The Witch Trial Begins with the OO Buckethead Zombie

'Orange Sherry'

The greatest and most wicked, possessing the power to easily strangle others, an evil witch.

"Alright, stop blocking the doorway." Just as Nikaido Hiro was struggling with his dilemma, Utsunomiya Hoshino also got up from the bed again, bent down to pick up the iron bucket that had fallen to the ground, and said, "Didn't that owl just say that we need to go to the meeting room to hear the explanation?"

"You guys go ahead, I need to find some clothes to change into."

I felt much more awake when I poured water on my head, but afterwards, it was quite uncomfortable to have to wear wet clothes.

It was damp and sticky, a feeling that was even more pronounced when Hiro Nikaido pressed down on me earlier. The areas that were wet felt hotter and more arid than the areas that weren't.

Not only is the heat transfer more noticeable, but when clothing sticks to the skin, it also makes people more aware of the sensation of physical contact.

Fortunately, Nikaido Hiro was dressed quite conservatively, and he was wearing white gloves.

Aside from the very noticeable breath that's almost touching your face, the other sensations aren't too bad.

Hmm, it's not as soft as Meruru's; the clothes are still too thick.

Although Hoshino Utsunomiya had his doubts about Nikaido Hiro's sudden... well, attack.

However, considering that the two situations were quite different, and that Nikaido Hiro's attitude towards him was very different on both occasions.

Hoshino Utsunomiya felt that... this was understandable.

Maybe Nikaido Hiro is actually that witch too.

After all, although the owl said there could only be one witch, can the owl's words be taken seriously?

Ice Maiden, Tachibana Sherry, Nikaido Hiro.

Who knows, all three of them might be witches, and it's even possible that all the people around them who keep changing are witches.

She's not some kind of witch trainee; she's just a witch who uses someone else's identity to deceive him into playing with her.

Otherwise, why would Heero's reaction be different every time?

"Clothes, are they?" Emma Sakuraba noticed that Hoshino Utsunomiya seemed to be soaked. She paused for a moment, but quickly got to work...

He took off his coat.

Wear mine!

she says.

Holding up her vest, revealing a cherry blossom embroidered skirt that barely covered her absolute territory, and below the skirt were leg rings that looked particularly unique and cinched her thighs. Sakura Emma stretched out her arms and handed her vest to Utsunomiya Hoshino.

Utsunomiya Hoshino: "..."

Hoshino Utsunomiya wanted to refuse, since he knew where the shower room was and it wouldn't take long to change into the clothes he had prepared.

But looking at Emma Sakuraba, who turned her head and abandoned her questioning of Hiro Nikaido, her eyes wide with anticipation.

...He still couldn't quite bring himself to refuse.

Both times, in order to end their lives as soon as possible, they neglected the child quite a bit, but in this kind of situation, they still didn't want to disappoint her.

Well, it's just a coat.

“...Thank you.” Unable to refuse the girl’s kindness, Hoshino Utsunomiya accepted Emma Sakura’s vest.

In front of the two girls, he began to take off his clothes.

Neither Emma Sakura nor Hiro Nikaido spoke.

One reason is that they want to stare, without feeling ashamed or embarrassed.

One might feel uneasy touching something, perhaps because there's no scar, but there could actually be other wounds; a thorough check is necessary.

But before the two could even open their eyes wide, a shocked voice came from behind the door.

"—Waaaaaah, what are you doing?!" The green-eyed, blonde, twin-tailed doll stared wide-eyed in disbelief. She frantically waved the sleeves of her black and white, cake-skirt-like dress, as if trying to dispel some filth, and cried out repeatedly:

"Shameless! Shameless! Shameless!"

Seemingly provoked by her voice and expression, a familiar blue figure, perhaps so familiar that it might have made the two people in the room feel a little suffocated, peeked out from the side.

"Shameless? Who? Let me see!" With her arm around the blonde girl's shoulder, the girl named 'Tachibana Sherry' looked into the house.

In just a moment, her hand reached over the blonde girl's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up towards the room:

"Wow, this is great! I love it! Come back often!"

