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

The clock had barely crossed the twelve o'clock mark when the sky outside the window was shrouded in rain, making it as dark as midnight.

The same was true in the quiet room; only the occasional rumble of thunder and flashes of lightning could bring a sliver of light into the room.

The phone screen next to Yuuki Yuuki suddenly lit up, adding a cold, unusual light to the dark room.

Noticing the unusual movement on the phone screen, Yuuki Yuuki immediately sat up straight as if she had sprung up from the sofa, grabbed the phone from beside her, and held the screen up in front of her with her hands on her lap.

However, what was displayed on the phone screen was just a pop-up advertisement, not the message that Yuuki Yukino wanted to receive.

Reki Nishio has gone missing.

Yuuki Yukino tapped her phone screen a few times and opened her chat with Nishio Reki again.

The last message from Nishio Reki was several hours ago, followed by his own occasional concerned greetings.

One message appears approximately every ten to twenty minutes, and now it densely covers the entire screen.

But these messages were like stones sinking into the sea, without causing a ripple.

At first, Yuuki Yui didn't care much and only sent a few messages of concern to Nishio Reki. But as these messages piled up, Yuuki Yui couldn't help but start to worry.

Perhaps it was inconvenient for Xiaoli to reply to messages in the heavy rain?

Yuuki Yukino looked at the list of unread messages and the "online" sign next to Nishio Reki's profile picture, and comforted herself with this thought.

Yuuki Enishi got up, went to the window, and wiped the fog off the glass with her hand, trying to see more clearly.

But apart from the rain that blurred her vision and the car headlights that pierced through it, Yuuki Enishi couldn't see anything.

She had considered looking for Nishio Reki, but in this torrential rain, she couldn't find any clues related to him at all.

If I were to rush out on my own, I might miss the chance to meet Nishio Reki, who is on his way back.

"Never mind, I'll just wait a bit longer," Yuuki Yui muttered to herself, and sat back down.

The clock hands kept ticking, one tick after another, but apart from the incessant sound of rain and the occasional car horn, there was no other sound.

The originally gloomy sky gradually turned dark, and night had truly fallen.

Yuuki Yukino sat blankly on the sofa for the entire afternoon, listening to the sound of rain for the whole afternoon.

Boom, boom, boom.

A faint sound, distinct from the others, mingled with the sound of rain, yet vanished in an instant.

That sounded like knocking on the door?

The drowsiness that had accumulated throughout the afternoon vanished instantly, and Yuuki Yuuki suddenly stood up from the sofa and turned to look at the dark porch.

The room was dark, and the outside was even darker. Yuuki Yuuki couldn't see what was happening outside the door, and couldn't even tell if it was just her imagination.

Whether it's a hallucination or not, you just need to open the door and see for yourself.

But for some reason, Yuuki Yuki felt a sense of retreat at this moment.

More accurately, it was a sense of foreboding.

It was as if the person outside the door was not the companion they were looking forward to, but a calamity they wanted to avoid at all costs.

She had never felt this way before.

But why do I feel this way at a time like this?

Is he just overthinking things because he's lost contact with Xiaoli?

Boom, boom, boom.

The knocking intervals grew longer, still a rhythmic three knocks, though they were drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain, which confirmed to Yuuki Yuki that someone had indeed knocked on her door.

Yuuki En breathed heavily, following the method she found online: inhale for four seconds, hold her breath for seven seconds, and exhale for eight seconds. After repeating this twice, she finally reached her front door.

Boom, boom, boom.

Just as she was about to grasp the doorknob, the knocking sounded again abruptly.

These sounds seemed to strike her heart, causing Yuuki Yuki's heart to suddenly clench.

Yuuki Yui swallowed hard and pressed down on the doorknob.

With a creaking sound, the door was pulled open by Yuuki Yuki.

The fishy smell of rain and the cold air rushed in from outside the door, instantly ruffling Yuuki Yukino's pink hair.

In the dim light outside the door, Yuuki Yuuki saw the figure that was both unexpected and predictable.

The black-haired girl stood at the door, her raised arm slightly bent, in a posture ready to knock. Her black eyes, like black agate, stared blankly ahead, and also at Yuuki Yukino, who had just opened the door.

Rainwater soaked the girl's clothes from top to bottom. Her semi-transparent clothes clung tightly to her body, and raindrops dripped down her long black hair, making her look as pitiful as a little black cat caught in a water cage.

Yuuki En was stunned by the scene she had never imagined before. She stood there dumbfounded until the cold raindrops were blown by the wind and slapped against her cheeks, which brought her back to her senses.

"Xiao Li, how are you? Why haven't you contacted me for so long? I was really worried about you! No, that's not what we're talking about. Come in and take a shower to warm up so you don't catch a cold."

