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

　Oh my god, I'm so shy!

"But I like Yuuki too!" Then, before Yuuki could even process the previous bombshell news, Nishio Reki dropped an even bombshell statement.

"Huh???" Yuuki Yuuki's brain completely crashed.

Wait, is this considered a confession?

Does it count? Although there were no cherry blossoms fluttering, no glances under the trees, no gentle breeze on the rooftop, and no love letters in the shoe cabinet, it should still count, right?

It's so strange to be confessed to casually.

The story about my childhood friend, who mysteriously disappeared and became a magical girl, and who has a love-hate relationship with me, confessing her feelings to me on her first day back at school.

This melodramatic plot could easily be made into a runaway light novel, right?

　No, even a light title can't fit this many words.

How about we change it to "My childhood sweetheart became a riddle solver and started pursuing me"?

Yes, add an orange flavor label and it'll definitely be a hit... just kidding!

"Didn't Yuuki already know? Before I became a magical girl, I always liked Yuuki the most." Nishio Reki's eyes sparkled with hearts as he tightly gripped Yuuki's hands, his mouth agape as he hissed and panted.

Yuuki Yukina was wrong. She had previously thought that Nishio Reki wouldn't transform into a berserk Rape Wolf like Tomoe.

Yuuki Yuki sensed the same danger from Nishio Reki as she did from Tomoe.

When Nishio Reki first met her, he would say things like, "Yuki doesn't need to replenish her mana anymore, right?"

The current Nishio Reki makes Yuuki Yuuki feel that she will definitely say something dangerous like, "Yuuki, you definitely need to replenish your mana, right!" and then pounce on her and do whatever she wants.

"No, no, no, wait, wait! Stop right now!"

Yuuki Yukina only then realized that Nishio Reki had almost pulled her into his arms without her noticing, and screamed as she shook off Nishio Reki's hand.

Yuuki abruptly changed the subject.

What else could she do? Just sit and wait for Nishio Reki, whose eyes were full of hearts, to drag her into the classroom and do this and that?

"Let's talk about that super powerful magical girl who's supposed to appear in Moonsea City, okay? You just made that up to keep Helica around, didn't you?"

"Oh no, that's real."

Nishio Reki, whose hand had been flung away by Yuuki Yuki, returned to normal in an instant, as if the person who had just made a strange expression had nothing to do with her.

"Although it's not something like Witch Night, in some ways that magical girl is even more terrifying than Witch Night, so in order to prevent Moonsea City from suffering misfortune, the help of Helica and the others is necessary."

When Nishio Reki got down to business, Yuuki Yukina didn't let those messy thoughts continue to sway her mind, and she also became serious in a second.

"Your purpose in becoming a time traveler is to eliminate that magical girl?"

"I suppose so?" Nishio Reki's answer remained ambiguous. Whenever the topic came up with something related to her goals, Nishio Reki was always vague in her response.

One second she was completely obedient, the next she was bewildered by riddles, a change that infuriated Yuuki En.

"Why didn't you tell me about something so important before?"

"I called you out after school not only to give you the lemon tea I just bought, but also to talk about this," Nishio Reki replied seriously.

"Then you know the true form of that magical girl, right?" Yuuki Yuuki sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“I know,” Nishio Reki nodded in acknowledgment.

"Why can't you just ambush her like we did with Kuroba Reisei, kill that magical girl, and then everyone's happy? Why make it so complicated, going through such a long and winding process, involving so many people?" Yuuki Yuen frowned.

"No, I can't do it." Nishio Reki, who had just been nodding up and down, started shaking his head from side to side.

"Why?" Yuuki Yui had just asked when she saw Nishio Reki's unwilling expression and answered for her: "I can't say, right?"

“That’s right,” Nishio Reki said. “I not only need their help, but I also need Yui’s help.”

"Help you? Huh? Why should I? You've already made me miserable enough. Who knows what will happen to me if I help you fight those magical girls! You'd probably try to stop me even without me, so absolutely not! I'm not some righteous heroine!" Yuuki Yuuki flatly rejected the idea.

