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

Everyone went to the orphanage over the weekend, rested for a while the next day, found this practice room during the day and practiced a little, and then went back to doing their own things.

Yesterday, Helica hadn't mentioned that she had started writing, and yet the new song was finished in just one day?

No wonder Helica didn't come to school today and had huge dark circles under her eyes. It seems that Helica has put in a lot of effort to finish this song.

Even if she had to stay up all night and skip classes to finish it, Herika had every reason to be smug about her speed.

Forget about secretly rejoicing; even if Helica were to laugh wildly and boast about herself now, and then take everyone out to eat at family restaurants for a week, Yuuki Yuki wouldn't have the slightest problem with Helica.

"Wait a minute, something's not right!" Yuuki Yuu suddenly noticed something amiss.

Herlica, who had just been indifferent, suddenly put on a serious face. No matter how much people praised her, she would pretend not to react. But since someone was contradicting her, she could no longer continue to be unresponsive.

Is there something wrong?

Has Helica misunderstood something about herself?

Yuki Yui wasn't there to pour cold water on things; she honestly shared what was on her mind.

“You just said our new song is finished, but right now we only have the melody, not the lyrics, right? I mean the lyrics.”

"Oh, about that."

Nishio Reki, who had been sitting there without reacting at all even when Helica delivered such important news, finally stopped playing on his phone, slowly stood up from his chair, and walked slowly toward everyone.

“I already gave the lyrics to Helica yesterday.”

"what?!"

The girls all opened their mouths wide at the same time.

So Nishio Reki clearly knew today that Tenrai Herika was hiding at home composing music, right?

Knowing full well that this is how it is, they're still pretending to be mysterious and not telling everyone! Helica is cooking! Nishio Reki is serving the rice! Two bowls of rice! No, no, neither of them can escape!

Although a little attention would reveal clues, Yuuki Yuki had no intention of suspecting her companion's ulterior motives; once she believed someone, she believed them unconditionally.

That's why Nishio Reki and Helica have kept it hidden until now, which made Yuuki Yuuki unable to hold back any longer. She clenched her fists and her tone became much more agitated: "So you two have been keeping it from us until now?"

No wonder Helica said she only spent a day on it; it seems she got the lyrics to Nishio Reki's song immediately after receiving them.

But it's a miracle that Nishio Reki was able to write the lyrics in just one day.

The girls hadn't expected this unexpected joy to come so quickly, and they immediately surrounded Nishio Reki, happily complaining that they hadn't been told sooner.

Unlike Helica, Nishio Reki was not proud. Instead, after giving everyone a mysterious surprise and becoming the center of attention, he scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

"I've finished writing it, but I don't know how it will turn out, so I was going to ask Helica Tianlei to take a look first, since she's the lead singer. But she messaged me saying that she'll definitely write a super [beep] song that matches these lyrics."

So what's the super [beep] song?

After being told this by Nishio Reki, Tenrai Helica seemed a little embarrassed and frankly spoke her mind:

"Although I've finished the piece, I don't know if it's good enough or even acceptable. This is my first time composing, and... well, I think it's pretty good, but I don't know if you guys will like it. Anyway, here it is, you'll know once you listen to it."

As Helica spoke, she slowly walked towards her place, the lead singer's seat.

The blonde girl stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around.

The plectrum between the girl's fingers quietly glided across the strings, and the music began to flow like a clear spring melting the thick ice in springtime.

The moment the piano music began, the previously noisy room instantly fell silent.

Only the soothing sound of the strings remained, yet it complemented Herika's voice, which sounded as if she were a completely different person.

Helica sang it fluently and played it just as well. Clearly, the song wasn't something she had just reluctantly put together, as she claimed. Rather, it had been practiced countless times in her heart and by her hands.

Despite being very proud of her creations, Helica deliberately concealed the effort she had put in; her somewhat arrogant little quirk was still there.

But it's kind of cute, isn't it?

Helica's performance ended quickly. When the last note fell, Helica returned to her usual self, only a little more reserved.

"H-What do you all think? Is this okay?"

After the song ended, the crowd's emotions were nothing like Helica's, who had expressed the excitement she felt after finishing the piece.

It wasn't that Helica's performance or composition wasn't good enough, but rather that Helica's performance truly transported everyone into that musical world. The girls, washed over by the music, were momentarily at a loss for how to react.

"It sounds so beautiful! It's simply heavenly!"

"I didn't expect you to have some skills."

"My lyrics can actually be performed like this, it's truly..."

"It's much better than I expected. I think this is real music."

"It sounds nice."

Finally, under Helica's expectant gaze, Yuuki Yuuki nodded slightly.

"You can tell this is a song that resonates with all of us."

“However, she hasn’t finished yet.” Having almost never received so much praise, Helica, who had been quite nervous just moments before, lowered her head and pursed her lips slightly.

"Our part requires everyone's participation to complete."

Chapter Ninety: Conflict Imminent

"That concludes our performance! Thank you everyone!"

On stage, Helica, along with all the girls, bowed slightly and waved to the audience below.

