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

Although Yuuki Yui thought her sister probably wouldn't mind, if her sister objected, Yuuki Yui wouldn't be able to do it.

After hearing about her band plans, Tamaki Yuuki reacted as calmly as if she had just heard what Yuuki Gen had for dinner, which made Yuuki Gen uneasy.

"Wait, wait, wait, sister, aren't you going to ask me about forming a band?"

Yuuki Yukino raised an eyebrow: "Why are you asking that?"

Yuuki Yukino wasn't being vague out of consideration for her older sister's feelings; she genuinely didn't know how to phrase it: "That's a band, right, sister, right... right?"

“Then let’s form a group. I’ve met Helica Tenrai twice, and she’s a pretty good girl. Besides, you’re only going on stage once. If it goes on for too long, you’ll quit on your own without me having to stop you.” Tamaki Yuuki waved his hand.

"You... trust your sister that much..." Yuuki Yuki stammered.

"I raised you. If even your sister doesn't trust her, who else can she trust?" Yuuki Tamaki said these words with an indifferent expression, which warmed Yuuki Yukino's heart.

"Alright, stop interrupting! Actually, tonight was like this..." Yuuki Yuen returned to the main topic of gossip and recounted her experiences that night.

"So that's how it is?" After hearing Yuki Yuki's concise and clear explanation, Yuki Tamaki sat up straighter.

“Yes, that’s exactly what happened.” Yuuki Yui nodded. “What happened to Miss Sakuragawa? Did she… pass away?”

　Seven-year-old & ~*dirty "silk paint" and her own older sister, Yuuki Yukino, can be as direct as when Helica asks Minato Nana, and she doesn't have to worry about being impolite.

"No, I saw her a while ago," Tamaki Yuuki replied after a moment's thought.

"Is she disabled?" Yuuki asked again.

“No, she was perfectly fine when I saw her. She was doing much better than me.” Yuuki Tamaki answered without hesitation this time.

If Shirogane Rei says that Aika can no longer perform on stage or something, it's reasonable for Yuuki Yukino to guess that something happened to Aika.

At first, Yuuki Yui considered whether Hanzawa Kuriko had done something to Sakuragawa Aika and Shirogane Rei, but she had met Hanzawa Kuriko before. Even if she couldn't remember the details of the conversation, Hanzawa Kuriko should not have mentioned Shirogane Rei and the others at all.

Perhaps it was mentioned? In any case, Yuuki Yuuki doesn't remember Hanzawa Kuriko expressing remorse towards Rei and the other two.

Yuuki Yukina thought for a moment longer: "What did Shirogane Rei mean when she said that Sakuragawa Ai couldn't perform?"

"I don't know." Yuuki Tamaki's answer was exactly the same as Minato Nana's, but then she explained more patiently.

“Yuan, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I really don’t know. I didn’t even know that Aiko couldn’t play. They never mentioned it to me, and I never asked. But I know that Ryou runs a live house, and I know that Aiko and Ryou live together, but their jobs are completely different.”

Don't you even know your own sister?

No, on the contrary, it's normal for one's own sister not to know.

Hanzawa Kuriko not only left a mess for the entire Moon Sea City, but also left a deep psychological scar on Minato Nana, herself, and her sister. It was actually the most reasonable thing for Shirogane Rei and Sakuragawa Aika to avoid talking about this topic when they were talking to their sister.

If it were me, I wouldn't keep chasing after Hong Moli to tell her that I argued with my sister, that my sister doesn't understand me, or that my sister puts pressure on me. Hong Moli's family is far ahead in these matters.

“Ah, speaking of this, I just remembered something.” Just as Yuuki Yuki was about to give up on this gossip, Yuuki Tamaki suddenly patted the blanket: “After we moved, Nana contacted me. But I only told her that I didn’t want to have any more contact with her, and I didn’t read those heartfelt essays she sent me.”

"What did the store manager say during the call? Is it related to what my sister is talking about?"

"Of course we're related. Minato Nana said she wanted to meet me, but it seems like she contacted more than just me at the time."

"Not just my sister?" Yuuki Yukino had just snapped out of her reverie and was too lazy to think anymore, though she knew without a doubt that Shirogane and Sakuragawa had also gone: "Didn't my sister go?"

"Yes, of course. At that time, I didn't think about anything but Xiaoyuan, so after reading the long post, I didn't reply to the message at all. Nobody knew about our new home, so she couldn't contact me, but I still remember the general meaning of the message she sent me."

Tamaki Yuki pressed his face against the screen.

She said she wanted to have a good talk after we met, and she even talked about our future.

"Us?" Yuuki Yui mechanically repeated without even thinking.