"Xiaoyuan solved the problem of Heiyu's reincarnation in what seems to be the most perfect way, but I don't know how things will develop afterward. For the sake of the future, Xiaoyuan has to take responsibility, right?"

As Nishio Reki spoke, he once again grasped Yuuki Yukino's hands and placed them on his chest.

Yuuki Yukina had a strange feeling that when Nishio Reki talked about taking responsibility, little hearts started appearing in his eyes again.

"Who wants to take responsibility for this kind of future? No way! Impossible! You've already ruined me so much! What does your desired future have to do with me?" Yuuki Yuuki dodged behind her and forcefully shook off Nishio Reki's hand.

“Although Xiaoyuan said that, she definitely doesn’t want to see the entire Moonsea City in danger, right?” Nishio Reki took a few more steps forward with certainty.

She was right!

Yuuki Yui simply didn't want to be used by Nishio Reki for anything. If Tsukimi City really encountered a major crisis, Yuuki Yui really couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

If you're surrounded by ruins with hardly anyone left, what's the point of trying to whitewash your past?

But all of this is based on the premise that some kind of danger is bound to happen.

Furthermore, Yuuki Yukino's statement that she wouldn't leave things unattended is tantamount to admitting that she would help Nishio Reki.

There's always a feeling of losing.

“I knew Yuuki wouldn’t abandon her.” As Yuuki’s expression subtly changed, Nishio Reki grabbed Yuuki’s hand and leaned closer.

"If some powerful magical girl really tries to destroy Moonsea City, I'll take action depending on the situation, okay?" Yuuki Yui felt herself becoming a bit arrogant and reluctantly answered.

“No, that’s not what I wanted Yuuki to help with.” Nishio Reki shook Yuuki’s hand.

“The magical girls are too weak right now! They don’t have the advantage in numbers either. I only have four magical girls, but you guys have four of them, not even counting the Sisters’ Guild and Lamproyal.”

Nishio Reki meticulously made comparisons with Yuuki Yukino.

"Wait, so you're actually on the magical girl's side?" Yuuki Yuuki found Nishio Reki's statement rather intriguing.

"Of course! Even though I'm not bound by the rules of magical girls, I deeply hate corrupted magical girls, and I even helped Yui, I'm still a magical girl at heart, okay?"

That's true. Although Nishio Reki has always been fighting alone, if you divide magical girls into two major camps, Nishio Reki definitely belongs to the magical girls' side.

“Not only are we outnumbered, but apart from me, none of the magical girls know how to use Divine Release! On the contrary, none of you corrupted magical girls, except for Yuuki and Lapis Lazuli, know how to use Divine Release, right? Especially Lapis Lazuli, whether she knows how to use Divine Release or not is completely irrelevant.” Nishio Reki said very seriously, gripping Yuuki Yuuki’s hand tighter and tighter.

"Actually, I can also perform divine release." Yuuki Yui was a little annoyed.

"The divine liberation of the God of Enmusubi does not count."

Hearing what Nishio Reki said, Yuuki Yukino became even more annoyed.

"Okay, fine, you're right, so what?" Yuuki Yuen said dismissively, shaking Nishio Reki's hand vigorously.

"You can see from the crusade against Kuroba Rebirth that the magical girls who are not freed by the gods can only provide very little help. Moreover, if the power of the two sides is extremely unbalanced, terrible things will happen."

"Oh, then why don't we teach them how to liberate themselves from the gods?"

"Xiaoyuan also knows that the power of magical girls comes from strong emotions and desires. True Name Release can be mastered through training, but God Release is very difficult to achieve without a strong desire and a suitable opportunity. The reason why Lamp Lava Mountain cannot achieve God Release is largely because she lacks this thing, and no one can create such an opportunity for her."

"Ah... and then?" Yuuki Yuki shook her hand even harder, but Nishio Reki's hand seemed to be stuck to hers, and no matter how hard Yuuki Yuki tried, she couldn't shake it off.

"So, could Xiaoyuan help those magical girls, so that they can also improve their strength a little and have a chance to face unknown difficulties together in the future? Could you create a little 'opportunity' for them?"

