Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

Why hasn't it appeared yet?

While Yuuki Yuki waited anxiously, not far from the shopping street, Herika peeked out from behind a building around the corner, stealing glances at the two who were waiting there listlessly.

Helica had actually arrived long ago, and after discovering that there were two enemies, she cautiously sent a message to Mizuno Yu to discuss countermeasures.

The last time Helica saw those two guys swaggering through the air, she chased after them alone, but ended up with nothing but a belly full of anger and a meal of eel rice.

So she's become much smarter. She gets inexplicably angry at these two heartless guys, but Helica doesn't want to become even more upset because she can't even beat them.

Although the fundamental goal of defeating them has not changed, these two magical girls are clearly different from other corrupted individuals. Other corrupted magical girls are either obsessed with destruction or show signs of madness. The slightly more serious ones are like the executives of the evil organization under the Moon Sea Tower, with clear plans.

These two guys in front of the billboard are just two pleasure-seekers who do whatever comes to mind!

You can defeat evil people openly and honestly, and you even feel a sense of accomplishment in punishing evil and promoting good. But dealing with pleasure criminals is a feeling of having no way to use your strength.

"How long do we have to wait?"

Herlica glanced at Yuuki a couple more times, then pulled her head back from peeking at Yuuki, and asked Mizuno Yu, who was also secretly observing her from the side.

“Don’t act rashly before you figure out their purpose. I think it’s a trap.” Mizuno Yu’s expression was solemn. “Or I could be the bait, to enjoy, cough, to expose their trap.”

"You'd better shut up already!"

Herlica turned around and punched Mizuno Yu on the head.

Mizuno Yu let out a muffled groan of pain, but she looked like she was really enjoying it, and her energy was even greater.

"Ugh... How disgusting." Seeing Mizuno Yu suddenly become energetic, Helica moved even further away with a look of disgust on her face.

The silence between the two lasted for a short while.

"When are we finally going to get to the beach?! It's all their fault for making us go to the beach and get soaked in the rain all morning!" Helica couldn't stand it anymore.

"You insisted on going yourself." Mizuno Yu had already composed herself, replying with a blank, bitter face.

"And that wretched photographer, he actually dared to cut off the live stream and run away with the camera." Helica stomped her feet twice.

"You walked right into the camera's view yourself." Mizuno Yu remained expressionless.

“The most hateful one is that pink-haired girl! She…” Helica changed the subject again, but seeing Mizuno Yu’s expression, she knew that the other was waiting for her to refute her again, so she gritted her teeth and swallowed her words.

“I felt from the beginning that the rain had nothing to do with her.” Even if Helica hadn’t said it, Mizuno Yu would have still refuted it if she needed to.

"Who are you on board with?!"

Mizuno Yu gave an irrelevant lecture: "Being too impulsive is not a good thing."

Helica grabbed a handful of her hair: "You dare to talk back to me? Who knew it was a trap and still went to get themselves killed?! Ugh, whatever, I'm going to transform, I'm going to beat those two up to vent my anger!"

Despite saying that, Helica still forced herself to suppress her anger. Mizuno Yu was right to teach her a lesson; if she were to always act so impulsively, she might indeed make a big mistake.

Yes, I need to stay calm, just like my predecessors taught me.

"I get it! That short, blond girl must be scared! She chickened out!"

The girl in military uniform, sitting on the billboard swinging her legs, made no attempt to lower her voice as she spoke to the pink-haired girl.

Calm down, it would be strange to stay calm in this situation!

"Who's a coward!"

The girl's roar and deafening thunder echoed from the street corner.

Chapter Thirty-One: Unscrupulous Media!

A deafening thunderclap and a roar no less deafening came from the street corner. The sudden change caused the few remaining pedestrians in the quiet commercial district, which had become deserted due to the appearance of the villainous magical girl, to flee again, fearing they would be drawn into the impending conflict.

Having completed her transformation, Helica cracked her knuckles as she gritted her teeth and stepped through the lightning bolts, ascending from the ground to the sky until she reached the same height as Yuuki Yuuki, who was floating over there.

