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

Baqi looked up at the old-fashioned wall clock and suddenly let out a small gasp.

But the gasps and surprise didn't linger on Baqi's face; they were quickly masked by her warm, sun-like smile.

"It's been almost an hour already. I've had a really great time spending this time with Xiaoyuan."

“Actually, I’m the same.” Yuuki Yukari smiled, her eyes crinkling, a smile that made her feel very at ease.

Baqi's smile has always been infectious, and this time was no exception.

"Then Xiaoyuan, you have to give me a high score, okay?" Baqi stuck out her tongue and put her hands together.

"It depends on Baqi's performance." Yuuki Yui remained noncommittal, after all, she had already decided that today's score would be split evenly, she just wouldn't tell Baqi.

"However, before the date ends, I have a Valentine's Day gift and a heartfelt message for Xiaoyuan."

As she spoke, Baqi picked up a delicate little box, about the size of her palm, from the table and pushed it in front of Yuuki Yuki with both hands.

"Xiaoyuan, can you accept my feelings?"

Chapter 147 A Girl's Spring Begins From This Moment

How to give someone a gift is a real challenge for Yuuki Eri.

Gifts that are too expensive are unaffordable, while those that are too cheap seem like a lack of respect for the recipient. Sometimes people say that handmade gifts represent heartfelt sentiments, while other times they say that such childish things shouldn't be presented.

Yuuki Yukino is indeed not good at choosing gifts. During Christmas a while ago, the gifts she gave to others were cookies or chocolates, which were specially selected according to each person's characteristics.

Incidentally, the chocolates were only given to three girls with whom he had ambiguous relationships; for example, the chocolate given to Herika was an orange chocolate, and the chocolate given to Xiaoli was a green apple chocolate.

Originally, strawberry chocolates were intended for Baqi, but because of Baqi's liqueur-filled chocolate incident, Yuuki Yuki temporarily replaced them with 99% dark chocolate and demanded that Baqi eat them in front of her.

Yuuki Yukino's inability to choose gifts also indicates that she doesn't have much of a pursuit when it comes to gifts; she'll be happy no matter what others give her.

As long as it's not cheap cardstock or a strange gift, Yuuki Enishi thinks it's fine.

So when Baqi placed the small box on the table with both hands, Yuuki Yukino was both expectant and worried.

"Xiao Yuan, aren't you going to open it and take a look?"

Baqi urged her on, just as she had urged Yuki Yuki to open the packaging of the liqueur-filled chocolates and try one when they were at Yuki Yuki's house.

Yuuki Yukino, just like Baqi, solemnly accepted the gift box from Baqi with both hands and pulled it from the table to her face.

The outer packaging is not complicated; it consists of only a layer of wrapping paper and a ribbon tied on top of the paper, just like a bento box.

Under Baqi's expectant gaze, Yuki Yuki pinched the ribbon, slowly pulled it out, and untied it, leaving it piled on the table like a rumpled bag.

Yuuki Yukino felt inexplicably nervous, as if she were really peeling away a young girl's clothes, even though this thought was somewhat, no, quite strange.

But with Baqi watching her movements so closely, even the simple steps of unpacking the gift box became clumsy in Yuuki Yuuki's hands.

It shouldn't be some kind of evil toy, right? This is a public place; it's not appropriate to give yourself that kind of thing at this time.

Those strange drugs or foods, probably not, right?

Although Yuuki Yukino briefly thought that Tomoe might drug her to make her stomach hurt or her head spin, thus ruining their date, she believed that Tomoe wouldn't build her victory on her own suffering.

Yes, Baqi would never do those things to herself.

Lost in thought, Yuuki Yukino unwrapped the packaging paper as well.

Beneath the wrapping paper was a small, pure white box with the manufacturer's logo drawn in just a few simple strokes.

Yuuki Yuuki was quite familiar with that logo; in fact, she saw it every day.

Whether it's in schools, stationery stores, or on billboards along the roadside, you can see this sign everywhere.

It's Inuyama Stationery, and also the logo of the company owned by Baqi's family.

With a growing sense of unease, Yuuki Yukino opened the lid, revealing a single, crystal-clear glass object lying quietly inside.

"This is?"

Yuuki Yuuki let out a soft "hmm" and took the thing in her hand, which looked like the crystal wand of a magical girl in the most stereotypical image.

The crystal wand was about the length of a pen.

No, that thing is a pen, made entirely of glass, and the spiral nib is the key to Yuuki Yuuki recognizing its function.

The entire pen body is also a spiral structure. Inside the pen body, it seems as if a deep purple starry sky is sealed. A tentacle outlined by an extremely fine thread rests under the starry sky, as if the waves of the starry sea cannot disturb its slumber.

Yuuki Yuuki recognized it at a glance; it was her own tentacle, which could also be considered one of her symbols.

"There's more below, there's more below."

Baqi urged Yuuki to open the next layer.

Yuuki Yukino lifted the bottom layer, revealing an ink bottle shaped like a test tube.

Yuuki Enishi raised the ink bottle and shone it into the dim light of the coffee shop. The cherry blossom ink rippled gently in the bottle, like a rain of flowers about to fall in early spring, or like the stray hairs falling across her forehead.

Yuuki Gen gently put them back, then carefully closed the lid.

Before Yuuki could speak, Baqi began to explain its origins to Yuuki in a manner that was half-answering and half-showing off.

"Xiaoyuan knows that my family actually owns a large stationery company, right? Don't say you don't know, okay? I've told Xiaoyuan about this."

Yuuki nodded gently and continued listening to Baqi's story.

But Baqi's account was actually only a few words long, without the lengthy discourse and flowery words that Yuki Enishi had imagined.

