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

This little calculation was no problem for Helica, as a dark blue fireball floated around her.

Unlike the previous overwhelming attacks that resembled a meteor shower, this time Helica's St. Elmo Fire only created a few huge balls of plasma fire around her. However, these balls of fire were able to intercept Yuuki Yuuki's attacks perfectly every time.

Having successfully defended against Yuuki Enishi's attack, Helica's madness intensified, and with unstoppable momentum, she began a relentless bombardment of Yuuki Enishi with lightning strikes.

"What a hassle! Wouldn't it be easier to just beat you so badly you can't get up anymore, and then get the answer out of you?"

"That's quite impressive. How about this?"

More tentacles, denser attacks, and close-quarters assaults launched by Yuuki Yuuki's constantly changing wands—all of what she learned during her special training with Koumori was put to use in this battle against Helica.

"Is that all? Watch how I make you obediently spill everything. Wait a minute? I've got it! If I just get rid of you, none of this will happen, right?"

"Huh? If you can do it, give it a try!"

The conflict between the two has escalated to an even more unstoppable level.

The two on one side were fighting fiercely, leaving no room for anyone to intervene, while the scene on the other side was completely different.

Baqi, dodging left and right, and Sakura Hanako, soaring up and down in the air, are engaged in a passionate exchange of fire with matchlock guns and blades.

As for Mizuno Yu, she was chained up and hung on a traffic light with a satisfied expression.

Of course, the battle wasn't without its limits. From a bystander's perspective, it looked like the magical girls were fighting fiercely, and then two evil magical girls fled in disarray.

Leaving aside Mizuno Yu, who was holding back, Sakura Hanako's strength was still somewhat lacking, and neither Tomoe nor Yuuki Yuuki used their full strength. The only person who actually used their full strength in the normal battle was Helica.

Unfortunately, she was still up against Yuuki Yuki. Although Helica's strength kept Yuuki Yuki busy, she couldn't gain much advantage from Helica. Not to mention the others.

In reality, aside from the loss of magic power, almost no one was harmed.

But Helica's seriousness in the fight actually did Yuuki Yuuki a huge favor.

When she's being arrogant and angry, just give her a little something sweet and you'll gain her favor.

Yuuki Yukino is now looking to gain not only favorability, but also some useful information.

For example—about Sakura Hanako.

Sakura Hanako and Yuuki Yuuki have never officially met. Even though Yuuki Yuuki knows about Sakura Hanako, gaining her trust will not be easy.

Just like a magician performing magic in front of everyone, activating the magic mechanism doesn't mean anything; you have to show your results to the audience—you have to pretend to open this box called Sakura Hanako.

After handing the speaker to Baqi to carry, and instructing her to delete the contents as soon as she got home, Yuuki quickly found a secluded spot nearby to deactivate her transformation, and then dialed Mizuno Yu's number.

About ten minutes later.

Even before you could see the figures of the group in the distance, you could hear Herika's roar.

"What are you doing? Huh? What are you doing? Don't you know... Hey, this is the street! Don't I have to go too far! Don't you know what you should and shouldn't do?"

In order not to reveal her identity as a magical girl, Helica had to suppress her anger even when she was angry and be careful not to let it slip. Her ambiguity made her even more adorable.

Mizuno Yu, on the other hand, was very good at admitting her mistakes—she has always been good at admitting her mistakes, a typical case of admitting her mistakes but not making them in the first place. She seemed to be talking to Helica about something, while Sakura Hanako next to her was gesturing and trying to smooth things over.

Judging from Mizuno Yu's appearance, she seems to be enjoying it too. No, wait, she shouldn't be deriving pleasure from Helica's volatile personality, right...?

Anyway, interrupting them first won't be a bad idea.

"Sorry I'm late!" Yuuki wiped the sweat from her brow and jogged over to the magical girls she had just fought with. "I just contacted Mizuno-san! I happened to be wandering around nearby when I saw you fighting someone. I thought I'd come find you once the commotion died down."

Distracted by Yuuki Yuki, Helica's anger subsided considerably, and she shifted from her incessantly aggressive state to a defensive stance.

“Yes, Yuuki just called me.” Mizuno Yu was quite decisive in this matter and immediately stepped forward to take Yuuki Yuki from her.

"And who is this?" Yuuki Yuuki spotted Sakura Hanako standing there at a glance. Even though she knew her, she pretended not to know her and raised her eyebrows to ask, "The magical girl who was fighting alongside you just now?"

