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

Fortunately, after seeing Yuuki Eki's resigned look, Nishio Reki remained silent for a moment and chose not to ask any further questions.

"We haven't come to see Xiaoyuan all day, so did Xiaoyuan rest well today?"

"It's not good at all."

"That's true." Nishio Reki chuckled twice. "Does Xiaoyuan need to rest for a bit? Like... a lap pillow?"

So, we still need to apply it?

I've already consumed enough "pretty girl energy" today; if I keep consuming more, I might explode.

Yuuki Yukino didn't need to refuse; Nishio Reki, her childhood friend, was already able to read Yuuki Yukino's thoughts from the subtle changes in her facial expressions.

"I think I should just forget about it."

"No, I want to lie down." Yuuki Yuu turned to her side and leaned towards Nishio Ryū, the distance between them allowing Yuuki Yuu's head to rest on Nishio Ryū's lap.

Nishio Reki happily pursed his lips, gently stroking the top of Yuuki Eri's hair with his hand: "Okay."

Yuuki Yuuki scurried around on the sofa for a while, curled up her legs, and lay flat on her back, staring at Nishio Reki who was stroking her head for a long time.

Nishio Reki simply smiled and gently, slowly, repeated her actions with the same tenderness and warmth that Yuuki Eri had always shown her.

"Xiao Li, I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"Haven't we been alone together like this for a very, very long time?"

"It seems so."

"So, is there anything you want to do today?" After asking, Yuuki Yuen added a caveat: "No lewdness, you can't be lewd."

"I didn't intend to do that kind of thing either." Nishio Reki chuckled. Unlike Helica, who used laughter to hide her lust for him, Nishio Reki's tone was so natural that there was no hint of lying.

Yuuki Yui breathed a sigh of relief: "Phew, that's good."

After a moment, Nishio Reki slowly uttered a few words, as if he had made up his mind.

"However, I do have some other things I want to do."

"Oh, what is it?" Yuuki Yuuki tilted her head curiously, peeking at Nishio Ryū's expression through the gap in his arm.

"Today is Christmas Eve, and I want to give Xiaoyuan a Christmas Eve gift, or you can call it a Christmas present."

"Then I'll get off Xiao Li's legs first, and Xiao Li can go get it."

"No need for that. Xiaoyuan, just enjoy the lap pillow. Even if I'm not wearing anything, this gift can still be given to Xiaoyuan."

What? You're not wearing anything?

Is it something risqué again?

Is Xiao Li going to say something like, "I am Xiao Yuan's Christmas present"?

No, no, I don't want that kind of thing!

While Yuuki Yukina was lost in thought, Nishio Reki had already moved away from the hand that had been caressing her.

Black magic began to gather in Nishio Reki's hands. At first, it was an elusive layer of mist. As the mist gathered together, it became droplets of water. The droplets of magic continued to merge, growing larger and more solid with the naked eye, until they finally condensed into a sphere.

A black bubble, about the size of a ping-pong ball, rippling with water.

"Here it is." Nishio Reki held the bubble in his palm and showed it to Yuuki Yukino.

Looking at that thing, Yuuki Yukino couldn't lie there peacefully anymore.

"what is this?"

“It’s a memory,” Nishio Reki replied. “A small part that I can’t say, but that Yuuki would definitely like to know.”

Chapter Seventy: Let the kids play fewer games

Yuuki Yuki felt as if her body was submerged in water.

Sink, keep sinking, sinking into unfathomable depths.

She has had this experience before, more than once.

The girl who gave her the same experience is now right beside Yuuki Yuuki, sinking down with her.

When you sink to a realm where even perception disappears, gravity and buoyancy, heaven and earth, up and down, reverse at a certain moment.

Then comes the ascent, and one's own senses gradually return, first touch, then hearing, then sight...

As Yuuki Yukino regained full control of her body, she found herself standing on solid ground once more.

Standing beside Yuuki Yuki were Nishio Reki and Yumehara Sumireko, who had completed her divine liberation.

"This is my memory. Here I still can't mention the things I can't mention, but we can use our own eyes to confirm it." Nishio Reki raised his hands in front of him and opened and closed them a few times, as if he was also getting used to his body.

Following Nishio Reki, Yumehara Sumireko further explained: "It's similar to when my soul fragments showed you my past. This is just the most primitive memory, not a 'dream' expanded from the memory. We can only look, not touch, and we can't change it, although even if you did change it, it wouldn't make any difference."

The Christmas gift that Nishio Reki prepared for Yuuki Yuuki was a memory bubble that was everywhere in the dream world, but it was a little bit different.

It wasn't created by directly extracting Nishio Reki's soul, but rather by copying it bit by bit, like a painting. Although the functions are similar, the difficulty of creating it is worlds apart from directly extracting a memory bubble.

The advantage is that it doesn't require Sumireko Yumehara to expend a lot of her magic power to construct the dream. In the past, Sumireko Yumehara could squander her magic power three times in two days, mainly because she relied on the ample reserves in the dream world. Now, she can't afford to squander it anymore.

That's right, this bubble couldn't be made or viewed without Sumireko Yumehara, so Sumireko Yumehara had to act as a tour guide.

However, Sumireko Yumehara is easy to win over; all you need to do is buy her the newly released Legend of Versailles.

