Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

“I guess so,” Mary nodded gently.

"So they are all...orphans?"

"Only a few are orphans; the rest all have families."

"Eh...it's not quite what I expected."

“There aren’t that many orphans these days. Even if there were, they would be sent to proper welfare institutions.” Mary shook her head gently. “This place is just a temporary care facility.”

Miaomeng listened quietly to Mary's words, her eyes never forgetting to observe the surroundings of the church.

The chapel does show many signs of renovation. This open-air backyard was probably originally the clinic's backyard and hasn't undergone much alteration; many parts retain their original appearance.

The biggest change is probably to the area where we came in before. The original facade has been smashed open and expanded to accommodate a chapel that can hold dozens of people.

"Take care of them?" Miaomeng asked again.

"You probably know what most of the people in Kabukicho do for a living."

"...I can guess it."

Mary sighed:

"Especially for those mothers, who may not even know whose child is, and who may have to 'work' at night, if we don't find a place for these children to stay..."

"No need to say it, I know."

Miao Meng crossed her legs, hugged her knees with both hands, and looked up at the moon.

Compared to these children, her family situation didn't seem so bad; it was just that her parents were divorced and no one was willing to accept her.

She was already very lucky to be adopted—or rather, to be "borrowed"—by that woman in her mid-twenties who still wore pigtails and acted like a young girl.

"You're such a good person, willing to do such a thankless task."

Miao Meng squinted, her gaze drifting towards Mary beside her.

“They provide free assistance to homeless people and also take in these children.”

The children living in the church now are fortunate to have a nun like Mary to take care of them.

but......

Are there really such good people in this world? Miaomeng has her doubts.

“Their mother gives me a portion of the alimony, and we have the opportunity to meet each other every week. I’m not entirely doing charity work.”

Mary turned her head to the side, and strands of golden hair fell from the shadow of her nun's hat, shimmering in the night.

Has Hailing told you about her past?

"What do you think?" Miao Meng crossed her arms.

The implication was that if Hailing were willing to talk to them, he wouldn't need to follow her.

Mary cleared her throat awkwardly:

"Ahem... I asked a stupid question, sorry."

"But she told us she was a Hagi-yakuren."

"That's already quite a lot said. It seems she values ​​you... as her partners."

Mary chuckled softly.

“I’m also from Hagino Prefecture. I met Hailin at the welfare home. I knew that Kabukicho had taken in many people from Hagino Prefecture, and I just wanted to see how my fellow countrymen were doing.”

"And then you stayed?"

"Yes, those homeless people who are setting up tents outside are the fellow villagers I just mentioned. I initially took over the church for their sake and even took out a loan—but after obtaining the official religious permit, the government helped pay off those loans, and the surrounding neighbors also provided a lot of financial assistance."

Miaomeng nodded thoughtfully.

It was originally opened here to help the homeless and incidentally to spread the word. Later, it started taking in the children of geisha from Kabukicho.

Although I don't quite agree with it, I can understand it.

People who have experienced misfortune often fall into two categories: those who wish everyone else would experience the same misfortune as them, and those who wish no one else would experience the same misfortune as them.

The former are often more numerous, but the latter are not entirely non-existent; Miaomeng knows one of the latter.

Therefore, she can understand Mary.

And they would feel that sitting in the same chair as Mary was a desecration of her.

After all, I'm the former type, though not in such an extreme way.

I chatted with Mary on and off for quite a while.

The reason why Mary, as a magical girl, could occupy an entire Kabukicho all by herself was actually because she was a senior of the Protagonists.

Kasumi Toyama and her friends believed that Kabukicho was not a friendly place for minors, and that Mary alone was indeed capable of controlling the security of this area.

Then let's just hand it over to her.

Wow, that's quite a lot of face.

While surprised, Miao Meng glanced at the time and decided it was about time to stop.

“By the way, Miss Mary, do you often talk so much with people you’ve just met?” Miaomeng asked.

Mary shook her head.

"No, it's just that you have a rather unique 'scent' about you. Forgive me for calling it a scent, but it would be more accurate to say it's an aura."

"What?" Miao Meng raised an eyebrow.

"Like those children, I crave the scent of love."

“...I’m only a year or two younger than you.” Miao Meng frowned, her usually high-pitched falsetto becoming deep and resonant.

She longs for love?

What an international joke.

"It has nothing to do with age."

Mary shook her head.

"Never mind what I said."

She sighed softly.

"Actually, I said so much because of Hailing. I haven't met Hailing much, but if you know what kind of person I am, maybe you can trust Hailing a little more. Would you believe me if I said that?"

......

"Do not."

Hailing denied Chuhua's speculation about the attack.

"I don't think being attacked by a familiar was an accident."

“The barrier disappeared after we killed all the familiars, which means it wasn’t a barrier set up by a witch, but by familiars.” Chu Hua rested her elbow on her hand and stroked her chin with the other. “Familiars are quite unpredictable, and there are often examples of familiars setting up barriers to launch indiscriminate attacks.”

As another way for witches to be born, familiars must kill several people and absorb their negative emotions in order to grow into witches.

Therefore, in order to grow into witches as soon as possible, familiars that have left the barrier often have a strong desire to attack, making them the primary targets for magical girls to kill during their patrols.

