Using meatballs to successfully trade for the new issue at Liuli Shrine, Yueyue eagerly placed the comic on the desk, only to find herself surrounded by her friends.
Yueyue was unhappy.
She had traded her lunchtime meatballs for this; how could she let these guys see it?
Without a word, she sprawled on the desk, covering the comic. "You can't see it!"
These meanies! They said her dad's comic was bad!
"Hey? Don't be so stingy, Yueyue."
"Yeah, let us see it too."
But no matter how much they pleaded, Yueyue refused.
Then a little girl in a pink dress, her dark eyes gleaming with mischief, giggled and sneered, "Hmph, Yueyue must be scared! She's afraid her dad's comic is still so bad and doesn't want us to see it~~"
!!! >_<#
"Who's scared! Let's see!" Yueyue couldn't stand being provoked.
Hearing this little girl's words, Yueyue couldn't take it. She moved aside, and soon a group of little girls gathered around and began reading.
In the third chapter, Madoka and Sayaka encounter an unhatched Grief Seed outside the hospital.
If left alone, it would hatch into a witch.
To prevent accidents, they split up. Sayaka stayed while Madoka went to find the senior.
On the way to find the witch, Homura appeared to stop them, but the senior restrained her. Then they continued to the witch's location.
During their journey, Madoka spoke to the senior about her admiration for her fighting to help others and her desire to become a magical girl like her.
"Wow, Madoka is finally becoming a magical girl!"
"I wonder what Madoka's transformation will look like. So exciting!"
"This Homura is so annoying, always ruining things for Madoka and the senior! Hmph!"
Seeing this part, the little girls got excited.
Although the story seemed predictable, what they loved most about magical girl stories was the cute magical girls and their transformation scenes.
They continued reading.
Magical girls are lonely. Perhaps because of this, the senior kept guiding Sayaka and Madoka, hoping they would become magical girls like her and be her companions.
Moved by Madoka's words, the senior finally shed tears of joy.
Maybe it was because of Madoka's words that the senior fought the witch more vigorously this time, wanting to show Madoka the best side of a magical girl.
In the battle with the witch, the senior moved gracefully like a butterfly, with cannon fire accompanying her dance.
She easily overpowered the witch.
"She won!"
"This witch is done for, right?"
Seeing the senior shoot ribbons to bind the witch, about to finish it off, the little girls sighed in relief and cheered.
But a sudden twist caught them off guard.
Because suddenly, something happened!
A giant demon face emerged from the small doll-sized witch and instantly appeared before the senior. Even the powerful senior couldn't react.
Stunned, the senior could only watch as the demon face slowly opened its bloody mouth. They stared at each other.
The page ended there, leaving a deep impression on the little girls, who didn't dare to turn the page for a long time.
What would happen? Did the senior die?
"The senior won't die, right?"
"No... no way! Madoka will find out and wish for Kyubey to save the senior, then become a magical girl and defeat the witch!"
After a long time, the little ones finally calmed down.
But the tense atmosphere lingered in their hearts.
Yueyue suddenly let go of the paper, "Um, who will turn the page?"
"It's not a lottery ticket." The little girl in the pink dress rolled her eyes, swallowed, and reached out to turn the page.
As the page turned, they quickly saw the new content.
It didn't show Madoka wishing for Kyubey to save the senior and becoming a magical girl.
Instead, it showed the shadow of the witch's mouth covering the senior's head, and then—
Crunch.
The sharp teeth snapped shut forcefully.
The senior's body was bitten and hung in the air, limp and lifeless like a broken doll. Her once-glamorous magical girl costume dissipated, revealing her regular clothes.
Then, the headless body fell from the air as the witch swooped down.
Although the scene wasn't explicitly shown, the little ones understood what it meant—
The senior lost her head!
The little girls' faces lost their previous excitement, turning pale.
Then their eyes visibly reddened. "Waaah!!!"
Cries erupted.
Soon, the kindergarten teachers came running.
"What happened?"
"Waaah, the senior, the senior lost her head!!!"
"Waaah, magical girls are so scary!"
"I don't want to be a magical girl anymore!!"
"Yueyue, so sad!!"
The little girls cried together, saying things the teachers couldn't understand.
From that day on, a legend of a head-eating monster began circulating in the kindergarten...
And Yueyue's dad's image became terrifying among the kids. Every day, little ones would come to comfort Yueyue, often bringing her snacks.
Of course, this is for later.
Although other readers weren't as fragile as the little ones, they subconsciously touched their necks, feeling their childhoods had been shattered by that bite.
But they continued reading. In the next part, Homura easily defeated the witch that ate the senior's head, coldly looking at Madoka and the others:
"Burn this scene into your memory. This is the fate of magical girls!"
The scene ended there.
And countless exclamations of "Whoa!" followed.
In everyone's eyes, magical girls were always symbols of glamour, power, and invincibility.
Even if they faced a monster they couldn't defeat, they would escape safely and return to win next time.
