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

When Sakura Hanako asked that question, Helica's expression wavered slightly.

It wasn't that she really didn't bring anything; everyone could see that Helica was indeed carrying a shopping bag.

It's unlikely that Helica would come empty-handed, but her subtle expression right now is something that Yuuki Yuen can't quite figure out.

There are only two people that Yuuki Yui is most worried about bringing strange things to her—Inuyama Tomoe and Mizuno Yu.

Most of the other people's words are fine, but Mizuno Yu is a repeat offender and is very likely to bring some random food and ask everyone to add it to the hot pot while talking about trials or something.

Although clams are a little unusual, they are a normal ingredient in mixed hot pot. Yuki En had also prepared black tiger prawns, so there was actually no problem.

As for Inuyama Tomoe, she has a criminal record; a week ago, her box of liqueur-filled chocolates was a Class A war criminal who caused the Christmas Eve incident.

That's right! It happened exactly one week ago!

As for Helica, Yuuki Yuuki felt that she wouldn't do such a thing.

But when Yuuki saw what Helica took out of the bag, she began to realize that trusting Helica was the biggest mistake she had ever made.

"Hmm? Something's not right?" Helica tilted her head, looked at the two incredibly thick, twisted rod-like objects in her hand, and then bumped them together.

The hard objects collided, making a thud. The sound seemed to strike Yuuki Yuuki's heart, making her break out in a cold sweat just by hearing it.

"I remember it was still alive when I bought it! The seller even said that handling it alive is the freshest way to process it. How did it become like this?"

Helica, puzzled, overlapped the objects in her hands and tapped them again, as if Hong Moli were holding a magic wand.

The clash of Koumori's twin saws produced a piercing screech and dazzling sparks, but to Yuuki Enishi, it was nothing compared to the shock Helica was experiencing now.

It was so shocking, so incredibly shocking, that Yuuki Yuuki broke down and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

"Why do some people bring live eels when they eat mixed hot pot?!"

Chapter 127 New Year

"Cheers to the New Year!"

The girls sitting around the table shouted in unison and raised their glasses, the colorful drinks inside shimmering sweetly under the lights.

The rising steam from the boiling hot pot in the center adds an almost surreal touch to this beautiful scene.

In reality, what's most unreal is that these girls, who were once enemies, can sit around the same table; this unprecedented event is truly a dream come true.

A few empty toasts followed, and then pairs of chopsticks reached for the delicious food on the table. Tofu, shrimp, clams, and fresh meat—a hot pot made from various ingredients was shared among the girls. Although there were still a few hours until the New Year, the lively atmosphere was the best preview of the New Year.

No food was wasted. Even the somewhat nonsensical eel that Tenrai Herika brought was transformed into an unmissable delicacy on the table with the help of Hong Moli.

Humans are constantly going through the process of growth, and Yuuki Yuki is no exception.

After tonight, she made two new discoveries.

Eels should not be demonized; the eel dishes made by Koumori are delicious.

Also, no matter how delicious the eel is, I still don't like eating eel at all.

Are these things important?

not at all.

What's important are the girls sitting with me. Although they talk about topics that may be whimsical or incredibly realistic, they are all real people here.

It was the thread of fate that Yuuki Yuuki tied in a single thought in the past that connected everyone and created this impossible scene.

"Did you know? Actually, Xiaoyuan was very mature when she was little. Although she didn't always pay attention in class, she learned very quickly. It's just that for some reason, Xiaoyuan's grades have always been mediocre."

"If you ask me, grades don't matter at all. What matters is whether a person can live more authentically. I've been living much more freely since becoming a corrupted magical girl."

"It's a lie to say grades don't matter! You only say that because you're so smart! I have to work so hard to stay in first place, and then you just easily surpass me. It's infuriating! Fine! I won't lose to you again!"

Speaking of the three of them, there is actually no irreconcilable conflict between them, except for one thing: Tomoe's hostility towards Nishio Reki.