"My family's company also produces some high-end or collectible gifts and stationery, so I learned how to make them and then made them before Valentine's Day!"

"Just like that... simple?" Yuuki Yukino lifted the lid in disbelief and looked at the pen lying in the box again. It was the same thing, but after learning that it was made by Tomoe herself, Yuuki Yukino's eyes took on a different meaning when she looked at it.

"It's not simple at all. The part that symbolizes Xiaoyuan's tentacles has to be carved from glass. It took me several days just to learn how to model it. The glass pen part also has to be slowly twisted out by melting glass at high temperature. I wasted a lot of raw materials. But fortunately, the cost is not too high. What I wasted the most was time."

Baqi gestured and roughly explained to Yuki how much effort she had put into making this glass pen.

Yuuki Yukina realized once again that Tomoe might really be a genius. She was adept at everything from magical girls and academics to design, modeling, and light crafts, which she had never been exposed to before.

With such terrifying learning ability, you'd never go hungry no matter what you do, right?

Although Baqi was originally a young lady from a wealthy family, she would never go hungry.

"Well, actually, I wanted to give Xiaoyuan a more formal gift, but a gift that costs a lot of money doesn't seem to prove my sincerity. I was worried that Xiaoyuan wouldn't like something I made myself, so after thinking it over, this is what I came up with."

Baqi resumed the posture she had when she first arrived at the store, resting her chin on her hands, and spoke to Yuuki Yuki with a smile, a hint of pride, a touch of shyness, a warmth like a little sun, and a secret that belonged only to her and Yuuki Yuki.

"I shouldn't say anything that spoils the mood on a date, but it's too suffocating to keep it inside, so I'm going to be a little willful and say these things in front of Xiaoyuan. Cough cough, listen carefully."

"Xiaoyuan still has enemies to defeat. It could be Genken Mashiro or Asahiya, or it could be the dark power within her own body, or it could be the students who are competing with Xiaoyuan for the same university. Our future may come to an abrupt end at some point, or it may continue. None of us can say for sure."

"In the future, I might be by Xiaoyuan's side, or I might be far away from Xiaoyuan. No one knows what the future holds."

"That's why I wanted to give Xiaoyuan this gift, hoping that in the future, when Xiaoyuan carries this pen, she will remember me even in different places."

Baqi seems to have no worries every day, as if she can solve all the problems in the world smoothly.

But there are still things she can't control, like Yuuki Yuki.

Baqi didn't want to control Yuuki Yuuki. The direction and the future should be left to Yuuki Yuuki to decide. All she could do was watch silently, support her, and leave her own mark on Yuuki Yuuki's side, making that mark a secret between the two of them.

“Yuan, no, Yuuki Yuan.” Baqi’s tone suddenly became serious.

"Yes. I'm here." Yuuki Yui nodded, her expression becoming incredibly serious as she followed Baqi's earnestness.

Baqi took a shallow breath, then downed the coffee in her cup in one gulp, as if she had drunk a mouthful of strong liquor, ignited by the flame of courage in her heart.

Then, the girl spoke softly.

"I don't want to be a burden to you. If you plan to settle down somewhere for the rest of your life, I hope it will be by my side."

Although the snow and ice outside the window were still unmelted, Yuuki Yuki felt that spring had arrived at this moment.

"Ah, let's not talk about such embarrassing things!"

Baqi's face turned as red as a tomato. She had ruined the atmosphere she had created by speaking loudly, and pointed at the gift box on Yuuki Yuki's table.

"A pen, yes, Xiaoyuan. How about trying the gift I gave you? Although I haven't used this pen before, the test subjects all worked very well."

"Ah, okay, okay." Yuuki's reaction really startled her, but Yuuki would be happy to try out the gift she gave her in front of her, right?

Yuuki Yui thought for a moment and took the ink and pen out of the gift box.

Just as Yuuki was about to take out another useless piece of scrap paper from her bag, Baqi had already taken out a piece of paper from her own bag and pushed it in front of Yuuki.

"Let's use this one!"

As Baqi spoke, she leaned over the table, pressing the paper she was handed over tightly against it. She rested her chin on her hand as if she wanted to see Yuuki Yuki's face clearly, leaving only a small part visible in front of Yuuki Yuki.

Ba Qi pointed to the exposed part: "Xiao Yuan, try it here, just write Xiao Yuan's name on it."

“Oh…oh…” Yuuki nodded, twisted open the ink bottle, dipped the nib of the glass pen into it, and lightly dipped it into the pink ink.

wrong!

Baqi's gaze towards her was clearly off; it was as if she was expecting her to do that!

Yuuki Yukina sensed something was wrong the moment she saw Tomoe pounce on her!

Yuuki En gripped the pen tightly without making a sound and placed it on the paper.

Baqi's expectant gaze became even more pronounced.

Then, would you like to take a little bit of the pen away yourself?

Baqi's mood dropped.

Get a little closer.

Baqi became excited!

Yuuki Yukino reacted quickly, snatching the paper that Baqi was holding down.

"Ugh! Give it back to me!" Baqi tried to snatch it back, but Yuki was prepared and quickly handed the paper to her other hand, leaving Baqi empty-handed.

"No, I won't write it! Why did you take my paper?" Seeing that she couldn't get it back immediately, Baqi pouted, looking extremely aggrieved.

Yuuki glanced at the paper that Baqi handed her, and her anger flared even more. She slammed the paper onto the table with a bang.

"Your paper? Do you want me to repeat myself? What is this?!"

"This... well... hehe, hehehe." Baqi chuckled foolishly, scratching her hair, clearly still pretending to be stupid.

"What is it!" Yuuki Yukina slapped the glass several more times, feeling both angry and amused.

How could this guy come up with such a bizarre way to trick himself into falling into a trap?