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

Maybe it's just a fake, a shapeshifter, a copy of a shadow from some island, a treasure called Delusion Illusion...

Yuuki Yukino was lost in thought but couldn't come up with any conclusion.

But one thing she was certain of was that Lin Jiezi, whom she had spent so much time with, had not changed at all.

Either Lin Jiezi deceived everyone with her superb skills, or Lin Jiezi was completely unaware of these matters.

The answer should seem to be the former, but Yuuki Yuki always felt that the correct answer was the latter.

We need to test the waters a bit more.

"Oh, right, there's something I haven't told you yet. One of our classmates who had been on leave for a long time came back to class today."

Yuuki Yukino took a sip of noodles and spoke as if it were a casual chat among girls at a lunch table.

Yes, that's how you casually drop some bait, then catch Lin Jiezi's subtle reactions, and then follow those reactions to ask a few more probing questions to see if you can get more useful information.

“You should have mentioned this before, Yuuki. I remember you and she have known each other for a long time,” Mizuno Yui continued, picking up where Yuuki left off.

As expected of Mizuno Yu, Yuuki Yui has been deliberately controlling herself from mentioning Nishio Reki in the past. The original protagonist's contact with the main character of the original work may produce some kind of chemical reaction that Yuuki Yui does not want to see.

To remember something mentioned casually for so long, Mizuno Yu is truly outstanding in every aspect except for her studies.

Fortunately, with Mizuno Yu chiming in, it didn't feel like I was talking to myself anymore.

"Yes, her name is Nishio Reki. Have I mentioned her name before?"

This was a rhetorical question from Yuuki Yuki, who knew the answer already. Even if Yuuki Yuki had inadvertently mentioned Nishio Reki's existence, she would never have said that name.

That's it, react to the name, and then ask yourself a few more questions.

Indeed, some people reacted to the name Nishio Reki.

But that person was not Lin Jiezi.

Lin Jiezi also reacted; while eating her boxed lunch, her chopsticks paused for a moment, almost falling into the lunchbox.

But compared to her subtle movement, the other person's reaction was much stronger.

When Helika heard Nishio Reki's name, she clenched her hand tightly, leaving a deep thumbprint on the bread, and cream splattered from the top of the bread, covering Helika's face.

No, why are you so excited when you hear this name?

You don't actually know Nishio Reki, do you?

"Tenrei, what's wrong?" Before Yuuki could speak, Mizuno Yu took out some disinfectant alcohol wipes from her bag and handed them to her with concern.

And you, why do you carry around disinfectant wipes? What are you trying to disinfect?

"It's nothing, it's nothing, I was just startled. Just a little fright."

Herlica wiped the cream off her clothes and face with alcohol wipes, laughing it off and brushing it off.

In those few seconds, Yuuki Yuuki also vaguely realized something.

In the original story, Helica and Nishio Reki first met during an argument in the cafeteria, where Nishio Reki, being a nice guy, helped Helica out of the situation.

At that time, Helica scolded Nishio Reki in a very arrogant manner, and then sullenly hid in the storeroom to eat bread alone. It wasn't until their second meeting that they introduced themselves to each other.

However, Nishio Reki was attacked two days before the event was triggered, and then disappeared without a trace.

And that part of the story was stolen by myself on my first day of school.

Since their first encounter never happened, Helica should not know who Nishio Reki is.

However, it's unusual that Helica reacted so strongly upon hearing Nishio Reki's name.

Wait, wait.

Nishio Reki is the protagonist of the original work, so it's possible for him to develop feelings for anyone.

Just because Nishio Reki can make contact with himself doesn't mean he won't make contact with other romanceable characters.

Could it be that Nishio Reki had already approached Helica without his knowledge?

In Chapter Four, your character design completely fell apart!

Throughout the entire morning, Nishio Reki was almost unable to escape the encirclement of his classmates.

As soon as get out of class ends, Nishio Reki is surrounded by his curious classmates.

