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

"She probably wants to drag you into this too. I don't know her purpose, but she probably wouldn't do anything too outrageous," Yuuki Yuki said cautiously.

Drag yourself into it too!

Silver party! Absolutely a silver party! Nishio Reki is not normal!

Herlica had only intended to find out what Yuuki Yuki had done that day, but as the conversation went on, it started to veer towards some formulaic topics, and now it seemed like she was going to get dragged into it too.

Ultimately, Helica was bound to be jealous when she heard that Yuuki had done this or that with other people, but she didn't have a clear right to forbid Yuuki from doing anything.

What Yuuki Yui wants to do is her own business. Even if Yuuki Yui really goes to a smutty party, at most I'll just say a few words about Yuuki Yui being indecent when I'm jealous.

Jealousy? Does that mean I'm actually jealous?

After a long silence, Helica sighed.

"Yuki Yuki, I understand."

"I know you have no choice in this, but it's better not to give up on yourself."

Helica understands! That's great!

Yuuki Yukino felt like she was about to cry.

It's unclear exactly how much Nishio Reki told Helica, but Helica, knowing her own identity, still said such things to her.

The whitewashing is about to succeed!

"And also..." Helica turned her head away, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "It's not that I can't get a hotel room..."

"what?"

Chapter Sixteen: Let's Elope

"Xiaoyuan, do you know? You missed a golden opportunity. Mizuno Yu's confusion might have been the key to her success in learning divine liberation. If Xiaoyuan could have made good use of it, it might have saved her a lot of trouble."

Nishio Reki leaned against the railing, his long black hair tied into a neat single ponytail that hung down behind his head.

Before her lay a dark city dotted with twinkling lights, and behind her was a rickety door that had been kicked open by Yuuki Yuki and was now barely hanging on.

"I don't know what happened to Mizuno Yu. When I found her, she was lying on the ground saying strange things like 'I'm confused,' 'I'm trying to break through,' and 'It's only meaningful to do things together.' What am I supposed to do?"

Yuki Yukina leaned against the railing, her arms resting on it, tilting her head back to look at the same upside-down view as Nishio Reki, and exhaled a breath of hot air.

"It's alright, there will be many more opportunities in the future. In order to prepare for the inevitable end, we must do our best to improve the magical girl's strength." Nishio Reki turned his head to look at Yuuki Yuuki, then looked away.

"Ha, to enhance the magical girl's strength. Who knows if Helica Tenrai will still believe me? That day, I had to come up with a long excuse to fool Helica Tenrai."

Yuuki Yui leaned back forcefully, stretching her upper body almost over the railing, bending her waist into an arch, her face showing a look of utter despair.

"Hasn't Helica been acting normally these past few days? Your Rainbow Society's activities have also been going as usual."

Nishio Reki's gaze was once again drawn to Yuuki Yuki's languid movements as she stretched, and he lightly touched Yuuki Yuki's body with his fingertips.

"Pretty much? It took me a long time to come up with an excuse before she let me go back, but I can't have too much hope. After all, I can only cover up a few things, and who knows how much of the excuses I made up on the spot will believe."

Yuuki Yukino glanced back with her eyes, then turned her gaze back to the darkness downstairs.

"What did you say back then? When I ran into Helica Tianlei in the hallway a few days ago, the way she looked at me was a bit strange."

Nishio asked casually, but he was actually curious about what Yuuki Yuki had said to Helica.

"It's nothing. You were sick and hospitalized, Baqi transferred schools, and Qingmei and Tianjiang are having a power struggle. That's about it, right?"

Yuuki Eri, who has never liked gossiping about others and has also suffered from the effects of rumors, is actually a little embarrassed to talk about how she spreads rumors in front of a certain "victim".

"Oh right, most of it is true, but it's a repackaged story that covers up the magical girl part with some unspeakable things," Yuuki Yukino added.

"The indescribable parts," Nishio Reki sighed. "If only it were true."

"Well, how much we can fool Helica and how long we can keep her in the dark depends on when she discovers the flaw. Hopefully, the magic that hinders cognition is effective enough to last a while. If Helica can never discover the truth, that would be wonderful."

"By the way, Xiaoyuan, do you want to make it?"

"doing what?"

"It's that kind of indescribable thing."

"Don't do it."

"Really not going to do it?"

"Don't do it."

"Both Akane and Inuyama Tomoe are fine."

"Hey Li, it's already a huge challenge for me to be able to talk to you normally while I'm here. Don't push your luck."

Yuuki Yukino pulled her body, which had been leaning more than halfway over the railing, back up straight.

Nishio Reki felt a few strands of long pink hair, carrying a familiar shampoo scent, fluttering in the wind and brushing against his face.

In the dim light, Nishio Reki turned his head and caught a glimpse of Yuuki Yuuki's serious profile.