Upon hearing this question, Sakura Hanako's expression immediately turned serious. Her eyes were fixed on Yuuki Yuuki, scrutinizing her from head to toe, as if trying to discern something from Yuuki Yuuki's expression.

Being a magical girl is a major taboo, and it is generally kept secret even from the closest people. This is a consensus, not only for one's own safety but also for the sake of those close to them.

If the corrupted magical girl were to trace back to the magical girl's family and seek revenge, it would definitely be a huge problem for the magical girls. So it's best to keep the magical girl's situation a secret.

Therefore, Yuuki Yukino was prepared for this possibility, as she had just revealed the magical girl's identity so clearly.

“Our classmate from the next class, Yuuki En.” At this moment, Mizuno Yu took on the task of introduction, first introducing Yuuki En, who had asked the question, to Sakura Hanako.

"Greetings, senior." Sakura Hanako bowed deeply to Yuuki Yuuki, her wary gaze undiminished.

Yuuki Yui didn't know that Hanako had treated Helica the same way last time, but this wariness earned her a lot of goodwill from Helica.

"This is Sakura Hanako, a first-year student who hasn't enrolled yet. She's a magical girl, that's for sure," Mizuno Yu then introduced to Yuuki Yuuki.

"Hello," Yuuki Yui greeted him.

"Alright, alright, stop standing there talking. If you want to talk about something, let's find somewhere else." Although Helica wasn't continuing her criticism of Mizuno Yu, she was still in a bad mood and rudely interrupted the group.

This was exactly what Yuuki Yuuki wanted; she hadn't yet gotten to the bottom of what Helica had said about the nurse during the battle.

Yuuki Yukino was deeply moved when she was looking for a place where a few people could chat.

Having failed to catch Yuuki Eri in her transformed state and give her a good beating, Helica wasn't in the mood to suggest a family restaurant today. It was far from the cafe and Moonsea Park, and the shopping street wasn't nearby either. Finally, the group could meet in a place that was relatively free from stereotypes.

As Yuki passed by a restaurant with a sign that said "eel rice," she was genuinely afraid that someone might suggest going in, sitting down, and eating while chatting.

Fortunately, apart from Helica and Baki, the others didn't like eel rice, so the final choice was an ordinary dessert shop where people could sit down and eat.

After everyone had ordered what they wanted to eat, Yuuki Yukino was the most suitable person to break the ice first once all the dishes were served.

"Excuse me, Sakura-san, why are you staring at me?"

Yuki Yuki was right; on the way here, Sakura Hanako had been watching her with a wary gaze the entire time.

When Yuuki Yukino called her out, Sakura Hanako cleared her throat and immediately launched into a rather unfriendly question.

"Senior, why did you just watch while we were fighting?"

Chapter Ninety-Nine Vulnerabilities

"Senior, why did you only watch during the battle and disappear without a trace, only arriving late after the battle was over?"

Sakura Hanako stared intently at Yuuki Yukino's face. As a junior, speaking to a senior she was meeting for the first time in such an attitude was indeed a bit too forceful.

I see, I see.

Yuuki Yukino understood why Sakura Hanako had always been so wary of her.

From Sakura Hanako's perspective, someone who knows they are magical girls and can be introduced normally by Mizuno Yui must also be a magical girl.

Although Mizuno Yu was mostly slacking off during the battle, she still managed to break free of Tomoe's chains and help out when Sakura Hanako was at a disadvantage.

Inuyama Tomoe, Mizuno Yu, and Sakura Hanako are all primarily ranged attackers, so it's not so obvious who's slacking off during the intense battle.

In short, even if Hanako discovered Mizuno Yu, she didn't fight seriously. After all, Mizuno Yu had saved Sakura Hanako from her hands once, and Hanako would probably ignore Mizuno Yu's little flaws in the face of such a life-saving grace.

However, Yuuki Yuuki herself arrived late after the battle, which is unusual for a magical girl, and it's also quite coincidental that she arrived after the battle. Sakura Hanako believes she was deliberately avoiding the battle.

A magical girl not joining the battle—that's something we should really think about.

Therefore, it was expected that Sakura Hanako would be wary of him.

Although Sakura Hanako is not as easy to understand as Helica, her emotions are still easy to read at a glance, and Mizuno Yu could also guess to some extent why Hanako had a bad attitude towards Yuuki Yuuki.

At this point, Mizuno Yu needs to step in and smooth things over.

"Yuki-san is not a magical girl; she is an ordinary person and cannot get involved in battles between us magical girls."

