Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

She didn't even dare to send a message to Xiangzi.

at this time.

As the artist in Honeycomb who was closest to the Toyokawa family, she received inside information about the Toyokawa family tragedy: the Toyokawa couple had been shot and killed, and their daughter, Toyokawa Shoko, had disappeared.

This world is rotten.

Chu Hua locked herself in her house and calmed down for several days.

When the door opened again, she had given up underground rock, put on her most exquisite mask, and resumed Sumimi's idol activities.

Chu Hua missed Xiangzi terribly.

After finishing her work, she would lie on the recliner in the break room and look at her tired and numb face in the mirror. She would think, if she had mustered up the courage to go to Xiangzi back then, would things not have turned out so badly?

Hunting witches, she found herself using more force than before, carefully examining each witch's face before killing it, trying to find some information about someone else in them.

And so, another six months passed.

She still read that message every day and never gave up on finding Xiangzi, but Xiangzi seemed to have vanished into thin air. Chu Hua even thought that she might have become a witch.

That was an ending that Chu Hua dared not imagine and was unwilling to accept.

Every day on her way home, she would fantasize that she would see a girl with long blue hair on the street. She would be exactly the same as the girl in her childhood memories: gentle, cute, knowledgeable, and always very serious.

Chu Hua never expected that one day her wish would actually come true.

Although the way it was implemented was quite different from what I had imagined.

That night, Toyokawa Shoko rang Misaka Hatsuka's doorbell, and the two separate paths of fate intersected once again.

Time returns to the present.

Chu Hua finished her "hunting" for the day, once again declined Mana's dinner invitation, and returned home to sit on the sofa.

A short while later, she heard someone unlocking the door with a key outside, so she got up, walked to the entrance, and waited for that person to open the door.

Click.

Xiangzi appeared at the door carrying a guitar case.

"Welcome back, little... Xiangzi."

Chu Hua said with a smile.

Perhaps for that monkey who only wants to go to heaven, heaven does exist.

The Tale of Nirvana: Maintaining One's True Self: Chapter 36 The Barrier

Xiangzi carried his guitar bag and returned to Chuhua's home.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Chu Hua standing in the entryway waiting for me.

She must have run over, right? She could hear very loud footsteps from the sofa to the entryway.

"Welcome back, little... Xiangzi."

Xiangzi could only see a pair of ears on Chu Hua's head and a tail wagging wildly behind him.

"It's my turn to cook today, Xiangzi. Are you planning to eat first, take a shower first, or...?"

"I don't plan to." Xiangzi didn't take off his shoes, but stood in the entryway, gripping the doorknob.

"Eh?"

"Can you come with me somewhere?"

"But... it's already past seven o'clock."

"Let's eat out afterwards." Xiangzi leaned against the door, looking earnestly into Chuhua's eyes. "Just keep me company and help me clear my head, okay?"

"Okay, of course."

Chu Hua nodded, immediately squatted down to put on her shoes, took out the motorcycle keys from the cabinet in the entryway, and pulled Xiangzi's hand, intending to walk out the door.

A small resistance came from Xiangzi's side.

Chu Hua then realized that she and Xiao Xiang were holding hands.

Xiangzi looked at her eyes, which resembled those of a golden retriever that had done something wrong, and his shoulders slumped helplessly. He relaxed the hand that was being held, letting Chuhua lead him.

......

Sitting on the back of the motorcycle, Xiangzi hugged Chuhua's waist, wearing his helmet properly, and tightened his guitar bag on his back.

"Alright, let's go," Xiangzi said.

Chu Hua released the clutch and slowly accelerated, and the Suzuki Hayabusa, carrying the two of them, let out a deep roar as it slowly drove out of the underground parking garage.

"Where to go?"

"You've found my pine forest, do you remember where it is?"

"I remember, but why did I have to go...?"

"I have something I want to show you." Xiangzi leaned against Chuhua's back, squinting his eyes. "And there's something I want to tell you too."

"......it is good."

It was quite a distance from Chu Hua's house to the pine forest from back then. After a while, Chu Hua felt that Xiangzi's breathing became steady, so he must have fallen asleep.

The rest of the journey was quiet.

Chu Hua quite enjoyed this feeling of being together quietly.

==========

"Xiao Xiang?"

"Waaah..." Xiangzi vaguely heard someone calling her.

"Xiangzi?"

Chu Hua gently shrugged her shoulders. Xiangzi was so asleep that he had his shoulder draped over hers. It looked like he had done some physical labor today and was quite exhausted.

"Hmm..." Xiangzi slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

The park's pine forest perimeter is only illuminated by streetlights, and there are few people around at night, making the park appear eerie.

"We're here." She yawned and jumped off the motorcycle.

However, she underestimated her own strength and forgot to consider the weight of the guitar bag on her back. The moment she landed, the weight of the guitar bag pressed down on her shoulder, causing Xiangzi's knees to buckle and he to kneel on the ground.

