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

Herika knew the name Hyakki Senyou. Although the daughter of the Minister of Hyakki was not very famous, she knew that such a person existed.

She also knew who Yuuki En was referring to as Hyakki Senyou—the previous fallen magical girl who had attacked her.

When Yuuki Yukino's words connected the two people, Helica's expression was quite interesting.

"What's wrong?" Yuuki Yuuki stopped talking and asked when she saw Helica's interesting expression.

"No, it's alright, you continue." Helica urged Yuuki Yuuki, not wanting to waste time because of her.

"In other words, the girl named Sumireko Yumehara's goal is to become a magical girl, and she can also distinguish who is a magical girl."

"Now that we've discussed her goals, let's talk about her operational principles—let's call them that for now."

"Her magic permeates the entire city of Moonsea. Although it is unknown when it began, this magic has long been present throughout the city. Perhaps ordinary people can also accumulate magic within their bodies, but it is especially evident in magical girls."

"These magical powers are similar to the effects of my tentacles; they can both serve as bridges, allowing Sumireko Yumehara to infiltrate dreams. However, it seems she cannot directly enter; instead, she must use a vessel of that magical power."

"Talking too much can be confusing, so I'll just give you the result. Those magical powers have another function: they can trigger nightmares, making people dream about what they fear most, like an inducer or catalyst."

"Then, after having a nightmare, one will become desperate. After falling into despair, the dream will collapse. So, nightmares and despair are just a purpose, the purpose of which is to make the dream collapse."

"In the instant the dream collapses, Sumireko Yumehara is able to kidnap people; Yu Mizuno is the best example of that."

"But the collapse of a dream does not necessarily mean falling into despair. For example, when Mizuno Yu realized that she was dreaming, the dream also began to collapse."

"Next, here is my main deduction: I also inexplicably fell asleep while soaking in a hot spring in Rainbow Leaf City. Now, it seems to perfectly match the characteristics of being attacked, but I did not fall into a deep sleep because of it."

"So, if we neither wake the dreamer nor plunge them into despair, then we can avoid falling into a deep sleep, right?"

Chapter 119 Gathering Again on the Sofa

Besides the idea that Yuuki Yukino initially proposed—"Don't let despair defeat us, and don't force people to wake up and cause the dream to collapse. As long as we can overcome the nightmare ourselves, we can overcome the slumber"—which was agreed upon by the girls, after some discussion, the girls did make quite a few discoveries.

Although the cost of obtaining the information was incredibly high, they are now engaged in a race against time.

What's worse, they still don't know Sumireko Yumehara's true identity, abilities, magic wand, or any other related information.

The most painful thing about the battles between magical girls is that in the past, Yuuki Yuuki could obtain information that others could not obtain by relying on the information given to her by the game, but she can't do that now.

Because of cognitive bias, even if the girl stood right in front of her, Yuuki Yuuki wouldn't recognize her, let alone obtain any more information from her.

However, no ability is invincible, and Yuuki and the others figured out many of Yumehara Sumireko's limitations.

Sumireko Yumehara needs to wait for someone's dream to collapse before she can succeed, and she does it herself, which suggests that she can only choose one target at a time.

She also had to use the magic power existing within that magical girl, which Yuuki En called an alien, as a bridge to enter the dream world.

Moreover, Sumireko Yumehara doesn't talk much, and her way of speaking and even thinking is very different from normal people, making it extremely difficult to understand why she is so obsessive.

Fortunately, Sumireko Yumehara doesn't seem to be very bright. In the dream, she answers all of Yuuki Yukino's questions, giving everyone another piece of information that is easily overlooked but becomes very important once noticed.

"I'm going to take your friends away." That's what Sumireko Yumehara said to the others when she first appeared.

This led Yuuki Yuki to make a guess.

To use a somewhat imprecise but apt example, what enters the dreams are the souls or consciousnesses of young girls.

Sumireko Yumehara said "take away".

In other words, the girls' consciousnesses were captured by Sumireko Yumehara and taken to another place, which is the real reason why the girls cannot wake up.

In other words, this nightmare confines a person's consciousness, so they cannot wake up whether they are dreaming or after being taken away.

After discovering this, Yuuki Yuuki finally felt that she had taken a big step forward.

