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

She was supposed to gain divine liberation that night, but it was erased by Genki Mashiro with a snap of her fingers.

Does my future as a magical girl still exist? And do I have the ability to fight against enemies far stronger than myself?

Moreover, after returning from their school trip, the corrupted magical girls of Tsukimi City fell into a strange calm. No new enemies appeared, and the old enemies—the full squad of corrupted magical girls led by Yuuki Yuki—remained completely silent.

This is a good thing, otherwise if Mizuno Yuu and Yuuki En had a conflict, he would definitely not help Yuuki En, and he would not want to see Mizuno Yuu get hurt, which would only lead to an endless dilemma.

So it's good to be like this now, just like my beloved senior Tsukimi, waiting for myself to lose my magical girl powers.

To study hard, cultivate one's hobbies, and care for those who love her—these are Helica's current only wishes.

Helica would be perfectly content with a life where she could go to a good university, find a good job, and spend her free time playing guitar, singing, and watching silly videos.

This time, regaining the top spot in her grade is a very good start for her.

But when I see the name right below mine, I can't help but think of things I don't want to remember.

Even though Yuuki Yuuki has left Nijisanji, her presence can still be felt in every corner of the school.

When she ate lunch in the storage room, she would always think of the quarrels she had with Yuuki Yuki inside, and how Yuuki Yuki would always bring bread to have lunch with her.

As she walked down the corridor, she would think back to the time she questioned Yuuki Yuki. If she had been a little more perceptive, she would have realized that what Yuuki Yuki was saying was actually a way of revealing her identity to her.

Whether in the Rainbow Club's activity room, the archery club, or the playground, Herika couldn't ignore the pink shadow that was no longer by her side.

Not just when I was in school, but even after I left school, when I occasionally ate alone at a family restaurant, I would think of everyone from Nijisanji gathering at the family restaurant, chatting about gossip, studying, and everything related to magical girls.

Just when you're about to forget about them, those scenes will reappear in your mind.

Even on a few occasions when I really try not to think about those issues, someone will come and remind me.

Just like it is now.

"Senior Tianlei! Senior Tianlei! Would you like to go to the activity room for lunch together?"

A girl with purple-pink hair that looked like an eggplant also came over during lunch break today.

"Don't go."

Helica's answer was as simple and direct as ever.

"You're the president of Nijisanji, so you should show your face occasionally, otherwise Nijisanji might go out of business," Sakura Hanako pleaded.

“If you want to submit an activity report, I can help you submit it to the school, so you don’t have to worry about the club being disbanded.” Helica didn’t intend to say any more to Sakura Hanako.

Herlica rolled her eyes and continued with even more ruthless words: "By the way, starting today you are the president of Nijisanji, so you can take charge of everything yourself. Therefore, don't come to me with anything related to Nijisanji anymore."

"Why? Senior, didn't you establish this club from scratch? Why are you being so heartless!"

Sakura Hanako never expected Helica to say such a thing. It took her a while to come to her senses before she caught up with Helica's departing figure.

"Senior Tianlei!"

"Is there anything else, President?" Herica's tone revealed a hint of impatience. If Sakura Hanako weren't her junior in every sense, her reaction might have been more intense.

But it was with this in mind that Helica made such a sarcastic remark that was even less like herself and even more hurtful.

How embarrassing! I'm definitely not suited to saying things like that.

But if I'm not this ruthless, I won't be able to sever ties with Nijisanji and magical girls.

“I…” Sakura Hanako was stunned once again.

She didn't chase after Helica again until she was gone.

So, that's fine, that's fine.

My new life can start here.

I ran into someone I didn't want to see again, and I hurt someone else I was ashamed to face.

Let's go change our mood after school today.

Let's go a little further and see some other places.

When Helica came to her senses, she was already on a bus heading to the outskirts of the city.

Coincidentally, there seems to be a good eel rice restaurant nearby?

Step into the store, order a huge bowl of eel rice, mix the sauce and rice with a spoon, and then put the deboned eel into your mouth.

Strange, is this what the taste of this house is like?

I remember the last time I came here, it didn't taste this bad.

Is there anything different from when I came last time?

"That shouldn't be the case. Our recipe has never changed, and we control the ingredients precisely. Even the eels are farmed on a large scale by our own family. There shouldn't be such a problem," the owner replied when asked the question.

But there was a strong salty taste that lingered in my mouth, and no matter how many sips of clear soup I drank or how many bowls of rice I ate, I couldn't mask that salty taste.

Rice, sauce, clear soup, eel skewers... everything was the same as last time.

If there's anything different, it's probably that there are two less noisy people on the other side, people who meet unexpectedly.

In a daze, she found the source of the salty taste.

A clear liquid dripped from my own eye socket onto the chopsticks.

“That guy was right…” Helica sniffed and shoved a big mouthful of rice into her mouth: “Sure enough, this place’s eel rice is awful…”

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Halloween Shopping Spree

Today is a rather special day.

According to the contract between Yu Chengyuan and Yu Chengyuan, Yu Chengyuan can freely choose two days each month.

Minato Nana suddenly took pity on Yuuki Yuuki and gave her a paid day off, meaning that Yuuki Yuuki didn't need to go to the coffee shop today and had a full day off.

Of course, this wasn't just a sudden whim of Nana Minato's; Yuuki Yukino had other work waiting for her.

So, on what should have been a lovely weekend morning where she could sleep in, Yuuki Enishi had to get up early to wash up and prepare to go out.