"Yes, everyone in the band. Back then, whenever I saw Nana Minato talking about 'us' or 'the band,' it gave me a headache, so I cut ties with her completely. But Aika and Rei will probably go, right?"

"Neither of them mentioned this. Around that time, they both stopped forming bands. If something happened, I guess it could only have been around that time, right?"

Chapter Twenty-Three: An Ordinary Day, The Band's Beginning

Despite what happened last night, a brand new day will still arrive for Yuuki Yuuki.

They arrived at school normally, attended classes normally, and then gathered with others in the Nijisanji Club's activity room for what seemed like a perfectly normal activity, but was actually not quite.

Today, there were two main topics in Nijisanji's activity room: one was gossip about Minato Nana, and the other was the serious matter of forming a band.

The gossip part is what people talk about over tea and after meals. The group had just sat down and hadn't even started eating when they brought up this topic in a few words.

Last night, Minato Nana was startled by Sakuragawa Nana. In a way, we were all innocent bystanders who were almost attacked by magical girls. We definitely couldn't discuss it in front of Minato Nana at the time.

Yuuki Yuki and Helica later ran to Minato Nana's shop together. They wanted to form a band but there was no rush. They were going to protect Minato Nana no matter how you looked at it. However, no one knew when they would return, so they never had a chance to ask about the specifics.

Therefore, most people don't even know what happened between Yuuki Enishi and Sakuragawa Nana, let alone the highly comedic argument that took place in the coffee shop.

Yuuki Yukino and Helica recreated the scene from that time, one after the other, without reservation, adding their own unique interpretations and artistic spirit.

"Nana, I owe you a very heavy debt. I'm willing to do anything if I can. If I can't make up for this, Watashi!"

"Your days of talking to yourself are over. If you want to make it up to me, you'll have to figure that out yourself. You know the rules."

Although Yuuki Yuki and Helika's acting was a bit exaggerated, everyone else enjoyed watching it, especially the way they acted out a scene, explained it, and then analyzed it, which made everyone very happy.

While arguing itself isn't exactly fun, the natural appeal of people gossiping about the plot and reconstructing events is undeniable, especially since it's related to magical girls, which certainly makes it worth paying attention to.

The events that happened to Yuuki Yuuki when she was a child are not exactly a secret here. Herika and Baki both heard it from Tamaki-nee-san. Koyomi is Yuuki Yuuki's childhood friend, so she can definitely be considered a semi-witness. The others have also seen Hanzawa Kuriko with their own eyes. Therefore, it is not difficult for everyone to understand the events that happened to Minato Nana.

It seems that Lin Jiezi, the nobody, was the only one kept in the dark all along.

Since it doesn't concern her personally, Yuki Yuki can naturally tell everything without reservation.

The mechanism of cognitive bias is quite mysterious. If a person "knows" in their mind that a certain magical girl and a certain person are the same person, then cognitive bias will fail.

Even if Yuuki Yukino is only telling others that Sakuragawa Nana and that magical girl are the same person, as long as others believe it, the condition for breaking the spell has already been met.

Telling all the magical girls that Sakuragawa Nana is that magical girl will make everyone a little more vigilant; this falls under the category of information sharing within the magical girl realm.

Yuuki Yui does have a stereotype about corruption, believing that extreme people are more likely to fall into darkness.

Therefore, she was still very worried about Sakuragawa Nana's situation. It wouldn't be funny if Sakuragawa Aika's sister became a corrupted magical girl.

This worry started last night. When Sakuragawa Nana ran out, Yuuki Yuuki took advantage of the fact that everyone else's attention was drawn to Sakuragawa Nana's back view and sent a message to Baqi to secretly follow Nana.

Baqi was only slightly relieved when she saw Sakura Nana run back to the vicinity of the previous live house and then disappear into a nearby residential building.

Just to be on the safe side, Baqi waited nearby for a while longer. It was this decision that led her to see Shirogane Rei enter the same room and then give Sakuragawa Nana a thorough dressing-down.

This part of the gossip was also told by Baqi as a supplement to the gossip. Even though it didn't have much practical significance, everyone felt more relieved to know that Sakuragawa Nana had been severely criticized.

After finishing the Magical Girl Invasion arc, the Coffee Shop Clash arc, and the Flashback arc, everyone felt extremely satisfied, and most of their lunch break had passed.

What magical girl invasion arc?! So cringey!

In conclusion, the band's affairs are equally important.

During the latter half of the lunch break, everyone quickly distributed the instruments they wanted without any trouble.

After all, compared to what happened yesterday, nothing can be called a setback anymore.

"One! Two! Three! Rock, paper, scissors!"

Although the girls surrounding the city seemed to be performing some kind of mysterious ritual, it was actually a ritual to decide who would speak first about their chosen instrument.

