Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 557

She reached out and grabbed at the little blue dot... No, it can't be called a "little blue dot" anymore; what the light saw was a small blue island.

As they got closer, they could see clearly that it wasn't an "island" at all, but a blue-haired girl. Her blue hair, like a waterfall, covered her smooth, white body and spread out on the ground, spreading like tree roots from the girl's center, eventually forming the shape of an island.

In the middle of a sea of ​​blue hair, the girl hugged her knees, curled up into a small ball, so small that it was almost impossible to see that there was actually a person in the middle if you didn't look closely.

======================

The dazzling light faded, and Xiangzi stared blankly at the direction where the lights should have been; now, there was no one there.

"Light...Light?!"

Xiangzi fell where the lamp had been, her hands groping aimlessly in the rain, as if that would help her find it. Unfortunately, all her efforts were in vain.

The lamp is no longer in this world.

As the lights went out, the rain seemed to stop as well.

At midnight, the storm that had nearly destroyed the reed plains vanished without warning.

The timeline of fate quietly shifted to another track.

===================

Meanwhile, on the battlefield of Mitakihara.

From the moment the stage equipment landed, it started its countdown to flipping. Under the siege of numerous magical girls, the gear-shaped stage was riddled with holes.

However, it has not completely shattered yet.

However, at this very moment, the stage, which is not yet broken, is about to be turned 180 degrees, and the upside-down witch is about to perish together with the world in a martyrdom.

The magical girls were already exhausted and no longer had the ability to stop the stage setup from completing the final inversion.

Everything is developing in the same direction as in countless previous cycles.

Just as destruction was imminent, the stage prop witch floating in the air suddenly let out a violent shriek.

Then, as if it had been cut, it disappeared into thin air.

==============================================

Xiangzi's groping hands did not come to nothing; she found a sealed bag in the rain.

Inside the bag was a notebook.

That was... Lamp's favorite notebook design, with a cover featuring a porcupine covered in bristles, and a sticky note attached to it.

A line of small text was written above it in a clumsy, round font.

[For Xiao Xiang]

Xiangzi opened the sealed bag with trembling hands and took the notebook out.

Water droplets dripped from his body onto the dry notebook, and Xiangzi suddenly realized that he was already soaked to the bone.

Just as she was about to wipe it with something, she felt something slip out of her palm.

"Ah! My Soul Gem!"

Su Shi let out a gasp.

Her soul gem, the flower, flew out of her hand, separating something from it in mid-air, before continuing to fly into the sky.

Su Shi caught the thing falling from the sky and discovered that it was her own soul gem—not in the shape of a flower, but rather, the most primal gem, like an Easter egg.

Not only Su Shi, but even Yan.

All the magical girls who possessed flowers had their flowers fly from their palms at that moment, turning into points of light. These points of light returned the original Soul Gems to their hands and then continued to fly into the sky.

"Xiao Xiang! My Soul Gem is back!" Chu Hua exclaimed.

“Me too!” Miao Meng touched her collar, where the once empty space was now filled with the Soul Gem once again.

Those who had been transformed into familiars by Xiangzi all reverted to magical girls at this moment. Even Xiangzi's own flower transformed into a perfectly intact soul gem.

All the super-causal forces were extracted from their masters, flew into the sky, passed through the clouds, reached the universe, and finally disappeared into the universe.

However, Xiangzi's mind was not on the detachment beyond cause and effect at this moment. She didn't even realize that her shattered flower had turned back into a soul gem.

Her attention was completely focused on the notebook left by the lamp.

Xiangzi hastily dried himself off the rain and opened the notebook left by the lamp.

The first page of the notebook was covered in messy scribbles, with a few annotations written on it.

"It looks like Xiao Xiang is fighting something."

This is a comment.

Xiangzi could probably recognize it; it was a scene from when she was battling the stage equipment.

How is a lamp drawn?

Xiangzi turned to the next page, which was also filled with doodles and a line of annotations. The drawing was a sketch of a crying girl, and when Xiangzi saw that face, his expression darkened.

—"Telling the protagonist's story from the first person, using emotions as the narrator's perspective? What an interesting idea."

Was this when I was at my lowest point, dealing with that witch called "Candy"? I think Somniorum was with me back then... I didn't expect even the lamp knew about this.

Yi Li^ng[器俬镹司G8 Xiangzi bit her lip and continued to scroll down.

"It looks like Xiao Xiang is crying. He looks so sad, and it breaks my heart. My dreams every night are about Xiao Xiang. Why do I keep having these dreams?"

Dream?

So you dreamed about it?

Xiangzi bit his lip.

What did she see?

Continue scrolling down.

The rest is all like this: doodles and annotations. There are a lot of ramblings about the lights on it. Sometimes it's about personal feelings, sometimes it's a line that sounds like a lyric, but isn't quite a lyric, it's a poem?

do not know.

However, all the content seemed to be related to himself.

