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

“I know that if a magical girl gets together with an ordinary person, it will most likely end in tragedy. I’ve heard about things like that…”

Don't let me hear this kind of stuff anymore.

"But I just wanted to try, to express my feelings to Yuuki Yuuki. If I didn't do it, I might never be able to forgive myself for my cowardice."

Stop showing off things I can't do in front of me.

“I’ve lied to myself long enough. This time, I won’t lie to myself anymore. I have to face this feeling.”

Don't use the frankness of you, one of the other three who always hides your true self, to discourage my unfulfilled desires.

"So, I will do it tomorrow."

Herlica's nails dug into the soft flesh of her palms, but she seemed not to feel any pain as she spoke with longing, expectation, and a determination that seemed to allow her to give up everything.

Even if she fails, she might lose everything—Yuki Eri, Nijisanji, and everything she cherishes.

But Helica seemed unaware of this, speaking with unwavering confidence.

"How could she not know?" Nishio Reki cried out in his heart. "Helica must know what the consequences of doing this might be."

When Helica proposed going on a school trip with Yuuki, she must have already thought of everything.

"Tomorrow, I will confess my feelings to Yuuki Yuuki."

But she still decided to do it, to do something she knew she couldn't do.

"Nishio-san, may I ask for your help?"

The girl in front of him put her hands behind her back and looked at him expectantly.

At this point, what kind of answer could I possibly give?

"of course."

Chapter 56 A Trio with Completely Different Atmospheres

"Ugh! Ugh! That wretched shorty with blond hair! He just abandoned us like that! How awful!"

Inuyama Baki stomped her feet and loudly spoke ill of Herika in front of everyone, clearly still resentful about Herika taking Nishio Reki away.

Yukihara didn't mind that Nishio Reki was taken away by Helika; in fact, she felt relieved because of it.

But to say that I don't care is absolutely impossible.

These two together are probably discussing something important about magical girls, right?

"Ugh, so annoying! That's too much! That's too much!" Baqi stomped her feet heavily a few more times.

Yuuki Yukino gently ruffled the top of Tomoe's silver-white hair as if soothing a small animal, softly coaxing Tomoe with her gentle persona from Nijisanji:

"Don't talk badly about Tianlei behind his back. Lin is still here, isn't she? We're all in the same group, so let's get along harmoniously."

As Yuuki Yuen spoke, she slowly slowed her pace, keeping up with Lin Jiezi's pace as if afraid that Lin Jiezi, who was following beside the two, would fall behind.

Yuki En's reminder to Ba Qi was direct enough; it was almost as if she had simply told him not to say anything unnecessary in front of Lin Jiezi.

"It's because she's here! Didn't Xiaoyuan say that we're a group of five? But those two guys have absolutely no team spirit, they're terrible! They've let Xiaoyuan down!"

Baqi indignantly stood up for Yuki Yuki.

"It's nothing, maybe they have something important to do, let them be. Anyway, we have a whole day tomorrow, right, Lin?"

Every few sentences, Yuuki would also mention Hayashi Mustard, asking for her thoughts.

Regardless of whether Lin Jiezi has any secrets, as long as she is in a group with him, Yuki Eri will not neglect her.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go out and play together again tomorrow." Lin Jiezi nodded vigorously, almost making her glasses fall off her nose.

"That's good, that's good. Is there any shop you'd like to visit, Lin?" Yuki asked Lin Jiezi with great care, focusing on her interests.

"Anywhere is fine, I... I'm okay." Lin Jiezi's stuttering problem has improved a lot. Now she's a bit like when he suddenly visited her home that night. Even though she was a little timid, she was still able to communicate normally with him.

It was a long time ago that Lin Jiezi frankly admitted that she also had a God's-eye view.

Looking back now, it's fair to say that all my investigations into Lin Jiezi were abandoned halfway through after I met her; it would be fair to say they were fruitless.

Is it really okay to trust Lin Jiezi so much? Isn't that dangerous? If Lin Jiezi weren't socially awkward, there would definitely be a major crisis.

Is it more accurate to say that people trust Lin Jiezi so much because her social anxiety prevents her from conveying any useful confidence?

It felt a bit strange that the things lying haphazardly in Nishio Reki's house all had Hayashi Keiko's face on them. Moreover, Hayashi Keiko lived right next door to him. Just thinking about that face should give him nightmares.

Forget it, this is time to buy souvenirs. Thinking about so many unnecessary things won't help me.

"What about Baqi? Is there anything you want to buy?" Yuuki asked Baqi this question, and Baqi wouldn't complain about it.

"Yes, yes, Rainbow Leaf City is most famous for its milk cookies, right? I heard they're all soft cookies made with local milk, and they don't even last a week. I want to give them to..."

Baqi turned her head to look at Yuuki Yuki and told her about her long-standing plan.

But she noticed that Yuuki Enishi's gaze remained fixed on Hayashi Mustard.

If Yuuki Yukino were staring intently at anyone else, Tomoe might feel a little jealous.

But if Yuki Yuki was looking at Hayashi Mustard, she would be able to understand the other meanings Yuki Yuki was trying to convey.

She had been to Nishio Reki's house and had seen the mustard seeds piled up in Nishio Reki's room.

"If I bring some back for the female students I'm on good terms with, they'll probably like them."

