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

The wait for Bai Gui Qian You's reply felt like centuries had passed.

"some."

Hong Moli's heart sank to the bottom.

As expected, that woman wouldn't let Bai Gui Qian You go.

"She said that if I didn't do my job well, she wouldn't be able to give me any more good food."

You couldn't tell what Hyakki Senyou was thinking from her expression; she simply answered Koumori's question in a very ordinary way, giving a laughable answer.

But Hong Moli couldn't laugh at all.

"Is that all?" Hong Moli seemed to have regained hope, and her lifeless tone was tinged with difficulty, but it was still better than her hopeless and powerless tone.

“Yes, that’s right. Just last time, the two of us and…” Hyakki Chiyu paused slightly when she mentioned Inuyama Tomoe, glanced at Inuyama Tomoe, and continued, “The time I had a conflict with my sister, the snacks I brought were all prepared for me by the president. There were also many other snacks that I didn’t bring. She also said that the operation ultimately failed, and as punishment, I could only eat a limited amount of pudding every week before the holiday.”

“But every time you go to the student council room…” Hong Moli felt as if a surge of energy was rushing to the top of her head. Her head buzzed and she suddenly felt dizzy. Her body briefly lost control, and she leaned weakly against the back of the chair.

“The president sometimes invites me to the student council room for a chat, and sometimes he'll catch up with me,” Hyakki Chiyu replied.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me that your visit to the student council room was just a regular tea party? Why didn't you tell me even once..."

The usually calm Hong Moli became incoherent. Although she was still trying to control her tone and avoid being too aggressive, anyone could see at a glance how bad her situation was.

Her face was flushed and contorted with an expression, fine beads of sweat hung on the tip of her nose, her hands moved erratically as she spoke, and the heavy grinding of her clenched teeth could be faintly heard even without being pressed against her.

“Because Mori goes to the student council room more often and has never told me what happened, I think it’s okay if Mori doesn’t tell me. There’s no need for Mori and me to talk about such trivial things.”

The answer was so sincere that it couldn't be more sincere, leaving Hong Moli no room for rebuttal and no room for finding fault with it.

Isn't this also something she caused herself? Hong Moli was worried that Bai Gui Qianyou would find out about her situation, so she chose to remain silent. This made Bai Gui Qianyou mistakenly believe that this was something she didn't need to be told, which gave the president an opportunity to take advantage of her.

"Seriously... what is this all about?"

Hong Moli clenched her fist and slammed it hard against the table. But the instant before she made contact with the table, she quietly released her strength, letting her fist land lightly on the table.

Hong Mali finally understood what Yuuki Yukino had meant from the very beginning. This was what they meant by overthinking, wasn't it? This was what they meant by being afraid to communicate directly, wasn't it?

The chairman probably didn't explicitly say what he would do to Hyakki Senyou.

Even if she had said something similar, Koumori couldn't remember, but the Koumori of the past firmly believed in it.

The president only occasionally called Chiyu over, as if she were summoning herself to the student council room. These past few days, it seemed as if she was proving to Hong Moli that she could control Hong Moli and also control Chiyu's actions.

The president was hinting at this in every way, implying that Hong Moli must carry out her mission, and punishing her more and more severely, as if she wanted to train Hong Moli into a hunting dog that only obeyed her orders—otherwise, the person who would have to bear the consequences of Hong Moli's failure would be Bai Gui Qianyou.

He had countless opportunities to confirm the truth of this matter with Bai Gui Qian You. As long as he asked once, he could immediately expose this lie.

But she didn't. She was afraid that her question would implicate Hyakki Chiyuu, that doing so would let Hyakki Chiyuu know about the punishment she received from the guild leader, and that Hyakki Chiyuu would realize just how much filth had been tainted on her hands.

How childish, how stupid! How has the student council president managed to maintain this precarious situation for so long?

"Mari, what exactly happened?"

Hyakki Chiyu had put down her fork countless times, but this time she didn't pick it up again.

"It's nothing!" Hong Moli retorted loudly, then lowered her voice and quickly whispered "I'm sorry" to Bai Gui Qianyou, before shaking her head vigorously: "It's nothing."

Hong Moli has so much to say, so much to say, and so much to think about.

However, Hong Moli couldn't say anything or remember anything.

She slumped back in her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling, her lips slightly parted as if trying to utter something, but in the end, only a series of sighs escaped her lips.

