Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

To be honest, Bai Ze was slightly worried when he heard that Lin Tingwan was receiving medical treatment.

—Until he heard intense game sound effects through the door.

"Take this! Dragon Slayer!"

The blue curtains fluttered in the breeze from the open door, and the girl, half-sitting on the hospital bed, looked over in surprise, holding her handheld game console.

A fork-shaped bandage was pasted on her forehead, and her soft, lead-black hair was casually draped over her shoulders, making her skin appear even whiter.

"Bai... Bai Ze? Listen to me, this is a cutting-edge treatment method that uses supernatural techniques..."

"You're going to get hit by a dragon cart."

With his extraordinary vision, Bai Ze watched as the game character on the screen, who had swung his sword and missed, landed in grief and indignation, and was then headbutted by the giant dragon in front of him.

"Waaaaaah!"

Lin Tingwan dropped the handheld console and screamed in despair.

I'm relieved to see how energetic she is.

"Why did you bring him here—Rhea?"

She turned her gaze to the blonde woman with twin ponytails leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"Because Bai Ze said he wanted to visit you before his memory was erased."

Rhea explained, "Although you said you didn't want him to get involved in anything related to the anomaly, it was Bai Ze who first found you unconscious this time. I don't think it's too much to ask for that, right?"

"That's right, I've heard quite a few things about it."

Bai Ze smiled maliciously, approaching the girl on the hospital bed step by step. "A magical girl who upholds justice in the city? Hmm?"

"Don't bring it up again!"

If it were Lu Xingyao, she might not feel ashamed at all; but Lin Tingwan's nerves are clearly not strong enough to ignore her dark history.

"Hey, I didn't know you had this hidden hobby. Do you usually think about transformation phrases and poses? Do you have a contract beast that can talk to you? You don't even have outfits to change into, do you? Do you need me to help design them and film your battle scenes?"

With each question she asked, Lin Tingwan trembled rhythmically, as if she were being forced to the edge of a fighting game screen and taking a combo. Her body could probably be used as an indicator in a rhythm game.

Finally, she threw off the covers and crawled inside, covering the back of her head with a pillow.

"I'm sorry, I lied! It's so embarrassing to fantasize about being a magical girl at my age!"

No, otherwise there would be no point in having a female student living in this world. Don't easily dismiss her value in life.

Lin Tingwan was clearly in a state of frustration, with her witch transformation progress dropping from 31% to 29%. For Bai Ze, this notification was as wonderful as getting an extra gold coin.

But now we're entering an area where she might suffer emotional harm, so we need to be careful to protect her mental well-being.

"It's not shameful at all."

Bai Ze denied it, saying, "I think it's very handsome."

The girl quietly peeked out, this time burying her face in the pillow from the front.

He continued, "You stepped forward to save everything when terrorists attacked the school. Do you know how many teenagers have had similar dreams? You are that kind of hero! So what if you call yourself a magical girl! You can fire magic cannons, you have transformation sequences, and you're female—I declare that your purity surpasses 80% of the magical girls on the market!"

"Why has being female become such an important criterion? What's wrong with the magical girl genre market these days?"

She finally responded in a muffled voice, raising her two legs and tapping her white sock-covered feet against the bed board with a "bang bang" sound.

"...Do you really think he's handsome?"

Lin Tingwan, her mood improving, asked in return. Bai Ze nodded, pulled over a stool, and sat down beside the hospital bed.

Someone had placed a fruit basket and a knife on the bedside table, probably as a reward for the witch—he picked up an apple and began to peel it.

"Seriously, your transformed form is just as cool as the Sky Comet."

"Hehe, if we're going to make an analogy, let's at least say Astartes, since we're both blue-themed."

Neither of these metaphors should be used to describe magical girls.

Leia listened silently, lost in thought.

"But don't you feel anything else?"

Lin Tingwan finally broke free from the quilt's seal, sat on the bed like a duck, spat out the strands of hair that had gotten into her mouth, and asked.