Ba Qi paused for a moment, then immediately changed her mind and swallowed back the names of the two female students.

Lin Jiezi might know some things that will happen in the future, that's how Yuki Enishi explained it to Baqi.

Yuuki Yuen had told everyone the whole story about the time when Lin Jiezi found her.

Anyway, as long as you pretend you don't know this is a game, that's fine. With the plot changed so much, Yuuki Yuuki has already used up all the weapons she had called information. From now on, it's all about improvisation, so there's no point in saying anything.

Currently, the only information Yuuki Yukari is hiding from Tomoe is the information about the three members of Nijisanji's God Release. It is unknown whether they will actually perform the same God Release as in the game, so this cannot be considered as intentionally hiding anything.

Well done, Baqi.

Yuki En silently gave Ba Qi a thumbs up.

"Indeed, it's nice to bring back some souvenirs for my close female classmates. I'll bring some back for Sakura too."

Yuuki smoothly took over the conversation, and without explicitly stating that she knew Koumori, she cleverly changed the subject, shifting the focus to Sakura Hanako.

Saint Shion came to us of her own accord, and there was nothing Lin Jiezi could do about it. But if it wasn't necessary, it would be better not to let Lin Jiezi know that she had any dealings with other corrupted magical girls.

His trust in Lin Jiezi wasn't unrestrained; his caution was understandable.

However, once she got off the train, Sheng Shiyin disappeared.

Yuuki Yui didn't want to see her at all, but not seeing Seishin gave her a bad feeling.

Such a thought only flashed through Yuuki Yukino's mind before being forgotten.

Instead of worrying about Seishin, we should worry about what Helika is saying to Nishio Reki.

Actually, there's not that much to worry about. Nishio Reki is all about riddles, and Helica won't get anything out of him.

More importantly, Nishio Reki is fundamentally different from herself. The fact that she has not fallen into darkness is the greatest persuasive power. She doesn't need a carefully crafted lie to easily convince Herika.

Yuuki Yukino is no longer the timid and powerless magical girl who could not resist anything. Although she still has some negative thoughts sometimes, she feels that she is no longer controlled by her emotions.

Their main task at this time is shopping.

To be precise, it was just strolling around.

If you see a store that interests you, go in and take a look. If you find something you like, buy it. Strolling around the shopping street is such a simple, unpretentious, and wonderful thing.

The items sold in the shopping street were mostly as Nishio Reki had described, primarily local specialties. For example, each shop would display several boxes of the same brand of milk cookies at the entrance, and every seafood shop would have a sign related to crabs.

This situation is understandable. When traveling, people tend to choose local specialties. Who would buy unrelated things while traveling?

It's fine to buy a few local specialty products to take home, but what really keeps the group lingering are the various souvenir shops.

Bookmarks, dolls, folding fans, amulets, wind chimes, wood carvings... there are only things that Yuuki En can't imagine, and there are kinds of things that Yuuki En can't see.

After the trip, in addition to the local specialties they planned to bring back for their sister and Sakura Hanako, the group also carried quite a few trendy little trash items.

The statement about "a few people" is not accurate. Only Yuuki Yuki and Inuyama Tomoe were the ones who went on a shopping spree. Hayashi Keko did not take out her wallet even once during the entire trip.

Yuki En was also curious and asked Hayashi Keiko if she was afraid to speak up because of social anxiety or because of insufficient budget, but Hayashi Keiko denied it one by one.

Lin Jiezi gave the impression that she had no intention of shopping at all.

To put it dramatically, aside from the fact that Lin Jiezi was very interested in magical girls when they first met, Lin Jiezi never expressed any emotion.

Her fear and startle reactions during her social anxiety are not strictly speaking Lin Jiezi's emotions.

Lin Jiezi's behavior was not like that of a normal person.

It seems that this is not all; Lin Jiezi's actions also gave Yuuki En a new illusion.

She can't really be the same as those things, can she?

But it was just an illusion.

Whether Lin Jiezi goes shopping or has any secrets is something that can't be forced. The kind of behavior Yuuki Eri and Baqi collecting these trendy little trinkets is quite rare on a school trip anyway.

So when they reached the next few shops, seeing that Lin Jiezi really wasn't interested and was even starting to look tired and pant, Yuki En couldn't continue to force her to shop around.

Not everyone is like Baqi, who could walk with the group all afternoon and still have the energy to go shopping.

Of course, Yuki En couldn't persuade Ba Qi to cooperate with Lin Jiezi and stop the shopping trip.

The best compromise was to tacitly allow Lin Jiezi to wait for him at the entrance of the shop. Although it was a little embarrassing to do so, it was better than forcibly dragging Lin Jiezi to follow him and the seemingly tireless Ba Qi around a shop for a long time.

This compromise solution is probably the best option.

But Yuuki Yui never expected that Hayashi Mustard, who was sitting on the reception chair at the shop entrance, would suddenly disappear.

She never imagined that when she saw Lin Jiezi again, she would see Sheng Shiyin there as well.

I won't forget! I'll write it tomorrow!

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Extortion

The girl's name is Taiga Oki.

Most of her life so far has been very ordinary, even mundane. If you were to tell it to others as a story, it would be a long and tedious chronicle.

Her life took a dramatic turn when she found what she wanted to do.

She dropped out of school, became a delinquent, and occasionally extorted money from students on the street, living off a little bit of money.