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

A light touch, followed by a malicious bite from the canine teeth, and it was all over in an instant.

But the impact of Helica's actions on Yuuki Yuuki was no less significant than the impact of the hammer that fell after her transformation.

Herlica's face flushed even more as she quickly parted ways with Yuuki Yuki, her provocation growing stronger. She gave a soft snort and turned the conversation toward Yuuki Yuki.

"Ok?"

Helica was putting on a brave face, and this behavior also caused her considerable unease.

After all, Yuuki Yukari really understands Helica's personality and can glean some of her intentions from her micro-expressions.

This was the first time Yuuki Yukino had grasped Helica's thoughts since Helica entered her home.

The other party's purpose is not yet clear, but it certainly is not there to fight.

"Let's be frank. If you had no feelings for me, you wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to put on such a show for me."

Herlica raised her eyebrows, pressing Yuuki Yuuki in a flat tone to say something she wanted to hear.

"By the way, don't spout nonsense like wanting me to break ties with Mizuno Yu and Sakura Hanako, and then fall into darkness and be with you for your sake. Stop telling me those lies, and don't treat me like an idiot, okay?"

Yuuki Yukino was indeed somewhat surprised this time.

To be honest, although all her actions were planned in her mind, they were full of loopholes in her actual actions.

It's just that the crisis prevented the magical girls from having time to think things through, and then they went along with Yuuki Yukino's arrangements.

Of course, leaving some loopholes in the operation so that everyone in Nijisanji, especially Mizuno Yu, could figure out her intentions was also part of Yuuki Eri's plan.

If a review were conducted, Mizuno Yu would easily guess that she had ulterior motives.

Yes, it's normal for them to sort out your thoughts, but Yuuki Yuki didn't expect that Helica herself would expose them so quickly.

Yuuki Yui isn't like Mizuno Yui, who has a poker face, so her surprised thoughts aren't so easy to hide.

Seeing Yuuki's expression, Helica cupped Yuuki's face in her hands, rubbed it with her palms, and then brought her own face close to Yuuki's.

This wasn't an ambiguous kiss, but a relentless interrogation that left Yuuki Yukino with no way to avoid it.

"Is that surprising? Or do you really think I'm that stupid, that I can be manipulated by you?"

"..."

"At first I didn't notice, but the more I think about what you did tonight, the more I feel that something is wrong."

Herlica makes no secret of her feelings for Yuuki Yuuki, but when talking about liking this word, she still unconsciously stutters a little.

"It's perfectly normal to show more concern for someone you like, don't you think?"

But this did not stop Herica from presenting all the clues she had to Yuuki Yuuki, waiting for Yuuki Yuuki to admit it.

"After you rescued your two companions, I heard them tell me what happened before I arrived, and I was thinking about how to completely eliminate you guys who pose a threat to Moonsea City."

"But this is not simple, right? Four magical girls who can unleash their divine powers, plus your and Inuyama Tomoe's troublesome ability to travel through space. Even that bastard from Nijiha City was defeated by you. Facing all four of you at the same time, you definitely have no chance of winning."

"Then what should we do? We can take them down one by one, but you're not weak to begin with. You told me that you personally killed Kuroba Reincarnation, and besides, there's Inuyama Tomoe too."

"To make a move at school? Absolutely impossible. Once you're separated, the timing will be hard to pinpoint. Besides, there's Nishio Reki around. She seems neutral, but she wouldn't allow it if we wanted to harm you, would she?"

Helica was explaining to him, right in front of him, how they planned to deal with him.

It's quite a novel experience that the members of Nijisanji always hold meetings to discuss how to deal with other enemies.

However, compared to this novelty, Helica's storytelling was far more enticing.

"Moreover, your personality has become a bit too much. The pink demon we know has no interest in harming ordinary people. Even if a battle is to be fought in a crowded place, the pink demon will always evacuate the ordinary people first. This is very much in line with the actions of those two corrupted magical girls tonight."

"However, the pink demon shouldn't be interested in harming magical girls, let alone a member of a club. If you really wanted to harm us, there was no need to save me in Nijiba City, nor was there any need to choose this time to strike. Yuuki Yukino, you're being too deliberate."