While Yuuki Yuuki probably wouldn't do that, in the worst-case scenario, a magical girl could destroy the entire dream to wake herself up, but only those other than the dream's owner could wake up.

There's another, less important, thing: things from outside the dream can't be brought in. The most important thing is the spirit that Nishio Reki gave to Yuuki Yuuki. Without the spirit, Yuuki Yuuki's fighting power will be greatly reduced.

After the discussion, the girls set their next goal.

……

"I must say, it's quite novel for the few of us to get together like this!"

Inuyama Tomoe lay on the sofa in Yuuki Yuuki's house, just like when she first came here, with her legs crossed and her socked feet swinging back and forth in the air.

"Get your foot off! Get it off!" Helica covered her nose and stepped back a little.

Baqi sniffed the sofa like a puppy, frowned, then turned sideways and casually placed her legs on the other side of the sofa, almost as if she were putting them on Helica's lap.

"I can't even smell it myself, how could you smell it from sitting so far away?"

"Stop talking! Get your feet off! No! Get off the sofa!" Helica screamed and moved even further away.

Although there was nothing on Baqi's socks except the smell of laundry detergent, she still couldn't accept it.

More accurately, Helica couldn't accept Baki's carefree and irresponsible attitude.

Moreover, she reasonably suspected that Ba Qi was deliberately trying to embarrass her.

"Alright, stop fooling around. We have important things to do. Everyone took a whole day off, and Xiaoyuan even turned down her part-time job at the coffee shop. We didn't do this just to have you guys bicker."

Nishio Reki returned from the kitchen with a drink and saw Baki desperately trying to shove her foot into Helica's mouth, while Helica retaliated with kicks and thrashing.

With a third party interfering in her battle, Baqi felt it was pointless. She withdrew her feet and sat obediently with her legs together on the sofa, letting out an annoyed snort.

Since the other party wasn't going against her anymore, there was no point in Helica continuing to be willful on her own. She moved to the furthest part of the sofa, crossed her legs, and turned her head to let out an even louder snort.

"Oh, it's okay, it's good to have a relaxed atmosphere."

Yuki En smiled and served everyone the snacks they had bought that morning, along with a main meal to fill their stomachs, on the coffee table.

"Sumireko Yumehara's attack methods are very likely related to her mental state. People put too much pressure on themselves, and it's easy for them to break down."

Kiseki Yui has a deep understanding of this matter; in her own memory, she hasn't suddenly broken down in defenses very often.

Firstly, when she first arrived in this world, she wasn't used to battles between magical girls. Under the pressure from Miyashita Mia, she almost went crazy and cried once in the infirmary.

Another recent incident occurred when, although I didn't cry, Mashiro Urouge caused me a lot of trouble and many things remained unresolved. When I heard that my sister and Minato knew each other, my emotions suddenly exploded for no reason.

Some things just happen so suddenly. Mizuno Yuu, who had been accumulating pressure, would burst into tears. In real life, there have been instances where people were in a bad mood and were dragged to work by Lava Mountain Lantern, and ended up jumping into a river.

It's dangerous if these negative emotions accumulate, so Yuuki Yukino is actually quite happy to see them bickering each other in their daily lives.

"I know! Anyway, with Blue Hair's face gone, we have one less enemy, so I'm not sad." Ba Qi snorted again.

These words were actually quite hurtful, but Helica had seen the incredibly heavy and self-reproachful expression on Baki's face when she failed to save Mizuno Yu, and knew that what Baki said wasn't sincere.

Although Helica and Baki don't get along, Helica still envies Baki's incredibly direct personality, where she can say whatever she wants without any reservations.

After all, I'm quite prone to getting upset.

It was precisely because Helica herself was a master of tantrums that she was able to better understand that Baki's words were also a form of tantrum.

Helica's personality is not easy to compromise, but she will cooperate with Yuuki and her group, not because she is afraid of becoming the next target of the Sleeping Ones, but because she feels that they are not quite the dark magical girls in her mind.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to feel sorry for Mizuno. If it doesn't work out, it'll be our turn sooner or later. If it does work out, everyone will wake up. Why think so much? Let's focus on our work."