Helica and Baki are opposing forces between magical girls and corrupted magical girls, and have therefore clashed directly several times. In addition, both of them have feelings for Yuuki Yuuki, and their personalities are very incompatible, so their relationship seems to be extremely bad, but it is just a lot of noise and little action.

However, Nishio Reki is the culprit who directly caused Tomoe's corruption and her involvement in the magical girl world. Although Tomoe has been trying to ease the tension by saying things like "If she hadn't fallen into corruption, she wouldn't have been able to meet Eri" and "She knows what will happen to her in the future," the conflict itself still exists.

From Tomoe's reaction when she first saw Nishio Reki after his transformation, we can tell just how much hatred she harbored towards him at that time.

However, this irreconcilable conflict was quietly resolved a few days ago.

It's true that Nishio Reki was the one who caused Tomoe to fall into darkness, but the correct timeline is as follows:

The previous Riku Nishio—let's call her Riku of Reincarnation for now—found Tomoe, and the two began their mission. Riku of Reincarnation was attacked by the original magical girl, and she entrusted her power and memories to the current Riku.

This means that these actions are essentially unrelated to Xiao Li now.

Even if the current Koretoko does something similar in the future, such as directly contributing to Tsukimi Rie's corruption, she is completely innocent in the matter of Baqi and bears no responsibility whatsoever.

This matter was mentioned casually by Yuuki Yuki during a long phone conversation with Baqi one day, and from then on, Baqi's last unresolved issue with Koreki no longer existed.

If we're talking about unresolved issues, the other side gets along quite well.

"That's right. The student council president's job is actually very troublesome, especially since Kuroba Laishi and Seishin intentionally streamlined the top of the student council to just the student council president. Although I hate Kuroba Laishi and her reforms have many flaws, her arrogance is indeed capable of supporting her to achieve this level of success."

"I see. After listening to what Hong said, I realized that there are so many seemingly insignificant things that are actually so important. I have really benefited a lot."

Yuuki Yukino didn't have any particular feelings towards Sakura Hanako.

Her presence in the game is far less noticeable than that of the three main characters. As a character who appears later, she doesn't have any particularly outstanding features that can leave an impression on players, which has led to her current status.

However, after getting to know her, Yuuki Enishi felt that Sakura Hanako's ordinariness was a reflection of most people's reality.

Unlike Kou Mari, who achieved unparalleled success through hard work, or Tenrai Helika or Mizuno Yu, who had obvious personality flaws but had an environment that accepted them, Sakura Hanako's path is the one that everyone is most familiar with.

Hardworking, but not outstanding; with personality flaws, but not obvious; living in this world in this ordinary yet unique way.

Perhaps if Sakura Hanako didn't have that healing ability, her position in the eyes of gamers would be even more awkward?

Meanwhile, Hyakki Chiyuu, whose abilities were completely countered by Sakura Hanako, unsurprisingly listened to Mari's words while occasionally interjecting, and spent the rest of the time eating ravenously.

Mizuno Yu is similar, occasionally expressing her unique insights, and sometimes taking care of Hayashi Mustard and exchanging a few words with her.

Meanwhile, Lin Jiezi, a girl shrouded in mystery, whose problems have been partially solved but remain unsolved, has made some small but undeniable progress in her interactions with Nijisanji.

She was the only one who was brought into Nijisanji because of suspicion, but she gained an equally unique experience because of Nijisanji's unique atmosphere.

Despite her inability to refuse and poor communication skills, there is one thing that everyone can see: she, like everyone else, loves Nijisanji.

……

"Be careful on the road. Let's discuss the meeting time tomorrow morning after everyone has woken up."

Yuuki Yukino stood by the stairs, waving goodbye to the girls who were about to leave.

"Okay, senior, see you next year!"

See you next year.

The girls waved goodbye and walked down the steps, restoring the room to its previous quiet.

Having experienced Helica and Baskin's dream in Nishio Reki's dream, the two surprisingly reached a consensus and firmly rejected the suggestion that everyone go to the shrine to wait for the sunrise.