But no applause erupted from the audience to welcome the girls' final bow.

Looking down from the stage spotlight, the huge auditorium, which can accommodate almost all the students in the school, was almost empty.

But Helica didn't care about the applause or cheers, and calmly walked off the stage with her guitar.

"Hmm, if that's the pace, we feel like we still have plenty of time." Niijima Azusa was currently looking down and organizing the small notebook in her hand, adding something with a carbon pen to the gaps that were already filled with small notes and doodles.

Noticing Helica and her group leaving the stage, Niijima Azusa immediately put down her notebook, her eyes, which were slightly dark-circled, curved into a smile as she looked at the group leaving the stage.

"Everyone, thank you for your hard work. On the day of the performance, just follow the same procedure as today. If there are any changes that need to be made, please remember to contact me in advance."

"Okay, President, you've worked hard too."

Sakura Hanako bowed solemnly to the student council president.

It seems that Sakura Hanako is equally respectful to everyone who can be called her senior.

But Niijima Azusa is indeed a person who deserves everyone's respect.

Everyone could see Azusa Niijima busy preparing for the Christmas party in every corner of the school. Even if some people didn't like her, they wouldn't have any prejudice against this student council president who did everything herself.

While the others didn't react as strongly as Sakura Hanako, they all nodded to Niijima Azusa.

Helica glanced at Niijima Azusa, then turned her head away. "Thank you for your help."

Helica tried to make her thanks sound more colloquial, but it still sounded a bit stiff.

Helica originally thought she had made considerable progress, but it was still a bit difficult for her to express her true thoughts to people outside of Nijisanji.

However, it is indeed a big step forward.

My own personality is like that, and so is the band's.

There are still two days until the official performance, which is on Christmas Day.

The past week was definitely a bittersweet experience for the girls.

Originally, everyone had almost given up on creating new songs. They were able to complete the Christmas party performance with only the three songs they practiced. Even though it was a bit of a regret, it was still an idea that would satisfy more people.

Over the weekend, Yuki En took everyone to a kindergarten for a round of volunteer work, ostensibly for research and to change their mood.

But that was only in name. Everyone knew that a large part of Yuuki Eri's reason for going there was to find out about the St. Yuuki Academy and Genken Mashiro behind the kindergarten.

However, by sheer coincidence, everyone gained inspiration for composing from the children's words, and then Nishio Reki and Helica quickly wrote their new song.

Once it's written out, of course you have to practice it. But before you practice, you need to spend time filling in the parts that each instrument is responsible for in the piece. It took more time than expected to complete this part.

During the rest of the practice time, the girls would spend less than a week practicing a new song.

Even though this song was created by everyone, it still took even more time to play it smoothly and coordinate with each other without making mistakes.

Besides the new song, they also have two previous songs that their coordination is not yet perfect, which is definitely a huge challenge for the girls who only have a week to practice.

But that's not all the challenges. Before the Christmas party begins, they face an even bigger and more real challenge: the final exams at Yuehai Middle School.

The vast majority of girls are able to pass the exams smoothly. Not to mention tutoring, they can even take the top spots in the entire grade without any problem.

The problem is that the remaining few people actually took the bottom spots in the entire grade.

I'm talking about you two, Nishio Reki and Mizuno Yu.

Herlica's attitude was very clear: it was her own willfulness to drag everyone onto the stage, and she absolutely could not let her willfulness affect the normal lives of others.

And academic performance is, in Helica's words, part of a normal life.

"If I cause you to fail your exams because you went on stage with me, I will feel incredibly guilty."

At that time, Helica was very serious and confidently patted her chest.

"Don't worry, in the last week, I will definitely make sure you catch up on what you missed and pass the exam smoothly!"

That being said, have you considered this?

Even if Nishio Reki and Mizuno Yu didn't play in a band, their chances of passing the exam were extremely slim.

Helica didn't care about any of that. Every day after practice, she would exert immense pressure at Minato Nana's shop, like a devilish instructor, forcing these two little underachievers to study hard.

The final exams were held as scheduled and went very smoothly.

Some people are exhausted, some are worried about whether they will pass the exam, and some are so stressed by the exam that their minds are blank.

In short, the two-day exams took a lot of energy from the girls, so much so that on the day the exams ended, they only did a simple practice session before going their separate ways.

Of course, the two people who were most worried about the exam passed smoothly, but that happened after the Christmas party.

But at that time, whether or not they could pass the final exams was negligible compared to the real worries of the girls.

Failing an exam only affects whether a person will need tutoring in the future, but at that time, the concern should be the future of the entire Yuehai City.

Of course, these are all things that haven't happened yet, and they are some of the few peaceful times that the girls still have.

That said, after the exam came the rehearsal that everyone just finished today.

Herika had already received the program schedule. Of the three bands that were about to perform, they were the middle one: the Light Music Club was to perform as the finale and provide accompaniment for the final routine chorus; while Sakuragawa Nana's band was very early on, after the opening song and dance performance and the routine manzai performance, it would be Sakuragawa Nana's turn.