Esper X Family – Chapter 11 – Encountering a Magical Girl

Ye Yao stepped out of her house and walked into the hallway.

Lou Wei was not following her.

It seemed like Ye Yao was allowed to move freely.

This was nothing like the restricted life mentioned by the Sequence Esper yesterday.

Ye Yao glanced around but didn’t see anyone else.

“Let’s go downstairs for now.”

Ye Yao took the elevator, and after passing one floor, someone entered the elevator with her.

She glanced briefly and noticed a rather beautiful older sister.

She was dressed in casual clothes, with wavy long hair cascading down her back, showcasing an impressive volume of hair.

However, what caught Ye Yao’s attention the most was the woman’s prominent “chest armor”.

If she was walking on the street, she would undoubtedly attract the gazes of lecherous men.

As for whether Ye Yao liked it…

I only prefer small ones!

“You look unfamiliar. Did you just move in?”

Seeing Ye Yao alone, the woman casually struck up a conversation.

Looks like she’s the overly familiar type.

This is bad.

Ye Yao could only nod passively, responding meekly.

“Yes, I just moved in yesterday.”

“Yesterday? I live in Room 1002 on the 10th floor. We’re practically neighbors. Would you like to come over sometime? I have plenty of snacks at home.”

You didn’t even bother to pretend!

Ye Yao was internally screaming.

Are you some female version of Brother Jie ¹ A reference to the educational film, “If I Had Known Boys Could Be Sexually Assaulted Too”, about a high school student who was sexually assaulted by someone called ‘Brother Jie’. ?

How could you just invite a little girl to your house like that?

If Ye Yao didn’t know that this person might be from the Countermeasures Bureau, she would’ve thought that she was about to be taken advantage of.

“We’ve only met for the first time…”

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“So what? We’re neighbors anyway. It’s good to help each other out and build a relationship by visiting each other.”

“Um, I might need to ask my parents first.”

Unable to handle such a warm invitation, Ye Yao could only use an excuse to brush it off.

“Which room do you live in? Maybe I know your parents. I’ll visit them later.”

“Uh, 1101…”

“Oh? I think I know the residents there. I remember they don’t have a daughter.”

Ah…

Is the conversation still not over?

Ye Yao felt like a taciturn southerner encountering a northerner who could chat with strangers at any time.

Her social anxiety was about to explode.

Fortunately, the elevator was fast enough, and they soon reached the first floor.

Ye Yao let out a sigh of relief. She felt like an eternity had passed.

Surely, there was no reason to continue the conversation now.

The older sister understood this too and gave Ye Yao an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I can’t help but chat a lot with such a cute girl. I didn’t realize you were scared. I’ll bring some gifts to apologize another day. Goodbye.”

Ye Yao breathed a sigh of relief after the woman walked away.

“That was terrifying.”

That older sister was probably pretending that it was a chance encounter.

But she didn’t seem to be planning to follow Ye Yao with an excuse and had genuinely walked away.

Could it be that they really don’t plan to restrict my activity range?

Afterward, Ye Yao wandered around and arrived at the park she had visited yesterday.

Compared to the cold and eerie park last night, she could finally see people around today.

Ye Yao glanced over and saw a few elderly men practicing Tai Chi.

There were also a few people warming up with the fitness equipment ² These stuff. .

It was unclear whether they were residents living nearby or Espers who had been staking out the area early.

But even if they were, it didn’t matter.

Ye Yao’s mindset was very relaxed.

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It was fine as long as they didn’t disturb her.

Ye Yao entered the park, not planning to interact with anyone.

This outing was just to test her activity range.

The distance from here to her home wasn’t too far, but it wasn’t too close either.

No one had come to stop her, so it should be within the allowed range.

If she wanted to go further, she would have to head to the city center.

That would require taking a taxi, which was beyond the scope of a casual stroll.

Just as Ye Yao was about to watch the old men play Xiangqi to kill time, a dejected voice reached her ears.

“Sigh… I got scolded again. I was doing a good deed too…”

That voice sounds familiar!

Ye Yao had some impression of it.

After all, she had just heard it yesterday.

“Could it be?”

Ye Yao followed the sound and looked over.

She saw a petite black-haired girl sitting alone at the edge of the fountain.

Her round face was adorned with black glasses.

