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

The hard and the soft collided, creating a series of clanging sounds.

"Just now you were telling others not to shoulder everything alone! Now you're saying the same thing yourself! Doesn't Xiaoyuan see the contradiction? Idiot! Idiot!"

"She barely spoke to me all week! Isn't that also Baqi's fault?! Baqi is the idiot! A big idiot!"

They were exchanging blunt and uncompromising remarks while sporting incredibly bright smiles, engaging in a strange and merciless exchange—this was what the two of them were doing.

This makes it even more unclear whether they are fighting or flirting in this unconventional way.

"After all that talk, it's all because Xiaoyuan is getting too close to that black-haired riddle-maker!"

"Is that why I didn't get enough rest because you were upset with her?"

Amidst the crumbling earth and rocks and the intertwined figures, only the colors red and white remained.

So dangerous, so romantic, so captivating.

After the intermission, the actors regroup and return to the stage, their eyes seeing nothing but each other.

The mastermind behind this dramatic scene, Inuyama Tomoe, is pushing the plot to its next climax in her own way.

"Ever since that black-haired riddle-teller came back, I've been unhappy!"

A rattling iron chain was thrown out from under Baqi's military uniform, hooking onto Yuuki Yukina's ankle as she prepared to retreat.

"I'll be unhappy if I see Xiaoyuan go to her! I'll be unhappy if I see Xiaoyuan talking to her! I'll be unhappy if I see her deliberately trying to please Xiaoyuan! I just get unhappy!"

The flames shooting from the gun burned the red lines that had formed a barrier, further weakening Yuki Eri's defenses.

"I was jealous and then pretended to be sad, hiding from Xiaoyuan, waiting for her to guess my thoughts, waiting for her to come and ask me, waiting for her to come back and coax me... That's what I was thinking."

The slashing blades and the red-threaded rapier in Yuuki Yuki's hand clanged and clashed, creating a deafening explosion. The shockwaves indiscriminately left more scorch marks on the demonic armor of the two.

"But! I know this is wrong! This is just throwing a tantrum! Doing this might push Xiaoyuan further and further away from me! I don't want to! I don't want to! I absolutely don't want to!"

One blow after another forced Yuuki Yukino into a dead end of heavy chains. Each blow felt like the final one, adding more straws that could break her already pushed speed and focus to the limit.

"It would be foolish to have something to say but not say it properly!"

The unshakeable spear blade, like a massive boulder pressing down, blocked Yuuki Yukino's entire view.

This attack is on a completely different scale from the previous ones.

Inuyama Tomoe's simple and unadorned slash was the one that truly ended her life.

Perhaps, this was also a genuine blow.

The red line used for defense was cut and turned outwards, burned to charcoal, and completely destroyed by that powerful and fierce attack, and was delivered to Yuuki Yuki in the blink of an eye.

What followed was an explosion.

It was an unprecedented explosion.

It was as if the earth's crust was about to be blown apart; the magic power, compressed to its limit, was released in an instant.

Even Yuuki Yukino, who could be challenged even by Kuroba Reincarnation, found it difficult to stop her.

Was it that she couldn't withstand Inuyama Hatsuki's attack, or was it that she simply couldn't stop Inuyama Hatsuki's surging feelings?

It doesn't really matter anymore.

Yuuki Yuuki's body, which had been thrown out, was already tattered and torn. She was forcibly pulled back to the ground by the red thread of the God of Marriage. She staggered a few steps and relied on the God of Marriage's pull to stabilize her body and prevent her from falling to the ground.

On both sides of Yuuki Yuuki's body, where there was no defense, huge heart-shaped holes were blasted out, just like the heart of a young girl.

As Yuuki Eri, who was at the heart of my soul, struggled to raise her head again, the scorching blade of the gun, which couldn't match the fiery passion of Tomoe, was pressed against the tip of Yuuki Eri's nose.

After that, he stood before Yuuki Eri, who was kneeling, holding a gun blade, his military uniform fluttering in the breeze.

Inuyama Tomoe lowered her head slightly, raised her hand to remove the military cap from her head and held it in her hand, then lifted the long hair behind her ear and gave a faint, almost imperceptible smile to her blood-stained lips.

The confidence on her face was unprecedented.

"Whether it's troublesome or annoying, it doesn't matter what Xiaoyuan thinks!"

Before we knew it, the girl who always followed Yuuki Yuuki's side, playing and laughing with her, and listening to her talk and laugh, had actually grown up to this extent.

No, it was Inuyama Tomoe's petite body that appeared so tall in Yuuki Yuuki's eyes.

"I just want to tell Xiaoyuan! I like Xiaoyuan! I'm jealous! I'm unhappy! I'm worried! No matter how Xiaoyuan sees me, I want Xiaoyuan to understand my feelings."

"I will tell Xiaoyuan everything, and Xiaoyuan cannot hide anything from me!"

Before Yuuki could answer her question, Baqi raised her hand, along with the gun blade she was tightly gripping.

Having withstood a blow from Tomoe, Yuuki Yukino could only barely use the red thread to repair her wounds, allowing herself to continue moving like a puppet.

But such clumsy movements made it impossible for them to withstand Baki's next attack.