"Oh, here he comes! That blond dwarf actually showed up! Are you a genius?!"

Inuyama Tomoe clapped excitedly and in surprise, looking down at Yuuki Yukino, who was floating a little shorter than herself, with an admiring gaze.

“Of course, don’t I know what she’s like?” Yuuki Yuuki proudly crossed her arms, tilted her head, and stared at the furious Helica.

It wasn't that Yuuki Yukino had any special predictive abilities; it was simply that Herlica's blonde hair and height were too conspicuous, and she would occasionally peek out from the street corner to look at Yuuki Yukino. It would be strange if Yuuki Yukino hadn't noticed her.

Whisper a reminder to Bachi to pretend to talk to her and casually say a few trashy things to provoke Helica, then pretend to be discussing something and deliberately join in with a few sarcastic remarks. Once Helica's anger is ignited, she will come running out on her own. Perfect.

What's even more perfect is that before Yuuki could even utter her taunts, Helica had already transformed in a fit of rage.

Yuuki Yukari and Baqi's conversation was completely behind Helika's back, and Helika's expression when she realized she had been tricked was even more interesting.

It's so delicious! This is the expression Yuuki Yukino wanted to see—Helica's contorted expression because she was so frustrated.

Realizing she had been tricked, Helica now regretted her impulsiveness. It was obvious that the other party had set up such a naive trap, and she had still walked right into it.

What Helica didn't know was that her actions—contacting her companions, observing secretly, and waiting for an opportunity to transform—were essentially without any problems.

Even Yuuki Yukina, upon learning of this meticulous thought process, exclaimed that Herika, who used to only know how to charge ahead recklessly, had grown up.

The advantage of not transforming is also obvious. Even if other magical girls see someone sneaking a peek, most of them won't care. There are definitely a lot of people in Moonsea City who would like to peek at magical girls, so who would miss the chance to join in the fun?

Therefore, as long as Helica ensures that her transformation is done secretly, that's enough. All the remaining problems, such as the magic that comes with the transformation and is used to obstruct perception, can be solved in one go.

Unfortunately, this magic only works on people whose true identities are unknown. Once someone exposes the true identity, the magic loses its effect on that person. Otherwise, it would be too strange for teammates to not recognize each other after each transformation.

Helica and Mizuno Yu never expected that this carefree enemy, who appeared in the middle of the street, knew their true identity. Therefore, their initial attempt to secretly observe without transforming was completely ineffective.

"You made it rain all day long in Yuehai City the day before yesterday, and you even launched a night raid last night. What are you planning to do today?"

Even if it's a trap, Helica can't back down here. She mustered her courage and used anger to mask her guilty conscience after being tricked.

Helica really wanted to smash it with a hammer right now, but the fact that Mizuno Yu hadn't followed made her very uneasy. Besides, she hadn't figured out the enemy's purpose yet. Calm down, she had to stay calm this time.

Mizuno Yu didn't want to follow, but she couldn't. Herlica had just transformed right next to her, and many passersby's eyes were focused on where Herlica had just been. Mizuno Yu became the first eyewitness to the scene and was now being pulled aside by several enthusiastic onlookers who were asking if she had seen what a magical girl transformation looked like at such a close distance.

Herlica brought up glorious deeds that weren't hers, and Yuuki Yuuki also saw this as a good opportunity to clear her name: "I want to solemnly clarify that the matter of it raining in Tsukishima City for a whole day has nothing to do with me."

"You say it's unrelated, then it's unrelated?" Herica frowned, clearly not believing it even a little bit.

Yuuki Yui had only decided to go out for a walk because she was in a bad mood, and then her communication with Helica broke down, leaving her feeling inexplicably exhausted: "Even if you say I did it, have you ever seen a magical girl who can control the weather?"

“Me?” Helica snapped her fingers, and a bolt of lightning struck the roof of a nearby building. “See? Isn’t that how it is?”

This is just a normal lightning strike, right? It has absolutely nothing to do with manipulating the weather!

If I yell and spit in her face, can that be described as rain?!