Or they would start weak but power up miraculously at the end.
----
For those who have never read magical girl stories, even if they read Ren's "Magical Girl Madoka" now, they wouldn't find anything wrong with it.
Isn't it just a character dying?
In many action comics, even the main character can die, so why should a guide-like character's death be a big deal?
However, for many who grew up with magical girl stories, this was quite a shock.
Such a kind, glamorous genre that never has characters die and whose endings are always predictable suddenly had a death?
As a result, Ren's Weibo quickly exploded with comments.
"What do I do? I can't stop thinking about the scene with the senior's half-suspended body."
"Oh my god, I never expected a death in a magical girl story! And it was my favorite character!! I thought the senior would be part of the main team!"
"To be honest, I felt something was off with this story, especially the change in art style when entering the witch's barrier. It had a kind of abstract art feel. Could it be that the Porter can't draw warm, cozy scenes? Clearly not; it's obvious this was foreshadowing! Considering that Homura kept stopping Madoka from becoming a magical girl, there must be some big twist coming."
"I agree."
"I feel bad for the senior. From chapter three, it seemed her wish was for resurrection. Becoming a magical girl brought a chance for revival, but she couldn't save the person she wanted to save, and she fought alone in solitude. Finally, she found out Madoka would be her companion, but then she died..."
"Thinking back, didn't the senior set a death flag during her chat with Madoka in chapter three?"
Of course, where there are fans, there are trolls.
"No way? No way? No way? Do you really think a character dying counts as subversion? You guys don't think that's subversion, right?"
"Exactly, why are so many people making a fuss? Just because a character dies doesn't mean it's subversion. Should I kill more characters in my cooking manga to make it subversive too?"
Because of the 180-degree twist in chapter three, what seemed like a calm sea stirred up waves.
What was initially an ordinary magical girl story became a hot topic because of this twist. People debated if this was the subversion mentioned and if there would be even bigger twists in the story.
But mainly, it was about the senior losing her head.
These four words quickly trended, leading many clueless people to click and see what terrible crime had happened.
Once they saw it was just a comic plot, those uninterested in anime laughed and left.
Those who were intrigued decided to buy the comic to see what the fuss was about.
...
**Evening**
Ren, Jada, and Yueyue sat around the dining table for dinner.
However, Yueyue kept poking her rice with chopsticks, showing no appetite.
"Why aren't you eating? I made your favorite fried chicken wings today," Ren asked, puzzled.
Usually, she would be clamoring for this. Why wasn't she eating now?
Was she feeling sick? Ren thought, and quickly went to check her forehead. The temperature was normal. If she was in pain, she would have cried already. So, it wasn't an illness. She was fine before school, so did something happen there?
Suddenly, Ren thought of a possibility, and his expression grew serious. "Were you bullied at school?"
Could school bullying have reached kindergarten?
Even he couldn't bear to... well, occasionally tease his own child.
If it was another child's fault, he wouldn't let them off... their parents!
"Hmph!"
Yueyue thought of how it was her dad's comic that upset her, and seeing his concerned face only reminded her of the beheaded senior.
Her anger flared up.
She snorted, put down her chopsticks, glared at Ren, and said, "It's you who bullied me!"
Then she grabbed some snacks from the coffee table and stomped back to her room.
She was so angry at her dad that she couldn't even eat!
"What did you do to her now?" Jada glared at Ren, questioning him.
Ren looked confused. "Did I... bully her today?"
He couldn't remember, so he started counting on his fingers, "No snacks, didn't take away her toys, didn't pinch her cheeks, didn't tickle her..."
As Ren listed things one by one.
Jada's face grew darker.
Goodness, is this how he usually teases her?
"Ha ha." Jada coldly chuckled, ate a few bites of rice, and went upstairs.
"…"
Ren watched her leave, then looked at the food on the table. He sighed and patted his stomach. "Well, I'll have to eat the leftovers again. At this rate, Jada's belly won't grow, but mine will."
...
Before bed.
Ren finally learned from Jada why Yueyue had been acting so strangely.
He couldn't help but laugh.
When he drew this comic, he had anticipated this reaction, but he didn't expect it to be so effective.
"You're still laughing?" Jada pinched his waist. "You should have warned her earlier. Don't you know she loves magical girl stories?"
"This is just the beginning." Ren waved it off. "The later plot twists are even bigger. If she can't handle this, she shouldn't read further."
After all, in the upcoming chapters, not just the senior, but characters like Sayaka and Kyoko would also meet their ends.
"Keep it up." Jada laughed. "Do so many mean things, and be careful Yueyue doesn't pull your oxygen plug when you're old."
"Yueyue is so cute; she'd never do that." Ren laughed.
But in his mind, a scene played out.
Doctor: Your dad is fine, just sleeping…
Yueyue: Doctor, unplug him.
Beeeeeep—
Of course, Ren didn't believe his sweet, innocent little girl would do such a thing.
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