"that's true."

Nishio Reki lowered his eyelids sadly.

“Besides, there’s nothing I can’t tell you.” Yuuki Yukari turned around and leaned against the railing side by side with Nishio Reki.

"I can't simply deny that you're wrong. Nor can I prove that I'm right. You time travelers always have a whole bunch of reasons of your own."

"Oh..." Nishio Reki gave a noncommittal reply.

"I might understand your behavior someday, but I will never agree with it."

"You think you can manipulate everything and use others as pawns on a chessboard. What do personality and life mean to you?"

"So no matter how you approach me, no matter what your purpose is, you are now my enemy."

"An enemy...?" Nishio Reki's pupils flickered, then were covered by her lowered eyelids. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, a slight curve appearing on her lips.

"To go alone after being invited by the enemy?"

Even if you're an enemy, even if I'm skeptical of what you say, we still need to have a proper talk, right?

Yuuki Yukino, using the dim streetlights, gazed from her apartment building at the traces left on the ground from their recent battle.

"Last time I barged into your house without saying a word and destroyed it like this, causing you a lot of trouble, right? Although I don't intend to apologize, you deserve it."

The torn tiles and rubble have been removed, but the shocking scar on the ground may not heal until it is repaired.

Yuuki Yukino paused to gather her thoughts before continuing.

"If I don't talk to you, how can I better understand your current thoughts?"

Nishio Reki lowered his head, lost in thought, unable to utter a word for a long time.

"Xiao Yuan".

"Ok?"

"It's so good to be able to talk to you like this again."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Because of you, Nishio Reki has lost the chance to speak to me forever."

"She did it willingly."

"What gives you the right to make decisions for others? What gives you the right to make decisions for another version of yourself?"

Yuuki Eri's emotions were like a red-hot charcoal, which, after a brief burst of flame in the wind, returned to silence.

But the charcoal kept burning.

"Never mind." Yuuki Yui lowered her head, which had been raised high. "Never mind, never mind."

"I'm the kind of person who easily empathizes with others. Sometimes, even when others have already forgiven someone, I still feel that this person is unforgivable; other times, I might find things that others consider unforgivable to be understandable."

"That's why I was thinking that if I talked to you, I might be able to understand you a little better."

"If you go astray, we'll bring you back. If you really have your reasons, we'll see if we can find a way to coexist."

"If you are irredeemable, then I will avenge the sins that led me astray."

After saying all this, Yuuki Yukino shut her mouth as if she had been relieved.

"That's what I like about you, Koyuki. Sometimes you're such a nice person, but other times your personality is terrible." Nishio Reki tilted her head, this time not looking away.

"Can I take that as a compliment?" Yuuki Yui glanced at him.

"I'm praising you. It's not easy for you to be a good person. You've given up on yourself many times since you fell into depravity." Nishio Reki paused for a moment, his lips slightly parted: "Want to hear it?"

"If you're willing to tell me?" Yuuki Yuen raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, it's not all about your self-destructive behavior. Let's start with the story of that big-breasted woman."

Big-breasted woman, is this referring to Miyashita Mia?

"If I hadn't interfered, Tsukimi Rie wouldn't have died, and she wouldn't have become the crazy person you see because of the accumulated pollution from the Black Magic Mark. She would still be that gentle and selfless senior."

"Although Tsukimi Rie will take care of everything, including Miya Miyashita, the two of them will work together to find a way to control the Black Magic Mark."

"Oh, isn't this great?" Yuuki Yukino casually remarked. "Are you admitting you're the bad guy?"

“I don’t deny that I caused Tsukimi Rie to fall into darkness, but in the end they failed. Tsukimi Rie was killed by the berserk Miyashita Mia. You killed Miyashita Mia, and then, exhausted, you were killed by the arriving Helica the Thunder.”

It felt like a very complicated and stomach-churning story. Just the fact that she almost exposed herself in front of Helica scared Yuuki half to death, not to mention that Helica discovered her identity during the battle.

But Nishio Reki really downplayed it!

"Then I tried to slightly steer the plot, and this time you successfully killed Miyashita Mia before she went berserk."

"Congratulations!"

"Then you were killed by the utterly desperate and corrupted Tsukimi Rie."

Taking back what I said is not good at all.

"Then I tried to change the course again, and this time you and Baqi successfully teamed up to take down both of them."

This sounds pretty good now?

"Then the two of them were killed by Hong Moli and the others."

How could he still end up being killed?!

"...aren't there any different endings?" Yuuki Yuki weakly raised her hand.

"Yes, well, it doesn't matter if I tell you. For example, after you killed Kuroba Rei, you became the leader of the villains and gave up on redeeming yourself. Later, you directly captured Helica the Thunder and used her as a velvet ball."