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

"Where can't I see it?" Ba Qi pouted, somewhat indignant, but thankfully the tears welling up in her eyes stopped.

Yuuki Yui didn't dare to speak, her gaze drifting to the girl's stomach, hoping the other would understand the meaning on her own.

"Huh? What are you looking at?" Baqi was stunned for a moment, then recalled the extremely revealing outfit and the markings on Yuuki Yukino's stomach after her transformation earlier that day. Her cheeks flushed red, and her sharp gaze instantly turned into a blurry circle. She stammered, "Th-th-th-that's the Black Magic Mark? I-I thought you-you had some special hobby, that you were a-a shameless person. Look, you were going to do something naughty before..."

No wonder she was cursing herself as terrible and a pervert before; she was completely misunderstood!

"Ahem, calm down." Yuuki Yuen cleared her throat, pressing her fist against her upper lip like a middle-aged man about to speak. She then quickly withdrew her fist and changed her posture. It seems that such details, which are not in line with the image of a young girl, still need to be corrected slowly.

"Ah, okay, okay." Baqi stopped babbling, but she was still fidgeting, rubbing her legs together and hiding her shy expression with her intertwined fingers, peeking through the gaps between them.

"Sigh." The awkward situation made Yuuki sigh, and she took another big gulp of coffee. The bitter taste reminded her of her purpose.

She came here to understand the whole story. Now that she had achieved her goal, she couldn't just sit there awkwardly staring at the other person all night.

Furthermore, even if Inuyama Tomoe was deceived, her excessive actions would not be erased, nor would her status as a fallen magical girl change. Yuuki Yui's decision not to hold a grudge but to tell her the truth is already more than enough.

Thinking about it carefully, she didn't actually need to care about Inuyama Baki's feelings at all, nor did she need to take responsibility for them. These actions to make the other person happy were just unnecessary out of pity.

To clear her name, she couldn't afford to get involved with the already corrupt Inuyama Tomoe. Cutting off their relationship before it could develop further seemed to be the best option.

Treating everyone with kindness will only hurt you; it's better to cut ties decisively.

Before anyone knew it, Inuyama Tomoe noticed that Yuuki's expression was gradually becoming serious and moved her hand away from her face. Even someone as naive as her could read the oppressive atmosphere from Yuuki's expression. For the first time tonight, she remained silent and waited for Yuuki to speak.

Yuuki Yui tried her best to organize her thoughts, even though she felt her words were somewhat stiff. Perhaps a cold and impersonal way of putting it would be more suitable as a parting message for their final meeting:

"I've told you everything I know. If you don't want a tragic ending, or rather, if you don't want to be defeated, forget your identity as a magical girl, forget what happened these past two days, and continue living like an ordinary person."

Then, she finished the rest of her coffee in one gulp, pushed the glass away, and prepared to get up and leave.

"Let's still..."

"and many more!"

Yuki Yukino's words were cut short by the soft touch that came over her. The clinking sound of the glass, half-full of ice, being knocked over on the table and rolling against the wall became the only sound in the silence.

She caught a glimpse of the girl's silver hair at very close range, silently brushing against her cheek, hanging on her eyelashes, and resting on her neck, tickling her and making her want to escape.

In Yuuki Enishi's wide eyes, the face of a girl named Inuyama Tomoe was reflected, her cheeks slightly flushed. The girl's breath on her face was hotter than the midday sun.

A mental breakdown isn't actually a blank mind, but rather being overwhelmed by a jumble of thoughts. You know exactly what's happening, but the sheer volume of data makes it impossible to process, think, or act—that's Yuuki Enishi's current state.

Bitter, cool, soft, sweet, fiery, lingering, fleeting.

Then, nothing was left.

"This is... this is the magic I lost to repay you for helping me..." Inuyama Baki withdrew her upper body from the table, her throat bobbing as if she were talking to herself: "The taste of Americano, I really don't like it."

The girl hurriedly slung her backpack over her shoulder, and the wind chimes at the shop entrance rang again.

No one closed the shop door for her, and the cool breeze through the crack in the door blew away Yuuki Yukino's random thoughts and chaotic ideas.

"what?"

As if waking from a dream, Yuuki Yukino raised her hand to touch the corner of her lips, but the fingertips that touched them were not even a fraction as soft as they had been before, still carrying a trace of lingering warmth that was rapidly dissipating.

