Has technology advanced this much already?
Eve Nightburn rubbed her eyes, but when she looked back, all she saw were customers coming and going.
“Was I just seeing things?”
Eve prepared to pull her shopping cart and leave the aisle.
But when she glanced at the lipstick display again, she couldn’t help but doubt whether she had misremembered earlier.
Maybe this shelf had always been full of lipsticks.
It must be her lack of sleep causing hallucinations.
“Alright, finish shopping and go home for a good sleep!”
Eve set a small goal for herself and then began her shopping spree with the cart.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the supermarket.
“Gummies, cookies, chips, and pudding!”
Miri Dreamwell was picking out snacks for the week. Winter break was such a rare opportunity—playing outside was important.
Of course, irrational spending was also a crucial part of the plan.
“Oh right, Dad’s beer and Mom’s sunscreen.”
Thinking of this, Miri quickly pushed her cart to the alcohol section and grabbed a few bottles of beer.
As she prepared to head to the cosmetics area, a pink plush rabbit suddenly caught her eye.
“Am I… seeing things?”
Miri froze for a few seconds as the plush rabbit disappeared into the crowd, leaving the alcohol section.
“A mechanical plush rabbit?”
Miri first considered the most plausible explanation.
Her half-year stint as a Magical Girl had transformed her from a rookie who saw Calamity in everything into a mature Magical Girl capable of calmly analyzing any situation.
Now, Miri was someone you could rely on!
After some thought, Miri decided to follow it and see what was going on.
“Just… just to broaden my horizons! Yeah! I’m just here to learn something new!”
As a girl from an ordinary family, she had never seen anything like this before. Taking a look wasn’t illegal, right?
With that mindset, Miri pushed her cart and followed.
In the instant noodles aisle, Eve grabbed two large packs—about ten servings in total, enough to last her five or six days.
Instant noodles were economical and practical, the perfect choice for Eve’s current situation. The downside? They got boring fast.
Could anyone really eat instant noodles every day without getting sick of them?
If such a person existed, they’d probably be crowned the “Instant Noodle Sage” in Japan.
Clearly, Eve was no sage—she couldn’t handle that.
After loading them into her cart, Eve looked up, ready to move to the next aisle.
Just as she was about to go, she noticed the surroundings had turned hazy.
Pink mist swirled around her, flowing past but never entering her lungs with each breath.
Eve realized the people in the mist were all moving in one direction, as if drawn by something ahead.
“Some kind of smoke performance?”
Eve wondered before following along. But the further she walked, the thicker the mist became, until she could barely see anything.
Faintly, Eve thought she could hear people murmuring around her:
“Free shopping! It’s really free! Everything’s mine! All the products are mine!”
“Look at my new diamond card limit… ten million! No, a hundred million! I’m buying out the entire store!”
“My kid’s tutoring fees are paid off… my husband got promoted… no more midnight debt-collection calls…”
Eve couldn’t understand or even clearly hear what they were saying. All she felt was that she was now lost in this pink ocean, with no sense of direction.
In the mist, Eve spotted a faint orange-red glow nearby. Instinctively, she raised her left hand and realized the light came from the ring on her finger.
What is this?
Eve didn’t understand what it meant. Was this old ring up to something again?
Then, the flickering light floated out from the ring, hovering above a rose.
“What are you doing?”
Eve had a bad feeling—this ring was definitely about to do something stupid.
Next, the light shrank into a particle too small to see.
“Gone?”
Eve stared blankly at where the light had vanished.
In the next instant, the spot where the light had been suddenly sucked in all the surrounding mist.
The pink mist condensed and shrank until it completely disappeared into that tiny point.
Finally, the ring emitted a faint pink glow before settling back into silence.
But Eve had no time to worry about the ring now—the situation around her was beyond comprehension.
“Hahaha… I won the lottery! I really won!” A middle-aged man raised his arms as if holding a winning ticket.
“Mom… Mom’s finally back…” A little girl sobbed toward an empty shelf.
Eve: “???”
Eve didn’t understand what they were doing, but she felt a faint sense of fear—though she didn’t know what she was afraid of.
Now, the entire mall was filled with people going mad, all gradually moving in the same direction in an eerie, synchronized manner.
On the other side of the shelves.
“Cough, cough—” Miri waved her arms, dispersing the last of the mist around her.
“Finally got rid of that annoying fog.”
But Miri wasn’t thinking about shopping anymore. Seeing the state of the people around her, she guessed there was a Calamity in the mall.
“Could it be that plush rabbit from earlier?”
Miri wasn’t sure yet.
She found an empty corner, clenched her right fist, and pressed it against her chest.
“Fleeting dreams, illusions interwoven—Magic, unfold!”
A translucent magic circle appeared beneath her feet, its patterns like ink dispersing in water, edges constantly breaking and reforming.
Countless faint, colorful specks of light floated in the air, like soap bubbles under sunlight, ready to vanish at the slightest touch.
These specks slowly attached to her body, disappearing like erased pencil marks upon touching her school uniform—only to transform into something entirely new.
A white lace-trimmed blouse with a light purple bow at the collar, paired with semi-transparent gauze sleeves that reached her wrists, exuding purity.
Below the waist, a deep purple pleated skirt adorned with glowing stardust at the hem—both dreamlike and eerie.
White thigh-high socks covered her legs, and her sneakers turned into black round-toe Mary Janes.
Finally, the hair accessories on her head transformed into a star-and-moon clip, with a light purple bow pinned to the right side of her hair.
“Magical Girl—Ellie Dreamer.”
With her transformation complete, Miri opened her violet irises, at the center of which gleamed hexagonal star-shaped pupils.