Yuuki Yukino understood; she couldn't reason with Helica about this.

"You can go and see what the weather forecast says these past two days! Why don't you believe the weather forecast and instead believe the nonsense of those unscrupulous media outlets?" Yuuki Yuen raised her voice, her words directed not only at Herika but also at everyone present.

Anyway, the words have been spoken, and how others listen and analyze them is their business.

"So many people witnessed the two of you appearing on the beach that day! Summoning a giant sea monster with tentacles and stirring up storms! How do you explain that?"

Upon hearing the words "unscrupulous media," Helica gave her a knowing look, her highly aggressive tone softening slightly, but she remained wary of Yuuki Yukino's possible underhanded tactics. She believed the pink-haired girl couldn't have tricked her out simply to stand there and chat idly.

How do you explain this...?

Yuuki Yuki and Tomoe looked away in opposite directions, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

You can't exactly tell the truth, like you planned to go to the beach but then it rained heavily, so you gave up and went to the sea to play carefree, right?

Equally absurd is that this idiotic idea was also agreed upon by another teammate with a wildly unconventional way of thinking and a peculiar thought process.

His thoroughly embarrassing past was even filmed and shown on television for repeated viewing, with some people even analyzing it frame by frame.

Forget it, I'll just pretend I didn't hear what Helica said.

Seeing that she had rendered him speechless, Helica pressed on relentlessly: "Hmm? How do you plan to explain this?"

"So many people saw me with you today! If I said I came here to ask you out, would anyone believe me?!" Yuuki deliberately didn't answer, but Helica kept bringing up her embarrassing past, which made her furious.

Who wants to date a guy like you?!

"How could you date someone like her!"

Baki and Herika shouted out in unison.

"What do you mean by 'a girl like her'?"

"And what do you mean by that? How dare you say such a thing?"

A conflict between the two was about to erupt.

Yuuki Yukino also faintly heard a passerby shouting, "I believe you're here to ask her out!" and "A triangle is the most stable shape."

There were also some outrageous statements like "love-hate relationship" and "forbidden relationship is highly praised."

What strange things are you talking about? What kind of nonsense is this?

Never mind, let's end this pre-battle chatter here! Anyway, Yuuki Yukino's goal has always been to bully Helica and vent her anger.

With such a great atmosphere, it would be unreasonable not to take advantage of it.

Three magical girls were fighting in mid-air, and a moment later, Mizuno Yu, who had transformed, also joined the battle.

The battle ended in a resounding victory for Yuuki Eri's side. They were even a match for Tsukimi Rie, who had been released from her divine power. Getting the veiled imp would be a piece of cake for them.

Poor Helica, she almost unlocked some defeat cutscenes that wouldn't be shown without a patch when she was swallowed up by the giant tentacles.

This wasn't out of kindness from Yuuki Enishi; she simply felt that if she accidentally crossed the line, she would feel sorry for Helica, and if she really tried to clear her name, this incident would be used against her.

Look at that pink devil, he used to rape magical girls in the street, wow, it's so thick...

Some people might say that, right?

No, this must not happen.

Incidentally, less than half a minute after Mizuno Yu joined, she was chained and hung to the side, then whipped around like a top by Tomoe with the butt of her gun.

In conclusion, unlike the failed kidnapping plan, Yuuki Yuuki's sudden idea to beat up Helica was a great success.

Why did you decide to bully Helica instead of Mizuno Yui from the beginning?

Why should I reward Mizuno Yu? Mizuno Yu is the type who would bend over and let others hit her.

"Ah, that feels so good! I haven't felt this relaxed in ages!"

Back home, Yuuki Yuki collapsed onto the sofa, opened a can of cola, turned on the TV, and started lounging around like a zombie.

The news channel I was previously on was now broadcasting the evening news.

The scene showed Helica confronting herself just before their fight. The picture on the TV was very blurry, accompanied by unnatural shaking and static. It was unclear which bystander had taken the picture with their phone, but it was enough to tell who was speaking.

"What kind of tricks are you trying to pull today?" That was Helica's voice.