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

"Hmph, you just don't understand, do you? This is the nerve of a rhythm game pro honed by girls' band enthusiasts who grind the leaderboards every day. If you can't even do this, what kind of rhythm game player do you call yourself!"

Finally, in the restaurant as the sun set, Yuuki Yukino, hugging an oversized body pillow and contentedly eating her pork rice, let out a pleasant sigh.

"Ah! That was great! I had so much fun today! A day off when I don't have to work is definitely the best!"

"That's right, that's right. It feels like it's been a long time since we've had this much fun. So much has happened lately, we haven't had a moment to rest. It feels like it's been a long time since the two of us could relax and have a good time like this."

Wearing her newly bought dress, Inuyama Baki held her face beautifully and shoved meatballs into her mouth one after another, mumbling incoherently before even swallowing.

“That’s right.” Yuuki Yuu put the pillow aside, stretched languidly, and then lay down on it. “Ah, I want to sleep. I just want to fall asleep comfortably like this.”

"No, Yuuki, even if you want to sleep, you can only do it after we get back." Baqi picked up her spoon and gave Yuuki a few words of criticism.

"That's true, but I still really want to sleep." Yuuki Yui rubbed her face against the pillow in a spoiled manner, then sat up abruptly and leaned back lazily in her seat: "Phew, whatever, we'll just go back early later."

"Okay, okay, we'll be back soon." Baqi offered this unhelpful consolation, then noticed that Yuuki Yuuki's expression suddenly froze, turning incredibly grim: "What's wrong? Yuuki? What happened?"

"I just realized an important problem." Yuuki Yu's expression turned even more grim, and her speech became hesitant, as if she had some unspeakable secret.

Seeing Yuuki Yukino like this, Baqi became even more nervous. She stood up from her seat, placed her hands on Yuuki Yukino's shoulders, and shook her a few times: "What's wrong? Yukino? Tell me quickly, don't scare me."

Yuuki Yukino patted her bag, which was full of several newly acquired badges, and lowered her eyes with a pale face, looking as if she had done something wrong.

"Have we forgotten something important?"

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Better Late Than Never?

Until the very last moment of the day, Yuuki Yukina remembered something that was incredibly important to her and that she should never forget.

They're here to buy musical instruments!

But at this time...

Well, on a normal day, the part-time job would be over soon. Apart from live houses or stores with flexible hours like Nana Minato, there probably wouldn't be any stores open that are related to musical instruments.

As for the expenses I incurred for playing all day, although they weren't small, they couldn't compare to the Battle Axe Harp that Yuuki Yukino longed for, both in terms of the seriousness of the matter and the price.

Yuuki Yukino could already foresee the expression on Tenrai Herika's face tomorrow.

"Uh, so..."

"I forgot about the important matter."

Yuuki Yukino and Inuyama Tomoe exchanged glances, their words revealing unparalleled embarrassment.

The more fun they had, the more heartbroken they felt now.

The problem is that they both had a lot of fun, and neither of them could blame the other.

The answer is that I did it myself.

Yuki and Baqi quickly paid the bill, then dashed out of the family restaurant and ran towards one of the few music stores on the shopping street.

It's impossible to say that there aren't any shops open, but that doesn't mean that any open shop will have the musical instrument that Yuuki Yukino wants.

Most music stores mainly sell guitars, since being able to play doesn't necessarily mean you have to form your own band. Folk singers who play and sing on the street are also very common, and their most popular instruments are the ukulele or guitar.

Actually, it's quite normal. Yuuki Yuki has seen street performers in the shopping district more than once. In the previous world, the two best ways for boys to show off were playing basketball and playing guitar.

Therefore, excluding those shops that only sell guitars, there are even fewer shops still open. Even if some shops sell other musical instruments, they are mostly basic keyboards, drum kits, or even more portable instruments like harmonicas.

Yuuki Enishi wanted a keytar; a regular keyboard wouldn't meet her needs, and most music stores wouldn't stock such a relatively niche instrument.

