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

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. Even though my sister, the shop manager, and I are close in age, there's still a bit of a generation gap. It's just that mutual understanding between people is inherently difficult."

"It's okay! It doesn't matter if we don't understand each other. I'm the one who understands Yuuki the most." Baqi snuggled closer to Yuuki.

"Sigh, it's embarrassing to admit, but that dangerous thing I asked you to do before... they've already understood my purpose. So, while mutual understanding is difficult, it's not that hard, is it..."

The conversation quickly shifted from the family's opinions and protection of him to a stage unrelated to whether his family could understand him.

The girls were talking about whatever came to mind, and the topic of whether humans could understand each other didn't last long before turning into a summary of Sakura Hanako's abilities.

The topics of conversation were both predictable and inexplicably jumping around, and the atmosphere among the group was quite pleasant, completely immersing Yuuki Yuen in it.

She doesn't need to worry about her identity as a fallen magical girl being exposed—after all, everyone is a fallen magical girl; she doesn't need to mediate relationships with other members of the group; and there's no need for the sudden appearance of Saint Shion to add unnecessary pressure.

Although the purpose of this trip is not simply to let loose and enjoy life, and we may conduct some investigations related to Mashiro Urouge and the Dark Magical Girl in Nijiha City, the main purpose is to give everyone a chance to relax.

Thanks to Koumori and Hyakki Chiyu for acting out such a big show with him, the conflict with everyone in Nijisanji has been mostly resolved, although Helica seems to have become a bit abnormal as well.

Nishio Reki was much more honest than before, which greatly reduced Yuuki Yukino's hostility towards him.

As magical girls, everyone is actively exploring new possibilities, and things are generally moving towards a better tomorrow.

Now, what Yuuki Eri needs to do is make up for the regret of not being able to complete her school trip.

Speaking of school trips, Yuuki Enishi even specifically chose the same train she had taken on her previous school trip.

It's not that we're completely replicating the school trip, but in terms of both price and time, the train that Yuehai Middle School chose was the most suitable option, even a month later.

This time, the train was no longer filled with girls who were looking forward to the school trip, and the atmosphere was certainly not as lively as it had been on the school trip. However, this quiet atmosphere made Yuuki Yuki feel very comfortable.

However, even though this is good, Yuuki En also misses the headmaster during the school trip who used to hold a loudspeaker with an electric buzzing sound, telling everyone to be quiet while making the loudest noise possible.

Whether it's noisy or quiet, it has its own merits.

Tired from chatting, the girls leaned against the back of the train, tilting their heads and swaying with the train as it sped away into the distance amidst the clatter of the rails.

This short but pleasant journey came to an end, but the train's stop was just the beginning of an exciting new adventure.

As they stepped off the train, the warm midday sun and the gentle breeze, not too cold, immediately enveloped them, accompanying the girls onto a street that wasn't entirely unfamiliar to them.

Upon arriving in Rainbow Leaf City, Koumori, who was most sensitive to magic, had a serious look in her eyes. She took several deep breaths, as if she were tasting the completely different air between the different cities.

Then, Hong Moli clenched her fists several times, feeling the reaction of the magic within her body in this different city.

"This city has a very ominous feel to it, as if its magic has been drained."

Dark red magic swirled around her, like little bats flapping their wings and jumping around her. Just as the transformation was about to be completed, the red magic burst open like a soap bubble that had been popped.

Amidst the crowd, almost no one noticed the strange change that had occurred to Hong Moli. In this city where there were no magical girls, only the few people traveling with her could sense the magic.

Simple experiments have already allowed Hong Moli to draw some conclusions of her own.

"No, it's not that the magic has been drained, it's that there's hardly any magic here at all. The most obvious sign is that the speed at which magic regenerates has become very slow. You can hardly feel the magic regenerating out of thin air. This is very different from Moonsea City."

As soon as Koumori got off the car, she immersed herself in investigating the magical girl. Yuuki Yukino was also influenced by her, and she frowned, trying to feel the difference between this city and Tsukimi City in the same way as Koumori.

Yuuki was able to answer all the questions raised by Komamori, explaining them to Komamori through personal experience.

"The magical girls in Moonsea City can slowly recover their magic power without doing anything because the original magical girl's magic power has enveloped the entire city. It is both nourishment and a cage for the magical girls."

"When we came to this place on our school trip last time, we didn't feel anything unusual because the original magical girl was with us. It felt no different from when we were in Moonsea City."