Because today's situation is quite special, Yuuki Yukino is not going out alone, so her washing up also includes taking a shower and putting on makeup.

The last time I took a morning shower was before the time I traveled through Yuuki Eri. The day before my vacation, my roommate dragged me to an e-sports hotel and I played games all night. Before returning to the dorm, I washed away my fatigue and prepared to have a good night's sleep before taking the train home.

But the mindset of not having slept all night is definitely different from getting up in the morning with a bad temper, especially when you have to dress up carefully.

Not to mention that Yuuki Eri has never been very good at makeup, and even with ample practice, it's impossible for her to become proficient in just a few months.

Fortunately, the agreed location was downstairs from my own home, and Yuki Eri managed to finish everything half an hour before the agreed time.

By the way, it's 7:25 in the morning now, and it took Yuuki Eri two hours to wash up and put on makeup.

It is indeed very troublesome for a girl to go out. Although Yuuki Yuen already knew this, she still couldn't help but complain about it in her heart again.

She changed into her outfit for the day: a white shirt, knee-length skirt, and long socks—the kind of clothes that a legitimate JK (high school girl) would most often wear in the fall—along with an oversized knitted cardigan that reached her knees.

As time went by, Yuuki Yukino's fashion sense has improved dramatically. She's no longer the silly girl who just throws on any cute-looking clothes; instead, she chooses clothes that suit her based on online fashion recommendations.

It's that time of day; today's task isn't to buy clothes.

But it does have something to do with shopping.

Not long after waiting downstairs, a figure came into Yuuki Yukino's view.

Yuuki Yukino, who had been waiting for a long time, was dressed in a refreshing and capable outfit today. At first glance, she even looked somewhat handsome, which matched her blonde hair exceptionally well.

However, the girl's face is not too androgynous; you can see the unique cuteness that belongs to a girl of this age.

"Awaited!"

Upon seeing Yuuki Yuuki, the girl quickened her pace slightly, but still maintained her characteristic rhythm. It seemed that her daily life had instilled in her a good habit of being neither arrogant nor impatient, or perhaps it was due to her steady personality.

"I just arrived too, but what time is it? We agreed it would be eight o'clock, right?"

Yuuki Yukino also started walking, side by side with the girl. She turned to look at the girl, who was about the same height as her, and then looked at the lock screen of her phone, which showed that there were still more than twenty minutes until they met up.

"I was worried that Yuki-senpai would be getting impatient, so I left early. I didn't expect Yuki-senpai to arrive so early as well."

The girl squinted her eyes and subconsciously kept a small distance from Yuuki Yuki, so that although they were close, they were not close enough to be intimate.

“Ee…” Yuuki En let out a short cry.

First of all, the other blonde girl he knew very well would definitely not be so punctual. Baqi was also the type who would never be late but would always show up right on time. Only Li was someone who took every invitation seriously but rarely had the chance to be with him.

In short, Yuuki Yuuki felt an indescribable sense of gratitude when she met someone who made a promise with her and planned ahead.

But Yuuki Yukino screamed not because of that.

That phrase, "Yuki-senpai," really gave her some psychological trauma. It always reminded her of Sakura Nasuko, the bespectacled junior who had chased her all the way home from get out of class one day.

Although eggplant is her hair color, her real name is Sakura Hanako.

Koumori frowned at Yuuki Yuuki's date for today, because Yuuki Yuuki's reaction was indeed a bit too much.

"What's wrong, Yuuki-senpai?"

"No, it's just some bad memories. You can just call me by my name, Yuuki Yuki, or Yuuki, just don't call me senpai." Yuuki Yuki waved her hand.

"Because of that junior? The one with the serpent wand? What did she do to you?" After a moment's thought, Hong Moli immediately gave the correct answer.

"It wasn't anything special. It's just that we used to have a club, right? That club disbanded because of what happened during the school trip, and she didn't know the specifics, so she kept asking me to get back into the club."

Yuuki Yukina rubbed her temples, the events of that time still vivid in her mind.

Forced to reveal all the truth and her true thoughts to the other party at once, Yuuki Enishi suffered considerable psychological trauma.

But now, Sakura Hanako's problem is another blonde girl. Yuuki Yuuki has seen Sakura Hanako running past her classroom door to find Helica more than once before lunch break.

What they say is none of my business.

"Oh." Knowing that Yuuki Yuuki wouldn't like to talk about this topic any longer, Koumori tactfully changed the subject: "You asked me to come out today to buy Halloween decorations. The shop where I work might need them, right?"

“Absolutely right. The manager of the store where I work said that I was the one who proposed this activity, so I should be fully responsible. They just dumped all these things on me. Come to think of it, I've only been working here for less than a month. How can they trust me so much?”

While explaining, Yuuki Yukino couldn't help but complain a bit. Although she didn't have any issues with Minato Nana, it was normal for her to have some grievances after taking on such a heavy responsibility.

For Yuuki Eri, this was actually a good thing, since she was looking for something to do to fill her boring daily life while working.

Using games to fill daily life is something I've done enough of during my university years. Now that I finally have the chance to experience something new, Yuuki Yukino definitely won't miss this opportunity.

This is exactly the kind of job that is both energy-consuming and very interesting, and that will give you a sense of accomplishment if you do it well. This is Yuuki Eri's short-term goal.

"Maybe it's because you're very reliable? If it weren't for you, Qianyou and I might not be where we are today."

Hong Moli's compliment was somewhat flattering, yet genuine.