The Witch Trial Begins with the OO Buckethead Zombie

Gently, Emma Sakura swallowed her hopes.

I won't go into that.

There's no need to boast about your efforts to earn praise; what's important now isn't being hugged, patted on the head, and told, "You've already worked very hard."

Instead, they carefully considered whether or not they should say it.

I won't talk to him, and we'll maintain this tacit understanding of keeping quiet. As long as he doesn't bring it up, I'll pretend nothing happened.

Emma Sakuraba is still Hoshino Utsunomiya's good friend, and Hoshino Utsunomiya's emotions will not be affected by the fact that someone has died.

Talk to him, make him remember everything, make him recall the scene before Xue died, let the painful memories flow through his mind again.

...Will he become like Hero?

Even today, Emma Sakuraba still believes that Hiro Nikaido chose to distance himself from her because of Yuki Tsukishiro's death.

After all, even the psychologist gave Shiro a certificate of mental abnormality, and even in this environment of being placed in prison, Shiro's condition was still not very good.

Therefore, such concerns are reasonable.

If Hoshino recalls those scenes from back then, he'll be struck by the same shock once more...

If it really turns out that way.

Will he need someone to rely on? Will he be able to...?

...To become a friend who belongs only to me?

Uncontrollable evil thoughts quietly arose.

'I have something I want to say to you privately.'

When the owl finished explaining that "it seemed a bit chaotic, like the left and right hemispheres were fighting each other, one minute praising the Great Witch for bringing good news, and the next minute saying that the Great Witch would randomly kill people, and occasionally interspersed with some seemingly irrelevant but preordained rules of the prison before the Great Witch arrived."

They selectively ignored the seemingly imminent threat of death.

Emma Sakura finally managed to get around the obstacle called Ice Meruru, grabbed his sleeve, and whispered to him.

Please come with me alone and tell me something that no one else can hear.

I want only me to see your vulnerable, defeated expressions, and the way you want to rely on me.

I don't want you to feel uncomfortable crying in my arms because you're worried about other people's stares.

Waiting, hoping, and then...

He ran away.

Sakura Emma: "Eh????"

What does it mean to go to the restroom? What does it mean to "flee to pee"?

If you need to go to the restroom, I can go with you!

And yet, it's not like I haven't secretly watched it!

Hoshino Utsunomiya, lying unconscious in his hospital bed with no ability to resist, is surprisingly alluring.

Especially since he doesn't have any relatives to accompany or visit him, the only people who come and go from the ward besides Nikaido's parents are doctors and nurses.

When I sat by the hospital bedside every day without anyone ever coming in to disturb me.

Evil thoughts will silently arise in your heart, and then whisper seductive words in your ear.

"Aren't you curious? Don't you want to take a look? What a great opportunity! He won't know anything afterward anyway. The nurses have checked countless times; wouldn't you be missing out if you didn't take a peek?"

These persuasive words did not sway Emma Sakura in the slightest.

There was only one sentence.

'Aren't you curious about how the catheter is inserted?'

...By the way, a vegetative state patient, a patient lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

A urinary catheter needs to be inserted.

After all, they are not fully conscious and cannot urinate on their own. We can't just let physiological pressure force them to lose control of their bladders and urinate on the bed.

Yes, that's right. It's not out of any evil intentions, nor is it out of any ignorant curiosity about the differences between men and women.

Purely, purely out of curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Only then would Emma Sakura secretly lift that pure white bed sheet.

In short, Emma Sakuraba is not curious about other people going to the restroom.

Therefore, after a moment of stunned silence, Emma Sakuraba quickly chased after Hoshino Utsunomiya, who was fleeing from the reception room.

But as soon as she stepped out of the reception room, she turned around and saw the restroom next to her.

In this mansion, the entrance hall is reached by climbing the stairs from the underground prison. The entrance hall connects to the door leading out of the mansion, the corridor, the door to the reception room, and the door to the living room.

After entering the reception room, one can exit through another door.

This is the door that Hoshino Utsunomiya turned and pushed open.