Even so, it couldn’t hide her natural beauty.

There was a kind of reserved cuteness about her.

She didn’t seem to be in a good mood.

“Hmm~ The body type seems right, but the temperament and hair color are a bit off.”

Ye Yao rubbed her chin, not believing that her intuition was wrong.

This might just be the magical girl she had encountered yesterday!

This is getting interesting.

She had thought that waiting for the new computer to arrive would be incredibly boring.

Who would have thought that she would run into something so intriguing?

Ye Yao didn’t think that this was arranged by the Countermeasures Bureau.

They had just met yesterday. There was no way they would arrange another meeting so quickly.

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If they were that efficient, Ye Yao might even give them a thumbs up.

After all, she wasn’t asking for much. She just wanted to live her ideal life quickly.

If this was indeed an arranged plan, Ye Yao would want them to do more of it.

“Let’s scare her a bit~”

As long as it wasn’t an adult with a potentially deep background, Ye Yao wasn’t too socially anxious.

Age advantage, right?

Interacting with cautious adults was nowhere near as easy as chatting with a little girl.

Especially one who might be a delightful child to her liking.

Hehe, I must grab her to watch anime together!

Ye Yao sneakily crept up behind the girl.

Only after sitting down and moving to within two seats of her did Ye Yao start to speak.

“Magical girl?”

“WAHHH! I’m not Mercury, I’m Mo Qiuli! You’ve got the wrong person!”

Mo Qiuli was startled. Without even getting a clear look at Ye Yao’s face, she hurriedly denied it, adamantly refusing to admit anything.

This reaction… It’s definitely her.

And did she just say ‘Mercury’?

Ye Yao couldn’t help but laugh.

She didn’t continue speaking, deciding to wait for Mo Qiuli to calm down first.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long.

Mo Qiuli gradually settled down.

However, she was still shy and hesitant to speak, making it hard to imagine that she had another side where she dared to fight against evil.

After a while, Mo Qiuli finally spoke up softly.

“How did you know I’m a magical girl? I don’t know you, and I’ve never told any ordinary people…”

She clearly didn’t recognize Ye Yao as the person she had saved in the park yesterday.

Ye Yao looked around, preparing to make a bold decision.

Ignorance breeds unease, and unease prevents happy slacking.

The information she had gleaned from reading Lou Wei and Xiao Jing’s minds was extremely limited.

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Thus, she could only take a small risk and seek information from other sources.

This girl in front of her was a good choice.

Ye Yao trusted her intuition greatly.

Mo Qiuli might just become her “confidant”, a trusted person by her side!

Ye Yao then leaned closer to Mo Qiuli and whispered.

“Do you remember saving someone recently?”

She didn’t say it outright, afraid of eavesdroppers.

Mo Qiuli’s eyes widened instantly, her expression lighting up.

“You’re the one from yesterd—”

Ye Yao quickly covered the little girl’s mouth.

“Shh~ Have you never run away from home before?”

Mo Qiuli blinked a few times and immediately understood, her eyes showing an empathetic expression.

Seeing this, Ye Yao let her go.

Then, she dragged Mo Qiuli to a spot where others couldn’t see them.

Even Espers’ senses shouldn’t be sharp enough to hear from this far, right?

Otherwise, they would be driven mad by all the noise.

Mo Qiuli complied obediently but still looked puzzled.

She didn’t understand why Ye Yao was being so cautious.

“…How did you recognize my identity so quickly? The me in that form is very different from the usual me.”

Ye Yao stared at her as if she was an idiot.

“Do you think you’re a real magical girl? There’s no such thing as anti-cognition magic. If anyone just pays a little attention, it’s easy to notice, right?”

“… Gulp! ”

Author Note

It seems that many readers didn’t understand why the protagonist revealed her identity, so I’ve revised this chapter a bit to make it more reasonable. (; ￣д￣) Text: Like an expert…

Translator Note

This chapter is the revised chapter. By the way, I had to remake that text emoticon on my own because the damn mobile app won’t let me copy the text, and the author’s note can only be found on the app.

Oh, and I moved the latter part of the author’s note here because it contains spoilers -> ³ Later on, only the magical girl will know the protagonist’s situation, joining the protagonist’s camp, which is the same as not revealing her identity.