She looked away, refusing to meet Bai Ze's gaze, and twirled a strand of her long hair that fell to her chest: "Don't you think... she's quite pretty... or something?"

"I really like that style. Did you design it yourself?"

Bai Ze readily admitted it.

What's wrong with men liking to transform?

"Um!"

[Witch Transformation Progress: 29% → 30.5%]

Lin Tingwan nodded vigorously, her hands supporting her spread thighs, her upper body slightly leaning forward, her sparkling eyes reminding one of the junior who had previously touched a nerve with her chuunibyou (middle school syndrome).

"That's amazing."

Bai Ze cut off a piece of fruit and threw it in a semi-circular arc. The girl opened her mouth and caught it in mid-air, chewing it with a crunching sound.

He thought he heard Miss Rhea muttering something about Pavlov's dog, but it must have been his imagination.

"I just came to visit you in the hospital. Since you're alright, I'll take my leave now. See you later... though you'll probably forget what we just had?"

After feeding Lin Tingwan, Bai Ze prepared to get up and leave.

Just as he was about to put the last slice of apple in his mouth, the girl pounced on him like a hunting dog and snatched it away.

Because of the excessive force, even the index finger was swallowed. Teeth, along with moist saliva, slid across the fingertip, leaving a light red mark amidst the smacking sounds.

"Are you a dog, Lin Tingwan?"

Bai Ze's current mood is just like Pavlov's own—who tried to train a female dog's conditioned reflex by feeding her chunks of meat but ended up being eaten instead—although this didn't actually happen in history.

"That way, there will be something that won't disappear along with the memories."

She pointed vaguely to the mark she had left behind and swallowed the juicy fruit with a gulp.

"See you in a bit, Bai Ze."

Lin Tingwan raised her hand to her chest and waved it gently.

After parting ways with her, Bai Ze followed Leia, who was watching from the sidelines, into the corridor.

"Your relationship is indeed as good as the rumors suggest."

She spoke as if confirming a rare piece of information.

"Isn't the Bureau of Spiritual Disasters happy to see this situation?"

Bai Ze deduced, based on common sense, "You call her a witch, which isn't a good term, is it? So you hope she can build stronger social relationships?"

"That's right—but 'witch' isn't a derogatory term; you can think of it as a scientific name, like the grey magpie."

Rhea pulled out an A4 sheet of paper from somewhere. "Actually, I also hope that you can guide the witch to make more friends. This is one of the reasons why I want to recruit Bai Ze."

She chose to be honest and handed the paper to Bai Ze.

"This incident is not only a crisis, but it also gives us an excuse to screen the people around her - there is a first-year girl in your school who is full of positive feelings of curiosity and respect for the witch she witnessed in the incident. Before her memory was wiped, she kept asking us if she could ask us for her autograph in person."

Rhea seemed to recall the scene and said with a smile.

"The lie detector spell didn't trigger an alarm, so even if the memory is lost, this positive impression will remain. Therefore, the Bureau of Spirit Disasters has determined that she can be considered a suitable candidate to expand the witch's social circle."

"And she's a cute girl, so you probably wouldn't feel any resistance to her, right?"

She pointed to the photo pasted on the paper, "We'll use our connections with the Bureau of Spiritual Disasters to subtly and legitimately integrate her into your daily lives. We'll leave that to you!"

This is precisely the plan known internally within the Bureau of Spirit Disasters as the "Anchor Point Expansion Plan."

It's far too risky to entrust the safety of society to Bai Ze alone. It would be better if there were other people who were close to the War Witch.

Of course, same-sex relationships are a necessary condition to avoid disrupting the current stable state.

To put it bluntly, we're looking for a spare part for Bai Ze, the brake valve.

To be fair, even if Bai Ze were to consider things from the perspective of the Spirit Disaster Bureau, he wouldn't think that doing so was wrong.

But he had already seen the candidates they had chosen using their extraordinary wisdom.

Why didn't the lie detector work?

Because witches have extremely high resistance to mystery.

Lu Xingyao's photo was pasted in the center of the A4 paper.