The comments section all think I'm a really good person.

Nanoha Takamachi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled helplessly: "I understand. Let's go, Testarossa."

The two women, one with blonde hair and blood-red eyes, and the other with chestnut hair and purple eyes, walked one after the other into the alleyway, maintaining a rather aloof distance. Snowflakes fell on their hair and shoulders, eventually completely concealing any trace of their presence.

The snow is still falling.

Shiori Hachiya sat in the café where Nana Oba usually worked, rubbing her eyes with a bit of frustration and yawning.

She watched the snow outside the window fall heavier and heavier, and she had just learned from an email that Nana Oba had gone to Saki Koizumi's house.

It seems Nana really isn't coming today.

I kept the obligatory chocolates I intended to give to Nana Ohba, but I didn't give them to her.

Thinking that there was probably no chance today, I stretched a little in my seat, then got up and planned to put it at the front desk and have the waiter on duty today give it to Nana Oba.

Unexpectedly, the waiter simply gave a subtle smile, then placed the chocolate that Shiori Hachiya had brought aside, indicating that he would pass it on to Nana Oba.

Shiori Hachiya saw a considerable number of chocolates piled up there, conservatively estimated to be double digits.

She chuckled, "Nana is... too popular."

As she stepped out of the store, she nearly bumped into Nana Oba, who was rushing into the store.

The two looked at each other in bewilderment.

Shiori Hachiya could smell the faint scent of blood on the other person, intertwined with the rich aroma of handmade chocolate.

The girl was pleasantly surprised to see her: "Miss Bee Valley, you're here."

To save myself the trouble of distributing them everywhere, I'll just hand over the chocolates that need to be given out to her right here.

With that, he handed Shiori Hachitani's portion to her. He added with a smile, "You'll be busy tonight, won't you?"

"Yeah, after all, I have to distribute countless beautiful dreams." Shiori Hachiya returned a bright smile, and slightly showed off her weak biceps. "The workload is really huge, but for me, it's a piece of cake!"

Shiori Hachiya is a romantic at heart. During holidays, she tries to collect and spread pleasant dreams, immersing the entire city in a warm and dreamy atmosphere.

Since making a mistake with the gift she gave to Nana Oba last time, Shiori Hachiya has learned her lesson and hasn't given such a powerful dream again.

The beautiful dreams I'll be having tonight are all rather superficial, trying to avoid deep memories and only dreaming about the good things that have happened to me recently.

Even though it's Valentine's Day, I doubt many people will be sleeping peacefully...

However, it's best not to tell Nana Oba about this, since no matter how composed Banana may seem, she's still just a child.

Don't talk about topics that are inappropriate for children.

Shiori Hachiya, now an adult, happily bids farewell to Nana Oba.

The snow fell late into the night, yet the city remained brightly lit.

In the apartment rented by Hibiki Tachibana, Jun Furuhashi's pitch-black giant egg remained completely still.

Hibiki Tachibana poured a cup of hot chocolate for Chiho Kobayashi, who was still staying with Jun Furuhashi. She had stayed with the two of them here today and hadn't gone back to Silver Garden for dinner.

"Here, go and rest for a bit." Tachibana Hibiki said impatiently, looking at Kobayashi Chiho, whose eyes were almost closed. "This girl won't be out for a while, so don't die of exhaustion before she comes out."

To prevent others from discovering the unusual situation, Hibiki Tachibana proactively asked a member of the Silver Garden who could use magic to repair furniture to restore the dilapidated apartment.

Now it's finally airtight.

It's just that this huge egg, Guqiao Chun, is standing here, taking up a lot of space.

She handed a cup to Chiho Kobayashi, and also had a cup of hot chocolate in her own hand.

She had just taken a sip when, without noticing, sleepiness washed over her and Kobayashi Chiho plunged her head into the cup.

"Hot, hot, hot..." Kobayashi Chiho was so burned that tears came out of her eyes.

"How old are you anyway?" Hibiki Tachibana muttered, but her body language betrayed her, tearing off a few sheets of paper and tossing them to her to clean up the hot chocolate.

Amidst this commotion, a crack quietly appeared on the surface of the dark sphere.

85. The Black City of Love

When Nana Oba returned to the Starlight Hall, the Silver Garden character cards that had awakened were all there, busy preparing dinner or waiting to be fed.

After Fate Testarossa Harawa and Nanoha Takamachi returned, they divided the gifts they brought and then rolled up their sleeves to help in the kitchen. Although the two had different backgrounds, they both seemed to have considerable experience living alone, and their cooking skills were both decent.

Talulah originally wanted to squeeze in and help, but she was really bad at cooking. After trying to help a couple of times but only making things worse, she was driven out with the excuse that "you can't use Originium magic to start a fire in the kitchen." Now she was sitting at the dining table, bored and waiting for dinner to begin.

Similarly, there are Uesugi Yuki, Carol, and Shiraki Tomoe, who are not good at cooking and only make things worse in the kitchen.

The eldest sister, who should have been a skilled cook, said she only knew how to cook instant noodles. Her younger sister usually did the cooking.

"...Speaking of which, I wonder how Rin is doing..." Feeling somewhat uneasy, Shiraki Tomoe, whose memories had been altered, felt that as a member of the Silver Garden, she had more important things to do.

