"...So where exactly is this place? Is there such a place in Fangting City?"
Standing by, Lin Xiaolu, who had listened to the entire conversation, could only ask in a daze, "Can you make your conversation a bit clearer?"
"Sorry, Bai Mei, I might not be able to take you back this time, can you take the tram or maybe fly back in a more covert way?"
But this time, Emerald Sparrow didn't answer her question directly, but suddenly turned and walked to her side, patting her arm, "Take the guests from Bai'an City to the secret base, remember to treat them well. Asou Haruka and I will come back later."
"What do you mean 'auntie'? Can't you speak more nicely?" Asou Haruka immediately retorted from the side.
"Taking them back is okay... but where exactly are you going?"
This strange atmosphere made Lin Xiaolu subtly uneasy. She subconsciously pinched the hem of her sleeve where Emerald Sparrow had touched, "Will it be dangerous?"
"No, there's no danger."
Emerald Sparrow spoke casually, then leaned closer to Lin Xiaolu, trying to lower her voice as she revealed a location.
Her voice was indeed very soft, so much so that no one else around heard what was said. But Lin Xiaolu got the answer she was seeking and widened her eyes slightly because of it.
Then, before she could express her opinion on the matter, Emerald Sparrow and Asou Haruka bid farewell to the other Magical Girls and walked towards the corridor's turn, disappearing from everyone's view.
Lin Xiaolu stared at the corner, pursing her lips in silence, until Mu Baihe approached her to voice the doubt gnawing at her heart, "So where exactly are they going? What did Inspector Senior tell you?"
"...They are going to see someone."
Only then did Lin Xiaolu speak again, her expression complex as she turned and looked at her, slowly replying, "Emerald Sparrow said, they're going to see my mother."
An hour after the concert ended, the hustle and bustle of the venue finally began to quiet down. In the exterior of the Green Tower Stadium, although many fans remained, eagerly chatting with lingering excitement, the surroundings had grown much quieter.
The crowd that lingered at the site gradually dispersed from around the stadium, and a nondescript silver-white SUV drove out from the "Green Tower" Stadium, slowly making its way onto the highway. The SUV, blending in with the thin stream of cars leaving the stadium, rolled along the road like the most ordinary of fans.
However, if someone was a bit more observant, they might notice something out of the ordinary in the passenger seat of the car—if they could see the main act of the previous concert, Asou Haruka, smiling and sitting in the passenger seat.
This singer, accustomed to the glitz and glamour, seemed like a curious girl, fiddling with the car's interior: probing the seat cushions, tampering with the air conditioning buttons, and after a while, playing with the window on the side of the passenger seat.
The driver, sitting in the main driver's seat, initially paid no mind to her antics until the window was lowered halfway. At that point, he finally turned his head and glanced at her with a hint of helpless concern, reminding her, "Don't mess with the window. Aren't you worried about getting photographed?"
The one driving was Emerald Sparrow.
Up until now, she had been silent, unwilling to speak, fixing her gaze ahead like a cold driving machine. If not for Asou Haruka's various small distracting actions, she wouldn't have even uttered that sentence.
With that remark, Asou Haruka, who had been silently fidgeting until then, also turned her head. As she met Emerald Sparrow's gaze and smirked, she said, "Is there anything that can't be photographed?"
Emerald Sparrow's gaze met hers for a second before she deliberately looked away and refocused on the road ahead, adopting the serious demeanor of a driver, "You know, the place we're heading to next, I don't want any random media people following us."
After hearing this, Asou Haruka was momentarily taken aback, then nodded in agreement, smiling as she closed the window, "Indeed, that's not something to be disturbed by outsiders."
There were only two people in the small SUV. After this conversation, neither spoke again, and the car fell back into a brief silence.
The silence was primarily composed of "awkwardness."
If there were others in the car, the two of them wouldn't have fallen into such an inexplicable state of embarrassment, but unfortunately, there were indeed no third parties in the car then.
It wasn't that they had nothing to talk about, but that there were too many unspoken questions, leaving them unsure of where to begin.
Thankfully, Asou Haruka didn't let the awkwardness last too long. After the moment of silence, she reclined in her seat, leaning back, and spoke slowly, "Speaking of which, aren't you going to ask why I'm only coming back now?"
"Normally people would, especially after what happened previously."
"Two years ago, I thought you would come, but you didn't show up there."
As the vehicle rounded a bend, Emerald Sparrow's gaze shifted between the rearview mirror and the road ahead, then she slightly turned the steering wheel, "It's not just you, Hong Siyu, Su Shengzi—in fact, what worried me the most was how to deal with you if you showed up? What attitude and face should I present to you all?"
"I chose such an ordinary life, thinking I could immerse myself in it forever, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't protect the people important to me. I was really afraid of you showing up in front of me, questioning why I couldn't save An Ya."