It wasn't until after lunch break, when Yuuki Yuki and the other members of the Nijisanji Club had lunch in the Nijisanji Club's activity room, that she spoke to Nishio Reki for the first time when they returned to their classroom.

Moreover, it was Nishio Reki who took the initiative to approach him.

Yuuki Yukina didn't know how to evaluate Nishio Reki's behavior.

Based solely on what Yuuki Yuki witnessed firsthand, one could deduce that Nishio Reki is the kind of aloof, enigmatic figure who pretends to be an expert, a behind-the-scenes manipulator who controls everything. She's involved in everything, but never gets involved herself, which fits the stereotypical image of a villainous entertainer.

In the original work, Nishio Reki is also the kind of character with no particularly prominent personality traits, a kind-hearted but wicked type. He's a nice guy to everyone, never getting angry no matter what others do to him, and always unconditionally helping others—a model of a stereotypical protagonist.

But whether in the original work or the game, Nishio Reki's personality shouldn't be like this, right?

"Xiaoyuan, did you notice my hairstyle today? Doesn't it suit the style of a transfer student? It's Xiaoyan, which Xiaoyuan really likes. Doesn't it match my identity?"

I don't like Homura Akatsuki at all! I like Madoka Kaname much more! Although I do like Homura Akatsuki out of affection for her, there's no need for her to tie her hair into a black braid for me!

"Xiaoyuan, I went to the shopping street during my lunch break and bought you your favorite lemon tea and some frozen strawberry daifuku! Eat them before class!"

I don't particularly like lemon tea or anything like that. It's just that I drink about three, four, five, or six cups a week.

"Xiaoyuan, I heard there's a themed event at the arcade this weekend. Want to go check it out? You might get merchandise from a girl band!"

Merchandise from girl bands usually consists of things like badges, standees, and guitar picks. There's nothing I particularly want. At school, I still need to act like a well-rounded, positive person.

"Xiaoyuan, I picked up a limited-edition Pokémon gift code on my way out. Here, take this! With this, you can redeem a shiny Shiny Pokémon on your handheld console."

Shiny Pokémon can be obtained by hatching eggs, but they don't have the special titles available at events. They're just the same in practice.

All day long, all day long!

After lunch break, Nishio Reki seemed to have lost his mind, frantically moving closer to Yuuki Yuuki and indiscriminately showing her affection from every angle.

How should this behavior be described?

To put it bluntly, you should call him a simp, right?

Okay! Yuuki Yukino admits that whether it's fruit tea, strawberry daifuku, special edition fairy, or girl band, Nishio Reki just happens to be able to accurately hit Yuuki Yukino's preferences.

This direct gesture of goodwill left Yuuki Yukino in a dilemma, unsure whether to accept or refuse.

It's like in a mobile game, where in order to increase a character's favorability, you suddenly feed the character gifts and items they like, and then start clicking on the character's storyline like crazy in Momo Talk.

Yes, Yuuki Yukino feels like she is that character, and right now people are showering her with affection.

Calm down, Yuuki Yuuki. This guy is the one who caused you to fall into darkness. He's the evil manipulator who made you suffer a lot behind the scenes. He's the biggest enemy you have to deal with right now.

But Nishio Reki really knows his own preferences perfectly.

She won't turn into a raging rapist, nor will she drag me to a family restaurant and be mean to me. If I want something, she'll bring it to me without me even having to ask. It's such a wonderful feeling.

During lunch break, Yuuki noticed Herika's unusual behavior in the activity room. No matter how Yuuki tried to subtly inquire, Herika refused to admit it.

Even the understanding Mizuno Yu couldn't stand it anymore, and later helped Helica change the subject, making the situation facing Yuuki Yuki even more unpredictable.

So Yuuki took her anger out on Nishio Reki, who had called her out before school ended.

To Yuuki Yuki's surprise, Nishio Reki readily admitted it.

"So Xiaoyuan was concerned about this. Since I contacted Tianlei Helica, it's normal that she knows my name, right?"

They said it so casually, as if they didn't care about such things at all.