Yuna Yuuki wanted to go for a walk, so she asked Homura Akemi to push her wheelchair a couple of times. But when she got bored, she went back inside.

Hibiki Tachibana and Yoriichi Tsugikuni, who both live outside, are unable to return due to unforeseen circumstances.

Nana Oba walked in carrying a large bag of snacks and ingredients, and she also carefully gave away the chocolates she had taken with her when she left.

However, they brought back twice the amount of chocolate.

"banana~" As soon as she stepped inside, Nana Ohba noticed the girl who was slumped on the sofa and speaking to her in a coquettish tone, "I'm starving... You're so late."

The girl's shoulder-length brown hair was parted into two playful pigtails, and her pupils were a vibrant deep pink. The familiar red crown hair clip on her head had been replaced with black and gold, and the occasional expression she showed was not as cheerful as Nana Ohba remembered, revealing a hint of loneliness.

Nana Ohba had seen what the other person looked like in a revue outfit, and she knew that the other person's revue outfit was not red and blue, but completely black.

However, this tone, which always seemed to be coquettish towards her, was exactly the same as that of the person she knew.

Moreover, the memories match up.

According to the timeline of the emergence of inner demons...

This was born after me, wasn't it?

So it's normal that he didn't know she existed.

Nana Oba knew that Kita Kirihara would collect multiple character cards in the same world, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be surprised when she learned that the director had awakened this card.

...The Aicheng Hualian she knew wouldn't have so many things hidden in her heart.

That's right, the new character in front of me only recently made his first appearance in the world of danmaku (bullet comments) because of "Revue Starlight".

She is another main character in the Ooba Nana Origin Manga.

Love City Romance.

Similar to, yet not the same as, Nana Ohba, who was unable to break free from the 99th Seisho Festival, Karen Aijo in front of her represents the inner demon that prevents her from escaping the constraints of the Starlight play and moving on to the next stage.

After Starlight, there was nothing left. I didn't know how to get to the next stage, so I left my shadow on the stage.

The presence of Ai Cheng Hua Ren, adorned with a jet-black crown, was so weighty that it was impossible to ignore. She was like a star, drawing the attention of everyone around her.

This is so heavy; this is not the Hua Lian I know.

Nana Ohba was confused.

Even within her own memories, she couldn't find the source of this heavy burden related to Aijo Karen.

All she knew was that her companion, Aijo Karen, was a cheerful, carefree, and very talented stage girl.

The opponent possessed a brilliance that was stronger than anyone else's, and almost inexhaustible.

Of course, the Love City Romance in front of us also has an unimaginable brilliance, but...

...yet it always gives one the feeling of being tightly compressed within this petite body, creating a dull and unsettling atmosphere, as if it's about to explode.

Nana Oba simply blinked, but didn't say anything more.

After all, it's a demon in one's heart; it must be a dull and embarrassing side of Hua Lian that she has never shown to anyone.

...not the Hua Lian I knew.

That's her assessment.

The heating in the Starlight Hall was on full blast. As soon as Nana Oba entered, she put down the bag of snacks she was carrying, took off her coat, and hung it on the hanger.

Turning her head, she found that Aicheng Hualian had already naturally taken the snack bag and was cheering, "Thank you, banana! I really want to eat bamboo shoots! Banana is the best after all~"

These were bought at Aicheng Hualian's request.

As a character card that was only awakened today, Karen Aijo exhibits a slightly different shyness compared to Nana Ohba.

She wasn't as close to the other character cards, but showed a chick-like dependence on Nana Ohba, who came from the same world.

So even when I was feeling drowsy from the warmth of the heater, I insisted on sitting here, waiting for Nana Ohba to come back, instead of taking the initiative to talk to anyone else.

Nana Oba could see the unease and confusion in the other person's eyes. This despondency, which shouldn't belong to Karen Aijo, made her feel very unfamiliar with her.

Strangeness and rejection.

Nana Oba gazed at Karen Aijo, her eyes gradually deepening.

The latter noticed this, and the joy on her face slowly faded, replaced by a hint of sadness and melancholy.

She said softly, "Actually, it's okay if Banana doesn't see me as the Karen you know...

After all, she didn't have that kind of brilliance, nor did she have the same determination as her companions to move on to the next stage.

Cowardly and confused, a nobody, he could only stand there watching everyone gradually walk away, unable to keep up with their pace.

So, it's normal that banana would hate someone as cowardly and useless as me.

Nana Oba simply lowered her eyes, offering no direct response: "Karen-chan, you talk too much."

Ai Cheng Hua Lian blinked, then forced a smile and said, "That's true."

It's good for both of them to avoid going into deep conversations and touching on each other's painful pasts.

Despite being from the same world, they displayed a mental barrier even stronger than that between strangers.

P.S.: My hands... my hands made me write the dark version of "Love Brother".

But it should actually be a fusion of the somber atmosphere of the theatrical version and the dark style of the stage play.

This will greatly exacerbate the obsession with bananas.

But, but...

It's fun when the two of them go crazy together (what?).

The main characters from both the light and dark storylines of Rascal Does Not Dream of Red Mansions are here, yet their individual obsessions have intensified. Why is that?