I'm so tired, suddenly I feel so tired.

Hong Moli slowly closed her eyes, emptying her mind of everything.

How long has it been since she closed her eyes? Three minutes? Five minutes? In short, not too long.

"Red Jasmine!"

When Hong Moli heard Bai Gui Qianyou calling her full name, she gently pushed her shoulder, then shook her more forcefully, but Hong Moli just wouldn't open her eyes.

Hong Moli knew in her heart that she was making a useless escape. Although escaping was shameful, it could bring her temporary peace.

At least for now, give yourself a brief respite in peace.

Hyakki Chiyu shook Koumori's body with even greater force, but Koumori remained unmoved.

Even if I react, so what? I can't just tell the truth to Hyakki Senyou, can I?

“If Kurenai doesn’t want to discuss this in front of us, should we leave?” Yuuki Yuki stood up, pressing her hand on the table, and gently nudged Baqi’s shoulder with her elbow. Baqi, understanding the gesture, also stood up.

When Hong Moli tried to clear her mind of everything, she also put Yuuki Yuki's matter out of her mind, and even for a moment forgot that Yuuki Yuki was still there.

But upon hearing Yuuki Yuki's voice, Koumori's recently calmed emotions and her extinguished anger were reignited.

Yuuki Yukino, that demon, went through all this trouble just to see me turn into this, didn't she? She planned to turn me into this, didn't she?

Hong Moli's relaxed muscles tensed up again, and she straightened up as if she had sprung up from the chair. Her eyes, which had been clearing her mind, no longer concealed her true feelings out of politeness. They were filled with the most direct and intense anger that Hong Moli had ever shown before.

Hong Moli opened her eyes, and Bai Gui Qianyou, who had been shaking her, released her grip and stared intently at Hong Moli.

"Sigh." Under Hong Moli's intense gaze, Yuuki Yuuki sighed again.

Hong Mali really wanted to grab Yuuki Yuki's collar and loudly question her about why she was sighing again, and what kind of bad idea Yuuki Yuki was up to now.

Yuuki Yui seemed to see right through Koumori's heart: "How long are you going to keep acting like that?"

"What?" Hong Moli asked instinctively, puzzled.

“Right, why not just ask directly like this? Wouldn’t it be better to just ask me what I’m saying?” Yuuki Yukari and Inuyama Tomoe sat back down in their seats.

For some reason, Hong Moli's rising anger paused slightly after Yuki Yuki's reminder, and she gradually calmed down.

Just ask.

After sitting down, Yuuki Yukino looked around to make sure no one else was there, then lowered her voice:

"People always believe what they think. Hmm, I don't know if you guys have seen that news, the one that said I summoned a magical beast that controls the power of rain on the beach, and it rained heavily in Moonsea City, saying that I was going to destroy the city."

Hongmo didn't understand why Yuki Yuki suddenly changed the subject, but she still followed Yuki Yuki's train of thought and continued talking.

"You can't do it. What appeared in the video wasn't a sea monster, but rather your disgusting tentacles. Creating a torrential rain that would cover the entire Moonsea City is beyond the capabilities of a magical girl. Even if it's not creating water out of thin air, but gathering a amount of water equal to the rainfall of the entire city, the magic power required is excessive. At least I don't think anyone can do it. And even if such magic power existed, there are more efficient ways to use it."

“You’re right. Look, you’ve deduced the truth of the matter in a very simple way, but they don’t believe it. Most people think that I’m the one who caused the rain in the city.”

“They don’t understand magical girls.” Koumori’s answer was much calmer than before.

"I wish you could have chatted with me like this sooner." Yuuki Yui casually complained, then got back to the point: "That's right, they don't understand magical girls. It's because of the information gap. There are some things that they could never know, and some things that unscrupulous media outlets let the public see. For example, this one."

As Yuuki Yuen spoke, she took out her phone and searched for news records from a few days ago. She showed the bizarre conversation between Tenrai Herika, herself, and Baqi, which resembled a love triangle, to Hong Moli.

"Yes, that's right, it's all because of those unscrupulous media outlets." Yuuki Yui placed her fingers together on the table: "Kurenai, I'll call you Kurenai like I do, is it possible that what you see, or what you think, is what others want you to see, what they want you to believe?"

“Hmm…” Hong Moli fell into a long silence, then nodded heavily and slowly: “Yes, I already knew that.”

