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

It's the "world" rather than the "original game".

As for what this world is all about, Yuuki Yukino definitely doesn't understand it.

"No, it's nothing." Yuuki Yui didn't dwell on these things and continued, "Did you acquire the Black Magic Mark after becoming a magical girl?"

In Yuuki Yukino's memory, the only example of someone who fell into darkness after becoming a magical girl is Tomoe.

Moreover, even Baqi only completed her fall into darkness because of her strong desire to break the status quo, coupled with the black magic markings given to her by Nishio Reki.

Unlike Nishio Reki who directly bestowed the Black Magic Mark upon someone, according to the scene described by Koumori, that person never even came into contact with Koumori.

Koumori shook her head: "No, no, I just became a magical girl in a normal way."

"What then?"

"And then..." Hong Moli patted her skirt, which was a little wrinkled from sitting, and stood up from her seat: "Let's talk about what happened next as we walk."

"After what has happened before, it feels a bit dangerous to talk about what will happen next here."

"Danger?" Yuuki asked, puzzled.

"If Yuuki-senpai hadn't asked me, I would have forgotten all those things. Although I was so shocked that I don't know the details of what happened at the time, I still remember that she mentioned some other things."

then.

The aura surrounding the girl who had stopped in front of Hong Moli changed.

The frivolity of the past was no longer visible on that face that gradually darkened.

"Phew, let me check the results of my work tonight."

If the girl just now was like a mosquito buzzing around you in summer, then she is now like an immovable boulder, exuding an inexplicable sense of oppression just by standing there.

As for whether this oppressive force stemmed from the ominous black magic markings or from a change in the girl's own aura, Hong Moli had no idea.

There was only one thing she was certain of.

This girl is in great danger now.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

Hong Moli pretended to be calm, just like she had done several times before, and turned around, leaving the girl behind and walking away on her own.

But the other party clearly had no intention of giving Hong Moli such an opportunity.

As soon as Hong Moli turned around, the girl was already standing in front of her, looking at her with calm and indifferent eyes.

"What exactly do you want?" Hong Moli asked guiltily, raising her voice to cover up her inner fear.

"It failed."

The girl said this rather abruptly, gathering the stray hairs from her forehead with one hand and tilting her head back, scanning Hong Moli with a gaze as if scrutinizing an object.

"What a pity, such a good opportunity has been wasted again."

Hong Moli couldn't understand. From the moment she saw the black demonic markings on the girl's face, she couldn't tell whether it was reality or a dream.

"Alright, I can't let you become a guinea pig without knowing anything about it. Let me explain it to you a little." The girl sighed after seeing Hong Moli's expression. "First of all, how much do you actually know about magical girls?"

A guinea pig? Am I just a guinea pig in their eyes?

You must never show your resentment on your face.

"I already said, I don't understand what you're saying at all." Hong Moli could only repeat this sentence weakly and helplessly; she couldn't think of any other way to respond.

“You have traces of other magical girls’ magic on you, but you couldn’t see my dark magic markings at first. After you saw them, you showed that expression, so you understand magical girls.”

The other party made the simplest statement, leaving Hong Moli, whose thoughts were already in disarray, with no room for rebuttal.

"I'm not lying to you about something. Actually, the person I could choose wasn't necessarily you; it could have been anyone. It's just that I happened to see you, someone who might understand magical girls, so it was you, wasn't it?"

The girl was talking about Hong Moli, but you couldn't see any trace of Hong Moli in her eyes at all.

"Fortunately, thanks to you, I have successfully verified that it is indeed possible to guide others to become magical girls at this birth festival. I am very grateful for your contribution."

Even a shallow bow feels like a formulaic, mechanical gesture, devoid of any human warmth.

Compared to her indifferent attitude, all her previous annoying behavior seems understandable.

"It can be considered a success—but not a success, judging from the result it should be called a failure. Because you didn't fall into darkness."

"It is intriguing that the corruption of the mind and body is caused by the resonance between inner desires and certain negative emotions, but the correct methods are used to obtain the wrong results."

"Hmm... Is there a problem with Saint's statement, or is it my own problem? We'll have to explore that further later."

She spoke of the corruption in a casual manner, completely disregarding Hong Mo as a person, as if nothing could penetrate her swirling pupils.

"In short, I understand now that it's impossible for an ordinary person to become a corrupted magical girl directly. Thank you for letting me discover this."

The girl bowed again, this time even less deeply than before, barely a slight nod.

Then, the girl changed the subject.

"But that's very troublesome. If you are successfully guided into darkness by me, I will be able to better understand how to control the dark runes and how to eliminate them."

"Unfortunately, you haven't fallen into darkness. This is quite troubling, as I've already eliminated most of the fallen magical girls from the past, and there aren't any suitable experimental subjects left."

"The other magical girls are too weak. Even if I push them to their limits, they won't fall into darkness. I've failed many times, so I guess I've gained some experience, right?"

"But don't worry, I won't treat you the same way I treat other magical girls. I'll just ask you to disappear for a while, since you still have the potential to fall into darkness. I'll be more careful this time."

As the girl spoke, a magical glow began to envelop her entire body, as if the rule that magical girls cannot reveal their identities did not exist, and she completed her transformation openly in front of Hong Moli.

