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

Yuuki felt even more guilty for making Baqi, whom she had forcibly dragged into danger and who was also injured, do this for her.

"How about I do it myself..."

Yuuki Yukino got out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and walked towards the foot of the bed.

"Hmm." Baqi had already walked to the foot of the bed, withdrew the hand that was about to pick up the jar, straightened up and sat on the other side of the bed without saying a word.

Yuuki picked up the things that had fallen to the ground, sat down with her back to Baqi, and took out a wad of alcohol swabs from the jar.

The two sat back to back, the room silent except for the occasional clinking of tweezers against a metal canister containing alcohol swabs.

Another long silence followed; the clanging of metal had long since ceased, leaving only the muffled whirring of the ventilation fan.

How annoying, this atmosphere.

Yuuki Eri looked up at the lights outside the window facing her bed. The night in Tsukimi City was as bustling as ever, but it made Yuuki Eri feel noisy.

Yuuki saw her own face reflected in the window, staring blankly out the window, exhausted and disheveled.

Should I be making that face? In the original work, Yuuki Yuuki always responds to her companions' expectations with gentleness, right? Only in this way can she be considered the master of the Goddess of Bonds, right?

But now I am...

Yuuki Yukino grinned self-deprecatingly, and her reflection in the window also smiled rather unattractively.

Beside the reflection, Yuuki saw Tomoe, who, though still with her back to him, was secretly glancing at his expression through the reflection in the transparent bathroom glass.

Outside the dimly lit window, the pitch-black, transparent bathroom, with its two transparent glass walls, resembled two mirrors, allowing the two people to vaguely see each other's expressions even when their backs were turned to each other.

The mirror revealed the vulnerable side of the two people who were unwilling to show others, and it also revealed their subtle attempts to care for each other even when they were vulnerable.

The gazes that had been deliberately avoided met for the first time tonight.

Chapter Sixty-Two: Unnecessary Apologies and Necessary Stickers

Through the reflection in the window, Yuuki Yuki and Inuyama Tomoe's eyes met.

This time, no one looked away.

"sorry."

"sorry."

Baqi and Yuuki turned their heads at the same time, their eyes meeting once again.

After a brief silence, the two spoke in unison.

Why apologize?

Then, they spoke at the same time again.

"You go first!"

"Then I'll tell you!"

"You tell me!"

It's as if Baqi and Yuuki Yuuki have reached some kind of wonderful understanding, and their words always collide precisely and without any obstacles.

"Pfft..." Finally, Baqi couldn't help but laugh out loud, and even Jiecheng Yuan couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth from turning up. He looked around the room and looked away.

With this little incident, the stuffy atmosphere in the room immediately eased considerably.

"Ah, never mind, Yuuki, don't say anything! I want to speak first!" Baqi walked around the bed and sat down next to Yuuki, patting the bed twice before looking out the window.

“Okay…” Yuuki Yui weakly agreed, following Baqi’s gaze to the distant night sky and the colorful city beneath it.

“I know Xiaoyuan has put in a lot of effort to find that mysterious person. She often runs out by herself at noon and after school, doing a lot of work without my knowledge. But all I can do is get angry with her and I can’t help her at all. I need Xiaoyuan to remind me to calm down.” Baqi said, her eyes looking into the distance, her gaze filled with memories of the past.

“I lost my temper too…” Yuuki turned to look at Baqi, but was pushed away by Baqi’s outstretched hand. Baqi forced her to look out the window by turning her face up.

"Xiaoyuan, don't speak yet! I haven't finished speaking!"

"it is good…"

"So I was thinking, Xiaoyuan specifically asked me to come, but I couldn't help her during the battle, I couldn't protect her, and I couldn't even do something as simple as cleaning her wounds..."

"no!"

"Let me finish!" Interrupted twice by Yuuki Yuki, Baqi seemed deflated, muttering something to herself before summarizing what she wanted to say in a few words: "Well, in short, I couldn't help Yuki and I kept holding her back, so I feel really bad! I'm done! Now it's Yuki's turn to talk."

"I never thought of such a thing. This has nothing to do with Inuyama... or Tomoe. I dragged Tomoe here by force, and she ended up in danger because of me. If I hadn't called you..."

"Yuan." Baqi grabbed Yuuki Yuuki's shoulder and forcefully pulled her in front of her. Except when replenishing mana, Baqi had never brought her face this close before. "So this is what Yuan wanted to say? Yuan apologized for this kind of thing? Because Yuan felt that I was in danger?"

"Yes, yes," Yuuki Yui replied somewhat guiltily.

"Was I able to help Xiaoyuan?"

"Of course."

"Is Xiaoyuan angry with me?"

"How could that be! If you hadn't protected me, I would probably already be..."

"I wasn't angry or regretful at all for helping Xiaoyuan get into danger. On the contrary, I felt really good to be able to help Xiaoyuan."

As Baqi spoke, she stood up amidst Yuuki Yuuki's questioning gaze, and stretched out her arms to embrace Yuuki Yuuki's shoulders.

Not to replenish her mana, nor with any impure intentions, Baqi simply hugged her in a very ordinary way.

Despite all the things that had happened between Baqi and me before, this unreserved and aimless hug made me even more shy.

"Hmm." Yuuki Yuuki let out a short hum as she fell into Baqi's arms.

She wasn't sure what kind of reaction she should have; things between girls are indeed very difficult to understand.