Sherry Tachibana's voice echoed in the underground passage, and all eyes that were originally looking at Hoshino Utsunomiya were immediately drawn to her.

"Who are you, Desuwa?!"

Startled, the blonde girl trembled and made a loud noise as she shook off Tachibana Sherry.

"Report! It's Detective Desuwa!"

Tachibana Sherry saluted her in response.

"What great detective? Why are you even mimicking my voice, desuwa?!"

"Investigating cases and uncovering the truth—that's detective desuwa!"

"I don't care about this Desuwa!"

"Because Desuwa is very interesting!"

The sound echoed through the underground passage, and the two, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, began to perform a skit.

As for the three audience members inside the room...

Utsunomiya Hoshino had taken this opportunity to change out of her soaked shirt and put on Sakura Emma's coat.

Although this coat has no sleeves or buttons, it can still cover most of the body.

And it's also filled with the scent of a young girl's pickled shower gel.

Sherry's appearance startled him, but Hoshino Utsunomiya wouldn't be easily interrupted by what others said. After changing his clothes, he casually patted Emma Sakura's head and then quietly walked out of his room.

As for the pants, they weren't very wet, so there was no need to change them.

I've never seen blonde twin tails before; it seems like a new character.

The pairing of Heero and Emma remains unchanged, and Sherry Tachibana has been retained. Perhaps the witch is really satisfied with the role she played and plans to do it again.

...Are we back to a five-player game?

Thinking this, Hoshino Utsunomiya looked past the two people performing the skit and turned to gaze into the depths.

One, two, three; four, five; six, seven...

The door was still open, with all seven doors.

There's no way to tell from the open door whether anyone else is still inside...

"..."

No further judgment is needed.

Just as Utsunomiya Hoshino was thinking this, seemingly because of the commotion caused by Tachibana Sherry and the other girl, the remaining people who had been hiding in the room finally came out.

One of them, a familiar face, someone I'd seen before – Noah Kinosaki.

The other one is the same height as Noah Kinosaki... oh, he should be a bit shorter, perhaps he could compete for the shortest person in the whole event.

White-haired girl.

Her long, thick bangs covered one eye, and she wore a dark blue ribbon headband. The eye that wasn't covered was a dull, dark purple.

The girl was wearing an oversized, off-the-shoulder nightgown. The dress, in the same color scheme as her headband, was covered with star-like patterns. Below the star-like skirt was a white, multi-tiered cake-like hem, and below it, one could even see incredibly thick cotton slippers.

Add to that her ridiculously long, incredibly wide, cascading hair...

To put it bluntly, after getting dressed like this, Hoshino Utsunomiya thought she had wandered into someone's living room, and that this was someone else's homebody princess coming out of her room for a stroll.

Is it another unfamiliar face?

Hoshino Utsunomiya planned to listen to the other person's voice as a key feature in his memory.

Unexpectedly, the girl turned around and pulled out a sketchbook from somewhere.

This refers to a writing brush or pen.

Large, bold characters were printed on the page, which the girl then turned upside down.

It's so noisy!

Holy crap, here comes a real taciturn guy!

They actually speak with pen and paper?!

Hoshino Utsunomiya was a little surprised.

Where did this Renaissance retro character come from?

Still the classic white fur!

In his memory, there was someone he once mistook for a taciturn, speechless character.

But that person was different. That person was probably just pretending to be aloof, and after a while, they really didn't know how to talk anymore.

This is a genuine exchange using pen and paper.

It just seems that, compared to the taciturn type, it leans more towards the gloomy type.

"It's too noisy, Noah is sleeping."

Rubbing his eyes, Noah Kinosaki made a sound.

It seems this child is the type who doesn't have any objections to changes in their environment.

Compared to the unknown environment around her, she was clearly more concerned about herself.

"Since we're already out, let's go down to the reception room."

Seeing that everyone seemed to have come out, Hoshino Utsunomiya turned around and looked at the guards who had returned, and spoke.

Although it has happened twice already, I am still forced to repeat this useless time again.

but......

Where's my Meruru?!

Where did my big Meruru go?