Moreover, she always liked to use tentacles and red threads to restrain her enemies, and all four of her limbs were bound with heavy chains.

Baqi's hand fell gently and slowly, and along with the object in her hand, it landed on Yuuki Yukino's face.

It was very soft, carrying the scent and warmth of a young girl's hair, and obscured Yuuki Yukino's vision.

That was the military cap that Baqi had taken off, which was pressed against Yuuki Eri's face.

However, she couldn't stop Yuuki Enishi's lips from falling.

There is something else that seals Yuki Eri's lips.

In that instant, Yuuki Yuuki seemed to return to the coffee shop she had been in months before, smelling the faint aroma of coffee that filled the room, and tasting the bitterness and softness on her tongue.

The bitterness and tenderness are real, with an added touch of rusty saltiness and a subtle yet undeniable sweetness.

Yuuki Yukino brought her face closer, only to feel the cool autumn night wind.

The military cap was removed from her face, and at the end of her line of sight was Ba Qi's slightly flushed, yet somewhat forced, smile.

"Do you understand?"

Before Yuuki Yuuki even realized it, the chains that had bound her had all disappeared.

So all that was left for Yuuki Yuki to do was to hold her pink tongue between her lips like a fool, close her eyes, and wait for a response.

"what…"

The pink-haired girl let out a very short scream, her cheeks instantly turning bright red as she tried to hide her shame.

"I understand, I will be more honest with Baqi."

Baqi had no intention of giving her that opportunity.

A hand, hotter than her own cheek, grasped her face as she tried to avoid it, as if cradling a precious object, bringing the girl's face even closer.

This time, the touch of lips was something that could be felt more personally and tangibly.

Passionate and enduring, distant and sunny.

Each encounter, each deeper penetration, seemed to envelop me as if melting me, evaporating the last vestiges of rationality I had after the battle from my burning mind.

It ended abruptly before it was most heartbreaking to see.

"what…"

The blushing girl let out another disappointed sigh, secretly glancing at the girl in military uniform who was pursing her lips with her bright eyes.

Are you tempted?

thump.

That missed heartbeat was already her best answer.

The halo faded slowly from Yuuki Yukino's body, and the Tsukimi Middle School uniform, so out of place with the mess, hung on the dusty ground.

Yuuki Yukino pressed down on the hem of her skirt, sat cross-legged on the ground, and lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Hey."

She heard it—the girl's familiar laughter.

She saw it—the girl's short, silver-white hair that she had forcibly brought into her field of vision.

She sensed the genuine feelings contained in the girl's words.

The girl in the uniform tilted her head back, looking directly into her eyes, and stuck out her pink tongue and her little tiger teeth that seemed to be always grinning mischievously.

"You'll be even more infatuated with me in the future."

Chapter 41 Towards a Brand New Morning

"Big sister, you two went too far! This is a weekday evening! A weekday! What if it affects pedestrians passing through this suburb on their way home from get off work!"

On the second day after Inuyama Tomoe and Yuuki Yuuki engaged in a love-hate relationship that far exceeded the norm—in the end, it turned out to be the two flirting like magical girls—Koumari called Tomoe's cell phone early in the morning.

"Huh? Oh—"

Baqi was still in a dazed, confused state, and she vaguely put the phone to her ear before plopping back onto the bed, shrinking into the covers like a little bug.

"Do you know how much discussion this has caused?! Everyone online is speculating about what happened! To be honest, the level of destruction is truly astonishing! We might end up being seen as heinous villains like Kuroba Reisei in other people's eyes!"

On the other end of the phone, Hong Moli was unusually loud, and both the volume of her voice and the tone that was completely devoid of her usual respect subtly indicated the seriousness of the matter.

"Hmm...hmm..." Baqi hummed a few syllables that were hard to tell whether she was responding or talking in her sleep, and barely managed to open her tightly closed eyes.

"Phew, thankfully no one was injured. I also secretly set up a barrier to prevent others from detecting my magic, even though it cost a lot of magic. In the end, it's all good. But! Big sister! Please be serious! This can't happen again!"

Having been awakened by the noise, Baqi moved the phone away from her ear, and her brain, which had been dormant all night, began to start working again.

Oh right, last night.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Baqi came up with a solution that was not a solution at all, and went all out in a battle against Yuuki Yuki without holding back.

Oh dear, if Xiaoyuan and I go all out, the damage will definitely be severe, right?

Fortunately, the problems have all been resolved.

It was resolved in an incomprehensible, almost berserk way that only Inuyama Tomoe could manage.

"Big sister! Big sister, are you listening? This must never happen again! Absolutely not!" Hong Moli's angry voice was still ringing on the other end of the phone.

The noise that erupted from the silence wasn't just disturbing Inuyama Tomoe's peaceful sleep.

"Hmm?" The pink-haired girl nestled in the blanket murmured, stretched out her arms to hug Baqi's body even tighter, and frowned as she struggled to open her eyes a crack.

"What's wrong?" The girl raised her head slightly, asked the question, and then lowered it back onto the pillow.

The fallen pink hair covered the remaining teeth marks on her shoulder, and she closed her eyes again, which seemed to be filled with tears, burying her head in Inuyama Tomoe's chest and breathing evenly.