"Xiao Xiang! Is Ling Qi Ba Si Qi actually Wu Lu?"

"...I'm fine."

Xiangzi got up, dusted off his bottom, glanced down at the scrapes on his knees, and then pretended they didn't exist.

Chu Hua helped Xiangzi carry his guitar bag. While driving, she was wondering why the accelerator response was a little slower than usual. It turned out it was all because of the weight of Xiangzi's guitar bag.

“What’s in your bag? LasPaul doesn’t even carry that much.”

Chu Hua placed the guitar case on a long bench to the side, put one hand on her hip, and looked at it curiously.

"You'll see when you open it; we'll need it later."

Xiangzi patted her on the shoulder from behind, signaling her to move aside.

Kneeling in front of the guitar case, Xiangzi unzipped it.

Then, under Chu Hua's shocked gaze, she took out an M1911 pistol with an ivory grip, a matching leg holster, and two magazines from her bag.

Next was her favorite Remington M11, and a bullet sling.

The backpack weighed more than just the two guns; it also contained two fragmentation grenades and several 12-gauge and 20-gauge shotgun shells, which lay quietly in a cardboard box in the corner of the backpack.

"Xiangzi, did you rob a police station? I know you might be a little vulnerable and lack firepower now that you're back to being a normal person, but these guns..."

Chu Hua looked somewhat embarrassed, glancing around every now and then.

She was afraid that someone might happen to pass by and see her.

"That bastard dad likes to go to the shooting range, and he's hoarded a lot of these Q*UN flag umbrella cages and other stuff at home."

With a calm expression, Xiangzi took the bullets out of the cardboard box from the hunting rifle and stuffed them into the strap one by one.

“I thought you were quite close to him, so you should know about this kind of thing.”

"No, I had no idea that Mr. Toyokawa had this kind of...hobby."

"It's good not to know; it's even better not to know many things."

Xiangzi stuffed the bullet sling full, turned his head, and looked at Chuhua with his imposing golden eyes.

"You should be prepared for what I'm about to say."

"The relationship between witches and magical girls?" Chu Hua blinked. "If so, I know."

This time it was Xiangzi's turn to be surprised.

"Don't be so surprised, I've grown a lot over the years too," Chu Hua chuckled.

“Alright.” Xiangzi led her into the pine forest. “Next thing.”

Xiangzi called out "Qiu Bi" to the empty bushes.

Sure enough, Cupid jumped out.

Then Xiangzi pulled the trigger on Cupid, and the No. 20 shotgun shell riddled Cupid with bullets.

Xiangzi rubbed his aching shoulder.

"Sigh, I've really become an ordinary person again." She sighed. "This is troublesome."

“Even as an ordinary person, he’ll still be brutal.” The new Kyubey jumped out of the bushes. “Long time no see, Toyokawa Shoko, and Mikami Hatsuka.”

Chu Hua didn't give it a friendly look.

After learning the truth, no one would be willing to give Cupid a kind look.

"Stop talking nonsense, jump onto my shoulder." Xiangzi patted his shoulder. "And Chuhua, hold my hand."

"what happened?"

Although Chu Hua was unclear about the situation, she immediately shook hands with him.

"Neither Kyubey nor Hatsuka sensed the presence of a witch's barrier nearby, right?"

Xiangzi held Chuhua's hand, with Qiubi perched on his shoulder.

"Kasumi-senpai and the others also didn't find anything in the pine forest."

Qubi squatted on Xiangzi's shoulder with great interest, waiting for her to continue.

"What would you think if I told you that there is a witch's barrier here, and only I can come and go as I please?"

With Xiangzi at the center, the world begins to distort and collapse.

Chu Hua instantly sensed a tremendous surge of magical power, which burst forth in all directions using Xiangzi as its vessel.

"Xiangzi?!"

The pine forest has been replaced by a ghost town that never sleeps, and Chu Hua finds herself in a completely unfamiliar land.

"It really is a witch's barrier." Kyubey exclaimed as he watched the floating car fly overhead. "I couldn't sense even a trace of magic before it appeared. Toyokawa Shoko, how did you do that?"

Xiangzi let go of Chuhua's hand and patted Qiubi on the shoulder.

She stood on the cold street, as countless illusory figures with X's on their faces walked past them.

"Welcome to the barrier of Nirvana."

Xiangzi opened his arms.

"Of course, it could also be my barrier."

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping to Your True Self: Chapter 37 - Not a Pitcher Plant

drop.

That was the sound of eight o'clock in the morning, coming from the huge clock in the middle of the square.

The entrance to the barrier is fixed, whether in the real world or inside the barrier. Moreover, Xiangzi is just the key. Nirvana's barrier is only slightly better at hiding itself than other witches. The fact that only Xiangzi can bring people into the barrier does not mean that others cannot enter.