The magic floating in the air condensed into rectangular blocks with different patterns, which swirled around the girl like grains of sand swept up by a tornado.

"So, from now on, could you please keep this a secret for me? Thank you so much."

Chapter Thirty: He was walking with another woman!

Hong Mali and Yuuki Yuuki maintained a polite distance of about half a meter between themselves, and she used the corner of her eye to confirm that Yuuki Yuuki had caught up with her.

"Because that magical girl mentioned the surname 'Saint,' I didn't pay much attention at the time. If Yuuki-senpai hadn't asked, I probably would have forgotten about it. I'm sorry, I only just remembered something so important."

"It's already a great help that she remembered. If we're not mistaken, she was referring to Saint Shion. You were right to decide not to stay in the student council room before saying all this."

Yuuki Yukino's brows furrowed a few more times as she lowered her voice to comfort him.

“But we can be sure that Seishin definitely has some other plans. I think her attack on her older sister is just the beginning, but her plan should have been ruined by Yuuki-senpai.”

Koumori's expression became uncertain. She didn't say anything, but Yuuki Yuuki could guess what she meant.

The plan against Inuyama Tomoe has been halted, but she is currently the temporary student council president. Even if Seishion doesn't make any moves, she might be brewing something.

Hong Moli herself might be in danger right now.

Unfortunately, he had the least right to speak on this matter. Advising Hong Moli to be more magnanimous was easy for him to say, and asking Hong Moli to find out some information about Sheng Shiyin was asking the impossible.

If Baqi were here, there wouldn't be so many problems.

But her own crisis was also imminent. If she didn't find a way to deal with the Black Demon Mark, Yuuki Eri would be in danger no less than Koumori.

She had to keep this a secret from Baqi.

"Let's take it one step at a time," was the only vague thing Yuuki Yuki could say in the end.

“Indeed.” Hong Moli turned her head to look at Yuuki Yuuki and let out a self-deprecating laugh of shared misery.

Yes, the thing we need to be concerned about right now isn't Saint Shion's matter; Hong Moli's story isn't finished yet.

Yuuki Yukino also noticed some other information from Koumori's account.

The magical girl was researching dark magic runes, which is why she kept conducting various experiments related to corrupted magical girls.

What caught Yuuki Yuuki's attention the most was the magical girl's statement in Koumori's story about "wanting to eliminate the Black Magic Marks".

In a sense, her goal overlaps with that of the magical girl.

And it's quite possible that the magical girl possesses information that even she herself doesn't know.

If possible, Yuuki Yui would love to meet that magical girl and find out just how far her research on black magic runes has come.

Perhaps it doesn't need to be that complicated; the information that the magical girl knows, Nishio Reki might also know.

But that was a year ago, and Yuuki Yuuki has no idea where that magical girl is now.

Even whether she was tried or not, Yuuki Enishi didn't know.

Yuuki Yui tried to make her tone more relaxed as she continued to inquire about the magical girl.

"Alright, let's continue. What happened next?"

"When I first became a magical girl, I was completely different from now. I couldn't even summon a magic wand, let alone fight. As a result, I was badly beaten by her. Fortunately, Chiyu came to help me immediately."

Hong Moli quickly composed herself and suggested, "It feels weird to be walking around in your uniform on your day off. How about we find a place to sit down and get something to eat? It's on me."

"Okay, it's good to have a place to sit down." Yuuki Yukari walked in step with Mari, keeping pace with the other two topics: "Did you and the Hyakki defeat that magical girl together?"

"No, the Hyakki were quite weak back then, so after she arrived, we both got badly beaten." Koumori recounted her embarrassing story in a serious tone, making it difficult for Yuuki Yui to tell whether she cared or not.

Then, in her unchanging declarative tone, Hong Moli continued to ask, "What do you want to eat? Dessert or a main course?"

"Just eat whatever you can, anything that will fill your stomach. Anything is fine except for family restaurants and eel rice."

Yuuki Yui pondered for a moment, then decisively eliminated the two answers she least wanted to choose, and continued to talk about the question that mattered to her: "So how did you two eventually defeat her?"

"We didn't win at all. Fortunately, there were other magical girls besides Chiyu who came to our aid. They didn't want things to get too unpleasant, so they dispersed. If a battle had broken out, the damage would probably have been similar to what happened a few days ago when we fought Kuroba Reisei."

Hong Moli cast her gaze toward the bustling street in the distance, as if she were seeing the scene from before, before turning her gaze back after a long while.

"People like Kuroba Reisei who don't care about the lives of others are still a minority, no, they are unique exceptions. But fortunately, that magical girl wasn't Kuroba Reisei. She didn't want to cause too much damage, so I guess you could say she let us off the hook."

"So what now? Has that magical girl been dealt with?" Yuuki Yui asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know," Koumori replied. "That magical girl just disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes, after some things happened, she disappeared and no one has seen her since. It's a complicated story."

Through Komuri, Yuuki En sensed some new crises.

Could the magical girl Nishio Reki was referring to when he mentioned a future crisis with a very powerful enemy, requiring him to guide other magical girls to learn how to unleash their gods?

This is how Komamori tells Yuuki Eri's story, but the same story sounds completely different to Tomoe.

As Qianyou scraped the rice out of her bowl with a spoon, she continued to recount her past experiences in fits and starts.

"And then what? And then what?"