Yuuki En thought Helica and Baki would have another big argument about this topic, but Helica hadn't been very receptive to Baki's arguments in the last two days, which surprised Yuuki En.

In comparison, Baqi seems rather immature.

Yuuki Yuuki secretly glared at Baqi, who, knowing she was in the wrong, lowered her head. If Baqi had furry animal ears and a tail, they would have drooped down too.

Since Baqi was already in such a state, Yuuki Yukino couldn't directly reprimand her anymore, so she handed the conversation over to Nishio Reki.

"Xiao Li, what about you?"

"I'm actually fine, aren't I? Although I've never seen anything like this before, I have seen things much worse... and I used the least amount of magic, so don't worry about me," Nishio Reki said confidently.

"Alright, let's get started without delay!" Yuuki Yui clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention to herself.

Then, Yuuki Yukari sat down in the middle of the sofa, the very spot where Baki and Herika had just argued, a sofa that had been slightly disturbed.

"I hereby declare the Psychological Trauma Appreciation Conference open!"

Chapter 120 Phobias

The girls took a day off specifically to gather at this time, and they had their reasons.

You can neither destroy the nightmare nor let it lead you by the nose; the only possibility is to overcome it on your own.

To help the dreamer achieve this, it is necessary to know what the dreamer fears most, so as to help the dreamer reduce contact with the things she fears as much as possible.

In other words, this was an unprecedented display of shame.

"If it were me, the thing I would fear most is losing Xiaoyuan."

After Yuuki Yukino gave the order to officially begin the Psychological Shadow Appreciation Conference, Nishio Reki readily agreed to be the first to speak.

Ba Qi immediately raised her hand and waved it in the air: "Me too! Me too! Xiao Yuan gave me who I am today, and I'm afraid of losing Xiao Yuan!"

What Baqi said was not a lie. During the battle with Kuroba Reise, when she mistakenly believed that she had lost Yuuki Eri, she did fall into deep despair and even went so far as to cooperate with Seishine.

However, ever since they returned from Moonsea City, they have never seen Sheng Shiyin again, as if she never existed.

But that's beside the point. Getting back to Baqi herself, although Yuuki Enishi didn't see her performance at that time, she did hear Koumori secretly mention it to her.

Although Baqi considers it a dark history, Yuuki Yuuki was genuinely moved.

If that scene were to happen again, would Baqi really break down and lose her composure? Yuuki Yuen thinks it's highly likely.

“I’m the same way,” Helica muttered awkwardly.

She didn't have the courage to express her feelings as forcefully as others; the only thing she ever did was forcibly push Yuuki Yukino down once.

The consequences of acting impulsively are also severe. Nishio Reki, who once said he would help him win over Yuuki Yuki and was only slightly annoyed when he confessed to Yuuki Yuki, now looks at him with intense anger.

Sure enough, when she heard Helica say that, she noticed that Nishio Reki glared at her and gave a light snort.

But Nishio Reki only glared at him before continuing.

"I know it's not appropriate to say this, and I don't mean to imply that I'm superior to you, nor do I intend to deny your intentions."

Was it really necessary to wear such thick armor? After Nishio Reki stopped acting all mysterious, although he was a bit eccentric for a few days, his personality completely changed after that.

"Oh, why worry about all that? Let's get straight to the point!" Tomoe, who had been at odds with Nishio Reki during those few days of her erratic behavior, seemed to have long since stopped caring. She only found Reki's layered armor annoying and couldn't help but urge Nishio Reki to get straight to the point.

"In my memory, I have witnessed all kinds of endings for everyone, not just Xiaoyuan, so I can guess a little bit. If I were to have a nightmare, such a scene would probably appear."

This statement, coming from someone who appears to be a time traveler, is particularly convincing.

In Yuuki Yuuki's memory, whether it's the magical girl with firearms that can stop time, the mad scientist who invents a time travel machine, or the ordinary boy who comes to another world and is forever in love with Li Yili—no, Emilia—there are always moments that make her vulnerable.

Only one family caught up in the werewolf game could remain calm and composed in the face of all this.

Other people's personalities are such that they can kill each other for three days and three nights in order to get clues and reach the ending. Yuuki Yuki doesn't think that Nishio Reki, who has a bad mentality and does a lot of humble things, can be that calm.