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

"How could you do this! If I had magic, what if I..." Miyashita Mia scrambled out of bed, her teeth chattering, "Why did you replenish my magic! Why did you save me! I should have lost there! I had to lose there, if I hadn't lost there! If it weren't for this!"

Seeing Yuuki Yukari and Inuyama Tomoe watching her in silence, Miyashita Mia lowered her head like a deflated balloon, her tone no longer so intense but filled with a cold distance: "I'm sorry, I'm very grateful for your help, whether it's replenishing my mana or rescuing me. But if you've mistaken me for an ally just because you've fallen into darkness, then you've made a big mistake."

"Looks like we can communicate calmly now, that's good." Yuuki Yui seemed to be talking to herself, then crossed her arms and turned to Miyashita Mia to complain, "You were the one who called me your comrade, and now you're the one who unilaterally refuses to acknowledge me as your comrade, senpai, you're so troublesome!"

“That’s because…” Miya Miya was speechless at this unreasonable and irrefutable statement, and anxiously tried to explain something.

"That's because you were controlled by the Black Magic Mark, Senior. 'Controlled' isn't quite the right word; I think it's more like you were subjected to its psychological suggestion, some dark side of your being amplified, or a state of heightened excitement when you're angry? Whatever you say, the Black Magic Mark caused you to do things you wouldn't normally do while in a semi-conscious state. And you should remember what you did, but you don't understand why you did it." Yuuki Yukari clapped her hands together, the crisp sound bringing Miyashita Mia back to silence.

"This is just my guess. I don't know the specifics, but your black magic runes were in an abnormally active state just now, like they were flashing. But after replenishing the magic, they returned to normal. So this guess should be correct in general."

“No, that’s not how it is.” Miyashita Miya directly denied Yuuki Yuuki’s statement, her eyes repeatedly scrutinizing Yuuki Yuuki, her gaze always unconsciously drifting towards Yuuki Yuuki’s stomach, her open mouth tightly closed again, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

"I see."

Yuuki Yui felt she could guess the reason for Miyashita Mia's hesitation, which also proved that Miyashita Mia had some understanding of the Black Magic Mark, and that she certainly didn't know this information.

She was now very glad that she had discussed her suspected suspects with Baqi beforehand, and that after being reminded by Baqi, she had temporarily changed her original plan to clear her name and instead decided to go to Miyashita Miya to get information.

To prevent their identities from being exposed, Yuuki Yuki left half a class early and went back with Baqi to change their clothes. They also brought back her newly bought speaker. Just as they gathered, they saw Miyashita Mia de-transform.

If I hadn't intervened, Miyashita Mia would definitely have been defeated there. Then I would have naively thought the plot had returned to normal, and started thinking about my next plan, thus burying some truths that I should have known along with Miyashita Mia's defeat.

To dispel Miya Miya's hesitation, Yuuki Yui reached out and hooked the hem of her T-shirt with her fingers, lifting it up. With her other hand, she pulled down her pants a little, making her flat stomach and the calm, unremarkable black magic markings clearly visible.

"So? Can you believe me now?"

Miyashita Mia's eyes flickered a few times before she slowly lowered her head: "I'm sorry, I couldn't completely trust you until I saw it with my own eyes. Yuuki Yui, you really are special. Maybe you really can help me."

"Stop being a riddle reader! Hurry up! Just say what you mean!" Baqi, completely oblivious to the situation, started egging them on.

"It's a long story." Miyashita Miya hesitated again when asked this question.

“It’s alright, there’s still plenty of time tonight, we can talk slowly.” Yuuki glanced at the time on her phone screen and tossed it back. “Where should we start? Let’s start with Tsukimi-senpai.”

Upon hearing Yuuki Yui mention Tsukimi Rie, Miyashita Mia jumped out of bed, her face showing unprecedented surprise and tension: "You know what Megumi did?"

"I don't know, but judging from your reaction, I think I need to find out."

Miyashita Mia belatedly realized that her reaction had been a bit excessive, and slowly sat back down: "Taking Megumi hostage earlier was just for show."

"I know that, your acting is too fake."

“Is it really that fake…” Miya Miyashita muttered softly, then continued, “If I don’t pretend to take her hostage, the others will be in danger.”

"What kind of logic is this?"

"Because... I am her shackles, locking away her power and her future."

Chapter 101 So this is the meaning of shackles?

"Shackles? What does that mean? Don't talk like you're playing a guessing game. Speak in a way that everyone can understand!"

Baqi interrupted inappropriately.

Despite being inappropriate, it dispelled much of the oppressive atmosphere in the room, causing Miya Miya, who was initially too embarrassed to speak, to look over with a complicated expression.

After a long pause to prepare, Miyashita Miya dropped a bombshell with her first words.

"Tsukimi Rie is my best friend."

Friend, what a beautiful word it sounds. Friendship has always been a celebrated virtue because of its purity and sincerity.

