I'm a magical girl in the future

Chapter 17: Back to the Civil Defense Bureau

At this moment, Noah had arrived at the Yuehua City branch of the Civil Defense Bureau.

The receptionist at the front desk was no longer the slightly tired woman from last night—which makes sense, since there must be two different people on duty during the day and at night.

Noah walked slowly to the receptionist at the front desk: "Hello, may I ask to see your director?"

The young receptionist looked up, her gaze falling on Noah. The familiar figure made her pause slightly; she felt as if she had seen her somewhere before. "You are...?"

"I'm a magical girl who recently completed my registration, codename Noah." She paused, then added, "I have important business with your chief."

"Oh... okay, okay, Miss Noah, please wait a moment."

The receptionist seemed a little flustered. Only then did she remember that she had seen Noah's photo in the system records that morning. However, she was a bit groggy that morning, and Noah had come in wearing a sailor uniform instead of a magical girl's battle suit, which made her not recognize her at first glance.

The receptionist quickly picked up the intercom and whispered a few words. A moment later, she put down the intercom, a hint of apology on her face, and said to Noah:

"I'm very sorry, Ms. Noah, the director is currently dealing with some matters and cannot leave at the moment. May I take you to the VIP lounge to wait for a while? He will meet with you as soon as he is finished."

"Okay, thank you for your help." Noah nodded.

She was led by the receptionist to a small, comfortably furnished room. The plush sofa and exquisite coffee table all demonstrated the VIP treatment this place was intended for.

Noah casually sat down on a sofa. After the receptionist poured her some black tea, she opened the door to the room and pointed to a closed door opposite the lounge.

"The director is handling business in that room. She already knows you're coming. She'll come to see you as soon as she's finished. Please be patient and wait a moment."

"Okay, I understand." Noah returned a polite smile and watched the receptionist leave. Then she took out her phone and started playing with it aimlessly.

She also sampled the black tea. After just two sips, Noah frowned—it was so astringent…

She took two packets of sugar from the coffee table, tore them open, added the sugar, and then forced herself to drink it.

Then, about an hour passed.

The black tea was finished long ago, but there's still no movement.

Noah felt a sense of confusion... What was going on? Why was the director taking so long?

Generally speaking, no matter how busy the director of the Civil Defense Bureau is with daily affairs, he usually gives the magical girl's request for a meeting the highest priority.

Now, Noah's patience, born of "etiquette," has finally run out—

She didn't want to wait any longer. She stood up, opened the door to the lounge, and walked straight to the room opposite. Then, she pushed open the door to that room—

The room was decorated like a small living room. A woman who looked to be in her forties was sitting in one of the chairs, her eyes filled with undisguised weariness and loneliness.

Opposite her stood a girl dressed in a red and yellow combat outfit, clearly a magical girl. The girl had shoulder-length light blonde hair, appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, and seemed to carry a hint of… annoyance.

The subtle atmosphere in the air made it feel as if the two had just ended an unpleasant argument.

"You are... Miss Noah?" The middle-aged woman was surprised by the intruder, but she quickly composed herself, stood up from her seat, and greeted Noah.

"Hmm." Noah nodded. It seems the director is very responsible; he has already looked through the database and memorized her appearance.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Wang Tingshi. I am the director of the Yuehua City branch of the Human Disaster Prevention and Response Bureau."

"The receptionist already informed me of your visit. I'm very sorry, but I have some... uh, internal matters to attend to, so—"

Wang Tingshi tried her best to explain, hoping to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"I was wondering why there hadn't been any movement for so long, turns out they were meeting with another magical girl."

Noah interrupted her with a smile, "However, I'm here today on some truly important business. I'm afraid there's not much time to wait for you and your daughter to finish your family matters."

As soon as Noah finished speaking, Wang Tingshi and the blonde magical girl's expressions subtly changed. Surprise, astonishment, and panic were intertwined on their faces.

"Miss Noah, what are you saying?"

Director Wang quickly composed himself and said seriously, "This is 'Magical Girl Fennel.' We were just having a normal discussion about dealing with the disaster beasts. Between us—"

"Ah, there's no need to explain that to me."

Nonoya found a chair and sat down by herself.

"Although I know that 'Magical Girl Fennel' is actually your daughter, Chief, please rest assured that I have no interest in publicizing this."

Normally, the true identity of a magical girl is kept secret and is usually only revealed to her closest relatives.

In other words, others may know that the bureau chief has a daughter, and they may know that the magical girl Fennel exists, but they may not know that the magical girl Fennel is the bureau chief's daughter.

But this magical girl named Noah knew everything about it—who exactly was she?

"I do have some 'important business' that I need to discuss with Director Wang privately."

Noah's gaze shifted to the still wary blonde magical girl—Fennel.

"Children shouldn't listen to such things. So, could you please excuse us for a moment and wait in the lounge outside?"

"You...you bastard! Why should I listen to your orders?"

Anger flashed across Fennel's face; she seemed very displeased with Noah's appearance, and her tone became sharp.

"You're the one who should leave! Can't you see we've only talked halfway through?"

"Fennel!" Director Wang immediately spoke up to stop him, his tone stern.

She knew very well that the silver-haired girl in front of her was an "Eternal Radiance" level magical girl. If she really had very important "official business" to discuss, then it would be only natural for her to ask irrelevant personnel to recuse themselves.

Moreover, if Fennel were to have a falling out with a magical girl of this caliber, it would not be a good thing for either herself or the entire Human Defense Bureau.

Noah didn't seem to care, maintaining her smile. "Like I said, we're talking about 'serious business.' If you really don't want to go out by yourself, then I'll have to 'help' you out a little."

Before Noah could finish speaking, and before Fennel could even comprehend the meaning of her words, she suddenly found herself standing at the door of the room, locked out.