"You said you knew, so why were you glaring at me like you wanted to eat me alive? What were you thinking? What kind of image do you have of me now?" Yuuki asked, propping her face up with her hands as she reached across the table and leaned close to Koumori, staring intently into Koumori's bright red eyes.

Hyakki Senyou reached her hand between the two and quickly waved it twice, cutting off Yuuki Yukino's line of sight.

"Don't bully Mori."

“Okay.” Yuuki leaned back in her chair. “You suspect I have ulterior motives towards you, and that I’m lying to you. That’s fine. It’s perfectly normal for people to be wary of others.”

"But do you really need to be wary of Hyakki-san? She hasn't received any mission from you to stand against us. She's only going to be our enemy because of you."

“I…” Hong Moli hesitated for a moment, thinking about what Yuuki Yuuki had said, and finally seemed to deflate her spirits: “I understand, I will tell you.”

“Alright then, I…” But as soon as she opened her mouth, the words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat.

"I was deceived... no, it's my own fault. Originally, I came to St. Yuu Academy, joined the student council, and even joined that organization of corrupted magical girls, all so that I could be by Chiyu's side. But..."

Hong Moli's words were somewhat logical, but still disjointed, occasionally throwing out familiar keywords, yet it was difficult to understand what she was trying to express.

Since Koumari had opened her heart, Yuuki Eri was willing to spend plenty of time listening to her slowly recount her story.

"Originally, that organization was nothing special. When they first invited us to join, they didn't use coercion like they do now. Until one day, the current student council president suddenly started a plan."

"That woman, that woman named Kuroba Reise, changed from that day on."

Chapter 48 I have never needed your protection

"Let me elaborate a bit more. Qianyou and I were with the president before he established the organization."

Hong Moli began her story.

Hong Moli joined the student council as the most outstanding student of the current academic year at St. Yuu Academy.

She had only joined the student council and had nothing to do with the matter of being a corrupted magical girl, until one day the student council president accidentally discovered the black magic mark engraved near her collarbone.

Before Koumori could transform and eliminate the student council president as a threat, the president took an unexpected step.

Student council president Kuroba Rise said this as she took off her uniform skirt, showing Koumori her smooth back and the black magic patterns that shimmered on it.

"See? Red, we can be partners."

After that, a preliminary cooperative relationship was established between Hong Moli and the chairman.

Later, Hyakki Chiyu also confirmed each other's true identities. The president taught them how to control the Black Demon Mark, and after that, there was no further contact. It was as if nothing had happened, and everyone lived their school life peacefully.

Just as Koumori was getting to this point, Inuyama Tomoe suddenly interrupted her.

"Wait, wait, wait! Control the Black Magic Runes?"

Inuyama Tomoe had discussed with Yuuki Yuuki whether Kurenai Mari and the others had some way of controlling the Black Magic Marks, which was why no one noticed anything amiss in their school life. They also wondered if the mastermind behind it all, the student council president Kuroba Kisame, whom Kurenai Mari directly named, was using some method of controlling the Black Magic Marks to threaten the two of them into working for her.

As a result, Hong Moli casually mentioned that the guild master had taught them how to control the Black Magic Mark.

"Yes, why are you so surprised, big sister? Is this method difficult?" Hong Moli tilted her head slightly to the side.

After she began to narrate, Hong Moli's previous awkwardness had completely disappeared, and she was now in a completely natural state.

Hong Moli has finally come to terms with it. Since she can't escape the truth no matter what, just like Yuuki Yuki said, it's a relief to tell everything frankly.

"No, it's not a matter of difficulty. She's just that kind of special person, someone that no one else can do. Many people have done a lot to control the Black Demon Pattern. In short, the reasons are very complicated." Ba Qi didn't know how to explain it to Hong Mo Li.

“Those two women you’ve dealt with before can do it too, the one who’s really voluptuous.” Hong Moli tilted her head even more.

“They are the kind of people who did a lot of things to control the Black Demon Mark,” Yuuki Yui said with great difficulty.

If the Black Magic Mark could really be controlled so easily as they say, then would Miya Miya still need to pack herself into a box and elope with them?

"Alright then, neither of you can control the Black Magic Runes, right? Then how did you manage to suppress the effects of the Black Magic Runes?" Hong Moli's small eyes were filled with great doubt.

"Well... it's a long story. My magic seems to be able to eliminate the effects of the Black Magic Mark." Yuuki Yuuki roughly and vaguely explained her special ability.