The table was a mess, with half a cup of cold coffee left, a pile of paper balls, melted ice cubes, and a glass that the girl had knocked over when she bent down. Just like Yuuki Yukino's heart.

"what???"

The store manager's gaze fell on her again, seemingly still wearing an undisguised auntie smile. Such a look made her want to hurry up and leave. Her body, feeling as if it were about to collapse, involuntarily leaned against the sofa, weakly slumping to the side along the backrest until she was in a lying position.

Yuuki Yukina placed her hand on her stomach through her clothes; the area where the black magic markings were located was slightly warm.

"The magic power has really increased."

Chapter Eleven: Time to Go to School

Yuki Eri tossed and turned in bed almost all night, unable to sleep. She knew she should conserve her energy for tomorrow's great journey, but she just couldn't fall asleep.

As soon as I close my eyes, the blush-inducing peck in the coffee shop will reappear before my eyes.

Instead, she should think about the great journey ahead tomorrow. That's right, she's going to school.

I haven't had the experience of sitting in a classroom from morning till night since graduating from high school, so thinking about it makes me a little excited.

She wasn't worried about her studies at all. With nine years of compulsory education plus three years of grueling high school training, it would be a piece of cake for outstanding college students who had fought their way through the college entrance examination to go back and learn some high school courses.

What she really cared about was whether she would be able to see Nishio Reki, who was in the same class as her, when she arrived at school the next day, and how she would talk to her after meeting her.

And what about the mastermind behind this, who wears the same uniform as me and is lurking in the school? Could they be secretly plotting something to hinder me?

The plan to clear one's name should be put on the agenda, but these problems, if left unresolved, will undoubtedly affect the progress of the plan.

Thinking about these things, Yuuki Yukino finally managed to drift off to sleep when the sky began to lighten.

Then, three hours later, I was groggily woken up by my phone alarm, and reluctantly prepared to embark on the great journey that I had been longing for all night.

Before she even left the house, she encountered the first hurdle in her great journey—changing clothes.

She went out three times yesterday, and each time she wore a close-fitting sports bra. Sports bras are like vests; you just need to figure out the front and back before putting them on.

But this is not a long-term solution. She felt that since she was going to accept the identity of Yuuki Yuki, she couldn't keep wearing sports bras. She had to wear sports bras and regular bras as well, so that she could be considered healthy.

Yuuki Yuuki initially thought that overcoming her psychological shame would be enough, but when she was about to change her clothes, she realized that the problem was not as simple as overcoming shame.

She couldn't fasten the straps; even the simple act of fastening the hooks together took her a long time to complete.

Otherwise, just put it on top of your head once it's fastened.

The idea was wonderful, but reality was cruel. No matter how hard she tried, the wire around the hem would always get stuck in her two well-developed pectoral muscles, leaving only a red mark on her body.

So she tried a different method: she hung the bra on her stomach, fastened the straps facing forward, twisted it all the way behind her, and finally lifted it up to a suitable position before putting on the shoulder straps.

This method did work, although it did make my southern hemisphere a little sore, but I managed to put it on successfully. Then the bow tie at the collar of the uniform shirt became a new problem.

She simply couldn't understand how other high school girls could make pretty bow ties by simply threading a rope through their collar and tying a knot. Even after learning the basic method from the most-viewed videos on YouTube in this other world, the bow ties she made were still crooked and messy, like a child's shoelaces.

It took Yuki Eri a full twenty minutes to tie her bow tie, from the moment she entered the house until she was buried, which made her time to get to school very tight.

Then it should be time to tie your hair up...

Having learned her lesson from tying a bow tie, Yuuki Eri chose to give up. She didn't know how much time it would take to tie her hair up to her satisfaction, so she figured letting it down was actually quite nice.

Hmm? My hair feels a bit messy, let me comb it.

Five more minutes passed, and after the wooden comb had pulled out several pink hairs, causing Yuuki En to scream in pain, she finally looked much smoother than before.

Now that all those tedious preparations are done, it's time to officially go to school.

Half an hour later, Yuuki Yukari had just walked into the classroom when the other students awkwardly froze in mid-air as they greeted her.

"Good morning, Yuuki-kun. You... don't look well? Should you ask for leave?"

Yuuki looked in the mirror before leaving the house. She didn't look very good. The dark circles under her eyes from staying up all night, her long hair that was still a bit messy after combing, and her crooked bow tie made it no wonder that others would misunderstand her.