But Yuuki Yukino actually saw one, though it wasn't a harpsichord; to describe it, it was more like a stick with a small keyboard attached to the bottom.

Yuki Enishi wanted to buy a guqin that she liked, but after thinking it over, she decided against it, adhering to the principle of "better to have nothing than something bad."

Or, you could say... there's nothing you like?

Yuuki Yukino hesitated for a long time, even starting to think about how to tell Helica about it.

However, giving up like this wouldn't be something Yuuki Eri would be willing to do.

It was obvious that Yuuki was unwilling, but Baqi had to say a few words of advice: "Even if you're unwilling, there aren't many shops open in the shopping street. Why don't you stop here tonight?"

After being persuaded by Baqi, Yuuki Yukino also began to have second thoughts.

While having fun with Baqi today, Yuuki Yukino was too excited to feel tired. But when they entered the family restaurant and truly rested, that feeling of fatigue began to creep up on her.

If she could, Yuuki Enishi would certainly like to run straight home, take a good shower, and get a nice night's sleep, but her unwavering determination to achieve her goal made her unwilling to slink back home in such a dejected manner.

Even if she doesn't go back, Yuki Yuki, who has already explored the entire commercial street, has reached a dead end and doesn't know which direction she should try to take.

Inuyama Tomoe noticed the struggle on Yuuki Yuuki's face.

Seeing Yuuki Yukino's expression, Baqi couldn't bear to persuade her to give up any further.

Ultimately, the problem stemmed from the fact that neither of them remembered their original purpose.

“How about we look around some more, Yuuki? If this place doesn’t work out, we can go somewhere else, like outside the shopping street, right? Music stores don’t have to be in shopping streets.” Baqi gestured with her hands in front of Yuuki.

Although Yuuki Eri wasn't disappointed at not being able to buy the instrument she wanted, buying an instrument is not only about your own needs, but also about whether it catches your eye, so it's perfectly normal not to buy it.

However, I still feel a little guilty for forgetting my business because I was having too much fun.

No, there are many.

"That's true, but at this hour, most music stores should be closed, just like in shopping streets, right? Most shopping streets are already closed, let alone other places."

"Instead of thinking so much, why not just check it out? You can always find it on a map app, right?" The pragmatic Baqi didn't have time to argue with Yuuki Yuki. She took out her phone, tapped a few times on the screen, and stood there looking at it.

“It’s getting late already. If we keep dragging this out, even if there are any shops open, we won’t make it in time. Oh, look, there’s one right here.” Baqi swiped her little finger across the screen a few times, then her eyes lit up and she held up the screen to Yuuki Yuki.

Yuuki Yukino squinted at the contents of the overly bright phone screen that Baqi was showing her in the darkness.

It is indeed a musical instrument store as shown above. Judging from the size of the store, it is quite large and should be considered one of the largest in Moonsea City.

The problem is, this place is not close to the commercial street at all.

Whether you take a tram or a taxi, it won't take long to get there. Plus, there's the time to shop, so even if you manage to buy something, it will be quite late, and there's a very high chance you'll end up empty-handed.

"Or maybe we should just forget about it?" Yuuki Yukina proactively rejected Baqi's idea.

However, Yuuki Yukino's tone was not firm, and there was a subtle hint that she was already somewhat tempted.

Yuuki Yukino's hesitant tone at this moment has already proven a lot. Even if it weren't Tomoe, but someone who was completely unfamiliar with Yuuki Yukino, they could tell that Yuuki Yukino is really very tempted right now.

Yuuki Yukina was already tempted, so what are we waiting for? Let's get Yuuki Yukina involved!

Baqi continued to tempt Yuuki Yuuki, saying, "Why bother? Even if you can't buy it today, you'll still have to come out tomorrow, right? Otherwise, Yuuki, think about what that short, blond guy will say? Doesn't it give you a headache just thinking about it?"