"But since she's not here now, her magic can't spread from Moonsea City to Rainbow Leaf City. So what you're experiencing is the normal state of Rainbow Leaf City. It's just that we're used to living in Moonsea City and think that the special Moonsea City is the normal phenomenon."

“I understand.” Hong Moli took a deep breath and clenched her fist in front of her chest. Although the action looked a little bit childish, no one disturbed her experiment.

"It's not entirely impossible to recover, but the efficiency will be negligible."

Hong Moli immediately loosened her clenched fist.

Hearing what Hong Moli said, Bai Guiqianyou and Ba Qi also tried it and nodded in agreement.

“In that case, in that case…” Hong Moli said, pacing down the street, connecting the information she had obtained with some known information, and arriving at a new conclusion:

"In that case, it took Mashiro Urouge a whole year to create so many fake magical girls. One of them even created a black magic rune that could cover the entire city center. Considering the efficiency of this magic recovery, it's practically lightning fast."

"Can't Mashiro Utsuro also get her mana replenished by someone else? No matter how thin the mana in the air is, the efficiency of replenishing mana won't change, right?" Baqi suggested.

“Yes, that’s theoretically the case.” Yuuki Yui followed up on Baqi’s question, answering it in a questioning tone: “But does Urobuchi Mashiro replenish mana with others?”

Even though Yuuki Yui doesn't know much about Urobuchi Mashiro, the person named Seiki that Urobuchi Mashiro always mentions must be an extremely special existence to Urobuchi Mashiro.

If a corrupted magical girl becomes obsessed with someone, the power she can unleash for that person is terrifying.

This refers not only to magic, but also to the power of belief. For example, there's Tsukimi Rie, who unleashed a divine liberation after being suppressed by her own true name liberation; there's also Tomoe; and more recently, there's Koumori, who would rather deal with the aftereffects herself than bother them.

“That makes sense.” After pondering Yuuki Yuki’s words for a while, Baqi showed a look of deep agreement: “If it were me, I guess… well, I wouldn’t do that either.”

"It's true that Mashiro Urouge wants to eliminate all magical girls, but she won't harm ordinary people. So from that perspective, in Nijiha City, where there are no magical girls, she won't use mana replenishment or mana plunder to restore her mana."

Yuuki Enishi then presented another argument that strengthened her point of view, successfully persuading everyone.

However, Hong Moli still pointed out some blind spots in these arguments.

"But doesn't Rainbow City also have magical girls she created?"

At first glance, it might seem that Hong Moli is nitpicking, but in reality, she was able to arrive at the correct answer only after eliminating all the wrong answers.

Moreover, after a moment of contemplation, Hong Moli rejected the answer herself.

"No, those are fake magical girls who just shared Mashiro Urokin's magic power. But... I can understand Mashiro Urokin's overall purpose now."

"But Mashiro is using this method to accumulate magic power in this magic-deficient city of Nijiha. While trying to turn ordinary people into magical girls, she is using fake magical girls as soil to cultivate her own seeds, waiting for them to mature so she can harvest them all at once."

But that's the end of the topic. The information they just got off the bus is enough for them to deduce so much by combining it with previously known information, which can be considered a great achievement.

Although Yuuki Eri wanted to make up for the regrets of the school trip, it was definitely impossible to completely replicate the school trip.

The most direct reason—the hot spring inn they stayed at had been blown up by Yuuki Yuki and Herika.

They did deliberately take a detour to the top of the mountain to take a look, but all that was left was an empty wasteland.

However, it wasn't completely empty; the building materials and construction instructions piled up on the open ground reminded people that the hotel's reconstruction had already begun.

Seeing that the hot spring inn she had destroyed was already being rebuilt, Yuuki Yuuki felt less guilty, but after all, she was one of the culprits of the whole accident, so it was not so easy for her to exonerate herself.

Even so, blindly blaming yourself here is not a solution. We just happened to be strolling here, and after blaming ourselves, we should move on to the next destination.

Yuuki Yukino turned around to leave, but some people were still in a hurry to leave.

“Oh! This place.” Standing in front of the fence that was to be rebuilt, Hyakki Chiyu nodded in sudden realization.

"Hmm?" Upon hearing Hyakki Senyou's mutterings, Yuuki Yui took a few steps back and let out a soft, questioning "hmm."

Hyakki Chiyu's reaction was really strange; from any perspective, it was impossible for her to have any connection with this hotel.

Yuuki Yukina stopped in her tracks and cast a questioning look at Hyakki Senyu.