As Helica spoke, she rubbed Yuuki Yuuki's face a few more times.

"In the beginning, Sakura Hanako's invitation to the shop where you work was probably an accident. You knew it might happen, but you couldn't guarantee it. But now that we're both here, you can go ahead and show off your little schemes."

"I don't know, and I don't want to know, what you've planned. In short, all your deliberate actions, including the timing of the appearance of the corrupted magical girls, are too coincidental."

"By the way, Yuuki Yuuki, I just said your personality has changed quite a bit, and so have those two corrupted magical girls."

As Helica spoke, she released Yuuki Yukino's face and tilted her head.

"I've seen them, more than once. They're the type who complete tasks cleanly and efficiently, whether it's under the Moon Sea Tower or on the beach."

"If you really wanted to get rid of the magical girls of Nijisanji, I mean, if they really had a mission to get rid of the magical girls of Nijisanji, they wouldn't have needed to take this long."

"Moreover, that blonde in casual clothes, I've witnessed her decisiveness firsthand. She's like a real vampire, killing her prey with a single blow. They don't toy with their prey, but they've completely outmaneuvered Sakura Hanako."

"By the same token, Mizuno Yu didn't last long in their hands, but it shouldn't take them too long to get rid of her. Wouldn't the best option be to render Mizuno Yu unable to rise again immediately?"

Everything she said seemed to confirm Yuuki Yukina's plan. Perhaps it was true that Helica cared a lot about the person she liked, namely herself. But given the current situation, Yuuki Yukina felt no joy at all after hearing these words.

“Your strange behavior doesn’t stop there. When we were in the store, you kept targeting me. I was in a bad mood at the time, and I was indeed intimidated by you.”

"But when you were stalling for time, what you said wasn't to show off your glorious resume or to brag to me. Besides, you kept your promise, didn't you?"

"You promised me that at the hot spring inn in Rainbow Leaf City, you would find an opportunity to tell me everything and explain it to me."

“Although I couldn’t bear to listen to this at the shop where you worked, at that time and in that place, you secretly longed for me to know these things, right?”

That's right, absolutely right.

At that time, Yuuki Yukino was indeed stalling for time. There were many ways she could have stalled for time until Helica realized the truth on her own, but she chose to take that opportunity to tell Helica many things she wanted to say but might not be able to say in the future.

“I might be wrong, and everything I’ve said might be wrong. It’s not impossible that you and that corrupted magical girl from Rainbow Leaf City have reached an agreement to wipe out all magical girls and even destroy the magical girl system.”

"But that crazy, eccentric magical girl who likes to wander the streets and do things that are incomprehensible to ordinary people."

Herlica paused, her piercing gaze falling on Yuuki Yuuki's face. It was obvious who the magical girl she was referring to was.

"That despicable person, who should be utterly wicked, the most hated person in the world, yet I don't think she's the kind of person who would do such a thing."

"Even if she is under the control of the Black Demon Mark, even if there is some kind of pollution on her body that she can't get rid of, I don't want to believe that possibility."

"Besides, she's right in front of me right now, not attacking me, just quietly listening to me say all this, isn't she?"

Chapter Sixty-Four: The Last Night of Autumn

Time seemed to have been paused.

Astride Yuuki Yuuki, Tenrai Herika quietly watched Yuuki Yuuki, silently feeling the gaze that Yuuki Yuuki cast upon her.

There was no wind, no chirping of insects or birds, and no ticking of clocks; there was no sound that could interrupt their gaze.

The sound of breathing, the sound of heartbeats—that's all there is, and it surpasses the howling wind and the rumbling thunder.

At the seemingly endless end of time, Herlica cupped a strand of pink hair from Yuuki Eri's temple in her outstretched palm, letting it ripple in her hand with the color of her beloved.

Yuuki Yukino's heart seemed to skip a beat as the pink hair brushed against her palm.

"I understand now. Interactions and relationships are too far removed from me, and it would be too greedy for them to belong only to me."

Herlica lowered her eyes, then raised them again, her slightly parted lips revealing her feelings that she no longer wanted to hide.