"Good morning, I'm fine, it's just... well, I haven't slept well."

Yuuki made up an excuse, picked up her schoolbag and walked towards the classroom. Halfway there, she realized that she didn't know where her seat was, so she turned around and went to the podium to look for the seating chart.

"Yuki-kun, what are you doing?"

Just as she stepped onto the podium, a stern voice, tinged with doubt, rang out from the doorway. Upon hearing this, the other students quickly returned to their seats, leaving Yuuki Yui all alone on the podium.

Yuuki Yukino immediately recognized the voice as belonging to their homeroom teacher. Was her name Xiangzi or Ruizi? Her character art in the game was quite good, and she was under thirty years old, but she didn't have many scenes. She was neither romanceable nor possible to pursue, and was a minor character with a name and character art.

He's not a bad person, but he has a bad temper.

The homeroom teacher walked into the classroom and frowned when she saw Yuuki Yuuki's slightly disheveled appearance. Her tone softened a little: "What are you standing there for? Go back to your seat and sit down."

"I'm so sorry." Yuuki Yuen bowed deeply and walked towards one of the two empty seats below the podium.

"That's where Nishio is." The homeroom teacher's voice came from behind again.

"Did she get delirious from the fever?"

"It's possible. Look at her dark circles, they're so bad. She must be sick."

"I'm so worried about Yuuki-kun. She can't even find her own seat."

The students began to whisper among themselves.

As the focus of the entire class's attention, Yuuki Yuuki felt so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear into the ground, but on the surface, she had to act as if nothing had happened and walk around the podium to her seat.

"Quiet." After Yuuki Yuki sat down, the homeroom teacher walked up to the podium, and the whole class immediately fell silent.

"Before morning self-study, there are two things to announce." The homeroom teacher paused for a moment: "Nishio will be taking a break from school for a period of time due to health reasons."

Nishio-san? Western calendar? Take a break from school?

"Did Li say that himself?!" Yuuki Yuki jumped up from her seat before she could even settle in, and all eyes in the class were once again on her.

"Yuki-kun." The invisible pressure from the homeroom teacher pressed down again, forcing Yuki to sit down reluctantly.

She wasn't sure if the excuse of taking a leave of absence due to health reasons was just a common pretext, like the notice issued when a comic book was canceled by a magazine citing health reasons. At the very least, her homeroom teacher should know some of the inside story, and perhaps she should find an opportunity to ask her about it.

"Secondly, we will have a transfer student joining our class today. Let's give them a round of applause."

Oh, a transfer student, a cliché trope, a setup overused in countless works. Yuuki Yukino clapped a few times as a token gesture, joining the other students in their enthusiastic applause.

Wait a minute, there's no transfer student in the original story.

The girl who walked through the front door of the classroom and stood on the podium was wearing the same uniform as everyone else, and that silver short hair that Yuuki Yuki would probably never forget appeared before her eyes once again.

"Hello everyone, I'm Inuyama Tomoe from Seiyuu Academy. I'm very happy..."

"You bastard?!" Yuuki Yuuki stood up abruptly, swallowing back the words that almost slipped out, but inevitably, all eyes in the class turned to her.

Three times! Three times!

"Yuki Yukino." The homeroom teacher addressed her by her full name with a smile, but the malice in his eyes behind that smile was impossible to hide.

"Get out of here."

"Yes……"

Also! Also! One more thing to add: some readers asked why the protagonist was so calm after Li's accident. This chapter mentions the teacher saying Li is temporarily taking a leave of absence from school. The phrase "taking a break" was meant to subtly convey that something happened to Li, but he's unharmed! Unfortunately, the author's writing skills weren't up to par, so this is the only way to convey the message later. My sincere apologies to all readers!

Chapter Twelve: How Could Campus Life Be So Bumpy?

After morning self-study, some people started discussing in private the earlier incident involving Yuuki Yuuki.

"Did you know? Yuki had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was all messy this morning. Not only could she not find her seat, but she was also startled at times."

"Yes, she's such a gentle person, and she always pays attention to her appearance. How could she have become like this? Could she be sick?"

The initial discussion focused on the idea that Yuuki Yui could completely ignore it. In the end, what they said was true, and Yuuki Yui had already learned a profound lesson from being punished by standing in the corner.