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

To be honest with everyone else, I know nothing and I can't solve anything.

"Ah, never mind." Ba Qi's tense expression suddenly relaxed.

Nishio Reki was able to take this opportunity to catch his breath and finally let out the pent-up resentment in his chest.

Baqi's statement, "Let it go," does not mean that the matter is over.

Nishio Reki understood that the previous remarks were actually part of Tomoe's strategy of praising by first criticizing.

"Let me rephrase my question: Since you don't want to do anything, why don't you give up on Yuuki Yukino?"

The completely opposite issue is what Tomoe truly wanted to express and convey to Nishio Reki after that.

"Xiao Yuan has become like this, attacked by a force we don't even know about, and this is something even you probably don't know how to deal with, right?"

"Hmm," Nishio Reki replied.

"You don't know how to solve it either, right?" Baqi seized on the question she had just asked and repeated it again, pressing for details.

"Yes, I don't know," Nishio Reki admitted, unable to hide his bitterness.

"So your ultimate goal should be to save Xiaoyuan, right?" Inuyama Baqi asked the next question.

Nishio Reki's eyes flickered, revealing a look of surprise.

"There's no need to be so surprised. I don't know what connections you have with other people, but in my opinion, everything you've done revolves around Xiaoyuan, so there's no other explanation, right?"

Baqi waved her hand, pushing the issue forward a step further.

“Yes,” Nishio Reki admitted.

"So what should I say next? There's no need to hide anything from you. You can travel through time back to the past, right? Why don't you continue your time travel, abandon this hopeless timeline, use this as experience, and place your hopes on the next time?"

Nishio Reki didn't say anything.

Inuyama Tomoe took a deep breath and continued speaking.

"If I were you, I would probably choose to do this, right? Travel through time and look for new possibilities, because what I want is a perfect ending. If I want to save Xiaoyuan, I definitely want Xiaoyuan to be safe and sound."

"But the current situation, for you, no, for me who can travel through time, even if we achieve some goal in the end, we have still set off a time bomb. Even if I successfully save Xiaoyuan, one day in the future Xiaoyuan may still leave me again because of the corruption, or even cause a greater crisis."

"Therefore, I believe that starting over after Xiaoyuan has already been attacked is the best option."

"But you didn't do that. I didn't know how powerful you were, but when Xiaoyuan was affected by the Black Demon Mark, not only did you not escape to other timelines, but you also risked being judged by Xiaoyuan to call her back. Isn't that strange?"

"Even if we want to explore the possibility of continuing, it would be better to observe after ruling out the unexpected factor of Xiaoyuan being attacked, rather than maintaining this precarious and crisis-ridden timeline, right?"

"Of course, no matter how bad the situation is now, I will definitely stay with Xiaoyuan until the end, because this is our time and our world. To be honest, I don't know if we will succeed or fail in the end, but there is only one thing I am sure of: even without you, Xiaoyuan and I will stand together until the very last moment."

After saying so much in one breath, Baqi took several deep breaths, and her eyes became even gentler.

"Actually, that's what you think too, right?"

“Me?” Nishio Reki muttered to himself.

"You don't want to give up on Xiaoyuan who's right here, and you also want to cherish your current life, which is why Xiaoyuan believes in you."

"That's why, even though I hate you so much, even though I want to tear you apart when I look at you, even though I feel uncomfortable breathing the same air in the same room as you, I still believe in Xiaoyuan who trusts you, and I also believe in your sincerity towards Xiaoyuan."

That's why I'm here.

"No, that's not true." Nishio Reki swallowed hard, as if muttering to himself.

"I'm not that great at all. It's not that I don't want to give up on Xiaoyuan. No, I don't want to give up on Xiaoyuan at all. It's that I can't give up on her!"

The black-haired girl clenched her teeth, making a grinding sound as she chewed.

"Actually, I can't travel through time at all!"

Dead silence.

The air in the room seemed so heavy it was about to freeze.

"You... what did you say?" Inuyama Tomoe, who had just been passionately expressing her thoughts, began to tremble slightly, her lips losing their color.

“I said, I can’t travel through time. I’m not a time traveler, I’m just a fool who can’t give up on Xiaoyuan, that’s all.”

"That……"

"That's enough, I'm exhausted. You can go back now." Nishio Reki slumped onto the sofa. "I'll go on the school trip."

“Hmm.” Baqi got up from the sofa.

"Inuyama Tomoe." Nishio Reki suddenly called out Tomoe's name again.

"What's wrong?" Baqi's tone was also slightly heavy.

"Can we keep today's events a secret from Xiaoyuan?"

“No way,” Ba Qi refused outright.

"I have already promised Xiaoyuan that I will not hide anything from her."

"I see," Nishio Reki remarked.

"That's fine too."

And so, the day came when the school trip began.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Departure

Yuehai City, train station.

Ever since arriving in this world, Yuuki Yuuki has had a strange feeling.

She felt that Moonsea City was like a cocoon, using threads called magical girls to bind herself and the entire city here, preventing everyone living in this cocoon from seeing the outside sky.