But friendship can sometimes become a stumbling block that binds people, causing them to lose their true judgment and motivation to move forward.

If Tsukimi Rie is indeed the mysterious person as Yuuki Yukina suspects, and if Yuuki Yukina and Tsukimi Rie really clash one day in the future, Yuuki Yukina cannot guarantee that Miyashita Mia will stand fairly on her side, even if Tsukimi Rie's actions are wrong.

Yuuki Yukino also cannot guarantee that her actions are correct.

“We’ve known each other since we were little. We went to the same elementary school, the same middle school, and the same high school.” Miyashita Miya continued to tell the story of her and Tsukimi Rie.

Very good. She's a childhood friend type. If a conflict really occurs in the future, the possibility of Miyashita Mia standing on the same side as herself will be even smaller.

For a long time afterward, she used various trivial details to prove how close her relationship with Tsukimi Rie was, but these were all things that happened before she became a magical girl and could not provide Yuuki Eri with any information of reference value.

"When I first entered junior high school, Megumi gradually began to distance herself from me..." A long time had passed, but Miyashita Mia had only just begun talking about junior high school.

But these meaningless pieces of information are irreplaceable treasures to Miyashita Mia. After experiencing today's events, she has reached her mental limit and needs an outlet.

At the same time, this information will also help Yuuki Yukino better understand Tsukimi Rie. It's already quite remarkable that Miyashita Mia is willing to tell her, so even if Yuuki Yukino is eager to hear the key points, she shouldn't interrupt her.

"During the summer before I entered high school, I awakened as a magical girl because I wanted to mend my relationship with Megumi, which was drifting apart. It was only then that I realized Megumi was already a magical girl."

An hour later, we finally got to the point.

Actually, this key point isn't that important. The following content is simply that after Miya Miya became a magical girl, she also fought several battles with her enemies at the time—the corrupted magical girls. Both sides had their wins and losses, but neither side was able to completely defeat them.

"Later, Megumi's power began to weaken, a step that every magical girl inevitably goes through, but this day came too soon for Megumi. Her power and her memories of being a magical girl were fading away day by day."

As Mia recounts her story, Yuuki learns that Tsukimi Rie met Tenrai Helika, who had just become a magical girl, during this period. Yuuki helped Helika when she encountered a powerful enemy in her first battle, and later, as a senior magical girl, she taught Helika many things.

"That's the kind of person Hui is, helping everyone around her who needs help without expecting anything in return. Even though her strength has weakened, she still wants to leave something behind."

"It just so happens that the city has been unusually peaceful during this period, and no corrupted magical girls have appeared, so we have all let our guard down. Because of Megumi's feelings, I have never brought up anything related to magical girls."

Yuuki Yui actually knows the reason why there are no corrupted magical girls. There are only a few main villains in the game, and apart from Miyashita Mia, there is only one person who does not belong to the villainous organization.

In the game, Miya Miyashita is a tutorial boss who is defeated before she even knows about the villainous organization, while the remaining person is so powerful that he disdains to join the organization.

The remaining corrupt underlings who refused to join the organization, along with some renowned magical girls from the city, were all found and eliminated by the villainous organization.

This could be seen as a design by the production team to make the plot so that defeating a few enemies would lead to the ending, but it is also the reason why the corrupted magical girl disappeared for a period of time in this world.

"I also sensed that Hui was hiding something from me, but she said she was going to give me a surprise, so I didn't ask too many questions. Maybe she wanted that blonde girl to fight alongside me after she completely lost her power?"

"To have achieved this in such a short time, that girl is really amazing."

"After that, black magic patterns inexplicably appeared on my body, and I became less and less like myself."

"For no reason at all?" Yuuki Yuen repeated.

"It's like suddenly awakening as a magical girl, only to find black magic markings appearing on your body one day without any warning," Miya Miyashita replied.

In games, every magical girl has a wish, some noble, some extremely ordinary: for example, Miyashita Mia wants to mend relationships, while Mizuno Yu simply wants to be defeated.

However, the game never mentions why the Black Magic Marks are created. The only reference is that the Black Magic Marks are a symbol of the fall of magical girls and only appear on evil magical girls, mentioned lightly in the dialogue between the main characters.

Incidentally, this was said by Yuuki Yuki in the game, so it cannot be verified.

If the dialogue in the game is considered accurate, then Miya Miyashita must be lying. Otherwise, it proves that some settings in the game conflict with the world she inhabits.

Another possibility is that Rie Tsukimi did something in secret that caused Miya Miya to fall into darkness, just as the mysterious person has the ability to corrupt people.

"And then?" Yuuki Yukino put aside the things she couldn't understand and pressed for more information about the Dark Corruption.

"After the fall, I am still me, able to think and live a normal life, but some of my thoughts have begun to subtly change. For example, when I was a child, I said that I wanted to be everyone's friend. This idea has faded a lot as I've grown up. I've also realized that there are differences between people, and it's impossible to get along with everyone."