"What good does it do you? Is it because of your so-called purpose of changing history? Or can't you say?" Yuuki Yuuki's gloomy expression seemed to drip water as she clutched the lemon tea that Nishio Reki had secretly transformed into during break to buy for her, almost squeezing the packaging open.

“Ah, that’s something I can say.” Nishio Reki once again surprised Yuuki Yuuki.

"Back then, you and Helica were chasing Kuroba Reincarnation, so I stopped her. I used Enmusubi once when I stopped Miyashita Mia, and you were also using Enmusubi. There are only so many wands in total, and it wouldn't be good if Helica saw them and became suspicious, would it?"

Nishio Reki looked around, then turned around and deliberately took a few steps closer to Yuuki Yuki, pressing his body almost against Yuuki Yuki's chest like a couple deeply in love, and lowering his voice.

If you were just speaking in a low voice, you wouldn't need to be this close.

Yuuki Yukari was so focused on listening to Nishio Reki's answer that she didn't even notice how the distance between the two of them had inadvertently narrowed.

The key point is that Nishio Reki's explanation was quite logical, indirectly explaining to Yuuki Yuuki why Helica disappeared into thin air when he fought with Kuroba Kiyomi that day.

“Yes, that’s true…” Yuuki Yuu raised her arm, stroked her chin, and nodded, completely unaware that her elbow had inadvertently brushed against Nishio Reki’s chest. She focused intently on pointing out the new blind spot she had just noticed: “Wait a minute! How did she know your name?!”

“Because I said it myself,” Nishio Reki said, puffing out his chest.

"Oh, you said it yourself... How could you just tell Helica like that! You never told me your true identity!" Yuuki Yukino's temper flared up again.

"Because, because Yuuki is special~" Nishio Reki blushed and shyly moved closer to Yuuki, pressing his soft body against hers.

This was, after all, a school, and Yuuki Yukino had to maintain her public persona and calm her incredibly excited emotions.

"Go away, don't give me that crap. So what did you tell Helica?"

"Well, to make Tenrei Herika believe me, I told her my name, and that I was in the next class. I also told her not to tell Xiaoyuan." Nishio Reki blinked as he answered, "Actually, I was planning to continue my leave of absence so that Tenrei Herika wouldn't be able to find me, but since Xiaoyuan wanted me to go back to school, there's nothing I can do. Even if she looks for me, I'll just ignore her."

"Anything else?" Yuuki Yuen continued to press. She knew Helica; a name alone was not enough to make Helica stop in her tracks.

Moreover, the name Nishio Reki is just a name to Helica; only those who know what happened on the night she fell into darkness will give this name a special meaning.

"Furthermore, I'll tell Helica that a super powerful magical girl will appear in Moonsea City in the future, powerful enough to destroy everything. So, to protect Moonsea City, and you too, I need her help. How about that! Doesn't it sound just like Xiaoyan telling everyone about Witch's Night after traveling back in time!"

"Wait, let's put the anime reference aside for now. What do you mean by 'and you too'?" This sudden joke, which came out while they were talking about serious matters, left Yuuki Yukino somewhat amused and exasperated, as she continued rubbing her chin.

“It’s not that I still have you, it’s that I still have Yuuki Yuuki, and I still have you, Yuuki Yuuki.” Nishio Reki explained to Yuuki Yuuki.

"Oh, me too? No, what does this have to do with me, an ordinary girl like Yuuki Yukino? Did you tell Helica I'm a magical girl?!" If Yuuki Yukino hadn't controlled her voice, she would have shouted so loudly that the whole corridor could hear her.

"Of course I didn't say that. I mentioned Yui because Tenrai Herika likes Yui," Nishio Reki replied, blinking her innocent eyes.

"Huh???" Yuuki Yuuki was dumbfounded.

Huh? Huh? Huh?

What is this guy saying?

Helica? That arrogant, stubborn girl, the one who's my only crush in the game, likes me? Huh?

Although it's not impossible, but...

No, this one, while it's not bad, but, uh, this...

Without saying it aloud, Yuuki Yukino's mind was already a complete mess.