Tokyo: Magical Girl Shatters My Dream of Going Public

Kaoru's vision completely overlapped with that of the battle dancer.

In front of us was an abandoned highway, its surface cracked, with weeds sprouting from the gaps.

Not far ahead, there was a clear landslide, with huge piles of rocks and soil blocking the way.

She manipulated the battle geisha to turn towards Kurokawa and reported, "President, Hoshino-kun has been taken back by the teacher."

Kurokawa nodded, his tone calm: "Very good. It's better to keep that overly clever and unstable element under control."

Back when they were "open and honest" at the hot spring, he had already experienced Yukimura Hakuka's almost abnormal intuition.

The other party is frighteningly perceptive to eye contact and lies.

His plan to have Kaoru and Chinatsu cooperate with Saki to "lie" was a deliberate move.

Given Xuecun's personality and sense of responsibility towards his students, he would never let the lie go unpunished once he discovered it.

It seems the plan is going smoothly.

Kurokawa snapped out of his thoughts, took out his phone from his pocket, and pulled up the tunnel structure diagram he had obtained from Hoshino Saki.

The cold light from the screen reflected off his mask.

"This is it." He pointed to the entrance marked on the map. "Xun, find the ventilation shaft. There should be an inspection passage that leads in."

Xun responded, "Yes."

She closed her eyes, focusing her attention more on the invisible drones hovering high in the sky.

Four drones silently descended to a lower altitude, activated thermal imaging and structural scanning modes, and conducted a thorough search along the edge of the collapsed area.

The texture of the rock face, the vegetation cover, the subtle changes in the airflow...

Massive amounts of data flowed into Xun's consciousness through the plugin, where she was rapidly filtered and analyzed.

Five minutes later.

On the northwest side of the landslide area, in a depression partially covered by vines and rubble, the scanned image showed an anomaly.

A regular circular outline, about three meters in diameter, with a depth that extends vertically downwards.

"Found it." Xun opened her eyes, her voice clear. "Coordinates marked. There's a metal manhole cover, heavily rusted, but structurally intact."

The battle dancer raised her arm and pointed in that direction.

Kurokawa followed the gaze and his eyes narrowed.

"Walk."

The group arrived at the shaft opening.

Chika lay prone on the ground, pointing her headlamp downwards. The beam pierced the darkness, but seemed to be swallowed up, unable to reach the bottom.

"Is there really space down here?" she muttered to herself.

Kurokawa remained silent.

He crouched down, gripped the rusted edge of the manhole cover with both hands, tensed his muscles, and pulled with all his might.

Crunch-!

A harsh metallic scraping sound.

The manhole cover was forcibly pried open and thrown aside.

A stale, earthy smell wafted up.

Kurokawa released a drone and had it land vertically.

The screen displayed the image.

There was indeed a huge space below.

The tunnel is a wide tunnel at least one kilometer long, and even has four lanes in both directions, extending into the darkness.

Although there are obvious cracks in some parts of the tunnel structure, the overall framework is still intact.

It's incredibly easy to hide a gaunt old woman.

"This is it." Kurokawa stood up, dusting off his rusty hands. "I'm leaving Granny Gao to you two. This time, you must successfully contain her."

He looked at the two of them, his tone becoming more serious.

"Also, keep a close eye on the fighting. If you collapse the tunnel, I won't be able to save you."

Chinatsu asked, "President, what about you?"

"I'll stay behind to keep watch," Kurokawa said succinctly, "to prevent anyone from stealing our hard-earned gains."

The plan is actually very simple.

The seriously injured old lady was dealt with by Kaoru and Chika together.

And he was responsible for stopping any potential "snipers".

"Time is tight, and the mission is important." Kurokawa waved his hand. "Go. Be careful."

"yes--!"

Chika no longer hesitated.

She took a deep breath, and a dark blue tentacle extended from her back, wrapping around the steel bars on the inner wall of the shaft. She was the first to leap down.

Kaoru's battle dancers followed closely behind, their movements as light as feathers.

Before leaving, Kaoru's voice came from the doll, sounding somewhat worried: "President, please be careful."

Kurokawa nodded, without saying anything more.

The two figures disappeared into the darkness.

Soon, Chika's hushed mutterings came through the earpiece.

Wow—this place is huge!

"Sister, I'll go first, you keep an eye on the back for me."

"Okay~"

The sisters' breathing and footsteps progressed steadily on the channel.

Kurokawa turned around, left the shaft entrance, and walked towards a high rock not far away.

He stood there, gazing towards the winding mountain road in the distance.

If they can quickly take in the high-speed old woman and then immediately retreat, they will definitely make a profit.

But things will never turn out for the best.

He squinted.

In the distance, a golden streak of lightning flashed rapidly along the mountain road in the darkness, moving at an astonishing speed, hurtling toward this direction.

"It seems... a tough battle is inevitable."

Kurokawa muttered to himself, then leaped from the height and landed on the ground.

He strode forward, slowly making his way towards the path from which the lightning bolt would inevitably strike.

Meanwhile, a drone left outside on guard quietly turned its camera and locked onto Kurokawa's back.

Deep inside the tunnel, Xun, who was focused on the search, spared a sliver of his attention to the drone's field of vision.

In a corner of my vision, I could see Kurokawa's figure walking alone into the darkness, and in the distance, a golden lightning bolt that was getting closer and closer, becoming more and more dazzling.

------

On the other side, Tian Shan had completely transformed.

The bright yellow magic dress shimmered in the night, and the blue lightning bolt patterns on the outside of her thighs pulsed with magic.

She ran wildly on the winding mountain road.

Each step he took was as light as lightning, leaving a blurry golden afterimage in his wake.

The speed easily exceeded 100 kilometers per hour, and the night wind whistled sharply in my ears.

The closer I got to the tunnel entrance marked on the map, the stronger that inexplicable unease became.

It was as if something in the darkness was opening its mouth, waiting.

"This is it..."

She whispered, her gaze fixed on the shadow cast by the landslide ahead.

The distance is rapidly closing.

Three hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

Just as she was about to rush into the edge of that area—

call out!

The sound of something cutting through the air was incredibly sharp!

A rock the size of a thumb shot out from the darkness to her side at bullet speed, striking her directly in the chest!

Tian Shan's pupils contracted, but he did not stop moving.

The stone struck the magic that flowed around her and instantly shattered into dust, without even touching the hem of her clothes.

Ordinary physical attacks are completely ineffective against magical girls.

But this attack made her stop abruptly.

The soles of the boots plowed two shallow scorch marks into the rough asphalt road.

She looked up abruptly, her gaze fixed on the source of the attack.

Ahead, beside an abandoned highway, atop a rusted and mottled road sign pointing the way.

A dark figure appeared there at some unknown time.

The night breeze ruffled the hem of his coat, his posture upright, as if he were one with the darkness behind him.

The person lowered their head slightly, their face obscured by a mask, only their calm voice carried through the night wind:

"Feel sorry."

"Work is underway ahead."

"Please return the way you came."