But at that moment, she only had one thought in her mind: to hug the other person back.

As Yuuki Yuki was thinking this, her body had already broken free from the control of her mind and acted on its own. She wrapped her arms around Baqi's waist, as if she wanted to meld the other into her own body, and hugged Baqi tightly.

Baqi's body trembled slightly as she patted Yuuki Yuuki on the back.

"I... I'm very grateful that you're willing to help me." Yuuki felt she should take this opportunity to say something from the heart, but because she was shy, she buried her face in Baqi's stomach and said in a muffled voice.

She has always been too shy to say words of thanks like this.

I really envy Baqi for being able to express her feelings directly. Although it can sometimes cause trouble, shyness is also part of social anxiety.

"Oh! I would help Xiaoyuan, isn't that the most natural thing to do?"

"That's not what I meant. I just really appreciate it."

It turns out that expressing one's thoughts as frankly and clumsily as Baqi is such a difficult thing.

Yuki Yuki still did it, and she succeeded, which was a great start.

Baqi's mouth opened in surprise, her throat bobbed a few times, then she raised the corners of her mouth, silently closed her mouth, lowered her eyes, and placed her palm on Yuuki Eri's hair, gently stroking the top of Yuuki Eri's head.

"Hearing Xiaoyuan say that feels quite novel."

Yuuki Yukino bit her lip, buried her head, and let Baqi stroke her.

Baqi's caresses became rougher, her hands working together as if she were deliberately trying to mess up Yuuki Emi's hair, violently shattering the warmth that had just been built up.

Yuuki Yui felt as if the step she had finally mustered the courage to take was like sinking into the sand, with no sense of security or groundedness.

Baqi started to comb Yuki Eri's messed-up hair again. Her movements were not very skilled, and she was not much better than Yuki Eri, who had only been learning to comb hair for a few days.

"Listen to me, Xiaoyuan. Although I feel like I've said these words before, I never get tired of saying them. It was Xiaoyuan who helped me back then, so I want to help Xiaoyuan. It's not about returning the favor or anything like that. I just want to be able to help Xiaoyuan. That's all."

Baqi spoke casually, perhaps only by breaking the ambiguous atmosphere at such an inopportune moment could she have the courage to say such a thing.

"Where were we? Never mind, let me start from the beginning. I just wanted to help Xiaoyuan, I didn't have any ulterior motives. All along, others have been cooperating with me, and I've been taking everything for granted, as if it were my due. But I don't feel anything about it. It's not that I don't know how to be grateful or exchange things, it's just that I feel a lot of psychological burden. Ah, haven't I said these things before?"

Baqi's tone became increasingly cheerful, and her forced spirit gradually transformed into genuine sincerity. As she spoke, she returned to her usual cheerful self.

"Being able to help Yui makes me very happy, even if there is danger or terrible things, it makes me feel relaxed! You know, the reason I became a magical girl is because I was tired of my old life, right? Being with Yui is pretty much the kind of life I want."

Chapter Sixty-Three: Heading Towards Heaven

Whether it was the sudden hug or these slightly incoherent words, they were all characteristic of Baki's style.

Sincerity is the most powerful weapon to defeat everything. Compared to flowery words full of skills and calculations, a simple and straightforward attack is more likely to move people.

Especially when someone like Ba Qi, with her straightforward personality, says these things, the impact is doubled.

"Why are you suddenly saying all this?" Yuuki scratched her cheek sheepishly, and the gesture of raising her hand made Baqi move even closer to her.

Because of the hug, Yuuki Enishi's face was buried in Tomoe's stomach, so she couldn't see Tomoe's expression. Otherwise, she would have noticed that the girl's cheeks were already completely ripe at this moment.

"If you want to say it, then say it!" Baqi deliberately used a high-pitched tone to cover up her shyness, and hugged Yuuki Yuki tightly, afraid of being discovered.

She was hugging me a little too tightly.

Yuuki Yui thought for a moment, then separated herself slightly from Baqi, only to be pulled back into Baqi's arms by force.

"Let me hug you a little longer." Baqi's voice softened as if she were pleading, like the jam filling in a sour candy, where the sweetness is amplified only by contrasting with the sourness.

Not only Baqi, but Yuuki herself also felt that the hug that lasted for half a day made her extremely shy.

"Should I say something too?" Yuuki Yui tried to find a topic to ease the awkwardness.

"Xiao Yuan, please say whatever you want to say."

Yuuki Yukino also had a lot to say, including her apologies to Miki, her gratitude to Miki, and so much more...

When she was actually about to say it, she found that the words that were on the tip of her tongue were so empty and meaningless.

"Baqi, I'm counting on you from now on." That was all that remained of her words, a simple promise.

"Mmm!" Baqi nodded excitedly, hugging Yuuki Yukino even tighter. "I am but a humble girl, please guide me for the rest of my life!"

That was an extremely foul and dangerous statement.

Isn't this the kind of line you'd only say in that situation?

Is it a wedding? Yes, it's a wedding, right?

What should I do? What should I say? Are there any lines for that response? I can't think of anything.

Never mind! I'm so shy!

Yuuki En gave up thinking and buried her face back.

"Oh, right, Xiaoyuan, there's one more thing." Baqi suddenly changed the subject abruptly.

Yuuki Yukina's brain would shut down if she kept thinking about what Baqi had just said, so she continued, "What's wrong?"