Right at the corner of the door, you can see the brightly lit women's restroom.

It's called a women's restroom, but that's only because this mansion is a facility that only houses girls who are preparing to become witches. So there are no separate urinals for men and women, and it shouldn't affect Utsunomiya Hoshino's use.

...but he wasn't there.

The first thing that comes to mind is that he went to the men's restroom, but there's only the claim that girls can't use the urinals in the men's restroom, not that boys can't use the squat toilets in the women's restroom.

Although she didn't know why there was a sign for the women's restroom at the entrance, Emma Sakura thought that this prison, which was only used to house prospective witches, shouldn't have a men's restroom.

Then I realized that he had already gone back, but the direction I came from was the same direction he went. Was it necessary to go around and come out from another door?

Could it be that... I was actually being avoided?

The things you worry about most, the things you are most concerned about, may surface in your heart.

The hand that was dodged, the scene of turning away and running away, the clarification of the terms of addressing each other as lovers, and the tacit acceptance of Meruru's actions as an obstacle on the ice...

But he gave me a hug!

He didn't refuse my embrace when I couldn't control my emotions and he gently stroked my back, giving me a sense of security.

I am absolutely not disliked, and he will absolutely not distance himself from me.

This is a belief I've held for a long time, and one that has never been challenged.

Even while he was dating Xiaoxue, he still didn't choose to distance himself from me.

He walked down the corridor, circling the mansion, and returned to the front of the reception room, placing his hand on the doorknob.

Emma Sakura heard that familiar voice utter those words.

"..."

...as if confessing.

We haven't heard the preamble, nor have we heard the rest.

But this only applies to the sentence that came through the door.

Emma Sakura felt that this was a confession.

What you're asking for is the last bit of time you have left today, but if you consider what that extra time represents, isn't it essentially asking for the rest of your life?!

You see, that owl said that the great witch lurking among them would randomly kill one person every day.

In other words, it wouldn't be surprising if someone suddenly died on any given day.

Honestly, what I care about most in this situation isn't finding the Great Witch, but what Utsunomiya Hoshino is saying right now. Sakura Emma feels like she's already acting strangely enough.

But she never expected that Hoshino Utsunomiya would be even stranger!

They've actually started talking about love!

Shouldn't you spend the last moments of your life with your best friend?! To prove that our friendship will last until the very end!

Who! Who is it?! Who is Hoshino confessing to?!

Hero? Could it be Hero? No matter how you look at it, it can only be Hero, right?

But why Hero of all people? If it were just about experiencing love at the end of my life, I'd be happy too...

No, no, Hoshino has already been in a relationship with Yuki, so why would she want to experience the feeling of being in love?

Unless... Hoshino has completely forgotten Yuki's existence because of that blow, and he doesn't even remember ever being in a relationship with anyone?!

The more evidence there is, the more accurate the guess becomes.

It seems that Hoshino Utsunomiya's memory is indeed blurred and confused due to her prolonged coma.

In other words, this is the time when Hoshino, in a sense, is experiencing her first love—

--wrong!

Just as Sakura Emma was silently shouting in her heart to stop the chaotic and ever-changing thoughts in her mind,

There was a moment of silence, but it felt like a very long silence.

The person whom Hoshino Utsunomiya 'confessed to' has responded.

"Ah."

The response was very soft, but in the quiet environment, it came out even more clearly through the crack in the door.

It's not Hero!!!

Emma Sakura immediately recognized that the voice was not Hiro's, but that very, very annoying voice of Ice Meluru!

Huh? What kind of strange woman is this who tries to steal my best friend on the very first day?

kiangkiang kaka.

Hoshino Utsunomiya confessed his feelings, and Meruru Icewalker accepted. Will the next development be that they naturally fall in love and start enjoying the rest of their lives despite the threat of death?

Her friend fell in love again.

Even though Hoshino and Yuki are completely different, Emma Sakura couldn't help but feel a bit of déjà vu.

That's how Xue was back then; she completely abandoned her friend simply because she was in love.

No! You can't do this!