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

Why would the Black Magic Mark, which had been dormant for a week, be activated at this particular time? A little thought reveals the reason: Baki fired a total of seventy-three shots today.

What it feels like to be affected by the Black Demon Pattern, and to what extent it will affect you, is something only Baqi can answer.

But given Baqi's current state, it's clear she can't get any useful information out of him.

If the depletion of magic power was the trigger for activating the Black Magic Mark, then simply replenishing the magic power would solve the problem. Bachi's plundering of her own magic power seems to corroborate this.

Let's test whether our guess is correct first.

Yuuki sighed and lifted the chin of Tomoe, who was rolling around on the bed...

Meanwhile, in the dark corridor outside Yuuki Yuki's house, a gaze was fixed on the tightly closed security door.

"Have we been waiting this long? Why isn't Yuuki Yukino back yet?"

The owner of that gaze muttered to himself, angrily throwing what he was carrying out the window. The dull thud was merely a fleeting ripple in the stagnant waters of the night.

This night seems to be very long.

Chapter Thirty-Six: This is perhaps also a kind of aftermath.

"I'm so sorry, waaaaaah—"

Baqi lay on the floor, pounding her fists and crying like a child.

Seeing her like this, Yuuki Yukino abandoned her initial intention to reprimand her. In the end, she only uttered a few harmless complaints.

"Seriously, that's going too far."

The two had spent the entire night in what was almost an indescribable state, and it was now the morning of the second day. After replenishing Baqi's magic power, Baqi quickly curled up in bed and fell asleep. In the end, the two spent the night in the same bed.

Sharing a bed with a cute girl should be exciting, but after all, I almost got pushed to the bed by Baqi before... cough, I'd better not think about what happened next!

The restraint trap has a time limit. Yuuki was afraid that something might happen if she fell asleep, so she couldn't rest peacefully all night. On the contrary, Baqi, who had been making a fuss all day, slept soundly in her arms.

When she couldn't sleep, Yuuki Yukina's mind was filled with all sorts of random thoughts, including many things about herself and the people around her.

Yuuki Yukino could pretty much guess the characteristics of Baki's wand.

If she wasn't mistaken, just like Helica's lightning attribute and Mizuno Yu's ice and water attribute, Tomoe's ability should be "Explosion".

Just like what Baqi did: cutting her hair, changing into clothes of a completely different style, transferring from her previous school—all these actions were like a retaliatory act of cutting herself off from the past, like an explosion that shattered everything that bound her.

Although Yuuki Yui really wanted to verify it, given what had just happened, she decided to keep this small matter to herself for the time being.

So time returned to the present. After waking up, Baqi spent three minutes feeling dazed and three minutes sorting out her situation. After a moment of smug satisfaction, she bent over and began to apologize to Yuuki Yukino, who had dark circles under her eyes.

"I...I don't know how I became like that! It just happened involuntarily..." Baqi got tired of lying on the ground and sat down with a thud, sniffling.

Do you remember what happened last night?

"Yes, I remember it clearly. Last night, after I climbed into bed, I was about to sleep, but I felt empty inside and a little restless. I wanted to transform and go out to replenish my magic."

"You transformed?"

"Oh no! Didn't Xiaoyuan say it's best not to transform? Although I really wanted to transform, I remembered that Xiaoyuan was next door, so I suppressed the urge and planned to go and talk to her. But as soon as I saw Xiaoyuan, I couldn't hold back, and then, I pinned Xiaoyuan down and started..."

As Baqi described the scene, she covered her face, which looked as if it were steaming, and stammered incoherently.

"Alright, stop talking!" Yuuki Yui quickly interrupted the other person's story, she didn't want to recall the scene from last night at all.

The fact that she had inexplicably had some kind of reaction was particularly hurtful to her self-esteem. She never dreamed that the underwear she had brought along would actually come in handy.

Even though Baqi's words were not very comprehensible, Yuki En still roughly understood what she was trying to say.

Because it had exhausted its magic power, the Black Magic Mark wanted to replenish it, which is why it influenced its master through methods similar to hypnosis or suggestion.

Thinking of this, Yuuki Yuen felt a little scared. If Baqi hadn't thought of her first, she probably would have run out and attacked passersby.

If one is not completely controlled by the Black Demon Pattern but is consciously guided, then the way the Black Demon Pattern influences people is terrifying. It does not directly control the body, but rather exerts a subtle influence. Over time, one may truly become accustomed to such things.