Sakura Hanako covered her mouth in surprise, stifling her gasp, and whispered, "How could an ordinary person...?"

"That's a long story. Yuuki and I met because of a misunderstanding. At the time, I was in the archery club's training room doing my daily special training..." Mizuno Yu took this opportunity to tell Sakura Hanako what happened when the two first met.

That level of training wasn't even special training! You were basically wrapping ropes around yourself, don't think I forgot. Yuuki Yuuki mentally complained.

"Later, I mistook Yuuki for someone who had ulterior motives and deliberately approached me, so I did some inappropriate things to him. Then, because of this misunderstanding, we became close. Yuuki would often come to the archery club to watch me practice after school, and then..."

Yes, mistaking oneself for a human swing and even taking out a light bulb candy from one's bag and stuffing it into one's mouth—this level of misunderstanding is absolutely unprecedented.

But it feels like so much time has passed. From my first encounter with Mizuno Yu and Herika until now, a lot has happened.

Oh right, and there's Lin Jiezi, this nobody with an extremely low profile. At first, she was always secretly watching me, but after being caught once, she was dragged into the group and forcibly joined.

It was clearly a matter involving four people, yet Yuuki Yukino would always intentionally or unintentionally overlook her.

Moreover, the initial reason given for bringing Lin Jiezi into the Rainbow Society was that she was too suspicious, but Lin Jiezi seamlessly integrated into the Rainbow Society.

Is this also a talent?

During this thought-provoking time, Mizuno Yu recounted to Sakura Hanako a series of events that had occurred between them, including how she became friends with Yuuki Yuuki, how Yuuki Yuuki was attacked, the establishment of the Nijisanji, the battle that took place at the foot of the Moon Sea Tower, and so on, telling Sakura Hanako everything without reservation.

What made Yuuki Yuuki slightly uneasy was that she knew Sakura Hanako was a trustworthy magical girl, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was the most trustworthy.

The magical girls all have their own little flaws. Yuuki Yui was originally an indecisive and saintly character, Mizuno Yu was a crazy and irritable person, and Helica was both arrogant and irritable, arguably the one with the biggest personality problems.

As for Sakura Hanako, she simply overcorrected.

But has Mizuno Yu's trust in Sakura Hanako reached such a level that she can tell her all these things without reservation?

It hasn't been long since Mizuno Yu was discharged from the hospital, which means they haven't known each other for very long.

It seems that the fight I got into at the hospital was what quickly warmed up the relationship between the two of them during the battle; I really deserve a lot of credit for it.

On the other side, Sakura Hanako was unaware of Yuuki Yukino's inner thoughts. She listened attentively, nodding occasionally, and her gaze towards Yuuki Yukino gradually softened again. Eventually, she stood up and apologized to Yuuki Yukino.

"I'm sorry, senior! I didn't know you had been through these things!"

"It's nothing. It's good that Sakura-san is so cautious. It's rare that she didn't follow the crowd just because others are close to me, but instead took the initiative to doubt me." Yuuki Yuen smiled gently.

"Senpai, please don't make fun of me," Sakura Hanako muttered softly, then sat back down.

Let Hanako know of your existence, establish an initial relationship with her, and then slightly increase her favorability – these are things Yuuki Yukino must do.

Hanako is also an independent person. It's not a problem for others to trust her and get along with her, but if they don't truly trust her, it's still a huge hidden danger for her to clear her name.

"So, Mizuno-san, when did you two meet Sakura-san?"

Yuki asked a question she already knew the answer to.

Mizuno asked, "You should remember me, Yuuki, from the day I was admitted to the hospital, right?"

“Hmm.” Yuuki Yui nodded: “I remember that day, Tenrai suddenly appeared in the hospital courtyard… and then Lin and I left to avoid being caught in the crossfire. What happened that day?”

"Some other things happened that night." Mizuno Yu then briefly recounted how she waited for Yuuki Yuki at the building entrance that night, how she fought, and how she met Sakura Hanako.

When telling this kind of story, Mizuno Yu is good at downplaying the important parts, glossing over the embarrassing things about Sakura Hanako. She also does the same when talking about her past relationship with Yuuki Yuki. On the contrary, she hardly makes any cuts to the embarrassing things related to herself.

Hearing Mizuno Yuu tell the story she had heard before, she felt a sense of novelty, but this was not what Yuuki Yuuki wanted to know.

What she was curious about was the story of the injured nurse that Helica had mentioned.