Upon seeing the train station, a scene never before seen in the game, Yuuki Yukino belatedly realized that the sky was far more expansive than she had imagined.

Looking back, how long has it been since I last saw a train station?

Although train stations are not exactly places that evoke strong emotions, personally visiting this familiar yet unfamiliar place did allow Yuuki Yukino to reminisce about the past.

Whether it's going far away to study, having a small gathering with friends, struggling to make a living, or embarking on a journey from which there may be no return.

A transportation hub called a train station is also another crossroads in life, where people shuttle back and forth, each heading in their own direction in life.

The burden that Yuuki Yukino carried was not so heavy.

This is a school trip, with hot springs, training camps, famous scenic spots, and youthful experiences.

The thought of Helica coming with him was actually a bit heavy.

It's okay, we still have Nishio Reki.

Yuuki Yukino believed that Nishio Reki would not easily expose his identity.

But all they could do was adapt to the situation, and they didn't know how much Helica knew about them or what kind of tests she would give.

Even if Helica discovers something amiss because of this, Yuuki Yukino can only use her previous cooperation with Kuroba Kiyose as a bargaining chip.

But what the specific outcome will be is beyond Yuuki Yukino's imagination.

"Dear students, please double-check the information on your tickets to ensure that there are no errors in the train number, seat, name, etc. If there are any problems, please report them to me now."

The head of the teaching department, facing the students who were lined up neatly and full of enthusiasm in the square in front of the train station, held up a megaphone at the front of the line and did the final work before departure.

The students formed their own groups, but the class unit remained unchanged above the group level, with the only two exceptions—Helica Tenrai and Mustard Lin—following behind the class that Eri Yuuki belonged to.

"How could there be a mistake! Only an idiot would make a mistake on something this simple, right?" Helica, standing at the very end of the line, curled her lip.

Compared to Herlica's usual sharp tongue, her current taunts were surprisingly docile.

This kind of quiet grumbling wasn't limited to Helica; many other students eager to enter the station were also whispering among themselves, in a voice the dean couldn't hear.

Other people's words would get a response, but Helica was in an unfamiliar group, so her words would sink without a trace, not even making a ripple.

But Helica kept saying that, that's just the kind of kid she is, and that less-than-friendly remark was probably just her waiting for him to pick up where she left off.

Yuuki Yukino understands.

She said she didn't mind, but standing in a class made up of almost all strangers, Helica must have been very nervous.

Although Helica and Nishio Reki know that they are both magical girls, they are not actually familiar with each other and have no way of talking.

Just look at the atmosphere between them and you'll understand. No, look at how Helica has never invited Nishio Reki to join the Nijisanji, the magical girl club.

Lin Jiezi, whose social anxiety had reached its extreme, had been stiff and rigid ever since she stopped there, standing there motionless like a piece of wood, probably about to turn to ashes from nervousness.

Helica and Inuyama Tomoe... everything will be fine as long as the two of them don't fight.

So the only person Helika could talk to normally was herself.

That said, why did Helica insist on being in my group?

Yuuki Yukina guessed that Helica was most likely suspicious of something, which was why she planned to do this. She had guessed it as early as when Helica invited her.

Yuuki Yui thought to herself, glancing at the other teams next to her. Mizuno Yu was standing in the team of the next class, listening to the conversation of several classmates around her, nodding occasionally to show her agreement. They seemed to be getting along very well.

Indeed, it would have been much more logical for Herikara to propose the joint action than for Mizuno Yu. If it had been Mizuno Yu, she could have easily refused.

Is it really necessary to spend the entire school trip testing someone just because they have some self-doubt?

This is a school trip, a once-in-a-lifetime pre-graduation school trip, you should want to have a wonderful time, right?

She herself didn't care. Putting aside her identity as a corrupted magical girl, it was still quite nice to be able to travel with Helica, the girl she idolized.

But I can't let go! I simply can't let go of this identity!

"Quiet, quiet."

The head of student affairs tapped the microphone, and the megaphone at his waist emitted a buzzing sound, drawing the attention of the whispering students back to the present.

"In addition to the ticket information, all students should also check their luggage, student ID, change of clothes and other necessities to make sure they haven't forgotten anything."

"Ugh, so annoying! I told you no idiot would forget something like this, right? Let's get started!" Helica added irritably, her gaze secretly drifting towards Yuuki Yuki.

Unfortunately, Yuuki Yukino was also pondering the extent of Helica's probing of her, her gaze fixed on Helica.

As Helica turned her head, their eyes met.

So they were really paying attention to me?

Shifting Helica's attention away from herself and towards the topic at hand was the most basic method Yuuki En devised to deal with Helica.

Herlica doesn't have the insight of Mizuno Yu, but she's also much more sensible than Mizuno Yu. Relatively speaking, she's easier to be guided by Yuuki Yuki. Hayashi Keko, being socially awkward, even has difficulty communicating, let alone observing herself.

This is also why Yuuki Eri realized after some thought that she didn't need to be so nervous about this school trip.