Then, naturally, the four people had three different hand gestures.

"Again!" Baqi raised her fist high, calling out to the others, "One! Two! Three! Rock, paper, scissors!"

There were seven people. Three of them had already decided on their instruments or did not need to consider instruments at all. One of them, Nishio Reki, held his face in his hands, squeezing the soft flesh on his face slightly out of shape.

"Is it really necessary to make it like this? It looks so complicated. I don't think it's a ritual, but rather a way to slow things down."

Yuuki Yui lazily lay on the table, waving her drooping hand back and forth, and shaking her head from side to side, which was resting on her arm. She looked on with great interest: "Kuryuu, you don't understand. This is youth. I think it's pretty interesting."

"Yuki seems to be in a good mood today?" Nishio Reki blinked and, just like Yuki Yuki, leaned on the table.

"I chatted with my sister for a long time after I got back last night, so I was in a good mood." Yuuki Yuen flashed her white teeth and rolled her head on her arm a few more times.

Yuuki Yukino's memories were only fully restored not long ago. She learned that she did indeed grow up with her older sister, and the familial love she could feel even when she lost her memory was the best proof. Yuuki Yukino also completely opened up to Yuuki Tamaki.

Although Yuuki Yuki hadn't kept anything from Yuuki Tamaki before, she still felt a little awkward.

The sense of relief after finally untying the last little knot in Yuuki Tamaki's heart felt both familiar and strange. The aimless chat that started with the band allowed Yuuki Tamaki to vent her recent stress.

When Yuuki Yuen woke up this morning, she felt refreshed like never before. This feeling of comfort has lasted until now, and she finds the group of noisy girls playing rock-paper-scissors to decide the order of play especially adorable.

In the time it takes to say two sentences, the girls playing rock-paper-scissors also came to a conclusion.

"Yes, yes, it's me, I won." Lin Jiezi, at a loss, still held up the scissors gesture she made when the others were playing rock-paper-scissors, mechanically raising that hand and holding it up to her face.

Lin Jiezi's panicked expression, coupled with her victory sign that seemed completely out of place, made the atmosphere particularly amusing.

Sakura Hanako, in an interview-like tone, held her hand, which wasn't holding the microphone, to Hayashi Ketsuko's mouth: "Hayashi-senpai, have you decided which instrument you want to choose?"

"Me, this, should I say it? This, that..." Lin Jiezi looked around anxiously, her eyes pleading for help.

Judging from her appearance alone, Yuuki Yukari couldn't tell that Hayashi Mustardko had any connection with that original magical girl.

One of the main reasons she recently returned to the Rainbow Society's activity room was that she felt it was necessary to seize this opportunity to observe Hayashi Mustard up close.

If you look at it again while still suspecting Lin Jiezi, you should be able to discover more suspicious points.

Yuuki Yui thought so, but in the past few days she had not obtained any clues to prove that Lin Jiezi was suspicious. On the contrary, she became more and more certain that Lin Jiezi and the original magical girl were two completely different personalities.

Yuki En's complicated look at Lin Jiezi must have been misunderstood by Lin Jiezi as something else. Then, Yuki En looked at Lin Jiezi with even more hopeful eyes.

The problem is that even if I looked over, it wouldn't make a difference. I had already said beforehand that I didn't know anything except how to use a keyboard, so I didn't participate in their rock-paper-scissors game at all.

To be precise, Yuuki Enishi didn't know anything to begin with; she just had a little more experience with the keyboard than with other instruments.

The three remaining girls who hadn't participated in the rock-paper-scissors game—Helica Tenrai and Yuuki Yuuki—had the same reason.

Helica can play the guitar, and Yuuki Yuki knows that Helica's guitar skills are definitely very good, even if they can't compare to those professional girl bands.

Herlica crossed her arms, put her feet on the table railing, and rocked the chair with her heels hooked on the table. She stared intently at the girls over there without saying a word, pretending to be indifferent while trying to hear what they were saying.

If Yuuki Yukino doesn't step in to help, someone has to speak up.

Mizuno Yu is extremely unreliable most of the time, but when she is reliable, she is universally acknowledged as trustworthy.

A magical girl who caused Yuuki a lot of trouble while she was hiding her identity, and who was the first to suspect the people around her, no one would disagree with her.

Of course, this only applies when Mizuno Yu isn't acting out of her mind, like right now.

"Lin, do you have your own ideas?"

"Huh?!" Lin Jiezi was still making the scissor victory sign, but her fingers were slightly bent. Mizuno Yu interrupted and came to her rescue, so she immediately nodded frantically as if she had found a savior.

"So what do you want to play?"