She is able to think and live normally, just like herself and Baqi, but she has never had any change in her thoughts since the first day she fell into darkness.

"After I fell into darkness, I had similar thoughts again, and I felt that I could do it. Now, when I think about it calmly, I find my thoughts strange, but at the time I really thought that way—that by making others happy under my control through physical intimacy, wasn't that also an expression of my love?"

It's not just strange, it's downright incomprehensible; this idea is incredibly far-fetched.

"At first, it was just an impulse in my heart to pin the person I saw down and let her feel my love to the fullest. Then I put that impulse into action." Miyashita Miya talked about her first time attacking someone.

“Me too! In the past, I was struggling with how to get rid of the life I hated, but after falling into darkness, I felt like I could smash that life I hated to pieces. This feeling has become stronger and stronger. If Xiaoyuan hadn’t stopped me, I probably would have really done it.” Baqi interjected from the side.

"That's right, that feeling became increasingly difficult to control later on."

"I understand, I understand. At first, I said things I wouldn't normally say, then I wanted to do things I wouldn't dare to do, and then my thoughts became more and more outrageous!"

The two started chatting away, leaving Yuuki Yuki standing there.

What is this talking about? Am I the only one who doesn't feel anything at all?

Aside from that day when she went berserk and pinned herself to the bed, Baqi doesn't seem to have done anything excessive.

No, she didn't not do it, she just didn't have time to do it.

Yuuki Yukino discovered a blind spot. Although she roughly understood the cause and effect of Baqi's corruption through Baqi's words, she still had some preconceived notions.

According to what they just said, just like accelerating when starting a car, it takes a certain amount of time after being corrupted to fully enter the dangerous state that Yuuki Yuki is familiar with.

Baqi's past state should be the way she looked when she met Hyakki Chiyu and Koumori at the school gate that day.

She still vividly remembered Baqi's arrogant demeanor when they first met. When she said she was going to make a mess of Mizuno Yu that day, Baqi readily agreed.

This is the reason why Yuuki Eri was the first person I knew.

Because they didn't understand the past of Baqi Jiecheng, they felt that Baqi should be like this.

According to Mia, after some more time has passed, even if no one points it out, Baki might take the initiative to cause destruction, just like the other corrupted magical girls.

The effects of the Black Magic Mark were already present, but at the coffee shop, Baki and she replenished their magic for the first time, which allowed their magic power to be replenished and suppressed the side effects of the Black Magic Mark. It was like stepping on the brakes to a car that was about to accelerate, preventing the situation from getting worse.

If she hadn't fallen to darkness, Baki would probably still be maintaining her image as a young lady and living her own life; without me, Baki would have become like other fallen magical girls, engaging in crazy acts of destruction.

The black magic runes opened a crack in Baqi's past, providing an opportunity to break the status quo; while his own existence provided Baqi with the power to maintain the status quo within reasonable limits.

If it weren't for the mysterious person causing trouble, she and Baqi could indeed maintain the status quo by replenishing each other's mana and live together peacefully.

Putting aside the question of whether Rie Tsukimi is a mysterious person, Miya Miyashita could actually have done the same thing as Rie Tsukimi.

Judging from the fact that Miyashita Mia "kidnapped" Tsukimi Rie and remained well-behaved for a period of time, they should have already done so.

So, is that why Miya Miyashita said she was Rie Tsukimi's shackle?

This line of thinking is reasonable, but it raises new questions.

Why did Miya Miyashita "kidnap" Rie Tsukimi, and why is she so determined to seek defeat today?

Chapter 102 All the clues point to the same person!

"No, your reasoning is incorrect."

When Yuuki told Miyashita Mia what she had just thought, Miyashita Mia gave her this answer.

Regarding the questions about why Tsukimi Rie was kidnapped, Miyashita Mia did not give a direct explanation immediately: "If we divide the corrupted magical girls into two states, one state is that they are affected by the black magic mark and have difficulty controlling their actions and thoughts, and the other is that they are not affected. Let's call the affected state 'corruption' for now—the way to undo corruption is definitely not to replenish magic."

Whether it was because she had just had a pleasant conversation with Baqi or because Yuuki Yuki had helped her during her vulnerable period, Miyashita Mia had been very cooperative.

During Miyashita Mia's lengthy explanation, Yuuki Yuuki repeatedly suspected that she was making things sound complicated in order to buy time, and she was also skeptical about what Miyashita Mia said.

Miyashita Mia is, after all, the villain in the game. She almost drove two magical girls to the brink of despair one minute, and then prepared to transform and fight back the next. Before that, she had done so many incomprehensible things.

Even though Yuuki Yui took the initiative to rescue the person, no one can say for sure whether Mia was deliberately feigning weakness. It's impossible for Yuuki Yui to have 100% trust in this venomous snake.

After all, it concerns whether she can clear her name and what her next step should be, so she has to be vigilant. But if possible, she doesn't want to doubt anyone, Yuuki Yuki.