Is there some other detail I'm unaware of? Grasping that blind spot will definitely be helpful for Yuuki Yuki's next deduction.

Yuuki Yukino never expected the answer to this question to be so simple.

"This place was rebuilt with funding from St. Yuu Academy. The student council room and the chairman's office are quite close to each other. If Mashiro Gorgen has anything, he doesn't mind letting me see it too. It's better to see it than not."

Hong Moli's words dispelled Yuki Yuki's doubts. It was normal for Hyakki Senyou to have seen those documents since she was always with Hong Moli.

But this raised new questions for Yuuki Yuuki.

"why?"

"Why should we invest? Hmm... Isn't there an organization behind St. Yuu Academy that handles magical girl affairs?" Hong Moli pondered Yuuki Yuuki's seemingly random question and chose to answer the question that Yuuki Yuuki was most likely curious about.

“Yes.” Baqi also knew about this; it was Sheng Shiyin who told her herself.

Hong Moli then explained, "They also fund the reconstruction of public facilities that have been damaged by magical girls, and help some refugees who have become homeless due to the destruction caused by magical girls."

"But this is a commercially operating hot spring inn, not a public facility, and there aren't any refugees here, are there?"

Before making her move, Yuuki Yuuki made sure to watch until most of the other students in the hot spring inn had run away before she started to unleash her full power in a magical clash with Helica.

Comparing the two conditions stated by Hong Moli, neither of them is met here.

"Yes, that's true, but this is a special case for Rainbow Leaf City. You know that Moonsea City has a type of insurance that provides compensation for health or financial losses suffered during a magical girl attack, right?"

Yuuki knew about this, so she nodded and waited for Koumori to continue.

"Because Nijiha City was also affected by magical girls, Mashiro Urokin suggested using a small sum of money to help with the repairs, and then transferring some of the magical girls' aftermath services to Nijiha City."

"Transfer a portion?" Yuuki En could somewhat guess what this so-called transfer meant, but she still asked a question, waiting for Koumori to answer her.

"Yes, it's about charging the people of this city an insurance fee. Of course, it's voluntary. If magical girls cause damage again in the future, the residents here will at least have some protection."

"However, because the organization behind St. Yuu Academy has the sole right to interpret magical girls, this service can only be carried out under the authorization of St. Yuu Academy. Therefore, as long as someone joins, it will generate a huge inflow of funds."

Paying insurance this way, Yuuki Yuuki suddenly felt that magical girls had become so realistic, and that the world of magical girls, which was full of pink dream bubbles, had also been tainted with the stench of money.

Although the world of magical girls is not dreamy at all, it is filled with an atmosphere of mutual teasing.

"Was it proposed by Genki Mashiro?" Yuuki asked, rubbing her head.

"Yes, not only can we gain a large sum of money, but we can also greatly enhance the reputation of the organization behind us that doesn't even have a name. This can be used as a link to attract Rainbow Leaf City to cooperate with the academy, which will attract more students. The academy will also provide a better education than Rainbow Leaf City."

Isn't this more realistic?

Every single one of them sounded correct and very tempting.

However, strictly speaking, Nijiha City only has one magical girl, Mashiro Urouge, and besides, Mashiro Urouge has now returned to Tsukimi City.

This land, which was not blessed by the original magical girl, could never have produced a magical girl.

But after all, there was the huge black magic rune that everyone could see covering the entire city center before, and the battles that the magical girls had fought in various corners of the city afterward, which made the people of this city, which had never experienced the ravages of magical girls, feel uneasy.

At this time, the plan proposed by Mashiro Gakuen is a lifeline for them, and many people will definitely flock to it.

But in reality, this was a deal with negligible costs. She exchanged a few pieces of paper and a guarantee that would never be honored for huge profits and the prestige of herself and the entire Holy Eternal Academy.

Ugh, filthy adults.

In the short time it took to say a few words, the group had moved from the old hot spring hotel located halfway up the mountain to the bustling commercial district not far away.

They only focus on those in front of them.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Another Encounter with a Delinquent Girl Today

"See those people over there? They look like newbie tourists from out of town. Judging from their backs, they're probably around middle school age. They're dressed nicely, so they must be quite wealthy. Shouldn't we take advantage of them?"

Taiga Oki, a delinquent girl who spends her days idly in Rainbow Leaf City, also used her sharp eyes to identify her target for the day.

"Isn't this a bit much? You ran away from the hospital a while ago before you were fully recovered, trying to drag me along to make money, but instead you got rid of me instead."