“Tell Helica, she’ll understand, right?” Yuuki Yui was still a little hesitant.

If it were anyone else, Yuuki Yukino would have already grabbed the person and rushed over, but since it was her, she was a bit confused because she was too involved to see things clearly.

Distance, self-reproach for having too much fun, and feeling a little embarrassed about dragging Baqi along for so long—all these reasons prevented Yuuki Yukino from making that decision.

"What do you know? She might not even listen to our explanation, right?" Baqi gestured a few more times, imitating Helica's angry look, which made Yuuki Yuen burst out laughing.

Seeing Yuki Yukino smile, Baqi felt that the chances of persuading her had increased, so she quickly continued to reason with her and appeal to her emotions.

"Right, right? Even if you don't want that guy, Xiaoyuan really wants her own zither, right?"

"That's true, but even if we go, we might not find a suitable one."

"How would Xiaoyuan know if I didn't look?"

"But isn't it too far?"

"Isn't that simple?" Baqi snapped her fingers. "We can just fly over there, can't we?"

The way Baqi said those words was just like when Yuuki Yuuki dragged Baqi to the beach a long, long time ago, and it started raining as soon as they got there. In a fit of pique, Yuuki Yuuki gave up on thinking and said, "Anyway, there's no one here, let's transform and go play in the sea."

Even though I know this is bound to be a bad idea, I still have this urge to refuse.

In the past, Yuuki Yukino would definitely have agreed.

No, in the past, Yuuki Yuki would have thought of this method first. Just recently, Yuuki Yuki even transformed herself and used her tentacles to move the driftwood decorations that the Halloween cafe needed.

However, after the battle with Hanzawa Kuriko, Yuuki Enishi's increasingly dark and corrupted magic made her a little worried.

Yuki Yuki didn't really want to talk about what she was worried about, because once she did, nothing anyone else did would help, and it would only make them worry about her too.

Well, never mind, it's just once, it's not a big deal.

"Ok."

Finally, Yuuki Yukino nodded and agreed to Tomoe's suggestion.

At this point, Yuuki Yukino was unaware of the extent of trouble her choice would bring her.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: What kind of shameful play is this?

Flying directly from the shopping street is not a big deal in itself; it just consumes a little magic power.

Yuuki Yui was reluctant to transform directly, partly because she worried that her magic would become more corrupted by the filth as she used it.

Nyarlathotep's wand is different from ordinary wands; the filth in it did not accumulate in his body over time.

Its accumulation comes from use. Every transformation, every use of a skill, every application of an ability, without consuming a single bit of magic power, will make the dark part of the magic power become increasingly concentrated.

At the same time, Yuuki Yuuki's control over this power will become stronger, and she will be able to feel the pleasure of possessing power more and more.

It was only when Yuuki Yukino wanted to try out her power that she realized this on one of the occasions when Nishio Reki was present.

Only now does Yuuki En understand why Lava Mountain Lantern had advised him against becoming obsessed with power.

Even though he had only fought himself once, and hadn't even fully unleashed his full potential, Lava Mountain Lantern had already discovered so much.

So is this intuition? Or experience?

It doesn't matter which way it is, but Yuuki Yukino needs to be more careful in using this power from now on.

But it's just flying over, so there's no need to worry about the magic power consumed.

Yuuki Yukino had high hopes, but reality was not so kind.

It's Yuuki Yuuki's freedom to fly freely over Tsukimi City as a corrupted magical girl, so it's only natural that a magical girl would come out to stop her.

Any magical girl would not stop Yuuki and Tomoe from flying overhead; ignoring them would be the simplest solution.

Although there is one exception.

……

When Sakuragawa Nana saw that the corrupted magical girl appearing above Tsukimi City was actually a pink demon, she almost fainted from fright.

Originally, Sakuragawa Nana planned to redeem herself and use her magical girl powers to prove that she could also fight to protect Tsukimi City and the people she cared about.