Xiangzi turned around, glanced at the corpse on the ground, suppressed his nausea, squatted down and lifted the corpse's collar.

A witch's kiss with an intricate and complex pattern appeared on the corpse's neck, the pattern of which was slightly different from that on Chu Hua Miao Meng's body.

It's normal that each witch's kiss is different.

Just then, Xiangzi felt a sharp pain in his palm.

She opened her palm and looked.

A witch's kiss, identical to the one on the corpse, appeared in his palm.

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping Your True Self: Chapter 71 features Old Deng

When Miaomeng received Xiangzi's call and rushed to the scene, the people in charge of handling the scene had already come and taken the body away.

The group responsible for cleaning up the mess were ordinary people who had some connection to the magical girl world. They might have been saved by magical girls, or they might have come into contact with this world on their own initiative.

If it weren't for their overt and covert assistance in negotiations and cleanup, some witches residing in densely populated areas would have caused considerable casualties.

"I remember we just separated an hour ago. How come you two got together again and did something so big?"

Miaomeng walked over while complaining.

He also glanced enviously at the two motorcycles parked on the side of the street.

Falcons and waterfowl, are high school girls these days playing such heavy games?

Unfortunately, I sold all my cars and motorcycles a long time ago, and now I commute entirely on foot.

I still have some savings, should I get one with them?

Wait, no, we've gone off-topic. They called me over in a hurry, it seems like they have something important to discuss.

"What level of witch is she? What is her name? Does the gathering issue related requests?" Meow Dream asked.

"She's not a witch, she's a familiar."

When Xiangzi saw Miaomeng arrive, he continued the conversation from where they had left off.

"Hachiman has something very important to say, so I called you here as well."

"What's wrong?" Miaomeng yawned. "It's almost one o'clock, I really want to go back to sleep."

Halfway through yawning, Miaomeng opened one eye.

She noticed that Xiangzi looked somewhat haggard.

Although this guy usually looks rather haggard and always seems on the verge of collapse, this aura has become even more pronounced now, so much so that it manifests in his voice.

His voice was so hoarse, it was as if he hadn't drunk water for three days.

"Hey, are you going to die from overwork?" Miao Meng poked Xiangzi's shoulder. "If you ask me, you should just break up and go back to sleep. Get some rest for a day, and we can talk about anything else when we go to church the day after tomorrow."

Xiangzi stretched out his palm and placed it in front of Miaomeng.

There is a witch's kiss in the palm of his hand.

"See? Do you think I'm in the mood for a good night's sleep?"

"Oh..." Miaomeng nodded blankly, "Where have you been flirting with other women again?"

Yes, it's a different style from mine.

The cat dreamed.

A tic-tac-toe symbol popped into Xiangzi's head.

"No, I'm asking how you came to mark the witch."

“Xiangzi is an ordinary person now, it’s normal for him to be marked after being attacked,” Chu Hua said in a low voice. “It’s my fault for not protecting him properly.”

Chu Hua is like a big dog that has witnessed its owner collapse in the street but is powerless to help. After its owner is safe, it becomes even more clingy.

Xiangzi couldn't stand Chuhua's gaze.

“Dividing the blame afterward is pointless; it wasn’t your fault.” Xiangzi sighed. “Why don’t we ask Hachiman what he wants to tell us?”

"I was planning to tell you tomorrow, but the opportunity is just right now, so... I'll have to tell you a little later today."

Hailing leaned against her waterbird, arms crossed over her chest.

"The attack just now was carried out by a familiar, without the involvement of a witch. The familiar infiltrated among the ordinary people who had been given the witch's kiss to carry out the attack. It took a lot of time to avoid accidentally harming anyone. Toyokawa should have been marked during this period."

Before a familiar transforms into a witch, the witch's kiss planted belongs to the witch. Therefore, even if all the familiars die, the witch's kiss will not disappear unless the witch to whom the familiar belongs is killed.

“Yeah, Xiangzi just said that.” Miaomeng shrugged. “But isn’t it more normal for familiars to be like that? These things turn into mad dogs after they leave their ‘mother’s embrace’ and keep hunting in order to become witches. It’s not uncommon for a few unlucky ones to be robbed late at night. Anyway, if a homeless person robs a small convenience store like this, it won’t even make the news.”

Once a familiar leaves the barrier, it's like it's been removed from its swaddling clothes. Like magical girls, it's an unfinished witch, but even more primitive. After leaving the witch's barrier, it becomes quite weak. In order to quickly gain the power to survive, familiars have a very strong desire to attack. Often, the fluctuations emanating from a familiar can be felt from several kilometers away, making it quite easy to locate.

The only problem is that familiars don't produce Grief Seeds, so magical girls have a very low desire to hunt familiars.

In order to control the harm caused by familiars and encourage novice magical girls to practice with familiars, the Gathering Hall issues patrol requests every day. As long as the patrol is completed, even if nothing happens, a certain amount of credit points will be earned. Therefore, the new magical girls in Reed Plains are currently quite enthusiastic about patrol missions.

Because of this tradition and consensus, both Miaomeng and Chuhua immediately showed a nonchalant attitude towards the attack by the familiar.

“The problem isn’t just with the familiars,” Hailing said. “How do you know the familiar attack happened in the real world in the form of ‘homeless people robbing a convenience store’ if you didn’t see it firsthand?”