It was cold and crowded, but apart from being a bit youthful, it didn't seem like a big deal.

Yuki En agreed with this point. She remembered that one of her few travel experiences in her previous life was climbing a famous mountain with thousands of other people. As a result, a group of tourists who were going to the temple to pray for blessings got stuck halfway up the mountain, unable to go up or down.

She can still clearly recall the specific scene at that time.

A monk stood on a high place with a megaphone and shouted: "Those who want to pray for blessings, Buddha can hear your prayers. Everyone, come with me and worship in the direction of the temple. One, two, three, okay, Buddha has received all your prayers. Now everyone turn around and descend the mountain in an orderly manner."

Although it felt a bit perfunctory at the time, if Yuuki Yuki really followed the crowd and squeezed in and out, she probably wouldn't be able to get down the mountain by nightfall.

Since then, Yuuki Yui has developed a slight aversion to things that are meaningful but thankless. During the day, there are fewer people and the temperature is warm, so there's plenty of time.

Besides, everyone came here without planning to stay until New Year's Eve. Their kimonos are all at home, and even if they start preparing now, it will take a lot of time. So no one will be able to sleep tonight.

After seeing everyone else off, Yuuki Yukino washed the dishes by herself, wiping away the mess left by everyone's revelry.

By the time Yuuki Yuki finished cleaning the room, it was already late at night.

After briefly heating up the two pre-divided dinners in a small box, Yuuki Yukino and Yumehara Sumireko went to the Dreamland and handed the dinners to Seishin and Kuroba Reisei, who were waiting there.

"We all had dinner together tonight, and I prepared a portion for you. It's a bit late, but please eat it while it's hot."

As Yuuki Yui spoke, she sat on the chair made of tentacles with her legs crossed, crossed her arms, and watched as Seishin accepted the dinner she had brought, and then gave one portion to Kuroba Reisei.

Then, Sheng Shiyin moved back. She moved so slowly that she waited for Kuroba Laishi to open the two-person lunchbox and place it in front of her, then took the chopsticks Kuroba Laishi offered her.

"Thank you, I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Yuuki Yukina didn't know whether she was speaking to herself or to Kuroba Rise, but she nodded slightly nonetheless.

There was silence throughout, broken only by the clinking of chopsticks and bowls and the soft chewing sounds of the girls.

Normally, two or more magical girls would be needed to monitor them at times like this, but since it's the New Year, Yuuki Yuki and Yumehara Sumireko both have some primordial power. Even if they can't defeat the two of them, they have the ability to run out of the Dreamland and lock them inside, so there's no need to worry too much.

Besides, this is the last task for today.

After the two finished their dinner, Yuuki Yukino wished them a "Happy New Year" and then left with Yumehara Sumireko after clearing away the dishes.

Next, we can just quietly wait for the New Year.

Although Yuuki Yuki doesn't really care about the New Year's Eve moment, shouldn't there at least be some sense of ritual?

Time flows quietly, toward the New Year, toward a new future.

The ruins of the Great Cathedral of the Holy Age Academy, now cordoned off.

The pure white coffin creaked open slowly, and the girl, whose hands were tightly bound, slowly rose from inside.

The girl raised her head and gazed at the distant night sky, but the blindfold covering her eyes made it uncertain whether she could actually see anything.

But that was just a moment ago.

A hand reached behind the girl's head and removed the restraints from her eyes, allowing her golden eyes to shine brightly in the darkness once more.

Next came the foreign objects stuck in the girl's mouth, the restraints that held her body in place, and the hand slowly and gently removed them one by one from the girl's body.

The girl stretched out her pale hand, like a girl accepting an invitation to a ball.

The clock struck midnight precisely, and colorful fireworks burst into the sky.

Amidst the rising fireworks, the girl was led to her slowly rise by that hand, and then slowly took a step forward.

But what the girl said was not a New Year's blessing.

"I am back."

The girl's voice was hoarse.