On the elevated highway deep into the night, the shadows of speeding cars roared past.
In the driver’s seat, Lin Yun’s brows were tightly furrowed. Even with the pedal to the floor, rushing at full speed, it had still taken him nearly twenty minutes to get from his home to the wetlands park. And right now, every passing second felt like agony.
But during this frantic drive, he somehow managed to dig up some long-buried knowledge from his chaotic mind, piecing together a few long-forgotten truths.
Why had he become a Magical Girl in the first place?
It was a question he had once kept close to his heart. Yet now, after nineteen years, he found himself thinking about it again.
Staring out at the dimly lit roads, bathed in the glow of the streetlights, memories long buried began to resurface. Memories from twenty-two years ago.
He was surprised he could still recall it—an evening after school.
“Can I fight too?”
On a street dyed in the golden hues of sunset, a young Lin Yun posed this question to a creature that resembled a rabbit.
The creature, which called itself a Seeder, replied,“Of course not! You’re a boy! Only girls can become Magical Girls—it’s an extremely rare gift!”
“Why can’t boys do it?”
“I already told you—Magical GIRLS. GIRLS! Only girls can be Magical Girls!”
“Then I don’t have to be a Magical Girl! Magical Boy, Magical Big Bro, Magical Hero—whatever works! I just want magical power!”
Just as the boy passionately declared this, a battle raged between the buildings not far away.
His childhood friend—Anya—was also a Magical Girl, currently locked in combat with a vicious Ravager.
But unlike the fights he had seen before, this time, there wasn’t just one Ravager—there were two. Their massive forms loomed over the battlefield, and Anya was clearly struggling to hold her ground against both at once.
She was at a clear disadvantage.
Lin Yun watched as Anya barely held on, already taking several hits from the creatures. The situation was dire.
“Can’t you see what’s happening?!” Lin Yun yelled at the rabbit-like creature. “Anya is in danger! She’s the Magical Girl you chose, isn’t she?!”
“Ugh… I know, I know! I’m worried about Anya too!” The rabbit-like creature grimaced. “But magic is a power only girls can have! There’s no other way—you either become a Magical Girl, or you don’t get magic at all. Those things you mentioned—Magical Boys, Magical Heroes—they simply don’t exist!”
“If they don’t exist, then make them exist!”
“What?”
“Let me try! Let me see if I can become a Magical Girl!”
“Are you insane? I just told you, you have to be a girl!”
“Just let me try!”
“And how exactly do you suggest we ‘try’ this?”
“Tell me how to transform into a Magical Girl—I’ll do it!”
“...You’re really scaring me here.”
Faced with the boy’s unyielding determination—and with Anya’s life hanging in the balance—the creature had no choice but to sigh in resignation.
“Fine. But don’t blame me when this doesn’t work.”
It reached its tiny paw into the fluffy fur around its waist, fumbling for a moment before pulling out a gemstone—a perfectly round, crystal-clear jewel.
The gem was almost a quarter of its body size. The way it produced such a large object from seemingly nowhere was bizarre, but neither of them had the time to care about such details.
“This is called a Seed of the Heart—the very core of a Magical Girl’s power.”
The creature’s tone turned serious.
“Hold it, press it to your chest, and focus. Feel its presence. Try to connect with it. If it reacts to you, that means you have the potential to become a Magical Girl. If it doesn’t… well, then there’s no hope.”
“Seed of the Heart…”
Lin Yun murmured, staring at the jewel in the creature’s paw.
He wasn’t stupid—he knew he was asking for the impossible. If the creature had said only girls could become Magical Girls, then there had to be a reason.
But he had no choice.
Right now, saving Anya was all that mattered. Even if it seemed impossible, he had to try.
Taking the gemstone into his hands, Lin Yun clenched it tightly and pressed it against his chest.
Focus. Establish a connection.
He repeated those key words in his mind, not wasting a second.
He closed his eyes, shutting out everything else.
The rabbit-like creature watched, its expression filled with unease.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Nearly a minute later—still nothing.
The creature began to relax, thinking it had been right all along. The boy had failed.
And then—
A faint glow.
At first, it was just a flicker—tiny specks of light escaping between the boy’s fingers, like fireflies in the dark. Then, the glow grew stronger, illuminating his hands with a pure white radiance.
From between his fingers, a small orb of light emerged, hovering in the air, slowly rotating. The Seed of the Heart, now floating, shone brilliantly.
And then—light exploded.
A burst of white brilliance erupted from the Seed of the Heart, enveloping Lin Yun in a soft, luminous aura.
It wasn’t blinding. It wasn’t overwhelming.
It was gentle—like the light of the full moon, bright enough to pierce the night.
“This… this is… You actually succeeded?! You’re really a boy?!”
The rabbit-like creature was dumbfounded, blurting out nonsense in shock. “Wait—are you sure you’re a boy? Are you messing with me?!”
But Lin Yun ignored it.
Bathed in radiant light, he lifted his gaze—his eyes burning with unwavering resolve.
“What do I do next?”
What do I do next?
The question echoed through time.
Because right now, that was the same question Lin Yun needed to answer.
Under the night sky, in the silent parking lot of the wetlands park, he parked his car haphazardly and took off running down a narrow path toward the woods.
Deep down, he already knew what he had to do.
The way he felt now was no different from how he had felt twenty-two years ago.
So much had changed, yet so much had stayed the same.
At the very least, the feeling of “I have to save them.”
That emotion remained unchanged.
Would his Flower of the Heart still respond to it?
With that question lingering in his mind, Lin Yun lifted his hand.
—The shattered gemstone flower in his palm was already radiating a deep blue glow.
“…Tch. You really don’t make things easy, do you?”
For a moment, he could almost hear that old voice again.
The rabbit-like creature, stunned for only a second, had quickly gathered itself and given instructions with its usual briskness:
“Now that you’ve connected with the Seed of the Heart, you should feel your magic—the energy that links you to it.”
“Next, you need to activate it by channeling your magic flow.”
Lin Yun, as a boy, had nodded, closing his eyes once more.
Step one—grasp the flow of magic.
“Separate your magic into streams, linking your limbs, forehead, and chest to the Seed of the Heart. Then, balance them.”
Step two—channel and balance the magic.
“Now, construct a standard magical rune. Ah, wait—do you even know how? Watch me, I’ll draw it out for you.”
Step three—form the magical rune.
“And finally… think of a transformation phrase to activate your first transformation. Make sure it’s not too weird—if The Kingdom reviews it and finds it embarrassing, they’ll force you to change it.”
Step four—choose a transformation phrase.
And when all the steps were complete… transformation would begin.
The boy in his memories, and the middle-aged man in the present—
For a brief moment, they overlapped.
But that was just an illusion.
The boy had once shouted his transformation phrase with passion, racing toward battle to save the girl he cared about.
The man, long past his youthful fire, was alone.
His steps faltered slightly, but he shook his head, pushing all distractions aside.
Then, he strode forward.
Blue light erupted from his hands, his magic surging violently, swirling through the air and lifting the edges of his clothes and hair.
Without hesitation, he pressed the Flower of the Heart against his chest.
And in a cold, quiet voice, he uttered just two words:
“Transform.”