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

"The fried chicken shop I'm at just closed for the day."

As he spoke, Rongshan Deng reached out and pulled open his coat as if to prove what he was saying, revealing the white-feathered chicken logo with a thumbs-up on his work uniform.

After the presentation, Rongshan Deng wrapped his coat tighter around himself: "There's a show I want to watch tonight, and I'm a bit tired from work. I want to have a cup of coffee to perk myself up, otherwise I'll fall asleep."

As Laughing, Loki glanced in the direction of Yuuki Yukino and said, "Considering that she works at this store and it's quite close by, let's find a store where we know someone."

It is logical, well-founded, and convincing.

After hearing what Laughing Mountain said, Minato Nana nodded, then patted Yuuki Eri's damage reduction as a sign of trust, but it seemed that the hand on hers held not only the newcomer, but also the work that Yuuki Eri had thrown at her.

"Oh, okay, then Yuki, you'll be in charge of receiving guests. I'm going back to the sofa to lie down. Remember to send Lava Mountain a serving of fried chicken."

"Okay, okay!" Yuuki Yukino pouted in protest. "What do you want to drink?"

"Black coffee, a bit bitter."

Not long after, Lava Mountain Lantern's coffee and the fried chicken nuggets that the manager gave him were brought to the bar, and Lava Mountain Lantern drank them directly facing Yuki Emi.

"Speaking of which, how did you meet the store manager... no, how did you get to know him?"

Yuki Yuki initially doubted whether Rokuzan-den had any ulterior motives in contacting her, but then she thought that there was no reason for Rokuzan-den to contact her, so she changed her mind.

This is a stereotype, like seeing Mizuno Yu and thinking of her giving away freebies, seeing Baqi and thinking she wants to replenish your mana, and seeing Lava Lantern and thinking she wants to fight you.

I still can't shake the bad habits I developed after spending so much time with magical girls.

“I worked here for a few days when the boss was short-staffed,” Rongshan Deng replied, putting down his coffee.

"I knew it." Yuuki Yui sighed.

To connect Lava Lantern with other people, either Lava Lantern has worked with this person before, including being hired; or this person is a magical girl whom Lava Lantern wants to fight.

Although thinking this way seems to be a stereotype.

At just the right moment, Laughing Mountain spoke up, asking a question that was quite different from Yuuki Eri's stereotypical impression of her.

How's work here? Are you settling in well?

"Great, this job suits me quite well. Why did you suddenly ask this?"

"Since I introduced you to this job, I'm just doing a follow-up investigation. If you don't like talking, then forget it."

Rongshan Deng drank half of the steaming coffee in a way that was completely out of character for drinking coffee, and then finished the sentence he hadn't finished saying earlier.

"The store manager seems to trust you quite a bit; it looks like you're doing a good job."

"Of course, I wanted to do something different, so how could I just do something perfunctory?"

"Very good. You know how to persevere and have a good attitude. It seems you have also found your own path to becoming a strong person."

"What path to the strong? I'm not Mizuno Yu, I don't..."

Yuuki Yui was about to say that there was no need to talk to me like that, but then she realized that Lava Mountain Lantern was also the type who was easily startled in strange places, and coincidentally, she and Mizuno Yui were on the same wavelength.

"I have no plans to become stronger. I think things are fine as they are." Yuuki Yukina changed her mind midway through the conversation.

"Learning new skills, experiencing new things, and tempering your character are all necessary steps to becoming stronger. There's no need for you to be hypocritical."

As if some strange switch had been flipped, Lamp said to Yuuki Yuuki.

Yuuki Yui really didn't know how to respond to Lava Mountain Lantern's words, so she chose to remain silent.

No matter what, Lancelot was a reliable adult woman, and Yuuki Yuki was unwilling to say more, so she stopped talking.

Everyone knows how tired they are after a long day of work.

Lamp Loom probably only shows this side of himself to magical girls, right?