For each graffiti, Xiangzi could find a clue from the corner of his memory, whether it was his present self or his past self.

She also found a doodle of herself with hair as long as Rapunzel's, lying among a sea of ​​hair.

This one is no longer in my memory.

Xiangzi lingered on the rather striking graffiti for a while longer before continuing to flip through the pages.

As time went on, the lamp's chatter increased.

more and more.

It seems that the light is gradually making the contents of the dream clearer.

As he turned the pages, Xiangzi's attention had long since left the doodles.

The number of characters related to lamps is increasing.

Further on, it almost filled the entire page.

Although many of the words are written like lyrics and are not easy to understand, Xiangzi has always claimed to be the one who understands Deng the most. From the very beginning when they met, when she saw the lyrics of the song "I Want to Be Human", she was already able to understand Deng's lyrics.

The contents of the notebook reminded her of so many things she and the lamp had almost forgotten.

She remembered their first meeting, their arguments, and all the little things they shared.

She remembered the time they were on the overpass, excitedly chatting about the future, songs, and music. They talked about things that seemed abstract at first glance, but upon reflection, it made sense since their seniors were all musicians. They talked about stars, which she didn't really understand, but as long as Tohru was happy, that was enough. They talked about...

Sometimes, Deng would share with him the lyrics or lines he had copied into his notebook.

She said the sentences were as if they had a life of their own.

"In my dreams, Xiao Xiang always seems to be working so hard, and I really want to share her burden."

"I dreamt of Xiaoxiang again today. She seemed different today; she looked very happy. That's wonderful."

"Is it really impossible for me to become a magical girl? Actually, it doesn't matter whether I'm a magical girl or not, as long as I can help Xiaoxiang."

"The world of dreams is so painful. It's not just Xiao Xiang, everyone is in so much pain."

"Was that really a dream? If it was a dream, how could it feel so real?"

Tick ​​tock…

Tick ​​tock…

A drop of water fell onto the notebook.

Ke Xiangzi remembered that he had clearly wiped it, so how could it still be...?

"It seems like I can figure out what happened to Xiaoxiang. So, she was actually persisting in things I couldn't see all along."

"Delete told me that I had a way to save Xiao Xiang, but the price might be my own life."

"I... was scared, but I still let it tell me the plan."

"Delete seemed resistant yet somewhat expectant, and so did I."

"I think there are some things that I need to accomplish."

===============

thump--!

The hair tripped over the lamp's ankle.

She fell hard to the ground, her bottom throbbing with pain.

The girl seemed to sense the arrival of the light, and in fright, she crawled back a few meters, opened her mouth, and made an "ah ah ah" sound, a sound that only someone who hadn't spoken for a very, very long time would make.

The lamp got up from the ground and continued walking towards the girl, from walking to brisk walking, to jogging, and finally, to running.

She fell several times, but it didn't matter. She got up, kept moving forward, and reached out her hand to the child.

"Xiao Xiang!"

The light gradually approached the girl in the middle of the fringe.

"Wow!"

The girl struggled to her feet, trying to run away in the opposite direction of the light, but she had clearly forgotten that the ground was covered with her own hair. She tripped over her hair and fell heavily to the ground as soon as she took her first step.

By the time she got up, the lamp was already in front of her.

"No—don't come any closer!" Xiangzi finally uttered his first words.

However, it was too late.

She was enveloped in the warm embrace of the lamplight, a warmth so intense it could make one succumb to its allure.

"I've found you, Xiao Xiang."

"Why..." Tears welled up in Xiangzi's eyes, "Why did you come here...? I'm not the Xiangzi you know at all..."

"Whether it's Xiao Xiang or Xiao Xiang, it's all the same to me."

"...I killed Yan, I started an endless cycle of reincarnation, I plunged everyone into suffering...I am a sinner...I am unworthy..."

"Xiaoyan, is she the child who looks a bit like Lixi?" Deng whispered in Xiangzi's ear. "She's alive and well, so don't worry, everyone will be fine."

"I......"

"I'll make sure everyone's alright." Deng hugged Xiangzi's head tightly, holding him close. "Xiangzi, you don't need to try anymore."

"Waaaaaaahh ...

Xiangzi burst into tears in Deng's arms, crying louder and louder until his tears soaked Deng's clothes.

"Cry, cry, cry your heart out," Deng gently patted Xiangzi's back, softly comforting her.

White specks of light drifted out from Xiangzi's body, slowly becoming transparent and gradually blending into the space.

In the end, Xiangzi, along with his long blue hair, transformed into scattered specks of light and disappeared into the pitch-black space.

Before she disappeared, the lamp faintly heard what was perhaps Xiangzi's most heartfelt words.

--Snapped!

Xiangzi closed the notebook, its pages half-soaked with tears, slowly squatted down, hugged his knees, curled himself into a small ball, and sobbed so loudly that everyone could hear him.