty, Xi Yujin wanted nothing more than to answer him immediately. He didn't want Gano to suffer even a fraction of the painful waiting he himself had endured.

What was there to hesitate over?

Liking someone was supposed to be something simple.

Who in the entire universe would dare object?

And yet the words that left his mouth circled back halfway, like a paper airplane diving downward only to loop back toward its starting point.

"Do you know what 'liking someone' means?"

Inside Xi Yujin, a hundred little birds were singing. To receive such pure affection was perhaps the happiest, most joyful thing in life.

Yet outwardly, he still restrained himself. His words remained probing, half posing, half yearning for even more.

He tried to explain:

"Liking someone probably means… even the most boring things make you instinctively want to share them with that person."

Gano asked with complete seriousness:

"Would the things I write be boring?"

Xi Yujin immediately shook his head.

Gano considered this for exactly half a second.

Then he stood and leaned down toward Xi Yujin.

Xi Yujin's vision darkened briefly. The next instant, Gano's chin rested on his shoulder while both arms wrapped tightly around him. The sound of Gano's heartbeat seemed strong enough to shake even diamonds.

Xi Yujin stared upward through the transparent panoramic ceiling.

Gazing at the boundless sea of stars beyond, helplessly accepting every piece of sharing offered to him from another universe.

 

 

 

Author's Note:

Reader: Is there no sweet love on Earth?

Ember: I'm currently hugging him!