Based on this argument, it seems that the idea that corruption leads to "evil" can be explained, but there are still too many mysteries surrounding the Dark Runes.

However, judging from Baqi's account, her conjecture is largely correct.

Yuuki Yukino cut to the chase and stated her reasoning to Baqi, concluding: "I speculate that the reason you've become strange is because your magic power has been depleted."

“I had a vague feeling about that too. At first, I felt empty inside and really wanted to replenish my mana. And later, Xiaoyuan helped me replenish my mana, right? After that, I felt much more satisfied, and that strange urge wasn't as strong anymore.” Baqi said, then suddenly remembered something: “By the way, is there a more efficient way to replenish mana?”

“There is, indeed. Why did you suddenly ask about this?” Yuuki Yuen asked.

Baqi was still a little embarrassed when she spoke up: "Yesterday, when I was making sauces and fillings for Xiaoyuan, although I felt that what I was doing was essentially the same, the speed of mana recovery was much faster than before. So I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to replenish mana?"

“Because you took away my magic.” Yuuki Yui said, “Magic replenishment should be a win-win process, where both parties involved can gain magic power. For example, magic replenishment is like putting two bottles together, and a magical power can make the water in both bottles slowly increase together. But what you did was to pour the water from one bottle directly into the other bottle.”

"And the more efficient way you mentioned to replenish mana is essentially a more intimate way of communicating. Let me make it clear beforehand that helping you replenish mana is already the limit, so don't even think about going any further." She was worried that Baqi would really ask the two of them to be more intimate in that kind of thing, so she gave her a heads-up beforehand.

"Oh...oh!" As if recalling what happened last night, Baqi's face flushed again, and she forced herself to respond.

However, there are still some things that Yuuki En can't figure out. If she only enters that state when her magic power is exhausted, how can she fight without magic power?

Since she hadn't experienced it firsthand, Yuuki Yukino couldn't make a reasonable judgment. Besides, she didn't want to end up like Baqi was last night, whether from a dangerous or socially fatal perspective, it was unacceptable!

Currently, the only person who can be used as a reference is Baqi. It would be too dangerous to get Baqi back into that state in order to obtain information. Yuki Yuki also doesn't have the confidence to stop Baqi again, and she always feels a little reluctant to do something that harms others for her own benefit.

She does want to clear her name and get away from that kind of life, but she can't bring herself to push Ba Qi into a fire pit just to clear her name.

Even if it wasn't intentional, you should still make her pay attention; it's better to give her a gentle reminder.

"There's one more thing. Try not to run out of magic unless absolutely necessary. Remember to call me to replenish your magic before you're completely out of it. If you get into that state outside, you probably won't be so lucky."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Why am I tied up again?

Aside from that little incident, Yuuki Yukino and Baqi got along quite well. Unfortunately, all good times must come to an end. After breakfast, Yuuki Yukino boarded the train home.

For the remaining day and a half, Yuuki Yuuki continued to familiarize herself with the city through on-site exploration, while hoping to create some chance encounters.

As it turned out, her idea of ​​creating a chance encounter was overthinking things. She searched every important location in the game but didn't see a single acquaintance.

Even though she went to Reki's house every day on the weekend to inquire, she still couldn't find any news about Nishio Reki.

Before she knew it, it was time for school again. If it weren't for the fact that high school students in this world could get up at 8 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. to go to school, Yuuki Yukino would definitely have collapsed.

Washing up, combing my hair, changing clothes—I've become increasingly adept at these things.

"Yuki-kun, what happened to your neck?" As soon as she entered the classroom on Monday morning, someone noticed the plaster on her neck.

"I've been studying for quite a while lately, and my neck is a little sore," Yuuki Yuen said with a smile, offering her prepared excuse.

How could she possibly let anyone else see the hickeys Baqi had left on her neck?

As the homeroom teacher entered the classroom, everyone returned to their seats, and the little incident came to an end.

A week may not seem like a long time, but it was enough for Yuuki Yuuki to slowly begin to adapt to and integrate into life in the new world.

The same courses, the same life, the same attempts to find the person who turned me into this, and of course, the same fruitless search.

Even Nishio Reki's seat remains empty.

Sometimes she would suddenly wonder if life would just continue in this ordinary way. Apart from needing to be a little careful not to be discovered and occasionally needing to replenish her magic, this kind of campus life, starting a new chapter in her life, didn't seem like a bad thing.

But this is clearly impossible. As long as the Black Demon Mark exists, he is destined never to find peace.

