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

"I also felt that I should have built a good relationship with them before, and then because we had a good relationship, so... right? So they were able to accept me, that's roughly how it is, but, I was wrong from the start."

"Xiaoyuan, where do you think you went wrong?"

"The mistake was that I thought all of this was true. In essence, I was also deceiving and hiding things, without considering their feelings. I thought that as long as I did this, it would be fine. However, I could have used other methods to build a better relationship with them in a more appropriate way."

"Um……"

“When my identity is exposed, they will feel betrayed, they will think I am hypocritical, they will think I have some kind of conspiracy. There is nothing I can do about it, after all, I deceived them first.”

"So Xiaoyuan has a solution?"

"I've got a solution. It's not exactly a fix, but I don't want to see Nijisanji become like this." Yuuki Yukino blinked, looking at Tomoe with a questioning gaze: "What do you think?"

"I don't care. This is a relationship that Xiaoyuan established, something Xiaoyuan wants to do. It's not something I can control." Baqi spread her hands. "But what is it that Xiaoyuan wants to do that I would object to?"

　Zero< indicates that Yuuki Yukino's expression changed from momentary disappointment to relief. She closed her eyes and flicked Baqi's forehead with her hand.

"You never agreed when I told you to be gentle; instead, you went even further."

"Hey? Why are you suddenly talking about that kind of thing? Xiaoyuan, you rascal! Believe me, I'm going to go even further right now!"

Yuuki Yukino's 180-degree change and sudden frivolity stunned Baqi for a moment, and the faint unhappiness that had been present during their conversation was also broken by this unhealthy joke.

"Pfft, don't go any further, we have class tomorrow."

"I know! I know! Otherwise, Xiaoyuan wouldn't even be able to get out of bed, let alone work or go to school!"

Another brief silence followed.

"Baqi." Yuuki Yuuki lifted her head from Baqi's lap pillow, sat up straight on the bed, and took Baqi's hands in hers. Since returning to Baqi's home, her expression was more serious than ever before: "I need you to do me a favor."

Inuyama Tomoe opened her mouth in surprise, then pounded her chest with her clenched fist, giving a very reliable reply:

"Of course! Since Xiaoyuan has asked, I'll do my best to help!"

"Besides you, I also need their help. Red, and the Hundred Demons, might be a bit dangerous, or... might be a bit detrimental to their image."

"What? Are you going to make them do a striptease?" Baqi raised an eyebrow, but Yuki Eri's still-serious expression made her feel that this joke wasn't funny at all.

Baqi immediately became serious as well: "What kind of help?"

“Hmm…” Yuuki Yui drawled, “I need them to play the role of a genuine, corrupted magical girl.”

……

Standing behind the bar, Yuuki Yui watched the magical girls rise from their tables and file out. She lowered her eyes and glanced at her phone, which was still on the message sending screen.

The part above is an invitation from Yuuki Yuuki last weekend asking if we wanted to go shopping for Halloween supplies together.

The two messages at the very bottom were just sent.

A short phrase from Yuuki Yuuki: "Take action."

The message was marked as read.

……

Where were we?

The girl who was recounting her experiences at Moonsea Park on Halloween scratched her head.

"Oh right, I remember now. Those two dangerous people were magical girls, the kind of evil magical girls. I must have seen them on the news before, the one about the destruction of Moonsea Tower."

"No, that's not important. I mean they must have their own purposes, right? That's what I'm talking about."

"As I just mentioned, she looks at us like we're ants, she won't even glance at us, but they will still look at other people. Yes, although what I'm saying is a bit rambling, I'm talking about their purpose."

"From the very beginning, their purpose was to hunt magical girls."

Beneath the crimson moon, the blonde girl slowly raised her eyes, gazing at the moon that had transformed the crimson waning moon into a full, radiant one.

The Moon Bow carried the girls, hovering in the night sky.

"An unromantic guest has arrived." Hong Moli pursed her lips and smashed the enormous chainsaw, which was about the same size as her, that she had been carrying on her shoulder to the ground.

The roar of the motor gradually began to rise, and the high-speed rotating saw blades seemed to cut through plastic, sending sand and gravel flying and leaving a deep trench in the ground.

"Yes," Hyakki Chiyu replied, releasing her tightly clenched hand and gently placing it on the hilt of her sword.

No one saw how the two knives left their sheaths, but the cross-shaped wound that appeared out of nowhere on the ground was impossible to look away from.

The red and white halos howled, celebrated, and sang in this night when demons roamed.

People around ran, screamed, and hid under the Halloween pumpkin moon.