Looking at the memory space created for her, Yuuki Yukino first admired it for a while, and then remembered to ask the crucial question: "So when did you reach a consensus?"

Nishio Reki didn't need to think at all: "When we were all staying together for the first day, didn't Yui go home to take a shower? I took that opportunity to discuss the possibility of doing this with Yumehara Sumireko. After that, Yui always kept Yumehara Sumireko by her side, and I had a lot of time to spend with her."

Was it during the study session at Lin Jiezi's house?

So Nishio Reki had already made plans so early on?

Sumireko Yumehara continued, "Didn't you take me with you when you were rehearsing intensively? That's when it was completed. Also, if there are things she can't say, I can say them for her."

"It happened after Seishion released that video. Tomorrow, Yuuto will definitely be going to Seishion Academy, right? Rather than letting Yuuto go without knowing anything, it's better for her to witness the ending that none of us want to see," Nishio Reki added.

"That ending?"

While Yuuki Yuuki was still wondering, the surrounding scenery changed.

The change happened in an instant; the open space where the three were standing was transformed into a pitch-black jungle in the next second.

The jungle is not made up of real trees, but of thick, pure black tentacles that are as long as a young girl’s waist.

But since Yuuki Enishi considers them to be "trees," they must possess the form of "trees."

The upper part of the tentacles extended into many smaller branches, and below those branches hung plump, large fruits.

Ginseng fruit tree?

Yuuki Yuen's first thought was of the immortal tree in that well-known book of gods and demons, which grows a fruit shaped like an infant that can prolong life.

However, the tentacle trees that Yuuki Enishi can see now are completely different from the fairy trees she imagined in her childhood. The only thing they have in common is that the fruits on them are also people, right?

That's right, hanging on the tentacle tree are people, but they are not babies; they are much, much larger than babies.

If I had to put it in perspective, it would probably resemble the outline of a young girl.

Although Yuuki Yukino felt that what she saw now was more like a girl being treated like a teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll) on the tentacles than a girl growing out of them.

This wasn't just one plant, but a "jungle" that filled the entire field of vision. Just standing there, Yuuki Yuuki felt a chill run down her spine.

"Where is this place?"

“Saint Yuu Academy,” Nishio Reki replied.

“Then this is…” Yuuki Yuu raised her finger and pointed to a thick tentacle covered with girls next to her.

“It’s the last one of the three pillar gods, the Black Goat of the Forest who is in charge of ‘fertility and life’ and has given birth to countless offspring. Only that wand is so disgusting.” Sumireko Yumehara curled her lips unhappily: “But the most disgusting one is still your Nyarlathotep.”

"No, what does this have to do with my Nyarlathotep?" Yuuki Yuki never expected that Yumehara Sumireko would bring up the topic with her.

On second thought, now was not the time to worry about such things, so Yuuki Yui continued to ask about the matter at hand.

"So when will they ripen?"

Sumireko Yumehara stroked her chin: "Actually, they are already mature, but due to insufficient budget, we only have modeling, not animation."

what?

What does this have to do with the budget? Why are we suddenly doing both modeling and animation?

Oh, so you mean that Nishio Reki's copied memories aren't perfect, so he just has this thing to look at as a decoration, right?

That's why you shouldn't play too many games! Just letting Sumireko Yumehara spend some time in a handheld console has completely changed her way of speaking, making her sound like a gaming addict!

"That's not the point. Let's move forward." Sumireko Yumehara glanced at Yuuki Yuuki and took a step towards a tentacle.

When Sumireko Yumehara touched the tentacles, she was instantly trapped inside, as if she had been clipped through.

Should we just walk in?

I didn't think much of it when I was using it, but seeing these tentacles, Yuuki Yuki really felt a little bit... disgusted.

"Don't worry, there's no collision volume." Sumireko Yumehara stretched out her head from her tentacles, looking like a decoration hanging on a stove, which was quite bizarre.

"Alright, alright, I know, I know!" Yuuki Yuen waved her hands repeatedly and followed after Nishio Reki.

Fortunately, those tentacles were hollow, so walking over them wasn't as difficult as Yuuki Yuki had imagined.

If it's some kind of sticky, gelatinous substance inside, Yuuki Yuki would really spit it out, right?

Even if you ask Sumireko Yumehara, she'll probably just brush you off with some excuse like "we don't need to waste money on things that don't matter."

After passing through the tentacle jungle, the scenery before her eyes became much more familiar to Yuuki Yuuki.

Although the nearby buildings had mostly collapsed, and the ground was covered with either overturned bricks and stones or overgrown tentacles, Yuuki Enishi could tell that this was the huge playground after entering the St. Yuuki Academy.

After all, Yuuki Yuuki had personally visited twice before.

As soon as you step onto this playground, everything that was still comes to life.

"There's animation here," Sumireko Yumehara added.

It has to be said that these tentacles covered in black slime are even more disgusting when they move.

The girls that sprouted from the tips of the tentacles fell to the ground one by one. The girls, who were all different in size and appearance but all had light yellow hair, rushed towards Yuuki Yukino like zombies in a post-apocalyptic movie.

Of course, it wasn't Yuuki Yukino who was standing here watching the show with Yumehara Sumireko and Nishio Reki.