Yuuki reached out and grabbed Nishio Reki's arm. The cold skin made Yuuki almost instinctively let go.

"She must have been walking in the rain for who knows how long to get so cold," Yuuki Yuki thought, gripping Nishio Reki's arm even tighter before preparing to pull her into the room.

But Nishio Reki's body seemed to be carved from a single piece of stone, and Yuuki Yuki was unable to move him for a moment.

“Yuki.” Nishio Reki raised her eyes to face Yuki’s face, her lips, pale from the cold, parted slightly: “I have something to tell you.”

"Ah, oh." Yuuki Yui didn't expect Nishio Reki to say something like that out of the blue, and was taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained her composure: "Let's not talk about that now, Reki, go inside and change your clothes first."

Yuuki Yukino tried to pull Nishio Reki's arm a second time, but still couldn't budge it.

“No.” Nishio Reki shook his head. “I have to say it now.”

"Xiao Li!"

Yuuki Yukino's tone became much more serious, with a hint of reproach in it. She grabbed Nishio Reki's rain-soaked arms with both hands and used all her strength to pull him towards the room.

Nishio Reki only staggered a few times, but the distance he was pulled was less than half a step.

Yuuki Yukino knows all too well what kind of person Nishio Reki is, in every sense of the word. The current Nishio Reki is definitely not normal.

If it were just once or twice that Yuuki Yuki couldn't get it to cooperate, she would only find it a little strange. But if Nishio Reki didn't cooperate with her three times in a row, then something must have happened.

Yuuki Yukino's tone softened again, and it became pleading.

"Xiao Li, what happened? Let's go inside and talk about it, okay?"

Even though they were only separated by a door, Yuuki Yuki felt as if she and Nishio Reki outside the door were in two completely different worlds.

Nishio Reki shook her head again, raindrops dripping down her cheeks.

"Xiao Li!"

In the end, all that remained for Yuuki Yuki was to plead humbly.

“No, I must say it here.” Nishio Reki remained unmoved and gently shook his head again.

Yuuki Yukino's eyebrows furrowed, and after a few seconds of silence, she gave in to Nishio Reki.

"Okay, okay, let's talk here. After we're done, we'll go inside, okay?"

Nishio Reki's eyes flickered, but he didn't react to Yuuki Yukino's words at all. Instead, he continued talking to himself.

"Xiaoyuan, you've been accepted! Congratulations!"

As Nishio Reki spoke, he forced an awkward smile.

Yuuki Yuki felt no joy whatsoever; she could already guess what Nishio Reki was about to say to her.

She did nothing, and there was nothing she could do, so she could only stand there and listen to Nishio Reki say the words she had expected.

"But I failed the exam."

Is that really the case?

Yuuki had already guessed this outcome long before Nishio Reki contacted her.

Therefore, in the following hours, Yuuki Yukina sent Nishio Reki messages at much longer intervals to be considerate of his feelings.

If something like this happens, Nishio Reki will definitely be very disappointed, right?

However, Yuuki Yukino had a kind of intuition, or rather, her understanding of Nishio Reki, which led her to make this judgment.

The matter is not completely over yet.

This may just be the beginning, a fuse.

"Alright." Yuuki Yuen's tone softened even more: "Kuryu, don't think too much about it, just come in."

The thing that Yuuki Yuuki feared most still happened.

Yuuki Yukina tugged at Nishio Reki's wrist again, but Nishio Reki's body remained still.

Yuuki Yui swallowed hard, quickly adjusting her tone to be as gentle as possible so as not to offend Nishio Reki in the slightest.

But what could she say? All she could say now was repeating the same words she had said countless times before.

"Don't just stand there at the door, come in quickly, okay?"

"Xiao Yuan".

Nishio Reki's lips moved, and after a long while, she finally uttered a few syllables, which were her nickname for Yuuki Yukino.

"Yes, I'm here." Yuuki Yuki's voice trembled slightly.

Since she became a magical girl, she has never had such a strong sense of foreboding.

I've always liked you.

Nishio Reki spoke softly, in a calm and even tone, without the slightest hesitation or pause, as if he were simply describing where to eat and what to have for dinner that evening.

A hint of surprise rose in Yuuki Yukino's heart.

It's not impossible that Nishio Reki would confess to him—in fact, it wouldn't be surprising if she confessed to him at any time.

But this is not the only time.

This bland tone alone won't do.

Because it wasn't the main point that Nishio Reki wanted to make, although Yuuki Yukina didn't know how she came to this conclusion, she just knew it.

If even something this explosive isn't what Nishio Reki wanted to say...

What kind of answer awaits Yuuki Yukino?