The only ones who didn't run away were the magical girls floating in mid-air.

They knew they had fallen into a trap, a scheme by Yuuki Yukino.

They knew they couldn't escape. The real protagonists of this chaotic feast weren't the ordinary people running around, but themselves, who had fallen into the trap.

"So,"

The girls spoke in unison, and all four of their wands pointed at Mizuno Yu, whose face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.

Welcome to our night.

"Witness our hospitality."

……

Are you satisfied with our hospitality?

Yuuki Yui skillfully operated the siphon pot placed on the bar, pouring the liquid from the pot into the coffee cup in front of her.

Milk, sugar, juice, and then a silver coffee spoon, mixing the ingredients together.

A coffee spoon, stained with a few drops of brown liquid, was gently pulled from the swirling coffee. A clean white napkin wiped away the remaining water stains, and the metal handle made a crisp sound as it struck the rim of the cup.

The cup of coffee that Yuuki Yuki had made herself was pushed in front of Helica.

But Helica didn't seem happy and didn't seem to want to taste it.

Tense. Apart from being nervous, Yuuki Yuuki couldn't read any other expression on Herika's face.

Yuuki Yukino pursed her lips and chuckled softly.

"Tch, why are you so nervous?"

Chapter 49 Would you like another drink?

A few minutes earlier, at the coffee shop where members of Nijisanji had gathered.

"I... I will no longer have any contact with magical girls. As for the enemies, you two can handle them."

The more quickly Helica stood up when she sensed the enemy's presence, the slower she was now reluctantly sitting back down.

It was as if a dark cloud had suddenly appeared over her head, obscuring her dazzling light and casting a shadow over her face and her future.

The two people facing Helica could not possibly see that the real reason Helica sat down, the dark cloud itself, was Yuuki Yukina looking at them with an indescribable smile.

Anyway, she sat down with a sigh.

"Senior Tianlei..."

As Helica subconsciously stood up to leave her seat, Sakura Hanako's secret joy vanished without a trace due to Helica's subsequent actions.

Aside from calling out Helica's name in a dry, monotone voice, there was nothing more she could do.

"let's go."

Mizuno Yu's answer was even more concise. Her movements as she got up from the sofa were not as hurried as Herika's, but they carried an undeniable air of authority.

"But……"

Sakura Hanako still refused to accept the current situation and tried to argue against it.

There is no better opportunity than now for Helica and herself to reconcile, rebuild their partnership in the face of crisis, entrust their backs to someone they trust, and ultimately resolve the problem...

"What Heaven has decided is irrelevant no matter what we say."

Mizuno Yu subtly hid a sigh as she spoke.

Whether this statement was meant to subtly criticize Helica or persuade Sakura Hanako is something only Mizuno Yuu herself knows.

At least Helica only raised an eyebrow slightly, without reacting to Mizuno Yu's words.

"The situation is urgent, and we don't have time to dwell on this."

Mizuno Yu's next words made Sakura Hanako make up her mind completely.

Sakura Hanako's reason for becoming a magical girl, the wish she wanted to fulfill, was actually quite vague and very idealistic.

She wants to save this hopeless world—a world ravaged by magical girls—just like her mother, who works at a hospital.

When she was little, she had seen many people affected by the battles of magical girls, and she longed for her mother who could bring healing to those people, as well as a doctor like her mother.

It is this dream that has sustained her to this day. She is not the most outstanding, nor the most hardworking, but no one has ever doubted her dedication.

The rationality behind this seriousness reminded her that Mizuno Yu was right: at one o'clock in the morning, more people would be hurt.

She wanted to become a magical girl precisely because she didn't want more people to get hurt.

"Phew." Sakura Hanako exhaled all her turmoil with that breath of hot air, slammed the coupon she had folded countless times onto the table, and placed it in front of Tenrai Helica.

"let's go!"

What were Helica's feelings when she saw all this?

Helika herself is unaware of the situation.

But she felt that doing this was the best answer she could give to her future.

After this incident, she parted ways with Nijisanji.

Next, once she leaves this shop, she will have completely severed ties with Yuuki Yuki.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Thank you for your patronage. Won't you like to stay a little longer?

Coming to her senses, she had already handed the free coupon to Yuuki Yukino at the counter, and was about to leave the store with her backpack.

Standing behind the bar, Yuuki Yuki, who seemed to have been there almost all night and had hardly left, was greeting her.

That bar counter was like a wall, separating the two of them and preventing Herika from entering Yuuki Yuuki's heart. It seemed that she had never been able to enter it.

Yuuki Yukina seems to have always been an outsider.