Yuuki Yukina thought to herself.

If you say this to everyone, it's easy for people to think you have mental problems.

Perhaps this is also a way for the Rongshan lamp to vent the negative energy that accumulates in its heart during daily work?

After all, the contrast between that lifeless, workaholic Deng and the current Deng is too great; it's like he's become a completely different person.

Yuuki En, lost in thought, had a wandering gaze that suddenly fixed on the bright black magic runes in the pupils of Lava Mountain Lantern.

Lava Lantern is also a corrupted magical girl. All corrupted magical girls are corrupted by the black magic runes to some extent.

Yuuki En always believed that the stronger a person was, the more powerful the corruption of the Black Demon Mark would be. Yuuki En would never believe that a completely insane woman like Kuroba Reisen was not the work of the Black Demon Mark.

Hong Moli's divine liberation also has side effects, so she has been avoiding being corrupted by using divine liberation.

Aside from being unusually obsessed with battle at times, Ke Rong Shan Deng spends most of his time playing the role of a diligent office worker, showing absolutely no signs of his mind being affected by the Black Magic Mark.

Rather than believing that becoming a corporate slave can prevent the erosion of the Black Magic Pattern, it's better to believe that the Lava Mountain Lamp has its own unique method of dealing with filth.

"Hmm?" Noticing that Yuuki Yuki was suddenly staring at him, especially at his eyes, Kouyama Tou snorted in confusion.

Noticing her gaze, Yuuki Yui didn't hide anything and directly asked the question that had been on her mind: "Speaking of which, how did you control the corruption of the Black Demon Runes?"

"Erosion, you mean those messy impulses in my mind? Getting rid of them is easy, as long as my will is stronger than theirs."

This is an answer very much in the style of Lava Mountain Lantern.

Yuki Yui didn't have high hopes to begin with, but she wanted to give it a try and find out if Lava Lantern had any way to control the Black Demon Runes.

As it turns out, Lamp Lava Mountain never tried to control herself. She herself admitted to having all sorts of crazy impulses. Yuuki Yukino only had contact with them once before she couldn't handle it anymore. To see what it's like to be troubled by those impulses, just look at Tsukimi Rie and Kuroba Kisei.

This is something I really can't learn.

"You don't seem to be affected by the Black Demon Mark much, do you?" Lava Mountain Lantern turned the tables and questioned Yuuki En.

Don't assume that that method is suitable for everyone!

"My situation is rather special. I can resist the erosion of the Black Magic Mark without doing anything," Yuuki Yuen replied weakly.

"It seems you missed a trial opportunity, what a pity." Rongshan Deng said with a sorrowful expression.

What's outrageous is that she must genuinely feel it's a pity that Yuuki Eri can't train herself through pollution.

"This kind of training might not be a good thing, right? Many corrupted magical girls, no, the vast majority of corrupted magical girls have become extreme because of the corruption." Yuuki Yuuki had to utter this rant.

"So they're too weak. Those who fail the test can't reach higher levels." Rongshan Deng rinsed a piece of fried chicken with black coffee, wiped the coffee stains from the corner of his mouth, and shook the coffee cup that was now only half full.

These words, coming from Lava Lantern, always seem unconvincing. Heaven knows how Lava Lantern managed to be so strong.

She is incredibly strong, ridiculously strong, yet she doesn't know why she is so strong. It seems that all her power is innate, and she is also a corrupted magical girl.

Could it be that there is some hidden power within Lava Lantern that makes her so strong?

Lin Jiezi was unaware that she possessed the power of a primordial magical girl. Could it be that the power of the primordial corrupted magical girl that she was looking for was also hidden within the body of Lava Lantern?

Although Yuuki Yuuki herself thought this guess was unreliable, she had very few people she could investigate.

Even if she is, how can I verify it?

It is unclear whether Genki Mashiro awakened another power within Lin Jiezi by injecting the black magic mark into her body, or whether it was intentional or a side effect of Genki Mashiro's failure.