Chapter Five: Is This a Battleground?

After a relatively formal exchange between the corrupted magical girl, Yuuki Yukino, and the mysterious man, Nishio Reki, Yuuki Yukino finally understood Nishio Reki's modus operandi.

While Nishio Reki's habit of telling riddles is annoying, she is harmless under normal circumstances.

Whether Nishio Reki will take advantage of her in some unspeakable area remains to be seen.

Anyway, Yuuki Yuki felt a chill run down her spine at the sight of Nishio Reki's heart-shaped eyes.

But in terms of her identity as a magical girl, to be fair, despite all the annoying things Nishio Reki did from beginning to end, none of them actually hurt Yuuki Yukino.

Except for the inexplicable original sin that caused Yuuki Eri and Inuyama Tomoe to fall into darkness.

Ultimately, Yuuki Yukina was simply annoyed by Nishio Reki's arrogance in treating everyone as pawns, but Nishio Reki was at most just an invisible enemy to her.

In terms of threat, Nishio Reki is not as threatening as Miya Miyashita, who wanted to take him away, nor as threatening as Kuroba Kiyome, who wanted to kill him outright.

As long as Nishio Ryū doesn't threaten him or do anything suspicious, Yuuki Yuki has no need to go to war with Nishio Ryū, which would be a thankless and exhausting task.

Yuuki Yukino has personally experienced just how strong Nishio Reki is in combat.

She was able to handle her own unpredictable attacks without taking the initiative, and she even managed to withstand the Goddess of Fate with a divine release that she herself couldn't even see clearly in an instant. Fighting her in a real battle would be much more difficult than fighting Kuroba Rebirth.

Yuuki Yukina could know Kuroba Reincarnation's fighting style from a god-like perspective, so there's no reason why Nishio Reki couldn't know his fighting habits through time travel.

Instead of declaring war on Nishio Reki, the current "harmonious" relationship helps Yuuki Yukino obtain more information from Nishio Reki.

Moreover, Nishio Reki and Yuuki Yuuki reached a mysterious consensus.

If Yuuki Yukino intends to redeem herself, she will inevitably join the ranks of magical girls in the future.

Therefore, the magical girl side cannot be too weak, otherwise, if Yuuki Yuki is not redeemed before the magical girl group is wiped out, it will not be good.

For this reason, Yuuki Yuki really needs to take the big crisis that Nishio Reki mentioned, which seemed to have no beginning or end, seriously.

Strictly speaking, Nishio Reki is not part of the magical girl camp, at least not on the side of Mizuno Yu and Helica.

The current magical girl faction is ridiculously weak.

This is extremely bad news for Yuuki Yuuki.

So Yuuki Yukino really has to do as Nishio Reki said and find a way to make these people learn how to release their gods.

Of course, that's a story for another time. The liberation of the gods isn't something that happens just by putting a little pressure on them or creating a desperate situation. They suddenly become powerful and learn it.

In short, Yuuki Yukino is currently taking a wait-and-see approach to Nishio Reki's actions, and the rest can be discussed and planned in due course.

Incidentally, throughout Yuuki Yukino's various exchanges with Nishio Reki, including Yuuki Yukino's series of reflections, Nishio Reki never let go of Yuuki Yukino's hand.

This is dangerous!

For Yuuki Yukino, Nishio Reki's actions were dangerous. For Inuyama Tomoe, it was equally dangerous!

If you were to ask Tomoe about her opinion of Nishio Reki, all she could say was that she disliked him.

Nishio Reki tricked Tomoe into falling into darkness (a trap), but also allowed Tomoe to successfully meet Yuuki Eri.

From the perspective of Nishio Reki, the time traveler, it's impossible that Nishio Reki didn't know things would develop this way.

After realizing this, Tomoe's dislike for Nishio Reki was not as severe as before.

But I still hate it!

She also felt that Nishio Reki was in great danger.

Especially her attempt to get close to Yuuki Yuuki is extremely dangerous! Incredibly dangerous!