On Tuesday, new rumors were already circulating in the class.

"Have you heard? A first-grade student was attacked at school. He hasn't come to school today."

“I’ve heard people say that when she was found, her clothes were gone, as if she had been… as if she had been… done that kind of thing to her.”

"Is it the one in Class B? I heard she didn't come to school today. Could she have been bullied?"

The public discussion only subsided after the school issued a clarification announcement, but almost everyone had already accepted the truth of the matter.

And so begins an extraordinary life.

The days before were just the prologue in the game; the real story is about to begin.

Yuuki Yui knows the plot's development: the culprit is a magical girl, and a corrupted one at that. Her true identity is a senior in Class 3-A who recklessly attacks students to steal their magic power. She has no particular purpose and simply finds it fun. She is the first enemy the magical girls will have to face.

It's true that she knows this information, but Yuuki Yui doesn't intend to overstep her bounds and investigate the matter, much less be foolish enough to go directly to them. They're all fallen magical girls, and no one knows she wants to clear her name. Getting in their way would only earn her resentment.

However, Yuuki Yui did not expect that even if she did not go to them, they would come looking for her.

Going to the archery club after school every day has become a habit for Yuuki Yuuki, just like doing daily tasks in a mobile game.

After Yuuki Yu arrived, the two would always spend some time alone together. Sometimes they would watch Mizuno Yu practice archery, sometimes they would discuss school topics, and sometimes she would listen to Mizuno Yu talk about things she didn't quite understand. But every day, she would refuse Mizuno Yu's crazy requests for special training.

However, sometimes the members of the archery club would have regular training sessions, and at those times Yuuki En would deliberately arrive a little later so as not to disturb others.

Today was no exception. Several new members joined the archery club, and Mizuno Yu's tutoring of them took up a lot of time, so the two of them didn't meet until much later. When Yuuki Yukari walked out of the archery club's gate, there were very few students left in the school.

Because it was the height of summer, the distant blue sky had not yet been obscured by nightfall, but the evening breeze had lost the daytime heat. It should have been a peaceful scene, but for some reason, Yuuki Yukari felt a strange unease.

I replenished my mana today, so this palpitation shouldn't be related to the Black Magic Mark, right?

If you come out of the archery club at night, will you see two men in tight-fitting clothes, one in red and one in blue, fighting with a long spear and two swords on the training ground?

Yuuki Yukina slowed her pace, trying to alleviate her anxiety by thinking about unrealistic things.

If that were really the case, I'd probably get stabbed through the heart by a spinning blue spearman in a moment, right?

But something did come, not a red spear piercing her heart, but a whip that emerged from the low bushes of the school, skimming the ground and precisely wrapping around Yuuki Emi's ankle. Then, a powerful force pulled her into the bushes.

"How..." It all happened so suddenly that Yuuki Yuki was dragged over before she could react. She rolled twice and fell face-up on the ground, and then two full breasts pressed down on her body.

Then she clearly saw the person who had suddenly attacked her: long purple hair, a figure that far exceeded that of a high school student in every sense, and black clothing that covered almost nothing except for certain parts of her body; to be more precise, it should be called a demon outfit.

What's most captivating is the two soft mounds pressed against Yuuki Yuuki's chest. What truly draws Yuuki Yuuki's attention isn't the mounds themselves, but the pinkish, unclean lines between them.

Yuuki Yukino belatedly realized the reason for her palpitations; it wasn't a random feeling, but rather a vague perception of magic. At that moment, she recognized the other person as the villainous magical girl who wreaked havoc at the school—her terrifying figure was unmatched in the entire game.

The point wasn't her identity, but the fact that she was right in front of him at that moment.

My identity has been discovered? Really?

For a fleeting moment, Yuuki Yukino considered this possibility, even wondering if the person who made the deal with Baqi was the other party, but the other party's subsequent actions dispelled her suspicions.

The whip that was binding Yuuki's ankles seemed to come alive, winding its way to Yuuki's hands and securing both of them together.

I just escaped from Baqi's clutches a few days ago, and now I'm back?

"Oh, what a lovely child," she said, her voice sweet and soft, as if soaked in honey, utterly devoid of any intimidation. It was a voice that drew one in irresistibly.

Unrestrained consumption of honey may erode your teeth; falling unsuspectingly into her tender embrace may corrupt your soul.

Then, she smiled, her eyes crinkling, a smile so subtle that it extended an invitation to indulge in debauchery together, without offering the option to refuse.

"Want to do something fun with your sister?"