However, Yuuki Eri leans more towards the latter.

But if you think about it this way...

"Yuki Yukina? What are you daydreaming about?" The voice of the magma lamp pulled Yuki Yukina back to reality.

"Huh?" Yuuki Yukino was taken aback.

"Here's the money for the coffee. I've had my coffee." Lancet pushed the banknotes onto the counter, then got up and walked outside.

"Oh, by the way, there's a lucky draw for coffee drinkers. You can pick up a small pumpkin from the front door; there's a prize inside." Watching Laughing Mountain's departing figure, Yuuki Yukina composed herself and reminded him from behind the bar.

"Oh." Lava Mountain Lantern casually pulled one off and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

There's no point in daydreaming, and Lantern of the Lava Mountain couldn't possibly be that original corrupted magical girl, but Yuuki Yukina's daydreaming wasn't entirely fruitless; she realized an important issue.

Even if that original, corrupted magical girl were really sitting in front of him, he wouldn't have the ability to verify it.

Moreover, Yuuki Yukino had some even more novel and dangerous ideas.

All corrupted magical girls are corrupted by the Black Magic Mark. Because of the Black Magic Mark, certain negative emotions are amplified, and they are driven by these negative emotions. Over time, this leads to a change in their mentality, which is what is known as being corrupted by the Black Magic Mark.

Yuuki Yui has been making a mistake all along: she mistakenly believes that if there really is a primordial corrupted magical girl, then she should have the ability to control corruption.

However, this idea itself is a fallacy. The original corrupted magical girl may not only be unable to control the pollution, but may actually be an aggregate of pollution, constantly suffering from the erosion of the black magic runes.

If that's really the case, then things might be even worse than Yuuki Eri had anticipated.

Magical girls have always used execution to deal with corrupted magical girls, which provides evidence for Yuuki Yuki's terrible idea.

Pollution can never be completely eliminated.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Body Pillow

Nishio Reki had that dream again.

This is a nightmare.

She dreamt of the acrid smell emanating from the burning city where she grew up, of the groans of people filling the streets that had become ruins, and of the city slowly collapsing from the inside out like a black hole, returning to chaos.

It may be somewhat abstract, but the face of the girl standing in mid-air above the city in the dream is incredibly clear.

The girl was surveying everything beneath her feet with an indifferent gaze, devoid of joy, sorrow, desire, or ambition.

Equally clear in his vision was the girl holding the tattered pages of the book, reaching out her scarred hand. The palm that blocked out the light separated him from her into two different worlds.

Before darkness completely descended, the girl seemed to be saying something, but Nishio Reki couldn't hear her clearly. She had never heard the last words the girl said to her in her dream.

Then, it sank into the deep sea, drifting with the tides of time, and was left on the sandy shore by the receding tide.

When she woke up, the world was beautiful again.

No, when she woke up, she saw the familiar ceiling with round hanging lamps.

The blanket was kicked aside, the school uniform was hanging on the wall, the schoolbag was piled up in the corner, a few everyday clothes were casually stacked in the open wardrobe, and the textbooks on the desk were still open and not yet put back in their bags.

Everything was as usual, just like the familiar Nishio Reki.

The time displayed on the phone screen was just past midnight, so she should still have plenty of time to rest.

But the cold sweat that dampened the collar of her pajamas on her fair neck evaporated, taking away the girl's body heat and her deep drowsiness.

Nishio Reki searched for the isolated island on the cold ground with her toes in the darkness. It wasn't difficult; her slippers were always piled up there.

Wearing upside-down slippers, Nishio Reki climbed out of bed and walked out of the bedroom by the moonlight.

Under the moonlight, the European-style coffin, which had been placed in front of the sofa and used as a coffee table, still lay there quietly. A thin layer of dust covered it, which had been unused for a long time, making the fine paint no longer shine as it used to.