Helica is still Helica. She may grow because of certain experiences, but those experiences can never change her core essence.

Herlica looked at Yuuki Yuuki, but what she saw in her eyes was not the other person's reflection, but fragments of memories from long ago, memories of the two of them experiencing together.

"Do you remember? A long, long time ago, right here, on this sofa, I was injured and asked you if you wanted to heal together? Or maybe it was from that moment that my feelings for you began to sprout."

Yuuki Yui understood that Helica's honesty with her was not growth, neither in the past nor in the present, she had experienced it so many times, and none of them were.

"Yuki Yuuki, I know you well, yet perhaps not well enough. Later, I often wondered, why did you agree to help me replenish my mana? And why did my feelings for you become more and more uncontrollable?"

Those candid confessions were driven by the girl's irrepressible love, or perhaps they were a spur-of-the-moment decision, or perhaps they were premeditated confessions.

Herlica's eyes flickered as she gazed into the depths of Yuuki Yuuki's pupils, towards a more distant place.

"Actually, I often think that there are many, many ways to replenish mana. Even if you don't intend to refuse me, you actually had many more options at the time, even if the efficiency would be a little lower... So why did you choose that method?"

Helica swallowed hard, and moved closer to Yuuki Yuki.

"So, Yuuki Yukino, what exactly do you think of me?"

It's the same question again; Helica has been asking Yuuki Eri about this ever since she entered.

But how should Yuuki Enishi answer this question?

There are many magical girls who have replenished magic with Yuuki Yuuki; just count the variety of fictional wands she has created.

Mizuno Yu's longbow was obtained through a small trap set by Yuki En, who led Mizuno Yu, who was thinking of defeat, into it, and then obtained it with a simple kiss.

Sakura Hanako's snake staff was something she delivered herself. Yuuki Yuen was fully capable of defeating her completely. Although the wand didn't have any practical use, Yuuki Yuen still used Magic Plunder on the spot.

Also copied by the magic was Kuroba Rebirth's longsword, which was one of Yuuki Yuuki's greatest gains in that extremely difficult battle in her magical girl career. It is also the only magic wand that is now out of print.

Miyashita Mia's long whip, Tsukimi Rie's cross—these were all done in a spontaneous manner, either by simply touching or by being bitten.

Similarly, Koumori's chainsaw and Hyakki Senyou's katana, under Koumori's vampire abilities, can hardly be called mana replenishment; it's just that Koumori transferred their magic power to them in her own way.

So many wands, so many times of mana replenishment or mana plundering, yet very few people have truly gone that far.

Even if Yuuki Yuuki had the opportunity to have a deeper exchange with them, she might not be willing.

The only people who actually had that kind of interaction with Yuuki Yuki, and whom Yuuki Yuki was willing to get to know better, were Inuyama Tomoe and Nishio Reki.

Needless to say, Baqi, as her most trusted companion, had a relationship with Yuuki Yuki that went beyond that of being accomplices.

As for Xiao Li, aside from being bullied by his own rampage, the day before Halloween when the two of them went to buy costumes together, after listening to Xiao Li's heartfelt confession at his home, he made up for the regrets between the two of them when they first transmigrated.

Incidentally, while Reki is incredibly assertive when it comes to magical girls, she's anything but assertive in other matters and can only be manipulated by Yuuki Yukino.

Besides the two of them, there was actually another person, right in front of Yuuki Yukino.

So why did I agree to Helica's invitation to replenish my mana?

Afraid of revealing his dark magic runes? Because it's more efficient that way? Or is it vanity driving him to want to possess Helica? Or some other reason?

Only now, when Yuuki Yukino truly pondered the answer to this question, has she arrived at one.

Because she was willing.

Helica the Thunder God was indeed a special being to her.

Not just the characters I like in the game, but also the ones I'm a die-hard fan of.

Beyond the meaning of the game, she also hoped to develop a deeper relationship with this girl who was flawed yet incredibly dazzling, possessing qualities that others lacked, a relationship different from that of magical girls like Mizuno Yu or Sakura Hanako.

"I will not associate with anyone."

Yuuki Yukino's answer already revealed her guilty conscience.